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Hi!
Good start here with the backside disconnections! remember keep moving forward on the line while cuing the backside rather than stop and send – the send is when you are staying on the landing side, but if you are moving to the takeoff side you will want to keep moving so he doesn’t get ahead of you 🙂
Good toy placement here! At the end you lowered the bar so he can hop over it to get the toy – that was what I was going to suggest so click/treat to you for doing it already. Yay!T
Note the difference in this run – much smoother opening and lead out 🙂 And even with a little blooper, you kept moving and he didn’t get concerned and was totally focused. Good boy! Nice run!!!!
Thanks for the video!!! I don’t think this was a puppy brain moment 🙂 I think a couple of things happened here:
Holding him by the collar like that before the tunnel send was really arousing and might have been too much… it might be better to take your hand off his collar and ask for a sit, even on a tunnel start.
Then at :12 you were late turning (facing forward). Then you line of motion pushed him past a jump at :18. That caused a lot of stop-and-go which is confusing for him –
Then you were standing still and he definitely knew things had gone wrong and got a little stressed so was sniffing. As soon as you started moving again, he did great!So if something goes wrong in the ring… don’t fix – just keep moving, keep moving, keep moving. There is a 99.999% chance it was handler error and we don’t want him to get stressed when things come to a stop in the ring. It is possible that also happened in the standard run. And, if the judge was a new distraction on the a-frame, definitely ask friends or classmates to act as judges in training so he can get used to that 🙂
Tracy
Wowza, great connection here! She had no questions 🙂 And gorgeous lines!
Yes, cuing the backside with the outside arm is definitely NOT an American thing LOL!!! It is something I picked up about 10 years ago from a European as a way to really emphasize the cue without my slow self having to step to the backside or run to the backside… what a difference it can make!
And if anyone asks why I am using the outside arm, I just say “yes, it is European” hahahahaha
You can try moving into to more and see if it is still super effective for you while keeping your feet running forward (I bet it will be). And you can play with exactly how high your arm needs to be: I tend to use the arm at or above my shoulder here as it points to the entry wing and I connect with the dog. Your arm was a little higher here, but maybe that is perfect for her!
Great job here! Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
>>For the engagement between bowls during Power Bowls, how much do you care about actual eye contact? >>
I don’t prioritize eye contact, especially in more challenging environments. It is not that important.
>>Today while practicing with a couple fellow MaxPuppers, my friends said I was late in responding to Mason’s engagement. Mason likes to look at my hands and my pockets, so I was waiting for him to look directly at my eyes, not my chest or even my chin. We weren’t sure if the criteria for engagement should be that strict.>>
Hands/pockets are fine 🙂 It does not need to be eye contact – and eye contact might be too hard in more difficult environments (internally and externally).
>>Mason can make eye contact during Power Bowls, but he would rather stare at the bowls and offer the least amount of engagement that it takes to get the cookie.>>
He might be able to make easy eye contact in easy environments, but I will take *any* engagement at all as the environments get harder.
>> I’d say I have to wait a full second for him to switch his gaze from my chin to my eyes. What do you think? Give him the cookie or wait for the eye contact?>>
Cookie for chin! Eye contact in that scenario might not be comfortable for him, and looking at your chin is great (considering all of the other things he can be looking at :)) I reward for any engagement in my general direction. So staring at the environment? Nope. Looking at the bowls? Nope. Looking at any part of me? Yes 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Great job with the tunnel rocking horse session, it was really fun to see him open up!! Yay!
>>All that speed from the straight tunnel certainly widened his turns! >>
The speed is good! It also required the handling to have to start earlier, so on the first rep you were late decelerating and turning for the wrap, but not the difference on the 2nd rep at :16 where you decelerated sooner and he totally collected for a great turn!
It is also important not to slam on the brakes on your sports car here 🙂 That is what happened at :35 – you were running then stopped with your dog-side leg back and partially rotated… so he stopped and looked at you. You had better decel at :49 but turned away a heartbeat too soon.
To get him committing more consistently (especially when you are not ahead of him), think of it as a 3 part process:
– accelerate, run like mad 🙂
– decelerate, when he has exited the tunnel, but keep moving forward as you decelerate
– rotate as he arrives at the wing.The timing will get earlier as he gets more experienced but emphasizing the decel right now will really help with commitment.
