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Hi!
Novice jumpers started off great!
He went to the off course tunnel because I think for a moment that was the line you set – so yes, don’t call him back, just make something up if needed and keep going. Good job catching it on the video!>I wish I had planned a more flowing course but lesson learned for tomorrow.>
Yes – he was like “2 teeters in a row? Weird!” LOL! So getting a fast flowing opening will really help! When you started moving at the end, he was happy to pick up a line and go go go!
The regular run went well too! He really liked the ready-set-go tunnel opening! He is definitely letting us know that driving up onto the a-frame at speed is hard, so I think lowering it in class and doing fast lines onto it will really help.
He is not really seeing the weaves because the competition environment is hard. As he gets used to being in that environment, I think he will be able to find the weaves more easily.
Nice work here! How did today go?
Tracy
Good morning!
He is doing well with the jump work! Keep it really systemic for now, leaving the structure in place while just adding one new thing. The bowl was a hard brain-bender for him, but it was helping produce the head position and tightness of turn we want, so leave it on for both the wraps and slices for longer. He did really well moving past it, despite him looking longingly at it LOL!!!
On the backside wraps, keep adding motion like you were doing at the end of the jumping session – try not to stop til he sits (there might be a delayed response because a stationary behavior has to override handler motion), just keep slowly moving through it so he learns to organize his hind end even as you are still in motion That was hard for him on the wraps and slices! Don’t release til you are on the other side of the jump on the wraps (the same side of the bowl).
You were moving through the slices really well and he did well too! He was having a delayed response to the sit because sitting (and collecting) while you are in motion is quite challenging!
For now, add motion as the only variable change: leave the plank in, and leave the bowl in. Those will start to come out when he can organize for takeoff with you moving pretty quickly.
The weaves looked terrific! He was finding really challenging entries!!! Good boy!
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning! These courses do look like a lot of fun!!!! She is running well!
I didn’t see an extra backside on run 1 – just the bar on 1 and then the reconnection was late after a blind towards the end, so she didn’t see the side change.
On the other 2 runs, basically the same issue caused her to pick up the wrong line at :22-:23 on the first SS and :24-:26 on the 2nd one.
As she was taking off for the jump before the jump I question, you were setting a line to the parallel path backs (which is where the natural line went).
The decel was not really noticeable, because your shoulders and motion still faced the backside line long enough that she read it as a cue.
Also, both of these were on left turns, so that is something to keep track of in case the left turn side is the weaker side.Ideally, as she is taking off for the jump before the potential backside jump, you are already turned to face the correct side, calling her (definitely call her!), and probably at this point I’d be using a brake arm too (showing both arms) to help get the turn.
In the walk through, look for the potential backside lines because they will be there, especially in UKI 🙂 Making the cues earlier and adding the brake arm will definitely help.
Let me know how today goes!
Tracy
Holy wow this went great! She had a small question right at the beginning (probably because she didn’t see the wing and needed you to take a couple of extra steps).
But after that? Fantastic!!!!! She was SO FAST and knew exactly where to go. Perfect!
So definitely move on to the next set of games, and keep going with the ‘lots of connection, no hands’ approach to handling. She looks great!!!
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
Looking at the first video – this went really well! She seemed to have no questions about finding the jump on the Go cues, versus turning on the tunnel exit when asked. The only blooper was when you cued the left too soon and didn’t acutally cue the tunnel… so she didn’t take the tunnel. Everything else looked great!
She also did really well with the weaves: the soft side entry is a little harder (she did have one miss coming out of the tunnel but then on the next rep, it looks like you converged towards the tunnel entry which supported her line to the weave entry. That is definitely something to remember for now, as that soft sided entry gets solidified.
She did really well on the other side of the weaves too!
>didn’t realize that I moved the wing in the way – sorry!>
No worries, I could tell by your reaction if she got it or not LOL
On your next session – you can use 12 poles and also – don’t give her a warm up on the weaves: start right from the wing into the tunnel to the weaves, and see if she can find them immediately.
