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Well, in this case, it was a legit alarm. Crammed in parking between 2 vehicles with their generators pointing at mine from a few feet away, plus my generator was on and my heat was one. So it was not a battery alarm, it was a true too-much-CO alarm. So 90 minutes of opening all windows and resetting every electrical system in the RV. Crawled back into bed with the windows open here in the 29 degree weather using jackets, blankets, and Hot Sauce to keep me warm lol!!!
Good morning! Nice work on the threadles and I am happy-dancing that you can still work outside in November!
Kaladin did really well and yes, he seems to prefer the visibility of the opposite arm. But I think he is also cuing off of motion, more on that below.
One question – either I have not had enough coffee (90 minutes between 1am and 2:30am spent figuring out how to clear and reset the RV’s CO alarm followed by 6:30am wake up!) or you were using different cues on the turn jump. I thought I heard left and dig – is dig the wrap verbal? This setup is more of a left because the collection is softer than the flatter angle, but that might be caffeine deprivation talking 🙂He was awesome on the threadles in part 1. No problemo!
In part 2 – there was a lot more motion (you were more decelerated in part 1) so he didn’t get the first rep when you were really running plus dig dig sounded different in delivery – more urgent, not as relaxed. Your next rep had decel That was more similar to the first sessions so he got it.A little pulled-him-off-the-line moment at 1:28 with the dig dig cue – you don’t need to rotate or move up the next line til you see him collect for the turn jump, so that might give you a moment to look for so you don’t feel rushed.
But then on the next rep there was motion and verbals and he was getting it nicely! Definitely keep building in more and more motion, steadily working up to the run. You can balance more for him, every other rep do something different – backside, tunnel, full wrap back, threadle, etc. Keep him on his toesies 🙂
Min did really well too, of course – she probably needs to see something different on each rep so that she is not patterning. I think she was not pattering but I let to keep the experienced dogs honest LOL! You can also add in tunnel sends with a setup like this 🙂 and wraps, and pushing to the backside of the turn jump, etc. Yes, a bit of pulling her off at :36 – that goes on the list of things to remember: work the collection of the turn jump before you move into the threadle for the US Open 🙂
She does do really well with your dog side arm swinging back. And Kaladin does really well with the opposite arm.
One thing to keep in mind when you make your decisions about threadle arms (after US Open lol!) is that she is a lot smaller than Kaladin so it is unlikely she will see the arm across your body as well as he does. You can use it with her, but dipping/swinging your dog-side arm back is so useful for her at the moment! And when talking to master Threadlers who run small Min-sowed dogs, they also feel that the littles don’t see the opposite arm as well when everyone is going full speed. So you might end up with a hybrid of both arms LOL for sanity’s sake 🙂 But it is just something to mull over for now, nothing needs to change anytime soon. And I am fully confident that you are able to handle things differently for each dog where needed!Great job here!
TracyGood morning! I really loved this session because it clarified the timing differences for each cue.
The first 3 reps looked really good . The differences in the one of motion and positional cue for the push circle wrap on the backside versus the slice at :12 were super clear!
On thing that really helped him on the slice with all the distance there – you set the line to it from the wrap wing, halving a moment of patience there as he exited the wrap to set the line: connect, verbal, motion – and as he started moving up the next line, you then added in sliding away to get past the bar.
Now, compare that to :16 where you said the slice cue but got the front side: no moment of patience there to set the line. You ran to the exit wing (which is not as parallel of a line of motion as you showed at :12) before he finished his full wrap and made a decision about the jump. Aha! I think we are on to something here!
At :24, that moment of patience as he exited the wrap was back – and he was perfection on the backside slice. Same at :28.But at :38 there was no moment of patience, and he took the front. You had the moment of patience as he exited the wing at :45 – he nailed the backside. And also at :51.
On the front side reps, you can have no moment of patience and run away and just use your jump cue 🙂 On those reps, like at :56, I think you might have been connecting more than he needed for the front side. You can use motion and verbal to draw him to the front before he exits the wrap wing.
So this is a REALLY useful session about cue timing – not just the verbals, but the physical cues too. For the backside slices, setting that line from the exit of the wing is critically important. I personally don’t love the word patience, but that is indeed what it needed LOL! We will call it a MOP: Moment Of Patience 🙂 It is really only one step, one heartbeat beat as you move up the line and connect hard there – and then you will see him shooting away to the backside at which point you can run to your next position. His independence is strong enough now that you can easily get where you need to be. You were getting it really nicely and it will be even easier when he has to jump full height.
