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Hi there!
First rep – good connection until you dropped back into the FC too soon but good to reward him 🙂
2nd rep – the FC looked really good in terms of timing, position, connection! Nice! He might have had a tiny bit of trouble on the 16 inch bar on the turn jump – it looks like he stumble on landing and falls on his head a little at :15.
3rd rep – also a really nice FC! He set himself up to turn differently there – a little more extended. I am not sure if he turns differently to the right versus to the left or if it was in response to stumbling a bit when turning the other direction? It is something to revisit here and there and see how he sets up – I think he probably just needs more experience on these.BC rep – 1st rep – you needed to drive him more on this, you were worried about getting to position to you didn’t drive him to #3 – he took it (GOOD BOY!) but slowed way down. 2nd rep was much better with driving him! You can go deeper into the tunnel to not get too far ahead. And yes… too early on the blind at :47 LOL! You did it as he was taking off for #3 and he wasn’t sure of what the next line was (bar down)
The Fc at :57 looked good again! I don’t think he stumbled here, I just think he gets low on landing and that is fine 🙂
On the BC at 1:04 and 1:10 – nice job driving him!! And yes, you are still too early LOL!! If you freeze it as you are finishing the blind and he is over the red jump t 1:06 and then over the white jump at 1:14 – you are showing him a cue to come to the backside (rather than stay on the line. And then you moved away from the tunnel and not towards it as much. Think of this blind as much of a serp then blind – run forward through the serp on the middle jump towards the center of the tunnel – and you can do the blind when he lands from the red jump (or white jump on the other side).So overall, really nice sessions!!! I am loving your connection and your FC timing (and connection on the exit of the crosses). His commitment looks great. Be more patient on those BCs on the serp lines. And also – he was fine on the 16″ jumps on the easy jumps… but because he had questions on the FC jump (and might have questions on the serp/blind jump) – do a couple of sequences with those at 12 or 14 so he can process all the cues that are happening without having to be too concerned about height.
Great job!
TracyBOOM! So nice! I loved the handling reps here. Your FCs on the 1st and 3rd reps were amazeballs – yes you had to hustle but you hustled, you stayed connected and your timing was fabulous: fully finished and connected AND in the right spot all before he took off. His turns looked great and you stayed connected to cue a great line to the tunnel. I freakin’ loved it!! Click/treat.
Your 2nd rep with the blind was *almost* perfect – good send away and good blind! You just got a little disconnected (rolled your shoulder forward as you cued the tunnel) and a little in his way. A more experienced dog would just shove you out of the way but he got distracted by something (dirt kicking up?) but no big deal – keep your connection back to him, arm back, after the blind and it will be perfect.So this is exactly what we want in training (it was fun to see it!!) but we don’t want this:
>>Spot was barking, whining and howling
Partially we don’t want it because we just don’t want to hear it LOL! We like calm crate manners 🙂 And partially we don’t want him to exhaust himself.
2 ideas for you on this:
When he is resting in his crate, turn up the music in the car, do only ‘boring’ things with Wager, and then go get Spot back out while he is still quiet.
And in the moments when you want to do more active things with Wager, leave Spot with a fabulous something to chew, or a Manners Minder to drop treats into his crate. You might have to get creative with the MM: you can duct tape it closed and put it in the crate. Or you can take the plastic tray off of the outside and put it on top of a wire crate. Or, if you have a plastic crate, you can get a tube or a funnel and attach it to the cookie exit hole so it drops cookies in to the crate (I need to make one of these for Contraband this week). That way you can have both the fabulous training runs AND the quiet crate dog 🙂
Great job here!Tracy
Hi! Ladder grid – he is taking a tap step (tapping his front feet on the ground in front of jump 1 after you release him) to get organized right before the first jump which generally means he is not quite thinking about his hind end yet there. Set him up a couple of inches closer to the first jump so he doesn’t have room to do the tap step, he has to push right off from his hind end.
He is coming in a little bit long on the first couple of intervals then having to rock back (saving his balance) so setting up closer might help this. And more experience 🙂 So you can revisit this with the same amount of motion once a week or every 2 weeks or so. I suggest that one-a-week-or-2 thing only because the list of things to do is getting long and he is doing really well on this, so it can go into “maintenance mode”.Wing wrap to ladder: This is harder 🙂 With all of the speed, he got off balance on 2 of the 5 so we definitely want to revisit this more frequently than every couple of weeks. You can decrease the distraction a tiny bit by not talking for now – he can read it on body language and when he can balance back before the first jump (to be able to stay balanced) then you can add in more verbals.
