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Here is Emmie’s first session on Lesson 3 Transition to Trials Instant Focus. I finally got to use that little wand thing that came with my first manners minder LOL. I first was going to do a nose touch but it was obviously much easier for her to do a paw touch so stuck with that instead. I didn’t really care where she was hitting it during this session as long as an attempt was being made.
Also, Julie came over to run some of the courses too. Instead of doing the entire lesson 3 standard course 2, I chose just to do the layering challenge to the weaves. It’s something I’ve wanted to work on a for a while so we focused on that. I ran Emmie first the from the side I felt was ‘easier’ for us. Then we tried the other side and aborted that lol. Kippy only made an attempt from the easier side. My question is, how would I break this down if I couldn’t get this? Like for example the attempt from the other side with Emmie? Distance type skills are something I’m not very confident in training.
Both dogs
And prior to running anything today, as a warm- up, I compared the wraps to the right and left from jumpers course 1 with both dogs. And you were right for both of them. Kippy was faster to the right by a bit (could be where I compared the videos because it was a tougher comparison for him). But for Emmie it seemed a pretty clear winner to go to the right. This is great info since so many coursed are starting like this now!
Kippy wrap comparison
Emmie wrap comparison
Here is lesson 3 jumpers course 3 with both dogs. When I looked at this course compared to the others this was my favorite course and I thought I’d be able to get it done pretty quick. However, I ended up splitting this over two days to get a couple more attempts at it (didn’t matter though lol). I ended up having a really hard time from 5-6 with both dogs. I got the off course tunnel (really disconnected on some of these) a few times and then if I could get a nice turn on 5 I overran 6 and gave a terrible line to 7 and 8.
Emmie
Kippy
Well. I will say I feel dumb now. When I wrote this post I was all wrapped up in how bad the weekend went and I hadn’t watched the instant focus games from lesson 3. Until today. This is exactly what Emmie needs. Duh. At least I’ll give myself some credit that I’m actually going back to review each of the transition to trial stuff that I hadn’t done yet LOL.
Here’s Lesson 3 Jumpers Course 2 with both dogs. I had a hard time with Kippy on this course from 8-9. Just couldn’t get figure out how to have him collect on 8. First time I tried an “in-in” which he executed beautifully on the jump that I was facing and not the one I meant LOL. Tried a different option second rep and same result. Had a bar down 3rd rep that interfered with him in that section. 4th rep accidentally slipped, creating a perfect collection cue and got it LOL. Emmie nailed it first try.
Kippy
Emmie
One thing to consider is turning her to her right over jump 1 rather than to her left – it is a better exit line to the right, less collection on the landing spot, and probably same or shorter yardage: so very well could be faster.
It could be the way I built it but turning to the left was the more direct route (less yardage) to the tunnel. But I am probably going to go look at it this afternoon and I might just do a quick comparison right to left on it for the collection part. I think those types of starts are hard for me to gauge the fastest route and if I actually compare it I might remember it better.
for the BC 6-7, so she was wide there based on your position. The ideal position/line of motion is right on her line, close to the 6 and 7
So with both dogs, I’ve played with this a bit and it comes down for me not trusting them enough. I have been waiting to see them taking the jump in my peripheral before making the turn for the BC. I didn’t think it made that much difference but watching the video it really makes both of the go a lot wider than what it seems when I’m running it.
The other option there, since you were able to get pretty far ahead, is to do a forced front or forced blind on the takeoff side (you had time to get there) and a throw back exit for a tight turn on the exit to the tunnel. I think that might be easier for you because it keeps you in motion the whole time!
This is an option I didn’t think of!
You had to do some serious hustle to get the BC before the weaves -I think you went too close to 14 at :36 then you had a footrace to get back – BC was a little late but you got it and he nailed the rest.
This was an ‘oh shit’ moment LOL.
On your next comparison courses, it would be fun to see what would happen when you control the turns with turn cues, versus when you just give the cues as early as humanly possible then move on to the next one, letting the dogs set themselves up to turn. The trend we are seeing is that if the cues are early, letting the dogs set it up themselves is faster. There are spots here and there that the dogs need some training on to be able to do that, but that is easy!
I think this would be fun to try. The comparisons are really interesting.
I’m finally caught up in my editing. Here is Sequences for Success Course 2 for both dogs. First link is all runs together. Second links are comparisons. This was actually our second attempt on this. I redid this after reading your comments about the wraps for Course 3 and not crouching into the jump as they don’t need it. For Kippy, the 180 was hard. I really liked the BC for him on that. Also the wrap was not executed very well. I know I could’ve done better and made it tighter but I didn’t want to do it again. For Emmie, I thought for sure the BC would be fastest. When I watched the 180/Serp I was totally in her way. But it almost seems like they are identical. Was I late on the BC? I compared the wrap to the BC for fun. It was pretty close!
