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  • in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #38321
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hmmm… I’ve never thought about it terms of the number of jumps in a session. I tend to think about the time and how the dog is working. I also try to be aware of how many weaves and contacts I ask for. I will have to keep this in mind when planning my sessions! Do you apply this idea even when using very low jumps (like 4 or 8 inches)?

    I will look at my list again and just pick out a couple of small pieces from the courses I’ve already done that I want to work on. Then I can concentrate on the full walk through of the new course and hopefully nail it the first time! 🙂 I will limit the full course to 2 runs total or one run and work hard pieces even if we don’t get it the first time. I am going to try to count the number of jumps my plan involves beforehand. And not all of these things will be full height.

    Thank you for your insight!! This might be the most valuable thing I’ve gotten out of CAMP so far…

    Somewhat related question… Nox can jump 12″ in preferred, select, and skilled (NADAC). How do you decide if you want your dog to jump their full height or do the lower height classes? We have done very little trialing so far (still trying to get those contacts and work on her BIG feelings about all the things), so it would be easy for me to do either at this point. I will jump her at 12″ in NADAC because does not change anything about the titling system or champs. I’m not sure what the benefits are in AKC and UKI really. Any thoughts on this topic?

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #38289
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Although I didn’t run this course with Nox again yet, I went back to my training facility this weekend and found out that the course had been numbered wrong, lol. The owner of the place was nice enough to set it for me, and someone else numbered it. I should have looked at the course map again after seeing the opening, haha.

    Goals for tomorrow night (when I go to the facility again):
    Standard course 1: try correct opening, pull to the tunnel, jump after a-frame, try correct closing
    Standard course 2: run it once (no fixing unless it’s a complete mess), choose 2-3 pieces to work on, run it one more time
    Jumpers course 1: (starting at #7 tunnel) try blind and German on 10-12 section, try a throwback after the weaves, run it 1 time all together
    Jumpers course 2: I don’t know yet!

    This should give us plenty to work on with only running 4 full courses. I really need to work on planning my sessions better and not just looking at success as a full perfect run. I think writing down the specific things ahead of time will help. I always get to the facility to train my dogs (Nox plus a friend’s dogs) a couple hours before the class I teach. Then she gets a nice long rest in the car (fans or AC) and then we usually work again before going home. It’s easier when the courses are in my yard since I can do more but shorter sessions. However, I wouldn’t get to as much stuff just at home. 🙂

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #38285
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Hi!

    All that info about using the off-side arm was very helpful!! I am going to add this to my list of things I want to teach (myself and Nox). The video for teaching threadles was also awesome! Thank you for sharing that.

    I’m LOVING camp (I think everyone who knows me has heard about it at least a few times, lol, even my non-dog friends who already think I’m nuts), but I now have this massive list of things I need to train. It’s sometimes hard to prioritize what to work on first!

    I ran the 2nd jumpers course on Saturday since I had just submitted the video for the 1st run the day before and didn’t have the feedback yet. I will be doing round 2 for both courses tomorrow when I go back to the facility where I train. The video is a little longer than usual; I think watching the first 2 minutes and the last minute would give you a good picture. We really struggled with the wrap at 16(?) before the weaves. In hindsight, I did not use reward placement to help me at all in this situation. I wish I had thought to throw my Lotus Ball to the landing side of the jump to get her to drive towards it and then worked on the wrap from there. I also saw that my decel right before the jump was a big problem. Do you expect your veteran dogs to take a jump even if you stop like that, or do you expect them turn back and look at you like Nox? In other words, is this a training commitment issue that I need to work on, or is this just bad handling? (I know we need to work commitment A LOT, but I meant in this context specifically.)

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #38097
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Those jets may very well be the same ones!

