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Good morning!
That is great news about the AKC rules! So many good opportunities at trials now!
>>We have our trial at sotc next weekend so I’ll make several more trips there before then and my first class with the teeter is FAST so tuggie toy allowed. >>
Good plan!
>>Back to my sequences, I’m going to work on those rears to the wall for sure!! There was one in my jww course I want to get.>
And we will do more rear crosses in coming weeks too – it is a definite weakness for so many of us and yet it is a skill we need to use all the time.
>>I’ll bring out some 2×2 and open them up. Just enough for her to be pretty straight?>>
Open them up enough that she can blast through with very little bang on the body… and enough so that she doesn’t have to do awkward striding. You can close them back up when she has the concepts.
Course 1: Great connection throughout!
good send to jump 2 at :04 and even better at :46!! Your handing intention was correct to just leave when she committed to going to the backside. She does not fully understand the TTFC element of it (take the eff*ng jump haha) on these reps, when she is more aroused (I think the cheer crew helped the arousal). This happened before on the course work: missed it on the first rep and then was really good after “seeing” it. So on those all-important first reps: do the exact handling as here and as she commits to the backside, throw the reward back to the landing side so she doesn’t miss, and so she learns to default to taking the jump the first time. Same thing at :47 0 more arousal, didn’t take the jump. I think you were dropping the treats in at :55 and 1:10 at just the right time – it was hard to tell because she ate them so quickly hahaah! But yes, that is the exact training thing to do!
I think you wanted the RC at 5 at :10? You would need one or two or three more steps towards the wall there to convince her to rear cross.
Got the RC at :24! Yay!While she is weaving, additional challenges to add: doing the FC and starting to move away before she exits
layering the tunnel so you are further ahead when she exits the weaves.
Both of those can get you to a FC or BC at10-11, rather than a RC!At jump 13-14:
at :27, you were late getting to the FC so she went wide then you ended up moving backwards getting into position – that spin rotation on the exit of 14 with your outside arm cuing the jump causes you to have to stay there for a while, too. So you can play with different options: getting in there sooner with a BC or FC by leaving her more independently in the tunnel #12 – then you might not even need the spin at 14 – you can do a BC and be finished before she lands, then send to 14 and leave for the next line.
Or, stay on landing sdie of 14 – send her away to 13 and do a serp/blind (German) turn on 14) kind of like what you did at 2.Course 2:
Nice opening 1-2-3-4!
You totally had the BC between the 4 tunnel and 5 jump 🙂 (It was kind of the opening of the previous course). As soon as she is heading to 3 after your blind, cue the tunnel and just leave for the BC, calling and turning your head for the blind before she enters the tunnel. There is a bit more hustle involved but it is worthwhile hustle! The threadle/rear cross worked but she had questions.When you did it the second itme with the 5-6 of course 1: you also totally had the blind cross on the eit of 4. You were setting up to RC 5 – so let her see your body rotate towards the 5 jump before he enters the tunnel, so she can exit already turning the correct direction. Good job getting the RC!!
She missed the weaves the first time but nailed them the 2nd time! I would totally reward that by throwing a reward at :25 rather than continue. Good rewarding at 1:09!
In terms of the handling:
The good news after the weaves was that you were way ahead and able to get way up the line when she exited!
The bad news was that you gave back your positional advantage by staying at the tunnel exit LOL! So at :28 and 1:14, she caught up to you even though you have a solid 30 or 40 foot headstart on her. That made the 9-10-11 line get zig zaggy because she was passing you. You did get the RCs on both of those reps which is great, we need to work the RCs – but we don’t want to sacrifice the line before it and also I will bug you to not get into the habit of giving the lead out advantage back to the dog (because she sure isn’t going to be polite and give you time to get places LOL!!!)So… no hanging out at the tunnel exits needed haha! Keep moving – she saw where you went so you didn’t need to stick your hand in there to cue the exit. If you keep moving from the moment she exits the weaves, you will be way up the line and get a FC or BC between 10-11 and still have enough time to grab coffee and a donut.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYes! Or do bits with both. Most of us have more than one dog to work with, so there are plenty of ways to do it with both of them 🙂
Ha! Some dogs just want to go into the ring and get right to it, and they are naturally in the right state of mind. Some dogs need more help getting into that right state of mind, so we add in the tricks and other things into the routine. So far, she seems to be an all-business type of competitor 🙂
Hi!
