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Hi!
About he zig zag grid:
>>She was perfect the first rep. But, if I softened the angle she added a check stride. So, I guess I’ll try again when it’s cooler and barely move it.>>What was your distance, center-to-center on the bars? She might need the distance to be shorter. You can try shortening the distance with shorter bars, or overlapping the wings and see how she does.
>.Bars at 16 because It’s hot! Plus, Gemma ran first and I didn’t bother to change them.>>
Totally relatable about hauling tunnels and it is great to work her on low bars. Plus, for what you wanted to work on, low bars are the way to start! You might notice that my big dogs all do the demos on low bars. The girls do them at “full” height, which is below their shoulder height, so it is not that hard for them.
The threadle wraps are going well! Looking at the sequence 2 threadle wraps, you are calling her nicely before the #2 jump so now you can add in raising your hands and starting the threadle wrap cue before she lifts off for 2. That will give her hours (in dog years haha) to process it.
Looking at the sequence 3 tandemy turn/threadle rears (family members to the threadle wraps LOL) – these are going well too! Keep emphaszing the early timing and also you can use your hand cues more to turn her on the flat before takeoff, closer to what you did at 1:12 – that was a really nice turn!
Sequence 1 threadle slices: timing of the verbals was SPOT ON. She had the “look look” verbal starting before 2. PERFECT!
One thing to consider is opening up your upper body to her more (twisting at the waist, dog-side arm swinging back or opposite arm coming up to your dog-side shoulder). That will look incredibly different than the threadle wrap cues, and also it should help you be able to move forward on the line parallel to her path rather than pulling away then pushing back. Ideally, the threadle slices are verbal-and-upper-body cues and not based no motion or direction changes.
You decelerated a bit too much on the first one. Them at 1:37, you did an excellent jump staying in motion but you pulled away though so she took 4 before you could push her back. The rep at 1:49 was better motion and line, with only a tiny pull away and a lot more about running parallel to the threadle line. Yay! So we want more of this line of motion and we can fade out any pulling away – so more obvious upper body cues can help that.When you start that, though, start it at a walk because the verbal & upper body need to override the lower body/motion, and that is really challenging!!!!
>>Interesting about lefty versus righty. I’ve just started doing multi wraps with Sprite to help her turns. At 10 in, she is definitely better turning left. We worked right a little more. Then, I did one session with the bar at 16 and right looked better than left. So, who knows which is her preferred side!>>
That is really interesting! She never really let on about a side preference, even as a baby pup 🙂 She looked really good turning left here and also looked god wrapping the exit of the threadle slice wing. She is progressing really well overall – you are getting turns without diminishing her speed and confidence, and that is exactly what we want.
Great job here! Stay cool!!
TracyHi there! Hope you had a great weekend!
Lots of good work here!
On the first video:
She did well sitting with the verbal here! It is more of a recall to front, because you were not moving and you were facing her. So for the agility tweak, you can add your motion – you and Saphira are moving forward in the same distraction (slowly :)) and then cue the sit.On the first handling video:
I think she liked the distance 🙂 Wheeeee! She was really running and that is GREAT!Rep 1 – she read the line really nicely! You can say go more frequently and continue to accelerate until she arrives at the ball. Don’t decel as you throw as that might dilute decel on the wraps.
Rep 2 – Your wrap cue was a little late (she was almost at takeoff when you started to decelerate) so she was a little wide, but she drove back to you beautifully. The timing of the decel at this distance would be when you see her land from the previous jump_ start decelerating as you continue to move forward. As she drives around the wing, keep running rather than stop her to get a dropped reward: you will get even more speed by having her chase you then throw the reward forward 🙂
Rep 3 – It was hard to see RC line on the video, but she read it well which means you nailed it 🙂
Rep 4 – great connection and line to the backside! You might have decelerated one stride too soon (she had a little question as she passed you), so you can drive forward til you see her looking at the backside wing entry, then start the deceleration and FC.
Adding the tunnel looked great! On the go rep – keep yelling go and running til she has arrived at the thrown toy 🙂 That will really support the extension.
Decel on the wrap can start sooner here too (as as on the 2 jump rep) – when you see her landing from jump 1. Great job doing the FC and running out of it then throwing the toy – SUPER!!!!!
Nice RC at :26! You are nailing those!!!
She had a question on the first backside rep: You got behind on the backside at :38 so didn’t get connection and then pushed her off the line a bit. At :50, you had better connection til you turned forward before she was committed and she took it as a cue to the front. Good girl!
>>And I was naughty and did a fix but it was loopy so not as demotivating.>>
Yeah…. There was a still a stop in the action so try to resist the fixes 🙂 Fixing is hard on the dogs because they read our cues correctly so it can be confusing, plus doing the fix that close to the jump at doesn’t fix the communication that caused it of maintaining connection all the way through til when you see her commit.
