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Good morning!
Was the wildlife trying to steal the show on the video? LOL!!
>.a couple of glances from Coal, but super fast reorientation – yes?>>
Yes, he did great! He is allowed to glance away – it was really only an eye flick. He was really engaged!
As you go in to the ring, you can do some tricks for cookies to get him more pumed up – the patterns get the dogs engaged but not necessarily stimulated enough to do agility with complete focus. So I like to get the dogs higher and more ramped up, rather than the relatively calm engagement that the pattern games bring.
The first part of the sequence went well! He did a great job ignoring the instructor at 1:28 when she was righ tthere past the jump after the tunnel!
>>Could have been more timely with my cues and shoulds have rewarded him after I set the wrong line to the 2nd tunnel. Mistakes = frustration = checkout
Yes, he needed one more step to the tunnel from you – it looked like he had turned his head to it, so with a more experienced dog it would have been correct to take off like you did. He is still a youngster, so the hard tunnel entry plus the instructor right there, super close? He needed one more step. And yes, you can reward him for coming back when you called him (he came back immediately!) and then more tricks to get him pumped up. He got a little sniffy partially because the skill was hard and there had been no reward, and partially because you were talking to the instructor and not engaging with him.
You got him back on track and finished really strong!! Well done!!!! And he seems to be doing super nicely with the distractions of the other dogs and people too!
Great job 🙂
TracyWow, she looks great here!!! Her stay looked perfect, you were connected (especially on the 3-4-5 line), strong verbals, and you did a great job showing her the lines. Super!!!
The spin on the jump before the tunnel worked perfectly to get her lined up to the tunnel. I don’t think the off course jump was there, so it would be great to put it back and see if the spin orients her to the tunnel correctly (or not LOL!!)
The lower bars definitely help – she has more room to set her jumping, and also she is faster so you have to handle faster – it is a winning situation 🙂Great job!
TracyGood morning! Thanks for posting the walk through!
>>First video is my entire walk through. Boy that is hard and there’s definitely a “pressure” element that happens when I’m videoing that doesn’t happen when I’m not.>>
Yes indeed, timing and videotaping the walk through adds pressure like you might feel at a trial! This is good 🙂 because rehearsing this under pressure will make it a whole lot easier at trials.
A couple of things about the walk through that stood out –
It took about 1 minute and 15 seconds to finalize the plan of handling. If you can get most of that done by looking at the course map or walking around the outside of the ring (or helping to buld the course :)) then you will be able to spot check areas but will have almost a full minute more in the walk through to concentrate on other things.In the walk through, you can emphasize the connection more, like on the exit of the#4 wrap into the layering, and on the backside slice (looking at landing rather than at him). Exaggerating those connections will make things easier in the run!
I thought the pace of your faster walk throughs was good, and pretty close to what it would be with him. To make it even easier, try to handle the plan with all the connections/verbals/timing etc faster than you think he needs, so when you run him you will feel like you have sooooo much time!
The runs looked good! His layering skills are getting really strong, so that was EASY PEASY 🙂 Good job executing the plan and making the connections!
And the backside to the last jump looked great too.>> First rep had a dropped bar at 7. Before I watched the video I “assumed” that I had probably given my backside verbal for 8 when he was over the bar at 7. But that wasn’t the case. I’m not sure but I in Rep 2 I kept a little stronger connection, planned to give the verbal back when he was committed to 7 and to adjust my direction of motion from 7 to 8. >>>
Yes – your timing was basically the same with the verbal on both reps. Maybe it was a shade early but I don’t think that is why the bar came down. Connection was good in both reps too.
I think two things were in play that contributed to the bar down:
as he was approaching 7 (:18-:20), you decelerated, then moved forward again – that change in motion probably caught his attention and was a little unclear.Compare to the 2nd rep (:50- :53) – no sudden decels or change in motion, so he had no questions.
Plus, on the first rep, he was jumping towards the wall, which I am sure he needed to process.
>> I also saw that I drove a bit straighter to 7 and maybe he wasn’t clear about the turn?
