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On the ladder here: he did well here, so you can move to the next step: the moving target (I think it was stationary here – or if it was moving, it was a little too close). With the target close and/or not moving, he is looking really good over jumps 1 and 2. But the gap between 2 and 3 and over 3 is all about slowing down to be able to stop, so you can see his butt going higher than his shoulders š The moving target will get him powering over all 3 jumps and he is definitely ready for that.
Good morning!
The serp proofing here is going well. He had a blooper on the first rep, but that might have been him saying āwow, this is visually challengingā or āthere is a lot of pressure hereā and not your line up or release (those both looked good). He did well after that but then at the end, was avoiding jumping into the pressure of the serp (came around the jump, went to the tunnel). So this is good one to keep refreshing in this format but also you can revisit the āstrike a poseā game at home, having him do the serp behavior without the jump. Serping is a really hard for the dogs :). He went to the tunnel beautifully on cue, no questions there š āØNice work!Tracy
Oh, it was his breeder! That made it even harder. Good boy, he did so well trying to ignore her!! Three minutes is a good length for sessions with minimal distractions, but this was a high distraction session with First Momma there and making noise LOL!
Hi!
I hope Winn had an easy time with the procedure and is on the mend! Where did they do the PRP for Winn?
Huck did well outside!! Good boy! And he is doing well with his rear cross game too! You can warm up with a couple of GO reps to get him driving ahead even more.
On the rear crosses – a little more room between the wing and the jump will help., and starting yourself closer to the wing (rather than sending to it) will get you running more too (and setting the RC line sooner as well).
2 suggestions for the next session –
You can use a left or right on the jump when you rear cross, because it is a turn. You were saying Go, which is a straight cue, so we want to save that for when you want the legit straight lines.Also, placing the reward helped a lot! He was focusing ahead really nicely. You can move the reward over to the rear cross turn line – it was on a straight line here, but since you were rear crossing we would want him to turn. So the reward can be a foot or two further over in the direction you want him to turn rather than straight.
He did well with the Minny Pinny left and right! He seems to be a righty, the left seemed a little harder at first and the rights seems easier overall. But he definitely was understanding the left/right framework of this – and holding him was a good way to start so he didnāt keep offering before you were ready LOL!!! As you keep building this up and putting him between your feet, hold him a little longer: let him hear you say left or right and then let him go to move. Without holding him, he sees your movement first so he is cuing off movement. But by holding him, you can emphasize the verbal and not move at all!
Great job here :)āØTracy
Hi!
>>I need to do more climate controlled (or temperate) trials and they are just not available in the NW. I canāt spend all day in horse arenas starting at 20 degrees and warming up to 40.>>
You want climate control, we got climate control! We have multiple indoor dog sport arenas that are turfed, heated, air conditioned, and a couple more being built. We do have some outdoor trials, or under-cover trials, but those are increasingly rarer now.
T
Good morning!
On the first video,
She is doing really well with the serp here – the more your rotate your upper body to āfaceā the jump, the better she does, so keep on exaggerating that upper body rotation. It is kind of like the one of your shoulders are parallel to the line of the bar, with the center of your chest pointing to the center of the bar.On the 2nd video, I think left turns are just harder for her in general, so try having the start wing a little further away so that you are ahead (between the uprights) and upper body rotated towards the bar as she exits the wing. You ended up moving the start wing closer which made it harder for you to show the line without adding speed. If she has trouble sending to the start wing, no worries – you can throw a reward to it to kind of refresh the value of sending to a wing. The jump, you and the MM are all big visual targets so getting reward near the wing can really help.
>>I think I let the play be herself go too long. She was starting to deflate. I will video next one.>>
It looks like the structure of the sessions was good here: tug play, then the training with the MM, then back to toy play. She looked really engaged and happy to play! Super!!!
Nice work!
TracyGood morning! She is doing well here!
>She was pouncey over the last jump at first but got better, and that last rep I think was pretty good.>
Yes, probably because she was preparing to stop and pounce on the stationary toy š On the last rep, it looks liked the toy was a little further away which helped.
Since she had no trouble with the framework, you can go to the next step: the moving target š That is the toy dragging to replace the stationary toy. The pouncing will go away and also, it will tell us if the spacing here is correct or not because the moving target gets more power from the pups š
So start at this spacing with the moving target and if she looks crunched up, you can open it up by a foot. It might take a session or two to find the sweet spot, but my guess is that she will end up at a 6 foot distance š
Nice job! Let me know how she does with the moving target!
TracyHi!
It looks like you went directly from winter to summer! At least the snow is gone!
>>but her landing spot seemed awfully close to the jump bar!>>
Yes, I agree. I think 2 things were happening here, maybe 3 things:
– she was hot and tired, so not powering as much
– she ws going to the stationary target, so she was not powering through but rather preparing to stopSo, try this with the moving target and see how she does.
The third thing might be the distance is too big to start this grid – or might not š Try it again with the moving target and cooler weather. What is the distance? 6 feet? It should be fine but you can also try at 5 feet and see how she does. Adding the 3rd jump definitely changes things for the dogs š
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think what is happening on the RC is that you are pretty stationary to let her go past you, then cutting in behind her but still really close to the start wing. So she is driving forward to the jump really well, but tracking the throw of the ball to tell her which way to go. And, it leaves you way back behind behind her.
