Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi! She is doing really well with these get outs and backside cues!
Two overall suggestions for the get out and the backside cues:
– start them before she enters the tunnel
– repeat the cues 🙂You were starting them after she exited and only saying the verbal once. Saying it early and often will help solidify the understanding because she will exit the tunnel already thinking about pushing away, and multiple cues will help support the line so you can leave sooner.
Here are some specifics:
Sequence 1:
This tunnel exit to the get out cue is a spot tell her about the get out sooner and repeat the cue, especially as a balance for when you wanted her to exit straight to the spin jump. She does better with your outside shoulder engaged, like on the 1st, 3rd and 4th reps. On the 2nd get out – you used the dog side arm and it looks like she turned to a RC line at :25. The dog side arm can look like a RC on the flat a bit.With the get out reps, see if you can travel more towards the wing of jump 1 and add distance to the get out! It will be harder but worth it to et further ahead on course.
The spins on this sequence all look good especially at :31 and :44 – timely and connected!
Sequence 2:
Looking at the ‘get out’ moments:
On this first rep, you used more motion (moving towards the get out jump) to show the get out before she exited the tunnel at :55 but that caused too much motion to 3 so she stumbled making the turn on landing at :56 (the turn to come to the next jump was a little late)
2md rep was better in terms of using get out as a send and not running to 3 so her line was better to 4.
3rd rep – the get out cue was late at 1:20 (she was a full stride out of the tunnel) and you gave the cue more towards the jump rather than her eyes so she had a question so you had to move to it more to get commitment. Giving it more to her eyes will help her push away even sooner.
On the FC element:
Great FC position and timing at :57! A little more arm back when she lands for exit line connection would make it perfect. On the other reps at 1:10 and 1:24, you moved a bit too far across to the center of the bar, so she jumped on more of a slice and the turn was not quite as nice as when you were on the direct line to the tunnel at :57.Sequence 3:
On the get out moments: On the first rep your rotation was a little late at 1:33 so she was a little wide- this is where you might have felt yourself stepping in too much. You can set up a running line directly to the wing of 4 so you can get the get out cue and the nice turn.
It looks like you were moving yourself over to a better line at 1:48 – a little oopsie of not enough connection directly to her, you were cuing more towards the jump, so she didn’t get out.
You waited a little longer but moving along the line at 1:57 which caused her to be wide but at
2:14 you pulled away sooner (yay!!) so got a better turn there coming into the gap. The distance of the get out really sets up a nice turn for her!
As you do the wrap on 4, aim for the wing of the jump and not the center of the bar so you get the sweetest line back to the tunnel.Sequence 4 – she totally read the push to the backside nicely! YAY! You had a strong connection and running line which helped! Nice! You can start giving her the backside cue just as she is entering the tunnel then keep saying it 🙂 and keep moving along the line to get to 4.
Your rep at 3:22 had the best continuing motion and cue through the get out – really nice! As you exit the backside into the spin, you can add in a transition into deceleration: slow down then spin, so you don’t end up past the spin wing with too much acceleration.Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This is also going really well! When you move before the release, your line is much clearer in terms of going forwards and not towards the backside entry wing. You had very little movement towards the entry wing, and that is great for developing independence! Two suggestions to help make it even easier:
feel free to say your push cue several times rather than just once. Use it as the release word in this context (using OK then push causes her to look at you on the OK rather than directly to the backside) then say it a few more times – that will help you get commitment because it will help you hold the upper body cue for longer – on the one oopsie here at :17, you relaxed the upper body cue a bit too early so she curled into the front side.
Also, hold the extreme connection til she gets to the backside commitment line – that is the 45 degree angle that intersect the foot of the upright with where a wing would be (there is a 90 degree angle, if that makes sense). You can use a wing if you have one, or create one with a barrel or something so it is easier for you to see the commitment. And it gives her a bigger visual to commit to going around.
Let me know if that makes sense! Good job!
