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Good morning!! Lots of great stuff here!!
The threadle wraps are going really well – this tool is becoming increasingly important so I am glad to see she is looking really good!
When she got it right versus when she went to the other side of the wing:
Part of the cue is your line – you want to be facing & moving along the line parallel to her path… which is actually a little turned away from the wing. And holding onto that line until *after* you turned her away was correct. When you did that? She did great!
Example of that at the beginning at at :02, :09, :14.
When you moved more towards the wing, she went to the wing (motion overrides the hands there when the cues conflict). If you stepped towards the wing before she passed you or turned away, she was cued to go to the other side and not the threadle side. In those moments, you can see your feet clearly stepping towards the wing.
For example, at :41 she was starting to come in then at :42 before she could get past you, you pushed into her line and stepped to the other side of the wing. So she was cued to go to the side of the wing she went to. Good girl! The same happened at 1:50, 2:05, 2:30 and a couple of times after that.
Compare to :47 and :57 and 1:57 when you had a clearer cue and didn’t step to the wing too early, so she got it. The upper body does all of the work here for the turn away element (eventually she won’t even need that) so you don’t need to step to the wing at all.
When you made the hand more obvious – MUCH easier too! She really appreciated seeing your opposite arm looking BIG across your body. And this cue has a lot of decel to it as well, so you can be decelerating your motion as you move up the line.
When it goes wrong… don’t mark as wrong because it is handler error with motion indicating the other side of the wing. Just reset with a cookie or turn back around to the tunnel without any break in the action. (In general, don’t mark her as wrong because when we look at the video she is correctly responding to cues and being marked as wrong when correctly responding can be frustrating and deflating)
At 2:10 even though you were further away, your feet and motion directed her to the other side of the jump. But you just turned and went back to the tunnel then clarified the handling in flow – that was a perfect way to handle things!
Her commitment to the wing looks great which was allowing you to keep moving forward through a true threadle wrap! VERY cool!! Basically – as soon as she turned her head away, she was sure to complete the wrap even when you were moving up the next line. This is SUPER!!!!
On the 2nd section, with the tight blinds and spins to the tunnels: Also
looking good!! On some of the wing to tunnel moments you did a post turn but the spins showed a better line. The post turn showed the line to the other wing before it showed the line to the tunnel, so the spin will be a better use of the cue there.Tight blinds looked good too – low hands and great connection showed her the info very clearly! And that set up good wraps on the middle wing too.
As you add more speed and distance on these – add deceleration into the tight blinds and the wraps/spins too. As she is exiting the tunnel, for example, you can let her see you go from fast hustle to slowing down. That will cue her that a tight turn is coming and it will prepare your feet for the quickness of the rotation (without wrenching your knees or back). You will see a big difference when there are bars involved, because you will see how well she can collect before takeoff when there is a decel leading into it.
She is doing well with the teeter – she had some concerns on the first rep and was slower – but picked up speed as soon as she saw it was the teeter. You can reward her even if it is slower because there are so many different teeter tips, movements, nosies, etc on each different teeter that we still want it to be rewarding for her as she figures it out.
The wing under the teeter is starting to move as she arrives at the top so be careful as you add more movement – I was worried it would flip out from under the teeter! Is there a more solid wing or something metal you can use? Or two wings? Maybe a table turned on its side? It looks like you had bags or weights on the base of the wing but it was the top of the wing that was looking unstable. As you add more tip, you will want to have that really stable so it doesn’t fall out from under her – more tip means the teeter will hit the wing harder so hopefully there is something super stable you can use.
She looks ready for the bang game where you can add the ‘downhill’ element of this game which will help bring together the full teeter 🙂
Great job on the double blinds! Your arms were low and your connections were clear and quick… and those are the most important elements! You can start the first blind sooner (before she is at the wing, more like what you did at 7:43 and 8:04) and also from further away from the wing.
When you go too close to the first wing (like at 7:52), the 2nd blind happened right at the 2nd wing (7:53) so she was correct to take the 2nd wing based on the cues.
