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Good morning! This is going really well!! She was looking ahead brilliantly and that is what we want.
>>I’m thinking I could be a bit more connected? >>
Connection on the wrap exits all looked good! And connection on the short distance looked good. A place to strengthen the connection is when you added more distance at :14 – you were looking at her but closing your shoulder forward, so that could potentially break connection.
>>And she’s responding to “go” and maybe that’s delivered a bit late?
She totally liked the Go verbal, you can use it repeatedly GO GO GO especially as the distances get bigger. You can also add more motion to support this: as she is wrapping, stay connected like you did but take off running 🙂 You can’t really say the ‘go’ verbal until she is exiting the wrap, but showing the motion earlier will get her driving out even sooner.
>>Wrap cues are a bit weak because I’m shifting from words to noises…>>
I could hear them! They contrasting nicely with the GO verbal.
You can add 2 more things to this (as well as more distance between the wing and jump):
– start very close to the wing and stay near it until she finishes wrapping… then move forward to get her driving ahead of you.
– start as far from the wing as you can and send to it. As soon as she commits to the wing, take off to get miles and miles ahead. This is also a challenge because finding the jump behind you versus chasing you might be hard 🙂Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
Wind In Your Hair is going really well! That toy is awesome LOL! Your timing is spot on and she is looking ahead really well and finding the jump perfectly. On the reps here, you were saying the reward marker when she looked forward. Since it is going so well, you can replace the reward marker with a cue like “go!” or “jump”. And throw the reward at the same time to keep her looking ahead (you might not have time to say a reward marker here, but a cue followed by the reward on the line is also an indication that she should take the toy).
How is your weather looking? Any opportunity to take this outside so you can add more distance between the wing and the jump?
For the indoor version, you can change your position. The 2 options that can work indoors are:
– start very close to the wing and stay near it until she finishes wrapping… then move forward. That should get her driving ahead of you.
– start as far from the wing as you can and send to it, then take off to get miles and miles ahead (don’t run into a wall though!). This is also a challenge because finding the jump behind you versus chasing you is HARD!Moving target is also going well. Yay for the stay!!! My only suggestion is to have it in the dog-side arm as you drag it, rather than in the opposite arm. That will make it easier to run forward. We add it on Wednesday – stay tuned!!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! I hope the vertigo goes away asap!!!
Nice job on the set point here! On some of the reps you were stationary and at the reward target (like at :44) and that totally helped. On some others, you were moving to it or standing nearer to jump 2 – on those reps he as looking at you, so be sure to always be out at the reward target and not moving (for now). That was when he was looking forward the best.
Good job mixing in the stay rewards and trying to get him to line up straight! He sometimes sits a little sideways (maybe to look at you) so luring him into a very straight position is perfectly fine 🙂
Because he is so young, try to limit to 2 or 3 reps per session because the pups do get physically fatigued pretty quickly and we don’t want to overdo it. Note that his sit changes at 2:25 and after that – more leaning and more rolling hi hind end under himself. Then he lost focus a bit as well – all of these are fatigue indicators. So, 2 maybe 3 reps through the set point then be done 🙂 And, that includes broken stay reps because he is still jumping on those reps.
As we build on this – do you have 2 jumps where the bars are more adjustable? Or removable to use a bump instead? These are actually a little high for now, especially the first one, so you can sort out how to use a bump and lower bars.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning! These sessions went well!
On the discriminations, she is processing off of the physical cue for the most part, which is why you were needing to step to the tunnel to help her out. That is fine, of course, because agility is mostly physical cues 🙂 We can totally get the verbals stronger by having you hold her collar until you say the verbal at least 3 times, then let go. The verbal and release were basically simultaneous here, or the release was before the verbal except for at :18 were you sad the wrap cue several times before letting go of the collar – that was great!
The verbal cue happening before motion will strengthen it very quickly because it will predict the motion, so she will skip the waiting to see the motion and just drive to the obstacle based on the verbal.
