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Hi!
>.I don’t think she knows what ARGHHH means, but I could be wrong, it’s all in the tone after all. 🙂 I try not to do that but was frustrated by that point and it sneaked out and I knew I’d get in trouble. I left it in hoping you could give me feedback on why she was breaking, and you did! But on those days when I can’t hold in my frustration I really should just stop.>>
I think they do recognize our body language and tone (dogs are great at reading us). No judgement though, we all have our ARGH moments with puppies LOL!!!! I totally relate!
>>I’m going to go back and compare those lineups and stop changing sides for now. If the problem persists, I’ll do a “breaking stay” video.
Yes, keep me posted! She is so keen to do the agility that she is trying to stay engaged as you move away… the smooth transition into the stay will really help her.
Tracy
Hi!
We are looking forward her to be pretty centered between jumps 1 and 2, like she was here, without stretching out too much or without scrunching too much. She looked a tiny bit scrunched here, as if she had to power down to fit in the 5 foot gap. So, we will see how she feels about 5.5 feet. We are looking for that sweet spot distance to use as we raise the bar and add more challenge. That sweet spot will continue to shift for a while, and that is fine 🙂
TracyHi!
>> More rain yesterday and today. Enough already!
For real!! You are due for some good weather!!!
>>I’m still confused about using the word switch. It makes sense when it was wing, jump, switch lead to the tunnel which is a U turn. It makes less sense (to me) when it’s wing, jump do NOT take the tunnel and take the jump across the box. >>
I think the switch use on the 2 jumps will make better sense when you have all of the distance added to it. taking the tunnel out of the equation for a moment: you can switch her away on the first jump, cue the 2nd jump and stay on the landing side of jump 1 to head towards where the tunnel entry would be (the way it happens in the sequence). The tunnel there for her to go past just adds an extra (evil) challenge 🙂 but you will still be getting the big distance, layering, and ‘u-turn’ feel.
>>If I say switch for both turns over the jump after the wing what determines the degree of turn?
The timing of the physical cue, handler position, and the timing of the next verbal. So ideally: for the switch to the tunnel, I would try not to go past the center of the bar of the jump, use my switch cue before takeoff, and as the dog is lifting off, I would be already running the new direction and saying tunnel.
To get the jump, I would go more towards the exit wing (to create a little less turn) but the timing is the same: switch cues happening before takeoff and the jump cue in progress before landing. The big distance layering here requires a lot of understanding of jump versus tunnel verbal.Needing to have slightly different position and handling but the same verbal is the same as using the same verbal for a backside slice push, even if the exits are slightly different – because the only other option is to add even more verbals and I am personally not interested in that right now LOL!!
>>Also, your comment about more upper body when it’s the jump jump combo means extend my arm out?>>
On those, you can show more of that ‘check mark’ arm movement action with the opposite arm as she is approaching the first jump. You were using more motion and foot movement to get it, and it would be good to try to get it done with just the arm movement.
>>We also got the backside of that second jump a fair amount. What do I do to get the front side? More upper body and turn sooner?>>
My guess is that the 2nd jump was every-so-slightly off the line so the backside was the intuitive path and the front side was much harder to find. For now, set the training sequence so she squarely sees the front side of the bar as she exits the first jump. That will get her looking for it on a jump cue or a left cue. Then you can eventually move it over a little and add in a threadle cue to get the backside of it, if you wanted to show her that challenge.
>>On the switch out of the tunnel to the jump I felt like she was anticipating and slicing rather than turn on the flat first. That’s why I did a few reward to my hand. Tandem turns are hard for me to get the mechanics right.>>
Yes, she was not really turning on the flat – but it was a timing thing because she was not getting the cue til after she was out of the tunnel, so she didn’t have a lot of time to make the turn. It will feel weird to start it when she is 5 or 6 feet in front of the tunnel entry, but it will help her make the turn.
>>I knew I did too many reps as it was my only chance this week to get something done.
I don’t think it was too many reps overall… I think it was too many reps of the same thing without mixing in some ‘go straight’ moments so she didn’t go on auto-pilot 🙂 I think she has the mental stamina for a session of this length spread out through the day, but was anticipating or losing focus because it was the same thing too much. So you can spice it up by changing it up more frequently.
>>I was surprised the few times I said tunnel and she chose the jump.
I think it was motion overriding the verbal in those cases, plus she had been recently rewarded there – so it was more of an auto-pilot thing and less of a brain fry thing 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, this totally worked well! She was driving ahead beautifully! Be sure that you are running too – you were connected and saying “go” but rotated sideways and not running. Both you and Changste get to run on these LOL! That way she gets the feeling of driving ahead of you.Great job!
TracyGood session here! Nice with the toy placement!
