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We’re still here! A couple of big learnings from the Walk Through work…. I’ve actually got tons of video, just never got any of it edited and shared. Short summary of what I learned….two significant opportunities for improvement both happen right at the start. What I discovered was that even though I walked a “conservative” lead out, I still released him before I got to my walked start position so we started out “off plan” almost every single time. Depending on the sequence we could usually “catch up” in 2 or 3 obstacles and once we “caught up” the walk and the run were for the most part pretty close. But if the sequence required some handling that needed to be pretty precise or if it was something I wasn’t totally fluent with it frequently all fell apart. The other thing I have figured out is that there’s a bunch of stuff that happens at the start that causes me to split my focus….take off his leash, where’s the leash runner, throw the leash in their general direction, don’t hit them with it, make sure it’s off the dog’s path, did the timer say Go, is the dog leaving really under control….. I lose some of the connection with Sly and don’t always get it back before starting my lead out, he gets concerned, I release early. We’ve been working Startline with a whole new perspective of the pressures… normally I almost never have his leash on when training so we’re doing sessions where we walk to first obstacle on leash, take leash off, look around, throw leash, look around like I’m looking at timer, figuring out how to make sure we are both connected before leading out. Anyway…..it’s been a really good recognition for me of something that I kinda knew was a concern, that I guess I just wanted to ignore/work around cause, well it’s not fun training like Threadle wraps at a distance 😉
We did play with the 4 corners handling skill…….the video is 3 sessions over a couple of days almost 2 weeks ago!
Oh yeah!……. The more “SLYS”, the closer the train is to coming completely off the tracks! I end up in a place where a “disconnect” turns into a Sly which creates the next disconnect and so on and so on………if we get to a place on a course where I get a chance to “catch up mentally” like weaves, seesaw then we can smooth things back out. But it really all depends on whether or not I had the course and the handling in my head or not. I used to say that if I had a course really in my head, I could frequently run it without walking it, but I could walk a thousand times but if I didn’t have it in my head, it was 50/50 at best of running it well. A lot of that ability I’m sure depends on how distracted I am before the run…..I really need to be 100% focused on Sly, the course, my plan etc. these days……can’t chitchat ahead of time and go out and get it done anymore. Anyway…….I totally agree that running more double whammys will help with all of that! I’m going to have to make myself do that though as my MOST favorite thing about agility these days is short, difficult sequences and playing with all the possible handling options 🙂 GEEK OUT!
Here’s Double Whammy #3, we did this on Friday. Focus on staying connected, not using his name (which if I do the connection part well just happens). In this sequence I do intentionally use his name on entrance to the tunnel as I want him to know the next obstacle is not the jump he sees on exit but the backside of that jump. I don’t particularly like my handling choices here…..seems like layering the middle jump put me in a hard spot for the threadle wrap….but we did stay with it and get it done!
Sequences 1 and 2 from Double Whammy 🙂 We did 1 on Monday and 2 on Tuesday, the videos are the whole session for both of them. The first attempt at the Double with Sequence 1 was really typical of what happens when “things start to go wrong” – I can usually keep it together enough to get through but my timing and connection go to sh__ and the bars start to come down. I get in my head about OMG, what’s next and forget that poor Sly is there trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing! Clearly, my plan for the transition from the first round to the 2nd wasn’t “walked enough” and that was the beginning of OMG…..where are we and what are we doing?!?!?
Sequence 2 the next day was more like I’d like to run all the time 🙂
Sequence 1
Sequence 2
> The outside arm up pretty high and pointing to the wing of where you want him to go should shift him out to stay on the line but shouldn’t turn him away. The flip away arm cues are lower and have more of a ‘stirring the cauldron’ motion >
…..Yes, I’m willing to bet that when I get what I don’t expect with these that my arms are in sort of halfy-halfy land, not high, not low….just flingy 🙂Before we took the Jumpers PopOut setup down, we played with Sequence 3 – I really focused on my handling from 2 to 3…..better but I really have to think about it. Forgot to try it bringing up my outside arm, I do think that might make it a little easier, but it also might flip him away? Totally missed the difference in the dog’s line from the weaves to the 2 jumps to the backside in this sequence from the line of 1, 2, 3 in the Sequence 1. This sequence really set the line to the backside of the second jump 🙂 And Sly said “I got it”
> the current course trend involves a combination of “stay on your line until further notice, do not come in towards me unless I cue it” and “trust there will be an obstacle on that line eventually” >
…..Any suggestions for working on the “there will be an obstacle on that line eventually part”? Sly’s gotten very good at staying on the line and looking for the next obstacle even when it is pretty far away and with a layer – like the classic – weaves way out there out of a tunnel under the dogwalk. As I think about it these are generally fairly straight lines, or slight curves. The one in this sequence really is one we need some more work on so any exercises you have would be great. And we got to work on it again (especially my handling part in Sequence 3 🙂 )
Thought about a threadle wrap…… I had to take this down today but I’m pretty sure that sometime in the future it’s going to come back out so I can play with it some more – it’s one of those setups that there’s so much to do with 🙂
> At 2 on the first run, you did a FC and that worked well – you can probably send him to it without passing the weaves, so you don’t have to run back at all. >
……. Agree…..> At 2 on the 2nd run, the post turn creates a bit of a wide turn. When I timed that section in isolation, that is where the time difference came from. You can do a spin there to tighten it right up so that option is as fast as the previous option! >
….. I actually did try it with a spin, but it seemed like it tightened him so much that I had to kcik him back out to get the weaves which is why I gave it a try with the Post Turn. I think I still have that on video, I’ll have to see if I can find it.These are our best 2 runs from Sequence 2 from Package 1’s Jumpers PopOut. We played with it in several short sessions on Monday and Tuesday with lots of video, instead of editing it all I just grabbed the final 2 of each way we tried it.