Course 1:
I think you said “LEGIT!” at the end of the run and I agree – that went great!!!The walk through looked really clear – I could easily tell your handling choices, nice connection, good verbals too! The only question I had was about the cue for 2 – it looked a little like you were facing forward too much and not facing the line as much. She seemed to agree on the lead out, when she did not immediately look at jump 1. You can angle a little more back to her so she is more confidently looking at jump 1.
Small details – with nationals coming up, decide on what you want your teeter release to be. She left before the release here. Since it is a week away, you can release as it hits the ground to be consistent rather than change it and risk flyoffs or creepy teeters.
Looks like she stayed in the weaves – hard to tell from the video but the layering went well!
And did she get the jump after the DW on the turn away? I think she did, but it was not that visible.
Your timing was strong here and she had really nice turns. So keep working the connection which is what leads to the good timing, which is what leads to the good turns!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
This is a good update! I am glad things when so well with Mookie: he is on fire lately!!!
For Alonso – it sounds like it was more of a brain game for you and the courses challenges were not what was causing the trouble! When you structure your work with them, you can build in taking a break before running Alonso, maybe re-walking the course, etc so you attack it fresh! Or you can run him first (and run Mookie when you are more tired :))> In my defense, I did have little sleep due to highway construction noises 3 nights in a row. They decided to pound pylons until 2:30 am. >
Ugh!!! That sounds annoying! Hopefully they are done with construction and you can get some good sleep 🙂
Thanks for the update!!!
TracyGood morning!
>I have been resisting sending to #1 with 2 arms because I can’t make that work in my head. I’d have an easier time spinning it.>
The 2 handed release is definitely getting useful on these opening! The spin can delay your movement up the next line… but you can do a backwards send to jump 1! That is exactly how it sounds – you are facing the next line and send him back to get 1. It creates a fantastic turn plus you will already be facing the next line. I use this plenty but it is just strange enough that I don’t teach it a lot LOL!! You will see it in the Super Independent Handling Skills video coming on Monday, as I send to a wing to start an exercise.
>He had a seizure early this morning (only his third in 7 years). >
Oh no 🙁 I am sorry to hear that, you both need 2025 to be kinder to you!!! He might have been a bit sluggish, he did seem slower and not jumping as fluidly as normal, but did work beautifully anyway.
He turned really well out of the tunnel here!
Th backside wrap at :12 was where the bar was down – a big contributor to that was your position. As he was coming to the backside, you were moving towards the exit wing as if it was a slice so he was surprised by the FC line.
When you worked it at :19, your position was spot on for the first rep – you were moving further across the bar on the next 2 reps which was not as strong of a position.
Your FC on the backside was definitely better at :38 but he was still wide , he was almost tossing himself over the bar rather than engaging the rear. So it is something to revisit when he is feeling 100% – and if he still needs help, you can brush up the skill like you did here and add stronger turn cues as he is approaching the entry wing (yes two hands, so incredibly effective even if it feels weird :))
Next pop out: this one really challenges the dog to NOT take any extra tunnels or the weaves! He did great! He is not wrapping as tight in his collection but it could be that he was still feeling a little off, or needs a little brush up on the skill now that he is back in action.
The only thing to add here is to decelerate into your switch cue. He through it was the weaves because of the acceleration and the verbal cue was a little late. So decelerating into the switch and calling him as he is collecting for takeoff will get hi eyes off of the weaves 🙂
Casper did great on the backsides!!! He seemed to have no questions. He was really using his hind end well here. Super!!!
>In the course of one session, I let his sit almost completely deteriorate. <sigh> >
Ha! Maybe you were just fading out the sit, that is next on the list 🙂
But before you fade the sit out: out a bowl down on the exit side of the wing (so he lands and then finishes the wrap to the bowl) so he is looking down to where he goes next and not jumping with his head up looking at you. That bowl to get his head down will really help solidify his form then we can move to the next steps.
>Also, the weaving was brilliant, if I say so myself.>
Yes! He is doing an amazing job with his weaves!
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
>I tend to try to get him to have some speed going into the frame so he doesn’t struggle to get up it.>
Yes, more momentum helps! And working on a lowered frame to help him organize to get on should help too – there is a lot of impact getting on the a-frame if they are not sure of how to get on, so maybe he is having some self-preservation when he feels he might splat himself? I like self-preservation LOL! Good boy!
