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Hi! This went really well also!
>I noticed I combined step two and three. Oops!>
When things are feeling very comfy with the walk through, you will see that you will combine steps and in harder sequences, do a step or two a few times 🙂
>I feel my arms were lower though!>
Yes! The lower arms kept the connected very visible, and you also had really clear connection in the walk through on the exit of the crosses. That all carried through into the run really well.
>I should’ve had connection coming out of tunnel 8, but failed to do it in the walk-throughs and on the run!>
This was the only spot where the connection needed to be a little clearer and on the run, he slowed down a little there. And when you ran the middle section again, you were not as connected on the exit of the tunnel so he looked at you at 2:18 to see what you wanted. I try to connect on the exit of every tunnel as a general rule 🙂
>9-10 was sloppy, so I ran that part again with better results. >
A little decel would have set that up better on the first run (decel into threadle wraps is an important element of the cue). You did the decel on the 2nd run and it was lovely!
>I probably could have also been closer to 12 as he was going over 11.>
I thought he had a smooth, fast line with no questions both times there, no improvements needed 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! I agree, he had a fantastic happy attitude here 🙂
>This resonates with me. I feel like I need to be a bit curious and explore his arousal response more than I tend to.>
I love the way you phrased this: be curious and explore. Exactly!!!!!
The first run went great! Lovely connection through the blind so he knew exactly where to be. Yay! After 5, as you move back to the tunnel, resist temptation to look ahead as that could accidentally draw him off the line 🙂
On the 2nd video:
I loved the slick behind-the-back toy reward for the stay at the beginning!!He read the 1-2-3 line nicely – he ha a little question on the first run at :25 because you were converging forward and hadn’t put the serp arm up yet. You can lead out a little further to be between the uprights of jump 2, so he sees the position and serp arm at 2 as he lands from 1. This is move of what you did at 1:04 and it was smooth and fast!
Moving into the FC on run 2 worked well! You can be a little further over to 3 so he can follow your line to 3 even sooner.
The line 3-4-tunnel was hard! This is similar to the spot on the first course where you wanted to be more connected after 5. There was a little disconnect at :28 so he thought you wanted a blind cross. You can really good connection at :48 but then you got a little caught behind the jump which pulled him off. You had the connection as he exited 3 at 1:07 but then looked forward & reached for the toy, so I think the combination of those pulled him off the jump. He is very sensitive to little disconnections so you can work on staying connected but also playing a bit of lazy game there: as he comes around 3, be kinda connected and walk towards 4 and throw a reward when he finds the jump 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
This was a hard one with the layering! I think she will be able to get it without the toy placed with a little strategic line setting 🙂 Getting closer to 3 followed by accelerating on a parallel line until she takes 4, then turning to the tunnel.That parallel line was what you did when the toy was out there, like at 2:40. On the reps where the toy was not out there, the parallel line was also not as clear and you were turning to the tunnel a bit sooner (like at 2:23). So exaggerating that parallel path and even converging towards it will help.
She had a couple of stay questions, and I think that was about whether the arm was part of the release or not. On some reps, you were every clear that the ar was not part of the release. But on others, you released while also bringing your arm up. So be super careful to bring your arm up, praise, then release.
Here only other question was 1-2, here she picked up the backside a few times. You can set her facing 1 more (and on less of a slice) so she lands wider and doesn’t see the line to the backside there. And keeping your dog side arm back in a threadle position totally helped (it is basically a threadle from her perspective).
The end of the run on the 2nd video looked really good! You can get a tighter turn on the tunnel exit by calling sooner and letting her see you rotate into the FC. Her head was just about I the tunnel when you did it on the video, so I don’t think she really saw it. You can do the verbal and rotation when she is still 2 meters away from entering the tunnel, so she sees and hears everything well before she goes in.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>Redid the Jpg #1 with the spin for the closing and it did tighten up the line. I don’t usually think about spins for him but it did make it clear not to drift to the back of 9.>
Yes, the spin works really well for him on the first run! I don’t use a lot of spins either, but the best place to use them is if the rotation turns out feet to the next line sooner than a post turn would (like this situation).
He also liked the scrambling blind cross on the start of pop out 2. It is a little extra work for the human 🙂 but it builds up speed. Starting him with wrap to the left was faster than starting him with the wrap to the right on jump 1.
