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Hi!
>A tandem turn is just a switch on the flat, correct?
Yes, where you and Syn then go the next direction together (usually back towards where you came from).
>Do you think it is a detriment to our training to sometimes drop the bars to 12 to work these skills, especially with the heat? I know that in lower-level training courses we did it all the time, but I wasn’t sure now that we are actively competing.>
Not a detriment at all! I totally think working at lower heights is good for the dogs. And it will really preserve her during training especially in the heat. You will see a lot of the demos are done with lower bars too. No problem at all to work with lower bars!
Standard 1: I agree, this was smooth and fast! I give you and Syn a lot of credit for running it this smoothly – I know how hot it is!!
1-2-3 looked great, she got it on verbals and totally knew where to go.
I think the hardest part on this run was the 4-5 line – you backed up on the 4 backside during the FC, which resulted in the bars on 4 and 5 coming down (late cue to send to 5 because the Fc was late due to backing up). So remember to decelerate into the FCs so you don’t end up backing up due to momentum. That might mean you don’t get that close to the backside jump, but that is fine because her backside skills are looking really independent!
Really nice wraps on 8 and 9, the spin worked great! Super nice independent weaves and a-frame!!
The tandem on 12 worked great, she read the line really well. That set up the next line really well – your timing of the FC on 14 at :42 was SPOT ON. Super!!!
It looks like the bar on 15 at :45 was a disconnection moment where you were looking ahead so she looked at you to see if it was a blind cross or not. One other small detail is to stay connected on the landing of the 16 backside to get a slightly smoother line to 17.
Course 2: This course also went well – you handled aggressively with a lot of connection and stayed in motion, and that really helped!
> First run I babysat the backside to 2 and didn’t get where I needed to be.>
On that 1 jump, you cued a ‘tight’ so she collected – and that was tighter than you needed it to be, so you had to stay there to push her back out. You can cue more extension on 1 and as she is taking off, cue the backside, making it easier to leave sooner and get to the next position.
The threadle on 3 went well when you maintained connection so she saw the jump – when you got behind on the first run, you closed your shoulders forward which cued the a-frame.
> I definitely need to cue tighter between 5 and 6 to get a tighter backside on 6, I need to get away faster after 6 to get the cross after the tunnel (>
A few ideas for ya!
– you can use a brake arm (2 hands, essentially) as she exits tunnel 4 to get a tighter turn on 5 as you move into position for 6. That will automatically get a tighter turn while you keep running.
– you can send away to 7 without running towards it (kind of like the 4 corners trend sequences of sending into the layering) so you will handle 7-8-9 without getting too close to 7 or 8
– you can also do a blind cross 5-6 and threadle wrap on 6, which puts you a lot further ahead for the 7-8-9-10 line 🙂 More on that coming next week!
I like the option of the blind on the landing side of 11, but only if we are getting past 11 when the dogs are taking 12. An easier option is a threadle wrap on 12! She saved your bacon at 1:31 there 🙂 You were further ahead at 2:37 on the blind but it was a still a little late (she was already taking off when you started it) – being late accidentally put you on her line, which sent her off course. Great job staying in motion even after the off course!! The blind might be easier when you are further ahead on the exit of the 9 tunnel, but handling 10-11 on your right and the threadle wrap on 12 is probably the easiest for you both!
At the very end, you did a serp on 11 and pushed to the other side of 12 – being further ahead on the exit of the 9 tunnel can get you further ahead there on 11, to make it even easier to get a nice turn to 12.
Her teeter distance is doing well, you can put a target out there to keep her driving to the end.
She had a bar on the 17 jump before the DW at 2:56 – you said a big GO then the tight verbal, so she didn’t process the tight verbal til she was over the bar and tried to adjust. I don’t think you need the go verbal there, you can just use tight and decel to get the turn to the DW.
> I need to make better connection from a contact to a backside jump because I think Syn came down the dogwalk the first time already plotting her jump>
She was being a good girl! And yes, connection was important there:
On the first run, your voice said push but the physical cue showed the front of the jump by looking forward/pointing forward at 1:52.
Compare to the 2nd run – at 3:02 you had connection to her and less arm pointing, so she went directly to the backside. Super!!
> I also worked “switch tight” for the first time ever as a cue to get 21 to 22 without an extra 17 jump.>
I loved that! You nailed it: super fast line to the weaves, and a really tight turn there too. Yay!! And it set up a really nice ending with the aframe and jump.
