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Good morning!
He is reading the beginning of the BC cue (shoulder turn) really well, plus you are decelerating into it, so he knows it is a tight turn too! Super! His commitment is looking great… so you can start the blinds earlier 🙂 You were starting them when he was about halfway to the wing, which meant the blind was not-quite-finished when he exited the wing. So you can start it one stride sooner: when he exits the tunnel, cue the wing while staying on the same line you ran here. As he looks at the wing (one stride past the tunnel exit) keep moving forward to the wing but also start the side change so the blind is fully finished before he exits the wing.
That is allowing you to set up the FC and spin on the middle wing, which looked great – just be sure that you don’t block his line a you move forward to that wing. That was happening a little on the 2nd side like at :42 and :54 so he was going wide to get around you. Compare to the other side, like at :15, where you cleared the line and let him get past you to the wing – super tight turns!
On the 2nd video:
>I think this is like a “flip” or a “Japanese” >
If my memory is correct, the OMD definition for a Japanese (and maybe flip too) is a BC on the takeoff side of a backside – so the 2nd blind here fit that definition. Maybe the flip was 2 BCs in a row but that would require a lot more coffee to remember hahahaha
But yes – they are really difficult because of the quickness of the connection change.
There are 2 tricks to getting the 2 blinds in a row.
The first is to begin the first blind as easy as possible, so it is finished before he exits the wing.
The other trick is to use connection but not arms – it just takes too long to extend and retract our arms, and they block the connection. I think of my arms as ‘chicken wings’ for this skill, which are bent at the elbow and tucked into my ribs 🙂 That way I can make both connection changes pretty quickly.Nice timing at :15 – that is what I was suggesting for ideal timing! Yay! You were finished with the blind before he exited the first wing, but your arms were extended which blocked the connection. On this rep, he never quite made the side change on the first side (unclear connection) so he stayed out on the right side and got that line nicely. The rep after that (:21) had early enough timing and clearer connection changes, so he got that quite nicely!
On the other side – the timing of starting the first blind was a bit late (he was one stride from the wing) which made the 2nd blind really late. So starting those cues as he exits the tunnel will make that a lot easier.
And try it with your arms in tight – you will see how much quicker you can get the blinds going!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning! The circle wraps went really well – I think they are one of the harder handling moves for human and dog!
The best reps were when you added countermotion, like at :21-:23, 1:04, 1:10 by getting right behind his tail and moving forward, supporting with a bit of connection by not hanging out near the wing at all. Also, those were all right turns.
When you added the left turn at 1:19 and tried to do the same once countermotion, he had a harder time (1:19 and the rep after it). You helped by staying near the wing longer (on the landing side, like at 1:31). You can also get the countermotion going on the left turns by moving through the line more slowly and looking back behind you (looking and pointing to the landing spot) then throwing the reward back behind yo uno the other side of the wing.
On the FC and spin wraps:
Great job decelerating sooner and giving him the wrap cues sooner! The info was flowing as he exited the tunnel so you can see there is more ‘snap’ around the wing on both the FC and the spins, because he was driving through the tight turn (with the info on where to go next already visible).Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
>Question about the target. Do I go to a nose target or would a foot target be better? >
I vote for a head bob! A head bob towards the target accomplishes 3 things:
– it helps get the weight shift we want, for being able to get speed into position, then stop easily, and for exploding out of the position. If their heads are up looking at us and there is a foot target only, they will slow down because it is harder to go fast while looking upwards.
– it adds something to look at as a strong focal point that is NOT us humans. The more they look at us, the more they turn or slow down.
– it adds an extra layer of criteria. As you know, criteria often deteriorates through a trial career, so the more we can add, the better! So having both the foot position and the head bob in play will help the behavior hold up a lot better.>She is in good position now ready to run forward and I think a foot target would be easier to teach her. >
Not necessarily! The head bob is easy, especially if you reward by putting the treat right on the target. And a bit of weight shift will definitely give her the power to explode when you tell her where to go next.
>Thinking something rectangular that both feet could easily hit…she is small enough an index card might work.>
A index card will probably have her front feet too close together, so if you do a foot target it probably needs to be slightly wider than her shoulders.
>I see a foot target as useful for the teeter maybe too.< yes, it will help her drive to the end. For my small dogs, I use a foot target on the teeter, which also has an additional behavior of either a head bob or a scratch at the target. I have video of the target scratching somewhere, but can't find it. I will keep looking! Keep me posted! Tracy
Good morning!
Lift’s class work looked great – she was pumped up and flying!The backside wrap looked strong, nice job adding the training to the context she will see it in!