And of course be connected on all of it 🙂
He did well with the lateral lead outs game!
>>I see that I am not maintaining a very good connection with him. Need to work on that!>>
Yes, you can be more connected as you lead out but it is fine to sometime not be fully connected as long as you reconnect, get settled into position, praise…. Then release. You can peripherally watch him rather than be fully disconnected.
If you release when you reconnect or release as soon as you get near the barrel, he will think that is the release cue (a little bit of that happened here). So being sure the release is not associated with connection or with you being near the barrel will make it less important for you to lead out watching him fully.For the sends to the barrel – you can change the placement of reinforcement and throw it to the other side of the barrel (as if it was the landing spot of the jump) so that he drives away from you and to the barrel more. He did really well committing on your right side! On your left, I think he was a little distracted by *something* out in the distance. A toy was definitely more engaging on that last rep and helped him work through whatever the distraction was.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
Congrats on a great weekend! It sounds like he had no trouble moving – maybe he is slipping on the mats in the training building, so he was compensating?Thanks for re-listing the video! It was a good example of why we want to keep moving on the get out cue rather than stop and send:
At :36 you sent to the jump and didn’t move up the line enough… so when you tried to cue the next wrap, you ended up a little behind and totally turned to the tunnel, so he was correct to go to the tunnel 🙂 Staying in motion with your feet pointing to the next wing while upper body does the get out cue (big connection and outside arm) will give you an easier time getting up the line to the next wing, so there will be less likelihood of that delicious off course tunnel 🙂
The other reps had a little more movement but you can totally eliminate the stops on the send and keep running forward.Great job!
TracyGood morning!
My handling mantra is “Keep moving!” I learned it the hard way when my dear Voodoo was young – he would come in and bark & bite me if I stopped moving LOL!!!!! Eeek! Sid would never dream of biting you but so you can pretend you are running young Voodoo and keep moving so you don’t get any “tooth hugs” LOL!Hi!
>>I rewatched your videos but I’m still kind of confused what we are trying to get out of this exercise? It just seems simple? Or like I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to accomplish long term? >>
I think it will make more sense if you watch the competition level video:
As soon as I see the dog is heading to the backside (and before he gets there), I completely disconnect and just run like mad to get to the next line ahead of him. Not having to connect in that moment allows me to gain significant yardage because it is faster to run forward without looking back at the dog 🙂 So it makes complex backsides easier for us humans 🙂
>>Should I be telling Kashia “backside” so she gets used to the command?>>
Yes – you can add your backside slice verbal. And yes, it is super simple at this level but this understanding will make the higher levels much easier 🙂
The backside session looked great – well done on the disconnection and the timing/placement of the reward! You can add the verbal for sure, and add moving faster through these – the faster you move, the harder it will be for her to jump the bar, so keep throwing the reward to the landing side by the entry wing for now.
And she definitely likes the toy, it was hilarious to see her clutching it to rip it open (and trying to cheat to get to it on the Go lines LOL!!). Out of curiosity, what treats were you using? You can probably be using slightly lower value treats in the toy and save the crazy high value stuff for other locations.
>>I had a few silly mistakes in the sends around the cones but I just got a little complacent in my handling there. I knew how to fix that right away.>>
Having the toy on the ground behind you made it harder to get the send 🙂 But she went to the cone when you were super clear with the connection!
The go session on the easy side looked great. BIG happy dance about the “hard” side -great job breaking it down and also, she had clearly been learning it in her sleep because she was quite perfect here! FUN!! You can add back height to the bars for jumping because she seems ready for that now 🙂
Nice job on the extreme connection combos! She really had no trouble reading the cues for get out versus come in for the turn away. She had a couple of question, but nothing major: At 1:00 you had a disconnection by looking forward, which looked like a blind to her so she changed sides. Compare to the great connection in that same spot at 1:12, so she knew to stay on your right side. She had a little bit of a delayed response to coming in towards you for the turn away at 1:52 – she probably needed to see your hands more there – but that was her only delayed response. Everything else was speedy!!
>>It was hard to keep my verbal praise down but I did my best and she seemed to read it pretty well!>>
It went really well! You either gave her the cues for what you wanted, or you used something like “Let’s go” which worked well because it is not a “come get a cookie” marker ever, so she was not confused.