>Then yesterday evening he decided he could not possibly open it and even started retrieving it back over the jump. What a goober?
>Strange! Maybe the value of retrieving it has grown – or is it a little confusion over if he should eat the treats or retrieve them (if he is retrieving the other similar clam toy, he might have generalized it to this lotus ball?) Or maybe the Velcro was too tight to open or too hard so he didn’t want to shove his face in it.
I think the struggles in the video had all to do with the reinforcement – you were throwing it but it was not really a reinforcement because he drove to it less and less, wanting to stick near you.
Looking at the reward on the video: he was not opening it when you threw it, so he was not driving to it either (it was probably more efficient to hang near you and let you get it, because he needed your thumbs LOL) Then started retrieving it – because he needed you to open it. Smart dog 🙂
So don’t change your setup – let’s change the reward to help motivate him to go that far away from you. Since we want to build value with rewards out at a distance (while avoiding the giant lure of something like a Treat N Train), you can also try a kong or toppl with cream cheese or something equally delicious in it. That way you can throw it and he can lick the yummy stuff when he gets there. They are nice and heavy, which makes them easier to throw pretty far.
I bet once the reinforcement works better, then the behavior itself will be easy!!
Let me know what you think and how he does with the different reward.
Tracy
Ah yes! Definitely wear the hat for walk through videos and not the run, it did make it easier.
I think the walk and run matched up really well!!!
Good morning!
Nice job starting the threadle wraps! I think he ha the idea when you set the line (like at :08 and :10, that was a clear line set so he easily found the correct side of the wing). When he was going to the ‘front’ side of the wing, it was probably just that you were starting close to the wing and he is an over-achiever, so he was locked onto the front which did not give you much time at all to set the line 🙂 So you can start him from further back and even add a wing wrap before it, which gives you time to set the line like you did on the successful reps.
His commitment on the FC wraps looked awesome!! Nice job sending and doing the FC early! Plus he did great with the race track at the end – he didn’t need any support with your arms there, you can just run with connection.
As he is exiting the wing wraps, be sure to make connection back to him. If he doesn’t see connection, he goes wide, waiting for more info (connection provides the side info). For example, at :24 and :34 you were moving towards the camera and your shoulders were closed forward as you were running. So you did have your head turned back to him, but he couldn’t see it so he was wider there exiting the wing. If you drop your shoulder back or even point your arm back to him, he will be a lot tighter because he can see the connection clearly.Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
He is reading the beginning of the BC cue (shoulder turn) really well, plus you are decelerating into it, so he knows it is a tight turn too! Super! His commitment is looking great… so you can start the blinds earlier 🙂 You were starting them when he was about halfway to the wing, which meant the blind was not-quite-finished when he exited the wing. So you can start it one stride sooner: when he exits the tunnel, cue the wing while staying on the same line you ran here. As he looks at the wing (one stride past the tunnel exit) keep moving forward to the wing but also start the side change so the blind is fully finished before he exits the wing.
That is allowing you to set up the FC and spin on the middle wing, which looked great – just be sure that you don’t block his line a you move forward to that wing. That was happening a little on the 2nd side like at :42 and :54 so he was going wide to get around you. Compare to the other side, like at :15, where you cleared the line and let him get past you to the wing – super tight turns!
On the 2nd video:
>I think this is like a “flip” or a “Japanese” >
If my memory is correct, the OMD definition for a Japanese (and maybe flip too) is a BC on the takeoff side of a backside – so the 2nd blind here fit that definition. Maybe the flip was 2 BCs in a row but that would require a lot more coffee to remember hahahaha
But yes – they are really difficult because of the quickness of the connection change.
There are 2 tricks to getting the 2 blinds in a row.
The first is to begin the first blind as easy as possible, so it is finished before he exits the wing.
