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Hi!
>>What kind of connection do you use in a layering situation? Rachel told us that we should be converging on the Dog’s path and using big time connection. If i turn into the dog making extreme connection is the dog going to turn into me? >>
Depending on the dog, I might use extreme connection to get them out of the altered line, then regular connection to keep them out there. Extreme connection might be what Rachel meant by big time connection 🙂 The extreme connection only turns the upper body to the dog enough to get the outside shoulder engaged ahead of the torso – if you keep moving forward, then the dogs will not come towards the handler (the dogs will push away from the handler). If you over-rotate your upper body (dropping your dog side shoulder back and/or turning your feet) then yes, the dog will come off the line. Extreme connection doesn’t have that rotation so it can work really well to set the line into layering.
T
Yay! I am glad the power bowls are helping! And the high value rewards here when you shifted connection to the landing spot really helped with the reverse wraps!
>>Now that she feels divorced from making decisions, she is not freezing. Would this be your take?>>
No, I think that is anthropomorphic LOL! I think there are a number of things happening and the high value treats that are coming early and often are helping her do the wraps (and good connection, which is a clear cue and that also helps a whole lot).
T
Hi!
Looking at Video 1 (1358):Wow, big advances in the push here! Great job using the big connection and outside arm to cue the backside slice while you ran pretty directly to the exit wing!! You didn’t need to push into the backside line nearly as much and he was very independent about going to it.
That was especially impressive with all of the go line mixed in and switching sides, so he was not patterning. He was definitely responding to what he saw – yay!!
And it looks like you had some good disconnection happening too as you ran forward past the backside – super nice!
He only really seemed to have one question here, and it was about going to the start wing: remember to use your dog side leg on the send to the start wing. When you sent but had your dog side leg back rather than stepping forward, he was not sure if he should go or not.
Video 2 (1359) – Nice turn away! You might not need to move quite as far away from the jump to get him off the line, you can try shifting connection & turning your shoulders but not moving away as much. But like the first video – really well done to be able to get him off the line of jumps for a turn away, after all of the go and backside he had just done. Yay!!!!!!
You posted 1358 twice – let me know if a different video was supposed to be there.
Great job!!!
TracyHi!
This did go really well! Yay!
>>there was no angry air chomping at me>>
Ha! That is a definite gold star from Nox 🙂
The connections were really good so was the timing, so she was able to read & process the info really well! And great job with the thrown reinforcement: keep throwing it as far as possible!
>>I noticed in the video that I could have run a more parallel path on the extreme connection like you mentioned in for my previous video, but I think I did a bit better with it in the sequences.>>
Yes – you can keep more on the parallel line to the outside wing of the “go straight” jump (like :29 and 1:07). You were getting more and more on that line (especially at 1:17) so you can put a leash on the ground as a reminder for you to run as straight as possible on the get out reps, to build up as much distance as possible.
I am super happy with her focus forward on the lines and the commitment even as you were moving away! Great job!!! And if she air chomps at you, take it as a sign that the connection can be clearer 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
>.. It was a little 10 footer as #2 obstacle. She was so excited to be running that she skimmed right past it on the outside and then in through the exit side!>>
Ha! Gotta love the puppy moments! And she was probably all happy – “Nailed it!” LOL!
>>But like we chatted, I just kept running and praising and pretended nothing silly happened. She completed the rest of the course flawlessly for a young dog! I was proud of her but most importantly, she had a ball. She had the cutest bouncy prancy gait ever. It was so amazing to see after how unenthusiastic she can be in training at times.>>
PERFECT!! No need to stop and fix, or correct things with a young dog. She wants to run, so we let her run. All of it gets smoother as she gets more experienced.
>>UKI definitely has weird courses. The whole start line obstacle 1 jump away (opposite direction) from the second obstacle and then make a sharp turn into the wall for obstacle two is super weird and new to us. AKC doesn’t do that. It confused my older dog quite a bit. Or more so distracted her quite a bit. lol>>
Yep – UKI has a LOT of those. I have seen some in AKC but in AKC, I think you’ll see more of the tunnel as obstacle #1. Maybe Kashia was fine with it because we just spent 5 weeks sending her to a wing away from the course as the start? LOL!!
