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Hi! It was so fun seeing him work live, you two looked great!
The turn aways look really good! Yes, your timing was much better (later) so he read them all better. When you came in with more speed like from the race track, you were able to rotate then cue it which I think made it smoother/easier than when you were backing up into it. So, sending him to the wing and running forward then rotating into is a clearer picture for him. My only other suggestion is a slight tweak in the arm position – you were bending your elbow so your magic cookie hand ended up near your bicep. It you straighten your arm/lock your elbow and extend your hand to him (it will look basically the same as if you are actually offering him a cookie) – that will magnetically pull him into you better than the curled arm.
The backside game is going well! He is doing really well when you are parallel and heading to where the wing meets the bar. When using connection to send him to it and with you moving further across the bar, the trick is to let you outside shoulder come forward of your body (it might indeed look like your outside arm is moving forward to point to the entry wing). When he missed at :19, both of your shoulders were back so even though you had great connection and verbal, he thought you wanted the front of the bar.
About the reward – yes, you can totally plop that reward in to help him default to the bar and not go past it 🙂 I think your position of rewarding was good but it can be sooner – as soon as he head is saying “yes, I am going to the backside” you can drop the reward in on the landing spot (anywhere on the slice line) as you keep moving. You were wanting to want one extra step, so he was waiting on affirmation to come in (totally normal and basically mirrored my session with Contraband :)) That toy drop is basically a lure to come in over the bar, it comes that early! But it is also a reward for the decision to go to the backside, so I am happy to let it help create the default behavior of coming over the bar regardless of where your motion is going 🙂
The 2nd part of the game is going well, he is really good about committing as you are moving past the wing! The only questions he had were when you were pretty far past the wing – but you adjusted to where you were still passing the wing but not quite as much… and he did great! yay!!! His commitment will continue to expand as you practice this.I think he is ready for 5 feet in th grid 🙂 No rush, he is only 9 months as you mentioned, but he looked really strong on the 4.5 feet 🙂
Have fun with the Starfish! Great job here!
TracyHi!
Are you in shorts? Yay for the MN Heat Wave!He looks really good here – committing to the jump and turning (I see so many adult dogs not able to get nice turns on this type of opening) He had no problem when you were on the ‘backside’ of 2. When you had more distance, it was harder of course so you can exaggerate the step towards him to show more of the takeoff spot to send to – it looks like you were stepping more towards the jump. Think about stepping to his extension takeoff spot rather than a really tight takeoff spot.
Because he is doing so well, you can start adding in motion out of the send (like doing the forced front cross when you are on the backside of the wing) and start it as he is committing but before he jumps – that should be a nice challenge! And I think you can do this on 2 jumps now as well.
Great job!!
TracyHi! These look really good, it is rare that a pup can do grids to a tunnel and not lose their mind completely haha!
Set point to the tunnel
This is going well! He is looking at you a little over the first jump but I think that is going to disappear when he is more experienced running sequences. It looks love he was powering really nicely through the set point: good form and no changes with your motion or when you were moving. He didn’t power quite as much when you were walking versus running, so clearly he is building in respect of motion into his striding (and respect of the toy on the ground when he freezes in front of it, probably waiting for it to be kicked LOL!) And I agree about the difference in 12 and 14 inches, I didn’t see a difference in his form. Good boy!On the ladder grid, he was also watching you a little but I really believe that will go away when he sees more sequences. His jumping effort is light and balanced, which is good because the next few months will be spent on speed things, so having this balanced foundation will serve him well.
Great job!!!
TracyHi there! I hope the MN Heat Wave lasts!! On the offset zig zag – he was having trouble reading it at first but when you changed position, he had a bit of a light bulb moment. With the jumps at that angle, you can lead out a bit and run along one side of the grid, kind of like handling a serp line. The line you were walking on your lead outs is the line you would run – but release him when you are maybe at the far wing of 1. That will help draw the line with handling also you can show him the ‘real world’ context of the serp line he would see this jumping in. When he is seeing the line, the jumping is looking good!! I think the serp line handling will help him see the line even more easily.
T
Good morning/afternoon! It is a beautiful day to be outside!
