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Hi!
He did well taking the jump each time on the forward focus video! It was hard to see if he was looking at the jump but I think he was looking at you? So you can add a target or placed reward to this, to help him learn to love looking at the jump 🙂Then you are fading the target or placed reward and moving to a thrown reward: when he does look at you and you release him, throw the reward to the landing side of the jump to really solidify the commitment to the jump as you get further and further away.
When he is looking at the jump, you can also add a bit of praise before the release so he doesn’t move before you use the verbal release. On the first rep he left for the jump before the release and at 1:32 he released when your foot stepped forward. So to make sure he is 100% sure of what the release is, the praise will help him understand it is not your motion and it is not when he knows what you want 😁 it is the verbal 🙂
He had one bar down on the FF video 0 it might have been because it was a weird new skill and he was processing your position – the FC happened as he was over the bar so it was a little late, and he is new enough to this type of lead out that he was not sure of how to collect for it. The bar was not a problem at all on the next rep, he jumped that really well!
At :17 on the 2nd video, he did look forward, I could totally see him turn his head. YAY!! When he does that, you can throw the toy out past the jump on the landing side, rather than reward back at you, to help affirm that looking at the jump is a good thing 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know how the grids go this weekend!
Tracy
Hi!
He gave great info here! He was pretty engaged overall on a really hard skill!
One thing I notice is that when you are leading out without connection, his attention wanders a bit especially when there is noise in the environment. So, stay connected and you can even quietly praise on the lead outs.
>so like if we have failures, then I make it easier and he gets it, then I make it harder and he fails again, then we have to stop and go back to easier again or quit the session? >
If he gets the 2 failures, you find the success point and do a couple of reps there. The watch the video (I know, I know, I am a pain) to see what is going on before doing more. Then come back and get success and make an adjustment if needed. And maybe inch out to a slightly harder rep, and maybe inch out a little more… but not a lot and end the session on success. It might mean we don’t get to where we wanted to be, but that is fine.
When watching the video, I look for things like connection, what the cue looks like, and placement of reinforcement. For this skill, I think the reward placement is key:
– using a target or placed reward as a visual aid to help jumpstart the behavior when you are lateral will really help.
– when you are fading the target/placed reward and throw the reward, throw it to the same place you would place it (on the landing side of 1).You got closer to the jump at 1:10 which totally helped, but note the reward placement: right at your feet, which continues to build value for being near you. And at 1:38, he did great finding it with you later but the reward placement was at the tunnel exit, which also is about being near you.
He got it nicely at 3:09 when you were pretty lateral! The reward there was also closer to your feet. That lateral distance rep would be a great stopping point for the session. He ended on a failure when you tried a harder one (plus dog barking in the distance and his attention wandered on the lead out, so he was not fully prepared when you released him).
So definitely start with the placed reward/target for now, because I think getting him to consistently turn his head to the jump will really help! It is a way of him saying “I’m ready” and will generally let you know if he is going to be successful or not.
>I can’t remember when we “reset” that count as guidance.>
The 2 failure rule doesn’t reset in the session 🙂 and watching the video and starting again counts as the same session. It resets in the next session which could be later in the day or the next day or a few days later.
>Should I have used more motion forward, like even just one step?>
You can, but ultimately, I think his question was about value. The jump is nice! But the you and the lotus ball are nicer 🙂 and when you were lateral, he stayed on a line, but it was a line towards you and the lotus ball.
>I also think I should have gone up to the jump to show it, then move into position EVERY TIME. >
That may or may not help yet – I think once the jump has value that overrides your position, then it will totally help.
So for the next session try the placed reward or a target like an empty bowl. You can even do it indoors in the glorious air conditioning, from a stay without a jump!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! These both looked great and you were able to use a TON of your layering skills!!!
Jumping 1 went really well!!
