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.
Monday, May 31, 2010
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%
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Day 19
No video today! We took Bentley up to the field to work with him after Lexi's intro class (she is such a little terror!) And it turns out that other people were there to do some run-thrus, and we didn't want to monopolize the course. So we did a quick little practice, maybe 15-20 reps sans camera.
I don't know what happened, but he didn't do too great. Probably around 75% accuracy. We didn't raise the dogwalk, and last time at the same height he did great (93% if I remember correctly). On a positive note, I was able to send him with some distance between me and the obstacle (that's a very good thing for him!)
I think that sitting in his crate barking for an hour beforehand really got him worked up, and he was very excited. I'm not sure what to think. I'll just chalk it up to a bad day...but I'm going to monitor him very closely tomorrow and the days to follow to make sure that it isn't a pattern or habit that he's getting into.
I don't know what happened, but he didn't do too great. Probably around 75% accuracy. We didn't raise the dogwalk, and last time at the same height he did great (93% if I remember correctly). On a positive note, I was able to send him with some distance between me and the obstacle (that's a very good thing for him!)
I think that sitting in his crate barking for an hour beforehand really got him worked up, and he was very excited. I'm not sure what to think. I'll just chalk it up to a bad day...but I'm going to monitor him very closely tomorrow and the days to follow to make sure that it isn't a pattern or habit that he's getting into.
Days 17 and 18
Day 17 was at the same height as Day 16. The session was short--you can see it go from bright and sunny to very dark! It started pouring about 5 minutes after we stopped the video.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 24
% Success: 88%
Thoughts:
1. Variation. After our Stuart Mah seminar we realized how important it was to change things up. We are now doing something different for every run. Some runs we wait at the end and send Bentley. Some runs we give him an "out" or "go on" command. Some runs he goes over a jump then on to the left--you get the idea. It's actually nice because we're working on things other than contacts there too!
Day 18 we increased the height, and he did great.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 30
% Success: 93%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. When he gets moving (and thinking) he is still averaging around 2.1 seconds--woohoo! I'm very proud of that!
2. Front Crosses. Realized that we won't be able to get front crosses in much anymore because Bentley can make it down the dogwalk faster than I can! This will change how we run courses, so that's something we'll have to consider in the future.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 24
% Success: 88%
Thoughts:
1. Variation. After our Stuart Mah seminar we realized how important it was to change things up. We are now doing something different for every run. Some runs we wait at the end and send Bentley. Some runs we give him an "out" or "go on" command. Some runs he goes over a jump then on to the left--you get the idea. It's actually nice because we're working on things other than contacts there too!
Day 18 we increased the height, and he did great.
Video:
Stats:
Reps: 30
% Success: 93%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. When he gets moving (and thinking) he is still averaging around 2.1 seconds--woohoo! I'm very proud of that!
2. Front Crosses. Realized that we won't be able to get front crosses in much anymore because Bentley can make it down the dogwalk faster than I can! This will change how we run courses, so that's something we'll have to consider in the future.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
May Trial
This weekend was our club's May agility trial. It wasn't a great weekend for Bentley (oops we've been concentrating so much on contacts that we forgot to practice other things!), but he did eek out one Starters Pairs (Relay) Q, which was all he needed for his AD title! So that last run--at 1:30 a.m., made up for the whole weekend!
We didn't enter him in Standard to keep him off of contacts, but did enter him in Pairs thinking it would be maybe 1 contact and I really wanted him to have a chance at his AD. He also took the dogwalk during one of his Gamblers runs.
I made a quick compilation of his contacts. I was pretty sad that he didn't get his dogwalk contact, but considering we aren't up to full height yet (not even close!), I couldn't be too mad. I was pleasantly surprised at his A-frame. It's not great, he still hesitates at the top, and he jumps off at the bottom, but he didn't creep, and he did get his contact both times. I'll consider that a success. Doesn't change our training plan of lowering it almost all the way though, when we get there.
Video:
We didn't enter him in Standard to keep him off of contacts, but did enter him in Pairs thinking it would be maybe 1 contact and I really wanted him to have a chance at his AD. He also took the dogwalk during one of his Gamblers runs.
I made a quick compilation of his contacts. I was pretty sad that he didn't get his dogwalk contact, but considering we aren't up to full height yet (not even close!), I couldn't be too mad. I was pleasantly surprised at his A-frame. It's not great, he still hesitates at the top, and he jumps off at the bottom, but he didn't creep, and he did get his contact both times. I'll consider that a success. Doesn't change our training plan of lowering it almost all the way though, when we get there.