The timing for the wing wrap MOP is as he is exiting, he needs you to set up the line. That will correlate to as he is landing from a jump if he is coming in from a jump, or exit of a tunnel.
The front side requires no such MOPs and you can turn and run and call the verbals 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense! Great job here, have fun at the trial!
TracyHi! I start at about 15 feet wing-to-wing to help give the dogs time to process it. Then I shorten it – I think it was 12 feet in the video. And eventually it goes down to 10 or 8 feet.
TracyGood morning!
Your mowed area looks great! Hooray for tractors!!!
ASCA nationals sounds like a BLAST!!!!This was a good session to see what he understands and how to get position and verbals to work together for now. The verbals will get stronger when the physical cues (positional cues and motion) predict them, then it gets easier to fade the physical cues. I think his only questions came from when the verbal and physical cues were contradictory. For now, the proximity of the tunnel to the backside wing adds the distraction/proofing element. Eventually that will be easy for him, at which point you can go to proofing the verbal to override motion/position. Here are some specifics 🙂
The in in lead out looked great on the first 2 reps! Nailed it! The tunnel cue on rep 3 was verbal only, with your positional cue being the same as the in in cue that he had just done… so he didn’t tunnel. He needed a little bit of a change in positional/motion, even one step. The other thing you can do to help him out when you want the tunnel versus the in in is to line him up facing whichever one you want. At :19, he was lined up facing the in in, and the bar at #1 came down because the OK release and his position and your position said one thing (come to the backside) and then as he was jumping 1, you changed the info so he tried to adjust in the air. It is a subtle detail for sure, but he is reading All.The.Things and that is good 🙂
That is why at :28, when your arm moved, he went to the tunnel rather than coming to the backside even with the threadle verbal – the arm cue supported the tunnel in the previous reps and overrode the position, so he was trying to sort out what it all means. It think for now matching the verbal to the line up and position/motion will help with the tunnel distraction, before moving to fading the physical support.
You had a whole bunch of threadles where it looks like you moved closer and closer to 3, looked great!!!! Good boy!!!!
When you changed sides, he also did really well – the line up position came into play for him. Lining him up on a slice for he could see the backside wing or the front of the jump when you wanted it will help, but I think the a-frame was in the way 🙂
At 1:04 he was set up straight and I think he could see you between the uprights and not enough of the threadle position, so he took the front side. He got the threadle on the next one but was not set up to see 1 so he went past it. You can have him in his 2o2o on the bottom of the frame so he is lined up to see what you want over 1 🙂The rep at 1:14 was great threadling to 2 and he did a GREAT job of not taking the tunnel when you cued the wrap!!! And then he balanced nicely when you did want the tunnel. GOOD BOY!
Super session! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Yes, these short classes move fast, but you still have time! We will keep looking at vides for a few more weeks 🙂 The weather is holding strong for now, so fingers crossed we have more time before winter sets in 🙂
T
Hi!
The added distraction was probably useful here, similar to what you might see in terms of distraction at a trial. But I think the mechanics of the backside slices were also causing the questions here: when you got too far ahead and turned your shoulders, he took the front. What I mean by that is when he was one stride past the wrap wing, if you were up by the jump and moving laterally, turning a little (with arm up, shoulders turned), the physical cues looked like a front side cue and those overrode the backside verbal. That happened on the first rep, at :26 and at :38.
Ideally, you would be on a parallel path as he exited the wrap wing, so you don’t want to send to that wing and then be miles ahead because then you will have to curve your running path so you don’t run into the jump 🙂 When you were not as far ahead and able to maintain your parallel line of motion, like at :55 and on the last rep, he nailed it. And staying on the parallel path also allows you to maintain great connection!>> I found that by using extra eye contact and less motion, I could get him to do the correct cue!
Yes – when you had more eye contact and less motion, you showed more upper body rotation to the entry wing so it helped… but it also means you didn’t get to move much so that would put you too far behind on a big course. We can have best of both worlds: keeping you in motion while also getting him to the backside. I think the key is in your running line.
