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Thank you very much for the videos of your RDW. I can definitely see the results of the leaping over the apex – so cool! I will have to consider the regulators.
<<You’ve had two dogs where running contact training went smoothly? That is impressive.>>
Well, yes, the truth is that other than being able to get two agility CH’s on a highly reactive dog this is my proudest achievement is having great running contacts. But I was *meticulous* and did huge amounts of groundwork and prevented mistakes SO HARD. I don’t know if you remember a famous competitor Ali Roukas-Canova but she had a running contacts video and I just thought once that what the heck I’ll try that (quite long ago!) but if I was going to do it I would be very literal in applying the method and see what happened. I figured if it didn’t work out it would be way easier to go to stopped contacts. But it worked!
I don’t have a lot of bit agility accomplishments to my name, but this is the one thing I can call mine that I actually did well. I have to hang on that when I think about how many other things I have messed up! Ha!
I never needed the regulators before because Emmett in particular you could absolutely see how he’d regulate his own stride to get feet in the yellow specifically between the last two slats. It was actually the coolest thing to see in slow-mo how he’d adjust his own stride to hit the right spot. It’s my only claim to fame that no one remembers. LOL
Here are a few fun videos of that:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19RPH6h5o8/
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CfC4hdUBw/But this time, I admit I spent less time on the groundwork hit the target *at higher speed* and I’m wondering if that is part of why it’s less fluent at this point. I may go back and work that because it can be pretty fun too.
Regarding the weaves… I did the experiment with the poles in class last night and I am thinking it might be the bases after all. At Fusion they have the competition poles with the legs in completely different spots than my set of 2×2’s at home. And while he does sometimes get it at Fusion and quite 99% of the time so far at On the Run (who I assume have the same competition set from what I recall) it makes more sense to me that it’s the legs vs. pole color given last night’s test.
Here’s some video:
I hate to paint my pretty aluminum bases at home green, but am thinking I might need to do that! Then I’ll have to paint them tan to match my downstairs carpet in the winter. LOL! But what do you think? Any other experiments I should try? Or how to resolve? For example, he’s never seen guide wires, but should I try that?
Thanks!
KristinFirst, I hope you are doing okay-looks like it’s been a really tough week. Hang in there.
<<He was looking at you on the RDW – he might need a focal point to drive to, that is not the TnT 🙂 It can be a jump wing or something that he can lock onto so he accelerates down the ramp and off it (while still maintaining criteria, of course :))>>
Yes, I do think he’s ready for moving some jumps after the DW. I’ve been doing that on the flat with the target and it’s being going pretty well, so thanks for the nudge to get that worked into the practice.<<I think the noisiest part might have been the center ramp of the DW moving?>> Yes for sure the DW was making noise and I was surprised at that because it’s not done that before that I ever remember. Even as of last week when I had it in a different part of the yard it wasn’t doing it, so I do have to check out what the rattling is really about.
<<Have you ever used stride regulators? He is being careful to get criteria, but you can use stride regulators to get him extending even more and then still getting criteria.>>
I have not used stride regulators before and admit I’m not really how to use them in this case. I’ll also acknowledge that this running contact training isn’t going quite as smoothly as the past two times I’ve trained it with my other dogs so I probably need to learn some new tricks. Do you have any recommended resources for how to implement them in training? I’m a little worried Reacher will think they are super weird and slow down even more, but it’s probably my lack of experience with them that makes me think that.~Kristin
Thanks for the tips. Since I had some time to set up a full course and haven’t done that yet this summer I thought I’d try it out here in Week 4. This was from YESTERDAY. I took your advice and got him a bit more ramped up at the beginning, and surprise!!, he took the off course jump instead of the a-frame. Ha!! I still gave him a reward for that of course.
Then had another surprise with a balk at the teeter, which had me thinking maybe he’s sore again, but I think it’s just been a long time since I had our teeter out and despite calibrating with weight I think it does tip heavier than others. He seemed to get over it fast and we went on. I rewarded the dog walk and weaves. He did two sets of 12 weaves perfectly in this session so I don’t think his weave issues in class are from pain, but whether it’s environmental or the pole colors is still TBD.