I think your timing on the last rep (8:12) was my favorite – she was just past the halfway point between the wing and tunnel and she had no questions about the commitment. Super! So you can aim for running on a parallel line to the wing, a little further away, and start the blind as she is getting to that halfway point. As long as motion supports it, I think she will have no trouble with that timing.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Teeter is indeed looking good!! You can add a tiny bit of tip to it so she gets some movement under her feet (just a centimeter :)) And when she is happy with that, you can move the MM a little further away so she backs up to it a little more 🙂 And take a look at the bang game, she is probably ready for that too (which will also help establish nice end position)
RDW Mat: A couple of ideas for you to help her move through the mat more rather than hop over it! For the mat itself, I suggest making it bigger (long & wider by 4 to 6 inches) and also attached it to something so it is elevated. For now, we want her to actually step up onto it, which will isolate feet better and also help her leap less.
For the MM reward: you can leave the MM there, but turn off the beep and you can use it as a target where you throw the reward sometimes, and sometimes trigger it (beepless). You can move it a little further away and put it behind a wing, so she goes over the mat and to the wing. That way the MM is still a reward target but less stimulating because it is less visible and not beeping.
Also, you can change what you are clicking: the clicks for back feet here often happened at the same time she was lifting upwards with her front feet. So rather than click immediately for back feet, let her keep traveling and click for the first steps of walking/trotting *after* the mat. That way you are rewarding going through the mat and not leaping 🙂 She might be a bit slow and careful at first but that is totally fine 🙂
For the serps – She is reading your perfectly! The serp position to bring her in over the serp jump is looking great. Then, keep your upper body “frozen” in serp position after you cue coming in to also cue going back out to the next jump. If you swing your shoulders forward, she might (correctly) read that as a cue to go to the backside, or (also correctly) read it as a cue to go past the next jump. Keeping your upper body in serp position while you move up the line will cue the in and out – you wll want to watch her head as you do that, and keep the serp position (while running of course LOL!) until you see her turn her head to look at/step to the next jump.
She is definitely ready for you to add the tunnel! Have fun!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
I am glad you got some relief from the heat! The heat has arrived here, feels like 107 today. EEK! We get the storms tomorrow. What a weird summer!This is going well – flipping it gives your mechanics a good workout (he is perfectly happy to do it on either side :))
Definitely make sure that the toy is in the correct hand and that you also show it to him all the way across your opposite hip. When you did that, you had absolutely fabulous connetion, like at :32 and 1:05 and 2:19.
He had a couple of spots where he mentioned that the turn cues were late (but landing heavy before accelerating out of the turn), so you can move the timing up to give the info sooner:
One of those spots was at 5, after the BC to the spin: Based on your connection at :32 on the exit the blind (SUPER NICE!), you could see him over the bar of 4. Let that be your cue to decel into the spin as he is landing from 4. The spin info started as he was approaching takeoff to 5 at :33, so he landed a little heavy then turned. That bleeds off just enough speed that it might make a 2/10s difference. Would be fun to compare if you still have the sequence set up!
He gave the same feedback at 1:04 on the landing of the spin at 5. The timing of the cues there were starting on approach to 5 when he is past the haflway point, so you can start the decel into the spin as he is landing from 4.
I think if he gets the info sooner, two things will happen:
– you can turn and leave sooner, so he chases you up the next line (his favorite/fastest thing to do)
– he sets up the turn sooner so he lands accelerating the new direction (rather than land, balance, accelerate).Small details but those will add up on course time!
Nice job working out the exit line connection on the backside wrap on 6! You mentioned that these were not his favorite thing, but I think he looked great on both. At 1:51 – you show him the toy more (even though it was not the planned exit, maybe the softer connection was your brain sorting out side changes lol)
Much better at 2:19, super clear! You don’t need to show the exit line connection on the left side first (front cross side), you can show it directly on the new side after the BC (but that might have been your brain wanting to do a FC exit there like the previous rep).
