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Hi!
Set point is also going well!
My only suggestion is when you are standing still on the release, try to connect back to him without facing him at all. Being rotated cues a bit of collection cue and we want him getting extension cues.For the heights, you can have a bump or put the bar one notch lower than it was here. And you can move the 2nd bar up by 2 inches!
For the next session:
Let’s replace the MM with a toy, and have it another 6 to 8 feet further from jump 2. If he is comfy with that, you can add the moving target to this game too.
Great job on all of these!!
TracyHi!
This also went really well! Holding the stay was the hard part but I like how the moving target was producing lovely form! Super! You can mix in tossing cookies back to reward his stay as the toy is moving. We are going to combine this with the set point soon!Great job!
TracyHi!
Pregame wrap looked good here! He was impatient and wanted you to let go! It was making me laugh 🤣
You can add this to a wing if you haven’t really, and then onwards to the wrap proofing game!Nice work!
TracyHi!
>And I overdid it on the space after the jump lol. Spatial relations is not my strong point.>
I thought the spacing was good! We want him to power out and not trot out, and he definitely powered out. He did really well – he seemed to have a question on the first moving target rep (:20) and looks like he hit the 2nd jump. But then he sorted it out really well for the next reps. And that is the goal – being able to produce consistently good form, even with aroused and the handler is moving. Yay!
I think the 6 foot distance will work well and I like how he is moving to the target and not having to stop short to get it (like he did with the stationary toy). What is the height on the 2nd jump? We can add a bit of height now – 2″ higher than whatever it was here 🙂 And this can go into a once-per-week rotation, no need to do it daily or anything like that.
Great job!
TracyHi!
This is going really well! She is committed beautifully to the wings and tunnel. You had excellent connection after the FCs so she always knew where to be! And I think you got most of the verbals out – there are a lot of verbals here LOL!!!
>I think I did better with the exit connection this time and Ellie isn’t watching the toy even though it is in my hand. >
Yes! The exit connection was great and because you were very connected, she looked at her line and not at the toy. Looking at the toy might have been a product of not knowing where to be and needing stronger connection.
It was a little harder for her to find the wing after the tunnel when she is on your right (turning to her left) – it could be that the line was not as direct or she needed bigger connection there. So you can make a BIG connection on the exit of the tunnel to help her find the line. When you did that, it was very smooth! And the dog-on-left lines heading to the other wing looked great too.
The race tracks went really well also! When you were connected and running, she nailed it. Yay! She had one question at 2:04, which was also the only time you disconnected and looked ahead of her, so she came in to you.
>Ellie is trading for a liver treat, which is fine for now. After I get the toy back though, she jumps back up at my hand. This happens every time. Is there something I can do to clean this up so I don’t have to keep carrying band-aids in my pocket?>
Yes! You can make it part of a pattern game. Trade for the liver treat but instead of hand delivering it, you can toss it away to the side.. Then as she comes back to you, toss another liver treat off to the other side. Keep tossing back and forth until you are able to stand up with the toy and walk to you next starting point. That will help her learn to regulate arousal and move with you rather than grab for the toy.
>I’m back to starting with the collar hold. I can’t tell if I’m lifting Ellie off the ground or if she is leaping, but it’s not my intent to strangle her at the start line. >
I think you were pulling back a little, so that combined with being a little upright pulled her feet off the ground. Try bending over more and not pulling back on the collar at all, and see if she keeps her feet on the ground.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>A bit more distance (and better footing and handler path for me) than in the live class and she did well finding the jump>
She did great! Definitely add more distance between the wing and jump. You can even do that within in the session – open up the spacing every couple of reps.
>I’m not overly concerned, but I think she is one that will need to be taught jumping form given her “dock diving” style on one of these reps.>
The BW structure will look a little different in jumping form than a BC or a whippet, but she did well here! The only spot where her head was up was when you were staying by the wing wrap to let her drive ahead then throwing the toy. She was very fast there so she ended up getting to the jump and looking ahead for the toy. So you can either throw it a lot sooner… or use a placed toy on those reps (or a helper who can throw for you, when there is another set of hands available).
