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Hi!
The isolation must have been hard! But it looks like everyone is healthy, and that is good 🙂
He did well finding the threadle side of the jump on just the hand cue! And also did well when you asked for the serp – the change in your position really helped him see the difference. What verbal are you going to use for the threadle slice? You can add it now.
He was holding the stay nicely but releasing when you moved your hand – so if you don’t want him to release on the hand cue, put you hand in position then wait a second or two, then use your verbal release. You might need to reward him a lot for not moving when you move your hand, because he might think it is the release.
Tunnel threadles:
It took him a moment to sort it out but then he was perfect. You were using the dog-side arm which is fine, just be sure to make it really visible to him (punching it downwards really helps small dogs see it). You can add in the double whammy game now!On the turn aways on the wing: two things might have been happening here to caused him to spin towards you before going to the wing.
I think he was a little too locked onto your hand, following the cookie and your hand was moving fast and high. You might have been trying to cue the turn away and the wing at the same time. No worries – if you slow the hand cue down a lot and keep your hand really low so your focus is on turning his head to the left (away from you), he will wrap the wing on his own once his head turns the correct direction.
The other thing that is possible is that you were teaching him a hard new skill and doing it towards his harder direction (to the left). Try it on your other side, turning him to his right, and see if that is easier. It is normal for a young dog to struggle turning to their harder direction at first, so teaching it to the easier direction can really help.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning! I hope you had a great time in Maine 🙂
>This was actually Rusty’s first time actually working outdoors. >
That is impressive! He was perfectly engaged. Usually young dogs need a couple of sessions to be able to be as focused outdoors as they are indoors. Well done to you and Rusty!!
>Overall I thought he did quite well.>
I totally agree – it looks like he was more than happy to turn himself away to the tunnel so you can show him arm cue but start your ‘kiss kiss’ verbal sooner so he gets that early permission to turn himself away.
And having the arm cue up early (like at 1:05 and 1:15) was spot on – he did so well that I don’t think you will even need to use the arm to flip him away, you can keep it up and let him do it all by himself (which is most ideal).
When you revisit this, you can add in meeting him closer to the end of the tunnel and then move forward so he can do this with more motion too.
My only other suggestion for future sessions is when you are doing the double whammy of 2 tunnels in a run, sometimes *don’t* cue the threadle into the tunnel – we don’t want him to assume you will want the tunnel again 🙂
Great job!!!
Tracy
Hi!
>Nifty can only get one stride in before the jump.
One the flip side – if you do a lot of AKC, you will only see Nifty get one stride in between jumps so will need to adjust the timing. If you don’t play in AKC, no worries, you will have more distance between the obstacles 🙂
>But I have been sending with the dog side arm for 20 years or so, and my body just wants to do what it already knows. It’s going to take quite a bit of practice.>
Yes, the human brain really loves to use the dog-side arm! Another way to think about it is to give the info directly to the dog by looking at them on a send – instead of looking at the jump 🙂 It is counterintuitive to send by looking pretty directly at the dog, but it works really well!
>In general, I find it much easier with Nifty. She is more comfortable taking those sends and because she’s bigger and takes longer strides, it’s easier for me to see when she is going to take off. >
Being more experienced and larger, I can see how it would be easier with Nifty!
>Canny needs more remedial work on sends.>
Yes, the smalls need bigger commitment because they have to take some many strides to cover the same distance as the bigs. Plus they are a lot harder to see!!
Looking at the videos:
Nifty sequence 1: fantastic timing on the blind after the tunnel at :11 & :53 & 1:32! You started it early and clearly so it was finished before she entered and the connection looked great on the exit. You set yourself up really well to get there easily by sending away to the line before the tunnel. Yes, I agree that the toy throw contributed to the bar coming down.
You were getting earlier and early on each re – make sure to not get toooooo early because we don’t want her to ignore a blind when you don’t want her to take the tunnel 🙂
Nifty sequence 2:
Super nice timing on the landing side of 5 on the first and 2nd reps. O the 3rd rep, you ran in and got the blind on the takeoff side of 5 – that went well too! You an actually be earlier on that blind: trust your send to 4 and her commitment so you can start the blind as she is jumping 3 so it is finished before 4. At 1:16 the blind finished/re-connected when she landed, so she was one stride wide.
