Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I practiced with my girls this morning before it got hot in my arena. Sorry it’s a little dark. The sun was still coming up. It didn’t feel dark at the time which is why I didn’t turn the lights on. Hopefully you can still see alright!
I want to start by saying I’ve never been formally trained or trained myself or my girls on “pushes’. I would not say my girls know them, nor would I say I know how to execute them properly. More on that for each sequence.
For sequence 1, I only show you one rep for each girl. However, you’ll see that I had to stay pretty close to the outside wing to get them to the backside before leaving for the other side to get the blind. I’m sure my timing was all off, but my girls don’t know the “push” or send to the opposite backside wing. For Kastella’s rep, you’ll see or hear me call her off the tunnel. The first rep, not included, she went into the tunnel instead of the jump. No big deal except that it’s not where I was intending her to go. Since the second rep looks similar to the first, but I was prepared to call her off, are you able to tell what I did to cue the tunnel instead of the jump? I wouldn’t call my girls tunnel suckers, perse, but what dog doesn’t enjoy going into the tunnel if they can? lol
For sequence 2 (I may be mislabeling these, but you’ll see it’s just the next iteration of exercises – it’s also the last iteration of exercises), we really struggled. I remember struggling with this in Max Pup classes too. My girls just want to suck into the jump. I tried to run really wide to pull their mind and sight from the jump so we could get the backside but it failed miserably. I did get them to complete it properly a couple of times, but it was super awkward and not smooth at all since I had to go so wide. Kashia wasn’t sucked to the jump quite as badly as Kastella, but she also did that several times. Clearly, it was a handling error. Where did I go wrong?
Sequence 3 was equally as disastrous in areas. Also, I was watching your video in segments. So I didn’t see the two options, landing side or take off side, until after I had already struggled with the landing side iteration. Finally, I just said “screw this, it ain’t working for my girls”, and I did the blind on the take off side, not knowing that was your next segment in the video. lol It worked so much more smoothly for them! But again, they don’t know push back sides, so they had no clue what I was asking, and I had no clue how to make it clearer to them when we were trying the landing side segments.
I think I got Kastella to do the landing side “correctly” but super awkwardly, maybe once or twice. I think I actually ended up rearing her on the flat after the jump since it was the only way to get the backside, and there was no time for a blind. I don’t think I included that rep. Every other rep, she just kept bypassing the jump. Kashia did it fine, but she’s slower, so I was able to assist her backside at the wing and then run to the opposite wing for the blind. When I did the take off side, both girls got it really smoothly.
<<Fantastic!!! And warm up is important, along with cool down. The sports vet people tell me that cool down is actually more important than warm up.>>
I can attest to that! I am a marathon runner and while warm ups are important, cool downs are even more important for muscle recovery. I pride myself on cooling my girls down very well. There is always room for improvement, but I make it a priority. It makes me wince when I see people immediately throw the dog into the crate after a run….eek.
<<Yes, 2 dogs can share a spot and a lot of the CAMPers do exactly that 🙂 And the pace of the class is different – a lot of content to choose from, but it is spread out very 2 weeks all summer so you won’t feel rushed to get it all in.>>
Great news about camp! Maybe I can become a camper this year too! I’d love to continue training with you! As long as my girls have enthusiasm, we really enjoy the exercises and games you provide!! Your videos are really easy to follow too. I really appreciate that as a visual learner!
<<You can use T2B for that – take all the risks in T2B because that class is all about going fast fast fast 🙂 And it is fun to Q in T2B but there are no double Qs on the line or anything, so it is a fun class to try all the crazy handling too 🙂>>
Great reminder! I actually do Fast and T2B for that exact reason. They are my “FEO” classes without actually proclaiming FEO. They are the classes where I work on things or try new things without worrying about Qs. Sometimes I can forget this but that’s truly the only reason I do them. Fast is actually how I have built better weaves in the trial ring since it’s our weakest point in trials.
Thanks for listening to my trial rant. One more video before class ends. I hope to get to that tonight if my girls have recuperated.
