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Good morning!
Nice job on this course! It is a BEAST and a lot of yardage, but it went really well with very few questions. I am particularly excited about how well Synnie is doing with the layering – she was really reading the lines and processing the verbals. This will be so useful!!!Opening:
She was layering great on the first run – you might not need a more than a name call then a thereadle cue to get 4-5 (getting the correct side of 4 makes getting the correct 5 tunnel easier>
Got it on the 2nd and 3rd runs, she is getting really good at working at a distance! She understands to stay on the line so you can be giving all of those cues before she lands from the previous jump so she doesn’t look back at you.
Getting the 5 tunnel worked great there when you had the correct side of 4
>>I just was looking over the course notes for Course 2 for tomorrow morning and I realized that we (I) did 6 wrong on the first course. Synnie actually tried to/succeeded running it as a backside several times but I MADE her take the front side, thinking that was correct!! >>
No worries! And the way it was set, it might have been best as a threadle wrap – the threadle slice puts her on a line to the off course jump. But you can walk it after setting it and make the decision.
For the front side (because that is a challenge you will likely see in AKC!), try using a brake arm to get the moderate turn. So as you are cuing her from the tunnel exit to approach 6 and turn, add in the opposite arm so she can turn before takeoff. At 1:45 you did a sharper physical cue and she dropped the bar. She didn’t drop it t 2:51 but was a bit wide, so I think the brake arm will be the answer.
Nice BC 8-9 after the weaves each time!!! Nice turn on the tunnel! She can get her “out” cue to the jump sooner at :51, say it as soon as you see her head exit the tunnel, so she doesn’t look at you. 10-11-12-13 went well each time!!
Looking at the 13-14-15 section to the 15 weaves:
You might need a spin on 13 – it was a little hard to see what she did when you did the post turn on the first run, but she dropped the bar on 14 so it is possible the line got too slicy with the post turn and your speed, or you needed more connection as you drove to the weaves, or both 🙂 That might have affected the angle of the weave entry too (where she missed on this run). You got it cleanly the 2nd time at 2:03 with more connection. And had a little more decel on the other reps and it looked good.After the weaves, you can move through the line to 16 as a threadle slice – you did a ‘here’ and held her focus too long on the first run through there. You released her back to the jump sooner at 2:09, but I bet you can keep moving through there and she will get it perfectly. At 3:16, you had a lot of motion while you cued it and it was the best line of all the runs 🙂
Nice threadle wrap before the DW the first time through! On the 2nd time at 2:16 she hit the wing – she might have been fatigued (it is a hard jumping effort). Or you might have been too quick to move through it? I compared it to the threadle wrap at 1:18 and didn’t really see a handling difference, which is why it might have been a fatigue question (this course is BIG). You gave her more room to set up at 3:25 and it worked for her, but I do think there is a fatigue element: she is turning really tight to her let there, which is her harder side (I think she is a righty?) plus it is the hardest turn on course. No worries, part of the joy of these big yardage courses is the dogs do get a bit more conditioning 🙂 plus you won’t see a threadle wrap multiple times on course for her (not yet). So she nailed it the first time and that is what we need 🙂
Ending looked good! Her contacts are looking really strong, keep on maintaining that lovely 2o2o criteria!
>>We are headed to AKC League Nationals at some stupid hour on Wednesday morning; >>
Have a BLAST!!!!! Is Synnie running too? Please send updates!
>>hoping to get another video of the other course to you tomorrow cause that will be all for the week, but it depends on my time!!>>
Cool beans, I will look for it if you get a chance to post it. If not, no worries: remember to tackle those courses with the same connection and clarity that you used here!! And practice all that in your walk throughs 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I think if she didn’t turn in to me and scream at me, it would be a lot easier to make something up on the fly, but I feel like I’m going to trip on her, and it’s so hard to get her to look back at the obstacles once things go poorly. I’ll keep working on it, though!>>
You can always turn and run away from her to any random obstacle 🙂
>> She took the dog walk instead of the 2nd tunnel, and that made it really hard to keep going>>
In those cases, you can reward the dog walk like it is the end of the course, then restart somewhere.
