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Hi!
Since all of these reps looked good and you timed them, I took a deep dive into why certain runs were slower or faster. Short answer: too much decel = slower times. Let him rip as long as he knows where to go? Fastest times!Looking at the landing of German turn at :08 – you were there to long on the landing side, so he stumbled.
He did not stumble at :25 because you moved through the exit. I timed the difference on those 2 moments: the non-stumble was definitely faster đThe BC at the end was good but FC might have been better in terms of speed (to my eye) so I timed just that section (landing of the jump before the FC/BC to landing of the jump after the tunnel). They were identical! That was good to know.
Looking at the takeoff side reps:
I timed the 2 different threadle moments – you had more decel on the last rep after the threadle, and that cost time which is why that was the slowest rep.
The FC versus BC on the ending line were virtually the same again, with the only different was probably because I was hand timing it đ
This is great info!! With a lot of big dogs, we need to add more decel to be able to get decent lines. With our smaller 16â dogs, we need to let them rip! They might not look super tight but that is because they are finding the fastest lines đ Pretty turns are nice but faster times are nicer đ
â¨Great job here! Sly gave us lots of useful info. See you in CAMP!!!!Tracy
Good morning!
Good job getting out to train before it got hot! The video looked good!
>what dog doesnât enjoy going into the tunnel if they can? lol >
Ha!!! So true!!!
>For Kastellaâs rep, youâll see or hear me call her off the tunnel. The first rep, not included, she went into the tunnel instead of the jump. >
Do you mean she took the tunnel after she landed from the backside jump? At :23 she was looking at it! It was because of the placement of the blind: At :22, you did the blind on the landing side of the backside so the line that presents is into the tunnel. For this kind of backside (with the wrap exit) the blind starts when you have passed the exit wing and are on the takeoff side of the jump. It might feel a little late when you are supporting the line to the entry of the backside, but it will take the tunnel out of the picture and show the next jump nicely.
To get more independence on the backside pushes, you can start y running a line to where the wing and bar meet⌠then gradually move over to running a line to the center of the bar. You might have to inch your way over, using several sessions. And using big connection really helps (and not using an arm to point). The big connection turns your shoulders to the line and the pointing arm can actually turn your shoulders to the wrong side of the bar.
>My girls just want to suck into the jump. I tried to run really wide to pull their mind and sight from the jump so we could get the backside but it failed miserably.>
It was trying to help by running a bit wide that pushes them to the jump.
The girls read the blind to threadle slice really well – you were really far from the threadle jump, so when you pushed back to get it you got a wider turn or the wrong side of the jump (at :40 and later on at 1:59).To tighten that up, donât go past the jump after the tunnel – you can be heading to the backside jump. Then after the blind, you will be in a good position to show the threadle by pulling your threadle arm back to open up your shoulder. That big pull with your arm will rotate your shoulders and pul them in. If needed, you can rotate your feet a bit too but we would look to fade that out when thy have more experience.
>I think I got Kastella to do the landing side âcorrectlyâ but super awkwardly, maybe once or twice.>
Looking at the push to the blind after the tunnel – because the tunnel supports the line to the backside, you can try being further across the bar when they exit the tunnel. That will help you get further past the exit wing to tighten the turn on the exit. Try to stick close to the exit wing so you donât draw too much yardage for them. And then to help them commit to the bar, you can look back and point to the landing spot (instead of looking at them). It is one of the few times in agility where we donât look at the dogs đ
The FC looked good!
>Finally, I just said âscrew this, it ainât working for my girlsâ, and I did the blind on the take off side, not knowing that was your next segment in the video. lol It worked so much more smoothly for them! >
Ha! It did work rally well đ
For the last sequence – you can do the blind to the threadle slide after the tunnel but closer to the wing. That will tighten up that line a bit too.
â¨The blind cross at the end of the sequence (2:20) was perfect! SUPER!!!! So while yes, the backside stuff was really hard, the blind cross elements looked fantastic!
â¨Great job here!Tracy
Good morning!
Layering is indeed hard! It is more of a dog training game than a handling game.
He is finding the line to the tunnel really well!
The 2 hands approach worked really well – the tunnel is really close to the line so when you went close to the yellow jump (like at :36) it did still appear like you wanted the tunnel. When you were further away, he was able to turn so it was just a matter of working out the timing. It will be a lot easier with things are spread apart more.
Yes, layering after a tunnel an be harder for sure! The trick is to accelerate on a parallel line to the line yo want him to take. He was staying on the line until you stopped moving (like at 1:30) so he had questions.
On the reps where you did continue to move – he got the line easily đ Those reps didnât have the layering but the concept is the same with the layering. So when you are working the layering, stay connected but keep moving until after he takes the last jump. You can also use a placed reward (toy on the ground, or a food bowl) to give him a focal point on the line to be moving to.
