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Hi!
Looking at the exit line connection:>>I feel like I can see her after the turns, but not making direct eye connection, especially with the BC as I really had to watch where I was going. >>
As you finish the cross or spin, the main thing with a small dog is going to be to look down (as if you dropped something LOL!) That way she can see the connection better, and looking downwards will open up your peripheral vision so you can see more too!
>>but decided not to start from a Stay. We havenât practiced our Stay in front of 1-2 jumps lately, and wanted to concentrate on the maneuver rather than testing her Stay. Ok?>>â¨
You can do it from a send, but you need to use a clean line up so she can see the line you want and doesnât get Big Mad when it is unclear (like at :34 on the first video, or :24 on the 3rd one)The FCs are looking good! One thing to add is your dog-side arm pointing down and back to her. That will open up the connection even more and star to get your body happy to connect like that so we can fade out the toy across your body as you run. She seemed to have no questions about where to be, and the camera angle showed clear connection!
On the 2nd video – nice ELC on the spins too! I think it was even better than it was with the FCs- really clear connection back to her, thanks to the toy cross the body. And she seemed to have no questions (Mochi always lets us know if she has questions LOL!!) and was really digging in through the turns!
The momentum of the blinds made the arm-across-the-body mechanics a little harder – you can see how your toy hand was further from your torso on the first rep, then didnât quote make it around on the 2nd rep. Mechanics were good on the blind on the 3rd and 4th reps but you were a shade too early – what happened there was that you disconnected cuing the first 2 jumps (she needs regular connection there) so as soon as you looked forward, she looked at you and came into you – you can throw the ball on that because because it was a handler error, not a poodle error LOL!!
On the next rep, you had great regular connection and great ELC!
The blinds starting on your right and ending on your left (on the dog walk side) were harder for your mechanics – the connection was not clear until the very last rep, where you got your right arm across the body, which made connection very clear. Lovely!!!!!!
>>I donât have a Verbal for the BC. When she started missing the jump I then would say Jump. Should I have a Verbal for a BC? Should I say a hard Left or Right? Sheâs got to commit to the jump first right?>>â¨
Verbals can help for sure – I use whatever verbal matches the turn over the jump. So it can be a left/right/ or a general jump it is if not a tight turn, or even a wrap cue. But missing the jump was more about the connection (or lack of connection) when she landed from jump 1 – she connection needs to support the line to help her commit.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Hoping this video format works for you. We did the 3 Positions in succession on the right and then the 3 Positions on the left, each under 2 min. Didnât do the 4 vids of each position, just seemed natural for us to do it this way.>>
It worked really well! And hopefully was easy to edit & post.
>>We had trouble with me standing next to the first jump, she turned right but not around the wing
So I moved forward a bit with the send for her to get the wing. Guess we need to practice sends with >20ft. Or maybe she didnât realize thatâs what we were doing.>>>It was a connection question from her:
Go for a cleaner start by having her sit at your side (cookie lures are fine for this) so you can connect then send to the start wing. She was looking at you so the first start a big question. She is probably to little for you to be holding her collar then send cleanly (and she might not like it ). You added the ssit on the last rep and I thought that was the smoothest start!
On the right turns/dog on left – you were looking a little ahead of her, so she had bit of a zig zag on the first rep, and a bit of drifting wide to get more info (:56)
If you play it in slow motion you can see your eyes are looking at a line in front of her, so you could probably see her peripherally but not as directly.2nd video: you can see at :24, your arm comes up high and you are looking at the wing (not at her) so she comes to the inside of the wing and turns to her right. When there is a blooper: reward her and reset smoothly. There was a moment of question on the re-send but then you got connection with your arm down so she did realize you wanted the wing. And the connection to start the next rep (1:00) was clearer so she went much more smoothly to the wing. Yay!
On that rep: Really food connection at 1:01!! Then at 1:02 you looked forward (to throw the toy) which breaks connection and she looks at you. The same thing happened on the next rep (1:30 – 1:33). The toy throws are getting her to stay on the line here, but we want to emphasize the connection and not worry about the thro – so stay connected as you throw, or have the toy placed at the end of the line so you donât need to worry about the throw at all đ
>>she needs rest, even though sheâs just at the trials.>>
Yes! You will want to build in rest days. But this content can be done pretty quickly and it all builds up, so I think you will be able to keep up pretty easily đ
>>ops, just realized I did the âCompetitionâ exercise instead of the âMax Pupâ exercise.â¨Mochi just turned 1yr old, ahhhh. Do you think the Competition track is ok for her?>>
No worries! I think she is ready for the competition track!!
Great job đ
â¨TracyHello!
>I do need help finding a solution for his jumping up at my hands..>>
I did see him bopping your hands a lot – this is new since I last saw him work!
