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Hi Tracy,
Today we worked on the bending grid per your instructions to raise the middle bar from 4″ up to 6″ without the wing and at 4′ spacing. We also did the wing wrap bending grid with all jumps at 4″ and 4′ spacing (last time we did 3.5′). Here are those videos:Video 1: 4′ space, middle jump 6″ (did bending right twice because he ticked a bar)
Video 2: 4′ space, all jumps 4″ + wing wrap
Then we finished the week 3 homework on the wrap FC BC:
Video 1: wrap left FC, then FC/BC – I think this was the one I forgot to say “tight” on the first run.
Video 2: wrap right FC, then FC BC
I set up the cones for the fast/slow zones…I hope it made a difference in my timing? If not, I will keep practicing.
I’ve watched the FC BC videos a couple of times. Am I going too much inside the wing to cue the turns? Should I be staying lateral/outside the wing?
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Thanks. One more question. When raising the middle jump for the bending grid, should I use the 3.5′ or the 4′ spacing?
Thanks.
SandyHi Tracy,
The bending grid height has always been consistently at 4″ (lowest jump cup). He’s a little whipper snapper. He cracks me up. Yes…more connection on the wing wrap lest he take his own path the wrong way! LOL Gotta love his enthusiasm.So a few times over the past weeks you have mentioned for me to go deeper into the tunnel. I kind of get what you mean…sometimes it is appropriate to send to the tunnel and get out of there and ahead and sometimes I need to be more with him as he exits the tunnel. Is there a rule of thumb on this? I feel like I am trying to stay ahead of him to cue him but then maybe he isn’t seeing what he needs to see because of that.
For sure, I have a very hard time with the transitions….this is not a new problem that I have! I’m hoping to get better at it with time. I think this may historically come from the One Mind thing where you run up to the wing and get low before the dog gets there or at least that is how I perceived it with the short amount of training I got with it before CAVU got injured and then I changed to Feet Foward after his rehab. Would it help to set the jumps a bit further apart to give me room for the fast/slow down/cue the turn. I feel like he smokes me and then I don’t have time to do the slow down part hence “slamming on the brakes” (which is a good way to put it, by the way!)
We didn’t get to the FB BC combo yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
We worked on a few things today. I re-tried the bending grid at 4′ instead of 3.5′ as you suggested and then I put it back to 3.5′ when adding the wing wrap also as you suggested.
Video 1: bend grid 4′ spacing
Video 2: bend grid with wing wrap 3.5’spacing
Video 3: Wrap L FC tunnel/1-2 jumps
Video 4: Wrap R FC tunnel/1-2 jumps (can you see why he knocked a bar?)
Video 5: modified running rewards (no jumps, just wings) as we had done enough jumping for the day
Video 6: actually we did this before adding the tunnel but I almost forgot to include it – Wrap FC 2 jumps
He did have a break between doing the grid work and then the wrap work. Tomorrow is nose work day.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Okay! Ladder grid with handler motion backchain. Let’s see what you think about this now. Kept the spacing at 4.5′:
Bending grids. I did this with a 3.5 ft spacing as I remember from some other time we did bend work I think he was not able to bounce it at 4′.
More tunnel exit work trying the dragging toy method you suggested for a better turn out of the tunnel. Either I wasn’t doing it right or I don’t know but I didn’t feel like he was getting it until I decided to pretty much drop the toy at the tunnel exit which meant I wasn’t really able to show handler motion in the direction he was supposed to go prior to his tunnel entry. Well, anyway, I did 2 videos worked on left and right turns with GO mixed in. I had the jump set at 10″ for this.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
So I have done all grids thru Max Pup 3 until now at 4.5′ and he has always seemed to handle that distance well despite various challenges. Do you want me to keep it at 4.5′ and just revisit the progressive striding grid that way or do you want me to decrease the distance to 4′? I’m looking back thru some of the homework I did the progressive ladder grid at 4′, 4.5′, 5′, 5.5′. And back in Max Pup 3 early on I started at 4′ I think and then 5′ and settled at 4.5′ after some trials to find the distance that was best. The previous efforts in the progressive striding grid, he has been balanced in the ladder grid. Not sure why this time was different.I will try the bending next and see what other game I’m up for. Now the issue is going to be carrying equipment with basically one arm. I’m sure by next week it will be a bit better but not expecting this to completely heal for many weeks 🙁
X-ray was negative on my wrist but can’t move it today, everything is swollen and I feel off so I took the day to rest. Start PT next week. Hopefully I will feel up to working with Benni tomorrow. Supposed to be sunny followed by 2 days of rain. Thankfully he is easy to train and respectful of my body parts.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Sigh….after I finished training Benni, I decided to let the beast do a few jumps…and I slipped on the grass and fell hard on my wrist. Went for x-rqys….radiologist will call me tomorrow but they said no obvious fracture. Really hurts so I’m now sporting a splint. Pretty bad hyperextension injury on my dominant hand. Really took the wind out of my sails. 🙁
Anyway, Benni re-visited the progressive striding grid. I left off doing 18′ and 19′. Today the oxer was at 6″ and 10″ and I did a video for the 18′ then turned the camera off because I couldn’t get the jumps quickly reset so the second video will show 19′, 20′ and 21′. I have to go back another day and do 15′-18′ which I haven’t retried yet.