The wing-tunnel game went great! He is a pro with the wing-to-tunnel element so it was GREAT to see him also be able to go past the tunnel when you cued it. Nice clear connection from you made it easy – yay!
And I agree – it was great to see him find the far end of the tunnel. The dogs have to make a big collection to get into it, and he had no trouble. Super!!!
He is definitely ready for the advanced level đNice work here!
Tracy
Good morning
He is looking at you too much because the toy is in your hand so the reward is really about coming around the cone and not for the DW work. You can see him looking up at you as you cue the cone and slowing down if you are not ahead of him. We want him looking ahead and driving forward without thinking about where you are.I like to create a chain of behavior so the dog goes through the mat then to something else then to the reward with one of the top priorities that they do not look at me đ There are several ways to do this – it can be mat to a wing or cone with the reward tucked behind it (MM or toy). In this video, I am using a little flyball jump to the MM (although for my big dog, I left his frisbee on top of the MM).
You can see the youngest dog learning it: hit the mat then go over the little jump (can be a wing instead) to the MM. Then I back chain it from the down ramp and you can see the independence and speed developing. I donât want the handler to be near the end or cueing the next line (just close enough to see if the dog hits the mat properly or not :))
Driving ahead on the seesaw was hard so you can try it with less tip of the board.
>Unfortunately on one rep, his hind foot slipped off and he opted to jump off. He was no worse for the wear and willing to get back on it. He chose to jump which I guess is a good thing but not great at that height perhaps.>
Yes, he lost his balance – my guess is the cookie was moving because there is a lot of bounce on the board (you can see it fall off shortly afterwards) so having a treat that sticks better will help. And this is why we play all of the proprioception games – so he can jump off rather than fall, and not be freaked out about it đ
>And what is your opinion of wires on the weave poles?>
I personally donât use them but that doesnât mean they are a bad idea. They are a prop that needs to be introduced so the dogs know what they are, then faded out so the dogs donât dependent on them. Iâm sure Jess and Perry do exactly that!
I wonât put a prop in if I donât need to but also I leave the channels open for a decent enough amount of time (including in sequences) so the dogs learn all the crazy weave stuff.
>Benni was already trained in the poles and when she tried to use them at a lesson, he jumped over themâŚ>
If he didnât know what they were, then he wouldnât know how to to weave with them on đ
> I was trying a FC after the poles tonight and it was too much for Brioche right now. So I did sends, rear crosses and jogging by.>
If he was popping out on the FCs, you can open the poles up more so it is easy to weave while you do crazy things.
Have fun this weekend!
Tracy
Hi!
On the first video, it is possible that the presence of the ball was stimulating enough that she was expecting it to be thrown and didnât really âseeâ the connection as she exited the wing. But she also had that same questionvwith the food too and at :27 had a lot of trouble finding the correct side, so it might have been a subtle connection question.
At :26 it looked like you were looking back at her but your left arm was forward to she didnât see which side to be on front behind you as she exited the wing. Compare to :34 & :45 where your left arm stayed behind you until she found the new side, so she knew where to go.
I am sure you saw her exit the wing on all of those reps so it is more of a matter of what she saw. And because she is young, exaggerating the eye contact for the connection is a great way to start the skill. You wonât always need to do it that much – an experienced dog would have had no questions here so it was just young dog moments đ
On the 2nd video: she was GREAT about finding the jump, even with The Precious (ball đ) in your hand.
I see what you mean about the bar and yes, you can raise it a bit. But I think the main thing was that she was looking at you (ok, at the ball) the whole time. That was why she was stepping on it đ So our first order of business is to get her looking ahead even when the ball is in play.
We can do that 2 ways:
– rather than wait until she is definitely at the jump then throw, you can move up the timing of the throw: as soon as she exits the tunnel and looks towards the jump, you can throw it.– you can also have a target or placed reward to help her look ahead. For example, you can have the Treat n Train out there 15 feet from the jump, and the ball is placed in the tray. Or, you can throw the ball at the TnT. I would mix it up so she learns to look ahead even when you are holding the ball (you can have one ball placed in the TnT and one in your hand).
I prefer the ball placed on something obvious so she slows down to get it – I worry that if it is just on the grass that she might splat herself and hurt her shoulders trying to grab it on the run.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Adding the bars was no trouble for him – super!! And he turned really well in both directions (plenty of dogs canât do that!). Your turn and burn went really well too, he had no questions about the countermotion at all. The sound on the video was very quiet for some reason but I think you were saying your verbals. Yay! My only suggestion is to hold his collar while you start the verbals. Then when he hears them 3 or 4 times, you can let go. That is his cue to start moving and will help create more independence because you wonât have to set to the jump and we can add other handling. It might be hard to hold him with the left hand and that is fine holding him can wait until your hand feels better! And if the right hand is still not 100% healed up yet, no worries, we can wait on holding him too.