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
I loved watching gymnastics!!! GO USA!!!
Silvia is such an intuitive handler that her connection probably flows naturally and all of the trained skills help so she didn’t have to rely on connection for everything. I think Silvia’s blog about that was perhaps in response to the discussion back in those times from the Derrett system and OMD, where it was all about connection and verbals were not required. How times have changed 🙂 And not surprisingly, Silvia was way ahead of the curve on it. She also wrote a blog about letting gravity handle the landing so you could just go handle the next thing LOL!!!
T
Good morning! I hope you are feeling better after the procedures! And be careful about that 10 pound limit – that is less than one Papillon and definitely zero tunnels or tunnel bags.
Thank you for taking on the challenge here – it was very informative!!!
Rep 1 –
>> I was too blasé and didn’t get up or down stream briskly. >>Yes, we will take it out of the comparison.
>>on the second attempt on BC/spin, I was only able to get the backside because Enzo has good verbals.>>
Yes to the good verbals and also you were in range enough there to support with physical cues there too for the backside. You can do the BC and spin sooner, which will tighten the lines and chop off some time… and get you to the backside a couple of steps sooner too.
At :18 is when the BC should start, at the very first view of the nose exiting the tunnel. The BC here started when he was at the takeoff spot so as he is lifting off, he is just beginning to see the side change (it should be finished by then, ideally). That lateness made the timing of the spin late, which widened the turn and had you moving up the line closer to 5 than needed. So, start the BC almost by “feel” on this type of line that makes the 4 jump very visible to him – when you see a vague blur at the tunnel exit, start the blind. Motion will support 4. And be sure to keep moving towards 5, not across the bar at 4 as that will send him slightly the wrong direction.
Click/treat for the quickness of your exit line connection at :19 – you got the info to him as he was over the bar!! That allowed him to turn as soon as he landed. If the BC was a stride or two sooner, he would have that done before takeoff, taking out a stride there and another stride on the spin (plus you can leave for the next line sooner).
On the Rc rep – the timing of the RC cue starting at :33 was really good! He was pretty wide on the turn over 6, surprisingly wider than he was on the spin. Adding in deceleration as you begin the switch cue should take out 2 or 3 strides on the RC, making it a lot faster there.
>>On the RC wrap, I was easily much further down the line.>>
Yes – that is where the biggest difference would be, even if the timing of this specific sequence was virtually identical:
On the BC to spin, you were passing the 6 jump as he was taking off for it at :22.
On the RC rep, you were passing the tunnel entry as he took off for 6 (:37).
That can set up a faster/easier line for whatever is next! So having both skills sharp in your toolbox will allow you to pull out the best tool for the job:
– need to get MILES ahead for the next line back towards where you came from? The RC might be the best tool for the job (this is actually something we worked on in CAMP 2023 LOL!)– need to get a turn and maybe send to the next line before continuing forward, or be up close to something technical? The BC (or BC to spin) is your tool there!
So with little tweaks to timing on the BC and adding decel to the tight RC switches, you can have really excellent options for both!
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! This went really well!
The one big take-away here is that it seems MUCH easier for you to maintain connection and line while you are layering. When you have to run through the box past all of the clutter obstacles or past the tunnel to the jump on the other side, you were connecting less and that was causing some questions from her. So definitely keep practicing maintaining the big connection as you move through the boxes – your brain is probably trying to prevent you from running into things LOL!!! And also plan the layering as much as possible – that worked beautifully!
Here are some more details and suggestions:
Sequence 1: She had some questions on the 5 jump. You did it as a wrap (which was fine :)) As you transition into decel to get the turn, be sure to connect to her eyes then shift your connection to the landing spot (eyes and pointing to it) as you rotate away. That can help support her commitment. You got closer to it at :27 so she took it, but it would be helpful for her to commitment without you needing to get as close to it.
