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Hi!
I think I got rid of the Fix and Go listing, let me know 🙂All of the sessions here look terrific! I watched the jump grid in slow motion to see if they was anything he was struggling with… nope! I was dropping the toy on the video when I filmed it (when HS was a lot younger) because her stay with a toy on the ground was crappy LOL! So Benni is really good with his stays – placing the toy in the ground is more ideal. So two ways to move forward on his jump education here: on the 5 jump grid, lead out less and release and move a little faster. Release at jump 5 then job after the release, then jump 4, then jump 3. Over the course of a few sessions, I bet you will be able to run. The goal is that his jumping form is unchanged as you add more motion, so do it very gradually so we can obsess on the video 🙂
Also, add in the wing wrap to ladder grid – that automatically adds more motion with fewer jumps to stay balanced on because there is more speed.The FCs and BCs are looking really terrific. Your timing looked good (and that is hard on one or two jumps) and you running line looked really strong – it presented the next jump perfectly, even when you were trying to reward him LOL! You are really mastered the fine art of the exit line connection/cross body reward! Yay! So two ways to progress:
Go to the 3 jumps and the sequences. Fun!
When you are doing the 3 jumps and sequences, when you are not going to reinforce after a cross but instead you are going to keep going: see if you can start to fade the presentation of the arm across the body on the cross exits while maintaining the excellent dog-side shoulder back and super connection. So basically – the cross arm reward produces great connection and pushes your dog-side shoulder back -see if you can do that with less (or no!) cross arm. But you can still present the toy with the cross arm when you are rewarding him.Great job!!! I am excited by his progress and looking forward to more!
Tracy
Hello! He is doing well here! I agree he was a little hesitant on the pinwheel jump – could have been the looser-than-expected footing and also could have been that you were not moving as much. You can move a little more in that center square 🙂 He did a great job driving out of the tunnel to the jump! Poor little guy, hitting his leg – that STINGS and I am glad he is not hurt (just wary). On your next session, you can move a little more and also mix in the send-and-go pinwheels (you can add the tunnel to those too :)) Nice work!
TracyHi there!
The grids do give the dogs the chance to open up and feel the power of jumping 🙂 The back chaining really helped her! Try not to over-help with motion or leaning or anything – we need to teach her to find that line on a grid without you over-helping. So, on the next session…. stand still 🙂 Standing still is hard, I feel that pain because I am particularly twitchy hahahahaha
2 other things on this striding grid:
Start her a little closer to the first jump, so the fist time she puts her front feet down after the release will be between 1 and 2, not before jump 1. And, move the last jump in closer (15 feet, leaving the bar low) so that she can one stride it. Right now she is 2 striding it, but it is pretty far away. Moving it in closer will give us a chance to open up her one stride by moving the jump out gradually: 15 feet, 16 feet, 17 feet 🙂On the pinwheel: your last rep was exactly what we are looking for, YAY! You were smoothest on your send and then you supported the line to jump 3. Very nice! On the others, you were holding the send a bit too long so that created too much decel – which pulled her into the gap and off of 3. So, send and leave, heading towards 3 a little more like you did here. You can add a tunnel before it, you might have more momentum which can help too. You can move the jumps in a tiny bit closer as you get the smoothness of it to repeat the excellent of that last rep. Well done!
Tracy
Sorry for the lack of clarity!
>>Sorry to be the thick one here, but when you say start the jump grids at any point does that mean you can do the one with the wrap before you finish getting them to the moving from the 3rd jump progression in the ladder grid or should we wait till they are used to that much movement before starting the jump wrap to the grid?>>
Nope, I mean that you should do the FC/BC stuff in order – but you can concurrently begin the grids. So you don’t have to wait til you have finished the FC/BC sequences to start the grids, you can begin the first step of the grids (adding motion to the 5 jump grid) while you are also starting the FC/BC 1/2/3 jump games 🙂 Let me know if that makes better sense or if I need more coffee : )
Hi! Do you have video of what you mean and which context? We might be saying the same things in terms of timing – the dog should be seeing the “new” arm (opposite) long before takeoff and you are probably using good timing and transition to get it done – so it is probably semantics but video will tell us 🙂 Post a video of what you mean with G! Generally, if they pull off jumps, something is wrong either with the connection or the transition. Send me a visual 🙂
T
Good morning!