But, she seemed to NOT love the collar hold here, necessarily. So you can line her up with a cookie, slip a finger under her collar, give her another cookie, then start the verbals. That will mean you either need a 3rd arm to hold the toy 🙂 or you can stick the toy in a pocket (the marker can cover the time it takes to get the toy out of the pocket :))
Smiley face looked fantastic – her commitment is getting really BIG and I love it! Great job with your connection here. We build on this later this week, but if you want to take it for another spin you can add even more distance!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Nice lead out! He was really good with his stay (one blooper but the rest were really strong)! He is pushing into the grid really well.
You might notice he is slowing down to a trot over the 2nd jump. Part of that is the stationary reward which we will change later this week, and part of that is that you were facing him which cues a collection. So to get more power over jump 2, when you get to the reward target (the MM in this case or a toy in the future), face forward as if there is one more jump out ahead rather than face him when you release. We will be adding to this game later this week 🙂On the 2nd video, the first minute didn’t have sound so we will assume the verbals were perfect 🙂 The verbals were great in the 2nd have!
The best part about this video was the super clear connection throughout – that is a HUGE help to him! There was one moment at :51 (soft turn wing to wing to his left) where the connection got a little fuzzy but you caught it happening in the moment and strengthened it so he got the line. When you did that section again at 1:36 – gorgeous connection!!! And the connection on the tunnel exits to how the line to the wing looked great too.>>Watching the videos again shows me I have to be extra patient with his tunnel commitment (practice that separately with the wrap/vs tunnel game?). The countermotion pulls him off the tunnel >>
Yes – he has to decelerate, coordinate, and basically duck down to get into the tunnel so the more patience there, the better. His commitment will improve with experience and you can also reward a LOT of tunnels to make it really valuable for him to run through 🙂 You did have some short fast reps that you rewarded and that was great!
Only one suggestion – when running, have the treat in your hand so you don’t have your hand in your pocket, as that can draw his focus off the line. Same with the toy – but if holding a toy is too distracting, it can be in your pocket but don’t move to pull it out until he is in the tunnel (at 1:52 reaching for the toy pulled him off the tunnel because he thought it was reward time).
You can see him watching the toy a bit when it was behind your back on the wind in your hair game too – a little on the first rep and also at :42 when you sent to the cone to start the rep. This setup is a good one for getting him to ignore the toy in your hand so you can run with it: have it scrunched up in your hand but not behind your back and play this game… the instant he looks forward, you throw it.
Now… that is a great plan but what if he looks at you the whole time? LOL!! You can have a MM out past the jump and carry the toy but reward from the MM sometimes and throw the toy sometimes. That can help him understand to look ahead and not at the toy.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Had a poprocks episode when I asked for too much.>
Actually, it was not too much (although yes, keep things short and sweet especially when there is a lot of tugging and running). What was happening here was that conflicting indicators were causing errors and she found that frustrating.
When motion/verbal/connection worked together? Super! She found the lines to the tunnel/wings. Fast and focused! Her questions were when motion and verbals and connection were conflicting, o she was unable to process the cue or respond correctly. And due to youth, inexperience, and adolescent feelings, she has about 1 maybe 2 reps of lack of clarity before she gets really frustrated.
The early reps of wing/tunnel stuff looked good – very connected, and motion & verbal matched that so she got it easily.
Her first question was at :41 where verbal said tunnel and motion was in that general direction but turned away, and connection broke. She was not sure where to be (and most young dogs will pull off a tunnel in that moment of conflicting indicator).
Then the other spot that had conflicting indicators was when she would exit the tunnel on your left to go to the wing – motion was towards the wing but connection was not clear, so she did not know which side to be on. For example, at 1:26 and 1:54 on the first video, she was behind you and your arm and eyes were ahead of her. So it was unclear where to be and she got frustrated (and gave up after a few reps) You had clearer connection when she was on your right, so that was quite smooth!
