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Hi!
>Today we worked on the 4 Corners again but advanced to a portion of Sequence 5 this time. I think he’s starting to get it! Granted, I did move the jumps in a bit and I still have my shorter baby tunnel in there (longer one needs a REALLY good wash first and I’ve been procrastinating!) but I was at least able to get a tunnel layer outside for the first time. Video shows all reps.>
Totally agree – he is definitely getting the layering idea. That didn’t take him long at all, he had really not done any layering until 2 weeks ago LOL! Keeping the obstacles in a little closer togehter was great – he still has to take a lot of strides (7 or so, on the first couple of reps) to get from 2 to 3 simply because of his size. So while it might seem close together, it is still really far apart for the littles.
At the beginning, he was a little distracted by whatever exciting stuff was under the tree, so you can do a little trick action over by jump 1 to pump him up before starting and draw his attention away from whatever small creature was probably hiding in the bushes LOL
He is finding jump 3 nicely!! Nice reward throw on the first rep! You can see how hard he was thinking about it on rep 1 – steam coming out of his ears. And then he was so much more confident on the 2nd rep. YAY! And increasingly confident on each rep.
By the 3rd rep and after it, he was dropping a stride 2-3 which means he was faster and more confident.
You can also reward 4 at 1:31 – he found it really well. Then you had your back turned to him a bit at 1:32, so he was not sure if it was the jump or tunnel so he slowed down waiting for more info.
The last sequence went really well too, he found the first layering on the 1-2-3-4 line nicely but more importantly: went out and got the layering on the 8-9-10 line! Yay!
>On the last rep I was probably kind of cheating by blocking the tunnel – unintentionally though – to help him get the jump, but hey, it worked.>
I don’t think you were blocking it – yes, you ended up maybe one step further than you will eventually need to, but Reacher could have easily gotten into the tunnel if he wanted to. But he was looking at the jump line – super!
>I notice I did probably go out more to #2 than should have had to. I also did feel like I should’ve been moving more, but also I felt like I had nowhere to go. >
You can go clsoer to 1 and 2 to set up the line – he did bettwen when you were a little closer in term of extension, because there was less decel from you. And as you spread it out more, you will be able to run more. But this is a GREAT skill for him to have: run hard while the momma doesn’t run hard 🙂
And you can maintain the element of surprise at all times. Bearing in mind that completing the sequence often has handling near you, there is no need to reward that. You can surprise him by throwing rewards randomly for the distance jumps like 3 and 4 or 8-9-10. Mix it up a lot because that is super motiving to drive out on those lines, when cookies fall from the sky LOL!
>He was a little slow again, but I felt he did well when I could tell he’d really much rather be hunting for critters!>
He was definitely thinky in the beginning, figuring out the layering, and that means extra strides and not as much forward drive to the line. But as the session went along, he got faster and more confident because he was understanding the skill. That is exactly what we want 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Good morning! This went great! She seemed perfectly happy to be in a stay and stare at the jump 🙂 She did not move at all and had great forward focus.
> I had to move my pointing arm slowly at first, to let her settle in.>
Yes- my mantra for putting the arm cue in is “slow and low” 🙂 That slow movement and a low hand help the dog understand that it is NOT a release cue 🙂 For my extra-twitchy dogs on the start line, I also quietly say “stay” as I put the arm cue in, and another option is to use a quiet forward focus cue such as “look”. Totally up to you!
>It was fun to see her be super still in the stand when she was focused on the jump. So this might actually help her “creeping” on the start-line too.>
Yes – it might be very clarifying for her. If you let her settle into a position (I am happy with whichever position the dog chooses, to be honest – but once it is chosen, no moving can happen :)) then move to your lead out and cue the forward focus… then maybe praise quietly… then release. That should help take out the possibility of arm movement or handler motion being the release. And that will lead to a ton of success!
>The first 2 reps, I gave my “wrap cue” for the release and then my normal”okay” release cue on the 3rd rep. I think she is more comfortable on the okay ,,, more confident that she should go but I am thinking she will be better as she gets used to “wrap”.
