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Hi!
>> I will go with the “irritation/motivation” theory:
Ha! I subscribe to that theory as well and also I call it ‘prioritizing’ in certain company LOL! But yes – we don’t need to work on ALL the things! And I like to minimize training energy because the list is just so long sometimes. However…
>> until I am irritated enough by having to use a tunnel brake instead of a verbal, I will hold off on more teaching of left and right in this space.
You will quickly find that irritation 🙂 but also I don’t think you need much effort to teach it – you can get it pretty easily. A couple of ideas for you (and it is easy to add the left and right, see below, it won’t take up too much training energy). On the brakes: you drove in, a but further ahead, and on the tunnel brakes: you turned your feet before he got into the tunnel and that made a significant different for him. Those were at :54 and 1:23. And the tunnel brake is an effective (plus, already existing!) cue for when you are moving into that position. I recommend the left/right (or you can use your brake noise) for when you cannot get ahead to show the brake or when you wanted to be on the other side of the next jump like you were on the left/right cues. One simple change will get you the same tight turn (or similarly tight, because your position and line also dictates where he drive to on the next jump).
With the goal being that he turns his head at the ext to find the new line (as opposed to looking straight for the go) – turn your feet before he enters. Let him see the rotation when he is still about 3 feet from the tunnel entry (even if you are behind him). That was an important part of your brake cue. On the left/right reps at :08, :17, :23, :37, and :40 – your verbals cues were well-timed but your physical cue looked the same as physical cue before the go, so the last thing he saw before entering the tunnel was you facing forward (which produces a more extended exit). But at :46, you started an earlier foot rotation and his turn was better already!>> Even with 3 “rights” in a row, Enzo remained honest about not knowing where he was going until he exited
Yes, he is reading the physical cues on all of them, which is totally normal with a young dog. You could probably accelerate towards or face forward and give your brake verbal and he would probably exit straight. So adding in a stronger physical cue for the left/right (or using the brake verbal) when you are further away will get the better turn.
So I believe you will be able to have “all of the above”: the brake and the left/right cues on the tunnel with minimal training energy by just being sure he sees the rotation. And eventually, the verbal left-right cues will take on a lot more meaning without the need for the physical cues, which will be super handy when you can’t be ahead or can’t do a decel (or don’t want to based on whatever challenge the course is presenting).
Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
Hi! I define my “soft turns” as 90 degree L-shaped turns, which is what would be happening on the tunnel exits. I define “sharp turns” as wraps, which is not what they are doing on the tunnel exits. There are softer turns that can happen, but what we say to the dog to get those will depend on the individual dog. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
TracyHi! I am glad you wrist isn’t broken!!!! I hope rest and meds and PT lead to a fast recovery. And yes, Benni is really easy and he is happy to work for food, so you can do lots of one-handed stuff without tugging. The bending doesn’t require you to move much.
>>The previous efforts in the progressive striding grid, he has been balanced in the ladder grid. Not sure why this time was different.
It could be that with the sequencing, he is trying to work in more extension. Or, could be higher arousal with the motion, could be the grid is challenging, could be mentally tired, could be he is muscling up, could be the wind blowing west-to-east LOL! But that is the thing with youngsters – they are always changing so it is fine to tweak. You can do a couple of the plain ol’ balance grids at 4 feet without motion to see what he does. Either way – it is not concerning or bad, just noted.
Fingers crossed for clear weather and less pain in the wrist!
Tracy
Hi! Good job on the tunnel exits! The run run run exits all look good, and I believe that those are the MOST important ones for small dogs. We want the littles to drive out – and on the turns, even if they drive out, they will still pick up a good line. On your left and rights – timing of your verbals was great! She easily heard them before entered and stayed committed. Super! The one thing to add is showing her the foot rotation of you leaving for the cross before she goes in. On these reps, you said the verbal nice and early but faced forward until after she was in. Keep saying the verbal nice and early, and when she is about 3 feet or less from the tunnel, let her see your feet turn to the next line (FC in this case). That will tighten the exits up just a notch to make them perfect. We don’t need them too tight for her, we just want them one stride tighter where she comes out of the tunnel with her head already turned, rather than exiting straight then turning. The earlier rotation should accomplish that.
Great job!!!
TracyHi! Let me just say how jealous that the rain has held off for you, because it has been monsooning here since Monday!!
