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Hi! I was thinking about this!
You can probably add a serpentine verbal to override body language, same as we do for threadles. But it is easy enough to turn the upper body to her on serpentines, so a specific serp verbal is a lower priority, as compared to threadle and backside verbals and turn verbals, if that makes sense 🙂T
Good morning! Lots of lovely work here!
Seq 1, first run: really really nice!!!
She read the slicey serpy line 1-2 really nicely!!!
Wrapping 3-4 looked really good, and the 5-6-7-8 section looked lovely too. You were super perfectly connected throughout – click/treat for you!!! You can push the timing forward and see if you can do the decel into the wrap cue sooner for 3, to see if you can leave sooner. And same with the FC 6-7 – see if you can rotate sooner and if she will still commit – all without sacrificing the connection, which is great here.Last run – nice job on the RC – is it a pretty hard rear cross and that is probably why she needed to see it sooner than Pippin, who is a highly experienced professional LOL!
Tiny break in connection at :07/:08 is why she didn’t take 5. You were looking a bit down at your side with your arm at your side, drawing the line more than looking at her. Ideally, your arm would be back behind you and eyes on her eyes for perfect connection (you had more of this on the first run). But, since your handling here was still in the ‘should be strong enough’ category, you can add a bit of lazy game to these types of sequences – walk/job through them, near the jumps, only semi-connected: throwing the ball or treats when she takes the jump even if you are not perfectly perfect in connection. Yes, we all keep trying to be perfect 🙂 but we also need the speedsters to help us out and commit LOL!The rest looked great!!
Next sequence, 1st try:
1-2-43 looked great! She had a little question on the rear cross on the flat to 4 – when you do those types of rears with Pip, do you use the dog-side arm or the outside arm to help set it? I use the outside arm with my dogs, it seems to help get their attention and then helps flip them away – but if you use the dog-side arm already, we want to keep it the same because it is too hard for us humans to remember 2 different handling ‘systems’ LOL! You can use whichever arm you prefer to get her attention then turn her away on the flat to smooth it out.
She found the backside at 5 really well!! On the 5-6 serpentine – at :08 you turned your upper body forward, so the center of your chest was perpendicular to the 5 jump bar, so she read it as a regular post turn – to serp to 6, you can keep your shoulders open to the 5 bar so you are facing her with your upper body (shoulders parallel to the bar) to help get he turn back out to 6. Your feet were really good on this line, so it is more about turning your upper body towards her more to cue the serp.
When in doubt, she jumps for the toy – which is better than biting you 🙂 So take that as a sign of her asking a question, because she doesn’t jump for it when she is clear on the line.2nd rep: I totally like he blind cross 3-4 (I am sure that does NOT come as a surprise to you haha!) And also – especially since you are in a smaller space – NICE TIMING! It is not easy to get the timing in so nicely when on shorter distances, but you rocked it! And got the reconnection doen on time so she knew where 4 was Yay!
Nice job staying open with your upper body on 5-6 AND being really quick to get into that gap! On a bigger distance you will have more itme so it will actually be easier. But you were clear – she would not have gotten 6 as the backside if you were not clear about it. Nice!
She had a tiny question on the way to the last tunnel because you turned forward and pulled away a little so she zigged into you then zagged back out – so keep connection to her eyes there 🙂Backside after tunnel –
This was also a good session for your stay-in-front-of-tunnel practice!
Very nice job here. You can add in a ‘go’ cue before the tunnel then the back cue (when the tunnel lines the pup up to the backside so directly) and a name call before it when you want the front side.
The first backside reps when you were a little closer to the entry wing went REALLY well (impressive backside commitment for a young dog!)
When you moved over to the outside wing, it was harder (of course LOL!) 2 things can help: *Less* of a lead out, so she is seeing more parallel motion on the entry and exit of the tunnel. And, more connection to her eyes where your upper body rotates towards her in a way that brings your outside shoulder across your body and in front of you – I use my outside arm moving forward like that as part of the cue when I am all the way across the bar for my big dog so I can get the shoulder rotation.
She responds REALY nicely to one little step towards the entry wing, so that is something you can continue to do as you work on getting all the way across the bar and getting the verbal really independent – when ou are that far across, the one little step will not hinder you from getting waaaay up the next line.
