Cade and his 2x2 weaves

We have been working on the 2x2 weaves and we are now almost in a straight line.  He is doing really well with this.

watch this video of him working on it.

http://youtu.be/2LyrdBfBRpQ

Cade's first run over the plank

First the target in the yard and the front feet touch.  Cade has done pretty well with it.  We have practiced it some, but not obsessively.  We want to move on with our 2o2o, so here is a beginning to his learning about putting his front feet on the ground and his rear feet on the plank.

Video on Youtube

He is so bouncy that he has a hard time stopping.  I try to let him give me the behavior and i will click it, but I have to step in and just lure him into the position. We will continue to work it to see if he can give it to me without the lure.

I listened with the sound this time (Cade goes bonkers when I play a video, so I turn the sound down).  There is something going on here.
1. I could be crazy
2. I could be nervously clicking that clicker
3. The video is not synced right.

In any case, the clicking on this video is horrible.  I don't think I am that bad, but I am going to get some one to audit my clicking and make sure i am not doing 1 or 2.  If I am, then I am a crazy clicker and I need to throw it away and not use it. 

2x2 Weaves on the way

No video yet, just too hot to setup all the video equipment and to edit it small enough to upload.  Cade is doing great so far with his 2x2's.  He is on step 2-3 right now.  Today he did great with the angle almost straight, but when I got to the back side, he could not find it, so we went back to angle 2.  he was mildly successful with that.

Cade's Dog Walk and A Frame Beginnings

Here is the beginning of Cade's performance of the DW and AFrame.  He is learning to run over the DW and AF and stay on all the way on both.  Next thing will be his control point - a stop on the end of both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0APXmYHpfw

Here is a link to a video of Cade running his DW & AF

Cade is a big boy

We had a show n go July 2nd at our training arena and Cade did a few runs.  He was excellent on his SLS.  He jumped 8" and ran some lines that included sending out to a tunnel and back.  He had tons of fun and was such a big boy.

another try at the link

 http://youtu.be/L-zR9-wJR68

Cade - jump practice with toy June 21st

I worked with Cade first on his stay, then we worked sending him around a jump.  Then I wanted him to take the jump before him and go to the tunnel.  He likes going to the tunnel!  The final goal was to take the jump, look forward to the tunnel and then come out and take the jump before him.  We made some progress with it.  I then worked with him on working with a toy.  He got so focused on the toy when I picked it up that he would not take the jumps.  I worked with him some to get him to take the jump and then get the toy.  We will work more on this.  Here are the videos.

Work with jump plus tunnel, then jump-tunnel-jump



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-zR9-wJR68  

(this link did not become a hyperlink, so you will have to copy and paste it.  sorry)


Work with toy and jump

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNtI5cMxv0o

Final sit-stay for today

Cade 3rd Sit Stay training video

Cade 2nd sit/stay video

1st Video of sit-stay practice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzZxDE0ob7I




Video was too large for the blog site, so here it is on youtube.

Cade-sit stay practice or should I say PROGRESS!!!

At first I started out with a clicker.  NOT GOOD.  He reacts so excessively to the clicker and starts offering me behaviors so rapidly that I don't have time to click the right one.  Not good for a position I want to train to hold!
Then I changed to letting him figure out what I was treating him for.  That was better, but not the best. 
The next thing was a combination of Kristy's teaching on the start line stay that I used with Canon and the Mary Ellen Barry self control stay.  I would be holding a treat on my flat hand and if he moved toward the treat, I would close my hand to show him NO TREAT.  He is pretty good with this and I think if can be used to help him learn to stay.  That is what I ended up with and got to the point I could stay out two jumps and he would hold it.
Videos are in the next post

Sat. June 18th 2011 Dog Walk practice

I got the hoop up and put Cade on the end and let him run to the toy.  He is doing very well with this.  I moved him farther back on the DW and he ran well from the top and also the full length of the DW.  He liked doing this.