You were further ahead on the last rep and maintained connection and line longer so she got it – super!!!
>>she does have a teeter already. It could be faster (which will come I think) but she doesn’t care about the noise at all. I do not have a wobble board but she was on a few when she was young. Should I just skip that game?>>
It is a good confidence booster to revisit and great for balance and conditioning. Maybe borrow one for her now and then the puppies can use it later on?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Nice work on the handling game here!
For the wraps – she is doing well, but I think we can get them even tighter especially on the drive out of them. She is drifting a little bit on the exit, possibly waiting for more info on what is coming next. 2 ideas:
Try to work the wraps from ahead of her (using a big tunnel send to get way ahead) so when she is landing from the first jump you are decelerating about 10 feet ahead of her so she sees the big drama of the decel then rotation.
Then, have her chase you out of it for the toy: as soon as you rotate you can take off, show the toy, and start to run away (like turn and burn), showing the toy like you do with flyball recalls. This will help convince her to drive around to you without needing to see what the next line is 🙂 Standing still or waiting for her causes a bit of the drift (what’s next, mom?!?!) so we will condition her to chase you 🙂
Nice RC at :40!!! Nice handler line and timing!!!! A little more connection was needed at :52 (you are looking ahead and she is turning towards you, asking what you wanted, and dropped the bar) and also you can run forward for longer – you ended up cutting behind her too soon here. To get the RC tighter, you can use the same transition as on a FCwrap: fast forward, decel, rotation. The difference is the line of motion for the RC (towards the center of the bar).
Nice handling to the backsides!!! Really clear line and connection!! She had a little trouble with the organization to take the bar, so you did a great job breaking it down at 1:55 and 2:19. and slowing down your motion (then rewarding her by run run running back down the line to the tunnel) slow down a bit so she can process jump organization. On sequences like this, you can drive hard to get her to the backside then slow things down so she can organize to take the jump.
She needed up on the front side of the jump at 2:08 – not enough connection from you, so your shoulders turned to the front of the jump and that override the verbal. It looked like RC handling.
Don’t forget to mix in a lot of GO GO GO lines too 🙂
Teeter banging ins going well!!! She seems very confident. She was turning around to get on with her front end on most of these – you might have been sitting a little too far away to get backing up especially at the beginning. She front foot hits and turning around to get into position are useful too!!
Moving closer and using your legs as channels helped because it was easier to step back onto the teeter (and harder to turn around) so that is a good starting point to get all the backing up onto the board: nice and close! Then you can gradually move further and further away.
Great job here!
TracyHi! I hope you are feeling better!
Plenty of time to catch up, so don’t push yourself. Covid can be brutal! And the Thursday live is wings and tunnel, so I bet you will be ready for it! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think you will find the spins to be pretty easy! The trick is to decelerate before them, do them slowly, and turn towards her like a FC – then look over your other shoulder to do the blind element.These were still blinds here where you were turning away from her – rather than tell yourself to spin, tell yourself to turn towards her (barrel 1) then towards her again (barrel 2) then look over the new shoulder after barrel 2. Try to think of it as a FC, a FC, then a blind between the 2 barrels where you look over your other shoulder. Let me know if that works better!
TracyHi!
I think she did really well here! And yes, some of the barking was probably the double whammy of using the wings for the first time AND teaching a new skill. It will be easier on the barrels especially on the left turns.
The right turns look good!
Left turns are going well – they are a little harder for sure, so two ideas for you: don’t send her til she is at your side and ready, and stand still longer til she gets all the way around. You were moving a bit too early, so she was not sure if she should finish the left turn or come back to the right.>>So in light of her Right preference should I teach her only Right until we have that down? Or do both sides at the same time?>>
Do both in each session 🙂
>>And the biting my hand I think happens when she doesn’t have enough toy to grab onto.>>
Could be that, or she was frstrated here, so be sure to have her ready before you send and be patient so she can finish the full loop.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>>BTW. Last weekend my two oldest dogs Both got MACHs. So Sureal, two MACH’s a day apart🤪>>
Wow, that is awesome!!!! Congrats! I hope that means you got TWO cakes and not just one MACH cake!
>>Although we seemed successful, making eye connect feels hard..maybe because she’s so far down?>>
I find it a lot harder to get connection with small dogs because yes, they are so low! Soooooo much harder to see. She said she saw enough connection – she never got mad or got spicy, and she was great with finding the barrels. But the reason it felt hard, I think, was that you were doing regular blinds (turning away from her) rather than spins (FC-BC combos).
>>Also I noticed on some BC spins I’m not getting my shoulders all the way around to reward with the off arm. I do think that makes it very clear for her.