Strategically, I think you were heading up to the end of the tunnel near the 4 jump too much in the first couple of runs: in run 1, you went up too deep into the tunnels and waited too long at 4 so didn’t get the backside at :19. If you get behind her on a backside send, hold the backside cue (line of motion, big connection, arm back, verbal) until she is basically arriving at the backside wing. You turned forward early and that is what curved her to the front of the jump.
You got the backside at :46 on run 2 and 1:15 on run 3 but it is much easier if you don’t go as far up the tunnels
>The second day of working it, I gave her a bit of a running start. She does good with her “look” and distance release, but I know that it isn’t super comfortable for her so I gave her a break from it.>
The running start/less of a lead out can actually work best in this particular opening. She can go do 2-3-4 independently with you hanging back closer to the 6 jump (not going to the end of the tunnel near 4). That way you are further ahead of her when she exits the tunnel to get the backsides on 6.
At 2:09 you were furthest ahead when she exited tunnel 5 and when getting the backside at 6 because you didn’t go as far up to the end of the tunnel.
Nice blind 6-7, threadle to 8 and GO 9-10! Super nice try at the weaves, I think she was like “THIS IS CRAZY” plus you were pulling away a tiny bit. At 1:27, you were a little closer while still layering, and held your parallel path better – and she got it! WOWZA!!! She was really confident with the weave entry on the last run too.
>I also noticed I gave cues earlier the second day, and I liked the way we handled 6, 7, and 8 better.>
Yes, I agree! At the end of the session, you did a FC on the left turn wrap of 7 – that seemed like a super fast efficient line that propelled her into the next line with a ton of extension (2:16)
One other thing to consider. On the Push at 13: don’t back up! Caused too much extension on the tunnel exit at 1:40 and 2:31. That is a perfect spot for some countermotion (German turn): you are moving forward past the jump as she is heading to the backside so you do a blind on the exit – that gets you further ahead to better turn her on the tunnel exit and get the next backside too.
The end of the course was definitely a place you cued sooner, particularly the turn to the tunnel 19-20. The timing was really good at 2:41 and she had a great turn to the tunnel, with you being able to get way ahead. Super!
Jumping 2:
Your lead out position was really good – you can line her up on a slice at 1, so she lands facing 2 and doesn’t need to add extra collection strides.
On the backside at 4, don’t back up to help her come in. It is not a German (no blind cross) but you can till use countermotion to be moving forward to 5 as she is going to the backside on 4.
>I might try working the backside/threadle wrap from layering tomorrow morning (I think I might be able to get the threadle wrap but not sure about the backside).>
Do you mean on jump 4? I think the threadle wrap is a harder line coming in from 3 and sets up a harder line to 5 – I liked your backside push slice! You can play with the threadle wrap and layering too, but I bet the push slice is the winning line. When you did the TW on the 2nd run, it was harder to get her to come to the correct side of 4.
SUPER nice job with the independent weaves!!! That made getting 9 easy!
The bar at 10 came down at :40 because you were running backwards facing her and she was not quite sure how to set up the turn. At 1:35, you were fully rotated on the FC and she had no questions. Yay!
That bar did come down when it was 15 at 1:45, but I think that was a late cue with the shoulder turn and tunnel verbal: she was looking past the tunnel then tried to adjust in the air
Give her the tight turn cue for 16 before she enters it happened when she was already in the tunnel, which was a little late at :55 and 1:47, especially when you were driving to the entry of 17 there.
>I also think I want to try to layer the tunnel for the last 2 jumps. The first option worked better but we almost collided!>
Yes! I think you will easily be in good position to BC the exit of 17 to get 18-19 on your right: as long as you are at the exit before she enters, the BC is safe 🙂 So you can send her to the 16 tunnel without moving forward much at all, then cue the entry of 17 with you basically hanging out at the exit of 17. When she locks onto 17, do the BC and reconnect with her on your right for the last 2 jumps.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Yes – the praise in that moment is really more for us humans so we don’t fall into being utterly predictable 🙂 Dogs are great at predicting the number of seconds, or the number of steps we take before the release, etc.