On the way back down the line to the tunnel, the connection and moving along a parallel line (:32) set up a better line. You were a little disconnected and turning away from the line at :15, so she had a bar down on that run, likely trying to process the line.
Sequence 2:
You can start the FC 3-4 sooner here to set up better turns.
The crosses were starting when she was over the bar at :41 and :50 so the turn was wide. When you were connected and earlier, even by a stride like at 1:05, the turn was much tighter! Yay!This was one of the moments where the layering was easier than running through the box. She easily found the line and it was easier for you to stay connected. But definitely work on running past the clutter obstacles while giving her big connection, so you both get more comfortable with all of the obstacles in your way 🙂 (The bar down at 2:35 on 2C was due to looking ahead through the box, so she had to look at you a bit to see what the cue was)
You had a couple of reps where you got off the line (at 1:41 and 2:00) so she didn’t take anything after the FC but the BC there at 2:19 was great! Yay!!!
After that, you can give her bigger connection as you pass the tunnel – you were looking ahead a bit (perhaps subconsciously trying not to run into the tunnel 🙂 ) so she looked up at you.
Seq 3:
She did a really nice job finding the #1 jump with you layering the tunnel! Super!!
The sequence went well – until you disconnected trying to get past the tunnel (bar down at 3:49). One thing that helps me stay connected and NOT run into things is if I connect downwards – that allows me expand my field of vision so I can see the dog AND the obstacles, and the dog sees the connection pretty clearly too!Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! I did a little YouTube perusing to find some of Silvia’s runs, looking to see how she handles without connection.
Turns out… she is pretty connected and definitely looks at the dogs 🙂 Sometimes she is looking at them from under a high arm, but there still is connection. The only times she doesn’t connect that much is when she is very close to the line and slightly ahead, and using verbals (motion and verbals supporting the line so connection not needed as much).
I could not find videos that were more recent than 2018:
Let me know if you have seen any more recent videos!
Tracy
Hi!
>> It’s was much more fun for both of us when I used a tug.
Yay!! We definitely want it to be fun! And use that toy to reward a LOT especially after a handling error. If his only reward is coming by taking the obstacles… then it becomes a lot harder to turn him because he will find getting on a line and going to be the most rewarding thing out there. So, even after a blooper, have him come back to you and get the toy reward – that directs his focus back to you, while will make it a lot easier to cue turns. That toy reward should come VERY quickly so he doesn’t get frustrated or continue moving on lines. Even though he continues to work without the quick rewards, he doesn’t necessarily know what you wanted and keeps moving. So either keep going or if you stop, get the toy reward in immediately.
>>. I stopped going to all classes last May after the instructor of one of the classes suffered heat stroke during our class. >>
OMG! That must have been scary. Hopefully he/she has recovered fully!!
Looking at the video:
Hard to see what happened on the very first rep – looked like a disconnection that he read as a blind cross?
Better connection at :12! I think he was a little too close to jump 1 to organize the wrap jumping, so he dropped the bar.
Great job getting up the line to the backside while staying connected!!! You can add a little deceleration into the backside to get more collection but definitely maintain that connection – it was lovely!
>> When watching the video I noticed that I used “around” for the backside instead of “check check” for collection. I guess it’s going to take a while for me to remember to use the new cue.>>
As you walk the course, be sure to practice saying them out loud a few times to train the brain to get the new verbal going 🙂
On the blind cross rep at :25 – try to be earlier with the blind (start him further from the jump so you can start the blind before he takes off) but more importantly: get your reconnection back to him as quickly as possible using exit line connection. He saw motion but did not see the connection change until he was over the off course jump. You were earlier on the BC at :39 and :46 but it was still not quite connected enough, so he went wide. The connection should have your dog-side arm pointing back to his nose and your eyes on his eyes.
The live class last night was all about exit line connection and had a couple of these blinds, so check out those games to make that quick connection 🙂
On the full sequence: nice connection 1-2-3!!! The FC 3-4 was a little late at :57 (bar down at 3) and 1:13 (wide turn and bar at 4) – I think the blind will be easier there for you both, because you can finish the rotation more sooner.
