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Good morning!
Hooray for good weather!! Frankie did really well here!!
Video 1:
Really nice on all of these! You can try with keeping your arms lower, pointing to her more, closer to your body: that will help you move faster. The higher the arm and the further away it is from you, the slower you run (physics!) and both Frankie and Bazinga are speedsters, so we need to find the quickest way to move you up and down the lines.Small suggestions:
Seq 1:
Great job sending to 4 and getting outta there to be ahead for 5
At :08 for 6, we can change the verbal to help get a tighter turn: when she is landing from 5, 5-6 replace the jump verbal with your wrap verbal so she can adjust before takeoff (you said the wrap verbal as she was jumping/landing).Seq 2:
The more you line her up on a slice at 1, the better she will turn left away from the course (on the 2nd rep, she was center of the bar so it was less clear if you wanted a left turn or a right turn).Trying sending to the push at 2 from where the wing and bar meet so you are not blocking the wing and can be one step further ahead to 3 (it looks like she had a little question over 2)
You can also do the FC a little sooner on jup 4: as soon as she is arriving at the entry wing for the backside, you can do the FC. You were a little late so she was a little wide.
Video 2 – super nice! I don’t think she looked at the added jump at all on any of the reps! Yay! Your handling looked basically the same as it did in the first video, which is great – you want to handle to show the line like you did here, rather than to avoid the off courses 🙂
Video 3:
>.I made a handling mistake at one point where I thought too hard about the “it is NOT a threadle” 5-6 LOL🙂 and she felt my brain waves. >>
That was on the first rep here – you were disconnected while thinking about that, which pulled her off the jump. The second rep looked great!
On sequence 2:
The opening looked really good! I think the timing of the FC at :31 matched the timing of the FC in the other videos. But now with the tunnel there, the slightly wider turn gets spicy! You were doing the FC as she was over the bar. See if you can start it as she arrives at the entry wing, so you are finished and connected before she even lands – that will tighten up the turn really nicely. You looked a LOT earlier at :54 (finished before takeoff) and the turn was tighter, I don’t think she looked at the tunnel. SUPER!!!Onwards to sequence 3! Great job here!
Tracy
Yay! I am glad you are smiling!
The RYG sequences will be fun!!!!
>>Do you think in general rear crosses are not my best option for her? Or just the way I handled them in the 11-14 line?>>
I think in general, you might be using the RCs too much, maybe trying to protect bars, and that doesn’t show her enough info. For now, don’t worry about bars or anything – just run run run connect, do the blind, do the front, etc. I don’t think there is a single rear cross in the RYG sequences 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi!
Thanks for posting the videos, it helps me see what she is doing so we can smooth out the lines! Both of these videos are the same, let me know if there was a second video.
>>(collection is poor even when I am perfect, non existent when I am not)>>
Actually…. her collection is fine 🙂 Let’s not worry about that yet, let’s get you to continue to move up and down the lines proactively, rather than trying to manage her lines reactively (which is frustrating for her and puts you way out of position for the next line).
>. I ended up running less and over handling to get her to understand- not ideal.>>
Correct – and it will be counterproductive for running the big courses. Running less is also not helping her to understand, it is over-managing the lines – she runs a lot better when you keep moving along the lines.
Think of it like this:
Handling is proactive. It tells her what to do before she needs to do it. Managing is reactive – it either tells her what to do when it is to late to do it, or it stops the flow of information about what is next. She does a lot better with proactive handling 🙂Here are details:
In general, when you keep moving and show the line and not really worry about what she is doing: she does GREAT! I think she was great with the 1-2-3 line at the beginning because you were connected and moving really well too!
The challenges you describe started happening at 4, when you were trying to manage her line waaaaaay too much. That actually stops the flow of information, which is why you were seeing her do other things.
On that first rep, you were turning her to her right over 4 with a rear cross but all the way on the far side of 4 (:05) which put you way behind on 5-6-7 . The outside arm at :08 pushed her to the backside of 6. No worries though, because you were in motion the whole time and not trying to over-manage.Much better position at :31 for the rear cross!! But then you were trying to manage her at :32 by standing still so she just kept running and didn’t know where to go (frustration behavior? Information-seeking? Both?) Reward that effort from her because the stationary cue with you yelling didn’t make sense and you can see the frustration coming up. Same with :46 – she is not likely to take a jump when you are standing sitll in front of it and facing her, you have to move to show her the line and then she will take the jump.