Have fun at the trial and stay cool! These temperatures are brutal!
Great job here!
TracyHello and welcome! I am glad she is feeling better!!!!
This forward focus exercise went really well! Great commitment and her turns looked lovely too. Releasing her with the wrap verbal worked well (that is what you used on most of the reps).
She has really strong forward focus (having seen her do it in person!) so I believe you can ask her for more here 🙂 You can add an arm indication that says “look at the jump now please” but is not the release. As you cue the forward focus, you can wait til she looks fully at the jump (turns her head to the bar, rather than use her peripheral vision). I suggest it because she was looking kind of sideways LOL half at you, half at the jump (:59 is a good example of that :)) and I know she can look fully at the jump 🙂
She still took the jump here every time (yay!) so I thinking ahead to the more complex situations where you will really want her to acknowledge the jump you want her to take, before you release her.
So you can cue the forward focus with an arm cue pointing low to the jump, then praise (or at least pause for a couple of seconds), then release. I suggest the arm cue the praise or pause because you were waiting for it here and she was looking at it peripherally and releasing before the verbal on some of the reps (:20 and 1:33 for example). Since we don’t want to confuse the order of festivities on the start line, you can lead out, cue the forward focus, but have the praise then either a release or a reward marker to throw a reward to her or have her get one behind her. That way she won’t have questions about when the release is.
You can also let her settle into the stay more before you fully begin your lead out. That might look like stepping to the side, then waiting til she settles into her position, then moving to your lead out spot. She was moving a decent amount in the stays and ended up sideways to the jump at the end LOL So that moment of stepping off to the side and letting her settle fully into the stay before leading out can make a big difference in her knowing exactly where you want her to leave her feet 🙂
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyWelcome back to camp! It is going to be a fun summer – where we will probably be training at dusk or dawn LOL! Why is it so hot already?!?!!?
>I am going to split the working spot between Nox and Katniss although I will likely run both of them on most of the sequences I set. Katniss is still working on contacts, so she won’t do entire standard courses.>
Sounds great!
>I started the first Focus Forward game with jump focus. Nox rocked it, so I decided to submit Katniss. >
Yay Nox! Katniss did really well too!
>She struggled on a couple of reps (only 1 included) where she was positive the jump was a backside.>
That is actually pretty common, and is a result of too much pressure on the line from us. You can see it at :11 here –
you lead out laterally (:10) then step back towards her and lean in a bit at :11. That was the pressure that cued the backside.When that happens… reward because it is always something we are doing even if we don’t know what it is, in the moment. Re-sending to the jump just makes it harder and creates more errors. Then on the next rep, move further away from her (less pressure on her line) and be sure she is facing the front of the jump – then she will take the front of the jump.
That was the only blooper here, the rest went great! You can keep adding distance to this game and we will be using this skill in the course work too 🙂
>She has also been struggling with her startline stay in the last few months after it used to be PERFECT! It is the thing I’m most frustrated with in her training. We did have a couple of issues with that in this exercise, but I did not include them. I will share those at some point if we continue to have issues in the hopes that you have some suggestions.>
Please include them 🙂 Post them if you still have the video! Usually it is caused by something we are doing that predicts the release, so the dogs anticipate. Could be hand/foot movement or reconnection paired with the verbal that might be causing it (she thinks the movement is the release), could be you are using a certain rhythm of your lead out and release that you are not aware of (but she sure is LOL!)
On the video here, she didn’t break the stays but you walked out with a lot of muscle tension… which builds drive for the release and might accidentally lead to breaking stays. So lead out nice and chill like you did at 2:08, even fixing your hair 🙂 then put your hand/foot into position for the forward focus, then praise… then release or throw a reward to her like you did at 1:25.
Also, don’t worry if she moves her front feet towards you a little as you begin the lead out (as long as her butt doesn’t move). Fixing it will create more arousal and stress, plus you would need to be 100% consistent with fixing it and then rewarding etc etc. So don’t worry about it as long as she focuses forward properly and keeps the bar up and holds the stay til released.
> But I am working on it the behavior with a clicker in the house and away from agility right now, so I’m hoping it transfers soon!>
It certainly can’t hurt to work on it with the clicker! But it might not help unless it is done in high arousal and transferred to a jump ASAP 🙂 Keep me posted, I love training stays 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I am glad it was great! Yay!> Lots of the trend of stuff everywhere I feel like we’re seeing more of, where just verbals, tricky skills, and distance aren’t quite enough.>
Do you mean the trend of random obstacles everywhere, often in the handler path?
