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Hi! Hooray for decent weather!!
I think the connection here was overall pretty strong! He was really good about going to the wing and finding the jumps, including after the cross. Yay!
The main thing I recommend here is to send to the wing from even further away (miles away!) so you can get to the FC or BC sooner. You were moving forward to the wing til he committed at :06, :24, :31 and :40, then had to run hard to get to the cross – that made the cross a little late (because you were a shade too close to the wing) and also he didn’t expect a tight turn because you had big acceleration to get there.
So you can change it up: stay closer to the jump before the wing send, decelerating a bit… then as he is landing from that jump, do a big massive connected send to the wing. As he is passing you and heading to the wing, you won’t have to rush back to get the cross. You will get there sooner and can decelerate into the cross – which will help him see the tightness of it sooner and also give you more time to get the arm across your body for the exit line connection.
Based on what he did here, I bet that will be really easy for him! And it should feel much easier for you too 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am glad you found a dry spot and everything else is drying out too!
Good job on the serp exercises!! I think he has a really strong understanding of the serp skill, so now you can add even more independence and countermotion to it!
The main thing will be to send to the wing before the jump from even further away. Ideally you would be moving towards the center of the bar of the jump and sending to the wing from that line. We tending to be closer to the wing (or entry wing of the serp jump) so he was serping in, but the cue was a little late (as he was approaching the jump) and you were ending up on his line (like at :18 and :24) so he had to slow down.
So, if you send to the wing from further away (using one step and the directional, rather than a few steps and a ‘go’ verbal) you should be able to be miles ahead of him 🙂 On the simple serp slices, as he is exiting the wing, you will be past the center of the bar and showing the connection shift to the landing – that can put you at the next wing before he even takes off for the jump! That would be a nice position advantage on bigger courses 🙂
For the countermotion – as he is exiting the wing before the jump, you can be passing the exit wing of the serp and moving forward towards the takeoff side (connection shifting back to landing side). That is harder commitment, of course, but the connection shift should help him and it will also help get you waaaaay ahead. 🙂
Your send at :34 was the furthest send to the wing before the jump here and he was great, of course 🙂 So at :36 you were at the exit wing. For the countemotion, to show it before he makes a takeoff decision, you can send like you did at :34 but then go directly to the exit wing of the serp jump (no running parallel to the bar, just moving into the counteraction).
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>honest about handler failures.
Yes, she is still very young so doesn’t know the cues enough to help you if it is unclear 🙂 So keep rewarding and breaking things down so she doesn’t get frustrated.
>>Yes she was more jumpy in these. I think she was much more out of her comfort zone and unsure what I wanted. This was stuff we havent done anything on and she was saying but but >>
For the newer stuff or the harder stuff – you can start each session with the skill broken down and very easy, just to see what she knows and teach her the new stuff. This way, she will get the skill started and lots of reward, rather than failing at the harder versions of it.
Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>I’m just now getting back to exercise and I really hate it lol>>
Oh, this is entirely relatable!!! I am getting back to it to and hate it too LOL!!!!
These sessions looked great – the first session was really good but the adjustments you made for the 2nd session were great! You were able to add a lot of motion and she was till responding brilliantly.
She did the “out” at the beginning almost all on verbals! And she did just fine when you added moving straight the whole time, she was still easily able to find the jump. She also had no questions when you added more running on the line
So basically she can find it with a verbal, with a send step, and with a verbal and arm as you move forward. That is strong commitment!
For the turn aways – she was reading these really well too! On the first part of the session, you were using a lot of motion towards the RC line to help her turn away. That went well, but I love how in the 2nd part of the video you were using your hands/verbal/connection to get the turn away, rather than moving in closer to the jump (like at 2:05 and 2:23). This will give you a ton of independence on the lines and will be especially useful if you need to use distance or layer something.
Only one suggestion to add (in this sequence or any where there are crosses): Remember to use big exit line connection back to her on the FC exits, especially the FC from 3-4 on the longer sequence. It is a hard line without the exit line connection, so she was a little wide behind you waiting for more side info. You can see it at 1:34 and 2:04 for example.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning! Have fun at the Classic, hopefully the weather cooperates!