<<But it was actually a good session! I think the parts that felt bad were because the skills were new or they thought the skills were weird.>>
Well I’m glad you thought it was a good session! I definitely didn’t in the moment. Reading your comments, I can see where you saw the positive training. I didn’t feel that in the moment but I appreciate you pointing it out so maybe I won’t get so discouraged next time. I don’t know why it didn’t even dawn on me to throw a treat or the treat toy over the jump. I’m such a dumb dumb. I get so caught up in rewards only being after completion of the exercise. I need to remember to use them to my advantage, especially in an instance like this where they would have showed the girls where to go.
<<Thanks for watching! You can add regular massages and stuff to your girls’ routines >>
1000%! My girls actually get massages and chiropractor adjustments quite often! I’m a big believer in that stuff too!
I will get the last lessons of the games done before the deadline. Hopefully today or tomorrow.
For summer camp, is it like these courses, where I can do both dogs under one working spot as long as I fit both of them into the allotted video time segment? Summer is super busy for us but I really want to keep training with you. We learn so much and have such a great time with your guidance and games!!
Hello!
Quick recap from my trial this past weekend. My girls and I did two days, with 3 classes each day. Friday in fast and standard, they both did great. Remember how I said one of my girls is typically the “sacrificial penguin” for me making mistakes? Well, that was Kastella on Friday in jumpers. Except, in that case, I’m only taking about 90% of the credit – handler error. Kastella was really off and checked out due to some thunderstorms that happened earlier in the day. She HATES thunderstorms and fireworks. Anyway, it was a course where 4 blinds could have been incorporated. Many of the people with smaller dogs were able to get all 4 blinds. I was hesitant because I really like to play it safe in trials but I tried anyway (Kastella was also painfully slow so it made them easier)…I actually got them without mistakes, but I didn’t like how it felt “risky” knowing Kashia would run the course faster (due to Kastella shutting down on me), so I switched it up with Kashia. We had two mistakes elsewhere that caused Kastella to not qualify. I just wanted to mention the blinds because it was fun to see 4 places where they fit really well depending on the speed of the dog. And in a practice setting, I would have stayed with the blinds. But I didn’t want to mess Kashia up so I changed one blind to a front cross and one to a rear. Kashia ended up getting all 3 Qs that day with a double Q and Kastella got 2 Qs.
On Saturday, Kashia was my “sacrificial penguin”, gosh darn it. Both girls did great! Kastella was way better than the day before. We did T2B, jumpers, and standard. Both girls had flawless runs in jumpers and T2B. I incorporated a blind or two in each run. However, in standard, I again went against my better judgment and decided to take a risk. We were coming around a curve with several jumps, on the straight stretch was the A-frame, then the line curved back the other direction but the jumps were off set a bit. It was like a backwards S but nothing was aligned in straight pretty lines. lol I really wanted Kashia on my right side going into the second curve but I couldn’t figure out where to do the change, before or after the A-frame. I didn’t really want to rear the jump after the A-frame because of the way the following jump was off set, but I also knew I couldn’t get a front cross at the A-frame because my girls don’t stop on the yellow on A-frames. So I decided to go with the blind on the up side of the A-frame. I got the blind no problem. The problem was, my speed to get the blind got Kashia accelerating up the A-frame……well, if Kashia is going to miss a contact, it’s the A-frame. It’s the only one I don’t make the girls stop on. Kashia has never missed the contact in a trial but she definitely has at home. At trials, I try to verbally slow them way down when they are at the top, but my timing was just off because I was sprinting to get the blind, which made Kashia want to sprint, and then it didn’t give me time to slow her down before the down side of the A-frame and she just shot off the A-frame like a rocket. Completely blew the contact. Even though she knows better, it was totally my fault. I KNOW my girls need babysitting on the A-frame. I KNEW that when I was trying to decide what to do. However, I really thought the blind would be smooth there so I wanted to try it knowing I was probably setting myself up for failure…….sure enough, failure happened! I was so mad at myself! Losing a contact on the A-frame is the absolute silliest reason to throw away a Q – let along a double Q!!! Kashia did great, otherwise, but I definitely mishandled that. So like the day prior, once it was Kastella’s turn for that course, I switched it up and went with the safe rear hoping it wouldn’t pull her too far away from the offset jump. It didn’t. It worked out wonderfully. Kastella ended up with 3 Qs and a double Q on Sunday and Kashia had 2 Qs. The girls reversed their performances from the day before.
