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Hi!
>.. It was a little 10 footer as #2 obstacle. She was so excited to be running that she skimmed right past it on the outside and then in through the exit side!>>
Ha! Gotta love the puppy moments! And she was probably all happy – “Nailed it!” LOL!
>>But like we chatted, I just kept running and praising and pretended nothing silly happened. She completed the rest of the course flawlessly for a young dog! I was proud of her but most importantly, she had a ball. She had the cutest bouncy prancy gait ever. It was so amazing to see after how unenthusiastic she can be in training at times.>>
PERFECT!! No need to stop and fix, or correct things with a young dog. She wants to run, so we let her run. All of it gets smoother as she gets more experienced.
>>UKI definitely has weird courses. The whole start line obstacle 1 jump away (opposite direction) from the second obstacle and then make a sharp turn into the wall for obstacle two is super weird and new to us. AKC doesn’t do that. It confused my older dog quite a bit. Or more so distracted her quite a bit. lol>>
Yep – UKI has a LOT of those. I have seen some in AKC but in AKC, I think you’ll see more of the tunnel as obstacle #1. Maybe Kashia was fine with it because we just spent 5 weeks sending her to a wing away from the course as the start? LOL!!
>>Thanks again for all your wisdom! It’s been amazing! You were just what Kashia and I needed to get a good foundation started together. So thank you!!!!>>
It has been my pleasure! You are doing a great job!
See you in MaxPup 3! You mentioned a few times seeing how fast/line focused the demo dogs were here… well, they are adults now. But in MaxPup 3, plenty of the demos were from when they were teenagers, so you will get to see their normal questions about lines, how much slower they were as they were figuring it out, etc. And my 2 teenage dogs are doing the demos in the new track, so you will see puppy shenanigans there too. I mention it so you can see that everything we run into with Kashia is completely normal LOL!!Have fun!
TracyHi!
>>I lost track of when the last day to submit videos for this class. I hope I’m not past the deadline with this one.??
You are all good! The last day is the 21st 🙂
>> I think I frustrated her by changing the reward from the thrown toy for the Get Out sections to treats from me after the longer sequences. We lost her commitment to the wings and some distance. I’ll try again and be a better “rewarder”.>>
It wasn’t a reward issue – the video says she was giving you feedback on the connection 🙂 Here is what was happening:
On the early ‘get out’ reps, you were connected and running towards the wing, so she got it. Yay!
A more ideal get out to add more of the distance element would have you running from back and forth from the center wings (the ones at 12 and 6 if it was a clock) and the get out wing would be the ones at 3 and 6.The turn aways had you running the lines from the 6 to 12 wing, and that went great – the turn aways looked really good (and she is a right, yes? So she was turning to her harder side and that went really well!) Nice use of arms, line, and connection 🙂
The rep at 2:03 and the last rep were more of a true ‘get out’ handler line as you went from the 12 wing to the 6 wing – this is where you can have even more massive connection directly to her. Your outside arm cue was really good but the you were looking ahead and to the wing, so it looked like regular connection to her. The extreme connection will work best when you are looking directly at her.
For the parts where she lost her commitment to the wing nearest the camera like at 1:01 and 1:13 and at 1:26 on the wing furthest from the camera: that was a disconnection question (not a reward question). If you want those spots in slow motion, you can see that she is a little behind you and at the wing on the right side of the screen.
You disconnect and look forward as she exits that wing so she looks up at you (“what’s the info, mom?”)
Then you were looking at the wing and pointing to it, but your feet/shoulders have fully turned so she comes with you (lookin gat you) as if setting up for a turn away or blind cross. She ended up doing a threadle wrap at 1:15 when you reconnected, good girlie!!Now compare to the reps at 1:37-1:39and 1:52-1:53, where you kept connection MUCH better and she went to the wing 🙂 Yay! So it was a regular connection moment and she is a very responsive girl! Great adjustment from you 🙂
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracyoh crud! You are right – the forum has disappeared. I contacted the tech folks and they will fix it in the next few minutes. Thanks for pointing it out!!! I will email when it is back online.
Tracy
Omg! What an amazing debut!!!! You were super connected and fast, so she got all the info she needed to run happy and fast!! YAY!!!!
That first jump thing is just lack of experience – she’s probably never had to jump towards the crowd like that! The rest was fantastic 🙂
I’m so happy for you!!!!!