I am not sure if you rewarded her on those or not, because then there was LOTS of frustration (continuing to just take jumps). That is the equivalent of a dog sniffing or biting the handler when they get stressed – she was saying “I am frustrated and don’t know what you want”. So rewarding all of her efforts will help reduce that as we clarify the handling: and motion clarifies it, not standing still or running less 🙂
You kept moving at 1:11 for 4-5, but you were moving backwards to pull her in then had to drive forward to 6, so she took it in extension and dropped the bar when you tried to call her back in for 7. So that is not a collection issue, it is a timing issue because by moving away then having to push back, all of the cues said “forward” to her so she didn’t know you wanted the turn til after landing of 6.
She did really well when you added the off course jump, put in a nice collection at 2 (1:17 and 1:38) and never looked at it. You were moving beautifully up that 1-2-3-4 line there!!! Note how well she did it 🙂
But then you went back to managing 4-5 at 1:22 – you stopped comletely, still facing 4 tried to pull her in almost like a threadle – so out of frustration, she went and took the off course jump (and did not get rewarded even though her response was fine, because the info was not really clear).
This particular run shows us the difference in what she needs to see: when you run with handling and you don’t try to manage her lines on the ground or turn, she does great (1-2-3-4 with the off cuorse jump there). And when you stop handling and try to manage things, she doesn’t have info about the line, gets frustrated, and runs off either really wide or to a line of off course obstacles.
At 1:32 and on the last run, you pulled away from 5 so she took it, but in this sequence it does not show the line to 6 so she had a lot of questions. But, that was more handling than standing still! Yay!
So for the next sequences: don’t worry a whole lot about what she is doing 🙂 Work on your line of running and handling, the proper line near the jumps. And keep handling that line even if you think she might go wide or something: if you try to manage her lines too much things will come off the rails. And with proactive handling, if something goes wrong, just keep going as if it was correct. Then try it again, still being proactive – don’t respond by stopping your movement because that makes it to hard for her to know what you want.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>. It went better though do,you notice the bar fall after we were a few jumps away? That’s Samantha playing with us🤣>>
Yes, that was hilarious!!!! Hi, Sam!
You were definitely more aggressive and proactive here and things went really well!!!
She definitely gives feedback about the moments when you wait too long – she smokes you LOL! This happened at :06 for example, when you waited a the 4 tunnel to get her in it and she left you in the dust at 5. You didn’t wait at :22 and had a much better line.
The GO for the tunnel exit needs to happen before she enters, so be sure to cue it early and a few times so she doesn’t look at you for more info when she exits.
At :31 – really good convergence 7-8-9 on the line after the weaves! You can also add a ‘get out’ and even an opposite arm and tunnel cue, when she is halfway between 7 and 8, to reduce her looking at you over 8.
Getting the 10 jump was going well – at :33 you were too early with the rotation (and a little loud on the collection cue – remember to whisper those and not shout them) so you got the tunnel on the re-send, You were definitely better at :59 but almost too early 🙂 1:46 and the last rep were best there, in terms of timing. The key is to make the big connection and be watching her eyes when she exits the tunnel. Keep moving forward to 10 and doing the cues until you see her look at it: that is you cue to leave for the next line.
Leaving early and NOT managing the gap at 10 got you through that box nicely to deal with the 12-13-14 line!!!! She never looked off course when you did that!
And the spin to the BC 13-14 at 1:05 was great! You did a post turn at 12 at 1:50 so the blind was late – both bars down there because you were in the way. You went back to the spin at 2:23 and 3:14 and that worked great – just remember to run towards 14 and not to the landing spot (death zone!) of 13.
