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Hi! I am glad you are getting a break from the heat – it has been a HOT summer!!!
This game is particularly hard for small dogs because they have to take twice as many strides as the bigs! I think he did well here overall (I also think he thought this game was WEIRD hahaha)
He did check in to see why your motion was stopping but your voice was saying to go – that is a valid question LOL! When you added more motion before the tunnel (last rep) he was accelerating more on the tunnel exit which helped, plus there was a lot of value out on the line thanks to your earlier toy throws.
> is it just more reps to give him more confidence to go straight out to the jump? Should I bring the jump in even closer?>
Yes, I think more reps with thrown reward like you did here will help build the skill – but you can also bring the jump in closer so he can get to it more easily. You can start it as close as 12 feet, then on each rep of a session move it away from the tunnel by one foot. It is a bit labor intensive to keep moving it, but it will help split the behavior so you can reward him for looking ahead and build value quickly.
> I *think* if the poles are all the same color it’s less of an issue. And he weaves well at home, but of course I have white poles with stripes. I’m hypothesizing that the new solid color poles in all the rainbow colors is sometimes hard for the dogs to process depending on the flooring color, pole color, etc.>
This could be an issue for sure! I have seen dogs struggle with different color poles, especially if the color blends into background ‘clutter’.
> I’m planning to bring my poles to class next time and do an experiment>
Clever! Let me know how it goes!
It could also be the different bases, and where the feet are on the bases. Are they the same color/width/foot placement as at home?
> Am being very careful to make sure I’m not just making this into an excuse, more curiosity about all the things that might be causing this difference (home vs. not-home being the most obvious). What do you think?>
I don’t think you are making excuses at all – I think you are seeing a question from Reacher and trying to help answer it. My poles at home are a combination of white, white w/ stripes, and solid (red, orange, blue). I mix it all up all the time and that seems to help.
And also with weaves, keep tabs on any physical issues because if something hurts, then imperfect weaving in different locations are usually the first sign.
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
Bummer about the video but hooray for the weave success! Yes, I think your plan to keep exposing her to finding weaves in different contexts will be useful for the harder courses 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
I am glad you are finally getting good weather! And hopefully you won’t get hit with that derecho thing I saw on the news!!Very nice session here!! He did a great job with his ocmmitment and you were wonderful with moving away sooner and sooner. You can definitely add in the next steps that have more motion and the race tracks.
One thing I see here is that he tends to turn with his head/neck/shoulders moving as one unit, so the line around the wing is more of a rectangle and less of an arc. Now that he is basically in his adult body, you can revisit the leading with the head game to remind him of the mechanics of turning his head into the turn:
Tight Turns: Leading With The Head and 360s (Backside Wraps)
I remember him doing well with it as a youngster, but he has grown a little since then hahaha Plus it is good for indoor training!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning! Well done on this hard course!
Thanks for adding the walk through! You had a nice fast pace all the way through, and great job using the verbals! Now the goal is to be able to maintain that connection to where she is for the whole walk through. You started looked ahead of her and at the obstacles during the run so connection was not established and that is where the errors were in the runs.
Yes, it is a pain in the b*tt to be that connected all the way through the walk through 🙂 so one way to approach it is to look for the hard spots on course and emphasize those connections in the walk through.
For example, 1-2-3 is hard – you definitely emphasized the connection there in the walk through, and you were great with the handling in the run.
Other spots to emphasize connection: tunnel exits, exits of crosses (so she knows which side to be on), and anything where you have to push on her line or turn her away, like 11-12 and 16-17.
Finding and emphasizing those connections in the walk throughs will get rid of the little errors in the runs 🙂
****
Looking at the runs:Nailed the opening and the plan worked brilliantly all the way through 11. Great job!!!
She needed to see more connection as she is taking 11 to show the ‘get out’ to 12. The tandem turn/switch away from your left side 11-12 worked GREAT!!
After getting 12, running to the blind at 1:40 made it late and she took and extra jump. Any motion pushing into the line sent her to that jump like at 2:56. She had a great line when you ran directly to the teeter with her on your right.
On the ending line, the jump at 17 is also a get out if she is on your left- using the outside arm worked well, and so did taking another step or two towards it to get the slice line like you did at 4:52.
