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Hi Jill, this was so fun to watch!
I think the first rep was all about you thinking “OMG I HAVE TO RUN SO FAST” hahahahaha Correct – you have to hustle with that little speedster!!!! Try to call him right before he enters the tunnel, so he exits and finds jump 3 – and a bit more connection will help, but I think a name call is all he needs.2nd rep – you had more hustle 🙂 You also called him and started the blind bright and early – NICE! After the blind, you can call the left as soon as you see him land from 3 and you can turn a bit sooner too. It looked like you ran a perfect line from 3-4 for the blind, he was perfect on that line!
2nd sequence – holy cow, baby dog is growing up! He is finding his lines AND keeps getting faster. I am so excited for you!!!!! Your connection was great.
Right at the beginning of this, it sounds like you cued the jump (#1) and then said “go tunnel Watson” – perfect! Basically you said to him: “get in the tunnel then turn.” That allowed you to get way up the line and you got your wraps verbals in too!
Your wrap cues (physical and verbal) were maybe one step later than what he needs right now – he was moving so fast and with so much “wheeeeeee!!!!” that he wasn’t expecting the wrap cues and didn’t collect, even though you turned on the verbal and physical cues as he landed. It was really a baby dog moment of “wheeeeee!!!!! oh wait we are turning, be right there!” LOL! So for now, start those cues even earlier, start to decel as he is jumping #3 so when he landshe is already seeing and hearing it. Now, if he pulls off of 4 because you are too early… fine! Reward! When he starts to pay close attention like that, we can moe back to the original timing you had here. So in a nutshell – you had good timing but we have to tweak it for a young sportscar LOL!Great job on your running line and connection back 5 and 6: you were able to get him back on the line. If you had a bad line or bad connection, he would not have found it.
Well done!!!!!
TracyHi! These were generally fine to see, I could see/hear all of your cues perfectly! And you can edit the videos a little less… the cuts between reps showed the tunnel entry cues but not always the exits – cliffhanger! LOL!
On the video:
All the Go reps looked great – high energy and a physical cue to match.Left & right – I couldn’t see what she was doing on the exit but it certainly looked like she was turning left! And same on the right. You are using the same word (kimya but I am sure that is not how it is spelled LOL!!) so does that word mean turn-towards-me for a soft turn?
Rear crosses – you did the RC miles early and she read them perfectly 🙂 Yay! Another approach to the RC is to move the wing further back so you can start with her at the wing and then run forward into it, so you are moving through the RC closer to her and not coming in from as lateral of a position – both are useful RCs.
The verbal here – does that mean turn away? You have all sorts of great verbals going so I am just making sure I keep up 🙂Wrap exits – I am assuming by your reaction that they were good LOL! I think some of the verbals were backwards (left=right one of the reps) but also, yu can change the energy and quiet them – which will get a little more decel from you which will tighten the turn. The other thing to add is turning and running the other way so she chases back to you for the reward: this will tighten the turns even more because the wrap cue will also mean: chase da momma!
When you added the RC, though – she was a little wider – I think partially because your were saying left when it was a right? Not sure if I was hearing it right? But also the RC had a lot of acceleration – so on a RC to a wrap, decelerate and then run the other way like on a regular wrap so she can chase you for the reward.
Great job here!!! Her commitment looked perfect and the exits look great – the independence will be so useful!
Tracy
Good morning!
This was really fun to watch and also gives us good reminders – she is big enough that she has to duck to get into the tunnel so we actually have to show her the info early enough that she sees it before she has to duck! Good to remember that the big dogs are certainly not the same as the littles.
Your GO reps looked fabulous. Great toy placement too. And great verbals. Spot on, click/treat!At :32 you did a rep which looked like a ‘left’ based on your turn and reward throw – The physical cue was on time and she read it. Yay! Remember to use a left cue or a name call – you might have done it, but it was quiet 🙂 On the next rep, your left cue was very clear and on time – one thing to consider is making it a lower-energy cue in terms of volume and intensity: if it is a little quieter and a little longer than GO, then it will help with the turns.
You can also start to move away sooner, I think her tunnel commitment can handle that!