Hi!
>Lift’s seminar on Sunday is called Novice Zoom Zoom -it’s going to be more like Novice Putt-Putt with the weather forecast!>
Ye, it will be hard to stay cool if it is in the heat of the day, maybe being indoors is possible!
>She does get measured regularly by Dr Julia and is typically even. However her June 4 visit had a typo in the notes as 1 rear limb is 24cm and the other is 264cm! I emailed to ask if Dr Julia remembered her being even or not. >
Yay for being measured!!! A 2 cm difference would be significant if it was 26 versus 24, but Dr. Julia would have probably said something if that was the case?
>Kaladin had a fairly nice RDW, but it needs more maintenance. He’s always missed one here and there but it’s deteriorating which is why I am running him through the Shape Up foundation exercises too. (figured I might as well since Lift was doing it). He got a toenail in one and put his cape on for the other one at the Cup last weekend. He also has a tendency to make the judge think too hard on the a-frame (or obviously misses it). He’s better at the 5ft 3in frame which making me think about moving him down to 12 select later this year. TBD on what he jumps at the Open but I definitely want him at 12 select for next year’s Invitational.>
Hmmmm might be head position on the frame and that is also a factor on the RDW. Or, does he leap the apex of the frame? That can help get him deeper into the contact zone? Send a video of a miss so we can obsess!!
Tracy
Hi!
NICE runs here!!!
The runs here fall into the category of motion/connection/verbals working together early enough that he had time to adjust as needed. He had very few questions because you were moving a lot, arms were generally low (there was one or two high arm moments but on those, the arm was straight up in the European style where he could see connection from below it). Even in the layering (a jump after a tunnel at one point with you miles ahead), no questions from him.And verbals were super clear, including coming over the previous bar… no problems.
The timing of starting the cues was really good too – as he was approaching the previous obstacle, the cues for the next obstacle were pretty much underway in every moment. That is really helpful for him!
I am not sure if the 4 versus 5 foot bars or heavier bars made a difference – that is something we can track! Data is our friend LOL!
I am excited to see how he does in the seminar next weekend – I am sure the lines and distances will be great, and require you to stay in motion at all times with lots of layering. If there is a jumping trouble spot, grab the distance and we will track the data to see if certain distances create questions.
I still think something to play with is varying the levels of volume/pitch/rhythm verbals as that will match up even better to get more extension on certain parts and tighten wrap (like the threadle wraps).
And the distances on the Marin setup are good – do you still have your home setup so we can measure the exact distance between the jumps? Sometimes we find an awkward distance that we need to teach the dog – he definitely felt that setup was awkward.
Great job, keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>I will say that I’m really trying to practice what I preach to my clients trying to get extreme productivity, and that’s to not say yes to everything even if it seems fun. Right now the estimated ROI has got to be high for me to do a thing! Ha!>
HA!!! Wait, are we supposed to say NO to things? Hmmmmmm. That is hard LOL!!!
>We will work on increasing challenge in our next round by putting me on the other side of the tunnel. Should I also be switching sides to turn the other direction, or doesn’t really matter for teaching the skill?>
Yes, you can totally switch sides. And if he has trouble with you on the other side of the tunnel, you can put a toy or target out past the jump to help direct his focus.
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>I was able to cue the jump ok but I don’t think either of them really looked to the jump with out me stepping towards it and flinging my arm a bit. They are both very handler focused as a general rule I think.>
Yes – they both were able to take the jump but mainly when you were ahead or parallel to them, and they did a little zig into you and zag back out on those.
Ideally, you can cue the looking forward with your arm and leg pointing to the jump then they look at it, then you release. So you can work on it with a toy or target (like an empty food bowl) on the other side of the jump. Ask them to sit, put the reward down, then point it at: when they look at it, release them to it. You don’t even need a jump for it, you can do it on the flat inside in the A/C 🙂
Then when they are good on the flat, you can put a jump in there to transfer the skill then fade out the target/toy but keep the arm & leg cue to look at the jump.