>> No, she does not have a separate verbal for wrapping. Nox is the first dog I’ve had who even had a backside, and when I learned it, I didn’t know anything about having two verbals. Katniss is learning both. I do want to transition to having separate ones for Nox, but when I’ve tried just sneaking the new verbal in, she is like, “What the hell does that word mean??” and gets mad, lol. I need to break it down and teach the cue outside the context of a course. I’ll be adding that to the list of things we’ll work on this fall/winter.>>
I think we can add it now! Since Nox says “wait what” when you add in a new verbal, we can ease the transition using the new-cue-before-old-cue method. For example, with puppies, we train a sit by luring or shaping it with some type of cue (hand signal, cookie lure, etc). Then when we are pretty sure we can get the behavior, we add the new cue (verbal sit cue) just before we do the old cue (hand lure for example) . Then the new cue predicts the old cue so the dog does the behavior… and we fade out the old cue.
In this case, you would say your new cue (digdigdig or whatever you want to use) then switch to the current cue (back). Then we fade out the back cue.
>>We ran in an AKC trial this past weekend and had a BEAUTIFUL FAST run (78 points!)!
Wow, congrats!!
The excellent standard run was gorgeous!
Sorry about the dog walk fall but I am glad you got her into the chiro right away! And very glad she is ok. I watched that a bunch of times, in slow motion, on a large screen… I don’t see what caused her to lose her balance but her decision to jump off is better than falling!! It seemed liked it happened at the top of the up-ramp.
>> the reason I’m including all of this in my post is to say that I had multiple people approach me throughout the day to tell me what a difference they have seen in Nox and to say they can tell how hard we’ve been working. I owe so much of that credit to you.
Thank you for that, but really you have done all of the work & training! I am simply on the Team Nox Support Crew 🙂
Looking at the courses:
On the first walk through, definitely add more verbals. That will help the physical cues too, if you say the verbals as you would say them in a real run.And the last jump is offset enough that it would make more sense to rear cross the jump before it, to put her on your right for the last jump. You would need to be pretty far ahead to get a clear push to the last jump on your left here, which is hard on this course because of having to handle 15. Other than that, it was a really strong walk through and my only nitpicks would be to add a bit more connection out of the weaves and on the exit of 15 🙂
On the run – the opening looked great! She didn’t look at the tunnel after teh DW and found the backside really well. She drove ahead really well to the 6 jump!
By leading out and being stationary while she was on the teeter, she did get the 8 tunnel but being stationary before she entered it cued a turn. That, plus not showing parallel line motion to the 9 tunnel or yelling go go go caused her to turn on the exit of 8 and get on the DW. Good girl!
Compare to 1:50 where you were moving and yelling and she got the tunnel no problem 🙂 Yay!!
Nice BC to the poles! And nice patience on the backside after the poles to let her commit before you moved away!
She dropped the bar after the a-frame. Maybe you were too far ahead coming off a stopped obstacle? Or maybe it was just a random bar, which happens to all speedy dogs here and there. She didn’t quite organize for it as you started moving again, but I don’t recall that being an issue off of contacts
She did have questions on that last line because it was so hard to get way ahead, so if you see something similar on a course, try the RC and see if that helps her.
>>I was training with friends, and I didn’t want to video them walking the course,>>
Ha! That makes it more realistic 🙂
Looking at the walk through: I think most of it was super clear!
On 1-2-3 you were too far off the FC line 2-3, so that will set her jumping on more of a slice over 2 which sets up a wider turn on 2 to the weave entry.
The rest was pretty darned cleasr (but too quiet :)) so add more of your verbals 🙂 Nice exit line connection on the walk through!
On the run:
Look at her forward focus on jump 1! Yay!Your position on 2 did indeed create a wider turn. Ideally, you would be doing the FC on the exact path you would want her to take, because dogs jump pretty much directly at our position. So in this case, that position would be basically on the inner wing, where the wing and bar meet.
The rest of the opening went great, no problem with the layering!
You needed to step in more to 7 to set the right turn on the first run – but compare to 1:53 on run 2 where you stepped in more and nailed it (this 2nd run looked more like what you did in the walk through to set the line)The rest looked great! Super!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>>HA! I knew I was going to get called out for that as soon as I did it, lol.>>
Teehee! It is my job to bug everyone about that LOL!!
