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Hi!
Run Wild then Canadian Open sounds like an epic road trip!
I sent you a link to someoneās page on FB. There was a really hard tunnel-jump-weave-countermotion challenge!
The session here went really well!! It looked like almost all of the hits were really good. You can reward a mediocre hit with an āeffort cookieā and save the toy for the great hits š
>not a ton of bars and almost all my fault (totally stopping, being in his path, early toy toss). I want to proof against those things so they are explanations not excuses.>
You were not that much in the way, so you can set up jump stuff like this to proof it – I just wouldnāt do it at the same time you are also trying to reward good contact hits. You can deliberately get a bit in the way, move the toy early, etcā¦ and give BIG rewards for keeping the bar up! I like to proof all the things they might see, and reward the dogs for keeping the bars up.
>so thereās some weird toy hand switching I would normally avoid here.
>I think it is good to do that! Otherwise everything is too ācleanā. We want some dirty throws and timing, to help him learn to ignore the weird things that we humans do and keep the bar up š
For the next contact exit game:
On this session, you were ahead of him for the jumps and tunnel as he exited the contact š So for the next session, start yourself closer to the wing so you are parallel to him as he exits the board and not ahead. Then start right at the wing, so you are behind him a he is going across the board – that will be hard but very useful!Nice work here!
Tracy
Holy wow, that is a great reason! Congrats on the new house – very exciting! I am excited to see you this weekend and we will work on them being less feral š
Tracy
Hi! I agree, this went really well. His stay and hi commitment both looked super strong, which made it all easier!
A couple of suggestions:
The BC on rep 1 stared perfectly on time. Yay! Try to finish it faster – you finished it 2 steps later, so the reconnection on the new side ended up being a little late
For the lead out push (3rd rep) – get further across the bar of 2 and more in between the uprights before you release him. He turned after landing from 2, and being further across the bar will help him turn before takeoff.
>I cannot decide if my Fc at the end is late. >
Yes, it was a little late – you were only about halfway through it at 1:12 when he was taking off (ideally youād be finished with it before he takes off for 2.) You can see he jumped straight then turned after landing. The blind works really well in that scenario, so you can use the blind there and not worry about the FC.
Great job!
Tracy
So if everything is looking good medically, soft tissue, and orthopedically, and she is not doing it on courses…
I vote that we stop doing jump grids because they are creating a weird behavior and we do not know why. Do I get a vote? Ha!
No need to rehearse an undesired behavior when we can get the desired behavior in other ways! We can show her different heights and striding on sequences, and there are fun conditioning games with jumps that can help add height, slices, etc. Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Nice session here! You sorted out the cues and also you convinced your feet to not push him off the line (he kept you honest when you did accidentally psh him to the backside š )
>First session was one hand but working on the show him the hand and the check mark/J motion. Second session was both hands, sort of like the old OMD tandem turn, sort ofā¦..
I think the 2 hands is our answer! I donāt use 2 hands for anything else that I can think of so itās a unique look.>The one hand and the 2 hand cues worked really well here! It is hard to know for sure if the 2 hands are the better cue here because he has run the sequence a lot and knows it by now š So you can change the context (reverse it, for example) and start a session with the 2 hand cue and see if it is helpful. I personally use 2 hands because I think the dogs see it better (especially small dog), but it is really a matter of what is comfortable for you and Sly š
One other thing to decide with this skill is how you want to use the verbal. I use it to only mean āturn away and we are layeringā, to get a lot of line focus. For coming back to the tunnel (like you did at 1:38 and 3:26) I just use a wrap verbal which keeps the handler focus (no layering) . You were using it to cue the turn away in both contexts, which is fine of course! But I like having the āhey, we are layering nowā cue to cover me when my handling is, um, not perfect LOL!!
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
Both dogs are looking good here!!
Enzo definitely loved the line to the weaves, no questions at all. Super!
>He would much rather turn wide and out to the weaves than wrap tight to the tunnel. >
I think that had more to do with the cue as he was exiting the tunnel. The cues were very similar at :06 and :20, so he landed long on both of them (too much movement forward, cueing extension).
At :31, your cue had more decel after the tunnel exit and before the jump so he collected nicely, versus the added motion that shows the extension to the weaves. At:57, the decel did not happen until he was in the air so he landed wide, thinking it was the weaves.