About that turn at 14: the decel helps, but she needs several turn cues stacked on top of each other. Yes, do the nice early decel and also use your left but say left a few times and quietly: shouting it becomes more of a forward cue. I think a brake arm (opposite arm to kind of give her more “whoa” as you decel) will help too – that off course tunnel is right on her line, so stronger physical and verbal cues should really help get her turned, all starting as she is in the air over 13 so she can turn on 14.
Great job!! Keep up the aggressive, proactive handling 🙂
TracyGood morning!
I love the performance goal here! Adding in verbals 1 or 2 at a time is very doable and not overwhelming like it would be to add 10 verbals all at once. And you executed the performance beautifully!
>>Walked it, walked it with verbals, walked it at running speed with verbals.>>
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse…. nailed it! That is something you can bring into your in-person class with Lo, perhaps, especially on the harder stuff: more rehearsal before you run, so you can nail it right away with Sly.
Looking a sequence 2: this went REALLY well. He never even looked at the added jump. Beautiful!
Only one suggestion: I think adding a wrap wrap cue to the exit of 3 will get a better turn to take off of 4. So basically it would be 2 wrap cues in a row: when he landed from 2, you can cue 3 with the wrap wrap and then when he lands from 3, you can cue 4 with the wrap wrap as well.
Sequence 3: Also lovely! Nice timing of the FC 2-3! And lovely sends to the backside at 4, great timing on that FC. An dhe never looked at the potential off course jump after that. Hooray!
Since these went so well, you can definitely bring the tunnel in, to spice it all up LOL!! The handling should not be any different than what you did here!
Great job!!!
TracyGood morning!
This video is a trial run – a really fabulous run, especially the ending line after the dog walk – that is a really bad dog walk entry (illegal in UKI!) so good job to you for getting her on it and getting the ending line too!!
Can you repost the training video 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
This was definitely a more aggressive, proactive approach to this course 🙂 YAY!!!
The opening looked good, no problem getting the blind 3-4. You you drove her harder to the weaves and also to the 7-8-9 line that all looked really strong!!
Check out the send and leave at 10 at :22!! You were earlier wiht all the cues, she committed really well. And by leaving early and not managing things there, she did not look at the off courses at all. And hat put you in a great position for the next section!
Great job trying for the 12-13-14 blind – on these blinds when the distance is short, you probably don’t have time to complete the spin, look over your left side to cue 13, then do the blind to your right side. You can do directly to the right side after the spin so it will feel like one gigantic front cross, trusting that she will take 13 because of your motion.
But even though you didn’t quite get the blind, note how that running line still set up a great turn to the 15 tunnel at :29! Good job going with the flow there, and the switch at the end looked great!
>>Dancer sometimes still checks in with me even when I give her an on time cue.>>
A couple of ideas for you:
In some spots, it is likely that you were late or showing conflicting motion. For example, at :06 for tunnel #4, you said go after she exited, which was late so she was looking at you. The Go verbal for the straight exit should start before she enters, and say it a few times. Then after she exits, you can switch to the next cue.
The other spot she looked at you was at :09 when you said ‘get your weaves’ – the verbal was good but you turned early which was near a jump, so she looked at you because verbal said one thing and body said another. So keep running straight at the weaves til she looks at the weaves, then you can peel away.
In other instances, you might be getting looking at you if the placement of reward is near you a lot. So be sure to do a lot of throwing rewards (or having someone else throw) rather than reward from your hand or dropping a toy near you.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
She did so well here! Baby dog kickin’ butt! And it was a great session for figuring out what she needs in terms of handling support and what she does not need (she does not need clapping, more below on that 🤣🤣🤣😂)
Overall – her questions had to do with needing more connection in the handling. One of the things that we will be working on in the next set of courses is learning how to let the dogs “cue” us to move to the next step on course. And the main way to do it is to watch her head – deliver all cues to her eyes and when she looks at the line… then you can do the next thing.
So applying this to the opening:
When she exits the #2 tunnel, look at her eyes and cue the jump when she exits the tunnel, and keep watching her. You can be moving forward and decelerating into the cross as you do this, but you can’t do the cross til she looks at 3.