>> This is part of a UKI course I have set up talk about lazy I just didn’t want to set it up again.
HAHA! I admire and approve of your laziness LOL!!!
DANG he is a speedy little thing!! It is really cool to see his speed now that his understanding of commitment is coming along so nicely!
On the first rep, I think he was just having a GIDDY UP PARTY ON moment out of the tunnel and missed the first jump, you can help by calling him a little sooner. You were very quiet so he was going straight. It was correct to keep moving and then I suggest rewarding him when he did find the jump after the tunnel thee 2nd time (rather than when he missed the next jump because you were a little disconnected). You supported the tunnel nicely on this rep!!! And good job remembering to spit out the verbals, so many words, right? LOL!2nd rep – the pinwheel looked really strong!! Good boy!!! On the tunnel send – you were saying tunnel but looking ahead (probably at the tunnel) so the connection broke. Try to look back at him and say tunnel a few times, intensifying the connection – I bet that will help get the tunnel sends!
You did exactly the right connection into the tunnel at :27 on rep 3 and he was fabulous, driving right in without you need to give him a full escort to it LOL! You were also much more connected on the tunnel send at :34 AND you supported with body language – nice! The pinwheel looked really good here too!
Baby dog is growing up!!! I am super happy with what he did here, all you need to remember is to call him sooner after a tunnel and look at him more on the tunnel sends. Move on to the week 2 games so we can add the crosses. Nice job here!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>> But this exercise proved to me I need to still move slowly.Yep, I agree, it was too much challenge all rolled into one session – as soon as you added height, he lost the striding. Height is the very last thing to add – he just turned a year old, so we have plenty of time to add it 🙂 Big male dogs don’t need to see full height until they are closer to 16-18 months – and that is fine because there aren’t any trials coming up soon anyway LOL!
>>My intention was to do no more than 4 reps, but I worked till I got back to one stride.
You can also ust end the session then figure it out for next time 🙂 He might not be able to recover the striding you want, the dogs get fatigued so that makes it harder. One session is not a make or break session, and also we don’t always need to end on a good note 🙂
He is still developing his form – thinking it through with his front end and not really talking to his hind end yet LOL! Start him a tiny bit closer to that very first jump, so he has to lift immediately into the first jump and not put his front feet down again before it – the first hit of the front feet should be on landing of jump 1. He is landing pretty close to the bar on each of the ladder grid jumps, which means he is still sorting it out. Also, when you add challenge on the last jump, it changes his organization on the first jump – you can see it notably at :20 – the last jump was tall and further away, so he splits his front feet over that first jump then shortens up/slows down between jumps 3 and 4.
I think you were trying to help the striding by moving a bit on this – but interestingly, he did not chnge the striding (still 2 strides, shortening up to read it) at :30.
He did get back to the one stride at the very end, but I suggest taking a different approach to this grid to get him to power into it off his rear more (I bet, eventually, he will be able to bounce that 16 foot distance at the very end and you will be able to get an extended one stride up to 21 feet, perhaps!)
So – starting him a little closer to that first jump, move the oxer (jump 4) back to 15 feet and put the bars at 8 and 12 on the oxer. Only change one variable at a time – so don’t worry about height at all, because the higher heights are causing him to shorten up. Instead, worry about gradually extending the distance. Do 15 feet, then 16 then 17. Do just a couple of reps and end while he is still powering and feeling the wind in his hair 🙂 If he adds a stride at 17 (3 hits of the front feet instead of 2) then move the jump back to 16.5 feet.
Over the course of several weeks, you can start to go from 16 to 17 to 18 to 19 feet – but that will take us a while and we have plenty of time. Mixed in, you can do the ladder grids with motion that I posted today.
