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Hello there!
Thanks for the Bumps video – He seems to find this to be a very easy game 🙂 Definitely plan your verbals before you start 🙂 You can also help isolate the verbals by gently holding his collar say the verbal 2 or 3 times… then let him go while you keep saying the verbals. That way he hears the verbals separately from motion and will learn then faster 🙂
Rocking horse 1:
>>I could NOT stop switching the toy in my hands. It is just so automatic for me!>>Because it is an important human mechanic, you can practice without him so your brain can multitask less – just practice doing the moves slowly and making sure you don’t switch hands. When you practice with him, put the toy in your pocket so you can be on time and not do anything with the toy that might cause him to look up.
He did really well with this outside and with different barrels and bigger distance! Yes, there was one moment when he choked a bit, which caused the rhythm to get off a bit. The rest looked really strong!
Rocking horse 2:
>> I did remember to not switch the toy hand to hand but wow that took a LOT of my brain power to overcome. >>
Yep! The multitasking struggle is real!!
>>Seriously how do I even survive and have a tough job juggling lots of stuff and yet can barely stop myself from moving a ball to my other hand!!! LOL!!!!>>
My guess is the tasks at your job are well-rehearsed 🙂 And you don’t have to also be watching a puppy for commitment LOL!
>> I do not like my positioning when heading to the barrels – I think I was really blocking his path, yes??>>
Yes, you were overhelping a little so he had to go around you. Also, because your brain was working really hard to NOT move the toy, your connection back to him was not as clear so he was drifting a bit wide, trying to figure out which side to be on. Remember to add in your dog-side arm pointing back to him, so he could see the connection. You were looking at him, but he couldn’t really see it because your arm was at your side (which blocks connection).
So, to get the connection, you can give your brain a break from the multi-tasking and put the toy in your pocket so you can focus on pointing your hand to your nose 🙂 His commitment looks great so it is good info from him that the connection was not as clear.
He did well sitting on the grass. The best stays were when you moved away then released him. Try not to go back and hand him a cookie – he either gets up to meet your hand, or leaves the stay right after the delivery. So, release forward or throw a treat back, so the stay is rewarded with a release and there are no grey moments (the broken stays are obvious before and after you go to him to deliver a treat, but also watch his front feet and you can see him tapping them or lifting them when you go in to deliver a treat on a lot of the reps there too!)
Great job here! And excellent work being diligent with the timer : )
Tracy
Hi!
She did really well here in a new environment! Things happen really fast with this game so your instinct to just toss the toy when something went wrong was spot on! And her tugging looked great!Her commitment also looked great! The race track of staying out around the outside of the wings was pretty much perfect. Yay!
The FC wraps were super strong! As you are sending her behind you, you can add in looking behind you to the ‘landing spot’ if there was a bar there – that will make it easier as you add the next level of challenge (which she is ready for): as she is exiting the wrap, you can be decelerating and starting your rotation even sooner, so as she is passing you – you are already turned and ready to move the other way. That is a lot of countermotion, so looking behind you to the wing as you send her to it will really help support commitment 🙂 If she doesn’t go to the wing, chances are you are looking at her and not the wing 🙂
Great job here! Keep me posted on how she does with the earlier rotation!
TracyHi! Lots of good work here, and great info from the dogs about what helps them find the lines!
Looking at the sequences:
Kip seq 1 – he reads turns well when you are lateral and will stay on a parallel extension line when you are accelerating, and this in an example – you can be more lateral by sending to 2 and leaving as soon as he looks at it, rather than driving to 2 then moving away. That lateral motion will automatically tighten his turn 2-3.
On the serp line, 5-6, more connection on the serp jump will help a lot too: your shoulders can be facing the bar at 5 and then when he lands you can be decelerating. As soon as he looks at 6 – you can move away to 7. There was not quite enough connection on the first rep so he didn’t turn away to 6, and then you had a lot of acceleration on the 2nd rep so he was wide at 6.
