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Hi!
I agree, this went really well! And your field is absolutely gorgeous!!
>Thought it went well but I am not sure which hand to use? Always dog side? >
Depends on the dog and the context: For slightly wider turns, you can use dog-side arm (the turns here can all be dog-side arm cues). If you have a super tight wrap on jump 1 or a tight turn, you can use both hands to cue the forward focus AND the tightness of the turn.
Her stay looked great and she took the jump beautifully on most of these, even with you on the other side of the tunnel.
She had a question when you are halfway up the tunnel on the other side of it (3:29). You stepped foward a bit more on the next rep and that really helped her! And then on the last rep she really had it. Nice!
Question:
When you pointed to the jump, did she give you an indication that she was locked onto it? It doesn’t look like she turned her head, but we do want some type of “yes, I see it” (like flicking her eyes to it) for when there are a bunch of other jumps around or you are behind her/lateral.If she was looking at you the whole time, you can do two things to help her out:
– go right up to jump 1, point at it, then head to your lead out position. That might be all she needs to affirm that it is the correct jump.– starting a little closer, you can point to the jump then wait til she looks at it even the tiniest bit, then release (and throw a reward to the landing side of the jump). That can help her understand that looking at the jump is what gets you to release her 🙂 And if she looks at you the whole time, you can place the toy on the other side of the jump to give her something stronger to look at.
Great job! Onwards to the 4 Corners sequences and the courses (which use this skill for sure!)
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad Taq is back on the mend, poor pup!!! She ran well here, so it looks like she is feeling good 🙂
Cricket and you did a great job on this course!!
Question: does she have a stay or sit at the start line? She was bouncing up at you which makes getting the first jump smooth a little harder 🙂
Once you got going:very nice opening line!
SUPER nice teeter from a distance, love the change in your verbal energy there!!!You were easily in position on the wraps before the weaves. As she is passing you to the first one (jump 8) you can move away from the landing spot so she has room to land and drive to 9. The post turn on 9 to the weaves worked but it was a little wide – it is a spot to try a spin (FC to BC) and see how that goesi n terms of getting a tight line.
Nice weaves!!! Keeping her in your left for the frame to a tandem on 12 worked really well at :29. You can then cue the tunnel then leave earlier for the next section, I think Cricket had the line and didn’t need as much parallel line support from your motion. And getting to 14 sooner will allow you to start the BC sooner (when she exits the 13 tunnel) to tighten that turn there. A FC is also an option to tighten that line, but the FC rotation would require you to bethere sooner than the blind to decelerate into it in order to rotate.
The ending looked really strong too! The 16 jump is a backside if you wanted to try it that way – it adds a little challenge there 🙂
One overall note with Cricket and Taq too: you tend to say “go” a lot as a general commitment cue for the jump. You’ll either want to save it for straight acceleration lines, or you’ll want another cue that indicates the straight acceleration lines. For example, you can say the quiet ‘go’ as a general ‘take the jump’ cue, then use something like a loud RUN RUN RUN for the big straight line cues.
Taq did really well on her sequences too!
On the first sequence, she did really well finding that recessed tunnel under the DW at :59!!
And even better at 2:02! Finding that tunnel and layering the dog walk is becoming an important skill in AKC lately too, so it is really great she did it so well.When you wanted the backside at 1:03 – you turned your feet too early so she was confused. Voice said back and feet said front 🙂 Ideally, your feet would remain parallel to her line to the backside until she is past you and heading to the backside. More on that coming next week!
Super nice teeter!
The blind off the teeter put you on the other side for the next line, resulting in pushing into the line for the next jumps for RCs, which slowed her down. It would be fun to keep her in your right and then drive to a blind cross (or do one RC).A-frame is looking good! She did try hard on the weaves, they are a work in progress – if you can swap out real weaves for training weaves, you can put the training weaves (like open channels) into the course for her to practice weaving in sequence.
She had a couple of questions about the teeter later in her session:
The layered teeter probably needs a target to help her out – then she was thinking about it a lot on the next rep too. You can add in a target at the end for the distance work and lots of reward, to keep her driving to the end like she did on the first rep with the teeter.
She did the ending line beautifully too! Found the tunnel past the dog walk really well and that allowed you to easily set up the next line. Yay!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
I am very impressed that you built and ran this with all the heat!! Click/treat for you!!!! You and Syn did a great job. Lovely connection throughout your runs!!!
