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Good morning!
>>1. when should I be using the outside arm to cue directionals…according to your feedback and then with Jessica today, I guess I am overusing that physical cue.
I use that outside arm to cue a behavior in a couple of different places: a threadle, a get out (those two are big arm cues), as a soft brake for a left or right (90 degree eangle). I use it for myself for exit line connection after a cross with a young dog, but that is not to cue the dog – it is more to get my connection opened up back to the dog as they exit a FC or BC. Then on all other regular lines and on serps and stuff – no opposite arm.
>>2. when you say cue him before he enters the tunnel so he does better on the exits, what verbal am I using here because he really isn’t turning but just coming to me sort of straight out. Just use his name right after I say “tunnel”?>>
If it is a soft turn (not a wrap or a hard turn), then an attention verbal such as his name is perfect.
>>Also, I thought the lap turn and the throw back looked confusing and I still don’t think I understand in this scenario how to make it look different. I watched your videos and the feet are kind of similar? I know the hand and the eye connection is different but as he comes out of the tunnel – to me it looks the same initially. And on the lap turn, there is one step backward correct? But no stepping back on the throw-back?>>
Correct, the connection and hand motion (and verbal) are what makes then different. On the lap turn, the timing of the rotation is also earlier and your position is slightly different (closer to the wing you want him to turn on). You would generally be turned before he exits the tunnel and facing him. On the throw back, as he exits he can be seeing your transition into the rotation.
There can be a step back on both of them, but it looks different – the lap turn is that very distant step back and it is also later than on the throw back (it happens when he is arriving at your hand). On the throw back, the step back is pretty subtle (just part of the momentum) or non-existent, depending on how strong the dog’s skill is.
There is a subtle difference but timing and position make it clear to the dogs.let me know if that makes sense 🙂
Tracy
We haven’t done the longer sequence for week 2 yet and you just posted week 3! I still didn’t catch up with a week break! Tomorrow is a day of rest so we’ll try to get up to speed over the weekend.
Thanks for the updates! I am glad the boys are doing so well!!
You ca always let Buddy watch Mookie for a moment – then do one run with Buddy while he is fired up – then back to Mookie 🙂 That can give you 2 fired up dogs to run 🙂
And your observations about how to shift connection for each sounds pretty spot on. Mookie is definitely a “look at his eyes” boy and I can see Buddy liking the swoosh to the landing spot a whole lot. Very cool to see the differences in the boys!!!!!New stuff comes out on Saturday, I think you will have fun with it!!
TracyHi again!
These are going well!!!On the spins at the beginning: She is doing so nicely with her commitment, that this is also a spot where you might not have to shift your connection to the landing spot as you do them: look at her eyes, cues the jump with your arm while yo are rotating… but then just do the blind and look over your new side so it is finished before she comes around the wing. It is a pretty advanced technique (we do work on this later in the class :)) but I think she is ready for it now! Yay!
FCs:
These also look really good! Your exit line connection at :34 REALLY produced the best turn on these reps. You were good at :45 too and on the first FC, but you were not quite *as* connected as :34 on the exit line (you were really looking at her there) and her line back around the jump was fabulous. The connection shift coming into it on all reps looked good – you shifted to her eyes and rotated nice and early and she was great! So fun to see how strong her commitment is!Last sequence:
The toy fell out in the perfect spot on the first rep LOL!
The spin and commitment looked good on all of these reps but we can smooth out the line into it, which will smooth out the line out of it. On the 1-2 line, try to be more laterally away from her rather than running close to the line – by being close to the line, you ended up being late on the FC on the tunnel exit, so her line there was a little wider and then the momentum pulled your running line a bit out past the exit wing, which made her line wider too. Leading out more laterally will allow you to start your FC before she enters (because you will be further across the tunnel when she enters it) so it is done before she exits. Yo can also do a blind there, it might be even quicker to finish it before she exits. And as you finish the FC or BC, you can be heading to where the wing meets the bar on the turn wing – so when you do the spin, she can land tight and come right back around it.
