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**Sending using the decel more, and then as you leave stay in a smooth motion with very clear exit line connection – that will give the “not rushing” feel. If you don’t rush, she won’t rush (theoretically :)) even if you are bit further ahead.
Ok!
**Her takeoff for 1 was pretty consistently good on both! But moving into the 2 jump was better than the stand still lead out – she reads the decel/rotation better than the standing still. More below 🙂
Ugh…I thought so too…but standing still is a lot easier to get right! LOL.
**Sequence 5:
Very nice backside push on both reps!! One place to resist over-helping is on the backsides: Your physical and verbal cue means “go to the back and then jump the bar” so you don’t need to serp her in like you did at :10 or on the 2nd rep, you deceled a little. Just run and see what she does 🙂
I KNEW you were gonna catch that serp arm! HA! I did get rid of it the next rep…but I’m sure I could just run too!
**Seq 6 – On the first rep, you moved into opening but not quite as early with your decel as on the first rep of Seq 5 – her turn was good but not as good as the very first rep on the video 🙂 The earlier decel will also lead to earlier rotation, which is helpful to her.
Yup, this is why I say standing still is easier! LOL
**You stood still on the next rep at :55 and on the last one – it was not as good of a turn as the ones where you were moving into them.
Ok…ok! lol
**On your backside pushes – they are so lovely and independent!!
So proud of her! 🙂
**You had really good timing starting the FC starting at :45! But FCs take a while (in dog years) to complete – so even with starting it nice and early, she caught up to you almost immediately at :47. Your blinds did not start *quite* as early as the FC but they were still good in timing… and both reps with the blinds kept you further ahead, for longer. Yay for the blind here! And the turn on the blind was as good as any turn you would get with a FC, so there is no benefit to the FC here 🙂
Agree!
**So that is where agility is a mental game 🙂 “trust” is a vague concept. But turning your head forward at a particular time, or running a line a certain way – those are specific action items. When I know I need to trust my dog and leave, I ask myself what could happen – and work through the scenarios.
That’s a great way to think about it…and that brings me to the last 2 sequences. I am super proud of the last rep of sequence 7. I cued and left and the turn was great! I think I was going too far towards #2 in all the reps, but finally got it more on the last rep of sequence 8. Only problem…I didn’t leave as soon on jump 4 that time…ugh! I know what I’m doing…but I just can’t seem to consistently get that last push to leave. I will definitely work on it!
This will likely be our last video for the class! 🙁 I’m sad it’s ending…we had some much fun and got sooooooooo much out of it, THANK YOU!!! Seriously…it was great! We signed up for the Blinds Boot Camp Part 2…I REALLY need to get some schoolwork done, and figured a couple week break wouldn’t hurt! You get a break from me too! HA! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Again!!!
**And yes to special guests hahahaha!! I live so far out in the boonies that it is not even the middle of nowhere… and yet my “neighbor” sometimes drives his tractor over to chat while I am trying to run or video something. LOL! I have gotten good at smiles and conversation even when I want to throttle him LOL!!! And Chloe was very supportive!!!!
Chloe is so cute, and Kindle LOVES her. Chloe never grows tired of throwing the frisbee and unless I intervene (which I always do…fun police here) they will both play until one of them drops! I did text my neighbor and told her I was “sorry” we didn’t get to talk. LOL. I don’t think she was offended, so all is well!
**The good news is that even with you being stressed, you still ran really well!!
True…yay!
**I chalk it up to muscle memory – the art of disconnecting and leaving is probably much newer than stay connected and stay near the wing. Especially in your region – your area was heavily influenced by a lot of takeoff spot and landing spot handling, which became habit – and now we re-wire all of that 🙂 So keep practicing disconnecting – you are likely to need to actively think about it for now and with enough rehearsal, it will become natural 🙂
While I would love to 100% blame my agility “upbringing”…and some of it is true, I have struggled for a while with this! It comes down to trust…I don’t trust my dog and I need to more!