>>It’s so funny how she has such drastic days in her training attitude. Obviously we all do and they are no different than humans with good days and bad days. It’s just a little harder with a puppy who has a little bit less consistency than the older dogs. lol And yes, you are correct, she’s 18 months on Tuesday!>>
This is so true! With teenager dog brains, some days we are convinced they have learned nothing and it is all terrible… then 2 days later than know everything and more. CRAZY! It used to frustrate me but now I just expect it as part of the teenage brain process LOL! And we tend to forget how our older dogs were when they were 18 months old, which makes it even easier to think things are going poorly when in fact they are going just fine and the youngster is doing great 🙂
Terrific job here!!!
TracyGood morning! I am glad you finally had some good weather!!!!! The work on the video looked really strong!
You might chuckle about this – you tied your hair back partway through the video and it really helped 🙂 because she could see your connection better 🙂
On the video:
Turn away – tandems/RCs are going well! It seemed like she didn’t have questions figuring out that it was a turn away from you. You can add in more independence as the next step:
Look at your hands more (but still her her see them) and don’t need to move to the RC line as much – you can decel and use your hands/connection to flip away from further from the jump. That can add a lot of independence and put you in great handler position is something crazy is out ahead on the next line.Threadle wraps – nice job working through these! They are really challenging for sure!
On the reps where she wasn’t really coming in to you, she was either drifting out to get a good look at the handling or she was (correctly) staying on the line to the front of the jump when you are looking at her (1:48 for example).You had a BIG DRAMA look-at-your-hands moment at 2:10 and she came right in 🙂 – that turned your shoulders/feet to a better line and drew her right in.
2 things to add to that – let her see your hands a little more and also, keep moving. Staying in motion is the hardest element for the dogs, so move slowly and you can reward her for coming into your hands. The flip away after that is easy! And she was very clever figuring out how to find the jump after the turn away 🙂Get out –
>>Love her get outs! So cool they just know what that means
Totally agree, she seemed to really love that! 🙂 Well done to you both, in both directions! You can add even more distance and also more running on your line. You were great about staying in motion but not moving tooooo fast at first to help her read the cues.
Nice balance reps too – I am super excited that she read both brilliantly!
>>When’s the last day to post?
Feb 21! That should give us time to find breaks in this crazy weather 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! I hope the weather isn’t too bad!
>>Backsides (we are certainly not solid yet).
I thought you did REALLY well and there was a ton of independence!!
>>I see in the video I sometimes have slight head turn to peak at her progress. Is this ok?>>Absolutely!
On the backsides: Deliberate disconnection on backsides is like a trust fall – you really have to trust the dog to do the jump 🙂 That is hard to do with a young dog! You can keep dropping the reward in behind you on the landing side of the bar as you disconnect, that helps build the trust (and the skill).All reps on both sides got her to the backside, except one rep. That was at :48 and even though your verbal was correct, the connection was a little too soft (not enough extreme eyeballs LOL!) and not enough physical cue of the shoulder rotation towards her, small convergence towards the backside, arms, etc. You can still use a reset reward there – she had a conflicting indicator in the cue so went with the motion cues.
Compare to the rep at 1:04 (and previous reps) and 1:11 (and reps after it, including the 2nd half of the video): These were great both in terms of connection to get the backside and disconnection to run ahead. You seemed to be getting more and more comfortable disconnecting 🙂
>>Please tell me what to do with my arms on the backsides….I tried some variations, outside arm vs inside arm and even both arms once lol. Fritzi requested I get a solid plan here :).>>
To be honest, your connection was so powerful on the reps where she went to the backside that I didn’t even notice what your arms were doing so I had to go back and watch again LOL!! Your arms were supporting the connection and cue, and also staying out of the way… love it! It looked like you were using a bit of outside arm (sometimes both like you mentioned) but it was subtle – so I say to choose what felt easiest for you and also supported your connection and go with that. Probably the subtle, single outside arm will work best, but it is up to you with what feels comfortable as long as you make the massive connection that helps her so much.
The Go lines are going well! I think she is used to having connection from you so she was adding a few little strides on the way to the 2nd jump. You can throw the toy a lot sooner (when you see the blur of Fritzi approaching jump 1) so she gets confident driving ahead to 2 even when you are disconnected 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyHi! Nice work on the combos!!
