Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Good morning!
Super nice job on course 1 – the walk through was really strong and clear. One handling option to consider is to layer more with a bigger send to 6 (jump after the weaves) so you can get the 7 tunnel and meet her on the takeoff side of the 8 jump, being stationary in threadle position. That will help get a tighter turn on the exit of 7, and making it very easy to get 10-11-12.
Your timing and connection was very strong in the walk through, and you were running fast! Yay! Most of the verbals were on time, delivered to where she was on the previous obstacle (like the zip verbal at :33). The verbals a 3 and 11 were a little late in the walk through (but not in the run 🙂 )
Did you say ‘good dog’ to your invisible dog? I do that too LOL
The run went REALLY well! Super nice opening, timely & connected, she knew exactly where to be. She exited the weaves early which caught you by surprise I think, but you still got the line after it. Especially nice was the little decel and brake arm used on the exit of 11 to get her to take 12, and NOT either of the 2 tunnels (or off course jump) that were highly visible. YAY!!
Gorgeous timing of the threadle wrap physical and verbal cues at 1:14, exactly how you rehearsed them in the walk through. And great job driving that ending line.
The only question here was staying in the weaves: do some practice of you running away like that and throw rewards to the exit of the weaves. And, with Nationals coming up – also practice NOT running away as much and still getting the sequence. You can be 10 feet or so closer to the weaves here and still get the 6-7-8 line. Yes, it is protecting the weave exit a bit but that is appropriate to do for upcoming trials as the training solidifies.
Course 2 walk through: Also looked really strong! Connected and clear throughout. Just a couple of spots to consider:
On the lead out: Can you be more laterally behind on the opening to be further up the line nearer the weaves when she is in the straight tunnel? That way you can send to 1-2 and layer the 7/12/18 jump to get up to be able to help a little with the weave entry (even if it is just with a bit of decel as she is arriving at the entry).
The blind to threadle might need to happen sooner 7-8, it looked like it was late relative to where the invisible dog was.
The turn from 18-19 might need stronger cues – it is a threadle line so she might end up on the backside without a cue to bring her in to the front. And it looks like you walked a spin on 19 to get to 20, I don’t think you need to spin there – if you want to add collection, a brake arm will work great.
Looking at the run – on the start line, you can let her get settled into the stay for a few more seconds before you begin the lead out. She moved with you at first because you took off pretty quickly.
Once you did that and stayed connected, super nice lead out!
Running with her had a lot of acceleration and she couldn’t quite get the weaves
She got it on the 2nd run but she was expecting the weaves there 🙂You did a pull to a flip away on the 7-8 line and I thought that was a really good adjustment because based on where she was, the blind to threadle was going to be late and potentially get an off course.
She went past 14 at 1:55, probably looking at the a-frame. That is something that can totally happen because the motion as you ran around the tunnel did open up that line – so a brake arm can help override that motion when you need to run into a box but motion might open up an off course line. The other option is to send to 13-14 while layering the tunnel 🙂
Side note: she had a lot of weave misses in this session on both courses (entries and exits) so be sure to get her into a massage person and/or chiro to make sure nothing is tight. She has been trialing a lot and doing a lot of weaves.
Once she got the weaves, the next section went really well!
You got 18-19 with a spin then a threadle, that is a lot of dance moves in one spot 🙂 You can do a RC on the takeoff side of 18 then the threadle is easier, or if she is on your left as she is exiting 17, do a brake arm followed by the threadle. That is less rotation and will get a nice turn there.
Having to show the handling 18-19 also showed that she did not need a spin 19-20.
>And here’s the link for the trial analysis, if you have time.>
Added!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I also let her watch and listen as my other dog did the full teeter so she could hear it bang. She definitely noticed the bang but it didn’t scare her. >
That is cool! There is definitely learning that happens from observing another dog doing it, and also from seeing your other dog looking so confident and happy to do it.
>She gets pretty distracted when she sees the frisbee. I can put it down my pants but then the reward is delayed. I tried using a tug but she isn’t nearly as excited about the tug. >
The visual of the frisbee might definitely be challenging! Frizzers are THE BEST and also it means it will be thrown… which can be tilted her behavior more into running fast and less into collection. So a less exciting tug toy or even highly visible food rewards are good. And you can also have the frisbees hidden then whip it out at the end – a delayed reward can still be very useful here!
