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Good morning!
>This feels like I’m really missing something important. She is 100% responsive on course, so I know it’s me, but I’m struggling to fix it.>
It is all part of the normal learning curve with a young, fast dog. Nothing bad happening – just sorting out what the info needs to look/sound like, and when to get it to her. It can be frustrating! But it is part of building this huge vocabulary of physical and verbal cues we need in agility.
>Not really clear on this. Further across the bar which way? Big hand cues how? I am not at all clear on the difference between this drill and a ‘rear cross from a distance’, which is how I explanned it to myself.>
The main difference is that we don’t put a lot of pressure on the RC line by running forward to the RC jump on the diagonal – we might face that line a bit in the early training stages, but for the most part we are facing a same/similar line as if we would want a post turn on the jump, plus we are not cutting behind the dog’s path like a normal RC. The foot rotation happens after the dog turns away, just to get the handler moving to the next location.
Here are some drawings & screenshots:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PU0Ng_3LBxtlIWa8Vq4UXkK79H9MGlb44sPypPQNGsw/edit?usp=sharingAnd as the dog is approaching the previous jump, we begin a series of cues to differentiate the switch away from the post turn: I engage both hands (visible to the dog) along with decelerating (and verbal). Early in the learning process, I raise my hands to be like “HEY LOOK AT THIS, DOG!” The hands can then drop down and do a swoosh movement to help turn the dog away too. This is stuff we have taught them on the flat and on wings etc, but always good to revisit their understanding. Contraband (5 years old now) knows this cue pretty well so the cues are more subtle, I am not really raising them up anymore or giving a giant swoosh to turn him away. So I found an old video of Elektra learning it as a baby dog, where you can see the decel then the big ‘grab and swoosh’ arms on the tunnel exit:
>Easier to get what from a bigger distance? Do I need to be further away?
Yes – decelerating and moving a bit to the post turn side of the wing, then flipping her away will add the distance.
Looking at errors – there are things we do in handling that universally create the common errors 🙂
>Our biggest issue right now is having her turn the ‘wrong’ way on course and me having to wait and adjust for the line.>
That is usually late info, in terms of turning her away. Her handling info needs to begin no later than liftoff of the previous jump, on a jumping sequence. Or just before she enters the tunnel (and no later than the exit) if there is a tunnel before the turn jump. If she generally turns towards you as the ‘wrong’ way, it means the RC info was late – on a true RC will you will be changing sides, you can often set that line beginning as early as the landing of the previous jump, depending on the context and if it is a straightforward line. That will allow her to see the RC diagonal a lot sooner.
If she is turning towards you on a threadle wrap (or slicing rather than wrapping) – most of the time, the deceleration is missing so motion cues the slice. The deceleration cues the wrap and also allows you to turn your feet to the wrap line – both are really important for that particular handling move.
If she turns away from you when you are trying to do a FC wrap: that is generally when decel and rotation happen at the same time (a little late) – that causes the feet and pressure on the line to show RC. That includes ‘throw back’ moves – slamming on the brakes with decel and rotation at the same time cue a RC.
> I’ve also been burned by deceling and cueing early only to have her pull off the obstacle entirely.>
That happens mostly when the decel and rotation happen at the same time… but too early. It is like hitting the brakes and turning the wheel on a sports car – you’ll get an immediate turn. Doing that can also break connection which will pull a young dog off a jump. So ideally, the decel begins at the correct time (no later than liftoff of the previous jump, for example) but you keep moving forward in decel or hold your position with connection if it is a send. Then the rotation or movement away does not happen until you see her getting close to the correct jump and even starting to collect.
> When I asked “why are you coming in” it’s because I can’t feel the difference in handling from when she gets it or when she doesn’t. I’m not sure I would have seen a difference on the video either. It all looks relatively the same to me.>
That is why I invoke a 2 failure rule – to stop and look at the video, to see what is happening. If I can’t see it on a small screen, like a phone – I put it on a bigger screen (computer or ipad) and scroll through it in slow motion, to watch my shoulders and feet. Where are they pointing? And shoulders changing line will also change connection. I like to freeze it in the moment the dog makes the line decision, like when she is choosing the front of the jump versus coming into the backside. Sometimes, with small fast dogs, slow motion is the only way to see the subtle things that she responds to immediately.
