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Hi Jill! It worked! Yay! He looked really good here – he is shorter than I thought he would be now that we can see him in a wider frame! (Also I am jealous of your warm weather LOL!!!)
Yes, he was a little distracted here but it is still good to work him outdoors – there must have been something really good and stinky near the white barrel, that was the tempting spot. The only other moment of distraction was the leash. But overall, he showed us *fabulous* commitment and speed, especially in a new place! Yay! great job with your connection – you were really working it and that helped him a lot. You can play with turning sooner on the crosses to add challenge to his commitment, he is ready for that.
The other thing you can do is reward very frequently on the first couple of reps: that can help get his thoughts more on you and not on the distractions.Great job here!!! He is doing well!!
TracyAwesome!!! yes, you can totally start from wicked angles – for example, sending to the backside circle wrap from all the way across the other side of the jump adds a double distraction: the tunnel AND the jump bar of the front side of the bar. You can totally make the game as crazy as possible as long as the success rate stay high š
Have fun!
TracySmall and fast – I love that! If you are going to be behind, then yes to the directionals. If you are blind and just use a name call, it might not be enough info.
One other thing I forgot to mention – I do have a general “jump” cue while is for that in-between collection – it means take the jump on a slight turn (not straight, not 90 degree) and then I can say it again to mean “take the next one on your line too”
That might be a helpful addition!
Tracy
Hi!
Adding the toy was great here, it was a good challenge to see if she could still commit while she was more excited (her answer: YES! Good girl!) And tugging before starting totally get her to wait for you and not start without you LOL!
She did really well! She was DEFINITELY more excited because there was growling on the toy and barking while she runs. I donāt mind the barking as long as she continued to work. And she did! If she started barking and then her head exploded and she barked at you or jumped up at you, we can settle her down.>>. I didnāt know what the race track was. But I think I figured it out. Just go around the outside?>>
Yes, just around the outside, like a speed circle. She was great! It adds a lot of speeeeeeed š She had little questions when you pointed forward on those, while she was still behind you – so if you feel her touch your hand, that means you were disconnected. So make sure you keep connected while she is behind you, even as the arm moves forward.
As with the previous videoā¦ you can spread these out when you are at Bonnieās plus you can put wings in too.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! I think this looked awesome! And I love your double decker bucket LOL!! Useful AND colorful š
It cracked me up that she totally started without you. And after one of the rewards, she was eating AND continuing. She is TOO FUNNY! It doesn’t bother me – you can have her tug on a toy or do some tricks before you start so she doesn’t start without you. Everything here was really strong: nice connection and commitment! She only had one question, at :28 – in that moment, I think there was not quite enough motion – so when you rotated, it was like slamming on the brakes so she stopped. But all the rest were really strong!
You can mix in a jump wing too now, if it is not buried in the snow š When you get back to Bonnie’s, you can add more distance too! Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>>How am I doing for keeping up here? I have 12 wks to do all these right? Till the end of March?
Yes! This forum stays open til March 23 when we move into the next class.
>> Canāt remember where I saw it. On FB maybe? You have another class after this? Like a continuation? Or was that for this class?
Yes – here is the link to it. It is the continuation of this class š
https://agility-u.com/course/au-028-maxpup-agility-foundations-jumping/
Hi! I will ask the tech guy to refund it, it makes it easier for him to keep track of all of us LOL!!!!
>>And can you remind me what our last date for posting video is? I canāt believe this class is almost over.>>
I know, this flew by!!!! the last date for posting in this class is March 1, when we move over to teeter and weaves š
Tracy
Good morning!
STILL no power but I went down to the city – thanks to way too much traveling, I figured out that hotels have a ‘days’ thing where you can basically pay a cheap rate and get a hotel room for the day. Who knew! So I right now have heat, light, internet and a SHOWER. Ahhhhhh. And hot food on the way. The joys of modern living!Thanks to the fast internet, I could see your videos š Yay! Here are some ideas:
Teeter – I like what I am seeing here, especially on the 2nd and 4th reps where he slid into position. Call me old-fashioned, but I love those sliding see-saws where the dog is so fast and confident and weight-shifted. I see what you mean about the nose touch – I wonder if he is mistaking the shape/size of the target as a nose target? It does delay the performance of the criteria a bit. Now, it might not make a difference on the full teeter but it also might delay the down, so an idea: perhaps shift to a paw target? Something that he can put both front feet on and keep them there as he goes into the down. It would be some type of elevated strip – I am envisioning a strip that is wide enough for his whole front paw (2 or 3 inches wide?) and at first, 2 inches high – and the length of the teeter board width (12″?). We attach it to the very end of the board so he runs to the end, puts his feet on the elevated target, and then goes into the down as the board drops. Let me know if that makes sense. We are using elevated targets with a ton of success in other teeter performance and on RDW stuff, so this might be something interesting to play with to clarify the position 1000%.
