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Hi! Timing is hard indeed, especially with a young dog! I think some of the questions here were not timing questions, actually!
First video:
1st rep -She was wide here – This was a little bit of timing (you’re late slowing down & rotating), but also there is that tunnel out ahead – she is likely to lock onto it early because the value of the tunnel overrides the value of the turn, so at this stage it is probably better not to run these towards a tunnel (soon, but not yet :))
2nd rep – She had questions here and it was more about connection. As you exited the FC, you were trying to cue her with your dog-side arm down at your side, which closes off connection. She was not sure where to be and did end up on the side you wanted. She needs your dog-side arm to be back, away from your body and pointed at her feet (and the arm-across-the-body will help push the dog-side arm back) so she can clearly see your connection and know where to be – otherwise she really only sees your motion and there are different options there based on motion. If something goes wrong, try to not mark it but instead find something to reward. You marked it and it deflated (and turns out, she was correct LOL!)
On the next rep – you had the same connection but you dialed back the motion so she got it based on change of motion. Ideally you can keep running, so make sure you give that big connection. And when you add the BC next and at :45- another spot for bigger arm-back connection. She zig zagged a little because the arm at your side closes the connection forward, making it harder to see. Exaggerating that arm back will really help her see it.Your last rep was best one here, really nice! You did the transition earlier and then definitely opened up back to her more for connection. Keep working to exaggerate the arm back and cross-body connection on the exits of crosses and it will get even easier.
2nd video – where was she heading on those first reps? Crate? LOL! She was convinced and then she got mad LOL!
At 1:00 your ‘slow forward’ was good in terms of timing, but you can try to turn sooner. If momentum is what was making it harder to get your feet turned, then decelerating one step sooner will help that because it makes it easier to turn. And good job balancing with the GO lines! You can throw the reward even sooner, when she looks at the 2nd jump, so that she can really accelerate.
Good work here! Let me know if the arm-back ideas make sense.Tracy
I agree, he did a great job here! Latent learning indeed 🙂 I will take it no matter what it was LOL! He is still a little tentative on the 1st jump, sending away, so you can mix in more rewards for sending to it (throw the reward) rather than all rewards being for coming back to you. Great job with your connection and your verbals here! All 4 reps looked really strong and it looks like you are ready for the sequences 🙂 Yay!!
T
Hi!
First 2 pinwheels – these went well, her commitment looks good! You can run deeper to tunnel for the feeling of more motion, and also to be able to send her away to the middle jump if you like to practice getting away up the line for the crosses. One tweak, similar to what I mentioned above – have your arm way back and low rather than low and at your side when she exits the tunnel. At :06 and :19, you arm was at your side and quiet, but it closed off connection and she looked at you between the tunnel and the first jump. Having your arm extended back away from your body will open up the connection and she won’t look up at you.On the crosses:
Your arm got a little point at :26, you were pointing forward so she missed the jump after the tunnel there. Keep reminding your arm to stay back and down 🙂 You had good timing starting the FC!! As you start your FCs here and on the other reps, try to think of the mechanics as dropping the dog side arm back and almost falling back in to the FC, rather than bringing your outside arm up high and towards her – that dropping back and keeping your arms lower will help you finish the FCs faster, which is a helpful thing with a fast critter coming down the line 🙂On the next rep – there was less pointing arm at :34 and she found the jump 🙂 You can send to the pinwheel jump and leave for the FC so you can do it sooner and be off her line sooner – you were right there at :37 on her line, and she leapt for the toy which was right by her nose LOL!
Next rep – :46 very nice connection out of the tunnel!! Arm back and down, eyes on her eyes. Nice! You had good FC timing there even earlier (and the same at :58). Nice!
On the BCs – I think these will end up being faster and easier for you!
On the BCs at 1:08 and 1:30 – you were very quick to get the BCs done and your reconnection was NICE! But… you ran the wrong line and put her right in that end of the tunnel by running to it LOL! It looks like you ended up on the wrong line because you went over to between the uprights for the blind then ran straight. Compare it to the MUCH better line at 1:19 and great tunnel entry – you stayed out from between the uprights of the BC jump, so she never considered the other end of the tunnel. That set you up on a much better line.
Nice work here!!! Let me know if the ideas make sense 🙂
TracyHi!