I mentiomed moving away sooner because I think you were trying to move away faster on the next 2 reps LOL! And faster is always harder – and sooner doesn’t have to be fast, if that makes sense 🙂 Also, you can delay the toy throw on th left and right turns until after she has exited and turned – that way you don’t have to whip your shoulders around as quickly.At 1:28 you did a BC after the wing and then a left cue on the tunnel – she read the decel nicely! You can be sooner on the left verbal (she was already in) but she did see the physical cue. You were a lot earlier on the last rep and she read it well!
Don’t forget to add in the rear crosses on the tunnel entry too. Because of her size, you can do a couple of wraps but you won’t need to do many wraps on the exits… they are really hard on the big dogs’ bodies plus I think she will read them brilliantly (based on how nice her left/right turns were here) so you can show them once or twice but no need to obsess 🙂
Great job here!! And extra thanks to your videographer for braving those nasty skeeters!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
This sequence gives us LOTS to play with 🙂Breaking it down into sections, rather than reps:
On the 1-2 line (where he has to bypass the end of the tunnel he can see to find 2) – standing still on the lead out worked and he got it right… but it was not as fast as he can go 🙂 So try leading out less, maybe 3 steps past the 1st jump – release and run run run 🙂 Now of course that is risky, because he might cut behind you to the wrong end of the tunnel. The trick to to be SUPER connected to his eyes and resist all temptation to point towards the tunnel until he is past you. That should get speed and the correct tunnel entry.
This will be especially useful in getting upstream to the wrap at 3: we can tweak your wrap mechanics to get a tighter turn and get you outta there faster. On the wrap reps (1, 3, and 4) you were facing forward on the send to the backside as he was passing you and giving him more help than he needed to commit by swooshing your upper body towards the bar: that caused him to jump a little bit on a slice (not as tight as he can do it) and also delayed your exit so you were on his line when he needed it as he came round the wing. (Good news – you ran a great line! Not as good news – we need to get you off of it sooner LOL!!!)
So the trick to the backside wrap is to get to where the wing meets the bar and as he is catching up to you, you are also rotating a bit sideways so your hip (in this case, left hip) is lined up to where the wing meets the bar. You cue the backside and as soon as his tail is past you, you leave for the next position. That will tighten the turn because the rotation cues better collection and will also allow you to get up the line sooner.Ti give you a visual of what I mean, look at the brake video. Ivan does not need the additional turn cue (he already turns beautifully) you can see my sideways position on the wing:
I will also grab some more video of what I mean this weekend to post 🙂
On rep 2 you did a forced front cross (:32) – I do think the slice line has potential to be faster than the wrap, so there are 2 ways to try this slice line: like you did here, but as a forced blind cross (the forced front cross causes too much rotation towards him and slows him down).
The other slice line option here is to enter the backside jump from the same line you brought him to it for the wrap – but then have him slice instead of wrap. I suggest a forced blind to a FC there. Another option is to send to the backside and stay on the landing side and do a serpentine. Both of those options will allow you to send him to 5 on your right side.And that brings us to the 4-5-6 line… I love the blind cross 5-6! Aggressive handling, risky… it lights his fire and he goes FAST 🙂 So the question is how to get there on time LOL! Coming from the wrap, the big send to 4 that you did on reps 3 and 4 (especially rep 4) really helps – and on both of those, you can start turning your head sooner for the BC – you can start turning it before you get past the wing of 5, because your motion will support taking 5. (You had a REALLY nice running line on your blind!)
The other option is to do the backside slice (entering the same side as the wrap), sending to 4 on your right side… then doing a FC to put him on your left (he turns left on 4) and then you serpentine the landing side of 5 to get to 6.
I drew it in CRCD if you can open it, copy and paste this into a blank map. Your running path is in red:
Begin Course Designer
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End Course Designer2 other things worth mentioning:
the 10″ bar seemed perfectly fine to him, so leave it there for sure. And for this sequence, I think the #4 bar can also go to 10″.and your running lines were great! Good choices!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Another question: do you use directional verbals (right/left) when you are doing FC and/or BC or do you let the handling speak for itself?
I do try to use the verbals as much as possible – definitely on blinds because there is the disconnection involved. Sometimes it is just a name call, sometimes it is a left or right cue, depending on the line – but I am not very quiet anymore 🙂
Hi! Life sounds busy! But you did get good training in here!!
You had some awesome moments of late turns, bad throws, flinging arms, etc. A couple made me snort! And she did had two little oopsie moments but made immediate adjustments (if she failed again, we would dial it back and make it easier).