>>Thanks again for all your wisdom! It’s been amazing! You were just what Kashia and I needed to get a good foundation started together. So thank you!!!!>>
It has been my pleasure! You are doing a great job!
See you in MaxPup 3! You mentioned a few times seeing how fast/line focused the demo dogs were here… well, they are adults now. But in MaxPup 3, plenty of the demos were from when they were teenagers, so you will get to see their normal questions about lines, how much slower they were as they were figuring it out, etc. And my 2 teenage dogs are doing the demos in the new track, so you will see puppy shenanigans there too. I mention it so you can see that everything we run into with Kashia is completely normal LOL!!Have fun!
TracyHi!
>>I lost track of when the last day to submit videos for this class. I hope I’m not past the deadline with this one.??
You are all good! The last day is the 21st 🙂
>> I think I frustrated her by changing the reward from the thrown toy for the Get Out sections to treats from me after the longer sequences. We lost her commitment to the wings and some distance. I’ll try again and be a better “rewarder”.>>
It wasn’t a reward issue – the video says she was giving you feedback on the connection 🙂 Here is what was happening:
On the early ‘get out’ reps, you were connected and running towards the wing, so she got it. Yay!
A more ideal get out to add more of the distance element would have you running from back and forth from the center wings (the ones at 12 and 6 if it was a clock) and the get out wing would be the ones at 3 and 6.The turn aways had you running the lines from the 6 to 12 wing, and that went great – the turn aways looked really good (and she is a right, yes? So she was turning to her harder side and that went really well!) Nice use of arms, line, and connection 🙂
The rep at 2:03 and the last rep were more of a true ‘get out’ handler line as you went from the 12 wing to the 6 wing – this is where you can have even more massive connection directly to her. Your outside arm cue was really good but the you were looking ahead and to the wing, so it looked like regular connection to her. The extreme connection will work best when you are looking directly at her.
For the parts where she lost her commitment to the wing nearest the camera like at 1:01 and 1:13 and at 1:26 on the wing furthest from the camera: that was a disconnection question (not a reward question). If you want those spots in slow motion, you can see that she is a little behind you and at the wing on the right side of the screen.
You disconnect and look forward as she exits that wing so she looks up at you (“what’s the info, mom?”)
Then you were looking at the wing and pointing to it, but your feet/shoulders have fully turned so she comes with you (lookin gat you) as if setting up for a turn away or blind cross. She ended up doing a threadle wrap at 1:15 when you reconnected, good girlie!!Now compare to the reps at 1:37-1:39and 1:52-1:53, where you kept connection MUCH better and she went to the wing 🙂 Yay! So it was a regular connection moment and she is a very responsive girl! Great adjustment from you 🙂
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracyoh crud! You are right – the forum has disappeared. I contacted the tech folks and they will fix it in the next few minutes. Thanks for pointing it out!!! I will email when it is back online.
Tracy
Omg! What an amazing debut!!!! You were super connected and fast, so she got all the info she needed to run happy and fast!! YAY!!!!
That first jump thing is just lack of experience – she’s probably never had to jump towards the crowd like that! The rest was fantastic 🙂
I’m so happy for you!!!!!
TracyThe simple backside lines were really good, and adding the jump wen well too! Nice work with the reward places! More of these will help build up the indpendence so you can cue the backside and run fowrard, trusting her to take the jump. When working this on a jump, lower the bar and throw the reward further away from it on the landing side so she doesn’t torque her shoulders landing close to a taller bar.
On the last rep, being further past jump 1 before she takes off for i t will help you set the line with motion (to the center of the bar of the backside jump) and big extreme connection that she can see as you deliver the push cue (as she is jumping the 1st jump). She was ahead of you here so even though you said the verbal, the physical cues all moved to the front of the bar so that is where she went. Being further ahead for now will help solidify the skill and then she will be able to eventually do it on the verbal even when you are behind her.