The weave layering is also going really well – finding the tunnel as the last obstacle was the hard part. You can load the instructors with the reward to throw, so it lands at the tunnel entry as she is looking at it from the jump. I have also placed the reward right in front of the tunnel entry sometimes, to surprise the dog with the “hey there is my prize” to keep them looking forward 🙂 And sometimes I place it right inside the tunnel entry 🙂
>. In his first turn, he didnt’ drive well to the end of the teeter so in the 2nd turn, I surprised him with part of a meatball for his first teeter which was so fast that his back end slid off and he had to hop it back onto the board – but it was a great effort. We did the line into the teeter again right after that and he was fast and stuck the landing – more meatball!
>Ha! Surprise rewards like that are VERY motivating (dopamine, anticipation, etc) so definitely keep those surprises coming! Sounds like he did great!
>I’m not sure that I trained a 2 hand arm cue for it, but I’m betting both dogs will figure it out.>
They have both seen the 2-hand move in the MaxPup 1 and 2 classes… but that was a while ago LOL so you can revisit it on the flat for a couple of reps, then I am sure they will remember it.
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>my proudest achievement is having great running contacts. But I was *meticulous* and did huge amounts of groundwork and prevented mistakes SO HARD.>
Yes! They looked great! And meticulous is the way to go with running dog walks. It totally helps a really hard behavior.
> I don’t know if you remember a famous competitor Ali Roukas-Canova but she had a running contacts video>
Yes! I was living in NJ & NY when she was doing agility, so saw her a lot. She was one of the first Americans with great running dog walks!
>I never needed the regulators before because Emmett in particular you could absolutely see how he’d regulate his own stride to get feet in the yellow specifically between the last two slats.>
Yes – he did a great job setting himself up to his the contact zone! One thing I notice in the videos is that Emmett had really good ‘reach’ on the contact down ramp – extending his front end to then carry his hind end through. That is where a stride regulator can help Reacher to get more reach 🙂 He might be structurally different than Emmett, and also still learning to use his body. The regulators promote a jumping action where his hind end will push him and then to help land and move forward in extension, we will see more front end reach forward. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee 🙂
Interesting weave experiment! It would not surprise me if the bases were the root of his question – that is something that a lot of small dogs ask questions about.
>But what do you think? Any other experiments I should try? Or how to resolve? >
To get the weave skill to transfer everywhere, I think the best thing to do is a bit of a weave tour: getting him on 6 poles with as many different-looking bases as possible. Painting the bases at home will still be self-limiting because they will look only one way without really transferring to all the different bases. I suggest 6 poles because it is easier on the brain & body while getting the reward in faster.
So trying to get him seeing multiple types of bases in different places is one option!
And also, you can see if folks can lend you a set of 6 different looking bases/poles for a few days here and there. You might notice that my weave poles look pretty awful in the demo videos – it is because I mix and match 3 different sets of bases (2x2s, channels, competition base) with probably 20 different looking weave poles LOL! It does not look pretty but certainly helps transfer the skill to all sorts of different types of weaves.
>For example, he’s never seen guide wires, but should I try that?>
I have personally never used guide wires, because every time I add a training aid, it is another thing to fade out 🙂 And they are hard to fade: most folks continually add them back in because they lose some of the behavior. He might not like them either, as they are very body-restrictive and I am not sure how he will feel about that. Plus, if his question is about the visual of the bases, I don’t know if adding *more* visuals will help him process that or if it will make it harder to process.
So rather than add more stuff, you can revisit the behavior on different bases and you can help him by opening them up a bit (2x2s or channels). That is where borrowing the weaves can help!
And, rather than painting your weave at home (so you don’t have t keep re-painting them for indoor/outdoor LOL), you can focus the processing on the weave behavior by adding mall distractions into the environment – a neutral thing off to the side, for example, just something different in the environment for his brain to process through and focus on the weaves.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
These are good skills to work before heading into a UKI weekend!Finding the jump:
On the first rep she thought it was crazy LOL!!! But you helped her out with good toy throw and she started to figure it out, and was able to find the jump even when you added distance. You can repeat the verbals a lot moreYou can repeat the verbals even more, really blanketing the line with GO GO GO or GO JUMP GO JUMP GO JUMP a zillion times 🙂 The big loud verbal can really help propel her to the line.
>She definitely struggles on soft side. How do I work this out? Keep the wing up and phase it out?>
Most dogs find the soft side entries to be really hard (which is why I left the wing aid in the demo). Question, separately from the layering:
How good is she with the soft side weave entry without the distance challenge? That might be the place to start, just working that element. Then when adding distance and dog walk layering back into it:
Over the course of a bunch of sessions, the bigger wing of the jump can be faded to a wingless upright then faded to maybe a stick-in-the-ground pole then a little flag or something attached to pole 2.