TracyHi! She is reading this really well! The regular lines looked perfect – you can set up the out lines the same way: move along that line before the release, release while you are moving, then cue the out with your upper body while you are moving. I think you were standing still on the releases to the out, which was contributing to you stepping towards the jump. Moving before the release will help, as will softening your arm cue – it was be a little less exaggerated so your upper body doesn’t pull your feet to the jump as much. And some type of line totally helps, I have to put stuff on the ground too when I am training this LOL!!!!!
You can also add more motion – that will make it harder to step the the jump on the out cue.
Nice work!!
TracyGood morning! Nice work on these! I have some ideas on the details to make it even smoother:
1st sequence: You can start the BC 3-4 sooner at :05 – you started it when he was already jumping so he couldn’t respond til landing. The choice of a BC works nicely there and you were on a great line. Trust his commitment more: see him exit the tunnel, cue him to jump and start the BC when he is still pretty close to the tunnel exit. That way you will be done in time to see him jump 3 and then set up the timing for the jump at 4.
At 4 – as soon as he is passing you and committing to the jump, you can stop connecting there to switch connections to your left so when he lands, he already sees the knew side (more on this in the stuff posted yesterday). You were connected a bit too long over your right so then it took a few steps to get connected over your left, so he hesitated near the wing of 4 at :08 to wait for more info on which side/line to commit to.
2nd rep – he figured the big “good boy” and you stopping was about to become a get-the-toy moment 🙂
3rd rep – timing of the FC 3-4 was spot on!! That should be the same timing for the BC. But the line on the FC was too center of the bar so he jumped a bit long, out to your position rather than to 4 – let’s combine the timing of the FC here with the line from the BC on rep 1 and it will be perfect 🙂
When you rotate into him on the digdig wrap collection at :34, I think it is easiest to finish the rotation and exit with the spin like on the first rep. You opened back up towards him, which delayed the line info for the 5-6 line and he looked up at you for a moment. You were fully connected – but that is a spot where disconnecting early (to exit on a BC) can get you to the next line better 🙂
2nd sequence:
The get out worked nicely at :48 – you got good turns AND also got to good position 5 at :51!>>The first run of the second course (:42) was clean but I thought he was lacking in confidence on the run across the barn, >
It looked like you were waiting for him a bit at jump 3 but I don’t think that will be an issue on grass or turf. That was also probably why he was not going full blast 4-5 either on the first rep – you got to such good position that he read the decel early. As with 3-4, I don’t think that will be an issue on grass or turf – on mats, I find the humans can get places that we cannot get to on grass or turf 🙂 so you will not be as decelerated as early and he will see more motion cues.
Good exit line connection on the FC at :51! Try to fully rotate your feet towards 6 even more so as he is committing to 5, you can leave for the next line, rather than be there when he lands and stepping back to give room. He looked up at you there waiting for info. Small details for sure, but it is fun to be at the level of looking at the tiny elements!
He did well on the 2 isolations, especially the 2nd one. You can move deeper into the tunnel so you can be cuing these while still in motion, I think that will allow you to cue earlier (before takeoff for 3 and still get the turns and great position.
You moved into a bit more at 1:13 and he started setting the turn before he took off for 3 – yay! That also added a bit more motion 4-5 there so he drove better into the turn at 5 (you can rotate more and leave sooner on this rep too).
He had a little trouble with the around backside on jump 4 at 1:25 – he was hitting the wing or curling into the front. This is where you can keep your ‘extreme connection’ open to him longer (upper body facing him more, outside shoulder ahead of your body) to support the line better as he sorts it out. When you were turning your shoulders away too soon, he was having some trouble. Keeping the extreme connection open to him until he is past the 45 degree commitment line (the line intersecting the 90 degree angle created by the foot of the wing and the wing itself) will support the line up to the backside even more. When he gets to that line, you can return to regular connection 🙂
You can also use the extreme connection to ping him away to a backside a 4 before he takes off for 3 (no leg banking needed LOL!) At 1:43 on the leg banking rep your left (opposite) shoulder is back behind your shoulder, which curls him more towards you rather than pushes him away from you.