The next place I would take this proofing is into simple jump grids – have you done 5 jump balance grids with her (5 jumps, 6 feet apart, 8″ bars). Most of the time when we are doing grids, we are calm and not moving – so you can use grids she knows to add motion, yelling, flinging, etc 🙂 And you can also add this into sequencing: simple sequence with a big bad handling moment – and reward for not touching the bar 🙂
>>One question – do I always leave the bar low or do I gradually raise it?
Yes, raise it on the one jump games now – and keep it low in grids and in sequences until she is really successful. Your goal is full height in sequences, eventually 🙂
On the tunnel reps:
>> I actually found that I had to give her the cue way ahead of that – her tunnel drive is solid, but she needs to know what’s happening early early early, it seems like.
Yep, she might be one of the dogs that needs to see and hear the cue fully in play when she is just arriving at the 6 foot mark, rather than having it start at the 6 foot mark. So you will have to start it at the same timing as you would start a cue if the tunnel entry was a jump: landing of previous jump so that she saw the full picture when she is still at least 6 feet away from the tunnel. My Voodoo is like that – if I *start* the cue when he is 6 feet away, I am not going like the exit LOL!!!
To ‘run’ cues for extension at the beginning were all really good – nice timing and nice toy placement!
When you switched to the right and left cues – the verbal was spot on but the physical cue looked like the run cue at :15 and :18 and :23 and :27 and :31 so she exited then turned (good toy placement!). The first couple of right reps had a lot of motion too – the rest of them and the left reps had less motion, but you were still forward – try to be full turned and peeling away when she hits that info line so the line of motion looks totally different.
Rear crosses – yes you did have to be on her tail LOL! On the right at :42 before she entered, you were so she got it. Yay! The left RCs at :46 & 1:09 were not as early (her head was in the tunnel) so she didn’t get it but you got it beautifully at 1:05 and 1:14 and also to the right at 1:18. Just make sure you turn to face the tunnel you want for a moment so she doesn’t cut across your path to get in it – you might need to give yourslef a little more room between the wing and the tunnel to be able to turn, maybe another 5 feet or so just to have the extra step.
On the wraps, think of the tunnel bags as jump wings and stay outside the line of them – if you pressure in towards the tunnel entry, you will end up a little late on your rotation and she might also read it as a rear cross cue (like at 1:32) So decelerate, stay outside the tunnel bags, and get the full rotation like you did at 1:37ish – let her see you fully turned and running the new direction before she goes in. On some of the reps like at 1:50, you were sideways and still moving a bit down the tunnel, so the turns were wider.
Nice balance of the various cues at the end, she did really well with each one! Your physical cues are the strongest, as we can see when you said left at the very end but cued a right turn LOL!! But keep working your verbals – you have great timing with them and they will have more and more meaning as she keeps practicing.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Not weird at all LOL! I am glad it cooled off to get the runs in! I think it went really well so my suggestions are in full on obsessing/nit picking on how to be as fast and tight as possible.
>>Ps: I know the teeter is
. Working on it with Jen Pinder. Some progress… Jen’s great! I am sure she has a ton of ideas.
Looking at the 3 main sections of the course:
Section 1
I liked the dog-on-left opening line – he was able to read it in big extension. You started the FC on 4-5 nicely on time… but then mid-rotation you moved backwards for a few steps (:03) which drew him into the bumpy part of the water 🙂
2nd run – you finished your rotation sooner so the line was much better (no backing up) at :31. The FC bled off speed there, though, so 3 ideas for you to consider to see if we can match the speed 4-5 to what he was doing on 1-2-3-4:
– start the FC earlier, as he is in the air over 3 so it can be finished earlier so you can run out of it more
– lead out more so you can do the FC closer to the wing of 4 with nice early timing, which will add more motion 4-5.
– do a blind 🙂“All of the above” is an option here too!
Section 2, centered on the 8-9 cross – nice independent weaves so you had great timing on the FC! On the first run, you were one step too far over (past the line) so he was bumpy. On the 2nd run, from this angle at :46 you looked to be in a really good spot – but he was still wider than I want him to be. I personally like the FC option here. What I think is happening is that you are getting off the line too early and therefore he isn’t setting the line the way we want (he lands long over 8 and comes back to 9 on both runs). Now, you can’t stay on the line any longer than you did here unless you plan to also jump the 20″ bar 🙂 But what we can play with is setting the FC closer to the 8 jump so you can be on the line more visibly and longer, and still have plenty of time to get off it. He did not appear to be drifting or ‘line shopping’ so we can tweak the handling path.
