Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
> I LOVE him, but I hate his mouth! >
HA!! Even part-Paps are noisy 🙂 but he was just cheering you on. And the silence while running is so nice 🙂
Well done with the 2 wing blinds with Canny! I agree – the 2 wing game is harder than it looks. And handling very small dogs is harder than it looks too. But you did an excellent job getting the proper exit line connection AND looking downwards towards his actual eyes. He had no questions. Super!
Nifty’s session also went really well – did it feel easier to connect to her? It looked easier – and she had no questions. Super!
One thing I suggest with both dogs to make the blinds even easier – keep your arms in as tight as possible as you send to the start wing, and as you do the blinds. I think of them almost like chicken wing position: elbows bent, arms tight to the ribs, and a little back behind you. Having your arms in nice and tight will make the rotations quicker and movement along the lines faster, which helps the connection be quicker too. This will help as we build into the sequence work.
Wow, Canny picked up the ‘mouse line’ on the L-shaped blind immediately! Love it! Your timing was really good but your connection was GREAT so Canny had wicked tight turns. Super!
And it was cracking me up to hear you go from telling him he is a bad beast to telling him how much you love him. Ha!!!
Nifty also found the tight lines brilliantly. She was beating you to the wing but your connection was super, so she picked up the really tight turn line.
>I totally didn’t realize until I watched the video that at 0:58 she doesn’t commit, and pulls off the wing instead.>
Yes, a small blooper. My guess is that you were not fully connected when you released her there, so she was looking at you more already and not committing, as compared to the other reps here where your timing was the same and she did commit. I think if it was the middle of a sequence, it would not have been a problem. The rest of the reps looked great!!!
Both dogs looked terrific – onwards to the one jump and two jump games (and tunnel games :))
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
Nice work on these sessions!!
First video:
The sending to the middle jump went really well! Her line commitment is coming along nicely! You can delay the toy throw a bit – send her with your arm/foot/connection, and throw the toy after she locks onto the jump. By the end you were throwing it as the cue to take the jump, so delaying it will help us be sure that she is understanding the send and not just looking for the toy 🙂
How is her stay going? It looked like you wanted to use a stay then changed your mind 🙂 You can work the stay into this and we can build it up.
When moving to the first jump and going from the tugging to the stay, try to line her up without holding her collar – I think holding her and moving her into position with the collar builds anticipation to go go go when you actually want her to stay 🙂Will she tug on that toy? Definitely keep the party going when you get the toy by playing with it more – so she keeps interacting with it and you. I think using the tug toy that you had at the beginning is even better 🙂
On the 2nd video:
She has gorgeous tug drive – you should use the tug on course in training a lot more! Don’t be afraid of the extra excitement a toy brings to the game, or if she runs around with it like a nut: we can work through all of that LOL!
She did well with her lines here too at the beginning. When you wanted more of a send, you were looking a little too forward to the jump and not at her (1:11, 1:15 for example)… that turned your shoulders away from the line so she didn’t take it (totally normal young dog stuff).
If you look *very* directly at her as she is landing from the previous jump, she is going to see the line of your shoulders better and find the line better on the sends. With young fast dogs, is it usually super helpful for them if we really exaggerate our connection for now. When she got the send jump, she found the next jump really well! Yay!
Since this is going really well… you can start adding more of your motion. Stay super connected and run run run – and you can add the FC wraps and the fluffy blinds too 🙂
>I always feel so late with her and it causes her to skid.>
You are doing really well with all the verbals: you are saying them multiple times which really helps get the timing because you are making it easier for her to process them. And also, that is why we keep the bars low at this stage: so we can work out our timing and the youngsters can work out their responses. If she is skidding on the turf, you can spray her feet or wrap her feet so she has more traction.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Really nice job working through the set point with him! He might have been a little confused about the stay –
He probably didn’t really see the treat throws with the toy being such a big visual. Try to lower the toy to the ground, wait for a couple of seconds – then throw the toy (or a 2dnd toy) back to him. I think he will like that and will definitely see it better than the treat 🙂I think the distance between the bumps is good and your setup spot (for him and for you) was good on that last rep when he did both jumps. So for the next session, start where you left off here at 2:50 – and when you release him, start dragging the toy so he is seeing the moving target reward.
> Just before the rep at 1.30 he was very distracted, but he did it and i had a major party – which helped him lock in for the last couple of reps!>
Definitely! He might have been caught in the pool of scent from the treat that he didn’t see earlier? But he worked through it really well and that last rep was terrific too.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
This was a super strong directional review for him – he did really well finding the cone wrap in both directions, except for the two times he cheated by jumping over your legs (but did not get a reward LOL!)
> Ts-ts is Towards my more Tattooed arm.>
This is a brilliant way to remember it 🙂
>(I apologise for the noises from the cheap seats, Frank is in a crate right next to the camera!)>
No worries at all – It was a good distraction for Barry! The game was easy enough that he could still be successful while tuning out the sad song of his brother 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi! This went really well!!