Also, being done with the FC sooner will give you a moment to set up the rotation sooner and look at her eyes. On these, because you were finished the FC and she was bearing down on you 🙂 your connection ending up swooshing to the landing spot and she was a tiny bit wide. It was not that wide, but based on the turns you were getting when you shifted to her eyes – it is definitely worthwhile to try to get the shift to her eyes here.You two are looking great! It is fun to be able to look at these tiny details because everything else is going so nicely 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Lots of good stuff to look at here! In general, it is all looking good so now we are into the tiny details for best possible turns and lines.
First sequence: FC. All of the speed circle lines before the FC looked great! Smooth and connected and FAST! I think the best turn on the FC was when you looked at her eyes:
At :08, you shifted a bit to landing spot and your arm was a bit high so she was a little wide
:24 had better better rotation a bit earlier, maybe connection shifted to your hand? Better turn than the first rep but not as good as at :37 where it looks liked you looked at her eyes more directly and it created the tightest turn. Nice!Sequence 2: Lap turn
These are going well, you got her turn on all 3 lap turns (:47, :57, 1:08)! She had good collection in front of the jump on these, i looked like you were looking at her eyes on each (perhaps on the last one you shifted down to your hand but it started with looking directly at her eyes). She did nicely with you looking at her eyes, so keep doing that on this move 🙂 You can set a nicer line before it by calling her before she enters the tunnel so she exits tighter and expecting to drive to you. I see what you mean by the wideness after landing. Yes, it might be that your arm was too high, blocking connection – at :48 she looked up at you to double check. A lower hand will show more connection which should smooth it out. Also, using your verbals sooner will help: as soon as she has turned away and approaches the jump to take off, you can go to your go tunnel verbal to help her drive out.Sequence 3: Throwback
She read these nicely too, she didn’t appear to have any trouble telling that these were different from the lap turns – nice job!!!
You can call her sooner (before entering the tunnel) here too to get a tighter line to jump 3. At 1:28 you had the smoothest throwback, starting with looking at her eyes. It seems like she is committing pretty early (which is a good thing!) so I bet you do not have to shift your connection to landing on this – you can try a soft arm motion without turning your head, which will get you to the blind sooner. The blinds (looking over your left arm) were a little late because you shifted to landing then had to turn to your left shoulder – but she was flying so the reconnection happened after she came around the wing and she had to wait. I bet she can do it without you looking behind you, which allows the reconnection to be done before she comes around the wing.Sequence 4:
Good timing on your blind at 1:38! But she back jumped on the next jump. You were late on the blind on the next rep, but she did NOT back jump the next jump. Timing was good again on the blind at 2:03 but then you ended up getting a rear cross on the next jump at 2:05. It went really well on the last rep (timing was a little late on the blind and you held the spin a little later to get commitment. So I think what we are seeing here is that doing the on time blind while getting ahead on the line is putting you too far ahead on the next line – so you end up slowing down and having to wait, which was why things were going wrong. On the late blind, you moved into the jump after it and she did well! So… don’t be late if possible LOL! But do run closer to the line for the blind cross jump, so when you finish it you will still be moving forward to the next jump. And it is possible that the spin on the next jump it too tight – you can try a decel and shoulder turn and see how it goes! This is where we have more option for small dog handling – generally staying closer to the lines on a sequence like this can help get the good timing in place AND commitment to the line after it.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Haha, always better to play with the dog than to mulch leaves LOL!! Is the snow still there or did it melt quickly?
