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Good morning! This is a hard game (and I think it also feels a little weird to be sending backwards) but it went REALLY well!
>I am so bent over! It doesn’t look right…>
You were only a bit bent over when you were looking at him and starting each rep – when you were moving, you looked good.
On most of the reps, you did a great job shifting your connection from his eyes to the wing behind you as you pointed & stepped to it. You can really see it when you were on the wings closer to the camera (like at :23 and :39, but also on all the successful reps.
He only had 2 questions (coincidentally on the same wing):
At :11, he went to a different wing because you were blocking the wing you were sending to a little. You moved over a little so he could see it and he got it really well on the next send.
At 1:17, you didn’t step to the wing (arm and connection was good but your feet didn’t move) so he didn’t go. That is good insight into how important motion is to him as a cue. On all the other reps, you used a big step and he did great.
>tight, fast work is not my strength.>
It looks like it is becoming your strength 🙂
Last run when you did all 4 was GREAT! You nailed the countermotion and the connection shift to the wing behind you. Absolutely super!
Another thing that went really well here was that he was able to ignore the big toy in your hand and go to the wing. That is hard but he did a great job!
Nice work!
Tracy
Good morning!
You totally nailed the first blind and all of the blinds here!!!! I couldn’t find a first pump emoji so here is a high five 🫸🫷She was definitely on board with the earlier timing because she added a new her of speed on run 2 and the next runs! Super!!!
She is also looking so good, finding her lines! There was only one moment where things were a little unclear to her, but she still fought to find the correct line:
At 1:04, you hesitated a little bit near jump 3 – you still got the blind in time but you were a little on her line so she for a moment thought about the backside at 1:06 but came in to the front side. Good girl!On this sequence, it is hard to keep connection on the exit of jump 5 without slowing down so you can also talk to her (name call) to keep her driving forward. Usually verbals can cover the moments when being super connected is more challenging.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
>He was good with the sequence wrapping right but struggled with bars when we changed direction.>
He did great! And you were really running! The bars were just late timing stuff, more on that below:
First run was LOVELY connection and timing, and he responded perfectly. It is what your future in the ring will look like! So fun!
The second run was also really good. At 1:24, your shoulder turn was late as you gave him his whoa and brake arms – you were facing straight when he took off for that middle jump, as compared to the previous run and the next runs at 1:39 and 1:53, where you were already turning and he had no questions about the bar.
You got a little past the wrap jump at 1:41 – that caused you to have to push him back to the next jump which made the turn late at 1:43 (bar down).
You cued a SUPER nice wrap at 1:54, which set up the easy send and good timing of the shoulder turn, so he found the line and had no trouble with the bars. YAY!
>I don’t think my teeter food was good enough tonight so I’ll up the game next time. But he didn’t fly off! >
He was very good! And I agree – when you had placed the food at the top, it didn’t even register at first LOL!! So using amazing stuff will really help him drive to the end of the board.
Great job 🙂
TracyHi! I am glad he had a great check up!! Yes, start with some hind end conditioning and plyometrics before doing a lot of grids – then you can start set point work with a higher bar to help get more hind end se.
>And we are going to start working at some height – he actually looked better doing a set point at 20″ than at a lower height.>
Yes, that makes sense because he has more bar to have to get over! But don’t do a lot of that until he is really great with his plyometric work. (Side note: does your conditioning person have him doing plyometric work?)
He did well with the sequence here!
No need to be stationary at the jump when he driving to it, that might be confusing about being stationary when you want a collection.When you started running, he really looked great! Nice timing with the cues and the reward throws. You can totally run in closer to the tunnel so he drives ahead of you here too, and keeping adding the distance as well – looking lovely!
Nice work 🙂 Tracy
Hi! It was very windy! Wow!
Good work on these sequences! I am definitely going to try to convince you to do the walk throughs running at her speed, with connection and verbals. That rehearsal will lead you to be able to nail the runs the first time – no bloopers, no wide turns 🙂
Even if you did walk each sequence, you should definitely video and post so we can see where the rehearsal happened which caused the blooper in the run.
You had one walk through here for sequence 1, but you were walking and very quiet 🙂 And you didn’t put the other walk throughs in. Ideally, you run the sequence as if you are running her, video it, then post it with the run so we can see where the common good stuff is, and where the common oopsies are. That way we can keep the good stuff and eliminate the oopses 🙂
And rehearsing running at her speed (with connection, verbals, etc) will directly correlate to much better trial runs. Side note: you can also set these sequences at smaller distances to get the feel of AKC courses.
Looking at the runs:
Seq 1:
The opening went well – nice timing of the left cue to get the turn on the tunnel exit!