My general rule of thumb is: the tighter the exit line, the closer to the wing we want to be if at all possible. And the wider the desired exit line, the more it is fine to be lateral. The 8-9 line is a pretty tight line, so you can be at the wing of the 8 jump right on the line to set it when he exits the weaves. You can show and set the line then be well off it when he needs it.
3rd section – Ending line to get the wrap at 13:
Loved the layering on the way to the wrap at 13 (:22)!! Even with the layering, it is hard to start the decel for the wrap cues and you had a domino effect here: late wrap cue made the turn wide made the spin late made the bar come down. You went into the gap on the 2nd rep – the verbal was perfectly timed but the body was still moving forward, delaying the transition to the rotation so he jumped long. The soft brake on 14 worked really well!
In order to get the tight FC and a tight turn at 13 (we do want it all :)) you can try to get there sooner so you have time to decel then rotation shortly after he exits the tunnel. That falls into the ‘running faster’ category which is a category that isn’t entirely helpful… plus if you run faster, his extension gets bigger, which makes collection harder. You can also NOT try to get there, and decel, then threadle 13-14, then rear cross 14 to 15. (But full disclosure: that is gonna be slow).So here is an adventurous thought: If you set the FC line closer to the wing of jump 8, you can drive him with a couple of step to 9… then basically run down the center of the course, committing him to 10-11-12 with verbals and motion while your running line takes you on the *other* side of the straight tunnel – you will running as directly from 8 to 13 as possible, between the 14 and 15 jumps. That will show a ton of extension and also get you to 13 about 3 hours before he gets there! I drew it in CRCD, you can copy and paste this into a blank map:
Begin Course Designer
Version 4
For a free viewer, go to http://www.coursedesigner.com/viewer
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End Course DesignerLet me know what you think! This is looking good so we can focus on these little details!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Let me know if you need a different view.
The view was perfect!
>> Also, I am showing this weekend. If there is video, can I post that for feedback?
Sure!
Good work on the video. Two very distinct things I see from him on the full course: connection is important and also he cues off your upper body a lot. Those 2 things are closely related 🙂 so we can use more connection to help keep your upper body pointed where he needs it to be. Here are specifics:
The turns from 2-3 and 5-6 are big connection points. In both of those spots, while he is still working the previous obstacle, keep moving forward like you did but turn and look him right in the eye, and maintain that until you see him very close to the next obstacle. Resist the temptation to point forward, that turns your shoulder the other way which also causes him to turn.Rep 1: He had the bar down at 3: Connect more to his eyes at the end of the tunnel and send him out away to 3 before he even exits – your cue to turn back to 3 was a little late, and he tried to save it but pulled the bar.
2nd rep – the physical cue on the 5 jump (serp) at :13 was good and your connection was good! It was hard to hear if you were also calling him but we can definitely work on high speed serps – I thought he should have come in and taken 5 but perhaps he just felt the wind in his hair too much there LOL!
3rd rep – this was the earliest send to 3 so far, you connected sooner and he had much better line at :20! Yay! Then at :23 you looked forward, turned your head and pulled your shoulders as you pointed forward, so he came off 4.
4th rep – I also liked the line to 3 here at :28! Nice early connection and smoooooth running line. Also, much better connection to 4 and 5 – he was still last minute coming in on the serp at 5. We will work more high speed serps with him for sure!
5-6 is a serp line, so keep your shoulders open to him and look him in the eye – as he was taking 5 at :32, you pointed forward to 6 which broke connection and turned your chest to the wrong end of the tunnel… and that is where he went.5th rep – I think you were thinking ahead a lot on this opening – your lead out was lateral and you didn’t really connect so he did get the #2 tunnel at :34 on a verbal but dropped the bar. You *almost* had 6 at :39 – you started with good connection when he landed but then pointed forward so he turned off it at the last minute. That is a spot to get connection, and maintain it until his nose is in the tunnel 🙂
The second half of the course looked great: very connected! You can perhaps call him a little sooner to tighten up the turn at 8 at :48. I loved his commitment at 10!! And that set up a nice turn. You can probably give him a softer threadle cue at 12-13 at :56 – he was on the way to 13 so you can keep your feet moving forward and just use your upper body to make sure he stays on the line. But overall – lovely connection on this half of the course so it went really well!!