On the 2nd video, nice connection at the start! It was not a conflicting indicator at :56 when she changes sides behind you – it was totally the correct response to a blind cross cue. You tried to reward but reward with a marker as if it was completely correct (the marker was a “oopsie” tight marker so she didn’t take the toy). Or, go with it and wrap her around the other side of the wing because stopping can be frustrating.
Connection was much better at the end of the session on the 2nd session but you can shorten it up and end on a win – no need to do a lot of reps especially when all that running and tugging is involved.
So to help her out, prioritize the connection as. The most important cue for her. On the tunnel exit, you can have your arm pointing back to her nose and making eye contact the whole time, until you see her lock onto the wing. Motion is probably 2nd in the priority order here, moving towards the obstacle with connection. And the verbal is the cherry on the sundae for now but not as important as the other cues LOL!!
And, because handling baby dogs requires us to be basically perfect (so hard!!), if something goes wrong: assume it was a conflicting indicator and either keep going as if it was perfect, or reward as if it was perfect. And I think rewarding with food in that moment will be the winner because on the 2nd video you tried to reward with the toy and she was like OH HECK NO. Each pup have a ‘tell’ when we are handling without as much clarity as they need – she barks/jumps up a little: “HEY HOOOOMAN CONNECTION PLEASE” LOL!
Also the 2 blooper rule can come into play: if there are 2 little bloopers, she is probably reaching the top of her tolerance limit and blooper #3 might produce too much frustration, even with rewards. So if you get the 2nd one, take a break for a while and start fresh in a different session.
>>Should I be using a right cue for the soft right turn. >>
Yes, you can totally use a right cue and saying it to her can really pump up the connection.
>>For the wrap Cues, should I mix up a FC and a Post turn for when I move?>>
On this setup, I think the physical cue of the post turn for the wrap and the soft turns to the next wing might look too much alike, so the FC will make more sense to her.
>Wrap Cues – 3/10/24>
This video is the smiley face video – can you repost the wrap cues video?
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
Nice job with your connection and verbals on all of the concept transfers!
>>The first several reps I tried to run ahead of Kashia on the GO lines like you said and she completely bypassed the jumps. For a few reps she’d skip the first jump but do the second one or the other way around. I didn’t include all the bloopers because I was struggling to keep it close to 2 mins but I did include a few so you could see. What was I doing wrong to cause her to bypass the jumps?>>
It was not a matter of you doing anything wrong – I think it was just a new concept and she was like WHOA THIS IS HARD. Her brain had to process the “chase the momma” versus the “find the jumps” which is really hard for any dog bred to work. So, you can revisit it and see if latent learning helped! You can also get way ahead but do it at a fast walk instead of a run and see how she does, maybe starting with just one jump.
BTW – she trains just like my whippet. He did the same thing the first session of me getting way ahead: went nice and fast and took zero jumps LOL!!! No worries, these youngsters figure it out. I helped him by dialing back the motion and starting with one jump, then building it back up.
>>it was annoying it even happened.>>
This made me laugh. It is TOTALLY annoying. I’m like: DUDE TAKE THE JUMPS and he was like: I did! Nailed it! LOL!!!!
The other parts of the session went well. It is a hard drill for sure.
She was giving you the funniest looks on the rear crosses LOL! It was cracking me up – it was like there was steam coming out of her ears and her thought bubble was saying WHAT THE HECK IS THIS hahahaha
Your first RC at :22 was really a perfect sweet spot – you were a little ahead to set the line and you were driving to the center of the bar, so she did move ahead of you AND get the turn. Super!!! That is hard. The RC at :40 was good too!There was a little blooper at 1:54 where you said go jump and physical cue was saying go straight til almost take off, then you did the RC which confused her. You adjusted at 2:22 and got it – that RC looked more like the one at :22.
>>I included some bloopers where I again pulled her off the jump during deceleration. We tried the rear crosses this time and they actually worked out better than I expected.