It’s hard to see on the video but I did cue him incorrectly for the second-to-last jump as just a brain fade on my part but no biggie.
We ran it a second time just to try to get more flow and I thought it went okay. I always wish he was a little more excited, but he’s doing fine. He’s thinking SO hard!
I threw in a little running dog walk video practice from TODAY just for funzies. He didn’t fail one time. I think the dog walk speed will come eventually. It’s distracting too because Rich had his CNC machine cutting parts again so it’s a bit louder out there. But it actually sounds a lot louder on video that I think it does in person!
Then a little surprise for you at the end…I just tried to do the super hard weave entry from the tunnel under the dog walk just for kicks one time. I actually think he *might* have gotten that entry but I didn’t realize that hubs had wandered out there and was standing just under the lean right about the other side of where the weave entry is and he was NOT out there before. I didn’t actually know he was there until after I sent Reacher to do the thing or I’d have skipped it. But he still got snacks and I’m surprised he still gave it a pretty good try! I’m honestly surprised Reacher didn’t stop and bark at him.
Might try course 2 tomorrow if it’s not too smoky around here. I’m not overly sensitive to that but the air quality has been a bit bad. Yesterday it was such an obvious smoke smell. Kind of ruins the outside time! Which is sad now that the heat has toned down we have smoke. 😕 Oh well, still better than those poor folks in that situation.
~Kristin
<<And also with weaves, keep tabs on any physical issues because if something hurts, then imperfect weaving in different locations are usually the first sign.>>
Totally agree, that was the issue last time he stopped weaving, and it was combined with not doing the teeter. I absolutely had that thought in my head too. But since he’d been weaving well at home I thought it was less likely, but still could be because he’s just more confident at home too. Will keep an eye on it!<<It could also be the different bases, and where the feet are on the bases. Are they the same color/width/foot placement as at home?>>
Good point on this also! I’ll check that the next time I’m there. I think they are purple on blue matting. And mine are aluminum on grass or tan carpet, so that’s for sure different. I’ll check the leg spacing next time I get a chance too.Since I had to train early this morning before your feedback came in I tried the same exercise except with the weaves. The video shows all reps. I used the extra momentum by starting back farther to help me out since that seemed to work with the jump. I had the weaves about 12′-15′ from the tunnel, so pretty close compared to where we want to be, but I thought he did well after the first rep, particularly since the soft side is definitely harder.
Just doing some short LYD things since I’m spending the rest of my time on running DW training. Gotta take advance of that during the summer for sure!😀
~Kristin
It’s been a minute since we did CAMP training! Now that it’s not as hot as Hades I got out early this morning. It’s going to be so nice temp-wise today that I will probably try a second round later. We worked on the Other Side of the Dogwalk. I thought 24′ to start would even be too far for Reacher so I believe the distance was about 20′.
I edited out the eating out of the ball and me moving the wing to the other side (did just the wing since I realized how close to the dog walk it was), otherwise this is all reps and transitions.
He was definitely confused about the assignment at first, but was game to follow direction at a distance once he was sure that’s what I wanted. Should I do something differently or is it just more reps to give him more confidence to go straight out to the jump? Should I bring the jump in even closer?
And also, I have a weave question. Reacher has been struggling to get the weaves again a bit in class, but I *think* if the poles are all the same color it’s less of an issue. And he weaves well at home, but of course I have white poles with stripes. I’m hypothesizing that the new solid color poles in all the rainbow colors is sometimes hard for the dogs to process depending on the flooring color, pole color, etc. When I look at them with the DogVision app I can see how it might be really hard for the youngsters. Not that we know for sure what they see, but if it’s even close I kinda get it. I’m planning to bring my poles to class next time and do an experiment, but was curious about your thoughts on this. I may paint my home poles or worst case invest in a new set so I can really test the difference. Am being very careful to make sure I’m not just making this into an excuse, more curiosity about all the things that might be causing this difference (home vs. not-home being the most obvious). What do you think?
Kristin
THANK YOU for the timely and sound feedback! We got out in the field this morning about 7:30AM to take advantage of a glorious 60 degrees!
So we ran it again, breaking it down and rewarding some parts.
