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It is a GREAT word! Love it! I am a Southerner now, so I need to update my vocabulary. This reformed New Yorker is used to just putting the f-bomb in every sentence LOL! “Boondoggle” is a great addition to my language LOL!
Good morning! Thanks for the update; I am glad you are liking the sequences 🙂
>> 1) Backside trends course Openings: I felt better using threadle handling rather than a forced front as the threadle arm seemed to give my boys better info.
That is good! Threadle handling in that situation turns out to be faster for most dogs and also easier for most handlers 🙂
>>Mookie in practice did not take any wrong course tunnels 🙂
GOod boy! My guess is that he is more excited at trials so makes decisions earlier… so your cues need to be early and often LOL!
>>>It was Buddy who did 🙂 I have now created a dog who likes tunnels and learned that I now have to give Buddy the same hard cues and timing to prevent wrong course tunnels as I do with Mookie. Go figure.
That is a good thing, though! Tunnels are super fun and I think developing tunnel love is part of the key to getting these dogs super confident in the ring. I am doing the same thing with Elektra – she is just now saying “THIS IS SO FUN!”. And it is easy enough to handle them to NOT take the tunnel, so for now, let him rip and don’t tell him he is wrong if he ends up in a tunnel you didn’t want 🙂
>>2) Layering skills: I have always layered with Mookie due his speed and we are fine with this. I found that I can also now layer with Buddy 🙂
Perfect! You are ahead of the curve here. Layering has an element of those discriminations which will help Mookie understand when you want the tunnel and when you don’t.
>>I have used gentle break arms for both dogs for pinwheels to show decele and both dogs read the cue well.
Great! That type of turn is super popular and I have been using those arms too.
>>>Buddy’s attitude with practice has really stepped up a notch for him.
YES! That is exciting.
>>>However, Buddy becomes worried about judges following him when at a trial so I am taking Bobbie’s course for Buddy as well. It is working out nicely 🙂
Great! And you can use the FEO options at trials to reward him when judges are near. If he is in a group class, you can ask a classmate to be nearby while he gets tons of cookies and toys.
>>>3) Threadle Trend: Both dogs did well with the threadle skills but we had trouble with the Bypass.
I needed a target to be successful through the gap.>>Bypasses are a bit weird, right? The dogs are used to taking obstacles, not running past them 🙂 You can also teach it by spreading the outer jumps apart a lot, so they are not remotely on the line.
>>I will have to teach a bypass verbal cue. What do you use ??? I did use exit arms which worked 50% of the time.
I just use the dog’s name and smack my thigh as I run LOL! It is not a super high priority so I don’t have a specific verbal at the moment (the thigh smack acts as the verbal).
>>Ace wanted to play agility today and did great with this exercise including the BYpass without a problem. He is 11 and still loves his agility. Love that Dal of mine>>
Awww good boy Ace!!! I am glad he got to play! Spotty boys are the BEST!!!!
Thanks for the update! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
How is Sole this morning? I stalked your FB page but didn’t see anything new. Fingers crossed that she feels 100% today.On the video: lots of great work and great feedback from the dogs!!!! Your session helped me clarify some uses for these cues.
First up, Presto! Good boy 🙂
Bearing in mind that we have all recently put a TON of value on “take the front side of all the things, please” with the baby dogs, he did do really well!
On the forced fronts, a couple of ideas:
– keep your feet completely still. If you are moving your feet or moving backwards, he will see the motion and take the wrong side of 2. Backwards motion is same as forward motion haha (I learned than from the one and only Linda Mecklenburg lol!) You totally had happy feet, and the further away you got from the backside wing, the more you moved backwards. It is really hard to stand still but completely worth it 🙂 I feel that pain of happy feet – patience is not my favorite thing – so I lean a bit on these, to put the weight into my feet, so I can’t tap dance while waiting for the dog to come up the line. At :38, you were moving backwards and got the front of the jump – the verbal is too new to override the backwards motion. Eventually, yes – but not now 🙂
– also, he is still learning the default “take the jump” part of the in in – so move slowly, keep the bar low (so the jumping effort is wicked easy, and toss the reward to the landing side of 2 like you were doing. I think you were moving too quickly out of the FFC for a baby dog so he had some misses there.
– stay tucked into the wing, closer to where the wing meets the bar, so all he really sees if your arm and a bit of your eyes. You were migrating a bit laterally out from behind the wing, which makes it harder for the dogs to read the jump you want and puts you out of position.When threadling, turn your feet more to the landing spot, like you did at 1:33, that was really nice!