Emmie:
You were more lateral and earlier with it 1-2-3, so her turn was really nice at 2 – nice blinds!!!!You had a bit of a wipe out at 5-6 – it was from trying to go from big acceleration to a big decel. Ouch!!! So try to be more gradual on the decel, so as she is jumping 5 you are already beginning the decel. Adding more connection on the serp will make that easier: As she exits 4 and is approaching 5, your shoulders should be facing the bar (center of chest to center of bar here) so she looks to turn to 6 and not looking at you (at :53 for example she was jumping straight towards you because your shoulders were forward).
VERY nice early decel to get a nice turn at 6!!!Kip seq 2:
You had a little too much parallel line acceleration towards the entry wing of backside 2, so he went wide there (matching the acceleration and parallel line) – he doesn’t need as much help to the backside 🙂 (1:01)
You can add more decel into his turn at 4 – no need to do as much acceleration to get up the line, because then he doesn’t see as much of the decel cue which is what puts him into collection. The rest looked really good!Emmie seq 2: As with Kip, she doesn’t need quite as much acceleration to the entry wing at 2 🙂 She also went wide there.
She had a question about the 3-4 line on the first rep – you were facing forward at 1:22, almost into the gap to the backside. so she was not sure. You can use your wrap cue for 3 (starting when she has landed from 2 and looks at 3) and then move away to 4. She will follow your motion so you won’t need any threadley cues. It was really nice at 1:32! Leaving the 2-3 line sooner will allow you to decel sooner for 4 to set up the collection – you don’t need to get to the wing of 4, you can decel and send to it.
Adding the jump:
Seq 1 Kip – You were more lateral and sooner with showing the lateral motion so you got a great turn on 2-3!!! The turn at 4 was great too!Seq 2 Kip with jump: He appeared to not look at the added jump at all! Yay!
As you work the turn cues, watch his head: he will give you permission to leave when he sees the line 🙂 You were a bit sideways in your motion and pulling off at 2:03, so he never committed to 4 (never looked at it, so you can keep moving towards it til you seem him look at it.
You got the commitment at 2:17 with a better line forward to commit him – you can add decel as you move forward so you can a tighter turn too!Emmie
Seq 1: very nice line 2-3! The added jump was a harder visual for her (less experienced than Kip) – it seemed like she looked at it a little bit and was a little wider 2-3. The rest was lovely!Seq 2: This went well – looking at timing:
when she looks at 3 after landing from 2, you can start your wrap verbal and move to 4 so you have more time to decel and set the turn there, rather than accelerate more. So for her, the sweet spot to get the timing and the turn is more about leaving sooner so you can decel to set the turn, rather than running harder to each line.Seq 3: Kip
I think the FC will probably be better than the BC 2-3, because you can decel into it and not accelerate into it. Same with 4 -decelerate into the BC, so the send to the FC there has a little less forward push to it, to get the turn a little tighter.Emmie: On the first rep, the FC 2-3 went well, and the FC on 4 went well too! Super!
I thought the timing was even better on the FC 2-3 at 3:50! She dropped the bar of 2 though – after watching it a few times, I think the layering of the 3 jump as you started that caused you to have to move too far forward to 2 so she set up a bigger slice, which made the info late even though the FC was good – the position and motion cues of running towards 3 were what were late, not the actual decel/FC rotation.
Tunnel added:
Seq 1 Kip perfect! He didn’t seem to look at it at all! Yay!Seq 2: Note your starting line here when pushing to the #2 backside at 4:16 and 4:29 – you moved to the center of the bar rather than accelerated to the entry wing. and note how he was very tight to the entry wing!!! He didn’t have any of the extra yardage we saw in the earlier sequences when you accelerated to much to the entry wing. NICE!!!
He got the off course tunnel at 4:21 – he only saw notion and not connection as he was coming around the wrap wing of 4, your head was turned but your dog-side arm was forward (instead of pointed back to him) which hid the connection so he stayed on the line to he tunnel because he could not see the connection to your left side. 4:33 you mad a BIG connection, arm back, worked great! You can split the difference now: be moving up the the line like you did in the irst rep, but use that very clear connection you had in the 2nd rep 🙂
I love how you always reward!! That is SO IMPORTANT!!!!