Yes – on the first run, you drove more to the entry wing of the backside then decelerated (watch your feet go into little steps there) so it is possible he read the position and decel as a turn cue and was trying to adjust. On the 2nd run, you moved through that section more like you did in the walk through, so the changes of motion were not as dramatic and you were further across the bar too.
>>Or maybe he just fixed it because he’d done it once?>>
Quite possibly 🙂 Dogs are pretty honest about continuing to read handling cues on the 2nd run, but he probably adjusted to seeing the wall in front of him on that line.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Well neither of these went as expected.>>
They are tricky little sequences for sure!!
Thanks for posting the walk through as well – it tells us what was going to happen, before it happened. Your walk throughs basically matched your first run, which is great!Looking at sequence 1:
On the walk through, you were doing the BC at 3 on the landing side of 3, like a regular blind – that will set up the dog to turn wide over 3 as if going back to 1. The type of blind that gets 4 here is closer to a German turn, with all the countermotion of you moving forward to get to the takeoff side of the jump as she is arriving at the takeoff side, so the timing of the blind is after you past the exit wing.
That would set you up in a great position to get closer to 4 and send ahead to 5 – the layering of 3 can work that way if you are running a parallel line to her or even getting ahead on the layering so you are past the jump.
On the runs:
You can send her to 2 sooner and move laterally to 3, which will both tighter up the turn at 2 and get you ahead for the countermotion needed at 3.You were moving forward while cuing the right on the first run (:13). On the other runs, you added lateral motion but it was as she was lifting off for 2 – ideally, as soon as she exits the wrap wing of 1, you cue 2 and move away towards 3.
Based on the BC position 3-4, she was wide there (at :48, based on your line, she looked at 1). So on the wrap exits of lines like this, you can totally add in the countermotion even if it is not a traditional german turn 🙂
She had a little trouble finding the 5 jump. When you were way ahead, it looks like she needed more connection all the way back to her (like at :19, :32, :46)/ At :51, you were very clear with the connection and she had a nice line to 5 there.
The angle of the 5- 6 jump requires something to get her to see the takeoff side of 6, so you can do a spin but doing it from so far ahead actually made it late, because you had to wait til she saw the jump before it could start. If you are way ahead, you can do a FC! Or, you can hang back more at 4 and do a spin or a threadle there, on the takeoff side o 5 as you move through the line.Pop out 2 –
>>Sequence two I kept getting unexpected turns with Sprite. Gemma was 2 for 2. It looks like decel might be causing her to turn away. Or, I’m just not clear. I cheated and did more than two as we had lots of issues and bars.>>
Yes, the 2 spots on the video here where she turned the other way both looked like RC cues. As you decelerated, your line of motion was to the center of the bar so when you started the spin, the motion and feet took you onto the RC line (towards her) so it looked like a RC cue. You can see it at :03 on the walk through (you did not do the spin on jump 4 in the walk through, and that was a good choice – a decel/send is probably all she needs there).
On the run – you executed 3 as you walked it, decelerated and rotated in towards the center of the bar, so she took it as a RC at :16. Good girl!
Note the difference at :31 and :51, where your decel into the spin took you to the outside wing of the jump (the wrap exit) and she never considered the RC . So as you practice decelerating into turns, think about the line of motion so you are always moving along the line you want her to see.
The same thing happened on jump 4 in the run at :34 – too much decel/rotation into the center of the bar, so she read it as a rear cross cue. When you kept your line of motion moving to the exit wing of the wrap, she read it perfectly as the slice exit you wanted at :42 and :53.
If you have video with Gemma, compare and see what your running lines were on jumps 3 and 4 with the spins, to see if you ran to the outer wing, or if she doesn’t really read the RC pressure like Sprite does.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am glad you had fun doing UKI!
He was very happy to slam the bottom of the board around 🙂 Yay! I think he needs a target at the bottom of the teeter – he knew it was *something* to do there, but was not entirely sure when the MM was in front of him. When you were in front of him, he was able to get into the 2o2o position better (targeting to you). So now the next step is to put some type of target out on front of the bottom of the teeter (like a plastic lid, nothing fancy needed) so he has a focal point to help him find position (and so you can move off to the side and start the bang game).
