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Good morning!
On the first video, he was having a little trouble finding the jump partially because of how it was set up – on the first side, the set up was putting his line around to the backside/past the jump (location of wing) and also when you were moving past the pole, it was causing your line to block is his line a bit so he was pushing out. Your line was pushing in towards the bar (so you could clear the pole).This was also happening a bit when you moved things over, and back chaining helped! Good adjustment there! He was able to get the jump when you were sending ahead but when you were moving forward, it seems that he felt the pressure of your motion heading to the bar and he went to the backside.
The same thing was happening a bit on the other side – you were inside the line of the wing and on the line to the bar – but also I think the placement of the MM was contributing.
Even when you were pulling away he was still going around it (like at 2:27) so I think his hunt for the reinforcement was more powerful than finding the jump (more on that below). When you moved the jump so the MM was clearly on the landing side, and you sent more than moved forward, he found the jump easily.On the 2nd video:
>>Was I pulling him from the jump by moving too soon>>
Yes, a little bit:
The first sends had a little too much pointing ahead of him so he as in handler focus more than jump focus 🙂
Compare to :30 when you were most connected (you looked at him the most directly) and your hand/arm traveled with him. This was also lovely at 1:42 and 2:27!On some of the other reps, he was very close to the jump (a few inches away!) and you needed one more step to support commitment…
But when he is that close to a jump, we really want him to just take the jump 🙂 even if your leg is not perfect or you move an arm back… so I think his question here is more about jump value and less about handling. Any time a dog requires us to be perfect with our handling, we can pump up the value of the jump (because being perfect is pretty impossible!)
I think that was happening on the first video too – he was running to the MM more than he was running to the jump. He is locked onto the reward more than he is locked onto the jump. On this second video, the reward was coming back near you, so he was following the reward, perhaps thinking he needed to stick close to you to get it.
So, we can make one adjustment that will add a lot more value: we can change the reinforcement strategy. Let’s do a bunch of sessions where you help him get over the jump and when he is locked onto it – throw the reward to the landing side of the jump. Don’t use the MM (I don’t think it has helped him build value for the jump but he sure does love the MM!) – you can use food or the toy (he really liked that at the end) and all rewards are tossed to the landing side.
At first, you can wait til he is taking off before you throw the toy. Then you can throw it when he is looking at it and moving to it, so you can get earlier and earlier with your throws – that will mean he is committing sooner and sooner so the handling gets easier. Basically, we would like to convince him that the way to get you throw the reward is to take the jump 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I agree, a ton of great stuff in this run!!
>>I don’t have control over distances in class. However, one class has a yard that’s smaller temporarily due to grass seeding. That forces more AKC like courses.>>
Perfect! If AKC is what is on the calendar, the more you can work those distances and challenges, the better. Maybe in the other class you can ask the instructor to incorporate those challenges?
>> Going slightly wider was a better line to the two jumps.
The brake arm is the middle ground cue that can set it really well.
>> I did tug with her in the next class before going in and that’s when she broke her start. It’s not necessarily related, but I did note it.>>
Definitely something to note and see if a pattern emerges.
>> I think she’s sitting faster. I’ve noticed the back and forth movement seems like her way to release energy.>>
She is definitely sitting faster! And yes, a lot of dogs have a way to release energy on the way into the ring and at the start line, and moving is one of them.
Keep me posted!
TracyHi! These went pretty well!
>> he couldn’t figure out if he was supposed to be doing hand touches.
On the reps where outside hand was high and moving, he jumping up perhaps thinking it was a hand target cue. But on the reps where it was lower and not moving? He turned directly to the tunnel (:18 and :59 for example). Super! So, low and not flicking away is the way to go – and that is great, because if he thinks he has to wait til you flick him away, it is much harder to get a smooth turn there than if he turns himself away on the verbal & arm cue.
He had trouble turning away to his right and was much better on his left. So you might want to break it down a little and do some cirlces on the flat with a cookie lure – put him on your right side and have him turn away from you to his right. That will smooth out the tunnel threadles. His questions there were more of the “I am a lefty not a righty” question than a “you are doing it wrong. mom!” question 🙂
>>On the demo video it looked like you just kept holding your arm up the whole time with no flick. Any suggestions on this?
