Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I see what you mean about the high arm. I am trying to pay attention to this. I wanted to try seq 3 before the course ended, so here it is. I walked it first with the threadle from 5-6 and then with the BC from 5-6. Then I ran it once with the threadle and once with the BC. I feel like I am planning better for the BC but I am still a little late. Buccleigh was hesitant to go from 6-7 on both runs and I am not quite sure why. On the second run he definitely looks towards the reward. In general, I am wondering if he is a little hesitant because I am asking for the start line stay. I don’t think he is confident with it yet and I think he might be a bit worried about making a mistake. He seemed to get more confident towards the end.
The threadle is a new skill we practiced over the last two weeks. How did it look to you?
Thank you for a great course. I still have lotss of material from the course that I will be working on over the next weeks. You have given me a good foundation to build on.Hi Tracy,
Here is pkg 5 seq 4. When I walked this, I had trouble figuring out how to send to the tunnels 3 and 6 and still keep my shoulder from rolling forward. Maybe it isn’t a problem? My connection after 6 was good on the first run but I think I was late with the push to 8. Then on the second run, I must have had a lapse in concentration so I was in the wrong place and totally lost connection after 6 and Buccleigh let me know it! I wanted to keep going but he was barking and dancing around. I was really happy that I could get him to sit and then continue. Was the timing of the cue for the push better here? We have been working on the start line and he was pretty successful here.
I am spending a lot of time reviewing the videos and trying to identify my errors so I can continue to learn after this course is complete. Please let me know if I identified the issues or missed any.
Thanks,
Kathy
This is sequence 2. I noticed that is has the blind cross like the first sequence so I decided to move on to it rather than repeating the first sequence. I showed the last two times I walked it. Total walking time was about 20 min. I included the first run which didn’t go too well. I think I needed better connection for jump 3 and I didn’t have it so he thought tunnel. I was watching him and tried to call him off and then we got stuck. I probably should have gone on but I couldn’t figure out where to go. Since he was stopped, I just elected to throw the treat and start again. He didn’t seem to get frustrated so we started again and it went pretty well. I felt like I was still late with the blind so we did the first part of the sequence again to see if I could get it in earlier. I think I did. The runs felt better than they have. During the walks I feel like I am getting better at figuring out where the dog is so I m feeling more confident when I run the dog. He was definitely less driven today (lower arousal?). I don’t know why. We are doing a series of stretches and conditioning exercises for about 10 minutes before we run. He likes the exercises but it is a different routine. I am also a little worried about getting the sequence right which is tempering my enthusiasm. I am going to try to exude confidence and excitement tomorrow and see what that does.:-)
Hi Tracy,
We have been busy with some fun trials. We tried Speedway which was a lot of fun. In some ways pretty challenging to remember the course when the only obstacle type is a tunnel and there are 5 of them. I think the course work was helpful and after we got the hang of it, Buccleigh had a really great last run. We were really connected and layering like pros!
We also saw the soft tissue canine PT and she was great. I think we are starting to get a clear understanding of the issue. Buccleigh has really tight Psoas muscles. She thinks that the one time he was limping immediately after a run that resolved within an hour was probably a muscle spasm. So we are now on a stretching and exercise regimen. He cleared for some jumping with low bars and weaves and contacts that aren’t stopped in moderation. This fits very well with me walking a lot and running him once or twice on the short exercise sequences.
Here is a video from yesterday. I walked both of these sequences for about 20 minutes the day before using the water bottles. I videoed everything and reviewed it. Then I walked again right before the run. That’s the video I am posting along with Buccleigh’s first and second run. Before I ran Buccleigh, I ran Keltie and it went well. Buccleigh’s first run was a little wild. I think he was too far on the high side of the arousal curve. I just kept running with him and ended on a high note after he choose the tunnel. Then I applied some of the focus exercises from your’s and Bobbi’s course for about 2 minutes. When he could sit on command we tried again and it was much better.
Not perfect but I was happy and so was he. Then we did two tries on the LIVE 4 seq A and that went well too. Best part is during our rental today, I walked a short novel sequence carefully and then ran both dogs and we did it! These are baby steps but it feels like progress.