Great job! Let me know if it makes sense 🙂
TracyHi there! It looked hot and running a youngster on a big course is a completely different experience LOL! I think it went really well overall – young dog handling relies so much on being perfect that it makes things hard on big courses 🙂 Lots of great stuff here though:
Video 1: nice opening 1-4! On the send to 5, you were thinking ahead a little too much and did what I call a ‘banana send’ – you were roll your shoulders in an arc like a banana and the dogs often pull off the line (which is what happened at :20). When you fixed it at :40, you did an arm-back connected send: lovely!
On the cross 6-7: you can get more on the perfect line towards 7 – you were a little past it which set a wide line for her. It will mean you don’t need to send as much to 5, because if you get too far ahead you will end up past the perfect line for the cross. You were a little late on the cross so remember to start it when she has landed from 5. Being a little late on that one mde the cross on the exit of 7 a little late… but your line was awesome and so was hers! Woot! And the line from 7 to the tunnel also set up a great turn on the exit of the 8 tunnel. You can give your right verbal a little sooner there, but your line was so perfect that you could have said anything or nothing and she would have produced a great right turn. At :48 you pulled away from the backside at 9 a little too much so she took the front (and you were still saying right, so good girl, she turned right 🙂 )
On the cross 11-12 – this is a spot were you also want to stay on that perfect line, you ended up between the upright of 11, a bit too far over, so it set a wider line.2nd rep –
Another very nice line at 2:05 to set 7-8-9. Yesss!
And she got 9 on the backside nicely!!! On the 11-12, be closer to the perfect line on this rep too (stay outside the wing of 11) and then she just needed a bit more name call to help convince her to come in over the backside serp on the way back to the tunnel.2nd video-
super nice opening and send to 5 – 1-9 looked great!!! That was truly a glimpse of the future right there – so nice!
The FC 6-7 was on a slightly better line so it was tighter… but I will bug you to put it on the most perfect line as possible. You can anchor your FC from the wing of the 6 jump and not go much past it to set the line there.
You cued the backside at 9 nicely! Keep moving there, you got excited and praised her and she dropped the bar – oopsie!
Check our how you handled the line at 11-12 on this video: you stayed more on the perfect path, outside the wing, sending her to 11 more so you do it – much better turn! Really nice! And I think it set up a much better ending line, overall, all the way back to the 13 backside. You even had time to do a BC from 13-14 there, something to consider as it I think it sets an easier line to get into 14. The blind at the end is a great idea (14-15), just needed to be sooner here but I will blame the heat and humidity for that one!Great job on these – she is learning how to run big courses now and it is pretty exciting to see it happening!!!
Tracy
Hi! Glad you’re having fun! These are good questions 🙂
I think the line 5-6 is the one where the path would have to be most perfect, depending on how you handle it 🙂 I would do a blind so that is the spot I would be trying to get on the dog’s path for a step or two then off it. And if you do a FC 6-7, that is another spot to get on the line for a moment.Back tracking to the earlier parts of the sequence – if you pick the dog up on your left as he exits 2 and threadle to 3 with him on your left and then slicing him away (away from the #1 jump) then you would not be on the line there but rather very close to it, depending on how far ahead you could get. Now if the dog is wrapping the exit off 3 with a side change (on a wrap to his right) – that is where I would want to be on the perfect path as I ext the wrap if I am doing a FC or a BC. And, if you don’t do a threadle but rather you pick the dog up on your right after 2 then push to a backside serp for 3 – you will run on the dog’s line right at the wing of the slice exit to send to 4 – I would send to 4 so the dog wraps to his left (also away from the #1 jump) and then get down the line for the BC 5-6.
And yes, on Seq 2, the line 3-4 is on the dog’s perfect if you do a blind to set up the backside on 4 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense!
TracyHi!
His aframe is looking great! He is still trying to figure out how he wants to come over the top LOL!!! We can discourage the ski jump leaps into the yellow with a jump bump – my Hot Sauce was doing the same thing for a while LOL!You have a busy week ahead, fun! You can do straight tunnel and wing stuff on non-jumping days, it should be easy on his body.
