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Hi! I think these runs went really well!
The first run was really strong! The section from :15 – :24 was especially excellent!! Nice blind!!! She was definitely finding her lines really well. Since you can make up your own course, you can do a stay on the other side of the first jump so you can send her away then be ahead of her on the next line.
The 2nd run had more distance but starting at the tunnel worked nicely. You can drive more on the RC diagonal to the center of the bar here to get the RC at :48 (you were running on the wrap line which is why she turned towards you)
When she gets on a big line and you fall behind (like at :53 – :57) there is no need to use your arm up high – just bend your elbows and run run run 🙂 That is what you did on the big ending line and she got 3 jumps in a row! There was one more jump and she had a question on it, but I was happy with the 3 jumps before it!
This last course was very similar to the previous one. She read the opening line nicely even without a big lead out! You can get on a stronger rear cross diagonal here too (run forward to the center of the bar) and she did GREAT getting almost all of the big ending line!
>I had been worried about how much she has been doing but she seems to be cooping better than me,
then no more shows for a few weeks so will work on startline and exits tunnels and long lines>She does seem to be coping well!!! So after this next show, she can have a break from trials then you can work on your training list.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Thanks for the nudge, I did miss it 🙂>During the trial this weekend, we practiced this outside the ring. I did not get it to tape but she initially had a very hard time releasing the toy. So I added treats after the release and then getting the toy. She started releasing quicker with this and sitting pretty fast. >
Excellent! It was a smart move to get the treats involved – it helps her balance her arousal. Usually difficulty releasing the toy is a tip-off that arousal is edging towards over-arousal, and food can help balance that.
You can also add in the pattern games with treats – they help regulate arousal too!
>I did not attempt it the tug-sit-tug before the sequencing. Should I have? I still wanted to practice it at home some as well.>
Based on what she did in the video, yes – add it in before the sequencing in class. You can do very short lead outs because she is in higher arousal but it is a great opportunity to get her into a trial-like state and do the stay 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Rear crosses are definitely hard cues because they are not natural or intuitive for the dogs…we humans have to be totally correct in the info for the puppies 🙂
The main goal here is that you put enough pressure on the line to the center of the bar (bump) that he can change directions before takeoff, and so you can be on his other side as he is arriving at the bump.
What does all that mean? You were late LOL! So on the first few reps (:13, :39, :45) you were still on the original side when his front feet arrived at the bump so he turned towards you, like a turn & burn front cross.
On the other reps at :49 :54 :59 and 1:15, the timing of you getting to the other side was still late but you had a much earlier toy throw so he was able to turn over the bump and land the new direction.
(At :27, you were early which pushed him off the line, so he didn’t take the bump)
So to be on time, the easier thing to do will be to start further away – ca be 18 or 20 feet because he is fast! And start very close to him and to the line: you can drop a treat maybe 2 feet behind you and then as soon as he gets it, start moving forward to the center of the bar. As soon as he is past you, do. The RC to get to the other side (then keep moving forward to support commitment to the jump). That should give him the info before he has to make a takeoff decision, and he won’t need the toy throw to help with the turn.
Le me know if that makes sense! Nice work here!
TracyHi!
This went really well! You were able to move a bit further away from the backside barrel, and I think you a start heading for the center of the bar/jump bump more too. He seemed to be finding the backside really nicely!And you can add the verbal (I don’t think you were saying his verbal here, but maybe you were just quiet 🙂 he had a ton of success so you can totally add the backside slice verbal.
>Am I throwing my treat too far to the side?
Maybe a little, but he could have easily slipped in to grab the front side of the jump if the cues were unclear, so I think it was fine. You can add challenge by throwing the reward a little closer and see how he does.
Great job!
TracyHi!
Serps are definitely hard with the MM on the line, and part of what he is learning here is to NOT just go directly to the MM… do a thing first 🙂
Moving more slowly helped! Rather than get completely stationary, you can use slowwwwwwwww walking, almost a shuffle, to be able to get motion involved. And you can angle the jump so the bump is more visible: the upright closer to the MM can be angled towards him and the upright closer to him can be angled towards you.
One other option to help him do a ’thing’ before going to the MM: you can start him in position 3. If you think back to the original strike a pose games with the jump, position 1 is the slice that he is starting on here. Plenty of dogs find that to be the hardest starting position, so trying him at position 3 (sitting next to the MM but facing the jump) might be the easiest way to add motion to the serps. It seems counterintuitive but the dogs might find it easier to find the jump and not move directly to the MM.
