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Hi!
This ladder game is one of the hardest games we play all summer 🙂 It is hard for both human and canine!
There is a connection shift in this game: be very connected to him as he exits the tunnel and as he exits the wing (don’t look ahead of him).
But on the circle wraps, when he is going around the wing and you are moving forward (countermotion) – you can shift your connection to stop look at his cute face , and look at where you want him to go next instead. If there was a bar, you would be looking at (and pointing to) the landing spot. That will help get commitment as you move through the circle wraps faster and faster.
For example, at :05 and :56, your motion was perfect! But he had a question about completing the wrap because you were looking at him and not at the ‘landing spot’. He got it right on the other reps when you held still at the wing for a moment, but I really loved how you were using countermotion to move up the line right behind him at :05 and :56 – so to keep the countermotion in place, you can try the connection shift (looking at and pointing to the landing spot) and see how it goes!
Nice work!!!!
TracyHi! This went really well too!
The FCs looked great! Those are really easy for you and Max at this point 🙂As you get into the more complex stuff, remember to be connected to him as he exits the tunnel so he sees the next line. You were looking a little ahead when getting into the spins, so he was not as sure about going to the wing.
The timing of the spin was looking good, especially at :48 and the reps after it! You were trusting his commitment and starting the FC before he arrived at the wing, which allowed you to be finished with the BC before he exited the wing. Yay! Just be sure to reach back to him with your eyes too (more connection) so he is clear about where to go next.
Nice work here 🙂
Tracy
What a great surprise!!!! YEAH MAX!!!! I particularly love how he started without you on the first rep LOL!! He has learned to love the teeter for sure! You can start putting it into simple sequences, and keep rewarding it of course :)
Great job!
TracyHi!
>I have a harder time working on just the wings. I feel like I do better with a jump for some reason.>
It is probably because you have a little more time when we are using jumps, because he has to jump. On the wings, he is basically running as fast as he can the whole time, which means you have to do everything faster 🙂
>Max would like you to know any errors here it was totally his mother‘s fault>
Ha! I am sure he was patient about it all 🙂
Good job with the countermotion game! The race tracks looked pretty easy and your connection on the sending back to the wing looked great too! You can add more connection to his eyes on the exit of the wing too – that will show him exactly where to go next as you move forward to the next wing.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>Seminar didn’t go well not sure if it was heat or pressure or me worrying about reinforcing with out her slipping. She’s also a thinker so that may have been a need to process day, but she was slow barely taking jumps no desire.>
That’s a bummer! But definitely review the video (perhaps while drinking an adult beverage haha) to see exactly what might have caused it.
Looking at the first video:
It is marked as fluffy blinds but it is actually the FC wraps at the beginning. It went great!The runs looked great! You were NOT pointing and the connection was clear! Turns were tight and she was also fast on the bigger lines. SUPER! You were really driving her too, and I think she liked that 🙂
When you did add the fluffy blinds – the timing looked great of starting the blinds. You can exaggerate the re-connection even more (use your exit line connection where the other hand comes across your body so your dog-side arm gets pushed back to open up connection more). You did it a bit at 3:31 and it was definitely more connected!
And definitely connect more after the wrap on 5- you took off without a clear connection at 2:40 and all she could see was your back, so she had a question there.
On the 2nd video:
Nice connection and driving her on the speed circle at the beginning!When adding the blind:
You can send to the pinwheel jump (rather than round the line with her) which will get you even further ahead for the blind)Run more towards the center of the tunnel for the BC, so you are on the correct line when you do the BC – you were a bit too far across the line on some of the reps, and a bit too close to the BC jump on some of the reps – getting too close to the jump was causing her to ask questions about taking the jump and how tight to turn.
She had a lot of great commitment, because you were connected 🙂 She had one missed jump at 1:30, because you turned your back on her and she might have thought it was the beginning of a blind cross?
One thing I noticed here:
Right and bite sound the same – exactly the same delivery so maybe consider changing right to be more extended and softer: riiiight riiiight instead of RIGHT! BITE!You know how I always bug people about the sessions being too long for the pups? I think the session length here was fine for her… but too long for you 🤣😂 By the end of it, you had gone back to being very pointy and disconnected (4:21, for example) and that was messing up the line. So keep the sessions short for yourself too, so you can be very precise and connected like you were on the beginning of both videos.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I was just watching the 4-Legged-Flix video of the EO individual finals. Mine isn’t the only dog who rotates to follow the handler but still takes the correct jump when cued.
> Yes! The agreement is that the dog can look at the handler and even rotate a bit… as long as he looks at the first jump and takes it successfully when cued.
