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Good morning! Lots of good work here, he is doing really well!!!!
Video 1:
He easily reads the discrimination and never looked at the tunnel!
On both moves you did here, you can add some deceleration to tighten. The turn:
When you did the blind, decel as he lands from the jump and then send to the 2nd jump with decel (and you can even add a ‘spin’ move, which turns your feet towards him). And on the switch away, you can decelerate as you use your arms to turn him away – that will get a nice tight turn too!2nd video: jump to tunnel was so easy for him. Super!
3rd video – VERY nice switch away to get the jump not the tunnel! And you were ahead of him again after it, which is great. YAY! You can add a little bit of decel as you switch him away and it will be s perfect turn.
4th video – the opening of the sequence looked great! You did a FC before the tunnel and I think that you will find the BC even faster and easier to do. Do it on the same line you did the FC, that was great. The backside push also looked good. He was a good boy on the blooper moment 🙂
5th video: This looked really good!!! You were on a great line for the FC to the tunnel. I bet you can trust him more after the push to the backside of 5 – send him and when you see he is heading there, turn and go to 6 (with connection of course LOL!). You stayed there a little too long so he slowed down when he was getting to you.
6th video – I love that you tried this sequence from the other side of the tunnel! He turned the correct direction on the tunnel exit, which is great! You can show more RC pressure before he enters the tunnel to help guarantee that, by pushing towards the center of the tunnel entry as he is passing you and entering the tunnel.
He as not sure about the push with you standing still, so you can try staying in motion and running a parallel line to his line: when you were stationary, he stopped. But when you started moving again right at the end, he started moving too!7th video: this was the same handling plan you used in the 5th video, and you sent to the backside and left for the next jump sooner – look at how much faster he was! Super!!! So as long as you stayed connected, you can send and leave to get the line and all the speed.
8th video: no problem at all getting him to take the tunnel as the last obstacle! You can accelerate away from the backside #5 like you did in the previous video and do the decel as you are getting to 6 to cue the tunnel. You were decelerated as he was approaching 5, so he slowed waaaay down there (good boy!) He is very good about reading your decel so you can accelerate to 6 and when he is passing the off course tunnel (and when you are arriving at 6), you can decelerate to get the turn. That should make it the perfect balance of speed and tight turn.
9th video: On this one, you can ideally be further over by the jump you want. On the FC, you did it on the landing side of 3 which was almost the same position as when you wanted the tunnel on the previous sequence. He landed a little long and had to slow down to make the turn. So you can trust him more by sending him to 3, and don’t go past the edge of the wing of 3 – be heading to 4 the whole time. That will get a great turn, take out the possibility of the off course tunnel, and keep you further ahead 🙂
10th video:
He was very happy to go take that jump without you moving! Yay! My only suggestion on this one is to begin cuing it before he enters the tunnel. As he is approaching the tunnel, you can be using your go over cues. You were quiet here til he exited, so he stopped and looked at you for a moment. If you say the cues before he enters the tunnel (then keep saying them LOL!) then he won’t hesitate at all.11th video: If I remember correctly, he has an ‘out’ cue? That would work well here, because he has to shift away from you on the flat. He went to the jump on the over, but was not 100% sure of how to approach it. And out cue can get him turned to face it better.
12th video: ah yes, I can see his question about what “over” means. Generally “over” s a jump cue on a line he is facing, which is why he almost went to the wrong jump. The out verbal will help turn him away and you can also help with an outside arm to switch him away.
13th video: looks like you helped convince him to get on the line away from you with cheese balls LOL! Yum! He was happy 🙂 He definitely thought it was the BEST GAME EVER and built up a ton of confidence to drive away from you. Yay!!! You can definitely enlist a cheese thrower as long as he doesn’t think that she is the target LOL!!! Since he was happily driving away here, you can add the out cue and opposite arm to help him differentiate it from staying on the line.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The US Open had all of the skills we have been prepping the dogs for – which is great! And several MaxPups from the generation that is a year old than Sprite were on multiple podiums and in Finals, so I was very proud of everyone 🙂Bearing in mind that these other-side-of-dog-walk-skills rely on training and experience, I think she did really well! And it makes sense that Gemma would get it – many more years of training and experience. It makes sense that Sprite would have more questions.
>>What do I need to do with my arms and shoulders?