Moving through the box on the 5-6-7 line requires a lot of connection. Try to really exaggerate it and not look forward at all. When you looked forward, it changed the info so he was responding correctly to that:
at 5 (:59) you had a disconnection and looked forward – it looked like a BC cue to him so he started to change sides (good boy!). Then you re-connected at 1:00 so he went back to your left side but was not sure – then you stopped and looked back to the 5 jump so he tried to stop and dropped the bar. Try not to stop at all… keep going! Then reward for the sequence. Then watch the video to see what went wrong 🙂
At 1:16 you also looked forward a bit and it looked like a blind, so he took the jump on the other side of you. That was a more subtle disconnection (you were looking only a little ahead but it was enough to start your dog side shoulder moving forward, which is the beginning of the blind cross cue). He sees everything, good boy! So really exaggerate it, even if you are not running fast – point your hand to his nose and lock onto this eyes as you move through the box, to help him know to stay on your left side there.
And if it goes sideways? Reward 🙂 He might have been getting his toy between reps and it was edited out, but we want that reward to come basically immediately to affirm that he was reading the handling correctly (he was) even if it was not the plan.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>> he was confused whether my threadle verbal” in in” in meant in to take the jump or in to take the tunnel.>>
Ah yes! That is a hard challenge – and it is why I changed to a tunnel threadle verbal versus a jump threadle verbal. I used to use the same verbal for both, but then ran into the confusion you ran into when the jumps and tunnel were close together.
Getting up the line to rotate your feet totally makes it easier! Mookie has really strong distance skills which totally helps.
>>Alonso: I did the same with him as I did with Mookie and he nailed the course first run.>>
Wow! Great job!!!!
>> He did better with a Front cross into the weaves as he went wide with a threadle rear cross at the weaves. It was reversed with Mookie who went too wide with a front cross and threadle reared into the weaves just fine.>>
That is interesting! You can try to build that section again and work it so that each skill becomes equal. It might be a timing thing, or a connection on the exit of the FC that is needed to tighten up the line.
>>Standard 1 seemed easy after Standard 2. Mookie nailed it first run and so did Alonso. Then I played around with 8 to 9 to Dog Walk instead of the tunnel. Mookie nailed it either way with just verbals. Alonso did well tunnel to dog walk the first time but when I tried it back to the tunnel right after he was patterned, he took the dog walk again. He needed a strong threadle feet face dog to take the dog walk and then a strong out verbal with arm extended to take the tunnel right after. >>
Great job getting it done then playing with different options! I like to try different options too, so the dogs are following the cues and not just doing what they did on the last run 🙂
>>In the meantime, we have had the opportunity to do an AKC ISC full course Jumpers run which was fantastic.>>
FUN! The ISC courses generally give the dogs more room to open up!
<
Hi!
>>When I watched your video you were saying something that I could not hear clearly. Do you have a verbal for your serps?
I use verbals that match the turns on serps, so in this case I was using ‘left’ for the left turn out of the tunnel. You can also use ‘right’ for the right turn to the next jump, but I was not using that here (too busy trying to stay connected and run LOL!)
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the left turn TWs:
>>. I wonder if I am cuing it differently on this side?>>
Yes, a little differently on the first couple where she had questions: your hands were high and moving fast, and your feet were turning too. She read it a lot better when your hands were slow and low without quick foot movement, like at :23-:27 and :40-:41. You naturally do that slow & low hand movement when she is turning right (:34-:36) so doing the same on the let turn side will help get it more consistently.
The serps are going well!
