Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
>I included a spiel about GETTING INTO THE RING and not waiting by the gate for the go. I encouraged folks to do NFC runs and work on this routine if they were worried about their dogs. And people did it! I thought I was being annoying and nagging, but people said they were grateful for me explaining the rules around it and actually being open to folks working on THAT as their goal for their NFC runs.>
You are awesome!!! I feel badly for the judges when people are waiting. And as you know, there is a lot of awkward interaction among handlers outside the ring: the judge has told us when to come in, but then the handler before me tells me not to come in until her dog is on leash for reasons like “her dog doesn’t like intact males” or might ‘visit’ or… sigh.
(Side note: In agility, depending on the needs of the dog, we can wrap below the dew claw and just get the feet/pad. I did that with Elastikon for a while and ran like that at the US Open! I think Laura Derrett somewhere said we could not wrap the feet but my dog ran at the biggest event with feet wrapped and approved by Greg, so….. another thing on the list to inquire about)
Hi!
>The dewclaw question is more in reference to the fact that the wraps prevent them from using the dewclaw. We went to all these lengths proving that we should not remove dewclaws because of how important they are for the dog.>
I am a big fan of dewclaws! We need to get close up slow motion video of how the dogs are using them in agility, wrapped and unwrapped. We have this type of video in flyball but not in agility, as far as I know.
> Wrapping kinda mimics removing the dew claw, though of course they still have all those muscles in the forearm working to stabilize the carpus and elbow even if the toe can’t actually move. >
This is where I would want to see video: how much does the wrap change things? I know they use their feet a lot more than we would think when wearing wraps, so I would love to see it in agility. I believe the toe does actually move – let me see if I can dig up good close up that we have in flyball.
>I’ve always thought dogs probably did use their dews to help stabilize them on dog walks and teeters too, although a friend (the judge for this trial) is currently experimenting with the Out N Out wraps for her BC as he was struggling to extend on the dog walk and in one session with the wraps he is offering striding patterns that he hasn’t been confident enough to try in a year (since inuring a different toe). So maybe the dew claw isn’t as important for that as I thought?>
Interesting!!! I have used and discarded commercial re-usable wraps because they simply were never as good as powerflex. And yes, we crazy flyball people have wrapping patterns for toes to support, allow movement, and prevent injuries because… whippets. LOL! Toes are an entirely new obsession of mine because, well, whippets.
It is a fascinating topic and I want to ask the people doing the studies (Dr. Markley and Dr. Jackson) if maybe we can do something with wraps!
T
Good morning!
> you flyball people might be on to something lol>
That made me laugh out loud 😂🤣Flyball people know a whole lot about traction – maybe I will send you how my Mal/Whippet mix gets wrapped for flyball and running agility on turf. There is a whole system with PowerFlex, rubber, etc. LOL!!!
>After 2-3 reps, I could tell instantly she was more comfortable. >
For sure! She was like “Wow, I can GRIP!” Good girl! Plus the wrap matching the toy is an automatic bonus. You could hear the gripping!
On the run on the first video:
> I probably should have stuck to things with less speed since she’s never RUN with the wraps on. I think that’s why she was running around things (and jumping up and biting me, she’s done that at home too with the wraps on just with high arousal playing in the house, she’s still not a huge fan of having them put on), still adjusting to having them on and running full out for the first time. This was also her first time leaving a toy toy at the start line (I had one in my pocket as well) and no issue there.>
I think it was a combination of 3 things: new running shoes :), the toy behind her with the leash, and a blooper on the release. At :55 you were so lateral when you released that both Beat and I thought your were going to cue a right turn and not a straight line. She had a bit of a Big Mad there. So lead out a little more and definitely on the straight line there to help her out.
The speed and layering after the first tunnel was a bit too hard – try not to stop as that can be frustrating to her. Try to just get on a line, connect, maybe slow down a bit like you did on the next line after the 2nd tunnel – NICE! Then she finished strong!
2nd run started off GREAT and I love the big party you gave her! You were connected and smooth. I am liking her jumping form on that back line – she is getting comfy on the turf! She didn’t quite turn tight enough out of the tunnel at 2:54 but that was a combination of a cue that could have been sooner and stronger, and a bit of balancing on the turf to make the turn without slipping.