All-in-all, it was a great trial and I was soooooo proud of my girls. I was also super happy to see some courses where I could practice my blinds, some with risk and some without. This judge liked his S shapes where in some instances we changed sides of the dog in just a 4 jump sequence. It was crazy but a lot of fun. Thanks for all your blinds practice. It’s getting me more confident to use them in a trial! I love blinds and I’ll use them all day long at home. But in a trial setting, I tend to pick what’s safe and I’m slowly trying to get away from that.
This is one of the worst training sessions I’ve had in a long time. It was a complete epic failure. I’m embarrassed to even post it but what’s the point of online lessons if I don’t show the ugly too. We’ve had an occasional misstep rep throughout this training and the last one but nothing like this. I have no idea where I went wrong. I wouldn’t say layering is the strongest skill of my dogs as we don’t do it often, but something as simple as ending 2, with the tunnel in between me and a jump, I think they should have gotten. Everything looked atrocious from start to finish on my part but I still need help in where I went wrong in so many places where I don’t normally go wrong. My dogs also had little motivation, again. I don’t know what’s up with them but maybe it’s good they’ll have the weekend off from practicing.
When I mentioned it was a little muggy in the arena, I should have clarified it’s still in the 60s and low 70s. So it’s not really THAT hot. I’ve watched your podcasts about behavior and pain with the other 3 speakers. I forget the name off the top of my head. Anyway, I’m always watching for little subtle cues now that something may be amiss. It’s hard to know if that’s what my dogs are telling me or if they are just telling me they aren’t interested today. Either way, I had to stop after 10 mins. I was getting too frustrated at not understanding what I was doing wrong and why my dogs were so lazy.
Your reply (below) just cracks me up. Thanks for always adding some humor to your posts! My girls definitely aren’t fans of the speed circles. Pretty boring reps for them. But I will try your suggestion next time we have one or I practice one and see if that gets them going! Sometimes, no matter the drill, they just need me to throw them a party, to get some spunk in them! They aren’t always in the mood for agility practice, I guess! Too much other fun stimulation around the ranch!
My husband, the dogs, and I are taking the horses camping this weekend, so we will be a bit delayed for week 4 games! Thankfully, you have some extra weeks added in, so I can get those videos to you next week! I hope it’s a good weekend for you and your dogs!
> I’m not sure my girls enjoy the speed circles. Are they intended to build speed or be a balance rep built in?>
Both! Speed and balance 🙂 But I see what you mean about the girls thinking it a a little ‘meh’. To pump them up on these suprt simple circles, you can run in closer to the line and next to the obstacles – they love it when you are running hard, so that will get a ton of speed even on lines they think at boring 🙂
What you don’t see on the video are the parties I was having between the last couple of reps to keep my dogs animated! LOL! My goodness, they lost their steam quickly yesterday afternoon! I only did two reps per dog of sequence 5 and the two iterations in sequence 6. I switched dogs every 2 reps, but by the time we got to the full meal deal in sequence 6, I was losing them. LOL, it does get hot and muggy in that arena, so I think that drains their energy faster than if we were in a slightly cooler area with airflow. It wasn’t even that hot yesterday, though, so that’s no excuse! ha ha
Anyway, I say that because I wasn’t able to get many reps of the blind before the tunnel to practice my timing. I walked it a couple of times without the dogs. Then I did two reps of the second half of the sequence, then two reps of the full sequence per dog. I don’t feel like my timing was great, but the end result was what we wanted. If I had to guess, my timing with Kashia was better than Kastella, probably because Kashia is slower. Kashia never seemed to think twice about going in the wrong end of the tunnel, but Kastella definitely did. If I hadn’t used my verbals to call her to me, she most definitely would have sucked into the wrong end. I’m very curious to see what you think of my timing. I actually felt like my timing on all three blinds of sequence 6 were a little delayed. But I was worried that if I did them too soon, my dogs would not quite be committed to the jumps in front of them and bypass them…that has happened before so hence why the hesitation. On obstacle 3 of the full sequence, right before the first blind, I have found that if I am too close to the middle or too early on my blind, Kastella will run by past the jump on the inside and connect back to my line for jump 4. This actually happened when we practiced this sequence earlier in week 3, but for the sake of describing where, I used the full sequence as an example. I didn’t have that issue much with Kashia, but I got a couple of reps of that with Kastella until I figured out I needed to go deeper to the outside, so she committed to jump 3, as I was initiating my blind for jump 4, if that makes sense. Same for both dogs with the blind at the tunnel. If I didn’t go in deep to the outside for the two jumps before the tunnel, prior to doing the tunnel blind, they would skip the jumps and come to me. It only happened once on the half iteration before the full sequence 6, but it’s something I had to be mindful of. Maybe I didn’t send them out strongly enough before running to the middle to prepare for the blind? I didn’t include those reps in the video, but hopefully you can understand what I’m describing. It was a minor error that I was able to remedy immediately, so I didn’t figure it was worth eating up my video review time. 🙂
What is the next class you will be teaching? I haven’t seen any advertisements yet. I’m loving this and really want to continue, despite my busy summer schedule!