Jump grids:
Both grids look generally powerful and correct in striding.
On the balance grid – there are 2 schools of thought about where to start the dog (although I admittedly might not be up-to-date on the school of thought that I don’t prefer):
Back when I was working with Susan Salo, she would tell us to calculate the starting point based on half the distance between the jumps. So on a 5 foot distance, you would set him up 2.5 feet away from the first jump.
The other school of thought is to start the dog close enough to jump 1 that he cannot stride into it or tap his front feet in front of it – he needs to lift off directly from his rear. This is the one that I use and I have liked the result! I find when the dogs are 2 or 3 feet away from jump 1, they are awkward in their striding on the way into the first jump – they do all sorts of front leg lead changes so they don’t quite balance and they are also focusing on front pull rather than rear push.
That is what I think Presto was doing – starting a tiny bit too far back so watch his front feet over jump 1: all sorts of different things. Nothing terrible LOL! But that is why he was changing things up and had that rep where he dropped 3 bars – he had questions on jump 1 and couldn’t recover. So try him closer and see how he does!I suggest trying him closer because he was starting closer on the adjustable grid – and that was really good work from him! It looked ike he did a one stride on all the distances and the height was no issue. The only question he had was when he was a little far from jump 1, far enough to tap his front feet before he took off in front of jump 1. But on most of the reps he did not do that and so he had a lot of power!
To get to full height I used the set point at first, then a short one stride adjustable grid: for him, it would be your set point distance (5 feet) at 6 inches then 15 feet to a full height bar.
Tunnel game:
The first few reps looked really good, super connected and he was sure of where to go.
I totally feel the pain of the tiny disconnection at :20 plus not being far ahead so the dog almost takes up out at the knee LOL!
I thought your were better at :25 with your connection (that would totally work perfectly with an experienced dog) but the tunnel is valuable – when you thought you had him and turned your shoulders ever-so-slightly, he cut behind for the tunnel.
The opposite arm with toy TOTALLY shows a very powerful connection and he got it at :33. In his defense, until this game – everything near a tunnel entry had been a cue to go in aforementioned entryā¦ so I think he just needed to know such a thing as ādonāt take this tunnelā existed š He was great on the other side at :43 and 1:22 and also on the original side at 1:08. Kind of like he had a lightbulb moment. And then you can go back to the connection you had at :25.The backside tunnel sends looked great. He got a little caught up in the motion when you added a lot of speed at the end, but then on the re-send he was able to get the collection into the entry.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracyhi! Sorry for the delay, I didnāt have enough internet to see the video til now. He is doing well on these – I think the rep where he didnāt take the jump was more about you moving and releasing at the same time, so he went with the motion. One thing that I suggest for all the reps is to line him up so he is parallel to the start wing (wing further from the PT) – have his hip next to the wing, so he is already needing to slice/serp the first jump before he takes off. It adds the next level of challenge for him! Donāt worry about the lead changes – the dogs use this grid to sort it out as it gets flatter and flatter, and he is not doing anything weird or awkward here š You can also flatten it a bit more, as soon as he is comfy with the harder start position.
Nice work! Stay warm!
TracyHi again! The Serp line is looking good both directions! Even as the jumps got flatter and also as you did the double serp with the cones – all good, super happy-making. I think perhaps the zig zag jumping along with opening up the serp lines is helping because you are not really needing to do more than run alongside and he seems MUCH more confident with the jumping (he is not looking to push out to the backside)
You can add on 10ā bars at this angle, and also at 6 or 8, flatten it out a bit more to fully flat and see how he does.About other dogs – how does he do in classes? It is possible that the dogs on walks are more of that sudden appearance that many dogs struggle with… but the zillion dogs at trials might be no trouble for him. Either way – I figure we will need to address it with all of our dogs but canāt really do a lot til the weather improves (I have a great game for it but you will need to be outside :)) We have the luxury of time – he appears solid in temperament, I donāt have any concerns about major anxiety issues with him! So, we can wait til better weather then work him through the games. I guess for most of these pups, mine included, I am relying on good genetics because everything is out of our control at the moment LOL! For the dogs that might be prone to big struggles… we can start sooner.
He did indeed look at you as if you were NUTS to ask him to jump into your arms, but he did, good boy! I use the leash at the end of the run without any of the problems that I have also seen, because it is part of a sequence and āby permission onlyā rather than any type of target. So at the end, the dog comes to me, gets praised, and then at some point I ask him to go get the leash. And plus, I actively train it and the folks who run into trouble have not actively trained it. But yes, he thinks dead toys are SUPER DUMB so I would only recommend it as the gateway to cookies outside the ring (for AKC trials – get leash, head in leash, run out together for cookies).