You probably can not see it on the video but I can tell she is a tad bit more careful but I don’t think I have time to say Ok-wrap.>
You are correct, I didn’t see her being more careful 🙂 But I believe you! And she will get used to releasing with the verbal directional, especially on these types of lead outs.
The next thing to try is being lateral on the lead out. The basement training worked great – I know it was rain-induced 🙂 But it is a great way to introduce the concept before moving it to the agility field where things are very exciting 🙂
Great job!!
Tracy
Hi! This went really well, she is great with the layering skills which allows you to get to the next important position on course pretty easily.
Seq 1: This went great, no questions from Roux 🙂
Seq 2:
> the biggest mistake is her thinking jump 1 is a backside a few times.>
That is a pretty common question from the dog, when we handlers accidentally put too much pressure on the line and it looks like a backside cue. Based on where she was lined up on the first rep of sequence 2, and how you turned to face her and stepped during the release, she was reading it as pressure to the backside line.
The same thing happened at 1:06 & 1:15, where she was kind of lined up looking at the backside and you were facing it – so when you released, that is where she went. You tried to turn after you released but her decision was already made.
Here are some visuals:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1V2Eh3ASv-0bBy7TOT2Tb-6O6TfIgIC55vHXTTq9c6hM/edit?usp=sharing
Compare the accidental backsides to when she took the front side – she was on a better line and you were facing the front side line too (also included in the visuals :))
> I will work on trying to get her to at least eye flick. Right now she just stares at me and waits for her release.>
Getting the eye flick will also help you know if she is looking at the front or back side of the jump.
When she got jump 1 – she had a question about the GO verbal (looked at you at :25 and also at 1:32 when you said Go): was it Go tunnel or Go hup? So you can use your hup cue sooner rather than the go cue there to get her out to the layering line.
Seq 3: Very nice layering set up a great blind cross 5-6! You can tighten up the turn on 6 by decelerating sooner, as soon as you finish the blind and reconnect. You started the decel as she was approaching 6, so she was a little wide. That plus using both hands (brake arms) will get more collection.
And, since this sequence goes back to where you came from, using the spin (FC to BC) at 1:01 totally works, because it turns your feet back to the 7-8 jumps sooner than a post turn does. You can decelerate into the first part of it (FC) sooner too: you were beginning the cue for it as she was gathering for takeoff at 1:01 and 1:50. Ideally, you would be decelerating as she is over 5, and beginning the FC part of the spin as she is maybe halfway between 5 and 6, or sooner depending on how well can will commit and go past you as you rotate.
When you added the backside to the end of the sequence: the layering allowed you to get there really easily at 1:36 and 2:01 to cue the backside! Yay!
For the last sequence: This went really well! Only 2 small tweaks to make it even smoother:
– the opening line layering went great! You can keep moving as you cue the 5-6 line, so she stays out to take 6 while you move into your threadle position on the takeoff side of 7. You waited for a moment to send her past you (and it looks like you got a little too deep there, almost on the other side of 7) at 2:15, so that made you late getting into threadle position (and the forward motion of getting there got too much extension over the 6 jump).– As she is taking 7, you can hang out there and do a big send to 8 and cue the 9 tunnel with verbals – that can strategically put you way ahead to handle the jump after the tunnel. Also, try not to get too far past that 10 jump – you can flip her away then cue the layering while staying on the other side of the tunnel. Less running for you but clear lines for her!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>Right on about the start line! That was Cricket letting me know she wanted her info now! Our souls are linked so I responded! So this try we did a proper startline.>
Ha! Yes, she was totally like LET’S GO NOW 🙂 The start line here let you be in a better opsition to get that backside on 4, because you were further ahead! You were right there at :19 to set the good line to set up the teeter layering moment (looked great here!)
> I did not show that run 1 and 2 I did not get the layer teeter. It was good for me to see the difference. I needed to go into the wrap jump after the dog walk to them show her the commitment line to the teeter.>
That adds extra emphasis on the ability to get 1-2 from further ahead by doing the forward focus lead out with you not being next to her. How far behind her/lateral can you be, and still get her to focus on jump 1? That is a fun thing to play with because it really allows you to strategize the entire opening to get to the next critical spot.