About the double blinds:
>> I still couldn’t get the timing right. I’m going to try to fit in one more session of the game this week, which I will post if I get time to try it again. That is a HARD game!!>>
It is hard but I think I see you on Friday? So I can show you on Friday!
The serps are going well!
One jump: super nice serp position and reward delivery! It looks like you have a system going of toss the bumi reward then come back for the tug. My only suggestion on those and on the 2 jump reps is that you can be closer to the serp jump: close enough to casually reach out and touch it with a slightly bent elbow. That sets a great serp line!
She had one off course tunnel blooper – nice adjustment to add a left verbal! Plus I think she needed to realize that it was still a serp, not a tunnel line there.
Adding the tunnel went well too. Your are consistently showing great upper body info and connection! She had no real trouble with the harder jumps angles. Super!
On the line going away from the tunnel, try not to decel – to stay in motion, you can go in closer to the tunnel and then drive up the line with that good serp position you had going. That way you will be ahead without needing to decel or get too far ahead.
Going towards the tunnel will be even easier if you are further ahead on jump 2. You can set that up by starting next to the wing of jump 2, and sending her to jump 1 from there. That way you will be almost past exit wing as she is getting ready to take off. For example, at 2:00 you were passing the exit wing as she was getting ready to take off and she had no questions. Yay! When you were not as far ahead (going to the tunnel) like at 2:05, it was harder to show her the line to the tunnel and it was a bit zig zaggy.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
Nice handling session here!
Did you have a dish out for every possible exit? LOVE IT!The turns looked great – she was super tight and fast on both the left turn and right turn exits. Yay! Nice timing of your cues, click/treat for you!
More impressively, she got the go line, even after 2 turn reps! Yay! Her head was straight but a little high on the first one, as if asking “are you sure it is straight” LOL The 2nd go rep did not seem to have that same question, she came flying out (same as the last rep).
She had one commitment question on the FC at 2:12, so I obsessed a little to see why she committed so well at 1:56 on the mirror image of that challenge. Nice exit line connection there! And good job continuing when she had the question at 2:12!
On the rep at 1:56, you had a clear step or two of decel and rotated a shade later. At 2:12, you rotated when she was at the same spot she was in when you decelerated at the other side… so definitely the decel was part of it (the connection looked similar on both reps – you can give her a bit more connection but I don’t think that was the question from her).
The rep at 2:28 sealed the deal that it is the decel as the critical factor: you had a definitely clear decel there and rotated at the same time you did at 2:12… but the decel committed her. The rotation might have been a shade early (she did give you a look as she went past you) but she committed with a nice turn. So definitely emphasize the decel as part of the commitment and delay the rotation til after it.
On the teeter video:
>> I’m going to bring her little scratch pad with us to Canada so that we can do more work just targeting and scratching the pad when it is flat on a surface.>>
Perfect! I was going to suggest pumping up the value for it a bit more, maybe even elevating it a bit so she can step up on it and get to scratching 🙂
She seemed very happy to pop onto the end of the board! Yay! Pumping up t he scratch pad plus not not leaning over her quite as much should help get her more into the end behavior foot position.
How is she feeling about being held/restrained lately? Her hop ons are good, but she was getting mad when you were not letting her jump on by herself LOL! Since she likes this game, you can do a line up, hand on collar, then instant release onto the teeter. And gradually build up to a longer restraint (which can also build even more drive into position).
Great job here! Safe travels to Canada and have fun!
Tracy
Hi! Thanks for your kind words about Crusher… it sucks to lose them, as I know you understand.
>>It really is all about the correct parallel line, isn’t it?!?! And Sly is SO clear about when I’ve got it and when I don’t
Yes – parallel lines make it sooooo much easier (as well as a great tunnel verbal LOL!) And not getting too far ahead helps too so the motion of the parallel line helps propel the dog out to the layered line. Thank you to Sly for the feedback!!
The backside reps went really well here, I think those were easier for him than the tunnel reps. The backsides looked very independent and you were very lateral, so he could jump the line with a ton of speed too. Nice!
