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Good morning!
I agree, she kinda thought you were nuts haha but this is GREAT for her – it helps her learn to find the line and have a TON of value for it, even if the handling is not perfect. (It is basically the next step to Find My Face: take the jumps even when the connection is not perfect).
If she knows how to find lines even if you are not perfect? You are far less likely to lose her to stress if you are not 1000% perfect. And since it is impossible to be perfect, she will take that as a sign to keep going on her line. Yay!
The session looked great 🙂 My only suggestion here is to toss the treats rather than hand them to her. Or, you can throw a ball or toy – yes, the toy takes a little longer to set up the next rep (because she has to get it, bring it back, play, etc) but the toy or ball can add a lot of excitement to this game 🙂 And with throwing the rewards, you can add more and more distance too!
Great job!!
TracyGood morning! The baby plank worked perfectly!
She is looking confident here – yay! You can add in more challenging angles of approach by tossing the treats on even more of an arc towards you and even a little bit behind you, so she learns to load on the plank and stay balanced even when coming from weird angles. Hopefully you never see weird angles of approach on course, but we want her to be prepared for everything!
She did really well turning around on the board too. You can hold your hand a little lower (at shoulder level for her) when turning around so she is standing more and not sitting as much.
Do you have anything you can use to raise the height of the board, like thick books or yoga blocks? You can also use deflated balance discs under one or both sides of the board, to add an element of movement and more balance. The discs can be really deflated so the board doesn’t fall off of them 🙂
Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
I agree – he did great here 🙂 He was super confident on the plank! Yay! Good job getting a series of different angles of approach with your cookie tosses. Yo can add in tossing the treats a little behind you so he has even more of a curved line back to the plank
Turning around was no problem as well. Super!
Since this went so well – do you have anything you can put under the plank to elevate it an inch or 2? Yoga blocks or thick books or anything can work – he is ready to have the board lifted off the ground a bit more.
>>He was off last night and did not want to eat all his dinner. He would go all day if I let him but it is my job to recognize over load.>>
He had a busy day a lot of treats 🙂 A day off is great for mind and body. Does he like toys – tug toys, or balls, anything non-food? We can use toys that he likes so he doesn’t go on cookie overload 🙂
>>With the first set done I hope I can now keep up and will feel more comfortable video all my training sessions.>>
Yes! These videos looked awesome! Keep on posting – great job!
TracyGood morning! The lazy game went really well!
Yes, kibble in the grass is hard for sure. The mats were helpful but it might be easier to use toys. Do you have 2 lotus balls? You can toss one, she eats the cookie, and you can keep moving so she gets the next one.
Or, you can tweak the game so that you re-set and re-start after each toy toss. That way she does one jump, or two in a row, or all three (while you wanted lazily around LOL! )
I think you can also spread the jumps out a little more and see how she does with more distance 🙂 And as she gets more experienced with this, you can connect *less* so she learns to stay on the line even if your connection is not 100% perfect 🙂
>>I think I’m going to swap out a heavier chair.>>
Yes, use the heaviest, most stable thing you can find, so that teeter is very safe-feeling for her 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
Both directions of the lazy game are looking strong. You had good timing on the cookie throws especially when she was on your right (she wanted to look at you more on that side, so you were great about waiting til she looked at and moved toward the jump!) And her commitment is looking strong!!So three ideas for adding challenge to this:
– Vary your position: rather than be close to the wings like you were here (that went really well) you can mix things up. For example, you can be closer to the middle jump so she drives ahead to jump 3. Or, keep moving as she is eating the treats so she finds the jumps from behind you as well.
– Spread out jumps for more distance between the jumps. Let her really have to leave you to go find them.
– Be less connected LOL! I know, sounds crazy haha but you can soften up your connection and watch her very peripherally. That will help her learn to stay on her line even if she can’t see the connection or if you are not 100% perfect. It is just too hard to always be perfect so we are going to give her big paychecks for committing to jumps even if you are not perfect 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyHello and welcome! Happy to see you here!
Giving her a few days off is SMART! She used a lot of mental energy to handle her first trial runs (and she was great!)
You can probably do the lazy game inside at home with pieces of cheese or something, as a good way to get her back into the groove? That game is designed to get the dogs to commit to the darned jumps even if we are not perfect (because perfect handling is absolutely impossible to do consistently :))
Have fun!!!
Tracy
Good morning! Hooray for videos!!!!
>>Please let me know if I should not put them all in one post.>>
Putting them all in one post is perfect!
>>The lazy game was harder than I expected.
Yep 🙂 It seems sooooo easy LOL! It is not easy at all – it is tricky! The dogs rely on us to help so much and on this game… they have to do it pretty much on their own.
Seren was GREAT! And the timing of your cookie tosses was perfect: Note how he really never looked at you and that is what we want. He was looking forward at the jumps really well! Yes, he missed on jump but your response was perfect: no reward, no marker, just keep moving. He figured out really quickly to NOT miss anymore jumps LOL!
It looks like you are using weave poles as jump bars, to make it easier to fit all 3 jumps. Perfect! You can move the outside jumps closer to the camera now, to add more room between them and the middle jump 🙂
Looking at the Winging’ It videos:
>>realized I cut off my head in most of it so you cannot see if I am making>>
No worries! The dogs tell us if the handler is connected or not, we can see it from their responses.
On the first video – he had little questions on the way to the wing at :16 and :43, so you can use more connection but also the extra step at :57 really helped him. Letting him see the send step after he exited the tunnel really set up success!