The session went well – she had a lot of success here! Super!! You were setting the line really well and she was able to find the correct side of the jump and turn away really well.
>Today, on the few reps where we were successful, her wraps were a little tighter.>
When she was a little wide, she was seeing steady and fast motion from you. When you added a bit of deceleration later in the video (like at 1:12), her wrap immediately tightened up.
So to get the tighter wraps, you can send to the tunnel from further away so that as she exits the tunnel, she can see you go from moving fast into moving slow as you begin the threadle wrap cues. I bet that is what you did on the video where she was tighter.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I like the “treat myself like a student” thing. It goes beyond just the rote “be kind to yourself”, which just doesn’t feel genuine.>
Yes, there are 3 things I really don’t like for this self-talk stuff:
“Be kind to yourself” is one of those. The other two are “it is part of the journey” and “if you are not successful, you are learning” blah blah blah hahahahahahahaha! Those really don’t vibe with me because I like more concrete things to do, plus sometimes I don’t want to learn something and that is ok too 🙂> But to treat myself like a student is to acknowledge that I do know things (the teacher side), AND I’m still learning things! >
Both of these are incredibly true: you are a highly skilled professional, both in how their bodies work and in how their brains work, which has led to plenty of excellence in agility. But also – agility is a fast-moving, wildly complex, and high failure sport, which means this is still plenty of learning to be done (even when we are not in the mood to learn things LOL!). And being able to self-assess is a hugely important skill, as well as develop a small network of folks who can help with that.
>Leaving a course for a whole month is tough because I have to move everything to mow any way, at least up until about this point in the summer. >
Yes, it is hard to leave it up for a month but even if it is just a couple of days, I think you’ll find big benefits. I’ve also done some UKI At Home stuff which has really stretched the comfort zone because it is not course designs of my choosing and it is time-limited. I don’t really care about the Q but my competitive streak gets me wanting to run clean LOL
> but this year was quite wet and we’ve had fast growth throughout.>
This year was like living in a tropical rain forest. It was GROSS. And it is not over yet – hurricane season is just picking up.
>In other news Pick’s home fell through, so once I sort out my feelings about that (sooo much inner conflict lol) he may return to some agility training as well.>
Ugh that is a bummer!!! I know it must be really hard. He is a cool dog – if you end up keeping him and you do MaxPup 4 with Beat in the fall, you can put him through the transition to trials stuff and we can see if we can get him trialing successfully!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>So very sorry that you have lost VooDoo. One of the things for sure is that no matter how long they are with us it is never long enough.>
This is so true. There is comfort in that so many people completely understand!
>It’s one that’s been “on the list” for awhile, now it’s at the top 🙂 The layer is a skill we have, it’s the switch away that we didn’t.>
This skill is getting popular in course design and is super useful!
This session went really well – your work in the previous sessions really set him up for success here!Only 2 suggestions:
As you are cueing the switch, you can begin the cue with bigger arm movements – when you did that like at 1:34, he was very sure of what to do. When you were more subtle like at 1:15, he had questions and ended up dropping the bar.The other suggestion is to do lots of balance reps where you do a plain old boring post turn to the right on that jump, or the tight RC or even a tight FC back to the tunnel (rather than doing the switch to the left to the weaves) – that way he is still processing cues and not turning to the weaves because he has learned the sequence 🙂
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
>Her more favorite exercises are the sit/down/stand (in any order) on a narrow plank. This is hard. And doing it with one foot elevated is very hard. We have also been working on balancing on 2 feet. First the diagonals and then both feet on one side. And crawling. Enzo crawls forward pretty well; backwards not yet.
> These are all so good!! And doing it on the plank is great because it really requires control from the core.
Here’s another fun one! It isolates the quads, which my PT vet says can be quite “puny” on sports dogs LOL!! I was doing this here as a surgery rehab for a patella, but it remains in the regular rotation (slight higher bar to step over now).
Pop Out 1 went great! He was brilliant about finding the weaves of course, even when you were laying the #2 jump.