The tunnel reps were harder here – it might sound counterintuitive, but the closer you started to 1, the easier it seemed to set his line (like at :08 and :33). When you were too far ahead at :21 (where you were running a bit rotated) and :28, he found it harder to choose the tunnel over the jump.
Not getting too far ahead for layering is a definitely less-is-more approach from the start of the line, because getting too far ahead puts us peeling away (like at :21) before the dog might be on the line, which can potentially lose the parallel line and open up the other obstacles. Started closer to 1 but already on the parallel path so you are running forward the whole time can smooth out the bloopers.
Sequence 3 looked great!!
>> Warmed up our blind/threadle wrap a couple of times>>
Looks like he never considered the tunnel! Yay! You can use your hands a bit more perhaps, to help get the collection for the wrap, but he did really well!
>>Took 3 tries to get the threadle slice with the layer but once I paid more attention to the connection on landing of 4, >>
Getting it in only 3 tries is great – this layered threadle stuff is a new skill and the dogs are going to have some questions at first LOL!! But then I think when they know to expect that it might happen, they will do it really well like Sly did here. Happy dance! And it put you in a great spot for the threadle on 7, no problem at all.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! These went really well. A connection idea (below) will smooth out the blooper spots 🙂
On the first rep, one small detail – when sending to the tunnel, do a post turn exit. You did a spin at :15 which cues a turn. So he exited turned and then was confused for a moment: “where did she go?” He exited straight at :25 (post turn) and that is more of what we want on this sequence
You did a spin at :52 on the tunnel entry where there was a turn on the exit and it was perfect, because the turn is what you needed there.You can start the wrap rotation sooner at :34 – it started as he was lifting off, so you can move into the FC and decelerate when he lands from the previous jump, then do the rotation to the tunnel before he takes off.
The bigger sequence went really well too!
The rep at :39-:44 looked great – low arms, great connection, good running lines from you so he was fast and accurate on his lines!
Right at :46 you broke connection with him still behind you and pointed forward to the next jump. That changed the line of your shoulders away from the jump so he did not take it
:49 to :57 also looked really good! You gave him a bit more connection at :58 so he did find the jump, but you will see even better commitment if you keep you dog-side arm back to him and eyes on his eyes as you step to the jump and say the verbal.
It is counterintuitive 🙂 but works really well because it points your shoulders and your motion to the takeoff spot, while pointing ahead of him turns your shoulders and feet away from the takeoff spot. That is basically what you did at 1:18 and 1:31, and he committed with zero questions. Yay!!!
He came off the line at 1:20 because as you ran down the line, you looked forward and then to your left… that is exactly what a blind cross looks like so he did a blind to your left side. You both tried to save it (you re-connected to your right side, he tried to find the jump) but you were both moving too fast and couldn’t quite save it.
He also had a question at 1:33 on that line. You were looking at him more and could see him… but your dog-side arm was pointing forward. That blocks his view of the connection and turns your shoulders a bit away from the line, so he was looking at you and trying to sort out where to be. At 1:34 you dropped the arm a bit and gave more connection so he took the jump.
You can see that same question at 1:50 when he is on your left, heading to the tunnel. The arm points forward changing the info, so he looks up at you for more info.
Ideally, in both of these spots, your dog side arm points to his nose the whole time. That means your arm will be way back to him when he is behind you, so he will be able to see your connection and stay on his line without looking up at you for more info.
That is what you were doing more of on the lines he read beautifully (like on the BC between 5 and 6 on this sequence, at 1:44 for example) so adding that to the sending and when you are way ahead will smooth out those lines too.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
These are looking really good! Look at her fabulous stay!!! She had no questions about which side of the jump to go to, even on the hard angles.
The forced fronts are going well – one detail as you finish the FC is to maintain connection to her eyes. That will point your shoulders/chest to the jump so she will commit nicely. You were looking ahead so if you tossed the reward early, she got it. But when you did not toss the reward early, she went past the jump (which is the line your shoulders were indicating).
