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Hi! She did REALLY well here, totally looking for her jumps and managing her striding really well!!! YAY!!!! Super high rate of success!
I think for now, keep using food as a reward – it is a little less stimulating and also allows you to get a TON of reinforcement into her in a short time.
With this setup, 2 ways to proceed:
– add more of your speed, bit by bit
– separately, ever so slightly change the angles so she has to manage her lead changes and also find the front side of the jump even if it might be easier to run past it. You can do this by angling the jumps where they were here, and then changing their position slightly by moving them off the line (but not requiring any threadles or side change). Start this at a slow jog, then we will build your speed back in.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! This is a great update! Yes, his performance in class was excellent and the deeper hits on the a-frame are great: but it is even better knowing he felt great the next day. Yay!
For the backing up to keep him straight, it is totally fine to use aids like 2 x-pens, or an x-pen and a wall to create a channel for him to back up straight.
Have fun!
TracyHi!
>
I’ll make sure there’s no medical issue and then start making a few things simpler again with weaves and teeter so it’s all happy and fun.>Perfect! And have them really ‘dig around’ as much as they can – weird little things can be restricting movement or causing pain (someone at a seminar today said her dog had pain in a tiny muscle that we’d never even heard of, but it was changing the way she was using her hind end).
>Yes, he had multiple yeehaw barks and them some alarm barking (that was indeed his voice!) although I’m not sure what he was alarmed about in that case. Maybe just all the movement all of a sudden when people started going into the ring to set bars. >
It is possible that even he didn’t know what he was alarmed about 😂🤣 he might have surprised himself – arousal is a slippery situation!
>I sure as heck wasn’t going to shush him in that moment. >
Right! Let him sing!
<
> Definitely possible. I’ve been thinking back and likely ‘no’ he has not seen quite that setup before. > Yeah, that is the hardest part of agility… ALL of the variations and possibilities they have to be exposed to. It is a complex sport!!
>I’ll keep you posted on all the medical stuff just for funzies.>
Cool! I am looking forward to hearing what they say!
Tracy
Also – do you have access to any of those white accordion gates that we often see as ring gating at trials? Or know anyone who can loan them?
Hi!
This was an informative session!
Try to shift the focus of the session to getting reward in for finding jumps (rather than trying to get complete lines or sticking to a specific order of jumps). You can mix up when he get the reward (after 1 jump or after 2 jumps or 4 jumps then 1 jump etc)to make it exciting and keep her seeking out the jumps.In this session, she had a 50% rate of success (which is also a 50% rate of failure). 2 of the successes were placed rewards, so that is not as effective as the surprise throws when she seeks out a jump.
So places to reward –
She found the jump on the lead out on the first rep – Totally a great place to reward.
She missed a jump but then got back on the line at 1:30… you can totally reward that! You got a good reward in at 2:13 for just one jump.
Stopping her for going around was frustrating for her, and you can see she was getting more unsure and actually froze up at 2:46 (this happened at the trial too). So more reward for seeking out the jumps as you slow job around will be super – think of it as a higher speed lazy game 🙂
I would be interested in seeing how it goes on grass if you take out some of the speed by putting the jumps 15 feet apart (still at 16”) and reward her for seeking out the jumps with you just walking. It is like a hard jump grid when you do this, but it is great for getting dogs looking for jumps – I would use giant chunks of food as the reward for it, as that might end up being a great reward for jump seeking (for now :))
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
Mixing the cues all up in this game is the true test of whether your handling was on time or not – the session went great!He was able to do the RC on the very first rep 1 – no placed toy needed, he has figured out rear crosses! Your timing was earlier and even better on the next rep and he also got it really well when you changed sides. Yay!
Go lines went well (he forgives the throw that hit the wing LOL)
He had a couple of questions about the wraps: it comes down to showing him more of the transition into deceleration, before you rotate.
The left turn wrap at :23 did not have any decel so when you rotated, it looked like a RC cue (I did the same thing on the demo video, oops!) You had a little more decel on the next rep so he got the wrap, but you can make a more obvious transition: run fast forward for a couple of steps, then as he exits the wing wrap, let him see you go from fast to slow (still facing forward) – that is the main part of the wrap cue. And when he is crunching into collection right in front of the jump, you can do the rotation.
I think the same thing happened when you did the FC wraps on the other side – at :50 it did look a little like a RC for a moment but then he caught himself and ended up back jumping. So definitely add the forward-facing decel in and I think it will be clearer for him.