Looking at the 1-2-3 opening:
I think you can trust your wrap cue for 1 more and then just cue the 2 jump without pulling her in/pushing her out at :04. You tried to help her with that at 1:17 on the 2nd run but she ignored you (“I GOT THIS, MOM!”) and took the straight line to jump 2. Yay!>because the teeter is probably the hardest obstacle for her to do distance, so I was really proud of her for hanging on even when she was uncomfortable.>
Yes! She was such a good girl especially on that first teeter (she did look at you like you were NUTS though, it was pretty funny LOL!) You can put a target down at the end of the teeter (if she was trained with one originally, I think she was?) to help her look forward to the end when you are adding big distance.
The threadle wrap on 8 worked well! For the wrap at 9 the spin was the better choice than the full post turn, because it got a tighter turn and you were further ahead.
>the weave entry was our struggle. >
Yes, this soft sided weave entry is HARD. She worked it out nicely! You can use physical help to face the entry longer, but you can also train it to be more independently (more on that coming later this summer). I don’t think we ever showed her this game, to help with this particular entry? It is a fun one!
Nice BC after the frame to get the 12 jump to the 13 tunnel!! That set a nice, fast line.
You can also keep her on your left for the frame and flip her away to the 12 jump with a tandem turn – that gets you closer to the FC on 14 – they were a little late because you were still accelerating into position as she exited the tunnel, so she was a little wide. If you do the tandem turn on 12 then send to the 13 tunnel, you will be up at 14 before she exits the tunnel and have an easy time controlling the turn.
The ending looked really strong!! Yes, you had a temporary oops on run 1 with where the backside was, but on the 2nd run, the 15-16-17-18 line was really lovely!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>I’ll probably wind up using Beat’s new verbals with him,>
That will be very helpful for you, even if it doesn’t matter to him all that much. Pointy dogs are very good with verbals, surprisingly, so it will be great to have Beat hearing them.
> but not sure he will learn them just by associating them with handling. I’m sure he will hear the word, but not sure it will ever become a cue for the behavior without the handling if that makes sense? >
Totally makes sense! The verbal might greatly assist the behavior along with the handling, especially if the handling is not as visible (distance work, etc) but it might never something that can completely override motion. But I think that is still perfectly fine and useful on course!
>The few verbal cues I have managed to teach him, I had to really isolate: new cue (verbal), then old cue (visual of the handling). For instance, the good old front side vs backside exercise where you sit or restrain them in front of the jump and try to give a verbal with no other cues, no matter how much I really thought I had paired it well, the verbal cue was just a release cue to do the behavior he had already decided it was based on my lead out>
Based on how hard that is for most dogs and how ultimately that skill (verbal without motion) is not that useful, I have abandoned teaching it like that for most dogs except for the beginning of proofing games. We have some games coming up here (next Monday!) where we will be asking the dogs to process the verbals while we humans are in motion – and the motion is the same for each of verbals and doesn’t really assist with telling them which obstacle we want. Working it this way has transferred to course work 1000 times better 🙂 Plus it is fun 🙂
> (or even lack of one, I think it also contributed to his start line stress- he had learned like half a dozen different “release cues” and none of them meant anything more than a general “ok” release word).>
I can see that as a possibility – and too much possibility to be wrong too, which could definitely contribute to stress issues.
>Rather than become LESS dependent on my position and movement, he became SUPER sensitive to position and other cues since I was trying to remove them completely from the picture!!!>
SO INTERESTING!!! I have seen dogs get frustrated when we are verbals only without motion and yes, I can see getting really sensitive to motion as a way of seeking more info if the verbals didn’t make sense.
> I finally had to remove all visual cues by sending him around a wing or through a tunnel and start saying the verbal before he could see the obstacle or my handling, then when he came around and could see the handling, he had already heard the verbal.>
Perfect, and no releases to worry about. You will see the upcoming games have motion in everything but the very beginning warm up (and Beat can play them too!)
> So I can certainly do this for the new verbals, but it’s time consuming for each one. >
I don’t think you need to break it down like that: the upcoming games are for obstacle discriminations not directionals. For directionals, since he is 9, I recommend the “slap the verbals on” method of just add them to your handling. Again, it is more for you than him in many ways, but also it might end up helping him too!