Nice work here!!
TracyHi!
Yay, she did seem happy here! The up and down game helped her out for sure! And the simple, fun lines will add to that ‘feel good’ approach for her. More ‘regular’ connection on the exit of the frame to the spread jump will help, but also having a placed reward helps too so she can understand the line.T
That line will vary depending on which exit – for the disconnection games you will want to stay on a line no closer to the entry than the center of the bar, so you can easily run past the exit. But he might not be ready for that level quite yet.
Tracy
Hi –
>> I was trying to stay out side of the jump, when you say line do you mean in the middle?>>
Do you mean this, in reference to the backsides:
>>using the line on the ground, lead out at least 2 or 3 steps after the landing of jump 1. Then either do a psh to the outside of the backside wing (staying on your line) or have him go straight between the uprights as a balance rep.>>
If it is the backsides, you were heading towards the entry wing and rotating more than needed, so the handler running path should be more towards the center of the bar (at first) and on a parallel line to the line on the ground, cuing the push so he goes to the backside entry wing but you can easily move to the exit wing.
Or do you mean front side wraps? On those, yes, stay outside the wing/jump and decelerate on that line. Pushing in to the bar on those could cause a rear cross.
Let me know if that helps!
TracyHi! I think she did like the tunnel 🙂 and there was definitely a lot more speed and less eye-rolling from her LOL!
She is not a huge fan of deceleration (she wants to run, but sometimes in agility we humans have to decelerate and turn LOL!) so what I do to build the love for slowing down is throw the reward really far. It seems counterintuitive, but when I slow down the dog gets excited because it means I am going to fling the toy (like a ball or frisbee or lotus ball). It really gets the dogs blasting through the ‘boring’ turns 🙂 and adds more distance and commitment (definitely something we work on in MaxPup 3 :))
>>I kept getting my verbal and my physical cues mixed up. I blame it on tiredness. I’d tell her close but signal for backside. She figured it out most of the time but I rewarded her either way cause it was a super obvious handler error! lol>>
That is totally relatable LOL and it was good to reward her. When we screw up the verbals, the dogs have to pick physical cue or verbal cue? So I am happy with whatever they pick because they are trying hard to figure out what the heck I want 🙂
I am so glad you had fun here – you did a fantastic job!!!! I am looking forward to seeing you in MaxPup 3 :)
TracyHi!
>>How long are you accepting videos? I know I’m behind and I have no idea when the class is ending.>>
Feb 21 is the last day, hoping that the weather behaves itself LOL!!
>>It seems to me when I looked at these that if my outside hand comes up my body is magically drawn to take a step off the line>>
Yes, it is really hard to run completely straight with that much upper body rotation. A tiny bit of being drawn to the line is fine as long as it is very little and you are mainly moving forward (and not using the motion to send him to the jump). So you did have a little too much stepping towards the jump at the beginning but overall, I thought you did really well moving as straight as possible!
It was also super cool to see that he had perfect balance reps! That jump is so visible and enticing that the balance reps can be really hard, but he seemed to have no questions 🙂 YAY!
He had a couple of questions on the out jump (at :40 then also at 2:02 and 2:18). Those were all when he was on your left and your right arm was the ‘outside’ arm. On those reps, you did have eye contact and the right arm was engaged, but it was not really pointing to the jump you wanted. It was pointing more to the start wing, so he looked at you trying to sort out the cue.
Compare to reps on the other side like at 1:20 and 1:38 where he is in your right and your left arm is the outside arm. On those reps, your outside arm was very visible out ahead of your shoulders, pointing to the wing of the jump, so he seemed to have no questions. That arm pointing to the jump really helps support the extreme connection.
So I bet if, when he is on your left, you point your right arm out to the jump while you move, he reads it perfectly 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