The cues were not connected to her eyes on the first rep, so you rotated too soon at :07 and she came off the jump. When that happens, reward her like it was perfectly correct or keep going – she got frustrated and barked at you (her response was correct, and we don’t want her to get frustrated)
The get out works on the next rep because your connection was too her eyeballs 🙂 at :44 so now the next step is to keep that connection and accelerate into it more 🙂 instead of decelerating to meet her at the tunnel exit.
At timing thing to add: after the cross at 3, give her the go or get out cue before she enters the tunnel (and say it several times) so she exits straight and doesn’t look at you. When you get quiet, she curls in a bit which makes the next jump harder (no time for you to breathe there, sorry LOL! )
Good job continuing after the weaves on the first run, she got them nicely on the 2nd run because you affirmed her effort on the first run 🙂
Nice line to the Tunnel (7-8 -9) – you might have been a little closer to 7 on the 2nd run so it was not quite as clear to her, so you can be saying your tunnel cue sooner.The wrap on 10 was another connection question, where she will cue you when you can leave the jump:
>>I tried to do the wrap at 10 and I could not get my feet around and bought the orange tunnel, Or if I left too early I bought the jump.>>
On the wrap at 10 at :31 – look directly at her, not ahead of her. And don’t start the rotation til she is looking at the jump. She will cue you when it is time to rotate and turn 🙂 You were looking ahead of her, so she was looking at you and never committed. I know a lot of people say to look at the takeoff spot but I disagree and so does Chata hahaha!
She was correct to end up in the tunnel at :35 based on your position, good rewarding there 🙂
>>The blind was the only thing that worked.
I love tight blind crosses, you won’t hear complaining from me about it LOL!
You had better motion and connection at 10 at 1:02, so she committed better and the blind worked really well! She needs a bit more connection after the blind (eye contact as you leave, fingers pointed back to her nose) to tighten it a little more. But you can see how well it worked to create that line.
I like the blind here because it commits her, turns her, and lets you get way ahead of the line.
OK let’s talk about the clapping…. Stop with the clapping 😂🤣😂🤣 I don’t want you to think that it is the clapping that is getting things done, because the clapping is a band aid for late cues. She did not need the clapping after the blind here, she had the line. And, while clapping, you are giving no info about what it next so she was looking at you like “with, mom” (and so was I LOL!!!). I prefer that the dogs go off course and get rewarded for driving lines, than we pull them off things by clapping 🙂
Great job with the blind on the 12-13-14 line! I love that blind there too! After the blind, she needs more info in the form of decel and a left verbal of some sort. You were a little lat on the decel, and super loud with the verbal which propelled her a little further away – get quieter with your verbals cues and slow down your motion. And don’t clap LOL! She does not need it at all.
The other thing she didn’t need: She didn’t need waiting or helping at the tunnel entry at 1:13 – she totally had it! Good to know! And safer for your knees to cue it and be able to leave. Your connection was lovely there.
On the ending line, 2nd to last jump: slice it! The wrap is the harder/slower turn, which is why she was wider and hand opinions. You had plenty of time to get up there and do a blind on the takeoff side there to get a lovely slice.
Overall, great job! She is looking fast and happy with a TON of skills!!
TracyGood morning!
Great seeing you in class last night 🙂>>Adding the tunnel proved to be very distracting. Sprite doesn’t like to put in collection strides.
Because it is really hard 🙂 I don’t think it is a like or dislike issue, I think it is a processing thing: SO much happening that her brain needs to process during these learning stages. And remember that the front of her brain is relatively new in terms of development, so she is getting used to it LOL!
I think she did REALLY well – be sure to resist temptation to use any markers of things going wrong or using any verbal corrections. That can be confusing and stressful for her, because either she was correct based on the handling or the processing has a bit of high latency (new skills, young dog). High latency is not incorrect, so we want to keep frustration out of it and let her process. You will see her sort it out, then latent learning kicks in and she will own the skill 🙂
>>Sequence one proved most challenging. Either the tunnel OR more often the off course after 4. >>
Yes, it is really hard – the line is not as simple as it looks!!! I think she did a great job, actually!!!