Looking at the backsides/serps: he has really good independent sends to the wing, so you can use that independence and send to the wing from further away. That way you can be further across the bar on the backside/serpy moments which sets up on sending around to the next wing more clearly. Sometimes he took the inside line to the wing and turned away, based on your being a little behind on the backside serp moment there. When you were further across the bar, he was more easily able to find the outside line to the wing which set up the line around to the first wing really well (nice connection on those!!)
And since his send to the wing is so strong, if you want to send to the backside of the jump and *not* the wing – be sure to line him up facing the backside, and maintain connection until he is around the wing so he doesn’t end up on the front side (you looked forward a little too soon on the 3rd video so he ended up on the front side).
Looking at the threadle (5th video) – you were in great position between the wing and the jump so he was able to come into the gap really well. Yay! As you do the threadle, try to keep moving with your feet forward to the jump, and upper body rotated towards him to bring him into the gap. That way he will come in for the threadle but you can stay ahead of him 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>><< I don’t think you need the arm across your body as part of the cue because it makes it harder to shift the connection to the landing while you move forward.>>
Are you suggesting that I don’t use the arm across the body for any type of connection or just in this scenario? Am I mixing up exit line connection cues with shifting connection cues?>>The arm coming across the body as part of a commitment cue like a front side wrap or circle wrap is not something I recommend, because it inhibits rotation and it inhibits shifting connection (the shifting connection is much easier with the arm on the ‘new’ side (closer to the wing) and that allows for fuller and earlier handler rotation. Plus the arm across the body as part of a commitment cue can also look like a RC cue.
I use the arm across the body for exit line connection (it moves the shoulder back in the learning stages, then we fade it out as the brain re-wires :)) and there are other uses for the opposite arm but those are generally not used with handler rotation like front side wraps and circle wraps.
>>Just to clarify, you’re saying that even though it worked to get her to commit, I actually should not wait for her.>>
Correct! Picture a jump bar there – you would be on landing side which would change the jumping line and could cause her to land on the bar or do a slice instead of a wrap. Plus, staying there puts you behind her and we want to keep you ahead!
>>I just need to do a better job of shifting my connection to the landing spot? (And probably work on circle wraps more in general since they aren’t something we really do much of).>>
Yes and yes 🙂 Independence on these circle wraps – such a hard skill but totally worth it!
Tracy
Hi!
The serps on your left were looking good! Your position as she exited the wing was clearly serp position, so you were able to get really good serp behavior!>>For some reason, I was struggling pretty hard with her on the right. I kept getting a threadle. >>
I think on the first rep at :25 she saw you in threadle position (near the entry wing) as she came around the start wing, plus you were shifting connection…. So she threadled. Then she was in threadle mode 🙂 because the next rep had good rep position.
>>I was able to see in the video (which I watched in between reps) that I was pulling my shoulder back to get the threadle instead of the serp.>>
Maybe a little, and it might be the harder side for her too. Also, I think that she responds to positional cues for the serp versus threadle (threadle near the entry wing, serp closer to the exit wing). You helped her by showing the line as more of a backside and that did help. The other way to help is to angle the jump towards her, so she sees the front of the bar and doesn’t see the threadle line as much. And you won’t feel as stuck on her line. You shouldn’t need a backside verbal (because it is front side based on where she should be coming from) there but a jump verbal can help.
When you add the countermotion exits where you move forward past the exit wing of the serp (towards the camera here, and not towards the next wing), 2 ideas for you:
– go forward past the wing as directly as you can, running parallel to the bar as little as possible. That will get you to the takeoff side sooner so she can adjust her stride to make a collected turn. And it will require more of a collection shift to the landing spot as you run forward 🙂 If she sees you running parallel to the bar, she will set up a slice exit and have to turn when she lands (you can hear her grunt then grumble when she does that).
– as you run through the serp lines, try to run through the reward for 6 or 7 more steps so you are not hitting the brakes and dropping the toy as she is over the bar especially with the countermotion exit. That causes her to land heavy on her shoulders (more grunting and grumbling LOL). If you keep moving, she will chase your line and then you can throw the lotus ball ahead of her.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