>And the weave entries were mostly very, very challenging.>
Yep. I am starting to see some weave entries that are so challenging that I think they are just plain stupid. Sigh. Those are very very hard on the dogs’ bodies, in terms of both training and executing at speed.
>The weather is back to dreadful and hot, so I tried to work quickly.>
This summer has just been gross! I was able to take a quick trip to the Upper Peninsula (Escanaba) and I have a new favorite place for summer fun! Maybe an agility camp next year in the UP…..
Looking at the video:
>I used a lap turn 4 to 5. I don’t think I normally would but my mobility continues to be challenged.
>I think the lap turn worked better than the FC here – the FC 4-5 was a bit off the line so he had to go back around you and ended up dropping the bar and not seeing the line to 6. On the lap turn, you got 4-5 easily and your position allowed you to move up the line to get the backside of 6 from a nice distance! Yay!
You can probably make it less of a lap turn (facing him) and more of a tandem turn (facing the way you are going) to make it even smoother. When you are fully mobile again, a BC there would work but the final decision really depends on where the sequence would go after 6.
Pop out 5:
You can give him a strong verbal before the #2 tunnel entry to help tighten up the turn. A name call when he is still about 6 feet away from entering is probably all he needs there.From 4-5, the FC worked well especially when you were not moving backwards. Another option is that you can handle it as a threadle and no cross needed.
On that flat backside:
>On pop out #5, he obviously doesn’t know how to set up for the backside on a flat approach (#5 to #6), >
His form was actually not bad at all – He was trying to push from his rear but he was jumping right at you (:41, 1:01, etc) because you had not yet told him where to go next. It is a right turn to get to 7 so a serp would get the info to him: as he is approaching the backside entry wing, you can open up your serp arm and begin moving to 7. That way he will be able to adjust before takeoff. He was hitting the bar because he was looking at you and didn’t know where to be 🙂
He cleared the bar with the aid in but the form was actually better without the aid!
>Also, IRL, I would like to turn #7 to the outside but my position was not good so I let him take the line he was on.>
Yes, the line is better that way – you can play with getting him to the 6 backside from further away so then you have more time and room to show him the serpy line to 7.
>It is 94 degrees, so we weren’t going to get to #3. (Since I can only do “one thing” a day and this was today’s thing, I thought I’ll just send it along and see what you think.)>
You got a lot done considering it was 94 degrees and probably really humid too! The heat is really challenging this summer.
Well done here!
TracyHi!
This went really well! You have it set up like a small dog international course… everything is so close 🤣😂. And that weave entry is HARD from that angle and he was GREAT (plus you running backwards, etc).
One mistake is no big deal, in fact one mistake is good because we need that little bit of friction (in the form of errors) to ramp up the motivation to get it right and to increase learning.
The sequence at the end with the 3 obstacles at different times looked great too!
Since this went so well… you can add the hardest possible variation. Using the same setup, you can begin getting the verbals to override the physical cues. What I mean by that is rather than try to be relatively neutral with the physical cues, you can deliberately show the ‘wrong’ cue. For example: use your weave verbal but turn to the jump. Or face the weaves and cue the jump. Move to the tunnel and cue the weaves. That will be SUPER useful but also it might be really hard, so start it at a slow walk so it is easier for him to process the verbal cues.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Looking at the backside slicing: Nice session here!
First rep and last 2 reps were really good! You can start to delay the toy drop now, swinging your arm back to help cue the bar as you run forward past the jump: sometimes you will actually throw the toy, sometimes you can ‘test’ and see if she takes the jump then throw the toy.
There were 2 blooper moments:
At :12 – the BC was too early for the countermotion line so she hit the wing/fell. By being too early, I mean that you were on the landing side so she thought you were doing a slice exit and not a wrap exit. You kept moving throw to the wrap after the blind, so she tried to adjust and that is when she hit the wing. The other reps had the blind slightly later (when you were getting past the exit wing) and that was ideal.
At :19 the throw was a little too early, it happened as she as landing from previous jump so she said “ok, I guess I will take the front side based on the throw” LOL!
Onwards to walk throughs: you videographer was great with his narration moments LOL!! “Sequence 2 with Canis Domesticus” almost made me spit out my coffee LOL “Invisibility cloak” LOL And in French too! So funny 🙂 “She almost knocked that bar”
I love the energy you are putting into the walk throughs, this will really help with Nationals coming up! Even the detail of lining up your invisible dog is great – it gets you in the zone for the real run.
After watching the walk throughs, I think you can be louder with your verbals 🙂 I could hear some of the verbals but not all of them, as compared to the runs with Muso where the verbals were very clear. Doing them the same way in the walk through is a great brain train for us humans to make them automatic, plus the style of delivery will change your body language which is helpful too!