>>>I was watching the RC video from my last post and noticed when I was rear crossing for a R turn, I tended to push with my R arm low across my hips but I did NOT do that on the RC L….R turns were better. Do you think the arm cue was helping him or he just turns better to the right? I don’t think I was aware that I was doing it differently. This is from video 4 on June 29.>>
I went back and re-watched so I could obsess with you 🙂 What you were seeing is that when he was on your left, you were facing straight for too long which resulted in starting the RC cue too late, so he turned a little wide. On the right side, your lower body started the RC cue much sooner – and that is why your right arm was coming across the body a bot more, there was more of a “lower body does the RC line and upper body supports the tunnel” and that led to earlier info and a better turn. So I think the arm difference was a product in the better timing on the right side – the arm didn’t necessarily create the better turn, but it was part of the earlier cue for sure.
>>>Then I have a question as I anticipate the sequence and course work and directional verbals. Do I use the obstacle cue combined with the directional? Example “tunnel right” or “jump right”.>>
That is an excellent question! 2 part answer:
First – it depends on how the dog has been trained and exactly what the verbal means. For example, we are training our youngsters that GO means “take the jump in extension”. And right means “take the jump and turn right”
If the cues mean “turn on the flat” then you would need to say the jump cue.
Second – I think on jumps, just the verbal is fine. But I like to give the dog a tunnel then directional cue because it is a different obstacle – it might turn the line in a direction that we don’t want, it is longer, they can’t see us, etc. So I personally don’t say “jump left” but I do say “tunnel left”. I think it also helps the dog find the tunnel if I am yelling tunnel 🙂 Now it might be superstitious to use the tunnel verbal but the dogs’ responses have been really good, so I think it is fine. I think the obstacle name on the tunnel and on running contacts indicates how to enter the obstacle and then the directional indicates how to exit – and the exit is at least 15 feet away on those! On the jump, the directional indicates how to enter AND exit, so the directional needs to be the first thing they hear. If they hear jump, it is not informational unless it is a reality massive distance away.>> I just wonder if the dog ever gets confused when you are running on course and gets ahead of you and you give a directional for an obstacle you are not near and not ahead to also give physical cue…would the dog ever turn before taking the obstacle?
This is where it matters exactly what the verbals mean and how they were taught. I no longer teach wraps or left/right on the flat, they are immediately applied to obstacles (well, wings :)) and I start them a tiny bit later than some folks (for example, my 15 week old puppy has not heard left or right yet, while other puppy programs do them at this age with spins on the flat). So I immediately train in the understanding of “take the thing then turn” so that the dog does not turn before the obstacle.
>>> I have a separate verbal for turning on the flat so that should help distinguish. >>
Perfect 🙂
>>Just wondering whether I just give the directional or the combined verbal of obstacle/directional.>>
On jumps, I suggest just the directional. On obstacles like the tunnel and running contacts – obstacle name and directional for exit.
let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Can you clarify that? Should I raise some (or all?) of the bars (to 10 inches?) on this week’s sequences?>>
Start by putting one bar in a sequence at 10 inches – in a really easy straight line spot. If we get extension and speed, we can then add another or add one on a turn.
The goal is to maintain speed and reintroduce height so gradually that he barely notices it at all 🙂On the video:
The go reps at the beginning looked really good!
When you cue the wraps, I think the verbal sounded too much like Gogogo in that it was high energy and repeated (I thought you were still saying go lol!) so to help cue the turn, you can reduce the energy of the cue to a quiet almost whisper like you’re telling him a secret. The rear crosses were hard for him, he wasn’t comfy yet driving ahead of you on those. You can move the wing further away so he has more room and so you can accelerate forward for for longer, that will help too.
Left and right looked really good!! And the ending was funny 🙂 the rear cross pressure plus the right cue equaled turn right there before the tunnel 🙂
I think the rear crosses were by far the hardest for him – you can even shorten up the tunnel and throw sooner to help build the love of driving ahead on those rear crosses. He will get happy with them really soon because the ball is involved 🙂And yes, tunnel games with the straight tunnel and wings are not concussive, as my PT vet would say, so they are fine for non-jumping days. I personally think they are great fun for building speed 🙂
Nice work here!!!!
TracyHi!
Thank you for the waterskiing clip! Love it!
>>1. Straight behind the boat, smoothest path that travels exactly where the boat is going
That is dog agility – and we use connection to show the dog which side so they don’t just stay directly behind us. When in doubt, they either line up directly behind us or choose a line (usually the one we didn’t want LOL!)