Yes, you did indeed get some leaping on the wing-to-ladder!! And she didn’t seem to leap in the same spot twice. I take it to mean she was trying to read the grid and the answer she came up with was “WTF??” haha!!!!! She had some VERY good reps and also some reps where she didn’t quite know what to do with all of her speed. No worries! For the next session on this, try spreading the jumps out an extra foot between each one and don’t move as fast, and see what she does. I bet she will sort it out – it is the most challenging grid she has seen so far, and I like that she got some good reps – first rep and rep at :19. I think that she did better when you were quiet and there was more leaping when you were saying run run run, so for now keep giving your wrap cue on the wing but then be quiet on the ladder grid. Keep me posted!!
Tracy
Oh no! Your poor hand!!! fingers crossed for no fracture and I hope it heals very quickly. OUCH!!!!!
On the grids –
Super interesting on the grids! He did indeed do a pretty balanced 2 stride there! Very cool to see, he didn’t appear to lose his balance or fling himself – nice! He is a little short on the ladder grid coming in, meaning he lands in the center of interval 1-2 but then lands just past the bar on 2 and 3. Are those the 3.5 distance? You might want to try it at 3 to see if he can push from his rear more and not pull as much.But this can also go into maintenance mode, revisit every couple of weeks. Mix in the bending grid that I posted yesterday too with the other grids 🙂
On the tunnels:
>>So you prefer directional cues over using his name on the tunnel exits? I use “dig” for tight turns towards me out of tunnels but other than that haven’t used verbals before for tunnel exits. Trying to get a good handle on when to use what verbals.>>It really depends on what the dog does naturally, some dogs just need a quiet name call to get a great turn out of the tunnel… but those are generally the dogs that need more encouragement to power out straight. He is great at powering out of the tunnel (which I prefer, personally) so I think a verbal directional instead of a name would be optimal. For example: dig can be a wrap exit, left/right can be the softer exits like you did here. He definitely wants to power out, because I thought your physical cue and verbal cue all happened early enough for him to see before he entered – but he still went straight for a stride or two on the exit before turning. So to help him out – do the nice timely physical and verbal cues that you used here, but don’t run away as fast. Stay closer to the exit, dropping the end of a toy on the ground (holding the other end), and start to move (dragging the toy so when he exits, he sees it). That can help him predict the joys of turning tight! And probably easy to do without having to sprint, as your arm heals up.
Great job here, let me know what you think!
TracyHi there!
First rep – good connection until you dropped back into the FC too soon but good to reward him 🙂
2nd rep – the FC looked really good in terms of timing, position, connection! Nice! He might have had a tiny bit of trouble on the 16 inch bar on the turn jump – it looks like he stumble on landing and falls on his head a little at :15.
3rd rep – also a really nice FC! He set himself up to turn differently there – a little more extended. I am not sure if he turns differently to the right versus to the left or if it was in response to stumbling a bit when turning the other direction? It is something to revisit here and there and see how he sets up – I think he probably just needs more experience on these.BC rep – 1st rep – you needed to drive him more on this, you were worried about getting to position to you didn’t drive him to #3 – he took it (GOOD BOY!) but slowed way down. 2nd rep was much better with driving him! You can go deeper into the tunnel to not get too far ahead. And yes… too early on the blind at :47 LOL! You did it as he was taking off for #3 and he wasn’t sure of what the next line was (bar down)
The Fc at :57 looked good again! I don’t think he stumbled here, I just think he gets low on landing and that is fine 🙂
On the BC at 1:04 and 1:10 – nice job driving him!! And yes, you are still too early LOL!! If you freeze it as you are finishing the blind and he is over the red jump t 1:06 and then over the white jump at 1:14 – you are showing him a cue to come to the backside (rather than stay on the line. And then you moved away from the tunnel and not towards it as much. Think of this blind as much of a serp then blind – run forward through the serp on the middle jump towards the center of the tunnel – and you can do the blind when he lands from the red jump (or white jump on the other side).So overall, really nice sessions!!! I am loving your connection and your FC timing (and connection on the exit of the crosses). His commitment looks great. Be more patient on those BCs on the serp lines. And also – he was fine on the 16″ jumps on the easy jumps… but because he had questions on the FC jump (and might have questions on the serp/blind jump) – do a couple of sequences with those at 12 or 14 so he can process all the cues that are happening without having to be too concerned about height.
Great job!