> So I think really cranking up the connection and acceleration and GO verbals when he is at the previous jump will set the line better – plus you can add in the outside arm too! Pointing the outside arm ahead of him (while still connecting) can really exaggerate the shoulders showing the line into the layering (and past the weaves) because yes – it is really hard to see that darned jump!>
Yes! But boy it takes a lot of thought to get all of that together in this particular sequence. The fact that he can’t see the jump on the line until he makes the turn around the end of the weaves is really hard. I’m thinking there’s a skill here of “trust the line even if you don’t see a thing to do?” We’ve really worked on the concept of look “far” to find the next thing….but here there is no next thing?
Well, we get another chance to work on this is Sequence 3 🙂 Hopefully a little later today.
We’re still here! I setup the PopOuts from Package 1 over a week ago, played with Sequence 1 from the Jumpers last Monday and Tuesday, finally edited the videos (edited and combined from 2 maybe 3 different sessions) and here it is 🙂
This setup is awesome! I could leave it up for a month. Requires lots of the skills and good timing and application of the handling – great training for me. Correct connection and put my distance in the right place and we can do almost anything 🙂 Lots of that learning here for me. I was pleasantly surprised how easy the backside was at 3 (if I cued early and watched my dog, a good verbal was really important here), I was also surprised at how difficult it was to get the layer to the closing 2 jumps. Didn’t recognize how not visible the next to the last jump was for the dog. Hope all is well in your part of the World – been hotter than Hades up here in Maine.
All 8 sequences in the first Handling Skills Challenge. We were able to roll through all of these pretty much one and done 😊 We did have one dropped bar at #2 in one of the first 4 sequences.. I got in my head and ahead of myself thinking about the blind. Did a few of them a second time just to be sure I could repeat. One rep of each one in the video…
Played with the 4 combinations for Sequence 2 from Week 4, German to a Front, German to a Blind and then Blind to Threadle Slice to both a front and a blind. The video is the best (fastest) of each. This time I timed from tunnel exit to tunnel entrance. I suspect that “perfectly” handled all 4 could be equally fast. For us the German was easier to execute consistently than the blind to the Threadle slice. And the German seemed to get easier commitment to the #5 jump which made it easier to get across for either cross from 6 to 7. SO many little things that could make the difference of a .1 of a second or 2….. This was fun! Thanks again for offering this class, looking forward to Summer Camp ☺️
Opted to setup the 2nd setup from Week 4…..
Sequence 1
Didn’t realize how much I was pausing on the German until I edited the video……maybe because I didn’t have anywhere to go?
Sequence 2….
I geeked out with getting the FC from 6 to 7……I really don’t like fronts – definitely not my strong suit! Once again Connection for the Win! Did it with a German at 4 and with a takeoff side blind at 4. I actually think it was easier to get to position for the front from the German. I think my direction of motion off the TSB got earlier commitment to 5 and 6 from Sly than did the German. If you’d have asked me before I did this I would’ve said that the TSB would’ve gotten me there easier. I then geeked out with time….from middle of first jump to first foot out the tunnel. Not sure it really tells me much other than the overriding factor is creating a good turn at 6. Hope to play with a blind from 6 to 7 tomorrow… Hmmm….4 options to geek out with…..1) German to front, 2) German to Blind, 3) TSB to front and 4) TSB to blind. This is going to be fun!!!!
……………which is hilarious because when I started agility I was told that blind crosses would ruin my dog
I’ve been around long enough that I originally learned them from Linda Mecklenburg at a seminar at Merryfield Farms 🙂 Before they would ruin your dog…..the first time 🙂 I am convinced that blinds are the only reason my first agility dog, Bailey – 14″ tall Cocker that had to jump 18″ for most of her life was able to finally get the Masters Jumpers Q for her MAD 🙂………….part of it was that he probably needed to shift to a right lead to find the line to the jump, which needs to be cued.
YES! I never recognized that a lead change was needed here….. I recognized that the distance and the angle and all that was going to make it one of those that wasn’t a gimme but I didn’t grasp how hard it was going to be at all. Now I’m going to have to watch the videos (maybe see if I can do a screen capture and find the lead change). Is it one of those lines that if he knows it early enough that he can actually make the lead change on exit of tunnel? Hmmm, maybe saying Jump would help that 🙂…………Be sure to use the opposite arm across your torso to show that exit line connection. You were using the dog-side arm, which is why it took him a few extra strides to see it.
Yes, again! I tend to only bring up that opposite arm when I need really strong connection, mostly threadles – Well, duh, this does need that level of connection, doesn’t it? And it is technically a threadle 🙂Haven’t decided which setup from Week 4 I’m going to play with first…they both look wicked fun! Safe travels, have a great weekend!
