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Hi!
The spins are looking really good! Nice job with the lining up, sending, verbals, and connection!
When sending, remember to step forward with your dog side leg – you will get more propulsion to the barrel if you do that.
You can do a ‘ready steady’ while you are holding his collar, as long as you start the verbal before you let him go (so the verbal precedes the movement by a few heartbeats).He only had one question, at 1:32 where you looked forward a little too early and said yes so he came off the barrel
The timing was much better at 1:45, where you waited to turn forward until he was definitely at the barrel (it will get easier to leave earlier like at 1:32 when he is more experienced).
On the serps – I think the plan to start from a stay is a good one! He was moving to the jump nicely from the cookie toss, but a stay might make it even smoother. And to help him get even more commitment, you can drop the reward on the landing side more (on the other side of the bump). You were throwing the reward back, but it was nearer to you and more on the takeoff side so it was harder of him to pass you.
>>I think his brain was getting a bit fried on the left turns here.>>
I think he was reading the pressure there a bit: on the other side, you were showing more of the barrel and looking at the landing spot more. That is what you did on the first rep on the left turn side too! When he started going around the backside, you were looking at him on each rep – there was no connection shift to the landing spot. So looking at him was causing your physical cue to show pressure to the backside, even with the bowl out there. Good boy!
So remember to show him the whole barrel and to let him see you shift your connection to the landing spot.
The retrieving is going well! Yay! He is getting really good at grabbing stuff and plopping it into the bowl LOL!
He also did well with he frisbee and the klimb. The next step for these is to change your position to standing and then add your motion so he brings it to you even if you are moving away from him.
Great job here!!!
TracyYou can try generally adding the ball in, with rolling it or bouncing it so it is a part of the routine and not something new in a pop rocks moment 🙂
T
Hi!
The combos looked great!!
The balance reps on videos 1 and 3 were lovely.For the turn aways like on videos 2, 4, 5 and the longer sequences – nice job with the connections and hand cues! You can increase the challenge now by exaggerating your hand motion (keeping them lower and moving them slower) so he is turning away pretty much only on your hand cue and connection shift, and so you don’t need to move to the RC line at all 🙂
The 2 longer sequences on the 6th and 7th videos looked awesome!
Video 6 was perfect! Video 7 was perfect too – with the turn away at the end, you can try the more exaggerated low hands and connection shift to see if he will turn away with even more distance 🙂
Great job on these!!!
TracyHi!
It is 3 jumps and one tunnel. It can all be done with only enough space for a tunnel and a jump, or a space that is about 20 or 25 feet long.Tracy
Good morning!
>>she had big feelings about the collar holding.>>
You can teach her a between-the-feet line up position to come back to and also to start from, to replace the collar holding if she really things it is stooooopid 🙂
The tunnel session went well! When you have new long (and dark) tunnels, you can help get her doing the initial turn away even sooner by putting the PT literally inside the tunnel, maybe 2 feet past the entry. That way when she turns away she can see it and you can click it, so it is right there to reward the head turn. Then you can move it further and further back until it is eventually past the exit.
Looking at the decels: the shift is hilarious!!!!
This went well too!!! Yes, she was a little surprised on the first decel so was a little wide, but then got tighter and tighter and had no trouble changing sides. You are giving her a little arm-swoosh to help with commitment and I don’t think she needed it – it might propel her forward a little too much 🙂 It would be fun to see what she would do if you were totally stationary.
The straight line stuff looked really good 🙂 No questions at all!! Super!!!
>
> Yes – letting the dog learn about the world without the social support of another dog. Now, social support of a dog like Kaladin is also good to have sometimes, but she can also get more experience being on her own.
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
>>When does max puppy 2 start?>
Mid-March! I will have exact dates for you later this week 🙂
On the video:
>>So many things freaked me out here. The early take offs>>
What you were seeing when she kind of flung herself at the jump was just young dog processing: her brain was like WAIT WHAT with the different cues, so the info didn’t always make it to her muscles in time for coordinated takeoffs especially on the earlier reps.