>>I didn’t even think to go that way – that does look like a better line! I was thinking the other option might be a wrap but that would put me behind.
In the 2nd and 3rd sets of skills/sequences/courses, we will be looking at all of this and comparing and obsessing on fastest lines. The fastest line will almost never be the wrap, so I always look for the various slice options 🙂
>>When you got the tunnel threadle on the 2nd run, you pulled yourself too far away from the tunnel – she still had a nice tight line but then you were out of position. That caused you to have to explode to get back to position, which sent her wide out of the tunnel. So, stay close to the line for the tunnel (don’t pull away) or better yet… get in there for the blind (you totally can!)
>>So would you push to the back/blind, or just time it as a blind?
I would just time it as a blind, I think she was finding it pretty independently and you can get her onto your right for the tunnel 🙂
T
Hi!
>>Anyways, when I got home I went back through my teeter notes (hope it’s ok to discuss this here) and thought those last few mountain climber games may help. So I have called her on to the teeter while holding it in the air or letting it drop to random heights then 3,2,1 “touch”. It brought her confidence back almost immediately. I also used the treat and train yesterday to get some distance once we’d done it a few times. I feel like she’s more confident on it (the clip n go) now than she was before.>>
Well, after 18 months away from sport because of a pandemic, sometimes the only way to get the dogs ring ready is to throw them in the ring LOL! And it is great to see family. And YES that Clip and Go is totally different, and the baby dogs need to see it in training. And also yes – the game you describe is called the Crazy Elevator game. For me, it is the biggest piece of the puzzle for introducing new teeters and getting the teeter into the trial ring. In UKI and USDAA, we can touch the teeter and play this exact game in a run in the ring – then reward with a toy (and I think in both of those venues, you can also put a target on the ground!) I am not 100% sure of what the AKC training rules are, but I can find out. But there is enough UKI and USDAA near you that a couple of training runs to get on a teeter will be well worth it. When Voodoo was young, I drove 5 hours each way for a USDAA trial that offered a training in the ring class. It made ALL the difference for his teeters in trials!
Anyhoo: onwards to the video!
>>I know I need to do more proofing drills, but there’s only so many hours in the day and I’m being diligent about giving her time off from agility too.>>
For the weaves, you can do a lot more of these drills on open poles to teach the independence – that gets all of the concept work done with very little “bang” on the body 🙂
She did well here! The RT really helps as a focal point. You can use it to reward more often 🙂 She was really successful in all the weave scenarios except for one (see below)
A couple of handling ideas:
On the jump at :32 – slice to the outside rather than wrap to the inside, it is faster to slice and a better line (I see the jump isn’t too far from the wall but there was enough room for her there :))
She was a little wide over the red jump at :35 so she went around the next one – that is a spot to turn your shoulders sooner (as she is committing to the first red jump there) to get her turned to land facing the next one.There was only one weave scenario that was hard: She is rushing at :49 and :58 when you were ahead (as you noted). Good job helping her out after 2 misses by slowing down a little – you were not as far ahead on the successful reps, so keep adding you being ahead but don’t move too fast for now (this is a good place to use open poles too, so you can add being ahead AND running :))
2nd video also looks good! You can slice on 3 (not wrap – the slices are faster and set better lines :)) and the only other handling suggestion is to turn sooner at :14 (jump 7): decel then turn after landing from 6 to get a good turn at 7, she was in bigger extension there because you were accelerating too.
You were ahead but not moving fast on the 2nd set of poles and she nailed it! Nice!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there!
>>I kick myself every time I make a not-so-positive comment! Thanks for the reminder.
Was it CAMP last year or MaxPup PIT where you would lose an hour of access to your iPhone every time you used a negative marker? That put a stop to it for a while LOL!
>>I do tend to look at the obstacle instead of the dog. I’m not sure why my brain insists on doing that, but I am aware. These were good exercises to reinforce that connection.>>
Keep practicing, it is a struggle for all of us! I thought your connection was terrific on this video!
