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Hi!
The lap turns look really good – you were rotated on time but also had a nice amount of patience, letting him get almost ot your hand before turning him away. Fabulous!He had a little question at :38 and didn’t go into the tunnel – it was because you stopped moving and turned away, so he was no longer sure which end of the tunnel you wanted 🙂
The tandems were a little harder at first – you were a little too close to the wing on some of them, and also stepping in towards the wing on some – you’ll want to keep moving forward then flip him away, kind of like what you did at 1:45 (and then keep moving forward and connecting on the tunnel cue, you turned away there too so he wasn’t sure which tunnel entry you wanted).
1:58 also went well and 2:04 was the best one – you really got into the flow of moving into the tandem turns but on a line parallel to the wing (not too close, not too far, LOL!). Tandems are generally more in motion and lap turns are more useful when you are standing still.
Great job here, especially on the last several tandems!!
TracyGood morning!
Good work here, we got some good info from Ruse!
In general, the planning went well. I have some suggestions for you to smooth it out even more, with an eye towards getting things as perfect as possible on the very first run:On the walk through, I think you should over-rehearse the connection on the of exit crosses and tunnel, with your arm back to the her nose and your eyes back to her eyes. You were disconnecting/looking forward on the walk through in those spots, so when you ran your first run, the connection was happening for the first time. That lack of connection rehearsal contributed to two spots that can be better (more below).
Also during the walk through, try to make your handling decisions quicker, so you can add verbals in sooner – you are loud when running (which is good) but I didn’t hear verbals for almost 5 minutes of the walk through. You had some oopsies on the verbals in the walk through and then run and I think it was because they were not rehearsed/double checked.
Also on the walk through – try to get to speed sooner so you can work transitions/decels into the turns – this might be very helpful for Hero, especially! You started at 6 minutes and that doesn’t give a lot of time to really practice it and your walk through ended up a bit slower in pace than the actual run.
One last thing: #2 is a backside on this course, so always check your course maps to make sure you see all the backsides 🙂 As a front side, a lead out push can work as long as you stay connected longer and wait longer to move.
On the run: the lead out push you planned can totally work – it requires a longer connection and you can’t move forward til she lands and looks at 2 – then you can move forward but must maintain connection back to her and the landing spot of 2.
Your connection was good overall because you are getting more natural with it, but if you don’t rehearse it every step of the way, it will be good in some parts and then possibly lead to an error: you almost lost her to the off course tunnel entry on the exit of #16 at 8:55 – that is a good spot to remember to rehearse the connection in the walk through 🙂
>>Also she had to deviate around me to get the tunnel at 17 because I didn’t move off her line and get my head around to make connection.>>
I don’t think it was the line you were on as much as the connection was late – you can also call her before she enters that tunnel so she knows to come out of it looking for you.
And double checking your verbals as you work them in the walk through will help too: you kept saying right right on 12-13-14 and18-19 but it is a left 🙂
>>I did run with Hero also, I made heaps of mistakes and talked to the camera a bit but when I finished the bloody camera wasn’t even on lol.>>
OH NO! I hate when that happens. I had it happen on Tuesday: I recorded a 15 minute lecture and when I went to turn off the camera… it turns out I had never turned it on. GRRRR! LOL!
>>Hero jumped very long on 8, and so wide he missed coming back in for 9.
That is the transition moment: when he is over 7, he would need to see you beginning to decelerate so you can rotate away before he takes off for 8 – that will cue him to collect. And my guess is that you were also not connected enough as you ran away to 9, so he drifted wide trying to sort out which line you wanted. Ruse is more experienced so she was a little wide but found the line with the softer connection. With less experience, Hero drifted wider to watch you longer.
>> With him I did the BC 10-11 and that was a much better choice than FC I did with Ruse which felt awkward.
I thought the FC looked good with Ruse, but it is a lot of rotation before and after it, so it is possible that the BC works just as well and was easier to execute 🙂
>>He wasn’t very independent and pulled off 13 and 14.
it might not be an independence question – it might be that your arm was up and you were looking forward, so he didn’t know where to be.
