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On this one you did the blinds on the landing side of 2 and of 1 – the extension blinds looked good and don’t require a ton of exit line connection because motion is so powerful. But, still use the exit line connection (really opening up the connection back to him) so it becomes habit.
For more blind cross challenge, you can do them on the landing of jump 2 but as a tight turn, turning away from the jump – so when he starts on your left, you will not go past the jump but instead you will peel away from the jump, to your right. That will be more challenging for your exit line connection.On the first couple of reps, I think a cleaner start to each rep where will make things clearer with the connection – you were starting next to him and without a release other than running, so the connection was a little unclear at the beginning (and it used him to go around to the other side of 2 at :21 because you were looking forward, which turned your shoulders to where he went.
The stay you used on the 3rd rep helped a lot! Remember to connection more clearly and then also remember to use a transition into decel – you started rotating so he was not sure if he should commit (:37 and :57)You had more motion forward into decel on the next rep, and your exit line connection at 1:24 was lovely! And the last 2 reps on the other side had all of the elements: strong connection, good transition into decel, and lovely exit line connection. Yay!
This was really great regular connection here! All of the reps when he started o your left at the beginning were pretty perfect 🙂 Excellent connection to his eyes before each send, and excellent connection as you drove up the line regardless of whether you were ahead of him, parallel to him, or behind him. Yay!
On the first rep on your right at 3:08, you did not have the connection like you did on the other side for the wing send, so he didn’t go.
You adjusted and gave connection at 3:19 and he was perfect. And the ret of the runs on that side looked great too!
My only suggestion (other than to always connect line this 😁 ) is to maybe pump your arms (rather than have your dog-side arm out to the side) when you run so you can have more speed on the lines, as long as you stay connected like you did here.Hi!
>>it is very hard for me to not turn my back to the dog, apparently!
Hard for all of us! The number 1 thing we all screw up on agility? Breaking connection LOL!! You are in good company 🙂
>>I’m trying really hard to think about the magnet between my arm and the dog’s nose. That’s what I found myself telling myself over and over again this last training session.>>
I really really liked what you did here and it was obvious that you were working the connection from your eyes, down to your fingertips, to her eyes (and nose :)) Most of the reps were spot on lovely!
Looking at the video – she was really great about sending on the one jump sends at :07, :18, :25 , and :31. She doesn’t yet love to leave you for a jump, but the combination of connection and high powered treats is making a big difference!
She had even bigger sending at :38 (when you added the 2nd jump) and at :43 she had the biggest distance I’ve seen yet from her in this class. YAY!! I think that surprised you both – she drove away to the jump so you got way ahead.
>>On two of the reps where we started incorporating obstacle 3, Kashia jumped on the wrong side of it twice. I was pretty certain I did something to cue that so I just rewarded it like normal. >>
I think it was partially because she had some good distance on the send there and might not be used to being that far behind you. And, you were praising her, so she probably thought it was the end of the rep so she came into the gap rather than take the jump. So only use the praise if you want her to come in for a reward. If you want her to keep going, use your verbals (like the ‘around’ cue you were using later, that was perfect).
>> I recognized myself turning away from the dog too soon each time Kashia or my other dog would turn into me instead of going over the jump. It is definitely something I’m working on now!>>
Yes – that was at 1:01 and 1:08 but you caught it. You gave her a cookie, and added connection, and she got back on the line to the jump. High five to yoU!
>>However, I notice you and some others don’t do that. Or at least not to the same degree I do. I>>
The word “degree” is a good word for it – I think everyone uses their hands/arms, but they are most useful when they support the connection rather than block it. So on a send, having the hand cue be soft and following her nose will support the connection. If you point ahead of her to the jump, that will block the connection and she might not take the jump. The further you are from the jump, the more important the connection becomes. If you are right near the jump and pointing at it? Not a problem 🙂 If you are 10 feet or more from it? She might not send if you point forward, because it turns your shoulders away from the line. And the more experienced she gets, the easier it gets because she will really understand the game.