This sounds like a good plan. Is it OK to try some of the sequences from the Live classes and video them? I went to the Monday session and I thought it was great. You have encouraged me to work on rear crosses for Buccleigh and I think these sequences would be good. I like the progression from less complicated to more complicated. I will try them with Keltie first. She is getting better at driving forward and she seems to get motivated if she has to run to catch up a little so these might work with her and I can practice the connection. She is also doing great with the layering and working a little further away from me. :-).
Hi Tracy,
The bottles make be a lot more aware of what my arms are doing. When I look at the video, I am not swooshing quite so much but I think I am still doing it between jumps 3 and 4 and maybe 5 and 6. I think my hand is sort of pointing at the dog rather than staying down and behind me.
I am really struggling with the connection especially when the sequence gets a little complicated. It is easier with Keltie, I think because she is a little slower and I have time to think.
I know I can practice more with the bottles, etc and without the dogs. Do you think it would be better if I use Keltie for the videos for your feedback? I feel like I am making so many mistakes with Buccleigh that he is getting really confused and frustrated. Would it make sense to focus on the more simple sequences with Buccleigh and then do the more complicated ones with Keltie? Or maybe I should just work with Keltie? I expect to continue working on all of this after the course is complete, I just need to figure out what is best to work on now and what I should save for later.
Buccleigh is feeling well. We have a appointment with a canine physical therapist (soft tissue) next Friday for an assessment.Hi Tracy,
I had some questions about your feedback specifically when you say I am too far or too deep into the box. Does these mean I am ending up more in the center of the box that is formed by the four jumps? I decided to rewalk the course using the noodle prop to help with my shoulders and correcting the box problem by staying closer to jump 4. I also tried to do a better job of visualizing my imaginary dog. I tried to let him move a little more independently of me rather than always keeping him by my side. I gave the real dogs the day off and they enjoyed a leisurely long walk in the woods with lots of sniffing.
Here is a video of my last two reps of the walk through. Please let me know if I have interpreted the box comment correctly. I added jump 6 which I followed with a front cross. I had trouble visualizing where the dog would be for that. I was trying to complete the cross before the take off for 6.
This is sequence 4 and as I was reviewing it to send, I realized that I skipped jump 6. I walked it without 6 and then ran it that way. Rather than do it over right away, I thought I would send it since I have a couple of questions. I am not sure of the name for what I did at jump 4, but the result was a wide turn after 4 going to 5. Both dogs did this and on the first run, Buccleigh almost took the 7,9 jump. That makes sense given the way my feet and body were facing there. What is a better way to handle this jump?
Buccleigh was slower than normal. After we finished this, I took him to a different part of the yard and we did some jumps with tunnels and even some weaves. He was much more enthusiastic about that compared to running this sequence. So, do dogs get bored repeating the same sequence? We have done this four times with variations. I am getting a vibe from him of “this, again?”. When something like this happens should I break it up with throwing some rewards maybe after the jumps he should be driving to?
I am thinking I would like to do this again and include Jump 6 but I would like him to be more enthusiastic.
In contrast, Keltie thinks this is great fun. She also has been clean on almost every run. Buccleigh hasn’t been. I have rewarded each run but maybe that’s not enough to over ride my confusing handling and the dropped bars? Is this a crazy way to be thinking?
You mentioned that jumps 1 and 2 were like a tunnel. What if I try it with a tunnel instead of jumps 1 and 2?
HinTracy,
I practiced the spin and I think I have it now. It is easier than the post turn.
We worked on seq 3 and 4 today. I have a video of seq 3 with Buccleigh. I think it went well. I looked at jump 2 in slow motion which he dropped in the first run in slow motion. It looks like he took off too early. Sometimes he plans better if I have better connection so that might be the problem In the second run he didn’t take jump 3. When I reviewed the video, it looks like he stumbled right before the jump. I don’t know if that is a legitimate reason for bypassing or if I should have taken another step towards the jump.