>>Yes, on the list of things to check and writing it down. I’ll work on that – typically it’s things like accel or deccel, where are my feet pointing, what is my mouth saying and when, where are my shoulders pointing, what are my arms doing, what type and how much connection do I have with my dog. I’ll work on a mental list to run through in these situations so I’m not just one big question mark of WTF???>>
We can make it a checklist, like diagnosing a problem with a car LOL!! For example, we take something that has gone wrong (like ending up on the wrong side of us after a blind) and develop a quick checklist to go through to problem solve, in order of most likely cause to least likely cause (like lack of timely connection on the new side is the most likely cause, line focus on an off course obstacle is the least likely cause).
It can be fun to do it plus it is a good alternate behavior for us humans, so we don’t end up frustrated. Just like dog training, we can work to keep ourselves in an optimal state of arousal 🙂
T
Good morning!
OMG Sarah this is awesome! You and Mingo look like a smooooooth, connected (and fast :)) agility team!
My favorite part of this is your connection – your arm was back to her so she could easily see your eyes and shoulders. This meant she could see her line and NOT have any questions. Super! That is why she was fast & tight. Also, BIG click treat to you for the wrap directionals and for the reward marker.
The spin is looking really good! Your timing was good for a baby dog in the learning phases: you started the rotation just after she was definitely at the barrel. As you get more comfy that she will commit as you rotate the new direction, you can start it earlier and earlier. Next time you can start it just as she arrives at the barrel… then if that goes well, you can start it just before she gets to the barrel. That will be significantly harder for her (in terms of staying committed because momma is going the other direction) but she LOVES her barrel so I bet she does great 🙂
>>My video from yesterday wasn’t good as she was out of the frame a lot but she used her bank of stay payments for good use today in her lesson with Donna>>
No worries! Some days are good stay days with youngsters… and some days all the stays get used up LOL! It sounds like she did well with her lesson!!
Terrific job here 🙂
TracyGood morning!! I am glad you were Abel to get outside – maybe spring is on the way?!?!?
The first rep of the sit went pretty well! Then he got really antsy & frustrated, and couldn’t sit – maybe he had to have a big pee because he did much better after he peed (sat right away rather than danced around). Or, the grass might have been cold/wet. For net time, you can try to do the stays after he runs around for a while and does other games – maybe that can help him be less antsy (and make sure he pees before starting LOL!).
Another option is to give him a mat or cato board to sit on, so it is a little more similar to what he does indoors and helps direct his focus into the sit and off the grass.
The out session on the jump went well! You can turn the jump 90 degrees so the bar is parallel to your line of motion – that adds a little more challenge to the out and also gives you more space to use balance reps where you don’t cue the ‘out’ and he doesn’t take the jump.
Good cookie throw on the first out rep! I think you hit the bowl with it! The other throws were good too 🙂 You can also use a ‘get it’ marker to help him know where the cookie went.Serps are going well too! You can be closer to the jump to help him create the turn before he goes over the bar. The ideal location is a little closer to the exit wing, and close enough to the jump that you can reach out and touch the wing with a casual, relaxed arm.
You can add the next steps now: a reward target on the ground and if that goes well, you can start adding very slow moving 🙂 For the reward target – the empty bowl you used in the out game would be useful here too, placed on the turn away line for after he comes over the bar, a foot or two past the wing.
He did better with the stay here for sure! I think he believes the release is linked to your connection or your hand movement when you arrive in position – so mix in lots of rewards throwback to him when you get to serp position rather than always release. And when yo duo release, make sure it is a second or two after you look at him and after you put your hand in position.
Nice work here!
TracyA food dish might work – it is a tricky size because it needs to be lower but also wide enough to fit her front feet on it comfortably. You can do arts & crafts and maybe attach a piece of yoga mat to the top so that it is a good surface like the fleet farm bowl!
T
Hi!
>>my arm being too far back – looks like my “close” cueYes, it might end up rotating you too much an pull her off a send.
The session here went really well! The serps seemed like no problem at all – looks like yo uhad the shifting connection and she is great about drivnig to you on serps. Yay!
You can add in more countermotion – as she is heading towards the takeoff spot of the serp jump, you are running forward past the exit wing of the serp jump. Ideally, you are both on the takeoff side at the same time. This will really give you the change to use yoru shifting connection because there is so much countermotion that you will want to shift your connection behind you to the landing spot as you run forward. You started doing this on the last rep, so now you can add even more countermotion.Great job!!!
Tracy
Hi!
She is so fun and fast!!!