    I have never tried an outside arm for an out. Actually, I’ve never used an outside arm for anything! After watching your video about teaching threadles with an outside arm and seeing this comment here, I have a question. I was talking to a friend recently about using the outside arm. She is very successful with her dogs and does not use it. Her reasoning is that it causes too much handler focus and then it’s hard to switch them back to the line or next obstacle. What are your thoughts about this? I’m trying to figure out which technique and cue I want to teach Nox. 🙂

    It’s funny you suggest the throwback there at the jump after the weaves. My friend I was training with, Nicole Davilli (not sure if you know her), said the same thing. I need to work on that skill. Again, I haven’t progressed very far with the puppy foundations self-study class now that camp has started, but is it safe to assume that the prop game helps teach this? She gets a bit sticky with the prop game after a couple of reps because she really dislikes countermotion!!

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #38096
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    We are a little late on this one! This is from Package 1. Our main issues were with the threadle to the tunnel and with the German turn before the weaves. I have watched the videos you shared with me about how to teach threadles, but we haven’t had a chance to actually train it yet (too many things, not enough time!!). I think the German turn on the jump was just a matter of me figuring out the correct place and time to do it. I just learned that move a couple weeks ago on the first jumpers course, so it needs a bit more practice. 🙂 We ran this course last weekend and again on Tuesday (took me a while to get it edited and posted). Since then, you’ve told me about taking that extra step to get commitment, which was an issue a couple of times for us here.

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #38057
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    My jumpers video finally finished processing, woo hoo!

    This is Package 2 Jumpers Course 1, round 1. This was a super fun course! I think Nox did so well with the layering last night because we worked on it Tuesday in this course. We haven’t gotten to the layering EOS yet, but since the live class set up was so similar, I’ll probably set that next just to get some more practice, especially with balancing the skill of NOT taking the outside line (that requires less collection, lol!).

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #38056
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    I had so much fun with the live class!! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed the format and the sequences. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to participate.

    The opening was tricky at first because I had to figure out which side of jump 2 I wanted to be on. It felt good once we got it!

    As far as decel goes, I Shays forget it’s a thing, lol. It’s a totally new concept to me to SLOW DOWN while running agility! It makes complete sense; I just forget to do it. Same with taking that extra step for commitment since I know I will be behind after that. I’ll keep working on both.

    I’m not sure how independent her contacts are yet. I tried desperately to train a running contact with her, but this was also a new concept to me and I did not do well, haha. I took Trkman’s online class but I needed more guidance than that. (Maybe you want to teach one online in the future… 😀) we switched to stopped contacts and have been doing them for a month or so. She’s great if there’s a physical target on the ground, but if I take it away, she wants to creep and wait for me to go to the bottom with her. I’m not quite sure to fade the targets yet. I’m thinking of using clear targets and cutting them smaller and smaller until they pretty much disappear. I’ve never had the truly independent contacts that I want/need with Nox. My previous dogs have all been much slower! I will try releasing with motion with a lead out since she is stopping at the target, though. I don’t think it would translate without it right now.

    For big lines with jumps, do you think a jump chute would help? I’ve been told I can try putting jumps in a line at varying distances (15-30 feet) and have her run that with me in different places and adding motion gradually. I’ve been told jump grids will help (I’m not very good at adjusting things in terms of spacing or troubleshooting when things don’t look right…), but I didn’t know if that would help with the big lines at full height since most grids are tighter and lower (at least what I’ve gotten to in Susan Salo’s book).

    I’m working on editing a couple of other videos from a few days ago. That takes way longer than training and running them, lol.

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #37969
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    This is our first attempt at Package 2: Standard Course 1. We did pretty well overall. Our problem spots were the weave entry (put the gate back in to help), the wrap after the weaves, and the left turn after the a-frame. One of our sessions didn’t get videoed because I failed at hitting the record button correctly, lol. On that one, we focused on those problem spots, and we were making some progress, but we still need more work. If you don’t watch the whole thing (it’s a little over 3 minutes), I’d really like your opinion on what went wrong with the last jump she took at at the very end. She landed really hard, and I was concerned she had hurt herself, but she seemed ok. She doesn’t do that as frequently as she used to, but it’s really scary when she does!! I know you said to keep connected when I’m ahead, but I don’t know how to run fast in one direction while my upper body is completely turned around 180 degrees, lol.

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #37968
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    I will keep working on the independent weaves with countermotion. I think this will be a skill that takes a little while to work on!!