>> I started over and ran looking behind like you said. I made much better connection and found I didn’t actually have to rush as I had heaps of time. So this pretty much confirmed your advice from yesterday. >>
YES!!!! I think it will make it much easier with both dogs: make looking back to their eyes into your very top priority, and rehearse it til your head falls off LOL!!!! Then rehearse it again with you running 🙂 It will make a big difference 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! He is doing really well on both of these!
Teeter video:
The first part, with the offering on the bottom of the teeter looks really good, he seems confident and unconcerned about movement or sound on the board. Yay! Have your cookies ready so that you can reward immediately and keep his head down, as he is leaping on the end you can also be moving the treats in. That will help prevent him from getting on then looking up at you.On the 2nd part, he was doing well sorting out the mountain climber – it was harder for him but he was doing well!
You can have Bill waiting at the end of the board, right at the edge, with the cookies so it is mainly a recall up the board (or Bill sends him to you waiting at the end) – you can be right at the edge facing him, with massive reinforcement. That will help build the confidence so he doesn’t feel like he is running up a cliff all on his own LOL!
When he is sprinting up to the top, then you can change your position and move with him – when you do that, I recommend having the reward out there already at the end of the board. The easiest way to do that is to attach a big spoon or measuring cup to the end (duct tape works nicely :)) and that way, you can have the reward already placed at the top so he can go without you (and without looking for you).2nd video:
I think the mat work is going really well! He is making a great effort to hit with multiple feet, so I think we can move forward with this in 2 ways:
– you can attach the mat to something that is 2 or 3 inches tall, so he steps up onto it as he moves across it. I think we did this with Fizz, so it is the same concept and will really continue to solidify his understanding of the footwork. Another session or two with treats should help transfer his understanding (I am sure he will figure it out immediately).
– then, insert toy play into the chain of events here. Tug a little, then send him to the mat, click and toss a treat – then call him back to you to reset with the tug toy. That adds in a tiny bit of arousal in these early stages, which is perfect! The hardest part of the running contacts work is adding in the arousal, so we can add it in nice and early with him.Great job here! See ya later!
TracyGood morning!
Good job on the skills sets! She was not super fast on these, but I think it was a combination of her wondering why the heck you were running past those perfectly fine tunnels 🙂 and also you were rightly protecting the tendon, so she was modulating her speed (which is perfectly fine for this).
On the first video: This went well! She did have a couple of questions – with the other obstacles so close, earlier verbal cues (and repeating them, as in around around around) and rotations will help answer her question about whether to stay out on the line for the 2nd wing or wrap back to you.At :36 on the tunnel cue, I think you were blocking the line and the initial cue was a little too forward, which did look like wing-then-tunnel to her. She is pretty honest 🙂
The line was clearer on the next rep where you turned and called sooner and she could see the tunnel entry. Nice!2nd video – it is always good to balance to make sure she isn’t patterning!
These little sequences also challenge connection, which is an important element in this type of course design challenge.
At :07, you disconnected by looking forward while she was still behind you, so she followed the line of shoulders and took the tunnel (good girl) . You were More connected on the 2nd rep so she got it , and also nicely connection on the 3rd rep with the ‘out around’ to the other wing. The tunnel send strong too and the rest looked good! You locked into the right amount of connection and timing and also she was sorting it out! These challenges don’t need massive connections, just enough connection back to her as you move along the lines, and that is what you were doing here.Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning and thanks for the update!!! Sounds like you had. Great trial day!
Congrats especially on your DQ with Mookie – it is NOT easy to do that with such a big, fast, powerful dog!!!!!! Well done!>> I liked the theme for pkg 4 as I was able to apply it to the one day I trialed last week. I went through the 3 sequences before the trial to practice my run thrus. I found that Buddy ran the sequences best the way you ran them on your video with Electra. I was able to do it several ways with Mookie with good results.>>
Perfect! Buddy seems similar to Elektra in that he is calmer on course and doesn’t leave us in the dust. Mookie is more like Voodoo or Hot Sauce: all go go go with little room for human error LOL!