It was definitely challenging for her and she was adjusting how she moved in each rep. My favorite rep was the one that started at :19. I think her front feet were in the sweet spot relative to jump 1, about 6 inches away perhaps, so she had the best push off from her rear and the most balance between the jumps and over jump 2. The first few reps had her maybe a little bit close so she had trouble powering in, and the last one was maybe a little bit far in terms of the starting position so she had to ‘reach’ more. So keep aiming for that 6 inch sweet spot away from jump 1!And now we stay at this distance and height and let things percolate a bit. If this was filmed yesterday/Tuesday, let it sit in her brain for another day or two and revisit it on Friday or Saturday. Do everything exactly the same and we will see how she does! We want it to look consistently smooth like the rep at :19 before we add challenge to it.
Great job!
TracyThis was also lovely! I admit to being worried that you were going to run into the pole LOL!!! Glad you didn’t 🙂
And it was HILARIOUS when she turned herself around to face the jump and the toy 🙂 Good girl to do the wrap when asked! And that is great prep for a common course design element nowadays: having to start on a jump that is facing away from the course.
She was super! So the next steps here are to spread the wing and jump out even more, so that you are both running more 🙂 You can repeat the go verbal as she drives further and further ahead, and you can also vary your start position: sometimes really close to the wing, so she leaves you in the dust, and sometimes closer to the jump and send to the wing, so she chases your line.
Great job!!!!
TracyHi! This was lovely!!
I think this was still the 5 foot distance, yes? If so, a plan for the next session:
– move to 5.5 feet and do 2 reps of everything the same as you did here. And if all is good (I am guessing it will be great!) move bar #2 up another 2 inches. I think it was 8 inches here so can go to 10 inches, but if it was 10 inches here you can go to 12 inches. Do maybe 3 reps like that. And send the video LOL!!! I expect it will all be lovely like it was here, but it is fun to watch her sort it out and also it will be good to see if she has any questions.Great job!
TracyHi!
I am glad she is feeling better!! And I am also glad she had fun at the practice jump 🙂
Set point – what was the distance between jumps here? This will help us keep track. And her line up spot looked really good too!
Overall, her jumping form is developing really well (it is easier to see if you watch it in slow motion because she has very fast feets!!!) My only suggestion is to be more consistent with your release, in terms of when and where you are when you release her. It won’t make a big difference on this grid (because it is an easy one for her) but it will be helpful for when things get harder and for when we add height because it is one less thing for her to have to think about.Her stay is looking good so ideally, the toy is on the ground about 10 feet past the jump, then you release and walk forward dragging the toy. I think you were not really trusting her stay LOL so you were releasing, getting the toy in, and running all at once, at different spots. So she didn’t always seem to know if she should release when the toy moved or not. Moving more slowly will help her hold the stay as you lower the toy before the release.
The pill bug games are looking good! Things looked easier when you didn’t get quite as as far ahead, like at :26 (it is hard to maintain connection when you are way ahead on these), You were great about varying when you rewarded in terms of how many steps. And she was generally great about staing on one side of you unless you did the blind (the only accidental blinds where when you were a little disconnected, probably trying not to run into the tunnel LOL!!)
She did really well when you cued the blind cross too! Super!!
And yes, I feel your pain about running into the tunnel, that definitely adds an element of excitement to this game LOL!!
You can definitely add the 2nd tunnel when you get a chance.
>>I’ll be on hold from April 1 to 12th. I’m traveling to stay with my Mom while she has surgery.
We will miss you! Hoping for a speedy recovery for your mom!!!!
>>I won’t have any dogs with me 🙁 I’ll watch all the videos though so that we can play when I get back. I’ll double down on our efforts this week so that we don’t fall too far behind.>>
No worries, there is plenty of catch up time built into the class and also at the end, so you don’t need to feel pressured to keep up 🙂
>>I missed the flyball tournament! I was so bummed!!! I hope they run it again.>>
ESPN did a great job and there was a Boston Terrier running too!!!! It is on ESPN 2 and I am sure they will run it again 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
Here is the video evidence of bringing the toy to hand! Love it!!!She did really well committing to the wrap jump here and finding the line after it!! Yay! For now, keep the start wrap on a wing, so she doesn’t have any opportunity to touch the bar 🙂 The wrap on a bar depends on timing of the handling cue and the space to set up collection, which is a can of worms we don’t want to open here but we will tackle later in the class 🙂 She hit the bar on one of the reps and was a little wide on the others getting over the bar, and that had more to do with handling/timing than anything else.
She transitioned from the toy to the stay and line up really nicely with the cookie at 1:02! Then it was really funny when you tossed the toy, it landed next to the water bowl, and she grabbed a quick drink at 1:18 LOL!