The other trick is to use connection but not arms – it just takes too long to extend and retract our arms, and they block the connection. I think of my arms as ‘chicken wings’ for this skill, which are bent at the elbow and tucked into my ribs 🙂 That way I can make both connection changes pretty quickly.Nice timing at :15 – that is what I was suggesting for ideal timing! Yay! You were finished with the blind before he exited the first wing, but your arms were extended which blocked the connection. On this rep, he never quite made the side change on the first side (unclear connection) so he stayed out on the right side and got that line nicely. The rep after that (:21) had early enough timing and clearer connection changes, so he got that quite nicely!
On the other side – the timing of starting the first blind was a bit late (he was one stride from the wing) which made the 2nd blind really late. So starting those cues as he exits the tunnel will make that a lot easier.
And try it with your arms in tight – you will see how much quicker you can get the blinds going!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! The circle wraps went really well – I think they are one of the harder handling moves for human and dog!
The best reps were when you added countermotion, like at :21-:23, 1:04, 1:10 by getting right behind his tail and moving forward, supporting with a bit of connection by not hanging out near the wing at all. Also, those were all right turns.
When you added the left turn at 1:19 and tried to do the same once countermotion, he had a harder time (1:19 and the rep after it). You helped by staying near the wing longer (on the landing side, like at 1:31). You can also get the countermotion going on the left turns by moving through the line more slowly and looking back behind you (looking and pointing to the landing spot) then throwing the reward back behind yo uno the other side of the wing.
On the FC and spin wraps:
Great job decelerating sooner and giving him the wrap cues sooner! The info was flowing as he exited the tunnel so you can see there is more ‘snap’ around the wing on both the FC and the spins, because he was driving through the tight turn (with the info on where to go next already visible).Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>Question about the target. Do I go to a nose target or would a foot target be better? >
I vote for a head bob! A head bob towards the target accomplishes 3 things:
– it helps get the weight shift we want, for being able to get speed into position, then stop easily, and for exploding out of the position. If their heads are up looking at us and there is a foot target only, they will slow down because it is harder to go fast while looking upwards.
– it adds something to look at as a strong focal point that is NOT us humans. The more they look at us, the more they turn or slow down.
– it adds an extra layer of criteria. As you know, criteria often deteriorates through a trial career, so the more we can add, the better! So having both the foot position and the head bob in play will help the behavior hold up a lot better.>She is in good position now ready to run forward and I think a foot target would be easier to teach her. >
Not necessarily! The head bob is easy, especially if you reward by putting the treat right on the target. And a bit of weight shift will definitely give her the power to explode when you tell her where to go next.
>Thinking something rectangular that both feet could easily hit…she is small enough an index card might work.>
A index card will probably have her front feet too close together, so if you do a foot target it probably needs to be slightly wider than her shoulders.
>I see a foot target as useful for the teeter maybe too.< yes, it will help her drive to the end. For my small dogs, I use a foot target on the teeter, which also has an additional behavior of either a head bob or a scratch at the target. I have video of the target scratching somewhere, but can't find it. I will keep looking! Keep me posted! Tracy
Good morning!
Lift’s class work looked great – she was pumped up and flying!The backside wrap looked strong, nice job adding the training to the context she will see it in!
The weave layering is also going really well – finding the tunnel as the last obstacle was the hard part. You can load the instructors with the reward to throw, so it lands at the tunnel entry as she is looking at it from the jump. I have also placed the reward right in front of the tunnel entry sometimes, to surprise the dog with the “hey there is my prize” to keep them looking forward 🙂 And sometimes I place it right inside the tunnel entry 🙂
>. In his first turn, he didnt’ drive well to the end of the teeter so in the 2nd turn, I surprised him with part of a meatball for his first teeter which was so fast that his back end slid off and he had to hop it back onto the board – but it was a great effort. We did the line into the teeter again right after that and he was fast and stuck the landing – more meatball!
>Ha! Surprise rewards like that are VERY motivating (dopamine, anticipation, etc) so definitely keep those surprises coming! Sounds like he did great!
>I’m not sure that I trained a 2 hand arm cue for it, but I’m betting both dogs will figure it out.>
They have both seen the 2-hand move in the MaxPup 1 and 2 classes… but that was a while ago LOL so you can revisit it on the flat for a couple of reps, then I am sure they will remember it.
Nice work here!
Tracy