>>For the JWW which my most difficult to execute with Mookie I put in my verbals on the walk thru. For the run however, only one verbal came out of my mouth and it was when he indiciated to me he needed it. But, because I was in the correct positions for Mookie we Q’ed. He did not knock any bars 🙂>>
So even though the verbals were not quite perfect, it sounds like you nailed the rehearsal of everything else in your walk through, so he nailed it. And with the bars staying up, it probably means you were very connected, so keep focusing on that!
>> I had looked at the map the night before but was not sure of a plan. There was only one walk thru and I was second in. >>
So a couple of factors – stranger challenges (less comfort zone), and more time pressure. I am sure you have all the skills required for that type of course, but it might feel really uncomfortable in the trial setting. Keep working it, through, it will one together!!!!
>>I had to cut the walk thru short to warm up Mookie to go into the ring.>>
I feel that pain, it is something that goes on the list to plan for (short walk throughs)
>> We crashed and burned and I was late causing most of the bars to come down. His backsides were great. The bars came down when I did late blind crosses.>>
That was probably being a bit uncomfortable with the challenges and also maybe feeling rushed. It will all improve with practice 🙂 Keep entering Premier!
>> But I was determined to get in the verbals on time. Again, we had a split walk thru and I had time. The run was great, and I got the verbals in on time with no bars down for our first DQ and we got 2 first places. The Standard run felt great as I was able to execute it as I really walked it.
Good for you! Happy dance! Sounds like you had a great rehearsal in the walk through and then had time to get ready, making for excellent results.
>>I am not good when rushed.
Change your mindset: you ARE good, even when rushed, you just need to plan for less time and also not let it get into your head 🙂
>>>Should I continue to work on timing walk thrus when I practice ? And how do you determine the time that should be allowed for the # of jumps in a course or sequence ?>>
Both good questions:
Yes, on days when you are going to run longer sequences or full courses – time your walk through and walk it like it is a trial and you only have once change at it. That will help the walk through get to be habit and second nature and really comfy 🙂
And the faster you can complete your walk through process, the better (as long as you don’t skimp on the process). Start with your timer at 8 minutes for a full course, or 5 minutes for a sequence (10 obstacles or less). Then ideally work the time down to 4 or 3 or 2 minutes. I often give myself 2 minutes because at trials, I am often first in the ring or have multiple dogs running early in th running order, so I need to have them ready.
You. Can also warm up the dogs *before* the walk through at a trial, so that is one less thing to have to do between the walk through and the run! That reduces the feeling of rushing. And it will make it easier when both boys are in Excellent/Masters.>>Should I continue to enter Premiere JWW for me to practice walk thrus as there is usually less time to walk and prepare. >>
Yes! It will give you practice on weirder courses too LOL!
>>Buddy is not entered until Sept and is in Open. He is a breeze to show if I stay very connected as he multi-tasks watching where the judge is on course. Mookie only has his eyes on me.>>
So since you know how much he needs connection, you can make that the biggest priority of the walk through.
>>The rest of the weekend we did a Canine Freestyle Video Event. Both dogs were great.>>
That sounds SO FUN!!!!!!!! What music did you use?
>>So thanks for another great topic, one I need to work on the most. I went one day to trial to work on the walk thru homework for your course and came home with a DQ. That was cool.
That is very reinforcing! Hard work = DQ 🙂 Yay!
>>I have another one trial day at the end of Aug. And will apply what I learned again 🙂>>
Fun! It is great to approach trials like that, as ways to practice and improve skills. Have fun!
Thanks as always for the update 🙂
TracyHi! She is also doing really well here!!