Video:
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Days 15 and 16
As you can see, I'm still behind on posting the videos! But, these are the last two for the next few days as we have a trial this weekend. We're only entering jumpers, gamblers and pairs to avoid contacts for the most part, but it will still be a long and busy weekend. Day 15 is at 36", and I didn't measure, but I would guess that Day 16 is between 38 and 40".
Day 15 video:
Stats:
Reps: 23
% Success: 88%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. He's really doing well with speed. I really like the way a lot of these look.
2. Treats. I think it's a good idea to start giving him extra treats for extra good ones (jackpot). Some of these are better than others.
3. Mistakes: Speed is a factor, and he again misses the first one.
-1:05 BIG mistake. I think it's the first really bad mistake in a while where he completely misses the yellow.
Day 16 was spent out at the field when there were about 5 other dogs on the field running, and several dogs just running and playing in the field next door. It was great practice for a trial-like scenario, but definitely proved to be difficult for Bentley's concentration. Please note that I had to edit not 1, not 2, but 3 dogs going to the bathroom that we captured on video-haha!
Day 16 video:
Stats:
Reps: 36
% Success: 81%
1. Success. I left this training session feeling a little down. In retrospect, considering everything going on, it was more stressful and full of distractions than even a trial would be. It is good practice, but was disappointing as I wasn't happy with a lot of the ones that he did correctly.
2. Mistakes. His mistakes were also significantly worse than previously. On ALL of his misses, he missed by a lot. Didn't even come close to the yellow. When we pick back up it will definitely be at this height.
Day 15 video:
Stats:
Reps: 23
% Success: 88%
Thoughts:
1. Speed. He's really doing well with speed. I really like the way a lot of these look.
2. Treats. I think it's a good idea to start giving him extra treats for extra good ones (jackpot). Some of these are better than others.
3. Mistakes: Speed is a factor, and he again misses the first one.
-1:05 BIG mistake. I think it's the first really bad mistake in a while where he completely misses the yellow.
Day 16 was spent out at the field when there were about 5 other dogs on the field running, and several dogs just running and playing in the field next door. It was great practice for a trial-like scenario, but definitely proved to be difficult for Bentley's concentration. Please note that I had to edit not 1, not 2, but 3 dogs going to the bathroom that we captured on video-haha!
Day 16 video:
Stats:
Reps: 36
% Success: 81%
1. Success. I left this training session feeling a little down. In retrospect, considering everything going on, it was more stressful and full of distractions than even a trial would be. It is good practice, but was disappointing as I wasn't happy with a lot of the ones that he did correctly.
2. Mistakes. His mistakes were also significantly worse than previously. On ALL of his misses, he missed by a lot. Didn't even come close to the yellow. When we pick back up it will definitely be at this height.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Day 14
A little behind on posts (and on training days!). Day 14 was around 36"
Video
Stats:
Reps: 30
% Success: 80%
Thoughts:
1. Success Rate. Success rate isn't as high as I want it to be, so we'll be leaving it at this height.
2. Speed. In direct correlation with his success rate...we were literally sprinting in a lot of the repetitions. The last 3 times I was going as fast as I could go. He missed every single one of them. So I'd like to leave it at this height for him to learn to use his brain when he gets over excited. I am very proud though because his speed has increased tenfold. I've now clocked him between 2.1 and 3 seconds every time he runs.
3. Mistakes. I now find it helpful to determine why he's missed some of them. I've listed the reasons (or my thoughts on them) here:
-:03 He misses the first one. I think he didn't realize the new angle, because the next 5 or so are correct. We also started him on the full dogwalk rather than just the down board.
-:24 and :33 I specifically instructed my husband before this run to "run fast and rev him up ahead of time"
-1:27 and on...I am running as fast as I can. So the sprinting was hard for him.
Video
Stats:
Reps: 30
% Success: 80%
Thoughts:
1. Success Rate. Success rate isn't as high as I want it to be, so we'll be leaving it at this height.
2. Speed. In direct correlation with his success rate...we were literally sprinting in a lot of the repetitions. The last 3 times I was going as fast as I could go. He missed every single one of them. So I'd like to leave it at this height for him to learn to use his brain when he gets over excited. I am very proud though because his speed has increased tenfold. I've now clocked him between 2.1 and 3 seconds every time he runs.
3. Mistakes. I now find it helpful to determine why he's missed some of them. I've listed the reasons (or my thoughts on them) here:
-:03 He misses the first one. I think he didn't realize the new angle, because the next 5 or so are correct. We also started him on the full dogwalk rather than just the down board.
-:24 and :33 I specifically instructed my husband before this run to "run fast and rev him up ahead of time"
-1:27 and on...I am running as fast as I can. So the sprinting was hard for him.
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