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Hi!
>> I think I take an instant after I see it to “regroup” my brain, check where I am, physically and mentally and then I do miss seeing completion of the obstacle (especially jumps) and that makes me late on the next set of cues. Hadn’t ever really thought about it in those terms!>>
Yes, that could be what is happening. By moving the exit line connection earlier in your walk through rehearsal, your brain will be able to practice finding the next line while looking back at Sly, so you won’t need to devote extra bandwidth to it in the run.
>> I did plan them but not with the same focus that I put on the exit line connection or I had in some of the previous sequences.>>
Perfect! Exit line connection is a high priority – and the two other places I prioritize connection are on sends and tunnel exits.
On the video:
Great job working the connections on the plan! The handling plan was very obvious!! As you got going faster, the connection was slipping a little (like the exit line connection at 2:30 and 2:59) so keep emphasizing it even as add your speed. Plus you had some verbals here – as connection gets more comfy, you can add more verbals!
On the 7-8 line, you were connecting to the tunnel exit nicely in the walk through – but you didn’t need to get between the uprights of 7 to do that, as it changes the line and at 2:33 and 3:02, for example, puts you on the line to the front side of 8. You can walk the cross on the exit path you want him to take, which is closer to the inside wing. And remember turn cues on the tunnel exit (before he goes in).
The circle wrap on the backside is a good choice! You can also send him to the other wing of 8 to do a backside slice – that might be faster! And remember to connect all the way to the end – at 3:07, you cued 9 but not 10 (your invisible dog would have a question :))
The runs went well! One thing that is interesting is the opening line:
In the walk through you have an arm up. In all of the runs, you do not – you just ran and connected. I like the run & connect, no need for an arm up there! It makes connection very clear and gets you up the line sooner.
Nice FC wrap on 5, all 3 times! Super connected before and after, nice exit line connection there! You reeharsed it well and executed it beautifully.
The 6-7-8 section ran like you walked it, so we can tweak the plank a bit: a turn cue wil help get a tighter turn out of the tunnel. A verbal cue before he enters the tunnel will help, plus heading to 8 not 7 will show the line a bit more clearly. You accelerated to 7 and were quiet, so he exited wide at 3:19 and 3:38.
You cued the backside well for 8 – but getting across the bar at 7 set the line to the center of the bar on 8 – so he hit the bar trying to adjust on the first run and jumped wide on the 2nd run. Getting closer to where the wing and bar meet on 8 will help set up the tightness of the turn.
You connected all the way to the end better on the 2nd run than on the first run – you disconnected on the first run so he looked up at you.
The threadle wrap showed a better line from 7 to the 8 backside and also got you further ahead in the next section! Nice!!!!!!
>>Leading out further definitely makes sense. Why did you choose a blind here instead of a front? I ran it with the blind but my inclination was for a front which kinda surprised me cause I’m ALWAYS one to choose a blind over a front if it makes sense to me at all>>
I think accelerating out of the release makes the blind easier to execute than the front, in terms of getting my feet facing the next line soonest. Also, I can finish it more quickly which gives me time to cue the turn on 3. The FC needs to be more decelerated to be sure the feet don’t get all tangled up LOL! and accelerating out of it might get too much extension over 3.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! Hopefully you get good weather coming your way!!
On the video:
Wowza, this looked great! Lovely connection throughout, so you were able to get the big layered lines as well as the tight turns!The FC 7-8 at :13 had good timing and connection! So she had a nice turn with the bars staying up.
Great job staying super connected and sending her into the big layering after that! It allowed you to aboslutely nail the blind cross at :19. TIming, conneciton, position… PERFECT. Look at her turn! And she never looked at the tunnel behind you. Plus, it was easy to stay ahead and stay connected to get to the jump on the other side of the tunnel. SUPER!! She did look at you on the way to the last jump (“why are we passing this perfectly good tunnel, human?”) but that will go away when she gets more experienced passing obstacles to find one that is less visible.
Really nice run here!!! Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Tandem turns are not a strength of mine. I find it challenging to maintain contact and I always feel like I am just throwing my arms about so please be kind when you look at this video! >>
Tandems (and their cousin, threadle wraps) are hard! And you did really well here, she had a lot of success!!!! You were mainly using the outside arm as part of the cue, and I think that was a helpful visual for her.