Lovely ending!> Her second run though I thought her jumping looked the best it ever has here, even with some slightly tougher sequences (it was combined Speedstakes, so senior level). So much more balanced and powering out of turns like she should.>
Totally agree!!! Big difference from last time and she is not even a fully educated jumper yet – still a baby dog!
>When I took the wraps off, you could totally see where the vet wrap was “burned” and abraded where the stop pad was!>
Yep – welcome to the obsessing on where the wrap shows wear when you remove it! If it burns through to the pad, you can add more layers. And I am glad that it was her wraps that were burned and not her pads! And as she jumps higher and adds even more power, you will see changes in the wear on the wraps. Was she only wearing wraps on her fronts? You might consider backs too – I can show you some photos of the wear on the back leg wraps from decel on turf. It is astounding!
>One thing that FEELS wrong about the wraps is that her dewclaws are covered. Any thoughts about leaving a small hole for the dewclaw/toe to stick out?>
That is a valid question – anecdotally, the only dew claw injuries I have had in agility were when the dog was not wrapped and both times they happened in a tunnel. When that same dog was wrapped – no more dew claw injuries and he was still able to use his feet properly. So I think the wrap is protective of the dew claws but still allows for full use of the entire lower leg assembly including toes, dews, etc. In flyball, we definitely want the dew claws covered and (knock wood) I have never had a dew claw injury in flyball (or seen/heard of one) with a wrapped dog.
>Her ring entry and exits were about perfect too! It helps that we mostly wait outside the main room and just come in when we are next to go, but she needed much less meatball-ing in those final moments waiting and stayed on the toy even when the next dog was starting. This is definitely a great location to set her up for success with that aspect.>
Excellent!!! This is great because entries and exits are hard for young dogs. She is doing GREAT!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The decel game is going well – it looks like he is reading the difference between extension and collection, and that is what we want 🙂 He was trotting into the collection on some of the reps, especially more on your left side. It is possible that he was anticipating it based on subtle things in your movement, or maybe he can’t see enough connection with the winter coat. No worries! You can let this game ‘rest’ until we add more motion (running!) into it in MaxPup 2 🙂The stays are doing really well! He seems to be VERY excited to be working the skill and really quite solid. One little anticipatory blooper but the rest were strong, even with all the obstacles around!
With the treat ball, be careful not to develop an additional physical cue of holding your arm up high in the “I am about the throw” position 🙂 That can accidentally get built in, so you can now move away from him with your arms in a natural walking position and see how he does.The ‘dish’ session looked great! I think he is totally ready for you to add in the strike a post concept where he is in a stay, the cookie is in the dish, you are in serp position: and you say ‘dish’ right before he gets to your hand to help create that in-then-out movement. I am betting he will find that easy now, so then it can go to the arena – and if it is still easy there, add the jump in!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
The moving serp session went great! Super successful!
At the very beginning when you put the toy down: trust hi more! Can you move him into position without holding his collar? Just reward a lot. I bet he can do it! He did it perfectly at 1:37 and after that! Good pup!
Tiny detail: At :21 you might have been a little too close to the jump if he had to run over your foot LOL! (He hit the cone on the next rep so you might a shade too close there too). On the other side it looks like he had a little more room (6 inches or so makes a big difference) and he did great.
There was a little blooper when you changed sides but then you made it more obvious before the release on the next rep (bigger arm movement and you held it longer before the release) and he did great. You might have also been looking at the target but it was hard to tell for sure (your back was to the camera). Looking at the target is helpful!
>. I did not abuse the raccoon like my friends lmao.>
Ha! I just sent a message to the racoon toy makers to see if they could turn them into bottle tugs. I have a squirrel with a bottle in it and all dogs are WILD for the crunch of bones that the bottle brings LOL!!! Gross. I think he had a bottle tug here? So he might like crunchy bones too
Your connection was great on the tunnel exit and that made a HUGE differnce to his commitment! And the decel helped cue the turn too – lovely!
And look at you trusting him after you put the toy down and not holding his collar to move him to the start spot! Yay! The best part of the session was right after that at 1:27 where he was facing the toy and you cued the tunnel… and he went into the tunnel. GOODEST BOY!!!!! That was hard and he nailed it. Super!!!!
The only little question was on the tunnel cue on the first rep – you just started the toy throw too early which turned your shoulders too – so he locked onto the throw. No worries, you adjusted the timing after that and he did great on all of it.
Great job!!
Tracy
Hi!