I think he is doing really well on the ladder grid! You can add motion to it now, he seems really strong on it! And maybe at a 4th jump at an equal distance away from the others. This eventually goes up to 5 jumps. The 6 inch height is still fine if you add motion and one more jump as a challenge.His butt looked much better on the reps when you were moving as opposed to the reps where you were stationary out at the target. And also when you were out there but tossed the ball. I watched it a few times and I think that he is just powering through his rear more in those situations – and you standing still out there is dull compared to that LOL! One of my dogs is like that too 🙂 So, let’s keep on having you move! I mean, agility is a moving sport 🙂 and as the bar comes up, we can help him power over it. His form is good either way, but the real power comes when you (or the ball) is moving. Maybe one more session like this at 10 and then try 12!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I think what happens when I’m farther away from the tunnel is I am waiting to see her to make connection. That’s not necessary for the verbal. >>
Yes! You can totally use the verbals early and often 🙂
T
Hi there!
>> I think my arms were a tad quieter here.
Yes! I think you looked really good here!
>>Eden turns better to the left but I’m better to her right.
Yes, I agree 🙂 But at the end, she got her right turn too! I think on the first couple of right turn RCs it was just a matter of being a little too late then a little too early. The RCs on the other side looked great – nice patience at the wing then you drove her into it and she read them well! You transferred it to the left turn really well and she nailed it 🙂 All of the GO reps looked great – she was really flying, so awesome to see her having fun!
Great job!!
TracyHi! I think the trick to verbals is to add them in gradually so it is easy to remember them all 🙂 You can add in a switch to mean ‘turn away’ and then match your rear cross body language to it. It is a very useful verbal!
For the other set up – you can see it on the video where I am on the landing side of the jump near the wing closer to the tunnel. I will also get the drawing program open and see if I can draw it 🙂
Tracy
Hi! She did so well here! You did a great job helping her out – she is so young that she needed the handling 🙂 She got the ‘lay of the land’ here in this session (great stay!!) so that you have the 3rd wing in, you can work to help her be quick in her back and forth on both sides.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
About the hand across the body on the exit of the blind – yes, I will still use it a bit even with another obstacle coming – it helps keep me from flailing my dog-side arm on the send or cue to the next obstacle LOL! As the pups get more experienced, you won’t need to use much arm across the body but it is good to keep the arms down in general.On the Diamond – so connected on the wraps into the tunnel! Nice! As he exits the tunnel, that is a spot to make more connection with the dog side arm way back – he was coming in a little off the line and looking at you – it is clearer to see when he is on your right at :24, for example. So reach your eyes back into the tunnel and that will help him be able to find the line on the exit. And that in turn will help you be able to turn sooner because he will commit sooner. Some of the blind crosses were harder because they started a little late but you were definitely getting the idea of the timing, like at :33! Really nice! And you had your arm back there so he drove directly to the next wing. At :43 your timing was also good, and you had good connection when he exited the wing – but you pointed forward to the wing after it before he passed you… so it looked like a blind and he ended up on the wrong side of you. Keeping the dog side arm back will act as a send (sounds so counterintuitive, right?) You had more connection after the blind at 1:00 and he sent really nicely 🙂
Nice rocking horse front crosses at 1:10! I think he ran past the tunnel at 1:13 simply because he was coming out of handler focus at high speed and was just running fast. Wheee! I don’t think you were in the way. He found it nicely on the next rep, no problem! You were a little on his line on the FC out of the tunnel at 1:28 but in a much better spot for it at 1:39 and 1:54. Those were complex moments and he did well! When you did the rocking horse with the blinds, you can see how nicely he is picking those up! And you had really great connection there, and also when you did the blind between the 2 blue wings at 2:23 and 2:37 NICE!! He committed so you could be timely and connected so he had a really nice turn! That set up really nice ending lines on those 2 reps and also the last rep. I think he had the toy on those so he was faster, but you also drove harder through the handling and it looked really good!
On the RC versus Go versus backside video – he did well! Ideally the wrap on the wing is a FC, but it is OK if it is not 🙂 a post turn there is fine as long as we set him up to drive the next line.