>> Then the last run he made the turn without my “help”. I could probably have left sooner
Yes, it was the shoulder position that was different and helped: at 2:00 your outside shoulder was forward and ahead of your upper body and he read it as a backside push. It is so interesting to see how the dogs read that subtle difference in where we put the outside shoulder! You can leave sooner as long as your upper body is still showing that position til he commits – the other option there is to use that upper body cue from further away rather than getting as close to 4.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The lap turns on one wing are looking good! One step back is fine… but I am not a fan of multiple steps of backing up because it slows the dogs down and also it causes us humans to land on our butts 🙂 You can send her to the first wing from further away, then run forward to the 2nd wing – using a decel to be able to turn and be in position for the lap turn (distance to send to thar first wing is really helpful so you don’t end up running backwards).
The tandems are looking really good! I really like them because we can keep moving forward. She does best when you are moving parallel to the line to give her room to get to the correct side of the jump – all the reps were clear with thar except on the one blooper at :37 when you were moving towards the wing rather than parallel to her line.
Because she reads all the details of motion, you can add more motion into the tandem turns: send to the first wing then accelerate away – start the tandem cue and decelerate a little to et up the turn. That will help her drive into it more and also prepare the cue for what she will see on the bigger courses where you will be urnning more 🙂
Great job! Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and gets warm again!!Tracy
Hi!
>> It seems that when I support the take off of an obstacle with my body and eyes, I get a much tighter turn vs intense connection and no support of the obstacle with my eyes? I’m sure it has something to do with my body following my eyes and thus giving him the strongest/correct information?>>
Actually, it looks like 2 separate elements: collection before the jump and line after the jump.
When you are intense in your connection before the jump and not supporting the obstacle – you get great collection before takeoff, really impressive! But when you are not connected after – he widens the turn to figure out where to go next. Here is what I mean in the context of the video:I think the wider turns on 1 and 3 are a pretty easy fix 🙂 His collections *before* the jump were really really good on all the reps! It is the exit line connection that he is questioning:
At :05 and :09 on the first rep and :15 and :21 on the 2nd rep as he is landing, your shoulder is closed forward and you are not moving a lot so from behind – he doesn’t know which side of you to be on, so he drifts to buy time before committing to a line because the line isn’t obvious yet.
Compare that to the 3rd rep: same lovely collection before the jump at :31 and :34! But as he exits the turn at :32 and :37 you are closer to the wing so he sees more of your eyes, less closed shoulder, and definitely more motion to the tunnel you want.So I think that your instinct to move forward on the first reps towards the tunnel is a good one – but keep your shoulder open back to him so before he comes around the wing, he can immediately see which side of you to be on – that will allow him to immediately drive in to the next line.
The get out on all reps looked great on this first run!
On sequence 2, same thing in the opening as far as getting nice tight turns.
Nice collections before takeoff at :48, 1:03, 1:17, 1:30, 1:42, 1:56, super super nice! He was Wide at :49, 1:04, 1:31, 1:44, 1:57 coming around the wing because he was trying to figure out which line – the open shoulder and showing him your eyes will tighten it right up.
1:18 almost read FC then popped back out to the other side – you held onto connection over your left for an extra heartbeat and then switched to your right.
At the end – great collection before takeoff! He almost went super wide at 2:14 because you said go more strongly and he was not yet looking towards the tunnel. This is where you will want to see his eyes more and that will drive him into the line – plus wait to deliver the strong go until you know where he is looking.
On the get out reps – the left arm use was fine on these (you can use more or less of it, depending on preference) but the motion change/decel and rotation was late at :52 and 1:09 so he was wider there. Compare that to 1:21 and 1:36 and 1:48 and 2:01 which were much earlier on the decel into the rotation and he was NICE on that turn!! And super connection drove him right into the next line.At :56 – great collection on the front of the jump! Then without exit line connection at :56 he hesitates on the line until he sees the connection (and drifts a little but that might also have to do with your stepping back before you did the blind). On these wraps, you can turn your head forward sooner and looked over your left side before he even takes off – that way he will definitely see the correct line as he comes around the wing. You were watching him over your right until he wears in the air, which gives you very little time to get to the next side quickly. There is more about this in the package posted this morning 🙂 At 1:24 you held onto the connection over your right side for a bit too long, so he didn’t collect as nicely and he stumbled a little when when he landed – usually he is pretty cat-like on his tight turns 🙂
At 1:11 and 1:36 and 1:51 on the throwback: you had great collection in front of the jump again – but now check out your gorgeous connection as he came around the wing! No questions from Juno, great turn! At 2:01 you added a blind there and it went nicely: connection around the wing then motion helped show the line, no wideness. You didn’t get quite far enough past the tunnels entry so he misread the exit but then you nailed it on the last rep. yay!
