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Hi Tracy,
Today we worked on the novice courses. I found it challenging to figure out the best strategies on a few places. I hope by the end of camp, I will be able to do a lot of things better…trust him more so I can get up the line and out of his way, set better lines, get used to setting the turns from further away etc. I’m not used to these kinds of courses so we’ll see how it looks after a few weeks of practice.
Video 1: Novice Course 1 – I don’t like how I handled the ending but I couldn’t figure out how else to do it…talk about zig zag! I also keep stepping back too much on 7-8.
Video 2: Novice Course 2 – Just smack me now….he went around jump 6 three times in a row and I NEVER knew it until I watched the video! As for the ending, I think I finally figured that out better by the last rep. Since he went around jump 6…I went back out for a do-over….see next video. I also wasn’t sure what the proper verbal was for 14-15 as it was a lead change to find the jump.
Video 3: Course 2 do-over on the pinwheel. I took a look at the map and tweaked the position of jump 6 and also replaced it with a winged 5 foot bar. In the end, when I tried the FC (don’t know why I didn’t try it sooner), I thought it actually set a better line for him. I somehow ended up doing a different ending but mainly just wanted to practice that pinwheel to tunnel part. Camera was at a better angle too.
Video 4: Novice Course 3 – Sigh…among other things I didn’t notice at the time was not taking the backside of 5 and then when I broke down the middle part, he took the backside of 4…oye. I did NOT like that RC thing I was doing at 6 but at first I couldn’t figure out what to do with that, then I tried that BC after 5 but I kept getting in his way although he just ran across my feet and did his thing which is good to know. The BC after 5 did get a much better turn on 6. I’m very lucky he respects me and does not barrel into me! Thought the logo on my shirt was apropos for my endeavors….because I had serious doubt I was going to be able to get him through those courses when I looked at the maps! I was kind of dreading what kind of a mess it was going to be! LOL
I did think his tunnel exits were pretty good…
Thanks!
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Yes, I was practicing RCs because we really had not been doing them and clearly it will behoove me to have them “perfected” as much as possible in various scenarios. Since it requires more strategy on my part to pace myself and show the correct motion I figured it was worth trying various handling on the sequences to see what tools are working for us and how well he reads things. I feel like he is pretty good at covering my butt so far!I’m getting somewhat better at backsides…I used to run all the way to the wing with him…so now I have to keep working on sending him more and more and trusting him to do it.
It’s so cool to feel our teamwork coming together.
By the way, this was the first assignment that all jumps were at 10″.
Will try the course work maybe tomorrow.
Sandy
Hi Tracy,
Today, we tried the novice sequences and one of the master sequences too!
Video 1: Novice Sequence 1 and 2
Video 2: Novice Sequence 3 – I played around with different handling choices
Video 3: Master Sequence 3 – I tried this with dog on left and dog on right for the opening just for practice but I think probably starting with dog on left is the more efficient way. Also on one of the runs at the end I said “switch” and “left”….really should just be a switch in that scenario.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHow do you teach “out”…any drill you can share? 🙂 I used to use it all the time with past agiiity dogs but instructors don’t seem to be teaching that anymore…I rather like it as part of my verbals.
My list:
Go – keep going on your line and take the obstacles in front you until I cue otherwise
Switch – rear cross (change your lead and take the obstacle you see in front of you)
Right/Left softer to 90 degree turns
Tight – wrap toward me (used for both right and left wraps)
Back – backside (I do not have different verbals for slice vs backside wrap)
Turn – turn away from me on the flat and will also probably use for turn away to a tunnel off the dog walk or A frame)
In-In – threadle
Pass-Pass for non-obvious end of the tunnel (have not trained yet)
Dig – wrap exit from the tunnel
Su-Su-Su -come quickly to my side and do not take an obstacle until I redirect you
Out – move away from me a bit further and find a new line to the next obstacleSandy and Benni
Hi Tracy,
Another question: do you use directional verbals (right/left) when you are doing FC and/or BC or do you let the handling speak for itself?
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
Had a group lesson tonight and will have a private on Thursday so our next session involving jumps won’t be until Saturday but I might do the tunnel skills again. I was watching the RC video from my last post and noticed when I was rear crossing for a R turn, I tended to push with my R arm low across my hips but I did NOT do that on the RC L….R turns were better. Do you think the arm cue was helping him or he just turns better to the right? I don’t think I was aware that I was doing it differently. This is from video 4 on June 29.
