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This rep was also really nice! The cross on the landing of 3 looked smooth. The wrap on 5 was also great – no time for praise there because it delays the next info. When you praised, he was coming towards you but then when you showed him 6, he had a big slip trying to adjust to the line.
T
Hi –
This one seemed even smoother getting to the cross on the landing side of 3, you rotated right into it. That seemed to make it even easier to get the RC on 5. Nice!
Stay more connected on the line back to the tunnel – looking at him more will help him look at the line more and not look at you or tick the bar.T
Good morning! Nice work on these!
One thing for all of these – set the sequences closer to competition distance, which is more like 20 feet (or 7 to 8 big steps for someone like me 🙂 That way he can have more extension and it will be a better way to work on your timing and connection (more realistic for what you will see on a course).
Having the toy in your waistband seemed to help the timing because you didn’t switch it around 🙂Good job on this one, with the cross on landing of 3 and RC at 5 – really nice connection and he read it all well!
Hi!
She is looking good! These exercises are surprisingly exhausting, so limit the # of reps to maybe 3 or 4 at a time for now. You can see her form change by the end and toes sticking out to the sides mote. Also, try to have her approach straight on for now, so there is no sideways sitting LOL!2 other standard ones to add in:
Posture (also a lot harder than it looks, like a plank, just a fee seconds at a time to start)And mountain climber back leg isolations (super hard, you can see how hard the left rear is here, and some cat hilarity lol)
Have fun!
TracyHi!
I am not sure I would say he was worried – he definitely noticed, but he was trying to get back on without you so he was not terribly concerned 🙂 I am glad you only did 2 reps, that was perfect for leaving him wanting more! So try it again in a day or two, using bits of butter 🙂 and see how he feels 🙂This teeter has a lot of ‘whip’ to it, meaning the board is light and bouncing up and down a lot. You can minimize that by attaching a weight to the underside of each end – a one pound weight with some duct tape should do the trick!! That will help him be even more confident.
Keep me posted!
TracyHi –
>> but how on earth do people have their puppies ready to show at 15 months?Well, just because they are entered in a show and maybe they get a Q doesn’t mean they are ready to show. 15 month old dogs are not ready to show – it is against medical advice from sports vets, and against medical advice from behavior vets. But the addiction is strong in humans 🙂 so most people don’t wait. The results are not the long, happy career that most of us want for our dogs.
T
Hi!
>> Why didn’t you day something?!?!?!?! I had no idea my camera was giving such a horrible view during our live sessions. You must have had to squint to see something!!>>
ha! It was fine! The recordings are never as clear as the live stream, I could see everything with no problem.
>>We went out and worked the Forced front cross beginning steps. He did great with the throw back and FC and LOP, it was our stay I had questions about.>>
Yes – When he holds the stay, the forced front and throwback variations are great, plus he has no trouble with the serp balance. Super! He definitely has questions about the stay.
I think a couple of things to clarify mechanics will really help.
Part of his question is about the marker: you are moving the reward and your hand… then saying the marker. So his question is: do I move when the hand moves? Or when I hear the marker like “catch” or ‘snack’. So be ULTRA careful to NOT move the reward hand until a solid second or two after you say the marker.
Note how he is finewith and doesn’t move when you put your hand into the FFC position… because that is not associated with reward delivery. The confusion is about the cookie hand moving on the lead out, and the disconnection/reconnection.
Also, when you let him settle into the sit, tell him he is good, then stay connected and praise as you lead out? He is really very good with the stay! When you are not as connected and you are quiet, he often moves. So you can definitely help him by staying connected and quietly praise him.
Also, if you have not cued a specific position and he wants/needs to down… let him do it. A down is a very anchored stay position! You can also use a platform or something for him to do some stay work on as well.
And, take note of reinforcing the moments when you get a great stay, even if you are thinking about something else. For example, from 1:44 – 1:54 he dida 10 second stay while you walked away, fixed the bar, came back to him… then he jumped up in frustration when you stepped into him to change his position. Based on your cues and the context, he thought he had been cued to stay so he did… and then you coming back to adjust him was frustrating, thus the jumping up at you.
>>If he does it twice, then we need to stop our session.