>) as is Greg Derrett (no freaking clue what to expect from him since I haven’t seen any courses from him since we started doing UKI).>
I have known Greg for 25 years and have never once run under him when he is judging! But he did just judge a big event in the UK, you can find his courses here:
https://theagilityopen.com/2024-documents/2024-briefings-coursesHis courses seem to have typical challenges, and also seem a little crunchy/tight.
> then we just have to battle the wind and heat to get some training in before next Tuesday.>
Yeah, I think it is going to be a devil of a summer (we are on our 2nd day of 100 degree weather, which is INSANE for June and this area) so I am sure we will be extending CAMP into September so no one bakes trying to train the dogs.
>Tuesday we leave for New Mexico (17 hour drive) for Game On agility camp and then head right to Washington state (23 hour drive) for Run Wild ISC/UKI show.>
FUN! Lots of great people at both of those locations!!
> I’m gonna take some little jumps and cones with us so if you have any mini mini exercises you could point me at in any of our previous courses with you (we’ve got a ton of stuff in our AU library) maybe I could post some of that while we’re away from our full set up at home?>
Yes, great idea!!!! Any chance you can also bring a tiny tunnel, like a 3 footer?
The 3 things that come to mind for your trip are:
The MaxPup Winter Camp (AU-063) which has some good small space setups for cones and one jump, such as:You can mess with distances on these and we can add threadle wraps, etc.
Also, coming on Monday are two things we can modify to travel:
one has a regular size tunnel but we can easily use cones or a jump instead
one requires a tunnel and/or a short set of poles if you can fit even a short tunnel and maybe two 2×2 bases?Let me know! It will be fun!
Tracy
Hi!
>ol, I’ve been trying to narrow down what skill/s we actually NEED for years and I can’t really find a pattern, >
OK so maybe a better question is… what are your current priorities with Beat’s handling training? We can use that as a jumping off point for his priorities (and also, for your sanity because you are training 3 dogs and working and it is hotter than the surface of the sun lately…)
>As for ONE skill/verbal I will try to add, it’s less of a verbal that I NEED and more one that I need to just get RIGHT. Soft left/right turns. I constantly screw them up with Beat, and sometimes don’t even realize I got it wrong until days later (so honestly, I doubt she’s actually learning them since half the time they are used incorrectly). >
Perfect, I love this! In your next sequencing session with either dog, look for those specifically (you will have opportunity for in MaxPup 3 too :)) and just focus on working the verbal and physical cues – then running through the walk through so your brain is ready to spit the verbal/handling out 🙂
> They’re probably the easiest to just slap on and start using because most of the time they are obvious but the occasions where they might be useful are rear crosses, which I’m terrible at and he might appreciate a little extra information to help him know which way to turn when I disappear behind him, and eventually how much to turn when I add in tight turn verbals (we currently don’t have a tight turn away cue, it’s mostly rear cross him and then scream!) So tight turns might be the next ones.>
Totally agree! The soft turn training has saved my bacon on rear crosses on many occasions. And we can prioritize RCs handling cues too (we have some here in CAMP but lots in Maxpup 3 :))
Keep me posted, stay cool!!
TracyHi!
I agree, this went really well! And your field is absolutely gorgeous!!
>Thought it went well but I am not sure which hand to use? Always dog side? >
Depends on the dog and the context: For slightly wider turns, you can use dog-side arm (the turns here can all be dog-side arm cues). If you have a super tight wrap on jump 1 or a tight turn, you can use both hands to cue the forward focus AND the tightness of the turn.
Her stay looked great and she took the jump beautifully on most of these, even with you on the other side of the tunnel.
She had a question when you are halfway up the tunnel on the other side of it (3:29). You stepped foward a bit more on the next rep and that really helped her! And then on the last rep she really had it. Nice!
Question:
When you pointed to the jump, did she give you an indication that she was locked onto it? It doesn’t look like she turned her head, but we do want some type of “yes, I see it” (like flicking her eyes to it) for when there are a bunch of other jumps around or you are behind her/lateral.If she was looking at you the whole time, you can do two things to help her out:
– go right up to jump 1, point at it, then head to your lead out position. That might be all she needs to affirm that it is the correct jump.– starting a little closer, you can point to the jump then wait til she looks at it even the tiniest bit, then release (and throw a reward to the landing side of the jump). That can help her understand that looking at the jump is what gets you to release her 🙂 And if she looks at you the whole time, you can place the toy on the other side of the jump to give her something stronger to look at.