And then you were a bit squared up to the 5 jump as she turned at 1:17 which is what cued the off course to the tunnel. No need to withhold reward there – she was correct based on the motion 🙂Your timing was better on that last rep but also, what got the backside instead of the tunnel was that you got through the mouse line better (never squared up to the 5 jump) by getting there sooner: as soon as you cued the 1 jump, you cued the 2 tunnel and got outta there. Perfect! Nifty understood it perfectly.
Canny seq 1: This went well too! I can see where Canny asks little questions about the sends – you can train with lots of thrown rewards out on the line so he doesn’t head check when you are not moving as much.
I was also going to suggest the you stay in motion, even if it is not a lot of motion – just a little motion will support his lines (fast walk, slow jog). And that is exactly what you did on rep 2 here! Yay!
You added a little bit of motion but stayed in position on the line you wanted to be near… and absolutely nailed the blind. YAY! He had a little question on the bar before the tunnel but that is probably because he is still learning to work that far away from you and hear verbals over the bar. But that 2nd run was great!! And he will sort out the bars, no worries.
Seq 2 also went well. The first 2 runs were blinds on the landing side of 5:
At :06 when he was over 3, he had a little question about going to 4 – that was because you had already turned to 5 so he was not sure about commitment to 4. He took it though (yay!) and that allowed you to get a nice, timely, connected blind in.
On rep 2 at :35, you faced that 4 jump for longer so he had no questions! You were still able to get the blind in beautifully – it was even earlier than the previous rep and he drove through it SUPER FAST! Love it!
On the last run, you did the blind on the takeoff side of 5:
The motion into the gap supported 4 with no problem. Small detail: You can trust your motion to support 4 and start the blind one step sooner 🙂 When he was over 3, you did a big send to 4. I don’t think he needs it! As long as you keep moving and tell him to jump, you can start the blind in that moment rather than the send, which makes it perfect timing for the blind 🙂Great job on these! Have a blast on vacation! The week 4 sequences will be ready for you to run when you get back, and they will be useful for your upcoming ISC and UKI runs!
Tracy
Hi!
>How do you think the timing is looking? I feel like I am either waiting to see her commit to the first jump & then I’m behind for the BC (we dropped a few bars) or I am blinding too soon, but she’s just being really good about repeating the pattern.>
A couple of ideas for you! Yes, you are on the right track and you are doing it right 🙂 YAY!!!
On the reps where you feel like you were waiting too long:
As long as you keep moving up the line and your connection on the exit is good, you can totally be a little late 🙂 Motion and connection will cover the lateness (nothing was super late here).
For example, on video 1 – those were maybe a stride or two late because you were seeing her exit the wing and look at the jump then doing the blind, but you were continuing to move up the line so she read it really well.
The last rep on video 1 was the best timing on that video: she exited the wrap and you were doing the blind, so it was done long before she took off for the jump. Your line of motion was spot on and while it might have felt a little early, the line of motion made it very clear (harder angles might have required it to be later).
The first rep of the 2nd video was SPOT ON for timing! The 3rd rep (:11) an 4th rep (:18) were also both excellent!!! Those 3 reps were ideal timing: she was exiting the wing and you started the blind.
On the 2nd side on video 1 (coming towards the camera), you were definitely waiting a shade too long and that ended up getting you caught behind the 2nd jump.
I think when you are waiting for her to commit to jump 1 before starting the blind, you are not moving up the line as well as you did on the other reps – you were decelerating, taking smaller steps, to see the commitment. That is why you got caught behind the 2nd jump on video 1. You can also see that at :32 on video 2 – you were waiting for her before doing the blind so you were pretty close to the landing spot and the bar came down. The bar didn’t come down at :37 but you can still move up the line sooner.
So yes, go for the ideal timing. But the most important factors are to keep moving and get a great connection on the exit of the blinds.
> I’m excited to try the sequences when we are ready! is 40x40ish enough room for those?>
You are totally ready! It can fit into 40×40 – feel free to squish up the tunnel and use weave poles as ump bars to give you more room.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>I can send Kashia from much farther away than I can Kastella. But in courses or running sequences like this, it’s just the opposite! >
That is interesting! I wonder if Kastella is more responsive to decel, so she thinks she isn’t supposed to go without motion? Kashia might not care as much about decel so she is happier to go without motion? They are definitely different!