>>Nope …. No love for the teeter. Although it wasn’t used in today’s session, but I did practice it independently, and there is improvement.>>
Hooray for improvement! Keep using a clear criteria and amazing rewards to build her love. It might sound odd, but the clearer the criteria, the more they learn to love it. Dogs don’t love ‘grey’ criteria.
>> I feel like she is becoming more and more confident to work away from me. Moving away from the weaves is still tricky. Although she didn’t pop out here, I did a few more runs afterwards and she did pop out when she thought I was too far away. Of course I didn’t get that filmed.>>
Totally agree that she did well here! I do think you can leave the Ready Treat in for a LOT more reps, especially when you are adding more challenge.
The first miss was fine because it was really all about developing the concept of “do the weaves without me and the reward is ahead” She missed on the first rep but nailed the 2nd rep! She was fast and accurate!
After the reward, you can reset with a sit to do the handling, it will make it smoother to start the next session.
3rd rep – very nice weaves! And the handling looked good too! You will be able to add crosses after the weaves so you don’t need to do the RC if you don’t want to.
2nd sequence – nice job here! Nice connection and she got the weaves both times!
I know the jump was set up close to the wall, but ideally you would slice not wrap at 1:07 and 1:24 (it is faster and easier for both of you :))
Super nice sends at 1:09 and 1:27! And you got further ahead on the weaves and she was great on them too!>>I also included a clip with Wilson. His distance is pretty good, but we mess up because I don’t continue to support him when I offer opposing motion. He didn’t do it here because the distance between obstacles is smaller. We have gotten caught in situations where I send him, and try to get away from him with no support.>>
Do you have any examples? Let me see so I can give you some ideas – generally it is a placement of reward issue: the reward is all on you, so he is sticking with you. You can cue the obstacle then leave, tossing the reward to the landing side of the obstacle to build value for commitment. Or you can tuck that handy dandy Ready Treat in near the wing of the jump, and click it when he commits and you are leaving. That will shift the value to the obstacle, which can make opposing motion so much easier.
On his reps on the video – your handling looked really connected! And his weaves were GREAT, good boy! A couple of little things:
On the send at 1:42, don’t say Go then dig dig dig , that will dilute the strength of your GO verbal.On the wrap at 1:58, is that one of the places where opposing motion might be hard? Ideally you would have your right arm lower and more on the takeoff side to get a better collection, but you might have been adding extra swoosh and lean back to the landing side to get commitment.
The lean back and swoosh made the cue to send and collect late at 2:01 so he was a little wide, but good job with the verbal just saying dig dig dig without the go before it!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>. I thought I wanted a 2o2o since that’s what I want on the other contacts. I’ll have to get consistent and work on those stops. Right now, she’s exiting nicely on the “run” – but once she’s really confident, I don’t know if she’ll be a “flyer” or not. Better to work on a stop and perhaps phase it out than to ignore it now and then have to back-track, correct?
I think getting a 2o2o will be consistent with the other contacts, plus easy to maintain in the ring. I don’t know if she will be a flyer – but what happens when the criteria is unclear is that a lot of dogs slow down, stopping pretty high on the teeter (sometimes in the yellow, sometimes not, then creeping down). So I have always found it easier to teach and maintain the 2o2o for the dog’s entire career. And in the big runs where I wanted to win or something, I would “cheat” a bit and release early – but always went back to reinforcing the 2o2o.
>>I know she looks confident here, but she hasn’t been happy with the seesaw in her class location, so we’re just doing the “bang” game there. What should I be looking for before we move on from that?>>
These young dogs lost out on a lot of experiences due to the pandemic 🙁 So I suggest recreating the entire teeter progression in as many new places as possible. Will your instructor set up a teeter between 2 tables (I think you did that with her in training, right?) And you can also isolate the mountain climber game, which I think you also did. And the bang game is fabulous 🙂
If she is acting concerned, I suggest doing very limited reps for SUPER high value, mind – blowing rewards. It can be just one rep of the bang game for a fistful of steak 🙂 Yum!You can also urn her through a tunnel or two or 6… then do a bang game when she is wild – then deliver a massive reward. Don’t do too many reps in a row, because we don’t want her to over-think it. We would like for her to be a little nuts LOL!
You’ll know when to add challenge based on how excited she is to play these games. When it starts to look more like what you have at home, then you know you can add more to them.
