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Good morning!
>>My other dogs haven’t seemed to be bothered by my way of doing this, so it’s good I can keep my handling consistent.>>
It looked clear to Keiko and to me, there was a big difference in the cues – and it brings a lot more sanity to running multiple dogs when you can run them all with the same cues, rather than trying to have different cues for each 🙂
T
Hi!
Oh yes, these were much earlier! I like to freeze the takeoff spot of the dog to see what the handler is doing: at :04 just before she took off, you were almost done with the blind. That allowed you to make a clear connection when she landed and she drove to the line tight and fast! I think you were even earlier at :11.
Same on the FCs at :20 and :28 – as she was taking off, you were basically finished with the FC and so she turned tight and your connected allowed her to really drive to the next line.All of the timing here was spot on! Her commitment is strong like you mentioned, so you can keep playing with how early you can do them like this. The timing will be even easier when she is at full height as an adult dog, because she will actually have to be in the air for a while 🙂 Blinds are hard to trust but the payoff is huge when we get them done on course – positionally, a blind cross can provide a tremendous advantage on course!
About the arms on the get out – I don’t see a problem here, it was pretty clear to her (and to me too LOL!). I think it is clear AND it matches what you are doing with your other dog, plus you are making great connection, so it is going well and you won’t have any problems with it like that 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
I agree about the name being saved for important attention situations 🙂 She did really well with just the one big step back. You were a tiny bit early stepping back with your right leg on the first part of the video, so she was not as fast. When you switched to your left leg stepping back a little later, she drove in better (like on the last rep) – I think when you step back early, she is not sure which side of the wing because the leg could be indicating either in that position. When you hold position til she is closer to your hand, the step back is very clear so she can go fast 🙂
Nice work!!!
TracyHi!
Nemo on the ground does indeed cause some excitement LOL!!!
And yes, trying to train the puppy while distracted can often lead to crazy outcomes LOL!The first run looked good! He started off a little unconvinced going to the first tunnel (was Nemo already on the ground? Is it crazy that your toys have names? LOL!!) But then he picked up steam – great job on the blind and FC after it!!! When you were driving him to the last tunnel, your were looking a little ahead and pointing, which turned your body away to the center of tunnel and broke connection a bit, so he was not as sure there.
Note the difference in your connection on the tunnel commitment at :19 – he drove right to it. At :24, I see the hesitation – I think he saw you rotate early and saw you change hands with the reward, so that drew his attention upwards. I think the timing was good, so he was just thinking about whether or not to commit with countermotion. So keep the rotation early but throw the reward to the landing side/exit of the wing there to support the commitment. Then he was looking up at you a bit on the line to the next wing as you were looking ahead – you got stronger connection on the rest of it and he drove beautifully!
At :37 he pulled off the tunnel as you started the blind – maybe you needed to start him further back for more momentum? The timing of the blind is fine there, so you can also throw reward to the exit of the tunnel more frequently for a bit – it is possible that the value has shifted to you (and away from value on lines).
He committed gorgeously to the wrap at :46 with a lot of Countermotion though but then did not commit on virtually the same timing (turning to his right) but OMG he was a GOOD GOD BOY to go get the wing at :50! Maybe the commitment is also showing a side preference? Is left stronger than right for him on turns? I can’t remember LOL! He also had a question turning to his right at :55 and at 1:16. But no question turning it his left at 1:05.So unless I missed something… ALL of his questions involved right turns and his left turn commitment was pretty fab. Now, it could have been the distraction of the Nemo outside the ring revealing a slight side preference. I don’t think you were pointing ahead too much except for the one tunnel early on – if it was that, he would have questions equally on both sides 🙂 I think he has a left side preference for now, so you can revisit throwing reinforcement out on the line on right turns or right lead tunnel entries, doing countermotion but not with as much speed. That will shift the value back to the line and balance out the side preference.
At :49 and :55 you were doing a legit handling move! It was a spin or ketchsker or jaakko turn – it is legit enough to have 3 names LOL!
Nice work here – let me know if you are also seeing the right versus left preference, and if you can remember which side he has preferred before?
Tracy
Hi!