Emmie seq 1:
She ended up in the tunnel after 3 – it looks like she read your backward motion at 4:48 as a tunnel cue, almost like a ‘pull and flick’ to the tunnel (if you watch it in slow motion you will see yourself move backwards – backwards motion reads the same as forward motion to dogs). Compare to the next rep: you did not move backwards an 4:59 and she did not look at the tunnel 🙂 Yay!Emmie Seq 2: Also super nice backside line on the opening!! You being laterally away from the line really helps both of them! You rotated a bit too soon at 5:14. Very nice FC on 4 second ime!
Kip seq 3:
Nice blind in the opening and GREAT cues to exit the tunnel!!! That was a great turn!You can wait for him more at 4, no need to go past it or between the wings- that caused you to be late getting back to the BC 5-6 so he was wide there.
You can decel more into the FC so you can get the collection and connection without being stuck at the jump there (which got the backside of the next jump when you waited there too long on this rep and again at the very end of the session).
You had a little too much motion at 6:22 so he ended up in the off course – not enough connection and too much motion 🙂 The arm back to his nose as you make biiiiig eye contact will allow you to get the turn and keep moving!
Emmie 3: Her tunnel exit also looked good! Super! Like with Kip, you can stay further from 4so you can get the BC on time 5-6. I think the FC might work better there for both dogs because it turns your feet to the 6 jump sooner.
Nice connection and verbals at 6:02 for 7-8! YAY!!
So overall themes that have emerged for both dogs:
– use more lateral motion on those softer turns and backside sends, rather than acceleration towards their line
– decelerate into the tight turns then make a massive arm-back (pointing at their noses 🙂 ) connection so you can get the turn as you move away.
– watch their heads for when the lock onto a jump or line: that is your permission to move to the next spot on course 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Glad you are back from that crazy drive!!
The coursework went well here!!! Looking at it in sections:
The opening 1-2-3-4- 5-6-7 looked really strong on both runs (I don’t know what he was looking for after the DW on round 2, maybe he thought you tossed a treat?)
A theme for this course is “be careful which verbals you use, because he really listens” 🙂
You can see this in a couple of different spots, and the 8-9-10 line is the first one. As you were cuing the 10 tunnel, you were saying “over” and “go”, both of which are ‘forward’ cues that will keep him on his left lead there (and caused the dropped bar at :35 when he tried to adjust in the air) and we need to him to move to his right lead to find 10. A ‘get out’ cue will work better, along with more convergence towards his line (like you did at 2:12, that totally helped!
After the 10 tunnel, I don’t think you needed to call his name at all – it got too much attention on you. On the first rep there (:36), he moved towards you then had to go back out). At 2:14 you called him harder and he said “COMING MOM!” and ended up on the off course jump behind you. He was not looking at the teeter at any point, so you can probably just say “go” before he enters the tunnel and then “jump” as he exits. Your line of motion was really good, so you can trust him to follow it.
On the first rep, he went back to the tunnel after 12 (:40) – as he was jumping 12 you were moving forward to the off course tunnel and said “over”, good boy Spot! The “here” happened just before he got into the tunnel. Ideally, you would see him look at 12 after he landed from 11, and move away that early – that is more like what you did at 2:22, but he has really great commitment so you can try to leave to head to 13 even earlier. At :51 you were too far away from 12, so he never looked at it. 2>22 was the best rep in that section!
LOVELY job with the 13-14-15 section! Great send to blind!!!
>.Anyway, the jump before the frame came down a lot as you’ll see. Not sure you can hear, but I was using my wrap cue, but I’m guessing I was too late repeatedly. Do you see anything else on that part?>>
This was the other example of be careful of your verbals 🙂 As he was landing from 15, you were sending him to 16 with a “Go Over” cue, which cues extension. A 1:11, the wrap cue started after landing so he had a wide turn. At 2:29 and 3:02 you started the wrap cue as he was jumping so he tried to adjust, but couldn’t keep the bar up.
So, as you finish the blind, start to decelerate and use your wrap cue to commit him (don’t say go or over) and I bet he nails it with a great turn and keeping the bar up!