When you add more distance, you should still hang out by the wrap wing but also as she exits the wrap, you can run hard. That is truly teaching her to leave you in the dust as you accelerate forward 🙂 She was great about finding the jump behind you when you were miles ahead!
>I also tested out letting my old guy be free to watch, he’s usually employed with a bully stick or scatter feed to keep him out of the way. She’s a tiny bit afraid of him since he’s a grump about being bumped by a clumsy puppy so those last few reps where he was quite close to her running path represents quite a bit of pressure for her.>
I could see the change in her body language. There are some associations with the pressure we don’t necessarily want, plus extra processing in her brain – so having him further away would be better, maybe on a bed with a bully stick, 15 feet away.
>I’m not brave enough to try this with the other two that she isn’t afraid of though as there would at best be toy stealing or at worst collisions or chasing.>
I agree – not worth the risk of collision, or risk of a splat if she doesn’t reach for the toy correctly. Better to be safe!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>And yet … For the Wind in Your Hair game, I wondered what would happen if I just skipped the wrap verbal pre-game and tried the full game instead. Lesson learned – you get a bunch of refusals.>
While it probably didn’t help to skip the pre-game 🤣 the main thing to help here is to emphasize mechanics. Clarity of mechanics make this much easier 🙂
>This session was a little disorganized because I kept making changes on the spot. I started out with a sit, but quickly switched to a down. >
This game doesn’t need a position or stay at the beginning – she can be next to you or you can hold her collar. The connection on the send is the key element to get her started.
>Also, I started out tossing the toy for the first 4 reps and then switched to having it on the ground about 15 ft or so after the jump. I’d like to be able to have the toy on the ground more often to keep Ellie’s focus off my hands and to give me less to think about. Plus, my tosses are always late or a little off-target.>
Three of the goals of this particular game is to get the handler better at throwing reinforcement, to get the dog looking ahead even when the toy is in the handler’s hand, and to fade the lure of the toy out ahead 🙂 so I encourage you to not have the toy on the ground. Remember that the toy throw happens when she looks at the jump after exiting the wing, rather than when she gets to the jump. That also pumps up handler connection because we have to look at the dog to see where they are looking. Off-target throws are fine as long as they are ‘close enough’ 🙂
>I don’t remember why I ditched the collar hold. I suspect it was because I thought she needed me to help her more with a physical cue. >
Using physical cues in this game are fine, as long as you are connected and stepping to the side of the wing you wanted.
The first few reps were great with that! They had good connection on the sends to the start wing and step to the side of the wing you wanted.
At :26 your arm got more involved (which blocks connection) and you didn’t step to the wing as clearly, so the you got some refusals there.
After a refusal, call her back and line her up with a cookie reward so she doesn’t keep trying to offer behavior (99% of errors on these types of games are handler errors, so the cookie line up rewards the dogs for being patient with us humans 🙂 )
When you were connected and stepping to the right place without pointing forward as much as(like at :56 and 1:02) things went great! You rare clearer on your right side than your left side, so you can slow down your mechanics when she is on your left to be able to get clear sends.
And remember to make big connection as you finish the FC on the wing wrap and run to the jump – that tells her which side to be on. On the last rep at 1:09 – you were looking forward so she didn’t see connection on the exit of the wrap. She thought it was a spin and ended up on your left and went past the jump (she was correct).
>How does Ellie’s connection look? I don’t ever really notice her looking at me. >
She was great! She is not supposed to look at you – we want her looking at the line you cue.
>I noticed in the video that sometimes I also forgot to look at her.
Yes – that was where she was not as sure about where to go.
>– Any advice on the refusals? Should I change something or do you think these are happening because she just doesn’t know the verbals yet?>
Knowing the verbals better will help but you can also do these silently using physical cues: big connection to her eyes, low hand (following her nose and not pointing ahead of her) and a big step to the side of the wing you want will help get rid of the refusals.