The balance reps to turn on the tunnel exit looked good! And the hard-side weave entry looked great! Not hard at all for her!!!
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>Contrast straight, right and wrap out of the tunnel>
This went really well!
On the ‘go straight’ rep, it looks like he exited straight and easily found the jump.
On the weave rep: It looks like he was turning pretty tightly on the tunnel exit on the 2nd rep! It was hard to hear the cue timing before he entered because I think it was Casper there, singing the song of his people LOL!
You can start your weave cue before he exits the tunnel – you can see when he exited at :13 he had a tiny hesitation. He had turned but had not yet gotten the weave cue, so was waiting for more info.
He was totally surprised by the wrap exit! He probably just needs to see that exit more often: You did have good timing on the dig tunnel exit cues with the verbal, decel, and brake hand! You can keep your feet rotated, rather than turn them back to the tunnel, to really emphasize the turn cues.
The other place to play with is the turn at jump 1. Using the dog-side arm to send, he was wide on all 3 reps, facing the weaves then turning on landing after seeing whee you were heading. So it would be interesting to see if using 1 arm (dog-side arm) would be useful to cue the slice line (like towards the weaves) and if using 2 arm on the release will cue the wrap collection before takeoff.
>B) Weave with me running with toy in hand.>
Enzo said it was easy peasy!! Note how he turned to his right on the weave exit, away from the line you ran. That was likely because you were facing the RC line so peripherally he saw the RC pressure.
So a fun challenge for both dogs, using this weave challenge where they run in the opposite direction: cue the difference between when you want them to turn towards the line you ran (left turn here) versus turning away like Enzo did here (right turn line) .
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>She hit entrances but did not weave the rest. I rewarded (treat for me).>
Yes, she made a fabulous effort and I think it was worth rewarding. Since these are 2x2s, you can keep the entry angled tight like it was here and open up the 2nd base to make continuing easier.
Even on the rep without the tunnel, weaving at a distance was hard for footwork (she was scrambling her feet a little) so I think you can get more accuracy of staying in the weaves by opening up the 2nd base to make the exit easier.
>I screwed up the second one and only said weave once duh.>
It is really good insight that the verbals support the line so much for her! Good to know!!!
The other thing you can do is move the weaves a little closer so there is still a challenge but also it is not quite as far – that can make it easier to get accuracy along with the speed as you tighten up the poles.
>. She enjoys me tugging on the ball so I tug her back to start. Killing my back…>
My dogs are also ball-fanatics 🙂 so I have done some arts & crafts and attached long strings to the balls – so it is still the ball they love, but I can tug on it without killing my back as much as(or risking getting my fingers caught in their chomps LOL) I can send a photo if you like – it is an old flyball trick 🙂
Looking at the video:
On thing you can teach her is what I call “Anticipation Station” which is basically waiting on the plank until you say the magic target word. That allows you to move to different positions before you ask for the targeting (rather than start next to her) and also builds up a lot of excitement for driving into position. Here is an description/demo:And since she is watching you so much, you can use a small target to help direct her focus to the correct spot.
Here is a combination of anticipation station and targeting on a plank, with me moving to all sorts of different positions :
The dog here was starting near the end of the board, but you can move further and further up the board to add more challenge too.
>She is not comfortable going ahead of me into position so I am moving my positions to help with that. I think next session I will use mm to help her get out there with me behind her.>
The target is very helpful for that! And I find it easier to use than a MM or toy placed out ahead, for 2 reasons:
We get a better weight shift into the stop with the lower targetIt is much, much easier to fade out than a MM 🙂 With the target, I fade it pretty quickly by putting grass over it so it eventually is fully covered. Or, using a fancy target 😂🤣 like a post it note or index card, you can rip it into smaller and small pieces to fade it out pretty quickly.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
>yep, all white fuzz must be investigated because it might “taste like chicken”>
Yes! At first I was like, ‘is he stress sniffing?’ Then I realized he was thinking it was a treat LOL!!
>Venture often runs past the frame. I’m hoping you can see what/why he didn’t take it when I ask him to “pounce”.>
I think it is a hard approach at speed and he doesn’t quite know how to organize to hit it without slamming, so he avoids it. When he did get it at speed, you can see he kind of lands on the up contact which might have a lot of slam on his body.
So since this is something that happens frequently enough, you can build up both the value for getting on the frame and the understanding of how to organize by lowering it so it is easier to get on. It looks full height here, so maybe lower it to be 4 feet tall for a bit and see how he feels about that? That can get a nice history going of getting on the frame in flow, then you can add more and more height gradually.