2 small details:
– because there is a wrap on 1, you can release with both hands up. This helps the dogs differentiate the wider turns on the opening jump (release with 1 hand) versus the wraps on the opening jump (release with both hands). It could be either in the current trend of forward focus on jump 1, so seeing the cue with 1 or 2 hands helps before the release.– After sending to 2 and 3, you can rotate to face the weaves as a spin on the tunnel entry (as opposed to the post turn). The spin will get you immediately moving to the line of the weaves and will cue a tight turn on the tunnel exit (taking out the line back to 1). It should feel pretty natural in the moment and doesn’t need to be a fast rotation.
Pop Out 2 went really well too!
On the first run: The switch on 3 looked great – you can call him sooner as he is taking the 3 jump to get a faster line to 4 (he was a bit wide with some questions there). As he was approaching 4, he saw a lot of acceleration on- that is what contributed to the wide turn on the wrap at 5.On the 2nd run, you turned to the right (FC wrap) – this also looked good! He is collecting really well and your decel cues and timing are looking great!
Looking at the differences, because lead changes are not always a predictor of what is faster/slower:
I didn’t think the right turn on 3 would set up as good of a line as the left turn would, but I timed it two different ways (landing of 1 to landing of 5, and landing of 2 to landing of 4) taking out the turn from 5 to the tunnel. Timing it like this came to the same results you found – the right turn wrap was faster.
It might have been slightly less yardage, plus he more immediately knew the line 4-5. The switch might have had more yardage and also he didn’t as immediately know what the line to 4 was (several extra strides there). I am interested to know if calling him sooner would change the outcome of the timing because it would take out the extra strides & yardage.
For Casper: 
>We did both the front side wrap and slice, I think they look pretty good. We’ll move along to backside wraps next. >
I agree, he is doing well! You can see him really engaging his hind end here in preparation for sitting and collecting to get over the jump.
As you add in the backside wraps, you can also put an empty bowl on the ground to give him a focal point to lower his head (otherwise his head if up and he watches you). On the slices, the bowl would be one stride past where he would land (so about 6 feet past the jump. On the wraps (front and back) the bowl would be past the wing on the exit side so he completes the wrap and goes to the bowl. Yes, he will have to pass the bowl to get into the wrap 🙂
The bowl is empty and then you drop the reward into it as you move away. You can also add more of your motion, plus take it outside to see how he does on grass (that is the first step to fading the plank :))
>I left in the last weave runs; if I carry it in my outside hand, he has better success than in the nearside. We’re working on it.>
He can probably see it very clearly in your nearside hand 🙂 He is doing great though and I know he will be able to ignore that toy very soon 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Nice job here!
I wrote the thoughts about the previous session before watching this one:
I think you arrived at a similar thought process about slowing down your motion on the runs here! The slower pace in handling for now was effective – she did a lot better and you did the handling more like the walking agility. The trick is going to be applying it everywhere for now, even that ending line.
For example, in the walk through at 1:15 – 1:22, you had a steady pace that was closer to walking/vert slow jog. She was very successful! Just try not to stand still near the jump after the tunnel – we want to shape her to take it while you are moving.
Our goal of course is to eventually have you run full out, but we can get her on board with that plan by slowing the pace.
She found 1-2 no problem! Yay!
Based on how this is set up, I think the 2-3 line could be a backside for her so using a brake arm and even a threadle cue to get it can help get her on the line. The spin you used in run 3 was great too: it got the turn while not using a ton of motion. Yay! That way you won’t have to pull really fast to your right – that burst of motion was contributing to her going past 3 on the first 2 runs.
Staying in a slower steady pace helped her find the middle section – then the burst of speed contributing to running past the last bar.
>am adding my third because I liked to see the comparison of what I actually needed to do to get a good rep (early cues, less movement).>
I am glad you did – the 3rd run was the best! You did not stop moving, but also you were super connected and moving at a slower steady pace. Just add that to the last line too, so she can drive ahead and find that last jump.
I am also curious to see how she does when there is no toy in your hand. These sequences don’t need a precision reward, so you can have a toy in your pocket or use food for now.
Great job here!
Let me know what you think!Tracy
Hi! Thanks for your kind words about Voodoo. Those boy dogs totally will do anything for their moms!