>Tried the spin for her too at the end of popout 1 and that worked nicely to tighten up her line (after she considered going up the deck steps and then decided not to)>
The deck question was not so much about the deck, and more about the pressure into the line – a bit of over-helping by running to it too much, which resulted in blocking the backside wing. Then as you tried to rotate, your motion was pushing into her (watching your left then right leg step towards the deck at :09)
There was almost too much pressure to the backside at 1:29 as well, but you didn’t step into her so she continued to the backside. On the last rep there at the backside, you were definitely letting her see the wing and she had no questions about veering off towards the deck.
Skipping ahead to when you revisited it on the last video, you definitely let her see the wing more and didn’t pressure into the backside – she had no questions about the backside. Yay! She missed a jump on the way to it but that was more about the starting position setting a wider line and you were disconnected, thinking about the backside.
Gong back to the first video: She had a question at :17 about which way to turn – if you add a little decel, you will have be able to sow the line sooner which will get the left turn. I think lack of decel causes you to step back into her line there accidentally and got the right turn
She s finding the switch after the weaves really well! Yay! All of her weave work is looking really good here, nice jump breaking it down so she can learn all of these challenges.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! This walk through & run went really well too – it is a much more complex sequence and you handled it really well!
>Critical connection at 3-4-5, exit of tunnel 6, 9-10-11 and 14 tunnel exit.>
Totally agree! Along with landing of 8 to get him to 9, and then the ending line which looks easy but is only easy if we stay connected.
The walk through process looked good here – remember that on the more complex sequences, you can do the fast walk through more than once. When I repeat the fast walk through, I ask myself: Where is my invisible dog? Did I see my invisible dog there? That way I catch myself from making any accidental disconnection.
I think your fast walk through matched the run really well, and overall the run went really well too 🙂 There is only one spot that stood out in the walk through as a place to connect more: on the exit of the FC at 10. You did the FC then looked ahead to 11, without connected to the invisible dog.
That is what happened in the run at 3:04 – you only connected for a heartbeat and when he exit the wrap at 10, he only saw your back so he drifted wide to figure out what the next line was. Holding the connection back to him will help him see the new line pretty immediately, which will tighten it right up.
>Did this same day as sequence 1 and my walk through arms were again higher than the run. It seems to be part of my thought process and the run seems to turn out ok. Right or wrong? If I were to answer this myself, I would say wrong because my final run through should mirror my run!>
Excellent observations, and I agree with you – rehearsing low arms will keep them from floating up 🙂 Rehearsing with higher arms means you will get higher arms during the run too 🙂 so definitely try to keep your arms down in the walk throughs. One way to do that is to do the walk through with an open bottle of water in your hands 🙂 That way if you are lifting your arms up and down, the water will splash and you will get a nice cool reminder to keep your arms down 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>And I want you to know he never leaves me at home training, not even when his buddies behind him are barking and trying to get him to fence chase. Also even when Glenn has StrykR on leash waiting. Its only at class that he goes to visit.>
This is great! The difference between home and class is likely related to the environment being a lot harder/more stressful, and the novelty of the other dogs. The goal is to make doing agility in the class setting as reinforcing as it is at home so he can tune out the challenges and stressors.
The sequences ran well, overall!
He had a little trouble getting jump 1 at :31 & 1:01 & 1:48 when you stepped to it then turned away a little too early based on his current level of experience. Compare to 2:39, where you faced it until he was gathering for liftoff and he got it easily. So for now, remain facing jump 1 until you see him almost taking off for it, then move away to the next line.
For the RC info like at :40, you can be moving up the line to the center of the bar the whole time to cue the left turn to the tunnel. You were straightening up on the line which is what cued the right turn (no need to straighten up on the line at all for a RC).
For walking agility as you protect your hamstring and reward him for finding lines, you can break things down to get ahead of the tunnel exit: for example, reward the RC then lead out again, send him over 5, then you are further up the line for the tunnel exit without working harder to smooth out the line to the jump. Giving him his run jump verbals before he enters the tunnel will help too.
You can do the same approach of breaking things down with the FC 3-4 (and BC there too) – give yourself a lead out so you can be finished with it before he takes off for 3, to show the line to 4.
He is paying really close attention to the handling cues – yay! For example, you got a little deep at 2:44 and past the 4 jump which pulled him into a backside on 5 – your line accidentally set the threadle line and he read it really well. Good boy!