Good job adding the connection to get he backside after the frame! That line needs a lot of connection especially on a wingless jump,
Very nice ending line on the first run! Gorgeous!!!!
On the 2nd rep there, I think you pulled too much towards he frame to set up the RC, and that ended up putting you behind him for 21, so he was not as sure of the line (2:37 versus 1:31). Plus, as you mentioned, running at 8000 feet is HARD – I personally would be barely able to walk LOL – so it was hard to power up the line to show it to him AND try to breathe.One other difference between the first run and the 2nd run there:
on the first rep at 21, you were a lot more connected, with your arm down at 1:31. Compare to 2:39 where you were looking ahead with your arm up, which rotates your shoulders to the tunnel. That moment when you lifted your arm was when he turned to look at you. Let’s say it was your brain trying to breathe and not thinking about connection as much!!You kept that arm down on the last rep through there and he found the line very nicely! So sending him ahead of you requires a lot of connection, so remember to keep the arm down for those.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
The threadle slice is hard for sure, but she was doing well! The threadle wrap is a new skill and potentially she is a righty and needed to do it turning left here, which makes it a lot harder!I think sequence 1 went REALLY well!!!
As you keep working up the Look Look threadle slice, the next step is to try to be moving the whole time, even if it is slow walking, traveling directly forward. That way you can continue moving up the line and she responds to your feet and upper body cues.
Since we were talking about watching their heads to receive the cue from the dog about when you can move to the next cue:
when you do 1-2-3 and give the turn cue between 1 and 2 – keep calling her til you get a head turn off the wrong side of 3 – she doesn’t need to look at you, just needs to turn her head: then you can start the look look cue. You said ‘right’ once on the first one and I don’t think it broke through to override the motion. So you can keep saying ‘right right right right’ or you can use a name SPRITE LOUISE (if that is her middle name hahaha)That will help you be able to keep moving through the threadle so you eventually can juts keep running through it!
VERY nice timing of leaving 3 at :51 and 1:14 to go get the BC 4-5!!!! Perfect!
You mentioned during the live class that 7-8-9 would be hard for her and indeed it was! She read the 8-9 like a parallel path backside line, which is fine 🙂
You can give her a soft turn cue (verbal and brake arm) which is what you did on the last rep when she found the line really well – you started the brake arm on time (I am pretty sure she saw your outside arm come up, you can make it more obvious) and then you did say right – that can come sooner, as it sounded like it was over the 8 jump. As soon as she lands from 7, you can be saying your right verbal with the brake arm to get collection before takeoff.2nd video: Good job breaking down the threadle wrap, it is new for her and you basically had to slow her down and be like SPRITE LOOK THIS IS DIFFERENT hahaha!!
One thing I found when working the threadle wrap was that I had to really exaggerate the turn cues with the youngsters like you were doing, especially when they were turning to the harder side (which sometime did get me the wrong jump when I didn’t flip them back soon enough, oopsie, they still got rewarded LOL!) So keep doing that, even as you put it into the sequence – super exaggerated cues. It gets easier as they young dogs realize that it is a possibility 🙂
Almost all of sequence 3 was perfect! Loving your connection to see her commitment to jump 2 and jump 7 so you could move away with great timing.
I think the line leading into the tandem turn for 8-9-10 could have a stronger “heads up” cue – you said “Sprite!” and it didn’t break through the motion. So you can start it sooner and repeat it more – as she exits the wrap wing of 7, you can call her with a lot of emphasis then quietly start saying ‘right right right right’ and reward that. And show her both of your hands before starting the tandem – that should make it easier.
The challenge on those as well as getting onto threadle lines is that the verbal and hands need to override motion on the line. Young fast dogs like Sprite need a lot of “HEY YOU SOMETHING IS HAPPENING UP HERE” to break through the motion – but then it gets easier with practice and she will have it, making those lines much easier to handle.
>>. I can probably put just the three jumps up in my yard to see if we can work on it more. I’ll have to revisit the mechanics as she clearly has no idea what I want.>>
Yes – you can fit the 7-8-9 into your hard, even if 7 is just a wing to wrap around. Keep your movements exaggerated and not fast for now, and you will see her have lightbulb moments. If she is a righty, you can do the mirror image and work these to her stronger side first!