One thing that I think was causing her questions: as you move forward to 3, you are closing your shoulder forward/turning your shoulders and eyes to face 3. That breaks the connection and commitment support for 2, so she had questions:
at :27, you had great timing of moving forward! But you closed your shoulders so she did not take 2 (which is correct, based on the line of your shoulders). At :53, you held your position longer so you were a little late, and she got it. When you were late at 1:16, she dropped the bar. On the last rep, you got it – but I think the timing of the first rep at :27 was PERFECT (do this same timing for the FCs and BCs) and to get her to take 2, leave your left arm back behind you, shoulders/chest facing #2, making connection to her eyes, and just slide out of there (no need to sprint) – like a serpentine (because it is actually a weird serpentine LOL!!) Don’t turn your shoulders to 3 until after she lands from 2. That should get you the commitment AND the great timing.The pool toy was funny! And great job on all of the reinforcement for the stays!! She really wants to release when you reconnect after leading out (before you give the verbal) so keep that reinforcement flowing so that stay remains super strong.
Great job here! Let me know if the ideas on the upper body position make sense 🙂
TracyHi! Sounds like a really fun weekend!
This session went really well, I am so excited by how well the two of you are doing as a team!
Good job with the ‘catch’ rewards – she is fast with a ton of drive, so convincing her that stays are AWESOME will be very helpful LOL!!!
The blinds are going well. Yes, at :16, you were not far enough ahead and late – but note how she saved you and got the correct jump anyway! Always reward that – we like it when the dogs save our butts on course LOL! Then you had better position and timing and it went much better (yes, she needs to stay there til released 🙂 )
The FC went well too – the main thing now with both the FCs and the BCs is that you start them sooner: you can start them after she lands from 1 so they are both finished before she takes off for 2. That takes a lot of trust that she will commit to 2, but I think she will be fine with that 🙂 If not, we will train it 🙂
One of the reasons that I think she will be fine with 2 when you are moving into the FC or BC is that she was perfect when you did that giant lead out to 3, to set up the throwback move for the tight turn – she held her stay, found the line perfectly, and turned really well. YAY!!! So, that gives me confidence that she will have no trouble letting you do the FCs and BCs sooner too.>>hrow back, I did help her out a little and made sure she was getting that jump. Earlier when we did this I left too soon and she missed the second jump. >>
With the little bit of help, she seemed to have no questions at all. If you were moving too soon on previous sessions, she was probably correct to not take 2 if you had already moved – that is good to know for when you do fancy courses and also for Snooker 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>The weather and late nights at work are not helping my training!!>>
I think your job needs to give you some time off to play with your dogs LOL!!!!
>>This is a really cool exercise and is helping me understand what options to choose. >>
I really love this exercise because it is a game changer for most of us (being able to do this has gotten me to national and international podiums on more than one occasion, so I am sold on it!). We can use this exercise to find the root of errors on course. You mentioned feeling like you were rushing (on the Hero video) – and I think I can see why! Your planning was good, you had your verbals going and you were running in the walkthrough to make sure you prepared for the pace of the dogs. The one thing to improve (and this is a big one that can be super helpful): your connection was too far forward of where the dogs would actually be. What I mean by that is that you were looking ahead in spots where the dogs would still be behind you (like exits of crosses, exits of tunnels, and on the bigger lines). On the walk throughs especially a you got faster and faster, you were looking ahead too soon from 2-3, after the FC 7-8, after the tunnel exits of 8-9, and on the big line across the back of the course. You are really good with connection on the BC 12-13 and 13 backside but then start looking forward too soon again: both of your dogs would still be behind you at this point, based on your handling choices.
So the connection and seeing the dog was not really rehearsed – then when you were trying to run Hero, it felt rushed and there were little moments of wideness and then errors because of you looking too far ahead of where he was on the first run or two – at 6:42, looking too far ahead of him as he exited 8, then on the 2nd run, looking too far ahead after the send to the backside.
