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Good morning!
Very nice session here!
She did really well driving into the serp from different angles. SUPER!!!You can now do it for a toy reward in your non-target hand, and eventually we will get that toy to the ground.
At this point, she no longer really needs to touch the target. The fading process has begun! She is figuring out that is it the in-then-out behavior and so you were seeing her set up the turn: that means she was doing a cheek touch LOL or no touch – still all good, because we fade out the touch as we get you moving on the serps.
>>I just let them slide and focused on the exercise we were working on.>>
You can start the session with a stay or two then go to cookie tosses. She was starting to release a little when you moved your hand into position, which is pretty normal (she was being a smarty and anticipating :)) She had a bunch of good stays so you don’t need to use a stay the whole time.
Great job here!! Let me know how she does with the toy 🙂
Tracy
Yay! I am glad you have added this in! It is very different than the ‘norm’ of demanding a lot of control from the dogs… and the cool thing is that there is a TON of science of support it (not just my happy anecdotes LOL!!) A lot of people ask if it gets MORE sniffing or zooming, etc but it does the opposite: the decompression and completing the stress cycle actually reduces all of that. The focus and engagement we are getting now that we have added that for the dogs is AMAZING!! Keep me posted on how your students do!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>the ideas of how to deal with JJ and her lack of even use of her hind feet.
Also please bear in mind that it is not that important right now – there are definite side preferences with puppies, and they balance out over time. And puppies are still developing processing skills and mechanics/motor skills, so you don’t need to do a lot of thinking about which back foot she leads with 🙂
>>It is really tough to get her to isolate the hind feet, but I had a few successful attempts (>>
It is really tough mainly because of their brain development at this stage. It requires the front of the brain which does not finish developing til late adolescence/early adulthood, so you probably won’t see a lot of success at this stage. No worries – don’t add pressure to it, she will get it sorted out 🙂
Looking at the tunnel videos:
Gold start to you for proper tunnel bagging!!!
>>Cana even see someone walking the course I had set and JJ does not even seem to care.>>
What a great experience for her to work while there are distractions!!! YAY!!!!
The tunnel games looked great! On the line ups,
Try to line her up with a cookie at your side and then take her collar, rather than take her collar and physically move her into your side. That will keep her in a better arousal state (physically moving the pups tends to not keep them in the same optimal state that we like :))2nd session was on the backside of the tunnel, she thought that was fine and dandy too 🙂 And she turned away into it (threadle side) – only one error partially because it is hard mechanics, partially because there are visual distractions. But on the next rep you dialed back your motion a tiny bit and and also she figured it out, so it looked great.
I think on all of the reps you were using the tunnel verbal. So now since she can also find the threadle entry so well – time to add the tunnel threadle verbal. So when she is on the outside of you as you send and she is turning towards you to take it (it will look like JJ – you – tunnel as a sandwich :)), that is the tunnel verbal. When she is between you and the tunnel and turning away from you (it will look like you – JJ – tunnel as a sandwich), that I the threadle verbal. She is definitely read to learn the difference!
And we build on this tunnel stuff really soon too 🙂
Great job here!!
TracyGood morning! Super nice session here!!!
Pop out 1, rep 1, looked great both times!!
Layering the tunnel there was effective because the jumps were close – the other option would be to do a BC 2-3 but that is for when you set this on the bigger course (the opening of the big jumpers course has a definite blind there :))Pop out 2:
I have found with most dogs that the “tunnel” verbal is a forward cue, meaning they drive straight to it rather than turn towards us, even if it means they take a jump on the way (and that is legit, because we often use a go tunnel verbal to mean ‘take the jump on the way to the tunnel’ :))That is what happened at 1:02 – you were not fully turned and saying tunnel, so she went straight. Don’t mark it with an oopsie – note the frustration barking which is a behavior we don’t want to rehearse – just keep going by sending her into the tunnel and carry on, fixing it on the next rep.
You gave her a big LEFT!on the next rep before the tunnel: nailed it!!!
You were actually a tiny bit early on the rotation for 4 at 1:26, but great job supporting her to get it done nicely! And nice wrap to the left at the end – you can add more challenge by wrapping to the right on that 5 jump!
Pop out 3 needed a little more momentum 1-2 on the first rep – start further back to get the layering and don’t say ‘tunnel’ til you know she is locked onto jump 2.
1:46 was great!