FC/BC
On your FCs and BCs – overall going really really well!
A couple of things to obsess on while we wait for this rain to pass:
>>I think I am still reaching back too far into the landing side.On the FCs, I think what is happening is that on some of them, you are starting the FC by reaching towards him with your outside arm which pulls you more to the landing side than you want to be. Try to NOT engage that outside arm on these type of FCs, as it doesn’t help with the turn and delays you from getting outta there, plus pulls you off the next line. On these FCs, try to drop your dog-side arm back and away and then make connection across the body with that same (formerly) dog-side arm. Yes, the opposite arm gets engaged but only because it is the new side – not because it is the active cue. This is different than wraps, where for many dogs we do use that opposite arm as part of the active cue (which is what you also do, I believe).
Speaking of wraps – you are definitely in wrap-all-the-things mode! LOL! By the FC/BC video on your right, you were pretty much wrapping him on these, doing very collected turns. Put a leash on the ground so you can work on staying on the fluffy lines for diagonal crosses, so he learns to make turns in slicing/moderate collection and not just wrap collection.
On the first FC/BC video:
1st rep started on time (loved it!!) but this one you reached across with the outside arm. The 2nd rep started a little late (you can go deeper into the tunnel so you can get moving ahead sooner) but better drop back of dog-side arm to get into the FC – and it felt better, right? You were saying something about that on the video.
3rd rep blind – good timing – you switched the toy into the dog-side hand and then there was discussion about it. The toy across the body is a human-training aid intended to keep the dog-side shoulder opened back to him more and therefore more connected on the exit line… so don’t switch it 🙂 If you switch it and reward from the dog-side arm, you are rehearsing closing your connection forward. When there is a toy dragging from the hand, he will generally find the line but without a toy, it is much harder for him plus it is rehearsal of mechanics you don’t want.
Last one on this clip: perfect!
I really like how you are emphasizing your timing on the cues!!! Nice!FC on right video: you were in wrappish mode on this one LOL! On the FCs, opposite arm reaching towards him which might be why you feel you are reaching too much to landing side (plus you were bringing him into the gap similarly to a wrap, which might have contributed too)
We have a great visual on the importance of the mechanics of exit line connection using the toy to help here: After the BC at :19 (2nd to last one), he drifts a tiny bit and takes a moment to drive in – toy in the dog-side hand doesn’t show connection so he had to wait to see the toy. This is the equivalent to a dog drifting until he sees the next obstacle on course when connection isn’t clear enough.
Compare that to perfect mechanics on the next rep at :27 (last rep here): no drift, he drives right into the new line because connection was clear. Boom! So that is why we obsess on the mechanics, and when the exit line connection becomes second nature, we fade out the toy across the body 🙂 Training the mechanics like this is from Jenny Damm and Tereza Kralova, and Voodoo is ever thankful to them because now he doesn’t have to wait to see the next line after a cross haha!!!>>CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW PUP! Name?
Thanks! It is utterly lunatic to get another pup right now… but I had trouble resisting her and she is related to so many of the dogs in my house. Sigh. We don’t fully have a name yet. We are playing with Declaration (from a Hamilton lyric, naturally haha) calling her Dec or Decla for short. She is one singularly independent don’t-need-no-stinkin’-cookies 5-pound beast!
>>Do you think it is time for me to raise them in some of the drills where he is more experienced? Right now, I am mostly still using jump bumps or 8 to 10″ bars for everything. I just want to be smart about when and where to raise them. Thanks!
Great question! He is just a bit over a year, right? I like to raise bars on extension lines first, so check out the tunnel exits game I posted this week! That is a good one to bring bars to 12 then 14 then 16 over the course of a few weeks. And if that goes well, you can add low bars to the wrap stuff. Slices are usually the most difficult jumping efforts (and wraps) so I save thos e for later on. You can also show him more height in the set point jump and the one stride jumps, that is where all of my dogs see height for the first time.
Great job here, let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think this session went better than you thought it did! Yes, he was powering through but he wasn’t flinging or going ass-over-teakettle (scientific term 🙂 ).
>>I closed it down to about 10′ and that would have been a nice 1 stride for him but I can see in the video that because he’s reaching for that 3rd bounce jump he’s landing too close to it and needing to extend to get this at 10′ (in the moment I couldn’t tell that the bounce was too wide).
What was the distance between the bounce jumps? 4 feet? You can set them up closer but not by too much, maybe 6 inches, so you can try 3.5 and see how it goes. Many dogs do not do perfect landings in the middle and that is fine as long as he is balanced. I think if we go shorter than 3.5 feet it will be uncomfortable for him.
