Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Jill, good morning! First rep – yes, as you mentioned, you had a couple of spots of what I call “Young Dog Panic” where you were running fast but not connected enough 🙂 I feel that! LOL! On thing you can do to get the first run more connected is to run it at full speed… without him. Do it a few times so you feel totally connected and you can see your invisible dog on the landing of every single jump and tunnel exit – then get him out to run it 🙂
On the opening line – leading out a bit more to be at or past jump 2 when you release him will help. You released a little too close to jump 1 and he smoked you, curling in off 3. If you are past 2 when he lands from 1, then you will more easily be able to show 3 and connection won’t matter as much.
Then after 3, look him right in the eyes and give the tunnel cue – you will see him turn his head and start driving to the tunnel, and then you can move to the next cue. The turn cue on the tunnel was a little late but only because you were conmitting him. You had good connection and running line to get him to the last jump!
The 2nd run was SO much better connected, loved it!!!! You lead out a little more so you showed a better line to 3, both in your running line and in your connection. And you stayed connected to get the tunnel. Yay! Sure, the tight turn cues can be sooner but they are less important than the connection – so don’t worry as much about how tight to turn him, really focus more on the connection. I am not worried about the tightness of the turns for him because even when he is a little wide, he is running fast and having a great time 🙂 I don’t see any frustration from him and he is not falling on his head LOL!Even when you were fixing something, he was relatively chill, happy to fix, didn’t seem frustrated. Plus, you are not nagging him, you are letting him BLAST around – perfect! As you get used to his speed (sooooo fast!!!!) you will be more comfortable with it and then the finesse of the tighter turns will be so much easier. For now, the connection is more important and I am loving his improvements in commitment. Brilliant!
Great job, let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
First video –
you named it ‘train wreck’ but I think it is a pretty normal first attempt on a bigger course: more distance, more speed, jump bars to think about (for her LOL!) and also some good distractions: smells, birds, dogs barking, etc. All good and you did a nice job of helping her out and keeping it fun fun fun!!
Nice job rewarding the start line! The hardest part with the baby dogs is putting the skills onto big courses, so this is going well – You will have to over-connect at first to support the lines, like in the opening (1-2-3-4). Try to put more of the reinforcement out after jump and not after the tunnel – the tunnel is a great way to catch the dogs LOL!! and we all get into a habit of rewarding the tunnels – but more reward for the jumps will help keep the commitment level high. As far as handling choices and such – you are doing a great job but it is hard to implement them all at the moment because these first few runs are really all about the transfer of skills onto bigger courses. So, I am super happy with this: you got lines and you got rewards in – a ery good start with a youngster!The 2nd video had a really lovely connection from you and strong running lines – you really supported her and you were not rushing to get to the next line, so she ipcked up the lines. Nice job rewarding on the jumps, both on the tight turns and also on the go go go at the end. On this session, we could almost see a lightbulb over her head, saying “oh that’s right, I know this!!!” and she was looking for her lines a LOT better. I totally feel this because it is such a normal part of the young dog progression: first time on a big course, they need so much help (video 1 here :)). Then they are all like “AH! Agility!” and the skills you have trained come right back up – note her tight turns her, much stronger commitment and great job on the GO at the end. Super!!!!!
3rd video – VERY nice fancy rear crossy move after the tunnel! That is a hard move and she got it! She had to slow herself down to think it through for a moment but with more experience, she will be able to go full speed. Great use of connection there too.
Speaking of slowing herself down – she is doing the normal “I’m going to go a little slower right now to sort out all of this” on these sessions, and that is actually GREAT. Having had both ends of things (slowing down to think through puzzles and just going as fast as possible no matter what) – things always work out better when the young dog slows down a little to sort it out. They are better able to solve the puzzle then work back up to full speed – that is what she is doing here. The only thing we humans do is keep the rate of success really high like you did here and support her as she sorts it out – and then you will have so much speed on course you will need roller skates LOL!!!!>>My space is 60×120 so we will modify as we go or do bits and pieces.
Perfect! You can stretch things out to be long and narrow, that is still plenty challenging 🙂 Great job here!
Tracy
Hi Eileen! Ivan looked fabulous on these!!!