Nice work here! Let me know how it goes with the toy or target placed out ahead of them!
Tracy
Hi!
>Heat index 104, working with the shade that was available in the back yard, first session of focus forward>
Ugh, how is it so hot already!!! At least you had a bit of shade available!
Looking at the forward focus:
>In reviewing it, I think I need to work more on getting him looking towards the jump before I release>
Yes, that would be good so you know where he is locked onto 🙂 It was a little hard to see where he is looking (black dog in the shade) but you can use a target out past the jump, or a placed reward, and build in the cue to look forward (hand pointing at the jump) as well as wait to see if he will look towards the jump before the release.
It looks like he was looking at you for these, which worked fine for the reps where you were ahead of him or parallel, but was harder on the reps where you were behind him.
Plus, adding in a low & slow arm point to the jump will help him know that the cue to look at the jump and the arm movement are NOT the release – he had a little question about that on one of the reps. And it will help give him a good look at jump 1, to keep the bar up.
>The one time he knocked the bar, I had moved it to 16″ instead of 14″.
On that rep, he was also looking at you til he was released so didn’t quite get coordinated in time. Looking at the jump will really help!
>That’s a conversation we need to have because he is really struggling with 16″ jumps. Ruled out physical issues but he’s a tad heavy so I’m working to take about 1 pound off of him plus started some rear end strengthening exercises from our conditioning instructor. >
Ruling out an issues and doing conditioning stuff are the exact place to start! Core strength stuff, hind end strengthening, and plyometrics all help a lot. And he should be as skinny through the ribs as you can get him, with big slabs of muscle on his shoulders, back legs, and down his spine.
>Are there jump grid exercises from MaxPup or other sources you would recommend we work?>
MaxPup 2 has a bunch! It is in week 8. The accordion grid is where I would look at height because the 3rd jump moves progressively further and further away (you can modify the distances to get it to be 15 and 18 feet away from the first 2 jump). And you can add more and more height to jump 3 in that grid.
Plus, the set point is the grid where most times we start to increase the height of the 2nd jump (first one stays low). That is week 1 of MaxPup 2 🙂
And some bars fall because the dog is processing info AND we humans are late (I know, I know, that is very rare 🤣😂🤣) so we will look at your timing this summer to see how early we can get the cues coming out for him 🙂
> I’m guessing different muscles are needed for him to take a 16″ jump arc vs 12″ because he rear thighs are nicely muscled.>
Yes, that is where it is the difference between pushing upwards (16”) and forwards (12”). And choosing the striding to be able to sort out how to takeoff properly.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Lift is doing well with the added challenges here!
She seems a bit better with the focus forward on your right side, but that could also be that you were on the same side of the tunnel as she was.
To get a faster look at the jump on your left side, you can stick with the placed toy for more reps or mix it back in a lot after you take it out. Also, when it is not in you can throw the toy to the landing spot
Kaladin: He is doing really well looking at the jump!! On most of the reps, he was looking at the jump as you raised your hand. SUPER!!! You can add a verbal to this if you want, or you can keep it silent 🙂
>Apparently I haven;t done enough “dead toy on the ground as reward” work for him. >
Yeah, that was interesting!! He looked forward really well but he didn’t go over the jump. Hmmmm. You can try a 4” bar so it is barely a jump because it is a good skill to have (taking the jump to get to a placed reward). But he is doing great looking at the jump without it!
>Taking a pause on Camp stuff until next week. Monica Bush is here this weekend and Kaladin is in a session on Sat AM and Lift on Sun PM. Unfortunately last weekend’s lovely weather has deteriorated into forecasts for highs in the low 90s… (and yes – seminar is outdoors at Animal Inn but I think parts of it can move inside) >
Fingers cross for decent weather! Outdoors in the heat & humidity is hard so hopefully they can move things inside during the hot part of the day, although the mats make it challenging.