On the way to the 8 jump, she jumped up at yo ua litle (:26). That was her way of saying “more connection please” so be sure to visually reach back to make eye contact as she exits the tunnel. Because she is small, pointing your arm all the way back and down to her nose can help her really see the connection for a smoother line to 8.
You had great connection on the exits of 8 and 9 (the spin looked great!) so she had no questions: your eyes were back to her, and your dog-side shoulder was open so she could see the connection. Super!
Fantastic timing of the tandem turn at :38 to get 12 & 13! That put you way ahead for the blind!
As you exit the blind, look back at her to make the big connection – you were looking forward so she was drifting behind you, waiting for more info at :44. I grabbed a screenshot of it here, you can see her on a wider line waiting for more info. She does come get the 15 jump when she sees it, but connection will deliver the info sooner and tighten the line.https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1udeaoo7l-vTcdb_ESLRHUS6z3yUoZc_LGxktURT3l5A/edit?usp=sharing
>Your backside on that jump that I missed the first time was yucky! I also should have used my backside slice word. >
She went to it nicely! And you did say ‘back’ and your line was really good, showing a bit of countermotion to be get to show the next line to 17. So why didn’t she take the jump? It could be that you also said “yay!” and she might have thought it meant a cookie or toy was coming. Or, it could have been that you were looking directly at her – in these countermotion moments, shifting your connection to the landing spot really helps with commitment (it is one of the few times we don’t look at the dog :)) We will also be training that specific skill without needing as much help (take the jump with countermotion) coming soon in a couple of weeks 🙂
The ending line looked lovely here!
This is looking really strong, so feel free to move on to course 2 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Hopefully you are partaking in excellent German beer and snacks!!!> if I can’t set up the whole courses due to space constraints, am I OK to just set up the pop-outs? >
Absolutely! The pop outs are based on parts of the courses that should fit easily into smaller spaces. You can also take a part of the course you want to work – I didn’t use contacts in the pop outs, for space reasons. But you can set up part of the course using contacts or weaves if you like!
>Or should I try to rent some space to do the whole thing (not actually sure how much of an option that is right now, it’s hard to find space!).>
That is an option of course if you can find time, but the pop outs will give you a good workout for both dogs!
Have fun and safe travels home!
Tracy
Hi!
>A tandem turn is just a switch on the flat, correct?
Yes, where you and Syn then go the next direction together (usually back towards where you came from).
>Do you think it is a detriment to our training to sometimes drop the bars to 12 to work these skills, especially with the heat? I know that in lower-level training courses we did it all the time, but I wasn’t sure now that we are actively competing.>
Not a detriment at all! I totally think working at lower heights is good for the dogs. And it will really preserve her during training especially in the heat. You will see a lot of the demos are done with lower bars too. No problem at all to work with lower bars!
Standard 1: I agree, this was smooth and fast! I give you and Syn a lot of credit for running it this smoothly – I know how hot it is!!
1-2-3 looked great, she got it on verbals and totally knew where to go.
I think the hardest part on this run was the 4-5 line – you backed up on the 4 backside during the FC, which resulted in the bars on 4 and 5 coming down (late cue to send to 5 because the Fc was late due to backing up). So remember to decelerate into the FCs so you don’t end up backing up due to momentum. That might mean you don’t get that close to the backside jump, but that is fine because her backside skills are looking really independent!
Really nice wraps on 8 and 9, the spin worked great! Super nice independent weaves and a-frame!!
The tandem on 12 worked great, she read the line really well. That set up the next line really well – your timing of the FC on 14 at :42 was SPOT ON. Super!!!
It looks like the bar on 15 at :45 was a disconnection moment where you were looking ahead so she looked at you to see if it was a blind cross or not. One other small detail is to stay connected on the landing of the 16 backside to get a slightly smoother line to 17.
Course 2: This course also went well – you handled aggressively with a lot of connection and stayed in motion, and that really helped!
> First run I babysat the backside to 2 and didn’t get where I needed to be.>
On that 1 jump, you cued a ‘tight’ so she collected – and that was tighter than you needed it to be, so you had to stay there to push her back out. You can cue more extension on 1 and as she is taking off, cue the backside, making it easier to leave sooner and get to the next position.