You were pretty strong here – the bulk of the understanding/training comes from the verbals and the experience of working at such a big distance. My only arm suggestion would be at potentially add your opposite are on the 3-4 line to get her to shift away from you. But how much of the physical cue does the dog see when working that far away especially when the dog walk is there? I don’t know LOL! And it is the only time my arms get high, in the hopes that more movement is more visible.
So looking at the training:
She did really well overall, because it is a training set up for a baby dog. Using the toy as a lure works but try to go to a thrown reward as soon as possible to get her looking for jumps and not the toy when you are saying go go go. Also, you were great about rewarding even if she was not perfect – and throw those rewards too. If you are yelling go go go or out, we want the rewards to be predictably “out there” and not from your hands. And through multiple training sessions we can finesse things so she gets all the jumps too 🙂
Some training ideas:
The 3-4-5 section was really the only hard part for her. She got the opening beautifully and you did a great job breaking down the end so she nailed that too.So a couple of ideas:
Two ways to approach 2-3-4:
Towards the end of the video, you started slowly walking up the line – perfect! You can add some movement like that to get her more used to working that far away from you without a lot of motion support. And we can shape the concepts through successive approximations but throwing the reward out to the line, even if she doesn’t quite get the jump at first. This is where you can try adding the outside line.The other thing to try is to shorten the distance, lower the height, and handle without motion! That can help her understand that da momma is not always going to move!
And eventually we meld the 2 concepts together.
Finding the 5 jump was a hard one 180 – so you can try walking into it but also, you can rotate it 90 degrees so that when she lands from 4, she fully sees it (then throw the reward to the landing side). Over the course of a session or several sessions, you can begin to angle it back to the original position. And you can also shorten the distances so you play with it without moving, then build up the distances again.
Think of this distance training as if it is a skill, like weaves or the teeter: handling won’t get the understanding going 🙂 so we have to training it systematically 🙂 She is 100% on the right track!!! Let me know what you think of the ideas to break things down. And I bet the next time you show it to her, you will see latent learning helping to cement the concepts 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
The organizer wraps looked really good – both sides seemed pretty equal and that is great. You had a really good progression here: starting close, less speed, with the MM close – then adding more speed and moving the MM further back. He only had one question when he skipped the bar to get to the MM, but having you a little closer fixed that on the next reps.
The next step would be to move the MM around more, so he does the wrap and takes several strides to get to it. Eventually you can raise the height of the bar but I think the next step here would be to move to the backside circle wraps, because they build directly off of the groove he is in here 🙂
The zig zags look really strong! Yay!!!!
>>I think he has to put just a touch more rear into it for the 8” bar and that actually makes the 2nd jump easier. Does that make sense? Or maybe we’re both just getting it figured out>>
I think he is getting stronger and figuring it out – a higher bar would tend to create problems (added strides, hitting bars) if he didn’t have the strength and understanding.
So for the next session… 3 jumps! But do that at an angle that is a touch easier than where you started on this video, so he can find his balance and power when the 3rd jump gets added in 🙂
Great job!!! Keep me posted on how he does with the backside circles and 3 jumps!
Tracy
Good morning!
This session looked good! And yes, he was being sure to NOT push on it so it wouldn’t slide 🙂 His organization looked good, so you can move to the next step where you change your position so you are in the wrap position, on the ‘takeoff side’ of the wing – the 14 number cone here is where you would be standing.
When he can do it without a lot of speed, you can move to adding the wing wrap before it – if you are on turf, you can put a yoga mat or something under the plank so it doesn’t slide because he will be moving faster and pushing off with more power. I think it will be fine on grass, though, but if not you can use a mat there too to add more grip.When you get to the wing, you can also add in a bowl or manners minder as a reward target to help keep his head down after the release from the sit. You cam put the reward target where he would exit the wrap.
And if the session on the wing goes well… onwards to adding the bar. Yay!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyPre-Game 2:
I was very happy with his ability to keep tugging while I got the food and target out! And then go back to tugging after all the cookies! Fast transitions are hard 🙂
Like in the other game, he does better with shaping when I reward with the cookie away from the ‘thing’ so there is some action.
It is important to have the cookie ready. It is also important that I am looking at the target in my hand.
Ramen’s Pre-Game 1: Shaping Value
Big chewy chunks of food – took him a while to get started because of all the chewing 🙂
This puppy does better with shaping when I toss rewards away with his ‘get it’ marker, rather than reward “at the source” where he remains in position. Maybe it has something to do with a whippet’s natural love of moving? Every puppy will be different in this respect.
