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Hi! Great job in the live classes this week!!
>> I was working on lead out game last night, not videoing, but she’s kept going around the 1st jump, when I lead out the 2 jumps.
Was this when you were moving into the blind? Or the lead out push? You can place the toy on the ground in between 1 and 2, lead out and release her. That might help! Also, be close to the wings of the jump to help support the line. Try to grab some video, that will give me a better idea of what is happening.
>> I don’t know if just tired also.
This is a possibility 🙂 She had a busy week!
>> Do I just need to work the one jump and the strike a pose? I did just set her in front of the jump for success like in the seminar.
You can also back chain it – put her in a stay in front of jump 2 (if it is the 2 jump lead out game) – then gradually put her further and further away to and closer to jump 1.
Let me know if I am understanding it correctly 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Thanks for the video!
This was a good walk through – you can see the parts you are really comfy! And the parts you were looking forward too soon (the jump after the weaves) and then the section where your brain was telling you that you were not quite ready to run it (the ending line, with the threadle line (12-13-14) where you got quiet and slowed down, then spit out the wrong verbal :)) When that happens, you can isolate that section and walk it a few times so that your brain and body feel more ready.
The opening of the run matched the walk through! Keep yelling the tunnel cue when you are layering – she went and did it independently, but she was not 1000% convinced because she is still learning to find those tunnels and layering lines at the bigger distances.
Nice job driving to the weave entry!
The jump after the weaves had a little question (1:12) – the cross, you were moving away from the jump while rotated so she was not sure if she should take the jump or follow your motion. On that type of wrap, you can hold position there til she passes you to the jump. You held position perfectly there with Mae and she was lovely!
You got through the threadle line (12-13-14-15) but you both had to slow it down to think and she was not sure if it was a slice or wrap on 13 (I think you walked a wrap but ran a slice? It was harder to know which you wanted but that is great – you continued on as if it was all perfect :)) With Maewyn, I think you wanted the threadle wrap – it looked like what you were handling and it is what she did, she just didn’t quite have the skill for it yet (not something we really taught her generation LOL!)
Great job here! The next step to the walk through element is to find those spots where your brain slows down to sort it out, and isolate them and re-walk a few times til you can navigate that section as smoothly as the rest.
Have a great weekend!
TracyGood morning!
I think the main thing that might be happening here is that she is too hot to want to run fast or go into that long dark tunnel – she was already breathing hard before the first rep, and the value of the reinforcement available was not high enough to offset the heat. Bear in mind that she is really young and has never experienced this level of heat and humidity! It might not seem hot to us humans but she sure thinks it is hot. The heat is a tremendous distraction and we need to approach things carefully to build her up in the heat.
So in general: use incredibly short bursts of training and shorten the tunnel so it has more ventilation inside it (having it straighter with less curve will help) and she can see the light through it.
And, to help get rid of the tunnel refusals – use the highest possible reinforcement that you have available for her, and reward the tunnel itself a whole lot – she was refusing it when you were trying to rotate to the next line, or when you reached for the toy – both of which indicate low value of the tunnel in the presence of the environmental challenge (heat!)
And do one or two reps… them be finished. If she is breathing hard, tongue hanging out… nothing good will come of doing more with a puppy. A fit adult dog? Yes, maybe they can do more. But puppies are not very heat tolerant so watch her length of tongue. If she is breathing hard, you might want to do a 30 second session then be finished.
And when she is feeling good and driving harder, you will be able to focus on adding more connection on the blinds (like at 1:27 and 1:40) – keep working that arm back, eye contact as you exit the blind so she knows where to be. Part of her question there was also “I am really hot can we just stop”, based on her expression and tongue length.
Nice work! Stay cool :) Tracy
Good morning!
The tunnel double whammy warm up looked great! Is ‘hey hey’ your tight turn tunnel cue?
One wing: super! You did a GREAT job of turning your feet towards the line you wanted and NOT rotating towards her. Your running line and connection all looked lovely – click/treat for you, I know you’ve been working hard on it!