The threadle on 3 went well when you maintained connection so she saw the jump – when you got behind on the first run, you closed your shoulders forward which cued the a-frame.
> I definitely need to cue tighter between 5 and 6 to get a tighter backside on 6, I need to get away faster after 6 to get the cross after the tunnel (>
A few ideas for ya!
– you can use a brake arm (2 hands, essentially) as she exits tunnel 4 to get a tighter turn on 5 as you move into position for 6. That will automatically get a tighter turn while you keep running.
– you can send away to 7 without running towards it (kind of like the 4 corners trend sequences of sending into the layering) so you will handle 7-8-9 without getting too close to 7 or 8
– you can also do a blind cross 5-6 and threadle wrap on 6, which puts you a lot further ahead for the 7-8-9-10 line 🙂 More on that coming next week!
I like the option of the blind on the landing side of 11, but only if we are getting past 11 when the dogs are taking 12. An easier option is a threadle wrap on 12! She saved your bacon at 1:31 there 🙂 You were further ahead at 2:37 on the blind but it was a still a little late (she was already taking off when you started it) – being late accidentally put you on her line, which sent her off course. Great job staying in motion even after the off course!! The blind might be easier when you are further ahead on the exit of the 9 tunnel, but handling 10-11 on your right and the threadle wrap on 12 is probably the easiest for you both!
At the very end, you did a serp on 11 and pushed to the other side of 12 – being further ahead on the exit of the 9 tunnel can get you further ahead there on 11, to make it even easier to get a nice turn to 12.
Her teeter distance is doing well, you can put a target out there to keep her driving to the end.
She had a bar on the 17 jump before the DW at 2:56 – you said a big GO then the tight verbal, so she didn’t process the tight verbal til she was over the bar and tried to adjust. I don’t think you need the go verbal there, you can just use tight and decel to get the turn to the DW.
> I need to make better connection from a contact to a backside jump because I think Syn came down the dogwalk the first time already plotting her jump>
She was being a good girl! And yes, connection was important there:
On the first run, your voice said push but the physical cue showed the front of the jump by looking forward/pointing forward at 1:52.
Compare to the 2nd run – at 3:02 you had connection to her and less arm pointing, so she went directly to the backside. Super!!
> I also worked “switch tight” for the first time ever as a cue to get 21 to 22 without an extra 17 jump.>
I loved that! You nailed it: super fast line to the weaves, and a really tight turn there too. Yay!! And it set up a really nice ending with the aframe and jump.
Have fun at the trial and stay cool! These temperatures are brutal!
Great job here!
TracyHello and welcome! I am glad she is feeling better!!!!
This forward focus exercise went really well! Great commitment and her turns looked lovely too. Releasing her with the wrap verbal worked well (that is what you used on most of the reps).
She has really strong forward focus (having seen her do it in person!) so I believe you can ask her for more here 🙂 You can add an arm indication that says “look at the jump now please” but is not the release. As you cue the forward focus, you can wait til she looks fully at the jump (turns her head to the bar, rather than use her peripheral vision). I suggest it because she was looking kind of sideways LOL half at you, half at the jump (:59 is a good example of that :)) and I know she can look fully at the jump 🙂
She still took the jump here every time (yay!) so I thinking ahead to the more complex situations where you will really want her to acknowledge the jump you want her to take, before you release her.
So you can cue the forward focus with an arm cue pointing low to the jump, then praise (or at least pause for a couple of seconds), then release. I suggest the arm cue the praise or pause because you were waiting for it here and she was looking at it peripherally and releasing before the verbal on some of the reps (:20 and 1:33 for example). Since we don’t want to confuse the order of festivities on the start line, you can lead out, cue the forward focus, but have the praise then either a release or a reward marker to throw a reward to her or have her get one behind her. That way she won’t have questions about when the release is.