The RUN cues on the tunnel exit looked great! She is driving out nice and straight – you are correct, she isn’t hesitating at all. YAY!! Your verbals were pretty timely on both the run and left verbals. I think the feeling of turning earlier on the lefts was mainly because you were stepping back more than rotating to the new line (which is probably why it felt like you were doing it but didn’t look like it when you saw the video). So as you send, you can turn your feet towards the new jump sooner. And yes, starting her further back will give you more time 🙂 The only other little tweak is on the left cues, connect back more to her by having your left arm reaching back to her rather than at your side. Your arm was nice and quiet (and not flingy :)) which is great! If you can have your hand back and down away from your body, pointing to her feet, it will open up your connection even more. That will help her be able to see it sooner and turn even more nicely.
Great job!
TracyHi! Thanks for posting this, it will help us figure out what he needs!
Grids are incredibly hard for baby dogs and inexperienced dogs! He has lots of legs and power and doesn’t know how to use it them all yet : ) Plus, the bars here are actually too high for a baby dog – that is the height my 7 year old dogs works these grids, but my same-size puppy sees them on 4 inches. He finds the grids pretty hard as you can see when he didn’t want to come right back before the last rep.
I get that feeling, it is how I feel when I need to do really hard plyometrics at the gym LOL!!!>> Are the jump grids too much pressure for him?
Yes, he appears to be saying they are hard, lots of pressure, he doesn’t know how to do them.
>> Is it an impulse control issue?
It doesn’t appear to be impulse control, he was trying hard – I just think we can break it down differently.
So, ideas to help him learn to love these and use all the body parts (big boy dogs and long legs… it takes a while LOL!):
Put all the bars down to 4 or 6 inches for now, that is an appropriate height for his age (the bars never get to full height on this grid, and even 10 or 12 inches can be too hard).
If you have back chained the 5-4-3-2-1 progression and it is still too hard, no worries – we can try forward chaining LOL!! Start with a 2 jump grid: just jumps 1 and 2. Then if he can do 2 separate sessions with high success… add jump 3. so he will go 1-2-3 to the reward. Only 2 or 3 visible jumps to start will take some of the pressure off, plus he will only need to control all of those legs for a shorter time. After several high success sessions, add jump 4. 1-2-3-4! You can gradually build it forward like that. It takes as long as it takes, because it is all about concept. He might figure it out in 2 sessions! Or 2 weeks. Or 2 months 🙂 The concept involves a lot of body awareness so we are happy to take our time here 🙂Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Very nice job on the tunnel exits video! I liked that your GO versus RIGHT verbals had different energies – that is helpful as the dogs are learning them! I think you did well with the words in general (so many words LOL!) you just needed to say them all sooner – you tended to saying them while she was already in the tunnel. On the very last rep at 1:51 you gave the right cue when she was a few feet from the tunnel: perfect timing! That is where the Go cue should go too (but only on the Go reps hahaha)
On the FC/BC video:
Leading out like you did on the last couple of reps was definitely more helpful to her (or you can add in a tunnel or wing wrap to send her to, so you can get ahead). That will help her read it with you ahead at first, then you can fade yourself backwards a bit so she gets used to seeing you behind her too. By starting with her, the first rep was a little late on the rotation. On the 2nd rep – good timing!!! But because of her youthful inexperience, she lost confidence at :40 that she was correct because you were behind. You can also substitute a wing for the full jump on the reps where you are sending from behind, to keep building commitment.
On the BC element, you can now start them sooner. She is very fast driving around the wing, so ideally she already sees your new connection when she sticks her nose around the wing – and that means starting the BC as you see her taking off (eventually it will be even earlier!) You were definitely a little late starting it on the 1st 2 reps, but then you were earlier at 1:12 and 1:42 and it already smoother out the line. Your running line on all of the reps was really nice!!
Great job here!
TracyHi there! This video looks good!!! He is so fun to watch 🙂
His understanding of “stay on your line” is lovely. The two pinwheel reps at the beginning look good in general! My only suggestion on these is to give him his GO cue before he enters the tunnel (and say it a few times) – he is looking at you on the exit because he has not yet received info on what is next. That slows him down out of the tunnel and into the next line (it also happens on the reps with the crosses, he even zigs in towards you on the last rep) at the very end.