I think the zig zags are going well! He is definitely sorting out his leads and also what to do with his hind end – the camera angle was great to see what he was doing. I thought his first couple of zig zags looked uncomfortable, like he was saying “who’s crazy idea was THIS?!?” Ha! Like at :10 when he levitated sideways and on the next 2 reps a little as well. He then spent a couple of reps sorting out his striding and by the last 3 reps – he was sooooo much smoother and more efficient. Good boy! All we can do is keep rewarding and breaking it down like you did – he doesn’t need more help sorting it out, he just needed to see it a few times and figure out how to do it. This is the type of thing you can’t revisit once a week or so to keep the skills sharp.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Awww Haydn is a tiny dude!!!!!I love the bite sized chunks of Lanna TV 🙂
Video 1: She was on fire on this first sequence! Having the paparazzi right there was distracting so she was faster but not necessarily 100% focused. That is kind of like what her early trials will be like, so give her super extra connection on the landing of 3 to push out to 4, then after the FC to 5. Your connection was a little too gentle for her level fo excitement 🙂 You won’t always need to do that, but I am guessing her first few trials will need extra connection (my dogs all need that too in the early trials).Video 2: There was a lot more connection here plus she was a little more settled 🙂 The line from 3-4 is a bit of a push away, so you can turn on the big connection a little sooner to get it smoother. 4-5 looked great. I think a blind on the tunnel exit will be easier to get to the wrap on 7 – the FC ended up making you late so she read it as a RC on 7.
Video 3 – looking even better on the opening line! She is landing from 3 with a grunt, so I think pushing in towards 4 sooner with more connection will smooth it out even more. You got the FC after the tunnel in sooner but not sooner enough to make the transition, so she stopped when you tried to rotate.
Video 4 – this ending had a nice transition so you got the commitment AND turn! The FC does make it hard to get it all in at her speed, so you can try the BC to the spin – or even a BC then a decel and rotate to see if she will commit in collection without needing a spin.
Sequence 2:
Nice job here! The lap turn at 4 just required a little more patience than the first rep – 2nd rep looked really good!
At 7, the spin was a little late at :42 – you can decel into it then start to rotate as she is passing you so she can collect before takeoff.
The 2nd run was super nice!!! You had both connection and patience on the turn away at 4 so she read it really nicely! And the spin started much sooner so she landed already turned then powered away up the line.Is she jumping 16” here? I couldn’t quite tell if it was 14 or 16, but either way she is jumping nicely!!!
Great job! See you tomorrow 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Hope you are enjoying the good weather!
Looking at the 4 skills sessions on this first video:
The ‘zip’ circle wraps at the beginning are looking really good! She is happy to let you disconnect and leave, and she is maintaining her commitment and form. Very nice! My only suggestion is to consider repeating the verbal a few more times so she can keep processing it in the heat of the moment. On a training set up it is probably not that important, but at a trial I think more verbals are helpful 🙂The backside slice looked really good too! You read my mind – I was going to suggest that you run into it more rather than lead out so far – and then you ran into it more and she was perfect. Nice!!! Easing into it with NOT a lot of motion is a great way to jump start it, followed by building up the speed as you did. Commitment is looking great without needing a lot of connection!
The zip circle wrap on the other set up is also looking good! She is committing nicely and not bothered by the disconnection at all. As with the first set of these, saying the verbal a bunch of times is a good habit for later on in coursework. And on this set up, your running line can be closer to the zip jump – you were a little bit away from it and so she had to go around you to get to the backside. Sticking closer to the jump will draw a tighter line.
The backside slice on this set up was hard on that first rep with a lot of motion! Good job dialing down the motion to help her understand it, rewarding, then dialing it back up. I think she is doing SUPER well on these in terms of both independence AND form!
Sequence video:
The first sequence looked great – nice connection especially on the serpentine back to the tunnel. The second sequence looked great too – great timing on the BC at :17 and :27 and exit line connection was spot on, so she was fast and on a great line. I think you were one step further to your right at :27 on the 2nd run, so her line to the last tunnel was perfect!!Sequence 3: NICE! I think you were surprised for a moment that she so easily went to the backside at 4 at :40 that you hesitated then had to scramble LOL!!
You had a nice turn at 5 but you can disconnect sooner to look over your new (left) shoulder – it took an extra stride for you to look over your left so she was one stride too tight on the turn (small details, but we like to obsess haha)Sequence 4: Nice opening to the backside at 4! At 5 on the wrap, you were in her way at :58 – she couldn’t see the wing of the backside jump and then you stepped forward before she passed you (and I think you were saying lalala and it should be zip?)