You can also let her settle into the stay more before you fully begin your lead out. That might look like stepping to the side, then waiting til she settles into her position, then moving to your lead out spot. She was moving a decent amount in the stays and ended up sideways to the jump at the end LOL So that moment of stepping off to the side and letting her settle fully into the stay before leading out can make a big difference in her knowing exactly where you want her to leave her feet 🙂
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyWelcome back to camp! It is going to be a fun summer – where we will probably be training at dusk or dawn LOL! Why is it so hot already?!?!!?
>I am going to split the working spot between Nox and Katniss although I will likely run both of them on most of the sequences I set. Katniss is still working on contacts, so she won’t do entire standard courses.>
Sounds great!
>I started the first Focus Forward game with jump focus. Nox rocked it, so I decided to submit Katniss. >
Yay Nox! Katniss did really well too!
>She struggled on a couple of reps (only 1 included) where she was positive the jump was a backside.>
That is actually pretty common, and is a result of too much pressure on the line from us. You can see it at :11 here –
you lead out laterally (:10) then step back towards her and lean in a bit at :11. That was the pressure that cued the backside.When that happens… reward because it is always something we are doing even if we don’t know what it is, in the moment. Re-sending to the jump just makes it harder and creates more errors. Then on the next rep, move further away from her (less pressure on her line) and be sure she is facing the front of the jump – then she will take the front of the jump.
That was the only blooper here, the rest went great! You can keep adding distance to this game and we will be using this skill in the course work too 🙂
>She has also been struggling with her startline stay in the last few months after it used to be PERFECT! It is the thing I’m most frustrated with in her training. We did have a couple of issues with that in this exercise, but I did not include them. I will share those at some point if we continue to have issues in the hopes that you have some suggestions.>
Please include them 🙂 Post them if you still have the video! Usually it is caused by something we are doing that predicts the release, so the dogs anticipate. Could be hand/foot movement or reconnection paired with the verbal that might be causing it (she thinks the movement is the release), could be you are using a certain rhythm of your lead out and release that you are not aware of (but she sure is LOL!)
On the video here, she didn’t break the stays but you walked out with a lot of muscle tension… which builds drive for the release and might accidentally lead to breaking stays. So lead out nice and chill like you did at 2:08, even fixing your hair 🙂 then put your hand/foot into position for the forward focus, then praise… then release or throw a reward to her like you did at 1:25.
Also, don’t worry if she moves her front feet towards you a little as you begin the lead out (as long as her butt doesn’t move). Fixing it will create more arousal and stress, plus you would need to be 100% consistent with fixing it and then rewarding etc etc. So don’t worry about it as long as she focuses forward properly and keeps the bar up and holds the stay til released.
> But I am working on it the behavior with a clicker in the house and away from agility right now, so I’m hoping it transfers soon!>
It certainly can’t hurt to work on it with the clicker! But it might not help unless it is done in high arousal and transferred to a jump ASAP 🙂 Keep me posted, I love training stays 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I am glad it was great! Yay!> Lots of the trend of stuff everywhere I feel like we’re seeing more of, where just verbals, tricky skills, and distance aren’t quite enough.>
Do you mean the trend of random obstacles everywhere, often in the handler path?
>) as is Greg Derrett (no freaking clue what to expect from him since I haven’t seen any courses from him since we started doing UKI).>
I have known Greg for 25 years and have never once run under him when he is judging! But he did just judge a big event in the UK, you can find his courses here:
https://theagilityopen.com/2024-documents/2024-briefings-coursesHis courses seem to have typical challenges, and also seem a little crunchy/tight.
> then we just have to battle the wind and heat to get some training in before next Tuesday.>
Yeah, I think it is going to be a devil of a summer (we are on our 2nd day of 100 degree weather, which is INSANE for June and this area) so I am sure we will be extending CAMP into September so no one bakes trying to train the dogs.
>Tuesday we leave for New Mexico (17 hour drive) for Game On agility camp and then head right to Washington state (23 hour drive) for Run Wild ISC/UKI show.>
FUN! Lots of great people at both of those locations!!
> I’m gonna take some little jumps and cones with us so if you have any mini mini exercises you could point me at in any of our previous courses with you (we’ve got a ton of stuff in our AU library) maybe I could post some of that while we’re away from our full set up at home?>
Yes, great idea!!!! Any chance you can also bring a tiny tunnel, like a 3 footer?