So, on the next RC sessionā¦. Donāt use a ball š reward with a cookie from your hand, on the landing side of the jump. What that means is that you will have. To move forward sooner – as soon as she is coming around the wing, you can start running to the center of the bar. And when she passes you, you can cut in behind her. That way you will get the RC and you wonāt be left too far behind šYou only need to reward from your hand for a couple of reps to get you moving up the RC diagonal, then you can go back to a thrown reward. But dināt throw it til after she lands AND you know that she also made a turn decision.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
This was a good session too! Doing the serps and threadle with just a little motion was good start and adding motion ws good too. If you are going to add a lot of motion, you should have your serp arm out the whole time you are moving. When you were doing the serps like at 1:13, and 1;24 you had your shoulder closed til after the release, so he had to make a decision based on what he saw when you released then he had to adjust. He did adjust (good boy!!) but you might have noticed the wider lines on those. So have your serp arm up the whole time so it is visible on the release, no adjustments needed š And mix in a couple more rewards for stays he was a little cheaty at 1:12 we donāt want him to break those precious stays š
He had a legit question at :37 – his line up was on the landing side of the jump, so he was correct to come to the threadle arm on the release cue (you would have needed a backside cue to get him to take the side of the jump you wanted. You can see it was a straight line to your hand. The other reps had better line ups and he did well!
Grab job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>was wondering if it mattered where the arc of his jump is or if we let him figure it out. >>
It does, but it doesnāt š We help a little but mainly we let him figure it out.
He is a little forward on the first rep, it caught him off balance. The 2nd rep was better (more organized and balanced) and the 3rd rep was different from the other 2 reps – he was sorting out where to put his feet. What this tells us is that he is still sorting things out and the needle is going the correct direction.
What is the distance? I think 6 feet is good, maybe 6.5 feet depending on how tall he is (how tall is he? LOL!) The one adjustment I would make is to lower the bars to take out any question of height for now – put them at 6ā so they are just regulators and not jumps.
I bet he sorts it out in his brain before the next session š
Tracy
Hi!
>>One more question Suzie and I were talking through and wondering about. Itās regarding the verbals when the dog is coming out of the tunnel and going to do a race track. A right or left verbal makes sense to us if you are going to cut across the middle using a BC or FC.>>
It depends on the meaning of the verbals, of course š I use left/right to mean the L-shaped turn we are creating with the blinds. So on this setup, the tunnel exit is a GO! I think I was saying go in the demos, I remember being really out of breath LOL! And for the middle wing on the race track, you can say a left or right if you had a dog that is a wide turner, or eventually you will just say jump Then it is GO to the tunnel, because it is a pretty straight line from the exit of the middle wing past the next wing to the tunnel.
>>We were also wondering how much it might be dog or jump position dependent. i.e. if the jumps are far apart does that change anything?
The further apart the wings are, the more of a “Go” it is. But these are definitely not left or rights, based on how you had it hsert up here.
Tracy
Hi!
This is going really well!!!>>This is definitely where I start to feel like Iām messing up his understanding.>>
Nope! You are just over-helping in spots LOL!
>>Left feels a lot more awkward than right and weāre both trying to guess each other more on the left.
First rep was great! The right side work is definitely more comfy for you, so you are running with less over-helping and a more relaxed, natural connection.
On the left side, you are over-helping with your dog-side arm waaaay back which over-rotated you and starts to pull him in. So on the first rep of the blind on your left, you were too connected, stopped moving a little too soon, then had to move forward which made you late.
So if you run with your arms more at your sides and a little back to show good connection, and not way back and extreme connection, he will read the lines better and you can be earlier.
I donāt think he was weaker on this side, just reading you correctly š When you were late, he turned when he saw the cue. So at 1:06 the blind started after he arrived at the wing. Compare to 1:13, when you were done with the blind when he arrived at the wing. You got the timing on the left blind at the end and he turned beautifully!!
So just keep your arms in a little closer so you donāt over-rotate and trust his commitment – when you see him exit the tunnel, you can start the blind as you move forward to the wing š
Great job!
TracyHi!
>>One shows us being mostly successful. One shows us mostly not being successful. I donāt seem to have anything in between.
I think part of it was when she was jumping to her left at the beginning, then to her right in the second half – going to her left looked much easier for her, so you didnāt have to be as perfect in the handling.
Go the right was harder for her, so you can help her out by angling the jump towards her so after she exits the wing wrap, she sees the bar very easily and it is an easier right turn for her. And you can also help with a little wiggling or shaking of your serp arm š
>>t shows our struggles when I moved the wing farther away. I just couldnāt get that part, so it seems we especially need help with sends.>>
So when the wing was further away and you tried to start in a good spot to be able to get ahed – she didnāt go to the wing? That certainly makes the serps harder! Two ideas for you:
– make a lot more connection and eye contact on the send to the wing. Look her in the eye and donāt use a lot of arm as you send. It sounds totally counterintuitive š but that extra connection totally improves the send!
– reward the wing wraps by tossing the toy past the wing when she goes. It is possible that the jump and your motion is higher value at the moment, so she doesnāt want to leave you to go take the wing. So, you can add more balance to the wing by tossing the toy out there when she goes, to help convince her to go to it š
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