    I will also try out putting the MM IN the tunnel. I’ve never thought to do that to build drive away from me. I was thinking about the tunnel and how I can send her to the other end of a tunnel (with me standing near the exit or even a bit away from it), and she will send from a good distance. I couldn’t figure out why this skill was so much harder other than the lack of motion from me (it’s even hard if I use motion). I finally realized that when I send her while I’m near the exit, I’m sending her away but she’s coming right back to me, which I think is reinforcing. I thought I’d been working distance all along, but it wasn’t the right kind for this skill!

    I also wonder if mastering the send away for a discrimination might help with countermotion skills, too. 🙂

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #37967
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Ok, got it!

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #37928
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Tracy, does it matter if I use wingless jumps vs winged for the layering EoS sequences and Live Class set up? I have all of my wing jumps in the standard course, but I have 5 wingless I can use for the other ones and keep both set ups. If it makes a difference, I can pull the wings out of the standard course and leave the bars there to put them back, but if it doesn’t matter, I will use the wingless and save myself some time and effort! 🙂

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #37859
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    We are a bit behind for this package thanks to being busy, rain, and the heat! We’re working on catching up, though. 🙂

    This is our 2nd attempt at independent weaves. She really struggled when I added countermotion. I started way too hard and then made it easier. She was able to get the entrance each time but couldn’t continue with the rest of the poles. I ended up getting rid of the rear cross to try working on just the lack of forward motion from me. She did ok when I stood still, but if I go to other way, it’s really hard. She doesn’t have great form or speed when I’m not moving forward with her. I did move the Manners Minder farther away from the end to try to get her head down, but I’m not sure if it worked, even in the beginning when I was going with her a bit more.

    This is our first round of the jump-tunnel discriminations. I put most of the training session from our 2nd day in the video. She struggled on day 1, mostly with going away from me to do the obstacle. She would take the jump almost every time I asked for it, but she didn’t want to do the tunnel even when she was right in front of it. She would run up to it and turn and bark at me. I think it was just too far for her to have to go on her own away from me with no forward motion. You can see a little bit of this in the day 2 video, but since we improved so much on day 2, I thought feedback on that would be better.

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #37673
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Package 2- Independent Weave Skills

    We have been working a lot on weave entries and have just started adding in some proofing skills, so this was perfect for us! I initially used garden “gates” to teach Nox how to weave, so I used one of those instead of a wing since it serves the same purpose and she already knows it. I actually got rid of it after the first few reps since this is a skill we’ve worked on.

    After watching my video, I see that I wasn’t varying my motion and position as much as I thought I was. The next time we try it, I will do more with running in the opposite direction and rear crosses.

    I used a Treat and Train at the end since she will not work very long for a toy and doesn’t care too much about dead toys. I know that if I throw a Lotus Ball, she will start looking back at me, and I don’t think I have enough stimulus control on a pre-placed Lotus Ball to trust that she won’t pop out and go eat her cookie. Free cookies, lol!!

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #37657
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Thank you for letting me share your courses and games with my students!! It will help me run more stuff with Nox, and I know they will learn a lot, too!

    I’m glad I will keep access to all of this info because there’s soooo much, lol. I’ve just started package 2 today, and I feel like I’ve learned a ton!!

    I haven’t had a chance to watch the videos about the backsides yet, so some of the issues we encountered might be answered in there, but I wanted to try out the Live Class sequences while I had time and it wasn’t raining. I will be watching those tonight.

    I’m not sure if you planned to watch and give feedback on the live sequences for people who didn’t have working spots in the actual live class, but I wanted to edit the videos for my own training purposes (editing them makes me actually watch and analyze them, haha), so I thought I’d post them here so I have everything in one place when I review this forum later on.

    Sequence 1a

    Sequence 1b

    Sequence 2

    Sequence 3

    in reply to: Brandy & Nox (Sheltie) #37320
    sheltieagility04
    Participant

    Will we have access to this forum and all of your replies and links once camp is over?

Viewing 15 posts - 196 through 210 (of 216 total)