You can also play with handling these plain pinwheels by being closer to the tunnel exit, driving him into the pinwheel and staying really lateral, as if you had to serp or blind the tunnel exit.FCs:
:34 and :51 FCs: you are starting on time (woot!) but finishing late (not woot haha) – you were facing him as he is jumping the turn jump. I don’t think you can start any earlier, I just think that FCs are really hard to get done quickly on lines like this (which is why I use BCs here as soon as the dog understands to watch your upper body even when a tunnel is looming, which Enzo clearly does). I also think you were getting a bit too “into” the bar on the FC jump – going past the upright to end up slightly between the uprights, a bit too much exactly on the top of the diagonal which was causing him to jump wide. You can stay outside the upright and get on the good cross diagonal for him a few feet further down, that will show him the line sooner (you’ll be more lateral from the cross jump). On these, he was jumping and youwere directly between the uprights, so he jumped towards you and landed longer than needed. The FC at 1:07 – MUCH better getting done quickly with the rotation (done before takeoff!) and your position on the line was further down the diagonal and less between the uprights, so his turn was better (you even said “much better” on the video :))2 BC reps at the end – ah yes, this is a MUCH nicer cue for him on these. He doesn’t get swept away and lose his head when there is motion towards a tunnel, so he *easily* followed the BC cues and they looked really nice! And plus, the BCs are much quicker to get finished (compared to the FCs) so you were finished sooner and up the line sooner, which also contributes to a better turn (he didn’t see you between the uprights as you were turning).
Speaking of finished sooner… I believe you were actually too early on the BC at 1:31 – you were finished and re-connected before he landed from the pinwheel jump, and that is the timing I would suggest if you were about to do a Forced Front Cross (or forced blind). So with the BCs, you can be later 🙂 letting him land. And you can also Use your jump cue so he commits even if you are early.Great job here! Let me know if it makes sense!!
TracyHi!
On the 2 jump serps – when he was coming in properly on the 2nd jump (on your left side, his right) you started off by handling like it was a 180 (turning your shoulder) and then later on you made it look more like a serpentine. On the other side, his left turn, it looked more like a serpentine running line at the start plus you were a lot further ahead. At :41 you started being closer and more like a 180, so he got it. It seems like when you are far ahead with your arm way back, he is confusing it with the open door threadle if you have been working on those? So 2 things to help him out – stay closer, don’t be as far ahead. And angle the jumps so they are not as flat – make the serpentine side almost facing his landing spot from jump 1 (the 2 jumps will look more like a V and less like a line). Then you can practice serpentines on both sides moving through it, gradually shifting the serp jump back to a straight line. For now, just walk through the serps, no need for speed.
How did he do on one jump? You can work the 1 jump game with you far ahead so he learns to serp with you ahead and moving faster (rather than threadle or run by). That is where you can add more speed for now, then we can put it all back together. I have a jump grid coming next Tuesday that will help this too. Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi! She is doing better on this 5 jump grid for sure. It is a hard grid for balance, so on the first video when she lost her balance on the 1st rep, she came up with a creative solution on the 2nd rep of jumping really big hahaha! And on the 2nd video, you being a bit less ahead was very helpful for her and she was striding better and staying balanced. So the next time you play with these, I suggest a 2-prong approach:
to help her stay balanced when you are way ahead, let’s back chain the grid: with you out ahead, maybe 10 feet past it with the toy down, moving a step on the release – but start her right in front of jump 4, so she only has to bounce 4-5 then out. After a rep or two, you can try her in front of jump 3 and see if she can stay balanced… then in front of jump 2, then eventually back to jump 1. The goal is that she can see the stimulation of you ahead and moving, and she continues to stay balanced in her approach to the jumps.separately, place the toy out about 6 feet from the last jump, and you will lead out to 3 with her in front of 1: and release and move forward very slowly. I think this should help her to balance as well while also adding in motion. This should help her look for the intervals and stride in between them.
I figure if you can play with these once a week or once every 10 days or so, it will be perfect!
Let me know what you think 🙂
Have fun!
TracyAh, that’s a bummer about the camp 🙁 but probably the absolute best decision. Wager is indeed a critter of specific tastes hahhaa!!
That is weird… maybe they used last year’s form???? Odd! Did they cancel the camp because of the pandemic or is it still a go?
Hi!
On the wrapping games:
Rep 1 was a little too early on the deceleration, you started it before he got to cone 1 and then you were a little sideways – the turn was good but I think he slowed down into it more than he needed to.
You really powered into it and decelerated later on reps 2,3,4 – NICE! Rep 2 was good (you got a little too excited after it and he bypassed the next jump, just a combo of your excitement and his inexperience).