Watching this session (and also the Nikko and Sole sessions) leads me to some conclusions about where we can use the different positions to cue these turns and where we should not – for your dogs and mine too 🙂 More below:
For Nikko – standing still on the lead out will help her when you are way up the line – you are running forward (happy feet) and that is causing her to have to differentiate the verbal from the motion – motion is opposite the verbal and causing you to step back to the jump to commit her, like at 1:07.
I think moving into it with her with you closer to the #2 jump works fine for her, she did really well, plus it is using the same position we would use at trials. When you were further up the course, though, she was not ready for all of that motion so that is good to know: you can change your position to be waaaay upstream, but don’t move into it. Be completely stationary (no motion, no happy feet LOL!) so she knows which jump you want. And if she does not have a long stay at trials, move into it but move closer to jump 2.
With both the FFcs and the threadles, tuck into the wings with the girls – being too far away laterally makes it harder to read the cue and puts you a little out of position for the next line.
Sole also had really good feedback on this, about position and motion!
The change in position/handler location works well on the lead out because your stationary position indicates which jump is the threadle jump. When you were moving into it like at 2:18 with the FFC and the threadle at 2:24 and throwback at 2:44 with Sole, the motion confused her as to which jump you wanted and I can see her argument – you were positionally nearer to 3 on those and the threadle verbal was going the whole time, so it was hard to read – it could have been a cue for jump 3.So that is great info (thanks, Team Toller!) – if you are finding this in the middle of a course, use the positional cues of being closer to the entry wing of 2 to move to. And if this is the opening? Use your big lead out to get way up the line but then stand still so she knows which jump you want.
Let me know if that makes sense! Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
Very fun to be able to play in a mosquito-free field!!!Spot did really well, like usual 🙂 He did have a little trouble with the wing right next to the tunnel, so moving it a little further away and the slight change to your position will help.
Two other ideas to try:
– rather than moving and giving the verbal all the same time with him starting to move, you can hold his collar, start the verbal for a second or two… then let go. That gives him an extra heartbeat to process it and should increase the rate of success. I think he was trying to explode towards the thing as soon as you moved and made a noise, which is great… but he wasn’t giving himself enough time to process the noise 🙂
– the wing is visually tiny compared to the deliciousness of the tunnel 🙂 So now that he is a grown up, you can try using the jump instead of the wing – the jump is a bigger visual with a lot of value at this point, so it can compete with the tunnel visually and in terms of value too. It might be easier for him to execute this with a jump than a wing!He seemed to do well with the go go go after the tunnel! He was lifting his head a tiny bit, as if to say, “this is too good to be true” haha but he was a good boy! And you had great throws to help solidify the behavior. You can definitely balance with some turns, but keep emphasizing the go go go gooooooo 🙂
>> I’m not sure I should have done a side change (RC) as I sent him to go on in the session. He listened to my words though…good boy!
Well, in a perfect world, our verbals and handling would always match 🙂 But in the real world, he is fast and keeps getting faster – so you are sometimes going to need your verbals to override your handling so I think the RC then go go go was a perfect example and well-executed! I can see any of us needing this at the end of a big course. Another example would be when he is way ahead of you or way out on a big line and you are running like the wind to catch up – and you use a turn verbal without being able to decel or rotate. That is why we teach verbals and I am loving that he can process them so well. YAY!!
Great job here!
BTW – what is a boondoggle? LOL!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
I am glad you are having fun! One of the trends in all of these is how early we have to give the info. You’re doing a great job with that!And speaking of doing a great job, he is being wonderful about ignoring the off course tunnel when you want the backside at 2.
He read these all really well! On the 3rd and 4th rep, those are good for using the position up closer to the jump after the tunnel, so you don’t have to work as hard to pick him up after the tunnel LOL!! As with the other games, throwing the reward to landing of jump 2 will help build the independence even more, so then it will be easier to place yourself further and further up the line.
>>,I should have used the throw back arm at #4 to get a straighter line for Nuptse.
Do you mean on the jump after the tunnel? I think the throw back would delay you from getting up the line. If you turn sooner on the FFC (or handle it like a threadle where you are already turned) then I think it will be fast and easy to drive him to the straight line (like you did really well on the last rep) without the need for a throwback.
