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Hi Tracy,
Here is our first Double Whammy. We ran it twice. On the first run, he dropped the #7 bar, I think because he didn’t realize that I was going in for the FC until he was in the air. I tried to be more timely for the next run. The second run was fine. 😊
Barb
Hi Tracy,
I think: “Good dog, Enzo!”. Thanks for all the detailed review! I’m off to play on the Double Whammys! Hopefully tomorrow.
Barb
Hi Tracy,
On course #2 – I hope in real life that I would have put in more time studying the map. That would make an 8-minute walk-through feasible. I haven’t had time to study your response but I will later tonight.
Moving right along…
Wow – look at the Michigan weather. It’s damp, rainy and cool. How extremely nice especially after our July in H##L.
Run #3 was a blend; not quite as nice as the first one but not the train wreck (goat rodeo) of run #2. 😊
I was concerned about getting the correct tunnel entrance at #5 but I figured I would just run hard and show the line. That worked brilliantly. In fact, I was very happy with our run through the teeter (and it was an “ok” teeter). However, the blind at 13 was late and that basically carried through until the crash at 16, et cetera.
I did not walk a RC at 13 on the original walk-through because I wanted to be aggressive and commit to the BC. Well, it just wasn’t there, so I rewalked it with the RC and it went just fine (except the teeter which sucked – however we are still at baby stages with all the contacts).
I was determined not to “over walk” the course this time. One thing I did was study the map and have a good tentative plan before I walked. Since I didn’t have a watch, I just guessed. Turns out to have been about 6:40 which is a dramatic improvement over 9+.
Walk: https://youtu.be/bdLWnJypyts
Run: https://youtu.be/XJ4r97eFP68
Thanks,
Barbps:
I was able to make a bit of time to do a real review of your comments on Master’s run #2.
Your first comment is contrasting the throwback/spin on #3 versus a threadle forward exit. Or, I could even have done a simple forced front without the Jaako exit. I agree that my choice was too tight; not sure why I didn’t consider either of the others.
I’m sorry I didn’t setup 7-8 correctly. I saw approximately what the course was and got all excited to do the thing I did. Oops.
I think the comment about the way I did the BC through 12-13 is giving me more credit for planning than I can do. Just getting there on time was the goal (fail).
And another course build mistake at 17! Yikes. <sigh>
For the runs, yes, I was THRILLED with how well he took the tunnel verbals; both of them, both times.
Well, we all know about 13. The handling on 14 was kind of a shot in the dark. My friend, Andrea’s dog does this really well and I thought I’d try it. Worked much better than I expected.
And once you are in the bumpy water, it is really hard to recover!
Thanks for the detailed review!
Barb
Hi Tracy,
Yes, so happy with run #1. 😊 I actually expected 9-10-11 to go very much as they did: he exited the tunnel in time to see me moving across the #10 bar. I thought that would/did work better than if I had already been in place calling him. At the very end, I was so happy with how the wrap at #15 worked (I don’t have much confidence in our wraps) that I lost concentration and couldn’t find the teeter. The verbal saved me since I didn’t show him the line to the teeter. Good dog!
Here is master’s course #2. Not quite as well done as #1. One thing I learned is he needs some training in following my hand. If I drop my hand and look at it, I expect him to come in to my hand and follow it. He doesn’t appear to know that (6-7-8). Easy enough to work on.
There is an enormous long walk, mostly while I figured out 13-18. Then 2 runs. He was totally brilliant on 9-10-11: so proud!
Walk: https://youtu.be/6eYVViFd8Co
Run: https://youtu.be/UrWCTAk5oG8
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
“…when you are planning a FC or BC, strategizing how to get there so he sees you in position and slowing down, rather than accelerating to get to the position for the cross…”
Well, yes – that would be true! And I really should know that. 😊
Moving along to the course work. I waited and waited for the ground to dry up a bit. Then, of course, the sun came out and it got quite hot.
I studied this course on the map for quite a while and had most of my decisions made (or mostly made) before the run.
– For #3, I knew both dog path and handling and had only to confirm it.
– For #10, I knew which dog path I wanted but had to work through to get the correct handling.
– For #15, I wanted the slice and it would have been correct for an older, more experienced dog but, as I walked, I became quite confident that I couldn’t make it happen for the “Barb and Enzo” team. So I put in the wrap.
– At the #11-#12 threadle, I thought about your advice to collect him before the threadle but couldn’t really think of any appropriate handling to make that happen, so, again, I depended on the verbal cue.Then he nailed it on the first run. I was delighted.
Look, here is a fun idea:
Walk: https://youtu.be/a39G-O3FpRI
Run: https://youtu.be/JqsnewLBDNk
Thanks,
BarbAnd here is #3.
With 2 choices (#2 and #9), I actually used up slightly more than 8 minutes on the walk.
Run #1 was okay but not smooth on the 8-9-10 line. I rewalked it and run #2 was lovely.And, BTW, the sun is NOT out, the temperature is only 79 and it was very pleasant playing outside with the dogs today. 😊
Thanks,
BarbHi Again,
Here is #2, it went much better. I remembered to “pre-cue” the #4 backside and that went very well. Actually, I was happy with the whole thing. Added the weaves (which just happened to be there) as a reward. 😉
Barb
Hi Tracy,
Here is our first try on master’s sequence #1. I walked it for 3 minutes and then warmed Enzo up and ran it. I think the issue here is not so much that I didn’t walk it “properly” but that I don’t yet know how to walk it for Enzo. The way I walked it would have been fine for Lollie or Patt but it turned out not to be what Enzo needed.