>– Do you notice any difference between her turning right vs left? In general, she prefers right. >
It was hard to tell what her preferences were, because you were smoother on your right side which might have been influencing her preferences 🙂
>– Any difference in her jumping with the toy toss (1st 4 reps) vs having the toy on the ground (reps 5-8)?>
She did well with her jumping here. When the toy throw is late, she lifts her head but that is not a jumping question – it is more of a “where is the toy” question 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I am glad Frankie had a great weekend! It sounds like some of the NQs were because she was flying – that is GREAT!The first standard run was great! She picked up a bonus jump because she was hustling and you did say “GO JUMP”… so she went and jumped. The rest was lovely! Weaves as obstacle 2 can be a buzzkill but she nailed it!
She also did really well on the JWW run – before putting her down to start, you can try doing a longer “ready ready ready” til you feel some muscle tension, perhaps? That might help her blast off more if she is not as perked up. The rest of the jumping lines looked great!
>she popped out of the weaves. Not sure really why. Maybe the judge was too close for comfort & she got distracted? >
Yeah, that was odd – she flew into them but then slowed to a trot. Maybe something is touchy? The judge was moving backwards so maybe that was distracting, or maybe being in the back of the ring she heard something weird from the RVs? She needs to speak English and let us know!!
FAST went well!
>We spent a lot of time trying to get the send and we got buzzed,>
You can try a stationary send like with with your arm back and BIG eye contact, because it turns your shoulders to the line you want! The arm pointing forward might have been turning your shoulders away from the line. The way you got it (fancy threadle moment) looked great!
> so I ran past the weaves. I was planning on skipping them anyway, so I was calling her but the line was perfect and she just went & did the weaves all by herself! >
That was awesome!!! Miss Independent Weaver!!!
JWW – yes, she was a little slow of the start here. What did you try before the video started to maybe get her pumped up? Are there any signs she gives when she is pumped up, versus when she is feeling a little flatter?
She picked up speed really well – and she forgave you for the RC push into her line at :15 (a little bit of side eye from her LOL!) She said a BC on the line before it would have been better 🙂
She jumped a little high/early in 2 spots here: at :28 where she hit the bar (you were a bit disconnected and looking forward) and on the last jump. I don’t recall seeing early jumping from her, so it is possible that something is a bit touchy which is why she didn’t want to weave in the other JWW run?
Very nice Standard on Sunday! I am curious to know if she will do anything silly to pump her up at the start line, even if it is just you gently holding her and saying your ready ready ready words. Your connection and handling choices were spot on (I loved the blind) and she seemed to like having more independence in the weaves (you also did that a little in the JWW run and she did great there too!)
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>I have terrible timing posting this if you are building courses at the 1TDC Invi!!!!!!>
No worries! I am only running the courses that look smooth and fun because I am tired and my hamstring is *angry* LOL!!
>Bazinga got to do 3 runs this past weekend. It was the first time she did 2 runs in a day and she says “no big deal!” >
Yay! She seems to have good mental stamina and resilience! And she also looked very comfortable in the new outdoor environment.
>You can hear my friends video-ing. They couldn’t see that Bazinga caught my jacket sleeve in her mouth along with the leash and it was a long few seconds for me until she let go! I thought we might be there forever!>
I loved the cheering section!! And ouch about your jacket sleeve LOL is she a Boston Terrier, or a Malinois doing bite work? LOL!!!!!
The run looked really strong! Fast and happy! And she was a tugging fiend in the middle. She went past a jump in the 2nd half of the course – it looks like that she was staying on the line to the backside or you were a little in her way to the front, which pushed her to the back. So you can definitely look for potential backside line off courses and be sure to tell her it is a front side. You got that line in Premier with a FC!
>I left the leash for the leash runner for the first time and she seemed ok with that. I tried to do more obstacles before pulling out the toy but the weaves were at the halfway point, so we played & I took an extra second to reset before we started again. She was a very good girl & refocused.>
She seemed perfectly comfortable with all of this!
Premier also went great!!
>I learned the lesson to not be stingy with my leadout. If I took one more step (or 2) I would have been in a better position to show her the line. She overtook me big time!>
Ha! Yes – she smoked you on the line 🙂 Good girlie!!!