You can send to 2, no need to go as close to it because you will get a better turn by sending and leaving. She had a bar down there because you drove to 2 then pulled away, making the turn info late.On the backside wrap on jump 4, you can get into backside wrap position, tucked in to where the wing and bar meet while facing the next line. At :59, she sliced the backside jump and landed wide because you turned to face the slice line – she was reading the cue there. You can get the wrap more by facing forward to 5 (and not facing 4 as much) and letting her go past you to the backside. That should get a nice collection there! She was tighter on the next reps because you didn’t turn to face 4 as much, but I think you can get even better collection without rotating to the jump at all 🙂
Then be sure to make connection as she exits 4 to send her to 5. At 1:01 you looked forward which she read as a blind cross cue. She still had the line, so you can keep going and try to finish the sequence! The connection made a big difference on the next rep – you can make it even more of a send by using connection and 1 step with the wrap verbal to get it.
(Since I am bugging you about the walk through 🤣😂, that is a spot to rehearse in the walk through so you can connect and send, avoiding the blooper there).
Seq 2 –
For the sends into the tight turn then FC on the backside at 2:31, you can stay o the line to where the wing and bar meet. After sending her to the backside here, you stepped across the bar as if heading to the tunnel. Then at lifted off, you did a FC right in her way so she hit the bar. When you repeated it at 2:59, you were not as far across the bar so she had a much better jumping moment there. Super!At 2:38 on the backside on 9 – you had a really good position and timing of the FC and she got it really easily! Super collection there! That was a great example of how to execute the FC on the backside wrap.
Seq 3 – to get the best line on this opening here, you can turn her the other way on 1 (to her right). Wrapping to the inside (to her left) requires you to have to stay there to push her back to 2, and then turn her hard to get 3 because the send to 2 lines her up for an off course. Turning her to her right will set a great line 2-3-4. You lost connection she ended up on your other side on the first run. On the second run you got the connection (yay!) but that set her on the line to the off course jump, so you had to really pull her in.
Seq 4 went well! You went a bit too far across the bar on jump 2, so she was wide on the line there (that is something to plan and run in the walk through 😁😁) The section from 3-7 was really nice! The wrap cues for 8 were late (4:44) so she was wide. You can plan to decel and begin the wrap cues as she is over 7, so get a really lovely turn there too!
Nice job on the ending line!!
So overall the sequences are going well. There was something you could do on each one a little differently to make it a clean run or tighten turns… and that is where we want the walk through to really see what to rehearse and smooth it out 🙂
Nice work!
TracyGood morning!
I think that teeter has a lock of whip to it (watch the bouncing up and down of the other end as he reaches the top!) so he is being careful. That is good self-preservation!!! He will work through that of course and get faster and faster. The heavier teeters will probably be easier for him because they won’t bounce around as much.
>When I added motion the first time I think it was too exciting and he just kept going off the end.>
Yes, and you were not even moving that fast! It is also possible he was trying to get the heck off the teeter because of the whip under him, but he was really good on the next reps! When adding your motion, it will help him focus on the end of the board if the reward is placed at the end of the board. You can use a bit of duct tape as a target and smear some cream cheese or peanut butter on it – that way he is not trying to watch you and the end of the board, he will just go directly to the end of the board.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! She is reading the blinds and lines really well!!
And I agree that the connection was better, really nice!!!!
>Blinds are still a little late>
I agree with this too 🙂 The blinds were happening at takeoff for the middle jump – ideally the blinds are finishing at that point. That is why her turn on the BC was wide – she couldn’t change her line until after she lands, based on the info. The more ideal timing would have the blind starting when she is landing from jump p3 (jump after the tunnel) so it is completed before takeoff for 4.
What will help you get that is if you stay in motion on the line more – when you were waiting for her while she was in the tunnel, there were decel cues so she was not sure if she should really drive to 3. And that then showed acceleration to 4 rather than a turn cue. So you can flip that 🙂 by running in deeper to the tunnel (so you don’t have to wait for her after a send) and as she is exiting, she sees you accelerating up the line and getting ahead. That should lock her on the line so you can be getting to 4 and starting the blind when she lands from 3.
That earlier timing plus the connection you had here so really get a great turn!
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
I’ll keep looking for a class with feedback. I’ve work with Leslie Eide (a sports vet) online and she is fabulous! I know she has a Jumping class and does individual conditioning stuff, but I don’t know if she does group classes.
Thanks for the videos. I totally see what you are saying. Even before he came off the frame high and fell on his shoulder, he was not really pushing from his rear over the jumps. Even the bars that stayed up saw him pulling from his front. And it was weird that he didn’t want to sit. Definitely show the videos to the vet!
He was mentally in the game, but seems to be protecting something physically. Yes, the mid-back might be ouchy and also ask them to poke around the psoas.Hopefully it is nothing and he feels better soon!!
