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Hi!
>>Another question: do you use directional verbals (right/left) when you are doing FC and/or BC or do you let the handling speak for itself?
I do try to use the verbals as much as possible – definitely on blinds because there is the disconnection involved. Sometimes it is just a name call, sometimes it is a left or right cue, depending on the line – but I am not very quiet anymore 🙂
Hi! Life sounds busy! But you did get good training in here!!
You had some awesome moments of late turns, bad throws, flinging arms, etc. A couple made me snort! And she did had two little oopsie moments but made immediate adjustments (if she failed again, we would dial it back and make it easier).
The next place I would take this proofing is into simple jump grids – have you done 5 jump balance grids with her (5 jumps, 6 feet apart, 8″ bars). Most of the time when we are doing grids, we are calm and not moving – so you can use grids she knows to add motion, yelling, flinging, etc 🙂 And you can also add this into sequencing: simple sequence with a big bad handling moment – and reward for not touching the bar 🙂
>>One question – do I always leave the bar low or do I gradually raise it?
Yes, raise it on the one jump games now – and keep it low in grids and in sequences until she is really successful. Your goal is full height in sequences, eventually 🙂
On the tunnel reps:
>> I actually found that I had to give her the cue way ahead of that – her tunnel drive is solid, but she needs to know what’s happening early early early, it seems like.
Yep, she might be one of the dogs that needs to see and hear the cue fully in play when she is just arriving at the 6 foot mark, rather than having it start at the 6 foot mark. So you will have to start it at the same timing as you would start a cue if the tunnel entry was a jump: landing of previous jump so that she saw the full picture when she is still at least 6 feet away from the tunnel. My Voodoo is like that – if I *start* the cue when he is 6 feet away, I am not going like the exit LOL!!!
To ‘run’ cues for extension at the beginning were all really good – nice timing and nice toy placement!
When you switched to the right and left cues – the verbal was spot on but the physical cue looked like the run cue at :15 and :18 and :23 and :27 and :31 so she exited then turned (good toy placement!). The first couple of right reps had a lot of motion too – the rest of them and the left reps had less motion, but you were still forward – try to be full turned and peeling away when she hits that info line so the line of motion looks totally different.
Rear crosses – yes you did have to be on her tail LOL! On the right at :42 before she entered, you were so she got it. Yay! The left RCs at :46 & 1:09 were not as early (her head was in the tunnel) so she didn’t get it but you got it beautifully at 1:05 and 1:14 and also to the right at 1:18. Just make sure you turn to face the tunnel you want for a moment so she doesn’t cut across your path to get in it – you might need to give yourslef a little more room between the wing and the tunnel to be able to turn, maybe another 5 feet or so just to have the extra step.
On the wraps, think of the tunnel bags as jump wings and stay outside the line of them – if you pressure in towards the tunnel entry, you will end up a little late on your rotation and she might also read it as a rear cross cue (like at 1:32) So decelerate, stay outside the tunnel bags, and get the full rotation like you did at 1:37ish – let her see you fully turned and running the new direction before she goes in. On some of the reps like at 1:50, you were sideways and still moving a bit down the tunnel, so the turns were wider.
Nice balance of the various cues at the end, she did really well with each one! Your physical cues are the strongest, as we can see when you said left at the very end but cued a right turn LOL!! But keep working your verbals – you have great timing with them and they will have more and more meaning as she keeps practicing.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Not weird at all LOL! I am glad it cooled off to get the runs in! I think it went really well so my suggestions are in full on obsessing/nit picking on how to be as fast and tight as possible.
>>Ps: I know the teeter is
. Working on it with Jen Pinder. Some progress… Jen’s great! I am sure she has a ton of ideas.
Looking at the 3 main sections of the course:
Section 1
I liked the dog-on-left opening line – he was able to read it in big extension. You started the FC on 4-5 nicely on time… but then mid-rotation you moved backwards for a few steps (:03) which drew him into the bumpy part of the water 🙂
2nd run – you finished your rotation sooner so the line was much better (no backing up) at :31. The FC bled off speed there, though, so 3 ideas for you to consider to see if we can match the speed 4-5 to what he was doing on 1-2-3-4:
– start the FC earlier, as he is in the air over 3 so it can be finished earlier so you can run out of it more
– lead out more so you can do the FC closer to the wing of 4 with nice early timing, which will add more motion 4-5.
