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>>“…if that doesn’t produce the weight shit…” I don’t think it will.
>> OMG!!! Clearly I have been listening to the news too much hahahahahahaha
*shiFt hahaha
Video coming soon, editing and loading!
Hi there! Welcome!! I think you will find a little something for both dogs 🙂
>>On the next set of reps, I was I supposed to handle the same way on both sides, or set up on the same side and show the different ways of handling it depending on the exit side. I did the latter.
It is up to you: you can choose the handling based on how you analyze things and what you want to try. I am open to all possibilities!
Demi did really well here!
Rep 1- started with great connection but then you rolled forward so she ended up on the front side bar. A very subtle connection break but yes, don’t block the wing 🙂Backside reps – great connection! And I don’t think the repeated cues are nagging at all! They are informational and really support her. If you were nagging, Demi would slow down or pin her ears, or do the low waggy body thing – she doesn’t let you nag her LOL! She seemed happy with this! And yes…. show her more wing especially on the slices.
Front side of 2 at 1:20: your body said “right” and your reward said “right” but your mouth said “go” so just be careful of which verbal you use.
Next rep at 1:37 was a rear cross: you can start showing her the RC pressure line sooner to help her make the turn sooner. You ran the straight line til she was just about taking off, turning to her right, then you suddenly cut in – she adjusted to make the turn but couldn’t keep the bar up. If you lead out less, you can start pressuring in (kind of towards the center of the bar) when she is no later than halfway between the jumps, and that should set the RC sooner.
2nd Rc Rep – nuch earlier on the RC pressure, and she had a much sweeter turn, yay! You can lead out less – you were far enough ahead that you had to wait for her to pass you. So maybe lead out to the wing of jump 1 and that is it 🙂
The last 2 reps on the RC were NICE! You lead out less, you had more acceleration and a much clear pressure line – note how she was further over on the other side of the jump which means she saw the turn cue earlier. Nice! My only suggestion: plan your words 🙂 On the last rep, you gave a big GO cue… but she was turning left 🙂 The various directionals probably aren’t totally 2nd nature yet (I feel your pain there!) so make sure you plan the words before you run her.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! How did Riot get to be 2.5 already! Time is flying 🙂 And yes, the pandemic has been HARD for those of us with youngsters… so much they need to learn about the world that we cannot do much about right now. Having Pixey there to sing her song is fine LOL!
And it is fun to have a new and different training challenge!
On the video:
For a young dog that doesn’t have a lot of experience with backsides, he did GREAT on the first 2 reps!! You know how to handle/cue them, which really helped him – and you clearly have done your foundation work because he understood the wrap versus slice and jumped nicely on both! He will continue to get better and better with experience. My only suggestion on these first 2 reps is to change his sit position – rather than facing square to jump 1 (which caused him to zig-zag on landing of 1), set him up on a slice so he is facing directly to the backside and that will create a straight line from 1 to 2.3rd rep and 4th rep – wraps – he turned nicely here on both but there was not a lot of a speed like a big course would produce. So, thinking ahead to big speed lines – you can decelerate and turn sooner – when he lands from 1, let him see you shift into deceleration and then start the rotation just before he passes you, to set up and earlier turn cue. Great job with your connection and verbals!
5th rep – on the post turn wraps, you can show the same fast-slow-rotate transitions to get a tighter turn, with the same timing as the wraps: so you will show acceleration til he lands from 1, then decel (still moving forward) then rotate away. And on the way to the backside, he was bouncing rather than driving, which is young dog speak for “not enough connection’ :)) You can accelerate more and also have your arm a bit further back to help him see the connection more clearly.
6th rep – the wraps at :44 and :47 were a little late, so he was a little wide – they were partially late because the rotation was happening as he took off (ideally it is done by then) and partially because the fast-slow transition wasn’t clear- you might have to exaggerate the acceleration in the smaller spaces, just to be able to make the deceleration there more obvious, which will help you be able to turn sooner too.
He accelerated better up the line to the backside there, mainly because you took off too. Yay! You were blocking the wing a little so it took him a moment to find it, so drive up the line a little further over so he can see the wing.I think the main thing is adding more acceleration so you can either drive up the big lines, or show him the transition to deceleration so you can commit him and rotate nice and early.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
First video
Good boy on the first rep to find the backside wrap and maintain commitment as you left!
On the 2nd rep, you are helping too much with your foot stepping past the wing, and not helping enough with connection (looking too far forward) so he wasn’t sure where to be. On the 3rd rep connection was much better so he took the backside, YAY!!