>>If I am next to him, starting from a static position, give a verbal release, take a step forward with my arm going forward, he leaps at my hands.>>
That is probably a frustration/arousal behavior: your position is not giving enough info, and pointing forward blocks connection. So he has no motion and no connection⌠and bops your hand. Since a lot of these games for week 1 start with you next to send, you can try it with your arm back and BIG connection (not arm swinging forward) and see how he does.
>>He also jumps on me when Iâm attempting to start a sequence or restart a sequence with us both in motion. i.e., I havenât put him in a stay.>>
This is probably also a frustration/arousal behavior: you know the plan, but he does not when you start like that LOL! So always start each sequence with some type of clean start. This can be a stay, or from a collar hold, or toss a cookie back. But it is good feedback from him that just re-starting in motion doesnât make sense and is frustrating.
I noticed he was also doing it as you were lining up for a sit – those moments didnât seem to be linked to frustration or errors, so it is just arousal. You can play around with other ways to line up, like have him do a âfinishâ by going around you to line up. Or a line up between your feet. That can be an easy, fun, movement-filled way to line up and that gets rid of the rehearsal of hand bopping.
And, you can also work the stay as an incompatible behavior: a down! It is highly unlikely that he will be able to bop your hand AND lie down⌠so the down might be the happiest position for you both! Try it and see how it goes!! I use a down on the start line for lots of dogs and it is wildly successful because it really centers them.
>>ps., Little Kingâs Day (also known as Epiphany) here tomorrow and the start of King Cake season>>
FOR REAL! Facebook has been attacking me with ads for King Cakes yum yum!!!
Tracy
Hello and welcome back!!
It is a little crazy that it is January and you have no snow on the groundâŚ
This session went really well!!! Yay!
Excellent connection to him on the first couple of wing wrap sends! At :30, you were not as connected and turn to run up the line earlier, so he never committed. You were better connected at :38 and waited to be sure he was definitely committed: lovely!
>>Probably too much pumping of the arms!
Arm pumping with small dogs is a little harder for connection. He didnât really have questions here because your motion was very clear along the line and he could see enough connection to support it. Because he is so small, though, on more complex lines you might need to have your dog-side arm pointing back and all the way down to him to open up the dog-side shoulder more (t show more connection). Or run with your dog-side shoulder dipped down to to reveal more connection. You can do whichever feels more comfortable! For me, it is pointing down and back to the little dogs đ
This is all specific for when you are ahead of him. If you are behind him? Pump your arms, stare at his butt, and run for you life LOL!!! That is the one thing you can try on the next session of this: starting closer and closer to the wing, so he can drive ahead more and more. He can also totally do the exit line connection games đ
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHello and welcome!!!
Great job here on both videos đ
On the first video:
Super nice connection on the sends to the start wing and up the line in all 3 positions! She seemed to have no questions (she only looked at you after she was over the last jump – there was nothing else to look at and she was waiting for the toy throw đGood job getting your arm down on the first rep! I think you were trying to sort out what to do with your arms while getting the best connection. On these straight lines, you can point your arm down and back to her nose or just run with pumping arms with bent elbows like a sprinter – whichever is more comfy and allows you to move up the line. When your arms were straighter at your sides, it was covering your connection (:58). But when you added pumping your arms more and more, your dog-side shoulder was more open to her and the connection looked great (like at 1:24, and 1:52 – 1:55).
For the exit line connection: arms are definitely more useful in this game! Nice job working the mechanics with the reward across your body!!
For the wrap front crosses: You can look at her more as you exit the FC, as if showing her the toy across your body (âhey look, I have your toy!â), and your dog-side arm can point back to her nose here.
And you can do that on the spin too – at 1:16, you were looking to where you wanted her to be rather than directly back at her. And at 1:52 you were looking ahead. She was following motion there from the rotation so she got the line, but it will be a tighter turn if you can look back at her more on the exit of the spin and ahead of her less.
The part of the blinds we could see looked good! I could see your dog-side arm all the way back, which means there was definitely connection happening!
One other thing to play with: you can start the cues sooner. When she has landed from 1 and looks at 2, you can begin moving through the FC or spin or BC đ That will also help tighten up the turns.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Ewww all those mushrooms – it must be really wet there!!! Be careful with your knee!Overall, connection is looking really strong! I think her questions about the broad jump were more about how to stride it (inexperience) and less about connection – on rep 2 at :09, you were parallel to the board so she didnât quite jump in extension past you. At at :45 yes, you were looking forward so that affected it and the big GO acceleration verbal happened in the air so she ran across the board.
So to work the broad jump into the equation, add it into jump grids first – you can put it into a set point and then into other grids, with you in all sorts of different positions and also be sure you are talking the whole time (go or jump or about the weather or anything LOL!) so she gets used to verbals while she is jumping it. And, then proofing it with sudden decels or accelerations – I think that contributed to hitting the board both times here.