2nd full run – lovely til 15!! Nailed the opening again (just like you walked it!) and all of the other moments had great connection and timing of decel where needed, crosses, and verbals. Yay!!!
You didn’t get the connection on the side change at 4:22 so she stayed on her line and *almost* took the off course tunnel. Try to save it and keep going – you saw it happening and she hadn’t gone off course so you can do a quick adjustment like a FC on the flat to get her back on your left side. It would still be a clean run and possibly a winning run too 🙂Re-doing the ending from the 9 tunnel went great too.
There were so many gorgeous sections of these runs – and that is why I will keep bugging you to work the connection more in the walk through especially on those challenging sections. The bloopers were mainly about connection – and then after you practiced it (with her) with connection, you nailed it! So the goal now is to practice it without her so when you do the first run with her, you can nail the whole thing. I am excited to see it happen because you two are looking great!!!
Tracy
Hi!
Sorry to hear about the bad weather! This indoor session went well!! He did a great jump turning away from you on the threadle wraps even as you ran forward past the wing.You can add in starting him from a cookie toss behind you so you are both moving up the line (rather than from right next to you), which will add the challenge of him being able to see the other side of the wing to wrap too 🙂
And if you want even more challenge… put out 2 wings about 2 meters apart (if you have room) – then you can mix in regular wraps on each on as well as threadle wraps. It will be a bit of a discrimination which is definitely more challenging!
>Just to confuse things, the only place on course I use left and right is on threadle wraps so I have a different verbal for each one.>
That will keep your mind sharp to remember them, but I have confidence it will be easy for you and Grin too 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! This session went really well! Your connection looked great. The first sequence of 5 thruogh the end looked good! The first rep of the blind was actually too early 🙂 so he was a good boy to NOT take the middle jump LOL!
On the last 3 runs (:22 – :35, and :39-:50, and the last run) – your timing, connection, and decel into 5 all looked really great! He nailed it!His only remaining question is on jump 6 (the middle jump). He hit the bar all 3 times – that is a hard slice and he is not reading it on a shoulder turn alone. So, try adding a brake arm – as he exits the wrap on 5, stay connected and cue jump 6 with BOTH arms as you turn. That way you can keep moving, and he will see the turn cue better and add a stride before takeoff (which should help with the bar).
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>felt like this was a very messy session >
I don’t think it was messy, I think it was informative!
>And this girl does love her pool! She was given breaks to go play in the pool during the session, but I guess she wanted a few more!>
That was actually hilarious, the splash was so emphatic LOL!!!!
Looking at the session: She is really watching everything, as you can see at :04 when your change of motion as you changed the toy from hand to hand overrode the go cues. Sighthounds see all LOL But she is also listening!
So with that in mind, here are 2 adjustments that will make it feel smoother:
– when you are not going to cue a straight line, you can take out the ‘go on go’ for the cue for the jump before the tunnel. When you were doing that, she was going straight and was surprised when there was a turn cue on the 2nd jump. You can use it for the tunnel exit or use a jump verbal for the jump after the tunnel (or no verbal :)). From the stay, a regular release would be fine there. The ‘go on go’ has value in terms of going full on in extension (unless you move the toy from hand to hand, then the toy wins LOL)
– you can add another 5 or 6 feet of distance between the 2 jumps, to give yourself and her a bit more processing time. That way you can show the wrap decel and Rc line even better.
For the wraps to the left: for most of them, you were running into the rotation, so she either was getting the info late (like at 1:15), or it read as a RC (like at 1:37). To help her see it sooner, as she is approaching the jump after the tunnel, you can decelerate facing the wrap wing. Then as she is passing you and beginning to collect you can rotate. The decel is the main part of the cue, so make it prominent 🙂 and then the rotation will be after it – and her turns will be super nice! And if your decel is too abrupt or happens with the rotation, you might pull her off the bar.
For the RC to the right, you can get on the RC line to the center of the bar even sooner – even before she is taking the jump after the tunnel, you can be moving to the enter of the bar. She will pass you can get the RC. When you did that, like at 1:05, the Rc looked great! Nice party there as you rewarded her!
Also, with the wrap verbals… say them a few times as you decel, not just once. So it would be a quiet skiskiskiski as you slowed down, so she doesn’t miss it.