**And yes, I totally see regional differences in handling, based on handling trends in each region. It is really interesting! The MidAtlantic versus the Southeast versus California versus Washington State/Oregon versus the Midwest and so on. Very different! And then there is Canada…. haha!!
ABSOLUTELY! I grew up showing livestock and the same is true there too. Ugh…there are some things in this area that DRIVE ME NUTS…opposite arm collection thing and karate chop front cross arm come to my mind right away!
**Sequence 1: my comment on run 1 was to leave the tunnel send sooner so you were further past the exit to set the line (you supported the 3 tunnel for too long so her turn on the exit of 4 was a little wide. You made the adjustment, though, and the next reps were all really lovely!!
Yes, I felt that and made the conscious effort to get there sooner!
**Sequence 2
run 1 was strong, you were a little late on 6 but I think you had gotten lost for a moment.I did! LOL
**Here is a strategy tweak – because the timing of the turn at 6 starts just after she exits the tunnel, you can stay closer to the exit of the 3 tunnel and send to 4 and 5 more (don’t go as deep to 4) so you are further ahead on the tunnel exit. You were a little late starting the rotation for 6 at 1:29 because you went all the way to 4 and had to really accelerate to get back up the line for 6.
Got it!
**Seq 3: – you can hang back on the send to 6 to cue it and then leave to get back past the tunnel entry #7 sooner. I know that there is no real urgency to get to 8, but sending and leaving will get a sweeter turn on 6 and guarantee the left turn on the tunnel exit because you will be further past the entry when she gets into it.
Part of that strategy is not needing to get to the wing of the jump at 6 to cue the turn – make sure that you begin the wrap FC cues for 6 when she exits the tunnel even if you are not at the wing- you were driving close to the wing, which was causing your cues to start a little late so she was not as tight as she can be there. Hanging back will allow you to start them really early.
So this has been a bit of a struggle. If I send in these situations, she tends to over jump. I completely agree that being able to leave earlier will get a better turn, but perhaps not going as deep 4-5 would allow me to show more decel at 6 rather than sending her there? Is there something I can do to build this “bubble”?
I think this struggle can be seen in the next sequences too…the opening 2-3. I played with the LO…moving a little vs standing still. Her take off was good…just maybe a month or so ago that would’ve been a huge struggle…progress! But I’m still not 100% certain what is the best strategy for her here.
For sequence 6, I played with the front vs blind. I am trusting her more and more, so the blind felt the best to me, enabling me to accelerate past the tunnel. Would’ve been fun if there was a backside or something straight ahead of that tunnel to get to!
Crickit and Gypsy were outside today…Crickit often does not want to come out when others play, but today she did and apparently was very excited for her turn! This is why I needed to make sure my neighbor wasn’t offended…my girls can get rather noisy! LOL. She’s actually a great neighbor and I hope she never moves!
So on the spins for 3: trust her a whole lot and as soon as you see her approaching the takeoff spot… disconnect and leave to get the new connection before landing 🙂
Ok…don’t kill me…but I know I still can leave earlier here too…why why why can’t I seem to get this???
Ok…maybe this is why. So this week has been crazy. Late late nights, going into work super early but barely making it home before dark. Today, determined, but I needed to make 2 stops on the way home…dollar store for poster board to make a “closed for the season” sign for my egg stand, and Aldis for some groceries. Anyway, stop in Dollar store first, rushing I must’ve left my phone while checking out and didn’t realize till I got to Aldis. Panicked, drove back to Dollar store, luckily my phone was waiting for me (it’s old and cracked, but my pictures are on it!). Back to Aldis…it’s getting later and I’m rushing even more. Grab what I need and get into a long line. The people behind me were crowding and adding to my anxiety…finally I put my stuff up on the belt and this couple walks in claiming they were overcharged for bananas. They have the bunch of bananas in their hand and the receipt. The cashier begins to attend them and I’m left waiting…growing more and more concerned I’m gonna run out of light. I was about to take out a $20 bill and throw it at the people just so I could finally check out, but the cashier refunded them their 50 cents and quickly rang me up. I practically run out of the store with my bags. I had gotten a soda and drank it quickly because…all this drama, and began to drive home. As I’m getting closer to home, I get the strong urge to pee…but I’m almost home…I can make it. Just as I’m about to pull into town (we live 2 miles outside of town) there is a detour, around the town. This detour took me like 6-8 miles out of my way, and I’m quickly losing light and now my teeth are floating because I have to go to the bathroom badly! I finally make it home, go to the bathroom and we get to work the Think-Plan-Do-Review Sequences 1-4! OMG! It doesn’t end there…special guests in this video include my neighbor who decided to watch. I wasn’t very welcoming (and now I feel bad and I’m gonna text her) because I WAS JUST TRYING TO WORK MY DOG!!! So many obstacles today! Then my niece Chloe came out and was watching/running around. I’m actually surprised this is only her first appearance. Anyway…hope you enjoyed my story! LOL
We made it home with just enough time to try Find the Fives quickly!