Good work reinforcing taking the jump after the backside too!Course 2 first try:
I think you did a great job connecting on the opening line here! 1 to *almost* 8 was perfect – she was about to commit to 8 and you turned and called so she changed her mind at :11 Her commitment question there and also at :19 tell me that the lazy game is PERECT for her right now (you get to be the lazy one hahaha)
The rest was really terrific- you really held strong connection and she committed beautifully. Yes, you can be earlier on the cues but right now being able to get commitment and stay connected on these big distances are more important than timing.2nd try: poor girl didn’t like hitting the bar! That is better than enjoying hitting the bar LOL you handled it perfectly.
The opening was gorgeous all the way til :47 (big wing jump) – I thought your connection was fine, she disagreed 🙂 See below for the lazy game – that keeps leaping into my mind as a way to make these little questions go away.
You were maybe a little early at :54 but I think it was more of a lazy-game-needed moment to get even more commitment when you aren’t perfect.Course 3 – another great opening with great commitment!! 1-9 was just about perfect – the only suggestion is to try to call & turn sooner before 8 (yellow tunnel) so she turns tighter on the exit to see 9 (small detail, her commitment looked fabulous).
At :18 after the red tunnel, she smoked you a little so you didn’t quite get across enough to make the new connection. You can probably send to the red tunnel from further away so you can across and connect on your lef t side sooner before she exits.
She did well on the RC on the flat to the ending line! She had a little question before the last jump (after the RC) – more connection there will help her know to drive ahead.2nd run on course 3 – I don’t blame her for being worried about the stay near the tractor, that thing is huge! Ha! She did a great job and read the opening line beautifully 🙂 And it is a great learning opportunity for trials, where she might have to line up in front of weird things.
Great job sending to 3 (red tunnel) from way far away to make the BC to 4 look easy!
And you sent to 9 from further away and easily got the BC at :22. Nice!
She did well on the RC on the flat but had the same question on the line to the last jump – she is still learning the Go verbal, so add more connection to it so she can accelerate ahead when you are behind.These courses looked REALLY good, I am glad you posted them! The little blips had more to do with some commitment training we can do so that you don’t have to be 1000% perfect with connection at all times. Yes, keep trying to be perfect, but we can apply her commitment training to the bigger courses so that you can be almost perfect and she will still commit (because, when she didn’t commit, you were close to perfect and that is a good thing!)
So, the lazy game – if my memory serves, she has done some of this already. Now we apply it to the bigger distances/higher jump heights: I think at the barn, a ball will work best but on the turf, you can also use food. You will get more/faster reps with big pieces of cheese 🙂 Take a sequence and walk near the jumps, showing really mediocre connection – and when she takes the jump, toss a treat and keep walking to the next one. If she doesn’t take the jump, just ignore and keep walking to the next one – and reward that one if she does take it. If she doesn’t take any of them, you can add in just enough connection to get her to commit. At the barn, you can toss a ball instead of treats, ten call her back, trade for the ball, and keep going. The goal is that she will stay on a line while you are not 1000% connected – working from walking to jogging to running. I think she will figure it out really quickly.Great job on these! Let me know if the lazy game idea makes sense 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>I think Mookie has mastered the zig zag grid.
That is great news! I think that part of the grid is teaching the dogs how to use their bodies on those slices – it is hard but it sounds like he has figured it out!
>>Should I now keep the grid straight and at a lower height for Mookie for Maintenance or should I keep it at 20 inches for him ??>>
Depending on how much you get to practice it – I would start each session of one warm up rep in each directions at a low height and slightly opened. Then one rep in each direction straight at a low height. Then one rep each direction at a higher height – can be full height but doesn’t need to be. And 6 total reps is about all I recommend for one session.
>>And I just want to say thank you again for doing this camp. Even though I could not do the full courses due to lack of space and equipment, I could do the Novice and Masters sequences and sections of the courses. I loved the custom skill sets, your structure and the vidoes which I watched repeatedly. I can now do backside blinds easily with Mookie and Buddy and they both read my “close ” cue well n
Awww, you are more than welcome!! I am so glad you had fun and got good work in for the boys 🙂 It has been a crazy summer for all of us and I am glad you enjoyed the agility! Fingers crossed that we can go back to ‘normal’ trials at some point soon 🙂
TracyHi!
The rear crosses looked great! You had really good timing and that totally helped! He glanced to his left on the first 2 reps and turned to his right without spinning – good boy!! And the turns to his left were perfect.