Hi!
<<<I wonder if Kastella is more responsive to decel, so she thinks she isn’t supposed to go without motion? Kashia might not care as much about decel so she is happier to go without motion? >>>>
I think that is spot on. Kastella likes motion (and that’s how we learned together, always incorporating motion) and Kashia doesn’t need motion (and we did a lot more drills without motion when she was learning), at least when it comes to the motionless drills! Kashia is a thinker. Kastella just wants to run and have fun. lol
<<<Yes, you can set goals for yourself: how fast can you go? How much can you drive to get the fastest course time? Have fun :)>>>
I suppose I could do this to see how the girls’ course times improve, on a personal level. I certainly wouldn’t do this to be competitive. My girls are wayyyyyyyyyy too SLOW to be competitive against border collies and border collie crosses (in Kastella’s height) and Shelties (in Kashia’s height). I’m also not competitive. I just do agility to have fun with my girls. Of course, I always want to perform well and improve, but winning and being fast (competitively) are not important to me. Clean and/or fun runs with my girls are what we are always going for!! Are yards per second the numbers I should look at to see how my girls improve their course times?
On Saturday, we worked on Sequences 3 & 4. I gave my girls over an hour-long break while we did horse chores before trying for Sequence 5… even with the break, my girls were clearly tired or less motivated for Sequence 5. So I decided to leave those videos out, and I’ll send you updated ones today or tomorrow. Hopefully, my girls will have their energy back! I was doing a lot of clapping to get Kashia excited for Sequence 5 drills. LOL
For Sequence 3, I tried the front cross and the blind cross. It’s interesting because when I was watching your demo, I agreed with you that the blind may turn my feet to the tunnel for a split second and give the dogs the wrong indication of the next line. I was pretty sure I was going to do a front cross. It seemed like a good place for one, anyway. However, when I ran it, I felt like the blind was actually smoother! In fact, the first front cross, Kastella went to the tunnel! On the second front cross, she followed my line. I still agree, the blind may require a tiny bit more footwork, but because I had all that space to spread myself out and run, I felt like it worked better for us. I probably wouldn’t think that if it were tighter quarters or tighter with obstacles.
Because of the speed circle, the drills for Sequence 4 were pretty long. I’m not sure my girls enjoy the speed circles. Are they intended to build speed or be a balance rep built in? I only showed one rep for each girl since they were longer. With Kastella’s, what did I do during/after the blind to have her go wide and almost be behind me before the next jump? Was my blind too late or not clear enough connection?
