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Where should I put the food dish for his reward target? I’m having a hard time picturing where it goes to help keep him straighter when approaching the plank/wing but after wrapping the wing.
Zig Zag 2 & Organizers on Wing – 10/18/22
I swapped out a jump for the ready jump since it’s a wingless and I thought that would work better than propping the bar on the base of the wing standard. Did his easier side and he had some issues. It was about 25deg this morning, but he was nicely warmed up from his walk right before this. I ended up needing to soften the angle to less than where I thought we were at before he went back to a nice bounce.
Organizers 3 – Wing
Did this in the evening and inside since it was dark outside. Other than confusion over how to continue around the wing when I was facing him, I thought this went well so moved him on through the steps and got him wrapping a wing to add speed.
Motion Override & Get on the Plank – 10/16/22
Got Dean to video the motion override on our walk today. Balanced with grabbing the frizzer from my hand since too much asking for a sit makes him start to slow down and anticipate.
I think I maybe should have let him settle more into the sit on the first 2reps before having him catch his reward.
Organizers- To the Plank – 10/16/22
I was using meatball pieces for his sitting on the Organizer/plank reward so I’m pretty pleased he kept his head. I was blocking some of the views of his nice & organized sits, but they looked good.For the Zig Zag, I’m wondering if he has a slight preference to me being on his right or if it is the lead change sequence of right to left that he likes. Tomorrow is a rest day from training.
Zig Zag 2 – 10/15/22
4in jumps, 4ft bars using 1 wing in the middle to get slightly shorter spacing.
I think he’s a bit more comfortable in the first direct (right then left), but it’s pretty close. He did sneak an extra stride on his first left to right, but then sorted it out on the 2nd rep to the dish and drove more with the moving targetI didn’t get video, but I did some motion override in the back yard during our Birthday Frizzer place session. He organizes pretty quickly into a sit when I am in a slow jog and also a fast walk with me swinging the frizzer around a bit.
I did make an edit to the earlier post so maybe that changes how you see it from your end? I’ll just throw everything into 1 post this time.
Moving Target – 10/13/22
No breaks from the sit this time and with a bit of toy movement the “get it” was clear. I switched to Break when I added the 8in jump. I did cut out 2 reps where I and him sitting off camera (whoops!) In one he leaned a bit and then straightened up without shifting his feet so I threw the toy back for him to catch.Foundation – Lead with the Head – 10/11/22
Kaladin picked this up quickly in Max Pup and he uses his head well when turning on course so we did a quick refresher yesterday morning.Get Organized- 10/13/22
Tossing food really ramps him up. I could have used more “sit” cues to help him when his feet were falling off the platform, but he figured out how to fix it.And I had trouble with the camera angle but he does sit tighter (under all the fur) when on the doughnut puzzle platform than on the flat
Thanks for the feedback on the zig zag. Did you see the post right before it where I uncovered some interesting stuff in the moving target?
Julie
Zig Zag 1 & 2 – 10/12/22
On the Flat: Started about 6ft apart and moved them down to 4ft.
Zig Zag 2 –
He did well with the zig zag from Max Pup but we haven’t done it much in the last few months (maybe at all?)
4in high. 4ft bars. Decided the overlapping wings made the distance a bit too far for him so rested the 2nd bar in the middle of the first jump’s wing. Played around a bit with it in the middle of the wing vs slightly closer.
Food dish target worked well to keep him looking down and forward.
That was odd -I remember only seeing 2 games in Foundations when I first went to look at it last night and now there are all of them! Good point on the jump distraction training. He has not had issues with bars at home or at trials. I’ll put that on the backburner for now.
Note new carpeted family room! Soon to be replaced by an actual indoor training space in the basement once I pick up the Agility Great Mats I ordered – Luckily they are made about 75min away in WI since they only ship via freight and the shipping was going to be more expensive than the cost of the 15 mats I needed.
Org 1 – Get Organized – 10/12/22
Well I had tossed my duct taped phone book before we moved, but my doughnut puzzle box with a yoga mat & duct tape worked well.His sit on the flat is not bad, especially right as he sits. Sometimes his hind feet start sliding a bit after he sits for a while. But I can see how he neatened it up with the organizer prop
Moving Target – 10/12/22
Did this one after work and it surprised me a bit. 1) apparently some confusion since get it was trained as me tossing the toy and grab it was for when it was in my hand. Dangling on the ground next to me, esp when still, confused him after the first rep unless I used Break too
2) Didn’t expect him to brake his sit when I first let the toy dangle down to the ground.
No problems with him focusing on the octopus toy!Tracy,
Thx for the responses.
I am not seeing the moving target game in the Foundations section. Is it somewhere else?
And the video for the 2 jump zig zag is for the 3 jumps. It was late so I didn’t check to see if the 3 jump video was the 2 jump or if the 2 jump is just MIA.Julie
Hi Tracy,
A couple of clarifying questions:
When you are doing the organizers work with the jump, are you saying “sit” each time the dog approaches the plank?
Does it matter whether your release out of the sit (on the plank) is a release cue (break) or a “get the cookie tossed in the dish” (eat it) cue?
Is the idea to go through all the jumping positions with the plank at a low height (I was thinking about 8in for Kaladin) including adding the motion and then circle back at a slightly higher height for all the jumping positions. Rinse & repeat?
Do you wait to fade the organizer until after you’ve gone up to his regular height? (You don’t fade at a lower height and then add back in when you move up in height do you?)
And I”m assuming it’s not a problem to continue to trial during this work since you are deliberately not using your jump verbals when working with the organizer!