On the Go reps, these are looking good! You can throw a little sooner, he was looking up a bit rather than forward. He did really well on the RCs! You can’t really throw sooner on those (because he has to get past you) but he read those really nicely! He still wants to look up at you but I think it has more to do with the ball than with the RC line 🙂 You ran a really strong line there and he seemed to read them all perfectly! On the backsides: when he was on your right, it looks like you were showing more of the wing so he didn’t go as wide to the backside. When he was on your left later in the video, you were driving harder to the outside edge of the wing, so he was going wider there. He still committed to the backside, but try driving more towards the center of the bar so he can see the whole bar, and see how he does in terms of staying in nice and tight to the backside wing.Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHoly cow, that sounds like a CRAZY time with the BC pup!!! Oh my! I hope Flurry’s rehab is going well!
Any sequence work is worth posting, I am glad you got some video! He was fast and happy 🙂
On the first video, he just needed you to be a little earlier on the FC at 3 (:05) – you were looking ahead at the jump when he exited the tunnel so by the time you reconnected you ended up being a little late. You decelerated, though, and he found that helpful and still did a really nice turn!! You had nice exit line connection there too. The right on 5 could be a little sooner, but everything was nicely connected and smooth! He was moving really fast so it put pressure on your timing 🙂
The second run also looked really good! You were quicker to reconnect after the tunnel (#2 here) so that set a nicer line to #3 and 4. The FC on 4 at :14 was a little late (that was why the bar came down) but the exit line connection was great! And nice FC on the ending line!So this was totally worth working as a last minute thing – they were very close to the class sequences and the challenges ended up being the same: staying connected in and out of crosses, plus a bit of the serp line too! Great job!!!!!!
TracyHi! Having the weaves there adds big handler challenge, I love it!
Looking at it in sections:
Nice 1-2-3 line! He is doing such a nice job with the jumping effort!!One thing we see is that Enzo likes info on the tunnel exits as earlier as possible – so try to give a verbal before entering and also get a little further past the exit to make a strong connection while he is still in the tunnel, to get the best line on the exit. At :03 and :18 he is curling into you and has to go back out. He didn’t really curl in at :46 and 1:06 (maybe a little head turn?) but you were also a little further ahead and you showed a really good line away from the tunnel entry which helps support the exit.
In the middle:
At :05 the left on 4 was a bit late/ wide which led to the RC on 5 looking like a weave cue. Switch needed to be followed by more info plus handler decel.
The FC at :18 on was nice – timely, connected, in a good position. A little more exit line connection where the left arm is out of the way so he can see your eyes more will get a faster line back to 5. :47 was good too, but not quite as early as :18 so the turn was not quite as good. The FC at 1:07 was REALLY good getting into it, you were fully rotated and leaving as he was lifting off! Nice! More exit line connection (eyes strongly back to his eyes, dog-side arm way back) will get rid of the drifting you see on landing at 1:08 – he almost went to 6 there. At 1:38 you also had a nice FC and as he was exiting at 1:40, you did reach back to connect with him and that was the moment he drove back in on the line.On the rotation at 5 at :22 and :51 you were backing up as you did it – backwards motion is the same as forward motion so he almost weaved. That caused a bit of wideness on 6 and 7 but at 8 (:28) he just needed you to leave one step sooner to get a better turn there – send and leave so you were facing 9 before he took off for 8. You left sooner at 1:16 and it set up a nicer line, just be sure to then continue leaving rather than running a parallel line towards where the teeter is (1:49 had too much parallel line).
As you approach 5 at 1:09, you gave a strong connection shift to his eyes – totally helped!! It got his head turned a lot more so he turned to 6 much sooner after landing. He still had questions though, flipping his eyes longingly at the weaves 🙂 A stronger exit line connection there will help( more eyes on his eyes and your left arm back behind you, even using your right arm across your body to open up the connection)
At :54 you didn’t fully finish the rotation to 7 so he flipped away to the weaves (I think he really loves to weave LOL!) but your feet were pointing that direction.
Going back to the #5 jump – I think the strong connection to his eyes at 1:09 got the best collection before takeoff. For handling ideas – you can try these and see which one(s) work the best:
– get to the exit line connection on your right side sooner and a more exaggerated exit line connection (left arm back, right arm across the body ).