>>But if I didn’t point to the jump, she wouldn’t take it. What am I cueing or not cueing to cause this?>>
When she took the jumps, your arm/pointing was supporting her path and moving with her. When she did not take the jumps, it was when you turned and pointed ahead, so the connection to your eyes was broken. That turned your shoulders away and can be confusing to her. It is a subtle difference for us humans but a big difference for the dogs who process things as if seeing them in slow motion.
>> For you, it seemed like you were able to just run by the jump and the dog would automatically take it and you only put your arm out for the send. >>
In the MaxPup track, we do a lot of automatic commitment games so the dogs have a lot of value for taking the jumps. Here is my favorite one if you have a place where you can toss treats:
(TTFJ means Take The F&^&$^%g Jump 😂🤣)
>>I think the last two reps I did a little incorrectly.>>
Those were the sequences – they were not incorrect (you can add another loop at the start where you basically run in a circle without sending :)) and I really liked your blind crosses at 1:57 and 2:15!! I think you can add more motion on all of the sequences like this – you can run more on the jumps to start, do a big send to the wing (if you have an extra wing, I think she is more likely to send to that) then run to the blind like you did – she was terrific!
>>My lotus ball toy arrived. I did two different sessions of throwing it 2-3 times for Kashia before and after going outside to train. It had chicken in it. She was super excited and went after it. After a couple throws in training, she wasn’t super thrilled. I chalk part of that up to the cold and part of that up to her still learning it. I’m going to keep trying in the house and outside and during training to see if I can’t build her drive for it more.>>
She did really well, especially considering how new it was. Remember to keep rotating the high value food so chicken doesn’t become boring LOL
>>She’s still slow and lacking animation but I’m not really concerned about that at the moment. >>
She was only a little slower when you were not moving that much, so as you do the sequences you can add more running 🙂
>>I was just trying to match Kashia. I don’t trust her so I’m afraid if I run faster, she’ll just follow me and completely bypass the obstacles.>>
Run a little faster but with a lot of connection and I bet she takes the obstacles! See how it goes! It will be more fun and also keep you both warmer 🙂
Nice work here!!
TracyHi! I am with you – looking forward to longer, warmer days!!
This was a really good session! And also good for seeing how she responds to different cues – very cool!!
Looking at the FCs:
At the beginning, we have. Good angle on how important the exit line connection is for her to set up her jumping for the next jump!
At :05, we can’t see the ELC. You can move your dog-side arm further back to her nose 🙂 Notice how she has a little trouble processing there and kind of flings herself over the next jump. Compare to the rep at :24 – the exit line connection was MUCH clearer and her jumping for the next jump was much more efficient there!
When you did the FC at the end on your right- the exit line connection was really nice! Just be sure to run forward with that connection for a few more steps to really show it to her )and to build the skill for you :)) rather than throwing the reward right away.Looking at BCs:
Like the the FC exits, at :59 you can show her the exit line connection for a few steps so she can see it, before you throw the reward. These will feel smoother when you can both do them in the middle of a course with more momentum 🙂 but this went really well – it is hard to do blinds from a standstill!!
It was hard to see the blind when you did it at the end on your right – you ended up off the camera but she didn’t sound angry, so we will assume it looked good 🙂Looking at the spins:
>>what caused the dropped bar 1:20?>
On that rep, you had motion towards the center of the bar of the wrap jump, so she was predicting rear cross and move over across the bar, preparing to jump in extension. Then as she was taking off… you did the spin (she had a comment haha) so she tried to save it mid-air but could not so the bar came down.
The line on the spins is directly forward to the wrap jump and showing a transition into deceleration, just like the FCs. Pushing into the bar can cause questions, and also trying it without decel can cause questions, which leads to the next question from you:
>>Second, what is causing her to land so hard at 1:38?
Yes, the cue was late there and also at 1:42, because there was no transition into decel and you were moving forward until she took off, so she couldn’t really make the turn til after she landed.
Your exit line connection on was really strong at 1:20 and 1:38. Compare t 1:42, where your dog-side arm was visible and down at your side, so the exit line connection was not as clear – note how she zig zagged on the way to the jump, sorting out the line. Compare to the very clear ELC at 1:39 and she went directly to the jump. YAY!!