About the pool moments…
The first Rc at 1:57 kind of set the line into the pool, she felt it was the next obstacle LOL!
Then at 2:16 it looks like you over-rotated to be parallel to the bar, which pushed her off the line to the backside (and into the pool) – your line should be to where the wing meets the bar, not parallel to the bar. Your connection was really good!So overall, it was a helpful session to see what she needs in terms of cues and she got some swims in too LOL
Great job!
TracyHi!
The tandems looked really good here! You were emphasizing lining your feet up to the correct one so he knew exactly where to be. Super!!! The line of your feet plus the clear use of your hands & verbal made. This look pretty easy!
Since this went so well, you can move to the threadle wraps – where he doe a complete circle around the wing as you move forward. You were throwing the reward back to him here which was great, so definitely keep doing that when you add the threadle wraps too.
Nice work!!
Tracy
Hi!
I think this session went really well!
>so I didn’t do everything correctly and Max was starting to get bored when he doesn’t want to do something. He starts jumping on top of the tunnel or he just bark at me>
You must have edited out those reps 🙂 I didn’t see any shenanigans! You were really working the connection and that makes all the difference. When he can see your eyes, he knows where to be so definitely keep connecting and keeping our arm back so he sees it. You also did a great job of shifting your connection to the ‘landing’ spot on these so he was able to commit as you moved forward.
He was sometimes unsure when the hand with the toy in it was pointing forward: grab the toy? Or go to the wing? So you can keep the toy or a ball in your pocket rather than you hand, which might make it even easier.
And feel free to post bloopers 🙂 Short sessions are definitely great!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>We have been working some and I just get lazy about editing and posting.>
Editing is the biggest pain 🙂 So you can just post the whole video without editing it, I am happy to scroll through the in-between moments 🙂
The 4 ways game looked really good – nice job with the verbals on all of it!
>I haven’t really taught her backsides yet. So for those, I pretty much pushed her there.>
Pushing looked great in both directions! Good handling like that can produce the backsides even if you have not spent a lot of time training them.
The front side wraps also looked good!!
>On the go line work, I did it several times and then realized that we were essentially doing a wrap because I was staying back and she was coming back for the reward. So I tried again with throwing the toy to get her to keep going. I have also worked on this with just a straight line of jumps and sending her to a dead toy. Is that kind of exercise helpful?>
Yes, throwing the reward like you did at 1:19 is most ideal – throwing something heavy and early will keep her from looking back at you. You can also place it out ahead sometimes, as long as you also work on getting the Go line without it there so the placed toy does not become the cue to take the straight line 🙂
Looking at the rear crosses:
>On the rear crosses, I included a blooper that happened a bunch. Where she would turn right before the jump. We couldn’t get past that for many reps.>
What was happening that caused the question (and putting you behind her more than you wanted to be) was that you were facing the straight line til she got past you, then setting the RC by going parallel to the bar. The shape of the line you were running was kind of an L shape. So she knew to turn the new direction, but didn’t always know you wanted the bar too, especially if you were closer to the previous jump.
You can get the Rc more consistently and not be left as far behind if you don’t wait for her to pass you, to set the RC line. Before you even pass the wing of the jump before the RC jump, you can be running towards the center of the bar of the Rc jump. She is very speedy and will pass you – and the info from running the line to the center of the bar will tell her to jump the bar and turn the new direction. And the bonus is that you won’t be as far behind her 🙂
>rely heavily on verbals.>
Your verbals are strong!! You can test your running line and connection by playing this game without verbals… that will tell you if your physical cues are telling her the line too.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>He specifically discussed the exact challenges you’ve been helping us master in he first 2 sets of content in this CAMP.>
This makes me smile! I love to obsess to try to be prepared for the next big thing.
(Side note – that footing is slippery, so you might want to spray his feet the next time he works there and he probably needs a chiropractor adjustment for his pelvis… lots of rotating and stride shortening. You can see it up close at 1:21-1:22).
I also predict that the discriminations and stuff in the handler path is going to veer into the “STUPID” level of challenge before coming back to a more balanced challenge. By stupid, I mean stuff like having to veer around obstacles on the line to find a weave entry, and all sorts of stuff littering the handler’s path. I am starting to see both of those on European courses and here in the US in UKI courses.
