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And here is us trying to do the second part of Sequence 2. We never actually got to the threadle skill itself because we got stuck on our arch nemesis – turning out of a tunnel. This has been getting better in some situations but this exact scenario is very hard still. I tried a couple of different things here. Moved the jump out, me getting closer to the exit of the tunnel and opening my shoulder to her. Some reps I didn’t show was me running the completely opposite direction and she still would just stay on the line blasting out of the tunnel.
Im behind I’m editing but finally caught up this past weekend. I worked some more on the sequence above but I’ll post that tomorrow so I don’t bombard you. However, I’m posting this one out of order because I need help. We worked some of the threadle exercises last week. This is the warm up/sequence 2a. We did pretty well on this but this is definitely something we’ve been working. She knows the skill but my handling has to be perfected on it with her.
Here is Sequence 3 from 4 corners. So for this sequence, she’s done this before when I’m trying to do a cross. I tried doing both a blind and a FC but the same thing happened. Am I too early? Or do I have to practice having her come into me on situations like that?
We started on some of the 4 corners sequencing tonight and it was really good information. Here is sequence 1 and 2. On Sequence 2 I thought I forgot to layer the tunnel the correct way so tried it the way I thought was correct on the next couple of reps. I think I confused myself. And we still had more startline problems tonight.
Here’s forward focus. She was really struggling with her startline here which she hasn’t done like this for quite a while. I’m chalking it up to being really excited to do something because she tagged along to the Midwest Cup this weekend and didn’t get to really do anything except cheerlead. She settled in as the exercise progressed though. We did the first four positions and then moved to the lateral positions too. In the past she has really struggled with the lateral positions so this was good practice for her. It might be hard to hear but I am giving her her cue of ‘Focus’.
I’m really bummed i couldn’t make it to the call tonight. I’ll have to watch the recording. Thanks for adding this as a class. It’s been really helpful. I’ll be signing up for CAMP to continue working on our teamwork. For Lu – next steps – just keep focusing on jump work like this? Are there additional steps to progress after to focus on for her too for the next couple of weeks?
<Was this the ‘later’ session, or the first session?,>
Sorry wasn’t clear. It was all just this one session. I meant that when she went back through the line of jumps she seemed to adjust and get it.
Today I moved the jumps slightly off the line. She had a harder time with this one but seemed to adjust when we went back to it later.
<Try to shift the focus of the session to getting reward in for finding jumps (rather than trying to get complete lines or sticking to a specific order of jumps). You can mix up when he get the reward (after 1 jump or after 2 jumps or 4 jumps then 1 jump etc)to make it exciting and keep her seeking out the jumps.>
Ok this is a great way to help me reframe it in my head!
<Stopping her for going around was frustrating for her, and you can see she was getting more unsure and actually froze up at 2:46 (this happened at the trial too)>
I actually hate doing this but I wasn’t sure what to do.
<So more reward for seeking out the jumps as you slow job around will be super – think of it as a higher speed lazy game 🙂>
Again so much better to reframe it this way in my head.
<Also – do you have access to any of those white accordion gates that we often see as ring gating at trials? Or know anyone who can loan them?>
Funny you should say that. I bought one specifically for her last year LOL. I was also thinking about adding additional wings to the sides of the jump if she was struggling with one.
<I think that has to do with jumping mechanics more than handling, so you can set up speed loops where you basically trot or jog along and reward her randomly for finding jumps. >
Since this is already set up in my yard I was going to practice it some more later this week and just set her up in different parts of the circle to change it up.
<Start with a lower bar if needed (and also keep pursuing xrays etc to make sure there is nothing going on – she is moving MUCH better on grass but still avoiding jumps so you will want to be sure you’ve looked at all the options).>
I did check with the person who has her littermate. They did xrays at 15 months and said he looked great. He does the same kind of things that Lu does but has improved with training. They have been working a lot on his fitness. I definitely will be getting xrays just for a baseline but I’m not sure if I want to do it separately or do it when I get her spayed. I always get nervous when dogs have to be put under.
<I agree that you don’t want any rehearsal and the other thing to note is that you can’t fix it in training on the mats either… you might end up just teaching her how to jump with poor/restricted form or frustrating her by stopping her a lot to bring her back to do things. She was getting a little stressed by that at the trial. So the only possibilities would be to see if you can wrap her feet over the pads enough that she has more grip and can move normally. And if not? You might need to find alternate winter training (turf for example) – even if it I less regular, it is better to have fewer sessions with good footing and mechanics than to have more sessions on poorer footing and rehearsals of unwanted mechanics.>
She just got into a class there but I don’t think it will be offered again – so only a couple more weeks of it. So I’ll try wrapping her pads more. Just to clarify, putting the wrap on her actual pads doesn’t make it slip? I’ll be sure to video with those sessions to see what you think. I’m so glad it’s summer!
I’ve already been thinking a lot about being very picky as to what judges I’ll show her under and what venues to run. Probably just UKI (judge and facility dependent) and ISC. She’s just very different from Emmie and the lines/spacing are going to be a very big deal for her.
One thing I’ve been struggling with is when to actually raise her bars up. I feel like I should raise them because she’s 2.5 and I want her to get used to the height she needs to actual jump. But at the same time she seems to be having a hard time figuring out her jumping in general. My goal this summer was to do a lot of jump grids/exercises to get her used to her actual height and get her stronger.