I think you might have felt a little like you were throwing your arm about was because you were doing the cues faster than they need to be done 🙂 These tandems are more of a slow motion cue – you can be moving forward then decelerate and show her your hands… then after another step or two, you can turn her away. You were showing hands and turning all in one fast motion, which might be why it felt rushed? So if you slow down the cues and think of it as “show-hands-then-turn” as you decelerate, you will see it feels better and she can turn more easily. And after she turns away, you can toss the reward and step behind her as you did here.
If it feels like it is slow motion, then you are probably doing it correctly 🙂
Nice work here!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
She is doing well sorting out the circle wraps, they are VERY hard commitments!!
One thing that will help with the circle wrap commitment is shifting your connection to the ‘landing’ spot. As she is passing you, let her see you turn your head to look at the landing spot (as if there was a bar there) and point to it as well, using your opposite arm. That will help get commitment and allow you to keep moving forward.
Don’t use your dog side arm for that once she passes you, as it causes too much upper body rotation and blocks connection for a small dog like her. Plus, when you turned your dog side shoulder to the wing too much, it makes it harder for you to move forward for the next line and she is VERY fast getting around those wings!
Also make sure she can fully the see the wing. You were starting to block it and get on her line (like at :40 and :57) so she had commitment questions. When she could see the wing better, she wrapped it more easily.
The other thing that will help get commitment more easily as you move forward is tossing the rewards back behind you to that ‘landing’ spot as you move forward. If she is always following you to get the rewards, it will be harder for you to use countermotion where she has to leave you to get rewards.
>> I need to break it down for me as I get myself flustered and lose her>>
Generally that is where connection goes sideways or motion & position is a little off. When things go wrong, just reward her – the questions here were generally about connection or position so you don’t need to keep working the sequence. You can reward the wing and then start over to smooth it out. Continuing when it is already sideways made things a little more sideways 🙂
>>wobble board now reasonably happy offering and jumping on with no cushion. need to get uptodate video.>>
Excellent!!! This is great!
She seemed to do well with getting on the end of the teeter – she was happy to play with the toy and eat treats even when it was moving!
>>I redid the lid in position on plank. It definitely worked alot better and got some staying on the plank and less business. did get the first one before camera died – this was first attempt with this and after this she worked it out>>
For the plank and target:
If you are working the 2on 2off for a dog walk, two adjustments will help her stay on:
Angle the plank a tiny bit so the target end is closer to the ground (put a book or something under the other end so it is a little higher). And, sit in front of it rather than to the side for now. Sitting in front will get her into position better.For the teeter, which is a 4-on behavior for her, use a different target like a strip of duct tape across the end of the board so she can put her feet on it at the end. That will help her know the difference – and when she is happy with that on the plank, we can add it to the teeter.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! This looked really strong!!!
On the first side (dog on left exiting the tunnel) – your tight blinds looked awesome! Nice timing and great connection back to him. SUPER!!! And so did the FCs there!
He had a question about the wrap of the middle wing at :08 and :16. What was happening was that you were using countermotion (yay!) to move away sooner, but looking directly at him. Countermotion is one of the places where you don’t need to connect directly to him. To help him commit to the wing as you move away, you can shift connection your connection from looking at him as he is passing you, to looking at and pointing to the ‘landing’ spot as you move away from the wing. And you can throw the rewards to that landing side to really help affirm that yes, you want him to wrap the wing as you run towards the tunnel 🙂
He committed at :27 but you stayed at the wing longer, so he could see you there (not as much countermotion). He is definitely ready for you to add the countermotion.
On the other side – your FCs on the first wing were good but not quite as connected on the exit as the other side – those were awesome! He had a really nice commitment to the wing wrap on the middle wing at :38 – you had a really clear transition into it, in terms of clear motion. At :48, you had more of a sudden stop and didn’t step to the wing, so he had a question there. The acceleration out of the cross followed by decel before you rotate is definintely helpful for him!
At the end you had a double blind – you had a little too much decel on tunnel exit at 1:13 so he decelerated too but your connections after each blind were fabulous and he read it really well! Yay! So you can go in closer to the tunnel to have room to accelerate more to the wing – but keep those connections on the exits of the blinds, you nailed it!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>No, she gets too stressed. She’ll eat it and it’ll keep her quiet unless I’m actually working Nox.>>
Poor girlie! You can break the behavior of waiting for her turn down into tiny increments: she stays on a station and Nox comes over, eats a treat, then they trade places. You can add a trick or hand touch, etc.