Good to know that you got him wilder before the jumps (yay!) and he didn’t lose his head or his form (double yay!!!!!)Set point: as soon as he realized the tunnel was in play… a whole different ball game LOL! He was surprised at first but then he definitely powered his hind end differently. My guess is the possibility of continuing up the line gives him a reason to use his hind end on the set point jump more. The toy is exciting and all, but the mechanics needed to be different because he was going to keep moving. So he changed the mechanics and i don’t see any hind end kick up either. Perfect! The focus forward will percolate – he isn’t used to doing this with no reward target out ahead, so he just needs to see it more. I am happy with how he used his rear here!
Ladder – he was looking at you a little on the first reps especially when he was on your left so the tunnel was not as obvious on that side. Then the joy of the ball on the ground is it being kicked, so he stopped short. I think his form was fine, he just wasn’t seeing what to drive to. So……. let’s add to it! I am 99% sure that you running won’t be a problem. Add in your running to the tunnel (slow run haha) and then you can do little sequences, like tunnel – 3 jump ladder – wing wrap – 3 jump ladder – tunnel. Wheeee! That will challenge his balance and striding more but because he is not a lunatic, I think he will sort it out nicely AND it will give him more reason to power through it. My Voodoo dog is the same way: he does grids like this as if he is a little bored (maybe he is) and kinda looking at me. But when it is a faster-moving, more-complex puzzle: much better! The difference is that Voodoo loses his head sometimes and I don’t think Kaladin will 🙂
About the locked in bars: for the regular ladder like here, you can unlock them. I don’t think he is touching them at all. For the running versions and the mini sequences – leave them locked in until you know he is going to be fine. That could be one more session or 10 more depending on how he does (I lean towards the 1 more session or maybe 2, he rises to every challenge we throw at him!!)
Great job!
TracyHi again!
The dogs give us feedback on our cues: tight turn means we are doing good stuff 🙂 I think she wears happy with your info!!!! Her wrap turns were really just about perfect and the GO looked like she was in extension, understanding the difference.
When she was on your left for the first part of the video: It might not feel like there is decel because your window for decelerating is short 🙂 She makes decisions early LOL! That is a good thing because it shows confidence and understanding 🙂 Her turns were good at :04 and :09 and even better at :18. You can make is feel like more decel by driving away from the wing more rather than being a little more decelerated as she was coming around. Your rotations were nice and early, and she showed *fabulous* commitment understanding to see the info that early and take the jump in collection. LOVED it!
When you changed sides so she was on your right (turning to her left) – that first rep was the only one on this video that had you really accelerating but then slamming on the brakes: so she read it as a rear cross (you might have been pressuring into the line as you rotated a bit too). You fixed it really well on there next rep: you made sure you moved towards the wrap wing and had one or two steps of decel before you rotated. She had a great turn at :37! Plus great commitment: you were already moving away when she took off (lovely connection, by the way!) Same good job on your next rep. The decel is there (I can see you going from big steps to little steps) but you only have time for 2 steps of decel before you needed to rotate. It worked really well for her!
The GO reps were strong too – I think the bar on the first rep was a bit of distraction from the toy being thrown? Both she was great on the others.Lovely work!!! Tracy
i!
Oh yes, she is totally getting the idea to put herself back out after the in in!!!! It looks like you are holding the in in cue til she turns her head to the jump then relaxing it and moving forward: perfect 🙂
She had a bit of trouble coming in for it on some reps – I think that was because the physical cue was happening at the same time as the verbal and she was already locked onto the other side of the jump. So one small change: while she is holding her sit, show the physical cue (it looked very good!) for 2 or 3 seconds – then say the in in verbal. You will have to ‘gently’ move into the position so she doesn’t release as you strike your pose 🙂 But seeing it before the release will help her find it more easily.
The tunnel sends looked great 🙂 Nice work!Tracy
Yay! Keep me posted – I think that is the element that will get the RCs smoother. His great send skills are likely to allow you to send and get a blind or a front cross but I know he will also be able to leave you in the dust, so you’re gonna need those rears too 🙂
Tracy
Wow, well done on that first sequence! And bonus points for the pants!!!
Good job starting it just like you would have to at a trial – you immediately “grabbed” her attention and then sent her to the tunnel entry. Solid connection and clear cues!!
And dare I say it… NICE REAR CROSS on the purple jump!!! Wheee!!