Cade - jump practice with toy

In this practice, we worked on getting Cade to jump over one jump to a toy placed on the other side.  He was able to do this pretty easily.  Then I added a second jump and he could not do this.  He would jump one jump and come back to me.  He would not go over two.  
I also worked on his stay by holding a treat in my hand and making him wait to get it until I released him with OK.  He was able to do it from about a foot away.  
We also worked on jumping forward to a jump and wrapping around and then I presented a toy so he would accelerate as he turned.  He did very well with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72zM6Azu8mM

Cade - jumps & tunnels

I setup a few jumps and tunnels to work with Cade.  We did pretty well and progressed nicely.  I am having to learn to cue him properly.  He goes forward nicely to a tunnel.  I like that!  He is very treat focused and sometimes runs to the treat in my hand.  He works things out and learns each session.  Nice job.  We start class next week!

Cade has a lesson in behavior!!!

Cade went with us as he always does to sit in the crate and play before and after Canon's lesson.  Well I asked if Elaine, the trainer could work with Cade a little and get us started on teaching him an effective sit/stay!  To this point, he was like a dog sitting on hot coals and would not hold anything but a minute.  She worked with him also on his barking and being obnoxious.  we will start him in the baby class in June.  I can't wait for that.

Friday May 6th Practice

It has rained for the past month, so we have been doing a little training inside.  We are working on Mary Ellen Barry's foundation skills.  It is going slowly.  :-| 
Tonight I setup some jumps, tunnels and the weaves and worked with Cade on all of them.  I worked on having him run with me and take jumps and then leave me and take a tunnel.  He did very well and has no trouble jumping or taking the tunnels.  He had great fun doing it.  He will not stay at all, in fact asking him to sit and stay produces this fabulous leap from his hind legs as I move away from him.  Wow, what a dynamo I have to work with.  I am going to have to start really working on a stay with him.

He followed my front crosses very well, but a rear cross into the tunnel caused him to back out and not take it.  He's such a baby still!  I have my channel weaves set at about 3 inches so he can run through them and not have to weave.  I have been working to get him to go in the correct entry.  I let him work it a few times and he actually did all six with some drive a few times.  He got pretty good doing 3 and would come out for the treat.  Today I gave him the treat, but as we practice, I will give it to him less and less until he knows to do all 6.  What a good boy!  I had to remove ALL toys from the premises.

Mon 3-28 Driving ahead

Fri 3-25 one jump, two jump, red jump blue jump! plus DW

I setup a jump, then blue tunnel, then a pinwheel of jumps.  I worked with Cade and he really has begun to take the jump on his own.  He stayed with it and took the jump on the pinwheel even if I was not right with him.  He had tons of fun.  I tried to do some front crosses in there too, just baby ones and had him return to my hand.
DW - we worked to get him to stand on the end of the DW and not fling about.  He did much better.  I did not click until he was static and then treated between his legs.  He did much better.  Then we had a big game of throwing the ball.  He LOVES to chase things I throw!

Wed 3-23 DW & 2 jumps and a tunnel

Cade worked into a pretty good 2o2o on his DW.  Video will be posted soon.  He also had tons of fun doing jump-tunnel-jump.  He thought the game was fun, but once the ball came out, he could not concentrate.

Fun day in the sun.

Tues 3-22 one jump two jump

Today we worked on one jump for a while to get him back going on jumping.  He did very well when I sat beside the jump.  When I stood up, it took him a bit longer to return to jumping with head down.  I began to toss the treat down to the ground to get what I wanted.   He got no treat if he knocked the bar.  Bar is set at 12".
Then I added the second jump.  If I toss the treat over the second jump, he will cheat and run around the jump.  So I ran with him and he did very well.  At first he was clingy and not sure of the game.  After we did it a few times, he was all over it.  I did it on both sides and he did great.  Tomorrow we will add a third obstacle, thinking maybe a short tunnel.  I did vary the jump from straight in line to an arch.  There was enough for two strides between the jumps for him.

Tues 3-8 Working one jump

Today I worked with Cade on one jump.  I sat with him and waited for him to offer the jump instead of luring him over.  He offered it before I got the treat and clicker ready!  He is working well with the one jump practice.  I also worked with him on forward sends where I stood beside him and sent him to the jump and he landed and returned to me.  He did very well on this on the left side and the right.  I then put the orange cone out about 3 feet from the jump and ran with him over the jump and then around the cone and then back over the jump.  He liked the energy of this exercise and a couple of times, I even was able to throw a toy as he was about to jump the last jump and he accelerated as he jumped.  Hope to do more of that with him.  Tomorrow we will work a jump plus one other thing.  Video to come.