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad the skills are transferring to the ring and helped you nail that gamble run!!
He did really well here coming to the backside each time – he seemed to have no questions about that. Super! Since he is having a little trouble finding the bar jump 2 as you move your start position further away (he wants to come to you and not jump the bar), we can do a bit of training to help him: A simple change is to change placement of reward to the landing side of 2. Right now the rewards are coming after 3 and near you, so he wants to get closer to 3 and to you. So if the reward comes on landing side of 2 regardless of where you are… he will drive to it. So you can use a ball and as his head turns to look at 2, toss the ball over it so he chases the ball as you move away. as you move away.
When he is taking the jump, you have to really exaggerate the cue to take 2 (like at :37) which makes it harder for you to get ahead on course. So, the change in placement will build more independence and also more understanding of the in in cue (that cue is a ‘compound’ cue which means come to the backside AND take the jump without really needing any additional physical or verbal cue).He is stronger about taking the jump independently when you are closer to it like at :48, so start there to change the reward placement. Then gradually move yourself further away. Handle like you are going to 3… but keep tossing the reward to landing of 2.
<>with 90 deg. less rotation and the FFC with the Throw back as sort of a blind cross.
Yes, the threadle has less rotation but you can make it more like 180 degree – your feet should ideally be pointing to the landing spot as much as possible (without feeling like you are twisting yourself into a pretzel LOL!)
He did well with the threadles at 1:01 and 1:12 and 1:24.I recommend tossing the reward to the landing spot of 2 for these as well, so you can trust the independence and move up the line 🙂
And yes, the throwback is very effective for when you want a tight turn and want to do a blind cross exit like a spin or jaakko turn. But you can also pick him up on the other side, like a front cross exit. It works for both 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi again!
>>The handlilng seems different when standing farther from the jump. do youhave somethoughts on that?
It should not be different, it should be identical – but we might have to show it to him a few times to convince him of that 🙂 You did some throwbacks and some full FCs, so maybe that is what it felt different?
A few little details:
Try to keep your feet still on the FFC – if the dogs see our feet moving, they might get twitchy and end up on the wrong side of the jump. The hand can move, but stationary feet are important to the dog.
On the exits – you were sometimes using the throwback (jaakko turn) exit, with the opposite arm across the body. I think you will find it easier to do it with the same side arm (hand closer to the jump) because there is less twisting and it is easier for you to move up the next line – and it is also less likely to get an accidental wrap too 🙂All the reps were looking strong! He only had one question, at :28. One more moment of patience there will help him commit as you send back (you stepped forward before he had turned his head to look at 2) plus using the arm close to the jump to indicate it. Also, you can use the verbal to indicate it – I use a threadle verbal here, because it names the dog’s behavior and helps remind him to take the jump. You might have have been a bit too far from the jump for his current level of understanding – on the last rep, you were a little closer and he was great (plus you were more patient and didn’t leave so early). You can help build the understanding with you at a bigger distance by cuing the #2 jump and toss his reward to landing, to solidify his understanding to look at the jump and not at you there 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think! Are you at a trial this weekend?
TracyGood morning!
Oh yeah, the timing and obstacle name for the tunnel made a big difference!
Your timing was also earlier – on most of the reps, you were already cuing the next thing as he landed or even before landing (from the first jump after the wing wrap. Nice! My Mantra for verbals is: early and often!
Speaking of ‘often’: One thing to bear in mind is that when body language does not support the verbal cue, you will need to keep yelling the verbal 🙂 That is what happened at :54 – your body language was leaving way up the line, fully turned (correctly). You said “go tunnel” twice then got quiet as he took off for the red jump… so the quiet attracted his attention and put him into handler focus, so he did not take the tunnel.
At 1:10 you said it again when he landed from the red so he took the tunnel, and also at 1:25 when you were fully pulling away. And at 1:49 (last rep) you were MILES away (yay!) and said tunnel one more time after he had landed from the red jump: perfect!Wow! Super gamblers run!!!! It looks like there was a thing-after-the-tunnel-under-a-contact challenge and lots of verbal cues to stay on the line after a tunnel. Was there layering too? He looked fast, focused and happy!!!!!!
Well done!!!
TracyHi there!
Ah, the joys of obsessing on verbals haha!!
>> A few weeks ago I was sure I definitely wanted to add a new threadle verbal and it was going to be “In In”, but then it was pointed out to me that this sounds just like “Ann Ann” … so it’s back to the drawing board.