She had the same question at 1:20 but you waited there longer so she got it. Ideally, you position when she lands from 4 would be tucked into where the wing meets the bar, so she could see the whole wing (it would also be visible from this camera angle). I don’t think she will have any questions when the wing is more visible.On the last sequence – I think the angle of the 4 jump made the backside confusing. When she landed from 3 at 1:30, the LaLa cue should take her to the side of 4 she took, it technically wasn’t the front side on the angle here. Going all the way around it was hard but she figured it out 🙂 It was like a double lalalalal hahah. Her commitment was good as you left for the next line – you can decel more into the next turn so it is easier to get back out of it.
Great job on these, her commitment is looking great so you have tons of freedom to leave for the next line!
TracyHi!!
Video 1: This was interesting! I think because the jump was the only thing out there, he was just assuming he should self-out to it LOL! The reps at the end where you rewarded him for coming to you were very helpful. Also, you can make the out cue completely different with the outside arm cuing it. I never use the dog-side arm, so my dogs tend to never flick away on the dog-side arm. That will show a pretty massive difference in shoulder position too. It is something to try! Also, adding more distance away from the jump will help him differentiate between when you want him to take it and not take it 🙂
Video 2: This looked really good! The OK versus the back was pretty clear 🙂 So now add more motion into it, moving forward to make sure he can read the difference even when motion is involved 🙂
Video 3:
Sequence 1 looked good! Very clear connection! You can add challenge on the out element: rather than moving towards the jump for the out, your feet will move towards the #1 jump and your upper body & verbal cue the out so he moves away from your line.
Being further away from the out jump will set up the backside on sequence 2 even more easily, because you will be right there to cue it 🙂 At :18 you moved a little close to the out jump, so then you turned your shoulders to move away and it pulled him to the front of 4. At :26 you showed the line to 4 much more nicely but ended up rear crossing the tunnel entry – he did it but he looked at you there. So, as you set up the RC, you can connect with him more and give him the tunnel verbal sooner so he can drive ahead. And a FC there will work really nicely too!
On the backside sequence: nice connection on the line back to the tunnel!! And nice job cuing the backside. You can start the backside verbal right before he goes into the tunnel and keep repeating it (“early and often” is my mantra LOL!) so he is expecting to move away from you as he exits the tunnel.
Your connection and cue on the backside was GREAT!! He ticked the bar only because you were praising him and he started looking for the toy LOL!
Last run: gorgeous! You put it all together and nailed it. Yay! Perfect connection and the send to the backside rocked. Yay!!Bummer about the music, YouTube is silly sometimes!!!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I don’t know if this is a Salo grid or not, but it teaches striding. Here is how we start the pups on it (my two puppies are shown doing the demos) – the compression section always remains the same and the 3rd jump moves in or out on each rep. The reward is about 10 feet past the 3rd jump, on the ground. Handler doesn’t move yet – you would be standing out by the last jump. Try that and see what she does! It gets more complex but this is the foundation for it 🙂T
Hi there – really nice run here!
Your opening line was smooth and lovely! Super connected, nice lines – no verbal feedback from Annie LOL! That is always a good sign 🙂 That is what looked like great regular connection and exit line connection to me – how did it feel? She was fast and smooth (and not angry haha)
On her first question – Perhaps she doesn’t like the shoulder pull needed to get her into the tunnel? I didn’t look like you forgot where you were going do I don’t think that was her question. You probably could have gotten a blind cross on the jump before the 2nd tunnel at :14 – she barked there as you set up the pull/RC to the tunnel entry. I think it went well but she must have not liked the pull as it didn’t show the line immediately.
On the 2nd little question – Yes, she got mad on the weave exit to the tunnel. I think it was a bit of a snooker-handling moment, you were calling her past the other jump but she could not see the obstacle you wanted so she voiced her opinion. It is possible that a FC at the weave exit then run like mad with a “go tunnel” verbal will get rid of her question there?Nice transition into the FC on the double jump! It was a nice turn there. What you did there was drive, then decelerate… then rotate. All before she took off, so she was able to shift into collection nice and early. It is not easy to get collection on a double jump and you did it! Do you have video of the hard landings? My guess is that your deceleration was late: you might have powered forward until she made a takeoff decision, then rotated: she was landed hard then turned.
After the double: I loved the arm pumping! You were connected and driving her and she loved it! She cracked me up: on the line to the tunnel at :36, she looked like she really wanted to head check or voice opinion… but your motion was so clear and you were connected and you gave one more go tunnel verbal. Yay!! I totally give credit to your handling there – Annie does not seem like the type who will easily save you if handling is bad, she is more like the type to voice her opinions if she doesn’t like it 🙂
About the exit line connections: you did an awesome blind at :08! Timely and great exit connection. The goal is to have your dog-side arm back and your eyes on her eyes: mission accomplished because she was smooth, tight, fast… and silent 🙂 She never had to take her eyes off the line. You had an exit line connection after the first tunnel – also really nice!
