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Hi! This went GREAT!
Rear crosses are actually a hard skill… but you made it look easy š The first bunch of reps with the RC on the 2nd jump after the tunnel and the 1st jump after the tunnel all looked good. And he was perfect when you did the balance reps and did NOT rear cross! Yay!
On the last 2 reps, I think you got a little ahead of him on the RC line (:53 and 1:09) which actually can put you further behind him after the rear cross, because it delays you being able to get to his new side. When you are able to get ahead but are planning a RC, you can get a little closer to the previous line, or decelerate a little at the jump before the RC jump. That will actually allow you to get further ahead because as he is catching up to you, you an really accelerate up the line for the RC – which both drives him ahead and cues the turn, allowing you to cut behind him sooner – and therefore get ahead of him again š
So in this case, you can get in closer to the jump after the tunnel, decel for a moment til he is about catching up to you… then accelerate up the RC line to the center of the bar of the RC jump. I bet he reads it perfectly and you will be ahead of him when he lands after the RC.
Let me know what you think! Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! It has some overlap, probably about 15% of it. It focuses more on the neuroscience stuff we can do with the dogs to prepare their brain for sports – it doesn’t have a lot of sports-specific games (that is in MaxPup 1 :))
T
Hi!
Great job warming up the send and the blind to the tunnel! At :21 he didnāt take the jump before the blind because you started the blind before the release, so he never got a commitment cue to the jump. Adding the jump before it to get some momentum worked great!
When you ran the full sequence:
For most of it, you ran with your arms low and with big connection and he did GREAT ! That also allowed you to easily get to the blind before the tunnel. Super!Remember the sends should also have a low arm and a lot of connection. He didnāt send to the middle jump at 1:13 because you disconnected and pointed ahead at the jump, which turned your shoulders away fro he middle jump. You were more connected at 1:28 before you arm came up and he was able to see the line a lot better. Ideally, on the send you would keep your eyes on his eyes and a low arm would point to the takeoff spot.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>I do have the jumps spread out so lots of running. >
The distances looked good here – similar to what he will see at a trial.
>Max was running out of gas at the end (it is still hot and humid in the evenings).>
He started to slow himself down about halfway through, so when it is hot and humid like this, you might only get 5 or 6 reps then need to be done so he can cool off.
> I find it difficult to keep my eye on him and look where I am going. Wearing glasses doesnāt help. Looking to the āsideā with my eyes, there is no glasses there so just blurry.>
I think the key to your connection will be to either just run (pumping your arms rather than pointing to the line) or using low arms where your hands donāt do higher than your knees.
That will allow you both to see each other a lot better (plus it is a lot easier to keep up with a fast dog if your arms are not high).
When your arms got high here, they were blocking his view of your face. And high arms also turn your shoulders a bit too far forward, which is probably why it felt hard to maintain connection and really see him.
For example, at :32 – :36 you didnāt use your arms out to support the line – you just ran and it was perfect.
Same at 100- 1:03: you just ran and the connection was perfect! So you can do the whole sequence like that – very minimal arm pointing šHe did well reading the BCs and FCs. On the BCs, try not to get past the middle jump as it causes you to have to push him back to the jump after the blind. When you did that, at :16 and :44-he turned the wrong way on the next jump there on both. At 1:12 you pushed back to the jump and then stepped backwards a bit, which read like a RC so he turned away from the line you wanted.
Even with those little bobbles, keep going because it is a clean run and is good practice for future trials if there is a bobble š
When you did not go past the middle jump (like at :27) – much better connection and position, and no questions on the jump after the cross!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
This session went REALLY well! He was very confident driving up the board with you facing him, and he definitely seemed to like the tugging in between each rep! It looks like you only did 2 reps – PERFECT! They were high quality, super fun, and you ended before he could start to over-think things. Do you have access to other teeters, so you can show him this game in different places?
Great job š
TracyHi! These are the best tunnel exits I have ever seen her do. SUPER!! I am so proud of her! š¤©š
You were very intense with the verbal and hands and it worked well! The next step on her tunnel exit turn adventures is do 2 things:
Add in balance with going straight on the tunnel exit to a jump out ahead.Maintain the intensity of verbals, use your two hands like you did – but fade out the rotation towards her. Your upper body and still rotate towards her with both hands, but we want your feet to rotate less and less so you can eventually keep running forward.