– do a blind 🙂“All of the above” is an option here too!
Section 2, centered on the 8-9 cross – nice independent weaves so you had great timing on the FC! On the first run, you were one step too far over (past the line) so he was bumpy. On the 2nd run, from this angle at :46 you looked to be in a really good spot – but he was still wider than I want him to be. I personally like the FC option here. What I think is happening is that you are getting off the line too early and therefore he isn’t setting the line the way we want (he lands long over 8 and comes back to 9 on both runs). Now, you can’t stay on the line any longer than you did here unless you plan to also jump the 20″ bar 🙂 But what we can play with is setting the FC closer to the 8 jump so you can be on the line more visibly and longer, and still have plenty of time to get off it. He did not appear to be drifting or ‘line shopping’ so we can tweak the handling path.
My general rule of thumb is: the tighter the exit line, the closer to the wing we want to be if at all possible. And the wider the desired exit line, the more it is fine to be lateral. The 8-9 line is a pretty tight line, so you can be at the wing of the 8 jump right on the line to set it when he exits the weaves. You can show and set the line then be well off it when he needs it.
3rd section – Ending line to get the wrap at 13:
Loved the layering on the way to the wrap at 13 (:22)!! Even with the layering, it is hard to start the decel for the wrap cues and you had a domino effect here: late wrap cue made the turn wide made the spin late made the bar come down. You went into the gap on the 2nd rep – the verbal was perfectly timed but the body was still moving forward, delaying the transition to the rotation so he jumped long. The soft brake on 14 worked really well!
In order to get the tight FC and a tight turn at 13 (we do want it all :)) you can try to get there sooner so you have time to decel then rotation shortly after he exits the tunnel. That falls into the ‘running faster’ category which is a category that isn’t entirely helpful… plus if you run faster, his extension gets bigger, which makes collection harder. You can also NOT try to get there, and decel, then threadle 13-14, then rear cross 14 to 15. (But full disclosure: that is gonna be slow).So here is an adventurous thought: If you set the FC line closer to the wing of jump 8, you can drive him with a couple of step to 9… then basically run down the center of the course, committing him to 10-11-12 with verbals and motion while your running line takes you on the *other* side of the straight tunnel – you will running as directly from 8 to 13 as possible, between the 14 and 15 jumps. That will show a ton of extension and also get you to 13 about 3 hours before he gets there! I drew it in CRCD, you can copy and paste this into a blank map:
Begin Course Designer
Version 4
For a free viewer, go to http://www.coursedesigner.com/viewer
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k5mT
End Course DesignerLet me know what you think! This is looking good so we can focus on these little details!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Let me know if you need a different view.
The view was perfect!
>> Also, I am showing this weekend. If there is video, can I post that for feedback?
Sure!
Good work on the video. Two very distinct things I see from him on the full course: connection is important and also he cues off your upper body a lot. Those 2 things are closely related 🙂 so we can use more connection to help keep your upper body pointed where he needs it to be. Here are specifics:
The turns from 2-3 and 5-6 are big connection points. In both of those spots, while he is still working the previous obstacle, keep moving forward like you did but turn and look him right in the eye, and maintain that until you see him very close to the next obstacle. Resist the temptation to point forward, that turns your shoulder the other way which also causes him to turn.Rep 1: He had the bar down at 3: Connect more to his eyes at the end of the tunnel and send him out away to 3 before he even exits – your cue to turn back to 3 was a little late, and he tried to save it but pulled the bar.
2nd rep – the physical cue on the 5 jump (serp) at :13 was good and your connection was good! It was hard to hear if you were also calling him but we can definitely work on high speed serps – I thought he should have come in and taken 5 but perhaps he just felt the wind in his hair too much there LOL!
3rd rep – this was the earliest send to 3 so far, you connected sooner and he had much better line at :20! Yay! Then at :23 you looked forward, turned your head and pulled your shoulders as you pointed forward, so he came off 4.
4th rep – I also liked the line to 3 here at :28! Nice early connection and smoooooth running line. Also, much better connection to 4 and 5 – he was still last minute coming in on the serp at 5. We will work more high speed serps with him for sure!