TracyThe simple backside lines were really good, and adding the jump wen well too! Nice work with the reward places! More of these will help build up the indpendence so you can cue the backside and run fowrard, trusting her to take the jump. When working this on a jump, lower the bar and throw the reward further away from it on the landing side so she doesn’t torque her shoulders landing close to a taller bar.
On the last rep, being further past jump 1 before she takes off for i t will help you set the line with motion (to the center of the bar of the backside jump) and big extreme connection that she can see as you deliver the push cue (as she is jumping the 1st jump). She was ahead of you here so even though you said the verbal, the physical cues all moved to the front of the bar so that is where she went. Being further ahead for now will help solidify the skill and then she will be able to eventually do it on the verbal even when you are behind her.
Nice work here!!
TracyHi!
Yay, she did seem happy here! The up and down game helped her out for sure! And the simple, fun lines will add to that ‘feel good’ approach for her. More ‘regular’ connection on the exit of the frame to the spread jump will help, but also having a placed reward helps too so she can understand the line.T
That line will vary depending on which exit – for the disconnection games you will want to stay on a line no closer to the entry than the center of the bar, so you can easily run past the exit. But he might not be ready for that level quite yet.
Tracy
Hi –
>> I was trying to stay out side of the jump, when you say line do you mean in the middle?>>
Do you mean this, in reference to the backsides:
>>using the line on the ground, lead out at least 2 or 3 steps after the landing of jump 1. Then either do a psh to the outside of the backside wing (staying on your line) or have him go straight between the uprights as a balance rep.>>
If it is the backsides, you were heading towards the entry wing and rotating more than needed, so the handler running path should be more towards the center of the bar (at first) and on a parallel line to the line on the ground, cuing the push so he goes to the backside entry wing but you can easily move to the exit wing.
Or do you mean front side wraps? On those, yes, stay outside the wing/jump and decelerate on that line. Pushing in to the bar on those could cause a rear cross.
Let me know if that helps!
TracyHi! I think she did like the tunnel 🙂 and there was definitely a lot more speed and less eye-rolling from her LOL!
She is not a huge fan of deceleration (she wants to run, but sometimes in agility we humans have to decelerate and turn LOL!) so what I do to build the love for slowing down is throw the reward really far. It seems counterintuitive, but when I slow down the dog gets excited because it means I am going to fling the toy (like a ball or frisbee or lotus ball). It really gets the dogs blasting through the ‘boring’ turns 🙂 and adds more distance and commitment (definitely something we work on in MaxPup 3 :))
>>I kept getting my verbal and my physical cues mixed up. I blame it on tiredness. I’d tell her close but signal for backside. She figured it out most of the time but I rewarded her either way cause it was a super obvious handler error! lol>>
That is totally relatable LOL and it was good to reward her. When we screw up the verbals, the dogs have to pick physical cue or verbal cue? So I am happy with whatever they pick because they are trying hard to figure out what the heck I want 🙂
I am so glad you had fun here – you did a fantastic job!!!! I am looking forward to seeing you in MaxPup 3 :)
TracyHi!
>>How long are you accepting videos? I know I’m behind and I have no idea when the class is ending.>>
Feb 21 is the last day, hoping that the weather behaves itself LOL!!
>>It seems to me when I looked at these that if my outside hand comes up my body is magically drawn to take a step off the line>>
Yes, it is really hard to run completely straight with that much upper body rotation. A tiny bit of being drawn to the line is fine as long as it is very little and you are mainly moving forward (and not using the motion to send him to the jump). So you did have a little too much stepping towards the jump at the beginning but overall, I thought you did really well moving as straight as possible!
It was also super cool to see that he had perfect balance reps! That jump is so visible and enticing that the balance reps can be really hard, but he seemed to have no questions 🙂 YAY!
He had a couple of questions on the out jump (at :40 then also at 2:02 and 2:18). Those were all when he was on your left and your right arm was the ‘outside’ arm. On those reps, you did have eye contact and the right arm was engaged, but it was not really pointing to the jump you wanted. It was pointing more to the start wing, so he looked at you trying to sort out the cue.
Compare to reps on the other side like at 1:20 and 1:38 where he is in your right and your left arm is the outside arm. On those reps, your outside arm was very visible out ahead of your shoulders, pointing to the wing of the jump, so he seemed to have no questions. That arm pointing to the jump really helps support the extreme connection.
