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Hi!
Out of curiousity, what were his thyroid numbers previously? Or maybe they didn’t pull the panel, I can’t remember LOL!!!If his thyroid is happy – and it might be happy, but I do know plenty of relatively young BCs with autoimmune thyroiditis (if that is what it is called) – then it might be gentle conditioning followed by heat conditioning? So as spring goes to summer here, I work up the conditioning cycle for the dogs and then gently build up heat tolerance: sprinting in the heat of the day, etc. But it is gradual and I am careful – these whippety dogs run even hotter than the BC type dogs!
T
Hi!
>>Note to self, watch video or read field guide before attempting exercise
>>LOL!!! The session went pretty well, I think his only question was on the arm cue:
On the switch aways, I totally think an outside arm will help him. On a normal serp, it will be your left arm (dog side arm here) and it really never means a switch away. On the switch aways, you can bring that opposite arm (right arm) up before commitment so he prepares to turn. You were doing both the switches to the tunnel and the regular serps with left arm so it could have been either – and that is why he was confused and not necessarily going to the tunnel (waiting for more info on which it was).
After the tunnel fiesta, you did the outside arm more clearly at 2:21 and it was SO clear!!!
>>My handling isn’t clear and he’s really hot so I almost lost him and brought him back >>
A little hot, yes, but also he deflated when the handling was a bit grey. Running through the tunnels was great fun! And finishing the session at about 3 minutes without adding on the tunnel to jump section was smart training! Get the behavior, finish happy 🙂
Great job here! Onwards to more switch aways in the next session.
Tracy
Good morning! Thanks for being patient with me being offline yesterday!!
This was a really terrific session – lots of flow, lots of reinforcement, very happy-looking red dog 🙂
He was definitely very happy to do the big distance to the tunnel LOL! Wheeee!
Very nice blind to the threadle! You are going to laugh…. I think you were too early. LOL!! At :33 as his nose exited the wing wrap, you were almost done with the blind so theoretically, he should have turned immediately. So you can be one step later: look at him no your left side as he exits the wing wrap, see him look at the jump, use a jump verbal then do the blind.
The FC was better timed (pretty perfect) at 1:25 and you got a better turn on the FC. Now, I think with more exposure to the blind there, he will be tighter as well – and the blind can be super helpful for staying miles ahead on course. But it is also great to see the FC being incredibly effective there for him!
>> I did the 4th set up twice trying to tighten up his turn out of the tunnel and added a directional verbal, but didn’t get a tighter turn. I wanted to know your thoughts there, although we might lose speed tightening the turn>>
I think the speed will be faster if it is a little tighter. We don’t need him to decelerate in the tunnel to turn sharply, but taking out a couple of extra strides towards the fence will definitely be faster. I think on the last rep you didn’t get the tighter turn because he might hve been tired by then (he gets hot easily) or because the ‘right’ verbal is not that powerful in this context (big distance). You can try a big name call (first name and middle name haha) at the same timing as your right verbal was here (a few feet before he enters the tunnel). And try it at the start of the next session when he is feeling spicy 🙂 (And remember to run through the last jump before throwing the frisbee, so he keeps the bar up :))
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning! Thanks for your patience in the delay in watching it!!
She definitely loved the tunnel layering element 🙂 Perfect each time!
It as fun to try the FC into the gap – they were too hard to do on time because of how early they had to be done and the amount of rotation. They were late at :09 and :15, she jumped long (especially at :17) and turned when she landed. You can try getting further ahead so you can start the FC as soon as she looks at the first jump, and also part of the delay is the toy switch from hand-to-hand, and the other hand coming up, then the rotation. The rotation is the most important factor so you will want to start it as early as you can… or not do a FC there and do the BC instead LOL!
The blinds: PERFECT! This is great – you were very timely and clear, and she read them beautifully even with the yummy tunnel right there. They were so much easier to do than the FCs!! One thing to remember here and also on the mini sequences – keep moving and don’t throw til after she lands from the last jump. Because she will be coming in on a tighter faster line after the blind, don’t stop short: at :22 you deceled sharply and said “get it” as she was lifting off so the bar came down.
At :32 you were talking and said get it but did not decel – bar stayed up. So the decel is probably what distracts her the most in terms of dropping the bar when you throw the frisbee.
You were talking to your videographer about something there – it looked good to me, but it sounds like you are saying the wrap verbal for too long – she is still hearing it as she is approaching the first jump – so you can switch to the other verbals a lot sooner.