Thanks for posting the video – you were really great about making a big happy fuss when she got it right!
Yes, I can bug you about giving stronger turn cues earlier on the tunnel entry (like using both hands) but also… the jump was right there and she was actively going around it.
Same with jump 1 – she did better when you were closer on the release (as opposed to closer to the tunnel exit) but also… the jump was right there.
So three things to consider in training:
– always get her in high arousal with tugging beforehand (you might already be doing this) so she learns to find the jumps when she is more stimulated
– but to balance that: slow your motion. Do some walking agility on these sequences! You will be in motion the whole time, but not moving fast yet.
Moving fast plus arousal are resulting in going around a lot of jumps, so we can keep the arousal (because she needs to be able to execute in that arousal state) and dial back the motion for now (then gradually work it back up). Why this is happening? Probably a processing question where her brain cannot process taking the mechanics of taking the jumps, running fast, seeing you run fast, seeing the toy, etc. She might not even “see” the jumps! But the ‘why’ only matters in how we figure out how to help her.
If you are still get regular running past the jumps: lower the bars a bit especially on jumps after a tunnel.
The other suggestion is to not have the reward on the ground behind her – that was definitely splitting her focus a lot. I think she did better when you were holding it, but you can also go to no visible toy or food rewards. It is entirely possible that the visible toy is splitting her attention enough to cause her to run past the jumps.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! I am glad your vision is better!!!
Yes, Indy is definitely enjoying finding her weaves LOL!!! One of the ways you can balance finding the weaves with watching handling cues is to tell her that she is very clever to get the weaves… but not cue them or reward them if you were standing still and cueing a tight turn 🙂 If we are late on a tight turn cue, maybe the dog picks up one extra jump then turns – I would argue that you were not late (and you were pretty stationary and you had two hands out) and she was simply locked on the weaves. We don’t need to reward it, but you can also do a lot of balance for the finding weaves and also finding turns and not the weaves 🙂 She probably went to the weaves the 2nd time because she was rewarded the first time LOL!
On the 3rd rep, you were more compelling as you got the turn cues going – the name call is effective as a “HEY SOMETHING’S HAPPENING HERE” as she is approaching 2 and the turn cues are starting.
The weaves to the jump layer to the tunnel looked great! You got the 8 jump to the 9 tunnel from the landing side of 8. She was a little wide on the tunnel exit because you were blocking the wing – another option there is that you can also stay on the takeoff side of 8 and handle it as a threadle out of the tunnel, so she is on your left for 8 and the send to 9
>. I think I need to teach a come in or threadle verbal, not sure if this calls for that or not.
I think the 10 jump after the tunnel is almsot a ‘freebie’ for her because it is so easy 🙂 And yes, that makes 11 a threadle slice, handling it as you did at the end of video (this is also how you can handle jump 8, too!)
Using the right verbal for 10 (when she exits the tunnel) then the threadle verbal slice verbal will be great there!.> To be honest, this type of course is still so new to me.>
You are doing awesome! And teaching her to stay on her line like you are doing is going to be REALLY helpful for the big crazy courses, as you can see here on the section from the #5 weaves to the 10 jump after the tunnel!
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
T2B: This was lovely! She did a GREAT job with her jumping on this run. She had to work almost the whole course in a collected one-stride which means the distances were very short for her. You were lovely and connected except one little blip at :39 where you pointed ahead to get the jump before the weaves because she had passed you… but that point ahead turns your shoulders & feet away from the line so she turned. You were connected, though, so you were able to do a quick reset then carry on for a great finish.
Your transition into deceleration to get the wrap at :34 before a-frame #2 was FABULOUS!
What bit you in the JWW run was the small distance and the tighter turns needed through the boxes in AKC – as she took off for 4 at :18, you were connected and starting to gently turn. On a bigger UKI distance, I think it would be perfect! But on the smaller AKC distance – it took her to the backside line, especially with motion pushing in a bit there to set the RC. Even on the reset without a lot of momentum, it was a hard turn and the bar came down.
So what to do instead?