> More distance does make it easier, but up closer, what do I do? Like in the trial videos, closer handling seems to be problematic for me.>
I think that when the dog is further from us, our connection is easier and clearer (for both dog and handler) because we can see everything more easily. Up close is harder because maintaining connection is harder, which also messes up timing. In close handling, you can ramp up your connection, looking downwards and very directly at her. The better you see her clearly, the better your timing will be automatically!
And let her ‘cue’ you to begin each cue then move to the next one. So for a threadle wrap, for example: when she is approaching takeoff of the previous jump, your connection is ramped up as you decelerate and turn to face the TW line (parallel to her desired path). You can also exaggerate the hand cues to ‘catch’ her attention (along with the verbal) and you keep looking very directly at her, until you see her turn away and begin the wrap behavior – that is her cue to you that you can move to the next line. But nothing changes until you see her give you that cue.Let me know if that makes more sense!
Tracy
Hi!
She gave really good feedback about what the useful info was on the turning away here! Think of these turn away moves as not so much a rear cross, but more like decelerated tandem turns, where you are using a lot of upper body cues (hands) to flip her away – and decel both sets a tighter turn and makes the uppder body cues more obvious. The lower body (feet, line of motion) are actually not as important on these. What was happening was you were wanting to emphasize your feet and move fast, but that only helped when you drove the RC line and added RC pressure – which makes it harder to get at a distance.> (which I got to use at the trial this weekend!). >
Ah! That is cool!
>Jumps at 16″>
She had no trouble clearing them, but the taller bars also gave you less leeway to have late timing (more on that below)
One thing to remember: if you are getting the same response for her several times… watch the video to see what is happening rather than re-start or withhold reward. We don’t want her to learn the sequence in order to get it 🙂 , we definitely like the feedback/responses to what the handler shows. Dogs in general (and Muso in particular) are very good about doing what they see, so in the spots where she was ‘wrong’… she was actually responding correctly to motion cues which were overriding the verbals (and if they don’t match, she has to choose whichever one is more compelling). Watching the video after the 2nd error will get things on the right track very quickly!
Looking at video 1:
On he first few reps where she was turning right (:13, :41 for example) you can see the foot emphasis. And moving fast got a wider turn She did get the correct turn at 2:00 and 2:22 when you drove the RC line, but you can add being further across the bar and using big hand cues and less RC line cues. That will get the tight turn and also make it very easy to layer. A little bit of RC pressure will help her learn what the cues are all about, then you will be able to do it from anywhere!On the 2nd video:
Looking at the timing: ideally, as she is approaching takeoff for jump 2 (first jump after wing wrap), you would be decelerating and beginning the arm cues to turn her away. You had the deceleration/cues happening later here – as she was approaching jump 2, you were accelerating forward to get clsoer to 3, then as she was approaching 3 you were trying to turn her away.
So that created 2 things happening:
When you pulled your shoulder to your right (:05, :18, :31, :42, :53) that looked like a threadle wrap cue, based on position, the decel happening there, and shoulder turn. She was pretty adamant about it LOL! At :53 you even asked her “why are you pulling in” and I think I heard her say “because that is what you are cueing me to do” LOL! Any time I find myself asking my dog “why are you doing that?” a voice in my head reminds me to go watch the video 🙂At :12 & 1:28 – you did *not* do the shoulder pull so she knew it was the front side of the jump – but the acceleration she saw as she was approaching/landing from the previous jump created a wider turn on 3.
She had similar feedback on the cues at 2:02 and 2:12 – she turned back to you not away. You got it at 2:25 and 2:37 as a RC line – that works but it will be easier to get it from a bigger distance so you can layer more.
Let me know if that makes sense about doing it more as a tandem turn with decel and a lot of upper body cues, and less as a real rear cross.
Nice work here!
TracyDo you want me to post my thoughts, or wait for your analysis so we can compare? I have watched them – nice runs!!!!!
Hi!