But when you are not working the trading places skill, trying white noise or leaving music on so she can’t hear (and can’t see) along with anything that is rewarding with her in a crate might help her relax so frustration doesn’t build up.
Wingin It games are looking good!
On the first video, you can add more motion so you have a clear transition into decel then the turn. That will strengthen the commitment so you can start you turn cues sooner. Without the forward motion into the deceleration, she she came off the wing at 1:19 because you were already decelerated then rotated without stepping to the wing with the dog side leg. On the other reps, she committed but the turns were a little later.
>>. These games were a good test of my connection>>
Yes! In general your connection out of the tunnel was clear – keeping your dog side arm back and eyes on the tunnel exit really helps to show her the line. Add in more exit line connection on all of these – getting the dog-side arm way back so she can see the connection. That will give her a clear view of the next line and she will know where to be. For example, you had really nice connection on the tunnel exit at :50 but no exit line connection at :51 so she never changed sides. You noted it as too slow but it was connection, not timing 🙂
For the ladder: She was definitely getting the idea of the circle wraps! Yay! We can strengthen her understanding but cuing commitment and rewarding differently, which will make them even easier to handle and smooth out the bloopers. She was able to do it if you stayed on the ‘landing’ side, but if you stepped forward too soon (before she saw you on the landing side), like at 1:14 and 2:51, she did not finish the wing wrap as easily. Your countermotion was not incorrect in those examples, so we can pump up her understanding to help build even stronger commitment.
One thing that will help commitment on the circle wraps as you move forward is shifting your connection: rather than using normal connection and following her eyes all the way around, you can support commitment by shifting your connection to the ‘landing’ spot as she passes you (and using the other arm to point to it as well). That helps cue the commitment.
And, using the opposite arm there to point to the landing spot will help make it easier to shift connection, as well as prevent over-rotation of your upper body. Using the dog side arm to come all the way across you which might look like a rear cross cue when you add a bar to this, plus it delays the connection on the exit (especially for the blind cross exits).
As you move forward, throw the reward to the landing spot behind you to help build up the commitment (rather than have her take the toy from your hand, which builds up handler focus). No more rewards from your hand! Getting the reward on the line and off your body will make a huge difference in her understanding of completing the turn.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did well with the teeter game here so you can add the next steps for the bang game! Definitely attach the target so it doesn’t move around 🙂
For the next steps:
Have her wearing a collar or harness so you can line her up at your side (and feed her for it, luring into position is perfectly fine 🙂 ) right at the end of the board, then gently put a hand on her collar/harness. Then while holding her, you can say your target cue – then let her go to hop directly into position. Holding her collar is pretty important, because it builds drive (anticipation of the cue) and also allows you to get her into the exact spot you want while you prepare to add things like your motion.Start her as close to the end of the board as possible because ideally she jumps right into position at the end rather than jumping on higher up and walking into position. When she can do that, will add you slowly moving too, but getting the mechanics for hopping on right at the end of the board would be the important part for the next session.
When rewarding, deliver the food down onto the target, don’t feed from your hand as this raises her head up and also gets your hand involved 🙂 Pretty soon you will be moving past the board so we don’t want her locked onto your hands at all. Getting the food onto the target will get her locked onto the end of the board.
The wingin it game looks good! She is driving really well on the GO cues – you can add the verbal sooner (you tend to say it right after she enters). Great job with the toy throws!!!
The left turns are also going well – you had some really good timing moments (like at 1:58 where the verbal and physical cues happened when she was still 6 feet or so before the tunnel) and those turns were lovely! You can add in making the left verbal sound different – quieter, more conversational. That will help her differentiate it from the big loud GO cues and the very quiet wrap cues.
She looked ready for the right turns and the rear crosses!>>we tried a session with a raised long mat and the MM behind a wing and she did not seem to get it at all.>>
She probably needs to see it a couple of times to sort out the chain of events, and possibly back chain to first see the MM on the other side of the wing, then from the mat exit, etc.
>> So after sleeping on it I did the session you see here. My idea was to focus on the mechanics of her moving away from me. Initially, I preloaded the dish. When I didn’t she had questions but then she seemed to work them out.>>
The dish produced less leaping… but she didn’t really understand the dish marker until you moved to it, which produced more looking at you. Since the reinforcement strategy is the most key element of the RDW training, take the dish marker away from the mat and work on her running to it when you say it (without you having to move to it first). It can be something like a hand touch, then you say dish. The dish can be pre-loaded at first, then it can be hand touch then you say dish and when she starts moving to it… you then move to toss a treat to it.