1:09 a little late, looks like you started it after she was rounding the wing – she looked at you and decided there was not enough info to change the line. So, start it before she arrives at the wing like you did at 1:19, that was great
The wrap cue on the wing followed by the threadle cue (like at 1:32 for example) went REALLY well!
Was the left/right verbal for the wing after the tunnel, or for the tunnel exit?
1:46 you said the left before she entered the tunnel then got quiet. I think you wanted them to apply to the wing, so you can delay them til she exits, and repeat them on the way to the wing. If you say the left or right before she enters the tunnel, she should turn on the tunnel exit.
The full sequence looked great! I am doing a big happy dance about how well she was able to do the big GO lines and also turn progressively tighter and tighter when asked. Super!!!! You can use your verbals more, repeat them each a few times to support the processing. She’s got a lot to do out there so you don’t want to say it once then get quiet, because then she has fewer cues to rely on to get it right. On the tunnel threadles, you can move up the timing so she is hearing the wrap cue as she exits the first wing then the tunnel threadle cue before she arrives at the 2nd wing.
Great job here! Let me know how the lead outs go!
TracyGood morning!
Her stay is looking really strong! Yay! Keep rewarding it 🙂 But also, lead out with connection and more energy, jog to position, make it all happen more quickly – I suggest this because walking away at a normal walking pace and without connection takes a while and she starts to look around. So, as soon as she is in the stay, jog to the lead out with connection and I bet she watches a lot more.
The crosses in video 1 look good – it is hard to tell the timing on the first few reps of crosses because she is on landing side of 1, but when she moved to takeoff side of 1 we could see the timing: Pretty strong so far!
The BC can come sooner by a step but more importantly… you can run more. That will help the timing feel more natural like it does mid-course.
The Throwback looked good as far as position and timing – when you exit to reward, maintain the rotation rather than turn back towards the jump.
The Lead out push (aka serp as you mentioned :)) needs 2 small tweaks: more upper body rotation so your upper body is facing the bar of 2 for a long time, basically til she lands from 2. Also, lead out to it and stand still in position, make connection so she sees the line – then release. At 1:50, you were moving into it and your shoulder/arm were perpendicular to the bar, so she didn’t read it. Ideally, you stand till on the release for these and your shoulder/arm/chest are parallel to the bar. The 2nd rep was better because you released on the other side of the jump (outer wing) but that doesn’t show the turn at 2.
2nd video:
She is reading the blind well here! It can definitely be sooner on this side – when you see she has landed from 1, you can start it (and you can be running on the now too :))
Throwback – this is also looking strong! On this rep, you rotated with your opposite arm across your body, which you don’t need to do on these – the same arm that draws her to you can also ‘throw’ her back. It would be left arm here for that. O the other side you used only the right arm and it looked great!
Lead out pushes – She had the same questions as the first video in terms of standing still and opening up your shoulder to be parallel to the bar and not perpendicular. So lead out to the center of the bar, assume that really rotated ‘strike a pose’ upper body with your feet pointing towards 3, and release: stand still on the release til she lands form 1 and is coming towards 2, then you can start to move towards 3. That way you can get to good position (center of the bar here) and get the commitment and the turn.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Interesting insight about the service dog class! It is amazing how we use unconscious physical cues that are obvious on the video but we just don’t feel in the moment.
The session went well! Some timing tweaks will clear up her questions:
>>The BC – maybe I was too early – she was skipping jump 2 consistently.
The first one was early for sure, you were doing the blind as she landed from 1 which is a bit to early. The 2nd one was better timing but she still came off 2, here is why I think it was happening:
The first two reps had too much standing still on the lead out. That puts her into too much handler focus so she doesn’t look at the line. Ideally, you would lead out and be moving the whole time (rather than the stop and release) as the motion will set the line. You would then be running the whole time, release her when you were maybe halfway between 1 and 2 (or just before arriving at 2) then when she has landed, use your jump cue and start the blind (no standing still at any point). The third rep looked like you were moving in more and she got it.
The throwbacks are going well too! You had too much movement in the 1st two reps as she was coming into it at :14 (moving backwards when she landed from 2 and backwards motion is same as forward motion in many ways, so she was surprised.