Great job working the send to 3 then going for the blind at 3:30! He went around 4 there due to your line of motion going parallel to the bar and the connection not visible yet. Keep working on sending from further and further away so you can be back by jump 2 for the send, then head directly to 5 to show the line for the blind cross. That will require some distance skills but I think he will be happy to do it 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
The pattern games went well outside the ring! It was a challenging environment especially when the other dog was running nearby but he was able to stay engaged! I think having him stay in motion for the back and forth patten game was more helpful in that moment then the up and down was. And he did great with his tricks at the end!
So the next question is: if you played the pattern games and volume dial before the run, how did the run go? That really helps us see which games are useful (or not useful).You can post the workshop stuff if you like (editing out the instruction) but it sounds like he did great so you don’t need to post it unless there is an unanswered question or something.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
The airport games looked great – even with the lovely loud music 😂 He seemed very comfy there and was super quick with his responses. It is good to see that, because there is a stress element to flying so he was clearly regulating that easily.
>And I should maybe be scheming to get him over-aroused, so I push him far enough into arousal.>
Trying to center and optimize arousal will be a bit experimental for a bit, as you bring him into new environments and as his body ‘learns’ to regulate arousal. It is one of those things that the answers will come over time from trying different things and letting him give us feedback 🙂
Here’s another short video of mostly the up-down pattern at the airport on our way home today…the airport’s tunes, not ones I added 😉 He’s doing great with this.
Yay for the rain – no worries about waiting on the sequences. We will have plenty of time to catch up with them and the other games can all be done in the house 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
The blinds went well here! Being able to send her to 3 really helped. She was great about holding the stay and finding jump 1!
On the first run, you got a little too close to 3 which made it hard to get back to the blind cross on time.On run 2, excellent adjustment to stay closer to 2 and send to 3, which made the blind earlier.
Run 3 had the best timing! As you were driving to get the blind, you started it as she was at 3 (:58) so it was finished and reconnected well in advance of takeoff to 4. You duplicated that timing with even more confidence at 1:17, and the blind as even better. Yay!
Great job here to get the send and adjust the timing while still being connected! SUPER!!
>as she doesn’t quite get the rear cross yet.>
Definitely try it, I think this is a. good sequence to work it out on.
>I also added a “good” and “break” cue in the beginning. Is that too much? Should I only use one?>
Is ‘good’ just quiet praise and she doesn’t move until break? If so, then it is good to use both. If good and break are coming together or good is meant to be something else, then it might not be needed.
>she will be 1 on August 2nd!>
Great, this is a good time to start adding a little more height, bit by bit, over the next few months.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>she loves her Chuck It ball a lot too!>
This is great – will she play with it at class?
Great start on the pattern games here! A couple of adjustments for you:
You can add in waiting a bit longer for her to look more directly at you. She was looking past you to where the next cookie might be thrown, so now we want her to look up more directly at you (hands, body, face).
And when you add your movement, you can casually stroll 🙂 We want your movement to be minimal so the movement and leash pressure are not what draws her engagement back to you – she will look at you or towards you after getting the treat. Slow movement will be the key to that.
The up and down game is looking good! She seemed pretty perfect with that.
For the 1-2-3-touch game: I think she was getting a treat from the hand instead of doing a hand touch. To an empty hand? So the next step here is to do 1-2-3-touch but she nose touches your empty hand. For now, you can then deliver a treat with your other hand (but we will fade that pretty quickly soon).
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! Thank for tackling the walk throughs!
I like how when you added your connections, you were really looking at your invisible Rexx 🙂
>On walk through 3 and 4, my arms were higher than necessary, >
Yes, your arms came back up when you were adding handling and verbals but got lower again when you were doing the faster dog-speed walk through. And your arm was nice and low for the actual run – and you nailed it! Yay!
>I also noted that in my Step 4 run, I stopped way before the end jump!>
Yes, that is probably the only small detail to remind yourself of – handle all the way to the end, don’t pull up short.
The run itself seemed to go perfectly according to plan. SUPER!!! The handling was basically exactly as you walked it, especially the blind on the backside. I think you might have been a bit faster in the walk through than the first part actual run (be sure to keep connected in the fast walk through), but then he kicked into a higher gear of speed for the second half and overall the walk and run watched up really well.