The 3 things that come to mind for your trip are:
The MaxPup Winter Camp (AU-063) which has some good small space setups for cones and one jump, such as:You can mess with distances on these and we can add threadle wraps, etc.
Also, coming on Monday are two things we can modify to travel:
one has a regular size tunnel but we can easily use cones or a jump instead
one requires a tunnel and/or a short set of poles if you can fit even a short tunnel and maybe two 2×2 bases?Let me know! It will be fun!
Tracy
Hi!
>ol, I’ve been trying to narrow down what skill/s we actually NEED for years and I can’t really find a pattern, >
OK so maybe a better question is… what are your current priorities with Beat’s handling training? We can use that as a jumping off point for his priorities (and also, for your sanity because you are training 3 dogs and working and it is hotter than the surface of the sun lately…)
>As for ONE skill/verbal I will try to add, it’s less of a verbal that I NEED and more one that I need to just get RIGHT. Soft left/right turns. I constantly screw them up with Beat, and sometimes don’t even realize I got it wrong until days later (so honestly, I doubt she’s actually learning them since half the time they are used incorrectly). >
Perfect, I love this! In your next sequencing session with either dog, look for those specifically (you will have opportunity for in MaxPup 3 too :)) and just focus on working the verbal and physical cues – then running through the walk through so your brain is ready to spit the verbal/handling out 🙂
> They’re probably the easiest to just slap on and start using because most of the time they are obvious but the occasions where they might be useful are rear crosses, which I’m terrible at and he might appreciate a little extra information to help him know which way to turn when I disappear behind him, and eventually how much to turn when I add in tight turn verbals (we currently don’t have a tight turn away cue, it’s mostly rear cross him and then scream!) So tight turns might be the next ones.>
Totally agree! The soft turn training has saved my bacon on rear crosses on many occasions. And we can prioritize RCs handling cues too (we have some here in CAMP but lots in Maxpup 3 :))
Keep me posted, stay cool!!
TracyHi!
I agree, this went really well! And your field is absolutely gorgeous!!
>Thought it went well but I am not sure which hand to use? Always dog side? >
Depends on the dog and the context: For slightly wider turns, you can use dog-side arm (the turns here can all be dog-side arm cues). If you have a super tight wrap on jump 1 or a tight turn, you can use both hands to cue the forward focus AND the tightness of the turn.
Her stay looked great and she took the jump beautifully on most of these, even with you on the other side of the tunnel.
She had a question when you are halfway up the tunnel on the other side of it (3:29). You stepped foward a bit more on the next rep and that really helped her! And then on the last rep she really had it. Nice!
Question:
When you pointed to the jump, did she give you an indication that she was locked onto it? It doesn’t look like she turned her head, but we do want some type of “yes, I see it” (like flicking her eyes to it) for when there are a bunch of other jumps around or you are behind her/lateral.If she was looking at you the whole time, you can do two things to help her out:
– go right up to jump 1, point at it, then head to your lead out position. That might be all she needs to affirm that it is the correct jump.– starting a little closer, you can point to the jump then wait til she looks at it even the tiniest bit, then release (and throw a reward to the landing side of the jump). That can help her understand that looking at the jump is what gets you to release her 🙂 And if she looks at you the whole time, you can place the toy on the other side of the jump to give her something stronger to look at.
Great job! Onwards to the 4 Corners sequences and the courses (which use this skill for sure!)
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad Taq is back on the mend, poor pup!!! She ran well here, so it looks like she is feeling good 🙂
Cricket and you did a great job on this course!!
Question: does she have a stay or sit at the start line? She was bouncing up at you which makes getting the first jump smooth a little harder 🙂
Once you got going:very nice opening line!
SUPER nice teeter from a distance, love the change in your verbal energy there!!!You were easily in position on the wraps before the weaves. As she is passing you to the first one (jump 8) you can move away from the landing spot so she has room to land and drive to 9. The post turn on 9 to the weaves worked but it was a little wide – it is a spot to try a spin (FC to BC) and see how that goesi n terms of getting a tight line.
