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Hi!
>>You are doing a fabulous job of pushing me out of my comfort zone this summer😂😂😂!>>
You’re welcome hahahahahaha
The training courses are designed to throw all of the crazy stuff into one course at high speed – then when you see a lot less crazy at a trial, it will feel soooo much easier 🙂Looking at the videos:
>>1-4 Never got this right. When I was running it, I wasn’t sure why she was coming in for the off course pink jump. Because pink is her color?!?! When I reviewed my video, I realized that it did look like a serpentine to her and that maybe she was reading it as that? She did that on a sequence in the last trial too>>I think part of it is handling, part it training:
from the handling side, you were rotating your shoulders to the tunnel too soon – so she was seeing the rotation before passing the off course jump, so she seemed to be reading it as a blind cross to come in and take it.Also, you were saying jump and tunnel a lot there, and so she was heading to the closest jump and tunnel : )
So to get it more with handling – leading out less so there is more forward motion (less turning or decelerating), try connecting less, arm high and forward like you had it here, and say GO GO while running on a parallel line to her line, no shoulder turn and no jump cue.
From the training side of things, you can putting her MM out past the 3 jump – and reward her for the layering, and sometimes turn her so she is NOT layering. We don’t want her using the MM as a target to run to, only a a placed reward when cued to go to that line.
>>5-11 the layered jump was tough but got it when I was in right spot!>>
Yes! That was so cool!!!!!
>>Weave entry you can see me breaking down. And WOW she got it at the end!!! Amazing!!!
That was so great excellent job breaking it down and she had a big lightbulb moment. I wrote AMAZING! in my notes on that section at least 3 times LOL!!! Really nice!
I had a brain fart during all this on 8-9-10 and somehow got it in my head I was sending her to wrong side of 10 and it was the threadle. It was not lol! So ignore all that wrong side stuff. I was indeed doing it on purpose lol! Apparently not enough coffee on previous break!>>
Maybe you needed cappuccino ice cream and not regular coffee? LOL! It went well, and she needs more threadle practice anyway 🙂 More threadle ideas below.
>> I became so amazed that she did the weaves and found the tunnel, I temporarily forgot the pretty much the rest of the course which made me not as driven for the rear. I got a refusal😂😂😂 >>
No worries – I like that you decided to go for the big layer of the 3/13 jump and that got you a LOT closer to the threadle at 16-17!!
She had a hard time finding 17. She was coming in really well to the correct side, but did not go back out to the jump like at 2:47 and 3:12. In both of those spots, you were really far from 17 and moving parallel towards it. It will help her if you are running more to the center of the bar of 17, pressing into it as you are threadling – then when you see her head turn and look at the bar, you can let go of the threadle and move to the weaves. She missed the weave entry on the very last rep, but she had done a bunch of brilliant weaves so I am glad you did not stop her there.
>>we got a drive by on the backside.>>
That was at 3:27. In your walk throughs, remind yourself to look at landing on those as you run through, to help her commit: be looking at her til she gets to the backside wing, then let her see your eyes and hand shift to the landing spot. That will help her take the bar. As she gets more experienced, you won’t have to do that but it will really help her for now.
On the second video, she found the jump after the tunnel really well at the beginning! YAY!! She had trouble on the bar there (you can see her head up with a WHAT THE HECK expression) – part of it was the big distance, part of it was the verbal and handling over the bar. She will sort it out with more experience.
So why did she get it so nicely at the beginning (:05 and :20) and did not get it at the end (:36 and :48)? It had to do with your running line:
on the first 2 reps you were wider from the wing and as she was exiting the wrap, you were running directly straight to the tunnel, which cued the straight line exit.On the last 2 reps, you were tight to the wing so you were more on her line then pulled away to your right as she was going to the tunnel, which set a hard right turn.
So be sure to strategize to set up the straight line – and it might mean being further from the wing so you can run a very straight line forward to the tunnel and still be able to get the line past the end of the DW there.
I am not sure why she came off the DW – it looks like she decided to bail, maybe she lost her balance on the up ramp and decided to safely jump off? It looks like she landed safely but hard to see. She did well on the DWs after it!
Great job here! Have BLAST on vacation!!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
The gates method totally works! the only drawback is there is no “easy” thing to go back to when you want to add a skill.>>I do not have currently have access to 2x2s or channels.
We can try to find some to borrow if you want? I bet we can put the word out and find some.