> adding new verbals makes me a WORSE handler (only so much bandwidth, yeah I know, we are working on this!) it seems it’s a very fine balance? So I guess my point is… I know I need to add some verbals, I’m open to working on ME, but where do I start so I don’t break my brain or waste time on ones that he won’t need?>
Pick one important verbal that you think you don’t really have down pat yet (maybe it is a new verbal or something) and just add that one. When you find a spot for it, work it in the walk through specifically then run it with focus on that. That way, there is less bandwidth needed – most of what you will be doing is easy and only one new/hard thing is added. Which do you think is the most important verbal that you don’t have fully yet that you might want to add?
>And he can DO tandems with handling, as long as there isn’t anything else really as an option. Now that threadle wraps are every where and the expectation is that the dog does them very independently I feel like he can easily confuse the two if there are multiple jumps in view. So getting the front side of that jump after the A-frame with a tandem would be difficult because he’s going to look for a backside jump.>
Threadle wraps and tandems are definitely close relatives! Yes, they should be independent but also, the handler position definitely plays a role (even at a distance). So handler line will help him know which jump you are wanting in that scenario – and we actually have a threadle wrap drill coming on up Monday too LOL!!
>so much for me work on, so little time.>
Yes, not a lot of time in the day and plus we can’t work the dogs a whole lot (especially when it is 10 million degrees outside). But prioritizing will make it easier to get stuff done. Since I believe UKI is your main venue, we can prioritize skills/verbals needed for that style of course. You can make a list of what you need NOW to be successful (2 things, max, because 2 things are doable), what you need SOON (2 more things, but we don’t look at them yet) and what you will need eventually (2 more things). So we start with the NOW list and when you are happy with that – the SOON list moves up to become the now list, and so on.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Better to be safe! Plenty of time to catch up. We have terrible heat here too – sunrise is the only time it is safe to be running around outside with the dogs.
T
Hi!
>Before this video, we played a little bit with distance between jumps and he’s definitely best with 6′ distance.>
I think 6 feet between jumps 1 and 2 might be the sweet spot, or maybe a little less (5.5 feet perhaps). With the 2 jumps at 8”, we will get the final answer from him 🙂 He was trying to bounce on the 2nd rep and last rep, but dropped a bar on each because they were too high. So it will be fun to see how the 8” bar changes things.
> He cleared the 16″ jump every time.>
Yes, he was super! What I suggest there is to have a reward target with the reward on it. There was a target on the ground, but the reward was coming from your hand so he was looking at you over the last bar. So, placing a treat on the target will get him looking straight (target should be about 12 feet from jump 3, and remember to move it when jump 3 moves too :))
The pop out went really well!
On the first run:
He sent to the #4 tunnel really well – you can play with sending even sooner and from further back, barely passing jump 2. That will give you more time to finish the blind (which you did really well here) as well as be further over so he sees the backside wing at 5. That got blocked a little at :15 so he needed an extra moment to find the backside there. He ended up on the wrong side of 6, but that was because you were on his line – good job continuing!On the 2nd run:
I loved the layering in the opening! FUN!! You got more speed that way and also showed the wing of 5 sooner. Yay!
The full post turn there got him asking a few questions – there was a lot of decel and wrapping to the inside was a slower path. I think your FC from run 1 was the correct plan, and you can be one step further away so you can show the line to the correct side of 6 and still get the slice to 7 which is fastest and easiest.Looking at the 7 jump (wrap) on both runs:
On run 1, there was a bar down on 7 at :21 due to a conflicting indicator where physical and verbal cues didn’t match. You were decelerated at 6 then accelerated to 7 but used the wrap verbal. So the voice said wrap but the motion said extend – and the rotation happened after he took off, so he tried to adjust in the air and dropped the bar.On the 2nd run, you had decel before 7 is just needed to come sooner so he cold adjust – the bar stayed up but he landed wide.
Ideally, you accelerate away from 6 then as he exits 6 and looks at 7, decelerate while he is still closer to 6 than 7. Then as he collects, you can do the FC and move the new direction.
>I think Ven might be flattening out when he’s chasing me on course, at least that’s the thought in my head when I woke up this morning. I’m going to video our classes tonight and Tues evening to see if I can confirm that and ask my instructors to also see if they see it too. Latent learning/processing!>
Bring your camera and video everything, because what we humans think we are seeing in the moment is often not what is happening LOL Our brains like to make things up 🤣.
About flattening: when this happens, it is generally when we handlers are not really connected. We might be able to peripherally see the dogs, but that doesn’t mean that the dog sees connection. So be sure to look all the way back at him when you are ahead, and keep your arms down so you don’t block his view of connection.