<<<Kashia: That is good to know: staying closer to her line and putting the blind between 4 and 5 got a significant amount more speed
Kastella: The last run for Kastella had the blind on landing of 5 – perfect timing and connection here too. She LOVED chasing you when you were that far ahead!So for Kastella, you can get ahead like that (and Kashia goes faster when you’re not as far ahead).>>>
Interesting observation, and I think you are probably spot on! Kashia needs a bit more support, and Kastella has a lot more confidence and loves to run after me. It’s interesting, though, because when I do send drills with no motion, Kashia has more confidence to move away from me, and Kastella needs more support. Like if I’m practicing sending them to one jump to do a backside or a tight tight. I’ll practice these from a standstill and slowly move farther and farther back with each successful rep. Kashia tends to be able to have me out a lot farther than Kastella. Same with when we practice weave entries. I can send Kashia from much farther away than I can Kastella. But in courses or running sequences like this, it’s just the opposite! I’m hoping Kashia’s support needs will slowly diminish the more experience she gets under her belt…but at the same time, I don’t mind running close to her as long as she isn’t making me shuffle speed. lol
I actually had a trial last weekend! I only went for one day. We did incorporate two blinds where we had to make almost a 90 degree turn to the A-frame and then another 90 degree turn one obstacle after the A-frame to the teeter. I did a blind in both locations with both girls and they worked great!
Our next trial is May 29-30. I play it much more safely and conservatively in a trial than I do at home…but I will definitely look for areas to practice everything I’ve learned in the blind boot camp! When in doubt, I tend to revert back to rear crosses (safety net 🤷♀️) ….but my girls definitely run faster if I get ahead of them and go for the blind, where appropriate! I need to be a little more of a “risk taker” at a trial! My girls are just so consistent that if I play it safe, they tend to Q relatively easily. But I know it’s about more than the Q if I want to keep improving our skills!
I GOT MY DOGS BACK!!!!!!!!!! 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 I never knew such a thing would be a cause for so much celebration, but it sure is after their lackluster performance the night before! I had a feeling I would have them back. They got a longer nap than usual because I had to work late, and my husband is out of town all week. They were pretty “coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs” when I got home from work, so I knew it was the perfect time to practice agility! Unfortunately, I had limited time, though, so we were only able to practice some of the Week 3 Sequence 1 games. I decided to send the video to you anyway because I was just so elated about how well they were running for me. I just had to share! I figured you’d be excited with me. lol
I think the girls did really really great! Because I was short on time, I didn’t get to incorporate much of the feedback from my previous videos. I will definitely work on that next session. However, I did try to make sure I did my blinds earlier so they had the information before going into the tunnel and before some of the jumps. It’s a little frustrating when I review my videos because it looks like I’m barely moving! In real time, I feel like I’m making improvements on moving with my girls more but in the videos, it looks like I’m barely moving sometimes! Annoying! I promise I’m trying to keep my motion. It feels like I am in the moment! Same with my helicopter arms. I’m always trying to be cognizant of where my arms are and not lifting them too high or flailing them around. In real time, it feels like I’m getting better at it, but when I watch my videos, it sure doesn’t seem like it! I’ll just keep plugging away and hope that eventually my body and mind become one and figure it out! LOL
Hello!
<<<Someday it would be fun to get to see them run in person 🙂>>>
If you ever make it over to the west side of the country, that would be cool!!
Today I did week 2, advanced two jump games. My girls had zero energy. I have no idea what was going on with them. Maybe the unexpectedly warm temps? Maybe half the afternoon with their grampie instead of their usual napping while I’m working? Who knows. They were soooooooooooo painfully slllooooooooooowwwwww. Both dogs kicked it up a bit in areas of the drills, but I definitely didn’t get the enthusiasm I usually do. I started doing some of week 3 just to see if that would jazz them up a bit. It didn’t work too well with Kashia. I think my entire 2 minute video allotment would have been her doing ONE circle of the sequence 1 game…🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ I mean she may as well have been shuffling, her little trot was so slow. lol Kastella was not her usual either but I still got more pep out of her. The girls just acted tired. They aren’t sick or anything! I decided I better wait to do week 3 sequence game 1 until my Wednesday or Thursday in hopes my girls have more energy!
Anyway, I watched your demo videos and had a classic case of “I heard you but I didn’t hear you”. I heard you saying I needed to start my second blind when the dog was around 6ft/2m from my the tunnel but apparently that didn’t really register in my actions. I didn’t even notice I wasn’t doing the blind in the right moment until the very end when I’d already finished filming. I’d even walked it all before without the dog. Either way, they both knew what I wanted when they exited the tunnel so I guess that was good?