>>It is something I would like to invest in for my next dog, though. Would it make sense to look into buying them now and training Nox how to do them on “easy mode” so I can use them as you suggested, or would that likely be really confusing to her at this point?>>
Yes, it is totally worth it! She won’t be confused because it is so obvious in the beginning and then you can immediately be adding the skills you want to work on. I can totally give you those steps (I need to start training the whippet soon anyway LOL!)
>> Regardless of the answer to that question, which method is your preference to start a dog on?
I think that channels are the easiest/best way for now. I have trained a lot of dogs with 2x2s and I do like them for some of the very beginning stuff and you can easily borrow a set of 4 (2 bases) for that. But ultimately, channels will give the dogs better footwork and better indepedence, so from now on, I will be using channels with all of my dogs.
T
Good morning!
>> It’s funny how a schedule change like travel can disrupt new habits.
I can totally relate!!!
>> I must say that smile and laugh thing really works. Thanks to you and George Carlin. I am working on an updated list and will share in the near future LOL. >>
I have found it to be very useful. And spewing out some curse words is really helpful too!
>>Thanks again for your help when I panicked a bit in the lanes. I am not quite able to self-regulate that on my own, but I am getting better.>>
You are totally getting better!! That is why we practice and practice, and surround ourselves with people who can help.
>> I am a work in Progmess.
That is one of my favorite Ted Lasso lines LOL!!!
>> So, my goal of running in the pack didn’t quite pan out the way I hoped.
Wait a minute… you ran in the pack the whole tournament, so I check it off as a goal accomplished! Yay! It is hard as f*ck to run in a pack with a bunch of sub-4 dogs and you were right in there! You are still sorting out the handling at that speed, but you are well on your way.
>> I know enough now to start learning the skills I will need to be successful. It’s OK to learn at your own pace. That’s my mantra for now.>>
Absolutely! Learning and honing the skills is part of the fun, especially with such a willing canine partner.
>>I practiced setting boundaries tonight. It was hard to say no when I know Levy would be able to run for someone else, but this is our journey and I want to run my dog>>
Having been there to witness it…. that was one of the ABSOLUTE BEST BOUNDARY SETTING MOMENTS EVER. It still gives me goosebumps! I wanted to put the ‘applause’ emoji on the screen but I felt it would be inappropriate LOL!!
You set a boundary clearly, unemotionally, and in a “No is a complete sentence” way. Then you moved on. It was really exceptional and inspiring to me.
I was thinking about it later, and was thinking that I may not have been strong enough in the moment to have set that boundary, if the question was asked of me. So I will remember how YOU handled it as my inspiration, for when might end up in the same situation.
>>I’ve put in the time and training.
BOOM! Another great mantra!!!!
>>> It’s hard to learn sitting on the sidelines.
OK here is ANOTHER great mantra: “Learning happens in the ring, not on the sidelines.” YES!
>> Now I see why you said to practice first. 🙂 I hope I did it nicely.
It is hard – you were (and continue to be) amazing. High five to you! I will raise a nice glass of port to salue you 🙂
>> PS Great news about CB… I see more puppies in your future. 🙂>>
Thanks! I am glad it is over. Now we just need OFA to confirm my vet’s opinion, finish the ears/eyes/heart…. soooooo much to do. But the breeding plans are very exciting, if they end up happening!
Tracy
Hi!
I think part of what was contributing to you stopping more than needed was on jump 3 you were trying to threadle to the inside, but she should have been on the backside (jumping towards the tunnel not away from it). The backside would make for a better line and would be easier to keep moving.
With the threadles –
She reads the threadles when you turned your feet as well as your shoulders – and also when you stand still 🙂 but we want to eliminate all standing still So you can keep rotating on the threadles, but try to cue really early and rotate less so that you can stay in motion a whole lot more – standing still to get the threadle will put you far behind on other lines and bigger courses.The threadle line was making it harder to get the true number 4 – you can get it with a big decel and wrap cue because accelerating out of it was what was pushing her off course.
You can also use the decel and wrap cue after the FC on the 2nd part of the sequence, so she knows to come through the gap.
Continue to keep rewarding when things go a little sideways- when you stopped rewarding, she didn’t know what you wanted and she checked out. When you kept rewarding, she was happy to stay in the game! Yay!
Yes, layering the tunnel really helped because positionally it drew her more to the line you wanted on the treadle of 3 for sure! So you can do some outside the box decision-making of deciding to layer rather than stay close to her! That can be especially useful on the bigger courses because it can get you to the next line sooner!
