Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi! The working spots are mainly the same as they are here in MaxPup 3, with the videos posted in the Forum. The Monday night Zooms are primarily discussion, and we can also review video from trials, training, etc so there is no need for live participation. The videos you did with lights looked great in the forum! Let me know if that makes sense (or if I need more coffee to make sense LOL!)
Tracy
Good morning! Pug Nationals sounds like SO MUCH FUN!!!!
On the video:
His decel wrap collections looked fabulous in both directions here!
He had a refusal at :56 – watching it a few times, it was caused possibly because you were stepping backwards and away from the jump, instead of stepping to the new direction like at :41 and 1:16. If you watch your left leg at :55-:56, you will see what looked different and might have drawn his attention. Young dogs see EVERYTHING!!! It will get easier when he has more experience and you won’t have to worry about footwork.
Sending to the wrap was harder for him – the distance is big and also turning to his left is harder. It is hard to see from the camera angle but it is possible that you were stepping to the center of the bar a bit based on where you were standing, which could indicate a rear cross (especially if the right turns are easier for him). He got it nicely on the last rep – he was thinking hard to sort out the left turn and did it beautifully!
For the sends, you can start with a little less distance (bearing in mind that he has to take twice as many strides as a big dog 🙂 ) Then build it up.And for the decel wraps when you are ahead and also the sends, you can totally add in the tunnel not too!@
The mini sequence to the teeter looked great! He had a lot of speed coming off the a-frame and around the wing, and got a lot of great drive to the top of the board! Super!!! Keep adding tip in tiny tiny amounts, he is on the right track to a fantastic teeter!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Looks like everyone had fun at the CO! Those courses looked large and relentless! And I am glad to hear Lift had fun too 🙂 I caught a couple of your runs on the stream – great job!!!!!
>>Dean thinks that Yes Tunnel – No Tunnel – Go Tunnel! would make a great children’s book title)>>
It was named with Dr. Seuss in mind LOL!!!! The original title was Yes Tunnel No Tunnel Go Go Go Tunnel which has a better flow to it LOL!!!
>>Also really proud of us for not having a single pop-rock moment with all this wing wrapping.>>
Dare I say she might actually be LIKING wing wraps? I don’t want to jinx it 🙂 But maybe wing wrap is predicting tunnel fun so she is putting up with them 🙂Nice exit line connection on the exit of the wraps too – it was SUPER clear where you wanted her to be, and I am sure that contributed to her happy wrapping.
To get past the tunnel, she kind of rolled her eyes when you walked the first time (“MOM I GOT THIS!”) and was much happier when you ran on the next reps. Too much decel going past the tunnel there and on the last rep can actually make the tunnel more obvious because you are slowing down near it.
Your connection was super clear there too, so she did not seem to be looking at the tunnel at all. That is especially great because the tunnel is valuable and she couldn’t really see the wing behind it. YAY!!!
>>Pretty sure this is the first time I asked Lift for a backside tunnel entry so pretty happy she got it on the 2nd try (and was very proud of herself running around it the first time). >>
The ‘nailed it!’ expression when they run around the tunnel like that makes me laugh every time 🤣😂
Yes, most of the pups here are running past it on the first rep. It requires collection into the tunnel that either they haven’t been asked to do, or we haven’t asked it in a long time. She sorted it out VERY quickly and was beautiful with the backside entries on the next reps.
Looking at the grid:
>>I like how she is adjusting her stride up and down, but she seems to be jumping with her head up more than I’d like – unless that is because she’s busy tracking the moving toppl?>>
On the reps where her head was up the most, the Topple was moving the last (until after she landed). So what was going on was that she was lifting her head to slow down to prepare to stop at the toppl. When the toppl was moving early, she had better head position over the last bar because she was not preparing to stop. Since she has such a strong stay, you can lead out another 5 feet or so past the last jump and be moving before the release. That way the toppl is moving the whole time and will be miles ahead for the last jump sp she does not consider stopping.
The happy side effect of that is she learns to organize her jumping with motion present as a mild distraction. Walking will be just enough challenge, but I bet you can work up to jogging then running soon enough!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The handling is looking really good! She had excellent commitment to all the jumps including the decelerations into the wraps – you were spot on with your decelerations being prominent, and then separating the FC itself so she committed really well. My favorite one was at 1:06 where you had fantastic timing of the decel so she drove past you but still committed in collection. They were all really strong!