You will want to work the dish marker separately from the mat so you don’t have to consider criteria on the mat, you can just strengthen the marker (which is also a cue to go to the dish :))
>> I was also thinking that I could maybe do this on just the one mat raised. She will run across the mats fine with a ping pong back and forth and a recall as you saw. It is just going away from me and then the MM.>>
Keep the big mat for now – it makes criteria easier in terms of running across it, as you build up moving away from you and adding your motion.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>> So, ideally I don’t pass the wing edge on a FC wrap, correct? If I’m moving towards the bar she should rear cross.
In theory, no, because the transition, rotation, and verbal etc are all different. But, things move very quickly and in reality, it can get muddy. So staying outside the wrap wing will make it clearer.
>>It’s hot again here, but maybe I can set something Thursday. Back out of town to the cool weather for a competition Fri, Sat and Sun.>>
The cool weather competitions sound AWESOME!!!! Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
Yes, looks like pretty bad rain coming our way! We don’t quite have it yet but it should arrive any moment. Hope you get through it easily!!
Thank you for doing the walk throughs!!! I think this will take you to the next level with Synnie!!! A quick summary: When you walk with connection and rehearse looking at your invisible Syn, you nail the run and it is actually better than the walk through. When you walk without the connection (maybe the course challenges were less comfortable?), you have connection errors on course so she has errors. Easy fix: let’s get you obsessing on always walking with connection so you can always nail the runs! Yay!
Looking at the first walk through: This was really really good!!! You were emphasizing your plan and connection. Definitely can see you ‘watching’ and connecting to where she would actually be – it seemed easier when you didn’t have to move as fast, so keep emphasizing it as you add your speed.
A small detail: On the lead out, you were positionally a little far from 1, which cues her to jump a little long to your position rather than jumping turned towards 2.
And I think that connection rehearsal was helping you consider timing – especially 4-5. The timing of the turn cues for 5 would start as she is over 4. You can call her name before she goes into the tunnel, then going into the collection verbal as she is jumping/landing from 4.
The rest of the plan looked good but I didn’t hear the big verbals for the line to the tunnel – so remember to yell those verbals directly to the invisible dog 🙂
You nailed the run! Your connection was super clear and your timing was spot on! Even better than it was in the walk through – you were LOCKED IN. Love it! You can probably start her a little further from jump 1 so she has more room to drive to it. She turned well but you had to step her towards jump 2, so starting closer to jump 1 might make that line more automatic. But overall, super super run that was well-rehearsed in the walk through.
Sequence 3 walk through: I think this sequence had challenges that you were less comfortable with, so you walked the handling plan but didn’t quite get the connection involved.
On the plan:
To get a great turn on the lead out push 2-3, be right on the ideal line you want her to run (which is closer to 2, kind of towards the exit wing). That way she is already turning over 2 as you move to 3, so you won’t have to push her back to 3. That will give you more time to set up a turn cue over 3 as she is jump 2. Your position was closer to 5 so she would likely look straight
Your start position at 2:32 in the walk through was closest to the ideal line.The other option is to run into a blind or front cross… she would find that easy to read!
Because you were planning the handling but not really connected to InvisiSyn, it was a little harder to see the lines on you wanted on the 3-4-5 line. And your arm was high and connnection forward on the exit of the 7 tunnel, which will block her view of the connection and line.
On the run, your lead out was out near 5 at :21 and 1:05 on the 2nd run – she found the line but was a little tentative (heading towards the center of the bar on 2 and looking at you), not really sure of the turn on 2 until you started moving to 3. That made
3 a little wide on the first run but you had much better timing on the 2nd run!You added turn cues for 5 on the first run, which is great! The timing and connection were not clear so the bar came down at :28 . MUch better on the 2nd run – because it had been rehearsed on run 1 🙂 So definitely rehearse that in the walk through!
>>I want to go back to Sequence 3 and really work that tunnel to the out jump. That is a big thing in ASCA gambles these days…the off-course jump in your way.>
Yes, that is one of the most popular course design trends in a lot of venues nowadays!!! Definitely try it again when the rain goes away:
The high arm/blocked connection is what made it hard for her to read the line. The high arm blocks her view of connection and turns your shoulders away from the line – so she did exit straight-ish but then came off the line (looking at you) because the info was not clear as to which jump to take.