>>I think if I’d had those 3 bounce jumps set up closer together he could have more easily bounced right through, landing and taking off in the center between each of them and then landing more comfortable in an arc after jump 3 (so not having to reach for that jump 4).
It is worth it to see on the next session, but we don’t want to compress him too much because it might take him longer to power up after it.
For example, at speed on the last jump, you won’t get the perfect geometric arc and watching his process at 12 and 15 feet – he was retaining form, not inverting, and not losing his hind end.
>>I moved it out to 15′ feeling sure that would give him a nice 2 strides but instead he just extended out and basically left out a stride to take it as a single stride (and that’s still with the bounce too wide so still reaching for jump 3). Ugh!!>>
Actually, it wasn’t an ugh moment for me, it was more of a “cool, he is sorting out how to do a 1 stride at 15 feet!” If it was flinging, he would have been miles over the bar, like at the 22″ cup. I have seen little dogs do that and that is a definite ugh.
>>So, I extended it out to 18′ and finally got him to put in the 2 strides.
Yes, he did a modified 2 stride, meaning he was in relative collection, knowing that a 1 stride would be a not-good idea LOL!! Good boy 🙂
>>He’s pretty athletic and rarely touches bars, so he’s getting away with this stuff, without severe consequences for him but I do think it would be more ideal if he was a little more fluent in reading distances and adjusting his stride accordingly.>>
Yes, he is an athletic little dude for sure!! But he is doing a good job with his body here. So an idea for you: shorten up the ladder element of a grid a little bit (6 inches) and show him each distance to jump 4 twice. Ask him what he thought about it 🙂 So at 12 and 15 and 18 feet, seeing it twice, he will either say “I can do it again, that felt great” or “Let me change something”. It will be interesting to see what he does! But overall, he is not getting himself ‘into trouble’ with inverted spine or flinging back legs that many dogs do when they are in trouble, he is staying in control.
>>P.S. Toy is a lotus ball with treats in it, is always on the ground and about 2 strides after the last jump.
Perfect! He was really focused nicely on it.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He is doing really well on these, rounding his form, heading down, thinking about his jumping. Yay! I watch them in slow motion to see if he is asking questions that we can’t see at full speed. On the 5 jump grid, he certainly noticed the motion! On the 2nd rep, he rattled the 2nd bar. And on the rep at :15 where you started parallel to him, he rattled 2 and 3. So if you see that,dial back the challenge. With motion, do a couple of sessions where you are still ahead of him, maybe leading out to jump 3 so he can get really balanced. And then add the distraction of being at jump 2 or parallel at jump 1 more gradually (not all in one session) so he can stay balanced, maybe starting one foot further back each time. On the wing-to-ladder, he was getting a little off balance in the last interval, so leave it at 3 jumps for now with all of the fast running. You can use 4 jumps but with less speed, so he can come in balanced and hold his balance.
Nice work here!
TracyHi! I was scared when you said it you were too embarrassed to post this, but it was really a fine session LOL!!
I love that she was so pumped up to play here! You were really working the connection and sending, and I think that is why you were doing the spins and not the FCs. They were nice spins LOL! Nothing to be embarrassed about though! The FC line should be the same line as you ran with the BCs (those were really good). I think the issue was that your body was all like “WE DON’T DO FCs THERE! We DO BCs THERE!!” hahaha!!! And that is fine – I agree, it is a better BC spot 🙂 This week will have more FC opportunities.The BC looked good through the pinwheel at 1:03, After you connect on landing, you can slde that cross arm out of the way to help her commit to the last jump. On the next 2 reps on the other side – you were getting a little pointy for the middle jump – pointing forward when she was behind you, which broke the connection so she came off the line (perhaps thinking you were already cuing the blind?)
You helped her on the next 2 reps by going in a little closer and staying MUCH more connected – lovely!
The BCs on the other side are more comfy for you in general, you are more connected started on your right so remember to be that same level of connected starting on your left too! No worries about missing the first jump right at the end, she was set up a little sideways to it – a green dog error to not be able to adjust, no biggie. You were correct to carry on like it didn’t happen.Nice work here!!!!
Hi there!
Yay, so much better! The first 2 reps looked really strong with timing and connection. And yes, you were too early at :31 (woot woot!) but then you fixed it on the next rep. Last rep looked lovely too! You were really working the *just enough* commitment on all of these to show the line but also turning early – it looks like she had no questions. She had really nice turns too!! And her squeaking is a sign that she was chasing your line the whole time, and that is correct. YAY!! The only thing to add is…. verbals 🙂 In the heat of the moment when things move that fast, remember to use your words 🙂 Great job here!!!! Perfect timing to have nailed it so now we move on to week 3’s fun 🙂Tracy
Hi!