So to get the turn back to the tunnel – hit your brakes with decel and wrap verbal as soon as he exits the tunnel, to get the collection before takeoff.
>That proved to be very tricky, since he REALLY wanted to pick up that jump on the way to the weaves. So we worked on the āthrough the boxā skill for a while.>
Yes, there was some confusion when trying to get him to find the weaves on the other side of the tunnel – mostly because you were cueing the jump by accident and not saying weave š he was locked onto the line to the weaves on most of those reps, and extra verbal or motion pushed him back to the jump.
For example, at 1:43 – you handled the left turn on the 2nd jump as a switch away, so he was on the line to the weaves. Then you gave him a big GO and big arm cue, which caused him to turn away from the line to the weaves and go to the jump. I think all he needed there was just the weave cue. At 1:55 you didnāt use an arm cue but as soon as you said goā¦ he went back out to the jump (your shoulders and feet are facing the jump there)
Then at 1:49 I think you said āleftā as he landed which got the tunnel. He was really paying attention!
He slowed down to wait a bit when you were using ācomeā – try just saying āweaveā when he is at the previous jump and see what he does, I bet he can find them š
>I donāt feel like I totally understand the plan for Casper. The front-side wraps look pretty good to me whether with the toy or food. So I did a couple of those and moved on to the backside wraps with the food bowl out and toy in pants. See what you think. I forgot about trying to pair the toy with the food until about halfway through but I think it worked pretty well.>
The main thing is to get him to look down more as he is jumping (and not up at you). The consistent use of the bowl is definitely helping! You can see that at the beginning here (2:47) he was jumping with his head up looking at you, hoisting himself over the bar. Compare to later in the session like at 2:53 and 3:08 – he is looking downwards after the release and the form is a lot better! And he was looking downwards (and not as you) as he was jumping on the wraps too. Yay! Plus using the toy is getting him to drive to the food bowl really nicely.
Next step – try this at 14 inches for a session or two, then 16 inches. The height of the bar is the only variable that changes.
He did really well on the sequence to the weaves! And he is getting even faster. Fun times ahead for sure!!!
Nice job here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>so still injured and actually found out I did break a rib at that trial 2 weekends ago (found out after 3 days of competing in the West Coast Cup this past weekend) >
Oh no! Ouch!!!!
>So, we did some lowkey āother side of the dogwalkā stuff from Package 4 skills but with the real dogwalk since this isnāt new to him.>
Perfect! Plenty can get done with this while your ribs heal up.
GO cues and the weaves all looked good even with the sharp decelerations š He also turned really well on the tunnel its when asked: You can add a brake arm to the right and left cues if the need a tighter turn on the tunnel exits, depending on the course design.
Since this went so well, you can add some higher level challenges:
– move the line of weaves slightly so that he actually has to turn slightly to his left to find the entry! I have seen that a number of times on the soft side entry
– put a jump out there too, so you can do jump or weave cues as a discrimination
– use different verbals on the jump: Go, wraps, soft turns, even turning him away if he can do it at a distance!Weave-tunnel discrimination work also went really well! You were gradually adding countermotion and he did really well – the one thing I donāt think you need is to keep your arm up and be super connected when he is heading to the entry and weaving (you didnāt use it as much later in the session). Treat the weaves like a tunnel: cue the entry, see him lock on, then run without supporting them that much. Watch him just enough to see if he weaves or not š
When your ribs are feeling better, add more running for this game š And, a new challenge that is popping up in UKI and ISC: swap the tunnel and the weaves in this setup, so he has to go right past the tunnel to find slightly recessed weaves. I am not sure I like this new challenge we are seeing, but might as well prepare for it!
>Added a couple of clips from 2 weekends ago where we had some of this on our courses ā I LOVE it when camp stuff shows up immediately for me in a trial.>
OMG! That makes me happy! Well done! These are all things we have been showing the dogs in some form recently, and it looks like he found them to be pretty easy!
>so I used my Gamblers run to practice the weave layer for the Masters Agility class that came after it.>
If the judge was not wanting people to practice it, he would not have had that setup in gamblers. Thanks, judge!
>Iām too short so to see if he hits the entry so I have to like peek under the dogwalk. >
Ha! That is relatable!
>I want to work on the contact exit skills next so will set that up. >
That is perfect for not having to run much. You can replace the start wing with a short tunnel if you wanted more speed into it.