Mini sequences looked good! I think a name call or ‘right’ verbal before she enters the tunnel will help! On the first run, you said get it early (after she nailed the threadle so she didn’t take the last ump (which is fine). On the 2nd rep – nice cuing of the last jump but then you deceled and threw the frisbee and said get it – bar down at :56. So be super careful to maintain acceleration all the way through the end as if there is one more jump to show her.
The switch aways on the jump looked great! I think I heard you say “turn” on the 2nd one – but maybe something ele on the first one? Hard to tell, so be sure your verbal is consistent. You can definitely work the tunnel switch aways and the sequences on these too, she looked lovely!
Great job!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This session went well! I think you can start the switch away arm movement on the jump while she is lifting off and over the bar, rather than wait til she lands. That will get an even nicer turn! She seemed to find these really easy, so you can definitely add in an earlier cue.
Side note – this is a good game for getting her to add more collection to her striding – she has to collect or she will run into you 🙂She did well on the tunnel exit switches too! You can repeat the verbal cue a few times, and on the tight turn exits you can give her an extra step to make sure she sees the backside.
>> When we got to the backside that was harder as she turned much tighter on one side versus the other. Or, I’m cuing differently.
Both, I think 🙂 It looks like on the left turn exits, you were further ahead and so your feet were rotated sooner and that really helped. On the right turn exits where she was wider, you were not as far ahead and it looks like your feet turned later, so she was wider. And it is entirely possible that she has a left-turn side preference – in the demo video, you can see CB has a strong preference to one side, so the quality of the turns was different. It all evens out with practice, no worries.
>>Mechanically I should wait until I see her face at the tunnel exit before I turn my arm, correct? I’m not doing that consistently and it looks like I’ve turned my arm before she exits on some reps>>
Yes and no LOL! You were raising it with perfect timing before she entered the tunnel (you can start the verbal at that time too, and keep repeating it). And then for now, yes, let her fully see the arm swoosh cue. Eventually, it can be early because all she will need is a glimpse of it, or she won’t need it at all 🙂
Nice work here! I would let her see this set up for one more session, then you can move to the Super Combos!
Tracy
Hi there! Thanks for the videos!!
>> I need to lower my arms, stop pointing, connect with eye contact and open my chest and pay attention to where my feet are pointing and set her line. I never thought about the concept of upper body & lower body cues but now I am seeing that I am really relying only on pointy upper body cues. When I have paid attention to my lower body more, (like in the water bottle game) it gives her better information.>>
Yes, but also no – now that I have gotten to watch some FrankieTV, it can be easier: she commits like a big dog (she commits just before the exit of the previous obstacle) so you need to handle her with big dog timing. You are trying to handle her with small dog timing, but she runs like a big dog. So yes, you can focus on all the things you described above, they are all great – but you might end up driving yourself crazy when the answer is simpler 🙂 I think you need to make only 1 adjustment: be sooner. When she is jumping the previous jump, or at the top of the frame, you need to be fully turned to the line you want or she will stay on her existing line.
So on the aframe to tunnel moment: as she was at the top of the frame, you weeconverging in towards her (tryng to get her attention maybe?) but that convergence and leaning in and getting loud actually sent her into the off course tunnel. Ideally, you would be trusting her frame and moving away towards the threadle side of the tunnel so as she is in the contact zone, she already sees you over there, decelerating, using your threadle cues.
>>Here is an example of why I was using a soft turn cue for her (see at :44 seconds). I lost her to an off-course jump. Maybe the soft break will help too.
Yes, it will totally help, but also be earlier – at :42 you were still accelerating forward which locked her onto the wrong line (plus I think that off course jump looked like the ending jump).
Ont he 3rd video, you had an almost off course at :07 after the teeter because when she exited the teeter, you accelerated to the jump and set a straight line to the tunnel… she did come back but it was a heart-stopper (your videographer was hilarious!)
Same thing happened on the line after the frame: on the jump after the frame, you accelerated a lot so she took off for the double looking ahead – then you kept up a lot of speed so she stayed on her line. A little decel and a brake arm, no later than halfway between the two obstacles, will totally help! And turning sooner will also help keep the panel jump up befoe the dog walk here.
So it is more about earlier timing and trusting her more, running her like a big dog. Does anyone local have a big dog you can test drive, so you can feel the timing? Next time I am in Florida, I am going to have you run one of my bigs to feel what Frankie’s timing should be 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This went really well!
She seeed to find this skill really easy on the jump! Yay!