Height doesn’t need to be added any time soon – he is a big boy so we have a little more time needed to let him develop, like a fine wine or brewing a great cup of coffee 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
On the jump grid:
The 1st 2 looked fine and dandy, no problem, nice balanced one stride. Question – on the 3rd and 4th reps, what was the distance to that last jump? He went to a 2-stride and I want to see if we can convince him to streeeeetch his one- stride 🙂 So – go back to the one stride distance (whatever it was on the 1st two reps) and then stretch by only 1 foot – reward for the one stride a few times. If he is doing the one stride, stretch it out by one more foot and see if he still does the one stride. Reward if he does a 2 stride (3 hits of the front feet) at any point, but then immediately move that last jump back in a foot or 6 inches to get him back into the groove of 1 striding it.Pinwheely fun:
great job with the different verbals that also sound different in tone and pitch!
I think his straight exit (not finding the pinwheel) on the first rep was more about YEEHAW Giddy UP after the tunnel LOL! plus you were late turning. You handled it well by continuing – but rather than throw straight, you can throw on a turn to convince him to collect when you aren’t moving much.2nd rep – you were still a little late turning to the pinwheel (distance is pretty small, so you can do it as he is over the first jump) but he got it, good boy, great job rewarding that moment!
3rd rep – nice! He is getting the idea and committing nicely.
4th rep – he did not take the pinwheel jump at :37. NOt sure if you meant for him to skip it or not, based on your reaction of just keep going (always good to just keep going smoothly!) If you freeze the video as he is over the jump after the tunnel, you gave him his right turn verbal and you turned your back on him – no connection and all of your body was facing the 180 jump and not the pinwheel jump. And then as you continued around, you were much clearer on the connection and send to the pinwheel jump! Nice!
>>When I start working on the send and go, can I still use the tunnel, or take it out?
You can leave the tunnel in, it will be fun! And definitely start the send and go, do a session to make sure he has got it – and then I think you will be all set up for the Week 2 handling games 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi there!
>>Pinwheel sends … my first question was where to start. I got there and didn’t know if I should line up with the jump, or run into it. After that I realized I was looking at the obstacle, not Demi. A horrible habit of mine!! I also noticeD when I reviewed, that my reward was being offered way too late.
You can line her up facing the first jump, lead out a little then release and move – you did that on the first rep and it went nicely! And yes, try to look at her a little more and at the pinwheel jump a little less. You can try to throw earlier but more importantly – send her like you did and then keep moving. You were standing still and that is OK to get this started, but now keep moving: that will challenge her to maintain her commitment and allow you to get away up the line. You can still throw the reward for various places around the pinwheel and great job on your verbals! I think she did just fine here which is why we can add more of your motion. If she struggles 0 you can move more slowly and also you can decrease the distance between the jumps here.
>>Jump grid … this turned out to be more of a learning experience than an stride evaluation. It took me a while to convince her to drive the line.
Yes it is a really massive distance! For the jump grids, we don’t want to use lazy games because we don’t want her commitment understanding to be relative to your motion at all. So, a different approach: back chain it. Set her up on the landing of the 3rd jump, so she is facing the last jump. Lead out, put the reward down, face away from her (don’t face her) then release. If she can find that last jump twice in a row, change her start position to be between jumps 2 and 3 – and repeat the process. If she can find jump 3 and 4 twice in a row, change her start position to between jumps 1 and 2, then repeat the process. If she can find jumps 2,3,4 twice in a row – set her up in front of jump 1 (nice and close, like you mentioned). If she struggles at any point, do a few reps where you started her without adding challenge.
When she understands the concept of this type of line, it will be much easier – her striding on the ladder element looked terrific (fast, powerful – but also balanced!) and her stay is looking GREAT so I think she will figure it out quickly! And that will set you up nicely to go into the week 2 games (but don’t go to those until we have this grid in a place where she can read it with you all the way out at the end.Nice work here! Let me know if this makes sense!
TracyHi! Nice job starting on the left here LOL!! She is still doing super well on the left and doing a lot better on the right by turning earlier rather than slicing than turning. You can start a little further back when you start on the jump – that will add a bit more momentum into it, which will make the sends easier (you were still sorting out which leg to send on when you started up close on your left side towards the end there). These are looking really good so far, so add in a bit more running and the tunnel before and after it – you might already be doing this, based on the tunnel location here! That will add more speed, which can also allow you to move the middle pinwheel jump further away for more distance too! We build on it starting tomorrow 🙂 Great job!