<<Wraps were a little harder – you were throwing the reward a little late, as if waiting to see him take the jump but you can throw as soon as he is arriving at the backside wing.>>
I think I still was throwing the reward a bit late but I’ll keep working on that.<<The other thing to consider here is using two different verbals, rather than a compound verbal for the wrap.>>
Okay, you’ve convinced me. I had tried it but nothing was sticking in my head so I guess I had given up, but I’ll use Dig Dig and In In and just practice more until I’ve got them in my head. I’ll do whatever I need to to make it more clear for Reacher, so thanks for the reminder and nudge. I just have to work it myself so I don’t forget to use my words!<<Then when he is approaching the 7 jump, you can be moving away to 8 and calling him which should take his eyes off the line to the tunnel.>>
I really tried to follow this advice and still think I was a little late, but it did work out and he got it!We still had a little issue with the backside wrap but got it the second try and I think if I work on us both learning the verbal as you suggest it will really help.
Thanks again, I really appreciate your coaching!
Kristin
Hello! We worked on the countermotion exercises yesterday, a short session and here are all the reps. I feel like I personally was concentrating more than when I tried to work similarly on the jumping course #1 that we did this morning!😆
Backside with Countermotion – These are all the reps. On the wrap where we had the oops, it seems like I was moving too horizontally vs. forward in a straighter line but I’m not sure if that is exactly what caused the error or something else. What do you think?
The jumping course #1 was pretty fun! Had a few surprises but would like to try it again tomorrow if you can help me work through the errors.
On the wrap on what I think was #15 jump it seemed like I just took off too suddenly before he was committed. No worries, we just kept going.On the second rep we had a bit of a bobble on the backside push, but the big surprise was him taking the tunnel instead of the line of jumps. I thought in the moment I hadn’t really said anything to him after the threadle so he made a choice. So I just set up that little sequence (didn’t start from the beginning) and spoke to him a lot more and got up down the line, but he was just into the tunnel!🤣 He got a reward both times so he was happy, but would like to get thoughts about how to handle that better please.
Will be getting out early tomorrow to beat the heat and then get ready for what looks like a week of rain.
~Kristin
Tried out a walkthrough today. Somehow managed to walk course 2 not course 1. Not sure why I ended up with that page in the field instead of 1 but no matter. 🙂
Did have a mistake at #9, and I was pretty sure what I did so ran it again. Didn’t correct my mistake as well as I had hoped on run two but he got it.
I did a slow walk through, regular speed (and I never quite know what speed of dog I’m going to get but usually slower than I think), then run 2x.
Let me know what you think.
KristinHi Tracy,
The screenshots were SUPER helpful, thank you!! Had to share a few victories from our regular agility class last night. We did the threadle wrap and push wrap and he nailed it! And then we did some layering, followed by a threadle almost-wrap in another section. I actually laughed when walking the course because it was like she’d read a bit on Package 2 homework.
So on the video, the first clip is just showing the yellow tunnel to the threadle wrap (even with another tunnel entrance close that provides an option to take), followed by the blue jump in the foreground. I tried both the threadle wrap and push wrap and he got both no problem. I was pretty surprised that he got the threadle wrap! Unfortunately, you can’t see it because apparently my batter died just as I was walking out on the course, but thought I’d show it just so you could see the setup. I was celebrating that victory after struggling with those threadle wraps all last week!
Then, we did some jump to tunnel layering, which I could’ve had more distance, but he got it 2 out of 3 tries. The second rep on the layering I could see on the video I had disconnected from him and so I’m guessing that’s why he came in. THEN, we had threadles again that were what we’d really been struggling with on the Jumping course 1/2, jumps 1-3/4. This one didn’t have a full wrap but a bit softer turn to another jump but close enough to count! I was just happy he got the threadle at all after how we’d struggled. I waited until I for sure saw his eyeballs looking at me or the proper side of the jump before I kept moving.
So, we’re making progress!
Taking today off from training and maybe tomorrow too for a probable rainout, but hoping to try out the walkthroughs later this week.