On the backside slice pushes, move over to at least show him the whole wing, so you can get away across the line ahead of him. And use a ton of connection (and not as much foot :))
Good boy on the 4th rep with the forced FC/threadley position! Great connection and a clear hand cue!!2nd video – he is doing well, especially on that 2nd rep where you rotated – look at the lovely collection! He had good commitment on both! The forward send didn’t have quite as much collection, but that is normal – we usually use those for softer turns.
3rd video:
You don’t look bad at all! You just look like you are protecting your knee, and that is good! On the first rep where he didn’t commit, it was mainly because there was no transition – you were deceled the whole time and then turned really fast. On the 2nd rep, you created a transition of fast then slow to get the commitment so you could rotate. And it wasn’t that you ran hard, it was a little more movement but also the extra energy of your verbals really helped!! That is good to remember, we can use that. His turn looked really good too!4th video – this one went really well! A lot of our commitment cues are built off of motion – and since you can’t run right now, you were using high energy verbals and connection to create the stimulation that motion brings – so he both committed nicely and turned nicely. That is GREAT because it will help us add to his toolbox in the coming months! Very cool!!!
Great job here! But more importantly: how does your knee feel??
Tracy
Hi there!
Run 1:
Really nice first run! I have a couple of tweaks for you to tighten some lines
– when you say “go back” she barks 🙂 an then curls in a tiny bit (and does go back out to the backside) It might be because Go means straight and Back means back, so you can try just saying “back” and see if she has less of a question there.
The other thing to play with, as you are accelerating up the line 5-6-7: you don’t need to support with your dog-side arm up as much – I think it is slowing down your running and blocking her view of the connection. So when you have to haul *ss up a fast line, you can use your arms to run (pump them like an olympic sprinter :)) but still give the good connection and verbals that you had going.And one last little detail: as you pass the exit of 6 (backside serp) to get to 7, stay really close to the wing of 6, almost be able to touch it – that will set a really tight line. Run exactly on her line (she won’t need it yet haha) and then as she comes tight around the wing, you can move over to show her 7.
2nd run – you said “back” to 4 and she barked but didn’t curl in! You also had a nice low arm and clear connection.
Good job getting that BC 5-6! Wow! You really left her at 4 to be able to accomplish it!!
Your running line at the exit of 6 seemed to be very close to the wing – look how tight she was. Yeah!!!!3rd run – I don’t mind the off hand for backside pushes for some dogs – as long as you keep moving. You decelerated as she was coming over 3 and rotated, so she got so mad LOL!! She definitely expresses her opinions hahaha!
4th run: Oooh I really liked this line of exit 6-7! You were VERY close to the wing and set such a nice exit line!!!!
You did the Go Back 3-4 and got the bark and curl, so I definitely think she prefers just “back”. And you can play with using your arms to just run, rather than support on the lines that she is good at.Really nice job here. And because I am obsessive, I timed the 3 full runs. The last one was about 2/10ths faster than run 1 – and that was because of the better turn 6-7. And the 2nd run, which was nice, was about a half second slower – mainly because wraps are almost always slower than slices. Great job on these, and it looks like your first choice handling was also the fastest choice!!
Tracy
Hi there!
1st rep:
Lovely connection and comitment to the circle wrap! Great job moving through it.
2nd rep – just not quite enough connection on the outside arm cue to the backside slice, but you fixed it really nicely on 3rd rep by cranking up the level of connection. Strong timing on that one too!
4th and 5th rep – the check wrap looked great! Connection, timing, rotation – really strong and he turned nicely in both directions. Great job leaving to get way up the next line.
6th rep (1:04) – backside slice the other direction – because he has such a long stride, you can experiment with giving the fly cue sooner when you are lateral. On this rep, you waited til he landed but he was landing straight looking at the front side (because or your position) so you had a bit of a zig zag. You can try starting the cue when he is taking off for the previous jump so he already knows what to do when he lands. This is mainly for the sends to the backside where you are lateral – on rep 7 where you were doing a wrap, you didn’t need to start that early because your running line was so clear. Your timing there worked nicely!Rep 8: the check check wrap on jump 2 was strong! Be prepared to go right into the next decel/rotation for the wrap on 3, basically starting the transition as soon as he finishes coming around the wing of 2. At 1:30 you told him to jump straight (so he did :)) and then rotated while he was in the air, so his turn was a little wide on that one.
The backside at the end was nice!Rep 9:
This was the mirror image of the previous rep 🙂 The timing on the first wrap at 2 was still good – then you were much earlier with the wrap cues at 3 (1:45) and he was much tighter! You didn’t get to the blind cross to your left side quick enough, so at 1:47 he was already on your right side – you were trying to get him to your left but it was too late, he had already committed to coming to your left (because the wrap cue looked like a FC exit based on where your connection was). If you are late on those FC/BC spins, try to make a more direct eye contact and get your dog-side arm way back, because that will help him find the correct side.