Very nice back chaining through the ‘baby’ level here!!! And I am impressived with your smooth frisbee throws behind you!!!
She did really well when she could see the hand cues. At :36 your threadle arm was a bit hidden in front of you. What I mean by that is your dog-side shoulders was forward and your arm was in front of you, but she couldn’t see it. At :37 you can see her lookign at you for more info
Compare to :23 and especially at :53 & 1:05 where your dog-side shoulder was a bit further back so she could see the threadle arm and did a great job with the wing!
You can also use both arms – let her see both of your hands going back towards her nose then showing the threadle wrap cues because that can make it really obvious especially as you add more speed.
>But once I added the tunnel and some speed, it fell apart. She did one with the tunnel but we could not replicate it>
Yes, adding more speed definitely makes it harder! And motion plus speed might lock her onto the front side of the jump. So as she comes flying out of the tunnel, you can decelerate (that is an important part of the cue, and sets up a nice collection too) and show her both arms. That will bring her in to you, which will then let you hel her flip away 🙂
If you look at the successful run you had here after the tunnel (1:21) you can see that you decelerated and she could see your hands, so she was successful. When she took the front side of the jump at 1:34, you were moving pretty fast and she couldn’t really see your hands. So the deceleration plus more visible hand cues should get her to come in for the threadle.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>She must have let that latent learning kick in. Only one time she missed the jump and I ran ahead.>
Latent learning is great! Yay!
>The go 4 ways also went well until I twisted my ankle. Let’s just say I had it set up, but showed up in flip flops. Said I better just go work contacts..
Got distracted to the point that I forgot I had flip flops on and ran the set up. Twisted the foot on the rear cross and well… that’s all she wrote. This aging hormone brain is not good for agility lol>Ouch!!! How is your ankle today?? Hope it is good! And yes, flip flops are challenging for us with the aging hormone brains LOL!
T
Hi!
> I took your advice and got him a bit more ramped up at the beginning, and surprise!!, he took the off course jump instead of the a-frame. Ha!! I still gave him a reward for that of course.>
Ramping him up was ogod, he was on fire! Yay! And he let you know that the line 2-3 needs turn cues 🙂 You had parallel path motion so he stayed on his line, good boy! On the other reps, you gave clear cues and he got it easily.
He got the threadle wrap n 4 really well – it has a lot of decel cues to get it, so it would be fun to compare to a blind cross either before or after the a-frame, then pushing to the wrap on 4.
>Then had another surprise with a balk at the teeter, which had me thinking maybe he’s sore again, but I think it’s just been a long time since I had our teeter out and despite calibrating with weight I think it does tip heavier than others.>
It could also have been that the angle of appraoch from 5 to the teeter was hard so you can straighten it out a bit next time for the first run?
Weaves looked good! Yay!
He was looking at you on the RDW – he might need a focal point to drive to, that is not the TnT 🙂 It can be a jump wing or something that he can lock onto so he accelerates down the ramp and off it (while still maintaining criteria, of course :))
Starting from the send to 11 didn’t have a ton of momentum but he picked up speed after it – he liked the double tunnels!
At jump 14 at 2:34 – you had lots of countermotion which is good – to help get commitment as you run away to the next line as he is passing you, be sure to maintain connection behind you to the landing spot.
The 2nd run only had the first half but it looked really good!
>I threw in a little running dog walk video practice from TODAY just for funzies. He didn’t fail one time. I think the dog walk speed will come eventually. It’s distracting too because Rich had his CNC machine cutting parts again so it’s a bit louder out there. But it actually sounds a lot louder on video that I think it does in person!>
I think the noisiest part might have been the center ramp of the DW moving? Either that or the CNC noise was coincidentally happening as he was hitting the top ramp? You can brace the center of the DW so it doesn’t make hat noise (which means there is motion/whip on the plank). Have you ever used stride regulators? He is being careful to get criteria, but you can use stride regulators to get him extending even more and then still getting criteria.
>Then a little surprise for you at the end…I just tried to do the super hard weave entry from the tunnel under the dog walk just for kicks one time.>
He was so close! Good boy!!!!!