She had questions about going to the tunnel at the beginning of the sequence (on your left) but not at the end of the sequence (on your right). I think you were VERY connected with her on your left, so your arm was way back – which is great for when she is behind you or next to you. When you were trying to get her ahead of you, what was happening was the shoulder staying open was pulling her to you, and pulling your motion away from the line as you tried to leave early to get to the FCs. To help get better commitment your shoulder and arm and relax and move forward with her when she passes you, which will support the line more. The rep at 1:02 had the best view of your shoulder moving with her as she drove ahead and had the best commitment to the tunnel on that side. That is exactly what you did on the other side where she seemed to have zero questions 🙂
I don’t want to jinx it, but I think she is beginning to really get the idea of the mat work! Good job catching that you were not using a marker – lack of marker gets her watching you and we do not want her watching you 🙂
Be 10000% sure you are marking back feet – on the last couple of reps where she got a reward, the marker came when the front feet hit the mat and before the back feet (I watch these in super slow motion to see what those back feet are doing). Her back feet were hitting it on those but at the very edge, so be sure you are staring at the mat and seeing the back feet. I stare directly at the mat and literally count to 4 in my head (one for each foot LOL!). The marker comes as foot 4 is hitting. If I never get to 4, then no reward. Her no reward moments are pretty obvious here (no feet at all on one, and no back on the last one which might be a product of front feet only being marked on the previous 2 reps). This is one of the skills where we do *not* watch the dog so staring at the mat as you move around should make it easier to see. And I think you can add more speed, especially when she is on your left, like a cone wrap before the mat (probably 12 feet away or so).
Great job!
TracyHi!
Thanks for your kind words about Crusher – we all miss her huge personality. And I am glad you are bouncing back from Covid – it really zaps our energy for weeks. Bleh!!Lap turns – You sorted out the timing on these really well – you were too early on rep 1, but then 2nd rep on the reps after that you had correct timing of letting him get about 2 inches from your hand, then move arm and leg back.
The tandem turn timing is similar – he has to get relatively close to your hands before you flip him away, like you did at :36 and :42 (:31 was too early). I don’t think bending is a problem, it was more about how early you moved. Later is better!
When you switched back to lap turns at :47 – you were too early on the first rep and pointed at the wing (so it looked like a throwback) then your right leg stayed back so that also indicated throwback. So keep everything stationary (arm extended, feet together, it is like a dance class hahaha) until he is about 2 inches from your hand, then arm and leg move back to draw him past the wing. It has to be even clearer on the left turns, which are harder.
You were too early on the very last rep so, since he had just been told that the throwback was incorrect, he hilariously offered the set up between your feet. CLEVER!!!!! HA! So yes, letting him get to your hand (2 inches or closer) should smooth that out.
For the serps: he was reading all of the cues really well, which is great! You can start closer to the jumps (about an arm’s length away) and maintain your line of motion & serp cues with the upper body til he looks at and goes to jump 2. Try not to close your shoulders forward or step to jump 2, that converge changes the serp line info and he was reading that (good boy!)
Angling the jumps helped you stay on the line and he found it really well! Keeping the serp shoulders open to him helps him turn to the next line and find the correct side of the jump. A great example is at :24 where your serp shoulders and connection and line were all great. Check out how he turns himself away to jump 2! Yay!
If you close your shoulder too early, it changes the info and that is when it might either push him to the backside if you step to the jump (1:06 for example)or cause him to consider running past it (:58 for example, where he found the jump at the very last minute 🙂 )
The tunnel exits were great!
Collecting to get into the tunnel was hard at first! I guess his main tunnel experience was mainly straight on, going fast :)Good job showing it to him – once he sorted out the turning, he was great!The timing of the left and right cues were spot on! Definitely before he entered and also a different tone – all very helpful for him and he had really nice turns! You can stay more connected when he exits (have your dog side arm pointing back to him and more eye contact, especially on the left turn exits) to help him continue to the wing.
The RUN exit cues were also good – I think they can come earlier in terms of the verbal cues (you were saying run jut before he entered which is a little late because he was probably n the tunnel before he heard anything) To convince him to keep running straight and not look back at you, you can throw the reward straight ahead before he exits.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
He did really well finding the board from all the angles here! Super!!!>>I realized the teeter was too wobbly on the grass.>>
Yes, he said it was too wobbly so even when he knew there were cookies up there, he was not that sure about the side-to-side movement of the board. The tunnel bags probably kept it super stable.
You can also build drive to the top of the board regardless of board movement by doing one-hit-wonder sessions: one rep for the most incredibly high value reward (high value plus big quantity) then the session is over 🙂 That way he is wild to do the teeter and won’t think about the movement as much – then won’t have time to start thinking about it because there will be no more reps (he started thinking about it here and was not as excited about doing it). A big dollop of cream cheese or something can do the trick (high value plus it won’t fall off :)) If you do it at mealtime, he can get a giant reward for running up the board then the rest of his meal next to the board. It will be like winning the lottery 🙂
Looks like you blocked it off at the end – perfect 🙂 That way he can’t go running up it without you LOL!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! Yeah, it is a bummer 🙁 We will make it up to you and Sprite when she is back to playing!! It sounds like she is doing well!!!