Also, plan your timing with your instructor. Ven will definitely drop bars when the turn cues happen too close to takeoff or over the bar (my dogs drop bars too in that situation) so plan to have your cues starting at the previous jump, no later than landing from it.
>I’m trying to figure out how to work 4 corners in my small 30×30 space. I can use my 4′ tiny tunnel to create more distance between the tunnel and jumps.>
Definitely the tiny tunnel! And weave poles as jump bars. And you can also use one less jump: maybe eliminate jump 3 on that first setup?
>Or we could work pop outs instead until I can get a ring rental to set it up.
Absolutely! Kristin with Reacher just posted a setup in her basement if you want to see how to scrunch it up 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m sorry it’s so hot for you too! Quite unfortunate timing when trying to do all the agility things outside (or anything except jump in the water)!>
Yeah, it is a dangerous heat and most of my dogs don’t like water… except Elektra who gets in a pool and resource guards it from other dogs 🤣😂. It was lovely out at 6am, though 😂
Basement training will work super well! The setup works nicely here on these videos. You can lower the bars for basement training so he is in full on extension as much as possible – higher bars on shorter distances will cause a bit of collection.
He did great here with finding the jumps! Remember that you can keep moving to support his line – your verbals and connection were great, and he was looking forward at his line (YAY!). Adding parallel motion will allow you to do t he other 4 corners games as much as possible here too! And you can randomly throw the rewards out on the line for the surprise factor to make it even more motivating (rather than wait til the end of the sequence, which is not as surprising).
The pop out went really well! On the first run – super nice opening and great job getting the blind on the tunnel exit to show the backside. Because the bar is shorter than he expected, he didn’t quite have time to set up to get over it but that is fine – he was trying! You read my mind, I was going to suggest swapping it out for the wing jump but then you did it. Length of bar on the backsides makes a difference, even for the littles!
One option for the opening to play with: Lead out more laterally so you are closer to 2 and not as close to 1. That will be even more useful when you spread it out more when you are outside.
He also did well with the threadle wrap on that jump! NICE!!! The 2nd version of the threadle wrap was even faster (2:10) because you were moving forward and not facing him. Facing him will add more collection which he doesn’t need here: the forward moving threadle wrap was tight AND fast. And that set up a really nice ending line too! Yay! He had no questions about the wrap on jump 7, which is actually a jump-tunnel discrimination: follow the wrap cues and don’t grab the tunnel. He was perfect and your cues were spot on!
Great job here! It is a great way to build the skills without roasting in the heat!
Stay cool 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I hope little Grace is feeling better! I found the first 2 weeks after the surgery to be really hard but then it got easier and easier.Maisy did great on the video and also gave us insight into where she is looking on course!
At the start, when you were not too far away:
At :03 and :26 she had very direct looks at the jump and went directly to it when released (her stay looked great on all reps here!)With you behind her starting at :29, things got interesting:
She flicked her eyes to the jump but then ended up going to the backside of it. Then at 1:07, she flicked her eyes at the jump but when you released, she wrapped the tree LOL! You said “interesting” and it made me laugh so hard. Then she ended really strong, with you not as far behind her but more lateral and she got back to very direct looks at the jump and taking it correctly.So when you are very visible (parallel or ahead of her, or lateral so she can see you peripherally) then it was easy. When you were less visible (behind her more) she had a harder time. So that is where you can place a toy on the landing side of the jump for a few reps to help her out. Then switch to throwing a toy to the landing side of the jump to help her continue to look ahead when you are not visible. I bet you will see her look directly at the jump more (like she did at the beginning and ending) which will really let you know if she will take the jump when you are behind her.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>Haha still working hard on in between ie presence of agility equipment – then will move to high arousal- doesnt take much to crete that three or four jumps will do it..>
Right! So having just one tunnel out there then doing stays on the flat, no jumps, after doing 10 tunnels is a nice starting point 🙂
>– throw the reward out on the line, don’t reward from your hand (more on that below)
is it okay to have reward ahead of her>Do you mean placing it out there in advance? Yes, to get started. But only for a few reps then you need to go to a thrown reward. We don’t want the visible reward placed out there to become the cue for her to get on the line because then without it, we don’t have the behavior.
> Yes can be dumb sometimes – she cant be bothhered finding food if I throw it. need to use a toy or a placed reward.>
Yes, a tossed treat is probably not visible enough and not interesting enough but I bet she would love a toy or a ball!