So even as you move further across the bar, start closer to the entry wing and move to the backside showing the parallel path. That line of motion supports the backside without having to go near it, and you’ll also be able to connect better without having to slow down. – I think that will make the difference for him, even with the birds 🙂Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I thought this went really well – the backsides looked incredibly independent, with you being able to cue from far away and move up the line, and he got it AND took the jump bar, no problem with commitment. Great job with the placement of reinforcement! I was wondering if he was doing so well because he was patterning, but nope – he had no trouble balancing to the front side then going to the backside on cue. Hooray!!!>> I forgot what a wrap was and only did a U-turn with Nuptse!!!!
Is wrap the backside circle wrap cue? If so, yes, you’ll want to keep moving through to the takeoff side of the jump.
But overall, really great session. You can add in the front crosses on the start wing now, to add even more challenge to the backside sending!
Tracy
Hi!
Based on what you did here, I would say that rears are no longer your weakest link 🙂
>>No worries about me layering too much! I’m a layering chicken
We will de-chicken you about layering – it is getting to be very helpful on course!
T
Hi!
>> I did feel too many words would drive her crazy. — besides, getting them all out in a timely manner would be tricky or impossible.
It might not drive her crazy, but it might drive you crazy trying to remember them all LOL!!! I believe my dogs know more words than I do, at this point LOL!!
The ‘stuff in the way’ exercise looked great! She really had zero questions here. You got her through the ‘box’ nicely with the tunnel layering – that skill is going to come in VERY handy in the future!!! And sending to the tunnel as a balance looked great. Driving her through the box to the blue jump on the other side was the only place you can smooth out the line, by telling her o go to it earlier – as soon as she is passing the tunnel and looking at the green or red jump, you can already be telling her to get out over the blue jump so she gets almost a straight line.
>>Any suggestions for something we should tweak or try?
The only thing I would suggest you try is driving into the box with her, not layering the tunnel. I think the tunnel layer worked better here because the setup was tight, so if you are not going to layer the tunnel – spread it out 🙂 The goal is having you run between the tunnel and the jumps is to convince her to stay on the line with your shoulder and not bounce away to the blue jump 🙂 I have seen a LOT of that come through on course maps, particularly in AKC and USDAA recently!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She thought this game was fun LOL! And she did really well too!<>
For the switch aways on a jump, I use my jump directionals – soft turns, usually, unless it is a wrap, so it depends on what type of line I want to handle. You can use your jump verbals, or your cross or switch cues. When you started, no verbal needed on the flat unless you are going to have a separate cue for a switch away on the flat – all of the verbals apply to the jump, meaning “take the jump and turn away”.
She did perfectly on the flat work! And the two-hands worked great.
Moving to a jump: The sit was easy on the flat but totally different in front ot the jump. Do you have a mat or board she can stay on? She might like that better for now!
The cross work on the jump looked good – you were doing a full motion rear cross which is great and totally appropriate for her becaus we had to teach her a ‘normal’ rear cross anyway 🙂 You can add challenge by starting closer to the wrap wing, so you are driving up the line rather than beind ahead and decelerating when you would get too far ahead, she questioned if it was a go or a rear cross (like at 2:07 and 2:13, you can see her looking to her left first then turning right when you cut in) .She loves her go cue! No problems with the balance reps!
You pulled away too soon at the end, and she got mad, thar is a good place for a reset cookie to she doesn’t get too mad at you.
On the sequences – you are going to chuckle: you need to run slowly, for now LOL! Because she is going so fast, you are trying to go fast – but that breaks connection and propels her out off the lines.
>>Wondering if I’m a tad early with my cross command verbal and hands.
No, not too early, except for at :34 where you cut across her line too early and she read it correctly to change the line immediately, good girl! And smart to reward there, she was going to be angry if you didn’t LOL!
>>Also wondering if I’m just doing rears
Yes, you are totally doing normal rears on all except the last rep – but that is fine! She needed to learn rear crosses for real before you could get all fancy. It was a great session!
The cross on the first rep looked good, it just needed a little decel so she can land looking at the next jump (or you can spread out the sequence a bit) Same at :28 – just a little too much motion on a tight setup.
At :13 you ran away from the wing cuing go go go, which broke connection so she didn’t take the pink jump. You were much less fast on the next rep – perfect for now! She nailed it!
After accidentally pushing her off the line too soon at :34, things really came together. The rep at :44 was a lovely rear cross and the very last rep was a true ‘switch away’ complete with layering!