Now, I might be lacking in caffeine, but I don’t think the 2nd video is a sequence from this year LOL! Is it from last year’s CAMP? I will go take a look to see where it is from 🙂
Nice work! Have fun this weekend!
TracyHi!
>>Question about the Countermotion exercises from Week 3. When you are doing the rear cross, are you using the wrap command or just a rear command. For example, my rear cross/turn away from me cue is “Switch” if it is over a jump (as here) or “Flip” if it is a rear on the flat. Is that what I should be using for this exercise or should I be using my wrap cue (whichever it is) for the wrap away from me?>>
Now that there is a lot of layering on courses, I have a 2-part answer for you:
If it is a regular rear cross, I will use the verbal that matches the turn (like a left/right or wrap verbal).
If it is a turn away that is then followed by layering or a turn away that I cannot show rear cross handling (I can’t cue across behind the dog like a normal RC) – then I use my switch verbal which means “turn away and get on a big line, and listen but don’t watch”
This has been VERY helpful to my dogs so they know when to stay in handler focus or when to get on a big line and be ready for distance 🙂
T
Hi!
>.. Should I practice a few more times without adding the movement?
I think a sloooow bit of movement will be good for now. He did have some questions, so we can help him out:
As you move through the threadle, keep your upper body frozen in threadle position until he gets to the MM. You were turning your shoulders forward as soon as you thought he was going to do it and that ended up cuing him to go back around to the other side. So don’t move your shoulders out of the threadle position until he is eating his cookie 🙂
You might want to see if using the dog-side arm (not the cross arm) is clearer to him (you can swing it back on the threadle too). To make the cross arm more obvious, you also had to turn your feet, and then it was much harder to get him to threadle if you didn’t turn your feet (and we don’t want you to have to turn your feet) .
One last thing to try – looking at your hand more – that really helped him – versus looking at him.
>>Unfortunately I lost track of the # of errors and did way too many. BAD HANDLER!>>
Yes, there were a few too many errors- remember to give reset cookies (you did on the 1st one ) when he gets back on his platform. And if he has those 2 errors, you can change his angle so he is more on the line to the threadle, and that way you can keep slowly moving (rather than stop).
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Lots of good work here! Three small adjustments and I think it will be great!!>> JJ did not seem to remember the hand as the target for this so we did go back to some trials with the target in hand which helped.>>
One thing that will help is if you looked at the hand as you cue her to serp or threadle, ratheer than look at her. Letting her see you shift your connection from her to your hand will draw her pretty directly to your hand.
>> I do not think that I can effectively feel what my body is doing and where the parts are heading. I thought my arm was up and in place rather than low and also thought my chest was facing the bar,>>
On the 2nd video, you had the best arm and shoulder position – yay! And the threadle arm/chest/shoulder is basically the same (we just change your position relative to the jump). So we need to figure out how to help it be easy to keep your arm further away and your upper body facing the jump (your lower body was great!)
You can try locking your elbow and holding your arm at a 90 degree angle from your body, fully extended (you will feel a breeze in your armpit LOL!!) And the arm can stay there for serps, and you can swing it back like you are opening a door for the threadles. You don’t need the arm to be low, because she is no longer touching your hand. If you don’t feel a breeze in your armpit, your arm is too low 🙂
For the chest/shoulders: if your arm is extended, you can tell yourself to turn at the waist to look back at it – that should get your chest rotated to the jump bar better. That can accomplish both getting your shoulders rotated and getting you to look at you hand.
>>The MM was also having a few possessed moments where it went off for no reason, and then it kept getting jammed (hence we went to the pet store tonight to get new treats to try in the MM). These malfunctions (especially when no treats came out) made JJ want to go back to the MM rather than follow the hand>>
Yes! Those darned MMs are finicky!!! And when it didn’t spit out a treat after a correct rep, she definitely was mentally focused on that (understandably LOL!) So ifit doesn’t spit out a treat or it is malfunctioning, you can drop a couple of cookies into the plate so she gets her reward and doesn’t hold a grudge LOL!!!!
>> again my hand is super low. At about 2:00 I feel like I pushed J to the other side of the upright and then at 2:30 I did the same thing. I need to know my mechanics better so this does not happen.>>
Yes – you rotated forward and that pushed her back around to the other side. So one other detail to add is to keep your upper body completely frozen in position until she arrives at the reward – the upper body position cues the in *and* the out for both behaviors, so you don’t need to ty to cue her to take the jump (on the threadles) or go out to the reward(for the serps). This will also help her develop more independence too!