She was ducking right into the tunnel, finding the lines, responding to the handling cues, and running fast!The only spots she didn’t quite see the line were when she had a crime-of-passion on the 2nd run – she was going too fast out of the tunnel, so she missed the jump which messed up your BC timing. The fixed it on the next reps! And I love that she was going that fast! Good job continuing because she was being a good girl there.
The other spot was when she needed to see a little more connection at 3:16 to show her the jump before the tunnel. That was just a bit of inexperience showing where she needed to see really exaggerated connection to get the whole line.
> I think my timing was a little off and I kept wanting to do a front that put me on the wrong side after the wrap.>
You can totally start the BC sooner, which will give you more time to decelerate for the turn after it. I think you were wanting to do the FC there because it turns your feet back to the next line sooner and that is good! You can do that turn as a spin – FC then BC. It might feel more natural!
Back to the BC timing – you were tending to start it at takeoff for the middle jump, which made it a little late.
You can get to a better position for the blind by being further away from the jum after the tunnel – your line can be heading towards the middle jump and she should find the jump after the tunnel as long as you are connected to her eyes.And with you further up the line, you can start the BC sooner: when she is taking the jump after the tunnel, you can begin the blind and gt it finished and re-connected before she takes off for the middle jump.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>. I do not have a target cue for anything. I say “hit it” for both dog walk and A frame as he approaches them. I say “see saw, see saw, see saw” for the teeter. Benni was taught the see saw using the 2 table method so I did not do these games with Benni as they were not incorporated in Max Pup at that time. So just say “ready” then?>
You can stick with ready while you are holding him, then maybe do an interim cue like ‘hop on’ if you want to say something. Or you can say ready 2 times then let go and see how he does.
>And do I continue keeping the board about that high off the ground for the bang game? Do we ever make it a bit higher or there is no point to that?>
The board eventually gets to be almost parallel to the ground, depending on the individual dog. But for now – keep it at this height and play this game with as many different teeters as possible.
>Also, because of the shape of my teeter board, the red band does not fit snuggly at the very end. I was using that small container to take up the slack but that will not work when the teeter is actually hitting the ground. It was fine for mountain climber.>
You can use a thick strip of duct tape – cheap and easy 🙂
Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning! Welcome home! I bet he enjoyed the hose breaks – it looks like you were getting some lovely Cali sunshine!
The threadles are going really well! He was able to get the threadle from different positions/angles and it looks like he was anticipating going back out to the jump really well too. You can play with showing him the threadle and the serp in the same session, as a bit of a position discrimination exercise. The MM can be parallel to the wing so it is able to be used for both cues.
For the backsides: he was finding the correct side of the wing really well. You start closer to the wing (rather than do a big send) so you can support the parallel line to the backside with more motion. On the 2nd side, you had more motion but if you start closer to the wing, you can run more 🙂 He was finding it really well (and ignoring the placed reward :)) with you moving your line laterally further across the bump, which is great! You can keep getting further away laterally and as he is heading to the backside – move along a serp line or even past the bump as if there was an exit wing (like a German turn) because it adds the countermotion element. The placed reward will help him commit to the bump even with countermotion, and you can also mix in throwing a reward behind you to the landing side of the bump.
The head turns/double wraps went well – good job cueing that head turn! He seemed a little more fluid to the right, maybe turning right is his easier side? You can delay the reward throw a bit: rather than throwing it after he turns his head, you can throw it when he finishes the 2nd wrap – that will get the body bending into the turn after his head leads the way 🙂
Great job on these!!
Tracy
Hi!
He is finding the backside line really well with the advanced level too – he seemed to have no questions about going to the backside of the barrel, then back in for the ‘serp’ over the bumps.
You can add more lateral distance before the release here so you are moving up the line to the center of the bumps, rather than towards the barrel (or where the barrel & bump meet). One thing you can do is lay a leash or line on the ground so you have a visual of where to move to – and keep moving it further and further away from the barrel so your line gets further lateral on each rep. And as you build up more distance, 2 things to add:
– move forward for 2 or 3 steps to set the line to the backside before releasing him to start moving
– have the treat ready in your hand so you can throw it to the landing side of the bump (closer to the barrel) so he gets the instant reward for coming to the bump (and bar in the future) and not looking for you.Great job!
Tracy
The back and forth pattern game can have you moving through a crowd – you can be moving and not stationary, just pitching cookies back behind you as you move forward. I also use Super Bowls if I am able to set it up in advance.
T
Hi!
>Do you notice anything different about Brioche…? 🙂
His ears! He got a hair cut!! So cute!
>He kind of looked at the board as if to say “don’t we usually climb up hill on this one?” Do they get confused by switching back and forth from bang game to mountain climber?>
He was hilarious! But there are 4 or 5 major games that we teach separately for the teeter and the dogs sort out how to play each one really quickly. He totally sorted it out here!
The bang game also teaches the targeting behavior at the end and the weight shift for riding the end of the board to the ground.Since he was so happy to jump on the side and right into target position with the band, we can get into more precision mechanics.
2 suggestions for that:
-Move the red band right to the end of the board so there is no yellow showing past it. That way his feet will get right to the end of the board too.