So I bet if, when he is on your left, you point your right arm out to the jump while you move, he reads it perfectly 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
These went well!
One thing on both the backsides and the tight wraps – the timing can come sooner on the cues, starting when she is over the bar of the first jump so she has the info when she lands. When you see her getting to the start wing, you can disconnect for a few steps to get up the line faster, but you can re-connect sooner so you see her taking off for jump 1 and then start the extreme connection cues for the backside or wrap. You were tending to start them when she landed and when you got close to jump 2, which made the info late. If you connect to her sooner (with the good ol’ regular connection 🙂 ), the extreme connection can come sooner to smooth out the lines. Since you are ahead on these sequences, you can start the re-connection as you pass the first jump (which is a few strides before she gets to it 🙂 )Looking at the backsides:
Using the outside arm to help get the extreme connection is going well! One thing to do is use it only as much as needed so you can give her the cues very directly, but without rotating your feet. You were using the extreme connection and outside arm and also the outside foot, so she got it but it ended up having you in a front cross position.To be able to get it from further across the bar (like you would need for a serp exit, for example) or if you were behind her, having your feet moving forward the whole time will be very useful! I put a line on the ground for myself so I practice running straight 🙂
That outside arm and extreme connection can start as she is over jump 1 (and while you run straight too the center of the bar of jump 2). That should eliminate her questions like at :17 on the 2nd video where she ended up on the front and at :38 where she had a little zig zag before going to the backside.
Great job breaking down the tight wraps! It is a fine balance between not enough decel/too much pressure into the jump, which gets the rear cross, and decelerating too much that she doesn’t take the jump 🙂 You sorted it out really well especially on the 2nd video – nice turns!
As with the backsides and the sequences on the next 2 videos, making sure you are connected again before she takes off for jump 1 will help the timing here for sure.
On the next video, the reconnection was happening as you were arriving at the wrap jump – since she didn’t have a lot of info as she jumped 1, she was jumping towards you with her head up a bit (the first rep on each video). The next reps on each video went more smoothly – you were connecting sooner so the wrap cues started sooner plus you had a transition in decel as you moved forward – the turns looked lovely! Super!!!
>>Also wondering if there is a class that would be good for J after this.>>
Yes! It is MaxPup 3 🙂 Lots of fun sequence stuff!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>After looking at that FAST video from last week it makes so much sense.>>
And that is why it is great to get everything on video – it really lets us see the big picture 🙂
It was really interesting to see the 2 videos here! She had tighter turns on the 2nd video, turning to her left. So, what was the difference? It is possible that she is a lefty (although I don’t remember really seeing a left turn side preference from her) but also – your cues on the left turn wraps/dog on right video were one step earlier.
On the first video, your cues (decel, connection, verbal, rotation) started when she landed from the first jump, so she didn’t quite have enough time to fully process the cues to collect as much.
On the 2nd video, your cues on the 2 wrap reps were starting as she was on her way down from the jump so they were in progress as she landed (mainly the decel had started, which is a powerful element of the cue). It might seem subtle but it makes a big difference to her!
So you can anticipate landing and start your cues (decel, BIG connection, verbal 🙂 ) as she is taking off for the first jump so when she lands, she sees them in progress and can set up the tight turn. The only thing that doesn’t start that early is the rotation, because it will pull her off of jump 2. So the decel and connection happen while you continue to move forward, and the rotation starts when she is approx halfway to the jump (or a little after that).
Both of the straight line balance reps looked fabulous 🙂
>>If you have any recommendations as to what I should enroll in next in terms of your courses I am all ears.>>
I am glad you had fun!!! I am currently sorting out what the next class will be for the ‘grown up’ dogs 🙂 It will probably be a short-form class like this one with a special focus topic such as independent backsides or jump-tunnel discriminations. I will get that sorted in the next few days and keep you posted 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>She is by no means a tunnel sucker and occasionally will skip a tunnel entry too but I think overall, tunnels still get her some speed so I’ll definitely be incorporating that next time!>
I think that can help get her blasting into the opening of a sequence if the opening is setup with very little handler motion.