It is possible the off course jump was a little close there, but also you can try a wrap verbal instead of a left to get the turn. Left is the soft turn I believe, so she was correct 2:04 to not wrap when you gave her the left verbal.The handling at 2:12 totally helped – nice rotation and position to show the tunnel entry! And you had even better position nat 2:24 to get it, which allowed you to get her on your right for the next line. The pushes were late : she got the first one but was waiting for info, then the FC on the 2nd one was as she was over the bar (2 bars down) and she ended up off course because it is hard to get the FC done in time…. I think you have the skills to totally do this as a blind cross! As soon as you see her turn her head to the push at 6, do the blind and head for the tunnel (big connection needed!)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I will put her to 20 for training. Do you think she would still be able to compete at 24 if I do that?
Yes, she can still compete successfully at 24. And you can also choose to compete her at 20, for a longer career. 24 is a brutal jump height!
>> I’ve been told that if she practices at 20 she will become lazy about keeping her feet up?>>
That’s BS, there is nothing lazy about this dog. 20″ will be better on her body, keeping her more sound. And with conditioning and sometimes running at 24″, she will be able to adjust beautifully to it.
>>When you said to stay near the backside wing to avoid the tunnel, do you mean the one closest to the next jump? Or the following obstacle? I wasn’t sure how to handle that part.>>
Both! The easiest way to not migrate over to the tunnel is to figure out the best perfect line you would want her to run as she exits the turn – then you handle literally on that line, going from jump to jump and NOT backing up towards the tunnel (those tunnels have giant magnets in them LOL!!)
Tracy
Good morning and welcome!
You are not that late – we have til late August til get it all done 🙂 I am glad you are here!!!
>>With Emmie, I’m really needing to focus on coursework with contacts. I’m struggling with her dogwalk. She very much knows the criteria but she is not confident going over the top (especially with tunnels underneath) so it messes up her striding. I’ve worked A LOT on different things to try to make her more comfortable but I’m kind of at a loss right now how to help her.>>
Ah yes, I feel that pain too. And there are 53 tunnels under every contact nowadays too!!! The first set of courses don’t have tunnels under contacts, so the is a good confidence booster. The next set coming next week do have tunnels under the DW. You can use her DW mat in the course work or whatever you used to teach the skill, and break things down and back chain. We will get it sorted out!
And of course, it will be great to see Kippy 🙂 Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
Wow, look at him doing grown up stuff in class!
The first threadle wrap looked good! The 2nd threadle looked like a threadle wrap to me for a moment based on the decel and the low arms… for the threadle slice, you can be more upright and use your arms higher, swinging the the dog side arm back more to rotate the upper body more – that will bring him in to the gap nicely – and then keep moving like you did at :56, that was great!
The rest looked really lovely – you are connected and moving all the lines really well, and he is reading the lines and that lovely blind really well too! Baby dog is growing up!!!!At home:
>>This boy needs the sounds and energy of dogs running agility to get himself fired up, just me and him – yawn – having Cody out helps a bit.>>
I see what you mean! You can do a couple of things to help get the same speed you get a class: you can lower the bars to 12 inches, so he can run really fast 🙂 And, does he bark or spin on cue? Those are both great for raising the arousal level and getting him pumped up. Tugging can do this too, but I find barks and spins more effective 🙂
I think if he is watching Cody, he should be tethered or in a crate so he can get excited but not chase (we don’t want him thinking it is a stimulating thing to chase dogs on course) or get in Cody’s way. Cody seemed offended when that happened 🙂
On the sequence – you made it a little harder but doing the threadle between 2 and 3 – you can do the natural lines there, to get the speed so when you add the distraction obstacles, he is flying. If you don’t have room to add a tunnel, you can add a jump as the distraction obstacle there and it will work just as well!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Leaving for France? That is so amazing!!! I am so excited for you all – please post lots of photos!!
After reading your post, I thought there were going to be a lot of issues with the course here, but there were really just a few spots to smooth out. And tons of great spots!
I think part of this is a canine education thing, to teach her that these skills exist and where to use them.
Opening:
This is a simple line but it is a HUGE line and there are all sorts of nearby obstacles that she has to pass… so it is actually really hard. You mentioned ‘obstacle overload’ and that is a great description: so many visuals and it is hard to ‘see’ the correct one.The dog walk to tunnel – definitely a skill to work on! You can try a go verbal from the DW so she continues straight? Breaking it down (like at 1:11) was GREAT and she got it beautifully at 1:59 and after that!