Thurs. workout

Today, we tried to run the "J" of jumps again to see what we would get.  Well, I figured that Cade's new found abilities would get him pretty crazy and it did.  He wanted to run out for a toy more than he wanted to do my plan.  I kept working with him and we did chase the toy plenty.  I think when he has Momma outside without Canon, he does not quite know what to do!  He wants the toys to himself.  I'll post a video soon.

Mon & Tues

Monday was too rainy and wet to practice.  Tues, we setup a jump chute and tried to run through it to a toy, but Cade would not go through it.  He ran around the jumps and went straight to the toy.  I must have help with the jump chute.  After my meeting, we went to the park and he had so much fun running in the pasture.  He also jumped in the creek which was not over his head, just up to his belly.  Tomorrow we will work on his jump circle and running with me in a path.  We will see how he does with it this week.  He is getting some confidence now that he has done some training and he is getting pretty head strong.  Tomorrow!

Friday, Sat & Sun work

Friday, it rained so much we could not work outside.  Cade did get to play in the mud and he got all dirty and got the house all dirty!
Saturday - Cade got to go to Canon's group practice.  He had a big time running chasing a ball and also running through portions of the course.  He did a great job, taking what we learned this week and making it better.  He did a nice job.

Sunday - I am cleaning house, cooking treats and getting ready for the next week.  We will work our regimine again.  It may rain us out on Monday, but we will work something inside.

Thurs. - Table work

WARNING!!!!!  Video shows exactly how fat I got over the winter.  It has inspired me to quit eating and get to working out!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe3uhWLtzTI

Today I introduced Cade to the table and we played some table games.  He enjoyed it and did very well making progress with the game.  At first he did not jump onto the table (16").  He would lean over to grab the treat.  I was able to lure him to jump up on the table.  By the end of our session, I was throwing a treat off to the side and he would happily jump onto the table.  I did have him go down so he as a clue that we will be going there with the game.  It was a short session today because I was trying to get some work in before work and also between rain showers.  Tomorrow we will work on tunnels if it is not too muddy.

WED. work with Cade - Beginnings of Handler Focus/Object Focus

OK, not sure if what I am doing is the ultimate thing, but I'm working it out.  Cade sure is a great learner too.  I put the jumps in a large J shape and started with him on my right.  I held out a treat and ran along next to the jumps.  It took a few times of getting him to not run around the jumps, but in the end we put it all together.  I think he learned something and will be stronger on this next week.  I then tried to work the beginning of letting him jump away from me and get a toy.  I had him sit behind the jump.  It was hard for him to sit next to me.  He does not like to be too close to me.  I grabbed his collar and pulled his behind in to my leg and held him there while I threw the toy, then released him to go get it.  He did ok for the first time to do this.  We will both get better.  He had lots of fun.
The best part of our training today was that he went over the Dog Walk all the way.  He had to work up the nerve, but I put a trail of treats over the top and he soon figured out it was ok to walk up there.  He conquered a great fear for him today.  We will keep working on putting that fear long behind us.
I think the daily training is really something Cade likes.  When I first let him out this morning, he just stood at the bottom of the steps as if to say:  "Are you coming to play with me?"  I had to have my coffee first and then we went to play.  He does not ever want to stop.  I will post video as soon as I cut out the dead time.  Tomorrow we work on: Cues, stays, table work.