>I only went for one day. We did incorporate two blinds where we had to make almost a 90 degree turn to the A-frame and then another 90 degree turn one obstacle after the A-frame to the teeter. I did a blind in both locations with both girls and they worked great!>
Yay! I am glad you did them and they worked great!!
>I play it much more safely and conservatively in a trial than I do at home…but I will definitely look for areas to practice everything I’ve learned in the blind boot camp! >
Super! Definitely go for It 🙂 Remember that you are an excellent runner so you are more than likely going to be able to get ahead to get the blind! Trust yourself and your girls, and go for it 🙂
>My girls are just so consistent that if I play it safe, they tend to Q relatively easily. But I know it’s about more than the Q if I want to keep improving our skills!>
Yes, you can set goals for yourself: how fast can you go? How much can you drive to get the fastest course time? Have fun :) T
Hi!
Yes, definitely check your video to see what is going on! It is great that you have so much video – that will make a difference as you smooth out the handling to get those Qs more consistently 🙂
T
Hi!
I see what you mean about him sometimes getting stuck with the ‘over’ – those left turns are hard for him!
When he was turning to his right, easy peasy! He could do it smoothly and from harder angles.
But the left turns were needing massive thought to sort out on this. So you can help on the left turns but putting the toy down between bars 2 and 3 as a focal point. That can help him sort out the mechanics of the left turns, while you work on the harder angles and starting from the middle on the right turns.
He also gets a gold star and extra cookies for NOT running off to the person that approached at the end of the video!!! Good boy!!!
Nice work here :) Tracy
Hi!
He is getting really good about bringing the toy back quickly! Yay! That makes the session more efficient for everyone.
Dog on left at the beginning went GREAT! Nice connection, nice motion, strong toy throws – he sorted it out with you running and getting more lateral. Yay!
Dog on right – definitely a little harder! He finds turning left harder here for sure.
When he had questions at 2:59, 3:18 for example – both of your hands were in front of you on the toy, which closes off your shoulder (blocks connection) and also draws his focus to the toy.
But then compare to the connection you gave him at 4:21 which was PERFECT: eyes on him and more importantly – the right shoulder was back so he could see your connection.
I think you were strong with connection at 4:42 as well but the jump is a little off the line (it is not really a straight line from the tunnel exit) so he had a question. So throwing the toy early and being hugely connected like you were on the last rep in that session will help. Also, curving the tunnel a bit so it is a completely straight line when he is on your right will help too – it probably won’t be as necessary to do that on the other side, but he has a harder time when he is on your right (turning to his left).
>My body turns in one direction much more easily than the other, so that might have had something to do with it.>
I can relate! I have hit the age where my body does not turn well in either direction 😂 so I remind myself to point back to the dog, which helps keep my shoulder open and get connection.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
The first side went really well!
It was interesting that he read the wing wrap on the 2nd side as a full wrap and not as a line to the serp. In that instance, you can angle the jump so the bar is facing his line more and easier to see. Is that also when the neighbor dog was barking? Your ear buds eliminated extra sound so I didn’t hear any barking 🙂 Maybe it was just the distraction because he was getting that side really well at the end!
It is also possible that you were giving him more connection on the 1st side than on the 2nd side so when you disconnected a little, he read it as a cue to come through the gap. I thought your connection was good, so it was more of a stay-on-your-line question and angling the jump will totally help that.
Only one suggestion as you add more speed in the form of handler motion:
Try to open up your serp arm more, so the center of your chest points back to him across the bar.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
> Over (with a weird N. American accent for some reason) has always been my soft turn cue.>
Ha! The weird American accent cracks me up LOL!! It is a terrible accent, really 😂 😆
> I was going to use “swing” as the soft turn cue away, so re-deployed for right. (My mnemonic is that each cue has the same number of letters as the words left and right)>
Clever! I love the mnemonic!!!!
T
Good morning!
>By the way, I do have a set of home channel weaves. And I found some 2 x 2s to borrow. The see saw is gradually tipping…not quite to the mid way point yet.>
Great! You can introduce the channels (wide open for now) and see how he feels about it!
>He’s not all that thrilled with the DW mat work. The manners minder was totally boring for him so Jess started using a toy with him and having him go to wrap a wing after hitting the mat. At home, he is just kind of blah about it.>
He might be ‘meh’ about it because it is maybe boring and repetitive? I trained my RDWs with the wing after the mat then the reward – the dogs loved it! Are you placing the reward after the wing, or tugging? I am guessing he prefers tugging or a thrown toy over a dead toy.