5-6 is a serp line, so keep your shoulders open to him and look him in the eye – as he was taking 5 at :32, you pointed forward to 6 which broke connection and turned your chest to the wrong end of the tunnel… and that is where he went.5th rep – I think you were thinking ahead a lot on this opening – your lead out was lateral and you didn’t really connect so he did get the #2 tunnel at :34 on a verbal but dropped the bar. You *almost* had 6 at :39 – you started with good connection when he landed but then pointed forward so he turned off it at the last minute. That is a spot to get connection, and maintain it until his nose is in the tunnel 🙂
The second half of the course looked great: very connected! You can perhaps call him a little sooner to tighten up the turn at 8 at :48. I loved his commitment at 10!! And that set up a nice turn. You can probably give him a softer threadle cue at 12-13 at :56 – he was on the way to 13 so you can keep your feet moving forward and just use your upper body to make sure he stays on the line. But overall – lovely connection on this half of the course so it went really well!!
Great job! Let me know if it makes sense 🙂
TracyHi there! It looked hot and running a youngster on a big course is a completely different experience LOL! I think it went really well overall – young dog handling relies so much on being perfect that it makes things hard on big courses 🙂 Lots of great stuff here though:
Video 1: nice opening 1-4! On the send to 5, you were thinking ahead a little too much and did what I call a ‘banana send’ – you were roll your shoulders in an arc like a banana and the dogs often pull off the line (which is what happened at :20). When you fixed it at :40, you did an arm-back connected send: lovely!
On the cross 6-7: you can get more on the perfect line towards 7 – you were a little past it which set a wide line for her. It will mean you don’t need to send as much to 5, because if you get too far ahead you will end up past the perfect line for the cross. You were a little late on the cross so remember to start it when she has landed from 5. Being a little late on that one mde the cross on the exit of 7 a little late… but your line was awesome and so was hers! Woot! And the line from 7 to the tunnel also set up a great turn on the exit of the 8 tunnel. You can give your right verbal a little sooner there, but your line was so perfect that you could have said anything or nothing and she would have produced a great right turn. At :48 you pulled away from the backside at 9 a little too much so she took the front (and you were still saying right, so good girl, she turned right 🙂 )
On the cross 11-12 – this is a spot were you also want to stay on that perfect line, you ended up between the upright of 11, a bit too far over, so it set a wider line.2nd rep –
Another very nice line at 2:05 to set 7-8-9. Yesss!
And she got 9 on the backside nicely!!! On the 11-12, be closer to the perfect line on this rep too (stay outside the wing of 11) and then she just needed a bit more name call to help convince her to come in over the backside serp on the way back to the tunnel.2nd video-
super nice opening and send to 5 – 1-9 looked great!!! That was truly a glimpse of the future right there – so nice!
The FC 6-7 was on a slightly better line so it was tighter… but I will bug you to put it on the most perfect line as possible. You can anchor your FC from the wing of the 6 jump and not go much past it to set the line there.
You cued the backside at 9 nicely! Keep moving there, you got excited and praised her and she dropped the bar – oopsie!
Check our how you handled the line at 11-12 on this video: you stayed more on the perfect path, outside the wing, sending her to 11 more so you do it – much better turn! Really nice! And I think it set up a much better ending line, overall, all the way back to the 13 backside. You even had time to do a BC from 13-14 there, something to consider as it I think it sets an easier line to get into 14. The blind at the end is a great idea (14-15), just needed to be sooner here but I will blame the heat and humidity for that one!Great job on these – she is learning how to run big courses now and it is pretty exciting to see it happening!!!
Tracy
Hi! Glad you’re having fun! These are good questions 🙂
I think the line 5-6 is the one where the path would have to be most perfect, depending on how you handle it 🙂 I would do a blind so that is the spot I would be trying to get on the dog’s path for a step or two then off it. And if you do a FC 6-7, that is another spot to get on the line for a moment.Back tracking to the earlier parts of the sequence – if you pick the dog up on your left as he exits 2 and threadle to 3 with him on your left and then slicing him away (away from the #1 jump) then you would not be on the line there but rather very close to it, depending on how far ahead you could get. Now if the dog is wrapping the exit off 3 with a side change (on a wrap to his right) – that is where I would want to be on the perfect path as I ext the wrap if I am doing a FC or a BC. And, if you don’t do a threadle but rather you pick the dog up on your right after 2 then push to a backside serp for 3 – you will run on the dog’s line right at the wing of the slice exit to send to 4 – I would send to 4 so the dog wraps to his left (also away from the #1 jump) and then get down the line for the BC 5-6.