That will make it easier for her to judge when you are in all these different positions relative to her line. The connection was looking really good except the one spot you mentioned where you were looking ahead (nice catch there!)
One thing to consider – because it looks like it is wood, you can cut some pool noodles or foam pip covers and tape them to the top of the board (especially the last 2 boards) to protect her toes if she does hit the board.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
Sorry for the delay – this ice storm knocked out the internet til just a short while ago. Hopefully the bad weather doesnât hit you. I am ready for Spring!!!Position 3 looked great here! She drove ahead with no questions and you were fully connected on both sides! YAY!!!!! Driving ahead is one of the hardest things to do, and you both looked great!!!
>>.running with my arm down, using my new sprint mechanics has my quadâs a little tight>>
Yes, it changes running mechanics – your quad might be a little angry because your stride is longer perhaps, so there is more use happening? Either way, take care of it so it doesnât get REALLY angry!
>>I feel like I am already falling behind even though I thought we got an early start!!!!!>>
You are not behind at all! You are perfect! She is ready for you to do the exit line connection games đ
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Sorry for the delay – this ice storm knocked out the internet til just a short while ago. I am ready for Spring!!!This is definitely NOT a dumpster fire!!!! She wants to go FAST which is great but that also means we need to help her look at the line. That way you can work on connection and verbals, trusting that she will commit. Several of the other adolescent-aged BCs in this class are working on the same thing: check out Chaia & Lu, and Bev & Chip to see their progressions too đ
So a couple of ideas to help break it down so she can go fast AND commit, and then you only need to think about connection đ
If something goes wrong, you can either reward what went well, or use a reset cookie to get her lined up for the next rep. That will raise the rate of reinforcement so she wonât get frustrated (which also will help her commitment). And live by the 2 failure rule: if she fails twice, make it easier.
So, how to make it easier (bearing in mind that she is a BABY dog :)) :
Place the reward on the ground instead of carrying it or trying to throw it. That will help guide her focus to the line (lower the bars to 4 or 8 inches in the smaller spaces) and also help with bars so you donât need to worry about timing of the throw.
Begin by placing it between the 2 jumps, and just do wing-jump-reward.
Then of that goes well once or twice, you can move it to the landing of the 2nd jump, so it is wing-jump-jump reward đ
While you are working this skill with the placed reward, you can use food to reward her for leaving it on the ground. Or if the food is not motivating enough to ignore it, you can line up in your start position, hold her collar, then throw the toy to where you want it to be while holding her (I do this the demo in the MaxPup track).
And, after you send her to the wing – walk up the line đ Stay connected but donât try to run because she needs to process finding the line with less motion, for now. And that will make it easier to connect! As she figure it out, you will be able to run more and more đ
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHello and Happy New Year!
He probably doesn’t need quite the same intensity of connection as his brother, but he still needs clarity – so we will definitely look at it and see what he says.
Have fun!
TracyHi!
Sorry for the delay – this ice storm knocked out the internet til just a short while ago. I am ready for Spring!!!>>JJ thinks running off in to the woods is a cool thing to do right now>>
Ah, teenagerâŚâŚ Eek!
Fantastic connection to her before the wing wrap sends! She had no questions on those!!
And on the first video, the MM really helped and your connection was terrific from all the different start positions. If the ground is not too muddy or slippery, you can add even more motion (but this can also wait until you are indoors on turf which is safer this time of year).
On the 2nd video:
Even with the MM there, she is a bit wider finding the first jump when you were further ahead (2nd rep, for example, but also on t he 3rd and 4th reps even though it was more subtle). So since it is harder for her to process on your right, two ideas for you:– use the MM when you have a lot of motion. You can do a quick refresher with it between jumps 1 and 2, but mostly it can can be placed after jump 2.
– do some reps where the MM is NOT there and you are throwing the reward⌠but you are not too far ahead yet and you are walking đ That way we can shape the behavior without adding too much challenge at first. Then we will add more motion and fade the MM entirely!Great job here! Let me know what you think! She is definitely ready for the exit line connection games.
Tracy
Hello and welcome!
>>I live in MD and we are supposed to get some not so great weather this weekend so if you have suggestions on how to do the exercises in a basement that can only fit 1 jump, Iâm all ears!>>
The terrible weather is currently at my house in central VA, so Internet was out most of the day. It is back (for now) so I am looking forward to seeing you and Knight! What type of mix is Knight and where is he from? Let me know all the details so I can gosee if & how he is related to my sport mixes LOL!!
This session looked terrific!!! Did you feel like you could totally see him at every step? I know he is wicked fast but you looked SUPER connected. And, he did not look at you at all until after he got the last jump (before the throw) because there is nothing else to look at, at that point LOL!