Her threadle wrap at :44 was perfection!!! You nailed the timing and delivery of the cues and you were patient as she set herself up to do it. YAY!! Click/treat for you both!! And I love the big party you had with her there as the reward. Fantastic!!
Great job!
TracyHi!
Course 2 went great!!!! Just a couple of subtle details to get the maximum speed:You can Ddecel sooner into 5 to get a tighter turn at :12 – start to decel as she is landing from 4. It was closer to the halfway point between the 2 jumps when you started it so she was a little wide.
Good timing on the name call before the 7 tunnel! You can trust the cue and immediately move to cueing 8 and 9 with a GO TUNNEL! She had a slight hesitation when you got quiet as she exited the 7 tunnel. No quiet allowed! LOL!
The FC 10-11 worked well!
I donāt think you have time to praise her on course at 13 š It delayed the cues to 14 so she had some questions there. The praise she likes on course is the cue to the next obstacle šNice send to the 16 tunnel and name call before she entered! You can trust the cue here too – start your GO TUNNEL cues for the next line immediately. She hesitated (by dialing back her speed) until you gave her the cue when she was almost at the next jump.
She also had to dial back her speed when you did the FC 18-19 (waiting for you to finish it). The blind will be very effective there and you can get to it sooner too: when sending to the tunnel after the weaves, layer both jumps there and use verbals to get the next line as you basically sprint (with some connection) to the blind. You will be there easily and she will be blazing fast with all of the acceleration š
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
This course went really well!!!My only question about it was on jump 3 (Muso shared the question LOL):
Did you want the wrap to the inside, or the slice?
Running backwards at 3 on rep 1 created some questions – it looked like you were setting up a lap turn to wrap? O n the 2nd run, she jumped 3 on the slice at 1:04 like a throwback but I am not sure that is what you intended?If you wanted the threadle wrap to the inside, I donāt think you needed to face her at all – you can turn parallel to her line and do the TW cues from your right without running backwards at all. For the slice, you can keep her on your right and do a FC to the tunnel.
Super nice 4-5-6-7 line and turn on the tunnel exit t get 8 both times! Nice timing on the tunnel exit cues!!!
On the first run, you can converge to 10 more on the threadle line at :24 – it was more of an āoutā than a āgoā for the jump after the threadle. You got it really well at 1:14 by moving more towards it – fast and smooth!
The Weaves to the tunnel layer looked great – really nice job measuring your speed to be able to send without getting too far ahead.
She committed nicely to the backside wraps here – you were able to keep moving through because you were not that far ahead (or ahead at all LOL) so you didnāt need to wait for her to pass you. For a better turn on the backside 14 at :24 and 1:24 , and on 16 at :40 and 1:31, you can look at her and lower your hands – point them to her not to the jump. You had both hands up which is great – but by pointing them to the jump they served as a bit more of an extension cue. Pointing them to her nose will get the collection on the commitment too.
The ending line was looking great til she ran past 21 both times – be aggressively turning your shoulder and calling there. You gave a quiet call on the 2nd run, but as she is lifting off for 20 let her see you turn your shoulders and call her and tell her to jump. That 19-20-21 line shouldnāt require anything like a threadle – just a āyou need to take this jump!ā cue should be great š
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
I donāt think you need to go all the way back to the beginning on the threadles but we can clarify the cues which will really help.
It looks like you were trying to create the threadle line by pulling away (you ended up near the tunnel!) then pushing back to the jump, which is why he went to the backside of 3 at the beginning and 1:05. So the threadle lines of motion (threadle wrap and threadle slice) should both be parallel to his intended running line, without extra pulling away. And then the big differences are what you do with your arms and verbals.
For the threadle wrap on 3 (I donāt think you wanted the slice there?) – this move has deceleration and a low hand (or both hands) to draw him in and cue him to flip away to the wrap. The arm back is for the threadle slice, which is what you were doing at 1:39 – you can do that sooner, starting to get his focus on you when he is taking off for the previous jump so he is seeing and hearing the threadle cues no later than landing from the previous jump. In that spot, you started the threadle cues when he was about halfway to the jump, so he was already locked onto his line, good boy! You can stay closer to the line on the threadle slices too, so it is easier for him to see the arm swinging back.