It was hard to see your exit line connection after the FC at :25, but she read the line perfectly and she voiced no opinion, so it must have been clear.
And she read just enough exit line connection on the FC after the double to come immediately to the correct side, pin her ears back and go faster 🙂 Wheeee! She likes that arm pumping running!!!Great job! How did the connections feel while you were running?
Tracy
Hi there! Your runs are looking great!!! I am thrilled with how well his runs are going. I feel your pain about the mask thing – I have a feeling we will be dealing with this for a while, so I have found a style of mask that is very easy to run in and easy to be heard through. I wear during the 8 hour teaching days and it is pretty comfy, all things considered. I also ordered those thingies that kind of hold the mask away from the face so it is easier to run and yell – I will let you know how it goes when they arrive.
T2B:
Super nice opening! You were really emphasizing the connection on the exits of the FC and the serp and he found the lines beautifully! That will continue to tighten up as he gets more experience, but I am loving his speed and focus!
Teeter looks great 🙂 Even with a freakin car alarm going off on the 2nd time over it! Good boy.
On think there were a couple of things happening on the RC after the a-frame: aforementioned car alarm honking might have gotten distracting. And you actually got too far ahead, so he saw the right turn/post turn line when he was committing and didn’t see the left turn/RC line til after he was in the air. To rear cross there, stay closer to the frame so as he is exiting it, you are pushing in towards the center of the jump and showing RC info.
You got him back in gear nicely there – on the big drive across the ring to the tunnel, connect more for the go and drop your shoulders forward. He made a young dog mistake of not being sure that he was truly supposed to run straight for miles across the ring LOL!
Good weaves in the dirt!!!JWW:
Ah! Yes I see his reasoning behind going to the tunnel exit: opposite foot and dog side arm swoosh working together to, for a heartbeat, turn your chest to the exit. As you noted, the dog side leg and a couple of steps would fix it – I would do a short lead out even though it is just a tunnel start.
OMG you used ALL the skills on this course! Nice connection on the lines, plus exit line connection for the serp exit, FC exit, RC exit, soft brake, and even a big OUT at the end. Super! It is a zig Ziggy course (this was Novice??) but you two nailed it. Bummer about the tunnel but clearly you will get your title the next time in the ring!
Great job here!!!!
TracyHi Jill!
Speedstakes won’t have any real backsides in it – if it does, they will be easy and in flow.
His out on the first rep looked great! That is a pretty big distance for a little dude and he got it. Good job cuing it while also keeping your line of motion forward!
Good job on the 2nd run – you can give him a little decel on jump 3 as you head back to the tunnel to turn him tighter, I think that is all he needs there.
For the backside cue: You can start the verbal cue just as he enters the tunnel, so he is expected to move away from you when he exits. And “hold” the cue for a few more steps until he is definitely moving to the backside: it looks like you had him thinking about it but then your dog-side arm pointed forward which turned your chest forward, so he took the front. Keep the dog side arm relaxed and maintain that extreme connection til you see him definitely getting to the backside wing. You held it long on :33 as on the fix moment and had a good extreme connection right at the end! So keep that great connection and stay in motion – that will really help him out.
Nice work!!!
TracyHi!
He is doing so well with the serps, coming right in to the jump around the cone! And even going towards the tunnel, he still came in for the serp beautifully. Happy dance!!!!
So, 2 ways to progress this skill (separately):
– same set up, same motion… higher bar. It is a hard jumping effort so gradually raise the bar but don’t add motion at the same time.
– same set up, low bar…. more motion 🙂 Send to the cone and build up to running through the serps. Gradually increasing motion will be challenging but I think he will be fine with it.On the sends – the connection as you send is critical open the right send to the once and then again on the left send, when he missed and went to the jump, you were looking at the cone more than at him so he was not sure which to go to. On all the others where he went to the cone: you were looking at him more on the send, and he nailed it. Yay!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think it was smart training to wait to see the wrap cue executed properly before giving the next cue – it falls into the category of “don’t give him a forward cue until he is looking the direction you want him to go forward to”. This session went really well because you were making sure you got the critical part of the behavior before going to the next one – click/treat for you!!!!