>We did some more work on sequence 5 with her bag out there and she layered beautifully – why- I was moving and she had plenty of speed and it was the second time.>
Great! The next session can start with the bag out there for one rep… then take it out and throw the toy early (or have someone else throw it early).
>Unfortunately the videoer stuffed up and didnt get it on film. Pity as she did some really nice work and it felt almost smooth and calm…Its didnt last>
That is a bummer, the great runs almost never make it on to the video!
Looking at the videos:
The opening looked good, but definitely add the layering to make it easier on the 5-6 line. By running with her on 1-2-3-4, you were late getting to 5-6. At :50, you did the layering but then tried to get 6 as a rear cross and got the back jump instead. Try to do the side change there (blind cross) – you will have plenty of time with the layering, and it makes it very easy to get the right turn on 6.She did well going into the layering in the 2nd half of the sequence! On the short video, I think you were trying to manage her line too much because you pulled her off it when you said ‘here here’. Just keep saying her jump cues and reward her for finding the line. It is possible the weave poles out there were visible on her line, causing her to go wide at :47 and at the end on the 2nd video?
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>For 1- I was releasing with his tight turn cue. He doesn’t have directionals, so tight is just “turn tight towards me.” >
You can start adding whatever verbals you are using with Beat – partially to teach him more verbals, partially for the handler-sanity of only having to remember one set of verbals 🙂 Will he know what the new verbals mean right away? Nope! But he will learn them pretty quickly, by associating them with the handling that accompanies them.
> I like the idea of the serp to the blind, that might be doable, even turning left or right on 1.>
It would be fun to see him try both ways (even if you just reward the jump and don’t do the DW) and see how he does.
>For jump 4, I only have a backside verbal, exit from a backside is just handling. Um, have I mentioned how bad I am with verbals? >
You are NOT bad with verbals! You are currently expanding their use! A backside wrap and a backside slice as different verbals will help both Roots and Beat, especially with the RDW and distance work on courses currently. When I added the backside wrap verbal to my Voodoo, he was already adult and he learned it by associating the handling. He learned it fast and seemed grateful that he didn’t have to rely on my physical cues 🙂
>And how much THIS dog in particular doesn’t actually care about words any way?>>
He probably cares, but is not processing them in time, perhaps? Do I remember that he is a Rat Terrier? In my Rattie experience and terrier experience in general over the years: they respond to verbals really well after a “heads up please listen” cue before the important verbal. I use a loud name call really early then the directional (and turn directionals are quiet like a secret which really gets them leaning in). You will see my RT mix, Hot Sauce, running demos this summer and you will hear the ‘heads up’ verbals, as opposed to the pointy dogs who can run fast & process verbals without the extra heads up. It is something we can try!
>I was super pleased with his turns 8-9, those have been hard to do!>
Yes! And it sounds like you gave him a strong ‘heads up!’ of ROOTS ROOTS like at :41 before cueing the wrap – I think you had a wrap verbal going but I couldn’t hear it clearly because you were quiet. Both of these were excellent choices and get great turns going!
> I don’t have a tandem cue, and with having introduced the threadle wrap visual and verbal cue, he struggles on a tandem like this where I might also ask for a threadle wrap, so I tend to avoid them and just blind. Have I mentioned we don’t do well with verbal cues? lol.>
We can get a tandem going without verbals! That way you have the physical cues in your toolbox and don’t need to worry about the word 🙂
I bet you already have this move in your toolbox with him (the video is from before the Verbals Era):
And if not, here is what is coming in MaxPup 3 anyway to teach it 🙂
> The only part I didn’t like in my second try was him falling on his face there (well, I guess and the pushy teeter criteria). I assume I was a bit late with the decel on that rep compared to my first turn?>
You were not late with the decel there at 3:23, you were decelerated and rotated as he exited the tunnel, so that was timely! What might have caused his question was the backwards motion as he was taking off at 3:24. You can cue the jump after the tunnel from the exit wing of the serp jump and see if that helps him read the turn better.
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at the grids, he is jumping with his head up and a bit ‘inverted’ , resulting in some bars down – but I think that was more of the setup and not a jumping form issue. So a couple of suggestions for the setup to get his head down and more power from his rear:
Reward placement will make a big difference. You can lead out more, to about 10 feet past jump 3, and use a moving target (such as dragging lotus ball on a leash on the ground). This will help him keep his lead down and forward, and not looking up at you. And definitely always reward on the ground and not from your hands on the grids – you started rewarding with cookies from your hands, which pulled his attention to you even more.