And yes, on Seq 2, the line 3-4 is on the dog’s perfect if you do a blind to set up the backside on 4 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi!
His aframe is looking great! He is still trying to figure out how he wants to come over the top LOL!!! We can discourage the ski jump leaps into the yellow with a jump bump – my Hot Sauce was doing the same thing for a while LOL!You have a busy week ahead, fun! You can do straight tunnel and wing stuff on non-jumping days, it should be easy on his body.
>>>I was watching the RC video from my last post and noticed when I was rear crossing for a R turn, I tended to push with my R arm low across my hips but I did NOT do that on the RC L….R turns were better. Do you think the arm cue was helping him or he just turns better to the right? I don’t think I was aware that I was doing it differently. This is from video 4 on June 29.>>
I went back and re-watched so I could obsess with you 🙂 What you were seeing is that when he was on your left, you were facing straight for too long which resulted in starting the RC cue too late, so he turned a little wide. On the right side, your lower body started the RC cue much sooner – and that is why your right arm was coming across the body a bot more, there was more of a “lower body does the RC line and upper body supports the tunnel” and that led to earlier info and a better turn. So I think the arm difference was a product in the better timing on the right side – the arm didn’t necessarily create the better turn, but it was part of the earlier cue for sure.
>>>Then I have a question as I anticipate the sequence and course work and directional verbals. Do I use the obstacle cue combined with the directional? Example “tunnel right” or “jump right”.>>
That is an excellent question! 2 part answer:
First – it depends on how the dog has been trained and exactly what the verbal means. For example, we are training our youngsters that GO means “take the jump in extension”. And right means “take the jump and turn right”
If the cues mean “turn on the flat” then you would need to say the jump cue.
Second – I think on jumps, just the verbal is fine. But I like to give the dog a tunnel then directional cue because it is a different obstacle – it might turn the line in a direction that we don’t want, it is longer, they can’t see us, etc. So I personally don’t say “jump left” but I do say “tunnel left”. I think it also helps the dog find the tunnel if I am yelling tunnel 🙂 Now it might be superstitious to use the tunnel verbal but the dogs’ responses have been really good, so I think it is fine. I think the obstacle name on the tunnel and on running contacts indicates how to enter the obstacle and then the directional indicates how to exit – and the exit is at least 15 feet away on those! On the jump, the directional indicates how to enter AND exit, so the directional needs to be the first thing they hear. If they hear jump, it is not informational unless it is a reality massive distance away.>> I just wonder if the dog ever gets confused when you are running on course and gets ahead of you and you give a directional for an obstacle you are not near and not ahead to also give physical cue…would the dog ever turn before taking the obstacle?
This is where it matters exactly what the verbals mean and how they were taught. I no longer teach wraps or left/right on the flat, they are immediately applied to obstacles (well, wings :)) and I start them a tiny bit later than some folks (for example, my 15 week old puppy has not heard left or right yet, while other puppy programs do them at this age with spins on the flat). So I immediately train in the understanding of “take the thing then turn” so that the dog does not turn before the obstacle.
>>> I have a separate verbal for turning on the flat so that should help distinguish. >>
Perfect 🙂
>>Just wondering whether I just give the directional or the combined verbal of obstacle/directional.>>
On jumps, I suggest just the directional. On obstacles like the tunnel and running contacts – obstacle name and directional for exit.
let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Can you clarify that? Should I raise some (or all?) of the bars (to 10 inches?) on this week’s sequences?>>
Start by putting one bar in a sequence at 10 inches – in a really easy straight line spot. If we get extension and speed, we can then add another or add one on a turn.
The goal is to maintain speed and reintroduce height so gradually that he barely notices it at all 🙂On the video:
The go reps at the beginning looked really good!
When you cue the wraps, I think the verbal sounded too much like Gogogo in that it was high energy and repeated (I thought you were still saying go lol!) so to help cue the turn, you can reduce the energy of the cue to a quiet almost whisper like you’re telling him a secret. The rear crosses were hard for him, he wasn’t comfy yet driving ahead of you on those. You can move the wing further away so he has more room and so you can accelerate forward for for longer, that will help too.