So…sequences 1 & 2…WTF. Why am I just standing there??? You can tell when I wasn’t as smooth handling jump 3…but overall no big crashes!
Sequences 3 & 4…was it how I had the jumps set? I did rush setting up because light was not on our side…but she was drifting after the turn following my movement around the wing.
Monday nights I teach at PDTC, so I don’t get to go home between work and work…but I ran Kindle on the JWW course set up and I was super proud of the end line!!! Lots to fix…but that end line was so good for her!!!
Hello again!
So when I looked at the maps for sequence 3 & 4 I anticipated Kindle having more trouble jumping 4 compared to 4…but the opposite was true! What am I missing? I’m guessing it’s the slice in the opening of 3 compared to the wrap? Interesting…
Sequence 4 I played with the RC vs the spin. Would be interesting to time…I’ll have to do it. I personally much prefer the spin…I don’t like standing still (I think I even said this on camera!).
More rain coming tomorrow…boo
And after 40 days and 40 nights, the rains finally ceased and agility could be played once again! LOL
Our entire training session today is in this video! Well…minus the couple shweet DWs we did too!
We did more grid work. Did I have her set too close this time? Pretty certain I saw more steam…but I really think she is thinking!
Next we did Putting it together sequences 1 & 2. OMG…all our reps are here! Because I we did grid work and we both wanted to do some DWs (she LOVES her DW), I left it at this…but I am really happy regardless!
So glad to hear surgery went well! FYI…if you are using a donut instead of a collar be careful…Gypsy could reach her leg and used her little underbite as a staple remover! Luckily no harm was done! Hardest part is keeping them quiet…it gets better once you start longer walks. Until then…may the odds be in your favor! LOL
Ok…so we are back from our break in time for 2 days of rain!!! Ugh! Well…Kindle was quite insistent that she wanted to go out and play (2 days in a crate and only leash walks have that effect) so I set up the jump grids. I was going by memory and I was moving and just saw I was supposed to lead out…bad student!!! Anyway, I found this very interesting to watch as she put extra strides in on a couple of repeat reps!
PS. How did surgery go??? Been thinking about you!
And her flank in the beginning was totally my fault not rotating sooner in the FC. I’m still figuring how to stay in the bubble and get where I need to be. 🙈
**I don’t know if this is a Salo grid or not, but it teaches striding.
Very similar, except the focus on the Salo grid is expanding the third jump and maintaining the bounce. That always seemed counterproductive to Kindle’s issue…anyway will certainly try and report back!
We trialed this weekend…there were some not good jumps…but yesterday’s STD run I entered with goals of good jumping effort and the hard rear on the weaves. Happy to report we accomplished them both! Along with a SWEET RDW…BUT…why did I forget my get out verbal?!? UGH!!!
** Have you ever done striding grids with her? I am just finishing up the video for the puppy class so I can post it when it is done.
I have done pretty much the whole Susan Salo workbook…but don’t remember striding grids. Lots of bounce jumping, which she does fine. I did progressive jump circles…that was a DISASTER. But that was also at a point when we were much much worse. I would love to see the video!