She ended up in the tunnel at :06 – you were a little in the way on the landing o 3 so she picked up the line to the tunnel (because you were on the line she needed). You were a step further up the line after that and she was correct each time. Super!!!
Second rep – NOT taking the off course jump is really hard, you can move it a little further away so it is not quite as visible but also – she needs more info 🙂 In particular, I would use more verbals with her, even if the verbal is her name. The reason I suggest this is that with just the handling, she has to process a relatively small movement (upper body connection change) against the motion up the line which looks similar enough to the cue to take the jump. So if you add more verbal cues (either more “left left left” or her name repeated) then that will help her process this a lot more easily. You said one left and then got really quiet – too quiet at :19 – so more verbals will really help her!
When she went off course, don’t let on that you are frustrated and keep going as if it didn’t happen (because the video will almost always show a handling error of some sort – in this case, not enough information to support the physical cue). You used a
mild marker then a bigger verbal correction after you were heading back to start again (she was still offering behaviors, trying to figure out what had happened, she was not being naughty). A reward would have been fine there, because she was doing the best she can with her understanding and the info.Breaking it down totally helped her with that line, she could see it more easily for sure!
>>Timing of the spin was late.
Actually, the fist two were early which is why she turned left (rear cross) not right. At :33 and :48 you had the sudden decel as she landed and at the same time, turned your feet to the left, so she correctly picked it up as a rear cross.
Spins need the same transition (fast, slow, rotate) as a wrap FC. At 1:02, you had more of that transition for sure, so she got it really nicely! So as she is jumping 5, you can be decelerating/standing up and then as she has landed and is looking at 6, you can start the FC element of the spin, then do the BC element. It step should feel pretty distinct which is why it might feel late – but it was not and she did put in a collection! Super!
Sequence 2:
I think 1-2-3 looked great, very nice backside send and understanding on her part! No worries about starting on that side of 1, it is actually a shade harder LOL!On the 3-4 line, you were over-helping by giving a big shoulder pull, which is why she was convinced that it was the tunnel or something (maybe a pull to a backside threadle) and not the front of the jump on. The first 2 reps.
At :06 you can see that as she exits the wrap on 3, you have turned your shoulders to the tunnel entry. :17 was similar but looked more like a threadle to the backside wrap? Her decision got made when she saw those cues, so you didn’t get the front of the jump.:35 and :55 – you NAILED it (no shoulder pulls) so she of course nailed it to 🙂 The other thing that was super nice about that one was that you had decel as an important element of it so she put in a nice collection and was super tight around the wing even with the tunnel right there (nice connection from you too, that totally helped!)
So, the difference in handling on the reps 1, 2 and 3/4 is what made the difference in the line you wanted. That is why it is soooo important to NOT use verbal markers/corrections when things go wrong… because it is entirely possible the dog is correct 🙂 And on those reps at :06 and :17, she was 100% reading your handling correctly, then was confused about why you were telling her that she was wrong. So when in doubt: reward, then go watch the video before the next rep – I bet you will see the handling you need to switch up. And if, in the super rare moment that the dog actually made a mistake? Well, one reward doesn’t actually build a behavior LOL so rewarding is still fine because it maintains the balanced arousal state and keeps frustration down.
Seq 3:
She did really well here!
>>But, pretty wide turns.
Not really – one was a style question that we can change, one was a timing question that you fixed during the session.
First up, the style question: by style, I mean style of handling the wrap at 2 🙂 Jump 2 should be a backside here and I think it will set a better line to the tunnel, but we can look at helping get a tighter wrap!
You were rotated sideways and indicating the takeoff spot at :03, :22, and :42 and remaining pretty stationary til she got there. The turns were decent but I think we can get more collection with a different style: be more fully rotated towards her, feet facing the tunnel more and not the jump, with you looking at her eyes (not at the takeoff point). Your hands can be pointing at her eyes too. And then as she is approaching you, you should be moving away to the tunnel. So that is a different physical cue which can cue the collection sooner.
At 1:02, you had the most foot rotation of the reps here, and you started moving away sooner – and had the best turn so far. Yay!! So keep playing with that rotation facing her more and moving away sooner. We might have to adjust it as we go but I think it will really help.