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Thanks for the update! Sounds like he was great!!!
>It was only 3 of us in class and I have to admit I forget about the music. I PROMISE ON SUNDAY I WILL have the instructor turn up the music and the other students go crazy.>
You can fill your instructor and classmates in on your goals, so they can remember to make it more of a trial-atmosphere without you needing to remember 🙂 Just remind them not to do anything weird LOL!!
You might have done this, but you can mix in a run or two in class where the rewards are outside the ring (then run to them at the end). The other runs can have rewards in the ring with you, but mixing in rewards outside the ring can keep those remote reinforcement skills sharp!
Great job here! Let me know how he does on Sunday!
Tracy
Hi!
Her turns looked great on the first run! Nice!!!And nice adjustment to handle the jump she missed at :17 by supporting the line better at :33 (great job continuing when she missed it and rewarding the jump line after it!
She had some questions about the threadle wrap cues! I think part of it was that the motion was reversed: the threadle wrap cue should actually have a lot of decel to it (and there was decel at :51 when you lead out and did the little shoulder pull to get it).
On the other reps, you were stationary then released and accelerated forward – the acceleration cued a lot of moving forward, which is why she went to a variety of lines but not the threadle wrap. So if someone is holding her or it is mid-sequence, try running then as you release her, decelerate and show the TW cues.
You can also consider making your TW hand/arm cues look different- they looked like forward cues which is also part of why you got so many different offered behaviors from her. You can play with using just one hand/arm across your shoulders towards her, or both hands/arms visible but low and near you rather than forward and extended away from you.
The clearer hands/arms plus the decel should make it easy for her to read.
>However, I did do one start line stay and she held it really well.>
Yes! That looked great!!!!!!
Nice work here!
TracyHi! I am really glad you got this on video! I think it is a processing thing: she doesn’t quite know how to organize the jumping when you are going fast and when she is exiting a tunnel (going from dark to light, not seeing the line or you, etc) so she slides right past it.
So a few ideas for you! You will see that none of these ideas involve you being stationary or you adding lateral distance, because yes she might take the jump but neither will help her understand how to take it when you are running past it.
To get her setting up for the jump more:
Separately from sequences, set up a really easy jump grid right past the tunnel exit – anything that she is experienced with and has super low bars, like a 3 jump balance grid (bars at 8 inches and jumps 6 feet apart, starting about 12 feet from the tunnel exit). I bet that will be challenging! You will be moving the whole time, even if you are walking or slow jogging to start .
Side note: I know you have done jump grids – has she seen you jogging or running while doing grids? If not, do that before adding the tunnel 🙂To get her finding the jump more:
When sequencing, you can move the jump after the tunnel closer to the tunnel exit (less than 10 feet) so it is *right there* so it is hard to go around it and easy to take it. The bar should be VERY low to start (8 inches) with tons of thrown reward. You can raise the bar up bit by bit and move the jump further away bit by bit too – and you are in motion the whole time.You can try using TONS of toy placement on the landing side of the jump after the tunnel, but I am not sure if that will help while you are running – try it with a low bar there too. You did it at :38 and she took the jump, but it was a really odd jumping effort so the lower bar will help too. The toy placement can get further and further away to fade it as she gets better at locking onto the line.
One more thought – Remember not to reward passing by things by stopping and giving her the toy. Yes, we want to reward for effort but keep going til she gets something rewardable (like the next jump). She was not getting rewarded for skipping the jump after the tunnel here, but she kept passing the bar on the backside jump and getting rewarded. That can dilute her understanding of the backside cue so be careful of that as you were problem solving the other stuff.
Let me know if this makes sense! I agree that it is an important area to focus on!
Tracy
Hi! Yes, class went well!
>I’ve probably got to work on getting off the line faster, gave him too much time to ponder on the 1st rep.>
Yes, I totally agree with this 🙂 You will want to get off the line faster especially when he is facing the crowd. You can make sure you are on the correct side of him then just toss the leash anywhere, don’t worry about placing it in any spot.
On the first video – he did well on the first run – he was paying attention on jumps 1 and 2, then things were a little unclear so he went to the instructor then came right back – totally rewardable or keep going rather than take his collar and walk back to the start. (I will pay the $5 for you if you get in trouble LOL!!)