>I did lose his focus towards the end. Not sure if I over did it or if something just caught his attention.>
It was not that long of a session, so maybe he saw something or maybe he needed more parties in between reps? It is possible that it was so easy for him that he got bored LOL!!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The find my face and the wraps on wings all went really well. And he was able to do lots of wrapping different wings and mini sequences too! Super!!! As the little sequences get more complex, be sure to make big connection back to him as you finish a cross. His only questions were when he couldnât see the connection (like at 4:47 the he ended up on the wrong side of you). On some of the other reps, he was watching you instead of blasting to the next wing because he couldnât quite see the connection.
>We also had the distraction in the corner of the ring.>
Yes, that was some interesting stuff right there and it was also 7 minutes into the session so he was probably tired also. But he worked through it and finished strong. Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the RDW mat work from the perspective of him not loving it on the plank yet:
The first video with the mat on the lower platform looks good – he was having a great time! When you added more speed, he had a few leap moments so you dialed back the speed a little which was the right thing to do. Overall, though, it looks like he thought it was super fun and that is what we want!
And yes, he might have a slight side preference. That would influence his lead leg which would make it harder or easier, depending on which side you were on. But that will even out with practice – he is off to a strong start.
The cone before the mat was probably a new enough concept that there was too much speed so he didnât quite have his foot work. The cone after the mat went well! You can have the reward on the ground after the cone to keep him from looking at you as he is exiting the mat.
And you can create a cone-mat-cone sequence where he does he cone, goes over the mat, then goes to the next cone for the reward. Start that with you walking because it might be very challenging at first!But on this video also, he was a very happy pup to do the mat work. When he is on the plank and not as happy: what is the setup? Do you have a video? He is ready to work the plank with this but I want to see if we can figure out how to get him as drivey for it as he is here in these videos.
Plankrobatics also going really well. He is turning into a really brave teeter dog, to make the big leap onto the moving board like that! And now the board has more sound and more âwhipâ (especially heading to the low end) and he seems perfectly fine with it. Happy dance!!! I remember when he didnât like that, so it is a huge improvement in a short time.
Since he was also able to run the board independently here, you can add two things:
– the first one is to leave him in a stay on one end of the board as you get to the other end of the board, then release him to drive to the end. I think that will be easy. The reward should be on the target like it is here.
– when he is happy with that, you can leave him in a stay on one end of the board. You will lead out maybe halfway up the length of the board, then release him to run to the target. You will keep moving forward, though, past the target – just walking slowly for now so he doesnât leap off. He should remain at the end of the board even after he has eaten his treats đ This begins to teach the super independence of him riding the board down to the ground while you sprint past it đOn the tunnel game video: this session went really ell, especially because it introduces 2 new concepts: going past the tunnel (HARD!) and finding the tunnel entry from the backside of it (he said that was easy, good boy!)
He is an expert on the wing-to-tunnel part of the game đ All of those sections looked awesome!
>In the beginning, I had my arm across my body with the toy and he was coming to the toy but then cut behind me to take the tunnel so either it looked like I wanted him to take the tunnel or he just saw it and went to it.>
Going past the tunnel was HARD for sure! I am pretty sure he didnât see the wing on the other side of it and the concept of NOT taking the tunnel that is *right there* probably made him think extra hard and you had to be extra perfect at first.
At :33 you were connected really well but he got ahead of you, so the tunnel was the only obvious option. Good boy!
At :43, you adjusted to be further ahead and definitely had better position but looked forward right as you were passing the tunnel so he thought it was a blind to the tunnel. It was a TINY movement on your part but the concept of passing the tunnel was really new to him so I bet he was thinking something along the lines of âIâd better pay attention because she is definitely going to cue the tunnel!âYou locked it in after that and he was starting to figure it out beautifully: the reps at 1:05 and 1:58 and 3:49, and 2:42 on the other side were really good – you were ahead and SUPER connected so he got it. Big lightbulb moment for Brioche!
Finding the tunnel entrance from the backside went really well – he made it look easy. It is actually a really hard collection and bend for most dogs⌠but not for Brioche. YAY!
>One time when I said go, he ran straight and grabbed a leaf. Sigh.>
That was at 4:22 – you had really good connection even without the exaggerated opposite arm. And the leaf grabbing moment was just a puppy thing: you were saying go and facing straight⌠so his teenage brain probably thought you were cueing the leaf đ đ He got the line of obstacles really well on the next reps!!
>On the final rep of combining it all, he cut between the wing and the tunnel but I just let it go. He was getting tired by then.>
Yes, it was probably a combination of brain-tired and maybe a tiny bit of you turning your shoulders a bit early. No worries, he really did a great job on a challenging setup!