Tracy
Hi! Yes, the waving elephant definitely helped make it more stimulating so we got a better look at his striding because he was happier to play our crazy game LOL!! Good boy! I think the value of the jumps will increase in coming months so you won’t always need a moving toy out there, but the exciting toy certainly helps for now!! I am happy with his striding – even being more stimulated, he didn’t lose his form and his form was nice when he went faster (that is rare but definitely happy-making!). Are the bars on the first 3 jumps fixed in position? I think he can push from his rear a bit better on those is they were a tiny bit lower. Revisit these grids here and there, maybe once a week, to keep the form developing.
Yes, I am a big fan of alternate behaviors to work through unwanted behaviors: going to a bed or cot (stationing, as some folks call it) really helps in my crazy, oops I mean ACTIVE house with 9 dogs and many terriers haha! And it helps give the dogs something reinforcing to do in those self-control moments – it is easier to choose self-control when there is something else that is incredibly reinforcing to choose! Here is a bit of Getting It Right The First Time (turn up the volume for explanation):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtA3UvBsNsshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GebavUK8eY
Have fun!
TracyHi! Great session here – short, sweet, effective! Yes by starting at 18 feet you were working on 2 strides not 1 stride but you still got good training done – the challenge was to see if he could read the grid and extend the stride without adding a stride that isn’t needed… his answer is HECK YEAH! He was consistent and smooth in his striding in the balance element then did a 2 stride on every rep here (18 or 19 feet) that looked balanced – he never lost his balance, he just read the grid and adjusted. Very cool to see it happening! Next session on 2 stride, you can do on rep at 18, one rep at 19, one rep at 20 – see if he adds a stride at 20 which would be fine). And yes, revisit the 1 stride at 15 at some point to work on that too. Nice job here!!
Hi again! That little tunnel might be the cutest thing on this planet! She did beautifully on these – little tiny girl doing better than most adult big dogs! I LOVE how she drove out to the pinwheel jump, especially on that last rep. You didn’t have to do much to get her to do it and that allowed you to move away down the line on the 2nd rep & 3rd rep – she definitely seemed to love the chase element of that, but she didn’t lose her mind – she found the jump correctly too! Nice work throwing the reward to the middle jump on some reps, keeping the value high. We build on this tomorrow, she is most definitely ready. Well done!
Tracy
Hi Anne! This was really interesting to watch (I watch all the grids in slow motion because the dogs move so fast LOL!)
On the 1st rep, she took off early. 2nd rep – NICE striding. 3rd rep – she split the difference between reps 1 and 3 – not quite leaping but maybe not as balanced as rep 2? And the last rep, where the jump was further away, she was nice and balanced again. What does it mean?I think she is still sorting it out and just needs more experience, reading the grid plus the reward plus the leaves LOL! But she is always adjusting for the better so she is figuring it out in a really good way. The balance grid looks really great on each rep. So re-visit this striding grid here and there in the next couple of weeks, especially as we add more challenge, and see how she does as she gains more experience 🙂
Nice job!
TracyHi!
>>If you only knew how many times I told myself to stay in place, it’s hard. Needed bars like you had.>>
Yes, I feel that pain, that is why I put the box down haha!And yes, she was a lovely combo of thoughtful but also fast – perfect!! She did a really nice job finding the lines and also setting up the turn (the type of turn on the pinwheel jump is actually pretty hard! She set up the pinwheel turn to the left better than to the right, but I think that got better with experience – the right turns were as she was figuring out the game and then left turns were after she figured it out 🙂 You had a right turn at 1:32 that was better than the rights at the beginning of the session, so I think on the next session – start her turning left on the pinwheel jump, get her in the groove, then go to the right turns.
She didn’t appear to have any questions when you added distance – yay! So you can definitely re-visit this with gradually increasing distance, I think she will be fine with that.
Nice work!
Tracy