Let me know what you think about the difference in the elements of the take off side versus the landing line? I think your take off side collections are fabulous, so now we can focus in on the Lines after landing. Great job!
TracyHi!
Really nice runs here!!! Now we can obsess on the exact size of her bubble for getting the best jumping form:
You had asked above about whether the jump after the tunnel can be tighter – her first rep here was great! Timing and connection worked together to get a really spot-on collection. You were within the bubble and cued it really nicely!
On the get out, she read it well at :22 but it might have been on the edge of the bubble: she had to really thing about her jumping there and took off a bit earlier than she needed to. So for front side get out skills, getting a little closer to line will help.
Great FC connection, position & timing at :23!On the 2nd run – She had a good collection on the jump after the tunnel at :40 too – it might have also been a bit on the edge of the bubble because she really slowed herself down between the tunnel exit and the jump to sort out the jumping – so you can go in 2 steps deeper to the tunnel after 1 so you don’t get too far ahead of her there. Gauging lines with smaller dogs (how deep into tunnels should we go?) is one of the big learning curves in agility!
The around cue being earlier was great at :42 – she exited the tunnel looking at the backside and had a great line there. And – it was totally within her bubble for backsides – you were pretty far but she understood how to jump the backside without you need to be close. The ME cue was a little later than you usually give it, perhaps because her backside was so efficient and tight! Woohoo!!OMG the rooster looked so judgey that he didn’t get a chance to run the sequence! LOL!!! What a handsome dude!!
Nice work here 🙂
T
Hi!
>> Perhaps that’s why I’m finding our disc to be coming together more easily than agility, despite my greater experience in agility…sorry, nerd pondering!>>>
Agility is super complex, it is different every single time. I think it is one of the more complex dog sports.
>> Do you think I’m expecting too much for her to turn even more tightly than our best videos? Specifically jump 3 out of the tunnel.>>
I think the turn on 3 specifically might get a tiny bit tighter, but not much tighter or it becomes too much of a wrap and not enough of a 180. But for now, no need to ask for more because she is still sorting out all of the jumping on that type of line 🙂
TGood morning!
>> him. I dont know why I struggle so much with this with him!>>
Because this is a really hard game (we are all wrestling with it LOL!) and because he is really inexperienced so he can’t help out when you aren’t perfect 🙂
He is really getting the idea nicely, though! Your race tracks are going well – the hard part is that he is fast and needs clear info, so you have to be pretty perfect. It will get easier when we add bars to it and he practices it more. You can go in closer to the tunnel on the big lines, so you don’t get as far ahead – when we are too far ahead, we tend to break connection on the race track (speaking from personal experience hahaha!!!)
The blinds look GREAT!! Those are my favorites too 🙂 His commitment is good so you are showing the info early enough that he can commit and turn tight on the wing – very cool!!!!! I think you will find this to be super useful because he can bend so nicely that you will be able to blind and run up lines to stay ahead as the courses get bigger.Great job!!!
TracyHi! It sounds like you had a crazy week!!! But it is pretty cool when the sassy one doesn’t bark in a session 🙂 It is almost like she is giving you a click/treat 🙂
The session went really well! Verbals were clear with the mask (masks are here to stay for a while in my part of the country, at least, so good to train in them even if it wasn’t planned for training purposes LOL!!)