On the 2nd rep, you were forward til she took off for 2 then moved back into the throwback as she was over the bar – she was surprised and dropped the bar.Then you got it really nicely at :27 and the rep after it – stopped moving sooner and started drawing your arm back before she took off for 2, so she read the line, the turn, and kept the bar up. Nice!!! And I think your hand position on the takeoff side helped her a lot.
The traditional lead out FCs went well – she pulled the bar on the last rep because the FC started as she wa sin the air over 2. So, for timing purposes, be earlier (see hr land from 1 then start it) and also you can isolate a 16” jump and do lots of moves and arm waving while she is in the air, rewarding for not touching the bar. When you are doing easy grids, add in lots of motion and arm movement too, to help her multi-task reading potentially late info and keeping the bars up.
>>I swear my other dogs never learned those skills this young.
Glad you had fun watching it! They did great, and it seemed to be an easy transfer for them based on the baby dog games they’ve been playing.
Nice work here! Have a great weekend!
TracyHi!
>>I have to admit, I was WAY more prepared for these runs and it showed!!!>>
Totally agree! This was your best run so far on these crazy courses!!! Super!
On the Artie video:
Ha! I also cue a stay with my invisible dog LOL!
You were aggressive on your walkthrough! Yeah!! It looked and sounded as if you were actually running her.
You were super connected and didn’t really have to think about what to do next. Lots of clear verbals too and great running lines.
Nice run, very few head checks from her! She was really driving the lines: your confidence in the handling and your connection definitely helped! The run looked great – there were only 2 bloopers which planning errors, not errors of execution.The 2 spots that were oopsie moments where:
The jump before weave – you were connected and moving through, but she went off course instead of the wrap. From a handling perspective stay there for longer for now, just an extra heartbeat to make a stronger connection more like what you did on the 2nd rep.
And, delay the timing of your weave cue til she has landed and made the turn. Since “weave” is a forward cue (most obstacle names mean to drive forward),you said weave as she was over the bar so she continued to drive forward and didn’t turn. You walked it that way, so it was more of a learning moment about how to get that turn and when to give her the next info. The 2nd rep looked lovely!
The closing line after the weaves had the only other little oopsie moment:
you did a blind in the walk but a FC during the run on the threadle after the weave (maybe changed plans after seeing Nelci?) The FC looked great! But it changed your timing and position for the BC. On the walk through at :40, the BC was a little late based on where you were looking (which indicates where the dog would be) so when adding the rotation of the FC, you didn’t get it at 1;32. Leaving sooner and starting the BC sooner totally help you get it on the last rep. YAY!
Super nice ending line!>.She also benefitted from me know where we were supposed to go – go figure!>>
Ha! That is why I obsess on the walk through 🙂 Her video is marked private – can you reset to unlisted?
Great job here and have fun at the trial (walk the courses like you did here!!)
Tracy
Hi!
This is going well!On the blind cross opening, she read the blind really well! Remember to keep connection and drive to the tunnel entry til you know she is going to it – on the first rep, you pulled awya a bit too soon and you were looking & pointing forward so she almost didn’t take the tunnel. The rest of the reps looked really good!
When you drive forward on the big fast line 5-6, try to have the toy already in your hand. She sees you reaching for it as she exits the tunnel and starts looking at you, rather than driving forward 🙂
Yes, the throw backs are harder! You can lead out to jump 3, so you don’t have to run backwards – that makes it a lot easier. And when coming into it from jump 1 without a lead out, you can either do the blind and then immediately decel into the FC throwback, or you don’t need the blind and just rotate towards her so you right arm pulls her in and then throws her back – that might be easier than the BC to the decel and FC – fewer handling moves 🙂
Great job here! Let know what you think!
TracyHi! Glad the video made it look like something fun to try 🙂 The one jump serps look great! Just be sure to watch his stay and reward for holding position even as you arm moves… he had a little butt elevator happening when your arm moved while you were moving and before the release 🙂
2 jump serping looked really good too – he did have one little blooper, but I don’t think that was anything more than a blooper: the rest of the reps looked great. Nice job with your reward placements here, you really got the toy to the right spot on the line to affirm his choices to serp!!!