You can also elevate the mat so he has more challenge – attach it to something that lifts it off the ground a little higher. And you can add a wing wrap before it, so it is wing – mat – wing- reward.
Looking at the zig zags – he was definitely sorting out his footwork on the first video. Be sure he is very close to the first bar so he can’t step in before takeoff, he has to take off from his rear.
I think the distance was just a shade too big for now to get consistent bouncing, so yes to using the 4 foot bar. You can even overlap the wings a bit so there is a smaller distance, or use a weave pole as the bar 🙂Lap turns – these are not as commonly found on course nowadays but they are a great gateway to the more challenging tandem turns and threadle wraps! He was pretty perfect when you were patient and decelerated to let him get to close to you hand before cueing the rest of the turn.
You were too early at 1:10 which is why he correctly went to the other side of the wing (don’t mark him as wrong on these because it relies on handler info 100%). You need to let him get to within a couple of inches of your hand before moving, otherwise the movement looks like a throwback to the other side of the wing. You almost moved to early at 1:25 but caught yourself so he knew which side you wanted 🙂
You told him to put his thinking cap on… but he was totally responding correctly to the cues 🙂Check out the difference in timing at 2:08 and 2:12 – he was a couple of inches from your hand before you started turning him away: perfect!
Tandems: so funny that he was trying to snack on a bee! Eek!!
About the arms:
He was reading the outside arm really well so you can reduce the rotation towards him – ideally your feet are facing forward and you decelerate into the cue. You might find that using both arms/hands is ideal and easier to keep moving forward. You can also revisit the dog-side arm and add deceleration and also a bigger more obvious punch down with it and maybe a shoulder dip – it is possible that he doesn’t really see the dog-side arm because he is small and needs something more obvious.
Because you train at UDog, I looked at what Perry does with her arms on these turns with Spike, her small dog – small dog handling needs to be visible to the dog plus I like to try to keep things consistent with what folks do with their in-person instructors especially when the in-person instructors are of the highest caliber like at UDog 🙂
I am sure Perry and Jess have the same or similar approaches to each other. And Spike is wildly successful which means that Perry’s cues are SUPER clear to her!
Perry uses the outside arm on her threadle wraps and often both hands/arms to cue turns – all relatively low and very clear, with some decel too. The high arms are more for the big sends/layers, and she is still really connected. We are all on the same page 🙂 which is nice because it makes it easier for you! Just food for thought as you add these cues that it is great to use both hands or the outside arm alone.
Serp video:
Ha! Yes, this is a different setup but still serps! Maybe even harder serps! Your cues and your position on the serp jump were really clear – well done with your send-and-leave on the jump after the tunnel, followed by really clear serp arm and line of motion through the serp. And you got the soft turn verbals too! He had no questions from what I could see. Yay!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Lead outs:
She is reading the lines well and she is holding her stay brilliantly! Those are 2 of the most important things on lead outs 🙂One thing that can smooth out the turns 2-3 is to use positional cues a bit more, so when she is at 1 she already knows where 3 is.
The blind and the lead out push kind of blended here – for the blind, move up the line closer to 3. For the lead out push, lead out and be stationary on the bar at 2 (roughly in the enter of the bar). Being in motion and on the center of the bar made her think you wanted extension on 2 so she was jumping straight rather than turning. That made it hard to pick up the line to 3, like at :20.
When you were closer to 3, like at :27, the line was much clearer and she found it really well.
Towards the end of the session, you were moving through the lead out push line but releasing on the straight line (just after you passed the first wing of 2) so she jumped straight at 1:24 n didn’t get 3. You were a little further across the bar on the last rep and that already helped a ton! So on the lead out push, you can lead out to the position halfway across the bar or more, and be stationary before the release. Start to move as she takes 1 – that will set a really nice line to 3!
For the FC – you can be standing right next to the wing of 3, almost touching it. That will give her the turn cue before you release the stay. At :51 and 1:03 you were on the straight line past 2, so she jumped straight
She is a speedy lady 🙂 so you will want to give her more room between the jumps (which also helps you cue sooner) and more room on landing of 3 (the teeter was close so she dropped the bar on 3 on the first rep).