-When you line him up, hold his collar in line up position right at the end of the board (where he was here) – then say your target cue and then let him jump into position. That gets even more drive into position, and adds a cue for the end position. If you don’t want to use a target cue, you can just use a ‘ready ready’ cue to get him pumped up.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi –
I do a ton of 4on work at the end of a board that is not the teeter – the small board is not something he will see for running contacts. This game is designed to take him to understanding that it is a target behavior and not just a buffet 🙂 so you can use the exercise band as the target (or a strip of duct tape 🙂 ). And correct, it is not on the actual seesaw, it is on a small plank.T
Hi!
> It will be a DIFFERENT verbal for threadle wraps correct?>
Yes – an different verbal for sure.
>I think this is the technique where Jessica uses “me-me” >and I’ve heard some people say “flip”. I think I prefer “me-me”.>
Me – Me is a popular verbal for it and is super easy to say while you are running.
>It blew my mind to see the threadle wrap (not to mention after a spread jump!) in the STANDARD course at the NAC in CA!>
Yup! I think there was a way to do it as a push wrap, but still – it was a notification that these challenges will be seen on regular courses now.
> I would most likely not have been able to get thru that with Benni. I never taught it to him.>
He should probably learn them now alongside his little brother, because I think they will be popping up more and more.
T
Hi!
>She needs space and or time to access then she’s ok. Or give her a Cato board and she’s great but that is again more like work. Gives her something else to focus on.>
Is she going back and forth over the Cato board? That is a moving pattern which can definitely help. Other games that can help her in new environments are the back-and-forth pattern game (which is also a fun moving pattern game) and super bowls. Plus any tricks and auto-check-ins where she looks at you and gets a cookie 🙂 In dog sports we don’t often have the luxury of space or time, so being super fluent with these games will really help.
The sequencing looked really strong! She was able to find the ‘go’ lines to the jump very easily. The blind cross to the tunnel looked really good, super nice emphasis on connection!
The blind between the jumps was a little harder for her to see at 2:41 – you tried to connect with your hand on the blind exit and that blocked the important info of connection so she was wide. The blind at 3:16 was much better connection but late timing: it started after she took off for the BC jump, so she was wide there too.
The blind at 3:58 was the winner! Strong timing (starting as she was landing from the previous jump) and clear connection (your eyes reaching back to her eyes) so the turn looked really good there! Super!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
I know you’re still getting the new knees fully up to speed, but I think your footwork on this was really good – there is a lot of push off on the foot that stepped back and you did it brilliantly! The wide stepping or the tiny bit of side-to-side was a little visible when you were moving fast – so you can add in deceleration before you rotate which will actually work better on course too!
It took him a moment and a few reps at the beginning to get the flow of the rotated sends and he did indeed have a lot to say there 😂🤣😜 but he had a lightbulb moment and did great after that! You were able to get multiples in a row with a ton of success.
In the part of the video where you said you didn’t know what you were doing: you were doing spins instead of FCs which is probably why it felt weird 🙂
At 2:04, he gave you a little tooth hug (or got close to your hand with the teeth if he didn’t touch you). The arm was blocking connection a bit in that section, so be sure to let connection and motion do most of the work here and resist temptation to point forward. You can see that one the last rep – you put your right arm behind you and ran it with connection and motion – perfect!!
When you were starting with the backwards send, he showed us where his commitment was: if you started moving forward when he was next to you, he didn’t go to the wing (2:10, 2:14, 2:23 for example). But if you waited until he was one step past you – nailed it (2:18, 2:30 for example)!
The race tracks around the outside went GREAT! Those are hard because the young dogs are so used to wrapping all the wings, but he did great *not* wrapping and staying on the outside of things. Super!
Great job here! Let me know how tomorrow’s appointment goes!!
Tracy
Hi! Both videos looked really strong here.
The tunnel-wing game went really well!
She gets a gold star for ignoring the toy and going into the tunnel at :09!! You didn’t tell her that she could have the toy, so she kept working. GOOD GIRLIE!!She gave you a little barking/grumbling throughout the session – I think she was very excited by your ‘ready ready’ and was feeling talkative.
You can connect more directly to her as she exits the tunnel – look back to her eyes and point your arm back to her. I think you could see her peripherally, but she had questions about the connection. When she exited the tunnel she was looking at you and did a little zig zag towards you then back to the wing. If you are directly connected, she will have a nice smooth line.
That connection on the tunnel exit should be the same as the gorgeous connection on the exit of the spin at :41 and again at :55!!! And also on 1:34 & 1:46 on the other side – you were really emphasizing connection by looking back at her and pointing back to her, and that helped her see the line perfectly.
Tandem turn video:
She is reading the hand cues really well! You were turning your feet torwards her on the first couple but I think it worked better when you kept your feet straight. She was coming in to the correct side really well!
To smooth out the turn aways, try slowing down the cues: decelerate and then do the hand movements slowly. At 1:16 and several of the reps after it, the hand cues were a slower movement and she read that really well! The tandem turns are decelerated turns anyway, so slowing down to show her the info works well for when you use it on course in the future.
Great job with these!
Tracy