The reason I asked if you felt you could really see him is that being able to really see him will immediately improve your timing đ And the exit line connection games do have an element of timing involved!
The only thing I would add is starting right up close to the wing so you donât really send to it – that will give you practice on connecting from behind.
>>we are supposed to get some not so great weather this weekend so if you have suggestions on how to do the exercises in a basement that can only fit 1 jump, Iâm all ears!>>
For only one jump – if you can use a wing then the jump, or a stay then the jump, you can still practice the regular connection from behind (starting parallel to him and not ahead at all). And you can definitely start the exit line connection stuff! That is perfect for one jump.
Stay warm! Great job here!!
TracyHi! I recognize the fear because I feel it in myself LOL!!!
For the exit line connection, I do rotate all the way. It might take some practice to get the mechanics- I practiced a lot without my dogs đTracy
Good morning!
The head turning is going really well! I think the marking was good – she is very quick in her movement so marking it is NOT easy but you did really welL!!
Sitting made it easier (hopefully) and your hand being lower helped a lot too! My 2 favorites reps were the ones at :45-:47 and 1:24-1:26. Both of these had low hand movement and you used the send hand to also turn her away, which produced the best head turns away. I think the head turn at :46 was the ideal one! This will really start to transfer nicely as she approaches the cone/wing so, remember to always reset her in a start position at your side (you did on many of these, but also did some where you didnât reset her) so she can approach the cone leading with her head (in anticipation of the cue to turn her head again)The threadle versus serp position went well – the serps were easy for her. The threadles were more like threadle wraps (because she entered and exited on the same wing) which is fine but might use a different physical & verbal cue in the future (I use 2 hands for that one down low, as opposed to one high hand like a threadle slice and a different word, so many words LOL!)
So you can show her the serp versus the threadle slice by serping like you did, then when you move to the threadle slice (in in cue) you can be on the wing opposite the manners minder so she slices towards it.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>>Good thing you mentioned using the leash. I need practice with it and her tiny pieces of cheese.>>
I bug everyone about the leash now (oops, I mean strongly suggest using it haha) because it is a big part of the picture so we might as well add it in nice and early. That way it doesnât become an issue later on.
The Volume Dial game went well! She was very engaged which is what we want đ You can add even more excitement to it by having her chase you cookie hand instead of just rewarding her in position. You can either run a few steps then feed her, or you can have her follow your hand in a circle/spin then deliver the treat.
Nice transition to tugging – she needed a little sniff moment (decompression, maybe, because she was stimulated with t he volume dial game?) The beeping as also a little distracting in the background but she did really well! She was great about engaging and especially terrific about bringing it! And her leap to get it on the first rep still ranks as one of the cutest things EVER đ YAY!
>>I need to do more collar/harness grab work outside of the context of her meal time (sheâs super happy about them when raw food in a dish is nearby).>>
The reverse retrieve (and toy races) are good for that – you can do a SUPER quick grab-throw-release-run so the harness/collar hold is barely happening but also gets paired with exciting fun stuff like running for the toy (and for a cookie that is tossed!). I like to have the thrown item ready, then gently hold the collar and in the next heartbeat: throw the thing. Duration is easy to build on once they think collar holding is the pre-cursor to all.good.things like running/eating/toy chasing.
>>I suspect sheâll be wiped out from just existing at the trial and doing some easy stuff. >>
Yes, just being in the environment can burn a lot of brain juice for a pup! Super Bowls is a great plan, to rehearse it and get it really fluent.
Have fun!!! Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
It sounds like the Performance Puppy Obedience class is great! And it is great to âcross-trainâ with other sports even if you have no plans to compete in them (or you might enjoy it and someday compete :)) If you want more distraction work, try a foundation flyball class, they are a hoot (and not noisy, I promise LOL!!!)
The lap turns are looking good! On your right hand side, you were more comfy using the arm and leg together to move back together as he was arriving at the hand (and you were bending towards him a bit with your magic cookie hand, and that totally helped too!)
On the left hand side, when you used the arm and leg together just as he was arriving at the hand⌠perfect (like on the first rep)! When you too early with your leg (like at :19) or you had you hand back too early (like at :35) he turned towards you because it looked more like a front cross cue. So, on that left side especially, hold still with your arm extended and feet together til he about 3 inches from your hand⌠then the hand and leg and start moving him through the turn.Strike a pose is going really well!! You can see he is already beginning to do the in-and-out behavior without needing help from you – yay! Your cookie tosses on the 2nd video were especially good! You can use a reward target like an empty food bowl (throw the treat to it as he is arriving at it) or manners minder now.
The next step would be to add wings to the bump so it looks more like a jump. That plus a reward target will take you to the next steps in both the serp version of this and the threadle version of this đ Then we will be able to fade out the big target in your hand as well.
Great job here!!
Tracy