Overall, it was great – thorough walk through that didn’t take that long at all, then totally nailed the run 🙂 Well done!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
This was a really good experiment and it basically recreated the issue. Yes, I am sure there is an arousal element to it and arousal is linked to processing – and it is mainly a processing question. When you are ahead and running hard, she is not able to fully process the distance between jumps AND mechanics needed to do it. So being more ‘in the picture’ where she can see you better and has less stimulation from the motion made a big difference here. Of course, it would be interesting to reverse the order of festivities and have you do the ‘staying closer’ rep first and the getting way ahead rep 2nd. But for now – on these big fast lines, staying closer is the winner.
>So I think that Fusion footing could play a part, but that it’s exacerbating a deeper issue of her not handling high arousal and a straight ahead “easy” line well all the time.>
I think the Fusion footing is unforgiving, in that she is unable to save herself and has the big tumbles. Compared to the grass here, the jumping question resulted in only a hard landing and not a big tumble. So be extra careful at Fusion, especially on the long lines where she has to read multiple distances between jumps.
Tracy
Hi!
The great news here is that he was more than happy to try doing sequences with you layering the dog walk, and his dog walk looked good too. That is a lot of good confidence on his part!
I think getting him to do the sequence was mainly a matter of you figuring out what he needed to see with the darned dog walk and yellow tunnel in the way 🙂 At :13 the high arm might have looked like a big ‘get out’ cue to the tunnel? Then it was a matter of showing him the converging pressure to turn away into the tunnel. It was hard to hear what you were saying but was it a switch or right turn cue to get the tunnel?
He got it when you gave him a little physical help just past the end of the DW (and took out the off course jump :)) and that will be easy to do from further and further away – but mainly I think it is a matter of exposing him to this type of thing so he learns that yes, he will run complex sequences with you on the other side of the dog walk. Up until now, he is probably most experienced with staying on a parallel line in this scenario, not doing multiple turns. But he will sleep on it and with some more practice, and lock it in so he can execute it nicely 🙂 and you can get ahead to the great position.
At the 12 jump, when you had your brake arm right towards his nose… he jumped right over it and had a wider turn at 1:31. You can do a bit of facing him like that and delivering a toy right there from your hand, before the takeoff spot, to help him want to decelerate into that cue and not jump over it.
>Also tried the ending with the correct side of 14 but the turn on 15 was extremely wide.>
The turn on 14 looked great! The turn on 15 was wide, probably because it was a post turn – that is a great spot for a spin to get the turn tighter and also get you facing the next line sooner. And as you rotate towards him, you can mix in rewards on the takeoff side to help him love to collect there too 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! Nice work on the Under Pressure games!
Rosie did really well – her brain was processing the challenges but they were easy for her (she is an experienced lady!). On the rep where she popped out, it might have been the distraction challenge, or it might have been that you were really close to the entry on that rep and that was what distracted her. Either way, she sorted it out really well.
Lily definitely thought it was hard! This is good to know! You were trying to make it easier but simply the presence of the object on the ground was really hard, and so was not having it there when she knew it was around. Very interesting!
She had a bunch of successful reps then a failure when you brought it back out… but then a bunch of successful reps. YAY!
She was better the next day, but it was still hard (especially the first couple of reps when there was something ‘new’ like when you changed the position or changed objects.
This is good information! To help her be successful immediately, you can have less exciting objects and have them further away, so they are still something her brain has to process but it is not as hard to do it. So maybe a less exciting object, 15 feet away? The goal is that she can come into the session and be immediately successful. Just do a couple of reps then in the next session, move the challenge a little closer or change to something else at the same distance.
The walk through went well! My only suggestion is to add more connection to your invisible pug in the walk through so it is fully rehearsed for the run.
The connection is what caused the little blooper at :12 on the first run with Lily – you didn’t quite connect as she exited the tunnel so she didn’t see where 3 was. The connection was really lovely on the 2nd run there – so add it to the walk through to nail it on the first run too (connecting to her eyes at the exit of a tunnel). The rest of it looked great!
It was good to alter the walk through for Rosie, to reflect her handling needs (closer and slower). Be sure to be connected to invisible Rosie during the walk through too 🙂 And you can add clapping her to walk through too, because it is definitely part of the handling she needs for her run.
Her first run went well! She was surprisingly tight on the line at :22 and almost took the wrong side of the backside, but you were connected and helped her find the correct side. Super! Nice adjustment there the 2nd time through to give her a wider line with a slightly later blind. And the rest of it looked lovely too!
Great job here!
Tracy