TracyBOOM! So nice! I loved the handling reps here. Your FCs on the 1st and 3rd reps were amazeballs – yes you had to hustle but you hustled, you stayed connected and your timing was fabulous: fully finished and connected AND in the right spot all before he took off. His turns looked great and you stayed connected to cue a great line to the tunnel. I freakin’ loved it!! Click/treat.
Your 2nd rep with the blind was *almost* perfect – good send away and good blind! You just got a little disconnected (rolled your shoulder forward as you cued the tunnel) and a little in his way. A more experienced dog would just shove you out of the way but he got distracted by something (dirt kicking up?) but no big deal – keep your connection back to him, arm back, after the blind and it will be perfect.So this is exactly what we want in training (it was fun to see it!!) but we don’t want this:
>>Spot was barking, whining and howling
Partially we don’t want it because we just don’t want to hear it LOL! We like calm crate manners 🙂 And partially we don’t want him to exhaust himself.
2 ideas for you on this:
When he is resting in his crate, turn up the music in the car, do only ‘boring’ things with Wager, and then go get Spot back out while he is still quiet.
And in the moments when you want to do more active things with Wager, leave Spot with a fabulous something to chew, or a Manners Minder to drop treats into his crate. You might have to get creative with the MM: you can duct tape it closed and put it in the crate. Or you can take the plastic tray off of the outside and put it on top of a wire crate. Or, if you have a plastic crate, you can get a tube or a funnel and attach it to the cookie exit hole so it drops cookies in to the crate (I need to make one of these for Contraband this week). That way you can have both the fabulous training runs AND the quiet crate dog 🙂
Great job here!Tracy
Hi! Ladder grid – he is taking a tap step (tapping his front feet on the ground in front of jump 1 after you release him) to get organized right before the first jump which generally means he is not quite thinking about his hind end yet there. Set him up a couple of inches closer to the first jump so he doesn’t have room to do the tap step, he has to push right off from his hind end.
He is coming in a little bit long on the first couple of intervals then having to rock back (saving his balance) so setting up closer might help this. And more experience 🙂 So you can revisit this with the same amount of motion once a week or every 2 weeks or so. I suggest that one-a-week-or-2 thing only because the list of things to do is getting long and he is doing really well on this, so it can go into “maintenance mode”.Wing wrap to ladder: This is harder 🙂 With all of the speed, he got off balance on 2 of the 5 so we definitely want to revisit this more frequently than every couple of weeks. You can decrease the distraction a tiny bit by not talking for now – he can read it on body language and when he can balance back before the first jump (to be able to stay balanced) then you can add in more verbals.
FC/BC
On your FCs and BCs – overall going really really well!
A couple of things to obsess on while we wait for this rain to pass:
>>I think I am still reaching back too far into the landing side.On the FCs, I think what is happening is that on some of them, you are starting the FC by reaching towards him with your outside arm which pulls you more to the landing side than you want to be. Try to NOT engage that outside arm on these type of FCs, as it doesn’t help with the turn and delays you from getting outta there, plus pulls you off the next line. On these FCs, try to drop your dog-side arm back and away and then make connection across the body with that same (formerly) dog-side arm. Yes, the opposite arm gets engaged but only because it is the new side – not because it is the active cue. This is different than wraps, where for many dogs we do use that opposite arm as part of the active cue (which is what you also do, I believe).
Speaking of wraps – you are definitely in wrap-all-the-things mode! LOL! By the FC/BC video on your right, you were pretty much wrapping him on these, doing very collected turns. Put a leash on the ground so you can work on staying on the fluffy lines for diagonal crosses, so he learns to make turns in slicing/moderate collection and not just wrap collection.
On the first FC/BC video:
1st rep started on time (loved it!!) but this one you reached across with the outside arm. The 2nd rep started a little late (you can go deeper into the tunnel so you can get moving ahead sooner) but better drop back of dog-side arm to get into the FC – and it felt better, right? You were saying something about that on the video.
3rd rep blind – good timing – you switched the toy into the dog-side hand and then there was discussion about it. The toy across the body is a human-training aid intended to keep the dog-side shoulder opened back to him more and therefore more connected on the exit line… so don’t switch it 🙂 If you switch it and reward from the dog-side arm, you are rehearsing closing your connection forward. When there is a toy dragging from the hand, he will generally find the line but without a toy, it is much harder for him plus it is rehearsal of mechanics you don’t want.
Last one on this clip: perfect!