You can also add stride regulators before the a-frame or a hoop to help him organize, but those are really hard to fade out while keeping good results so I want to see if lowering the a-frame then gradually raising it back up will help.
Looking at the class video:
Great hustle on that first line to the blind! He was flying! Your instructor was really spot on with the suggestion to connect to get it.
Looking at the bars:
Bar 1 (:08) – that was because he thought he was supposed to be on your right but then you stopped and he was not sure where to be.
Bar 2 (1:18) – this was after you got the blind (yay!) As you finished the blind, you decelerated so he started to collect. Then you accelerated so he tried to adjust and ended up hitting the bar.
Bar 3 (1:31) –
>I know the wrap closest to the camera looks like it was because he was looking at/distracted by everyone sitting there>
The distraction of the people could have totally been a contributing factor – definitely a distraction! But if you watch it without sound: the cue looked like a rear cross cue (freeze it as he is over the bar at 1:31) – you didn’t decel and then rotated. So when you rotated, you were turned facing the center of the bar, which is a rear cross cue. So the cue added to the distraction could be why he hit the bar trying to adjust. Definitely keep adding the distraction and also for the FC wrap, you can be facing the left-turn wing and decelerating, then as he collected to take off, do a FC and run to the next line.
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>We have seen some of those veer around something to get to something. We had a hidden/recessed weaves entry at Run Wild where they had to veer around a tunnel to find a hidden set of weaves that felt new to me.>
Yes, this new trend is in the early days and so far… it is giving me the big ICK. LOL!! I am hoping that, like threadle wraps, the course designers work out a way to get the challenge to make sense rather than make it feel like veering around things in the road. Time will tell!
>And yes, on some really fast lines to a backside I have been looking to landing to help avoid drive-bys. >
This is not a bad thing to do at all!! But… the better we train our pups, the less perfect we have to be. And on the backsides that require blind cross exits or lots of countermotion (or both), looking at landing can make timing late or delay you from getting up the next line. So this is a fun way to open up even more commitment skills.
>Full disclosure, I had a pretty bad fall late Sunday at a trial and have injured ribs/intercostals and a tidge of pericardial inflammation so not able to run super fast or apparently tug right now.>
Oh no!!! Ouch ouch ouch!!!! Hoping you have speedy healing.
> So, toned the exercise down a bit and will ramp up with next steps you recommend as it hopefully improves the next few days.>
This is a good exercise for this, because hopefully you didn’t feel the need to do a lot of twisting or anything.
Looking at the video –
The backside slices were almost perfect – you were able to cue the backside from pretty far away and keep moving, and he committed really well!
There were 2 reps where both bars came down: at :29-:30 and 1:01-1:02.
The only difference I could see on those 2 reps was that there was a sudden change in motion: you were pretty decelerated wen he exited the tunnel, then as he approached the next jump you accelerated and he didn’t quite recover his balance to extend then do the backside.
He had no problem with the bars when your motion throughout was steady, even if it was walking motion or jogging motion.
So ideally, you would always use this steady motion. But in reality, sometimes the dogs do see these slow-then-fast transitions so you can definitely show that to him on this setup. Do a rep or two on lower bars (16”) to show him how to be successful… then you can crank it back up to 20, 22, etc.
Also, you can add more countermotion – send to the tunnel from further away so as he is arriving at the jump after the tunnel, you are already at the backside exit wing. Then as he is arriving at the takeoff spot for the backside, you are well past it. Start with fast walking and jogging, then you can ramp it up to running 🙂
Wraps are looking great – super excellent commitment, lovely jumping, no questions. SUPER!
When your injuries are healed up, two next steps to add for the wraps:
– Get ahead to the wing, decel, then suddenly explode to fast motion as he passes you. Then reward for the bar staying up 🙂 The big motion changes are where we see questions on bars, so it is a good thing to show him.
– Don’t get as far ahead but really race him through this, going as fast as you can 🙂
Excellent work! Hope you feel better soon!
Tracy
Hi!
Holy wow, she is SO FAST and has lovely commitment – even at these early stages of training, she is flying! I think this session went well but you probably won’t have time to show her anything with your arms when you get into the bigger distances 🙂Try these foundation games with you just running and pumping your arms (like a jogger or sprinter) – be connected like you were, that was great! And keep using your verbals! But rather than try to show her the line, let’s see what happens when you just run run run and don’t point at all.