You owe him a cookie for that LOL!Last rep – 2 more good check wraps! And you were much earlier to get to the BC so he found the correct line there too. Yay! When doing the BC to get him on your left, you can have your left hand further back, pointing at his nose more, so he will be able to see the connection even more clearly.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi there! Good work on these (and great music!) – it gave us an insight into how he reads handling. He LOVES connection and also deceleration, they are very important to him. Here are specifics:
Sequence 1 session 2:
On your backside , there is a subtle tweak in when you can look forward:
on the first rep, you maintained eye contact with him until after he was past you and heading to the backside. Got it!
2nd rep – when he landed from jump 1 at :09, you looked forward to the backside. That breaks connection and turns your chest to the front, so he took the front.
3rd rep – you looked him right in the eye til he was past you to the backside: perfect!
Last rep (after you did a few front side wraps) – also great connection. Nailed it!
So remember to make and maintain connection until he is for sure heading to the backside.4th rep and 5th rep – front side wrap (check) – you can do a front cross here to be able to move away sooner (or a FC/BC spin) – that will get you up the next line faster than a post turn wrap. You could also do a send-and-go where you send him to the wrap and take off, rather than rotate while near the wing. Great connection getting into it!
And on all of these – start to run away, as if there is another obstacle out there – challenge his commitment by moving away to rewrd and see what he does 🙂
Seq 3: I love your dance moves here 🙂
First rep and at :55: on your back cue, you turned to look forward before he passed you, so he ended up on the front.
Second, Third, 4th reps: you maintained perfect connection from 1-2 and got it on all 3. Yay! Now, with his speed, you can get out of there sooner: as soon as he is passing you on the way to 2, you can be rotating and leaving – you did this on the 4th rep the soonest at :46, and he did well! It can be even sooner, ideally you are already fully turned and running the other way before he takes off.
On the last jump and bonus tunnels 🙂 On the reps where he did *not* take the tunnel (:33. :40), you had some deceleration so he understood there was a turn. On the reps where he took the tunnel, you drove in so he read it as extension and committed to the tunnel. You did a FC on the last rep and the side change helped, but you can also work the deceleration in so he sees it before he passes you and then you can rotate away up the next line – that should take the tunnel out of the equation nicely.Novice sequence: this one is trickier than it looks, right? On the 1st rep, you actually lead out too far – so you were stationary and then when he landed from 2 you accelerated, so he stayed on the line. Reps 2 and 4 were very similar (in a good way :)) – you were moving sooner so when he landed from 2, you slowed down and gave him a turn cue (shoulder turn and a little opposite arm, both very helpful) so he turned 🙂 Yay! I think rep 2 was a little earlier than rep 4, so the turn was smoother.
On rep 3 – you disconnected a bit on the way from 2-3, your arm got high and you looked forward – so he almost came off the line – you saw it happening and pushed him back out, but that showed motion to the off course jump.
Rep 2 was my favorite here: connected, nice timing on the turn cue! And great connection to the last jump. Yay!!Hi! So nice to see you back here 🙂 with both dogs this time!
>> It looks like skill set 4 and 5 are identical.
Oopsie! I just got over-eager 🙂 Sorry! It is just a duplicate.
>> Is it two rounds for skills and two rounds for sequences and two rounds for courses?
Yes, basically 2 rounds for everything you would like to tackle.
>>Do we have to submit all video for each skill or sequence or course at the same time? Or can we space out the skills etc. over a couple days, by doing a few each day?>>
You can (and should) totally space out all the training so as not to overwork the dogs. You are welcome to submit all the video at the same time, but I think it is better to submit it in pieces as you work through it.
T
Skill 6: This had really nice decel to the first wrap! And to the 2nd wrap! Now on both of them, you can turn and go before he takes off, even before he has fully passed you. Same with the around – you can leave before he takes off. He is being a really good boy with his commitment!!
Skill 7 – this one is my favorite so far 🙂 On jump 2 at :09 , you sent and left much betterm so he landed and hustled up the line! At :12 on the next wrap, you decelerated early and started rotating away before he took off – so he was tight and faster up the next line (no slowing down to get info!)
And you sent and left on the last backside – terrific! He was fastest on this so far!Skill 8 run 1 – ok this goes on my list of favorites now too haha! You were pushing harder on this one, leaving earlier – so he was confident of the lines and his speed came up. I am sensing a theme to help build the speed!