One other thing: His start position was good (nice and close to the jump), but for the first two jumps should be super low, like 8 inches, to create the set point. After the first 2 jumps, the next jump(s) can be taller but the first 2 are always low so he can balance and power off his hind end.
>we also went back and worked the zigzag grid from MaxPup2 because he’s been struggling on serpentines. He did really well on that exercise but I forgot to start the video recording, oops.>
Bummer about the video but I am excited that he did well with them! Super!
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
I think the MM can really help the forward focus skill! And then when he is like HECK YEAH I WILL LOOK FORWARD, we can fade the MM and get him looking at the jump! Yay!
>It didn’t help that even at 7:30AM it was sweltering and so humid I can’t believe it wasn’t actually rain. He just has even less drive under those conditions.>
Yes, it is just brutal to be that hot & humid, this early in the summer. The forecast for my area tomorrow is a high of 102 degrees, which is just unheard of here. Insane! So I can relate to him not wanting to run around in that gross weather.
On the 4 Corners work – definitely remember how young and inexperienced he is! I think he was game to try the big layering and sent away nicely to 2! CAMP is truly a summer camp, where we have all different experience levels all in the same camp. So he is in the learning stage of the big layering stuff, and there are repeat CAMPers in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th year (Muso, Sly, Ripley, Synergy are examples of repeaters!) who have the layering in their toolbox and now we can run the big sequences, fine tune, etc.
So on your big setup outside: you were correct to turn the ends of the tunnel down, so it was visible but not take-able 🙂 And for now, move the other jumps in closer, so they are more on his line. And if he takes 2 and goes even remotely on. The line to 3? Cool beans, throw a reward out towards it. Then when he gets 3, throw a reward towards 4. That way we can shape the big distance (he is the smallest kiddo here, so needs to take more strides than anyone else!)
Your indoor setup is also great for teaching the layering concept. You can totally reward “roughly right” (meaning, he is layering the tunnel even if he is not perfectly taking the jump. On the rep at 2:38, he knew it was *not* the tunnel but didn’t quite make it to the jump – but you can still reward that to jump start the behavior.
So you are definitely on the way to building this layering skill – you are going to LOVE it once he understands it fully!! Keep breaking it down with a ton of reward and you will see him find the lines better and better.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! Really nice job here! I haven’t really seen Roots run for real – he is a super cool dog and your connection on course is *spot on*. Very nice!!!!!!
Overall, the coursework went well – here are some ideas about smoothing things out to get tighter lines.
>The opening was my biggest concern with the big off course after 2. I really WANTED to handle proactively and not stand near 2 begging him to turn.>
The opening was a little tricky 🙂 Especially with a RDW, getting the turn on 2 becomes important so you can hustle up the next line.
You turned him left, and the left turn on 1 actually sets the line directly to the off course, so yes – the spin was a great choice there! Remember to reward off courses as they are handler-created 99% of the time. When he had the off course at the beginning, the cues were late so he was on the correct line. He was just about past the plane of the DW when you said run at :16. So since it was a bit too hard to just continue, you can reward then start again.
Now about that 1 jump… to get the best possible turn on 2, if he can wrap super tight on 1 to the right, you will take the off courses out of the picture and won’t have to work that hard to get the turn on 2 to the RDW. Something to consider is a tight wrap to the right on 1, threadle to 2, and maybe a brake arm on 3 as you keep running. And start cueing the DW before as he is considering his takeoff to 2 (basically as soon as he gets to the correct side of it after 1) – getting the verbal cues attached to the obstacle names will make these discriminations much easier.
>And when I went back to try the opening again, my brain was so caught up in “I just don’t know what to do 2-3” that I am pretty sure I was all wishy washy about cuing 1, so we struggled even with that and wound up with begging/babysitting/standing around handling any way.>
For some reason there, he really wanted to accelerate on a big straight line. It was hard to hear what your verbal was there – were you releasing with a wrap verbal? Even stationary and a little rotated he wanted to drive straight, good work getting reinforcement in! Because being able to get that tight turn on 1 with just the verbal release will make your life a lot easier 🙂
Another option on this opening: serp to blind on landing of 2! That gets the correct line and you can be running the whole time. Doing it with him turning right and using independent forward focus cues for 1 will make it easier to handle.