I am starting to notice my arms more. I really do like to fling them forward.When I reviewed the walk through for sequence 4, I felt I could do better. I kept changing my mind on the way to handle 4-7, so that I never practiced running the sequence. I am going to do it again later today when it cools off a little.
Hi Tracy,
The change in structure makes a lot of sense to me. When I think over the past, we almost always do worse if we immediately repeat a sequence, especially if we got it right the first time. So we will mix it up and see what happens.
The part about facing the jump also “feels” right to me. I will try to focus more on that the next time.
We will try this today and let you know how it goes.Here are the results from today
This is sequence 1 and 2. I walked each and just showed you the last couple of reps running. Then I ran Keltie and everything worked well with both sequences. The challenge was finding just the right speed and distance from her to encourage her to keep running. Then I ran Buccleigh. He was good on the first sequence. The second one was interesting so I didn’t cut anything. He came out sort of slow and not too interested. I played with him for a couple of seconds and then he was more engaged. We didn’t do quite as well. I think I am losing my concentration on keeping my my body organized when I have to think faster because of his speed. I was careful in not letting him escalate so I elected to try to get the last “spin” (which I need to review because I am pretty sure a spin is not the same as a postturn which is what I did) and then quit.
I like breaking it up like this. It is more like a trial and he does often come out subdued after his first run at a trial. It’s good to see that I can get him to engage pretty easily.
Kathy
Hi Tracy,
I tried the first three jumps and the tunnel in the package 2 jumper sequence 1. This is the same course in the last post and I just worked on the rear cross part. I planned and walked it and included that in the video. Buccleigh first run is at 1:48.I tried to set the line and then drive on the diagonal then cross behind.
The first run was great! Then when I tried it again it fell apart. It seemed like I had a connection for the first few seconds and then he was off and doing his course. Just before the second run he had a 1 minute barking meltdown and I cannot tell you what triggered it but it did trigger the neighbor to add some white noise to the environment. I tried three more times then decided to do some easy tunnels to see if i could decrease his frustration. We tried again and it wasn’t much better. So I was going to quit but on the way in he stopped and pooped so being somewhat curious to see if that might have been the issue I went back to the field and we did some focus games and tried again. I was able to get him to notice me this time with some verbal prompting and he was more settled although this could have been from the exercise. It seemed like a good place to stop and get some feedback. I am wondering if I might still be looking away from him sometime between 1 and 2. I tried not to but that is about where he starts to do his own thing. Next time, I think I should set the camera up so we are running towards it.
Hi Tracy,
I tried planning the walk through thinking more about where Buccleigh will be instead of where I want him to be. We used the pkg 2 jumper course 1. I did the walk through and recorded it. This part goes from 0-2:17. I felt that I was going to have a hard time staying ahead from 4-5 although it seemed like I should be able to do this. So I obsessed over this in the walk through from 2:17-2:44. This was actually almost 4 min but I sped it up. The first run is at 2:44-3:22. The starting sequence was good but he was way ahead after the tunnel. After that we kept going but I was not well connected and I felt like I forgot to cue the verbals and keep my shoulders parallel to the line. Buccleigh was a very good sport about it.
I rewalked the 4-5 tunnel to the jump with the plan of doing a rear. But when I tried to run this at 3:22 I couldn’t get the starting sequence any more. I am not sure why but he really thought I was asking him to take that off course jump. We tied this a couple of times. At 4:11 I started him on my right instead of on my left and this worked at least to the tunnel. Then I said tunnel again after he came out of the tunnel. and even though he was on his way to the jump he switched course and went right to the tunnel. I can’t fault him for that. After that he was convinced that was the way to go especially since I think my upper body was cuing the tunnel more that the jump. AT 4:57 we got it but it was not well done on my part. I think my upper body was still cuing tunnel and he was responding to all the verbals.
Buccleigh was trying hard and he was enthusiastic throughout. I didn’t do this very well. I don’t think I am very good at judging where he is going to be. Also I am not sure I know how my shoulders and upper body should be positioned when the dog is ahead. A rear cross would have been a much better choice for tunnel to jump 5 but I didn’t consider it. I am wondering if you think I should stop and look at the video after the first run and spend some more time planning. It might remind me to be more timely with my verbals and to keep my shoulders parallel to the line. I did like that we were able to do the behind the back start from both sides.