First video:
He seemed to like the tension on the start line, the suspense of it all! Great job here! He actually made you a little late on the blind to the tunnel because he was pushing you. You pushed in a little too hard and got the wrong side of 5, but that is fine – it was great to keep on running and then reward for a fast line.2nd video – OMG this was GREAT! He was *on-the-edge* on the start line and that is what we want (I promise we won’t teach him to break his stay LOL!!!) You had to work a lot harder to get the handling in and he really liked it – there was an excitement to it because you were driving so hard! Loved it! And he didn’t slow down through the wrap at the end – he powered right out of it. Great running reward at the end too, both of you kept driving after the ball.
3rd video – the fun run was great. He really likes when you crouch a little and engage like that on the start line, he came BLASTING off on the release!!! He was not quite sure about the line after the a-frame so he pinged away to take a jump, but that was fine and you were 100% correct to keep going. On the tunnel-af-rame-tunnel section, you can go closer to the first tunnel so you don’t have to be standing still when he exits. He didn’t seem to slow down but it is good to always plan to keep moving.
4th video – I liked your happy response when he broke his stay – we don’t want to reward it but we want to keep him happy 🙂 And you did! He did not deflate from what I could see, he was still fast when you ran it. This also went really well, he was fast and happy. Great reward!
So, planning for more: You can spread out the rewards so he gets rewarded for jumps a lot, and also for driving out of tight turns (those are two places where dogs traditionally slow down). You can also plan to reward very early in the sequence: if he comes blasting off the start line after a release, you can surprise him with an early reward 🙂
I will also be working on a game plan so we can sneak the jumps back up to full height while maintaining this speed, and fading the ball out so he stays fast even when he doesn’t see the ball. We have plenty of time for that ahead! Great job here!!!
Hi there! Really nice work on these!!! Many beautiful moments!
Some ideas for you:
Course 1:
Backside at 2: Your first impulse on how to handle it is correct: send and leave! She needed a little training to come in – good job training it there! It really helped remind her of the commitment so you could just move through it. Adding connection also helped! You can also add calling her name to help get commitment – and keep training so you can work back up to running through it.
On the 3-4 (jump-tunnel) section at 1:09 – as she is approaching 3, give her a threadle cue or a cross. You clapped and called her name, so she landed and didn’t know what you wanted for a couple of strides.You can start cuing the line to 5 sooner, tell her while she is in the tunnel so she exits already knowing where it is 🙂
good job 6-7-8-9, it looked great!!! The ending line also looked really good! You can tighten up the turn at 12 but decelerating sooner to turn sooner, then take one more step more directly back to the tunnel. You can also try turning her the other direction, which might be slightly longer yardage but sets up an easier turn and better lines.Course 2:
To smooth out the very beginning, put her on a slice line 1-2 for a better line and not a zig zag line when she lands from 1.
I agree, your backsides looked good on this one! Your backside pushes look REALLY good and on this course, you help your connection longer to get her to take the jump. Yes, hold your connection but keep moving – on the first run, you had a good push to 4 and strong connection to get her to take it but you slowed down and ended up with the wrong side of 5.
6-7-8-9 looked good, great connection! Really nice! You stepped in a little too much to 8 on the 2nd run, almost getting the frame, but saved it because you were connected 🙂For the 9-10-11-12 line – Call her before she goes into the #9 tunnel and move away more so she chases your line to 10. The first rep didn’t have enough info so she took the line from the previous course. The 2nd rep was much better – you did call here, but it was a little late and she did look at the wrong jump for a moment. If you call before she enters the tunnel, you will have a great line on the exit.
For her, I think the best way to set the 10-11 line is a lap turn: face her to bring her in, then step back and turn her head away to set the turn… and when she has the turn, indicate the jump. On the first rep you were a little too forward there. On the 2nd rep at 1:05, you had MUCH better foot rotation to face her but indicated the jump before turning her. These lap turn moves take a ton of patience (so hard for us humans LOL!!) to be sure the dogs are turned before you give permission to take the jump. Having her follow your hand cue will really help!
Really nice ending on both runs!!! Great job here, these were hard!!