>>I’m thinking we may need to make a trip to Va for rear crosses because I am not getting it.>>
I don’t think you need a road trip…
The one big thing on the tunnel exits: connection! You were looking ahead at the jumps on all reps except the last one, and that was the source of confusion.When you are way ahead like at 1:16 on the Go rep, it doesn’t matter as much because he could see the line of motion and you passing the jumps/between the uprights.
Connection is key on the rear crosses, through, so without it he was confused. For example, at 1:26 and 1:45- you were looking ahead (no connection) so he came into you looking for connection (he was not looking at the toy, he was trying to look at your faec 🙂 )
At 3:06 you had great connection coming out of the tunnel, so he was looking straight towards jump. YAY! He didn’t get the RC there because you called him hard and cut in behind him too soon (he was only about halfway between the tunnel exit and jump there). You will definitely want to keep that connection! And add in moving forward to the center of the bar until he is past you and until you see him just about taking off… Then you can cut to the new side. If you are running to the center of the bar, he will turn correctly (if you are running to the post turn wing, he will turn the ‘wrong’ way when you try to cut in behind him).
He had a little trouble sending to the start wing on a couple of reps. Be sure to send to the first wing: step to it, don’t let your dog side leg hang back (like at 1:39). 2:14 was better – definitely clearer send cues!
There was something weird in the grass and he didn’t want to sit on it, so it is perfectly fine to just move the wing over or move his position 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Meanwhile back at the ranch… lol!>.
HA!!! So funny 🙂
She did really well with the mat versus tunnel (clever to use the mat!) and I like. The added element of twist versus spin was awesome!
She only had one question, and I don’t think it was discrimination-related. At :35, she was heading to the tunnel you sent her to and you started to throw the bumper before she got in… she saw the hand moving and came back to the bumper 🙂 So it is more of a commitment distraction moment! That is something you can build into the training: can see commit to the tunnel or mat while you swing your arm around, especially with the toy?
Two other ways you can build on this:
Using the handling you used here, add a wing wrap before the tunnel – mat setup. Send her around the wing, then to the tunnel or one of the mat cues.And you can work on doing it without motion: start her between you feet, facing forward to the setup. Hold her collar, start saying the verbal cue for whichever one you want – then when she has heard the verbal 3 or 4 times, let her go but you remain stationary… and see if she can do it just on a verbal. So hard! You can add in a little motion help after the release if she thinks it is too hard 🙂
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Great job on these, Annalise!
The first video had the 3 wings game – super!! These are REALLY hard sequences and you made them look great!
She is a little hand focused like you mentioned, so you can try the games with empty hands and see how she does (and reward with cookie throws or toy throws on the line :))
The circle wraps on the 2nd run were a little harder, maybe because she was hot and also there is more countermotion. For handling, you don’t need to help as much with your hands – you can send her to the wing, and hold still for a heartbeat til she turns her he’d t start the wrap… then move forward again (you can look at the ‘landing’ spot to help support commitment, but try not to step back at all).
Tight blinds session – one thing to add is walking the sequence to practice your verbals so you don’t have to think about them when you are running. Verbals are hard at first!!
The blinds are looking good! She is turning beautifully and your connection was strong: she never had a question about which side to be on, thanks to clear connection! Yay!!!Since it went so well, you can start the tight blinds sooner, really trusting her commitment to the wing. You were tending to start them as she arrived at the wing – ideally, you are finishing them as she arrives at the wing 🙂 So to get the earlier timing, you can get ahead of her more on the tunnel exit so you are closer to the wing – and when she is halfway between the tunnel and the wing, start the blind. It will challenge her commitment but will make sequences easier!
Nice job adding the wrap on the middle wing – the FC was easy in both directions and looked great! Nice running line to help set that up!
The spin is a harder handling move – you can think of it as a front cross then blind cross, so maybe it won’t feel so weird LOL!
That last spin looked GREAT! That last sequence looked super partially because you got her pumped up, and partially evade you nailed the handling (especially the spin).The double blinds went well too – these are hard but you were super quick with your 2nd blind and that really helped! You can be earlier on the first one, which will give you more time to do the 2nd one. And on the 2nd one, try to make a bigger eye contact on the new side with her rather than use your hand – the eye contact will get her to turn more quickly than the hand cue will.