Good job breaking down the tunnel exit switch, she thought that was hard!! Doing it to the right was much easier for her – maybe she is a righty? On the next session, start with the right turn tunnel exits and see how she feels about it 🙂 Great job with your reward placement!Also for the next session, try these with your feet facing forward and not facing her, so it is more of a tandem turn and less of a lap turn – the uses of this cue on course will almost always require you to be moving forward so you won’t have time to turn your feet to her (or you won’t be far enough ahead). And you can add in motion by moving forward.
>>On the 2nd clip, guess that I shouldhave rewarded for her almost correct choice.
Yes, it was close enough to correct on a hard skill, a cookie would be fine there 🙂
Great job! Stay warm!
TracyHi!
>> I brought her cot out and she chilled in between turns as I looked at what was next.
Nice!!
>>I had already decided I would look at my video if we had a knocked bar, but I did not get to try that out. I wasn’t sure at what height to do the skills at. I started at six for the first switch aways, but then I decided that maybe I needed a little more height for her since just runs through six. Tried 10 for next challenge… too high I heard her tick it. I then adjusted at 8, which I think was just right >>
I think 8 inches is good unless it is insanely hard for her. These looked good at 8 inches!
>>I think the session went really well overall. She remembered these skills from camp!!! I haven’t used switch aways very much since then!>>
Totally agree! And these had more layering & distance! Yay!
Looking at the switches on the jump – these are going well!!!
On these, you can get closer to the jump, converge into it more – and that added step to the tunnel on rep 2 and after that really helped her. The convergence will also elp show motion to the tunnel before even before she takes off for the jump.From the tunnel exit –
She did well too with you stepping in a little to help her find the backside. She still needed one little step to find the jump on the first couple of reps (front side too) an then she was able to nail it. Yay! So on the next session, start with that one or two extra steps to support the line to the next obstacle, then you can start fading that while you add more layering.“”We did have some stay focus issues, which has not happened in a while. I thought it was when she took off at the fence after something in the woods, but I rewatched the video and realized happened it before that. I think it was because I did not hold her to her stay criteria the rep or so before more likely!!!””
I think it had to do with the errors on finding the jump on the left turns after the tunnel – she needed more line support, was not getting it, but also was not getting a reset cookie til much later (in dog years haha). So when there are errors and you tell her nice try, you can immediately reward her for resetting next to you (think of it as a ‘sorry I messed up, thank you for not biting me’ cookie hahaha) rather than going back to the start line and giving a cookie when she is in the stay.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyPS – when I mentioned spreading things out in the big field, you can still keep the jump and tunnel relatively close together (8 feet apart approx, or less :)) to add speed to the challenges 🙂
TracyHi!
Video 1 – handling looked good, his understanding looked good (both directions) and he was perfect on the balance reps too! He only seemed to look at the ramp on that first toy throw after the tunnel LOL! Really nice session.
>>Curious, why don’t you call that a “switch” in your example?>>
I do eventually call it a switch (like in the next set of games) but the first reps here were literally his first reps… so I wanted to be sure he was able to produce the behavior before I added the verbal.
>>(Also, I just found the slow-mo button! Holy hell! That is so awesome!!!)>>
TRUTH! I love the slow motion!!!!
2nd video – he was totally nailing this too! You can start to cue it sooner (and repeat it) so just before he enters the tnnel, he is already hearing and seeing the cue. That will really help when you bring the skill to the bigger courses where you are both running or when you are not getting to the tunnel exit (like towards the end of this session). You can also keep your hands a little lower, so he can see them more easily without havng to look up at you as he is sorting this out.
He did REALLY well on video 3 finding the backside, I think he even surprised himself! Good job rewarding even though he didn’t the jump on the first rep – that reward affirmed his decision to go to the backside, so the next reps were perfect, including when you swtiched sides. Yay!
Since this went so well, I think you can jump into (pun intended) the Super Combos handling game – he seems ready!!!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood question! I agree, a separate verbal will help here – these turn aways are a complete U-turn for both dog and handler, and also imply big layering coming up. It is kind of like the difference between naming what to do on an obstacle (tunnel) versus a whole line (GO TUNNEL!) where you would basically be covering several obstacles and giving specific line info. Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
TracyHi!
Looking at the first video: really nice session!!! He really had zero questions about whether you wanted the tunnel or the jump backside. Yay! The tunnel sending looked great, and both the FC and BCs looked lovely too. When your field dries out and you have more space, you can spread this whole thing out to competition distances, and start all reps really close to the wing so you are running closer to competition speed 🙂 That will challenge all the things!
>> I did add a threadle wrap in to the sequence to work on it with him wrapping to his right >>
The decelerated position on this sequence really helped, he had a lot of success. You might have noticed that sometimes he got it, sometimes he sliced – it was a subtle difference in hand cues.
