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Hi!
Both videos looked really good!
Try the jump grid with the down, starting him a foot further back so he as room to stand up when you release him, before taking the jump.
Also, to get his head down, have the toy down on the ground before you release him so he keeps his head down.For the proofing game, he did really well! My only suggestion is to hold his collar, start saying the verbal 3 or 4 times… then let go. That will help attach the verbal really strongly so she can understand both the verbal and physical cue. If it is all physical cues, she won’t learn the verbal as well.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
<
This is good to know and helps us know what her mental state is!
>>Yes, I can do that with treats. She has a soft mouth; however, the higher she gets, the more snarky she gets. >>
This also gives us good insight into her arousal state – does the snark mouth mean she is over-aroused? Optimally aroused? We will experiment and see 🙂
The sequence looked great! She is SO FAST, I love it!!!
Thanks for leaving the blooper in – as she was exiting the tunnel, you were talking the jump and cuing the turn, so she came to you. On the 2nd rep, you were clearer that she should take the jump and the rest looked great 🙂So on the tunnel exits, be sure to look at her directly to cue the next line, rather than look at the jump. My rule for myself is to always talk to the dog, never talk to the obstacles LOL! That helps keep me connected 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi! Sorry for the delay, I tried to watch earlier but it was SO LOUD in the building that I could not hear you at all LOL! No worries about the length of the videos, it was all good!!
The sequencing is looking good. One thing I will bug you about is giving her more motion input, so she reads transitions and and does not learn to ignore deceleration. Distance work is great but the motion should also support the cues. When you were walking too much, she either ignored decel or she had questions. Plus it put you in some positions that changed her line. So… more motion input in terms of moving fast when needed or moving slower when needed and you will see the turns immediately tighten up. The connection and verbals all looked good!
First sequence: This is a good one for more motion input. We don’t want her to run that fast with almost no motion input from you, because it risks diluting deceleration cues.
On the opening sends, I think you were making it a little harder than it needed to be in terms of distance and the angle in front of the jump.Ideally, she should be angled on a slice towards 1 facing the tunnel so there are no questions about which side of the jump, with you both a little closer so she knows to go take it 🙂
Then you can hustle to the FC and decel into it using directionals so she can get the turn. The FC on the landing of 4 puts you on the path to the backside – she got it when you turned after she landed, but a FC between 3 and 4 will set that line nicely!
2nd sequence:
This looks good! Lots more motion input and that really helps! Both cues (the BC and the RC) looked good! The BC can be earlier – when she lands from 1, cue 2 (jump!) and start the BC on the way to 3 (don’t move in between the uprights of 2). I was happy with both of the RC reps and how you drove her to the tunnel!3rd sequence: On these tricky first jump commitments, you can hold your physical cue at jump 1 by facing the jump with your upper body (even if you move away with lower body) until you see her feet up for 1, then you can relax the cue. This is what you did on the next full rep at 1:13 and it was great!
Not using enough motion bit you at :19 on the RC… she was going fast going straight so did not rear the RC at all.
The next RC had more motion input and worked really well! The GO GO GO at the end was a little more than needed, because you hadn’t turned your shoulders early enough so she went past the last jump (good girl). So watch her head and turn her – then when she looks at the last jump, you can turn the GO GO GO back on 🙂
The next video was the 3rd sequence again and can use more motion input on this one. Good commitment on jump 1, but not enough motion input (you were kinda stationary) so she almost came into you instead of going to 2 (good girl)!.
Also, that caused you to put the FC on landing of 4, which puts you on her line to the tunnel. If you accelerate 2-3, you can get the cross between 3-4 and that gets a sweet line and keeps you further ahead 🙂
Last video -She had a question on the 1-2 line. I think it was a combo of you bring a bit too far away, and the threadle arm at :03 actually does kinda mean to come into you and go to the #2 jump. It is a serp, so should be one arm (left arm) unless you are doing s cross arm serp and then I will try to talk you out of it LOL!!
You did it as a blind on the next 2 reps, but doing it as a serp is going to be much easier and then you don’t need to time a cross (the BCs were a little late here and she made the turn after landing). Try making yourself more visible between the uprights at 1, walk through it like the old ‘strike a posse’ game, and see if she can read the serp as a one-armed cue with you a little bit closer.
The line 2-3-4-5 was good but not enough motion input so even though your verbal and FC were well timed before the tunnel there and also at 1:46, she was in the ‘ignore motion and go fast’ mode so was wide on the exit of the tunnel
On the 2nd rep on jump 3, you transitioned into decel by slowing to a walk with no verbal to override it (1:42) – so ideally we should see a nice big collection. We don’t want her to maintain extension on a line when she sees decel so… more motion input (I know, I am a pain LOL!!!) Accelerate! She did miss the 4 jump after it, which shows she did have a question about it.
So I think the main thing is to support her awesome line driving with motion, so when you shift into decel for a collection cue, she will read it because it always predicts turn.