Great job! Onwards to the 4 Corners sequences and the courses (which use this skill for sure!)
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad Taq is back on the mend, poor pup!!! She ran well here, so it looks like she is feeling good 🙂
Cricket and you did a great job on this course!!
Question: does she have a stay or sit at the start line? She was bouncing up at you which makes getting the first jump smooth a little harder 🙂
Once you got going:very nice opening line!
SUPER nice teeter from a distance, love the change in your verbal energy there!!!You were easily in position on the wraps before the weaves. As she is passing you to the first one (jump 8) you can move away from the landing spot so she has room to land and drive to 9. The post turn on 9 to the weaves worked but it was a little wide – it is a spot to try a spin (FC to BC) and see how that goesi n terms of getting a tight line.
Nice weaves!!! Keeping her in your left for the frame to a tandem on 12 worked really well at :29. You can then cue the tunnel then leave earlier for the next section, I think Cricket had the line and didn’t need as much parallel line support from your motion. And getting to 14 sooner will allow you to start the BC sooner (when she exits the 13 tunnel) to tighten that turn there. A FC is also an option to tighten that line, but the FC rotation would require you to bethere sooner than the blind to decelerate into it in order to rotate.
The ending looked really strong too! The 16 jump is a backside if you wanted to try it that way – it adds a little challenge there 🙂
One overall note with Cricket and Taq too: you tend to say “go” a lot as a general commitment cue for the jump. You’ll either want to save it for straight acceleration lines, or you’ll want another cue that indicates the straight acceleration lines. For example, you can say the quiet ‘go’ as a general ‘take the jump’ cue, then use something like a loud RUN RUN RUN for the big straight line cues.
Taq did really well on her sequences too!
On the first sequence, she did really well finding that recessed tunnel under the DW at :59!!
And even better at 2:02! Finding that tunnel and layering the dog walk is becoming an important skill in AKC lately too, so it is really great she did it so well.When you wanted the backside at 1:03 – you turned your feet too early so she was confused. Voice said back and feet said front 🙂 Ideally, your feet would remain parallel to her line to the backside until she is past you and heading to the backside. More on that coming next week!
Super nice teeter!
The blind off the teeter put you on the other side for the next line, resulting in pushing into the line for the next jumps for RCs, which slowed her down. It would be fun to keep her in your right and then drive to a blind cross (or do one RC).A-frame is looking good! She did try hard on the weaves, they are a work in progress – if you can swap out real weaves for training weaves, you can put the training weaves (like open channels) into the course for her to practice weaving in sequence.
She had a couple of questions about the teeter later in her session:
The layered teeter probably needs a target to help her out – then she was thinking about it a lot on the next rep too. You can add in a target at the end for the distance work and lots of reward, to keep her driving to the end like she did on the first rep with the teeter.
She did the ending line beautifully too! Found the tunnel past the dog walk really well and that allowed you to easily set up the next line. Yay!
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
I am very impressed that you built and ran this with all the heat!! Click/treat for you!!!! You and Syn did a great job. Lovely connection throughout your runs!!!
Looking at the 1-2-3 opening:
I think you can trust your wrap cue for 1 more and then just cue the 2 jump without pulling her in/pushing her out at :04. You tried to help her with that at 1:17 on the 2nd run but she ignored you (“I GOT THIS, MOM!”) and took the straight line to jump 2. Yay!>because the teeter is probably the hardest obstacle for her to do distance, so I was really proud of her for hanging on even when she was uncomfortable.>
Yes! She was such a good girl especially on that first teeter (she did look at you like you were NUTS though, it was pretty funny LOL!) You can put a target down at the end of the teeter (if she was trained with one originally, I think she was?) to help her look forward to the end when you are adding big distance.
The threadle wrap on 8 worked well! For the wrap at 9 the spin was the better choice than the full post turn, because it got a tighter turn and you were further ahead.
>the weave entry was our struggle. >
Yes, this soft sided weave entry is HARD. She worked it out nicely! You can use physical help to face the entry longer, but you can also train it to be more independently (more on that coming later this summer). I don’t think we ever showed her this game, to help with this particular entry? It is a fun one!
Nice BC after the frame to get the 12 jump to the 13 tunnel!! That set a nice, fast line.