Sequence 1 – walk through it looking good!! Connections were clear, my only suggestion there is to be a little more connected back to her on the exit of 4 in the walk through.
The run went great!! Yay! Your verbals and connection on the exit of 4 were definitely clearer in the run, so rehearse them that way in the walk through too so they are solidly in place for the more complex sequences and courses.
Sequence 2: Connect to tunnel exit and to her on the way to the backside – you were looking ahead of the invisible dog for most of this. Good connection on the tunnel exit to the last backside and on the exit of that backside!
And louder verbals here too 🙂You ran this sequence really well too – the connections and verbals were in place but the reason I bug you to add them in the walk through is so that you are not doing them for the first time in the run. It will make them more automatic which will be really helpful on crazier courses.
You can also add in some decel in and out of the backside wraps – that will keep them tighter. You were doing that in the walk through but moved faster in the run (especially at the end) so she was a little wider.
Seq 3 walk through: You might need to face 1 more? The lead out position looked like it might cause a question. Be sure to work the connection on this sequence – you had really clear connection on the exit of. 6 when you wrapped it on the first walk through, but on the other sections you were looking ahead of the invisible dog 🙂 This is especially important on the tunnel exits.
On the 2nd walk through, I was not sure at first if it was a RC 5-6-7 to the FC wrap. To make the RC look different from the FC, you can get in closer to 5 and set a line to the center of the bar of 6 so she knows to turn left instead of right.
On the run – yes, she had a little question on 1. You can have her set up more to the front of the bar with you not as far behind her – it looked a bit like a RC line so when you stepped forward, she pushed to the backside because that is where the line pressure might take her.
Muso and I both liked your position at 1:29 better! It was very clear!
Yes, there was a question on the RC at 1:39 – as you were running into it, I still was not sure if it was wrap or rear. At 1:38 you turned to face the wrap wing so she was setting up a right turn. Then you stepped in for a RC – you can see she landed straight turning slightly right, then turned left after landing. So you can totally begin the RC info from jump 5 with a bit of decel and turning to face the center of 6, then driving to the center of the bar so she turns to her left before takeoff.
She stayed on the parallel line to the backside at the end – more connection needed for sure to see what she was doing (you can call her f you see she is looking at he backside line) and you can also call her a little before the tunnel to straighten the exit to the front of the jump.
Seq 4 :
Great connection at the beginning and end!!
The spin on 6 might not be needed, you might have an easier time with a send there. For the spin and the FC on 8: decel is the start of those cues, rather than rotation. When you added running in the 2nd walk through, there was no decel and you can see the momentum of going directly to rotation actually carried you a bit forward, which will send her forward on the tight turns (widening the turn) So definitely work the decel in the walk throughConnect on the out jump to the last tunnel and also add a bit of decel to it too
Run 1:
Opening went perfectly, exactly as you rehearsed it. Yay!On the 3 tight turns (at 6, 8, 10-11), she was a bit wide because of the walk through rehearsal without the decel. When you re-did it a the addendum 🙂 you decelerated as you rotated, but the order of festivities to get the best turn is decel then rotate. To get the tighter turn on 6, as she is exiting the tunnel, you can decel into the send to 6 (with good decel, you can send and leave so you don’t have to spin). And for the turn on 8: as she is approaching 7, you start to decelerate then as she is approaching 8 and collecting, you rotate and head to 9-10. Then as she is approaching 9, decel a little and begin the send to 10.
And the connection on the end went well too! She was a little wide heading to the last tunnel, but that was a product of being wider on the turn before the layering.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
He is definitely more comfy with this teeter now, and the better treats were very motivating 🙂
You can keep going with your teeter tour 🙂 and also add a little more speed to his approach to the board by starting him further back. And if he is happy about that, you can eventually add in a wing wrap before it! As you add the speed, be sure really good food is at the end so he doesn’t go flying off the end.
Great job!
TracyHi! I hope you had a good vacation!
>>I need to fix my throw.
Most were really good! I think you were trying to throw it too close, so it was rolling under the bar to the takeoff side. You can toss is further (she will still have a nice tight line when the toy isn’t there)
>I get the impression that she’s only taking the bar because the toy is there.>
Hard to know for sure until you go to the next step (see below). But she did get a lot of good reinforcement for taking the bar as you did the countermotion!!
For the next step, you can indicate the bar with your hand as if you are throwing the toy… but don’t throw it til after she jumps the bar. You’ll need to watch her peripherally to see if she takes it, or have someone tell you if she does.
>>Kyla was looking after Muso while we were away, and she practiced backside slices.>>
Omg! That’s so cool!!!