The threadles went really well too! You can be closer to the jump, and more tucked in behind the wing – basically the same spot as the forced front cross but facing her in the threadle position. Then as you release, you can look at your threadle hand to help guide her to it. Being close to the jump will help with commitment too so you won’t have to cue her to take it – it will be right on her line.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I’m not sure the best way to post all our work for feedback since there’s no way to apply feedback from one part to the other parts.>
That works! Plus another thing we can do with all of the video here is look for trends for training sessions. Here are a few ideas to help support making the most of the training time:
Make the overall goal to have every time he is on the floor to be crazy silly fast fun – accuracy is a bonus but since that depends on handler info, accuracy is less important 🙂 So be super careful to avoid drilling by doing the same set up over and over. Do a rep or two of a sequence, get it roughly right… then go do something else that is silly or take a break. An example would be to just run tunnel-tunnel and throw a toy, or let him run around with a tug toy.
And if something goes wrong in the handling – don’t stop, even if you drop the lotus ball to him. Yes, he will like the food 🙂 but stopping communicates error. It is perfectly fine to just keep going and reward something else – 99% of the errors are human-induced 🙂 And if you get the same failure twice (or more) – do something else, re-assess the setup, or add more motion support or a toy on the line to get no more failures on that particular question.
I think there were too many sessions/too many reps here (about 24 minutes of working time), so what was happening was he was pacing himself to your speed and in the smaller space, you were walking a lot – so he was trotting (which affected the jumping). And he was wandering out of stays, sniffing, which usually indicates a bit of tiredness and reduced excitement.
So, shorter sessions will totally help! Leave him wanted more more more 🙂 And you can also adjust the setups so both of you have more motion and more momentum. A few ideas for that:
– add more distance between obstacles so there is more speed happening
– use weave poles as jump bars so there is a more distance between obstacles too
– limit yourself to a total of 2 reps on any given sequence then take a break then move on to the next one
– build in fast and fun reps where he can run run run 🙂 especially if you are working on tight turns in the sequence
– always keep going even if he misses a jump (or if it is the end of a sequence, reward with a big party)
– line up his start position further from jump 1, so he can come into the sequence at a run
– add tricks with a lot of movement between runs to keep the energy highVideo 1 went well! Make sure your motion supports acceleration to the tunnel so he is not seeing decel at the same time he is getting a verbal to drive ahead (he dropped the bar before the tunnel when that happened)
Video 2:
>>starting at 2:40 – back chaining the K turn lead out. We really struggled with this lead out so I need help figuring out how to help him. >>
There were a couple of things happening here. At the beginning, there were some questions about where jump 2 was: the angle of the setup didn’t really have it on his line, plus there was a bit of high arm/lack of connection, so there were errors and stops. It really helped when you moved into it and stepped to it a bit, but spreading it out so 2 is more on the line will help too!
So when you got to the K turns at 2:40, he was already well into the session. The first rep at 2:44 had a good step with your leg but the 2nd one at 3:17 had no leg so he was more hesitant.
More K turn on video 3 – this is also a really long session, so he was losing steam which affects powering into a tight turn. When you stepped back with your leg, he did well like at 2:25 and after – he was watching the toy in your hand there so you can have it in the other hand to throw behind you.
But definitely mix in some fast fun crazy with fewer tight turn reps 🙂
Video 5 –
>>Back chained the K turn lead out and again, only successful once and then back to a fail so I stopped.>>I think by this time he was a bit over it 🙂 He had gotten it right but asking for it again caused trotting… he is not too different from my sighthounds who are like “I just did it right 2 or 3 times, why are we doing it again?” That is good for us humans as a reminder that we really don’t need to see the behavior more than twice to be able to check it off the list for the day 🙂
The angle there too on 1-2 was hard and had more failure, so he was also being careful. That is where the tricks and silliness and tunnel fun can keep things spicy.
>>Leads Outs and Big Lines 3
0:38 – why did he knock the bar wrapping towards me?>>I think a couple of things were happening here:
Your feet were pointing to the RC line on the jump then he realized it was a wrap when you didn’t move, so he was adjusting the takeoff. Then you switched the toy from your left hand to your right hand, so he lifted his head to see what was happening – that is when he hit the bar. Try moving into it so he can see the decel and foot rotation sooner, and leave the toy in one hand the whole time 🙂>>I’m just amazed at how much dog I still had left at the end of an hour. This is the end of the session. I’m proud that not once did I see his tail droop>>
Yes! He has a ton of food drive which really helps and this sequence had more motion which also really helped! He was definitely pacing himself and not moving as fast as we know he can (cantering a bit mixed in with trotting, especially by the end).