>Heās still having LOTS of issues with aframes in trials when he extends and just leaps apex, lands halfway down downramp and strides off. At some RDW issues when his stride really extends and his beautiful perfect hit 4 stride becomes a 3 stride that leaves the dogwalk 12ā³ above the contact.>
Often the discrepancy is in the arousal state in training versus trialing. We train the dogs in 2 different states, and that can hinder trial performance because the higher arousal state will change their mechanicsā¦ which changes the striding. There are a gazillion studies in humans about this (state dependent learning and memory) and so we just assume that mammal brains are close enough to each other to also apply this to dogs š And it works incredibly effectively – and it is also efficient because we can do fewer reps if the internal states match up as much as possible.
So as you are working the skills on the contacts – only work them in the highest arousal you can muster from him. How to do this? I think youāve played the 10 tunnel game with him, where he zips through the tunnel 10 times in a row til he is basically frothing at the mouth š¤£š then immediately cue the contact behavior you are training. Wild tugging can get this (when your ribs are feeling good again) and also adding a LOT of speed with big distances before the skill will get the higher arousal too. Ive also played loud fast music AND had my other dogs help by barking their heads off.
And while I am getting that arousal state, the behavior is sliced into smaller pieces so there is more chance of success. And we donāt want 100% success – it is that friction of habit of failure that actually advances the learning the most. So try to get at least 1 failure out of every 9 to 10 reps. And doing 10 reps might be hard while maintaining the arousal state, so you might only get 4 or 5 reps in which is fine too.
>ām trying ā for the first time with running contacts a āhit itā type cue after the runnning contact obstacle cue to see if that gives him the clarity he needs. I really donāt want to have to use that long term since I really like being able to tell him once heās committed to the contact with the contact verbal how to exit the contact and to which obstacle, but so far thatās way too often leading to missed contacts when his stride gets really extended.>
Maybe eventually the hit it cue can be the obstacle cue – hit it for the frame and spot for the RDW, instead of obstacle names? Then you will still be able to tell him how to exit – I agree that is important!
>He did great on this today in a short session so weāll see if it translates and gives him the clarity he needs.>
Keep me posted on how he does!
Tracy
Good morning!
> The first side (turning to his left) seemed more physically difficult for him than turning to his right. You will see- itās like he wasnāt turning his ahead at all. He was moving his head better on the right turn.>
He found the TW side each time correctly, and yes there was a slight difference between his left and right turns. He started off turning his head to the left really well – and then he was looking at something that was straight ahead/to the right (you can see him looking there at :13-:14, for example). Was there something else out ahead that might have been visually interesting? It happened after a couple of reps so he might not have been that stimulated by the treat dropped as a reward and the # of reps, so whatever was out there was catching his attention.
So to keep his attention on the game – spice it up a bit š Add toys as a reward thrown back to the wing. Yes, you get more reps with the cookie drops but I think fewer more exciting reps will do the trick here! And if he gets it right a couple of times, change an element: switch sides, or add the wing before, or send him to the other side of the wing a a balance rep.
Nice work here!
TracyHi! Yes, if it is glitching, then a new thread is the best bet.
>I did the weave challenges with both girls. Since cricket does not adore the poles and my tunnel is only 15 feet we did 6 poles.>
You can also curl the tunnel a bit so the entries are more visible as she is heading to the poles š My tunnel is also 15 feet, o with 12 poles you have room to also add the jump as a discrimination challenge.
>Both dogs kind of paused halfway through but then came back to me. Maybe I should have stopped there?>
Weaving is physically demanding, so they might have needed a little break. They might have been feeling the burn š
One thing I did a happy dance about with both girls was how well they both adjusted their lines to find the harder weave entries! Wow!!!
Looking at Cricketās video: she did well with the challenges!
A lot of the weave challenges nowadays are set up so we handlers can decel and wait til the dog is in the entry, then move again. When she missed the first poles and went to the tunnel, you were moving. I would still work on being able to stay in motion, but it is good to know that she finds the entry easily when you hold still for a moment.
She also did well with the countermotion on the entry, as long as you were nearer to pole 1 when you started it. At 2:18 she hit the entry with you near pole 5, then you started moving directly opposite her line, too hard
The only other question she had was at 2:45, where I think you were cueing a threadle to the entry but you were standing on her line so she entered in a different spot.
For Taq: she also did GREAT!
