Second day of Bentley on the A-Frame at a low height.
Video
Stats
Reps: 18
% Success: 94%
Thoughts
1. Height. We will definitely be raising it up as he did excellent here.
2. Tops. He is learning to fly the apex. Check out his last one--beautiful!
We also started Lexi on some beginning movement and sequencing. We haven't done much yet, and haven't even broached the subject in our intro class, but we wanted to go ahead and get her moving with us (and to nip her herding in the bud!).
I was very impressed with how quickly she caught on. We did some front crosses out of tunnels, lead out pivots, and rear crosses to tunnels. She is much more obstacle-focused than Bentley so it's interesting to train her.
Videos
Front cross out of tunnel:
Lead out pivot:
She knocks 2 bars in the second video, but she hadn't knocked any all day. I think she may have just been tired.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Day 25 and A-Frame Day 1
Another catch up post. A few days ago we didn't make it out to the field because of an impending storm. We didn't want to miss a day, so we tried Bentley on a low A-Frame. Here's the results.
Video
Stats
Reps: 20
% Success: 90%
Thoughts
1. Identification. We incorrectly identify 2 jumps as strides. He only missed 2.
2. Flying the top. The top of the frame looked better as we continued to practice (and he got more confident).
Day 25
We finally moved the dogwalk up to full height! And, Bentley did AWESOME! This is obviously going to require a good deal of maintenance, but I feel like we've come such a long way since one month ago. I'm so proud of Bentley, and even a little proud of us for sticking with it!
Video
Stats
Reps: 30
% Success: 95%
And since this has become an agility blog, I'm adding one more video. If anyone knows us, they know that Bentley is the most velcro of all velcro dogs. The idea of working away from us is very foreign to him, and he has barely eeked through Starters Gamblers. Honestly, he can get out to our side, but he won't get out in front of us (the whole idea of independent movement). Well we have made GREAT strides. We had a seminar with Stuart Mah who told us we were babying our dog. He emphasized that Bentley needs to learn to take responsibility to get his job done. So, we've been working on "get out" using pinwheels. That combined with the out training with the dogwalk has really helped. Without further ado, here's a video showing his progress with the "out" command. It may seem very basic, but this is a HUGE stride for us, and I am so so proud.
Video
Stats
Reps: 20
% Success: 90%
Thoughts
1. Identification. We incorrectly identify 2 jumps as strides. He only missed 2.
2. Flying the top. The top of the frame looked better as we continued to practice (and he got more confident).
Day 25
We finally moved the dogwalk up to full height! And, Bentley did AWESOME! This is obviously going to require a good deal of maintenance, but I feel like we've come such a long way since one month ago. I'm so proud of Bentley, and even a little proud of us for sticking with it!
Video
Stats
Reps: 30
% Success: 95%
And since this has become an agility blog, I'm adding one more video. If anyone knows us, they know that Bentley is the most velcro of all velcro dogs. The idea of working away from us is very foreign to him, and he has barely eeked through Starters Gamblers. Honestly, he can get out to our side, but he won't get out in front of us (the whole idea of independent movement). Well we have made GREAT strides. We had a seminar with Stuart Mah who told us we were babying our dog. He emphasized that Bentley needs to learn to take responsibility to get his job done. So, we've been working on "get out" using pinwheels. That combined with the out training with the dogwalk has really helped. Without further ado, here's a video showing his progress with the "out" command. It may seem very basic, but this is a HUGE stride for us, and I am so so proud.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 24
Over 90 degrees out all day yesterday, so we did a very short session.
Video
Stats
Reps: 16
% Success: 94%
Video
Stats
Reps: 16
% Success: 94%
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Lexi A-Frame
I set out to originally make this a Bentley contact blog. BUT...I think since I only have three followers, I can make it whatever I want! So I think it may morph into a dog training/agility blog.
That being said, I can't resist showing a video of Lexi's contact training. We did decide to do 2o2o with her, for a number of reasons.
1. She's smarter than Bentley (sorry buddy, it's true)
2. She's extremely fast
3. She's very obstacle focused and it's good for her to learn to gather herself.
We've been practicing "touch" on a board for the past couple weeks. We did the A-frame in class the other day (at a low height), so today we decided to practice on our training A-frame at a low height.
Without further ado, here's a quick video. She's doing really well, and seems to really get it. The mistakes she makes can be attributed largely to her rear end strength/awareness, which we're working on.
That being said, I can't resist showing a video of Lexi's contact training. We did decide to do 2o2o with her, for a number of reasons.