>> We did have some struggles with the rear cross left wrap direction, probably my handling.>>
That was him pacing himself – he was sticking to your pace rather than driving ahead, so the rear crosses are going to feel smoother when you have more distance between the jumps and more acceleration up the line. The shorter sessions where he is feeling fresh and spicy will help too, so he goes blasting up the line ahead of you 🙂
So while his tail was up here, I do think maybe half hour rentals are better with fewer reps of hard stuff and more go fast stuff 🙂 And lots of breaks! If I have one dog and a full 30 minutes, I will turn on pop music while I train: I can train until the song is over, then must take a 2 or 3 song break. Then the next session can be one song’s worth of fast & fun stuff 🙂 Then another 2 or 3 song break. That keeps things really exciting – and doing just one or two reps of each sequence is fine 🙂 And in the breaks I can look at my video to see what I am doing wrong LOL!!!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>>just assumed you had a life …>>
HA! I have no life LOL!!!!!!
First 2 runs here on the first sequence were very good- connection, you kept moving, and added verbals too! Yay!
The 2nd sequence was more complex but you were working through it nicely with connection and motion.
One this sequence and the next one, you can look for smoother lines in your handling plans – mainly, find the slice lines towards the next jump rather than wrap her back towards you. I think that will make it even easier to keep moving along the lines and showing her the line you want.
Same for the 3rd sequence – it went much better when you are showing slice lines and not as much wrapping towards you.
You can move to the hot topics with the walk throughs now, as that will help us analyze your plans and see what works best for her (then execute it during the run).
She did really well sending to the backsides and finding lines for the most part! That means connection and timing were strong.
Two details where she had questions:
When pushing to a backside especially a circle wrap, be sure to let her see the wing and don’t block the line. When she saw the wing of the jump, she was great! When you blocked the wing like at 1:41 and 3:09, she didn’t know where to be and moved to a different line.
When adding the threadle wrap 3:12 – 3:23, add in turning your line of motion to be a bit away from the jump and more parallel to the line you want her to take rather than rotating as much to her. Facing her too much was opening up the front side of the jump and not showing her the pull to the threadle side.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>You’re going to think I’m a hypochondriac. I am dealing with some blood clots in my leg and in my lungs. On blood thinner and the whole nine yards.>>
OMG!!! I know you are not a hypochondriac! The clots must be scary and painful – I am glad the blood thinners are working their magic and you are back to running!
Sequence 1:
Great job making the connections on the first part of the walk through! You were emphasizing woking back to her as you exited the crosses and that really helps her.My only connection suggestion is to connect more on the way to the backside (7-8) so she doesn’t end up on the front side.
You added your verbals and more speed and maintained the connection, which is great!Your handling plan was also super clear.
Wrapping her to her right on jump 1 works, but wrapping her to her left on 1 will set a bette line to 2 – it is right in front of her as she exits the left turn wrap, and that will allow you to move up the line sooner because you don’t have to step her to 2 like you do on the right turn wrap.The first run looked fabulous! Great connection and timing, and she seemed to know where to be the whole time, no questions. YAY!
>>At the end of this run I did a post turn instead of a front cross, think that’s the only difference.>>
Yes – I think what happened was you got closer to the entry wing of the backside at 8 than planned, so stepping into the FC there would have put you in her way. It was a good think-on-your-feet moment to do the post turn and keep going.
The 2nd run was great too! You your blind 5 to 6 was a bit earlier and looked great! And the post turn after the backside worked well here too.
Sequence 2:
>>I did not use a lead out hear even though most would. I am having trouble getting here to start, so I am working on techniques to get her going at the start line. It is much worse at a trial. >>
Start lines at trials are stressful and have a lot of pressure, so it is great to practice what you would do at a trial to help get her going.
You did a rear cross on 2 which totally worked. You can also treat 1 like a bit of a backside and send her to it and do a FC on the wing closer to jump 2. Have you taught her the behind-the-back start where she runs around behind you? She might think that is super fun!