She is not totally comfortable moving ahead of you on the rears of when you decelerate, so you can keep throwing the reward to the landing side of the RC or FC wrap jump to affirm that yes, moving ahead of you is a good thing!
Your FC wraps were super nice and you had super nice backside pushes – SUPER clear connection and pressure on the line, which was very convincing especially after all the reps to the front side of the bar. Yay!
>Watching my full video back, I didn’t realize I had two cats playing jungle gym around us the entire time.>
The cats were adorable! And a great distraction for her, she totally ignored them.
>>There were a few snippets where they were in the tunnel when Kashia came through or they were at the jump standard when Kashia jumped. It’s like they were waiting to pounce on her but chickened out last second!>>
Cats!!!!! Love it. On one of the teeter videos in this class (I think it is in this class somewhere) my cat comes out and basically pushes the dog off the plank I am using. So funny!
She is totally figuring out the back feet on the mat thing!!! This is going well! Her left hind is perfect and she really has to think about her right hind. And sometimes she forgets what she is doing (I can relate) and sits. Resetting to help her out there is fine when. That happens. This i a fantastic exercise for her to really think about offering behavior independently and also think about her back feet. Great job letting her offer and think through it!!! Your other dog was fascinated by it all too hahaha!
>>When we have those “staring contests”, what is the correct thing to do?<>>
In those moments, it looked like she was just having a “wait, what was I doing?”moment. So she offered the sit which probably has a zillion rewards. It looks like you used subtle body movement to reset her, and that helped a whole lot.
>>Also, when I try this on the teeter, what kind of indicator will tell Kashia to put her back feet on it vs going up it like she’s used to? >>
The cues will be different – the end of the teeter will eb a tiny bit off the ground, and also you will be facing her and her butt will be facing the teeter 🙂 And when she is backing up more and more, you can add a verbal cue which also cues it. I say “beep beep beep” for my cue.
>>Anytime I go near the teeter out now she excepts cream cheese! That one rep high value drill was a genius idea except now she expects that very animatedly and I’m not sure how I’ll translate that to the backing up drill.>>
This is great news! Cream cheese for the win!!!! You don’t need to use cream cheese for the backing up LOL and we can make it clear that it is a back up moment and not a run up the board moment.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
She is so joyful when she works, it is so fun to watch!
>>the first part was intended to be a backside>>
Oh! I watched it and then came back to read the post. She was reading you correctly, I thought the intention was a rear cross. When she lands from the first jump after the tunnel, she needs the next info already to be underway. What was happening here was that the info at :03 and 1:05 looked pretty much the same, with you facing straight to the 2nd jump. You then added some pressure to get a RC at :03… but that also explains why she did the RC at 1:05 when you wanted a FC wrap: facing straight like that was predicting that pressure was coming, so she was basing the decision on that.
Ideally, you run on more of a pressure line to the center of the bar to get the RC (without facing straight first), more like what you did at :40. And then when you do face straight (especially when you add the decel you added at 1:52) you will totally get the nice wrap!
Now for a backside – the pressure line also starts no later than landing of that first jump, with you moving more towards the backside wing and using a lot of connection. So basically it is 3 different lines she can see as she is over that first jump:
– straight line will indicate wrap
– motion to center of the bar can indicate RC (as he backsides get more seasoned, she can also see this motion and get the backside verbal to push to the backside)
– for now, the backside cue can be motion towards where the wing meets the barYou can see that backside line of motion on the short video where you did the one rep to the backside – lovely! Remember to have massive connection to her eyes which turns your shoulders to the line even more, so you don’t have to be as far ahead (she was flying!)
First short clip – Nice save! You ended up a little past the backside and on the other side but you were PERFECT in how you handled the moment: stayed connected and just changed plans. That is a great skill!!!