On the ‘get out’ video – this is going well, sorting out what she needs to see along with the connection and verbal. I think the ‘sweet spot’ will be for you to be in motion on a parallel line the whole time and using your outside arm as you connect and give her the get out cue. When you did that? She was perfect! If you did not use motion :06) or you started then stopped (:59 and 1:25 for example) she had questions. And when you did not use an arm at all, she had questions. When you used the dog-side arm, she did well – I suggest the opposite arm because it is dramatically different looking and that will be useful on bigger courses!
She was leaping up at you a lot on this when she was frustrated: even if the rep is not perfect, you can do a reset reward to help prevent the frustration (the handling errors are human errors, so she can be rewarded). Also, when she is not sure about the starting point and leaping up at you:
Will she stay on a mat or bed as you move to your starting position, then you can call her to you so she is not rehearsing jumping up on you? Or, use your tug so she is tugging the whole time 🙂 That will help make the transitions into the next rep smoother and she won’t be leaping up at you.
On the turn away video – good job breaking it down! She definitely needed to be shown the turn away on the flat. Also. as you add the wing, be sure to turn her away and *then* indicate the wing rather than trying to indicate the wing while also turning her away (and yes, shifting connection to your hands the whole time :))
She was leaping up at your hands a lot in the beginning when you were moving. She did well when you were stationary, so now you can add more motion in – As you add the motion back in, you can reward her for coming to your hand, and after the reward you can then turn her away. That should help keep her 4 feet on the ground 🙂 – she was already better at the end!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>! I definitely didn’t think about it like that. I was just thinking lots of praise and talking would excite her more and reassure her she is doing good and it’s fun! I guess not if she’s acting more confused than excited! lol I will tone it down! Stick to the facts!
It is possible that she associates “yes” and “good girl!” with “come get your cookie” so she is not sure where to look 🙂
>>So for the speed circle, when you are simply running around the wings, do you use any verbal command? This got me confused because both dogs looked at me like, ‘what do you want?’, when I started running the circle.>>
Depending on the line, I might say go or left or right. I do practice sometimes with no verbals and only motion, so the dogs get used to continuing on their line even when I don’t remember to use my words lol
>>Or how do I tell the dog the outside of the wing being we’ve never done a drill like this and it’s clearly not a jump. Is it just my hand and body positioning that should tell them that?>>
They learn to stay on a parallel line to our line instead of coming to the inside. To help get that going, you can run pretty close to the wings so it is easy to stay out on the other side.
>> So I think it was a combo of boredom and being wiped out! She sure keeps me on my toes having to change the lesson every day!>>
Ha! She is a typical teenager 🙂 And also the cold might have been a factor too.
>> I’m still getting used to throwing a toy so bear with me as it still feels very handicapped at times! Thanks for the gentle reminder when it was clearly a no-brainer!>>
No worries! It is not a no-brainer – it feels more natural to hand deliver the rewards to food-motivated dogs. Throwing the reward will become a habit soon 🙂
T
Hi!
>>. I had given it a shot at Debbie’s but either because the set up looked odd to her or some other unfathomable factor she just couldn’t figure out what we were doing.>>
My guess is it was too tight there for this particular game and she malkes her decisions pretty early, so it was hard to get her the info. No worries!
>>Today we had more room and success.
Yes! This was a really strong session! And look at how well she is finding her jumps and NOT running around them!!!! YAY!
>> I wish I had remembered to put a line on the ground so I wouldn’t cross it for the get outs.>>
You can draw a line in the dirt! And yes, a line will prevent you from gteting too much into the get out jump (she really likes the get outs :))
Having the sequence set up next to the dog walk definitely made it harder at the beginning, because you had to be relatively close to both jumps – so at :08, your line showed the get out jump by accident (you are converging towards it by accident). The rest looked really strong on that side: you gave her a better line to the jump at :15 and :23, and the turn away at :30 looked great! The full sequences were also lovely!
>> She did really well one direction and then the other direction wanted to just do the get out jump regardless.>>
Yes, once she got a taste of the get out jump, that was where she was headed – it might have been a bit of lateness at 1:00 with you still facing the get out jump as she exited the wing? It was definitely later than at :49 where you got the straight line. On thing you can do to help her out is send to the start wing from further away, so you have more time to get fully turned and show her the line. And, moving the get out jump further away can also help! But I am not worried at all, because she is responding beautifully and joyfully finding her jumps 🙂 Super!!!