So keep emphasizing that super clear exit line connection with the arm across your body, and add in decel on the way to the turn jump – it is hard to do on just 2 jumps so you can add in sending to the wing wrap and doing the combos, so you have more time to make the transition into decel.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Really good sessions here – lots of good reps and she gave us plenty of good info too!>>You will see that she runs around the jump a lot. I think that sometimes it is my position, but she has had trouble jumping wingless jumps. >>
I don’t think it is wingless jumps, per se, but overall processing: there is a lot happening here with motion, walls, poles etc. Any time she did *not* take a jump, there was a handling blooper that caused it. Any time the handling was clear? She took the jump every time 🙂
>>I don’t think I ever did much of this and I have seen her in another location act like she doesn’t quite know what to do. >>
She might be able to ignore the bloopers in easier locations if the environment has less to process. If the environment has a lot to process, the handling probably needs to be super clear. This is really normal with young dogs – skills are harder to produce if the environment has challenges and the handling is not as clear.
>>On the one sequence I lowered the bar and that seemed to help.>>
Yes, it makes it easier to process mechanics on a lower bar. It like to keep bars low in new places for a long time.
First video – I think she was struggling with the countermotion at the beginning (:02 and :26) – you were doing sudden rotations and indicating the jump with the dog-side arm across your body, which makes the connection shift less visible. So even though the jump was right there, she was not taking it. You can help build the skill of “take the jump that is right there” with more reward placement on the landing side (rather than back near you).
But when you were facing forward til takeoff? No problem! Very clear cues, no issues with the wingless jump at all.
At :36 she took a backside – you cued it by putting pressure on her line towards the center of the bar, she was a good girl! She was pretty convinced because she had to squeeze in between the pole and the wing to get there LOL! The same thing happened on next rep.
The last reps looked a lot better- the transition into the rotation was smoother and the last rep even had countermotion!
On the second video – she ran past the 1st jump when you released her at :01 – it is possible that she was reading you pushing in towards the wing (the girl reads motion really well!) and visually distracted by the pole drawing her towards it.
Next reps looked great including some countermotion!!!
She did well on the circle wrap – you can add more moving past it now even more, so you are passing the entry of the wing as she is turning away to complete the circle. That is a good place to shift your connection to the “landing” spot and throw the reward to the landing spot too 🙂She had one more question on this video, at :23 when she did not take the jump. That looked like a disconnection on the send and then you rocked back which pulled her off. Compare to the last rep – super nice connection and motion towards the jump and she nailed it! Yay!
So next time you are at Deb’s or working the wingless jumps, you can exaggerate the connection and handling to support her more, and let me know how it goes!
Great job!
TracyHi!
Hope you aren’t getting too much cold weather!>><—— you mean after I send her around the wing, so pretty much take another step to clear up the send? Yes - so when she exits the wing wrap, you are kind of waiting for her (not running to the jump) so you can look her in the eye and send her to the jump with a big connection and a big step. Start the wing closer to the jump if needed, because she is a youngster and needs a lot of commitment skill for big sending like that. >>So we can add in some crosses with these sends?>>
Yes – a front cross on the start wing for sure! And then any cross will be very easy if you have big distance on the sends 🙂
Have fun!
TracyReally nice connection on all of these too! I think you can push the envelope here a bit – before he gets past you, you can be rotating and let him see you look at and point back to the landing spot of the jump, so you can be moving the other direction before he arrives at the jump.
One the first 2 videos, those reps had you facing forward a bit longer than he needed you to 🙂But then on video 3, you were definitely pushing the boundaries in a good way. As he passed you, you were rotating so freeze it at :17: he is lifting off and you are rotating the other way and looking at the landing spot. Super! Look at how tight his turn was… NICE!!
Compare to :11 on the next video, where you were facing forward as he was taking off so his turn was not quite a tight (and you were not quite as far ahead).
The circle wraps were hard! On the first rep, you were looking at him and moving forward so he was not sure if he should follow the motion or wrap the wing. When you hung back a little there and on the next videos, he got it really well because you were still visible on the landing side.