Rep 3 was GREAT – if you freeze it at :17 as he is lifting, you are basically turned and moving away, while maintaing connection. Same at :27 – really nice!Right wrap – trying to do this from parallel/behind him caused him to ask questions – he looked at you over jump 1 because you were looking ahead. Then go things happened after the wrap – you only made a sorta-connection (technical term haha): you were looking a little back at him but not enough at his eyes. And you said GO GO GO before he had turned into the gap… so he went went went haha 🙂 Good boy! Remember to make a big connection so he can see your eyes/chest. And we had talked about what to reward – in this case, there was a verbal, so you brought him back to get the jump then reward – perfectly fine 🙂 It would have also been fine to reward the go, because he was correct (I have made that mistake with Voodoo on more than one occasion by yelling something like GO TUNNEL and not having connection, so he stayed on the straight line to an off course tunnel. Oopsie! Verbals are dangerous! It is hard to think fast in that moment. Either way, he gets rewarded, life is good 🙂
2nd rep – you were too early with the decel. You were deceling and saying right at the instant his front feet hit the ground, so he looked up at you and didn’t drive forward as much.
Then at :17, you said Go right as he was deciding to come in or not… so he went towards the tunnel. A bit too early on the Go LOL! Also, this is a perfect example of a place to use the cross-arm for exit line connection – you are trying to get his attention on your with your dog-side arm. Sogs really don’t read this as well as we would like them too (case in point, :17 here). The arm across the body here owuld pop your right shoulder back, reveal the connection/upper body and I am sure he would come right in. Having the tunnel there is a great real-world distraction and it shows us what he needs in terms of connection.At :32 you had Aunt B standing in front of the tunnel and you had the jolly ball in your dog side arm… note how he still needed a moment to find the new side. Definitely try the cross-body connection to help him see the line sooner.
I liked your timing here a lot better: you were ahead and driving, decelerating after he landed into the transition. The very last rep (:38) was too early – I think you might be trying to get to the other arm to cue it, too soon – it is causing you to slow down and move a bit sideways up the line, which causes questions and slows him down. Powering into it will get more speed and a great turn. At :39, you made a very clear connection (right arm back) as he came around the jump, so he read the line better! Connection is key. By using the dog-side arm there, though, it delayed you moving forward so try running awya with the arm across the body and see how quickly you can get out of there and still get the great turn.On the 2 bending videos: he is getting it by the end of the 2nd one. What you are seeing is “baby boy dog bending” where he just has a lot of body to bend and not a lot of life experience on how to bend it LOL! He was trying to use his front end on the first video and beginning of the 2nd video – but by the end of the 2nd video, he was beginning to use his hind end! YAY! You were also good about holding the reward until after he landed, which helped with the last bar. On the next session, you can start him at your side and turn your body as he does it – that can help with a bit of propulsion too. He is sorting it out and I know he will have it fully sorted out as he gets older and more experienced. This is the kind of grid to do maybe once a week or once every 10 days – you’ll see pretty significant progress!
Nice job!
TracyHi!
>>Spot, Spotty Body, Spot Bot, Spot Wat (Watson) will be 1 year old in 1 week.
Happy birthday, big guy! A Gemini, like me haha!
>>That is when I have started letting my dogs really begin obstacle training with my other guys.
Yes, slowly but sure, things can started getting real 🙂 Wheeee! A priority is muscling up and core strength so now that his joints are grown, the rest of the body can catch up.
>>Any thoughts on how I begin to raise bars or if I should yet as I progress with these exercises? I’m assuming I’d start with jump grids and more straight line stuff and then start to raise them for wrapping drills after he learns to just get over higher bars. Not sure if that’s correct or not.>>
Just put ’em all at 26″, let’s go! HA! Just kidding 🙂 Yes, that is pretty much the way to do it: introduce gradually higher bars in the set point exercise from MaxPup 3. If that goes well, introduce it in the striding grids and according grids (last jump moves up in height when it is 15″ feet away and beyond). The ladder grids always stay super low.
The middle bar of the bending grid from last week also start to go up (not the outer bars).Then – the bars go into sequencing. I gradually raise bars on “easy lines” like extension lines when I am pretty sure that I will be there to handle it with connection. Then separately, wraps and backsides and the harder efforts.
At some point in about 6 to 8 months, you will likely have all of the bars where you want them.
And I personally start trialing all of my dogs at a lower height. For example, my Hot Sauce did her first trial runs at 12″ as I was getting her to full height (16″) at home. I do this to make the trial experience easy, fun and successful! If there wasn’t a pandemic happening, I would have been trialing her at 16″ by right about now – she is 22 months old.>>he doesn’t have a middle name yet – was going to see what you came up with during Stacy’s camp, but
He needs a middle name! I wasn’t schedule to be at Stacy’s camp, so we can choose one. Hmmm now I need to think it over lol!