The rest of the walk through looked really good! You might have gone a little closer to the 4 jump for the blind than you needed to. And you can go closer to 5 and see if you can get her to layer for the 7-8 line.
The opening line 1-2-3 working great with your plan of starting with her and rear crossing 2! And you nailed the rest of it. That is 2 courses in a row that you nailed on the first run! YAY!
Interestingly, on the next run, she did not do as well when you had her spin before jump 1 or asked her if she was ready. She was slower and wandered off a bit. That might be too much pressure? She did a lot better when you basically got right down to business o the first run at 1:45.
The rest of the run was great when you started moving 🙂 So trying the start line without pressure might be the key!Sequence 3: This also went well! And good job continuing even with the little bobbles – that helps you think on your feet like you would need to at a trial!
Just about all of it looked really good – the walk through matched the run in those parts, like the 1-2-3-4 opening with the rear cross, and the ending line. Those sections had clear connections so you also had clear connections in the run! Lily thrives on connection 🙂
The bobble spots were where the connection was not as clear in the walk through – at 4-5, you were looking forward in the walk through and that is what happened in the first run, so she missed the 5 jump. You fixed it beautifully in the 2nd run.
The other spot was on the way to the 10 backside – in the walk through you were looking ahead of where she would be too, so that made it harder to connect in the first run (she had the spin to the left in the first run and missed the next jump). The 2nd run went much better! She still had a small question about going to the backside, but that was probably lack of backside experience (she doesn’t see them that often) but also you were running towards the wing, which pushed her away a bit.
Her only other question was at 2:45, where she was running past the jump. I think it was because your path after the tunnel exit was converging towards her, so she read that as a push away to the backside line. It is also possible she was heading to the shade 🙂 but I think it was mainly your line of motion was moving towards her (rather than parallel to her line) so she was reading that as a handling cue.
Great job here!!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! (Or afternoon there :))
Looking at the first video:
Her wait is getting better and better!! She is moving as you reach in to reward her from your hand, so using a ‘catch’ marker will be more effective (it really helps with all of my little dogs :))Just be sure to say the marker without moving… then throw the reward.
For he mat versus tunnel: ideally you are holding her so you can say the word a few times (‘mat mat mat’) then let her go. By saying it a few times before she moves, she has a better chance of processing it and getting it right. She is used to running to the tunnel on any verbal or movement, so she had a bunch of tunnels when you said mat.
Adding the jump before helped the processing because she could hear the cues a bit more before making a decision, plus there was a little handling involved. But she started to get frustrated at the end and leaping up. It is possible that the session went on too long (almost 5 minutes is a lot for a young dog) because it is mentally challenging to ignore her favorite thing (tunnel) to do a mat or stay, especially when the reward is food.
So to avoid the frustration, keep the sessions shorter (2 minutes total) and incorporate the toy more for the mat sending too!
She seemed confident to go up and down the plank! And was finding the entry really well – nice and balanced from the side. Hopefully you never see the angle of entry on course but it is good to train her to do it!
I think the angle of the plank was a bit too steep for getting her to stop at the target on the way down. She was running down with her weight forward and then her rear was swinging off. You can avoid that by moving the target further away so she can run straight off the plank to it. She is too small to do a 2on 2off on the teeter, but have you decided if you want to do it on the dog walk? If you want the 2on 2off, you can reduce the angle of the plank and work on the position from an easier angle, then eventually make the angle harder so it simulates the dog walk.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The sequences are looking really strong! Your connection is looking good too 🙂 Taq is getting super great at reading lines!The first rep was a rear cross to a FC which worked well! The 2nd rep of leading out dog on left to do a FC had a great turn, because it provides info for the collection.
You did a FC 4 to 5 and it worked well – be sure to stay connected back to her as you finish the cross. A blind will be even more effective there and get you up the line faster. Getting up lines faster will be helpful because she is so fast already (and will keep getting faster!)