The spacing on the tunnel/wings of the 2nd video was great – lots of room to run 🙂
The reps at the beginning of GO then ‘bye’ on the wing looked terrific!
>She goes perfectly ahead for a bye wrap but whenever it’s a way wrap she pulls in front of me out of the tunnel or spins. Am I slowing down too much?>
I see what you mean! I don’t think you were slowing down too much – she was turning into you at the tunnel exit.
It is possible on the ‘bye’ reps you were a little further ahead before she entered the tunnel and not as far ahead on the ‘way’ reps. That, plus ‘way’ possibly being the harder side for her, made it harder for her to go all the way to the wing.
She went to the wing perfectly on the way side for the reps where you broke it down a bit, so when you add the full wing-to-tunnel to it you can cheat a little: send to the start wing from further away so you are further ahead on the tunnel entry and exit – that will give her more propulsion on the exit, plus you can be further ahead to show more connection on the exit to support the line to the wing. You can also move the wing closer on that side, and throw the reward earlier to reward going straight on the tunnel exit.
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
He was SO CUTE playing with the toy, dancing around with it!!
I think he was trying to figure out if he should start without you, or if he needed to wait for a cue. He was keen to play and very engaged and not looking worried about the teeter, so we can test that theory by giving him a cue to start:
Have him wear a light collar or harness for this: Line him up next to the board, right near the very end – I like to point my toes parallel to the end of the board (just make sure your toes are not under the board, ouch!). Gently hold his collar/harness, ask if he is ready (I am sure he will be :)) then let go of the collar/harness. You can also say something like “hop on!” if he needs a little more verbal permission.
When he hops onto the board, give a big reward 🙂 You can use the toy like you did here, or you can use a great cookie and reward in position on the board.
If he doesn’t hop on directly, that might indicate that he has a question. In that case, we can reduce the tip of the board to almost nothing, in case he is having a concern.
>I think it’s just that mornings are sub-optimal for him.>
This is entirely possible! Dogs have cycles of energy and focus that fluctuate throughout the day, just like us humans do 🙂 He might be in breakfast mode, or in rest-amd-digest mode if he already ate. So you can try it in the evening and see how it goes!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was very happy to go the prop on the get out game! And he was able to do it on both sides – most pups struggle on one side or the other, but Lew had no questions. Super!
It was so fun for him that he preferred it to coming to your hand 🙂 Actually, I think that he was viewing any motion as motion cueing the prop – maybe because he is small, he is extra locked onto motion. You can show him the balance reps without motion: stand still and get the cookie hand really low and maybe even shake it, so it visually draws him away from the prop. Then you can add a bit of motion – I bet that will help him see the difference.
Looking at strike a pose:
Nice job with the super quick reward (especially on the first rep) to show him that his line is between you and the jump n the strike a pose serps! He was coming in beautifully to your left hand even on harder angles, making some very specific choices to find the serp versus going around the jump. YAY!!
Coming in to the serp to your right hand took a moment – his first inclination was to go around the jump and turn left towards you. He figured out the right turns nicely and was able to get faster and faster coming in and turning right.
You can add a reward on the ground for him to focus on (an empty food bowl would be perfect) to get him zipping in and out without needing your hand as much for the reward. Then when he can do that, you can add more movement to this game, walking sloowwlllyyyyy through the serp line and see if he can still come in over the jump even if you are moving.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>It might be a good idea for me to practice with the Cato board and set that as a starting point gently holding her. >
Yes! You can totally do that, with the Cato close to the first jump so she doesn’t step down then try to get over the first bar.
You can also use the Cato in the zig zag jumping game, if she will hold position on it. Or you can use the Manners minder to get her to go to the starting point further away, so you can add the 3rd wing. She did really well with the introductory level here and is ready for more – and you being near that 3rd wing will really help!
> It’s a tad hard to get her to the exact right spot with the way she leaps and suddenly stops to get the food. We got pretty close except for that one she missed.
>You can leave the Cato where you want her to start and send her to it so you can have more room to get where you want to be 🙂
>We have a long weekend of dog shows so I’ll do some play time working on her left turns.>
> I had to chuckle watching this. It’s a busy busy time at work and I had an early meeting. I got up extra early to train and apparently my brain wasn’t engaged. I completely forgot my marker cues for most of the session.>
That is hilarious! But inspiring to get out early and train – good for you!!! It was still a worthwhile session, with or without marker words 🙂
Tracy