Correct! I am too slow for my dogs to need to rely on my presence and timing to flick them away. So, the verbal and arm cue tells them to turn themselves away without waiting for further info from me: I give the cue, and the dog can just go directly to the threadle end of the tunnel without waiting for anything else. And even if I was super fast, I would still want that independence because it means I can go to my next spot on course sooner.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> my phone for some reason decided to go into slow motion mode for the middle and longest part of the video and I promise you, I did not spend longer than two minutes in this training session. If this is unacceptable, I will redo the video, let me know.>>OMG that is hilarious! Darned smart phones have a mind of their own LOL!! The slow motion made things very dramatic 🙂
No worries, I was able to change the speed on youtube – even in slow motion, she was driving ahead brilliantly! Excellent job connecting with her before you started running – that is great practice for when you connect to her on course.
She was totally surprised when you cheated to win LOL!! She almost beat you on the 2nd rep of cheating but she didn’t know which side of you to be on so ended up between you feet – more connection was needed so she know where to be. She ended strong though and is loving the driving ahead! As you drive ahead, try not to praise her – that drew her eyes up to you because she wasn’t sure if you were going to hand her a reward or not. You can praise after she gets the toy 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
Super nice job here! She is definitely sorting out the hind end awareness of backing up!!
The hardest part was not placing the start cookie too far away – when it was too far back, she turned around, Bu when it was no further back then in line with you shoe, she backed up really well! This also was the case when you stepped further back: as long as the start cookie was near the back of your shoe, she was able to back up to the disc and not turn around. SUPER! So as you add more distance, just remember where to place the start cookie and I bet she continues to back up to the disc.Great job!
TracyHi! This is still a really good run even if it was not clean! She was flying and went where you told her to go 🙂
On the ring entry – as you are entering, be more connected to her as you walk in (you can move in even more quickly) and start asking her to do things a lot sooner. You were looking at the other dog exit so she was kind of left to her own devices (she is not quite ready for that yet). She had a bunch of steps of relative calm and engagement (from the ring entry to where the video starts and a few steps after that but then you can see her kind of lose it at :04. Coming in talking to her, going more directly to the line, tugging on the leash, etc, are all ways to get the engagement you want on the line which will make the line up a lot easier. Note the engagement she offered when you took the leash off and let go of her collar, and she sat really quickly after the cue!
On the release from the stay – she is holding the stay beautifully but I think the release is starting to shift to being the re-connection after the lead out. You can see at :24 she moves forward when you re-connect and before you say OK. So if you are going to lead out without connection, you will need to re-connect, praise, and NOT release immediately because it looks like the re-connection and release have been paired. Work this separately in training so you can reward, because otherwise she is going to break her stay and we don’t want to be in that situation.
>>I didn’t get the rear cross at 5 and she stayed on her line driving ahead and getting a wring course.>>
AKC distances are short and that means she has to make a jumping and line decision pretty quickly – so you have to be showing the RC line at :29 before she even lands from the previous jump. You turned to face the straight line for long enough that she locked onto it.
In your classes, can you ask for the sequences to be set up AKC style with 18 foot distances, to get the feel for the timing? I think most of us practice using bigger distances which will bite us on a shorter distance.>>I got her back and did dome great sends and a BC!>>
Yes- that was GORGEOUS!!
The exit line connection on the blind was fantastic!!!!!>>Weaves were fabulous, but I didn’t get the turn to the left on the jump after the weaves. Maybe I should have spun it. But a really tight turn would have put her on the line to her friend the tunnel.>>
The weaves were indeed fabulous!!!! On the jump after it – yes, bitten by the short distance there because you were facing forward as she was taking off, so she went were you sent her.
A couple of ideas:
– do the FC on the exit of the weaves while she is still weaving. If you do it after the exit, she will get too much propulsion forward to the next jump and you won’t have time to show. The next cue
– you can do a spin with more motion there – if you do not decelerate a lot, it should not pull her off the line to the jump.
– try a brake arm, like you did on the opening! The brake arm worked really well on the opening line!You can definitely work all of the sequences at 18 foot distances here (or less, if you use a 12″ bar and wings) so you can get into the mode of the timing for the AKC distances.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
Yes, it has been way too cold!!!!Good connection on the sends at the beginning! You can take fewer steps forward – see if you can send her to the jump with just one step (and that great connection
>>But there’s some serious arm flinging going on with this one.>>
There is a lot of momentum on the sending, so arms will definitely be moving more – it is a matter of when and how they are moving 🙂
The high arm made an appearance at :13 and :23 – it happened after the connection and send cue so it didn’t distract her or block the line. She sent really well!