>>2. In the “wake”, the miserable, bumpy part where no one wants to ride
My terminology might be wrong then – is the wake the bumpy part or the smooth part, or both? LOL! I don’t get out much.
>>3. Outside the wake, in the mirror smooth and flat area where the boat and its traveling is not noticed.
Ha! You said the hot shots go there on the water – we don’t want the dogs there, usually that results in massive off courses LOL!
>>I made a pretty picture; but I couldn’t figure out how to upload it from my PC, so I made a short video. A lot of energy to be a wise-guy… 😉
Love it! Your energy is appreciated 🙂
>>Under skill sets, we found the tunnel skills. Was there supposed to be a practice set with lines and crosses? I was watching a video showing you and the nose working on handling on the line and creating sharper turns (eliminating the zigzag). But now I can’t find it. Maybe it’s someplace else…?>>
Those videos are in the Overview section, and the line sequences are in the Sequences For Success section. The skills sets are just the tunnels – fuller sequences will make the lines easier (or harder, depending… :))
>>At any rate… We worked on the tunnel. We have mostly been reliant on
(1) ”Go-on” or no verbal – this is the default and means go straight
(2) Variations on a tunnel break (“chk-chk-chk” noise with sharp rhythm change and hand facing)
(3) I depend on a rear cross to work but I’m not going to insist on a verbal with it.>These are all good ones! For the RC, you can use directionals or the name of the next obstacle or even just a name call, depending on the course.
>>So we haven’t used “left” and “right” with the tunnel. But it will probably be a good idea so we tried it. Temperature is 89 and I didn’t have much dog. I’m going to go to the barn later and that might work better.>>
Yikes! Hot!
About left and right: I would not bet a dollar that my dogs truly understand left or right as stand-alone words… but I have managed to train myself to say them in a certain way that the energy changes so they are recognizing it as different than the high energy GO GO GO or the more intense but very quiet wrap cues – and that is producing the left and right turns. The name call can also be used this way: a medium volume slightly elongated “ehhhnzoh”.We started by warming up a stationary left and right. Left was fluent; right seemed a bit stickier. Then I did some reps from a sit in front of the tunnel. Then wrapping the 8” jump. He seems to mostly get it.
On the video:
The warm ups looks good – left seemed very solid – first right looked REALLY good but then he lost his train of thought for a moment. You have a tiny bit of upper body movement helping him but it is so tiny that I think it is fine for now!On the standstill reps – nice job! One of the keys will be super consistent placement of reinforcement to match the verbal, and you totally had that going. In my perfect happy world, we will always be able to show the body language too – but it turns out that most of the time we are just running as fast as we can so the verbals take on more importance on the tunnel entry – and that solid placement will help solidify them. The wrap looked REALLY good! The go was harder because there was not a lot of motion and I am super please with the left and right!
When you added motion:
The go on looked great, he was driving straight on the exit of the tunnel.
On the wrap – he was definitely turning – let him see countermotion away to the new direction and I think it will be even tighter – at 1:18 you cued it nicely but stayed there: if he sees you running the other direction, he will tighten up the exit (gotta chase da momma!) and it is also a great commitment challenge.SUPER happy with his response to the right cue at 1:24! He was turning right before he exited the tunnel – lovely! Your verbal was spot on. Your handling was decelerated but forward – so the decel had an impact. You can also keep moving but motion away to the right turn line sooner and see if he can still create such a lovely turn.
When you repeated it at 1:29, it was higher energy in verbal and there was more forward motion: he *did* turn before he exited (I do spend a lot of time freezing and blowing up the video to see their faces in the tunnel LOL!) but it was not as tight as the previous rep. So the higher energy will need to be supported with a clear lateral motion away to be able to duplicate the turn. But I am really liking that the right verbal has some power behind it already!
Also loved the wrap response at 1:33, good boy! As with the wrap at 1:18, let him see you running the new direction 🙂
The last go rep had a bit of turning as he exited – verbal and line of motion were good, but you were decelerated so he was looking for you (which makes sense because he had just done a bunch of turns). So you can balance this back in more frequently when it is not 900 degrees outside, with more acceleration. Or you can work on getting the verbal more independent by having a toy or manners minder out there alreayd so you can cue it from waaaay back and then he can focus on the reward.
Great job here! Let me know how it goes indoors – I am sure the RCs will be lovely too.
Tracy