So since he was able to sort out the circle wraps, you can start shifting your connection even more and moving forward, so you don’t have to be visible on the landing side and he will still complete the wrap. Do it first by walking forward slowly, looking at the landing spot (as if there was a bar there 🙂 ) and tossing the treat or toy to the landing spot as you slowly move forward. When he is happy with that, you can add more and more motion.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I am glad you had some decent weather to work outdoors! Lots of good stuff here!
The first 2 videos were front crosses: you looked ahead of him a little too soon (before he passed you to jump 2, you were looking ahead of him at the jump). Staying connected to his eyes he whole time will help with timing of the turns.
The exit line connection was lovely here!!Videos 3 and 4 were spins – excellent connection to cue the jump and strong ELC on the spin exit! YAY! Video 4 was
even better: strong connection from 1-2 then the spin was sooner so he saw the exit line connection sooner. Really lovely!!!Videos 5 and 6 were the BCs: you had great exit line connection on these too! The timing of starting them is a little trickier: On the first video, you can definitely start sooner and also decelerate into it so he doesn’t see a sudden acceleration before a turn cue. On the 2nd video, the BC started before he landed from 1 (you had turned to looked forward), so he was correct to *not* take 2. Good job rewarding him, he read you correctly (nice exit line connection!). The timing would be more ideal to be connected to see him land from 1 and look at 2. Then you can start the blind. It is easier on a big course when both of you are in flow and can do it with a lot of momentum.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
What a bummer about the trial getting snowed out! Stay warm!
On the video: connection is looking really strong on the sends, so we can add more challenge to it:
You can send to the start wing from a little further away from it… but then after the FC, send her to the next jump with just one big step rather than running forward until she passes you. So if you are maybe 4 or 5 feet from the start wing, you can and wait for her – as she is catching up to you, do a big send with the connection and dog side leg (and not much arm) to propel her away to the jump.
That will add distance on the sends and also when you add the 2nd jump, she will be seeing the turn info sooner plus you will be able to get even further ahead (which is always a good thing with a fast dog LOL!)
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Looking at the blinds: The exit line connection was really strong! Yay!
>>First rep on each side that he took the jump he landed hard. I was still late on the second rep each side,>>
What was happening on those first couple of blinds was more that the transition into them was reversed and not so much about timing. The timing of starting the blind was good! But you went from a walk when you released to a run (which cues acceleration) and also you were moving forward (which cues forward) so those made it harder to read the side change as a collected turn cue.
Compare to the other side when you were moving the whole time is there was no change to acceleration. That allowed you to show more of a turn cue there so he had clearer info. Ideally, you would be moving fast then release, then decel into the blind so he can see even more collection info.
He did come off the line at :11 when you were looking forward too soon (that break in connection reads as a start of a blind, so he was a good boy). You fixed it for the next reps and it looked great!
Combos – Good exit line connection with the spins at the beginning! On the first part of the video, one thing I notice is that you tend to step in towards the bar of jump 2 on several reps here at the beginning, so he was correct to read them as not straight.
He was considering a RC at :11 when you stepped in towards the center of bar 2 (he moved over to the center of the bar).
>>When we got to the FC to the left he read a backside, so then I asked for a back to show him what that looked like. Then he still didn’t get it so I just had him do a straight line and afterward did the FC again.>>
He was correct, actually, your cue at :28 was a backside cue. It was the same motion/footwork you showed him at :35 when you wanted the backside, so he was like “yes, I know, got it” LOL!
>>. I feel like if he knows what the other thing looks like he might be able to differentiate it from the cue I want.>>
If you watch the line on motion on both, though, they were pretty much the same 🙂
Then at :42 there was no real connection so he was trying to find and connection and kind of guessed…
So when he is doing unexpected things, definitely reinforce him because the video so far always shows him as correctly reading the handling. And you can watch the video mid-session to see what cued him to go where he did, then adjust for the next rep.
Then there was some over-compensation happening to get him to not take the backside:
I think part of what was happening here was that you were not looking at him very directly for the ‘regular’ connection and closing your shoulders forward – you were running forward to the wrap jump and doing the rotation when he appeared near it, peripherally. That caused him to be looking at you at :48, 54, 1:40, for example. And that also caused there to be no transition (accelerating then decelerating before the rotation) so he dialed back his speed to wait for more info.So definitely keep the transitions in place – you did one on the last rep and he was much faster AND tighter on the turn.