The video is long so I tried to give you times for the highlights. Here is a timeline of the highlights. Full walk through 1-2:17
First run 2:44-3:22
Trying to get the start sequence, dog on left 3:22-4:11
start sequence, dog on right and attempt at rear cross for jump 5 4:11-end.
I believe you when you say this will get easier with practice, but right now this is tough. I think I did OK with keeping it positive for Buccleigh. He seemed happy and willing throughout.Hi Tracy,
Keltie had an agility class last night and I did the walk through using the protocol including the running walk through. The instructor had the course set up like a T2B course and she timed the walk through to 8 minutes. We did great! Keltie had a clean run and she was speedy. I felt very focused during the walk through even with people bumping into me, etc. :-).This is elegant in its simplicity and something I have never considered.
“Bear in mind that he will not be behind you for that long so plan for him being ahead in the walk through. You were looking behind you in the walk through and the reality was that he was ahead of you almost immediately there. That changes the pace and timing of the opening, so definitely something to plan for when doing your next sequences/courses.”
I have been walking with the mindset of getting ahead and then doing damage control if he gets ahead. No wonder we are both getting frustrated!
I have renewed energy to work on the the verbal and layering skills. So segue to our first threadle wrap practice. The video is our entire practice. If you start at 2:17 you can watch the last 3 reps. We are at step one. I think I might progress too quickly with training these skills. What should I look for before we move to Step 2, step 3, etc. (I wish he would hold a sit like this when when we try to run a course. I wonder if he will have more difficulty when we switch to a jump instead of the wing?)
Hi Tracy,
Here is Buccleigh with sequence 1. I worked with Kim at my lesson on this one. When I tried this on Monday I was reacting to his speed by rolling my shoulder and chest forward and after two failed attempts at just the first 2 jumps we were getting very frustrated so I thought it was a good idea to stop. So this is the walk through with some interventions by Kim. We spent some time working on the backside at 5. I was nervous to try to put it all together but the planning worked and the last run was pretty good. We see the chiropractor tomorrow. He seems well but we aren’t doing anything except a few short sequences at 6′ jump heights and practicing starts until we see her.
This is Keltie with sequence 3. I walked the complete course twice, but we did spend 4 min. planning and practicing for the post turn. The first time I ran it with Keltie, I layered the tunnel since she really seemed to like that. I think my verbals might have been late since she was looking at me between the jumps. The second time I didn’t layer it, more because she really seemed to pick up speed when I ran with her and there didn’t seem to be an advantage to layer.
I like the walk through timing that you proposed in your last response. I used it with Keltie’s run but I didn’t have enough time for a last walk through at speed. I think I am getting better at saying the verbals during the practice walk throughs. I have the package 2 jumper course set up so I will try the full plan there.
Hi Tracy,
For jump 12 “So wrapping the other side of the backside would work a lot better there because she can jump 11 in extension, do a wrap on 12, then be back in extension to the tunnel. ” To make sure I understand this, the dog would be on my right for jump 10 and 11, then I would push her to the backside of the right wing of 12 and she would wrap the wing and I could pick her up on either my right or left to send her into the tunnel. That does sound easier.
We had some rental time today and worked on ESC first run, best run. I didn’t realize how quiet I was on the walk through so I am going to practice being louder. We were also out of time to I scimped a little on the walk through so i reverted back to sequence 1 for 9, 10, and 11. I wanted to share this even if it wasn’t perfect because I did use my verbals more consistently and loudly and I also chose to layer the tunnel. Keltie seemed to like both of these and responded by running pretty fast. I was surprised and happy. On the second run she ran into the tunnel after 3. My guess is I was late on the front cross and she was definitely moving faster. I got the turn on the second try but it was pretty wide so I am sure I could be doing something different there. When I try this again after your feedback, I will do 9-11 properly. I a curious to see if she continues to get excited by the verbals and the layering.