Rocking horses look really good! My only little tweak is to hold your arm back until he is passed you, I think that will strengthen your connection even more so he drives past you more easily. The spin looked good! I think most of your rewads were from your hand – so you can also shift to tossing them out past the wings (or past you as he drives back) so he keeps looking out ahead and not at you 🙂 He really seemed to like it when you were running a bit!!!
On the ‘away’ cue – I think your arm is fine – he could see your arm and your connection perfectly. Remember that you will be doing this at a run, so whatever is comfy is great as long as he can still see your connection (which he totally could here :)) I love how he was able to easily balance back and forth between moving with you and doing the away!!
Great job on all of these 🙂
Tracy
Awesome update!!! Sounds like you are doing a little bit of ALL the good things and keeping it fun for him. Yay!! Yes, it is hard to not be greedy but so important 🙂 Great job!!!
TracyHi! I guess a little rain is better than the scorching heat, right? She looked like she was having fun here especially on the tunnel-tire-tunnel line: wheeeee!!!!!
The in in sequences on the 2nd rep, last rep, and beginning of 2nd to last rep all looked good – she is still thinking her way through it, but she is turning into the gap then back out with out any big handling help, and that is great! She also is doing well on the serpentines, but she has a little quesiton on the back-out part of it because your shoulder is turning away, cuing her to not go back out (and serps don’t have the same super-specific verbal as a threadle). You can see this at :04 (she didn’t automatically go back out because you were moving away towards the tunnel) as well as a little less so at :29 and :40. The serp does have a physical cue/line of motion attached to it (unlike the threadle which is more of a verbal cue), so 2 things will help smooth that out: staying closer to the serp line of jumps (like you did at :29 and :40) and keeping your chest open to her on the serp jump – center of the chest facing center of the bar, as if your upper body is facing her (dog side arm extended way back) and your feet keep moving forward down the line (like they were). That cues the ‘go out’ element that she was questioning.
Great job with your feet moving forward throughout! Yay! And also great job on all the verbals!!!!Tracy
Interesting about how he got it on the hard angles but not on the easy angles! Maybe do an easy angle warm up then move to hard angles?
About heights – I almost never go to full he9ght on this grid. I *might* with a super angulated dog with a lot of fitness, but I generally don’t because they learn the concepts nicely on a lower height and then it is easier to transfer when they have more room to the full height.
TracyHi! He has a really good backside verbal, so leaving him in the weaves will be a good test to see how well he can commit while you get way up the line.
Interesting about him having trouble with the bar at 12!! Do you have video? He might need an earlier cue, or the zig zag grids. Not sure if you saw those but they really help the backside jumping.T
Puppy brain is the best brain 🙂 yay!
Do you mean jump 7 like at 2:30 on the last video? You can accelerate to it for longer, decelerating later to get commitment. To play with it to build commitment, you can use just a jump wing instead of a full jump – and throw a reward back to her (like her ball) as she commits and you turn and leave for the tunnel. Using the jump wing, you can also move it closer to the tunnel exit so it is easy to commit at first, then gradually move it further back out. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
TracyPerfect! Sounds like a good plan for the trials: and since it is T2B, I think you can run with a toy? That can help get him transitioned into the trial world!
Ah, fabulous!!!! Your “here here” verbal sounds pretty distinct from your tunnel cue, and that is perfect. He did really well sorting out the difference on the double whammy – going into the tunnel was easy, the threadle to go BACK in is harder. You did a great job of being as patient as possible (it is so hard being on Team Chill LOL!!!!) and double gold star for both of you on that last rep at :39 – you were very patient, not helping with motion – and BOOM! Look at him turn his head (another god star moment) and find his way back into the tunnel independently. Yesssssss!!! Very happy with that, it is exactly what we are looking for. Yay! Great job!!! I have a game coming tomorrow to build on all of the tunnel fun, I think he will be ready!!
Nice work here – and have fun at the Canadian Open LOL!! I am almost ready to go measure Speedstakes LOL!!!
Tracy
Thanks for the repost of the video, it was a great session!!! I think the main thing on this session was figuring out the timing of the transitions, and you were really getting beautiful sequences. Connection looked REALLY great – I don’t think he jumped up at your hand at all? About the transition: at this distance, the transition was critical in getting him to commit. When you maintained your driving forward til he arrived at your leg then decelerated then turned – perfection! Really great! That was when he would commit easily and you could then do the spin or the FC or the turn and burn (all of these looked great – he is sorting out how to use his body to wrap into a tight turn, which is really nice to see with a boy pup that isn’t even 6 months old (my 10 month old boy pup says “go fast first, sort out body after falling on head”.