>>I’ll be looking forward to the slice/wrap sessions. I think I tend to use wraps because they save my knee more than running for a slice. It’s a bummer to get to an age where you think not only about what works for the dog, but you have to think about what your body will do, too…>>
It is important for our knees to be happy with our handling choices too! The good news here is that we have enough variety of handler moves that we can have it both ways: fastest lines for the dogs and easiest movement for the handler. We will play with all of that!
>>Today is supposed to be hotter than yesterday, so we went out for a brief fun session, but won’t be doing any taping today. Then there is heavy rain predicted for the next 3 days. Temps will go down, which is nice.>>
Lower temps sound great! Fingers crossed for an easy time with the rain and then more normal temps ahead.
T
Hi!
>>He has made SO MUCH progress in the last few months. We really really really struggled with him checking out and sniffing or just trotting during our training sessions.
I agree! He has really blossomed, even in the short time I have known him!
>>His speed is really coming along so I feel like my handling isn’t quite as good as it had previously been because things are happening much faster.>>
This is both relatable and normal. It is part of the fun of young boy dogs LOL!
>> I am so happy with his progress but want to keep getting better. I overall feel very frantic running him right now.
Also relatable! It will get easier when you have more experience on bigger lines with him, and when you trust him more to stay on the lines.
>>The better line for the backside at 2 is the natural entry line (where the #2 is on the course map) rather than turning him on the tunnel exit and then pushing to the other backside
>>I’m glad you brought this up because I had a hard time seeing this line past the backside. I do feel like it’s the best line but couldn’t figure out how to get out of his way from 2 to handle the rest. Would you recommend dog on left for the opening the whole way? I felt like I needed to be on the right near the tunnel to get the blind at 5 in a timely fashion.>>
There are several ways to handle it – I would personally start dog on right, push to the backside and run through a blind to get him on my left. Or running all on left as a threadle would work too.
>>Any recommendations for smaller space activity to visit/revisit on a partially wet yard?
Bummer about the rain!! For the smaller space, you can take a tunnel and the weaves and recreate the weave challenges here on open poles, with a MM out ahead. And I think he would benefit from as many of the transition to trials games you can play in different locations – these youngsters got screwed out of a lot of life experience due to the pandemic!
Tracy
Hi there!
>>Yes I taught this with a foot target and will tape it back on in our next session. I think one or two more sessions with the MM and target will really help out.
Yes, because we are adding so much independence now, the target can come back out for a couple of sessions, and then you can take it out again.
Great job in the training session (and it was HOT already early this morning, right?!?!?!) On the first rep – Nice independent dog walk here and a super tight turn off of it! The cones definitely helped, they were a clever addition to the setup. And you will be able to bring cones into the ring on training runs to help out when you put the RDW into the trial ring!
Great connection in the handling! He had a nice tight wrap to his right on the jump, but in this case a slice to the left is probably faster: less collection and a better line to the next jump. Either way, keep connecting like that – it was really clear for him!
2nd rep – going the other way at :22 on the dog walk (away from the camera), just be a bit more patient to let him come off of it before you turn and go – he took the early turn as a cue to go back across it LOL! Eventually I think you will be able to turn early but for now, be a little later on that turn. You had the exact right amount of patience on the turn off the DW at :43 on the next rep. Nice!!
The last rep looked really lovely – he might be more confident working the DW off your left side? He seemed happier to drive ahead coming towards the camera than moving away from the camera (on your right). You can use a thrown reward to help him drive ahead of you – if you are cuing a tight turn, you can have him turn tight and throw the reward on the line, so he doesn’t look at you as much.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The happiest part of this is that the teeter looked great and it was not even the focus of the session. Huzzah!! I am excited!
Looking at the turns:
>> Yes, I have him jumping 16” and he feels he needs to fly over the jumps and go really fast and that decelerating is dumb. We have to work on our turns at this height.
Yes, time to start massaging the turns to get a little tighter. The main goal is to get more tight turns without losing the speed on the lines. The 2nd and 3rd set of games here in CAMP focus specifically on that!