>Do you think it had more impact on the behaviour to only reward if she takes the bar? Here’s the video>
The session with Kyla had actually handling 🙂 so as Muso was doing the backside slice, Kyla was doing a swing back of the arm and a bit of a connected head turn towards the landing spot. Those cues supported her taking the bar- the handling was lovely!!
But it was a different goal than the one you ran: on your session, our goal was to get a ton of independence so you can drive through without extra handling (arm swing or head turn), which is why the toy is thrown earlier.The eventual goal is to meld these 2 sessions: she defaults to take the bar as you drive through, with maybe a minimal arm swing.
So you can start the arm swing now, as if throwing the toy, but still be looking forward to the next line.
Nice work here to you and Kyla!!! Let me know what you think.
Tracy
Poor little buddy!!!! I’m glad the vet found the soreness. I know he’s bored but he will feel better soon. And I’m glad you’re going to the seminar, I think you’ll have a blast!
Good morning!
>I think my course walking has got a lot better through practising. I just get really disappointed when it doesn’t come off (pretty much every time).>
Yes! Your planning and walk through is strong. Thank you for posting the video of it because it will tell us where the errors are (which then show up in the run).
>This setup looked really simple and straightforward – line to the tunnel then a couple of wraps.>
It looks simple but of course is not LOL!! And having it in a smaller space makes it harder because you have no extra time to set lines. Everything happens really really fast!
>Mostly I do not anticipate the off-courses.>
I don’t think the bloopers here were caused by anticipating off courses – they were connection questions. More on that below.
>I am not sure about the left cue out of the tunnel – do I also need a wrap cue on the wing or should it be a wrap cue when she is in the tunnel?>
I think a left cue before she enters the tunnel is useful, plus the wrap cue as she is exiting to cue the wrap on the jump. That part went really well on the run!
Maybe it was YouTube being weird, but the verbals sounded off from the handling on the walk through:Left started as the invisible dog entered the tunnel but continued until after landing of 4 then tick tick tick on the tunnel send (:28)
But the questions she had there (especially on the 1-2-3 line) were about connection!
In the walk through, she is a little behind you at the release – then you turn forward to cue the tunnel as if she was ahead of you. She would not be ahead of you at that point and it ends up being a disconnection which turns your shoulders to the off course jump
That disconnection/shoulder turn plus your position right near it is what caused her to come into the jump on runs 1 and 2.
At :58 on run 3 you made an excellent adjustment, giving BIG connection over jump 2 and moving forward. That pointed your shoulders directly to the #3 tunnel and she read it brilliantly.
Her other question was a bar down on the ending line, which was also a disconnection. O the walk through at :31, while she was in the tunnel, you turned forward as she is was ahead (she would still be in the tunnel behind you there). The same happened at 1:19 during the run, so a bar came down.
I have screenshots of how the walk through matched the runs in these spots:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CVZ4xJ7diZLHrr-j0qkoUBOQqMX6a9iJoJW-vU7j1qM/edit?usp=sharingThe visuals are really helpful because we can really emphasize the connection in your walk throughs. The more connection you give, the better you can control the lines.
So on the next walk through, focus only on BIG connection the whole way through, and try to run it silently 🙂 I know we are supposed to emphasize verbals here but I think your verbals are going well. If we can sharpen up the connections to match what she needs to see, you will have a big increase in being able to run clean sequences.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Welcome back, and congrats on all of your successes!!! It was great fun to scroll around on Facebook and see you & Ripley standing on podiums 🙂
This is a good choice of game to get back into home life 🙂 I am sure you saw a zillion jump-tunnel-weaves discriminations at the camp and the UKI event.
He also did a good job with going to is mat even with a jump & tunnel right there, although he did not do it as passionately as he did the jump & tunnel 😂🤣
He was quite perfect with the jump versus tunnel versus weaves – finding the tunnel was especially impressive because it was tucked in between a jump-weave sandwich. He was definitely thoughtful about all of his jump approaches – possibly because he was thinking hard about which obstacle and possible because he was also thinking about organizing a good takeoff.
Since he was fantastic here…. Let’s add more motion 🙂
You can take the 2 start wings and move them further away (20 feet, perhaps?) so that as he is exiting the second wing, he has to drive ahead of you to whichever obstacle you are saying – while you are also moving. And by being 20 feet away, your motion will not be a huge help because you will be moving forward by not really handling a specific obstacle.
Since that will make the game harder and there was not a lot of motion in this session, you can start by walking to see how he feels about processing the verbals with motion added (and motion that might not necessarily support the verbal). If he is successful with that? Cool! You can add more and more motion.
Great job here!!
Tracy