**Tunnels to her are like ice cream to me: poor decisions happen when they are highly visible LOL! I think balance grids and striding grids with the tunnel visible will help.
I think we might be related…ice cream is my weakness. LOL
**About the bounce jumping: I think of it as flyball jumping where the dog lands and takes off with no other stride – only one hit of the front feet. It was hard to see from the camera angle, but it looks like she was doing 2 hits of the front feet 5-6, it was just a matter of HOW she was adding that one stride. On the 2 reps where I think her striding was not great – it was a very short quick one stride.
Ok…so I have the ability to sleep in today and my body says NOPE and I’m up at 3:45am as per usual…but now I get to obsess…so I watched the videos in slow mo and can now see that stride! Still…wouldn’t it be more efficient if she put in another/longer stride? How can I communicate this…I tried telling her to put a #%^*ing stride in…doesn’t work. 😉
**I couldn’t see a lot of difference in handling other than you were parallel to her on those 2 reps and slightly ahead on the others. So it could have been position in the bubble, or fatigue (it was later in the video) or both. My rehab vet assures me that fatigue on stuff like this can happen even with super fit dogs – she has me working more plyometric and quad strengthening stuff for the dogs because of this.
Yes, I was REALLY trying to stay connected and in her bubble but no change. And quads man…we both work our quads and are certainly good, but not great. Ok…maybe I’m speaking for myself more, but if I do a TON of quad work and STILL can’t one leg deep squat, I still have a quad deficiency…so the same could be true for dogs I’d imagine!
**sequence 1:
I think these went well, her bubble is definitely expanding! Her striding was appropriate and you were appropriately calm 🙂 and icely connected!So part of my current insomnia has been to rewatch my videos…seriously…about put me in happy tears! She’s really come along! We’ve come along! Thank you!!! ♥️
I think her bubble is probably not yet this big at trials because there are sooooo many environmental things to process at trials – but I am liking the progress at home and I know it will transfer to the straight effing lines at trials 🙂
HA! Yes…we get SUPER EXCITED because mommy is nervous/excited too! I’m trusting the process, being patient, focusing on the journey…trying to be zen. I swear every dig has been sent to teach me patience…apparently I haven’t learned yet! LOL
**Sequence 2…note how she has a zig zag line there for a moment. Now you can indeed disconnect there – but only when you see her coming around the wing and looking at the jump AND only if you have a verbal going too – I think your motion and timing was fine but there was no verbal directional so she had a question. The RC at 1:05 was good and connection was better for sure! But keep moving to get rid of that tiny zig zag 🙂
OMG, Rebecca remember your verbals!!!
**On the FC version of it – you can call her a little earlier over 3 maybe so she lands facing 4 more squarely?
Got it!
**Sequence 3
So for perfection: disconnect like you did on this rep, but keep moving up the line to 4 like on the other reps 🙂Ok!
**The backside cues and commitments looked good, the turn at 4 looked good – it looks like she changed her striding between 5 and 6 and did a small one-stride, so she took off sooner. And did it again a 2:06, with a bit of rotation of her pelvis over the bar. Jumping on the last rep looked fine again.
She seems to do this especially on end lines and towards tunnels. I try to tell her running is faster than jumping big…but she’s not convinced.
Anyway…just wanted to say thanks again. Rewatching videos really helped me to see such strong improvement! I’m loving this class and want to continue forever! We have a few crazy days coming up…my oldest dog is cast in an upcoming HBO series, so we have filming next week and because of COVID testing we are at a hotel during filming and I won’t be going home. At least all 4 will be with me and I’ll get some schoolwork done…hopefully! Unless I can sneak something in this weekend, you get a break from me!!!
Ok! I took a nap! A NAP! I NEVER take naps…It was only 30 mins, but we woke and said let’s try this again before we go band owls! Video worked! This is fairly representative of how it went initially too…and the distance is definitely greater than 15 feet…I use a jump bar to measure.
Warning…there is adult language here too. Sorry! 😉