Nice weaves!!! Keeping her in your left for the frame to a tandem on 12 worked really well at :29. You can then cue the tunnel then leave earlier for the next section, I think Cricket had the line and didn’t need as much parallel line support from your motion. And getting to 14 sooner will allow you to start the BC sooner (when she exits the 13 tunnel) to tighten that turn there. A FC is also an option to tighten that line, but the FC rotation would require you to bethere sooner than the blind to decelerate into it in order to rotate.
The ending looked really strong too! The 16 jump is a backside if you wanted to try it that way – it adds a little challenge there 🙂
One overall note with Cricket and Taq too: you tend to say “go” a lot as a general commitment cue for the jump. You’ll either want to save it for straight acceleration lines, or you’ll want another cue that indicates the straight acceleration lines. For example, you can say the quiet ‘go’ as a general ‘take the jump’ cue, then use something like a loud RUN RUN RUN for the big straight line cues.
Taq did really well on her sequences too!
On the first sequence, she did really well finding that recessed tunnel under the DW at :59!!
And even better at 2:02! Finding that tunnel and layering the dog walk is becoming an important skill in AKC lately too, so it is really great she did it so well.When you wanted the backside at 1:03 – you turned your feet too early so she was confused. Voice said back and feet said front 🙂 Ideally, your feet would remain parallel to her line to the backside until she is past you and heading to the backside. More on that coming next week!
Super nice teeter!
The blind off the teeter put you on the other side for the next line, resulting in pushing into the line for the next jumps for RCs, which slowed her down. It would be fun to keep her in your right and then drive to a blind cross (or do one RC).A-frame is looking good! She did try hard on the weaves, they are a work in progress – if you can swap out real weaves for training weaves, you can put the training weaves (like open channels) into the course for her to practice weaving in sequence.
She had a couple of questions about the teeter later in her session:
The layered teeter probably needs a target to help her out – then she was thinking about it a lot on the next rep too. You can add in a target at the end for the distance work and lots of reward, to keep her driving to the end like she did on the first rep with the teeter.
She did the ending line beautifully too! Found the tunnel past the dog walk really well and that allowed you to easily set up the next line. Yay!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
I am very impressed that you built and ran this with all the heat!! Click/treat for you!!!! You and Syn did a great job. Lovely connection throughout your runs!!!
Looking at the 1-2-3 opening:
I think you can trust your wrap cue for 1 more and then just cue the 2 jump without pulling her in/pushing her out at :04. You tried to help her with that at 1:17 on the 2nd run but she ignored you (“I GOT THIS, MOM!”) and took the straight line to jump 2. Yay!>because the teeter is probably the hardest obstacle for her to do distance, so I was really proud of her for hanging on even when she was uncomfortable.>
Yes! She was such a good girl especially on that first teeter (she did look at you like you were NUTS though, it was pretty funny LOL!) You can put a target down at the end of the teeter (if she was trained with one originally, I think she was?) to help her look forward to the end when you are adding big distance.
The threadle wrap on 8 worked well! For the wrap at 9 the spin was the better choice than the full post turn, because it got a tighter turn and you were further ahead.
>the weave entry was our struggle. >
Yes, this soft sided weave entry is HARD. She worked it out nicely! You can use physical help to face the entry longer, but you can also train it to be more independently (more on that coming later this summer). I don’t think we ever showed her this game, to help with this particular entry? It is a fun one!
Nice BC after the frame to get the 12 jump to the 13 tunnel!! That set a nice, fast line.
You can also keep her on your left for the frame and flip her away to the 12 jump with a tandem turn – that gets you closer to the FC on 14 – they were a little late because you were still accelerating into position as she exited the tunnel, so she was a little wide. If you do the tandem turn on 12 then send to the 13 tunnel, you will be up at 14 before she exits the tunnel and have an easy time controlling the turn.
The ending looked really strong!! Yes, you had a temporary oops on run 1 with where the backside was, but on the 2nd run, the 15-16-17-18 line was really lovely!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>I’ll probably wind up using Beat’s new verbals with him,>
That will be very helpful for you, even if it doesn’t matter to him all that much. Pointy dogs are very good with verbals, surprisingly, so it will be great to have Beat hearing them.