Great job here! Le the know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
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> Yes, the decel doesn’t have to be quite as abrupt, you can ease into it.
This first session went well! On the go reps, make sure you accelerate and run hard all the way til after she lands, otherwise you might dilute the decel cues.
On the first wrap rep, you decelerate and rotated at the same time, so she correctly didn’t commit. After that, you were much clearer with rotating later.The second session with the left turns also went well. I think on the first couple of reps, you were decelerating too soon for her current understanding so she didn’t commit. The space between the wing and the jump doesn’t have to be divided into equal 3rds, you can accelerate for longer and decel later on that side.
She figured it out nicely by the end!!You can do 2 things to make it even easier:
– you don’t need to wait for her to exit the wing wrap before you run forward. That was useful for the rears, but for the wraps you can send to the wing and leave sooner to be more ahead.
– you can also exaggerate the acceleration by really running hard then ease into the decel so she sees big steps go to small steps. Being ahead of her will make this easier too.
Great job!!
TracyThis went really well too! He watches everything, that’s the good news and what made him respond so quickly.
So on the serp reps where you kept your shoulders open til he landed? Perfect!
If you closed your shoulders too soon, he either went to the tunnel or considered the tunnel.
You can make the serp clearer by rotating a little more at the waist, so the center of your chest points to the center of the bar (like a yoga position LOL)
Great job making the tunnel cues look really different so he was able to get it even with the layering component. He totally watches – when your shoulder supported the line, he was perfect. When you turned and moved to the tunnel exit, he turned too. That is great because we want him to pay attention and not just have tunnel vision LOL!!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
Rear crosses are hard with inexperienced dogs! What was happening was that you were just a little late starting the info, so as a baby dog he committed to what he saw. No worries! One small adjustment:Instead of starting the RC pressure line after he passes you, start it sooner: as he exits the wing, you can already be running to the center of the bar, which means he will pass you with that info already in view.
If you start after he passes you, he is seeing “go straight” info.
On the 2 reps were you started before he passed you (1:10 and the last rep), you nailed it 🙂 Yes he has to get past you, but as long as you don’t cut to the other side til he is past you, all will be good!He also appears to be a bit more of a lefty than a righty, so work the left turn side first. And you can place a toy for the right turn side too, to help him out.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
The videos are set as private, can you reset to unlisted?
>>I have been working a lot of stays in the house and outside but Zyp is starting to lean forward or lay down when placed in front of a jump and I am not sure how to fix it. >>
He might be so pumped up that he doesn’t even realized he has changed positions. So rather than worry about it, try leaving him in a down at the start line! Start him a few feet further away from the jump, leave him in a down stay, and see how he does. A down stay is a great start position for agility!
>>Zyp is also getting more vocal about the game and sometimes just starts offering behavior before I have asked. Should I try to de-escalate him a little with pattern games when he is in that mode before I start anything?>>
I think he has reached the stage that he should not be loose while you are setting up, so you can bring him into the game without him offering all sorts of behavior before you’re ready. Then you can bring him into the session on a leash, or ask him to be waiting on a cot or mat, or in a crate, then call him to you to start.
We totally want his enthusiasm, but he’s going to get frustrated if he offers behavior and is then stopped. So bringing him in on leash or as a recall from a mat or crate will help that, and it is also great practice for future trials.Tracy
Yes, the high aframe makes it harder. Is there anyone who can help out or can people who are there before you leave it lower?
Hi! The volume dial game is looking good!!
I loved her tugging here – will she tug like that in different locations? If yes… Yay!!If not, you can work this game with food too – it is all the same except the food delivery will be moving and from your hand, same as the tug would be 😀 Basically, rather than deliver the treat to her as she is standing still, you would have her chase your hand as you move a few steps away from her, so she is running to eat the treat from your hand (not tossed – you are moving and she gets it on the fly from you hand)
And work the food version of this to be able to use it in smaller, tighter spaces too!
What other tricks does she know? Her sits were good here (you can release quickly) and you had a hand touch at the end. You can add in spins, leg weaves, more hand touches, etc. Those can be done with hand lures or cookie lures 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I am not sure why I can’t get my crosses done more quickly but I tend to stand around and be slow about them – this is an important thing for me to work on. >>
It is totally normal at this stage, and feels that way mainly because she is young and needs to see the full cue before she can start responding, so we walk. The fine line of being as early as possible but also not toooooo early because we need commitment too. As she gets more experienced, she will be able to process and respond more quickly, so it won’t feel as hard to get the crosses.
Sequence 2 is looking great! You are correct, a little more connection was needed for the 4 jump and you made a great adjustment for all the other repps.