>I’m pretty sure 😉 she was beelining for the judge, but she listened to my shrill voice and came back to the jumps! >Maybe! Or heading towards a line that a human was near? She hasn’t seemed to pay attention to judges in the past, and was really good about coming right back 🙂 She ran beautifully! Super!!
>We were supposed to go to a trial this weekend, but my little very old fluffy lady is having some health issues, so I canceled. We will do some teeter stuff and sequences this weekend at home. We have been doing the TSA game at home as well and we’ll keep doing that too.>
Oh no! I hope your old girlie feels better! And the home training plans sound good.
>Also, the transition to the lotus ball in weaves training is going well. Thank you for all the help! The other day I clicked the MM to surprise her and she looked at me like “What the what? Where’s my ball?” Hopefully that is a good sign! We are working on an angled poles 5&6 now.>
Yay! It probably means the MM has been faded out. Super!
And since she is ready for more in the trial ring… you can look and see if there is any USDAA or UKI where you can do Jumpers (USDAA) or Speedstakes (UKI) where she can run ‘for real’ with just jumps and tunnels.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m thinking my jumps are a tiny bit too far apart?>
Possibly – how far apart were they here? She was stepping in well but landing a little short on the 2nd jump, but that might have been more about the motion and reward. You were moving but close to the jumps and the reward target was stationary and a little too close to jump 2, so she might have been changing your stride to match you.
You can shorten up the distance between the jumps by about 6”, but also you can add the moving target from the pre-game. Lead out maybe 8 feet from jump 2, put the target down, release her and start dragging it forward. Then we can see how it looks and decide if we want to change anything 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Lots of good work here!
Looking at the Set point – His step in is going well! I think you will see him use more hind end power when he is looking straighter to the bowl (with you next to it) or the moving target, and when the bowl is further away.
What was the distance between the 2 jumps? We might want to tweak it, but it was hard to tell because the food bowl was too close for him to power in and out of it. He needed to shorten up in the gap between the jumps to land at a trot to the bowl – so the bowl should be about 12-15 feet from jump 2 for now, so he can land, take a full running stride, then slow down to the reward.
And when you lead out, stay right next to the food bowl instead of being lateral so he doesn’t think about turning to you.
Since this requires a lot of strong stay behavior, definitely keep throwing back rewards for the stay like you did at 1:16 and 1:35 and 2:15 for example, to help convince him to stay while you lead out .
We really want the stay because we are trying to limit the number of jumps – and broken stay reps still count towards the total # of jumps. So you can do as many throw-back rewards as releases forward, to help build up the stay 🙂
Wind In Your Hair looks great! The ‘lazy’ part of it was good – remember that you can throw the reward as soon as he looks at the jump after exiting the wing wrap, rather than waiting for him to arrive at the jump. That will help him jump in extension, without looking back at you or touching the bar.
He did really well when you added speed at the end, so you can add more speed! A little more distance between the wing and jump can be added (6-8 feet or more). And you can start closer to the wrap wing rather than send – that way he can drive further and further ahead of you (but be sure to throw the toy as soon as you see him looking at the bar and not at you).
Smiley face also looked really good! You had super nice connection and sends to the wing and verbals – he committed really well and you were able to be very much on time with the FCs (before he arrived at the wing).
>I set it up far from the shed so it only got 3 sets of tunnel bags and 2 wings tonight.>
I think the tunnel was cold so it didn’t move much and didn’t need a ton of bags LOL! But definitely as it warms up, he will need more bags 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
It is great to see grass and not snow!!His step-in to the first jump looks really good! Nice and coordinated, and using his rear nicely.
The step through the gap and step out is where we can tweak things:
Because he is a nice size 🙂 You can change the distance from 5 feet to 5.5 feet then 6 feet. I think 6 feet will be the destination for now, so you if you think he can handle going directly to a 6 foot distance then you can skip the 5.5 foot reps. That will give him more room to power through on his hind end.
Also, the MM is too close 🙂 causing him to collect in the gap and collect over bar 2 needing to land at a trot to get to the MM. So, if it was 10 feet or so away from jump 2, you can move it another 5 or 8 feet away. The goal is that he can land from jump 2 and do more one full stride at a run, then decel into the MM.