On the discrimination video:
>He seems to really want the jump more than the tunnel, even goin so far as doing a backside push instead.>
It could never that the jump has more value, or that you were stopping your motion closer to the jump and trying to send him past it. Or, it could be that the tunnel was miles away š and it was easier to get the closer obstacle.
My guess is that it was not so much about not liking the tunnel as much, and it was more about running past another obstacle to get the one you were cueing. It would be interesting to switch things and have the tunnel closer and see if he grabs it or if he drives past it to the jump!
So you can approach it as training to find the further obstacle – and add a little more motion to it for now. You can stay in motion the whole time to help support him running past whichever obstacle is the furthest one š And the furthest obstacle is the one that gets the better rewards, so bring a couple of different types of treats with you š When he has the lightbulb moment of āI am allowed to go find the further obstacleā then it will be easier to fade out the motion and emphasize the verbals more.
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>Hope the weather isnt too bad where you are.>
The weather has been gross here, regularly 37C with high humidity, like a rain forest LOL! So I take the dogs out as soon as the sun comes up – it is still too hot in the evenings to run them. But at least we donāt have any of the catastrophic flooding that is happening nearby.
>But what most impressed me with both my dogs is that inspite of strange place with lots of horse poo plus horses very close behind a single wire they both focused. >
That is great! Good dogs!!!!
>did manage to pursuade In synch to go over a strange dog walk and a frame. She had to think about it a little .>
Perfect – she is at the point in her training where she needs experience on different contacts.
>She tried hard- very obvious she didnt understand backsides or different side of jumps. same in popouts so need to go back and teach on its own.>
She always tries 1000% hard!
For the backsides, one thing I notice in the video below is that you sometimes run sideways to them (which cues the front) or your point forward (which also cues the front because it turns your shoulders to the front). So as you work the backsides, run forward and make a big connection (donāt point ahead) and that will help her find the backside more easily. You can see that at 3:13 – 3:18 where you were already rotated when cueing the backside and she had big questions until you got really close to it.
>we struggled she was not finding the linbes>
I was watching for what helped her find the lines versus what pulled her off lines:
When you had clear connection and some motion on the parallel line? She stayed on the line, no problem. You can see that at :10 and also at :27 where you were layering, as well as at 1:03.
Staying in motion even if it is not a lot of motion was also very effective – like at 2:30 – 2:38.
And using your opposite arm can work on the send and keeping her on the line (even if it is high like at like 2:04 – 2:07) but your motion and line have to support it – at 2:11 your opposite arm pointed at the tunnel but the rest of the physical cues were moving forward away the tunnel. She needed you to turn towards the tunnel there more like what you did at 3:25 – that worked really well!
Compare all that to when you were not moving enough or you were stationary at :46 and :54 and 1:06 for example, and she was not sure of what you wanted in those spots. So definitely keep moving to support the verbals1
One other thing to consider: When you were going from the tunnel exit to a backside push, make a bigger connection to her eyes so she know which side of you to be on – I think you wanted her on your left side but there was no enough connection so she ended up on your right side.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think !
Tracy
Hi! Hope you are not experiencing any of that flooding!!!!
I think overall you and Synnie are looking FABULOUS on course. It is fun to sort out the bloopers so you can get even smoother runs, but I am really impressed with the runs!
In the FAST run – I think when she sees RC info, she reads it as a RC (keep that in mind or the 2nd JWW video :))
On the jump in the send, I think you were trying to wrap left but didnāt decel and face the wrap wing – what happened what you ran fast then rotated, which reads like a RC cue because it puts pressure on the line the same way a RC cue does. So to get the turn to the left, add decel and be facing the left turn wing – then rotate after you decel and see her collecting to the left.
Turning right actually worked brilliantly there!
When she turned left to the dog walk at :20, it looks like you did rear cross the jump before she had a chance to land and commit to the tunnel.
So even though your verbals might have been correct, the physical cues said something different so she went with the strong physical cues.