Great job here! Safe travels and have fun at the trial, grabbing lots of points!!!!
Tracy
Wow, that is really impressive about your marathon running!!! I admire both the athleticism AND the mental focus needed to run marathons. Really amazing!!!!!!!!!!
And good for you for using T2B and FAST runs to train. It sounds like it has helped both the girls a lot đ
T
Hi!
I forgot how much energy conformation takes for the dogs. We had a show Friday through Sunday and she was in the ring 6 times.>
I believe it! Even though the dogs are not sprinting around, there is still a lot of activity and long days, plus travel. I bet dogs and humans were tired đ
Sounds like you both had a super time at the seminar! Jen has a lot of fun things for puppies đ And I am really glad that you were able to put pieces together and use the resilience games. This is great!
>We did some jump ladder work and it was interesting that she drove to a food bowl much better than the treat n train.>
I am guessing that she has a long history of great things happening from food bowls đ and a lot of dogs really donât love the treat n train. We can totally use a food bowl as the love for the TnT continues to build up.
Looking at the video:
I totally agree, she is driving to the tunnel really well!
Using a bit of deceleration a you cue the wing wrap helps her set up the turns – without a change in motion, she slipped a bit at :04. But compare to :43 where you decelerated a bit and she collects really well!
It looks like the left turns were her harder side – you needed to exaggerate the connection a lot of support that line as the wing got further away. At :48 & :58, the connection was probably about the same as it was on the other side, but she needed a little more support. You adjusted and on the last rep, gave her a BIG connection and got a little closer: perfect!
You can keep moving the wings away to add more speed, and practice deceleration transitions into the turns.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
> I say right right right and do front cross. Am I moving to my left as I face the wings? >
I figured a picture would make more sense, hopefully. Let me know if this makes sense:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Yo7Mcevbb6jxVgNnLIUOC3UR8VUaVreaLc_1V-dGPkQ/edit?usp=sharing
Tracy
Hi!
Looks like he had a growth spurt in the last couple of weeks!
He was working through the threadles well 0 you can move his start position to show him that threadles require coming around the wing. That means he will be on the same side of the jump as the manners minder. Your position will be on at the wing (with your arm and have of your torso visible outside the edge of the wing) on the takeoff side of the jump. That way he has to go around the wing to get to you, then back out over the bar to get to the reward. That adds more challenge for sure!
The serps went really well! Your position was clear and he seemed to have no questions. You can be a little closer to the jumping the MM can be closer to, so he can turn a little tighter on the jump.
>You will see he is very focused on checking out new smells, so is not as focused as he normally is>
Yes, but I figure the little guy is probably working through the stress of it all: first the momma was gone for a while (unless he went to Switzerland too đ) then the big drive to Colorado⌠it can take a couple of weeks for an adolescent dog to really settle in after all that. In the meantime, you can get him playing more – tugging, chasing balls, etc – and using the toys/balls in the training. That will help him tune out all the new Colorado smells đ
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! He did really well here!
>I see all the failure as my inability to connect properly. >
Yes, at :08 and :59 all he could see was your back so he was following you rather than guessing an obstacle. He was not looking at the toy, even if he ended up there. Compare that to the reps where he took the jump – very clear connection. Super!
Nice progression building it up into the layering. He was able to stay on a parallel line really well even when you were on the other side of the tunnel. He had one miss of the jump and one little question – both when your hand was a little high. When you were more connected, even from far away, he had no questions.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
This second video gives us a good angle on the line of motion and how it changes his line to the wing:
On rep 1 (:05) watch your feet: they were going to the wing, so he went to the normal wrap side of the wing.Compare that to rep 2 at :17 where your feet were pointing to the back fence, on a line clearly parallel to his desired line. That pulls him in to the threadle side. PERFECT!
You can see that again at :54 and 2:09. Yay! A little more decel there before moving forward again will help him complete the wrap – you had a little of the decel on that last rep and he nailed it. You wonât always need it but it helps in these early learning stages.
The circle wrap to the other side of the wing looked great too!
Lovely work!
TracyHi!
He is doing really well with the threadle wraps here! The part of the session with the food looked good! I am glad you picked up the toy – he seemed to be looking for it because it was more fun than treats đ
When you added the toy, he had some trouble finding the correct side of the wing. I think the release was coming at the same time as the hands were moving into position, so he was locked onto the other side of the wing. You can clarify it for him by showing him your hands in position for a c couple of seconds⌠then releasing him. Then reward him for coming to your hands. You can also turn slightly away from the wing (pulling your shoulders, feet, and hands away from the wing) to show him more of the line you want him to take. And do that before the release, so he sees if before he moves.
The circle wraps at the end went really well! You can add the tunnel before those to see if he can get it with more speed đ
Nice work here!
Tracy