Video 1: 18′ striding grid
Video 2: striding grid 19-20-21′- interesting on the 21’….last time we did this, he added a third stride but not today that I could see anyway.
Video 3: tunnel exit GO vs right
Video 4: tunnel exit GO vs left
I think that’s only 20 jumps for the day.
So you prefer directional cues over using his name on the tunnel exits? I use “dig” for tight turns towards me out of tunnels but other than that haven’t used verbals before for tunnel exits. Trying to get a good handle on when to use what verbals.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Can you give me a distance I should be setting jumps apart for games and sequences for Benni?Thanks.
SandyHi Tracy,
A couple of separate sessions today. One session working on the ladder grid with variations on handler motion. I also re-sent you the link yesterday (see post from May 15) for comparison for the original ladder grid where I began walking at jump 5 because you said it kind of started falling apart when I moved at jump 3.Today:
Video 1: motion past jumps 2-3 (this is a re-try session)
Video 2: jog past jump 5 (first try)
Sequence variations on 2B (all jumps at 8″ – I did move the yellow slatted wing out more for today)
Couldn’t resist one more try at the send before putting everything away for the lawn to be mowed. If only my path had been better leading to the tunnel at the end it would have been perfect! Waah!
I have not been able to do more work on the progressive striding grid based on your guidelines on maximum jumps. So maybe next time instead of the ladder grid, do you want to see something on the progressive striding or continue the ladder grid work this coming week?
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Here is the link again for the first time I tried motion after jump 5 as a reference for you (this looked good so you said to give it a try with less lead out). Possibly my messing around with the long line may have played a factor when I started leading out less? Next time I’m going to leave the line on the ground and just step on it when he grabs the toy.
Here is the link for motion at jump 5 from May 12:
Also, on the sequences for the send out to the second jump after the tunnel and blind cross between the last jump to the tunnel. Is the goal NOT to pass the plane of the third jump at all? And should I adjust the position of the yellow/purple wing jump…?
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
I did two separate sessions today….25 jumps or less each time 🙂 I tried to run without the toy and it seemed to work for me better on one side than on the other where I was losing connection without that darn toy in my hand! I guess it will take some time to get used to not relying on the toy to help me with my connection…
Morning session consisted of the ladder grid with me moving forward and releasing once around jump 3 and the second time between jump 1 and 2 (I had a long line on the toy but it didn’t quite reach all the way back to jump 1). After that we tried sequence 1 with dog on right.
Video 1: ladder grid
Video 1: sequence 1 with dog on right (the first jump out of the tunnel is set at 10″ and the others at 8″)
Afternoon session 3 jumps and sequences with dog on left: (all jumps set at 8″)
This did not go as well but we had fun trying. The angles are different going this way…is that intentional in the course design or did I set it up wrong?
We’ll give it a rest tomorrow and go from there on Saturday which is supposed to be good weather. Let me know what you want to see on the ladder grid next.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Is there a way to remove the “fix and go” course that was canceled from my course page? I have to click extra times to find Max Pup 4 as it does not appear on the main page showing my courses when I first log in. Just a convenience thing but no big deal if it’s a hassle to correct that.Here is what we started with for week 2 games.
video 1: ladder grid with motion. Kept the grid at 4.5′ as we have been doing. On your video demo, you were dropping the toy after you released the dog so that is what I did rather than plant the toy. Not sure if it matters…?
Video 2: FC BC with 1 and 2 jumps (somehow I managed to forget to do any reps of the FC with dog on right so I did video 3 with just one rep to show a FC for that).
Video 3: 1 jump with FC starting dog on right
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
So my intention was to begin to work on the progression of the striding grid as you described….however, apparently I had a mental lapse while setting it up and instead of setting it up at 15′, I set it up at 18’…did 2 reps and increased to 19′. Oh well, I guess practice is never wasted so here is the video. Next time I will start at 15′ like I was supposed to!
Thanks. Only 16 jumps 🙂
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Looking like rain tomorrow and frozen mix on Sat (what the heck!) so I decided to do another session today in case we don’t get good weather over the weekend. I revisited the striding grid to see how he negotiated it after having some time for latent learning. Then I also retried the lazy game with the jumps in closer as you suggested. And then we did the pinwheel send and go for the first time. I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to say “jump” or directional cue for this game. Also, I am not sure if increasing the distance on the jumps was a good idea (although I wanted to see what he would do). He didn’t seem to hesitate on taking the jumps but I do notice his line was getting wider as the jumps went further out. Should I expect him to keep a tighter line or is that normal?Video 1 Progressive Striding Grid – he adds a stride for the 21′ grid…is that a good thing?
Video 2 Revisit Lazy Game with jumps closer to the handling box
Video 3 First round of Send and Go
Video 4 Just a couple of reps on the send and go with jumps same as the end of video 3
Thanks.
Sandy and Benni