By the 3rd run, you had gotten settled in with the connection, and it went really well – then it went really well for Ruse too 🙂
So the trick is now to get your very first run to go as well as the 3rd run did, and it is a simple adjustment: walk the course looking behind you for the dog unless you are absolutely sure the dog will be ahead of you in that moment. Look behind you after crosses, look at tunnel exits, etc – and keep looking behind you, delivering the verbal cues to the invisible dog. It will feel weird at first but it will be a great rehearsal – then when you run the real speedsters, you will find that you won’t rush – you will be prepared for exactly where the dogs are and you will feel like you have plenty of time 🙂
Everything else looks really good, so I think it is just that one adjustment of looking back to the dog rather than looking ahead.
>>Here is Ruse’s run. I didn’t e-walk the course because I pretty much run them the same way. Ruse is more experienced but Hero is faster I think>>
He might be a bit faster indeed! he also needs a bit more turn info, like 3-4 and 6-7 so you can give him more decel into those. With Ruse, you power into those spots and she turns really nicely. With Hero, you powered into those spots and he jump longer, because of the acceleration.
>I did a bit of a trial at the end of Ruse’s run to see if she could do the threadle wrap instead of the blind to backside on 13. She did it no problem. I know that would usually put you behind, but it didn’t matter because I wanted her to turn tight out of the tunnel to get 18 anyway. Also going into 17 I made sure when I walked that I measured 2m from the tunnel entrance so I knew when to give her the right turn out of the tunnel command. I was pretty pleased with her turn!>>
The threadle rear seemed a lot faster than the BC for her! I need to time it again on a bigger screen but it seemed significantly faster. It might be that she could drive to it because there was no blind before it (you were a little late on the blind) and also the collection cues cut out a lot of yardage: if you re-work the blind to the backside push, I think a spin there would get you out of the spot sooner and tighten that line as well. But it was really cool to see the threadle wrap being used in a perfect spot for it – I agree that there was no negative to getting a little behind there, on purpose. She looked great!
>>Here is Ruse’s overlay with my original course walk. I am a bit speedy on the course walk:
>>I think if the handler has to be faster or slower on the walk than on the actual run – faster is better 🙂 But the main thing is the connection. So when you move to the next course, walk the whole thing looking back behind you for the invisible dog, talking to the invisible dog, etc and see if it feels smoother!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Don’t be embarrassed about the walk through! You worked your plan then nailed the run. Part of what we are doing with these walk throughs is looking at time management and also looking at decisions.
Part of making decisions is being able to do them quickly and confidently – the changing them if needed (also quickly and confidently LOL!) So if the big takeaway is to come into the walk through with most your plan in place, then hash out the rest quickly – that is good to know!
From what I could see on this walk through, part of the trouble might have been adding complexity to 6-7 and 11-12 when you didn’t need to, in the form of extra blinds. You did a blind at 6 then a blind on the flat to 7. And you added a blind on the very last jump too. Both of these blinds worked… but I don’t think you needed either of them. You could ‘serp’ 6-7 all dog on left, and run to 12 with him on your right (no additional blind needed). It was those 2 spots that took up most of your time in the walk through – so one thing to add to your walk through list: when you are working really hard on one spot, ask yourself if you are over-complicating things and if there is a simpler way? Often, there is a simpler way. If not? Carry on with the obsessing in that one spot 🙂
Overall, your had great connection, verbals were in place, and you did a great job on the run! Yay!!!
TracyHi!
Yikes, I am ready for lovely weather with a whole lot less humidity. Sounds like your area got some big storms last night!His opening looked really great on the first run! 2-3 looked great! You might have been calling him too much, one extra “come” at :12 so you can try these with a ‘come weave’ and see what he does in terms of finding the weaves without more help 🙂
Slice versus wrap:
3 steps is significant! 3 steps difference in distance on a wrap, versus a slice – that slice is likely to end up being faster. I timed it from landing of the previous jump to nose-passes-wing of the decision jump – to that point, the slice is faster (the in in was slower but that was just because it is a harder skill). So then if the weather ever gets nice, you can try it through the tunnel – he *might* be able to explode out of the wrap and have a faster line to the tunnel, but a lot fo BCs are still finding the slice to be the fastest line even with the extra turns to and through the tunnel. But most importantly, you have all the options in the toolbox and that will be super useful.Great job here! Stay cool 🙂
TracyHI! Welcome back from the beach, I hope you had a great vacation and fun at the seminar too!