>. I feel as if she wants the info sooner even than one jump ahead and she prefers me farther away. >
In this scenario, I think your assessment about being sooner is correct (but she is fine with you being close to her :)) To set up the AKC-style RC, the turn info starts as she takes off for jump 3: that is a bit of decel and probably a brake arm to get collection for 4, to turn her to the left so she lands facing the front of 5. Then when you have that, you can move forward on the RC line. Your position to start the decel/brake arm can be closer to the wing of 4, making it easier to get the RC on 5 when she has turned (without pushing to the backside by accident).
I say “AKC-style” because this type of RC is a common challenge – definitely one to set up on these small one-stride distances!
>Also, heading to Rhode Island for the Block Party so will be interested to see how she reacts to the UKI for three days. >
FUN!!! I wanted to go to that but decided that a 15 hour drive was too much LOL! The distances will be a little different LOL!! She will be taking a fully extended one-stride between jumps and possibly 2 strides between jumps – so there might be a different level of hustle. But the lines and turns will make more sense (such as RCs). Keep your strong connection and run run run like you do on the courses at home, those are more like UKI distances.
Have fun!
TracyHi!
Looks like Lift had a great time at the seminar!
On the video:
This was a good challenge for him! And definitely skill he will need: drive in extension even when da hooman has to decelerate and stop. Placing the reward (not in the video) helped a lot and also throwing the friz like a real friz helped too LOLThe poles are a bigger visual and he did really well with the soft sided entry at first, maybe because you primed the pump with the jump there. He had a harder time on the other side then when you changed the picture a bit and came back to the soft-side entry. He was definitely thinking hard!!!
Since he was not fully convinced to run as fast as he could to the jump or poles while you were not moving, I wonder if we can get him on board by replacing the jump & weaves with a short tunnel? That might be the highest value and get the extension we want. Then we can get the jump added back in, starting it close.
Do you think the lotus ball would be easier to throw for him? Or you can enlist friends/family (Dean haha) to sit on the deck and be your thrower? As long as the person doesn’t stand near the obstacle, having someone else throw can really help!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! She is looking wonderful!
Yes, revisiting start lines are probably good to add. All broken stays were simply crimes of passion – she is happy to be back in action!
On the sends to jump 2, the more connection you gave her as the send cue (and less arm being used), the better she sent! You can see this at :38 and :50 for example – great connection and she found the middle jump perfectly!
When adding the tunnel at :55 – give yourself a longer lead out to show the line. You did a longer lead out at 1:19 and she found the tunnel easily.
When you did the full loop including the tunnel, you emphasized connection and didn’t use a lot of arm… and she did a GREAT job finding the lines! YAY!!! You can expand the distances even more, and move into the next exercises too. Be sure that if you do a couple of days with jumping, that you give her a few days off from jumping so she doesn’t get sore. Her leg is ready to go in terms of surgery recovery, but now the muscles have to get strong again 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! This went really well!
On the first GO rep, she exited straight heading to the jump, but definitely had her head up and asking the question of why you were decelerated. Great toy throw!!!After that… no more questions about going straight, she was nailing it on both sides. Super!!!!
>The first left turn took her by surprise but her ears were on for the second.>
Yes, I agree – she seemed to be expecting another GO cue so the response to the left was delayed but she got it! Your timing of the physical and verbal cue was on time, so it was a good challenge for her. She got it perfectly on the next rep and she also got the right turn cue really well when you switched sides.
I was so happy with her weave entries!! That is FAR away for a small dog especially for a young dog, and she did great! You were smart to do it on 4 slightly open poles.
The 2o2o is going well! She wants to watch you, so you can mix in throwing a reward back to her as you run past the end of the plank to keep her looking at her target position and not your motion.
Great job here!
TracyThanks for thinking of Voodoo – losing them is the worst part about having dogs.
I think the session went really well in terms of starting the blinds!! You got earlier and earlier! Part of it is getting the quickness of the blind so you can establish the new connection quickly and more clearly, and part of it is her anticipating that the shoulder turn begins the blind cross cue.
You don’t have a lot of leeway to be sending with an arm then seeing if she will commit… she is just SO FAST. So when she exits the tunnel, you can be moving along the line, cueing the wing with motion and a verbal and connection. And when she is one stride out of the tunnel, start the BC – you were doing this on a lot of the reps, especially when she was starting on your left side.