2nd and 3rd run he did really well – the cues were good and he read them well including weaving right past the people! Super!!!!He was a little wide on jump 1 on the 4th run – it was not a distraction issue, it was more that you stepped backwards so he almost turned the wrong way on 1 then circled back the correct direction. The full run on the course looked really good!
On the 2nd video –
>Rep 2 there is a leash runner in the back corner who blends in nicely with the black wall. My thought was to work on driving a line towards the ring crew, that seems to be hard for him. He did give the person a good look on the 1st time he passed her, but did not stop. Next couple of passes were good.>
Yes, that was a good thing to work on – running right towards the person. He did great! Looking at the person without going to the person is a big step in the right direction (pun intended 😁) Very nice!!!!! And he was ignoring the instructor who was moving her arms around a lot as he passed. Super!
>“he feels the need to check weird things out so that was definitely a little weird and different!” – yep Coal is definitely an I don’t know what that is so I better go find out type of guy – the exact opposite of Cody>
Right! Which is why we want people to be as normal as possible. If they are acting bizarre, he will be even more interesting in seeing what is happening. You can ask the ring crew to look at him and smile at him, as long as they are not being weird 🙂
Great job here!!!!
TracyNope! This is a MUST for her, because it is an arousal regulation game. It teaches them to patiently and calmly keep all feet on the ground when something happens to spike arousal (like disconnecting, etc). It was originally designed for dogs who jumped up at their handlers when aroused 🙂 so I think this is a definite one for her toolbox.
T
Hi! Thanks for all the runs, it was good to see how her day progressed on all of them!
You are handling with a lot of speed and connection, which is really helping to keep her pumped up! And if she starts slow, she was finding the speed as the course progressed thanks to the clarity of handling – click/treat for you!
>New things: We have barking on cute command “Who’s gonna play?”!!!! It is a cute bark too, but I may be biased>
The barking is SO CUTE!!!!!! Love it! Next step: can she bark without cookies? One thing you can do is play with walking her around and getting the bark without cookies (and you can do it as remote reinforcement, so when she barks you run back to the cookies) You might be able to build it up enough that she can bark at the start line as a way to pump her up!
>We did our bowls, up and down game, and practiced moving away from reinforcement, engaging & going back to the reinforcement ringside.
I love how you brought your 2 stools and played with the bowls next to them – just like home! I agree with your assessment that she seemed very confident outside the ring and there were plenty of pressure and distractions!
>She did well in all her runs, but I can see the difference in her speed and on Sunday her motivation in the later runs.>
Yes! The FEO runs early in the day were great – and then later in the day (last run) she definitely started off slower. Could be different reasons for that: was she tired? (This is a possibility, I mean I also get tired in the mid-afternoon – it is a blood sugar thing for me because I eat too much sugar 🙂 but it can happen with dogs too). Was the pressure of starting right near the score table and people at the fence line a LOT for when she was tired? Was having a ring full of jumps less motivating? She does like her contacts!
We might never know the full reason, but we can help her out. You can do fewer runs per day – these courses are BIG yardage courses that covered the full ring. And that is exhausting especially for the small dogs who have to take a lot of strides. So maybe on day 1, you can do 2 classes and on day 2, only 2 classes as well. Or day 1 can be 3 classes and day 2 is one class 🙂
And physical recovery stuff can help her a lot: getting her to eat some protein/carbs as the day progresses (a light lunch :)), making sure she is very hydrated, trying to let her have quiet time to sleep, and other stuff like a Back On Track coat can be AMAZING for keeping her feeling good. I am not sure if you have tried those but they are great for maintaining blood flow and getting rid of inflammation. I ‘borrow’ from my dogs and use it when I am in pain LOL
I don’t think physical fatigue from a lot of runs will be an issue at Westminster (2 or 3 runs on one day only, right?), but you will still want to make sure she eats and drinks and feels good 🙂
Something that you did really well was you were engaged and connected and fast on ALL the runs – didn’t matter if she was blasting off the start line or slower off the line. You were engaged and connected and fast, so she locked into that and finished fast on all 8 runs here!!!
So looking ahead for Westminster – the hard part there will be not be the courses, you and Frankie clearly can run those courses 🙂 The harder part might be a bit of travel fatigue, plus it will be cold (bring lots of layers) and the activity level in the environment. You can bring blankets and stuff to cover her crate so she can have some quiet relaxation – and great treats for your pattern games and tricks and barking, so the value of the food can win out over the environment if it is busy and noisy.