1. Basically a disaster. He blasted out of the tunnel, over the jump and into the next county, trying to call him over #5 was just silly; then he saw his beloved weaves and ran off; eventually we finished up. (play/praise cut out of video)
2. Using the same handling (as run #1 NOT as walked, see below), I managed to get him through the course. He was still wide at 4 and that made him wide at 5. (play/praise cut out of video)
Then I walked to the mic to describe the new handling idea.
3. This went much, much better through the problem area (4-5-6) but I forgot that the course didn’t end it at 9 (so that turn was the worst turn 9-10 of the 3).
But, wait, things are not going well in the VanEseltine household today. The internet is crawling, so slow! And I’m waiting and my mail isn’t coming through and I had to toto (turn off / turn on). At any rate, I watched my original walkthrough for the 100th time and realized I hadn’t executed it even once. When Enzo came blasting out of the tunnel, I didn’t “catch” him on the FC; I immediately switched to a post turn and a disaster. Then I changed the handling but never actually ran my original handling plan. So, here that is. It worked ok. Surprise, surprise.
I guess I should say that I do not generally “commit” to my handling plan. I often change it in the heat of the moment. Of course, I would prefer to have my runs look more like my walkthroughs. 😊
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
So here is the “real” zigzag session (the Friday session). We did do a bit of “reading” as well as the regular 5 and backside 3.
Although it is outside, I don’t know how “good” a surface we have. Michigan is desperate for rain and the ground is dry and very hard.
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
This is from Tuesday. We wanted to move it outside as much as possible. Looks pretty nice. I’ll do another one tomorrow (Friday).
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
First off: hurrah! You condensed the course maps to just 2 pages. A real improvement – thanks!
It really cracks me up that this is your favorite part of the course, since it is my least favorite. Walk-throughs. One suggestion: in the beginning of the walk-through demo video, could you show the course map. That would have really helped me.
Well, if the weather holds, I’ll try to get some of the sequences done tomorrow!
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
Yes, even though I haven’t been doing agility that long, I have managed to be exposed (mostly via seminars) to a lot of the people. I had a brief chat with LM at a trial once. We were standing around and watched a team have a complete train wreck; one of those where the dog was doing exactly as asked and the handler got mad because it wasn’t what she wanted (it was really sad). As that was concluding I said something to her about how much I appreciated that she figured it out and shared it. Her commend was along the lines of: I wanted to help the dogs because so many people didn’t understand how they were responding to the handler.
And another thing, as I just shared that story I realized that it has been YEARS since I heard someone come out of the ring blaming their dog. We have a pretty strong culture in Michigan of apologizing to the dog as we leave the ring (when things go bad).
Interesting that Nicola Giraudi and I invented the same thing. (snicker) He designed the UKI courses back in late May. They were very nice, as I recall.
I really like hearing people talk about training and what they are thinking about. Makes it fun.
Thanks,
BarbHi Tracy,
You can always have more coffee!
But, yes, this makes lots more sense.
To translate into acceptable instructions…
Continue front-side zigzag drill with 5 jumps at 14. Start him close enough so that he jumps out of the sit without the extra stride. This is mostly maintenance unless something starts to go bad.
Continue with the 10,14,14 pattern looking for (what?) Since he needs to get around the jump, he can’t go directly out of the sit, so looking for smoothness? Minimal strides into it?
We’re getting closer…
Thanks!!
BarbTracy,
I think I can follow your instructions but I don’t understand the objective of the backside start. What you wrote when we first added it was:
“So… on 3 jumps: Send him in as a backside send to the first jump (10″ to start, just to set up success).”But I don’t understand how that sets up success. Similarly, I don’t understand why I should start him so he bounces into the grid. Why not start further back and let him figure out his striding into it? How would I know where to start him?
For example, in the most recent video, I started off with him quite close (:00 :05). For the next rep, he was clearly set further back because he was more extended into the first jump, but, was that a good thing or a bad thing (I feel like Glinda: “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”)?
When I consider the backside starts (:17, :21, :25) and compare how he jumps #’s 2 and 3, I don’t see a difference to the frontside starts (:29, :34) jumps 2 and 3. <sigh>
Also, I thought the objective was to eventually get to full height (20”). Based on your advice to take this into maintenance mode, I guess not…
Also, we had been saying to only do this once a week. If we are going to twice a week, does that mean he is doing better?
So confused.
Thanks (sorry),
BarbHi Tracy,
Glad you liked the BC from 3 to 4. Probably not my “go to” move but I didn’t see any other way to get downstream, so we went for it. Also, I was further away from 2 on a move that was mostly a forced front but, again, necessity is the mother. Anyway, after the bath we took on course #2, it is nice for you to find the good things on this course.
Oh yes, that RC at :21 was definitely in the plan! I thought he was already going long at 9 and the BC would make that worse. (I said “I thought” not that it necessarily would. 😊 ). And once you let a RC slip into your handling, you are probably behind for a good long time. Still, I was very surprised that he curled in on #13. Even looking at it now, I expect him to honor the pressure.
On the closing line, I wanted to run it clean (time, heat, tired) and so I was more careful on the threadle than I might be. I will try to work on getting more independence on those. A tremendous amount of our work is still “motion based”* versus trained. And most of it will be forever.
What a lovely review! And, I guess I know what to put on my homework list. 😊
Thanks,
BarbPs: The phrase “motion based” was used as a slur describing Linda’s handling system; I think it was Bud Houston but I could be mistaken. I tend to use it when I want to remind myself that motion IS the most powerful cue. And if you want to go counter to motion, you had better put in the training time.