>I don’t think he has great understanding of the backside though – and now I realize I was supposed to keep going instead of fronting again. >
He is cueing off the connection and line of motion right now, and that is fine 🙂 And no worries about the FC there, it looked good and made the reward happen fast 🙂 You can add the circle wrap next time.
The first one was great, really clear connection on the cue all the way til he got to the backside. Super! The connection was not as clear at :59, you were pointing forward a little more which blocks connection and turns your shoulders to the front side. You added more connection on the last rep and it worked great! You can keep your arm behind you for longer, so you don’t accidentally curl your shoulders to the front side as he is passing you.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! This went great!
She said the serps were no problem at all! And she also did well with the tunnel sends/layering the jump. The threadle went well too, her only question was whether ‘in in’ was a release or not LOL!!
Since this all went so well, you can move to the advanced level with you adding your motion before the release, and changing her start angle for the serps and threadles.
Great job!
TracyHi!
He did really well with the ‘get out’ game! Super! He found the jump each time but also didn’t go to it when you did the balance reps of running past it.
>I can see I’m not really taking a straight line like I should be and I’m angled towards the jump. >
Yes, your line of motion for the ‘get out’ should be basically the same as the balance reps. You can put a leash down on the line so you can see the line and not accidentally get too close to the jump. And that will also help you start the advanced level, which he looks ready for here.
Wind In Your Hair: this also went really well!
Rep 1 needed more connection but you fixed that on rep 2 – it was great!You can make an earlier transition into decel, starting just as he lands, to set up the wrap (it will start even sooner as he get more experienced). And when you decel, be sure to face forward rather than turn your shoulder away from the line.
You can see this on the 1st rep on the other side at :46 – you were a little late showing the decel (happened as he was arriving at the jump) and you were pulling away, which looked more like a 90 degree turn. Compare to the rep at 1:06 on that side- you had earlier decel and you were facing forward more, so he read it easily as a tight turn. Yay!
He had a bar down at 1:18 – the decel was a little late so he had trouble adjusting in time for the wrap. Your timing on the last rep was much better!
>I’m not sure if he deflated towards the end because he knocked that bar or if he had just depleted his energy.>
He did not seem to like hitting the bar there but also he was moving differently, a little hunched? So maybe he got a stinger from hitting it or he had to poop or something 🙂 His brain was still fully engaged but his body was less sure.
You can kind of see his movement changing on the last video 2 (was this done after the wind in your hair?). You can see him carrying his left hind more than he was pushing off with it to jump (:03, :14, :23 for example). He hit the bar at :43 and looked back at it, as if saying “ouch!”
The left turn RCs looked great! You were really clear as you moved up the rear cross line to the center of the bar so he seemed to have no questions.
You were later getting on the RC line on the other side which is why he didn’t read it as well. At :36, :46, :56 and 1:06, your first movement after he exited the tunnel was pulling your shoulders/feet to the left then trying to cut behind him after he passed you. Compare to the rep at :07, for example, where you went straight up the line to the center of the bar after he exited the tunnel – much clearer info.
>I guess it could be the set up, >
Part of it was that it was close to the fence, so you might have been automatically pulling away from the fence 🙂
>but I think I need to go back to a different exercise to solidify his understanding of rears.>>
I think the only tweak is to run more straight to the center of the bar like you did on the first side, those were great 🙂
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>Did a session on the “switch” cue this morning that at the time I thought went great, nearly perfect, >
I agree with this assessment – great session on a hard skill! She did her switch each time and then followed your line perfectly when you wanted her to ignore the jump. Yay!
>but in watching the video I’m not sure if I’m “helping” too much? Too much feet turning at the jump to cue it or toy out too early to call her past?>
Nope! You were really strong and not too helpy 🙂 It is HARD to show the dramatic upper body cue without getting a little movement towards the jump but you were good about controlling/minimizing it on the side and GREAT and running straight on the 2nd side. You can see how straight you were running at :41 for example. Really nice!!!
>I also realized that when I was preparing to do the blind I couldn’t cue with the outside arm like when I wasn’t doing the side change,>
I think you got it with the outside arm and good timing though! It is HARD because of how quick you have to do it, but look at the rep that starts at :54. You cued the switch with the outside arm and saw her lock on (:55), so you got rid of that arm and started the blind so it wa basically done when she took off for the jump at :56. Nice!!! The only thing to add there is keeping your arms in tight to your ribs to make the blind even quicker.