And if she starts off a bit concerned, you do what you did her: keep going fast, super connected, and let her kick it into high gear 🙂
>We’re getting her b12 tested next Wednesday too just to see, it can’t hurt.>
I am glad her bloodwork looked good! I believe that all of the B12 and folic acid supplements are water soluble, so we cannot overdose the dogs on them LOL I add folic acid to my dog Contraband this week and he seems perkier for sure! Definitely can’t hurt!
I am excited for you! Have a blast and please send updates!
Tracy
Hi!
>The seminar was SO MUCH FUN! Bazinga had a blast. She slept the whole ride home! It really upped my confidence about my connection with Bazinga in longer sequences. I was so happy that blind crosses and exit line connection happened! Thanks so much for a great experience!>
Thank you so much for coming, I loved meeting you and Basing in person! You are a fabulous team and looked great on the sequences. Hopefully you could hear everyone cheering for you two 🙂 People were talking about Bazinga all weekend 🙂
The trial environment was busier than the other recent trials but she looked really comfy in the warm up video outside the ring. Yay! She was in food mode, but she might be a food dog outside the ing and a toy dog inside the ring. That is great!
Looking at the run – SUPER NICE!!! Super fast, great connection, and you made great choices for her.
>I see her glance at the judge when the judge moved before we started, but I don’t think it concerned her. She ran around 2 jumps in this run and also I think 1 jump in the run on Sunday!>
Yes – the judge moving towards her caught her attention. She actually moved forward out of the stay a tiny bit… I am not sure if it was that she was feeling the pressure of the judge, or temporarily forgot she was in the stay LOL! But passing the other jumps was also a mild judge/ring crew distraction question: someone was moving and someone else was sitting *right there* on the line facing her, so she stayed on the curve of the course but didn’t find the jumps. And you were quiet in that moment too. So we will chalk it up to young dog inexperience in that environment. No worries at all!
The 2nd run looked great too! She passed a jump on the outside here – she was looking forward so it might be that she was visually processing the environment (it is a BUSY environment :)) and also that your shoulder cues to turn her were late (which they were LOL!) Watch the very end of the video and you will see the next dog do the same thing: pass the same jump 🙂 It looks like the way the course was built, the dogs are on a natural line to the backside so if we don’t turn them with shoulders and verbals, they stay on that line. But everything else looked GREAT!
For the next trial, you can try the next step of doing a loop on course without the toy with you 🙂 I bet she does GREAT. She is pretty much ready for ‘real’ runs as soon as the weaves are ready (the weaves should be rewarded in NFC the first few times she sees them). If there are any USDAA or UKI trials within reach, she can run for real in USDAA jumpers or UKI speedstakes: no weaves! That can provide a great opportunity to run for real while the weaves are getting ready.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>hardest was when in different classes running similar- it didnt help that ribbon trial so only about 12 dogs total in the two baby classes In Synch was in so not much space between her runs.>
Yes, that is definitely hard! You can enter her in fewer things – pick and choose so you have more time and are not as rushed. Maybe don’t enter classes with weaves for now, which also solves the issue of having to get her past weaves without jumping up on you.
>he wait she broke on it wasnt really a wait – in that she didnt settle and just took off.>
Definitely be more clear, then – ask for the settle and the wait so there is no confusion and so she doesn’t take off without you 🙂
>Then they got worse esp in the last run as we both got tired. >
This is another reason to enter less for now – you both won’t be as tired, so you won’t get rehearsal of the unwanted behavior.
>I also need to do alot more work at home on the weaves- we are struggling with them- she doesnt want to slow down and focus so have been trying different things. Have introduced channel weaves- first time have done this as think she might prefer as train with some motion>
Channel weaves are a GREAT option – most of my dogs are trained with channels now (only one preferred the 2x2s). I bet she will like that method a lot!
>Another baby dog show tomorrow (wish the were spread out several months to the next one) and then a proper show at the weekend but not entered in very much and manly jumpers. My preference for her at the moment is baby shows or jumpers when I can>
Have fun! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Well Sunday drop in class was cancelled but good news have a class this Sunday so I will ask the people there to assist.>
Bummer about last Sunday but I am glad you will have the opportunity this coming Sunday!