Does it matter if you do both directions in a single session if it’s going well? (I’m assuming you may be doing 1 direction per session for clarity in the demo videos)And don’t worry – I’m not thinking I’m going to get that far all before the Open – I just want to know where I’m headed.
I think my goals for this class before the Open are:
1) Foundation work (lead with head & jump distraction proofing) which can be done concurrently with Organizers Steps 1 & 2
2) Start working through Organizers steps 3-7 at low height (8in). I’ll probably try a little bit of each spread out over different sessions to just touch on all the positions. Even if we don’t get too far, it’s good conditioning work
3) Zig Zag work (flatwork can be done on same day as organizers, but alternating sessions with the low jump organizers)I’ve also got to mix in an ISC & AKC Nov trial this weekend (1 day of each), UKI (with Ashley Deacon’s courses) at the end of the month, some RDW work and a bit of crazy weave entries while making sure I don’t overwork him or stress my calf which I strained a bit 2 weeks ago when I pushed my transition to xero-drop shoes a bit too much (back to the old ones until after the Open!)
Julie
I think he’s getting coaching from Min on his contacts. They were amazing at the USDAA Trial last weekend (He nailed every one and with deep hits) and in class on Tuesday, but in my training session at home early last week he was acting like he had no concept of striding through yellow on either DW or A-frame. Hopefully she’ll hang around longer until the habit is stronger.
Dr Julia Tomlinson had similar comments. We talked about his slightly concave jumping style (structural like Elektra), the force on his joints that multiplies when landing from a higher height, and that he is super-efficient about clearing the bar at either height and doesn’t have difficulty going back and forth between heights. She thought he looked good at 16, but better at 12. He is in good condition so she thought jumping him at 16 a while longer would be fine, but agreed that he would do well to move down sooner than I’ve moved other dogs who weren’t jumping their shoulder height.
I hadn’t planned on it, but I do think I want to run him at the Open this Fall. Adding in the fact that he has to think more at 16, I think I’ll definitely enter him at 12s even though he has a Masters bye at 16. Knowing that the jumping will be easy for him will make me feel more confident about taking him to such a large event when he’s barely 3. What I do for the 2023 Open is TBD. Since UKI does let you switch back and forth for the same titles, maybe I’ll see about getting 2023 byes at both heights to keep my options open. While I am a huge advocate for believing in your dog, I think the deck is stacked against him for international aspirations since he’s up against 17in BCs. (Plus he’s not going to fit under the seat on a plane).
Thanks for your input and vote of confidence.
Julie
Kaladin – jumping 12in vs 16in
I had been planning on posting this earlier, but then our lives got up-ended last week. It’s not class material, but I’d really appreciate your input. I’ve been thinking for a while about how long I want to keep Kaladin at his regular 16in jump height. He is 16in tall and while he looks good at 16 and we’ve worked hard on his jump grids, I know 12 is easier for him, especially if the course is more technical. He is more confident at 12 and faster. I am also concerned about how long his back is and whether that is an issue at the higher height even if I can keep his core in great shape. (and yes, I’ve sent the same videos to his Chiropractor/rehab vet)
What do you think? I tried to pull together some relatively recent videos where he was running a similar type of course at the 2 heights.
August Monica Bush “US Open Speedstakes Prep” seminar – 16in
First run of the morning – a flowing Speedstakes type course with some fancy stuff. Good footing on grass even if slightly wet in spots.
August Monica Bush Seminar – 12in – 2nd run so a different course but also generally flowing with some fancy stuff. A bit warmer but still nice. Grass has dried out. He’s still pretty fresh as the first session was just a one & done (video above)
USDAA Masters Jumpers from last Sunday – 16in -1rst run of the day on day 2 of the trial. Grass was wet so we were being conservative on the tighter turns.
USDAA Adv Snooker from last Sunday – 16in – 2nd run of the day on day 2 of the trial. Grass is still a bit damp, but footing is much better than when he ran Jumpers. Some backsides of jumps plus long running lines. (right before the video started, I had warned Dave Visniski that we were going to be running around the frame to 6 and our path was where he was standing.)
Fusion class 9/13 – 12in
2nd run of the evening. On Comfort King mats so you’ll see his stride collect more in spots so that he can keep his footing. (This was Min’s class, but he nailed the international-style course and will be staying in this class going forward)
Min & Kaladin – Games 5 – Seq 4
Snuck in the last sequence before I broke down the course so Dean could mow before we headed out of town.Min
She got up from her sit but I just had her sit again and kept going since 1) she is not usually pushy on a lead out and 2) she prefers a very short one or me running off the start with her.
She came inside the jump to the tunnel really well and then came right with me past it when I thought she had it and started moving on. Did the 2 jump layer for balance after and she does do well on a “go”. Jump is supposed to mean jump in extension and keep going but I don’t use it on every jump like that.
Kaladin
He is usually not pushy on the start either but I do like to have a strong leadout in the toolbox with him so we did work on it a bit.
We had been doing some weave gambles 2 days earlier and apparently he had weaves on the mind for the first rep. Got the tunnel but he was on a line for it after running back from left field and the weaves. Then we had trouble with the tunnel. I didn’t think his jump layer was so strong but it was stronger than a slightly late tunnel cue.
Min & Kaladin- Games 5 – Seq 3 &2 – 8/29/22
I blame the doubled up links on the sugar crash after all the food and mead at Renfest. (Video is above)Min
Tried the opening as a RC and as a threadle slice. She got the layer with less arm so I did part of sequence 2 again to see if she could do the layer right off the start too.
Kaladin
Decided to try less arm with him on the layered bits with him too