Serps: these are going well! Great job with the verbals!!
One suggestion is to be closer to the jump so she reads the lines based on motion more easily. On the 2nd rep, when she took you down (ouch!!), you were far from the jumps so she figured it was the tunnel (at least she seemed apologetic about it LOL!)On the serps, your position can be so close to the jumps that you can reach out and touch the jump wing without having to stretch too much 🙂 And that way, your motion will help set the line to the 2nd jump.
And part of that motion is the upper body turned to the serp jump. Great job with your shoulders at 1:36, turning your upper body to face the jump! I think of it as turning my heart to face the center of the bar 🙂 You can also look back at the landing spot as you run past, that will help get the rotation. That rotation plus your line of motion (feet don’t rotate, only shoulders) will set up excellent serps and keep you way ahead of her :). If you turn your shoulders forward, it will look like a regular 180 and she will curl into you.
Great job on these!!!
TracyGood morning!
>>I’m also not doing a good job of marking before I through and that will probably help too. Agility goes so much faster than obedience and I forget words or say them late.>>
Yes – it is way too easy in agility to say “yes!” for every single reward LOL!! Plan your markers in advance of the run so they are clear during the run.
>>Will there be another class that starts shortly after this one with more handling skills to keep working on so we can get more work in before the ground freezes and the snow comes?>>
Yes! We will have a new set of classes starting in mid-September that will take us through the fall season. That should give you time to get Mazi back in top shape for the big events!
The tunnel exit video is looking strong!!
On the Go reps – more connection helps her go straight! And you can move the wing in closer and make it more visible, so she has something to lock onto when she exits instead of looking at you. And you can throw the toy early, so she sees it landing before she exits on the go lines 🙂
Left and right exits – you can give her an earlier verbal (you can mark out a spot on the ground that is 6 feet in front of the tunnel entry so you have a visual spot to give the verbal) and also show her matching body language. So when you say left or right, you are also turning tat direction. On most of the rep, you said the verbal but you were running straight and accelerating so she was going wide
For example, at :44 – :47 and also at :58-:59 you were cuing a right, the verbal came just as she was getting her head into the tunnel. The physical cue was straight and accelerating, same as the go motion, so she exited straight.Compare to 1:04 – 1:06, where you said your right verbal a full stride sooner (she was a solid body length tay from the tunnel) plus you had started the physical turn cue too – so she exited turned! Yay! That is much better timing and made a big difference in her turn 🙂
The 2 rear cross reps at the end looked great!! Those are HARD but you showed her the info before she got into the tunnel, so she was able to get the correct exit. SUPER!!!!
On all of the turns – you can take out the verbal on the wrap wing that starts each rep, so the verbal for the tunnel exit turn is really salient and doesn’t get lost in the previous verbal.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Sorry for the delay!! I had my reply typed in and I must have not ever clicked the submit button, because it was gone when I checked the Forum this morning 🙁 My lesson is: never look at puppy videos BEFORE coffee 🙂
All the videos looked really strong, so it was fun to watch them again 🙂
Race tracks – these are looking really good!! His commitment is really strong (as long as you don’t reach into your pocket for a cookie too early – he sees that and comes to you for the cookie).
You can definitely add more room between the barrels to get even more speed going (and more distance too, because he can stay out around the outside doing the barrels and you can handle from the middle!
Lateral lead out
Good job keeping the release separate from the motion! That helps make sure he understands that your movement is not the release. Be sure to stay connected as you walk away, that was his only question (he would stand up and move with you if you looked away before he was settled into his stay. You can also mix in throwing rewards back to him when you get to the led out position, so he doesn’t anticipate that your arrival in position means the release is coming 🙂His commitment to the barrel looked really good! In this session, you had the barrel closer to you and he was on an angled line. You can add more distance challenge to his commitment by having the barrel on a straight line in front of him… and you move further and further and further away from him and the barrel 🙂 That will give him a good foundation on the distance we will want on lead outs, and I believe he is ready for it!
He also did a great job with the countermotion! I could not see your eyes, but it looks like you were indeed looking back at the landing spot.