The timing question was on the FC at :09 and :28 – you slowed down at 4 then had a big acceleration into the FC 5-6 and a little late starting the FC, so she was making her takeoff decisions based on that.
:48 was much better and earlier! She might have been a bit tired at this point – you don’t have to run all of this at full height (this was the 11th or 12th run or something) , you will still get great info at 16”. So staying in motion through 4, so you don’t have a burst of speed to get ti 5-6 will help the timing of the FC, and don’t be quiet 🙂 Calling her or giving her a right verbal will give her one more layer of info to help. There will always be a ‘round’ shape to this turn because of the line here but her last 2 reps were looking early strong!
Nice turn on 7 and nice ending line! 3 of the 4 reps looked terrific (reps 1, 2, 4). The one rep at :52 was a little late and you stepped more towards the slice so she ha more trouble there, but the last rep’s handling looked more like the first 2, where you had a good send and a really nice line in and out of it (not going past where the wing and bar meet).
Great job on these! Now, let latent learning kick in, give her body a day or two or rest, then try the other sequences 🙂
Tracy
Ya know, I think I like it too! HALT is more of the widely accepted thing but I don’t really have the same reaction to being alone/lonely – I love people but I am also happy to have alone time.
Now, being rushed? YEP! I feel that too as a source of anxiety! So I am going to use HART now too, as a way to help control my responses to whatever is happening.
TWow, that a most excellent day!!! And you can add to it: your boys doing AWESOME in class because you were connected, smooth, and FAST! Super!
The yoga practice is a double whammy of goodness because it is so good for the mind AND body. I need to get myself back into yoga!!
T
Now that I have watched that, TikTok algorithms are sending all sorts of fun stuff! I will share some links – hilarious!
This is good info! Especially with higher arousal and higher value reinforcement, the clarity of what is about to happen is really important to help her return to baseline (this will be especially true during adolescence, when the science tells us it takes twice as long to return to baseline). So, for now, keep things super clear. And you can also start teaching her the new Remote Reinforcement game (posted yesterday) so that she begins to understand that sometimes the reward will be behind her.
Tracy
Hi!
>>>>I’m so glad you explained this because I really thought the issue was because the toy was visible vs. a connection problem but you were so right (of course!) when I looked at it again and I absolutely don’t want to do anything to get him discouraged. Whenever imperfect things happen, I will reward. That’s so much more fun anyway.>>
I used to think it was an impulse control issue with the toy… but then after watching 10,000,000,000,000 hours of videos during The Covid Times, this issue only ever happened when the handling was unclear especially in terms of connection. And the dogs were not really jumping for the toy, they were trying to look at the handler. And when the handling was clear? The toy could be out there dangling around and there was no issue LOL! And that was the same for puppies, adults, food, toys, etc. So it is an information-seeking issue, not a self-control issue. And great info from the pup!
>>
I will DEFINITELY check out that show! I love a funny and offensive show. Letter Kenny is one that also comes to mind, but may only be funny if you grew up in Canada or very close to the border like I did. LOL!>>We totally watched Letterkenny LOL! And you will either LOVE Curb Your Enthusiasm, or you will think it is terrible. Or maybe both at the same time 🙂
On the “get out” video: this session went really well!! Nice!!!!!
>>What’s super embarrassing on this one is that I didn’t say “Get It!” to get the treat even once! What is wrong with me!? >>
No worries – you were focused on your mechanics and I think you did say the ‘get it’ for the treat here and there. He had no questions, all is good 🙂 Just remember to keep moving forward on both the out and the come-with-me reps, you were sometimes stopping on the ‘out’ reps.
<>> I guess I needed a moment and to complete the stress cycle but I didn’t. LOL!!
Ha!! That is hilarious!!! You need some treats scattered about too LOL
>>In this session I debated having him do a sit/stay vs. the treat toss so just kind of experimented with both a bit. Not clear if one way was better or not this time around, but I’m sure with more motion it will need to be cookie toss in the future anyway.>>
Both were good here! And you can totally add more distance away from the prop, he did really well. Distance is probably more important than motion at this point.
Great job!
Tracy