>>Lizzie is as honest as she can be though. >>
Yes! She goes where you send her!
You had a lower arm at :29 but it was not as much of a send. You had too much running forward – she had no idea you wanted a turn, thought you wanted the tunnel but couldn’t figure out how to get into it LOL! Good girl!
Looking at the sequences:
Good send at :52 but doing a FC on the wing to turn back to the previous jump made the BC between the jumps late. When you did the send as a post turn, it was much easier to get to the cross at the end.Another honesty moment at 1:03 – she was facing straight on the first jump and you ran forward so she went forward. The turn info started after landing at 1:08. You can line her up on a slice to face the direction you want her to go, so she will be able to find the line immediately.
Overall, your connection was really super on these reps! The rep at 1:19 was the only spot you were not connected: On the send cue there, you were looking ahead of her and pointing ahead to the wing, which turns shoulders and feet away from the wing. So, she did not go to the wing.
Compare to 1:28 and 1:32 – much clearer with the connection and step to the wing, so she sent really well! Super!!!>>We are still struggling with her going off with the toy. >>
You can send her for a run with her toy as part of the reward (I ay “go for a run”) and then after a few seconds, trade for a different toy that also has a lot of value, and send her for a run with that. If she comes back and you take the toy and put her back to work… she is going to be less likely to bring the toy back quickly.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy>>Again I keep losing her – only little dogs I have run have been slower.>>
One thing that I see here is you can move more slowly and connect down to her eyes a LOT more. You were trying to go fast and that caused you to look forward/break connection so she didn’t know where to be. This is especially true with a small dog – if you arm gets really high, it will turn your shoulders away from the line and block connection so she doesn’t know where to be.
Video 1 – This was a good session and most of the connections were really good! It hard to see your eyes on a lot of the reps due to the camera angle, but we can see your shoulders and feet – so when she committed smoothly, you were very connected (like at :14-:17) even if we couldn’t see it on the camera.
When she had questions or jumped up, it was a disconnection moment. For example, at :08 you pointed ahead, which turned you away from the cone and she jumped up – not sure where to be. At 1:01 and 1:24 not enough connection just running forward so she looks at you for more info.
Her only other question was at :27 when you tried to move too fast in the spin so it pulled her off entirely – on the next rep, you stay more connected and showed her the commitment and the spin went really well!
Video 2, the sends: the video is sideways so I am not sure how clearly I saw it all LOL!
Definitely too much high arm here on the sends – try to run the whole thing with NO arm at all – just connection and feet! Connection and one step to the line will definitely send her. At 1:45 and 1:52 and 2:04 you can see the high arm pointing forward blocks connection and turns your shoulders away from the line so she didn’t know where to be. Compare to 1:48 – 1:50 and 2:27 – 2:29 when you ran with NO arms pointing and a ton of connection: PERFECT!And also the value of the target (I am not sure what it was – am empty bowl or maybe something on it?) was too low – you were saying “get it” and she was saying “get what?”. More ideas on that below.
3rd video:
Try this one too with no arms and only connections 🙂 When you were trying to go really fast, I was not always sure what sequence you wanted so she was not sure either. When you slowed things down the handling the connection was much clearer! So you can do fewer wraps in a row (just do 2 for now rather than trying to put together the longer sequences) so you can show the connection really clearly.You did this at 1:56 – 2:02 (slowed things down and emphasized connection) and she read it really well! Then at 2:03 you disconnected and pointed forward so she didn’t know where to go
At 2:59 you had nice low arms and exit line connection! You can shift your connection to the landing side of the circle wrap at (3:01) – you were looking at her and you will get better commitment if you look behind you at where you want her to go. On the last couple of reps (3:06 and 3:22) you can also make big connection on the sends and resist the temptation to use your arms 🙂
Then send to the last wing at 3:06 with no arm, just connection to her eyes>>I am getting alot of jumping up- especially when she thinks we are going to start work and when I am too slow with rewards. >>
The jumping up was happening for several reasons:
– most of the rewards were coming from your hands (or being tossed after she was looking at you) so she was locking onto your hands and either jumping up to get the reward if it was late or jumping up as you delivered the reward. To help her out, get the reward off your body/out of your hands – that can be placing them or throwing them sooner. Since throwing the reward is the most valuable thing to her for now, you can use that the most on the big lines – throw the reward early, before she looks back at you.And keep working on getting her to drive to a dead toy (not sure she needs it on a container?) and definitely getting food rewards involved – separately from training, you can get more and more value on the lotus ball and treat hugger with some practice, which will make those easier to use too.