I really like how you are emphasizing your timing on the cues!!! Nice!FC on right video: you were in wrappish mode on this one LOL! On the FCs, opposite arm reaching towards him which might be why you feel you are reaching too much to landing side (plus you were bringing him into the gap similarly to a wrap, which might have contributed too)
We have a great visual on the importance of the mechanics of exit line connection using the toy to help here: After the BC at :19 (2nd to last one), he drifts a tiny bit and takes a moment to drive in – toy in the dog-side hand doesn’t show connection so he had to wait to see the toy. This is the equivalent to a dog drifting until he sees the next obstacle on course when connection isn’t clear enough.
Compare that to perfect mechanics on the next rep at :27 (last rep here): no drift, he drives right into the new line because connection was clear. Boom! So that is why we obsess on the mechanics, and when the exit line connection becomes second nature, we fade out the toy across the body 🙂 Training the mechanics like this is from Jenny Damm and Tereza Kralova, and Voodoo is ever thankful to them because now he doesn’t have to wait to see the next line after a cross haha!!!>>CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW PUP! Name?
Thanks! It is utterly lunatic to get another pup right now… but I had trouble resisting her and she is related to so many of the dogs in my house. Sigh. We don’t fully have a name yet. We are playing with Declaration (from a Hamilton lyric, naturally haha) calling her Dec or Decla for short. She is one singularly independent don’t-need-no-stinkin’-cookies 5-pound beast!
>>Do you think it is time for me to raise them in some of the drills where he is more experienced? Right now, I am mostly still using jump bumps or 8 to 10″ bars for everything. I just want to be smart about when and where to raise them. Thanks!
Great question! He is just a bit over a year, right? I like to raise bars on extension lines first, so check out the tunnel exits game I posted this week! That is a good one to bring bars to 12 then 14 then 16 over the course of a few weeks. And if that goes well, you can add low bars to the wrap stuff. Slices are usually the most difficult jumping efforts (and wraps) so I save thos e for later on. You can also show him more height in the set point jump and the one stride jumps, that is where all of my dogs see height for the first time.
Great job here, let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think this session went better than you thought it did! Yes, he was powering through but he wasn’t flinging or going ass-over-teakettle (scientific term 🙂 ).
>>I closed it down to about 10′ and that would have been a nice 1 stride for him but I can see in the video that because he’s reaching for that 3rd bounce jump he’s landing too close to it and needing to extend to get this at 10′ (in the moment I couldn’t tell that the bounce was too wide).
What was the distance between the bounce jumps? 4 feet? You can set them up closer but not by too much, maybe 6 inches, so you can try 3.5 and see how it goes. Many dogs do not do perfect landings in the middle and that is fine as long as he is balanced. I think if we go shorter than 3.5 feet it will be uncomfortable for him.
>>I think if I’d had those 3 bounce jumps set up closer together he could have more easily bounced right through, landing and taking off in the center between each of them and then landing more comfortable in an arc after jump 3 (so not having to reach for that jump 4).
It is worth it to see on the next session, but we don’t want to compress him too much because it might take him longer to power up after it.
For example, at speed on the last jump, you won’t get the perfect geometric arc and watching his process at 12 and 15 feet – he was retaining form, not inverting, and not losing his hind end.
>>I moved it out to 15′ feeling sure that would give him a nice 2 strides but instead he just extended out and basically left out a stride to take it as a single stride (and that’s still with the bounce too wide so still reaching for jump 3). Ugh!!>>
Actually, it wasn’t an ugh moment for me, it was more of a “cool, he is sorting out how to do a 1 stride at 15 feet!” If it was flinging, he would have been miles over the bar, like at the 22″ cup. I have seen little dogs do that and that is a definite ugh.
>>So, I extended it out to 18′ and finally got him to put in the 2 strides.
Yes, he did a modified 2 stride, meaning he was in relative collection, knowing that a 1 stride would be a not-good idea LOL!! Good boy 🙂
>>He’s pretty athletic and rarely touches bars, so he’s getting away with this stuff, without severe consequences for him but I do think it would be more ideal if he was a little more fluent in reading distances and adjusting his stride accordingly.>>
Yes, he is an athletic little dude for sure!! But he is doing a good job with his body here. So an idea for you: shorten up the ladder element of a grid a little bit (6 inches) and show him each distance to jump 4 twice. Ask him what he thought about it 🙂 So at 12 and 15 and 18 feet, seeing it twice, he will either say “I can do it again, that felt great” or “Let me change something”. It will be interesting to see what he does! But overall, he is not getting himself ‘into trouble’ with inverted spine or flinging back legs that many dogs do when they are in trouble, he is staying in control.