Great job holding the upper body serp position until she got to the reward, as you moved on the line with one jump. To get the 2nd jump when doing 2 jumps, do that same ‘frozen’ upper body position as you move along the line until she turns away and looks at jump 2. What was happening here on 2 jumps was that you were turning your shoulders forward and stepping towards the jump, which was pushing her to the backside. You can also angle the jumps so she can see the line a little more easily, but I think maintaining that upper body position until she commits to 2 will help a lot.>>She did have a weird not sure I want to sit thing.>>
It was probably a “this context is different, I am feeling arousal, I need a moment to process” thing. No worries! Resetting and rewarding got her back in the zone.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
That sounds great! It gives you a way to practice independence, building on what you have already trained. Yay!!!!
Tracy
Hi! I agree that her commitment it definitely improving and the serps are going well!!
One thing to keep in mind with serps that will make them even easier:
The serp position of arm back, shoulders rotated to her and connection as you move along the line is what cues both the coming in over the serp jump AND going back out to the next jump. So you will want to hold the serp position with your upper body with big connection to her eyes as you move up the line until you see her land from the serp jump and turn away for the next jump (then you can relax your arm and run).
If you turn forward too soon (as she lands from the serp jump but before she looks at the next jump), she will either look at you too mjuch (like at :17) or run past the jump because your shoulders are showing that line (like at 1:02 and 1:31). or even read it as a blind cross cue like at :24.
Then after she gets that jump, keep the big connection to her eyes as she passes you to the last jump. At :33 & :44 you looked forward ahead of her, which breaks connnection and turns your shoulder, so she curled in front of you to see the info and try to figure out the line.
Compare to the run at 1:16 – 1:19. That run had lovely serp position and you held it until she looked at jump 2, then you stayed connected to show jump 3. YAY! Same at 1:20 – 1:25… so nice! Because position and connection were so good, she never had to look at you. She looked at her jumps and drove forward. NICE!!!!
So definitely keep that exaggerated serp position and connection going and the serps will get even smoother.
Great job!!
TracyHi! These went really well – they are HARD to do but very worthwhile.
>>Here are the comparisons of our walk-through to runs. It’s a lot tougher with him still versus Túlka. I don’t know where he will be yet so it’s tough to imagine his position. I don’t see him yet in my head when I do the dog cues.>>
Yes, it is a LOT harder with the young dogs. That is why I ran a couple of these with Ramen and left in my bloopers 🙂 I could have had an easy time running them all with CB or an even easier time running them all with Voodoo… but there is so much good learning about the youngsters that it is worth it to do this with them 🙂
>>I’m still not getting things on the first run so we need more work here.
Getting it right on the first run with a baby dog is not really expected as we begin this process… but you will very soon be able to nail it! Ideas on that below 🙂
>>Just setting the 5-minute timer for a walkthrough still adds pressure and throws me off. >>
That is GREAT!! Learning to process through pressure is perfect and also all of the science tells us that if we learn/rehearse in the same state (arousal, pressure, etc) as we are asked to produce the behavior in (arousal, pressure, etc) then we are FAR more likely to be successful 🙂
A couple of main takeaways from your walk throughs that will make a massive difference:
When the plan is handling from ahead (all of these sequences have us handling from ahead), you will need to rehearse looking back behind you for the dog. You were looking forward immediately on almost all of the sequences here. That throws off your timing, because you are rehearsing timing turns and line cues when the dog is already at the next jump, but those cues come when he is still behind you on the previous jump.
For example on the sequence 1 walk through, you can add in looking back for him as he exits the send at 1 (so you can cue the turn on 2 when he exits the wrap) as well as exit line connection on the FC 5-6, which keeps you connected back to him as he is jumping 5… and you can then start the turn cues for 6 when he is jumping 5 🙂 Same goes for the FC on the 8 backside: maintain connection to him behind you and on the exit, so you are well-rehearsed with the line and connection.
And maintain that connection all the way through the walk through, so your brain does not have to manage doing that (plus all the other things) for the first time during the run.
You were connected on the run, but your brain was working that skill for the first time and that caused other things to slip. Human brains are NOT good at multi-tasking 🙂 But the human brain is very good at rehearsing which is why we want to rehearse properly: the timing was pretty much what you rehearsed when you were looking forward so the right verbals were late on 6 because you had rehearsed doing it when he was arriving at 6 (rather than as he was exiting 5).