One thing I know I need to do is incorporate some sit stay work in the house.If he gets up twice in that scenario, do I stop working?>>If he does it twice, you don’t need to stop the session – you need to adjust the session to clarify the behavior so you can reward more frequently. So if he does it once, make sure your mechanics and connection and markers are correct. If he does it twice, dial back the challenge or give him a platform to use, so he can be correct 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Yep…I can see my head forward on both videos coming to the backside with that inviting yellow tunnel right on the line. I should have been connected back to her. You are probably right that rep 2 she knew the course and rep 1 was responding to my lack of proper cue.>>
I don’t think it was a connection issue, it was more of a tunnel-on-the-line issue so a little name call would adjust the line just enough 🙂
>>I’m confused about my feet for the threadle slice comment. I tried to do the threadle to a spin. So, where exactly should my feet be as I spin? I have to turn into her which puts them towards the tunnel.>>
It is a timing thing – your feet were actually rotated too early, which might cause questions on wraps. As you are stationary on the lead out, your stomach is facing the bar, right hand extended, feet facing that off course yellow tunnel (facing the landing spot). Then as she arrives to the backside/threadle, you can do the spin where yes, your feet do turn into her. Having your feet facing the landing spot as she is approaching the line to the threadle will clearly indicate that it is a slice. At :36, your feet were turned to the wrap landing the whole time, so she added several little strides then sliced. In a nutshell – so the slice then do the spin, rather than have your feet rotated before she gets to the entry wing.
>>I didn’t think about spinning 6 in sequence two. I felt like I could sacrifice that turn to be sure I could handle the threadle wrap after the tunnel. If I spun wouldn’t I be too far behind? It was too hot to do it again. Plus, threadle wraps are hard for me and I didn’t want to test teo in a row just yet at 95 degrees!>>>
Wider turns actually cause us to get further behind, because we have to manage the line for longer before we can leave. At :56, you had to wait there til she was definitely on her way to the 7 jump and you were not able to leave til she was just about taking off for it.
A spin will tighten the turn so when she exits 6, she will be facing the correct line to 7 – that means you can send her to it sooner, and then when she is halfway to it, you can be leaving already 🙂 So a tighter turn there should allow you to leave sooner because her line will be better and also your feet will be facing 7 sooner too.Tracy
Oi! That is annoying, they could have mowed around the course!!
>>With the backside at 13, I don’t think I would be able to layer the weaves. It would be a good test of verbal understanding>>
You can try front side of it with layering, or get the backside without layering! Have fun and stay cool!
T
Hi!
Sorry to hear you are having more of the intense heat!!!! Ugh!! But yay for your instructor for setting up something that is easily tweaked for this class 🙂The session here went REALLY WELL!!! I am loving the connection and teamwork that is developing! My suggestions are just smaller details:
>>. The spacing is not ideal and I couldn’t move the small yellow tunnel. Gemma taught me to block it. >>
I think the spacing worked well and the yellow tunnel adds PERFECT challenge (you might all be seeing something similar in tomorrow’s live class
) The jump-tunnel discrimination thing is VERY popular right now! First sequence:
Nice job with the switch away on 3! Nice layering! I liked the 2nd rep at :24 a bit better for the switch to the layering, because you decelerated and so she collected more before takeoff.Without the tunnel there, you only need the backside verbal – the dogs migrate in to us when there is nothing else out there. But with the tunnel there? You need a little name call to get her to ever-so-slightly turn to the backside line (the yellow tunnel is on her line, as Gemma seems to have mentioned :)) And the backside cue is a forward cue, so a “Sprite!” then when her head turns, the backside cue, should work like a charm. Any stronger turn cues might lock her onto the front side. She ignored the tunnel on the 2nd run (:28) but I think the first run was her more honest reading of the line. The 2nd run had a bit of “yeah, the tunnel is blocked, don’t bother looking at it” LOL!
Also worth noting is the countermotion on the backside, especially at :30, where you kept moving forward past the exit wing but also shifted your connection to the landing – she committed to the bar AND she she jumped it really well, setting up the collections. Click/treat for you BOTH!
2nd sequence – on the threadle opening at 2, she reads the line to 2 really well! On the threadle slice, be sure your feet are pointing to the landing spot. At :36 and :49, they were pointing to the wrap landing spot and not the slice landing spot, so she had some questions
She didn’t take 5 on the first run – you got really quiet after 3, started to look forward, switch the toy to the other hand, disconnected a bit… so as she was landing from 4, she started to look at you and then at :41, you were already turning (she was TOTALLY looking at you there) so she immediately came to you when you called her and did the blind. good girl!
Compare to :50-:52, where you were very clear with your verbals (Go Go Jump) and definitely connected – when she looked at 5, you did a FC and she was perfect! Now, the FC looked great but the BC would work too, starting when you see her look at 5 like you did here.
After whichever cross you choose, for her, we need a stronger turn cue on 6. You did decelerate, but with all of the speed coming from 5, she might need a spin as well. And in this context, a spin works great because it points your feet to 7! We explore more of that in the live class this week: timing of decel cues and also to spin or not to spin 🙂
Holy wow getting that threadle wrap at :59! Yay! You were not close to the jump, you were not ahead of her… but you nailed the cues with a verbal, patient physical cues with the shoulders and arms, and when she cued you to move on by looking at and taking the first step to 9, you got outta there. SUPER!!!!