> I’m honestly surprised Reacher didn’t stop and bark at him.>
Ha! I am pretty sure Reacher knew who his audience was LOL! He did well trying to find the weaves.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
OMG you and Roux are on right on the cusp of some really big wins/Qs/titles!! I know it is frustrating but keep working it – the skills are coming together brilliantly, and I know very very soon things will click into place then the Qs/wins/titles will start to pile up 🙂
Run 1 (premier):
Fantastic lead out! This run was overall lovely and she had a ton of brilliant work!
As you moved from 4-5, she needed HUGE connection, really looking hard at her eyes because that line is a bit weird and unexpected (especially for a young dog). Nice recovery!When you got the off course tunnel after the teeter: you were blocking the backside wing (can see it even from this angle) so as you drove forward, she read the line of motion as a tunnel cue. On the fix-and-go re-do, you were further over and a bit more decelerated, so the backside was clear.
The rest was gorgeous!
2nd run –
>. In second video she took the backside of third jump after DW is that me or her striding? >
Both! With a fast running DW, the line goes to the backside. And your running line was very close to the DW and very forward, which supported the backside line, so that is where she went (she does have nice understanding of backsides!) On your fix-and-go, you were further over and turned your shoulders sooner, so she got the front side easily. Excellent use of fix-and-go to work the whole line again, rather than just one jump.
It was hard to see what happened in the middle because someone had their head in the way 🙂 but it looks like you lost connection at 1:03 so she came off the line.
But overall, as annoying as it is to not get the clear rounds here, you are SO CLOSE to nailing it. In your next runs/next trials, look for those backside lines: if you want the backside, make sure you are not blocking the wing. If you do *not* want the backside but the line might take her to the backside, be sure to give her early turn cues to get the front.
Nice job here!
TracyHi!
> I videoed my walk through (click/treat #1 for me), haven’t watched it side by side yet (I’ll probably have to use two devices). >
If you still have the original footage, you can send it to me via wetransfer.com (my address is agilityuniversity@gmail.com) and I can do the overlay or side by side. I think the run was a little faster than the walk through, so you can try to get your walk throughs faster than the run because that makes the runs feel easier.
> I ATTEMPTED to use a bunch of verbals he doesn’t know yet, slapping them on (click/treat #2). I wasn’t perfect in actually saying the right ones when running, but I tried. He’s probably never gonna actually learn them, but at least I still moved well enough to cue the things physically, something I struggle doing successfully in trials (splitting brain power between using verbals and moving well). Click/treat #3 I guess?>
Yes and Yes! Yay! Part of the verbal emphasis with Roots is getting you ready for running Beat.
>We hit a little snag (ok, it had the potential to be a HUGE snag). As I was walking him out to the course, he discovered a nest of baby bunnies RIGHT WHERE THE START LINE WAS.>
Holy sh*t that is a huge distraction! Good boy Roots!!! Good job to you for not freaking out (I probably would have freaked out LOL) Thanks for keeping it in the video, it was cool to see! I also would have responded strongly when he went to the nest, probably with something like a “HEY I WILL SHIV YOU IF YOU EAT THE BABY BUNNIES” LOL! I have a big “no killing things except mosquitos and ticks” rule here.
But seriously, that is a super hard distraction and he was AMAZING. He was for sure aware of the nest, but look at him hold the long stay and focus forward to the jump when asked. WOW!!
> I videoed my walk through (click/treat #1 for me),>
Yes, another click/treat here for sure, because during the walk through there were multiple spots where I could see where the dog was. That is the goal!! And I could hear verbals. Yay! I bet you can be more aggressive in the walk throughs: loud and faster! I like your handling plan overall, and the cool part is that I could tell what it was in the walk through and where Roots would be.
The first run went super! 1 through 14 was really spot on! My only suggestion was to add a brake arm on 10 (jump between weaves and tunnel) to tighten up the turn – but you added it in run 2 and it was very effective at 4:23! Super!
The lead out 1-2-3 looked good and you got a nice turn on 3! The 5-6 line might be able to be handled from more of a distance going into the BC 6-7 – sending to 5 from further can draw him into the turn with a slightly tighter line. You can also play with not diogn the BC to flip him away over 7 and maybe even layer the 6/18 jump when he is on the DW. Excellent send to the weaves off the DW!!