>often where you can’t (or don’t want to be) right there to help a ton and verbals get really important. >
Yes – verbals become key in those discriminations! I loved seeing his weave entries in yesterday’s video 🙂
And in this video too – at one point the crowd reacted with delight too! So fun!This video was filed with really great moments on very challenging courses! WELL DONE!!!
Speaking of trends: another thing I am seeing on the push wraps is that yes, we need to be able to run through them without decel or having to connect to the landing side or stick around… but they are pretty wide turns when people do that (he was a little wide like at :27). So – cue the circle wrap with 2 hands (brake arm) before you run away, so you get both the independence and the great turn.
One other thing to add that is a trend coming over from Europe: more use of outside arm to set the line so you don’t have to run to it. For example, at :33, he is getting a push on a backside then going to a tunnel while you run like mad to your next position. He was wide there – an outside arm as he is approaching the backside will cue the ‘get out’ to the tunnel and get a really nice turn.
You can also add the obstacle name to some of your bigger lines and GO lines, when a tunnel discrimination is involved. There was a spot on this video where you wanted the long jump but there was a tunnel right near it, and the only verbal was Go Go Go. He veered towards the tunnel then grumbled at you: Go Where, human? So you can say “Go Jump” to help him out. And you can go to a ‘push’ verbal sooner, rather than his name: at 3:20 he got late info and almost took an off course tunnel
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Sounds like it was a great weekend, and I am really glad he was feeling good!!
Question: what type of footing was it? Maybe it was a footing that was easier on his body?
>I’m saying his name at times when I should be using an obstacle command, often repeating it two or three times. I had no idea I was doing it and when I quit, fewer bars came down. I’m also repeating commands which causes him to think he’s wrong / try to process at the same time he’s jumping. >
Yes, all good feedback. So in a nutshell: clarity of verbals! If you are still saying the previous cue over the bar, you are either really late or causing him to second guess. And calling his name can be effective but if it is over the bar he is supposed to be turning on, it was either late or unclear when an obstacle cue would be more effective.
>And yesterday, the best nugget was discovering he’s taking off early on wingless jumps.>
Interesting! I don’t recall seeing him do anything with wingless jumps, so you can add more in class and at home too! Wingless jumps do often fade into the background in terms of being a clear visual.
>For the wingless issue, I’m going to setup jump grids with wingless, especially for the last/farthest jump. I also thought about adding a second bar at first to draw his attention to the bar. Any other ideas?>
You can put a jump bump or stride regulator below the bar of the wingless jump. And also add more wingless jumps in training – but fade out the 2nd bar or stride regulator as quickly as possible, so it does not become the cue for the takeoff spot (because most/all wingless jumps will not have a 2nd bar). I think exposing him to them more in general will help a lot too. Lack of experience might be a big piece of the puzzle.
>After watching the video from this weekend and how happy and relaxed he is running 12″ I’m debating just leaving him at that height.>
I am personally a big fan of allowing dogs to make a big career jumping lower than their shoulders. Those BCs in 16” are jumping up to 2 inches below their shoulder height. Jumping lower can bring him a longer career, and there are just as many high level competitive options out there for him at 12” (unless you want to run him in Europe, then he would have to jump 16”).
I run my Hot Sauce at 12” competitively – she measures 15.75” but as a young dog, had a patella surgically repaired. So rather than risk any issues, she has spent her whole career at 12” and it has been fast & fun, including a national finals appearance. She just turned 7 years old and is running 2 sports better than ever.
(Plus the 12” division is SUPER fun and also plenty competitive :))
Tracy
Hi!
>My first thought looking at the Classic SS map was that it was above Lift’s pay grade. >
Yes, Nic is known for Speedstakes that are a bit more like Masters Series without weaves LOL Lift did well!
Looking at the videos:
Kaladin actually did well with the dropped toy – he was driving to it pretty well and you were making a show of tossing it with as much movement as possible. He was happy when you came back and threw it too! The only time was seemed to think it was stooooopid was on the one jump reps especially on the circle wraps. Ok, that’s fine 🙂 you can stick to doing these in bigger sequences 🙂 and also for the circle wraps, you can throw a giant piece of white cheese or something.