Tracy
Good morning! I am so glad you are back in action! Take your time, no rush, we still have plenty of class time 🙂
>I thought it went well on rep 1. I did a second rep to see if I could tighten up her turns.>
I agree, rep 1 looked fabulous! Rep 2 looked great to! I think her turns were generally lovely rep 1 – the only one that was a bit wide was 5 to 6. The 2nd run was a little tighter so I timed then runs… basically the same 🙂 Th 2nd run was a tiny bit faster but it was pretty negligible and might be because it was hand-timed. So maybe the thing that can make a difference is adding a brake arm to cue a tighter line 5-6 (brake arm begins as she is exiting 4).
I like to time things to see if tighter is really faster… sometimes it is NOT. The smaller the dog, the more often we see that tighter is not faster, so it will be fun to look at this with Indy too!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! This session went great, it is really so fun to see her putting the pieces together!
I hope your neck is feeing better!!!
>Being worried about whether she was broken did make it hard to concentrate on the right timing so I think I still wasn’t perfect but better.>
I can relate to this – constantly checking the whippets that they are not broken. The BorderWhippets are so much sturdier LOL!!! The WhippetMalinois mix is a brick wall in comparison. But compared to the terrier and BC-types, I spend most of the time checking to see if the pointy dogs are breaking themselves.
On the video – this went well! The reps where you had really low arms were super! And at :45 you started your decel and tight verbal as she was taking off for the middle jump… perfect timing and a she produced a gorgeous wrap on the next jump! YAY!
Your first BC to wrap run looked GREAT! What made it harder was that she produced a new gear of speed – wow! And you still nailed the timing and got the wrap cues. Look at that gorgeous turn even with all of her speed coming into it at 1:06!!!
The other side seemed a little less comfortable:
Going the other direction at 1:24 was not as early with the timing (you can be furrther ahead to get 3 which makes. The blind easier) But if you get behind on the timing (meaning you feel like the BC is late) you can in that moment face the wrap wing for longer to decel, so she is more sure about where to go next. Rotated almost immediate at 1:26 which pushed her into the RC turnO n the 2nd rep, you had better position and timing! Your arms came up really high so that actually delayed the reconnection after the blind – but like with the previous rep, you don’t need to rotate as early after the blind. You can keep moving to the wrap wing and face it while you decel, so she knows where to be
The last rep had good position and lower arms, which definitely helped you set the line to the correct wrap! YAY!!!
>so I think that affected those blinds on my right and caused that bar at the end.>
That bar was the high arms. It was the only spot that the dog side arm ended up above your head 🙂 You were flying plus your neck might have been feeling restricted, so I think momentum just grabbed your arm and flung it upwards.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! He is definitely getting the idea of the RCs, he just needs the info a little sooner 🙂
>It’s so easy to see on the video when I’m late. >
I think you were waiting til he exited the tunnel to get on the RC line, and that was why the cues were late. You are running the RC line but you can get on it even sooner so he sees it a solid stride or two before takeoff. No need to decel there to face the straight line, that is delaying the info for the RC – you can run in closer to the tunnel if needed so when he exits, you are already moving to the center of the jump so he can set the turn before takeoff.
On the RC on the jump after the tunnel, he got it but had little questions – You were squaring up to the jump a bit, so he was turning left then turning right (watching it in slow motion from :17 – :19 and :21 – :24 for example can give you a good view of it)
The other thing I think is causing a question is there is a conflicting cue when the dog-side arm comes across your torso on the cues. At :43 and 1:10 for example, your left arm is indicating that he should turn towards you, by turning your shoulders to the right turn line and not the RC. And you were not really on the RC diagonal, so he took off turning right then turned left as he landed (:43) or over the bar (1:10). So the combination of getting onto the RC diagonal (to the center of the bar) more immediately when he exits the tunnel, and not letting your arm come across your torso will make it even smoother.
Nice work here!!
Tracy
Hi! He is doing great with these games!
>He can back up really well onto a bigger object but the plank messes with his mind. I am literally starting him standing against it and just getting him to step back with rear feet at the moment.>
He did well backing up onto the board! It is more narrow than he is, so it is definitely harder – but great prep for teeter and dog walk in terms of knowing how to keep all feet on a narrow board.
You can keep your hands lower (maybe near your knees) so his head is lower for more a little more weight shift – and you can be more stationary so he is not waiting for you to move forward. This can look like rewarding him between your feet, then standing still to let him back himself onto the board.Motion override is off to a great start! Just be careful about your dog-side hand moving as you cue the sit – on rep 1, it moved back and on rep 2, it moved up on the sit cue. He is totally watching it LOL so you can just walk forward (and build to jogging) with your arms flapping around 🙂
He sure does love his banging around on the wobble board! You can take the board to different surfaces to get different sounds: grass, concrete, or even put stuff under it like something metal to get a bit of a ‘clang’ like many teeters make.