Left and right looked really good!! And the ending was funny 🙂 the rear cross pressure plus the right cue equaled turn right there before the tunnel 🙂
I think the rear crosses were by far the hardest for him – you can even shorten up the tunnel and throw sooner to help build the love of driving ahead on those rear crosses. He will get happy with them really soon because the ball is involved 🙂And yes, tunnel games with the straight tunnel and wings are not concussive, as my PT vet would say, so they are fine for non-jumping days. I personally think they are great fun for building speed 🙂
Nice work here!!!!
TracyHi!
Thank you for the waterskiing clip! Love it!
>>1. Straight behind the boat, smoothest path that travels exactly where the boat is going
That is dog agility – and we use connection to show the dog which side so they don’t just stay directly behind us. When in doubt, they either line up directly behind us or choose a line (usually the one we didn’t want LOL!)
>>2. In the “wake”, the miserable, bumpy part where no one wants to ride
My terminology might be wrong then – is the wake the bumpy part or the smooth part, or both? LOL! I don’t get out much.
>>3. Outside the wake, in the mirror smooth and flat area where the boat and its traveling is not noticed.
Ha! You said the hot shots go there on the water – we don’t want the dogs there, usually that results in massive off courses LOL!
>>I made a pretty picture; but I couldn’t figure out how to upload it from my PC, so I made a short video. A lot of energy to be a wise-guy… 😉
Love it! Your energy is appreciated 🙂
>>Under skill sets, we found the tunnel skills. Was there supposed to be a practice set with lines and crosses? I was watching a video showing you and the nose working on handling on the line and creating sharper turns (eliminating the zigzag). But now I can’t find it. Maybe it’s someplace else…?>>
Those videos are in the Overview section, and the line sequences are in the Sequences For Success section. The skills sets are just the tunnels – fuller sequences will make the lines easier (or harder, depending… :))
>>At any rate… We worked on the tunnel. We have mostly been reliant on
(1) ”Go-on” or no verbal – this is the default and means go straight
(2) Variations on a tunnel break (“chk-chk-chk” noise with sharp rhythm change and hand facing)
(3) I depend on a rear cross to work but I’m not going to insist on a verbal with it.>These are all good ones! For the RC, you can use directionals or the name of the next obstacle or even just a name call, depending on the course.
>>So we haven’t used “left” and “right” with the tunnel. But it will probably be a good idea so we tried it. Temperature is 89 and I didn’t have much dog. I’m going to go to the barn later and that might work better.>>
Yikes! Hot!
About left and right: I would not bet a dollar that my dogs truly understand left or right as stand-alone words… but I have managed to train myself to say them in a certain way that the energy changes so they are recognizing it as different than the high energy GO GO GO or the more intense but very quiet wrap cues – and that is producing the left and right turns. The name call can also be used this way: a medium volume slightly elongated “ehhhnzoh”.We started by warming up a stationary left and right. Left was fluent; right seemed a bit stickier. Then I did some reps from a sit in front of the tunnel. Then wrapping the 8” jump. He seems to mostly get it.
On the video:
The warm ups looks good – left seemed very solid – first right looked REALLY good but then he lost his train of thought for a moment. You have a tiny bit of upper body movement helping him but it is so tiny that I think it is fine for now!On the standstill reps – nice job! One of the keys will be super consistent placement of reinforcement to match the verbal, and you totally had that going. In my perfect happy world, we will always be able to show the body language too – but it turns out that most of the time we are just running as fast as we can so the verbals take on more importance on the tunnel entry – and that solid placement will help solidify them. The wrap looked REALLY good! The go was harder because there was not a lot of motion and I am super please with the left and right!
When you added motion:
The go on looked great, he was driving straight on the exit of the tunnel.
On the wrap – he was definitely turning – let him see countermotion away to the new direction and I think it will be even tighter – at 1:18 you cued it nicely but stayed there: if he sees you running the other direction, he will tighten up the exit (gotta chase da momma!) and it is also a great commitment challenge.SUPER happy with his response to the right cue at 1:24! He was turning right before he exited the tunnel – lovely! Your verbal was spot on. Your handling was decelerated but forward – so the decel had an impact. You can also keep moving but motion away to the right turn line sooner and see if he can still create such a lovely turn.