The lead out push and the blind worked great. The FC is not as useful there as the BC – you did it well, but the BC will be much easier. My only suggestion for the lead out push and the BC is to change your positional cue a bit:
For the lead out push, be more on the center of the bar and as she lands from 1, stay connected like you did and start moving to 3. That way she will turn before takeoff of 2. You were more on the far side of the bar and so she went straight and turned after landing.For the blind (and FC), don’t go anywhere near jump 2 🙂 Basically your running line is from 1 to 3 and when she has landed from 1, start the blind. She should find 2 on her line. Running towards 2 will set the line straight causing her to turn after landing, plus it risks putting you in her way and she might have to slow down to avoid hitting you.
And the RC looked great!! YAY!!!!!
Great job!
TracyThe pattern games are looking good! For the back and forth, you can wait a heartbeat longer to throw the next treat – add in waiting until he lifts his head and looks directly towards you (hands, face, etc). That will slow down the game in a good way, and get even more engagement.
For the up and down, you were doing it right! You don’t need for him to sit or stand in between reps – he can go into the down, because your movement will still get the up and down of his head and he was doing a down to sit to down to sit and that is fine 🙂
On the sequences –
>>Here is what I’m thinking while I “run” Casper: he is so fast and I don’t stay properly connected and I’m really glad there were only 8 obstacles! (Obviously, I’ll need to fix that!)>>
I was thinking that too LOL!!! He is fast, has a huge extension stride, yet turns really well too. Very exciting!!!!
>>Ps: iMovie has changed how it exports videos.
Ugh!! That is a pain. I will look at it when I get home, it would suck to no be able to use it as much! What you did with just slapping up the whole video is fine, I can scroll through the parts where he is not running 🙂
One thing that is really important is that is something goes wrong in the handling, just keep going or reward. Definitely don’t mark it as an error or stop, because 99% of the time it is handler error of lateness or lack of clarity. So carry on and then fix it on the next rep or watch the video if you are not sure what happened.
On the first rep, your lead out position and quick release when you reconnected totally cued the tunnel. He needs a moment for you to lead out, point at the jump, see him look at it… then release. Being so far away was above his pay grade so there were a bunch of failures – when you see the 2nd failure, break it down so there are no more failures, You changed his position s he could get it and that really helped. Yo can also teach the skill with your hat far away by placing a toy out past jump 1.
>>Casper has not reached that level of sophistication.>>
This is a perfect way to put it LOL!!!
The FC will tighten up when you have more of a lead out on jump 1 to get to it sooner, so he can see the deceleration into it starting as he exits the tunnel.
He had a question about 5 at 1:31 , wasn’t sure which side of it. It was because when you point forward, that pointing turns your shoulders away from the line so he came off the line (young dogs are very literal!). Compare to 2:49 where you just ran, arms down, stayed connected: no questions! Super!
The rest looked really strong, especially the last rep where you had great connection and timely verbals!
On the opening of sequence 2, the physical and verbal cues were late so he could not change his lines in time. The come verbal to turn to 3 happened after he was over the bar of 2 (that cue should be starting as he lands from 1 and looks at 2) plus there was no decel or turn to 3, so he landed then scrambled to turn. The switch happened as he was just a few feet from takeoff of 3 (it should be happening after landing of 2) so he ended up on the backside of 3. Good boy!
He got marked with you stopping and saying ‘ohhhhh’ – and sent to the front of the jump. That reads as telling he was wrong… but he read the info presented as best he could, so it is a good place to just keep going and fix the handling on the next rep. We don’t want him to slow down or get frustrated when he is trying to respond so well!
The 2nd run was sooner with the info on the opening so he was able to get it! Try to keep moving the cues sooner – when he has landed from 1, start the verbal/decel/shoulder turn. When he is landed from 2, do the switch as you move into the RC. Those cues were happening at takeoff of 2 and 3 respectively so he was able to get it but ideally you can tell him sooner.
The lead out push worked well too and he was very responsive to the collection cue! That was nice to see – huge extension stride and great job collecting! As you do the spin and the countermotion away to jump 4, add in looking behind you to the landing spot to get commitment. You were looking directly at him the whole time, so he did not go past you.
The post turn worked well there too on the last rep! Nice!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I agree, the timing of young dog handling is tricky! We keep trying to get it earlier and earlier, which might show us where he commits well or where he needs more help. All good info!
>>The sit was MUCH harder for him on the Volume Up game, but his hand touches were GREAT, he really pushed nice and hard. The sit was so much harder for him, but definitely keep it separate.
Yes, the sit was hard! You don’t need to do the sit in the volume dial game, you can stick to the fun tricks 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I think what’s happening here on the a-frame is that he is cuing off of your position by taking several small steps over the apex then may or may not hit through the box, depending on where you are or how fast he is moving. He is looking at you, which changes the striding.On the flat, did you do any jump-box-wing patterns, where he could go through the box by jumping in and out of it then around a wing, without looking at you? If not, go back to that 🙂 You’ll vary your position the whole time.
And then lower the frame so he is taking bigger strides over it, through the box, then to a wing to wrap after it. That should help getting him to look straight!
Let me know if that makes sense.
Tracy