You can also start adding in being a little further away from the lines and wings for now – even though she is very small, we are going to build in BIG distance skills. The smaller the dog, the more distance we build in (because she will take 3 or 4 times as many strides on a line as a bigger dog). So we can start that now by having you try to cue the wings from further away laterally, or sending her ahead of you to the wing (rather than you going with her).
Great job here! It is very fun to see her feeling good and running fast!
Tracy
Good morning!
She was really flying around the jump lines here! Nice job with your connection and your verbals!
Her only questions were at the beginning, driving to the first tunnel at :06 and :12. She was seeing you decelerate and turn away, so she was not sure if she should go to it or go to the other end as you turn. You can move forward to the tunnel more, maintaining connection and not pointing at it because that turns your shoulders away from it.
Speaking of pointing: She has picked up a lot of speed so you can point less and run more 🙂 What I mean by that is you don’t need to extend the dog-side arm to point at the line or jump. You can bend the arm at the elbow and jog/run along the lines while connected – she will still see the line and that will allow you to move even faster 🙂
Her commitment is looking good on the wrap game too! You were waiting until she was at the wrap jump to begin the wrap cues, so the timing was a little late. Because she is committing so well, you can begin to cues the wrap earlier: stay in fast motion until she is at the jump before the wrap jump.
Then as she takes off for that jump before it, you can start to slow down to begin cueing the wrap collection. Then as she approaches takeoff (you will see her begin to collect) you can do the FC rotation. Stay connected as you do this because connection supports commitment – if she pulls off the wrap jump, it is possible that you disconnected or that you rotated too early.
Great job here!! It is fun to see her driving these lines!
Tracy
Good morning!
>But I guess I felt like I needed to get ahead because I’m assuming on a real course, I would want to leave her and get ahead to the next obstacle. >
With her speed, wanting to get ahead is a definite YES! The cool thing about this threadle wrap is that even with a little bit of decel, you can still get significantly ahead of her.
>But I guess I have to be patient and not take off until she has committed to the jump? >
The decel is part of the cue that tells her which jump and how tight to turn – and her commitment will look like when she turns her head to the jump and is heading to the wrap wing (not the slice wing). I these early stages, it might feel like you are waiting for a long time 🙂 but it will get easier as she gets more experienced with the behavior.
>Or would there be a time when she is confident enough that we could do this with speed and she would understand to do the wrap?>
Totally yes! There might always be a touch of decel to it, depending on how the course is laid out, but you will be able to trust her understanding and head away to the next line as soon as she turns her head to the jump.
Looking at the serp video:
She dd really well with her serps here – it is a pretty hard behavior and your foundations really shone through here!! Super!Because she is doing so well, you can keep moving up the line as she is doing the serp jump – you were waiting for her a little bit here and using your serp arm to guide her in and out, and I don’t think she needs that. You can show the serp arm and stay connected like you did, and keep moving to the next jump.
She only had 2 questions here, and you made adjustments to help her out:
At :41 she missed the jump after the tunnel – there was not enough of a visible serp cue so she (correctly 🙂 ) ran straight. Showing her more serp arm (like at 1:24 on the same sequence) went great!
>At .58 there is an example of her focusing on the frisbee. It didn’t help that I was flinging it in her face.>
I think she was actually following the handling there and not going for the frisbee. As she exited the tunnel, you cued the next jump as a post turn by turning your shoulder without a serp arm (yes, frisbee was in your hand :)) so she was correct to drive towards you.
Compare to 1:14 where you gave serp cues and she ignored the frisbee in your hand. Yay!
About the serp arm:
As you move up the line, you were using the cross arm to cue the serp. When using the cross arm, you don’t need to move it – that was creating a rear cross on the next jump, because it was looking like a tandem turn cue. You can put the cross arm up and hold it in position as you move up the next line.You might also find it even easier to use only the dog-side arm locked back and fully extended away from you. It is easier to run forward that way, and dogs read that cue really nicely. I definitely like anything that makes it easier to run LOL!
Both arm uses require big connection so it is a choice of which one allows you to run up the line faster. You can try both and see how it feels!
Great job here!
TracyGood morning! This went really well – excellent connection, excellent commitment. Yay!
When you play this again – you can move the timing up to start the turn cues sooner. On this video, you were driving up to the wing and starting the decel then rotation as he was passing you. But based on how strong his commitment is, you can start to decel into the send & rotation as he exit the tunnel. That will get even tighter turns and give the next info sooner, especially on the spins. By starting the cues when he exits the tunnel, the blind cross element of the spin will be finished as he exits the wing, allowing him to see the next line sooner. This will also be closer to the timing you’ll want when there are jump bars added.
Nice work here! Have fun at the Regional!
Tracy