Great job here! Stay cool!!
TracyGood morning!
Lots of really nice work here! Good handling comparisons, and also good coparisons when you stayed in motion versus when you stopped and did not reward. I definitely keep bugging everyone about either staying in motion and carrying on, or reward her immediately as if whatever happened was exactly right. Assume all errors were handling errors and reward her, to minimize frustration. She does a great job of responding to the cues, I don’t think she did a single thing that was not cued. Good girl!!
Looking at the first sequence: On the first rep – at :07 you were pulling away from jump 2 so she jumped towards you, then you looked forward and pointed forward. The break in connection and the line of motion both indicated blind cross, so she went to your left side (dropped a bar because you were in her way). You stopped and told her to lie down. Now, even if she got a cookie… that is still a punishment (stopping and the down) so it can be intensely frustrating even with a cookie being delivered. You can try to keep going, or praise and reward like she just won the class 🙂
Second rep – you had much better connection and you stayed in motion, which is really helpful for her – super!! At :28 you did not quite indicate the backside but at least you praised her and looks like she got rewarded too – note how she did not keep running on a line when you stopped, no frustration behavior, because she was correct and got reinforcement.
The rep at :32 had MUCH better connection at 2 so she went to your right side.
That whole sequence, from :30 – :52 looked super! Connected, you kept moving, and even when there was a slight blooper, you kept moving and kept going. Fantastic!!! The blooper was when she turned to her right at :45 instead of to her left. That was because as she landed from the previous jump at :44, your line of motion and feet indicated the right turn – so she made a takeoff decision. By the time she saw you move to the left turn line at :45, it was too late to adjust the takeoff line.That happened several times in the video, and gives you an indication of how much earlier she needs the cues especially on these distances: if she lands from a previous jump and you take one more step… she has to make a takeoff decision. So for timing purposes, try to be giving the next cue as she is in the air over the previous jump, so she already sees it when she lands and can make the adjustment. We will be working on timing in the live class 🙂
She had a couple of questions on the next run:
Connection on jump 2 was not as clear at :56 and she barked at you 🙂
A bar down at 1:01 because you stopped moving then suddenly started again as she was in the air and the right turn instead of the left turn at 1:08 because the cues happened after she had to make a takeoff decision.Sequence 2: SUPER NICE! Your connection from the start at 1:23 all the way to the end at 1:49 was FANTASTIC and even when something didn’t go as planned: you kept connection and you kept moving, and finished strong. Lovely!
Compare to 2:12 when you didn’t quite get her turned to her left and you stopped… so she came in to jump up at you and maybe deliver a tooth hug. That is a frustration behavior from reading you correctly (you needed to keep moving to the left turn wing til she locked onto it, like you did at 2:37) and then being told she was wrong (stopping to fix tells the dog they are wrong because we never stop to fix when they are right!)
She recovered from the frustration quickly but we want to avoid it entirely.
You stopped and praised at 2:28 but didn’t reward, so she was a little confused. If you stop and praise, be sure to give an immediate reinforcement so that the praise doesn’t become confusing or frustrating.
Nice opening at 2:25 – 2:40!
At 2:41 your motion indicated right turn until she took off, then you tried to change it to left turn I think, and she ended up staying on her line to the right. You stopped and praised, which is good, but be sure that gets followed by reinforcement!
She had a similar question e at 3:11 – right turn then trying to bring her into the gap, the cue qas late so she took the jump. You praised, petted, grabbed her collar…. but an immediate reinforcement of a cookie or toy will be far more useful because she was correct in her responses to the cues, and I am not convinced that herding breeds like to be held or petted when they are in high arousal work mode. Something goes wrong? Just reward her as if it was exactly as the map on paper.
I think turning her to her left at 4 will make the line to 5 much easier – you got her in the gap there at 3:27 and 4:03 but you had to stand still to do it and it presents a hard angle to 5 (3:29) – the rest went smoothly!
You can also use deceleration into 4 to get collection before takeoff – you had some decel and the verbal much earlier at 4:26 so she collected more before takeoff. That worked nicely!
She followed your forward motion at 4:08 to the off course jump – keep going there when that happens! 🙂
You had a similar bit of forward motion propel her off course at 4:32 to the jump instead of the backside – great job staying in motion there.
>>IMPT what time live on tuesday – lost it and need to sort out schedule
It is 6pm Eastern on Tuesday Aug 8, which is 10am on Aug 9 for you I believe, but double check that 🙂
Great job here! See you tomorrow!