>Today I took Knight to Lowes and walked him around the building. When he got to the front, he got concerned so I started doing the pattern game. Still was a little concern but was going after the goodies.>
Great job getting the pattern games going! That will really help him. You can start those before he even shows any concern – they can be a part of just going to new places 🙂
>Tomorrow is our regular class and he is solid there. He does his tricks outside the ring and will work with him before he runs by doing spins, etc. After class I will be stopping at Home Depot with Knight and see how he reacts.>
Awesome! Can you get your classmates to be a bit more noisy? Maybe play music in the background, just to add some more craziness to the environment?
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
She is doing well here!!!! She did really well on course (gets faster and faster each time!) and the class sounded more like a trial and less like a library 🙂
>I felt like she was a bit less into the toy when I tossed it after she realized there wasn’t a treat in it. >
That is fine – I think she is catching on to our masterplan of using it as a bridge to mark a moment then run to the food box. We will be able to fade it out pretty quickly.
> I wanted to try lining her up without using treat tosses but she had some feelings about that and then it was too much when Beth came in close to get the leash so when she came back after I called, I did toss a few treats for tricks and then got her to spin and took off.>
She might be shifting into ‘all business’ mode at the start line now – originally, she found tricks and play to be really helpful. Now she seems to be saying “I AM READY, GET ON WITH IT” (because yes, she is yelling it LOL). So you can line her up and immediately start working the course. This is a pretty normal shift and you will see her shift back and forth between all business and needing more play to get engaged, until she locks in as an adult, experienced competitor.
So at this stage in her career, it will be a ‘read the room’ moment -if she seems like she is ready to go, try an all business approach: line up and lead out and work the course. The line up can be less-than-perfect because it is a hard arousal regulation moment: she can be a bit sideways to to you, not perfectly facing the jump, etc. But that is all fine for now.
Or, if you see she is not quite engaged? Then you can ask for tricks until she is ready to roll. There is some guessing for now and she will definitely provide feedback as you sort out exactly what her needs are at the start line.
Now that she is really flying and locking onto lines, the courses are bigger – so you can really emphasize the connection. It looks like at :51 and maybe 1:23 here she didn’t quite take the line you wanted (it was hard to tell because you were GREAT about continuing). Both of those moments can benefit from high connection and not having your arm out. We really have to exaggerate connection with young dogs LOL!
2nd video – this also went well, and the environment was harder:
>she was really good about circling back around (kinda in a flow) to get the tight right turn out of the straight tunnel the 2nd time. (I think I was pretty late with the cue the first time and was facing towards the left a bit which is probably why she turned to the left out of the tunnel the first time).>
For some reason folks started drumming on the tables and stuff (maybe they were running out of ways to make noise LOL), and both Lift and I were like “wth?” LOL! You were fully in the zone so I don’t think you heard it. That new weird noise was part of why she was a little wide at 1:13 and it looks like she went past a jump (and turned towards the noise when exiting the tunnel at 1:19). That is a good moment for big exaggerated connection to show the line. Your arms were a bit floaty which blocked connection as she was also trying to process why there was drumming happening LOL
>I did get a leaping lizard moment when I was asking for the back of a jump>
This was towards the end – I think there were a lot of context cues that the run was finished then you brought her out for the backside, so she was not really ready. And at 2:23, you cued it with a ‘banana line’ of shoulder movement (your shoulders curling off the line, which presents the front side before she gets to the backside side). So I think the combination of those 2 things plus residual drum line questions played into the leaping moment – but she recovered really quickly! Yay!
>I had her bark after she gulped her treat and before running out again. I think that little “yup I, ready to go again” bark worked well since she had a speedy line up (no barking) the 2nd time even with a handler walking by a few feet away.
>Fantastic! She is getting really good at moving through crowds and ignoring people in the ring. Yay!!!! And barking after eating the treat also helps make sure she has swallowed it and want cough it up.
Sounds like she did well at the UKI trial – it is always good to just be able to hang out and have fun in that environment.
>doing some backside slice drills. I was thinking about going back to wrapping a wing/cone and then moving up the line to the jump and gradually moving across the bar more.>
Yes – and you can angle the entry of the backside jump so it is more visible (the entry wing getting closer to her) and that makes the front side of the jump a little less visible.
> After that she has a class next Tuesday and then Casey is here for the seminar next Friday.>
Fun! February is flying by, which is GREAT because I am ready for warmer weather 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