2nd clip – the connection was great, you might not need the outside arm for her there when you are connected strongly and ahead of her. It was hard to see your position but it looks like you might have been blocking the upright and rotated before she got a chance to look at it and commit to it.
So facing forward a little longer til you see her locking onto the wing, and giving her more of the upright to see – that can be accomplished by you running to where the bar and upright meet (and adding a wing or barrel will give her a bigger visual for the backside). You don’t need to start the FC until her nose arrives at the wing. That is more of what you did on the 3rd clip, so she was was able to find the backside better here and commit to it. Super!!
Great job!
TracyGood morning and welcome! I am excited to see more of Katniss – it was great fun to meet her at the puppy seminar. She is a super cool pup!!!!!!
Looking at the moving target game: Her head was low enough and he was grabbing the low part of the toy well enough that any of these are useful for what is coming next. Now, why she wants the ‘boring’ handle instead of the super fun toy? I don’t know LOL!!! But as she was moving to it, her head was focused on the low end of it, she was not looking up at you, and she was not splatting herself into the ground. So, I call it a big win especially because she was very successfully holding her sit stay. Yay!!! So when we add to it later this week, we can use any of the toys you used here.
On the set point video – she is doing really well holding her stay and releasing into the little grid! Super!!! Her set up position looked good too!
>>putting it in this new context seemed to blow her mind a bit, >>
Ha! Yes, different context can be HARD but I thought she adjusted really well and did great.
You can click the MM instantly so she looks down and ahead before she even takes off for #1. I think you were using it as a reward, clicking for jump 2. It will better serve our purposes if it is a loaded target, so you can click it as soon as you say the release word.
And, you can move it another 8-10 feet away from jump 2 now, so she can power over #2 like she is over #1 (the MM being close causes all the dogs to slow down over 2, so giving her more room will allow her to stride over it better).
On the 2nd jump, it looks like there are 2 sets of wings – it is adding a depth challenge that we don’t need right now (eventually 2 sets of wings will mean 2 bars) so you can use just one jump there.
Nice work here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
Yes, there are two thing at play in each session:
>> We do puppy level drills and the puppy is learning, but they don’t really *know* the skill. >>
The skill or concept is not actually learned in the session – it is learned when they sleep! Crazy how the brain works! But what we now know is that somtimes the session itself will be mediocre or bad… but the pup has still learned the skill and they wake up the next day and they know the skill. Latent learning is magic!
You might not have experienced this “meh session then great skill 2 days later” thing but I am sure you will at some point. When it happens, it is fine to end the session and trust the pup’s brain to do the rest. This happens ALL THE TIME with my young whippet and it has taught me to chill out a lot LOL!!!
Also, the setup we are working on (like the smiley face game) is part of a concept foundation, like sending out of a tunnel and also gives the handler rehearsals on how to really connect and send a pup that will not save our butts if we are not clear 🙂 So the actual sequences themselves are unimportant – it is the framework of the skill and the rehearsals.
And, also it teaches us handlers that these pups are always correct in responding to our handling so we need to reward even if things didn’t go as planned LOL! Puppy training is humbling hahaha
>>We’re building relationship, and how to learn, and other process concepts.>>
Absolutely! About the relationship side of things – the human-pup bond is already in place, so there is a lot the puppy is learning about how fun it is to do the thing with the momma as well as about arousal regulation.
>> We have to revisit and build levels as they mature.>>
Ain’t that the TRUTH!! And survive adolescence when things can go completely sideways LOL.