Great connection throughout too 🙂So obsessing on why it was so hard to get her to the tunnel entry again – I think she reads that based on your shoulders. On the first rep when she got it (first sequence) you turned your shoulders to the tree on the right side of the screen. Then stepped out and didn’t step back to the tunnel until she was on the line to the correct entry.
On the oopsie reps at :14 and :19, you had your shoulders turned softly towards her so she read it as ‘take the tunnel straight ahead’. At :24 you did a more dramatic rotation towards her so she totally responded but then you stepped back to the tunnel too soon, she was on the line to the end of the tunnel that she took.
So you can try more of what you did on the first rep: Pull away, turning your shoulders away to draw her past the wrong end of the tunnel – staying in motion if needed – then send her back to it (the dreaded “patience” haha) when she is clearly on the line towards it and not near the line to the wrong end of the tunnel.Let me know what you think! Everything else looks great!
TracyWhoa! That is awesome! !!!! Congrats! And that is a hard gamble with the a-frame sitting right there in the middle of everything.
“When I came to” hahaha hahahaha that is so funny! So she took the teeter with you still be the frame, figuring she wasn’t going to do it? That is so funny.
I am so excited for you! Do you have a video of the run, I see the map and the giant briefing here 🙂
I think the commitment work is TOTALLY paying off – I see a major difference in how she approaches committing in just the several months that I have been able to see your videos! And it is sooooo nice to get a reward from the agility gods for your work, in the reward of a big Gamble!
Great job, thanks for the update, it is a bright spot today for sure!!!!
TracyHi!
Great job on these!! I think you accomplished your missions of decelerating and leaving the spins sooner. Both looked great! And it is fine that you had a cocky moment and she ended up on the wrong side of the jump – it was the agility gods delivering a reminder about the power of connection LOL!!The first sequence here (sequence 4) looked really good! Nice connection to cue both backsides! I think you can leave the wrap backside at :11 and :27 and :43 and :59 sooner, in terms of more directly towards the tunnel. You did go to the blind side right away but you were heading more towards the jumps than the tunnel. When you cued her to the backside wrap, your feet were pointing right at the tunnel, so you can just move forward out of it as soon as she is past you, then reconnect as you move up the line.
The other thing I noticed was that she was getting progressively later in committing to jumping at the 4 backside (:09 versus :57). It could be that you were quicker to do the blind on the first rep and a little later on the blind on the second rep, and she is waiting for the blind to come in for the bar. Either way, we don’t want timing of the blind to be a factor because jumping the bar should be a default behavior – so you can isolate that jump and as you leave for the blind… turn your head and don’t actually do the blind (disconnect and don’t reconnect LOL!) and as she gets to the backside entry wing – toss the reward to the landing spot so she gets it as a reward for choosing to go to the backside. You don’t need to wait for a jumping decision, we are rewarding the decision to go to the backside of the jump – and that reward placement helps create the default of taking the jump no matter when you do the blind 🙂
Holy cow I feel the pain of the tripod falling over! That happens all the time. It happened today while I was trying to film something for the puppy class – then after I fixed it, the jump blew over. Poor dog!
Gorgeous blue skies, though LOL!Does she always jump into the tunnel like she did at 1:24? I guess so, she did it again on this sequence. HA! I hadn’t noticed that before!
This also looks really good. I think your surprise that she so easily went to the backside of 4 at 1:28 (nice cue!!!) that it took you a moment to set up for the turn at 5 (1:30) so she was still in extension. I think you said “I got excited” LOL! And yes, I could tell by the look on your face there 🙂
The next rep had a really nice combination of super connected, running when you needed to, decelerating into the turns, and patience to let her get the lines. It was lovely! Turns looked great and so did the big lines. And I am cracking up – right after I typed about how patient you were, you said something about being patient. Great minds thinking alike LOL!
On the next rep you were really trusting her at 4 to run through the backside more, which allowed you to set up an even better collection at 2:28. And nice patience after it to show her the next line. Same with the last rep too!
The only thing on this sequence that I am not sure she needs is your opposite arm at 3. She is doing jump 1 and the tunnel on your left, then you are bringing up your right arm as she is doing jump 3. It is working, she is turning well and jumping well – but she might not need it there and we don’t want to have extra things that might get desensitized for when we really need her to respond to them. You can try it without supporting that jump with the outside arm and see if she is still tight on the line with a good jumping effort.Great job here!!!