– reverse v-set it more, by shaping the line with you in the middle of the bar (I would probably reverse v-set it with Voodoo) so there is no motion at all towards the weaves as you cue it
– you can delay the blind and do it more a sort of a flip: For a heartbeat, as you move away, make a connection on your right side (like a FC) til he lands and his head most definitely is NOT going to the weaves, then do a quick BC to your right side.The other side is the training side: stronger wrap verbal (you did say “easy” but I am not sure if that is your wrap verbal or just a general collection cue?). And also working a ‘proofing’ game of wrap versus other obstacle as distraction. We are doing that proofing in the current puppy handling class if you are interested in seeing the game? Let me know and I can dig up the video – it is not something we did with the Enzo generation but I have added it to the next generation because it is so useful 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! It is always good to send in the videos you don’t like, because it gives us great stuff to look at!
FC sequence – you can do it sooner so he already sees you just about finished at :05 and :13. He was in the air when you started it. He was anticipating the turn based on decel so he still had a nice turn – the earlier rotation will make for a better exit line. Heck yes to the better timing at :23! I totally agree 🙂 And it wasn’t just better timing – you shifted your connection to his eyes more which also set up a nicer collection AND you had a clear exit line connection. As he was jumping at :24, you were fully rotated and moving the next direction, but also making fabulous connection back to him. Click/treat to you! Such a nice turn 🙂
Spin sequence – this looks good, not as late as you might have felt!! The first two at :31 and :40 were nice – good timing (can be a little earlier but you spin fast so the connection when he landed was clear) and nice line. But the last one at :48 was my favorite – you were earlier on the timing, a bit more shifted to his eyes, and more tucked into the jump so he had a better line back to the tunnel – really nice!!!
On the spin on the other side of 3 – I liked these but I also think they can be tighter. You can get them a little tighter with a name call right before he goes into the tunnel and a very strong connection shift to his eyes as he is exiting the tunnel. You were looking at him then connected to the landing spot, which gave him a little too much swoosh and he was a little wider on the exit there.
Looking at Jake’s lines there, he is more experienced at setting himself up in front of the jump – and better collections created the better exit lines. With Jake, he sets up the turn with you shifting connection to look at the landing spot, so I think Juno needs a slightly different cue on those: longer eye contact for Juno til he collects, and with Jake you can swoosh more to the landing spot 🙂 Jake also read the switch away from you really nicely!!I think you did a really nice job on this video!! Yes, there was some things that can be a hair earlier but you got earlier and earlier on each rep. For the next session, you can play with trying to get the timing so early it is almost too early and see how he commits – and definitely more shifting connection to Juno’s eyes, he seems to find it really helpful 🙂
TracyHi! The beginning of your videos always crack me up! I will be heading to Walmart to get the $7 pants!!!
I think your first run was pretty rockin’! The entire opening was picture perfect in terms of connection and timing, and her response tells us that she read it easily. My only little nitpick is that you can start the spin sooner so that it is finished sooner, but that is a TINY nitpick LOL!! She did really well.
I agree – 2nd rep is my favorite too. Perhaps a tiny bit earlier on the cue for the tandem turn in the opening and then your spin was earlier too. Nice! Rep 3 and rep 4 had slightly later cues but we are talking in tiny fractions here and nothing to really obsess on – everything was on time and fully connected. The 4-5 turn is hard for all dogs and she read a really nice line on it!!! The only thing to try would be to replace the spin with a ‘soft brake’ arm, meaning a post turn but with your opposite arm also up as a bit of a “whoa” to add collection. It is a ‘gentle’ cue LOL! But it might be easier to time than the spin because it is up the whole time and also smooth and subtle. Let me know if that makes sense.
And don’t drive yourself crazy about your arm on the spin – it was low when it needed to be and she says the connection was fine (Kindle will not let you off the hook for bad connection :))Great job!!!
Tracy