So the three things to remind yourself of are:
~ Armpit breeze to make sure your arm is high and away from your torso
~ Look at your hand (turning at the waist)
~ Keep that all frozen til she gets to the reward.And reward her when the MM screws up LOL!!
I think that will make it all smoother!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This went really well!!
>>I did the threadle wrap from the jump before the night before and he nailed it. Did it again this morning as a warmup & was convinced I wanted a threadle slice. Hard to see but I think my feet were pointing to the slice exit path. Where should my feet be pointing? More to the jump?>>
Yes, the first two reps totally looked like threadle slices. Your feet and hands needed to work together to get him turned, started as he was over the previous jump and so before you indicated the jump, your feet would be turned to show the wrap side. The 2nd rep had more of the turn cues but they were after he had already committed.
The 3rd and 4th reps went well, but also compare the first 2 reps to the in-flow moments at 1:36 and the last rep – super lovely early cues and not how your feet were facing the wrap line before he had to choose the takeoff spot. So nice!!
Looking at the full runs:
GREAT layer to 4 each time! Yay!!!On the FC 5-6 – I liked your position a lot but you were a stride early at :36 (then he hit bar at 7 because you were praising :))
second rep had better timing at 5-6 for sure!! You were a little further across the 5 bar, so you can try to get the same position as first rep but timing of 2nd rep 🙂
Doing the cross on the other side of 6 can work – a BC might be even easier – but getting the BC 9-10 would be harder.
Great blind 9-10!! This is a hard place for a post turn because you can’t really send & go – I think the spin there will be more effective to commit him and also to get you up the line faster. When you got the send, you were still near jump 10. I bet with a spin, you will be nearer to jump 11. This sequence doesn’t require it, but a bigger course would.
Next sequence – a little wide after the tunnel in the opening – after the GO reps he had a delayed response to the right cues at 1:48. Oopsie! So if you are on a course where he might have to come through a line twice, you can add a name call as a “heads up!” before a tight turn if he had just gone straight.
Great threadle wrap and BC before the last tunnel!!! Your right verbal can be sooner after BC but the physical cue was great so he was going to turn right no matter what 🙂 The RC worked well too!
Balance with threadle slice at the end looked great and no problem going back to the wrap! Very clear cues on both, so he had no questions.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>, first chiro visit today and she had a rib out and a few decent adjustments. But, she was really good and allowed the manipulation. That might explain why her left turns deteriorated. Poor baby.>>
Yes, could totally be part of why the turns changed. I hear ribs can be painful!
>>My friend built the course for me at the training yard yesterday for me to use today. Yay! However, the way she built it didn’t leave a great camera angle that wasn’t directly into the sun. So, sorry it’s hard to see.>>
YAY for friends that course build!! I will take a course build over a good camera angle ANY DAY lol!!!!!! And the camera angle was fine 🙂
The course work looked GREAT!!!!!!
The threadle slices at the beginning looked great – I was going to mention starting the threadle cue earlier but you did that with great timing on the full sequence! Really super!
Adding the backside: nice job with the opening and threadle line! A little blooper on the backside at :13:
you turned your feet and shoulder to the front, when staying on a parallel line running to where the wing and bar meet and connecting back to her would work. You must have felt it in the moment because you nailed it at :20 – that was a great adjustment!!!First full run was SO FREAKIN’ NICE – perfect all the things, great turns, great connection, great timing, great backside line, all of the above. SO NICE!!!!!!!
2nd run, 1B to the backside of 5 – also gorgeous!!!! One small detail – You were maybe too far across the backside bar at 6 (1:02) – she was wide on the bar there, lining up with your position, and ticked the bar as she was turning to find the line. I thought your timing was good, so her little question was like to be the position. You had a better line at 1:24 and she had no jumping questions. Super!!!
>.A few tunnel send disconnections bought me a serp jump! I mostly moved on so this is all that we did.>>
Yes – more connection and more tunnel tunnel tunnel verbal will help in those moments (say tunnel a bunch more times there and at 2:37 too). She will also get more experienced with staying on the line to the tunnel with more exposure to the layering skills.