TracyHi!
Question: do you use didi as a turn away for rear crossy moves, like tandems or RCs on the flat or lap turns? If so… yes, a separate verbal would be more useful for the get out skill.
Also – when cuing the didi: with your dogside arm up high and pointing forward, she is not turning away unless you also turn your lower body and step to the jump. And you have to be perfect with timing (before she takes off for 3) or she will go wide or land on her head trying to turn when she lands (:27)
Now, that is perfectly fine of course… but won’t get you as far up the line as keeping your lower body running straight would. That is why I use the more extreme upper body rotation (and outside arm) so I can keep moving forward.
Nice job on the post turns on the tunnel! She really reads that and came out straight every time. She sees *every* little detail, LOL!
Yep, at :19, you were SUPER early on the rotation for 4, looking at her… she did not collect. She collected when she landed from 4 LOL! So to help strengthen the response to the cue, you can turn the her, press towards her, ask her to sit (literally, sit) to engage her hind end. Then reward the sit, then release to take the jump. It might piss her off a little but it will remind her to collect into her hind end when she sees that cue.
On the FCs on the 5 jump to head back to the tunnel – she is turning REALLY nicely on those!! You were rotated nice and early and didn’t need to push too hard to get the collection. I believe it is because it is a FC that is on more of a slice line and less of a rollback line, as compared to the other FC on 4 at :19. That style of FC takes a lot of convincing for her 🙂
Nice job on the push at :51, and great job on the FC there!!! Nice turns throughout!
And fabulous job on the backside at 5 and at 6 at 1:04!!! Check out 1:05 as she is jump #6 – you are way ahead, blinding, setting up a great line. She did not even have time to bark at you, she was busy doing all the things. Yay!! You were even further ahead at 1:20 – so nice!!!
So overall one thing I am seeing here is that she does MUCH better when you strategically handle from a distance so you can then drive through turns: sending her away to 4 set up some amazing lines and turns while keeping you ahead. I wonder if we can strategically use distance on the #4 at :19so that as she lands from 3 you are on landing of 4 and then moving forward back to 5 as she passes you to get to 4? Let me know if that makes sense!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Ooh, comments in the background, I am totally turning up the sound so I can hear them LOL!!!!
First sequence: Josie says RUN! LOL! You were not moving much so she was not sure if she should drive the lines or turn. She was giving you her opinion 🙂 And at :09 and :28 she guessed the other end of the tunnel because you were pretty decelerated. She cracks me up! The off courses there fall into what I call “The Voodoo Rule” – also known as “don’t give a forward ‘tunnel’ cue unless the dog is looking at the tunnel entry you want, or you are likely to get a very very fast line to the tunnel entry you do NOT want.” Ha! She was looking at you, on her left lead curling in, you said tunnel… and she took the one she saw.
At :31 and :37 and 1:00 and 1;42 and 1:46 you moved a lot more and insisted she get on the line you wanted – perfect! Yes, there was a bit of overcompensating but it got you connecting and moving so it was all good 🙂 She also read it nicely on that last rep too – at the very end you were not accelerating as much (2:08) and she gave you the look and verbal of “imma going into that other end of the tunnel now!” So you accelerated to get it done LOL! So – moving will totally help these lines, even if you have to move deeper into the tunnel to be able to stay in motion.
The turn at jump 3 at :26 was late so the bar came down, I think that was also a product of not really moving enough: you were already decelerated so you ended up facing forward to commit her, then turned over the bar. On the other reps through there, you were moving more so showed some decel – that was all she needed to set up really nice turns and keep the bar up. Yay!
The get out at :40 was good, she is reading it well! You can play with starting the cue right before she goes into the tunnel so she exits already knowing to turn away. -She read it nicely at :50 – you were a little too close to the wing, can be further. You can totally play with being further from the get out jump, heading directly to the 4 jump with your lower body and let her read the get out with upper body and verbal only. Same with the out at 1:02 – it looked really good, so try to point your feet to where you are going next and not to the out jump. That will put you in better position for the threadle. Her turn was nice and tight on the out jump!!