Great job here! Fingers crossed for cooler weather ahead!
Tracy
Good morning!
These sequences looking great! They really help us know what her timing is and how she needs to see things. I thought you were pretty darned awesome here with timing and perfect with connection, so my thoughts below are about the little details 🙂
Question: it looks like she is doing 12 here on both bars. Has she seen 14 yet on single jump work? You can add the 14″ jump in, maybe on the jump that you have on the other side for when you are sending from the jump to the tunnel. Then we can add it to the other jumps one at a time. I don’t think it will be a problem for her at all.
Looking at the first video: It is hard to pull these off without momentum but you did a great job!
It sounds like you were saying ‘hup hup’ for the go line on the first rep – you can try replacing that with GO GO GO and see if you get even more extension. I usually save my ‘hup’ for when I don’t want massive extension because a turn is coming up, and use GO GO GO when I want the big extension 🙂
You did 2 wrap reps in a row – I think the 2nd wrap at :26 was better timing than 1st wrap because you started the decel as she was over the jump before the wrap jump. It was maybe one step sooner but made a big difference.
The RC was super nice – very clear RC line!!!
Backside – PERFECT!
Adding the tunnel –
On the straight line, she was collecting a bit on the hup cues, so definitely try the Go Go Go and throw the toy sooner to keep her in full on extension.You are going to chuckle… on the wrap at 1:10 you can actually rotate later 🙂 You can hold the decel for a step or two longer as you move forward, then rotate as she gets close to the jump. The decel will get more collection on the takeoff side. if you rotate too early, you might end up pulling her off.
Speaking of decel – the RC at 1:21 does need some decel – you can decel later on this one – as she is exiting the tunnel, you can be driving onto the RC line and then when she is landed rom the 1st jump and passing you, decel the finish the RC. That will get the tight turn before takeoff for the RC jump and also you won’t be as far away. You decelerated *then* showed the RC line, and we don’t want it to look like a wrap-towards-me cue based on your position and decel.
Backside – lovely!!! You are simply NAILING these!
Jump to tunnel on 2nd video:
Good job adding the GO verbal on the first rep – keep doing it more so she can open up and leave you in the dust, like the end of a course 🙂
Wrap at :11 – you can rotate later on this one too 🙂 You had the decel and rotation at the same time, so she committed but didn’t turn before takeoff (it was a little wider than when you decelerated for a few steps then rotated, like at :26 on the first video). Your timing of starting the decel is good!
RC at :22 – you can also switch the decel with the RC line here – as she was heading to the jump after the tunnel, you decelerated and faced forward, then go on the RC line. You can switch that to get on the RC line so she sees it as she is jumping the jump after the tunnel, then you can decelerate after she lands and is passing you.
Backside at :34 – FABULOUS especially because you were nowhere near it, and still delivered all the cues and connections perfectly, so baby girl was able to find it like a rockstar. SUPER!!!!
Overall, you were great about starting the cues as she was lifting for the previous jump (jump after the tunnel)! So the main things are just little tweaks in the timing and yelling GO more 🙂 Great job!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
If you have time this weekend or next week, can you grab a video of her doing the simple tunnel-to-pinwheel at 10″, then at 12″? And slow yourself down for now so she can process.Since she has seen 16 in a set point, start to bring the jump height up in the striding grid where the first 2 jumps are low and at her set point distance, and jump 3 is 15 to 18 feet away and at 10 then 12 then 14 then 16 inches high.
I don’t forsee any problems getting the bars taller, but she’s still finishing her brain development 🙂 so we can proceed slowly to help her nail it 🙂
Tracy
Oh no! I have totally done that – forgotten to hit record. Oops! But I am glad it went really well!!!!
Have a great 4th 🙂Tracy
That is really interesting that the breed dogs are do much bigger! I thought he was a great size 🙂 Onwards to agility and flyball and ALL the things!
T
Hi!
I think the channels are great for speed lines like that – I put open channels into courses pretty early in training for dogs that are old enough 🙂T