You did a particularly good job of keeping your feet pretty forward to the running line on both cues and not really stepping to the jump on the outs. Yay! And your out cue and your run-the-line cue were distinctly different in verbal and upper body, and it looks like she had zero questions 🙂 Happy dance!!
Connection also looked great (as you noted, that is NOT easy with a small dog and when wearing a mask!!). Onwards to adding the advanced level of the blind or front as soon as you see her turn her head away to the line 🙂
Great job!!! Stay warm and I hope your mouth feels better ASAP!!Tracy
Hi! He did so well on these, especially when he was in the neutral position!! Very nice over the bars – and I totally see where he was asking about the treats on the box 🙂 It was a great distraction for him to have to turn away from on the left turns! One thing I noticed were that the left/right turns over the bars were spot on and he did great! And then on the last turn towards you, he was not powering the same way. At first I thought it was because turning away from the cookies on the box was really difficult (left turns) but then I noticed it on the right turns too, where he would be turning towards the box – he was definitely hesitated after he landed from the last bar. So – we can add more power into that last left or right with a little bit of turn and burn – as he is coming over that last bar, turn and run at a 90 degree angle away (parallel to the first jump bar) so he chases you for the reinforcement. It could be that he doesn’t want to drive into you when you are stationary (respectful little dude :)) so the other option is to keep you stationary but as he is coming over the last bar, turn and throw the reward on the same line you would run on a turn and burn. Everything else looks great so this will help make it perfect as he powers out of it too. Let me know if that makes sense!
Great job! 🙂
TracyHi! It has been really bad with wind and rain here too, hopefully the bad weather is past!
Great job on this session – you kept your feet moving forward the whole time and the upper body was distinctly different on each cue: perfect! The hardest part is to NOT step to the jump on the away cue and you were great about that.
Your arm didn’t seem to be too high – I think in order to make it obvious like you did, your arm had to be at about shoulder height. It wasn’t over your head or anything crazy LOL!! I think belly button height might not be as visible as you move.He did make the one mistake as you described, but overall he was REALLY good about heading to the jump on the away cue. He seemed perfectly fine on both sides, too! His head turn to the jump was nice and early and he wasn’t looking back… so onwards to the advanced level where you challenge his commitment by adding the FC or BC as soon as you see him turn his head to commit to the jump.
Great job!
TracyHi! Sorry about all the rain 🙁
Nice run here!!!! You seemed REALLY connected and he was driving hard! Love it!!!!
Little details for you to tighten up a couple of turns, but it was overall a really lovely run:
You can turn sooner between 1 and 2 so he can collect more before takeoff: when he lands from 1, stay connected by start to turn your shoulders.
You had awesome position after the first tunnel at :13, so I think you can have your FC done before he even exits the tunnel! That will help tighten up his turn there (and call him right before he enters the tunnel too, that will also help).
The middle line looked great to the weaves then to the tunnel after it.
He got mad at you at :23 LOL! Big bark! It was because of the position of the FC: you were moving between the uprights towards the center of the bar, so he took off thinking he was going straight. When he was in the air, you started the FC. He landed then turned – a position cue with you nearer the next jump will be clearer for him there, so he can set up his turn before takeoff.
Ending line looked great! You were both flying!!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
That is funny that the other day she couldn’t take the jump, and now she couldn’t NOT take it LOL!!! I think it had to do with her line up position. On the first part of the video, when she was on your right, she was far enough from the jump that it was a significant lead change to go take the jump (it was most definitely not on her natural line). When she was on the other side (on your left) – she was set up closer to the jump so I think it was easier for her to take it because it looked like it was on her natural line, so she didn’t have to work hard to get it – it was right there 🙂 So I bet if you move her 6 feet away from it, she will be able to take it only when asked and not take it when you want her to follow your line 🙂
She did well on the get out! I think you can soften the outside arm send so that your feet can keep moving straight (and not stepping towards the jump). If the outside arm cue is too strong, it will cause your feet to rotate and step to the jump. So on the next session, try to keep your feet moving forward on both cues, same exact line – and let your upper body and connections show the different cues. That will allow you to get even further up the course 🙂
Nice work!!!
Tracy