No worries! Just revisit it in a couple of days and I bet it will be so much better! She was already smoother and sorting it out by the end of the session.
To help her out on the collections, be closer to the wing and more forward facing on it – yes, be connected like you were, but you were a bit sideways to the jump so a little more forward will help.
For the going forward at the end – you were not really moving on a parallel line so she was pulling off the jump – leading out laterally then moving up the line on a parallel line will really smooth that out.
For the rewards: to help her sort out the mechanics, you can throw a big treat for the straight line stuff, and use the toy in your hand for the decels. I think that can help her sort out the mechanics because the food might be a little less stimulating on the straight lines 🙂
>>Seriously, did I break her on the final exercise?>>
You did not! She just needs to figure out her mechanics, and I know she will 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The resilience game went great! He did well ignoring the treat bag – the power of cheese is magical 🙂 You can move to adding random objects that might be a little weird – teenage dog need to learn to sort out weird thing that appear in the environment, so this is a good opportunity to do that 🙂
Looking at the rear crosses:
>>no matter what I tried, he kept circling right after picking up the cheese.>
He was actually correct each time, based on your position when he lifted his head: you want him to turn to his left, but when he lifted his head from the cheese pick up, he could clearly see you on his right shoulder so he correctly turned left.
Ideally, when he picks his head up, you are already past his left shoulder (you would be up by his head/neck) so he could turn towards you to his left.
To get this, I think you need more distance on the cookie throw so that you have more time to get all the way past his left shoulder: move the plank further away (maybe another 6 feet away or more) so you can throw it the plank like it is a wall – then as he is heading to the treat, you are moving fast up the line to get to his left side. Ideally you are arriving at his left shoulder as he arrives at the treat, so you are past his left shoulder when he lifts his head up. More distance on the cookie throws should help that!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The Turn And Burn is look great!
Starting from the clean transition with a line him up so he is next to you then sending into the game made it much smoother – without that, he was either not sure when to start or he was pretty far from you at the start.
The other thing you can do hold his collar and start saying your wrap verbal cue a few times – then let him go to drive to the jump.>>I also think I’m not supposed to be holding his collar, but rather stepping to the wing using dog side foot and low arm. >>
Holding his collar was good! That allows you to get the verbal started and helps him hear it rather than just focus on motion.
>>Finally, it was really hard for me to see if I was leaving earlier/later. I think I did a similar exercise with Robie where I put a leash on the ground so I could see exactly when I should be leaving, i.e. earlier and earlier. Do you think this would help my eye?>>
Yes – you will definitely want the line on the ground for Turn and Burn because it tells you precisely when to do the FC and run 🙂 The line starts at the exit of the wing, then you can gradually move it closer and closer to the entry so that you can do the FC earlier and earlier.
>>Anyway, I was happy with his speed and the tightness of the wraps for the most part!>
Yes! He looked really strong!!!!
>>I think I shouldn’t be saying “yes” when he is coming around the wing because it might be confusing him.>>
You can use your ‘toy in hand’ marker so he knows to chase you and grab the toy – that will be clearer than “yes” and also won’t accidentally make yes into a “come to me” cue (I have done that by accident :))
Looking at the stays: He is doing well here!
>>In watching the video back I noticed that I almost always rewarded from a stopped position. I think I need to reward more in motion.>>
Yes – mix it up more so he is not associated any particular handling motion (or lack of motion) with the release.
Also, keep it more of a game – lead out with connection and you can add in more toy play too! The toy can be thrown back to him or he can be released forward to it.
>>I forgot to start using the “catch” word, and instead was using my “get it.”>>
Yes, the catch will clarify things more but also – say the word before you move the reward. You were starting the throw then saying the marker, so you can flip that: say the marker without moving the reward, then a heartbeat later, throw the reward. That will strengthen the markers 🙂
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The turn aways are looking really strong!It was really super obvious when you wanted her to go to the outside of the jump versus when you want the turn away to the inside of the jump each time. Super!!