Looking back at him when he would be behind you will immediately improve the timing because you are more connected to where he actually will be, and cuing at the correct timing.
You can see that on tunnel 3 and jumps 4-5 on sequence 2 as well – connecting behind you as you finish the cross will allow you to start the cues for 5 before he even lands from 4.
>> He wasn’t a help during the walkthrough so I tied him up for the third one.>>
Yes, he was distracting 🙂 And that caused the end of the walk through to go a bit sideways LOL!
During the run, you were very connected! The cues were late though, due to rehearsing them late by looking forward.
And this sequence opened up another thing to consider in the walk through: your running lines with him behind you (related to looking ahead to soon). By looking behind you, you will see that you either have to keep driving forward and not layer the next line (you were too far ahead) or get in closer to the 5 jump, so he can catch up and be sent into the layering line. By looking ahead immediately, it gives the impression that he will be ahead on the 6-7-8 line but the reality was that he was still behind you at 5. So on the first run, you hit the brakes hard on 6 (he started to turn) then you tried to send him ahead with verbals – he tried to adjust but hit the bars.
By looking back behind you, you will see that he had a lot of yards to run still so you can either keep moving forward (not layer) or plan to stick close to 5 and send him ahead smoothly.
Skipping back to sequence 1 – you can move along the line from the tunnel exit 4 to the FC on 5 for longer as well – connecting to the invisible dog as he enters and exits the tunnel will help you feel that you have more time to support 5. You stopped a little short and had to send to 5, which delayed the FC there.
>>For the third run I knew during the walkthrough the difference between the threadle and backside didn’t feel right and I felt like I wasn’t helping him. >>
This is another spot where planning the lines by looking for him behind you when you are ahead will smooth it all out. You were ahead on the 4-5-6 (threadle) and 9-10-11 (backside) lines – that would mean the cues would happen on the 4/9 jump. That could be the turn cues for 4 and a threadle cue before he lifts for 4. And the backside push cues starting when he is back at 9 – verbal plus more line support (parallel line motion) and connection, so you see him committing before you move away to 11. It is hard to “see” young dogs in walk throughs, but planning by looking back to where they will be will help make it all feel smoother!
One other thing to add to the plan revolves around the tunnel: plan to be watching the line to the tunnel entry, so you can give your cues when he is still at least 6 feet before entering (and connect to the tunnel exit as well for the next line). That will help make the 4-5 line on sequence 1 a lot easier (you can be cuing the 5 jump before he enters 4), as well as the 3-4 line on Seq 2 and 7-8 line on Sequence 3 (go go go!)
So the main thing to do for the next runs would be to look back for him, deliver cues back to him (physical and verbal cues) until you can visualize him committing to the next line. That will improve connection and timing!
The other thing you can do if you are not comfortable with your plan is to watch the video of the walk through before you run him. You can look to see if your connection is clear to where he would be and if the cues look clear to the dog behind you.
We have more coming tonight on the exit line connection, so take a look at those before trying the last sequence here – it will make a big difference in connection and timing.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
For the decel, practice without her so you can sort out what feels best:
You can think of it as “fast forward, slow forward, rotate” or “lean forward (dropping your shoulders like a sprinter), stand up (get upright), rotate”. As you do this, give yourself something to run around as you decelerate, like a jump wing or big cone. Decelerate enough so you can get close to it and have your hand on it while you go around it 🙂 That is HARD lol! It is a game I learned from a running coach who was fixing my running transitions.Also, try the Drink In Hand game as part of this – decelerate enough so that you do not spill the drink. It is posted here:
>>Should I have a separate command for a threadle wrap?>>
Yes, highly recommend a different verbal because it is such a different behavior. I repeat the word “close” for my threadle slices and repeat the word “in” for my threadle wraps.
Tracy