>With Taq I had the poles open a few inches. Which seemed like a good idea since there was only 1 error.>
Yes! Because the setup is hard, making the poles slightly easier was great.
She found the tunnel past the poles really well!
And she did really well finding the weave entries too – SUPER!!! You were stationary til she got the entry, which is fine for now. You can add in gentle, slow movement after you send her to the entry, so she doesnāt rely on you being stationary . It looks like her only error was when you moved a lot when she got the entry. Plus, adding movement will help when you add the countermotion too.
Great job here! You can work the skill on soft sided entries for the next session. Have fun!
Tracy
Hi!
The game here looked good! She had a question about passing the weaves to find the tunnel on the 2nd rep but then you stepped in closer to help her, which was perfect.
The weaves on your right side looked great on all reps!>I put up a couple of barriers at the end of the soft? entry because the first go through I sent the ball flying past her and it pulled her out so she decided the last 2 poles in that direction were clearly optional. Mostly she stays in with the ball throw but we havenāt been practising with 12 poles for a while.>
Yes, that was definitely the harder side for her! The barriers seemed to help (I couldldnāt even see them!). Also, you can move your arms the whole time she is weaving as if you are throwing a ball, so she learns to ignore your hands and finish the weaves š
>Her main challenge is never weaving in competition. Just running past. I might get one or two weaves when I put her back in. Or not. Every course in our big comp at the end of September has weaves so it is DQ city.>
Hmmmm, that is challenging!! Have you done training runs with her, with a toy in the ring (or a ball)? You can keep it hidden, and keep asking for the poles (even if you have to slow her down) and then *surprise!* whip out the reward.
At home, you can get her deranged with arousal by having her run back and forth through the tunnel 10 times or moreā¦ then ask for the weaves. We can try to simulate trial arousal. You can do it on this setup: wing-tunnel-wing-tunnel 10 timesā¦ then wing-weave and see what happens š
Nice work here! Let me know what you think of idea for getting her to weave at trials!
Tracy
Hi!
The threadle wrap reps looked really good! As you add more of your motion to them, you can make your arm cues even more obvious so he doesn’t miss them: really show him the cues and even shake your hands if needed š
For the teeter game: he was having a grand time slamming the board around LOL!! And he did really nice backing up onto the board too!
To help him back up more and keep his head lower, you can lower your hands. This will give him a lower focal point, and it will also allow you to deliver the rewards with his head lower. With hi head a little lower, he will get even better weight shift and hind end use. The best position for the treats is probably going to be at the height of your knees – so you can bend a little, or use a chair if it you donāt want to bend š
Great job!!
TracyHi!
She was really good about getting the jump lines here and also reading the cues (even if they sent her someplace you didnāt intend to:) Yay Lu!!
>I just canāt get my timing on these and after watching it I think I was really on her line.>
Yes – on the reps where she went to the backside (:20, :28, :44) your feet stepped into her line which sent her to the backside. At 1:20, it was your motion going a bit sideways into the line that cued the backside. It is subtle but she is paying attentioN!
If she does go to the backside, try to get her to jump the backside bar, though, so she gets into the habit of jumping it even if you didnāt intend to send her there.
When you went to the front of the bar, she got the correct line (first rep, :51, 1:27)/ Yay! She was wide, though, because you were trying to show the line with speed and decel will get a better collection.
The key cue here, though, is your arm and not your feet š I think you were trying to use lower body motion to get the turn but the switch cues are all upper body (handler line can be to the right turn wing in this case). Ideally, as she is exiting the tunnel you can be decelerating and showing her the switch away arms. Then use them in a check mark motion or a Nike swoosh motion to get her to turn away – and jee your feet going forward until after she turns away. That will get really independent switch aways!
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>Seems like the key for me right now is Iāve got to see that he is past meā¦.and bigger arms are definitely clearer! >
Yes – the bigger the arm cues, the better! And also if the arms are clear, the footwork doesnāt matter as much.
I think the hand cues can be more visible to him if you show him the hand (or both hands, which make it more visible) and turn them as if turning him away in a check mark motion or a Nike swoosh motion š Let him see the hand across your body then swoosh him away – on some of the cues, you were extending the hand toward the jump but it looked like a throwback wrap cue, so he wrapped (like at :25).
At :33 and 1:25 your hand wa pointing to right turn landing spot and didnāt turn him away – then your feet pushed into backside before he passed you.