When you did the hand movement as “turn away *then* indicate the jump”, like at 1:10, he got it every time. On the misses, like at 1:21, the hand movement was more of a “turn away *while* also indicating the jump” so he never quite got the turn away and did the slice! Super subtle for sure. You got into the groove of the trn-then-indicate later in the session (like at 3:00) and the cue looked great!Your blinds at the end had really good arms (you noted that was what you were working on) – the tighter your arms are to your ribs, the quicker you can make those blind cross connection changes.
Looking a the 2nd video – nice job showing it to him, this was a really well-structured session! From the jump to the tunnel – He seemed to understand it and read it easily and didn’t need any motion to get the tunnel (looked like he went to it on verbal-only after the jump). The flip on the tunnel exit was great too – lovely timing of starting the cue bfore he went in! And great job breaking it all down, you really are such a masterful trainer and handler!!!
He had a couple of questions about the jump after the right turn flip away on the tunnel exit – he went around the jump at 1:05 then was a bit forwas on the jumping effort at 1:29. My guess is that he was just processing the flip on the tunnel exit and your distance/layering. So revisit it in a couple of days and do a rep or two with a slightly lower bar – I bet latent learning will works its magic and he will have no more questions 🙂
He was quite brilliant finding the backside too – it was supposed to be hard but Ripley said it was easy 🙂 Yay!In the smaller space, you can add a wing wrap to ge more motion for you both on this setup. When the field is dry, go the the Super Combos!
>.I’m really hoping to keep working on these skills since they’ve bitten us so much lately.
Yes, these skills are *everywhere* now! It is fun to keep working on them!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>I might actually have that exact video. I will look for it or some examples.
Perfect!
>>I’m really motivated & excited that I feel ready to examine & work on those “holes”.
I love to work on finding and filling any training holes! Fun!!!
>>We tried the Switch Aways game. This is new to us. I think I have used the physical cue before and she has read it, but it was just used improvising at some point. We have never trained it. Is there more to it that I need to back up & train?>>
Looking at the video, I think the turning away element looked realy good! We can do earlier timing on it, and also emphasize the sending after it (and reward placement).
Because it is a hand-heavy cue, lower your hand to knee-level (your knees, not hers hahaha). That will make the cue more visible for her, and also help it look different than any other cue.
And after the switch away, do an extra big step or two to get her to commit to the layered obstacle: at least 2 steps to seal the deal of the send, maybe 3 steps of convergence when you are really far away.
When you only did one step of a send after the switch or very small steps, like at the beginning then later at 2:20 and 2:28, she was not as sure about leaving for the next line. When you used 2 steps after the switch, like at :28 later in the video, she got it nicely!
For the tunnel exit switch aways – let her see lower hands and more feet for now (cheat as needed to get ahead of her :)) and als you can start your switch cue before she enters the tunnel so she doesn’t think you want the straight exit. Right before she goes in, start the verbal and let her see your hands coming up to begin the cues.
Finding the backside of the jump after the switch looked good especially on the right turns! She needed more motion on the left turns to the backside – I don’t think i was a cookie-in-hand question, I think it was more of a distance and layering question ebcause you were definnitely behind the tunnel on those!
Remind me if she likes lotus balls? I think you can throw those (or a toy or any treat carrier) more effectively to get her to add more distance after the switch – if she predicts the reinforcement is way ahead on the line after the switch, she will look ahead more and at you less 🙂
All the balance reps looked great!!
>> I didn’t need the “switch” verbal. She understood it & then looked at me like “what next?” But if I just did the physical cue and said “tunnel” she switched & drove to towards the tunnel better.>
When this skill goes into sequences where you are both moving faster and you might not be as far ahead, the switch verbal can start a lot sooner and that means the tunnel verbal can start sooner too, both of which will help her.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Do you think its enough to teach “switch” doing the exercise in the course, or should I start to teach it on a wing on the flat, having my dog turn away from me and move out away from me?>>
Maybe take a moment and do it on a wing and see what he remembers? If he says “yes, I learned this, I got it” then you can do the class games. If he is like “WTAF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT” lol then we can do it on the flat more 🙂
>>Also, thank you SO MUCH for the extension on the class! The weather here has definitely been more than uncooperative the last few weeks and I really would love to take my time getting through these last few exercises. 🙂 So greatly appreciated!!>>
Happy to do it – this has been a terrible winter of weather for everyone except those of us here in southwest Virginia LOL!! We’ve been lucky.
Have fun!
Tracy