>Or maybe the metereologists are wrong and the rain and drop into the mid 70s will happen earlier than Monday.>
This would be ideal!
>Therapist thinks her lumbral-sacro area might have tightened up again after getting released during the massage.>
Interesting! I wonder what might be causing it. Does she do anything wackadoo during daily like that would cause it? Or maybe it is a compensation from a strength imbalance? Has the therapist or chiro ever measured her muscles to see if they are all identical on both sides?
>Earlier this week I was really close to giving up on the RDW and training a stop for both dogs because after several mat sessions on the flat (over the last few months) and then switching to a low plank, both dogs suddenly decided the squish mat was lava. >
Ah yes, I recognize the “I AM JUST GOING TO PUT A STOP ON THE DOG WALK ERA”. The low plank is enough of a change that it would change the behavior.
>Then wondered if it could be physical or that a plank on a 12in table was too big a step. So did a session earlier this week with the plank on an 8in table and both dogs did much better. >
Perfect! 4 inches can definitely change the angle significantly enough.
>Still not sure I have it in me to keep going much longer with the RDW, except that I’m pretty sure neither one is going to like stopping.>
I think you will be able to get it with Lift! Plow through the hard parts!!! And Kaladin probably needs maintenance or proofing, I remember him having a good RDW!!
Nice work here 🙂
TracyHi!
Yay Pick! He did great here!!!
Looking at the forward focus game:
Either you have shown this to him before or he was very natural with focusing on the jump – he offered it immediately and was very successful on each rep! Good boy 🙂When you got behind him or super lateral, he was kinda sideways in his forward focus but then would lean a shoulder into the line as if saying “yes, I have it, release me!” He did a great job committing to the line when released too!
One suggestion:
You might consider having your hands lower, arm extended down at hip-height, rather than up high. Having your hand up at the level of your face might draw his attention up high when we want it lower, especially since he is small 🙂 Directing your hand downward to the bar or takeoff spot can help especially as we keep getting you further and further away.> Next rep I led back out to where I was before and used “catch” which I’m not sure he’s seen much in this context, but he got a meatball chucked at him so I don’t think he minded.>
He might not have seen/heard it before but it sure was a happy surprise when he realized a meatball was flying through the air at him LOL!!
> Hints on how to not let the “mark” cue become the release or to have them not anticipate the release?>
You can make the release less predictable, as it relates to the mark cue or looking at the jump. You can do this by having less predictable things happen between the mark and the release. After you cue the ‘mark’, you can
– use your catch marker and throw a meatball or something yummy to him
– use quiet praise to extend the time between the mark cue and the release. Don’t be too exciting with the praise – quiet, long, boring words are very effective for this 🙂 Then if he holds the stay, you can release him. Is the praise something he will love? Maybe not, maybe it is a little annoying… but it will result in more reinforcement in the long run because he won’t break the stays
– and sometimes just release 🙂
The pop out went really well!!!
You had super nice connection back to him on the exit of 1!
He had a question on the way to jump 2 when you moved your arm forward too soon to send to 2 at :13 – note how he looks up at you and jumps up before moving past you. You can keep your arm back on the send and let it travel with his nose (rather than pointing forward ahead of him). Connection/motion/verbal will cue the send, and the arm staying out of the way will keep the connection very visible to him.After the send to 2, you can be more lateral for jump 3 so you can easily show him the wing more, on the way to the 4 backside at :16. You were blocking it a little so he was a little wide.
Great job moving out of backside wrap as soon as he passed you at :17! Nice!!!