Run 2 was also good – you were getting into the groove of sending and leaving, so he was able to jump tight and then power up the next line.So, overall:
Your connection is really lovely on every.single.rep. That is quite an accomplishment to do all of these and not disconnect at all. YAY!!!!As I get to know Ivan, I see a big difference in his response when you push and trust, versus when you are a bit too careful. When you push to leave early and trust his commitment, he drives the lines so much better!
So… on the tight turns, add your deceleration in sooner: when he has landed from the previous jump, you can start decelerating while you move forward – and then trust his commitment and start to rotate away before he takes offand idealy before he passes you 🙂 Stay connected like you were. This will help us build speed and will also allow us to find out if he has any weaknesses or questions on his commitment skills (no problem if he does, we can train those).Great job!! Let me know if this makes sense 🙂
Tracy
Hi again!
Skill 3 1st rep:
You can start your turn sooner with decel at :09 and :13 on the wraps – when you are late on your turn, he slows down and doesn’t drive up the next line as fast – this is definitely a spot that we can easily tweak to get more speed 🙂 Trust his commitment more so you start turning before he takes off and the tighter turns will also lead to more speed!2nd rep – you decelerated on the way to the 2nd jump for the wrap (note how your strides go from big steps to little steps) and you were turned a little sooner: the deceleration helped him a lot! He turned tighter and powered out of the turn better (more speed!)
The turn on jump 3 didn’t have as much decel so he jumped longer there tooSkill 4: You had a little deceleration going on this one but didn’t turn until he lifted off at :08 and at :10, so he landed wide – when that happens, he doesn’t power back up the line, perhaps being a bit careful and waiting for more info. So we will definitely make it a priority to have you turn sooner (more on that below, I will summarize after watching the next set of clips :))
Hi Eileen and Ivan! Nice work on these, he is a really cool dog!!!!! Bearing in mind that you are looking for more speed, I looked at these from the perspective of adding speed 🙂 Your connection is super on all of these reps and he is driving off the line really nicely!!
Skill 1 red 1st & 2nd
Very nice send to the around, great connection! You can trust him more – as soon as he is heading to the backside wing, move off to the new direction. You helped more than he needed by putting your right arm between the uprights, so he slowed down and had to wait for you to move away 🙂 Trust him, stay connected like you were, and run forward (no need to help with the right arm there). The other thing to add is get him to chase you more for the reward – he is food motivated (so am I :)) so you can keep running til you get the cookie out then have him do some chasing of the cookie 🙂Skill 1 black 1:
His around is very nice! You can give him his around cue a little sooner, and also be a little further across the jump, letting him see the full wing. But, most importantly: cue it and leave and run 🙂 Your connection looks *terrific* so maintain that connection but you don’t need to help with the opposite serp arm or anything – send and leave so he chases you for the reward 🙂On your second rep you left sooner and he was faster. Good boy! If you leave your left arm back as you leave and maintain connection (like you did, it was great) then you won’t need to use your right arm as a serp arm – the right arm isn’t incorrect, per se, but it slows you down and he doesn’t appear to need it. So if you go faster, he will chase you more and go faster too 🙂
Skill 2 red & black: he is driving off the line nicely on both of these! You can add in a transition to get a tighter turn while maintaining his speed: as soon as you release him, accelerate in a big way for a few steps. Then right after he lands, decelerate (still moving forward, just slowing down) and then cue the turn. That deceleration will allow him to collect and drive out of the turn, plus it will allow you to turn even sooner. On these 2 reps, you drove forward for a little too long, so he jumped big and then had to turn on landing (which slowed him down).
I will scroll down and put the ideas for the other sequences just below them 🙂
Hi!
>>I think I don’t understand your comment about the stop-sign hand on the backside wrap.
That was exactly it, actually – the first one was late but the others were pretty much correct. And they accomplish their goal of getting more collection before takeoff… but not the goal of getting a tighter wrap/less slice. He is trying to get organized with his front feet but there are two elements missing: weight shift into his rear and turning his head (he doesn’t turn his head til he lands!) I think the weight shift into his rear is important but the head turn *before* takeoff is even more important – and that is what we will train. Happily, it is exactly what I am teaching my youngster so I will get it on video today and pass it along. If we can get the head turned, the body will follow.
>> I could use a prop (cone or plunger) but I don’t generally like to do that because the behavior disappears when the prop does.
I 100% agree with you here. I have simply not seen a prop teach the understanding so the behavior is gone when the prop is gone. I think teaching him to turn his head will get us started – and if that doesn’t produce the weight shit, there are other ways to produce that.
>>The one at :37 starts ok but he slips on his shoulder. This might explain why he is always slicing.