He commitment to the pool noodle bar really nicely – his only question was what to do once he got there 🙂
So you can help him out by having a treat in the other hand and dropping it on the exit side of the barrel. So when the right hand (at the beginning was indicating the bar, the left hand can have the treat or toy, and drop it around the barrel to help get him driving around it. And when you switched sides, the left arm indicates the bar and the right arm drops the treat.
He was more comfortable finishing the wrap on the second side here (when he was turning to his left – he was quite confident and zippy!!! So you can add your countermotion on that side first: send him back with your left hand, look at the landing spot, and as he is heading to the bar, you will sloowwwlllyyyyy 🙂 walk forward (still looking behind you). And drop the cookie at the other side of he wing to help solidify the commitment.
It might take a little longer for you to add the countermotion when he is on the other side, turning to his right – he probably needs one more session on that side without you moving and with the reinforcement dropped near the barrel, to help him finish coming around it. When he is zipping around it like he does on the left turn side? Add your movement.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, it is pretty normal for dogs to compartmentalize reinforcement like that! Usually with BCs we see toy play as being the favorite thing and food reinforcement being less of a priority for them 🙂 Most other breeds are the opposite: food is LIFE! And toy play needs to be built up to be brought into training – if the toy play is contingent on something, most puppies can cool off on the toy play 🙂 So, taking it easy during puppyhood and adolescence usually allows the toy play to blossom 🙂Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
These are 2 jump sets, starting with the send to the first jump – it went well!! You opened up your shoulder really well and that helped him see the jump! You can open it up to face the jump sooner, as soon as you are past the first wing of the serp jump (he will be landing from the first jump). You were opening up your shoulder to give the serp cue when he got past the first wing, which was a little late.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
These are the 2 jump serps – these were harder for sure!
You can angle the jumps so he can see the line more clearly (angle the bars so they are facing him) – he had a few too many errors here, and we don’t want him to get frustrated.As you move through the serps, remember to keep your shoulders open to him (facing the bar) and move in a straight line parallel to the jump bar. No need to try to use your arm or shoulders to show him the in and out, just keeping your shoulders frozen in that ‘strike a pose’ position is all he needs 🙂 When you turned your shoulders forward, he correctly went to he backside of the 2nd jump. So just keep your upper body open to him and move parallel to the bars of the jumps, closer to what you did at :22.
And if something goes wrong, you can reset him with a cookie so he doesn’t get frustrated. There was a string of errors from 2:13 to 2:54 that were handler errors and he didn’t get rewarded, so the reset cookies will really help!
Tracy
Hi!
These are the one jump serps:
He is doing well with these too. It helps a lot when you keep your shoulders open to the jump bar, as if the center of your chest is pointing to the center of the bar. When you did that, he got it right every time! When you pointed your shoulders forward (not at the jump), he didn’t take the jump. If he misses due to handler error like pointing shoulders forward, you can reward him as you reset him so he doesn’t get confused because he is reading you correctly.Also, he is ready for you to have a reward target on the ground, so you can have your shoulders open to the bar and so he doesn’t watch your hands/shoulders as you throw the treat. An empty bowl would be perfect, because it is a good target and not too distracting 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
He is getting a lot better about reading the RC cues here! Because he is tall (taller than the tunnel :)) you can spread the wings out and have them on an easier line, so he has an easier time ducking into the tunnel – especially when he is turning right on the exit (definitely the harder side for him!)And as you are driving him to the tunnel, you can totally say ‘tunnel’ a bunch of times, but resist the temptation to say “go!” because the exit is a turn not a go 🙂
Nice work 🙂
TracyHi!
This was the tunnel exits with the rear crosses:
you started with good connection at :41 to get proper side of wing after right turn – super!!Looking at the Rear crosses – at first you were doing them on the flat after exit, which was harder to show 🙂
Then the wing was on too hard of an angle so he was not sure about driving ahead to the tunnel, plus he has a harder time driving ahead to his right.
But when you switched sides, he got it because that wing allowed him the room to drive ahead of you there and also, he finds I easier turning to his left. Yay!So definitely keep the wings at a softer angle so he can get more speed up driving into the tunnel, and that will give you more time to show the rear crosses too.
Nice work!
Tracy