:42 (and 1:44) – the arm is pointing to right turn landing (he is looking at it) then at :43 your feet do a RC so he changes his line right before takeoff
The rep at 1:02 was more of a check mark hand cue and that was his best rep! Yay! So make the check mark arm swoosh even bigger – you can challenge yourself to not turn your feet at all, and just turn him away with your hands š The feet can turn after he turns away š
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi! This went GREAT! Maisy seemed to really like it too š
Your hand/arm cues were super clear – a little late on the first rep so it looks like the bar came down. But on the runs after that, they were earlier (starting while she was in the tunnel) so they were very timely and it looks like she had no questions (and the bar stayed up!)
You can try adding even more distance away from her on this! Doing these switches from a big distance will give you a positional advantage on the next part of the course š
>I think Iād call it a tandem turn? >
There are many similarities to the tandem, including the hand cues. I use the switch to only every mean layering and distance after the turn, though – and my regular tandem turn is more about turning together to the next line.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Looking at Lift’s tunnel-weaves video:
This was a really good way to break it down for her – kind of a weave-tunnel sandwich setup LOL!
The weaves closer to the camera looked good – she drove ahead beautifully to them from the tunnel, including with you did them as a rear cross!
It was harder to see the weaves on the other side of the tree – it looked like she did think those base were weird (plus it was setup in a big sun spot, so it is possible they were hard to see). The higher profile of the round PVC might be changing her striding a little – to get to 12 poles, does anyone have a flat base you can borrow? She is very zippy on the flat base!!Kaladin was thinking hard on the weave entries!! He was generally heading to the entry then on some reps on the soft side entries, losing confidence that he was right just before entering. So, since we can to build up more speed and confidence that he just goes to the poles without you – you can do 2 things:
Open up the angle of entries a bit so they are easier to get into – you can also add a wing to the 2nd pole of the soft sided entry (it is easy to fade) so he can lock onto it.
You can also move them closer! Get them 6 feet from the tunnel so that he blasts to them. Then inch them back outā¦ 6.5 feet, 7 feet, etc. How quickly you move them away from the tunnel will depend on how fast he goes to them. If he is running to them? Great! Move them out a little more. If he slows down, keep them where they are til he is running again.
>On the switch aways to layers: When you said closer to the jump do you mean while still keeping some lateral distance, but going further towards the take off side of the jump? >
Closer to the front side of the jump, but most ideally on the line to the wing closer to you (and opposite the switch away wing). That way you can still get a parallel line into the layering.
>but decided to wait to see the Games 5 drills to figure out where to put such a big piece of equipment so that itās not in the way) >
You wonāt need the a-frame for the drills until the dogs are really good at the foundation level of the handling game.
> (I didnāt want to have too much of running down different planks at the same time even if they were in separate sessions) >
I have never had an issue with dogs struggling with the difference between the down games on the teeter and the RDW work. They are brilliant and they have us humans really well-trained LOL!
>she doesnāt have a strong enough understanding of her front foot target at the end of the board. She was racing down the board and stopping just short of the target. (aside from the one where I had her too amped up and she careened right off the end of the board). I think I need to go back to the travel plank and refresh her front foot target before doing more teeter going down or starting the elevator game. >
Now that is a skill you can use in this weekās handling games!! You can also elevate her target a bit so she almost steps up onto it. For my 4on dogs, I also have a reward plate attached to the underside of the teeter, so when they get their feet in position, I put the cookie on the plate (it is often a spoon duct taped to stick out from the underside of the teeter haha)
>Is the wider a-frame enough of a different picture that she shouldnāt get confused with it if I go back to the downhill teeter stuff soon?>
Yes, it is different enough. And also, it helps the young dogs know the difference based on the foundation games we play. I am a big fan of training all 3 of them because the games and cues are so different. I have trained all 3 in the same session, and so far Iāve never had a dog ask a question about which was which.
>Nothing found in chiro or massage appointments, but sheās still drifting to the right for this grid. >
That was really interesting, because she did it with you on either side – she was not curling into you, she was moving to her right even when you were on her left. Did the body work people do muscle measurements to make sure everything was equally muscled? Has she had her grown up dog OFA-type xrays? On the next jump session, video her from behind so we can see what her hind end/pelvis is doing. And you can give her more room to the last jump too, so she can really open up the striding. That will be fun!
Nice work here!
Tracy