> but not sure he will learn them just by associating them with handling. I’m sure he will hear the word, but not sure it will ever become a cue for the behavior without the handling if that makes sense? >
Totally makes sense! The verbal might greatly assist the behavior along with the handling, especially if the handling is not as visible (distance work, etc) but it might never something that can completely override motion. But I think that is still perfectly fine and useful on course!
>The few verbal cues I have managed to teach him, I had to really isolate: new cue (verbal), then old cue (visual of the handling). For instance, the good old front side vs backside exercise where you sit or restrain them in front of the jump and try to give a verbal with no other cues, no matter how much I really thought I had paired it well, the verbal cue was just a release cue to do the behavior he had already decided it was based on my lead out>
Based on how hard that is for most dogs and how ultimately that skill (verbal without motion) is not that useful, I have abandoned teaching it like that for most dogs except for the beginning of proofing games. We have some games coming up here (next Monday!) where we will be asking the dogs to process the verbals while we humans are in motion – and the motion is the same for each of verbals and doesn’t really assist with telling them which obstacle we want. Working it this way has transferred to course work 1000 times better 🙂 Plus it is fun 🙂
> (or even lack of one, I think it also contributed to his start line stress- he had learned like half a dozen different “release cues” and none of them meant anything more than a general “ok” release word).>
I can see that as a possibility – and too much possibility to be wrong too, which could definitely contribute to stress issues.
>Rather than become LESS dependent on my position and movement, he became SUPER sensitive to position and other cues since I was trying to remove them completely from the picture!!!>
SO INTERESTING!!! I have seen dogs get frustrated when we are verbals only without motion and yes, I can see getting really sensitive to motion as a way of seeking more info if the verbals didn’t make sense.
> I finally had to remove all visual cues by sending him around a wing or through a tunnel and start saying the verbal before he could see the obstacle or my handling, then when he came around and could see the handling, he had already heard the verbal.>
Perfect, and no releases to worry about. You will see the upcoming games have motion in everything but the very beginning warm up (and Beat can play them too!)
> So I can certainly do this for the new verbals, but it’s time consuming for each one. >
I don’t think you need to break it down like that: the upcoming games are for obstacle discriminations not directionals. For directionals, since he is 9, I recommend the “slap the verbals on” method of just add them to your handling. Again, it is more for you than him in many ways, but also it might end up helping him too!
> adding new verbals makes me a WORSE handler (only so much bandwidth, yeah I know, we are working on this!) it seems it’s a very fine balance? So I guess my point is… I know I need to add some verbals, I’m open to working on ME, but where do I start so I don’t break my brain or waste time on ones that he won’t need?>
Pick one important verbal that you think you don’t really have down pat yet (maybe it is a new verbal or something) and just add that one. When you find a spot for it, work it in the walk through specifically then run it with focus on that. That way, there is less bandwidth needed – most of what you will be doing is easy and only one new/hard thing is added. Which do you think is the most important verbal that you don’t have fully yet that you might want to add?
>And he can DO tandems with handling, as long as there isn’t anything else really as an option. Now that threadle wraps are every where and the expectation is that the dog does them very independently I feel like he can easily confuse the two if there are multiple jumps in view. So getting the front side of that jump after the A-frame with a tandem would be difficult because he’s going to look for a backside jump.>
Threadle wraps and tandems are definitely close relatives! Yes, they should be independent but also, the handler position definitely plays a role (even at a distance). So handler line will help him know which jump you are wanting in that scenario – and we actually have a threadle wrap drill coming on up Monday too LOL!!
>so much for me work on, so little time.>
Yes, not a lot of time in the day and plus we can’t work the dogs a whole lot (especially when it is 10 million degrees outside). But prioritizing will make it easier to get stuff done. Since I believe UKI is your main venue, we can prioritize skills/verbals needed for that style of course. You can make a list of what you need NOW to be successful (2 things, max, because 2 things are doable), what you need SOON (2 more things, but we don’t look at them yet) and what you will need eventually (2 more things). So we start with the NOW list and when you are happy with that – the SOON list moves up to become the now list, and so on.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