Plus your line of motion was spot on: on the turn aways, you were moving straight on a parallel line to what you wanted her to take without any pressure into the wing which might have pushed her to the other side. Perfect!
You can use her name as the verbal for now, that can help emphasize the connection shift too.
>>Hopefully we are ready to move on to the next lesson
You totally are ready to move to the next lesson! You can also spread the wings out so you have more running – that will make it more exciting for her and also more challenging for your timing 🙂
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
>>Honestly, it is so hard to remember everything – LOL>>
TOTALLY relatable! It is HARD to run young dogs because we have to remember everything 🙂
One thing that will help on the shifting connection is if you let her see your hands during the regular connection moment before the turn away (holding your hands up higher back to her then letting her see your hands drop down as you shift connection to them – that can totally make a difference in her response to the cues.
You were using a shoulder rotation but that hid your hands and connection, which can actually cue her to stay on the line to the jump based on your motion. So showing her your hands up high in the air then shifting your connection to your hands should help her come in to the line (closer to what you did at :22, but you can exaggerate it even more).Extreme connection is going well! You were able to add more distance pretty easily! Your line on motion at :24 and after than was totally straight while you cued the ‘out’ which is what we want 🙂
Add balance reps a lot more frequently earlier in the session, so you don’t have to help her do the ‘easy’ lines after she does a bunch of ‘outs’ 🙂 The sequence at the end looked terrific!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyGood morning! Nice work here!!!
She is reading the turn aways/tandem turns really well so now we can go to the next step: Try to keep moving the whole time and moving on a straight line forward. That way you can get the turn away from further away, which can set up really useful distance moments. You were tending to stop moving to get her to come into your hands then crossing her line to help set up the turn away. So you can replace that with moving on a parallel line to her and letting her see you shift from looking at her eyes (showing her your hands) then looking down to your hands as you drop them down to set up the turns.
Balance reps are all looking good, she had no questions about staying on her line versus turning away. Super!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Do you think wearing glasses vs not or a baseball cap or not affects the connection? >>
Wearing glasses affects my peripheral vision, but hats and glasses don’t seem to affect the dogs as long as we are connected. They don’t really look at our eyes – they look at our shoulders and motion o hats and glasses are generally fine. I practice in them all the time 🙂
>> I’ve taken a winter break from it to slow down and figure it out. I’ve just backed everything up and readdressing basic foundation and learning more.
That was smart to test the waters in the ring then take some time to train more of the skills you want!
I am so glad you are having fun with the class and I love your approach of figuring out how to be the best teammate to Clover 🙂
Have fun!
TracyWow, you two are looking awesome!!!! Super runs here!! You two are going to have a great career!
I think overall your connection to him is really strong on course, which relates to why so many sections of the courses looked awesome. Yay!! When you get onto the big lines with him (like the end of the Jumping run and the last half of speedstakes) you don’t even really need to use your arms out at the side or supporting the line – you can use your arms like a sprinter (pump and run) while you maintain your connection and deliver the verbals. That will keep him on the line and get you further up the line too 🙂
For example, compare :45 at the end of the jumping run to the end of the speedstakes run. At the end of the jumping run you got a little behind him on the last tunnel – when he exited, your arm was really high and pointing forward which blocked the connection and you were looking forward, so he curled off the line and in towards you. In that scenario you can keep your hands down as your run, and look at him even more, which will turn your shoulders to the line so he can carry forward to the jump.
On the end of speedstakes, your arm was not quite as high and your connection was much clearer, so he found that huge line really well!!! And with his speed, keeping your arm up slows you down a bit – trying to run the line with the same connection but pumping your arms instead of pointing can keep you way ahead 🙂Great job here!!!
Tracy