Your position and timing on the spin at :51 was great!!! I suggest a FC there because it sets up a better line back to the tunnel but use the same position and timing for sure 🙂Backsides:
At 1:17 I think she fell in the tunnel or went downstairs or something, I heard a lot of noise and it seemed like it took her a while to come out? She read the push nicely! She also read it nicely at 1:52 when she came directly out of the tunnel with no side trips LOL! So as with the get out – you can start adding distance away from the backside send. Stay parallel but see if you can be laterally closer to the next jump while giving that strong upper body cue and verbal.Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi Janet!
I think you were getting the open shoulder – the FC exits looked amazeballs! Something about the spin exit was making it harder for your muscle memory – when that gets locked in, I am sure Juno will rock that line 🙂T
Hi there!
>>Ahh…ok…so the name thing has been kinda a crutch…a bandaid to get her to think about her jumping. It does seem to be effective, but perhaps it’s not actually her name, but my handling that supports her more? While I’m using her name, it’s not the name per say, but how I am actually handling that has changed? I have used her name basically when I want her to think extra hard about jumping…especially coming out of a tunnel…it also helps me to remember to re-establish connection (which prior I was bad about). Does this make sense? I know it’s not ideal…
Otherwise…yes, remember the verbals you spent all that time teaching Rebecca! Ugh!!!>>Yes, it is a bit of an attention cue on the turns toward you and I also think it helps with collection on those turns… so try not to use it on the turns away from you like the get out and the backside pushes. Otherwise you are asking for attention and then sending her away, which can delay her from seeing the bar to jump.
On the video:
Sequence 1
First rep looked good – she did take off a little early for 3. The serp connections on 1 and 5 looked good! On the 2nd rep, there was really not discernible difference in your position or posture, maybe you were accelerating a bit more as compared to rep 1? But I think you were outside the bubble on both, so she rushed rep 1 a little and rep 2 a lot. She changed her approach on the 3rd rep but that might have more to do with the lowered arousal after the 2nd rep. By the 4th rep she had the rhythm 🙂 At 1:10 you were closer to her for jump 3 and she jumped it a lot better!
At a trial, because you want to support the jumping on the first rep – go deeper into the tunnel after 1 so you are moving up the line and not too far ahead or outside the bubble for 3.Your brother was so funny, sneaking in there!
Squence 2:
Run 1 went well!
Her commitment to the backside looked really good – you can start the blind before she gets there though, so you can whip around to the new connection. You were doing it as she was jumping at 1:31 so she ticked the bar there. 1:44 was much sooner, right on time, and better jumping because of it. 2:02 and 2:15 were also good but not as good as 1:44 🙂 1:44 was nice and early!Seq 3:
Whoa she read the backside push at 2:26 perfectly! Great timing, great execution! That allowed you to get way ahead and the timing of the blind was great. You might have been distracted by her brilliance there LOL! It was impressive!
2:46 on the 2nd rep was just as good to the backside and you really showed a great transition into the spin. I think you can leave the spin sooner there, she landed and looked up at you.
On the ending line you were too much out of her bubble!
The rep at 3:04 was also great on the backside push. And you moved forward out of the spin sooner so the turn was better – but then you did get out of the bubble so she jumped big on the jump after the spin. So split the difference and move out of the spin early like you did, but not that fast and toward the next jump so you can get the great turn AND stay in the bubble. You did this naturally at 3:21, pretty much exactly what I was picturing – yay! The whole line was so nice!Great job on these!! I am loving the independence on that backside in particular.
And Gypsy is SO CUTE!!! Is she a mini Aussie? My dogs all got excited and ran over to watch her LOL!
>>One last question…the thought of disconnecting on a straight line makes me concerned. Should this be an exercise to table? As for the GO…Kindle loves that word…maybe too much. She definitely knows it, but loses her ever loving mind when I say it. It’s like go means to JUMP NOW. However, I did spend some time today with GO off the DW to a jump. Because of her jumping, I hadn’t worked that in a while…previously she was having a very hard time with take off point off her RDW. I’m happy to say that today her jumps were great! Not a single bar, and she judged take off well…so I may be able to start adding GO back into our vocabulary. Thoughts?>>
Gooooood question! It might be too much pressure on the jumping at this point (my demo dog was having trouble with the jumping on an 8 inch bar in the video!!) It is very stimulating 🙂 So you can just walk up the line with less connection or no connection and reward commitment. You can use a generic jump verbal rather than GO GO GOGOGOGOGOGGO 🙂 We don’t want her head to explode after all!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