And, to add a little more connection there, you can have your hand pointing down to his nose as he exits, and traveling with him as you send him past you to the wing. That will allow him to see the connection more clearly. Pointing forward and ahead of him too early can create questions (because it blocks connection and turns your shoulders away from the line you wanted).
Great job with the verbals and I love your cheering section!! And the hello at the end of the video LOL!
2nd video: really nice opening!! He had a little trouble with the soft turns (I think it is a left turn here unless the video got inverted?)
He came between the wings at :12 because of a connection question – your arm was a little too high there (shoulder height) and you were pointing ahead of him, so he looked up at you to get more info. Keeping the hand pointing lower to his nose and following his nose as you are moving along the line will let him see the connection really well – which will help him commit 🙂You had better motion to support the line by getting closer and a really nice FC at :36! Super! The rep at 1:14 worked well with the wings closer – you can see he still looked up at you a little there, because the connection was hard to see – so the main goal is to keep your hand lower and your eyes on his eyes while you move, and you will see his commitment get easier as you add more and more distance 🙂
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
The next stuff is on a couple of Mondays in March:
https://levelupdogsports.dogbizpro.com/public/registration/events.aspx?fbclid=IwAR3YXV3EnY0YsD83pHD-orvkw86qu8DKeJA_Ax9L0oHAgJ3pEVhL6OGE_w0The main topics are crosses, but of course connection is key to good crosses 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>>This is the #1 thing I need to learn & internalize so that I can DO IT. >>
Connection is really the hardest thing in agility – it takes practice to build the brain memory to be able to do it all the time… and we all still find ways to disconnect LOL!
The deliberate disconnection session looked great – you can already see how Bazinga is looking for the bar a LOT better and going to the toy (rather than following your motion :))
We will be using all of these skills in MaxPup 3 too (plus playing games to help the dogs save us when we aren’t perfect LOL!!!)
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
This went really well! I think keeping the cone in closer got the best starts – when you moved it further away, your send cue was not as clear because you were turning away before she moved towards the cone. So keep it a little closer – you were still able to get to great position for the backside!The best connection on this video was at :15 as she was over jump 1, you had very direct connection and you didn’t have to go anywhere near the entry wing. SUPER!!!!
Compare that to :35- :36 – the connection was too “regular” (you were looking a little ahead and not directly at her), so she is looking at you and went to the front side instead of the backside because your motion was not far enough ahead to set the line.
You had clearer motion at :43 and :55, but keeping adding more connection directly to her rather than looking ahead. For now, you will still want to be a few feet past jump 1 before she gets to it so you can show her the cues – as she gets more experienced, you can be parallel to her and even behind her!
>>Is this our last day with the winter Camp?
Yes, this is the last day. I am glad you enjoyed it!! Stay tuned for more fun stuff coming up 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
I think Facebook is probably the best source of info. I post everything on social media and. I just checked – we are friends on Facebook :). If there is anything good locally, I will tag you! Are you able to do anything on a weekday?Tracy
Hello and welcome!!!!!
>>If a pup seems worried or less physically able to turn, is it okay to lift them off from the beginning? Thanks.>>
Great question!!! I have a two-prong approach to this:
– we need to get the pup happy to turn around (for plank confidence and general safety), so if it is on the top of the teeter, great! But it doesn’t have to be on the top of the teeter, it can be on an elevated plank, or even on the bottom of the teeter. Or even on a lowered teeter.
– yes, totally fine to lift the pup off from the start (much easier to do with the smalls LOL!) as long as we also teach them to turn around on a plank somewhere else
Let me know how it goes!
TracyHi!
>> I must say I really lost my training motivation as my senior dog was failing and we ended up saying good-bye earlier this month. I just couldn’t seem to get my rhythm back and my Karma was (is still) out of sorts! I know, sounds like just an excuse but it’s the truth!>>
It is totally a valid reason, I can relate. The grief is real!!! Hopefully as the weather improves, it will be easier to get out there, for both you and Karma.
>>know I have access to this for ever (correct?).
Yes! Lifelong access 🙂
>>If you ever have seminars (on the east coast), I would be interested in knowing about them. Do you ever have folks come to YOU for lessons and/or workshops???? PA is not that far from VA!>>
I will definitely keep you posted! Some of the local stuff at indoor facilities is full. I haven’t scheduled any outdoor stuff yet because we are at the mercy of the weather – and Mother Nature likes to play games at this time of year! I will let you know what ends up getting scheduled when we can trust the weather more 🙂 Thank you for joining this class, it has been so fun to watch you!!
Tracy
Hi!
>> all I managed to get due to video operator error(argggg).>>
Oh, I totally relate! I am so neurotic about it now that I have to edit all the times I go check to see if the camera is recording LOL!!!
>> Overall it felt much better on the connection especially wing to wing. My back has been giving me trouble lately so my running is funkier than normal>>
Yes, it went great! Even though your back was not being cooperative, you did two signs that really helped her:
– super clear connection!
– position cues for the serp on the backside (you were visible between the uprights) versus the threadle (you were visible near the entry wing of the jump)Those two worked together so she had no questions, on the jump or on the wing to wing. When your back is feeling better, you can rotate your upper body more towards her on both cues (swinging the threadle arm back a little more on the threadle, and opening your shoulders towards the jump on the backside serp). But for now, there is no need to do that because it might aggravate your back. Connection and position got the info to Fritzi beautifully!!!!
Great job 🙂
Tracy