So to help her out, add 2 things:
– verbals starting before she goes into the tunnel. Your verbals were more on the exit of the tunnel. You can begin with a big GO GO GO before she enters the tunnel and then use your Go or Out verbals as she exits to help verbally support the line.
– instead of a high dog-side arm, emphasize the connection on the tunnel exit. Even at a distance, she can see your connection. And that turns your shoulders to the correct line. You can use a low dog-side arm there, or you might find that an outside arm might be the best option to support the line and the connection.
Definitely try it and let me know which works better for her!
Good job continuing after the blooper – it is great to get you thinking on your feet, which is a necessary skill in dog agility 🙂
>>First run: Clean (so we earned our title): 41.77 seconds
Second run: Clean (after knowing this was a run that wasn’t needed): 29.07 seconds
I’ve got to figure out how to get out of my own head!!>>That is a great thing about NADAC!!!! And that is a *significant* time difference, WOW!!! I think getting the connection in the walk through will help. Plus, forgetting about Qs and titles is really the way to get the great course times – when you are running to handle aggressively with great connection, you will practice really being in flow. Of course, it won’t always go correctly with a young dog 🙂 but that is fine – it gets easier and easier as you do it. Trying for Qs or titles will make you tentative because the goals are different: going clean versus going fast & connected.
So try approaching a whole weekend of trialing with the fast & connected goal – no concerns about Qs or titles. I completely understand how challenging it is to ignore Qs and titles!!! So you can give yourself incentives outside of Qs/titles. I often give myself prizes for handling aggressively and with connection, such as a new pair of sneakers that I wanted, or ice cream on the way home from the trial 🙂 Those are better than Q ribbons 🙂
What will happen at first is you will NOT get those Qs very much…. but then you will lock into the flow, and the Qs, titles, and WINS will come very easily so it is totally worth it.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Poor Lennan! Sounds like he needs bubble wrap so he stops hurting himself!!!
I am glad he is feeling better 🙂
Hot Topics – opening round looked great! Fun!!
Both of the blind-to-threadle options were effective here: the BC-to-threadle slice at 1:14 and 1:31 and the BC-to-threadle-wrap (last rep reps) both really showed him the liens and he responded really well. Yay!
Handling from the landing side was harder to show him the turn:
For the slice on the backside, the decel at :30 and decel-plus-leg-slap at :44 and 1:00 were not strong enough because he was heading to the tunnel until you stopped moving. I think a brake arm will be very effective here – as he is exiting the jump before the backside jump, bring up your outside arm, letting him see it, as you decel and cue the backside. I bet he reads the line better!You can also use a brake arm on the push wraps, but you might find it more effective to decelerate where the wing and bar meet, and rotate so your left hip meets the bar there – that will help bring him off the line to the tunnel by changing your line.
The course work on the jumping course looked really good! Super nice connection and timing of the verbals in the opening and the BC 5-6. He was still a little wide on that BC, though, at :06 and :54 even with the good timing and position. It is possible the BC is more effective for him placed between 4 and 5 because it is right on the turn line. And since there is no positional benefit to doing it between 5 and 6, it might get you up the line to the weaves even sooner to do it between 4 and 5.
Really nice 7-8-9 threadle, both times!!! YAY! He needed more support on the weave entry at :14 – since it is a hard entry from that ‘soft’ side angle, you can face the entry til he enters, more like what you did at :20. You decelerated at 1:02 but didn’t really face it, so he had a zig zag step there. Lining your belly button up with pole 2 until he enters can help support the entry and you will still have plenty of time to get to your next spot.
After the blind, you can add a brake arm as he is landing from 11 so you can set up a tighter turn on 12 as you move away. He was a little wide there (:26 and 1:09) so the brake arm will help add a collection stride without you needing to decelerate there.
He had a question on the threadle wrap at 14 (:30) – you were a little far from it, so he was driving to your position then had to go back to find the wrap jump. Getting closer to 14 will help show that line more clearly.
On the 2nd run you cued the slice – it was smoother for sure… but slower when I timed it compared to the wrap! So if you tighten the wrap, it will be soooo much faster!
