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Hi!
About those verbals… I like to prioritize the verbals so it doesn’t get overwhelming to add them all LOL! Verbals can be whatever you want as long as you are consistent and she understands.
>>Re verbals, I am using push to get her to the back side and then have verbals for the German exit or the wrap exit.
That is something that I have done in the past – and my 8 year old dog told be unequivocally that it was a bad choice LOL!! It is a little late – by the time the hear the second cue, they should have already made a jumping decision. With separate verbals (for me, back = slice and dig = wrap), I can tell the dog how to jump 15 feet or more earlier than I could tell them when it was a verbal cue combo. The dogs are much happier with the info earlier 🙂
so on this setup, she is approaching the backside on your left and not pushing away from your right?
>>Then I was thinking I should fade the “push”, but then realized there wouldn’t be a difference in the verbal to get her to the backside. Perhaps that is only an issue in my head and Indy would understand she needs to wrap or German regardless of what side of me she was on when approaching the backside of the jump. Thoughts?>>
Fade push from which cue?
>>Surely, we don’t need a push wrap, a push german, a threadle wrap and a threadle german???
It depends on your goals… but yes, you will (eventually) need all 4 if you want to run courses that have a bit of international flavor. If you only want to run AKC regular JJW or standard? You don’t need them all. But if you want to run some premier, or UKI, or USDAA mixed in…. yes, you need them. And I think for some of the distance work in NADAC you will find them useful too.
BUT! Prioritize. A backside slice? Super important. Top of the list! Then, backside wrap. Next up? Tunnel threadles! That is a higher priority than jump threadles. After that? threadle slice on a jump. And last, eventually… threadle wrap. You will almost never need it so it is way down at the bottom of the list of priorities.
>>Does that make sense? The details of the verbal conversation make me laugh….>>
I think it makes sense! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyHi!
The balance on this game is really hard, especially when the board is parallel to the ground. I think she has the idea of the game, but the line up/set up before jumping on can be tweaked to keep her better balanced and facing straight.On most of the reps, she was coming in on an angle, so she had to curl into position by putting her front end on the board and then swinging her hind end on, curling a bit. She was compensating but jumping on a little further up the board in order to not lose her balance. At the very end, you lined her up with her whole body parallel to the board and asked her to jump on: so she jumped on straight, all 4 legs at once (not front then back) and she was straighter and more balanced there for sure! So always start her on that parallel line (rather than perpendicular to the board) so she can use her whole body and stay straight as she jumps on.
The height of the board doesn’t need to be higher than where it was here, it looked perfect! So that slight change in angle will help the balance.All of these games look great! I think she is ready for the elevator game and then the cray elevator games 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyHi!
These both looked really strong too! I like how you progressed through the levels here: you started off slowly with a lot of support and she was great. And then you added more and more speed – she was also great! It looks like each rep had a very consistent performance: drive through the tip and assume the position at the end. The first rep or two was not quite as quick getting into the end position; she stopped a little short on the first one – but then she got into the groove and was great!The next steps can be two things:
– more speed from you. You can get her a little wilder with her frisbee 🙂 And then hop her onto the board – then as she moves across the board, you can run run run! That will for sure challenge her more 🙂
– more tip from the board! She is doing a great job so you can keep adding tip.It looks like she does not have the target there, and that is great! She is moving into the end position really well. I see the bang game is below, but you can also totally start the elevator game too!
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
She did great here too – she was easily able to line herself up from the crazy angles, even as you faded the board. Super!!!! You can add more tip to the board if you like – that will challenge her balancing lining up for the board because it will be harder with more movement 🙂 But I think she will still be fine, she looks really confident!!This game is something to revisit here and there, as the board gets more and more drop to it, to keep reminding her to line up and use her hind end.
Nice work!
TracyHi! She seemed super confident here, the rebound didn’t bother her at all! One little tweak to the mechanics: you don’t need to hold up the board with your foot, you can let her jump on and the board goes to the ground (the bang game) and then slide your foot under the board to move it around. If you have your foot under it when she jumps on, I worry that your foot will get squished 🙂
Getting the other teeter is great!!! The more experience she can have on different teeters, the easier it will be to transfer the skill to trials. I bet she will do fine with the new one – start with some basic bang games and see how she does.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I don’t want to jinx anything… but he seemed downright happy to be playing on the teeter here! It was a cool session!
>>Show on the road last night… you will notice Iam.not using a toy. In the 5 minutes of play before with toy he was good, but I brought out cheese and he would not play with toy. I decides to.just reward with food this session.>>
I think that was a good choice – adding too much pressure with the toy verbs food could add stress, so just going with what he wanted was fine. That balance of food versus toy is something to work on but separately from the teeter.
>>I was thrown off guard when he did not stop so I did.nothing.>>
Yeah, you looked surprised LOL!!!! I think he actually did an AMAZING teeter there and was sliding into the weight shift, and just lost control of the board a little – you can cheer for him on that, it was a great try. You were kind of like, “let’s do that again”, very chill, was good: he did not get worried at all, he just tried again and did great!