Tracy
Hi there!
Seq 1: She really is such a nice turning dog – it is impressive, especially considering all that power and speed that she also has. The opening line on both reps looks lovely and she is collecting nicely for 3! I think we can give her a slightly different style of cue for 3-4:
At :04 and :15, you were decelerating (which she reads really well) and rotating towards her, kind of like a reverse flow pivot, then rotating back to the tunnel. She is collecting and turning, but landing and looking at you on both reps, waiting for the cue to go back to the tunnel. And it results in you running a backwards a little. That doesn’t create a problem on this sequence, but it might in other places because running backwards can delay your exit up the next line. So, something to try on 3 here is the soft-brake where you decel like you did, but use the other arm (or both arms) to indicate that you would love a little collection there – you will be connected with her but don’t turn towards her – turn towards the tunnel. This should get the great turn and an earlier cue to go to the tunnel which can then give you a change to make a more dramatic transition into the rotation to tighten up her exit line as well there.Seq 2:
On jump1, you can line her up on a slice for 1, so she can get a straight line to 2 rather than land then turn. Rep 2 and also at :52 had better line ups and had more slice, making her line there straighter than reps 1 and 3 and the last rep.You had more of a turn-towards-the-tunnel cue on 4 on the first and 2nd rep and the last rep (especially that 2nd rep and last rep, really nice!) and she turned well! But then you disconnected and didn’t cue her to take the tunnel on the 1st rep so she ran to you, good girl!! The other reps had much clearer tunnel cues 🙂
You rotated a little towards her on the 3rd rep, but the lines wher you turned away were quite perfect.She dropped the bar of 3 at 1:11… it looked like just a slightly late shoulder turn there. She did well with her jumping on the rest of it!
She did totally have trouble with that last jump! I think the exit of the tunnel was pointing to a straight line that did indeed go to the backside, so on your RUN cue, she went straight. An your running line supported it on the first couple of reps. Good to know for future backside sends!! Then as you were changing your running line, you got quiet on the tunnel entry so she did turn and look at you – your upper body was a little “open” to her, so she pinged back out to the backside. You closed your shoulders forward a bit more towards the end and added calling her, that is when she was able to get it. So I think the main thing is that she is pretty literal (that is good) so as you set and walk courses, check out what the literal line is on tunnel exits to see if she needs a name call before entry, or how a run cue will create a line. She needed a slight turn cue here, so was being a good girl to go to the backside for the run cue 🙂
Seq 3:
Breaking this down into sections:
You had her set up on a good slice 1-2 so she had pretty straight lines there!
Now, back to tunnel exits 🙂 On the exit of 2, she definitely needs a turn cue before she goes in – not a physical one, necessarily, unless you can do it from way ahead of her – but definitely a verbal cue (I would use a right cue) – you did add a verbal but I think you were saying “left”? LOL! What were you saying there? It helped her though. You also had a brake arm going, which also helps! Try to be further up the line to release her, she will still the the brake arm before the tunnel and then it is easier for you to get to 3.On the wrap at 3:
Turning your feet before she passes you totally helps tighten up the wrap there. At :09 and :16 you were a little late with the rotation, so she dropped the bar at :09 and was a little wide at :16. You were earlier at :30 and she was really nice over the bar!
Then you can get away from 4 sooner – send and go – which is probably all she needs to tighten up the line from 4 to the tunnel. She was a little wide because you were facing forward until she took off, so she landed long. By leaving sooner, she can see your line of running sooner and you will have time to use a verbal, to get a better turn towards 6.
OK, 6 🙂 The back jumping is more of a dog training moment than a handling moment. Even if you are late, we still want her to drive around the wing and never back jump it (the back jumping was an impressive display of athleticism, though!!!)
So two ways to tackle training the skill:
replace the jump with just a wing – so after the tunnel, you cue the wrap on a wing. It will be easier for you to move away from ‘just’ a wing at speed and she is more likely to wrap it and not back jump it. That way you can work at full speed and get correct behavior
Work with a jump there, but use a slower, steady motion (don’t stop, just walk through it at a steady pace) and drop the reinforcement at the outside edge of the wing as you move through, to encourage her to go there as you continue to move forward, and not back jump to try to catch up to you. You can then steadily increase your speed so eventually you will be able to full out run 🙂 And no more rewards for back jumping – you can tell her she is cute and a gifted athlete 🙂 but the toy is only for NOT back jumping LOL!!!Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Nice job sorting out the verbals and connections on these!!