On the video here, a couple of ideas for the turns:
On the FCs at the beginning (at :12, for example) and then when you switched sides, your lines were good! The turn was a little wide on some of them because you did a decel while he was on the teeter then accelerated when you released him, so he accelerated too. It should be the other way around. Try to decel into it and if you are already stationary, remain stationary and drop your hands lower toward the takeoff spot: more like what you did at :30 but also on takeoff side not landing side.You had a bit more of a takeoff side hand cue at :46 and it helped!! And :57 was for sure more on takeoff side, there was a definite collection there too!!
One other idea: to reward the collection and encourage more of it: When you see him collect, run so he chases you to get the reward, rather than standing still – that helps get even more collection by rewarding it with running, and also he will collect more if you run away on the tight line with the precious reward 🙂 Stopping is stoooooopid, according to Stark: running for the reward is fun fun fun!
Nice work here! We will be focusing on the collection in coming weeks and this was a really nice start!!!
Tracy
Hello and welcome!! Congrats on your successes in the ring!!! I am really excited but also not surprised: you do a great job with your pups!!
And congrats on your new baby!!! Another Schnauzer? Please send photos, baby Schnauzers are the CUTEST 🙂Tracy
Hi! Nice work here!
Opening looks good – by not hanging out at 2, you got much further up the line. One of the thing =s we will be working on next week is to get the dogs to turn even when they are in high arousal and we are moving fast – that will help him collect when you are on time here by moving really fast. I mention it because you were on time at :22, for example and he was still wide on the turn
Weaves looked good at :13 and :26! That put you in a good spot to handle the 8–9-10 section and also the entire closing line. Very nice! You did a FC 11-12 but I do think a blind will be much easier and set a better line there.
Looking at the ending line up close:
he did put in a collection stride at 10 at :53 on the shoulder turn. You did a spin there at 1:09 and it was tighter! We will be timing that in coming weeks to see if tighter is actually faster.You did a spin at 1:19 there but never really reconnected (you turned your head but your arm was really high) so he didn’t pick up 11
Much better at 1:30!>> send. It was ok when I practiced it as 10-11, but when I started from 8 my timing was shit lol.>>
it was not really a timing issue, more of a position issue. Both of those spins set a bit of a wider line because you put yourself on landing side so he had to go around you – getting one more step up the line to takeoff side will keep it tight like it was at 1:09.
The FC at 11-12 :55 was late and you looked ahead – did he go behind you there? The blind looked great at 1;11 and 1:30!
Great job on the pushes and leaving on the firsat rep through there! You got a little excited at 1;34 and your arm got waaaay high: when that happens, it turns your body forward and he loses which line he is supposed to be on. A general rule of thumb is if he is behind you, your dog side arm must be locked and pointing back to him – don’t let it move forward or parallel to you and definitely don’t let it get high.
It was much lower on the last rep and he read the line nicely to the backside 🙂
And you got most of the verbals out LOL!!! It is hard to get all that sprinting AND all the words in training. It will make running at a trial much easier 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He had this much energy after an hour walk? I am impressed!!! Good boy!
Looking at the weaves first – I see a bit of a pattern about where he is having questions: on your right side and when you are moving, he is bouncing a bit too much side-to-side and with his head up, which is causing him to make mistakes. When you are not moving much on your right side, or when he was on your left: he was great. All of the left side weaves were really strong and independent!
On the right side weaving at the beginning – he was head up and side to side, so he moved the weaves and popped out on the first rep. Got them on the 2nd rep. On the 3rd rep – he was head up and fell out (:48)
He got them at :56 when you were not too far and not moving fast – and then popped out at 1:04 when you pushed aheadVery independent and head lower when he is on your left at 1:17! Also good on left at 1:36 and 1:56! Same angles as the previous right side reps, but on your left – no problem. Hmmmmm 🤔 LOL!
He missed on your right at 1:26 while you were moving but got it at 1:45 on your right with you standing still til he got the entry. See the pattern emerging? He got it at 2:06 with more motion. Then later on, he was on your right at 2:35: definitely head up, bouncing a bit too much side to side, moving the weaves.
The left side weaves at the end looked good 🙂
So since we can see the pattern here, we can train it! His rate of success on your left side is very high! His rate of success on your right is much lower (less than 50%). I think the key will be getting his head down like it is when he is weaving on your left side – and the easiest way to do that is to take out your training poles (2x2s? Channels?) and open them up a bit, having him weave independently towards a reward target of some sort (like a Manners Minder). You can add all of the motion and independence while getting his head down… then we close the poles, fade the MM, and have the same high quality weaves on your right side as you do on your left side.