>The blind was inevitably late because of how close the wing is to the jump- by the time she saw and committed to the jump she was only one stride from it.>
It is a tight space but you are getting the timing! That turn at :56 was really nice! Your gut instinct in the moment was correct: super strong session!
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
>I have struggled with what verbal to use for a “jump”.
Based on what you described, you have very specific verbal for straight/extension, wrap, 90 degree turns, and get out. The ‘missing link’ is that grey area of take the jump on a slight arc (the amount of turn is minimal and it doesn’t fit into any of the other verbals).
>Is there a way around this without having yet another verbal? >
I just say ‘jump’ 🙂 For me, that means “take the jump on a very slight curl towards me” and it has also been useful for jump-tunnel discriminations. And if I need more? I add a brake arm to turn the dog more if needed.
>The seminar presenter just stood in front of the tunnel so we could move on to the rest of the handling bits on the course but I’m still scratching my head how to approach this with “future” dogs (ie Beat).>
Do you have a course map? Or can you draw the sequence? We can map out what verbals work best and maybe even run Beat on that little section 🙂
Hi!
The good news here is that the steps to the transition were very clear: fast forward, decel, rotate. Yay!
So now… do the decel portion of it sooner 🙂 You were tending to do the decel as he was catching up to you about a stride from takeoff, so he was not really able to collect before takeoff (and was ticking the bar trying to turn in the air).
Move up the timing of the decel based on his position:
Send to the wing and accelerate til he is one body length past the wing – then decel. He will still be pretty far from the jump but will see the cues earlier, which means he will collect. Keep moving forward in decel til you see him crunch into collection, then rotate.And if one body length past the wing proves to be a little late, still? Then you can start the decel as his head exits the wing wrap.
If you start at that timing and he doesn’t take the jump, it is probably because you hit the brakes too hard and started to rotate at about the same time.
>He was wider going to the right – it was likely me,
You were a bit later on the cues on the right side 🙂 The first rep on the left was the latest and similar to what he saw on the right.
> but he was a bit distracted – adolescent boy…the struggle is real.>
Ha! I thought he was reading the timing really well here, and he gets a gold star for reading the timing on each rep rather than just turn after he saw it a few times. That keeps us handlers honest 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi!
I think leave the distances at 6 feet for now but get the target moving. Having it stationary and that close gets her thinking about decelerating to stop. Keep me posted!Tracy
Hi! This was really nice!!! He was fast and sassy – I can’t remember the last time I heard him bark in excitement on course. Yay! He seemed to be moving GREAT and looked like he was feeling very confident. Yes, he thought the rear cross at the weaves was weird LOL but that is fine 🙂 The rest looked great.
The next step is to see how he feels the next day, physically. Make sure he till feels loose and not tight or sore.Great job!
TracyHi!
>Since this is already set up in my yard I was going to practice it some more later this week and just set her up in different parts of the circle to change it up.>
Sounds good!
> I’m not sure if I want to do it separately or do it when I get her spayed. I always get nervous when dogs have to be put under.>
Yes, that is legit, I don’t want to put the dog under extra times if I can avoid it.
>Just to clarify, putting the wrap on her actual pads doesn’t make it slip?>
If you are using power flex, you will get more grip with her pads wrapped – I think of it as unwrapped pads are like running in socks, and wrapped pads are like running in high level grippy sneakers 🙂
>I’ve already been thinking a lot about being very picky as to what judges I’ll show her under and what venues to run. Probably just UKI (judge and facility dependent) and ISC. She’s just very different from Emmie and the lines/spacing are going to be a very big deal for her.>
Yes, especially in these early days of trialing. Picky is the way to go!
>One thing I’ve been struggling with is when to actually raise her bars up. I feel like I should raise them because she’s 2.5 and I want her to get used to the height she needs to actual jump. But at the same time she seems to be having a hard time figuring out her jumping in general. My goal this summer was to do a lot of jump grids/exercises to get her used to her actual height and get her stronger.>
One of the conditioning exercises that I think would be high on the list is hind end organization and strengthening of hind end and core used to tuck it in. It can be as simple as stands to tight tuck sits to start (I use some of that conditioning in jump work too, to help the dogs sort out hind end). And then the full height bars can be introduced both in the straight grids where they provided a set point for her, and eventually at the end of bending grids too.
Let me know how it goes!
Tracy