T
Hi!
The first rep started off so perfect! Then you closed your connection forward so she read it as a blind and popped in behind you.
You were perfect in your connection and upper body at :08!
You were strong also with the connection and lne of motion on the next rep at :12, I think you were too close to the jumps so she popped the to the backside at jump 2. The next rep looked perfect!!When you send her into it at :20, you handling it more as a 180 (turning your shoulder away from the jump) rather than a serp (keeping your chest facing the jump). She read 1-2 but that would make it hard to find the next jump (#3)
Lovely job at :27! Perfect serp.
Now compare it to the next rep at :31. When she landed from 1, you closed your shoulders forward so she zipped right past 2. You were better with your upper body at :36 but I think you can exaggerate it as you move through – make a more dramatic eye contact with her when she lands from 1, which will point the center of your chest to the line you want her to take. It is hard with little dogs – you will have to look downwards rather than just back to her. Your feet are perfect on these 🙂
Nice job on the full serp at :40! Note how you worked to keep yoru upper body open to the jumps (center of the chest facing the center of the bars). Now compare it to the next reps: :49. :57, 1:01: On those, you got 2 but then closed your shoulders forward, so she did not take 3 (that is the line your shoulders were showing her).
So, looking back at :40 and the other successful reps: you were doing what we affectionately call “t*ts to target”, meaning turning the center of your chest to the target (the jump bar/take off spot) so it looks like your upper body is facing the jump and both of your shoulders were pointing to the jump (your feet were quite perfect on all of them). On the reps at the end, you were pointing your left shoulder to the bar (right shoulder was out of the picture). That changes the line you are showing her, so she was correct to not take 3. Adding in more intense connection back to her eyes and a bit more rotation at the waist will help fix it 🙂Let me know if that makes sense! You have a ton of good reps on the serps here!
Hi!
Bending 1 – he was thoughtful about the 6″ jump in the center and seemed to sort it out pretty well! Definitely start these on an angle, it helps him set the line better- the first rep was a little straight on the first jump but all the others were angled and he did a better job figuring out the turns on the angled reps.
Bending video 2:
The reps where he was bending to his right looked really good! The first rep on the left bemd caught him by surprise a little on the first jump but the 2nd left rep was good! He seems a little stronger turning to his right here than to his left – the right turns are tighter and easier looking; the lefts are a little wider and a bit ‘heavier’ in style. So, when you revisit this one – for the right turns, put the center bar at 6! But then change it out back to 4 for the left turns, til the left turns look as smooth as the right turns 🙂 Revisit it over the weekend, maybe, when some latent learning has had a chance to works its magic 🙂FC/BC videos:
>>I’ve watched the FC BC videos a couple of times. Am I going too much inside the wing to cue the turns? Should I be staying lateral/outside the wing?>>
Yes and yes 🙂 You were pressuring in towards the takeoff spot, which he won’t need unless you are way ahead and have to set a SUPER tight turn (picture almost a 360). And even then, he might not need it. By pressuring into the takeoff spot, it delays the other turns cues and might muddy the waters when you try to show RC pressure. So, run to the outside of the wing and the transition will show the turn info.
1st video:
1st rep – you can see the pressuring in towards the takeoff spot here – going straight will set a better line. This rep was a bit late (he ended up wide) but the other reps here were all strong with timing! You have really nice exit line connection on your FCs!2nd rep – This one had better timing of transition – you can play with trying the decel sooner and turning sooner – it might get an even tighter turn but also will give you time to get your exit line connection to the next side sooner: you were a little late re-connecting and so he zigged and zagged. You will want to do an exaggerated exit line connection like you did on the FCs so he can drive back to the next jump.
2nd video – first rep – Nice! On this one and the next rep, you can try to slow down sooner and bigger, so it is easier to turn sooner – I am happy with his turns so it is mainly to see if you can get reconnected sooner – not on the FC here, but more on the next rep of the BC. The second rep and 3rd rep are where you need to make more connection back to him, you were tending to look forward after the blind element, rather than back to his eyes. On the last rep you had a strong verbal to the last jump, which totally helped!
>>I set up the cones for the fast/slow zones…I hope it made a difference in my timing? If not, I will keep practicing.
I think they did help! Did you feel like you had a better idea of when to do each section of the transition?
Great job!
Tracy