Video 1:
First rep – first wrap was good! Good verbals! Good transitions! She is definitely getting really good at turning, even with the bars higher. 2nd wrap was a little late but also she did well on it. Yes, more connection needed on the backside – plan for it in your walk through by reminding yourself to look at her eyes as she comes around the previous jump and give the backside cue directly to her eyes 🙂2nd rep – You had the good verbals going again, but keep starting them earlier – the verbal was really late on 1st wrap (she was already taking off) and a little late on 2nd wrap. She got the backside on this one (yay!) – you were a little more connected but also you added a little step to the backside at a good time, and that totally helped as well.
3rd rep – high energy from you really helped her out – it looks like it is hot out! Your timing on the 1st wrap can be a little sooner, but I am thinking you were pushing a little harder to get her speed up. 2nd wrap was really nice, she really does well on the send-and-go when you have that little decel!!
On the backside – you were totally looking forward at the jump and your step to the backside was too late at :46, she was already locked onto the front. So you can totally use the step, but be sure to do it really early and make a massive connection to her eyes (you made a great connection on the 2nd video when she was on your right, so maybe you are more comfy with backsides on your right than one your left?)
You showed her a better connection on the backside right at the end so she got it, good girl! Be sure to throw the toy nice and long after it so she can run ti it and not land on it 🙂2nd video
You mentioned focusing on the decel: It shows! And yes, the decel really helps her and she is setting up her turns much tighter even with higher bars. Nice!first rep, you did a regular blind on the first wrap (rather than a spin) so she pulled the bar but my guess is you were distracted by her lack of speed off the start line – she did look hot or something here at the start. The early summer heat is hard on the dogs, so you can work her on the taller bars in the cooler parts of the day, and then if it starts to heat up or after a few reps, you can lower the bars a little so she can stay really engaged.
The next wrap looked great good though and you were really connected after the blinds here! And the backside was good! You mentioned feeling like you were not connecting enough… I think you were, here. And she was speeding up through them, which means she liked them too!
second rep – she wasn’t really driving off the start line so you had a little refusal on 2, I think it was that more of the timing getting thrown off than the verbal – but yes, don’t say “here” LOL! You were smart to not lead out as much on the next rep – you ended up with a little RC there on jump 3 but then you had super high energy and great connection on both of the last 2 reps. When she got hot, you had to increase your energy and connection, which was actually really good practice because it gave you a feel for keeping up the intensity all the way through – and you did a great job with that on the last 2 reps. She liked it too – ran fast and happy, even though she was hot.
When you look at the custom skills sets: there is one about commitment when the connection is a little soft, or the handling is sudden… that will help her commit even if you aren’t perfect. She sometimes pulls off at the last minute when she is very close to the jump, so that game will help her (and make your life easier too :))
Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>We need work on tunnel exits!
Package 2, coming Monday 🙂 Great tunnel exits can provide a tremendous advantage on course for handling, so I am looking forward to it!!
>> And I need more help paying attention to the course map.
Ha! I drink lots of coffee for that 🙂
>>Mas. 1. I see where a tiny break in connection caused her to not take the backside of 6. On second rep I added our cue for go away from me. I don’t know if it helped her or re-enforced my connection.>>
Possibly both. I like to give the dog as MUCH info as possible: connection, verbals, physical cues, etc.
>>Mas 2..i was asking myself why I was taking such a long lead out.
I think maybe I will add strategizing lead out positions to the list of CAMP stuff… I definitely struggle sometimes to know exactly where the best lead out spot it!
>>Mas 3.. I think I can send to the tunnel and leave earlier, and yes I thought we should take 5 out of the tunnel, totally missed 8. I am crediting all this to “humid head”>>
Fingers crossed for better weather ahead, but somehow I think we are stuck with the humidity LOL!
T
Hi!