The next rep was definitely better next. Also, you can strategize to not get as far ahead – stay closer to the backside by not running as fast 🙂 so she can drive ahead of you to the tunnel and that way you don’t slow down or show any sudden changes of direction. The more acceleration you can show, the easier it is to layer.
On seq 2, the opening line looked great! On the FC back to the tunnel, you were a little too far across the bar of 5 which made pushing back to the tunnel harder, and also the course build might have been slightly different so the line to the tunnel was not as natural – well done on the next reps adjusting to send her to the tunnel!
You did a nice job on the RC at 2:07 but be one step more patient before starting the go – she dropped the bar making the turn there, In that same spot on the next rep, you didn’t have quite enough turn away/rear cross cues at the 2:23, so she wrapped to her left.
Now… after the big tunnel send, you totally had time to do the blind! It is a moment to send to the tunnel, use your loud “go” and “jump” cues, run directly to the blind cross spot (you were running the line a bit with her) and barely connect so when you see a blur taking the jump after the tunnel, you do the blind 🙂 It is great training for her and a lot of trust from you!
In in on seq 3 was great! Very nice!!!!
>. On the last exercise we never got the right turn out of the tunnel. You probably can’t see it but she exited left and turned around and went right back in. Tried the blind once. Scary>>
Yes, that is super hard! Part of her question no the RC on the tunnel exit might be young dog/inexperience, I thought your timing was good on the first rep but Sprite disagreed 🙂 You can try getting closer to the jump before the tunnel to set the line to the RC and cut behind her even sooner – that is closer to what you did on the last rep, you just need to be more forcefully getting on her line right behind her tail to show her the RC (feel free to place the toy out in advance too, to help her out!)
The blind was almost perfect, actually, you had finished most of it before she landed! You just needed more connection there, to make the big eye contact on the new side to get her on your left. I think when she is more experienced, she will read it based on the head turn you did, but for now she also needs the full connection. And yes, it is scary, it is hard to see the dog there!!
Overall, this was a super session!! Very exciting to see all of the beautiful work!!
Tracy
Hi!
>> I think what “confused” me was that it was a performance goal that followed/resulted from other performance goals.>>
It might be that we can break things down into performance goals (cuing and training him well enough that he looked straight) and process goals, which are the exactly HOW you are going to cue and train him for that performance goal (timing of verbals, your handler path, arm use, etc. We talk more specifically about that in Zoom 3 and the 3rd set of articles 🙂
On the video – lovely work!
The jump versus tunnel at the beginning looked great! You did a great job breaking it down and showing him the difference between the jump and the tunnel there!On the full sequence:
Excellent job with your early “GO” cue before the tunnel and the motion to support the layering on the 2-3-4 line. He found the jump behind the tunnel with a queation (bar down). The question could have been that the jump cue was a little late (it was after landing from the previous jump, maybe he needs it before takeoff?) or that the organization for the layered jump at fulll speed was hard!
You gave the “jump go out” cue before takeoff of jump 5 on th e2nd run (nice timing!!) and hekept the bar up. It could have been the earlier timing, or he sorted out the mechanics of the layering, or both. Either way – keep that early timing 🙂 and wewill keep showing him these lines so he gets used to the layering skills and then doesn’t have to think about mechanics at all.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>>When JJ did her CGC test, and they dropped the chair for a noise distraction, JJ was really startled. >>
Sounds like a big distraction!!
>>>Unfortunately, when they do the testing at the club, they set up stations and two big open rooms. Because of this, the dogs are exposed to the drop in chair over and over even though they have moved onto the next station. >>
Yikes! That seems extra hard for younger, inexperienced dogs.
>>It was really disturbing for JJ.
I stand with JJ! It is really disturbing! It sensitizes the pups to the noise in a situation where they are already a little on edge.
>>I was thinking I should probably bring her to the club and try to desensitize her to this. Should I instead have tried to remove her from this?>>
This is where the back-and-forth pattern game comes in: something startling happens, and you immediately go into the pattern game. It can work really quickly for her to bounce back and stop worrying about it. You can use food between stations for CGC, right? And if it is too hard – yes, get her out of there. We would start desensitization in a less challenging way.
We had that situation arise today in a live zoom class for the MaxPup 3 crew: a sweet little BC was working outdoors and there were loud bangs (probably firecrackers). She was really disturbed and wanted to leave the area. We used the pattern game and she bounced back immediately and got right to work! I am going to grab that portion of the video and post it – it was really cool to see the resilience in action!
Tracy