But overall, you donāt need to define your end of run routine til he is actually trialing or running courses in classes/seminars. It will develop naturally – at this stage, building your bag of tricks and games is ideal so you can do all sorts of things! And then you will be able to figure out what works best for him š
TracyGood morning! Cell service here is spotty in the land of no power, so the replies will come in pieces š
These all looked good!! A couple of ideas for you:
1st rep looked great, only suggestion is to add go on the straight exits. The right turns looked good!!!2nd rep – left looked good – be sure to connect back to him on the tunnel exit when you are ahead on the straight exits, he was looking up at you
3rd rep with the threadle wraps – now this is where a slight disconnect on the tunnel exit is useful as it pulls him in to the correct side of the wing!
On turn back to the wing, let him get past you to the wing and turned before you turn your feet – you were a little early there so he turned before the wing. When you did it at 1:34, he was passing the wing when you turned your feet and he got it. Same on the last rep at 1:47 – you let him get past the wing before turning back and he got it. Yay! I think that as he gains more experience, you’ll be able to leave sooner but for now, the patience was key.Great job! Let me know what you think!
Sorry for the delay! This power outage is ongoing, no end in sight… so I am working this on my phone. I think I have it figured out LOL!
First, to answer your question about how often I practice the various skills… I teach all the things then I prioritize. With a big fast dog like Chapter, priorities would be connection, lines, sends, blind crosses, rear crosses, tunnel threadles, tandem turns. Backsides are useful too but NOT priorities with baby dogs (he wonāt need them any time soon in the trial ring). Forced fronts and jump threadles? I teach them and then set them aside until the other elements are in place. I also work a TON of engagement games and focus games and general play, so that I can help the pup stay focused in each new environment: this is a whole lot more difficult than it sounds, and this year in particular is challenging because we canāt go to as many different places.
I try to get out and practice handling maybe twice a week? I donāt like to do a lot of jumps (and I have 3 āpuppiesā in training, so I canāt do a lot with each one LOL!) but at this age, I try to do a tiny bit of contact work each day.
That is a lot of time investment and it usually doesnāt happen š So I also have a lot of self-forgiveness if I donāt get it done. Slow progress is actually GREAT so I am OK if my dogs arenāt ring ready til much later than a lot of other folks would have their dogs ready š
About the āhereā question versus the name: If you are consistent and āhereā is meaningful and reinforced… I am perfectly fine with that! There is no right or wrong with verbals: just clarity, consistency and reinforcement š Some dogs do better with their names, some dogs do better with a āhereā verbal because it is different and meaningful. I tend to āask the dogā about what they think of it, by trying different things and measuring responses. The dogs always tell the truth LOL!
On the video: I really think this looked great in many ways!
On your lap turns in general: terrific! On your first rep, be sure to keep your feet together and not move the left back till he gets to you. I think that was easier when you were moving into it.
And if you keep your hand right above the leg next to the wing and not as centered across your body, he will have an even straighter line to you. He was really really great about coming to the lap turn cue with speed – thatās really unusual for BCs š And his turns looked good too!The tandem turns are going well but they looked less comfy than the lap turns. It was hard to tell if your were using your dog-side arm or opposite arm? So it was a little harder to get him to turn away – he did but it looked Ike you both were sticky with it LOL!! For the tandem, I generally like to show a clear opposite arm to get the dog to come in, then I end up using both hands to turn him away, like stirring a cauldron or making 2-handed circular motion š
When he didnāt take the tunnel – you can repeat the cue and stay more connected til he really goes to it – thatās was a young dog moment at :44 where he started to go so you disconnected and left and then we wasnāt sure. One or two more tunnel cues and another couple of steps off support should be perfect. I thought you were clearer at the end when you cued it, especially when you re-cued it – but he totally wanted to turn left in the tunnel there. I wonder if it was a dark patch and he couldnāt see as well? You can use a shorter tunnel (squish this one up and bag it really well) so it is a little easier to see the light at the other end when you train at night, plus a ton of connection to drive him in š
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Work on both the lap turn and the tandem turn so she has all the skills. And personally, I use the tandem turn a LOT more than lap turns (can’t remember the last time I used a lap turn in a trial, even overseas) because I can run like mad to get ahead in those moments. But I still teach the skill so I can whip it out if needed because you know I’ll need it if I don’t teach it hahaha!!!
THi! This is an *excellent* question! In a perfect world, we would only need the wrap cues, the 90-degree-ish left and right, and Go. Ha! For those in-between moments, it will come down to the individual dog and what they need. If the dog can give you the correct amount of turn with just a name call… perfect! That dog either is smaller in size or stride, or more responsive, or you are more visually in the picture with handling.
But if the dog needs more than just a name call, I might use a left or right to get collection even if it is not entirely 90 degrees. My big black BC mix who is in a lot of the demo videos needs more of the left and right even when it is not 90 degrees because he is harder to steer. My merle dog, same size as the black dog, is easier to steer for a variety of reasons so I can get the “in between” turns with just a name call.
With my smaller dogs – I save left and right for when they really need to collect.
Let me know if that makes sense. Which categories do you think your dogs fit into?
Tracy