>I finally settled on doing a spin at 2, which I actually really liked!>
I agree – it got the turn really well! I would like to find ways to keep you running forward especially with the RDW looming there 🙂
>On my first attempt, I’m pretty sure the missed dog walk and back jump on 4 were all due to the kefluffle about loading onto the dog walk.>
For jump 4 – he found the line to it nicely! Is ‘out’ the backside slice verbal? You were flipping him away to the left turn exit and layering it, but it can also be handling as a FC on the entry wing – right turn then set the line to 5 and 6.
>Teeter has definitely been our weakest obstacle, and waiting for release definitely needs some maintenance right now. Didn’t realize on that first run through that his teeter was barely even legal.>
Yes, he was happy to get on the teeter very independently which is great! We are going to be doing some independent teeter work coming up in a few weeks too. How was he originally trained? If there was a target involved, you can bring it back to to refresh the distance.
The wraps on 8 and 9 looked good both times through that section! One thing we can look at is figuring out how tight he needs to be to get the fastest line. You can run it with looser turns (asking for less collection) and you can run it with bigger, earlier collection cues – and we can time it and see which is faster. The answers are often surprising with terriers!!
>I also worked the weave entry, reminding myself to be patient as this entry is a hard one for him.>
Yes, it is a hard entry – I think on the first run you just needed one more step of support/facing it til he was in. That is what you did at :45 and it was lovely!
And he has lovely independent weaves so when he got the entry, you flew past the frame to get to the 12 jump. NICE!!!
You can be sooner with turn cues on 12 at :55 and 3:21 – they were happening a he was approaching the jump, so he was a little wide on that turn. Ideally the decel into the turn cues and your arms begin to come up before he exits the frame, so he can add a collection before takeoff.
Another option is to keep him on your left on the a-frame, and flip him away to the 12 jump and 13 tunnel. That can get you further ahead for the next line.
Serp on landing of 15 worked well! He turned a little wide on 14 though, so you can consider doing a FC 14-15 to control that turn. You’ll still easily get the 16 backside. Flipping away on the 12 jump to the 13 tunnel will get you easily ahead and into position for a FC 14-15.
The ending looked easy and lovely! Great job!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! These sessions went really well. I hope you didn’t get too hot – the temperatures are SO HOT for this time of year!
Video 1:
>we worked on me not going so deep to the end of the tunnels in the openingYou were really wrong about not running too far up the line. I think you can actually see her commit to 4 and then cue 5 while you accelerate up the line to the backside after the tunnel. She pulled the bar at :16 – maybe too much deceleration so it conflicted with the required extension?
You held still more there at :32 and :47 and the bar stayed up but it put you behind for the backside after the tunnel . It is possible that the she will find the line perfectly without you needing to decel to support it, and then you will be miles ahead for that backside 🙂
>worked the backside on 13 to the tunnel and then to 15.>
Great job here too! On the first rep you were sorting it out so didn’t back up but didn’t quite stay in motion (1:06)
You stayed in motion at 1:18 and she showed us she knows her job to go to the backside and take the jump. YAY!!!
So then the next reps at 1:32 & 1:48 & 2:00 were absolutely fantastic. WOW!!! The only thing to add is the verbal turn cue before she enters the tunnel.
>we just played a bit with seeing if I could layer the tunnel at the start and still get the backside on 4. I couldn’t get it with a push (in fact, I started screwing her up and she starting just circling the jump so we ended that quick). We did get one very wide cautious threadle wrap!!
Video 2:
Nice turn on the first tunnel with well-timed decel and verbal at :06 but then you kept saying tight tight tight and she was not sure about going to the 2nd tunnel. I think the tunnel verbal there will get her to it without her checking in with you (you probably intended the tunnel verbal :))The threadle wrap during layering was *so close* to being smooth! She only had a few questions!!!! Lower arms will help so she can see the turn away element to help her out.
When she was going to the backside on the jump near the weaves at 1:56-ish, you were lining her up on that line over and over…. Then she got mad when you told her that *she* was strong 🙂 So when that happens, the dogs are reading a backside cue: remember that line was a threadle when she came from the weaves no the other course. So she was not being naughty, she was just reading the info. 🤣😁
If it happens once, reset her start position to be sure you are not accidentally pushing her to the backside: she should be able to fully see the front side, and you should be lateral so you aren’t on her line.Great job here! Stay cool!
Tracy