And while you run the transition, maintain the connection back to him so you see him jumping the first jump and can start the decel. That will also help the exit line connection – when you had it very clearly looking back at him, he had great turns! And as you mentioned, sometimes you didn’t have it so he was not as sure. He is super responsive to all of that 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyOMG! That sounds crazy about the hacking attempts! I assumed it was just Zoom behaving badly, because that happens a lot when the weather is iffy across the country. I am glad you caught it can go it sort out! Looking forward to your video 🙂
Tracy
Good session here! And I love your energy when rewarding – so fun!
>>I need to keep a scrunchy in my basement so I can put my hair up. Antecedent arrangement for humans lol!>>
Ha! Yes! I have hair bands everywhere so I can keep my hair from flying everywhere LOL!
Good job warming up the threadles then doing the double whammy. Only one suggestion:
Keep moving on the threadle, rather than treat it like a send. You might have dialed back the movement a little too much 🙂 so you can meet her at the tunnel exit and keep walking forward doing the threadle cue, until she turns herself away. When you were closer to the entry for the threadle, it was good! When you stopped moving a little further back (when she had to turn right in particular), she had some questions. A few more steps will support the line for her.>>I feel like I need to do a short session with a preplaced reward for “tunnel” since I seemed to confuse her on that.>>
Yes, but mainly for the harder angles especially when she needed to be turning to her right – think that angle was really hard, on the tunnel sends and the threadle turns too!
>>I have Rocking Horse/wraps on a break still, so I won’t get to the spin version of that quite yet. Is Minny Pinny too similar to wraps? Or would that be ok to try?>>
Minny Pinny is very different, so you can totally try it! And hopefully we can look at the rocking horses and add the connection back in.
Great job here!
TracyHi! I hope you are feeling better – so sorry to hear you got sick!!!
FC at the beginning and :48 at the beginning were great ELC at :52 she back jumped – I think she had the wrap but then you pushed back across the jump so she thought you wanted her back over the bar (young dog oopsie with all the countermotion) The rep at :59 was much better, she never considered the back jump. And the FC at the end was perfect too!
>>I can tell that I was dropping the regular connection on many of the reps where she didn’t take the 2nd jump.>>
Yes, that is exactly what was happening.
On the very first BC rep at :08, you had just the right amount of connection when she landed from 1 to commit to jump 2, then the timing and exit line connection on the blind was great!At :16 and :24 and :38 as soon as you released her, you looked forward and broke ’regular’ connection – so she read it as the blind starting right then and didn’t take 2. She was correct to do that. Good girlie!
On the other side, you had better connection but I am guessing because she didn’t take 2 on the other side, you were being more careful to get her to take 2 so the blinds were a little late starting (she was already taking off for 2 when ideally the blind would be underway or finished). Good exit line connection!
>>I also was having brain-farts on the Spins. My head gets stuck in it. I have been practicing by myself at the jumps too. so I’m surprised at how awkward I am being with them. Any ideas to help me?>>
For the spins – since your fronts are looking fantastic, you can think of the spin as a Flind: front-then-blind 🙂 So do the fantastic front like you did, then as you start to run away, do a blind. Maybe that will help feel more comfy?
>> I think it is because the way I learned to do front crosses, they were this elaborate 4 step move
OMG this is so relatable: I remember when my first instructors would put foot patterns on the ground to work us on the elaborate footwork of a front cross. I think I am traumatized from it! For the FCs, do what you did here: turn towards her then run the other way. They were great!
>>Even the tight blinds, I am overthinking them.>>
You can try thinking of these as turn away from her and run the other way, as soon as you see her looking at the blind cross jump.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyBummer about the peach tree! Hopefully the storm is done and there is no other damage.
Now that you probably have to do all the training indoors, for planning purposes: we have next week as an “off” week (meaning no new games posted) and then after the 4th games package, several more weeks in February to work the games 🙂 That should take some of the time pressure off now that the weather has gone sideways.
Stay warm!!Tracy