Tracy
Hi!
I was following your Nationals adventures through the posted results! Congrats on a great runs! Synnie was AWESOME especially since this is her first big event – you must be beaming with pride!! It seemed like a super fun event. I will go look for the runs on Facebook.
The course work looked really good. I have small suggestions for you:
Bearing in mind how long it takes sound to travel, you can start the come verbal for 3-4 when she is still a stride before takeoff, so she hears it at takeoff and can adjust for the threadle. You were late on the first run there and she was wider. That is something I consider a lot: when the dog is 40 or 50 feet away, the verbals have to be earlier because sound travels slowly compared to how fast the dog is traveling!
And as she is doing the layering, you can be moving away to deal with the 6-7 line rather than being stationary. It is a verbals-on-the-run moment 🙂 It looks like she almost took 13 because that is the jump you were closer to.
You handled the middle section with conviction and connection but I think it was 9–10-11-12-13-14-15 from course 2 then back to course 1 for 15-21. I liked your variation better than my design, though, it looked really good each time and also when you did it in course 2!!
One detail here and in course 2 as well: Be sure to maintain criteria on the contacts and reward them, especially after a big event. You were releasing a little early on the a-frame plus she was slowing down on the DW. She will speed up again when you are consistent with the releases and rewards.
Course 2 also went really well! One small detail is that you can set her up on a bit more of a slice at 1 so she has a straighter line to 2. The rest that you ran (through 15) looked great!
>>As you can see, we can get the backside with a shifted jump IF there isn’t a lot of motion. >>
No worries, she has significantly improved with it! Working the distance backside push was helpful. She is doing really well with her distance and layering, so it was cool to see her also being able to get the backside with you a mile away! YAY! Good job timing that cue. She dropped the bar on one of the early reps when you praised so delay the praise til she has landed.
>>Once we add 2-3 obstacles before the backside, we get the front side of the jump.>>
Give it time to percolate and solidify, it will come together quite nicely 🙂
>>(we have both become frustrated with the dogwalk layering to the backside to the point that Syn doesn’t even want to go over there).>>
Remember not to drill these things – a lot of repetition doesn’t actually solidify learning. Learning is best solidified by getting a few good reps in then letting her sleep on it. And live by the 2 failure rule: if she fails twice with the skill (doesn’t even have to be twice in a row), then it is too hard and you can make it easier or end the session. Living by that rule will eliminate frustration.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Yay for rain but EWWW for muggy heat. Bleh! The teeter games are a great idea!!>>does the teeter need to be at max height and then propped up for a short bang or can I just lower it and then brace the lowered teeter?>>
The teeter can be at whatever height is most convenient 🙂 I am a lazy trainer so if is it full height? I will leave it there and prop it to get the end of the board where I want it. If it is lowered? Cool! Leave it low and prop it so the bang end is where you want it.
Have fun! Stay cool and keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
She did really well with the wobbly plank, definitely getting more confident! Love it!!!!!
When she was running down the board, she didn’t quite know how to stop herself in 2o2o at the target, so you did the right thing to just work the end of the board. She really wants to look up at your hands – I am VERY happy that she is enjoying the food! You can convince her to look at the target by leaving your hands up high and dropping a treat onto the target when she look down at it. Don’t move your hands down at all. Yes, the treat might bounce off but that is OK for now. If bouncing treats are a problem 🙂 then you can put the target in a small bowl, so the treat doesn’t go bouncing away. That should help her look at the target and not up at you.
Great job here!
TracyHi! These are looking really strong – great job with your markers!
Looking at the connection sequences – the exit line connection was allowing your to really drop your dog-side shoulder down and back after a cross, and I think she could see the connection really well. The turns were super!
FC warm ups looked good!
The BC warm ups also good, you were quicker on the 2nd rep to get the connection which produced a tighter line.You had really good timing of starting the FC before the tunnel on the first run – and better position on the 2nd run but ELC not as good so she was wider. The exit line connection at 1:09 and 1:25 was really good, so her line was better on those even though the timing was not as good. Clear connection will often override late timing!
>>On the last one she did not go into the tunnel because of the closed shoulder etc.>>
Yes – it was the Decel at 2 followed by turning away from the tunnel at 1:03 is what pulled her off the tunnel . To set the line, you can stick closer to jump 1 so you don’t end up too far ahead.
She was hitting the mat nicely here in the banana line game! Yay! You can mark and throw the reward now – we really want to shift the emphasis to thrown rewards so she doesn’t anticipate the reward coming from your hand and look at you. It means fewer reps, sure, but totally worth it so she is looking ahead on the exit of the mat as well as the approach.
Great job!!
Tracy