When you repeated it at 1:29, it was higher energy in verbal and there was more forward motion: he *did* turn before he exited (I do spend a lot of time freezing and blowing up the video to see their faces in the tunnel LOL!) but it was not as tight as the previous rep. So the higher energy will need to be supported with a clear lateral motion away to be able to duplicate the turn. But I am really liking that the right verbal has some power behind it already!
Also loved the wrap response at 1:33, good boy! As with the wrap at 1:18, let him see you running the new direction 🙂
The last go rep had a bit of turning as he exited – verbal and line of motion were good, but you were decelerated so he was looking for you (which makes sense because he had just done a bunch of turns). So you can balance this back in more frequently when it is not 900 degrees outside, with more acceleration. Or you can work on getting the verbal more independent by having a toy or manners minder out there alreayd so you can cue it from waaaay back and then he can focus on the reward.
Great job here! Let me know how it goes indoors – I am sure the RCs will be lovely too.
Tracy
Hi!
>>I think that positive punishment I got associated with a fc without a good decel will be enough to remind me not to do that again! Ha!
YIKES! Ouch!!!! You’ll get really good at blinds and rears!
>>I think I might have torn that cartilage a little more. Sigh… No way to avoid surgery when it gets stuck like that.
I guess the upside is that I know so many folks who have had the repair and made super quick and full recoveries.
>>BUT, this dog will send like a dream with all the work he’s going to get with me not moving much. Only thing I have to figure out is how to get him to bring me the dang toy back when I throw it.
TRUTH about the sends! And great verbals too!
About the toy… long line of course for the toy LOL!!! And some 2 toy games – when he gets the first one, encourage him back to you with another awesome toy (or a treat, but I think that might put him into food mode?) And you can also use lotus balls or treat huggers – gets the rewards thrown without the victory laps haha
>>Was looking at the tunnel stuff for this week. Do you think I can do this with my tunnel shortened a good bit so I can be more stationary? Do young dogs need the time it takes to go through a longer tunnel to process the info they get before going in?>>
Yes, you can totally do it on a short straight tunnel – 6 feet is usually perfect! Pull up a chair, grab a beverage, grab some rewards (you can even use big pieces of food if you have decent aim) and just work the verbals. I think the shorter tunnel might be better in terms of processing it? But he will let us know – you can always adjust the length of the tunnel to get it where it works best in terms of processing. But if you are early on the cues and super consistent with the reward placement, you’ll see he learns it really quickly 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyHi Linda! Thank you for the update about the boys!!
>>I was unable to do the full courses for the first group of exercises in my backyard due to lack of space and lack of equipment but was able to do pieces of them which I defintley learned from.
I did the first tunnel skill set for this new set of exercsies and it really opened my eyes.>>Perfect! That is why we do them, even if they are done in smaller pieces.
>>Mookie my 5y/o really knows his verbals.
He did great when I said them 6 feet from the tunnel entrance and turned out of the tunnel correctly and more exactly every time and also did nice wraps back.>>Awesome!!!
>>My 2 y/o Buddy needs work.
He knows the “Go”command out of the tunnal but was weak on the turning with a verbal and forget the wraps.>>That is pretty normal! 2 year old dogs are still very early in the learning stages of ALL the things LOL!
>>He did not stop going into the tunnel when I said the commands from 6 feet away which was a good thing but he came out looking confused.>>
I am glad he continued to commit! You can squish up your tunnel so it is a lot shorter, so he can turn almost immediately – and also the shorter tunnels have a little less speed, which helps him turn (it is easier to turn when there is a little less speed). You will be able to add more speed and lengthen the tunnel pretty soon.
>> However, he can also turn right and left and back without motion from me with just verbal cues over a single jump in front of him.
That is a great start!
>>What other exercsies should I be doing to aid in his learning the tunnel cues ??
Should I use a shorter tunnel ??>>Yes to the shorter tunnel! And keep playing these games, he will learn it pretty quickly: show him the turns and be very consistent about where the reward comes (straight out for go, on the line for softer lefts and rights, back on you for the wraps) – the placement of reward really really helps. I think he just needs a little more practice 🙂
Keep me posted! Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I want to think more about running lines closer to the jumps before tight turns. Agreed that I don’t want to get there too soon. Anytime I’m just “hanging out” at a jump wing bleeds off speed, doesn’t it. I was thinking about that, even if not perfectly executed.