Here are screenshots of the best timing moments (and one time you were too quick to pull away so she did not go to the wing). Note that your arms are extended on these – having them not extended will really help!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qDl4fgWiaE2JxSu95NGCncSGdPZYTaHHGq_do3LoiXU/edit?usp=sharing
So to get a tighter exit and then be able to get the 2nd blind:
– keep your arms in tight to your ribs. I tell myself “chicken wings” because my elbows need to be bent and tucked in to my ribs. That will will make it quicker to execute the blind! And then it makes it quicker to execute 2 in a row. Having your arms extended makes it harder to show the connection she needs to see on time
– as you execute the blind, place the toy across your body like you did on the last rep (exit line connection)Basically, there will be a moment on the line where you don’t see her – this moment is between the one stride past the tunnel exit and when she arrives at the wing. And when she arrives at the wing, you will be connected on the new side and she can drive right to it.
Once you are happy with that, getting 2 in a row will be easier: as soon as you see her exit the wing and lock onto the new side, you can do the 2nd blind (with arms in ‘chicken wing’ position) and make the big connection on the new side.
Let me know what you think! Nice work here!
TracyHi!
I saw the files come through, so I will get them downloaded asap!
>The terriers certainly don’t go by the “no killing things” rule here- rodents are FAIR GAME! >
I’ve been lucky that my terriers over the years have all been easily convinced not to murder things LOL!
> But there is a “no leaving work for critters” rule- crittering is either done during off hours or when cued!>
This is a good rule!
>The mental things are certainly what get to me with Roots.>
The mental game is hard, especially the intrusive thoughts! I totally relate.
> Maybe one of the things I lost/changed when I stopped taking in person classes?>
Possibly! Or the quick bounce back from errors – there is no time in a group class or a seminar to spiral, because the instructor gives quick feedback and then off we go again. You can treat yourself like a student!
>So maybe I’ll try to emulate that aspect of in person group classes. I’ll even plan it into the session, have a comfy chair ready (instead of the ground) and a cold beverage and maybe a snack. Yay inspiration!>
OMG I am stealing this idea 🙂 Brilliant!
>As far as how often I run full courses? Not very often. I trial about two weekends a month (July was pretty heavy at 3, plus being away camping for July 4 weekend, so no agility then). During the week I do small skills usually before work (rotating dogs throughout the week), Friday afternoons I mow the agility yard and build a course if we aren’t going to trial that weekend, then run it one of the days of the weekend, and take the other day to do something not agility related (but will squeak in some agility if I can). I’d worry about running full courses before work with wet, dewy grass, but could try to do course work on some afternoons? I got away from doing full course work very often because it felt like we were lacking so many smaller skills >>
I think doing full course work more often might help trialing. There is more emphasis on getting all the way through without stopping, making good plans (or learning from bad plans haha) and simply rehearsing challenges in big flow so the brain/body is prepared for trials. Yes, mixing in smaller skills is all good – but I think agility is one of the sports where having *all* or most of the skills is impossible. So we keep training, yes – but we apply our existing toolbox to the full courses and see how it goes. Do you think it would be possible, maybe twice a month, to set a full course and run it? And re-number to run other full courses on it without having to do much course building. That might be doable (twice a month) with a busy work-life-trial balance.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
She was really great about coming up the ramp the first time, even though it was a little weird feeling… And she was super confident the 2nd time up the ramp. Yay! It made me laugh that she was so happy to drive up the board that she started without you even when you were trying to switch to a different game. So that added a tiny bit of movement but she seemed perfectly happy with it. You asked her if it was scary and she said, “nope, not scary” LOL!
Since she was on board with running up the board, you were able to add even more movement! Yay! You can leave the reward at the top of the board so she doesn’t wait for you to get there – I use a dab of cream cheese so it is high value but also doesn’t fall off when the board moves.
> I don’t have one so this work is very sporadic.>
It seemed like she was super confident after the first rep, and that is great! So you can use the first rep of each session as an easy reminder rep… then carry on with the training. Because she is confident, training it sporadically will not be a problem.
Great job here!
Tracy