TracyHi!
Thank you for the honest post!!
>>I continue to have a hard time staying positive for myself as it has been so hard to be perfect for Mookie. I did slip and the words “I suck” came out.
Don’t be afraid to sort through the phrase “I suck.” So rather than think about staying positive (which can be vague and sometimes annoying when things are going sideways LOL!) you can add more to the “I suck” thought: What, exactly, sucked in that moment or caused the error?
For example, when something goes wrong, I will analyze what I sucked at in that moment:
Did I suck at giving timely connection or decel? Yes, in that moment… that was it. And that is fixable for next time so I don’t suck LOL!!!!But did I suck at everything? Nope. Do I suck as a person? Nope. Did I suck at keeping my dog happy? Nope! So overall, do I suck as a human? Nope. Did I mess up a cue? Yup. Can I change it for next time? Yup 🙂
So try taking the I suck phrase to the next step and analyze what, in that moment might have gone wrong.
Also, a good mental reminder is that the faster the dog, the harder it is to be timely for everything. But fast is fun and while there might be more errors, the clear rounds are super glorious 🙂
>> then all goes to H in a handbasket as they say when I tried the same course with Mookie.
The course map might have been the same, but the handling and timing is probably entirely different with Mookie. Be sure to make that adjustment in your plan!
>> What helped me the most afterwards was your “What went wrong. Why it went wrong and what can you do to fix it.”
Super!!! And you can add in the “what sucked” LOL!
>> I figured out that I did not adjust for the a pole in the way when I walked the course for Mookie. Time walking the course was very short also. He is totally handler focused and watches my body. (I think due to him being a rescue dog who worries where I am at all times ). He needed extra verbals and support to get to a jump before going in the tunnel. When his view of me was blocked by the pole he went between 2 close jumps to get to the tunnel. >>
there ya go! Good thing to remember – he needs to see you!
>>What went right: No bars came down 🙂 which is our biggest issue.
Super!!!!
>> And I was able to re-run the course with what I figured out and we nailed it.
That is HUGE!!! You didn’t get stuck in the frustration – you analyzed it and moved on to success. Happy dance!
>>However, most of the people I know Q consistently but don’t have the speed to contend with.
Hang out with people with faster dogs or come watch some UKI where the dogs go REAL FAST and the Q rate is definitely not super high. Those dogs are more like Mookie 🙂
>>And your telling me at your last seminar that people would give their right kidney for Mookie will always make me smile no matter what we do>>
After thinking about it, I know people who would give you BOTH kidneys to have a dog as fast, motivated, and sweet as Mookie 🙂
>> 🙂 Little do they know how hard it is to really run him
They don’t see that, they just see how brilliant you two are 🙂
Keep up the good work!!! The mental game is a daily thing for us humans 🙂
TracyHi!
>.He was a bit sniffy but turns out he needed to 💩 during our second turn.
Yes, the sniffy was weird at the beginning but a poop baby would explain it LOL!!!! You did a great job of getting him rolling! Once he was in gear, the 3-4-5 blind and the line to the weaves looked great – nice job giving him a little handling support into the weave entry!
>>I was really stumped for the turn the wrong way out of the weaves I got twice. ..
Could have been one of these things:
– he felt a little rear cross pressure as you cued he entry (this seems less likely)
– the last direction he turns to finish the weaves is to the left, and you are behind him at that point, so he might hear/see better towards the left so he continued turning left.This seemed to be the more likely reason. Moving more laterally towards the 7 jump more will help fix that while also keeping you in great position for 8-9.There are a couple of spots on this course we can use to compare and contrast for what works and when to use it! One example is the outside arm as a brake arm or as a ‘get out’ cue.
You can totally use the outside arm as a get out cue for backsides when you were behind, like at :52 and 1:37 – the verbal said pass, but the physical cues said front at 9 – when you were pointing forward but behind him, that turned your body to the front of the bar. The outside arm there will point your body o the backside line and support the verbal better. He got it with you ahead at 1:52, because your motion was ahead of him and able to show the line.
After when moving to 10 – You had the outside arm up but it was more of a ‘get out’ cue at 2:06. Freeze it as he is landing from 9 and you will the outside arm was actually pointing to the off course (note how it turns your chest to the 21 jump). Good boy! A brake arm there can help as long as you keep turning your shoulders (more on that below).
I liked the spin you did on the next rep but you can spin and send him to the backside entry (the threadle on the entry side is harder for the dogs to read, especially when you are going to be behind at that point).
He did great with the layering 11-12-13-14! NIIIIIICE!!!