On the ending line, you did a BC 16-17. That can come sooner (when he exits the tunnel, you can start it) – he was wide there because you started the BC at the takeoff point. The other option is a FC there, because it will turn your feet & motion to 17 sooner than the blind. And a rotated exit (like a spin or throwback) for 17 can tighten that too – he looked to be strongly considering the 6 tunnel there after 17 🙂
At the very end, you turned him to the inside wrap – you can add a brake arm when he exits the 15 tunnel to set up a better turn on 16. The wrap was a little faster than the slice when I timed the 2 runs, but I think the earlier cues for the BC 16-17 (or do a FC) and adding a rotated exit like a throwback on 17 will get that to be your fastest option. It is fun to consider the fastest lines for him, because he is responding so nicely to all the different handling!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! Really nice work here!
The serpy sequences went really well! She is finding the lines well and also keeping things honest when you don’t show the serp 🙂
One thing to add to the serp – bearing in mind that the serp cue (arm back, upper body rotated towards her) cues both coming in AND going back out to the next jump, you should keep your arm back and shoulders open in serp position until she lands from the serp jump AND looks at the next jump. You were closing your shoulders forward to indicate the jump after the serp, but that only showed the line when you were way ahead (and even then, she would glance at you). When you were not ahead or closed your shoulders forward too early. she had questions in a few spots:
On example is at :35 where she ran past he last jump (looking at you for more info) because you were looking ahead, shoulders closed too soon. That is a good spot to keep your shoulders open and have your serp arm back until she lands and looks at that jump, indicating she is going to commit to it.
At :53 – you had your arm forward for a bit too long, so she missed coming in on the serp the jump after the tunel. I think having the toy tucked into your arm pit restricted your movement there, so I was glad you held the toy on the rest of the reps. You had the serp arm back and better connection at 1:09, and she came in beautifully for the serp!
Getting the serp on the jump before the tunnel was good info from her about timing of showing the serp cue – at 2:32 and 2:48, it was more of a 180 and then a turn on the flat to get the tunnel. At 2:41 and 2:58, your shoulders remained closed foward so she did look at you… then you said tunnel so off she went to the tunnel. Good girl – that will be useful for layering skills! You were earliner at 3:05 and 3:17, but you can be even sooner so she sees the serp cues as she lands from jump 1, then keep the shoulders open as she lands from the serp jump until you see her turn to the tunnel.
Her only other question was when she had a little trouble finding the 1 jump on the next sequence – you can line her up facing the front of the jump a little more and throw a reward to the landing side – that will get more and more commitment, so you can get further up the line.
Looking at the wing-tunnel game:
You had really good acceleration on the Go lines! You can add in saying the go verbal sooner so she is hearing the verbal while she is still 8 feet or so away from the tunnel entry – then throw the reward as soon as she is entering the tunnel so it lands before she exits and before she looks back at you. She got the line really well when you were further ahead at 3:47, so earlier verbals and earlier throws will help get it when you are not as far ahead.PERFECT timing of your Go verbal at 4:05!! You can throw the toy sooner here too, to help affirm her straight line exit (it doesn’t matter if she finds the wing yet at this stage as long as she gets into the habit of blasting out of the tunnel straight with your go cues.
The turns looked lovely too! You had a really good quiet ‘tunnel’ verbal and motion away from the tunnel at 3:51 and got a nice turn – you can say right sooner (I think you were saying left here) – at 3:59 your left verbal was perfectly timed so you got an even better turn, even though it was a righ turn LOL!! But that goes to my belief that perhaps it is not the exact word at this stage of training, but more the tone/rhythm/pitch/volume of the word, and the discrimination of the exact word comes later in their understanding.
The real left turns went well! The ones that were timed earlier produced the better turns. The last one was a little late (she was already in the tunnel) so she did not turn as well.
The RCs to the right at 4;33 and also to the left at 4:43 went really well! Fabulous turns on both!! Your physical cues were well-timed! Your right and left verbals can come sooner (start them as soon as you start the RC pressure on her line) so she hears the cue before entering the tunnel.
Great job on these!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>> I’m intrigued by the idea of a Flyball class! His line is full of Flyball dogs on his mom’s side, so I can reach out to get something scheduled.>>
Who is your local team? I know that Animal Inn is a top notch team in your area, nice people and dogs! I don’t know if there are classes, sometimes it is more like joining a practice.