I just jogged around yelling ANN ANN and INININ and they sound different enough that it might be perfectly fine 🙂 The mouth is positioned differently and the sound is produced differently, so she is probably going to differentiate with no issues 🙂 (Yes, I am a dork haha)
>> I just took a look at the verbals list from CAMP and I think I might go with “Close”. Do you still like “Close” as a jump threadle verbal?
Yes, I still like Close as my threadle slice verbal on jumps. For threadle wraps, I say in in but you can say something else. What are your wrap verbals? There are many possibilities and the threadle wrap verbal is a lower priority than threadle slice, at the moment.
>>If so, should I use the same opening backside jump sequence to teach it to Annie or should I set up a couple jumps side by side like an actual threadle?
Yes, and yes haha! I would show her both – I think the opening backside sequence is easier because the front side (wrong side) of the jump is less obvious. But she also needs to see it on the traditional looking setup. So a little of both! Start it on just one jump, with her coming in from different angles, then you can add the jump before it. Let me know if that makes sense!
Have fun!
TracyHi!
>>although there was some great tunnel “go” opportunities at class this week and both Presto and Sole FLEW straight out and over two jumps after a straight tunnel with a “go” “go” and my driving motion – so some of your feedback from the last post was put into action. Nikko didn’t get to play.
YAY for Presto and Sole driving so nicely! Are you watching the Cynosport maps? Tunnel exits as a BIG THING this year LOL! And I am sure Nikko forgives you for not playing (maybe not, though haha)
>>Today I did the tunnel/jump discrimination. I was a touch lazy and just pulled out my short tunnel. There were probably multiple factors at play (like my body position), but I do think my using the short tunnel to work on exits the other day and NOT first cuing tunnel when I did that drill may have had a little bleed over here. So, in my next session, I may pull out the full size tunnel.
The short tunnel is fine here! Any questions from the dogs had more to do with body position than the short tunnel.
>>Anyhow, Presto’s brain was pretty dysfunctional. Early on in the session our neighbor walked by with his male Golden, and so he was a little puffed up (he thinks he is THE man). So, I edited out for time some of the additional work I did on the wing reminding him that words mean things 😉 He has been doing plenty of sends to wraps recently as part of DW training, so I was a little surprised that he suddenly started wrapping the wrong way (which Sole did too). Maybe that was their reaction to feeling the pressure of the tunnel and being uncertain? Anyhow, as soon as we had some success, I called it a day with Presto.>>
The wrapping the wrong way might have been avoiding the pressure of the tunnel indeed! Or offering wraps to the stronger side (is he a lefty? I can’t remember). But overall, for Presto this session was basically pure verbal and no motion help, so it was really difficult – too difficult, he was working at approx 66% rate of success which is too low. So, you can add the wing before it to be able to use a little motion. to help: as he is rounding the wing, start the verbal then give him a step to the wing or tunnel. And you can give reset cookies to line him back up if he has a miss or error – the reset cookies help keep the overall rate of success high.
>Nikko and Sole did much better (although I needed the wing a little further away from the tunnel for Sole). In rewatching the video, I was also a lot more aware of my body position and the dogs head position. I thought I was paying attention to that while doing the exercise, but clearly not consistently. However, I was pretty pleased with the two of them at this first step.>>
Yes, they both did really well! They have a lot more experience with the cues, so it was easier for them to do it without a lot of physical help. Yay! You can add the wing wrap in before this as well, so they can see more motion and that can add challenge too!
I think all 3 dogs can also play this using the jump rather than the wing, and also the angled jump. That can keep things looking different and spicy – if you repeat the same thing, it is possible that al 3 of thm offer different behavior because there is repetition. Even with a lot of reinforcement, many dogs start to offer different things if we repeat the same setup too much 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This went really well too, we are able to learn more about his timing needs here!
A general note – I think you can start his GO GO GO Tunnel verbal sooner, to name the whole line – that will help propel him away more and will also make the turn to the right very different in timing and sound. I think you can start it as he is jumping jump #1 (after the wing wrap).
So with sequence 1 – start your GO sooner for the whole line and start peeling away – see if the verbal go tunnel can override your shoulder turn (this is a very useful skill 🙂 You were pretty much doing this at :25 and :33 and it worked really well, he was great! But keep using the tunnel verbal and not just go, to really keep things clear.