>Only mistake on our first try was the wrong side of the threadle wrap. Click/treat to me for not losing it and feeling like a failure for messing that up!>
Yes, you needed to turn your line of travel more to set the line to the threadle, basically turning away from the jump – you were facing the front of the jump a bit too much so he read it as a front side (or you can try for a BC there to set up a push wrap). It was a small blooper but you are DEFINITELY not a failure! When you did the fix at 2:34, you turned to the line better (note your feet were pulling away from the jump) and he was great.
One thing that was also strong about that moment was that you didn’t fix it on one jump – you fixed it in flow from the line before it, which means the handling had to be fixed and not just doing it as a one-jump exercise 🙂
You absolutely nailed it at 4:32.
The rest looked great! The 17-21 was really hard but you were very connected and timely, so he was able to read it. Yay! You might consider slicing him to the right on 20, as it might be faster that the wrap to the left – and not considerably more yardage either.
>Another click/treat for me STOPPING THE VIDEO and going to sit in the shade and actually watching it back before attempting the whole course a second time. Pretty sure it was my feet turning towards the front of the bar that cued the front side. >
Yay! You are in the minority, most people keep going without really seeing what happened. But watching the video really helps us see what happened to fix for the next run. I agree with your assessment that it was your feet turning to the front of the bar.
>Second try, I was trying to get him to be more clear about focusing on jump 1 before releasing, to me it looked liked he was looking at jump 2, but he self released and took 1 any way, probably because he DID know which jump it was and was like “get on with it, I know where we’re going”.>
Ha! Yes – he was like “I KNOW WHICH JUMP IT IS, SURELY YOU HAVE RELEASED ME” LOL And right before the release on the next run, he looked towards it and leaned towards it to really emphasize that he knew – he cracks me up!
>Next attempt I never really gave him turning cues on 5, I was still saying go on go to cue going straight after the a frame to the jump, never gave a verbal or physical turn cue really. >
Yes – and he had an impressive response to his go cue LOL!! It was not a problem on the first run so no worries about the extra credit here.
The last run looked awesome, start to finish!
> (No click/treat there, but I AM trying!)>
No worries about imperfect verbals here and there! You still get rewarded for your effort 🙂 The more you do that, the easier it gets!
One other thing worth talking about is that your connection is looking great – on the first run and the last run (both of the full runs), your connection was spot on throughout! That makes a huge difference in the runs, he always knew where to go. And most of your verbals seemed pretty automatic – yes, there are spots where you are still thinking about it but for the most part, you are getting them out while maintaining great connection. That is also leading to lovely timing – I don’t see any late parts to bug you about 🙂 Connection makes good timing more automatic!
Now, of course we want this success to transfer to trials. How often do you run big courses like this at home, start to finish? That is something to do more frequently if is it rare. If it is something you do pretty often, we can add more distractions to make both of you feel like you are in a more trial-like state 🙂
Fantastic job here!
TracyHi!
Yay! I am so excited that Grace gets to play! She did great here!
>There is a question about how much string cheese I should be feeding her but I thought it would be easy to find. Not so much apparently.>
Yes, we don’t want her to have too much cheese 🙂 I think it did take an extra moment to find it but it was still pretty quick.
> In fact she was more motivated for the toy which is probably a good thing!>
She was very happy to play this with the toy! So you can do some cheese but mainly the toy as the reward. You can also spread out the jumps so she finds that at bigger and bigger distances – gradually spread them out as much as possible so she learns some big distance skills 🙂
And you can add the 2nd level of lazy games too! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
The countermotion on the circles wraps is really hard!! Arrow did best when you were still on what would be the landing side is a bar was there (like at :26, :38, 1:35), meaning there was a little less countermotion and you were more visible.
> except for a couple of wraps where Arrow balked – b/c I got my timing wrong, and I was rushing, I think.>
On those reps, you were driving forward more and faster, which is wrong or rushing – it is actually desirable! You were trying to get more to the takeoff side and not be as visible on the landing side. But at this stage of training, you can help support the commitment with connection shifting while you do that: as you drive forward, shift your connection to the landing spot (looking behind you and not at Arrow). You can also point to the landing spot with the arm closer to the wing, to help him see you look at it and point at it as you move forward.