You ran a really good line 14-15 and even had time for an extra blind LOL! It was that extra blind that ended up putting you in the way and getting the backside at 2:33.
Good job staying in motion! And then, finally. poops! Yay!!! He felt much better after that and the next section was strong!
At 3:15 – you were moving to the outside wing of 15 then when you added the brake arm at 3:17, you ended up moving towards the center of the bar which pushed him to the backside, You can do the brake arm and keep moving towards the wing closer to 16, so it is an opposite arm/post turn combo.
Same thing happened at 3:22 on the way to 17 – you were moving towards the wrap wing and then rotated to the center of the bar with an outside arm, so he went to the backside. That looked like a ‘get out’ arm.
So you are probably like WTF difference with these opposite arms? I think of it like this:
the ‘brake’ arm to get soft turns is gently pointed to the dog, while I keep turning my shoulders.
the ‘get out’ arm is pointed to the wing of where you want him to ‘get out’ to 🙂Both will be super helpful with him!!!!
He ran really well here, even with a poop baby and zillion degree temperatures. Let me know what you think, especially about the opposite arm use.
TracyGood morning!
>>I thought I would circle back later in the week but it turned out he had a badly abscessed tooth (way back on the top left- the one you can’t see and can barely reach to brush even if you have small fingers like me).>>
Ouch poor guy! I can’t believe he just powered through… I would have been bed-ridden LOL!!!! I am glad they found it and fixed it.
The tree totally adds adventure to these sequences!
Sequence 1:
As you are passing the exit of tunnel #3, I don’t think you need to take the time to put your hand into the exit at all – he sees your position and also he turns really well, so you can use that extra step to get around the tree and re-connect and not end up tripping on the roots 🙂
On the first run, the blooper of not taking 4 threw off the timing of your threadle wrap and you closed your shoulder towards the jump before he came into the threadle.
You got the connection better on the 2nd run – the tree does make the threadle wrap timing harder but you got it here and even better: as soon as he turned his head to the jump at :24, you were outta there to get the 7 backside. Perfect! 7-8 looked really good too!!
Really good timing on the right verbal before the last tunnel – in this case, I think the post turn is a good choice for him at :33 because based on how far away 10 was, the spin would have created too tight of a turn. You can trust the right verbal more and go to the jump cue so he comes out looking for the jump.
Sequence 2:
Finding the 4 jump on the other side of the tree is really hard, but great practice for finding it on the other side of the a-frame or dogwalk! I guess he needs more fluency and trust that when you turn him to the other side of the tunnel, he should just go find an obstacle. You can isolate the skill with a jump in varying positions and a Manners Minder, so he gets a lot of practice and reinforcement for trusting that the switch cue always means you will want him to find a thing (jump, tunnel, weaves, etc). And using the tree as a pain in the b*tt, you can put different obstacles out there to help solidify the skill.Also, you can see if he will switch away from the tunnel exit without you having to go past the tunnel exit – that will allow you to stay on a parallel line, so he doesn’t see any motion pulling away from the jump. You helped more from the tunnel exit on the 2nd run, and he got it – but having to the pull away caused him to have questions about 5. Parallel line motion is a cue he reads well, so it might really help here.
On the send to 7 to get up the next line – for him I do recommend the spin there because the rotation will get the nice tight turn and more importantly… you will be further ahead. You did a send into a post turn at :58 which made the blind late at 1:01.
Sequence 3:
To set up the switch an parallel motion, you can play with going closer to the entry of 3 so you can accelerate into the switch from 4-5 – that will get you being able to do the switch line more towards the center of the bar (you had a little too much pull to your right at 1:29 and 1:50 and not enough connection/verbal info so he exited 3 looking at you and slowing down). And, because you won’t end up as close to 4, you can use more of the parallel line motion to get him flying to 5. Which will also allow you to do an earlier FC 5-6 (and earlier verbal, all before he takes off).You were a little late at 1:35 and 1:56 (after landing) so he was unsure about the tunnel on the first rep. Definitely better connection at 1:57 into the tunnel! Yay!>> redid the end so I could send more and hustle up the line better. He liked chasing me and the dig dig left wrap RC was really tight.>>
Yes – on the first rep you went all the way to 8 with him (2:01) which caused a wider turn then some questions on 10.
The earlier send there at 2:13 worked a lot better, just remember connection and verbal as you decel so he stays sure about driving ahead and doesn’t look at you. And the wrap to the left and chasing you back up the line to the tunnel looked GREAT!This is a spot where you can compare the send you did at 2:13, versus sending into a spin at 8. I think the spin might be a touch faster? But the only way to know is to try both and time them 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