Excellent job!
TracyHi!
Excellent use of feet here!
After the balance reps, your feet were still facing straight at :13 and :25 so she took the front on those. But at :18 and :28, you were clearer with your feet and she got the backsides really well!
You did two more balance reps of the straight line and on the backside rep after each of those, your feet were *perfect* so she went to the backside beautifully. YAY! So Maisy is giving us great info: it is all about the feet! When you do your walk throughs and run planning, really emphasize your feet and lines of motion, and I bet she will find the correct lines very easily.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>The first time I set all the bars to her height and she freaked out about either a dog starring at her or the people holding the dog. I asked them to move further away and that was still not good enough do we went to the other side of the ring and she was able to>
Poor girlie!! You can whip out pattern games when that happens. There are unfortunately a lot of staring breeds in agility and people just let them stare at small dogs in particular. Makes me NUTS. But pattern games really help in that moment (and good for you for telling them to move away).
Looking at her run:
>About the same as Saturday. I think I should focus her work on big running more at home to help her with these lines.>Better than Saturday! Yes, you can totally work on the big giant courses and distances. Also, she needs to get out and around crowds and other people in the ring and weird visuals more – are there classes you can take her too to get more exposure?
Looking at the run:
Great opening!!! And back to your comment about running more big courses: yes, the more experience she gets, the more you’ll see the great opening turn into great full runs 🙂Her two big questions involved missing jumps (she was a little sticky in other spots but you stayed connected and helped her):
On the first missed jump, I think a bunch of visual distractions combined to pull her focus off the jump: part of it might possibly have been the visual of the 3 tunnel layout right in front of her, that is unique! But I think the main challenge was the proximity and path of the jump:
The judge was right on her visual line at :26 so Taq had to jump right at the judge (I have been a judge for UKI and I think this was a poor choice of judging path for novice dogs in particular!!) Plus as soon as Taq landed from that jump, the judge started moving up the line behind her. I am 100% sure that Taq noticed this and that is probably what drew her focus off the line. So since we can’t control judging paths… are there people you can add to the training so Taq can see this again and get used to it?
The other spot was the missing jump at the end: I think this line required a lead change away to the left, and you were flying to get there but you were not far enough ahead to push the line with only motion. And it was too hard to get a side change there, Taq as flying!! So you can use your ‘get out’ verbal, connection, and opposite arm! That can get her to shift the line (she looked at you because she didn’t have the info).
>The course were pretty challenging.
>Yeah, UKI……. It can be a little all over the place in terms of course design. And the courses are HUGE.
Cricket’s run:
VERY interesting that the judge didn’t use the same position as path as Taq’s run. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm maybe she realized it was a bad spot to be in? I know it was not the same course but the opening was very similar.
Anyway:
Great job driving Cricket around! She had some questions which appeared to be “why are there so many random obstacles everywhere and WTF with the 3 tunnels” LOL!! That is something to show her more of for UKI because that is part of what makes those courses different/harder than other venues. Plus the yardage is huge, so there is a mental/physical endurance aspect too!!Great job here!
TracyHi!
>I think this might be a combo of me pushing too hard and her learning the new height.>
Yes, and also a good question from her about the cue. Here are the details:
Rep 1 was actually my favorite in terms of your handling – not a lot of arms, perfect line of motion, countermotion as you moved through, great toy throw!
But she sliced, hmmmm…. I will chalk it up to the tall bar, starting close to the jump on the first rep so not a lot of time for processing, lots of motion. And maybe because she had just done a slice session? But what you did in terms of handling was great!
The other reps with just one jump – she wrapped but you hung back on landing side. You can keep adding the countermotion so you can move forward like you did on rep 1.
When you added speed, this is where she had more trouble. I think 2 things were happening that caused the questions:
You were giving her extra support with your arm coming across your body to indicate the jump, but the arm across the body is actually a conflicting indicator: shoulders are saying slice, feet saying wrap. So she was considering the slice more than the wrap. Once she has passed you, you can either use no arms or point to the landing spot with the arm closer to the jump (as you throw the toy in this case). This is what you did on rep 1 and also at :58 when you used both hands down low, like brake arm, which is a great cue for the wrap and collection!
The other thing I see here is also what you mentioned about the height: when she has a question about the jump or the handling and doesn’t know how to organize the jumping, she goes around it. Honestly, that is better than slamming herself or getting hurt, so I prefer young dogs go around jumps if they have a question.
One way we help with the organization is get the dogs to organize their hind end into wraps. Here is the general progression:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKEDzuahWN4 (front sides)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf3GXlk95a8 (higher bar and backsides)
I have more recent videos *somewhere* but I can’t find them right now 🙂 But this skill is fun to play with and really helps.
Nice job here!
Tracy