And since he is level-headed and coordinated (he seems like this is natural plus I am sure you have done lots of foundation with him for both of these :)) you can move to a toy reward. A stationary toy, followed by using the moving target toy.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>The good news….we have lots of opportunity for improvement>
Ha! There are always fun things to add and she was a really good girlie here!!
For the wrap pre-game, she was not always sure which side of the barrel to go around so you can emphasize your mechanics to help her out: line her up at your side, gently hold her collar, say the verbal 4 or 5 times… then let her go. That will help her learn the verbal separately from the physical cue, and she can fly around the barrel more independently. For now, always line her up so she goes around turning towards you and not away from you (and you get to practice on both sides). Since she likes the toy, you can also use a tug reward for this!
>Our practice was a comedy of errors….the barrel blew over in the Oklahoma wind,>
That made me think of the of the showtune: Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain… LOL!
>the neighbor dogs yelled at MissL and she had to correct them, the toy I was using was an EPIC fail!! The toy was WAY too high value, hence she pulled that fur tail into 2 and ran off with me chasing behind her. We attempted again and I obviously didn’t have the 2 tugs securely attached together and MissL won round 2 of taking off with the toy. >
Well we don’t want things to be boring LOL!!!
On the moving target game:
>She obviously has ZERO start line stay (are you noticing a pattern with my dogs???)>
Holding a stay with a fabulous toy is hard. So you can split is down to smaller pieces, with the goal being to release before she moves out of the stay: you can hold the toy in the air – and if she holds her stay, release her. Then lower it to the level of your knee – and release her before she breaks. Then lower it past your knee – and release before she breaks. Then down to your ankle level, then to the ground, etc. On the last rep she was able to hold it when it was on the ground (yay!) but on earlier reps she was releasing as soon as the toy wa going or as soon as it got to the ground.
Separately, you can reach her to stay on a mat or something with lots of cookie rewards, to help her have defined boundaries when we add more excitement to it 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>Hope it’s OK to combine them in the same video.>
Absolutely! Whatever is easiest for you is great 🙂
>For the set point I didn’t do the breaking down with stays first as I know he will stay in front of an obstacle. >
Yes, his stays looked great! And of course you can add in reinforcement for them to keep them looking great 🙂
>I only did these 2 reps as this is the very first time he has done that exercise. Just want to make sure everything looks OK in regard to distance/set up before I do it again. >
These looked good! You can play with moving him a tiny bit closer to the first bump, maybe just the width of 2 or 3 fingers. He moved through it really well. The toy was off camera – was it flat on the ground, stationary? His head was a tiny bit low but that will change as you add the moving target (which you can add now :)) and as the bar and a bit of height gets added to the jump (no rush on that).
>I tend to be a bit conservative with repetitions on these as he’s still a baby.>
I agree with that, for a variety of reasons. Mainly, we want to teach the mechanics properly while also allowing their brain and body to mature. Time is on our side!
>For the next game, well I don’t think I should be left unsupervised with anything that involves throwing but I didn’t get it over the fence with the distraction sheep that were there so I’ll take that as a win.>
Ha! You can always practice the reward placement by running it without the pup 🙂 Running AND throwing properly is definitely not easy LOL!!
>In fact probably a hole in my training is that I don’t throw the toy enough and I do want him getting used to it coming from different places. >
You can mix up the placement: sometimes have it placed out ahead, sometimes throw. Placing it out ahead is very helpful for when the distance is really big! And throwing it is useful for being able to fade the lure of the toy on the line. Your cue to throw it is very early: as he exits the wing wrap you can throw it as soon as he looks at the jump. That way it will arrive before he looks back at you. And if you have other people around, you can have them throw it.
He seemed to have no question when you added your motion and did indeed have fun! You can 2 two small variations on this one:
– hang out at the wing for a moment longer so he catches up to you, then he drives even further ahead as you takeoff and run up the line.
– send to the wing from further and further away, so he has to find the jump from behind you. This helps the pups look the line and resist the temptation to chase the handler.Great job here!
Tracy