Then I have a question as I anticipate the sequence and course work and directional verbals. Do I use the obstacle cue combined with the directional? Example “tunnel right” or “jump right”. I just wonder if the dog ever gets confused when you are running on course and gets ahead of you and you give a directional for an obstacle you are not near and not ahead to also give physical cue…would the dog ever turn before taking the obstacle? I have a separate verbal for turning on the flat so that should help distinguish. Just wondering whether I just give the directional or the combined verbal of obstacle/directional.
Just for fun here is Benni on his new A frame 🙂 It’s only his third session on an A frame.
Thanks.
SandyHi Tracy,
My dashboard only shows Max Pup 3 and 4. Not until I then click on “my courses” does Camp 2020 appear – to answer your question.Today we worked on the skill sets and I also did a very quick re-try at a section of Novice Course 1 from last week….the ending where you said a RC slice could work as well as the inside wrap I had chosen. When I said he doesn’t really know RC, I was right! I practiced it on the one jump a few times and then I put it into the sequence…he didn’t do a slice and he did not turn until the landing side. So this is not a skill that we have apparently.
Also, on the tunnel soft turns, I saw that you had wings to either side of the exit of the tunnel (even though they were not pictured on the map) so I put cones there. I think Benni believed it was his job to go around the cones when I did the right/left turns so on the next video after that I took the cones away.
Video 1: Re-try Novice Course 1 ending sequence
Video 2: Skills Tunnel – GO
Video 3: Skills Tunnel Soft turns (this video has the cones by the exit)
Video 4: Skills Tunnel RC vs same side soft turns (took the cones away). Is it my imagination or is he looking left on the exit but running straight before he actually turns? Right seems better to me.
Video 5: SKills Tunnel exit wrap (chasing toys is much more fun) – I noticed I ran wide instead of staying along the tunnel on the right wrap. Sigh.
Note – the yellow thing on the ground is my 6 foot marker (it was an extension cord with a work light attached so I definitely did not want to step on it. It was more visible than a leash on the ground)
I looked at the upcoming course work….yikes!
Thanks!
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
A bit of “housekeeping” on my thread. I have that one short thread that I started and then couldn’t find so I started this one. If you want to combine them, you can…or just delete the short intro thread. Also, when I log in, can you make it so I can access camp on my course dashboard without having to click other things to get to it? Thanks. If it’s a problem, no big deal.Now for the main event…LOL…novice course work. At first I was just going to set up half of the course so you see that initially and then I decided to see if I could squeeze the whole thing into my space and drag out my heavy tunnel which the mice have chewed holes in…grrr. The spacing was tighter than the map but it is what it is. I ordered a light weight 15′ tunnel….it took him a LONG time to exit that 20 ft tunnel…so that 10′ tunnel is probably not helping me get where I need to be but that’s what I have and it’s very easy to move around so it’s a trade off.
We took a break between these courses.
Video 1: hashing out novice course 1 (in case you can’t tell, he initially turned right over jump 5 and then back jumped)…I’m saying “left” at that spot.
Video 2: Novice Course 1 improving
Video 3: Novice Course 1 final product for better or for worse 🙂
Video 4: Novice Course 2 tunnel 11 to jump 12 got the best of us…I tried different verbals including “dig” which wasn’t the right choice anyway…I think “left” should have worked if he had a stronger understanding. I confess I said “no” to him when he kept making the same mistake of not committing to the tunnel during our hashing out session…my bad! Question on tunnel entrance 13…it was set up kind of as a flat entrance so he didn’t really drive to it…should I give him a “turn” cue to change leads so he sees it?
Video 5: Novice Course 3 just couldn’t seem to straighten out exit line from tunnel 8 to jump 9…otherwise I felt like this course gave us the least problems. Question on the 270 (jumps 10-11) which also appeared on course 2….I was saying “back” as if it were a backside…is this correct?
Who needs going to the gym with this workout! Whew!
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniHi Tracy,
I tend to do AKC. Didn’t think of putting a towel over the jump bar!I asked Jess if she had separate verbals for backside slice vs backside wrap…she does not. And I do not at this point. She did ask me if I would use a “tight” for one scenario and I said no based on where Benni would be landing and going next…she agreed. So I try to use my verbals when appropriate to get in the habit of it.
Yeah, RC….I only did that assignment one time! LOL…and my timing wasn’t all that great so it needs to be worked on more.