>>P.S. Toy is a lotus ball with treats in it, is always on the ground and about 2 strides after the last jump.
Perfect! He was really focused nicely on it.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He is doing really well on these, rounding his form, heading down, thinking about his jumping. Yay! I watch them in slow motion to see if he is asking questions that we can’t see at full speed. On the 5 jump grid, he certainly noticed the motion! On the 2nd rep, he rattled the 2nd bar. And on the rep at :15 where you started parallel to him, he rattled 2 and 3. So if you see that,dial back the challenge. With motion, do a couple of sessions where you are still ahead of him, maybe leading out to jump 3 so he can get really balanced. And then add the distraction of being at jump 2 or parallel at jump 1 more gradually (not all in one session) so he can stay balanced, maybe starting one foot further back each time. On the wing-to-ladder, he was getting a little off balance in the last interval, so leave it at 3 jumps for now with all of the fast running. You can use 4 jumps but with less speed, so he can come in balanced and hold his balance.
Nice work here!
TracyHi! I was scared when you said it you were too embarrassed to post this, but it was really a fine session LOL!!
I love that she was so pumped up to play here! You were really working the connection and sending, and I think that is why you were doing the spins and not the FCs. They were nice spins LOL! Nothing to be embarrassed about though! The FC line should be the same line as you ran with the BCs (those were really good). I think the issue was that your body was all like “WE DON’T DO FCs THERE! We DO BCs THERE!!” hahaha!!! And that is fine – I agree, it is a better BC spot 🙂 This week will have more FC opportunities.The BC looked good through the pinwheel at 1:03, After you connect on landing, you can slde that cross arm out of the way to help her commit to the last jump. On the next 2 reps on the other side – you were getting a little pointy for the middle jump – pointing forward when she was behind you, which broke the connection so she came off the line (perhaps thinking you were already cuing the blind?)
You helped her on the next 2 reps by going in a little closer and staying MUCH more connected – lovely!
The BCs on the other side are more comfy for you in general, you are more connected started on your right so remember to be that same level of connected starting on your left too! No worries about missing the first jump right at the end, she was set up a little sideways to it – a green dog error to not be able to adjust, no biggie. You were correct to carry on like it didn’t happen.Nice work here!!!!
Hi there!
Yay, so much better! The first 2 reps looked really strong with timing and connection. And yes, you were too early at :31 (woot woot!) but then you fixed it on the next rep. Last rep looked lovely too! You were really working the *just enough* commitment on all of these to show the line but also turning early – it looks like she had no questions. She had really nice turns too!! And her squeaking is a sign that she was chasing your line the whole time, and that is correct. YAY!! The only thing to add is…. verbals 🙂 In the heat of the moment when things move that fast, remember to use your words 🙂 Great job here!!!! Perfect timing to have nailed it so now we move on to week 3’s fun 🙂Tracy
Hi!
>>I’m having a problem with him running into me on the front crosses on the 1 jump. If I do it on the 2 jumps he does fine.It is definitely harder on one jump! It might be happening because you are reaching the outside arm towards him on the FC rather than dropping back the dog side arm? See below for what I mean 🙂
On the video:
I am really liking how he is committing to the jump after the tunnel!
On the middle pinwheel jump, you can give him more connection as he lands from the previous jump (arm back, eyes on his eyes) to support commitment at :28 and :43. It looks like you started looking forward too early so he went into handler focus and came into you, perhaps anticipating the blind cross.
Your blind at :52 looked great!!
The pinwheel to the blind on the other side looked really good at 1:07! It looks like you held connection a little longer and had your verbals going, setting up a nice blind!
He did well with his commitment on the FC at 1:26 and also at 1:38!! You can start it sooner (which probably also means sending him away to the tunnel more so you can get up there). It also looks like you were moving more towards the center of the bar on the blue jump (the FC jump) and not as much towards the next jump, so resist the magnetic pull of the jump bar and stay outside the wings on the FCs, heading to the next jump (the red jump here). It think as you start the FC, you are turning towards him with your outside arm and that is pulling you towards the center of the bar. So to stay on the correct line, think of the FC more as dropping back with your dog side arm rather than reaching for him with the opposite arm. I also think you will find the blinds much easier on these type of turns 🙂Great job!
Tracy