This was a busy location! But he did great! He seemed to easily move with you away from the toys/food, and then he was able to do a hand touch too! Yay! What other simple tricks does he know? You can ask for a few different things now! He did look at a dog in the distance moving by, but that’s normal. And he didn’t go towards the dog – good boy!!!!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
What a gorgeous view on the video! NZ is so beautiful!
This game went really well! He was very keen to play all elements of it, even with access to the great outdoors!
Only 2 small suggestions:
You can call him sooner after the start cookie (as long as you have had enough time to get pretty far away from him :))And you can decel earlier: start to slow down no later than when he is halfway to you. You were decelerating when he was one stride away from you, so he would go a little past you because it took him a moment to process the cues.
>At one point, when he’s next to me, I stand on his leash because there’s a car coming, he leaps and gets a jerk, but he wasn’t moving when I stood on the leash>
Because he has gotten several jerks in different sessions, I think it is time to stop letting him drag the leash 🙂 You can have him wear a tab, or just hold his harness in the moments when you want to keep him safe from a car. Dragging the leash leads you to step on it as a default, so I think we can re-train you not to do it by not having it on him 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
He did well with the longer session but you can see some mental fatigue (kind of wandering past the hand target) at the end so definitely remember to set a timer!
About the hand target:
>. He didn’t seem to be driving for my hand, so maybe spend some time just building value for the hand target?
He was great when there was no toy on the ground. When the toy was on the ground, the mechanics became important: At 2:53 and 3:03 for example, as he was turning back to you, you dropped the toy – so that became the focal point. Ideally, the toy is on the ground before you even throw the start cookie so it is not moving at all. Then as he turns to you, you can make the hand obvious (shake it and look at it) and I think that will make it easier when the toy was on the ground! That was one of the last serp reps and he did really well when you did that!
> I tried to throw a couple of threadle slices in at the end, but it was a bit of a struggle, i thought it was better to just stop because the session had gone long. >
Yes, it was good to end – I think he will be more successful when you start threadles at the beginning of a session.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>Maybe a good weekend to add in some start line stays and do shorter sequences to minimize chances of slipping?>
Absolutely! I think she is ready for stays! Maybe some straight line stuff where she drives ahead (depends on the course design I guess). And easy tunnel entries?
>The martingale leash I have is a biothane one, a friend makes them. Being on dirt and in and out of filthy water troughs trialing at this farm made biothane a necessity! I’ll try fiddling around with the stopper to find a setting that I can get it on and off easily, but not have it fall off unplanned.>
That makes sense about the biothane! I just let my leashes get gross and hope for the best LOL!
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well here with the various angles for the threadles and serps! He seemed to have no questions about which cue was which, even when you were adding more motion. Super! He had the in-then-out movement on both the serp and threadle. He was jumping with his head up (watching you for the cookie rather that driving to the target) so the next step is to have a cookie already on the target so he can go to it directly. Will that get his head down to create a great jumping arc? Yes! Will that make it harder overall because of the temptation to just run to the cookie? Also yes! LOL!! But I think he is ready for it!>He was near equipment but not directly facing it and I was able to move some distance away while he held his sit fabulously and then got to chase his cookie ball.>
Good boy!!! You can try a sit with a cookie on the ground to help prep him for the cookie on the target for the serps and threadles.
>Can you please remind me when the posting period for this course ends?>
The last day is December 16th!
Great job here!
Tracy
OMG! Poor little Jazz, she was hiding some stuff. I am glad your Chiro found it! Fingers crossed that she feels better ASAP!!!! Did the chiropractor have any idea of what might have caused it?
T
Hi! She did really well here!
I think there might indeed be an element of needing more straight, long reward throws after a tunnel to keep her looking straight. But also, getting a little further ahead to show the big connection before she even exits the tunnel will help too! And being sure the line to the barrel is on her line will help a lot too:
When she was on your left (right turns) it was easier to get her to the barrel). When she was on your right (left turns), the barrel was offset so she had to move off the line to find it. That’s why she went past it on the first rep. So having it directly on her line (closer to your line) will really help.>She turns so much better to the right. How can I help her to the left when she takes the barrel out?>
I think changing the position of the barrel will make a world of difference: she will have an easier line to it (won’t have to push away to find it). And then you can be out of the way sooner too – when she hit the barrel, you were right there as she exited it/reward thrown. On the reps to her right (on your left side) you were a step or two further ahead and she did not hit the barrel.
Nice work here!
Tracy