>>our instructions to us were to do 1 level in each category, but what do you think about us trying the Master’s level sequence instead of the coursework with Spot since I don’t think I can do the running involved in it yet?
That is a great idea! You can get lots of training in without over-doing it with the knee. The big courses do require a lot of run run running 🙂 Give Wager an extra cookie though, so he doesn’t get angry 🙂
T
Hi!
>>I kind of laughed at your comment about not playing it safe and pushing hard. Kimber only knows one speed, RLH, and she yells at me (as you have seen) if I’m not getting with it. Well, she yells at me anyway. Ha!>>
Perfect!! Opinionated dogs are always welcome 🙂 And the game is more fun when played fast and on the edge 🙂
>>See, you have such good ideas that I don’t even think of! Never thought about a RC from 12-13, but yes, I think it would work better.
That is the fun of online classed – plenty of time to obsess and play with different options 🙂
>>Now, I know what a force FC is, but I’m having trouble envisioning what the “forced blind on the takeoff side” would look like. I tried to find a diagram or something that might help me with this, but no luck.
So a forced blind and a forced front happen in the same spot: takeoff side of a backside jump. The difference is that one a forced front, we turn towards the dog and on a forced blind, we turn away from the dog. Forced blinds can be a little tricky to get used to but then they are SUPER awesome in the toolbox. Based on how well she read your blind 3-4, I think they are great fun to try with her.
I found these 2 videos of it. I will look for something more recent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHuX-lMu-EY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCf7eLDl4Jk>>This is at least twice you have mentioned I should be further over on the jump on the send to the back side; I’m trying! I’m just not trusting her I guess. We will continue to work on that because we definitely need it.>>
You can isolate it as a skill set and then it will get a lot more comfortable.
>>if I can figure out that force blind cross, I will try that!
Yay! Have fun!
Do you mean the tunnel exit to ping away to 5? The closest you’ll see if the independent backside line, but you can adjust it to be a front side from the tunnel exit, where you move along your parallel path and use upper body and verbal to push her to 5.
Hi!
>>Most of those dogs never will get it right the first time because it hasn’t been trained.
Agreed!!! I am certainly guilty of lack of training 🙂
>> I think the dogs really do want to find the best way to do the turns.
Yes – and that is where it is hard. To do the wrap turns the way we want them to… they need to slow down, shift, turn their heads. But it might feel easier for some dogs to land then turn – it must be an awesome feeling of power to dig into the turf like that and kick up some dirt! But those dogs often don’t mind falling on their heads or shoulders either…. (Voodoo, I am looking at you buddy!)
Hi there!
>>Yes a wrap cue, I actually looked at that 3rd jump to decide if it was a wrap or a soft turn and since his left and right aren’t strong yet I talked myself into it being significantly more than 90 degrees, but looking at the video I see that he over turned the first time. When I tried it tonight I used a left and I think it was better.>>
I have narrowed my verbals down in definition to help myself decide: wrap cues are only for true wraps where I want the dog to come right back around the wing, very close to it (not eventually back around the wing). Those 90 degree turns or “eventually” back around the wing are soft turn cues. Food for thought 🙂
>> He was such a thinker and slow before I’m doing it without thinking.
He is in the same track that my Voodoo was at a year old – thoughtful, deliberate…. I thought I was going to have a medium-speed steady dog. I was fine with that, actually hahahaha! Well, turns out this style of training brings out a lot of speed so I have more speed than I need with Voodoo. Spot is just like him! And my Contraband pup is like Spot – very deliberate right now. But on the stuff he understands… scary speed. Ha! So, Spot will be plenty speedy, I can see it already. Fun!
On the video:
first rep: nailed it! And he was moving faster too! The decel and left looked gret on jump 3. Great connection too! Yes, you had the ‘wrong’ last jump but you were emphatic about it, so he was happy 🙂 And the fix looked great too.
2nd sequence: he doesn’t need quite as much name call out of the first tunnel, it pulled him in a little too much. Just the over cue is all he appears to need there at 3. The rest was super connection and clear – you did a particularly good job with a calmer “over left” on 4 and a more excited GO at the end. Nice!!3rd sequence – also really nice! Great job with your connection on the opening 1-2-3 – NICE wrap on 3, really nice use of both the physical and verbal cues. You can play with showing him the slice there too and we can see which is faster 🙂 On the way to 4: it was the only time you said “ready” – so I will only bug you a little 🙂 And also very nice wrap at 6!