Now, because of her age – do more ‘normal’ rear crosses for now, and less layering. It will be super easy to add in layering when you need it later on.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
I totally bring cheat sheets! I type up little notes then send them to myself in messenger, so they are on my phone. That way I can whip it out to jog my memory when I am training, even if it is just a short list of what to do.
T
Hi again!
I feel the pain of those early morning sessions LOL! But I am loving that you still have green grass!
Min did really well!!!
>> I have a hard time running in a straight line and not moving away from the jump to pull her in.
You were pulling away only a very tiny bit – not enough to put you way behind. So if you need to do a threadle next weekend? Do exactly what you did here 🙂
>>When I started in a sit stay with 2 jumps, I had a hard time seeing if she was collecting so then my threadle (come) cue was late.
Yes – it is easier to see the tiny blur in the sunshine on video than in real life! And her collections will be relatively small because she won’t have to make big collections to pull off the tighter threadles – so even if you don’ see a collection, start the threadle before she takes off. She did really well here and see to really understand her threadle AND took the backside when cued. Yay!
>>And this reinforces my decision to run as many Open Threadles as possible with the double blind.
Yes – the double blind is your strength for sure and in the big competitions, play to your strengths as much as possible. But the other good thing from this session is that if for some reason you are not far enough ahead to do the double blinds, the threadle skill is strong! It is not a situation of “double blind or nothing” LOL! You can whip out the threadle if you need it, and it is strong.
For Kaladin – I believe his stay is strong enough that you can be moving before the release. So when he is in the stay, you start to walk, engage your hand, then release with the directional. I think what was happening in those early reps was that motion and the directionals were all starting together, and motion won his heart LOL! He processed motion before he processed the verbal.
Being in motion will also allow you to be more lateral, to show him the threadle from ahead of him and also at more of a walk. When you are parallel/behind and moving fast, most young dogs just stay on the line. Ideally, you would be past the exit wing of the turn jump while cuing the directional on it, so he can see you in the threadle gap to help control the line. He had some really good reps of getting the collection on the turn jump (like at :52 and the 2nd to last rep) so I know he is going to be great on these!!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, I think Min was having trouble realizing that even on a wing, she should stay on a parallel path at first (she definitely had a WTF expression on her face LOL!) but she was figuring it out nicely! Maybe she was migrating to the jump cups? But by the end, she *totally* had it! So your next steps would be to add that angled bar, and work through the progression again. It will be interesting to see how she feels about it with a bar there!
Kaladin has a different foundation so staying on the parallel path to the backside was easier when he was on your right, turning to his left. Beautiful!
And yes, throwing Nemo was definitely the right decision – dead Nemo is b-o-r-i-n-g LOL!!
When you changed sides – he was either wanting to default to turning to his left turn because it is stronger, or because he just had a whole lotta rewards for that side.
Your motion did look basically the same on all the reps on both sides – but it is not unusual that one side progresses through the positions faster than the other. Being on your right and turning to his left is definitely the stronger side on these. So when he is on your left (turning to his right), you will probably stay at the position 1 line of motion for a couple of sessions until he is very confident on that side too.
So two ideas for the next session for Kaladin:
– switch sides more frequently, so he doesn’t get into a left-turns-only situation (not sure if that was the reason, but it can’t hurt to change sides more frequently :))
– after a quick warm up on the wing when he is on your right side, add the angled bar for him too! I don’t think I would add it yet when he is on your left, but he might surprise you in the next session.Nice work here!!
TracyGood morning! This is good stuff to sharpen up before Florida, the dogs look great!
Switch aways:
Presto – one jump went well , I agree that maybe your hands can lower? It is a style preference, so go with what feels comfortable. I use two hands, kinda low. Good placement of reward on those lines!!!!!I hope he got lots of “Mom’s sorry she used the wrong directionals” cookies after the session haha!!!!! He did turn left on the right verbal when you pushed into the RC line and then at the end of the 2 jump session when you used the outside arm. I notice that all 3 of your dogs are reading the way you are using your outside arm as a switch away, and that is great!
Adding the tunnel – looked good, and good balance reps too! I love that you had a lot of balance with all 3 dogs so they were listening and not patterning. Maybe add a little decel if you want a tighter turn but overall, he did well and it was great that you didn’t need to do much more than connect and yell things to get the big layer to the tunnel 🙂
Nikko – when your outside arm was really high, she was a little confused. But when it was early and just below your shoulder, she seemed to read it well! Overall, she also looked really strong, even when you didn’t turn your feet at all and that is great – we don’t want to have this cue rely on a lot of footwork.