The regular blinds are harder to finish quickly on a barrel, so that might be why it felt harder (because it is harder :))
>>Last weekend I found myself walking courses and practicing BCs coming all the way around with the off arm. Not sure I ran them that way in the moment, but I remember attempting to make that connection as we completed them. I need to get more fluid and make it second nature.>>
Yay! That is great!! Keep practicing and the connection will get very comfy 🙂
Video 1 (Warm up): Nice connection and timing and verbals on the FCs here! The only thing I will bug you about is switching the toy from hand to hand… it delays the cue (because you are switching it when you should be giving the next cue) and it can draw her attention up to your hands when we want her looking at the barrel. So either leave it in one hand, or put it in your pocket 🙂
Video 2 (spins): She really likes her barrels and has great commitment!! You can definitely trade the toy for a treat – she finds that very easy to do and it does not diminish her toy drive.
You did these as regular blinds (turning away from her) rather than as a spin (FCing towards her then doing the blind). That went well, but the regular blinds are harder to finish on a barrel so you can try walking through the spins (FC – BC) without her and see if it feels easier to get the connection.Video 3 (FC – spin) – very nice FC then the regular blinds were nice! You will need more room between the barrels so you can be moving more, so they feel smooth. Spins don’t need as much room but the blinds need plenty 🙂
Video 4 (combo) – Fc to blind to turn and burn – very nice (and yes you did a blind instead of a spin on these too :)) The FC and Turn and Burn are looking great!!!
Video 5 (redo) – also really good, going the other direction!!!
Note how she no longer seems to do better on one side or the other – both sides are pretty equal and that is great! Plus she seems super happy to do her barrel games 🙂 before the next session, try to rehearse some of the FC-BC spins without her, to convince your muscle memory to do them with her. Your connection looks great and your verbals are going well too!!!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHello there!
Thanks for the Bumps video – He seems to find this to be a very easy game 🙂 Definitely plan your verbals before you start 🙂 You can also help isolate the verbals by gently holding his collar say the verbal 2 or 3 times… then let him go while you keep saying the verbals. That way he hears the verbals separately from motion and will learn then faster 🙂
Rocking horse 1:
>>I could NOT stop switching the toy in my hands. It is just so automatic for me!>>Because it is an important human mechanic, you can practice without him so your brain can multitask less – just practice doing the moves slowly and making sure you don’t switch hands. When you practice with him, put the toy in your pocket so you can be on time and not do anything with the toy that might cause him to look up.
He did really well with this outside and with different barrels and bigger distance! Yes, there was one moment when he choked a bit, which caused the rhythm to get off a bit. The rest looked really strong!
Rocking horse 2:
>> I did remember to not switch the toy hand to hand but wow that took a LOT of my brain power to overcome. >>
Yep! The multitasking struggle is real!!
>>Seriously how do I even survive and have a tough job juggling lots of stuff and yet can barely stop myself from moving a ball to my other hand!!! LOL!!!!>>
My guess is the tasks at your job are well-rehearsed 🙂 And you don’t have to also be watching a puppy for commitment LOL!
>> I do not like my positioning when heading to the barrels – I think I was really blocking his path, yes??>>
Yes, you were overhelping a little so he had to go around you. Also, because your brain was working really hard to NOT move the toy, your connection back to him was not as clear so he was drifting a bit wide, trying to figure out which side to be on. Remember to add in your dog-side arm pointing back to him, so he could see the connection. You were looking at him, but he couldn’t really see it because your arm was at your side (which blocks connection).
So, to get the connection, you can give your brain a break from the multi-tasking and put the toy in your pocket so you can focus on pointing your hand to your nose 🙂 His commitment looks great so it is good info from him that the connection was not as clear.
He did well sitting on the grass. The best stays were when you moved away then released him. Try not to go back and hand him a cookie – he either gets up to meet your hand, or leaves the stay right after the delivery. So, release forward or throw a treat back, so the stay is rewarded with a release and there are no grey moments (the broken stays are obvious before and after you go to him to deliver a treat, but also watch his front feet and you can see him tapping them or lifting them when you go in to deliver a treat on a lot of the reps there too!)
Great job here! And excellent work being diligent with the timer : )
Tracy
Hi!
She did really well here in a new environment! Things happen really fast with this game so your instinct to just toss the toy when something went wrong was spot on! And her tugging looked great!Her commitment also looked great! The race track of staying out around the outside of the wings was pretty much perfect. Yay!
The FC wraps were super strong! As you are sending her behind you, you can add in looking behind you to the ‘landing spot’ if there was a bar there – that will make it easier as you add the next level of challenge (which she is ready for): as she is exiting the wrap, you can be decelerating and starting your rotation even sooner, so as she is passing you – you are already turned and ready to move the other way. That is a lot of countermotion, so looking behind you to the wing as you send her to it will really help support commitment 🙂 If she doesn’t go to the wing, chances are you are looking at her and not the wing 🙂
Great job here! Keep me posted on how she does with the earlier rotation!
Tracy