>>So with the threadles, I tell her close to bring her in and then I run towards the wing and meet up with her on the other side/landing spot to teach her that close means come in and jump all in one verbal?>>
Yes – it is a converging pressure towards the exit wing of the threadle. It is pretty hard for the dogs, so do it slowly at first – if you go too fast, she will end up not seeing the upper body and connection and she will go with motion to the other side of the jump. Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
I think this session went really well! I agree with your assessment: backsides were easier than the threadles, and the connection on the line from the wing to wing was HARD! But you had a ton of beautiful reps! And it sounds like she had a cheering section too, so fun!!!Breaking it down into the different challenges:
Super happy with the backsides! You had really nice connection to get her to go to the backside every.single.time. And the other thing that was really strong was your exit line connection after backside serp. Convincing the dogs to turn away after they land from the backside is hard but you made it look easy, with very clear exit line connection (looking a little extra directly at her when she landed). You can see it pretty clearly at 1:38 and 1:55, for example, but you had it in place on the other reps too. Super!!!Threadles are definitely harder because they require the upper body (connection, arm, verbal) to override motion. Try not to turn your feet towards her on the threadles – the best reps were when you had your feet moving forward and the connection/upper body cues did the hard work 🙂 You can see your feet moving forward at :22, :35, 1:31, for example.
She did had a little trouble with the hard slice jump on the threadles when she was on your left jumping to her left over the bar. She had it sorted out by the end of the session, though. She seemed to have an easy time on the other side (jumping to her right) but that makes sense, because I think she is a righty?
For now, you can move more slowly through the threadle so your feet can point forward and she will still read the upper body and connection cues. As she gets more experience with threadles, you can add more and more running 🙂The bigger sequences went well – going from wing to wing is definitely hard for the dogs because they have to pass the jump and there is nothing really obvious out ahead – your connection at 1:07 got it done nicely!
You almost had it at 1:14 but then had a little disconnection when you pointed ahead so she curled off the wing. Compare that to 1:36 – you maintained that connection longer and she went miles away to the wing. YAY!
Be careful not to over-connect like at 1:58 – you were opening up too much there on the connection and it caused a bit too much swinging of your dog side arm back, almost indicating the jump behind you. Compare to the next rep at 2:08 – super connected but not too much rotation so she went directly to the wing. Super!Overall it is a really hard combo because she is moving FAST and you need all of the connections but no disconnection LOL!! You did great!!!
>>What is the last day for video submissions?>>
Feb 21. And I told mother nature that no more bad weather was allowed 🙂 so it should be a lovely week!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
“”Kashia was a D.U.D. – dud – last night!!! “”I don’t think she was a total dud… but I do think she thought the start of the sequences was stoooopid LOL!! She thought my course design was a loser LOL!! I don’t take it personally 🙂
She did NOT like any rep that started with the jump then the wing. She was very much trotting on all of those and also trotted in the middle of the longer sequences when she had to go from the jump to the wing. But she got nice and fast when you were going wing to wing, or wing to the backside, or wing to the threadle. She liked all of those and was running.
So why did she dislike the wing to jump so much? Maybe it didn’t have enough motion, it was too decelerated for her, as a starting point. Good to know! She likes action, and when you were able to run, she was nice and speedy! You can modify the boring starts to add more running or bring out a tunnel or throw in another wing to go around to start her (so it is wing-jump-wing) – anything that add more motion going into it. You can also spread out the distances a lot, so she is going 20-25 feet from the wing to the jump – that’ll get running going! We don’t want her to be bored LOL!!!
Your handling is looking really strong! Lovely ‘regular’ connection throughout. The extreme connection for the backside was also really strong – she only had 2 questions where she ended up on the front side. That was at :54 and 2:20, and what happened there was she just needed a little more upper body rotation to cue the backside. To help support the extreme connection, you can use that outside arm a tiny bit differently: point to the outer edge of the entry wing. It looked like you were pointing to the bar or exit wing, which did not give enough info for her to read it as a backside (she is still learning it). Compare to 1:06 where you had that outside arm pointing a little more to the wing (along with the extreme connection) and she was perfect!
The threadles (close cue) are also looking really good!!!Nice use of hands and connection to help her see it! The next step in training those is to keep moving towards the jump as you pull her in, so she sends herself back out to the jump rather than needing a jump cue from you. Ideally, she will learn that your ‘close’ cues means to come in to the correct side of the jump and go jump it too 🙂
Great job here! And if you see her getting dud-like on any part of a sequence like the beginning here, you can add more motion into it and it bet she un-duds 🙂
Tracy