Bang game: he is super confident jumping on! Yay! He definitely needs a target, to both lower his head and give him an independent end position so we can start moving you away from the teeter. Without the focal point of a target, his head is up (watching you) which is not producing the best weight shift. And you are rewarding right at the end, but we want him to have a place to drive to so you can run past 🙂
I suggest a strip of duct tape to put his front feet on, right at the edge of the board. Fancy! Do it on a Cato plank first, to give him the idea of the concept – include adding a target verbal and adding walking past the board while he stays in position. Then when he understands that, you can take it back to the teeter: have the tape strip in place, start him right next to the end (not much teeter height at the beginning). Hold his collar, say your target cue, then let him jump into position. That will get us started on developing a really independent teeter behavior!
The FCs and spins on the wingin it games looked great! Yes, the earlier you started your decel into the wrap, the better his turn was. For example, at :22 you started to decel into the spin when he was just barely out ot the tunnel: lovely! You were a stride or two later on the next rep, and he was wider. On the other side, you nailed the timing of the decel to start the turn cues at :48 (he was just exiting the tunnel when you started) and his turn was great! I think your connection was really strong throughout, so keep locking onto the tunnel exit so you can start your decel into the wrap and have those consistently lovely turns.
The ladder is one of the hardest wing games for sure!!! There is a LOT of countermotion and there is a delicious tunnel right there 🙂
One key to helping him will shifting your connection to the ‘landing’ spot as you move forward behind him – you did this at :11 and he committed really well! At :15, you were looking at him and not at the ‘landing’ spot so he didn’t commit as well.The other key is to make sure he sees the wing fully and don’t block it – on the tunnel exits, he didn’t quite see the wing as early and it looked like you were blocking it at :15 too. So you want to be far enough over so that he can see it before you move forward behind him again. Maybe that is why Mochi went directly to the tunnel – wing blocking? If you have video of it, check your position and see what she was seeing.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>everything is usually soaked with dew until about 9 or so.>>
I have good cleats for the wet weather, left over from when agility trials were outdoors 🙂 My indoor shoes are too slippery for sure. And I jump the dogs a little lower, but they do fine with the damp grass 🙂
>>I managed to get a couple of days of training in, but it looks like this tropical storm rolling through this week is going to get us further behind. It wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t trying to keep up with Max Pup 3 at the same time, as well as get in some fitness work and jump training for both dogs,>>
Yep – today is our last clear day for a few days, I think 🙁 Both this class and MaxPup have been extended into late September, because it has been a tough weather summer.
>>. But…. recently someone watched me running (I can’t remember if it was for something I videoed or not), and they told me that Nox often jumps when I give the verbal jump cue. Is it possible that she’s relying on my verbal to tell her where to take off?>>
I would have to look at the video this person saw, and I will watch the videos here from that perspective. It is highly unlikely that she is relying on it, and more likely that you are in a rhythm of timing the verbals that is a little late and coinciding with her takeoff moment. If you can find the video of the run in question, feel free to post it! And I will see if I see it in your videos here.
>> If so, is something that could be helpful and reasonably sustainable? I hesitate to become responsible for that skill since I’m not sure how good I would be at it. >>
I agree with you – I don’t think it is helpful or sustainable because it assumes you can be timely for it in all situations. We humans are not known for being consistently timely LOL!!! And we don’t want her to wait for a verbal cue, especially when there are so many other cues occurring simultaneously – motion, position, connection, and so on.
>>I don’t even know if this really is happening consistently or if it was just a coincidence. >>
Probably a coincidence. She finds lines and takeoff spots based on a variety of different cues, and sometimes when you don’t give a verbal. But we will double check the videos to be sure!
Looking at the video:
About her jumping when you say jump… I don’t see it here. She was jumping appropriately and it did not coincide when you said your verbals. She was a good girl! And you were good with your verbals too!
>>Driving lines and circle wraps are two of our weak spots, and these had both, lol.>>
These are two of the most popular course trends lately (circle wraps from the threadle wrap perspective too!) which is why we are going to obsess on them a little LOL!
The absolute #1 thing is going to be placement of reinforcement for both of these skills – they both require independence from Nox, so getting the toy placed independently will help teach the skills a lot faster. So for the straight lines, the reward is thrown out ahead of you. And for the wraps, the reward should be dropped behind you on the landing spot side of the jump as you move away. You tend to get the reward close to you a lot, and we want to reverse this trend and get the reward as far from you as possible. Plan it actively when you walk the sequences, and plan it when you break things do to train. Make it part of the moment of “I will do this and throw the reward there”. It will make a huge difference and speed up the training a lot.