And breaking down the threadle slice down went really well too – remember to keep your shoulders frozen in threadle position after the hand touch so he doesn’t rely on a shoulder turn to put himself back out over the jump. And you can add more and more motion into it as you build up the skill.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
> Our issue is definitely bars. To be very fair I am trying 4 foot jump bars and 1/2” PVC with our flimsier plastic wings starting this week in an attempt to help him be much more aware of his body parts hitting bars/wings. AND transitioning to more 24” jumping (from 20/22 in the past).>
Yes, lots of bars here! A couple of spots where he was frustrated, and a couple of spots where he was taking off closer to the jump that I would expect (the bar generally fell when that happened, especially on jump 3).
>I’m trying a few different things fewer, more, quieter, louder cues and also delaying a blind at one point to see what handling variables might make it harder or easier to keep bars up. Any advice in this area (or general handling of course) would be greatly appreciated>
Ok, let’s obsess! And the beginning of all good obsessing is tracking what was happening when a bar came down. I jotted down what was happening when each bar fell and I have a few general observations based on that:
– saying verbals didn’t seem to cause any bars… but *not* using verbals (or being very quiet) didn’t help keep the bars up 🙂 The best run was when the verbals were super loud and clear (more on that below)
– super high arm (hand at your head level or above your head level) correlated to the bar coming down on most of the bars that came down. This could be that it blocks the connection and connection is an important cue to him, even at a distance (and especially because verbals were not in play for most of the reps).
– conflicting indicators resulted in bars down on this session. What I mean by that is if your voice was saying GO but your physical line was moving laterally away or decelerating, he dropped the bars on 4, 3, or 2 consistently.
– your timing is strong – there was only one cue I would consider late that caused a bar down (the wrap cues at 1:22)
– the best run was when there were fewer conflicting indicators: physical cues were clearer with more motion and the verbals matched the physical cues especially in terms of the energy of the verbals.
On this run (the last run :)) you were accelerating the most on the acceleration lines(2-3-4) and the verbals were louder/clearer, and more motion plus the verbals overrode the really high arm in parts of it.
So basically – the more info he gets, the better the jumping is (which totally makes sense). On the 2-3-4 layered line, you can be giving acceleration cues with you running up the line more (not decelerating) but with lower arms – I think keeping your hands lower (hip level and not above your head) will help him see the connection. And, using verbals that match the physical cues: high energy (loud and long!) acceleration verbals, quieter turning verbals: left/right/jump can be shorter with a more conversational volume, and the wrap cues can be very quiet, almost like telling him a secret 🙂
Changing the energy of each verbal does 2 things: it helps spur him on along the lines/bring in him tight for collection, and it naturally helps your physical cues match the moment 🙂
Give that a try and let me know how it goes! I think getting the 3 key elements to match up more (motion, connection, verbals) will help a whole lot. Connection is key at this stage but motion and verbals matching each other will help make connection a little less critical.
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>We’ve worked with this skill previously, but not in awhile and we don’t use it anywhere except in training or maybe in class……run mostly AKC and some USDAA these days mostly because it’s what’s available within a reasonable drive from home. But it’s really fun to train these skills!!!!!>
I agree, it is really fun! For AKC, you can add this skill to a tunnel instead of a jump – that is the most popular opening on AKC courses (for now :)) And I bet you see this type of opening soon enough in AKC, and even sooner in USDAA, so it is good to have him know what it is.
He did well in the session here! His looking at the jump was very obvious and easy to see. He might think that the release comes as soon as he looks at the jump: he self-released after he looked at it on rep 1 (moving just before the release). He did the same on rep 2 but you stopped him. On reps 3 and 4, the releases came just as soon as he looked at the jump – which might be why he anticipates the release follows looking at the jump. So you can mix it up: sometimes add in quiet praise when he looks at the jump before releasing him, and sometimes throw the reward to him instead of releasing him. That should help avoid him pairing looking at the jump with the release and therefore anticipating the release.