She has an amazing teeter! Your running line was good and the layering was good, but release maybe 2 steps later so she sees the weaves and not you on the landing of the jump when you release (:24). :55 and 1:20 and 2:01 were a step later and definitely better (but she still curled in towards the jump a little), plus she was beginning to realize that she should stay on her line and not drive to you. Even without the layering, you can release when you are another step or two past the jump so there is no visual draw to it.
You can also release with an obstacle cue rather than a release (the obstacle cue is also a release). The normal release might cue too much focus on you and the obstacle cue can help keep her focusing forward.
The 8-9-10 section was hard in terms of finding the tunnel – I think this is linked to the tunnel after the DW, in that she needs more value for the drive to tunnels on the line way ahead of you. So you can isolate those sections and for a couple of weeks, throw a reward at the exit of every ‘go tunnel’ line to pump up the value.
11-12 was really nice and 12-13 was AMAZING. And perfect again at 2:18, even with that tunnel right there!
That set up nice handling lines on the 14-15-16 section.She had trouble at 16, because you were facing forward for a bit too long (which limits the info). Try to leave 16 sooner so she can make the turn soon – maybe a spin instead of a post turn because the spin will face your feet to the a-frame and that gives much earlier info. You were facing forward for too long (she was lifting off when you started to move at 1:39 and 2:24) and that resulted in a bar down both times there.
That ending line is indeed a doozy 🙂
>>My course I think is maybe a tiny squished here too, which makes it incredibly hard>>
I think it is just a really hard line no matter how you set it!
The shoulder turns were not quite enough, so other options include a brake arm (opposite arm) to help turn her as you hustle through that line, or layering that 9/15 jump to get the line. It looked like you had a brake arm going at 2:35 (a little hard to see) but you released it a shade early so she went back on the line to the tunnel. On the run the following day, you had a shoulder pull and she totally read it as a pull-then-send into the tunnel (3:57). Now, we know she is not a naughty tunnel sucker LOL so if she is going in that tunnel, she is legit reading the cue for it.
After the rear cross at the end, especially since you are coming in off a rear cross – I think a “jump” verbal is more helpful than a GO verbal. The Go can apply to either the tunnel or jump and the tunnel is the first thing she sees 🙂 On the run on the 2nd day, you can see her spinning on the “go” verbal as if asking “which one? Which one?” You started to use a jump verbal towards the end of the first day session, and also got a little further ahead, both of which really helped.
The blind cross there would be FABULOUS but I think the only way to get there would be to do the big layering. The RC on that line is a great skill – rear crossing into a jump/tunnel discrimination? YES! Really hard 🙂 Try it with jump verbals instead of go verbals and see how she does!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning and welcome!
To keep everything in one thread, you can either click on the “Reply” button that should be just above the message area here, or you can scroll go the bottom of your thread and add a new message to the thread 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome back! Terrier naughty is the BEST naughty LOL!
I’m excited to see him again – he was a Rockstar in May at the seminar!!!Tracy
The regular part of the class begins tomorrow, but the first live is next week, on June 20th 🙂 Can’t wait!!
TracyHello and welcome! I love the photo, she is gorgeous!!! Seems like this is perfect timing and she is more than ready. Yay!! Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome! Sorry for the confusion about the live classes – we are all set at the later start time so you can play 🙂 More info coming soon!
TracyHi!
>>1. Bought a few flowers from the local farmer’s market
I love this! I like to buy flowers for the house too 🙂 It always brings a smile to the day!
Your daily lists are so fun to read – these successes are BIG!!!! Yay!
Tracy
Hi and welcome to the mental prep side of things here!!!
I love your lists – brilliant and insightful!!!
>>I can control how I prepare myself to respond to things (delays at the startline, negative comments from other competitors, mistakes in a run…not stopping to correct everything)
I can control what people I spend time with.>>>
These two things are really such excellent points. Two things that we all can totally control and sometimes we forget that! Especially the part about who we choose to spend time with: remember that *their* voices can also become our inner voices, so be sure to hang out with people who lift you up rather than drag you down.
>>One of the other things that stood out to me so far was the reminder to trust our decision to let go. I appreciate the suggestion to look or listen for a lesson if there is one in a situation and then move on instead of continuing to let ourselves endlessly spiral about our decision.>>
Yes – I have found this to really help. Otherwise, we obsess or worse: we catastrophize. And sometimes there is something to learn – and sometimes there is no lesson. And that is fine! I mean, if we looked for a lesson and sometimes it turns out that unfair or bad things happen for no reason – I guess that is the lesson. And learning to trust ourselves and not second guess ourselves is HUGE!!!!
Great thoughts here, thank you for sharing them!
Tracy