The straight line work is going well – your “go” verbal sometimes coincided with her takeoff a few times, sometimes not, but she also took off nicely when you didn’t say anything 🙂
The most important element is building the understanding of staying on a straight line, rather than trying to run the straight line to the end. She doesn’t really understand the big long lines so you got spinning/barking on the early reps (she learned the sequence so was better in the later sessions and also was better when she was on your right side).
To help build the understanding, reward placement along the line is the biggest help: plan to throw the reward when she exits the previous obstacle rather than when she gets to the last jump. You can throw it long and far when she exits the tunnel – more connection will help but also if she anticipates a long reward throw when you take off and start yelling go go go, she will exit straight 🙂
And you can mix in throwing it past the last jump when she lands from the jump after the tunnel. Keep it variable as long as it is not when she is taking off for the last jump, that is too late 🙂 And no worries if the reward is not precise in where it lands, as long as it gets thrown before she looks back.Looking at the circle wraps:
Circle wraps from the push or threadle side are also the most challenging jumping skills, so yes work on them but spread them out so you only do them once or twice a week. The canine PT folks and massage people say they feel the difference in the dogs when they do too many circle wraps, and they want us to train them at lower heights and do fewer reps.
>>>>I would get some really nice circle wraps when it was just the one jump, and I got a couple of good ones in sequence, but then right after that I would get the barking and refusals. I watched the videos to see if I could see something different in my body cues, but I am a bit baffled about what was going on. Do we just need more practice with the skill out of this context before adding speed and obstacles before? We are much better with the backside push wrap, but I couldn’t get down the line fast enough most times for that.>>
When you held position until her front feet lifted off, she would commit nicely. That is much easier to do on the push wraps and harder on the threadle wraps for sure! When you tried to leave before she lifted her front feet, you would get the refusal from her. The reward placement will help a whole lot there: as soon as she turns away to the jump (especially on the threadle wraps), throw the reward to the landing side as you start to move forward. You were rewarding, but the reward was on the takeoff spot and near your feet which builds more value for the takeoff side near your feet 🙂 And as you are putting them into the bigger sequences, hold position until you see her front feet lift up then you can move away. On the threadle wraps you will still have a massive positional advantage!
>> I did not include all of the training we did in the video, of course, but just so you know what we worked on, after there were two failures on the circle wrap on #3, I just practiced the circle wrap and rewarded on her line several times before putting it back together.>>
Perfect! These are mostly trained skills so training can override running sequences for sure. As you train, prioritize your reward placement and you will see really quick improvements in the skills!
The big sequence went well!!! The start was particularly lovely (1-7). Click/treat to you for your really nice connection on the exit of the backside FC at 6!!!!
You had a little connection break at 2:45 and 3:04 as you looked forward/pointed forward as you sent to 8 and then on the last rep when you sent to the tunnel. She relies on the connection to send away, so when you looked forward in those spots she was not sure of the line and came to where your shoulders were pointing to. You had more motion towards 8 at 3:20 and 3:41, but amplifying the connection will allow you to send her away (and maintain it to the tunnel) so it is easier to get the circle wraps at the end.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
This went really well! The first two reps and last couple were really good, in terms of deceleration and rotation with the BIG connection to her 🙂 She was turning nicely!
>>Am I waiting too long to see if she puts in the collection stride?
I think you were good, and you can play with moving away sooner to see how she does. Ideally, we move away as soon as the dog is passing us but we want to prioritize commitment in collection first.
>> I feel like I’m late waiting for collection, but if I move she will ignore the cue.>>
She wasn’t ignoring it here! What was happening, though, was that as you were getting into position, you were migrating more and more into her line and takeoff spot… so at :17 (3rd rep) you were on her line and blocking her path which is why she didn’t commit. On the rep after it at :26, you hit the brakes a little too hard/too soon (without any decel steps) so she didn’t commit. That is good to know!
In other scenarios, she might not have had a clear enough set of collection cues, so moving away sooner or fast might have produced more extension.
So the best reps had a little decel as she was over the previous jump followed by the rotation. And you can hold that rotation til she commits (you will see the collection ‘crunch’ near the takeoff) before moving away. As you do that, stay more on the outer edge of the wrap wing and less on the takeoff spot, which will keep you off her line and also avoid it looking like a RC or a backside push.
Great job!!!
Tracy