~Kristin
I decided to flip the order on the discrimination just for fun and have the tunnel as the closest obstacle. I think he did much better with this. To be fair, I did push the things a bit closer together this time, although the camera angle does make the jump look a bit closer than it actually was IMO. I just think he prefers the jump. So, we’ll work on that!
Now, for the pull threadle again…Ugh, SO HARD! 😂 I see on the first rep (of the pull threadle, not the push one) my feet were totally pointed to the jump, not parallel, so taking the front side makes sense. But the next ones, I’m not sure what’s going wrong. I even tried adjusting to not be as far ahead, and then another adjustment of the jump so the wing wasn’t as far out from the tunnel exit and we’re still not quite getting it. More advice please!😀 I just don’t get it; he’s gotten this move several times in class at Fusion with no issue so I’m not sure the deal now. I with there was an easy way to find those class videos!
Pro Mosquito Tip: Wear long sleeves even if it’s hot. You’re sweating your ass off either way, so might as well get less bites.🤣
~Kristin
<<On the video: look at all that glorious shade! I am jealous!!!!! >>
Yes, at least in morning the building casts a nice shade on the a good chunk of the field – it’s a blessing! Still humid but the shade helps so much.After that last session I really wanted to work on the threadle and have concluded I need to stop and go back to like MaxPup 1 and rebuild this skill. I felt like in my next round I did get my arm WAY back and it it was still a struggle. Thinking to go back to almost the beginning on this for a bit, but what do you think?
From yesterday:
<<He was losing steam at the end, but my guess is that he was physically running out of air – you were breathing hard too – so it is probably a stamina thing that you can work on.>>
Yeah, fitness has been taking a backseat to other things in the last 3 months and it shows!! Getting back on a plan now!From today: We worked on the tunnel/jump discriminations this morning and well, it’s safe to say we’re still on the Struggle Bus. It’s apparently quite a long journey. 😆
He seems to really want the jump more than the tunnel, even goin so far as doing a backside push instead. On the last rep I moved the wing closer and used more motion to get a tunnel, but can’t really see what I might have been doing wrong in my indications. Or, we just have to make it simpler and build this skill again also.
Let me know what you think,
KristinThanks for the great feedback. As you suggest, I am going to reset up the threadle wrap practice in the basement or outside, either way with much more room to work that.
Meanwhile, I did set up Package 2 Jumping course and tried to run the first option. Wow, was I surprised at “our” terrible threadle skills UNTIL I watched the video and realized that what I imagined I was doing was to cue it was 100% opposite of what I was actually doing, it was almost comical. At least Reacher still got snacks either way!! 😂 I remember this one from Max Pup and actually thought we’d really nailed it there but obviously all it takes is to add in more motion and I completely mess it up. Ha! My cue is a “close” command with the opposite arm across my chest to differentiate it from a serp. But I was so closed off that it’s no wonder he did what he did.
At one point I moved jump 2 in closer to make it easier, then just thought “forget it” and went on with the course. Tried it again at the end with the jump closer in but my position was still terrible so it was just lucky we got it, probably because of the extra decel.
So..um..HELP! 😆
~Kristin
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I was really happy with this session in terms of him saving me and really starting to learn the layering. He’s such a good boy!
Today we did the Jumping course once again mainly to try to get the German turn before the tunnel and then work the jump after. I didn’t get my mechanics right at first but he still got his reward. Kind of stumbled through it so clearly this is a move I need to practice more. 😀
We also worked a little on the threadle wraps inside after it started getting hot. I did the push wrap successfully except that I added the blind cross after and I’m not sure why! Ha! And then with the same side threadle wrap we didn’t get it which kind of surprised me because he has gotten this one in class and seminars before, but here I think it was a combination of my feet and bending over too much and also just not enough space.
Let me know what you think!
KristinGot out early this morning before it got too hot to work on the Pkg 1 Jumping Course 1. He’s learning the layering, as I’m seeing some improvement there. I worked on almost the full course and then just a few sections of each until I think I lost track of what I was really trying to do and it started to go poorly. The mosquitos were starting to find me and it was very distracting. Will need to remember that for next time – I have about 2 reps before they get too kicked up out of the grass and enter attack mode!
~Kristin