You can also keep her on your left for the frame and flip her away to the 12 jump with a tandem turn – that gets you closer to the FC on 14 – they were a little late because you were still accelerating into position as she exited the tunnel, so she was a little wide. If you do the tandem turn on 12 then send to the 13 tunnel, you will be up at 14 before she exits the tunnel and have an easy time controlling the turn.
The ending looked really strong!! Yes, you had a temporary oops on run 1 with where the backside was, but on the 2nd run, the 15-16-17-18 line was really lovely!!!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>I’ll probably wind up using Beat’s new verbals with him,>
That will be very helpful for you, even if it doesn’t matter to him all that much. Pointy dogs are very good with verbals, surprisingly, so it will be great to have Beat hearing them.
> but not sure he will learn them just by associating them with handling. I’m sure he will hear the word, but not sure it will ever become a cue for the behavior without the handling if that makes sense? >
Totally makes sense! The verbal might greatly assist the behavior along with the handling, especially if the handling is not as visible (distance work, etc) but it might never something that can completely override motion. But I think that is still perfectly fine and useful on course!
>The few verbal cues I have managed to teach him, I had to really isolate: new cue (verbal), then old cue (visual of the handling). For instance, the good old front side vs backside exercise where you sit or restrain them in front of the jump and try to give a verbal with no other cues, no matter how much I really thought I had paired it well, the verbal cue was just a release cue to do the behavior he had already decided it was based on my lead out>
Based on how hard that is for most dogs and how ultimately that skill (verbal without motion) is not that useful, I have abandoned teaching it like that for most dogs except for the beginning of proofing games. We have some games coming up here (next Monday!) where we will be asking the dogs to process the verbals while we humans are in motion – and the motion is the same for each of verbals and doesn’t really assist with telling them which obstacle we want. Working it this way has transferred to course work 1000 times better 🙂 Plus it is fun 🙂
> (or even lack of one, I think it also contributed to his start line stress- he had learned like half a dozen different “release cues” and none of them meant anything more than a general “ok” release word).>
I can see that as a possibility – and too much possibility to be wrong too, which could definitely contribute to stress issues.
>Rather than become LESS dependent on my position and movement, he became SUPER sensitive to position and other cues since I was trying to remove them completely from the picture!!!>
SO INTERESTING!!! I have seen dogs get frustrated when we are verbals only without motion and yes, I can see getting really sensitive to motion as a way of seeking more info if the verbals didn’t make sense.
> I finally had to remove all visual cues by sending him around a wing or through a tunnel and start saying the verbal before he could see the obstacle or my handling, then when he came around and could see the handling, he had already heard the verbal.>
Perfect, and no releases to worry about. You will see the upcoming games have motion in everything but the very beginning warm up (and Beat can play them too!)
> So I can certainly do this for the new verbals, but it’s time consuming for each one. >
I don’t think you need to break it down like that: the upcoming games are for obstacle discriminations not directionals. For directionals, since he is 9, I recommend the “slap the verbals on” method of just add them to your handling. Again, it is more for you than him in many ways, but also it might end up helping him too!
> adding new verbals makes me a WORSE handler (only so much bandwidth, yeah I know, we are working on this!) it seems it’s a very fine balance? So I guess my point is… I know I need to add some verbals, I’m open to working on ME, but where do I start so I don’t break my brain or waste time on ones that he won’t need?>
Pick one important verbal that you think you don’t really have down pat yet (maybe it is a new verbal or something) and just add that one. When you find a spot for it, work it in the walk through specifically then run it with focus on that. That way, there is less bandwidth needed – most of what you will be doing is easy and only one new/hard thing is added. Which do you think is the most important verbal that you don’t have fully yet that you might want to add?
>And he can DO tandems with handling, as long as there isn’t anything else really as an option. Now that threadle wraps are every where and the expectation is that the dog does them very independently I feel like he can easily confuse the two if there are multiple jumps in view. So getting the front side of that jump after the A-frame with a tandem would be difficult because he’s going to look for a backside jump.>
Threadle wraps and tandems are definitely close relatives! Yes, they should be independent but also, the handler position definitely plays a role (even at a distance). So handler line will help him know which jump you are wanting in that scenario – and we actually have a threadle wrap drill coming on up Monday too LOL!!