>>At the end you can.see him not doing the bow (weight shift iwant)
Not a big deal at all, I think it was because of where the reward was. He was kinda sorta doing it, not nearly as well as on earlier reps. I think it was because you were moving past the teeter and rewarding after the release, so he was all ready to release 🙂 So mix in more reinforcement in position and then reward on the release, and you will see the weight shift come back.
The most important part was that he was happy, did a bunch of reps, and was highly successful!! YAY!!!
What is next on your training schedule in terms of new locations or trials? He is doing well!
Tracy
Hi!
>> think I just threw up in my mouth a little when I read this. 🤣
Ha! A little puke is good for the soul LOL
>>He is in a handling class but we don’t use the teeter. But I can come in early and add in the teeter.>>
Perfect!
>>I have a couple places I could rent and do the teeter, Lynn’s and Paige’s but that involves finding the time to drive there. I’ll work on making that a priority.>>
Any local friends with a teeter in their yard?
TGood morning!
First up, the backsides – nice! She is great about staying on the parallel line to the backside. That is such a useful skill especially with NADAC in her future (not because of backsides, but because of all the distance challenges!)
On the first video, I think that little bit more connection on rep 2 helped her drive nice and tight to the backside. When you were not as connected, she had questions: you were less connected on rep 1 and she looked up at you with a question. And at :39 you were nlooking forward so she drifted wide. So that little bit of eye contact is all she needs for a great line.
The handling challenges all looked super too. She did a great job with the countermotion/serp exit – you helped her take the jump a tiny bit by swinging your arm back, which provided a nice support of connection too! My only suggestion there is to remember to throw the toy behind you to the landing spot, to keep the value really high for taking the jump as you run forward (the faster you go, the more she might want to chase you). The front and blinds on the landing side to the tunnel all looked good! Really lovely!On the circle wraps on the 2nd video – she seems to have good understanding of what to do but we can tighten her line getting there. She was going really wide on the way from the wing and that also bubbled over to the slice backsides. One thing will be more connection – when you look forward and not at her, she drifts wide to get a better view of what you were looking at. Looking at her more will tighten that up for sure. And calling her name coming around the wing (before the backside verbal) will help too). Adding more motion *might* help but with BCs, sometimes more motion gets more drifting.
Speaking of verbals: she is doing really well with her verbals, so I also recommend 2 different verbals for the backsides: one for the wrap, and one for the slice. The wrap versus slice are significantly different jumping effort, so the different verbals will really help her plan in advance 🙂After the serp, she had a little trouble knowing where to be. For example, at :23 I think you wanted her to go forward but you were pointing forward & looking forward, which didn’t show the line so she thought you wanted the tunnel or wanted her to come to the toy, Towards the end of the video: at :56 and 1:03 you were looking forward too, so she didn’t know where to be and read it as a blind cross (correctly, that is what the blind looks like). You fixed it by emphasizing connection and it was so much better at 1:11! YAY! So keep emphasizing that connection – connection and motion are the two most important things to the dog for knowing which line to be on.
One more thing to think about – be sure to reward a to and with a lot of engagement. On some reps you totally did this, and she was very engaged! On some reps, you were probably planning the next rep or something and either didn’t really engage or didn’t reward at all. For example – At :28 – :32, the rep looked totally correct and there was praise but no reward. That can add some stress because it is not clear to the dog what was correct or not. So play heartily as you plan you next rep 🙂
The lateral lead outs looked great! She held her stay really nicely and found the jump really easily – exactly what we want 🙂 And, check out how nice her turn was on that jump as she read your position. Yay!!! Remember to be consistent on the releases – I think some of the reps had the release, some had a directional, and some she released on arm motion. Releasing on the directional is fine especially when you are miles away and if she is looking at you – and try to reward her for NOT releasing on the arm motion 🙂
Great job here!!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Thanks for the video! I think the reps you left in looked really good – have you had a chance to go back to work the angles where he had errors?
In thinking about the setup, I would like to tighten the poles up even more and think it is important to keep the same setup while that variable changes. So yes, let’s leave the MM there for now, maybe a little further away. And you can move the wings further down the poles so you can send him around them and add harder entries (he will recognize the setup which will set him up for success). For the next session, try it with a lot more movement (run run run!) and when that goes well: you can tighten then poles more 🙂 At this stage, you might find it easiest if you line them up straight, then angle them open by maybe 3 inches (so they are a little tighter then they are here). See how that goes, starting with easier angles and gentle motion, then adding back more motion and angles if he is doing well.
If the environment is really challenging, you can keep the poles a little more open – try to run out and train a bit when the environment is challenging because I think it is a great opportunity to get into a trial-like state without having to go to a trial 🙂Nice work here! Let me know how if goes!