You had a bit more sequencing at the end of the video:
The FC 2-3 is great there – you can send more to the #2 tunnel instead of drive to it as much, so it is easier to get back to the FC position and push to 4. That will also give you a bit more time to decel into 4 (as she is jumping 3) to get a tighter wrap. Or, you can do a BC on the landing side of 3 which puts you right there for the turn at 4.Connection looked strong and Taq seemed to have no questions! Super!
The bang game on the teeter is looking good too – she is seeming to be very confident and you had her jumping on right at the very end there. Yay! She wants to look up at you, so I want to convince her to get her head down more though (it will create a better weight shift). You can try a toy on the ground about 6 or 8 feet ahead (or the MM or food bowl) – this is a good challenge because it will get her head lower and looking ahead (don’t watch da momma!) and also will challenge the impulse control a bit of staying on the board and stopping in position (or jumping off to run to the reward :))
Great job here!
TracyHi!
The Tunnel threadles are going well! You can add more motion to them now (when doing the double tunnels) – after sending him into the tunnel, ru t the exit to connect to him, then move forward while threadling to the other side of the tunnel. Keep moving towards it until he turns himself away to the tunnel.
He had a little more trouble when you added the wing at first –
He was not really processing the verbal wrap cue so a name call can help there to kind of break through the exciting visual of the tunnel. You kept working it and he had a lightbulb moment:The sequence at 1:39 – 1:43 was great – you got his attention around the wing and turned really well then kept moving to the threadle side of the tunnel. Super! Moving towards the threadle entry on the tunnel really supports his commitment to it.
Doing it to the left seemed a lot easier for him – he processed the wrap cue immediately and really well. That s definitely his stronger side on this skill!!
But the right turns are coming along nicely too: the rep at 2:17 was great to the right! And then he finished strong – the last sequence to the left looked fabulous!
So for the next session, start with the left turns to refresh the skill and then that is going well switch to right turns.
The teeter is looking good! I think a couple more sessions at this tip is great then we can add more tip in a couple of days.
The zig zags are going well too – you can ‘flatten’ the angle a bit now for a harder challenge. That will widen the distance, so you will probably need to overlap the wings even more to maintain the bounce. As it gets harder, definitely have his reward already on the ground to help keep his head lower (that will promote the best jumping form).
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
You must have read my mind… I was thinking of you last night and wondering how your hand felt!!! No worries – take care of the hand and we still have until September 23rd to post videos!! Feel better and thank you for checking in!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
I agree – this went really well!!! Click/treat to you for making GREAT exit line connections!
At the beginning:
Going through the box past the tunnel looked great – nice exit line connection after the first jump!Adding the sequence:
Good timing on the check to get the tunnel exit – you were consistently strong with this timing for this session, so another click/treat for you! Yay!
You were a little decelerated the first time through there (3-4) at :37 so you almost got the front side, but you kept moving on all the other reps and she never looked at the front side. You can add more connection back to her (have your dog side arm back to her nose more) so she can see the connection and the backside wing more clearly and won’t need to glance up at you.
Terrific exit line connection on the 4 jump every time – on the video, it is so clear that I knew she would come to the correct line (even on the tunnel balance reps!)
One tiny blooper was when you were a little too early with your cues for 2 at 1:15 so she took the tunnel, no worries though – that was the only time it happened and you were great on the rest.
The full sequences starting at 1:32 were great: consistently clear timing of the check for the tunnel exit 3-4, great connection as you sent through the box, nice layering!
>>Am I doing the dig/dig/dig correctly here? Is it even supposed to be a dig/dig/dig?>>
Yes, it is a threadle wrap, so it is the dig dig. You were doing it correctly for sure!
She went to the backside there on the first full run – I think your forward cues in the layering were too powerful. Instead of a big GO ON for the layering, cue a right turn at 1:38 to bring her back to the dig dig jump.
At 2:03 you had some decel and her name and she turned right towards you after the layering. Super! And you got the left turn there back to the tunnel!!! And the last rep looked good there too.
The go was a little late at the very end on the first time through it, because you were pulling out the toy 🙂
Much better at 2:35 – the go verbal was right before she entered the tunnel and she saw your motion and she drove straight to the last jump.Terrific work here! It is fun to see her balance the tight turns with the big layers and GO lines. Great job showing it to her!
Tracy