On the RC wrap – Try just using decel and a tiny bit of foot turn, I think she will get it. You were doing a big decel and rotation, and that might confuse her with a regular wrap rotation towards you – so just decel and the verbals with arm + tiny bit of foot movement. The other thing to play with to get the tight wraps there is to change the hand cue: lower the hands as you decel to really ‘grab’ her attention and then as you are deceling, flip her away to the jump. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
Sole also understood the difference between outside arm and normal arms! That is great! It makes life much easier when you can use the same cue for all the dogs.
For her rights on. the jumps when you added more speed from the wing and the other jump – she needs a lower arm and/or a tiny bit of foot rotation, she is jumping the last jump straight then turning. So, changing the timing and helping with a bit of foot rotation should sweeten up that turn.
It was better at 3:20 when you did turn your feet – remember that you have plenty of time with the layering, so don’t rush away from the tunnel cue after the switch away. That is one my list of things to remember for the Open: run each line, don’t rush, plenty of time.She also can use a little decel on the switch aways to the tunnel, I see what you mean by the girls working switch aways in extension!
When working the wraps towards and away, balance with a wrap towards you and the wrap away from you like at 3:32 so the cues are clear and different. I think the upper body will make all the difference for when you are staying on the outside wing (same wing as the wrap-towards-me cue) because the switch away can have that low-hand ‘grab and turn’ element and a regular wrap won’t need that.Ooh the bigger sequences with the outside arm options – all the dogs looked great – fast and accurate!!!
For Presto – I recognize some of the errors from something I also do with my young dogs: send and rush away 🙂 I constantly remind myself to stay closer to the line and that I have plenty of time even though the dogs are speedy. So – stay closer to his lines, and take your time (be patient, even if you are totally faking it hahahaha. I will be faking my patience at the Open :))You can see the big of peeling away too early at the beginning: on the first rep, there was not enough bowling for Tollers on the send to the pinwheel, you turned forward and pointed ahead too early.You got it by going closer to the jump on the next rep but your position was good on the first rep – more connection and the hand not moving ahead of him will get it with you not having to go as forward to the pinwheel.
The soft turn at :15 was good collection, YAY! Then a loss-of-patience moment when you turned and moved away too early so he didn’t commit. I feel this pain 🙂The sends and soft turns got better as you played with the timing and connection – he got it at :20 but looked at you a little, which means you were a little early with the arm send and looking ahead.
Much better connection on the soft turn at :28! You can ‘release’ the brake arm when he commits to the first jump after the tunnel , and just stay connected .At :36 we got a good video of the send – note how as you start to send (he is over the jump after the tunnel – you look forward, that small brake in connection makes the sending harder for a baby dog
Nice left soft turn at the end – really lovely handling, connection, and patience 🙂
Sole’s turn – she has a better understanding of sends and lines, so you were naturally more connected on your sends and soft turns too! Less pressure to have to show her all the things, and you trust her more (understandably!) Those all looked great.
You added the tunnel threadle at 1:28 – I don’t think you were late with her on the cue, but she just didn’t know it was coming so she made an extension takeoff decision 🙂 So, more of a turn cue on the turn jump before the tunnel will tighten that line – I think you called her and said here, but she didn’t read it as a collection cue so you really had to pull her in at 1:30
She was tighter at 1:45 but that was because of your position. You can totally play with what gets a tiny bit of collection before takeoff: her name, or a left/right verbal. You won’t need a ton of collection (depending on the scenario) but a little will help get her to land facing the tunnel entry
Nikko also did really well! She seems like she is more “forward” on her lines, jumping in more extension. So you can give her the right verbal and brake arm sooner at 1:57, and also the brake arm can be more towards her to show the collection cue. You were earlier at 2:12 and her turn was really strong to the left!
For the tunnel threadle, I don’t think you were late with her either – I think you can ask for a turn on the jump before the tunnel same as Sole would need. At 2:29 and 2:45, she landed somewhat straight then turned. I don’t think she was considering the off course tunnel, but the small turn cue can cut out some extra yardage.
One last thought – when she is exiting the tunnel and you are going to do another send – give her a go cue before she enters the tunnel. At 2:41, she exited looking at you because you were pretty quiet 🙂 Adding the verbal before she enters the tunnel can accelerate her to the next jump with no questions.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