TracyThank you for the update!! I am glad she came through it really well. I’m betting she will be back to herself today 🙂 Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>>What do you think of the 8″ jump height for Robbie for this exercise?
I think he looked good! 8″ is the right height for this.
>>Looked like Vanessa and Ruby did this drill with speed and impulsion…
You’re comparing apples to oranges here! Those two are small females, he is a large male. There is going to be a dramatic difference in maturity and approach to the games. Those two girls have to other challenges that he does not have 🙂 So, no more comparing: you will end up putting pressure on in ways that won’t help him 🙂
>>I thought he looked more rounded the first 2 jumps when he was faster and only raised head at the 3rd but I will watch again.>>
He was placing his feet in different places on those (closer to the bar) so I thought he was more balanced when he was able to place his feet in the center of the gaps.
>>he’s just not that frisky or animated. He is a thinker…and a latent learner for sure. Amazes me sometimes when I try something a few days later after an intro and he nails it and is ready to go on. >>
Latent learning is an amazing thing!
>>Just was wanting a bit more gitty up by now. Hoping I can bring more of that out of him.>>
You can bring it out with a lot of super fun, high rate of success games where he gets to run and learn with no pressure.
>>In between all this technical stuff I do short sequences (from Trkman or others from past classes etc) with lots of tunnels/jumps fast stuff which he loves and does turn on some jets. Same at some live seminars we’ve been to.
And always lots of chase games in various locations. So. Much. Work. When they are thinkers vs doers.>>Trust me when I say that doers have lots of other challenge – such as getting them to think when they are hyper aroused in a trial setting. He is about a year old – that is really immature for big male dogs, so take your time! Let him percolate like a fine cup of coffee 🙂 And don’t measure his skills against the skills of others – each dog brings different things to the table, especially at this age 🙂
And be sure to do the wing games too – that will get you hustling, they are MUCH harder than they look for the handler and wicked fast for the dogs.
T
Hi!
>>One thing I noticed in this week’s backside exercises is that you appear to use your off side arm to “push” the dog out to the backside. It reminds me of your “out” command exercise.>>
Good eye! I was using a bit of an outside arm to help the dog because he wanted to curl in off his line, so I was changing his lead to get him back onto the backside line.
>> I recall from previous backside exercises that the dog side arm stays back to keep your chest from pointing towards the bar. This made great sense to me. But I can’t recall you talking much about the off side arm coming across your body as a push. I may have just missed that part. I am happy to give it a try, I just want to make sure I am viewing and understanding this correctly before doing more backside exercises.>>
I didn’t talk about it because I think this generation of dog probably won’t need it – they will learn to stay on that parallel path. I used it with my youngster because at the time of filming, he was strongly left-handed (left- pawed? LOL!) so the setup made him really want to turn a little too tight. He balanced out right after that and doesn’t meed the outside arm. We use it a bit to help the dog, but try it without first to see if you can get it done with out the extra help. If your pup needs it… you can totally add it by pointing that outside arm out ahead, to the entry wing, while being connected to the pup’s eyes 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHey there! Good to see you here!
The backsides are all about teaching the dogs to stay on a parallel path to you and NOT look at the distraction of the bar. The connection helps but I also think you can add more motion – if you move faster, he is likely to move up the line faster too, which will put him on the backside more easily.
The bar is a pretty massive distraction, so you can isolate the skill to a wing as you move further over, laterally. That will keep your feet moving forward too – when he got it nicely at :15 and :47, for example, you were moving forward more and your feet were forward.
When he didn’t get it like at :18 and :36, for example, you were not moving as much and the upper body was causing your feet to rotate – so he came in and took the front of the jump.So make the motion and line and feet pointing forward more important that the upper body. For the upper body, yes to the dog-side arm back and connection, but don’t do it sooooo much that it causes you to slow down or turn your feet.
The countermotion reps at the end looked great! Easy peasy! Next time, release later: you were releasing while you were still on the landing side here. So you can keep walking, get to the takeoff side, pass his position: then release and indicate behind you to take the jump 🙂
>>do we have a couple of weeks yet to go?>>
Yes, we have until the last day of May 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know if the backside ideas make sense 🙂
Tracy
Yay! This is all looking really good! He was a little more chill here than the sliding seesaw 🙂 he likes wild times better hahaha! Is he in a handling class? I think this needs to go into sequences, first in the form of the crazy elevator game and then adding in more and more full teeters. He is ready for more grown up stuff 🙂 Keep that value super high and you can keep showing it to him in different scenarios. Are there any other teeters you can visit?
Great job!
TracyOh yay! 12 poles! And a little bit of squeaking as he weaves too LOL!
I think the home session was really strong – warm up then gradually putting the poles together so he was super successful. Try to mimic that at LU so he is successful there too on those first reps – you can pull the 2 bases apart and then pull them back together to be able to do that. He did really well when you broke it down for him so he could recognize them.I definitely think doing the 6 poles in sequence is next on tap! He looks great!!!!
Tracy