Choosing running lines is one of the things we focus on in the 2nd training package! It is mainly about lines in and out of turns, but we can also look to choose your running lines to get to the turns without having to slow down or wait. Shorter lead outs and staying closer to the wings almost always help us to drive the dogs in and out of the turns and lines.
Seq 1 – this was a great example of you choosing a great line to drive into the backside at 4! Speedy!! You were a little too far across the bar of 4 so she dropped the bar as you set the exit line. Try to be closer ot the entry wing, literally on the line you want her to exit on, as you do the cross then move away from it.
Seq 2 – on this opening, you had a big lead out so had to wait for the RC at 3 and for the wrap on the next rep – which slowed her down (too much decel). You can lead out that far, do the BC to get to 3, then do a forced (backside) blind on the takeoff side of 3 to keep the flow going 🙂 Or, lead out a lot less so you aren’t as far ahead on the RC or the wrap
Bringing her in to 4 then turnin away (a threadley-RC moment) had too much facing her – I tend to think she would prefer a slightly late blind there because there will be less facing her (and more panic as you are running to try to get it done; dogs generally love when we are in a panic LOL!!) She was better able to power through on the 2nd rep where you send to 4 and left for the next line.Aha! You did do the RC to BC at :39 – she definitely liked it better than the threadle-RC there! But I do think her favorite cue was the rep at about :47 – you didn’t lead out quite as far, drove to the wrap then sent to 4. That was the fastest!
As part of the slices-are-generally-faster-than-wraps mantra with the big dogs, you can also play with replacing the slicing RCs with a BC on the takeoff side (like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHuX-lMu-EY), and also turning her to the slice line at 4 (to her left) rather than the wrap line (to her right) – the wrap line does set up a slightly better ending line 5-6-7 but as we work through these courses, we should definitely compare because she can make the subtle turns pretty easily on the slice lines – and she absolutely LOVED chasing you up the big line at the end!!!Seq 3 – the first rep was really spot on from the exit of the #3 tunnel to the end – you did indeed move in closer to the lines and showed a lot of motion, so she powered! The turn at 6 was tight with speed in and out of it – yay! You were not quite moving on 1-2-3 and so she read it as deceleration and slowed down too.
The 2nd rep had more motion on 1-2-3 so she had more acceleration too. Nice! You can start really close to 1 and drive even harder to 2 – she is very responsive so it is unlikely she will go off course 2-3. I REALLY liked your turn cue on 6 here – nice blind to get to it, and you used decel/facing forward as the cue more than rotation – and she was both tight and fast. That was great!!!!I could totally see the difference in the lines you chose to run, really eliminating any ‘hanging out’ especially on the 3rd sequence. Well done!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! You’re off to a good start here!
Go on – this is a good one for her, I think she wants to turn back to you a little more than she wants to accelerate ahead out of tunnels when you are behind. You absolutely did a great job of showing the GO physical cues and giving the verbal with fabulous timing! And great job getting the reward out there. You can sometimes place it out there too, ahead of the rep, so that she can lock on it wicked early 🙂 She did a great job of going straighter and straighter as the session progressed.
2nd video – ‘soft’ turns – the verbal “here” and the arm cue was perfectly timed, but the motion overrode it because you were moving forward and moving fast 🙂 (especially if it happened after the Go session where she was well-paid to go straight 🙂
As she was hitting the info line, the physical cue had a lot of motion forward so that is what she was reading. She was finding you on the exit of most of the reps, but you can show her the physical cue earlier and that will really support the verbals – as she is approaching the info line, let her see you turn your shoulders to the new line and also turn your feet – make it dramatic 🙂 That will help her set up the turn in the tunnel.3rd video – RC/turn away: excellent!!!! It shows us how tight she can turn on the tunnel! Your verbal and your physical cues were very clear before she entered the tunnel, so the exits were awesome!
4th video – tight turns – this also had a very clear difference in the physical/verbal cue before she went in, so she was able to turn. She was reading your deceleration and also the softer verbals. Question: do you have a different verbal for wraps versus one for soft turns? We can use them here too! To get these even tighter, let her see your feet rotate (like you are doing a wrap front cross) and let her see you moving away from the tunnel (back towards where she started), all before she enters the tunnel. That will tighten the turn and will also be a great commitment challenge.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