I think you can jump into the serp sequences with the tunnel. Angle the serp jumps a little so he can find the line easily because you will have a lot of motion on those. And maintain that serp handling you had here – the upper body/arm/connection looked great as you ran up the line!
Great job 🙂 Let me know how the sequence goes!!
TracyThank you for the CPE rules – some are like UKI rules, some are like AKC rules (like the toy must stay in the hand) and some are a bit eye-roll-inducing, such as this:
>>DO NOT show it to them or play with them while in the chute area, doing so can distract the dog in the ring.>>
LOL! Does this mean that toys or food are not allowed near the ring at all, for anyone, at CPE anymore?
Also a bummer that they are so restrictive about what you can train during your time.
And yes, we will get you happy with the blinds!! I couldn’t get the FB link to open but we can definitely work on more confidence, timing and connection on the blinds.
T
Good morning!
I think your walk throughs get better and better each time, you are more intense each time and the walk through matches the run more too! These were strong and the errors on course were errors in planning/choices, not walk through or execution errors (you executed the your plan pretty much according to the walk through :))
So yes – keep intensifying the walk through, keep doing the verbals and the connections an go as fast as you can, even if you are the only one in the walk through doing it 🙂 It is making a difference! And practicing the reverse walk through will help too 🙂
A few thoughts on the 2 standard courses:
I think in general, on both, giant chunks of the courses were run exactly as you walked them and they looked great! Even though it was crazy hot, he as picking up speed because the information was very clear on both.
You might not need as many corre cues – on the first course, for example, from the frame to the tunnel: you said frame corre tunnel in the walk through, but you can probably practice just saying “frame tunnel” (that is what you did during the run). And since I am obsessed with getting the forward cues to be really powerful and loud, try to emphasize the CO of the corre and shout that part – I think the corre verbal gets softer when your mouth/tongue is preparing to roll the r in the coRRe part. So if you emphasize the CO (it will almost be CAW) you can still get the R sound rolled but it will also be a stronger forward verbal. Let me know if that makes sense – it is hard to write but easier to say haha
He had a little blooper on the bar at :53 – he just didn’t quite get his power on the hind end there. I didn’t see anything else that caused it.
On the 12-13 line on course 1 (:58), remember to work each line with connection and verbal. You got quiet on the first run (and in he walk through) so even though you were connected, you were further ahead and he didn’t read the turn that well and thought about the 16 jump. You were MUCH clearer at 1:36 by talking more and staying a bit closer to really show the line. NICE!!
He had an off course to the 9 jump after 15 on the run, twice. This is what was more of a planning error than a walk through or handling error. You planned the threadle to the blind, then you ran it just like you walked it (walk through at :27 versus the run at 1:10 and 1:46). The oopsie here was that the blind was probably not as good of a choice as the FC: in this spot, the blind turns yur feet and shoulders directly to the off course jump before showing him the correct line, so to make the blind work you would have to be right at the exit wing of 15 to catch him – but that would make it really hard to get up the next line.
I think a FC is a better choice there over the BC there because the FC shows the new line to 16 sooner than the BC without ever showing the off course 9 jump. He got it immediately at 2:01 when you did the FC 🙂 so in your walk through, check your blind cross choices to be sure that they are the right choice or if a FC would be better (the blind is almost always better, but th FC might work better on some of the tighter turns.
And coming out of the FC (nice send and go!), the ending line was really good when you got the blind in on the last line.
Course 2 walk through also looked really good and most of it ran perfectly, according the the plan you walked. The spot where I got confused in the walk through and it also went wrong in the run was the 12-13-14-15 line. Like the BC at 15 in course 1, I think the oopsie here was the handling & line choice not the execution.
The 13 jump should be a threadle wrap, not a slice because the wrap sets the easier line and is easier to hanle too! To get him to do the threadle wrap, you can do the FC like you did11-12 after the dog walk, then keep him on your right and do the threadle wrap so he turns to his right on 13 – that sets a great line to 14-15.