He was relatively unconvinced about the circle wraps with all the countermotion, so raising the value of the reward into something delish to throw will really help.
He was excellent with the slices, so you can add challenge by running through them even faster, and with even less connection (yes, I said LESS connection 🤣😂) when you see him committing to going to the backside.
Lift did really well too! I am very happy with how well she was going to the backside, considering her relatively lack of experience! You were able to get her to commit to going to the backside from pretty far across the bar – 1:00 was a great example of that, she was flying! Since she did so well, you can add more motion and less connection for her too, ramping it up even more from where you left it at 2:35. Yay!
She was also pretty happy to do the circle wraps! I think you found the threshold of where she has questions – she had a question about the big countermotion at 1:55 (chase da momma or chase da cookie). And she pushed off at 2:08 – I think a more experienced dog would have gotten that. So dial back your speed a tiny bit from there for a few reps on the next session, then work it back up and see if you can get her to chase the toy and commit even as you are running through.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Thank you for putting the walk through in!!!Two things I noticed in the walk through that cropped up in the run:
– It looked/sounded like you were saying the verbals late, when she was already arriving at the line where she would need to execute the behavior. That means she would not hear them in time for the real run, which could lead to questions.
– you can give her more obvious threadle cues in the opening at 3, as well as at 6-7 and 10-11. What I mean by that is keep moving to the jump but swing your threadle arm (dog side arm) way back to open up your shoulders. That is what cues the in-and-out on the threadle line. You were rotated feet and closing your shoulder, which could send her past the threadle jump.
Looking at the runs:
Full run –
You can trust and threadle 1-2-3 more with that arm back and moving to 3. You helped a little more than she needed on the first run (but she got it). on the runs where she didn’t get 3 (1:42 and 3:10), the threadle arm was not back and you closed your shoulders forward, which cued her to go past the 3 jump.She had a little trouble finding 5 when you layered – it was because you were quiet when she entered the tunnel and the GO verbal happened after she exited (first run and 1;54 for example). That caused her to exit curling into you, and then the “go” verbal applied to the jump she was looking at. You can start that go verbal when she is still 5 or 6 feet away from entering the #4 tunnel, and keep it going til she locks onto 5. You can also use bigger/more direct connection to her eyes and even an outside arm to get 5 when you layer.
Taking out the layering at 2:15 and 3:21 and converging into 5 totally helped too but made it a little harder to get the next line.
The 5-6-7 slice then FC looked good in isolation!
In flow: as you threadle 6-7, use a big arm back and slight rotation at the waist, rather than pull away from the 7 jump (2:20 and 2:30). Pulling away from the 7 jump then trying to send her back to it delays the info, so she either a past it or got it at the very last minute. You can start the threadle info (arm back and verbal, plus line of motion to 7) as she is lifting for 6, and keep moving towards 7. Keep the threadle arm back until you see her turn and look at 7.The first BC after 6 put her on a line to the backside (3:25) then into the off course tunnel. You had much better position there at 3:45, nice adjustment! You can do a spin on the exit of the wrap rather than a full post turn to show her the best line there.
Warming up on the 10-11-12 section:
>Tried to go right after 11 but with Roux I couldn’t call her off the tunnel.>
Slicing right is definitely the better line: a spin with a delayed BC (rather than a post turn) might get that line more smoothly, plus calling her name. Think of it as doing a full FC as you are moving to 12 then as she exits and ignores the tunnel, do a BC.
Wrapping left there gets the tunnel out of the picture but the line as not as good as slicing to the right – it almost sent her to the backside of 13 at 2:43 and 3:59.
14-end looked really good, and had some of your best connection on course! Adding GO as the verbal for last tunnel to last jump worked best! Add it sooner, so she can hear it before she enters the tunnel.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
> Thanks for indulging me.>
It was fun! Keep it coming!
>I came to the same conclusion about running the last two snooker runs on Sunday (today) as if there were numbers in the Snooker opening. She cued the advanced snooker run, and the masters run right afterwards!>
SUPER!!! I think the dogs are wondering what happened to their normally aggressive and connected handler when we handle differently in the games classes 🙂 So making it into a course is great!
Tracy