On the reps where he did *not* commit – I think there were only 4 – you decelerated before he arrived at your leg and either tried to send or, because of the fast decel, ended up sending with the other leg (dog side leg didn’t step forward). He will be able to commit eventually on that cue, but at this age – not quite ready for that (we will do that in the proofing stages later on, where we basically show the puppy all the ways we screw up and pay them for saving us LOL!!!).
So, keep your acceleration going until he has arrived at your leg, then slow down, then rotate – that really supported the commitment and it also looked like you had no trouble rotating and running to the next one. The distance between the barrels is impressive! And great job keeping the super high rate of reinforcement – it must have been hot out and he looked happy to keep run run running 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! Good question 🙂 Using the different hands in the early stages has 2 purposes –
First, to help the pups ‘see’ any of the hand cue possibilities they might encounter on course. Different moves plus us handlers being late or early 🙂
Second – the hand use will get built into the transitions when we are moving, so you will generally find that you will send (or cue the wing/barrel) with the dog side hand and rotate away for a front cross (for example) – and so the last picture the pup sees before he reaches the wing or barrel is the sideways or backwards look we are working on here. The pup will be happy to commit anyway, even though we are already turned away. In past generations, pups would ask questions and *not* commit when we worked to be very timely with our cues, so this has helped lay a better foundation.You can see the transitions in the rocking horse games, along with some ‘freeze frames’ with what I mean about the pup seeing us sideways or backwards as they move to the barrel.
Ultimately, regarding which arm and when: that is part of the handling language we develop with each dog. Early on with the pups, we show them everything 🙂 Then you can choose which hand based on your preference for whatever is easiest – and since the pups will be happy to commit, your choice of which hand will be pretty easy, kind of a win-win situation 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense (or if I need more coffee LOL!!)
Thanks,
TracyTaking it easy is always good 🙂
Yes, these were hard for him! When you spread them out, did you mean adding space between the wings? I think if you put the wings end-to-end rather than overlapping, I think he should be ok with it at that angle. You can also try them bar a lower height so he can find his rhythm, and then add back the height. Let me know if that makes sense, and keep me posted on how he does!
TracyGood morning!
Wow, great job on this first run!!!! He was really driving his lines and executing the skills!
Great job on the opening line – it is complex for a baby dog and he nailed it. You can play with being a little further across 2 to be closer to his line to push to 3.
I was SUPER happy with his collection on the wrap jump at :08 and :32 and :42 – WOW! You did a great job with the transition there and he responded with true collection. Yay! I know you’ve been working on that, and it is showing! You had a little more connection on the exit at :09 and :43 so the turn stayed tight – at :33 you left without as much connection so he widened the turn, not sure if he shoudl chase you or go to the tunnel – so be sure to maintain the strong exit line connection before sending to the tunnel there to keep the turn tight.Nice connection from the tunnel to the jump at :13! At :35, you didn’t have the same connection (you were further ahead and turned more forward) so he didn’t commit and came to you. At :45, you had the connection and a little outside arm help so he had no questions there.
And you got the rear cross on the ending line on both runs – that is a hard skill for a youngster and he got it! Yay! You can then re-establish connection more strongly to his eyes when he lands from the RC and you are giving the go cue, that will help smooth out that line when he is ahead. (When he is ahead, connecting to his eyes is more like connecting to the back of his head LOL but he can see it :))
Course 2:
He was moving beautifully on the opening here – you gave him a go cue at :57, which is why he didn’t read the RC – the motion and verbal right cue were too late for him to pick up the line. You can just use the right verbal and RC motion there.
On the 2nd rep, you totally gave that go cue you mentioned while he was looking at the weaves – that falls into the category of “only say go when your dog is looking the direction you want him to go in” hahaha!! I learned that the hard way 🙂 Plus, you had just rewarded weaves so he was feeling very weavey 🙂
So, try not to use go in the opening – when you repeated it with directionals, it was BEAUTIFUL! You can also lead out more and try a blind cross in the opening, between 2 and 3!
And the rest looked fabulous – nice 180 to the weaves, and look at the little guy do his weaves! Then he got right back in the line to the ending.I am really impressed with how far he has come this summer – he is doing REAL AGILITY now!! So fun to see! You’ve done a great job with his homework and now we can really see all of the elements coming together. So exciting!!!!! Well done 🙂
Tracy