Try not to have a big reaction at 1:26 when she moved out of her stay. In her defense, you lined her up facing the blue jump at 1:23, then walked around to the other side of her and faced the white jump then faced the blue jump… at which point she moved (looking at you, asking a question about what was happening).
Compare that to your smooth-as-silk lineup and lead out at 1:02. So to help get the stay without questions or confusion, line her up on the side you want (the right side at 1:23 and the next rep) and lead out by moving forward like you did when you lined her up on your left side (rather than switching sides).The next step for this game is to add more distance, so she is eventually finding the jump after the wing wrap with a 15 foot or18 foot distance. I think she will really like the running!
Great job 🙂
TracyHi!
Good session here!
>> The higher bar definitely made a difference in her form and she even hit the bar with back feet once.
Yes, she was definitely jumping but also, doing really well. There was one tick of the bar but no worries – that is why we train LOL!! I think she looked really good, overall. You had her set up a little close at the beginning but then after 1:15, she was in the sweet spot line up positio.
>>Should I still be keeping the bars locked in the jump?
Yes – I am confident she was aware that she ticked the bar on that one rep, and also she didn’t knock it so she doesn’t learn to ignore bars falling 🙂
>> I think she may have been doing better towards the end?
Yes! Powerful! I suggest one more session just like this, in a few days. Then we can decide if we want to move the bar up.
>> Maybe I should have gone a little slower with the moving toy when starting out with the higher jump bar.
I thought you were good! It looks like you were doing a normal walk with it. She did really well!
My only suggestion has to do with the rewards for the stay – when you start coming back to her, tell her why you are coming back. A little praise should do the trick. When we are silent, the dogs often perceive that as “uh oh, I am in trouble” so you can praise as you move back to her and before the toy throw.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>. I have been doing walk throughs and saying the words but then I struggle remembering what I was going to do and what the verbal is etc. Sort of funny – sort of not funny. So much to remember!>>
You might need to turn your walk throughs into jog throughs or run throughs, so that you practice doing them while you are moving fast 🙂 It is a whole different game when we are running!
>> Thank you for thinking about those of us in winter’s death grip.
Everything will fit at Debi’s plus you can drink wine!
>>On one of your verbal webinars you answered someone’s question about jump training and you mentioned Nina Gregl and Fanny Gott. How much jump training is dealt with in the MaxPup class? I have been thinking about starting one of these with Caper but I don’t know if she is too young for something like that (she is 13 plus months old now). Do you have any thoughts on that you could share?>>
We do a series of jumping grids, one each week, so by the time class is done she will have a good foundation. Fanny is a little more ‘traditional’ in her approach and I can’t remember what Nina does LOL! I would wait to start formal jump training until she is closer to 16 or 17 months, so she is more in her ‘adult’ body. We don’t want to solidify movement patterns yet while she is still in an immature puppy body, because the science tells us that we will end up solidified immature movement patterns (which is also one of the reasons we don’t start teaching weaves yet too). Just stop watching social media where people are jumping their 13 month old pups at full height or trialing them at 15 months old – EEK!!!
See you tonight in class!
TracyHi! Nice work on these videos! Your line ups and your verbals were all super clear!
I think the hardest part was getting connection on the tunnel exit, to get him to commit to being on your right side. The key is going to be making a clearer connection on the tunnel exit with a massive eye contact with him and pointing your arm/hand back to him. The hand back to him looks like this:
And there are also some demos about why the dogs cut behind us when we point forward.
Video 1:
Nice line up! He found the line really well from the wing to the tunnel. You were looking a little ahead of him and pointing ahead of him to the wing after the tunnel, so he didn’t see which side of you to be on and ended up on your left side.The connection on the exit of the tunnel on video 2 at :08 was better, you were looking at his eyes more but pointing forward still caused him to ask a question about where to be. But then at :19 you looked forward and pointed forward, so he read it as a blind cross to get onto your left side.
The connection should look more like what you did at :15 as he exited the wing wrap: fingers to his nose, eyes on his eyes – that was perfect there and he knew exactly where to go. Yay!!
It is also possible he is more comfy being on your left, so it is even more important to emphasize connection when you want him on your right side.
Video 3 –
Your connection after the tunnel to the wing at :12 was there and so he read it, but he had a little question. More direct eye cntact and less pointing forward will totally help, to make it look like the connection you had on the wing exit at :14 which was GREAT! He had a young dog distraction moment a :15 instead of going into the tunnel, no worries LOL!Video 4 – The connection from tunnel to wing was visible with your eyes but yoru arm was blocking it a little at :08 andat the end, using magnet fingers to his nose will totally help! It will look more like what you did at the exit of the wrap at :11, it was really strong 🙂
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