JWW – I think she pulled out because you were hanging back (which is not normally an issue) and the pressure of the judge moving into position then standing there staring at her caused her to lose her footwork. You can watch his path across the ring and she lost her footwork right when he stopped moving and looked directly at her. So you can support her more by driving ahead (if you see the judge will be close and staring) and in training you can also enlist friends and family to put pressure on the weaves like a judge coming in close to watch.
The rest looked AWESOME.I grabbed a screenshot of the moment she lost her footwork and you can see the pressure of the judgeās position. It is here, along with 3 screenshots to the RC-that-wasnāt on the next run:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cHWYB9zllaoyJO8CZ3PQiY5biuNQLUlc1o7phA7RVtc/edit?usp=sharing
On the 2nd JWW run – the first part looks awesome! That ending line was awkward in terms of where to put a RC. No good spot for it! And a BC would be hard to get to (it would be late) with a fast dog like Syn.
I think 2 things happened to cause the off course:
– yes, the timing was late š Screenshot 1: As she was landing from the jump before the RC jump, you were still running straight. There was no RC info until she took off for the RC jump at :39 (screenshot 2) – you started pressing in on the RC line and you said switch but she was in the air already and looking straight. She didnāt see the full RC physical cue until she was halfway to the off course jump (screenshot 3).So ideally the timing would be earlier and she would see you already on the RC diagonal line and turning her when she is landing from the jump before the RC jump. When you get behind, you can think of grabbing her attention almost like a tandem turn, perhaps, to avoid the straight line
– I bet if this was the middle of the course, she might have saved you and turned. But there was an off course jump straight ahead and more importantlyā¦ all the context cues said āthis is the end, go straight!ā What I mean by that is she saw the timing lights, the exit gate, sheād already run a long course, and you were accelerating up the line. The āswitchā verbal was really loud so easy to mistake for a āGoā verbal based on intensity.
In other wordsā¦ she thought it was the ending line based on the info and context. So you can TOTALLY set that up in training – make it look like the end, have your leash visible, maybe some treatsā¦ and give her HUGE rewards for turning when cued (and of course sometimes go straight too :))But overallā¦ WOW! You two are running brilliantly!!!
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
> I’ve always wondered why I was given permission to point on these forward sends, considering my entire agility life has been about avoiding pointing! >
Good point! Pun intended LOL!! The arm raise aka pointing is the cue to acknowledge the jump, by looking at it (glancing at it). The release and body facing the jump are the actual cues to take the jump (not the pointing). Eventually it will be MUCH easier but young dogs help us make sure everything is super clear š
> Even though I got frustrated, I spent 3x as much time rewarding her. I just edited out the throws since I figured even you might get bored with that. >
I never get bored with reinforcement! And even one moment of “argh!” can be hard on an adolescent – their brains are wired to be super sensitive to that.
>So I have a pointing reminder to help me. If I point for either dog it needs to be at their little *ssholes and nothing else. >
Ha! Yes! We call it the 3rd Eye. LOL!! Or, if you are behind the dog, just run, no pointing needed.
> Think rectal exam Danika.
HA!!!!!! That will make the dogs run faster to get away from us LOL
>I used to have a prof in vet school who said the rectal exam is the most underdone and important exam you can perform. You can’t know unless you stick your finger in there.>
I guess this it true – it provides very clear info! My veterinary learning this week is that microchips can now also tell us the dog’s temperature. Cool!!!!!
>Today is a scorcher so we may not be training today.>
I can relate – I had to get out there as soon as the sun was up, but everything is soaking wet because it has been so humid.
Stay cool!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Taq forgets so many things. I swear if I did not know better I would think she was dropped on her head as a puppy!
Such a struggle. She could not do the forward focus.>Part of forgetting things at this stage is just normal adolescent brain development where they know something one day, donāt know it the next day, then they know it again the following day. Usually when that happens, it is best to just help the dog or do something else.
But sometimes they are actually responding correctly and we are accidentally giving incorrect info. In this caseā¦ I think she was responding to the cues correctly! The video is very helpful because we can freeze it where you are turning to when you release her.
She was starting to look at jump 1, but also bear in mind that when you release it is the not the arm point the dogs are cueing off of, it is the direction of your feet and shoulders.