A little blooper – Turning to his right around the wing at :37 set up a backside on the jump, which messed up the timing of the right cue – so the bar came down.
You were a little late at :44 – you were setting up the handling and didn’t say go til he approached the red jump, so be sure to start it as he is approaching that first jump so he leaves you to get on the line and you don’t have to worry about handling 🙂Nice job on the first rep of the full sequence! It looked great!
2nd rep allows us to look at some timing: your right verbal was a little late at 1:14, he had already made a commitment decision. You did it a stride earlier with a strong physical cue at 1:22, so worked much better for him to get the turn. You can start the right turn cues as soon as he has landed from that first jump – as soon as you see his front feet hit the ground, you can deliver the next cue so he has time to process it before making the decision.
And same with the go cue at 1:26, he was already approaching the red jump. The Go verbal is different as it can be used to name an entire line (with the tunnel tacked on so he knows what to look for when driving ahead). The left and right directionals can’t be quite as early because they indicate the jump not the line, but they can start when he has landed from the previous jump.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
He did really well here! Great job showing him both, you ran a great line for the right turn to the jumps too! A couple of ideas for you:
>>In the last 2 clip, I also found that i needed to stop for an instant while Nuptse committed to the tunnel.
Rather than stop, try to keep moving even if it is at a walk. We don’t want him to get used to seeing you stop on course, he is just too speedy for that.
Another way to not have to stop and wait for commitment: when setting up for layering, you can stick closer to the previous line so you don’t get as far ahead and run out of room to run.One more thought to help with commitment:
You were using GO on the last couple of reps – keep the tunnel verbal in there as well. as Go could apply to either jumps or tunnels – so a Go Tunnel will help solidify the commitment.Nice work! Onwards to the sequences 🙂
Tracy
Hi! This was a good session!
He was so funny with the tunnel here – the jump was the juicy one for him for whatever reason, so it took a bit to get re-focused on the tunnel. His facial expression was priceless as he was trying to figure it out and would check back in with you 🙂 Good boy! He did really well here – my only suggestion is to hold his collar so he can hear the cue a couple of times before you let him make a decision by letting go of the collar.
You can totally angle the jump now, and add in the motion from the wing wrap before it too, cuing the jump or tunnel as he is exiting the wing wrap. That adds some more excitement!>> I think we need to take a break from these brain exercises for a couple of days and back to something where he gets to run!
Yes! You can do the distance games and also the layering games – lots of giddy up there!
>> Really enjoying this class….seems pretty timely looking at the Cynosport courses!
Glad you are liking it! And yes, Cynosport is making a great case for these skills. SO MANY PLACES where these skills need to be trained or things will go wrong. I see all of the week 1 and 2 skills so far, and today’s courses added some of the week 3 skills too LOL!!! Thanks, Cynosport 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi! Yep, you found a bunch of the challenges!
For the High Octance Masters Jumping,
I would handle 1-3 dog on right then BC on the landing side of 3 to get 4 on my leftBC 11-12, push to 13, BC 13-14
17-18-19: layer 2 using the tunnel verbal. I *might be able to get a BC 18-19 but I ight not be able to clear the line there, so a threadle/rear cross might work best 18-19-20.
So.Many.Skills.
And watching the Cynosport maps roll in this week… those courses are making the case for these skills, they have all the things we have been working on and the things that are coming in week 3 as well haha!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
I think ball throwing really helped him have fun – it was basically a game of ball with some obstacles thrown in 🙂
One suggestion: Be careful of foot placement to make sure your feet/motion/position match the verbal, for now – the errors at :41 and :55 had to do with your feet/slight motion being paired with foot placement that suggested something else, so he took the line your feet suggested. As he gets the verbals solidified, your feet won’t be as important but for now, try to match thm up with the verbals.He had a little trouble with the wing wraps to the backside or tunnel or front side – you can totally use your physical cues to help – motion to the tunnel, motion to the backside, motion to the front, even one step or being on the other side of the wing for the front side. It seemed a little easier when the jump was angled – his only question there was at 2:27 – but I think he was right. You sent him around the wing and said jump, and so he took the line he was on – I think you were cuing the other side there, which would be a threadle cue. You got it on the next rep by sending him around the other side of the wing so the jump was the line he was facing. Yay!
You can take this still to the layering game now – it is more like a sequence and less like a drill, and also has a discrimination element to it. Great job here! Have fun!
Tracy