>> I saw that Crescent did well on a lot of these exercises, but I know he doesn’t *really* know what he’s doing, he’s just having fun-which is what i think is the real point.>>
He is learning that by responding to the cues you are showing, the reinforcement will come in a certain spot. So he is learning the skills/concepts, and also developing arousal regulation to present behavior to get the toy or treat as well as not just chase you when you move. And he is developing positive conditioned responses to the games and equipment. There is a lot going on in his brain every time he plays one of the puppy games – and we don’t want to make it overwhelming which is why everything is in such tiny pieces 🙂
>>Thank you for pointing out the real goals here (concepts). I may have to hear this a few times.>>
We all do! The hardest part for all of us is that the puppies have no previous learning to save our butts if our handling is not clear in the handling games, so we need to assume they are reading us correctly if something goes wrong, and reward them anyway (then look at the video which shows us what went wrong :))
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Stays were, um, not perfect, but okay. >>
The stay element of not moving forward til released was great! The sit stay is definitely better than the down stay in terms of takeoff, so it was good when you reset her into the sit (or when she held the sit).
>>Paul thought she was driving ahead better. In watching, I agree. >>
Absolutely and this distancing is definitely better! And I think we are likely to expand it more as she gets outside onto grass to do it – I have found that whippets move themselves differently through these grids in terms of how they use their hind ends (which makes TOTAL sense based on their structure and how they are bred to move/use their rear) so she will likely end up at a 6 foot distance when she has more room to land and power out to the reward. No rush for that, we can let is percolate for now and as she gets her clearances and as the weather improves, we can take this game outside. She has learned the framework really quickly! We will be adding one more element to it this week to challenge her 🙂
Great job!
TracyOMG! She LOVED your sweatshirt as a toy! LOL!! Click/treat to you for thinking outside the box on that one!!!
>>More true confessions, I’m TERRIBLE at toy play. I’ve taken classes on it, I try to be better..but…>>
Maybe it has become work (icky) instead of play, so don’t worry about being good at it… just be goofy and have a laugh by attaching your sweatshirt to a leash and dragging it around. That looked so fun!!!! Play doesn’t need to be clean or precise or have rules – as long as no one is getting bitten and everyone is enjoying themselves, it will be fun!
And for this game, you can also attach a food reward and drag it. It can be a lotus ball on a line, or a food pouch, anything that she will target to (it will make more sense when we use it for real: cliffhanger!!!!! LOL!!)
She was perfect here!!! And good job to you for stepping outside your comfort zone and being super creative while doing it.
Great job 🙂
Tracy
Nice work with the fluffy crosses 🙂 You had a little blooper or two at the beginning of the session but then made excellent adjustments so there were no repeated bloopers.
The first run with the BC went great – he had bonus tunnel at :10 maybe caused by handler motion: he saw you straighten up to face the jump after the blind, so that cued the tunnel (he was VERY sure of it LOL!)On the rep at :21 and :39 and on all the next reps, you had a better turn to the outside line and he didn’t go to the tunnel. Super!
His only other question was on the tunnel cue at :25 – you lost connection and turned away a little too soon, which pulled him off it. You had great connection at :46 and all the other reps.The other side went great, lovely connection! He did seem to think the exit of the #5 jump was weird (turning away from the course) but you did a great job staying in motion and staying connected so he kept going.
The FCs went well too! It will ultimately end up being handler’s choice about which to choose – I personally think the blinds are soooo much easier to get through the rotation on time. And the blinds also get a great turn with Skeeter!!
Wow, his sending to the lines is really looking awesome on the 2nd video!!!! That helped you easily get ahead for the blind to the tunnel. SUPER! And you are really connecting beautifully 🙂
My only suggestion is that you don’t need to go as far towards the bar of the BC jump – that puts you closer than needed to the off course side of the tunnel. Your connection and line of motion still got the correct tunnel entry at :07 and :26 and :59 – you can try supporting his line from further away so you are still on a parallel line to him, but you don’t go anywhere near the wrong end of the tunnel. At :45, you went almost to the center of the BC jump which put you a little in his landing spot then pushed back into his line, so he didn’t take the jump. It will be a good challenge for him to see if you can handle the BC without getting too close to the jump!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
The wobble board totally sounds like a teeter now LOL!! She seemed to notice but also didn’t seem worried about it – she was happy to keep slamming it around to get more food 🙂 You can revisit this game sometimes but having her run back and forth across it for tossed treats – she doesn’t need to stop on it so she will really be smacking it as she runs across. You might need to duct tape the cans to the bottom of it so they don’t go flying around as much 🙂>>My cows came in wanting more treats again.>>
Ha! I love it!!