About the lead outs – throwing back the rewards definitely feels weird but the dogs find it helpful – “we get paid here when the momma is THERE? Cool!” You don’t need to say yes before you throw, you can just say catch and toss the reward. The ‘catch’ is a marker equivalent to the ‘yes’ and it also tells her exactly where/when the reward is coming.
The handling looked really strong! He commitment looked great on the 2nd jump in the middle of the setup which means you can be earlier on moving through the cues:
for the blinds, you can start them as soon as you see she has landed from jump 1.
For the lead out push, you can start moving more towards 3 (and wherever 4 would be in this situation) as soon as she has landed from 2 🙂
Your connection and positions are looking good, so now you can totally challenge her commitment with the earlier timing (I think she will be fine 🙂 )>>We’ve been doing most of our mat work with toys. This morning I did a session with the treat trainer and she was definitely less drivey but she hit it every time. Also was able to be more precise working through different approaches since her brain was on instead of being 90% on the toy and 10% on task.
When you do the training with a toy, how successful is she in terms of hitting the mat?
>>Just now we picked a shady spot and did some more with me staying stationary with a high value toy in hand. She got 80% of the hits and the other 20 I spun her back around and she thoughtfully hit the mat before flying off for ball.
80% is good for a starting point – I suggest repeating the session twice more – if the rate of success remains the same or drops, then the food is a better choice. If it rises – keep using the toy 🙂
>>I’ll try to get some new remote batteries so I can share footage with you but I’m thinking though the drive wasn’t there with the remote trainer, the accuracy was, so maybe I should continue to train this both with toy and with remote trainer?>>
Accuracy is more important than speed for now – and also, where is she looking when the toy is in play versus the treats? If she is accurate for the food and looking ahead – bingo! It is easy enough to get more and more speed. If she is not accurate and/or looking back at you for the toy… stick to food for now (it is easy to get speed but harder to convince the dogs to NOT look at us). If she is pretty accurate and looking ahead (not at you) with the toy? Then train the ‘newer’ concepts with food (like different angles, more motion, etc) and then when she is successful, work them for toy rewards. Let me know if that makes sense! Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>but in this last class, she decided perhaps she could run with someone else, and had a great time.
This is great! The most important thing is that she has a great time in that environment – everything else is icing on the cake.
>>There is no way of knowing how long I’ll be unable to run the girls in class. I’m currently in PT for something else, and now the therapist is working on the this injury with me. A total rupture can take a year to heal, so I’m trying to be careful and not turn this into something bigger. >>
Yes, avoiding the rupture seems smart! In the meantime, we keep working on the verbals and independence and confidence in new environments 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
He did well here as you added speed and the tunnel!! The me me cue itself is going really well – make sure that when you are adding speed and the tunnel, that he doesn’t see you converging in towards the jump – that causes the line of motion ti indicate the front which conflicts with the threadle wrap verbal/arm. So, no need to be near the wing, just keep running your line. That will turn out to be pretty helpful because these threadle wrap things are often found when we are nowhere near the wing.
Now that you are adding it to the full jump – when you want him to run by it, call him before the tunnel and turn a bit – we don’t want the name call alone to mean ignore the bar – we often call the dogs on course as part of the cue to take the front side of the jump. So, a bit more turn-of-shoulders will make it clear (if we ever needed to run past a wing and ask him to take nothing, a more formal bypass verbal would work but that is sooooo low on the priority list at the moment that you don’t need to worry about it for now.
One more thing to add: a cue to take the front side of the jump after the tunnel (go or jump) as that’ll make for a great balance to the backside threadle wrap.Great job!!! We add more to this on Monday 🙂
Tracy