So overall – you had great connection throughout, smooth running lines and clearer verbals… check out how fast AND tight he was on these. VERY fun to see this developing!!!!!!! Well done 🙂
Tracy
Hi! GREAT job on these – you were aggressive in your handling, great choices, and so much of it was connected and fabulous! I have a few tweaks for you but overall, you and Kimber looked super! And the radio was funny LOL!!!
>> I didn’t get her pushed soon enough and she just ran parallel past the jump. I think this was the most difficult part of the course.
Yes – 4-5 was hard. Upper body connection is helpful – you can keep your eyes on her but your feet on the running line and that can help push her away there. I thought you did a really good job on the videos!
On both runs – great running. You were not playing it safe, you were pushing hard and it was great!
First run:
Nice job here throughout! On the opening – you can push to 2 from further across the bar, so you are further ahead for 3 and get the FC sooner. Ideally, you would be at least center of the bar to give the push cue, or even on the exit wing so you can leave as she is heading to the entry wing. Or another option is to lead out past the entry wing and do a forced FC or forced blind on the takeoff side, if your lead out is strong enough and she will let you get there (I think she will!) Nice line 4-8! Great driving and connection. 5 looked great! VERY nice a-frame to threadle to tunnel (9-10-11), really lovely turn over 10 to the tunnel!!!
One little tweak at the end: you were a little too forward on your cue to turn at 12, facing forward a bit too long and ending up on the landing side of the jump. You can rotate sooner and stay on takeoff side to make it a little tighter. The other option is that you can also turn the other way on 12 (to her left) – might be faster because it is an easier wrap and then the line is better back to the tunnel. She is of the size where it is possible the wrap is faster but it would be fun to try both and time the difference.2nd run – Another lovely run! I agree: I like the blind on 3-4 better. You started it sooner (nice commitment!) and she had a nice turn! One suggestion – keep your arms in tight on blind and on the send – your arms were high and they slowed you down trying to get up the line after the tunnel – you had to fight to get 5. Since I am short and not fast, I have learned to pull my arms in so I can get going fast out of the turn, and high arms tend to slow us all down.
That line from 6-11 looked great again! She really did not put a foot out of place. You had a better decel on the takeoff side of 12 and she had a nice turn! If you get a chance to run it again, try turning her to the left on 12 and we can compare the speed!Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I guess I just need to say her name, or even just to give the command of the next obstacle. I’ve got to work on that.
I like to plan all of that in the walk through – I am the crazy person who walks around saying all of the verbals as if the dog is right there 🙂
>> She is so “twitchy”; sometimes I can send her long distances, and then other times she will sense me going somewhere else and pull off…and I never know when to expect the pull off, so I’m usually overly careful, which slows me up on getting further ahead. But definitely something we need to work on.
We will look for that here and see why she is sometimes twitchy. My guess is that it is a connection thing: when you are looking at her, she commits. But when you aren’t, she doesn’t commit (that is pretty common :)) It could also be that if you are smooth in your transitions (decelerating the rotating while connected, she commits. But if you slam on the brakes – so does she.
So with that in mind, you might want to look at the Custom Skills Sets that focus on transitions and also commitment when our connection is weak or we slam on the brakes – both can help!
T
Hi Eileen! These were great!!!Perfect timing on your reward on the first one.
On the 2nd one – did he give you sass on the start line right at about :04 when you were beginning your lead out? I love sass, it means the dog is pumped up!
This was also really fast and fun – almost bordering on wild, which is perfect 🙂 For now, try to run closer to all of the obstacles so he sees you running hard and almost in a panic at all times LOL! He seems to be LOVING the ball throw!!!!I added the customs skills sets yesterday on the Course Syllabus page (after you ran this) – the main one for him is the running rewards. That is another way to build speed on sequences.
And then of course we can game plan how to bring it all into trials as well!
Great job!
Tracy