I included Kashia’s “oopsie” rep. In slow mo, it looks like maybe my connection was a split second too late and that’s why she didn’t commit to the jump right out of the tunnel. Is that accurate?
I don’t know how my positioning for the blinds were but it seemed to go smoothly nearly every rep so if I was really messed up, my dogs were super forgiving! lol I also forgot until the very end that you suggested I run up to the tunnel with Kashia to amp some energy in her. I remembered that at the end so you’ll see I didn’t really do a good job of that. I’ll remember for next time!
Thanks for everything!
I love the way you describe Kashia’s little brain and attitude towards these games. It’s so spot on, I think! LOL! She has such a funny personality!
I really like blinds! This has been really fun so far! I’m learning so much about timing. I definitely didn’t consider all these little intricacies before this class. Before, I’d just do a blind where I thought I could get ahead of the dog. Now, I’m more methodical about it. I can run fast, and my dogs aren’t speed demons, so on full courses, I try to do blinds where it makes sense, feels smooth, and saves time. I play it a little safer at trials, but I still try to squeeze a blind in if I can! In fact, I’ll admit, one of my last trials, I was late on my blind, so Kastella was still on the “incorrect” side of me and totally bypassed the jump! My fault, though, because I thought she was on the other side! I did not queue her in time, and I take all the credit for that one! I messed up her chance at a double Q, dang it! 🙂 The good and bad of having two dogs in the same class but different heights….I was able to fix my mistake when it was Kashia’s turn, so she got it flawlessly. 🙂 Sorry, Kastella, that mama handled you more poorly. It just depends on the trial day for which dog is my “guinea pig” for handling errors on the first run. ha ha
I don’t know how to describe this, but for the one jump advanced game and two jump game, it was really cool to see the almost U-shaped line the girls ran because of the connection I had with them. By the time they were coming out of the tunnel or going around the wing, I was on a completely different line than them, yet they still committed to the jump before following me laterally to the next obstacle, whether it was the wing or the second jump. I feel like not that long ago, the girls would have just followed whatever line I was running. I guess that connection and that information for them about what I was doing and what was coming next really made a significant difference!
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and training virtually. It has been so amazing getting to learn from/with you. Kashia is a smart girl, but I credit much of her quick progress in agility to everything we’ve learned from you since I started her as a pup in your Maxpup classes. I absolutely love all of your classes, and it’s been so fun getting to train both of my girls with you now!!….even when I get a little behind because of life. 🙂
Chat soon with more videos!
Hello! We’ve actually had most of week 2 completed but I didn’t have time to edit and upload! We just have to do the advanced two jump games still!
For the advanced one jump games, I think my timing of the blind was terrible but my girls read it correctly sooooooo…??? Are they just forgiving or was my timing better than it felt and seemed in the video? I wasn’t ready to commit to the blind when they exited the tunnel because I wanted to see commitment on the jump! But then in your two jump video, you said we have to trust the dog is committed to the first jump because we needed to start the blind as soon as they came around the wing! My girls never performed incorrectly but I still felt like my timing was a bit slow. It’s hard to trust that commitment is there! lol
For the tunnel games, when I crossed the death zone of the tunnel, I didn’t realize I was off-camera by the end, but hopefully you can see enough to determine whether I got my timing right. My girls never went the wrong way out of the tunnel, so I’m assuming I did it right! 🙂
Getting the blind before my girls got into the tunnel felt relatively easy for me. Is that because they aren’t crazy fast like your demo dog, or was something I did different?
I think you need to include a disclaimer that wing games may cause dizziness or queasiness! LOL I get motion sickness relatively easily, and the spinning back and forth for the blinds on the flats were making me VERY QUEASY!! I kept my sessions short, but I still couldn’t get as many reps with the second dog because I wasn’t feeling so well by the end! ha ha ha ha My brain was spinning in both directions a little too much!
My girls seemed to love that flatwork, though! It was really good for me to get a handle on everything because sometimes I feel like my limbs and brain are going all over the place in discombobulation!