That was a moment of him trying to turn his head faster when he landed, but it didn’t work out for him. Poor guy!
He did a really admirable job on the zig zags – has he done them before? Most dogs take a while to sort it out 🙂 He didn’t have it perfectly yet – he had to think about it – but he did far, far better than just about every dog I have ever seen try these (including my own – I will show this video to my Voodoo haha!!) Next steps, on the slightly opened up grid, is more running from you. And maybe start with a tunnel 18 feet before it so he has more speed. Then eventually you can raise the bars a bit.
Keep me posted, and I will get that head turn video tonight for you!
TracyHi! Thanks for the update!!
>>Skills set 1: I did this exercise at first with the jumps only 10 feet away. My Bad.
We need you to be able to have time for your cues, so I suggest 18 feet or more 🙂 You can even play with 21 feet!
>>I used verbals with my younger dog but he seemed to relie on my body cues and motion more.
Mookie seemd to relie on my verbals as well as my body motion.>>That is pretty normal, I have seen that a lot with younger dogs versus more experienced dogs.
>>It was interesting doing this exercise from closer compared to when the jumps were further apart. There were less bars down with Mookie when the jumps were further apart, which to me says that my timimg was better with him when I had more time to think to give him cues.>>
Yes! When they were closer, he probably needed the info for jump 2 before he even got to jump 1 🙂 He is a big-striding, early-decision-making kind of guy 🙂
>>Masters 1: For both dogs I could lead out between jumps 3 & 4. I also ran with a lead out to jump 2. I found that my young dog Buddy really knows his lines as well as Mookie.
That is terrific! I love when young dogs understand lines 🙂
>>This course will be teaching me yet again that I need to show some, any motion to Mookie all the time on a course as well as verbals and be calm.>>
Ah yes! Keep moving and be calm – sounds so easy, right? hahaha
I tell myself to pretend to be calm, that seems to help 🙂Keep me posted, sounds like the boys are doing well!
Tracy
Good morning! These look really good, she is collecting so nicely 🙂 Yay for all the verbals too! Question – do you have a different verbal for backside wrap versus backside slice? That can help! See more below.
1st video:
wrap left – these look great! I like the exit line you are getting with the running rewards where she chases you and gets the holler roller on the run – it creates a nice line and she doesn’t jam into a stop. You did these on reps 3 and 4 and it looks great! Nice job with the verbals too 🙂right wraps – I think here and on the backside circles, she shows a slight preference for turning to her left? Is this something you have noticed? It is not a big preference and I only mention it because it can influence how we cue each turn. She is a little wider to the right, not as much organized collection before the takeoff. Not ugly, not problematic… but the left is just ever so slightly better. We can watch to see if there is a pattern in other sessions. Also, it could be the cue delivery – for example, on the 2nd rep – you were pretty stationary then exploded into movement, so the slow then fast might have created too much giddy up, causing her to collect less. So moving in and out with decel until collection then you get to run might help.
But overall… these wraps are just about perfect 🙂 One thing to play with – as you are moving into them and working connection, start the wrap cue (physical and verbal) directly to her eyes, then shift to the landing spot – that can help collection even more when coming in at full speed, and it will also set us up for the next frontier with her – being able to cue and strip out the connection element of looking behind you while you leave, but still getting commitment. Her commitment looks great so I think we can go to the next step 🙂 The reason for this is that we need to be able to handle her speed – she also turns well, which means you have even less time 🙂 So, to help with that, a Pose Handling Goal is to be able to disconnect and leave in certain situations so you can move more easily to the next important spot on course.
2nd video, backside wraps – on the first rep on each side where she went to the front – yes, the rewards for the front might have been fresh on her mind 🙂 And also using a little more leg to step to the backside, one step – can help.
She was better turning to her left here towards the end of the video, but it might have been due to the extra intensity of the connection used to cue the backside as well as your rotation (but, you were indeed rotated on the right wraps too!). On the right wraps, looking at :16 – it looks like you had your hand past the upright over the bar, so she sliced a little more than wrapped. I think the hand through the uprights over the bar stimulates the slice (presenting motion in that general area) so you can move that hand (right hand, in this case) to just before the entry wing so she passes it as she is heading to the wing, like a tiny stop sign – that has helped dogs set up the circle wraps better and they slice less. It is an element of the soft brake hand which she already reads so well. I also like it because it gets me out of there even sooner.
About the verbals – a backside wrap verbal versus a backside slice verbal can help too (or we can add a collection cue to a general backside verbal but I like distinct verbals better).Lovely work here! Let me know what you think! Fingers crossed for good weather ahead, we have had rain rain rain rain rain….
Tracy