>so much for me work on, so little time.>
Yes, not a lot of time in the day and plus we can’t work the dogs a whole lot (especially when it is 10 million degrees outside). But prioritizing will make it easier to get stuff done. Since I believe UKI is your main venue, we can prioritize skills/verbals needed for that style of course. You can make a list of what you need NOW to be successful (2 things, max, because 2 things are doable), what you need SOON (2 more things, but we don’t look at them yet) and what you will need eventually (2 more things). So we start with the NOW list and when you are happy with that – the SOON list moves up to become the now list, and so on.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Better to be safe! Plenty of time to catch up. We have terrible heat here too – sunrise is the only time it is safe to be running around outside with the dogs.
T
Hi!
>Before this video, we played a little bit with distance between jumps and he’s definitely best with 6′ distance.>
I think 6 feet between jumps 1 and 2 might be the sweet spot, or maybe a little less (5.5 feet perhaps). With the 2 jumps at 8”, we will get the final answer from him 🙂 He was trying to bounce on the 2nd rep and last rep, but dropped a bar on each because they were too high. So it will be fun to see how the 8” bar changes things.
> He cleared the 16″ jump every time.>
Yes, he was super! What I suggest there is to have a reward target with the reward on it. There was a target on the ground, but the reward was coming from your hand so he was looking at you over the last bar. So, placing a treat on the target will get him looking straight (target should be about 12 feet from jump 3, and remember to move it when jump 3 moves too :))
The pop out went really well!
On the first run:
He sent to the #4 tunnel really well – you can play with sending even sooner and from further back, barely passing jump 2. That will give you more time to finish the blind (which you did really well here) as well as be further over so he sees the backside wing at 5. That got blocked a little at :15 so he needed an extra moment to find the backside there. He ended up on the wrong side of 6, but that was because you were on his line – good job continuing!On the 2nd run:
I loved the layering in the opening! FUN!! You got more speed that way and also showed the wing of 5 sooner. Yay!
The full post turn there got him asking a few questions – there was a lot of decel and wrapping to the inside was a slower path. I think your FC from run 1 was the correct plan, and you can be one step further away so you can show the line to the correct side of 6 and still get the slice to 7 which is fastest and easiest.Looking at the 7 jump (wrap) on both runs:
On run 1, there was a bar down on 7 at :21 due to a conflicting indicator where physical and verbal cues didn’t match. You were decelerated at 6 then accelerated to 7 but used the wrap verbal. So the voice said wrap but the motion said extend – and the rotation happened after he took off, so he tried to adjust in the air and dropped the bar.On the 2nd run, you had decel before 7 is just needed to come sooner so he cold adjust – the bar stayed up but he landed wide.
Ideally, you accelerate away from 6 then as he exits 6 and looks at 7, decelerate while he is still closer to 6 than 7. Then as he collects, you can do the FC and move the new direction.
>I think Ven might be flattening out when he’s chasing me on course, at least that’s the thought in my head when I woke up this morning. I’m going to video our classes tonight and Tues evening to see if I can confirm that and ask my instructors to also see if they see it too. Latent learning/processing!>
Bring your camera and video everything, because what we humans think we are seeing in the moment is often not what is happening LOL Our brains like to make things up 🤣.
About flattening: when this happens, it is generally when we handlers are not really connected. We might be able to peripherally see the dogs, but that doesn’t mean that the dog sees connection. So be sure to look all the way back at him when you are ahead, and keep your arms down so you don’t block his view of connection.
Also, plan your timing with your instructor. Ven will definitely drop bars when the turn cues happen too close to takeoff or over the bar (my dogs drop bars too in that situation) so plan to have your cues starting at the previous jump, no later than landing from it.
>I’m trying to figure out how to work 4 corners in my small 30×30 space. I can use my 4′ tiny tunnel to create more distance between the tunnel and jumps.>
Definitely the tiny tunnel! And weave poles as jump bars. And you can also use one less jump: maybe eliminate jump 3 on that first setup?
>Or we could work pop outs instead until I can get a ring rental to set it up.
Absolutely! Kristin with Reacher just posted a setup in her basement if you want to see how to scrunch it up 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
>I’m sorry it’s so hot for you too! Quite unfortunate timing when trying to do all the agility things outside (or anything except jump in the water)!>
Yeah, it is a dangerous heat and most of my dogs don’t like water… except Elektra who gets in a pool and resource guards it from other dogs 🤣😂. It was lovely out at 6am, though 😂
Basement training will work super well! The setup works nicely here on these videos. You can lower the bars for basement training so he is in full on extension as much as possible – higher bars on shorter distances will cause a bit of collection.