So when she was taking jump 1 – your shoulders/feet were facing 1. When she was going to 2 like a backside – your shoulders/feet were strongly turned to the backside line at jump 2:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cWi7pwabyT4-m6GXUK2W6ks2RmbSHXxt5e4-W9HgQnw/edit?usp=sharing
You got frustrated with her at 1:35 and she was like āI am doing what your body is saying!ā – so when she insists that the answer is something different that you expect, stop and look at the video to be sure that you were giving correct cues. Turns out she was right š¤£š
She got it more at the end even with your shoulders turning more to 2 because you moved up on the line to be slightly ahead of her and she could see where your feet were pointing, and you held position more.But ideally, even before the release – you can be more rotated to face the takeoff spot so your feet/hips/shoulders are showing 1 very clearly. And you donāt need quite as much arm point, because she is cueing off of feet/hips/shoulders.
The rest went really well! Super nice threadle wrap on 3! You can try exiting as a blind cross there – as soon as she is definitely turning to the wrap side of the bar, turn your back on her and take off to the tunnel, picking her up on your left side.
The right verbal could be a little earlier at the 4 tunnel at :13, it was right before she went in so her exit was a little wide. The timing was perfect at :49 – she was so tight on the tunnel exit she was hard to see!You mentioned her being sticky the other day – was it like what happened at :52 when she ran past 6? In that moment, you were running forward but without direct connection back to her to get her to shift to her left to get the jump, so she stayed on the line to her right. That 5-6-7 line can be handled with 5 as a serpentine with your arm back and eyes on her at landing of 5, which cues the turn to 6.
A similar thing happened at 2:35 on the way to 7 – you were pointing ahead of her so she was not entirely sure bout where to be, so it is a good place to keep your arm out of the way and ramp up the connection š
A small blooper on 5 at 2:08 when you turned away before she was committed to the backside, but the other times you ran that section you had really clear cues so she picked up the backside line really well : )
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Looking at pop out 1:
You had her jumping towards 2 on this sequence, which worked well. It is numbered with 1 on the other side if you want a little different challenge šShe jumped long over 2 at :05, :23, and :33 You can use a bigger brake arm to get a better turn on 2 – show the brake arms directly to her to ask for collection, not to the jump š
For the line to the 4 backside:
Yes, as you mentioned, at :08 you had not turned to the backside, so she was correct to stay on the line to the tunnel.
She read your line really well at :24 and :36!> I thought she was committed but my motion caused her to grab the tunnel againā¦ I am not sure what else to do,,, maybe step back instead of sideways/rotating??? Indy clearly did not like what I did.>
I don’t think she disliked it, she seemed happy to go to the tunnel š
At :36 you pushed backwards into her line trying to do the post turn, which pushed her off the line and to the tunnel. She was on her way to being committed but not actually committed – at this age, commitment is just before she arrives at the wing for the backside so you were a little early. At :37 you waited longer to push in to do the post turn and she went to the backside.
Another option there is to support the line like you did at :24, when you did a FC on the landing side. But to get the 5-6 line, do a FC to a BC (a spin) and get her on your left side for 5 so you can get ahead do a threadle at 6 then send to 7.
Pop out 2:
The serp to blind on 3 looked good (technically is it not a threadle because you were handling from the landing side). You can move through it sooner: keep moving past the jump but shift your connection to look at (and point to) the landing spot as you pass the wing, That will help keep her committed. You were definitely moving sooner at 1:00 and it made for a better line for her!
I don’t think she needs a brake arm or tighter turn at 1:02 on the jump before the tunnel – she had a great line and a ton of speed at :47 without any extra help.If you want to add more challenge, check out where 6 is on the map (same jump as 3 but the other side of it) so you can practice getting a tight turn out of the tunnel here too.
> In the moment I think āI am running SO fastā and then I look at the video and I am hardly moving, geeezzz.š. I need to process fasterā¦ as soon as I see she has the jump, I need to leave.>
You are running plenty fast! Agility has a lot of decel in it too, so don’t worry about your footspeed. And processing her commitment will get easier as you two get more experienced running together. Running a fast young dog is similar to trying to run in high heels… takes some practice LOL!!
> She is so quick, I donāt have a half a second to āthinkā ādoes she have the jumpāā¦..LOL>
This is true! But you are doing great and the more you get out there and practice, the more automatic it will be for you both.
Nice work here!
Tracy