1. She's smarter than Bentley (sorry buddy, it's true)
2. She's extremely fast
3. She's very obstacle focused and it's good for her to learn to gather herself.
We've been practicing "touch" on a board for the past couple weeks. We did the A-frame in class the other day (at a low height), so today we decided to practice on our training A-frame at a low height.
Without further ado, here's a quick video. She's doing really well, and seems to really get it. The mistakes she makes can be attributed largely to her rear end strength/awareness, which we're working on.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Days 22 and 23
More belated updates--oops! Weather here has either been hot or rainy, so we're having a hard time getting outside to work. You'll note in the second video that it's so humid out that the camera lens kept fogging up!
Today we had a chance to try the dogwalk at full height during some short sequencing in class. Bentley did well--didn't miss either of the two times.
Day 22 Video
Stats
Reps: 30
% Success: 87%
Thoughts:
1. Directions. We started adding some directions in. It's critical that we give him information really early. I read that some people would even say "Climb...left" or whatever, to show that the dog needed to go left after climbing. Personally, I'm not sure Bentley's memory is that good, so the aim is to tell him as he gets to the flat board (obviously we don't do this often in the video)
Day 23 Video
Stats
Reps: 30
% Success: 90%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. He's still right around 2.1 seconds. I'm happy with that, and don't want to push him anymore. We would have to sacrifice accuracy.
Treat Review
I know this is unrelated, but I had to post some treat reviews here for anyone who's curious. We had been using Wellness WellBites. We loved them. One of the few treats that were soft enough to easily break into tiny pieces during training. I hate that some treats are too small to be broken (but not small enough for very repetitive training), and I hate that some treats can't be broken. So these were great.
Then we switched to these to try something new. Also, they're grain free, so less filler. Bentley likes them, but they are SO hard to break, and I'm not comfortable giving him a full piece. Also, not only are they hard to break up, but it takes Bentley longer to chew them, and it's really hard to quickly move on in training since you're waiting for him to chew. So I won't be buying these again. Back to the WellBites for us!
Today we had a chance to try the dogwalk at full height during some short sequencing in class. Bentley did well--didn't miss either of the two times.
Day 22 Video
Stats
Reps: 30
% Success: 87%
Thoughts:
1. Directions. We started adding some directions in. It's critical that we give him information really early. I read that some people would even say "Climb...left" or whatever, to show that the dog needed to go left after climbing. Personally, I'm not sure Bentley's memory is that good, so the aim is to tell him as he gets to the flat board (obviously we don't do this often in the video)
Day 23 Video
Stats
Reps: 30
% Success: 90%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. He's still right around 2.1 seconds. I'm happy with that, and don't want to push him anymore. We would have to sacrifice accuracy.
Treat Review
Monday, May 31, 2010
Day 21
Moved the dogwalk up, and again Bentley did well. Still hoping to have it up to full height in one week. We won't push him of course, but things are looking promising!
That leaves me hope that we may be able to enter Standard at our trial at the end of July. I hope that the A-Frame won't take us as long, and that still leaves us with 3 weeks to teach it.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 25
% Success: 92%
Thoughts:
1. Sequencing. So now the trouble comes in sequencing after the obstacle. I know that if I peel off to the left as he comes down the down side (especially as he closes in on the yellow) that he's going to peel off with me and miss the contact. So I guess this means we need to start practicing this....I'm just not sure how. If I leave the target plate out front, then that doesn't make sense because he'll never be driving to it during a trial. If I remove the plate, I feel like he will immediately miss and be confused, and I want to set him up for success.
2. Height. He hits his contact higher up the higher the dogwalk goes. I'll need to keep an eye on this as we continue to go up.
That leaves me hope that we may be able to enter Standard at our trial at the end of July. I hope that the A-Frame won't take us as long, and that still leaves us with 3 weeks to teach it.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 25
% Success: 92%
Thoughts:
1. Sequencing. So now the trouble comes in sequencing after the obstacle. I know that if I peel off to the left as he comes down the down side (especially as he closes in on the yellow) that he's going to peel off with me and miss the contact. So I guess this means we need to start practicing this....I'm just not sure how. If I leave the target plate out front, then that doesn't make sense because he'll never be driving to it during a trial. If I remove the plate, I feel like he will immediately miss and be confused, and I want to set him up for success.
2. Height. He hits his contact higher up the higher the dogwalk goes. I'll need to keep an eye on this as we continue to go up.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Day 20
I've been sick, so my wonderful husband took Bentley out to work with him. He only videotaped the first half, but Bentley does well (and he moved the DW up). I think we should be at full height in about a week.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 17
% Success: 94%
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 17
% Success: 94%
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