>>I’m having a problem with him running into me on the front crosses on the 1 jump. If I do it on the 2 jumps he does fine.It is definitely harder on one jump! It might be happening because you are reaching the outside arm towards him on the FC rather than dropping back the dog side arm? See below for what I mean 🙂
On the video:
I am really liking how he is committing to the jump after the tunnel!
On the middle pinwheel jump, you can give him more connection as he lands from the previous jump (arm back, eyes on his eyes) to support commitment at :28 and :43. It looks like you started looking forward too early so he went into handler focus and came into you, perhaps anticipating the blind cross.
Your blind at :52 looked great!!
The pinwheel to the blind on the other side looked really good at 1:07! It looks like you held connection a little longer and had your verbals going, setting up a nice blind!
He did well with his commitment on the FC at 1:26 and also at 1:38!! You can start it sooner (which probably also means sending him away to the tunnel more so you can get up there). It also looks like you were moving more towards the center of the bar on the blue jump (the FC jump) and not as much towards the next jump, so resist the magnetic pull of the jump bar and stay outside the wings on the FCs, heading to the next jump (the red jump here). It think as you start the FC, you are turning towards him with your outside arm and that is pulling you towards the center of the bar. So to stay on the correct line, think of the FC more as dropping back with your dog side arm rather than reaching for him with the opposite arm. I also think you will find the blinds much easier on these type of turns 🙂Great job!
TracyHi!
>>before it rains all week!Smart!!!! We will add extra time to the class because most folks are going to lose this entire week to rain rain rain rain and then I think it is going to rain more. Ewwww!
I think the tunnel is helping in our anti-leaping crusade!!! She is still figuring out how to drive past you (she looks up at a little when she needs to go past you) but I am happy with her jumping effort here! Watch her start line – I think at the end she was thinking about leaving early as you added motion 🙂
In between rain drops (or next weekend, which might be the next possible time) you can add more motion to this and also you can use the wing wrap to the short ladder. I think you should keep the tunnel out ahead – her form is still good and she is not leaping!Stay dry! Great work on all of these!
T
Hi again!
Ah yes, the sequences are easier for you because you have taught her commitment really nicely! The first FC looked really good – she was a little wide on the jump after the tunnel but I think that was just a product of a lot of giddy up from her, and I am fine with that 🙂 Timing on the FC at :07 was good and she had no trouble finding the jump after it. On the tunnel at the end of it, you disconnected and turned your feet away so she came with you. Look her right in her cute eyes and say tunnel a few times, and keep moving towards it until she is really committed. It will get easier as she gets more experience.2nd FC (other side) was a bit late but I think it was mainly because you didn’t get quite as far ahead on the line as you did on the previous rep. She also didn’t go in the tunnel (:21) so try to exaggerate the connection as you say the cue to her (you were looking forward and pointing forward).
3rd FC rep – VERY nice on all elements: connected, timely FC, great connection to convince her to take the tunnel at :33. Click/treat for you both.
4th FC rep – FC was nice! She was really turning and burning! Connection back to her on the tunnel cue was not as good as the previous rep – you looked forward and leaned back so she didn’t take it.
1st BC rep – nice! 2nd BC rep – EVEN nicer! On both of these, you were really working the timing and it looked good – and I think it helped you stay further ahead and even more connection on the tunnels after them!
3rd & 4th BC reps (landing side of the jump before the tunnel) – these looked less comfy for you but you did nicely on them too! She is committing so nicely, it is great to be able to just tweak handling for her. Try sending her away to #3 (2nd jump after the tunnel) so you can get past #4 sooner (jump before tunnel). You were supporting her more than needed with motion towards 3, so that made you a little late getting to the BC on 4 – so you ended up on her line a bit and she went around you. If you send, you can get across that jump sooner to set a nicer line.
I know you mentioned the BCs are less comfy for you but you are doing a great job and she seems to really like them!!!!
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
>> I also have been watching the videos in slow motion which really helped. She really makes me run fast!
OMG yes, I am thankful for the slow motion on youtube because she is small and FAST – I watch all of your videos in slow motion. A truly Champagne Problem hahaha!!!!