The threadle slice is a much harder line for you both and you did a lot of slowing down and thigh tapping in the walk through then on the run, you were running backwards trying to manage that line and he was not sure what to do. The threadle wrap line ends up easier and faster because you can cue it with fewer handling moves, leave sooner to work the 15-16 line, and the line there has a nice curve to 15. Doing the slice on 13 causes you to have to handle the turn from 13-14, then handle 14 -15 more. That is a lot more handling work for what ends up being a slower line.
But that is focusing on one small part of the course when the rest of it was well-planned and beautifully run!!!! So in your future planning, be sure to look for the FC maybe being a better choce than a BC on a tight wrap (especially is an off course is on his line) and look for the threadle wrap potentially being a better choice than the threadle slice – those threadle wraps are very popular right now.
Great job! Keep me posted about how your trial goes this weekend!
TracyHi!
>>How do you communicate a rear without actually crossing behind them then? I have a ‘left’ cue (not that it worked all that well at the time), but how do they know to turn if you can’t put pressure on the line? Or do I just have a very narrow line upon which to put pressure?
It is a little more complex but basically we fade the pressure line to a very narrow line or no line, and use upper body and verbal cues. This might explain it a bit:
Keep me posted about the referral! I wish you lived closer, I would get you in with my rehab vet who wouldn’t need a referral.
T
Good morning!
>>For the Warm ups Mookie could be sent from position 3 for the DW line at entrance of the tunnel as I expected. Seq 1 Again Mookie did it from position 3 DW line. For Seq 2 Mookie struggled turing to his left out of the tunnel. We have been working on his tunnel exit verbal cues and he seemed to be getting it but could not do this for seq 2.
Great news about the distance work in the first sequences! That tunnel exit in the 2nd sequence is hard – they have to turn away from the line and we have to get the timing of the cues in the right spot too. If he really has been questions, yu can place his toy on the correct line after the tunnel, just to help give him the idea that it is perfectly fine to turn away from the momma like that.
>> I found that if I held an arm up in the direction I wanted him to turn as he entered the tunnel, he turned in the correct direction coming out.
He saw my arm from the back of his head 🙂Awesome!! And yes, they have really good peripheral vision so that will see the arm and shoulder movements.
>>For Seq 3 Mookie had no trouble and could do a German Turn at jump 7 to 8 as well.
Perfect – I threw that German in there to add a little challenge for the more experienced dogs.
>>Buddy my lower drive dog could only send from position 1 of the DW line at the exit of the tunnel. He did Seq 1 at position one as well.
To help build up the drive on the lines, throw lots of rewards far far away from you 🙂
>>He did a nice seq 2 with a blindcross to the tunnel and could not turn correctly with a rear cross.
Many of the dogs had some trouble with that too – we placed their rewards on the correct turn line at the exit of the tunnel and then showed them the rear cross. That really helped!
>> For Seq 3 Buddy needed a step in send to jump 4 and then he completed the sequence nicely. He is really not a verbal dog and really relies on my body position and cues. In his defense it was hot and he slows down in the heat.
Only a step? That is great! It is a hard line. And the more practice he has with the concepts, the more he will be able to execute them independently.
Sounds like the youngster is doing well too! And I am glad the hubby’s recovery is going smoothly too. YAY!!!! Have fun at the Freestyle event, it sounds like a blast!! Thanks for the update 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>I think I get hung up on the handling and don’t pay enough attention to my position relative to hers and where I need to be so she is able to execute the course the way it’s numbered.
That is part of the walk through progression: first figure out what handling you want to do – then practice the where and the when and the how of it 🙂 So in that case: a blind was a great idea! Next step: what line do you need to run on? When does she need to see the blind and the line? And how are you going to get there? That will make things even smoother 🙂
>>She doesn’t care about no stinkin’ numbers, just what makes sense. 😉
Correct! She doesn’t have time look for numbers LOL!!! Going too fast for that!
Tracy