On the reps where he had a question (:11, :45, 1:09, 1:23) you were either looking at him or looking ahead to the next wing, so I think the connection shifting and pointing back will definitely help!
The threadle wraps looked fabulous! Your connection was spot on – you did not look forward or ahead of him, you were locked onto him and (when he turned away) the landing spot on the other side of the wing. The other thing that helped was that you decelerated into the threadle wraps, and didn’t run forward again until he was committing to turning to the wing. That is 100% correct! That really helps with commitment and his turns were lovely too!
Well done!
Tracy
Hi!
> so I didn’t have to pull the tunnel bags back out>
Ha! I totally relate, tunnel bags are annoying LOL!!
This session went GREAT!!!! Most of it was perfect: FCs 1 then 2 wings, perfect. FCs on all 4 wings – perfect. Race track around 4 wings: perfect. 2 FCs to race track: perfect! Yay!!
There were a couple of questions sprinkled in:
At :15, I think you moved away really fast and that surprised him, so he came with you (but it is the only time it happened).
You did a spin at :23 and :33 rather than a FC, so he ended on the side of you that pointed to the race track wing on his line, so off he went! You hadn’t decelerated or shown the toy like you did at :28, so he was correct to stay on the line around the outside there. Good boy!
He took a different wing than the one you wanted at 1:10 – I think you were blocking the wing you wanted a bit, and then you looked at him and not behind you so he went to the red wing. The rest were very clear though and he had no questions.
The last rep of FC to race track to FC was great too!
For the next session, you can spread the wings out even more and that means you will run more too 🙂 which also means more deceleration needed to get him to turn on the wings for the FCs. He is ready for it!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Hi! Sends the clips! That sounds frustrating!!! (Training young dogs can alternate between glorious highs and big frustrating moments). It seems odd that she was going around 1. Going past 3 (after the tunnel) seems less odd, so the plan was to do a big turn cue before she entered the tunnel. But spending timing getting 1 and 2 made that harder, I bet. Send the clips and either we will see something to tweak or we can trash them and try again. I feel the pain of sometimes just having a poopy session!
T
Hi!
>Yes, I have loved teaching weaves ever since a friend showed me how 2×2’s work. In the early 2000’s, she came home from Susan Garrett’s and used her fingers to demonstrate how to start with a “tunnel” and rotate the sets-of-two in order to develop the weaving motion. I was SO EXCITED. My previous dog was taught on channels and never totally understood. All subsequent dogs have been taught with 2×2’s>
That is so cool!! I didn’t know you used 2x2s – it is a pretty genius concept. Funny story: SG was developing the concept when I was an apprentice – I have strong memory of her and Mary Ellen Barry and a couple of other big names discussing & planning it in the back room of a facility in Philadelphia, using plastic knives sticking out of a block of Philadelphia cream cheese. I have never looked at cream cheese the same way again LOL!
Looking at the video:
>Enzo
Well first, once I reminded Enzo that “Dig” meant wrap a jump (not just U-turn to the right), I was very happy with pop out #2.>I think he was also reading the direction of your shoulders there:
at :09, you were closer to the red jump and by using the left arm high to point, your shoulders and feet were turned to the line to the red jump.Compare to :21, where you were in basically the same spot but had a lower arm and more connection so your shoulders/feet faced the wrap jump better. – that, plus an extra step as he entered the tunnel go more commitment.
You can get even more commitment with less arm – as he exits the tunnel, keep the dog side arm lower and further back so you can use it to help send him to the jump – that will also keep your feet and shoulders facing the correct jump. You did this “less arm at the start of the send” approach on the beginning of the next sequence (:31 – :33) and it worked beautifully. Your arm started back at his nose and moved with him during the send, rather than already being ahead of him and up in the air.
The rest looked really strong! The FC on 6 with the earlier rotation and great connection at :26 set up a lovely ending!