The crosses here are looking earlier, yay! Being ahead is helping you you being able to time then sooner which is not easy with the tiny sports car you are running LOL! Her commitment looks good. Now we can obsess on running line: You were overhelping a little by getting between the uprights o nthe cross jump, which draws a wider line for her. So, stay just outside the wing of the jump, to move to the next jump. That should help tighten it up even more. It looks like you have also done the sequences – yay! They might be easier because you can send her to the tunnel and get away up the line 🙂
Lovely job!
TracyGood morning!
One-two jumps:
yes, keep playing with cuing *before* takeoff. It is going to feel really uncomfortbale but we can totally break the habit of being late – you generally are waiting for her to takeoff then you turn. It is not a big deal on a low bar on one or two jumps, but it will be a big deal when we get to faster courses and higher bars. So – your set up spot for her was really good. When you release her and see her start to move, start your cross even if it feels early. Have your videographer yell NOW or something hahaha Try to be too early rather than too late (and reward her no matter what she does as you are messing around with timing 🙂3 jumps:
1st rep at :48 she didn’t take jump 2, This was because when she landed from 1, you were looking ahead and pointing ahead, so she was looking at you (it looked like the beginning of a blind cross). Try to have your arm back nd eyes on her when she lands from 1 and tell her to jump 2 before starting the cross.
Same thing happened at :58 (your head turn was really obvious and she was paying attention) you got her to take the jump by moving closer to it but connection will add independence.You can also ‘prime the pump’ on all of these by doing a pinwheel with connection before you add the crosses.
You got her to take 2 on the blind and also when you changed sides for the FC and BC – but you were late on both, starting when she was in the air.
Nice chicken photo bomb hahaha!
At 2:07 you threw in a lovely connected pinwheel with verbals! YESSSS more of this please 🙂
On the last 2 reps, you had the pinwheel and nice connection but then you were late on the cross on landing from 3 – you would need to send her away to the middle jump to be able to out run her (I am glad she is moving so FAST!!!!!)
So I think you will have an easier time with these if you have more connection on landing of 1 to help commit to 2 – and when you see her land from 1 and look at 2, use your verbal jump cue and start the cross.
VERY lovely job with all of your reinforcement!!!! You are really emphassizing that and it looks great!
Tracy
Good morning!
>> I started with the FC, BC thing.
The reps of those looked good – nice crosses, nice connection! You can go to the sequences on these for sure.
>> On the FC, BC thing I see I’m still late on my FC’s. It feels like I’m moving faster than I am, but once I look at it on video…sigh.
I think the timing was fine for working it on one jump here, and the sequences will give you more of a feel for the timing and connection,
>>He was happy to play with a toy for the first few reps then I lost him.
I think there are a combination of factors (difficulty of task plus heat!) so I think you should go into one-hit-wonder mode… get one rep, cool in the pool, he gets to rest in the shade, Wager gets to play… then get another rep. Always end before he does. He has never known heat like this because he hasn’t been alive that long 🙂 My 7.5 month old puppy was born in October so when it got hot this past weeked, he was exhausted after one zoom around the yard.
Plus, ending the session before he does will build the value of the game and of the reinforcement! He won’t associate being hot with the jumps or with the toy, for example, and over time he will develop a lot more stamina for longer sessions.
1st 2 reps of the grid were good! I would have ended the session on either the 1st or second rep. The 3rd rep and 4th reps had harder challenges (you lead out a lot less) plus he was hot… he didn’t fully understanding the driving ahead and was looking at your hands a bit – plus the MM loses value fast in the heat. The last rep was a better challenge in terms of you leading out further – but he was done by then.
>> Will keep at it with me past the last jump dog on right and work back from there.
yes – keep at it…. but one rep at a time. In the heat, I don’t think he is ready for even 3 or 4 reps (my puppy isn’t either and we don’t have the same heat that you do!). Try the one- rep-at-a-time strategy and see how it goes. You will actually end up with faster learning and more efficient sessions, because he will be more engaged with the session and with the reinforcement. And if it is cool out, you can get more in – but still quit before he does 🙂
Let me know what you think! Fingers crossed for cooler days ahead!
TracyGood morning!
>>He looked the same so I added about 3 feet and now that I look back at it was way too hard. I will go back to single jumps and move the last jump one foot. the 1st rep was at 15 feet the last was 18 feet.
I watch the grids in slow motion because it is so hard to see what is going on with a small fast dog 🙂 Even in my own training sessions, I do maybe 2 reps then go watch the video 🙂
>>He has not seen the double that much so I am not surprised he had trouble. I will need to start adding different types of jumps so he can start getting use to them. When do you introduce triple and broad jumps? I think he is old enough now.
I add all of those in set points, at the lowest possible setting. Maybe one session a week to introduce the concept is all that is needed for now.
T