>>>The intensity of the jumping up i havent seen in my big dogs (I understand why) she jumps high…. is very grabby and nippy.>>
This is frustration – either because she doesn’t know how to start the session cleanly, or she is frustrated when things go wrong in the sequence and there is no clear info (especially if you stop). You can see this at the beginning of the reps and also in spots like 2:24 in the second video, and 2:53 in the 3rd video – there were already some errors that had happened so when you disconnected and stopped, she jumped up in frustration.
So to help her start the session cleanly, work on having her wait on a cot or platform or something so she has a thing to do that is clear and reinforcing – then release her to come to you when you are ready. That way she is not rehearsing jumping up at you as you move into the sequence.
For the jumping up in the middle – shorten the sequences you work on so you do 2 things in a row – that will be easier for you to maintain the connection with her speed, so it will raise the rate of success and reduce her frustration.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! This looked really good!
>My arms are flying all over the place.>>
Not really! There is a lot of momentum on the sends so arms tend to be bigger on the sending. I think your connection to her coming around the wing was great and that is why she found the send so nicely!! Your arm was then following her as she passed you to head to the send obstacle, which is fine (she seemed to have no questions about that).
The only place to have your arm lower and back more was on the serps when you went from jump to jump on the first part of the video, like at :40 when you were arriving at the 2nd jump – your arm was parallel to your shoulders and pointing ahead of her, which will potentially make it harder for her to read serpentines.
When you added the jump-wing-jump sequence, you can move your arm forward later in the cue. What I mean by that is as she is over the jump before the send, keep you arm pointing to her nose and look at her eyes on the send – that way you can take jump one step on the send, and she will go flying past you to the obstacle. You were pointing forward and looking forward a bit here (like at 1:11, 1:25, 1:30) so she needed you to take a couple of extra steps forward to set the line for commitment – which makes you a little late for the cross at the end.
Compare that to 1:46 when you looked at her more (and looked ahead less) so she flew past you for the send even though you were standing still.. which allowed you to get to the blind at 1:48 perfectly and nailed it!
She almost didn’t go to the send wing at 1:54 because as she jumped the first jump, you were looking ahead and pointing ahead… which turned your shoulders and feet away from the wing. She checked in/curled in a little but then carried on (the verbals really helped with that!) So that is a spot where you can keep your arm back and pointing to her nose – and when you give the verbal, say it directly to her eyes (big connection!) while you take one step forward to the wing. You had a MUCH clearer send at 2:00 – low arm, strong connection, and she had no questions about going to the wing. That resulted in a fantastic blind!
>>She was distracted by her fan club…and left me once.>>
That is hard when the fan club makes a surprise appearance! She came back really quickly though. You can play with having the fan club show up every now and then so you can surprise her with amazing treats to reward her for sticking with you.
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
Last week’s storm turned out to be just a lot of rain… but now we are supposed to get snow and I am not on board with that LOL!!!!Super nice sends! She is able to go to the jump on the one big send step which is terrific! The connection was VERY clear on the send and you maintained it even as you moved away to the 2nd jump, so she seemed to have no questions about commitment! My only suggestion here would be to start the verbal at the same time you started the send to get even more info to her nice and early. You were using the verbal but it was happening when she was closer to the jump.
The sequences looked good too! The opening loop is weird feeling (at least it was when I ran it LOL!!) but you can run more (just pumping your arms and running rather than the big send) and that is a good practice for connecting on speed line. Then you can stick closer to the 5 jump (the jump before the send) to do the big send to the wing n order to get way ahead for the blind. You went a couple of steps past it for the send, which is fine… but Synnie has strong send skills so I bet you can send for one step past the jump. That will get you 10 miles ahead for the blind and front!
The blinds went really well here and you got your connection back to her nicely on the exit line. If you send away sooner, getting down the line to the blind will be even easier 🙂 As you start moving to the blind, stay closer to the send jump so you are closer to it when you do the blind – that help set up the turn even more, rather than going straight past the BC jump. You can also pump your arms as you run to the blind (you had your arms up and out to the sides) because it will get you there faster (she was flying :))
The FC was harder to do on time so you can totally send to the wing from further away to get there sooner. I think the other thing that delayed her seeing the FC info was that you started it by bringing your outside arm up and high as she was taking off (1:11). But it is the foot rotation (1:12) that cues the FC, so I think you can keep your arms tight and low to show her the foot rotation sooner.