Looking at the handling: plenty of things to be super happy with! Strong connection! Turns are looking good at full height! He really sets up lovely turns!
A couple of observations:
More motion needed on the first rep to the wing especially with your right leg to send. You stopped very short before he landed so he was not sure what to do. Look at how you used your right leg to send at :46 – it was great! And he had no questions there.Try not to say “go” for all the things 🙂 because it will dilute your actual go cue when you want straight lines. Over is fine if needed or a wrap cue (You had that on some of the reps).
I think the slice instead of wrap at 1:19 and 140 and 201 was because your DW was there?(bars there might have been fatigue) If not, that is a good place for a slice 🙂
At 2:22 I think you were trying to wrap but ended up on his line and pushing him to the backside (he was correct there) – try not to use any negative marker like “hey” as it is a real downer for him in the moment – you did praise and give a cookie after it, but he was still marked negatively for reading you correctly. When there is a blooper, try to just toss a cookie or a toy without saying anything, so there are no accidental downer moments when he was correct 🙂 Or even if he is incorrect – tell him he is a good boy and carry on 🙂 But most of the time, he is correct LOL! So it is better to just reward.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I am glad she was back to normal weaving here. Whew!
Some ideas for you:
On the backside at 2 she did really well finding it and her exit turn was great! You can also play with having her slice the other direction on it (so she enters on the wing closer to the center of the course and exits the backside on the wing away from the course. You would start on your right and do a serp tp blind – that would actually allow you to get to the BC 4-5 even sooner because you would not have to step to 3 at all. Plus, that will have her turning towards her right the whole time which sets a prettier line.
The BC was pretty timely at :09 in getting started – try to get it finished/reconnected as instantly as possible for now: She is in the early stages of learning tight blinds, so she needs to see the full cue before she turns tightly. Eventually, she will make the collection as soon as she sees the cue beginning. Plus having her come in on the smoother line will help keep the bar up there as well.On the 2nd rep at :37 you were definitely quicker to finish the blind, so she turned so much better over 4! Yay! She was able to land and explode up the line to the tunnel. NICE!
YAY for the weaves! You set the line nicely and you were smart to not challenge her tooooooo much on those. Ideally you would leave more to be further up the line, but I think you were wise to not push it too much. On the 2nd rep there, you actually over-helped her by moving too far from the tunnel while she was weaving, but I think it was fine to support her line a little extra for now 🙂
The line after that went well until the little oopsie at 11-12 on the first run. She doesn’t need much help to get nice turns, and I think she did well here!
When you got the tunnel threadle on the 2nd run, you pulled yourself too far away from the tunnel – she still had a nice tight line but then you were out of position. That caused you to have to explode to get back to position, which sent her wide out of the tunnel. So, stay close to the line for the tunnel (don’t pull away) or better yet… get in there for the blind (you totally can!)
The threadle at the end is an advanced skill – she is *thisclose* to having it! If you work that line again, try it without moving as fast: just move at a light jog and see if she can read it. If not, you can try it at a walk. As she gets more experienced, you can try it with more and more motion.Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> She loves her toys but going through the pressure filled area of On The Run during a trial is a lot for her (tends to get snarky) so I like to feed her all the way through there instead.>>
Yes, that can be tight quarters! I think you will find one of the games coming next week to be helpful for her.
She did well in this video! When you ask for behavior on the start line, try standing up more – when you were leaning over her, she was looking away and then went into a down (common response to when we lean over the dogs :))
She seems to be more of an “all business” type of dog on the start line: she gets into the zone and is ready to go – so doing tricks is hard! She was great when you did the lead out, just asking for the stay behavior/ And that is fine, as long as her all business approach also means she is in the right state of arousal. She certainly was here!
And she definitely thought it was a little weird to use the leash at home, but since she likes tugging on it – it is definitely something to incorporate into trial routines! You can have a cue for it that is different from the cookie cue, so you can have her run to the leash when she lands from the last jump and then there is pretty immediate reinforcement 🙂Great job here!
Tracy