>>. I was going to give up but decided I’d see how my older dog could do it. She caught on super quickly which actually made me figure it out as well. >>
That was smart! A trained dog can help us humans sort it out before trying it with a youngster.
The session went really well! The skill is incredibly hard. She was committing very successfully when you sent back and looked back to the wing (shifting connection), especially when she had to turn to her right. When you didn’t look back and loked at her instead (like at 1:07) she did not commit as well.
When you add multiple wings in a row, you got the most speed when you ran forward then did a quick decel then rotated to send he rbehind you. You can see a great sequence of it at 2:13 – 2:30, that was super fast especially at the end of the session!!
>> Plus Kashia was losing steam quickly as you’ll see in her gait>
Her brain was working hard, so she probably got mentally tired by the end! I swear that on a couple of reps that she looked at you as if she was saying “this is NUTS” hahahahaha
About the backing up – shaping this is definitely hard! Grab a video if you have a moment, so I can see what she is doing.
>> When I tried to drop a treat behind me and have her go underneath me and then back out, she just did a really tight spin. I never really got her to back out from under my legs. >>
Do you mean she would move forward to grab the treats, then turn around? If so, try it with your back against a wall: she will have just enough room to get her head in to grab the treat but not enough room to turn around. She will take at least one step backwards and that is a great start!
>> If I said “back” or leaned into them a half step or so, they’d back onto the mat.
Absolutely! Shaping it without you moving or leaning gets them to think about their own back feet – it is super challenging but the results are worth it because they will be great about thinking about their own footwork (for jumping, weaving, etc) so you can have an easier time as a handler.
>> I don’t really understand that since the concept is similar to the wobble board. I know backing is harder for dogs but the whole “do this behavior and get a treat, repeat” concept was easier for her on the wobble board. I don’t understand why it’s not translating to the backing up mat.>>
My guess is the wobble board is more obvious, and doing it on the flat or with a mat is more like what some folks call free-shaping which is SO HARD 🙂 But worth it! Try doing it against a wall, or sitting on a couch, to take out the option of turning around.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
>> I will return to posting more of the straight line work. My issue with the FC is not slowing down and then somehow cuing J to turn away not towards me.>
Yes, that is a common occurence when we handlers pressure in towards the takeoff spot and bar too much without decel: we end up accidentally pressuring the rear cross line then accidentally seal the deal by stepping towards the rear cross line with the leg next to the jump as we try to do the FC or spin. I have totally done that LOL!! Adding the decel solves the problem, but decel is hard for us humans 🙂
The wing game looked great – we worked on these backwards sends on the prop and barrel in MaxPup 1 and she totally transferred the concept here. You had VERY clear indications with the arm/leg and connection all showing the wing. Yay!!
>> often more interested in her surrounding obstacles.>>
These were pretty legit line finding moments – I loved it LOL! She was following your cues really well – and since there were obstacles on her line at times, she was correct to go to them.
At :06 of video 2, your post turn presented that blue jump (and almost at :43 and 1:07 with the post turns towards the orange jump, also on video 3). Post turns do present a wider line when we handlers move through them, so to tighten a post turn you can decel and treat it more as a send.
Note how at :27 she did not look at the jump when you did the FC or any of the countermotion 🙂On video 3, she was a little wide on the first rep when you were looking fowrard (connection was a little fuzzy there) then drove to the tunnel at :07 based on her line, your motion (accelerated and forward) and your position (blocking the wing a little).
So overall, I think things went great! Having the other obstacles out there gave you a clear look at how well she reads lines (VERY well!) so that will help you choose handling when you are running bigger courses!
Great job! Have a fantastic weekend judging!
Tracy