>>fighter jets overhead and their noise had us end early.
Ugh! What a bummer!!! But it was a really good session 🙂
>>I did want to mention I have been working with Bobbie and she has been started on meds and I think we are seeing some positive changes. Fingers crossed.>>
Awesome!!!! I am glad you are already seeing positive changes!!!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>He did not used to have perference when it was on the flat but am seeing on the jumps.>>
I agree – we could never really figure out his side preference and didn’t really see it til now on jumps.
>> I ran two days in trials last weekend- with a rest day in between. Was great on the first day, second day had really bad puppy brain.>>
The bad puppy brain seems unusual for him! Do you have video? It could be anything: something is sore, he is having an adolescent brain burst :), there was a bitch in season somewhere at the site (I know they aren’t supposed to be there, but……) etc.
>> Unfortunity he is entered this weekend as well so planning on Feo the first the runs and maybe cutting it short the others depending.>>
Good idea – definitely do FEO and see how it goes! If he is not himself, don’t run him. And getting him checked out by a chiro and more importantly a soft tissue person is definitely useful. Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>>. Be kind – I know how bad it is. 😬
Of course!!! But the title is actually pretty hilarious LOL!!! It is far braver to post the poopy stuff, but we all can relate – sometimes things don’t go according to plan.
2 things after watching it:
>>still didn’t have a high enough level perspective to see exactly what I needed to see in the moment.>>
– you can always invoke your Phone A Friend if something is going on at a trial or seminar! Grab a video clip and send it by email or messenger to someone who knows you and Rip pretty well. The outside eye can probably give you quick helpful input. I volunteer to be on the phone a friend list!
– this was definitely not a full on shit show! I am sure it felt a lot worse than it appears here on the video – I know exactly how that frustration feels. But there were a TON of good spots and you were definitely trying to help him out instead of getting mad at him.
Looking at the threadle wraps – yes, the cause was conflicting indicators like at :20. The verbal cue might have said threadle wrap but the physical cues looked like a turn away.
While I am fully caffeinated and thinking of it: I have a general mental list of ‘things that go wrong and likely causes’ so if something is going wrong, I can make quick adjustments. This is pretty universal stuff, regardless of dog/handler/handling method.
For example: if the dog does a rear cross when I want a FC wrap or spin, it is 99% of the time because I am pressuring into the takeoff spot without decel (rather than the proper decel facing forward then rotate). And with threadle wraps, if I get the front of the jump: it is because I have not turned my shoulders to get the line off the front of the jump and gotten the dog onto my hands. It would be super fun to put this list into writing: that way we don’t need to analyze what is happening, we can just assume what happened and make the quick fix!
He had a bit of a conflicting indicator (my new favorite phrase LOL!) at :55 when you wanted the backside. The cue needed more extreme connection (maybe even an outside arm) – the dog side arm there blocked connection and shoulders turned to front of jump. That is another thing that can go on our list: if you get a front side instead of a backside, handler arm was pointing forward/blocking connection and the handler was looking at the jump and not at the dog. we all make these mistakes 🙂
On those moments, though, you help him out and set up re-starts that were effective.
The caption about Bob Daigle was so funny!! He is a VERY nice guy and I am sure the words “shit show” never entered his mind.
>>I’m fine, nothing broken (you’ll understand a couple of minutes in 🤣).>>
OMG!! That startled me! I am glad you are OK!!!! A concussion? EEK!!!
After the concussion moment… it all looked great!
>> still “negativity bias” is a real thing and I was very frustrated with myself.>>
Our brains are wired to focus on the negative. Damn brains! But it is definitely worth reminding yourself that this was hard for everyone!
>> this course from the event was shrunken down to a smaller field and so the challenges became even more difficult – especially with a big jump arc, big strided dog like Rip>>
That is super challenging – the course was not designed for that space, so it requires the dog to run in moderate collection. Poo! Makes it 10x harder than it already was.
So overall… thank you for posting it! And I can post up an inspirational meme of how struggles create great outcomes (with or without f-bombs, your choice LOL!). Or I can tell you how relatable this all is!!! And now we can let it go and move forward (as long as you are healed from the concussion!)
I think we need to make the list (or spreadsheet, I love spreadsheets!) of errors, what caused them, how to fix so we can get quick fixes in the moment! Fun!!!
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