To add more motion: You can then add moving away from the wrap sooner ( not facing him as long, but slowly turning your shoulders towards the threadle end of the tunnel) kind of like what you did at 1:25. Still rewarding it as a wrap, but turning – that was hard for him! When you got the wrap – he was awesome on the threadle. But getting the wrap was hard, especially after he had a taste of the “go tunnel” cue 🙂 So you would cue the wrap and slowly turn towards the tunnel, then reward just the wrap. Then build in to rewarding with the threadle cue so he gets the tunnel built into the reinforcement.
Great job! Let me know if the suggestion makes sense 🙂
TracyHi!
Lots of great stuff here, the games are going really well!!
Video 1: Go after tunnel. The Go was perfect! The first RC was good and the 2nd one was GREAT! You can start your rear cross pressure a little earlier on the first rep, more like you did on the 2nd rep. And I think he was watching your left arm move forward on the rears, so you can keep that arm (the dog side arm) slightly back. The last go looked really strong!
Video 2: adding wings:
The go is looking really good! The RC to the right also looked good, my only suggestion is to not let your dog side arm come across your body to indicate the jump on the RC – it is drawing his attention up to you when we want him looking at the bar.
he had a little distraction moment in the middle but finished nicely with a good RC to the right! He is reading your line of motion and listening to your verbals really nicely, so the dog side arm does not need to swing forward.Video 3: Get out
Nice!!! He was perfect about following your line on the straight lines. And he responded so nicely to the get out cues too – good boy! You can add more distance now, moving the wing further from the jump, so he has to get out even further. That will make the timing of your crosses even easier – he is so quick that you were a little late getting started on them because he was so fast to do the get out. You can move the wing 6 feet or more away from the jump, so you can start the cross when you see him turn to it and before he arrives at the jump. It will feel like plenty of time to get it done 🙂 The only other suggestion is to try to keep your feet moving straight up the line rather than going towards the jump at all – the strength of your out cue was turning your feet, so you can soften the out cue a little to make it easier to keep your feet straight.Video 4: Wrap Transitions
He did really well here! He is responding really nicely to your transitions, you don’t have too work that hard to get him to turn. He is reading the decel so nicely and setting up a lovely collection! So cool! And the GO is looking good – he ticked the bar on the last one but that was more about the timing of the reward throw 🙂
I was using a wing and a jump on the demo video – you can use 2 jumps but the wing and jump combo is perfect. You had your wrap verbals for the wing – because he did so well on the jump, you can add your wrap verbals on the jump too.Video 5: Turn Aways
The lap turns look great! I like how you went directly from the warm up into the mini sequence with the FCs and then the lap turn. The only suggestion is to send to the wing before the lap turn, so you don’t have to run backwards at all 🙂 I think on a couple of them you got a little tangled up, not sure if you were trying to do the tandem turn or the FCs? But you recovered into some really nice lap turns! He also read them really well coming out of the race tracks – as with the FC sequence, you can send him further away to the wing so you can be ready for the lap turn without backing up. Your mechanics look really good and he is reading it beautifully!Video 6 – he is doing well with his zig zag! You can reward him straight when he is doing the 2nd bar, more like what you did when you changed sides – that gets the 2nd lead change so it adds challenge. I think he is ready for you to add another bar to this, so he has 3 lead changes to do! I am happy to see him using his body so well – that is unusual in a good way for a young male dog!!
>>I tried the smiley face and he was not getting the kiss verbal and was also very distracted with leaves blowing around. I did not video yet as he was not doing very good. I was having to give maximum hand signals and walk him all the way to the opposite tunnel entry. He knows tunnel and goes in with the tunnel verbal from a distance. I know you recommend having a different verbal for the opposite tunnel entry but not sure I can handle all these different verbals. Makes me have to think an awful lot when not used to it! >>
If the entry of the tunnel that he could see was too tempting, you can turn it away so that it is a backside entry and harder to get into. And then he probably needs to see you walking very slowly through it – feel free to reward him for coming directly to your hand and not taking the tunnel entry in front of him – then send him to the other side of the tunnel. You can start past the tempting entry, so he would have to turn around to get it to try to make it less tempting and make the ‘other’ side more obvious 🙂 For now, you can use his name instead of a separate verbal – that can help get his eyes off the wrong side of the tunnel 🙂
>>When is the last day we can post videos?
The last day is November 22, so hopefully everyone has time to play all the games 🙂
Great job here, he is looking great!
Tracy