>Best advice I think I’ve gotten so far on verbals was “when running a course, if using the verbal screws up your ability to be able to execute the physical cues, forget the verbal and do the physical cues right”.>
Yes, because most dogs around the world are reading those physical cues as their primary pieces of info. But also, the verbals cues are generally rehearsed incorrectly by us handlers, leading to errors on course. So I will be bugging everyone about that soon enough, it is one of the annual CAMP rites of passage LOL!!! And we will focus specifically on the verbals.
“so I don’t want to add a verbal that might potential cause confusion about what the release is”
Are you in all situations back to only releasing on a single release cue or in certain situations, when the default isn’t what you want – frontside/backside of a jump sometimes releasing on the what you want cue, like Back or just in certain situations like this one?>Oops, sorry for any confusion – what I meant was I don’t have a ‘look’ verbal followed by praise and the release… that’s a lot of words for dogs that are twitchy about being stationary for that long LOL!! So I use a physical cue for the forward focus, maybe some praise (mainly to avoid the dogs anticipating the release coming right after they look forward) then the release is the verbal directional that fits the situation best (wrap, jump, etc).
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
This session went great! Very clear, very efficient, super high rate of success. My only suggestion is to try to have her feet facing the bar in her sit (like you did at 2:08 for example) to make the jump more obvious to her when you are leading out very laterally or alllll the way back behind her.
>This behaviour has definitely morphed into a “I hope it works” set of movements rather than the original intention. I didn’t realize how far it had degraded.>
I don’t think it has degraded that far – I think you were feeling anxious about her self-releasing, which made her more twitchy about holding the stay 🙂
>. I know I stopped saying “Mark” after I led out because she was breaking if I moved or spoke.>
Ah, that makes sense. Adding in the pause after the mark cue like you did her along with the rewards thrown to her (yay!) and the praise (definitely add it next time) will help her learn that movement or speaking is not the release. Then you will be more relaxed about it, and so will she.
The first part seemed easy for her, with you on the same side of the tunnel.
It was actually pretty hilarious when you led out to the other side of the tunnel and cued the mark… she was like WAIT WHAT? Ha! Then she re-sat herself as if thinking the mark was a sit cue? LOL!She figured it out pretty quickly –
She was able to find the jump and look at it even with you back at the tunnel exit, wait for the release without anticipating it, then lay on some serious speeeeeeeed driving up the line to the tunnel. YAY! SUPER NICE!!! You can use this skill as you work on the independent handling sequences as well as the courses.
>You can just watch the first bit; it was good at the end and it’s over 2 min, sorry.>
2:16 still counts as 2 minutes, no apologies needed LOL and the last reps were great! The 2 minute suggestion is mainly to avoid people doing 20 minute sessions with their dogs.
Great job here!
TracyHi! We missed you at OTR!
> I did it with both dogs, Jims actually knows it better than Mo, because I never taught her.>
Yes, Jim’s generation has been taught this a lot more than Mochi’s generation. They are getting the training as “adult learners” LOL!
For Mochi – she was giving some very direct head turning/looking at the jump when you were ahead of her! She couldn’t quite tear her eyes off of you when you were behind her but she did do an ear flick and a slight lean. When you see that, you can release and step forward a few steps to affirm that it is the jump. You can also have a toy placed out on the landing side of the jump, to help her look forward and not just gaze lovingly at you when you are behind her 🙂
Jimothy did really well holding the stay AND looking at the jump! His only questions were slightly delayed responses, but we can probably chalk that up to your position being behind him and that was new! But he didn’t break the stay and he did look at the jump, so it is a big win! Super!
The other thing to consider with both dogs is a lower hand cue. With the hand up higher than shoulder level, it is possible that it blocks connection a bit and also that it draws their gaze upwards. Pointing it lower and more towards the bar or takeoff spot might help them look forward sooner, so it is something to try and see how they do.
As you add more distance on this game, you can also start to mix in being on the other side of the tunnel. I think they are both ready for it!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