The lower your arms are, and the tighter they are to your ribs, the faster you can rotate (think of Olympic figure skaters drawing their arm in tight to spin really faster, and extended their arms to slow down). So using your arms a little differently (lower and tighter) will add speed and show even more connection, both of which are great because she keeps getting faster 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! Lots of good work here!!
I could see a clear transition into decel here on your FCs and spins! Now that she is really understanding, she is even faster… and I think you need to start the decel sooner so you can do the FC sooner.
You were starting the decel as soon as she landed from jump 1 (nice connection to see that each time!). But that didn’t give you quite enough time to rotate before takeoff, so you were facing forward when she takes off so she was a bit wide on landing.If you can start the decel before she lands (either at liftoff of the jump before the wrap jump, or while she is over the bar) then she will see it sooner and you will have time to get the rotation started before she takes off, so the turn will be tighter.
Your exit line connection on the exit of the FCs can be clearer (you can open up back to her with the opposite arm across the body). Your dog-side shoulder was a little closed forward at :05, :23, :30, 1:00, 1:20, and 1:38 so she was a little wide behind you, looking for the new line.
Compare the to the exit line connection on the spins: VERY connected and lovely! She had no questions and was very tight and fast finding the new line 🙂
>I had trouble with toy hand on second direction spins>>
Yes, but even with that you were still really opening up the connection back to her and she had no questions!
>>I think Fritzi was getting a little warm/tired
On those last 2 reps (bar down on the 2nd to last rep, she was a little high in the rear on the last rep) I think her questions were because you did not have the same decel you had on the other reps – you accelerated all the way through the cross. So on the rep with the bar down, it looked like you were running a rear cross line for a few steps (you had motion towards the center of the bar and she moved over a bit) and then she tried to adjust when she realized it was a spin and couldn’t quite get it done. On the last rep, you were on the straight Iine to the wrap but didn’t decel so she thought she was going straight until you rotated. That is why she was a little off balance.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Great session here!! The FCs were consistently excellent and you were nailing the spins! YAY!!!
And yes, the connection is so cool! It feels like magic for sure but it is really just a powerful cue 🙂
>>. It is like, learning how to drive her. If I do the connection right, she just gets it.>>
Yes! One thing I see here falls into the “learning to drive her” category! On the regular blinds, for most of them you had your arm bent but at your side (holding her treats, I think) and that actually blocked her view of connection and turned your shoulder too far forward. So, she came off the line on the blinds because she didn’t have a commitment cue.
Compare those moments when she came off the line to when she stayed on the line for the blinds (:18 and :37 and also at 1:13 – I think you were planning on a spin there but did a blind) – check out how your dog-side arm had your elbow locked and pointing back down to her nose so she really saw the connection. Nice!!!And on the FCs and Spins, the arm position is less important because your connection was more visible (not needing to do a blind). But having the locked elbow and hand pointing low really made those smooth too 🙂
Your exit line connection looked awesome on all of the reps!
She had one question at the end – she back jumped at 1:37. It looked like there was no transition into deceleration: you slammed on the brakes and turned 🙂 Compare that to the next rep at 1:47 where you had a perfect transition and she nailed it. YAY!!
>>My big takeaway is that I need to get my body language fluent so that I don’t have to think about it and I can concentrate on our connection.>
Yes, it just takes practice so that it becomes easy and almost like second nature.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis is where the sends will come in really handy! You were a little further from the wing on these, but you can give a much bigger send cue so it is easier to get to the BC or FC between the jumps. The crosses were late (started when he was in the air) so if you can send him away sooner to the wing without going as close to it, you will have a much easier time getting the crosses.
At 1:14, you gave a send cue and did not go as close to the wing… he went really well! It was a much better send already! So definitely trust your sends more, give the big, connected send cue without going more than one step past the previous jump, and I bet it gets you up the line much more easily.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyYou can do more sending and less running of the line here too – stick closer to jump 1 and 2, and as he is landing from jump 2, you can do a really big send to the wing without really going more than one step past landing from the jump. That will make it much easier as you add the FC or BC between the jumps on the sequences.