Kippy all runs
Kippy serp vs. BC comparison
Emmie all runs
Emmie serp vs. BC comparison
Emmie BC vs. wrap comparison
The wrap in this situation was indeed the slowest, mainly because of the way the course was built from the utnnel to the wrap side of the backside (there was not a straight line). But if you do see a straight line to a wrap, it is worth considering because of how fast she can get to it and how well she can wrap.
Can you give an example of what you mean by straight line to a wrap? Do you mean like if she had to take the backside of the second jump in this sequence and then continue forward? In that situation consider both slice vs wrap because it could be similar for her?
Well I think I’ll go back and focus on the transition to trial games. In about two weeks we have an ISC Cup event that we are going to that she’s going to run jumpers in. I think it will be pretty small and it’s at a place that she’s trained at before (with the walls). However, it will be good practice anyway. We are in a seminar the weekend after at Animal Inn again. (I would practice there but the only people in the seminar are all her dog friends so it won’t be the same).
I’m behind in my editing. Still have another course to edit but I’ll probably add it tomorrow. Here is Sequences for Success Course 4 for both dogs. First links will be all course options together; second links will be comparisons. I did not compare the wraps to anything because it seems pretty apparent from the previous courses we’ve done those are pretty slow. Also it seemed to me that the Backside into a FC was faster so I compared that to a threadle. I was also super excited during his threadle run because he nailed that difficult threadle. So lots of cheering and clapping mid run lol.
Emmie all course options together
Emmie Threadle vs. backside comparison
Kippy all course options together
Kippy Backside into BC vs. Backside into FC comparison
Kippy Backside FC vs. Threadle Comparison
This past weekend was our first trial in a very long time. We had some good stuff and not so good stuff. If I remember correctly, Emmie has only been to a total of maybe 5 trials, but only three outdoor trials. The last two outdoor trials were at Animal Inn. It’s both a good and bad place for her to get experience. The trial area is fenced (the good part) but there are a lot of dogs on the outside of the fence that she can see. She’s got a very strong eye and does not like other dogs looking at her. She becomes comfortable with dogs she knows but will snark at other dogs if she doesn’t know them and they stare at her. I try to really pay attention by giving her a lot of space around other dogs but that’s not always easy at trials. I also tend to get nervous at trials so I’ve always warmed up my dogs and then put them back in the crate right before we are ready to run so I can obsess without the nerves going down the leash. This also helps to minimize all the dogs in her space. She was doing fairly well outside the ring for the most part because I can just feed her treats. But when we go in and are setting up on the startline she loses her focus to the dogs outside the ring. For most areas that we will trial in, this isn’t really going to be a big problem because there are gates/walls that she can’t see through and she’s’ been there a lot more training than other places. This weekend she did ok on a few runs but definitely was distracted. The last run of the weekend, a dog eyed her right before we went in. She was doing ok, but then I took the leash off to try to get her to focus more with me, she took off and ran the fence line after the dog. We left the ring and scratched the run. I would say this is probably my #1 thing I need to work on with her but really haven’t had much of an opportunity because I haven’t trialed. At home, she’s all business. I wanted to get a plan for her, for that few seconds in between going in the ring, taking off the leash, and setting up on the startline. As soon as she’s running, she’s usually very good. I was thinking of working on playing with her leash for set up and keeping it on until she sets fully. Then quickly run off the startline. Here’s an example of a different run that she ran beautifully, but definitely was distracted at the beginning. I can’t remember exactly but I’m fairly certain I’m telling her her set up words for the startline and she’s ignoring them. So I took off her leash to engage her better. I wanted to explain this to see which games would be best to help her. And maybe you have a different idea for this. Kippy went through this and things don’t bother him anymore so I’m hoping it will just be a learning curve as she learns to understand the game more but I really hate it.
Here is Lesson 2 Course 3 sequences for success for both dogs.
Kippy – the first link is the runs edited together. The second link is coach’s eye analysis. For Kippy I only compared the different backside routes.
Emmie – the first link is the runs edited together. Second link is the different backside comparisons. And the third link is the fastest backside route compared to a wrap just for fun. She had bars down in the wrap route but it was pretty hot/humid so I wasn’t going to fix anything.
Kippy all runs
Kippy backside comparison
Emmie all runs
Emmie backside comparison
Emmie fastest backside route vs. wrap comparison