He did great here with finding the jumps! Remember that you can keep moving to support his line – your verbals and connection were great, and he was looking forward at his line (YAY!). Adding parallel motion will allow you to do t he other 4 corners games as much as possible here too! And you can randomly throw the rewards out on the line for the surprise factor to make it even more motivating (rather than wait til the end of the sequence, which is not as surprising).
The pop out went really well! On the first run – super nice opening and great job getting the blind on the tunnel exit to show the backside. Because the bar is shorter than he expected, he didn’t quite have time to set up to get over it but that is fine – he was trying! You read my mind, I was going to suggest swapping it out for the wing jump but then you did it. Length of bar on the backsides makes a difference, even for the littles!
One option for the opening to play with: Lead out more laterally so you are closer to 2 and not as close to 1. That will be even more useful when you spread it out more when you are outside.
He also did well with the threadle wrap on that jump! NICE!!! The 2nd version of the threadle wrap was even faster (2:10) because you were moving forward and not facing him. Facing him will add more collection which he doesn’t need here: the forward moving threadle wrap was tight AND fast. And that set up a really nice ending line too! Yay! He had no questions about the wrap on jump 7, which is actually a jump-tunnel discrimination: follow the wrap cues and don’t grab the tunnel. He was perfect and your cues were spot on!
Great job here! It is a great way to build the skills without roasting in the heat!
Stay cool 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
I hope little Grace is feeling better! I found the first 2 weeks after the surgery to be really hard but then it got easier and easier.Maisy did great on the video and also gave us insight into where she is looking on course!
At the start, when you were not too far away:
At :03 and :26 she had very direct looks at the jump and went directly to it when released (her stay looked great on all reps here!)With you behind her starting at :29, things got interesting:
She flicked her eyes to the jump but then ended up going to the backside of it. Then at 1:07, she flicked her eyes at the jump but when you released, she wrapped the tree LOL! You said “interesting” and it made me laugh so hard. Then she ended really strong, with you not as far behind her but more lateral and she got back to very direct looks at the jump and taking it correctly.So when you are very visible (parallel or ahead of her, or lateral so she can see you peripherally) then it was easy. When you were less visible (behind her more) she had a harder time. So that is where you can place a toy on the landing side of the jump for a few reps to help her out. Then switch to throwing a toy to the landing side of the jump to help her continue to look ahead when you are not visible. I bet you will see her look directly at the jump more (like she did at the beginning and ending) which will really let you know if she will take the jump when you are behind her.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>Haha still working hard on in between ie presence of agility equipment – then will move to high arousal- doesnt take much to crete that three or four jumps will do it..>
Right! So having just one tunnel out there then doing stays on the flat, no jumps, after doing 10 tunnels is a nice starting point 🙂
>– throw the reward out on the line, don’t reward from your hand (more on that below)
is it okay to have reward ahead of her>Do you mean placing it out there in advance? Yes, to get started. But only for a few reps then you need to go to a thrown reward. We don’t want the visible reward placed out there to become the cue for her to get on the line because then without it, we don’t have the behavior.
> Yes can be dumb sometimes – she cant be bothhered finding food if I throw it. need to use a toy or a placed reward.>
Yes, a tossed treat is probably not visible enough and not interesting enough but I bet she would love a toy or a ball!
>We did some more work on sequence 5 with her bag out there and she layered beautifully – why- I was moving and she had plenty of speed and it was the second time.>
Great! The next session can start with the bag out there for one rep… then take it out and throw the toy early (or have someone else throw it early).
>Unfortunately the videoer stuffed up and didnt get it on film. Pity as she did some really nice work and it felt almost smooth and calm…Its didnt last>
That is a bummer, the great runs almost never make it on to the video!
Looking at the videos:
The opening looked good, but definitely add the layering to make it easier on the 5-6 line. By running with her on 1-2-3-4, you were late getting to 5-6. At :50, you did the layering but then tried to get 6 as a rear cross and got the back jump instead. Try to do the side change there (blind cross) – you will have plenty of time with the layering, and it makes it very easy to get the right turn on 6.She did well going into the layering in the 2nd half of the sequence! On the short video, I think you were trying to manage her line too much because you pulled her off it when you said ‘here here’. Just keep saying her jump cues and reward her for finding the line. It is possible the weave poles out there were visible on her line, causing her to go wide at :47 and at the end on the 2nd video?
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