Feb. 22 - training shaping up

Trained Cade today on his jumping skills.  I had him doing beginning jumping while I sat beside the jump.  I wanted to get him to stay rounded as he jumped over and to begin to work on him learning "The bars stay up".  He did very well.  He worked with me and tried to understand what I was trying to do.  We also worked on forward sends around the jump.  He did pretty well with that also.
After jumping, we worked on his DW - 2o2o some.  He is afraid of going up the DW right now, so I worked with him to get him to climb up the dogwalk to rescue some steak up on the flat part.  It took some work and I had to pick him up to turn him around to exit.  I got a nice big plank and propped it up on the dogwalk stand and it is quite a bit lower than the DW.  he was happy to jump all over that and to run up and down.  I am going to have to work with him on something lower for a while.  He will get through this!  I'll post video later.
I have decided to try and work through skills every day to get them all in.
Monday - straight jump chute work, DW & AF
Tuesday - jumping skills with one jump
Wed - running with me (handler focus) over obstacles & running on own (obstacle focus)
Thurs - cues, stays, table work
Friday - tunnels, chutes, teeter
Sat. - weave work 2x2, crate games

I may opt to take a different day off besides Sunday, but we will see.  Hopefully this will be a great training regimen for us both.

Cade DW Training Feb. 21

I worked with Cade on his down contact on the DW today.  We are working on him running to the end of the plank and putting his feet off the DW.  I placed him up the down ramp and released him to a treat at the end.  He did fine until I tried to put him on the flat part of the DW.  He was all tensed up and afraid of the DW at that point.  I moved him back down and worked some on having him put his feet on the DW and getting him to walk up the ramp some.  As I was finishing editing the video clip, I went to check on him in the yard and he was at the top of the AFrame investigating everything below him.  Hum.  I think the DW must be a bit scary due to the fact that it is smaller maybe.  We are going to work from a board on the ground for a while along with what we are doing here. 

Cade Training Jump Chute

I worked on the jump chute with Cade today.  His first run is the best.  He was running to a ball placed at the end of the chute.  The last run through, I messed him up with my release.  Notice how he really extends on the last jump when he is getting close to the ball.  We will work this a couple of times a week.

Cade - First training on Crate Games

I started Crate Games today with Cade.  I had to wait until I had at least an hour of time to begin.  I think we did ok.  Kim and Susan, give your comments if you see something I can do better.

Stage1: open door without movement, treat high in back, build value for crate
Stage2: help Cade learn not to come out of the crate until asked to by building time with door open and movement.  Also proofing with leash
Stage3: Teach Cade to come out of the crate when given permission with release word "OK" and build value by rewarding for him going back in the crate.

We made progress and need to keep working on the release, building value and building consistency on the door opening.

I made a video after we had worked for about an hour.  The video is unedited, so you see it all.  It is a quick review of the stages.  I spared you the pain of the first hour of CG.  We are going to work other things on this beautiful Sat.

Vaccine today!!!!! Yikes

So far so good for Cade.  He did very well and passed the tests for immediate reactions.  We will now be watching and waiting for about 45 days to see how he does.  Main indications are:  endurance while training, energy level, disposition changes.

Hoping for the best, prepared if anything happens to jump on it.

Wild Ass - Jump Chute

I took Cade out to do a jump chute in the yard.  First discovery, I don't have jumps that will go to 8".  Mine go to 12" and up from there.  So I had to improvise and use jumps turned sideways and jump cups below the 12" bar.  It makes it hard to see in the video, but it is not that bad for the pup.  It actually makes a real chute to jump through.
Then I discovered that Cade had so much energy that he had been saving for the first sunny day that he was so wild I could not do much with him.  He finally settled down a little and worked with me.  My brother-in-law helped a little, but he is not used to dog training so he was mostly building drive in Cade.
This is two runs through the jump chute, the first run and the last one.  The first one, he does a really nice job with his feet.  Only problem is that I had the jumps too close together and he jumped two.  You can really see it in SloMo.  The last one I changed from going from person to person to going from me placing a toy out from the last jump and releasing him to the toy.  He could only do that after running through the jump chute several times so that he knew what I wanted.

We have a lot of work to do.  He is so wild and so fast!  Here we go.  I am hoping the weather will hold out.

First Post - Cade's Life

I am starting a blog today to document Cade's agility training and to keep up with what we are doing! Today it snowed 4 inches, so Cade got to play in the snow and run all over the yard. I worked most of the day, so that was his day. I am starting to plan for his daily training and playing because next week, it will be in the mid 60's, so we can get out and play.

I will be working these things:

running with full speed

jump chute
jump circle
jump hub
one jump - Mecklinberg

Dog Walk/ramp

wrapping poles