Good idea to set up a section of the full course. I’ll try that 🙂
Sandy and Benni
Hi Tracy,
Question – do you think it’s worth purchasing a panel jump? I have to order some jump cup strips and possibly another wing jump so I was just wondering if getting a winged panel jump instead of regular wing jump would be worth investing in. I know it presents a different challenge on course work.
I wish I had video but I do not…however, fortuitously, I got to work backside slice and backside wrap on a sequence with Jessica today. She helped me hash out the German turn (slice) to get me to trust him more and take off…wow, it was amazing. It was fun because the obstacles were spaced more like a regular course rather than the smaller spacing I’ve been doing at home so I needed to leave much earlier and get up the line. He did awesome. His commitment and sends over jumps into tunnels while I leave in the opposite direction was very good too. We owe it all to you! Love it!
And in our pre-novice class, just by chance she had a 5 jump “go” line (grid) and then we practiced turning 90 degrees at jump 3 so I got to practice my turn cue. I didn’t do the rear cross exercise…I haven’t put much time into training RC yet and it was hot so I chose to do just the “go” and then next rep cue a right turn. He read it great.
How lucky that my lessons incorporated my weaknesses from the novice sequences in package one 🙂 I’ll see if I can re-try some of the sequence work with the suggestions you made and maybe the drill for soft turn. I don’t have the room to set up the full course…and I stink at course building anyway!
If you have anything else you want me to try, let me know. By the way, he did all jumps at 10″ today. Jess said he didn’t have any problems with it but I think I heard a tick or two…could very well be adjusting not only to the height but the longer distances between obstacles as we know he was sorting out the progressive striding grid. Maybe that is one thing I should set up this weekend as well?
His A frame is looking awesome! We tried it at 5′ 3″ today.
Sandy and Benni
Hi Tracy,
HOT today! I forgot Benni was going for chiro this afternoon and I always rest him for 24 hours after he gets adjusted so I set up the novice sequences, ran each one 1x and took him inside to cool off after each run while I studied the next sequence. We got it done before our appt.I have a 10 foot tunnel so I think my distances were different from the map and may have affected the choices I made for handling but anyway here goes…as per the map for sequence 1, I set jumps 1 and 3 at 10″ and kept them that way for all 3 courses….I forgot he had to do a 360 wrap on jump 3 for sequence 3…probably should have put that at 8″ but see what you think.
Also, in looking at map 1, I tried to see if he would read a split step for that hard left turn on a couple of practice reps on just jump 3 but he kept going out to take jump 4. He also was not responding to “left”. Maybe my set up at jump 3 had too sharp a left turn to the tunnel for sequence 1..so I ended up saying “Tight” which really isn’t the right verbal but also did a physical cue….oddly, I found the simplest sequence to be the hardest because of that particular spot from 3 to 4. Help! (PS…after watching other people do this sequence, I think I was making it more complicated than it needed to be although I did see a couple other dogs take jump 4 instead of taking the left to the tunnel which is what Benni was doing when I practiced just that part).
Video 1: Sequence 1
Video 2: Sequence 2
Video 3: Sequence 3 I was saying “back” on jump 6…is that correct or should be “tight”….I felt like he would have to find the backside coming out of the tunnel.
Thanks.
Sandy and BenniSorry, I think I clipped part of the link off. Here is the missing video of set 4 skils.
Also, I’d like to do some of the course work consistently at 10″ (not the drills but the actual courses). So far I’ve only put certain jumps at 10″ like the first jump or an extension jump. How do I prepare him for the increase to 10″ on wraps and backsides?
Thanks.
🙂
SandyHi Tracy,
On the video 3 from last time where you said not to run the curve of the tunnel to get to the BC faster…I was remembering a past conversation where you said to run more into the tunnel curve so now I’m a bit confused as to when I do that and when I don’t…?
Today I did the serpentine sequences with the tunnel and one more try at the progressive striding grid.
Video 1: Serpentine sequence 1 plus a sequence I apparently made up…after I did it, I realized it was not the way the map was…hence Video 2 will show what I was actually supposed to do for sequence 2.
Video 2: Serp/tunnel seq 2 as per the map
Video 3: Progressive Stiding Grid – rep 1 oxer was 6″/10″ for the 15′ distance, rep 2-3 oxer was at 8″/12″ (thought he could use a second rep on that), then it went on to 18′ and 21′.
That wraps up Max Pup 4 for us. I did not attempt any more threadles.
Thanks!
Sandy and Benni