>So happy, in fact, that I added pop out #3 on the fly. That was not the best plan, since I tried to get down for a FC between 4 and 5 (disconnect, skipped #3, not going to make it anyway).>
Yes – 1-2 was great then he was not sure which side to be on for 3-4. But it is great to seeing you running hard enough to disconnect!
On the second rep you flipped him away to 2 and I think that worked better than the send then post turn of reps 1 and 3, in terms of you getting ahead again for 3-4-5 and for him finding 3 very easily
>I think it is interesting that he totally knows he is going to “wrap” #5 but chooses to slice, land, turn.>
I see what you mean there! Looking at it in slow motion, I think he is asking how much of a wrap collection you want – there is a little extra forward motion into it and that is making your feet late to turn, so he is a little wide. You can play with decelerating sooner, sending him past you with decelerated cues, and as soon as he passes you feet: turn them to the new line. That should get the collection on the takeoff side of the jump.
>Casper was pretty funny but he caught on. I included a few “good” ones.>
These were definitely good!! You can add more of your motion, like walking through a serp and asking him to sit while you are still slowly moving, then releasing him to take the jump. And you can send him to the backside and into the plank to sit, while you do crosses or serp too! And if that goes well, you can raise the bar.
> ALSO, I realized he is quite weak in his core, so I’m starting the sit to sit-pretty exercise. Not sure why he doesn’t know it. Previous dogs have known: sit/sit-pretty/up/and back down under control. All while staring at a cookie, of course!!>
The PT vets have been discouraging the sit pretty lately, as they feel it has too much spinal compression. My PT vet has replaced it with down to stand to down with no foot movement (at first) and then when that is easy: down to stand to down to stand while I am holding one of the dog’s front feet up in the air. That is VERY hard! And of course pop back sits can mix in: stand – sit – stand – down, etc,
>Today’s weave challenge was dog weaves north while handler walks south. I have actually used something very like this in a trial and I really want to have it. We have a pretty good beginning. On the last rep, he shocked me by being successful even though I was holding the toy instead of having it planted ahead.>
That was awesome, especially the last rep when the toy was in your hand and not on the ground. AMAZING!!!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>Another session I thought went very well, other than nearly breaking herself at the end>
I agree, this went great! She was fast AND tight on the turns, thanks to your connection, position on the line, and deceleration into the turns. Click/treat for you both!
And yes, she had a little fall-on-your-face moment but I think that was her hashing out the mechanics of these turns having deceleration followed by big acceleration. That is why I still ask the pups to do this on wings (less chance to break themselves as we handle)!
The FCs and spins at the beginning were lovely!
When adding the circle wraps:
>I was especially impressed with her practically fixing herself on the wrap that she pulled off of. I didn’t do much other than shift my gaze back to the wing (where I should have been looking any way) and she was like “oh yeah, that”. Didn’t have to show any motion back towards the wing, bit of a big girl moment in my eyes.>
Yes! She was SO GOOD!!!
Also yes – the connection shifting back to the ‘landing’ spot really helps with commitment at tis stage of training. You did that on all the other reps and she was pretty perfect!
As you ramp up this circle wrap skill (because she has a future in UKI where she will see these circle wraps), you can add in the game from CAMP where you move through the circle wraps kind of slowly but *without* connection and throw the reward back behind you to solidify commitment as we strip away the connection shift to landing.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Ha! Yes, there was a bit of freestyle happening but it is still good practice for handling!
On the first couple of reps, you did a FC on the tunnel exit – that would actually work better as a blind, so it can be finished sooner and he can get right on the line. He had to wait to get past you to the wing as you were finishing the FC there.
When you were going from the wing back to the original tunnel entry, try it it as a spin instead of a post turn, both to work the spin skill and tighten the turn.
On the FC at :25, :33 – he was committing really well, nice connection from you too! Add in deceleration so you can both cue the turn sooner and power out of the FC sooner. You were running then rotating, so the momentum caused an extra step so you could plant your foot to turn. On a jump, that changes the cue timing and could lead to a wider turn. So deceleration will help you cue the turn and rotate to move away, all before he gets to the wing (or jump when it is a jump).
Nice work here!
Tracy