I can also break off and tug more frequently, he lost his chain of thought in the middle but then came back strong!
Hi! Hope you are having a good weekend! He did really well with these sequences!
He is very responsive to the line you are on, which is good news and also bad news LOL!
On the first sequence, you were on the line to the tunnel at :03 so he took the tunnel hen you wanted the jump. When you moved your line over at :09, :22 and :35, he was perfect about going to the jump. Yay! You can add decel as you are finishing the blind to tighten the turn. He was a little wide on the turn because you were sending him past you to the jump – but since you were already close to the jump, and since he is super happy to go past you… he went past you a lot 🙂 So as you finish the blind, you can decel and NOT keep moving forward to the jump. And before he passes you, give a soft cue to take the jump (low hand, maybe 2 hands as a “brake” and I bet he gives you a great turn there.
He did well with the threadle wrap too:
On the first one at :44, you had a lot of acceleration and the threadle arms over the bar, so he was surprised and dropped the bar. The next reps were really good! You can decel more into those too: since he is so good about driving forward, you really only need to get one step past the 2nd jump, so you can be decelerating and doing the threadle as a send.And the tunnel rep was great 🙂
When you built it all Ito the bigger sequence:
Your first BC to the tunnel t 1:28 was a little late but the blind at 1:39 was great (position and timing) and so were all of the rest! Super!
He has strong sends and this is a pretty intuitive backside line, so the 5-6-7 line went better when you trusted him more and left sooner. You stayed at the backside a little too long at 1:45 (you were there as he was approaching takeoff) so it was harder to get the line on that rep and the next rep at 2:02.
You left a lot sooner at 2:19 and you were great about trusting the send and leaving early at 2:33 and that also set up a good left on the jump to get him into the tunnel. Yay!
So definitely trust your sends – your connection looked lovely on the send after the tunnel, so watch his head: when he is looking at and moving towards the backside approach wing, you can leave like you did at 2:33.
2nd sequence – this was all about the line too 🙂 Your BCs to the jump at 2:45, 3:04 and 3:30 were all really good timing and your connection was good! So why did he jump so long as if heading to the tunnel? Your line was towards the tunnel as you were doing the blind, so the first cues he saw were extension to the tunnel. Compare the BC positions and line you ran to the position/line you ran at 3:17 when you wanted the tunnel – they were virtually the same.
So to get a tight turn 3-4, you will not want to go past the plane of the wing of 3 and always head to 4. Since it is a tight spacing there (which is common on these discriminations) you might find that the FC shows the correct line to the jump better than the blind cross, because it turns your feet to the line sooner. But definitely keep the timing and connection – that was great!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyWow Amy, this was a great session, she is showing some awesome skills and speed!!
I loved loved loved what you did on the backside slice moment from :05 – :08. Positionally, you were in a great spot for the send. Connection? Perfect! You also maintained connection and did not rush the baby dog as you moved through to the blind exit. Fabulous! As she gets even more experienced, you will be able to leave sooner but this was quite perfect.
2nd rep was the wrap:
Gorgeous position for the wrap at :17, great patience, she is an amazing turner 🙂
Great job leaving the wrap position as soon as she was past you, her commitment looked great and her turn was lovely.
My only suggestion is to call her between 3 and 4 to tighten the line to the 5 backside wrap so she comes into it with less yardage.Blind to threadle slice – also really strong! You had super good timing of the blind. You can give her a little more room coming into the threadle – stay maybe one or two more steps away from the wing to set up her jumping. And stay chill and quiet til after she lands from the threadle – you got really exciting and she got distracted from the difficult jumping effort 🙂
Really fabulous session! You and Dora look great. And your connection is AMAZING which really helps support her.
Tracy
Hi!
>>My main takeaway was ‘stay off their line”. >>
Yes! Handler line is critical on these discriminations, as you saw. On the blind crosses, for example:
At :02, your line was too far across the bar at 2 so she correctly took the other side of 3. Compare that to the blind at :19, where you were on a great line and she was perfect. For binds (and fronts), ideally you start them on the exact line you want her to be on… then get out of the way before she arrives there 🙂>>There was about 6 feet between the jump and the parallel tunnel
Yes, this is the new normal in course designs 🙂
>>and most of them took the backside of the jump (although my feet may also have had something to do with that).>>
Yes – when she pushed to the other side of the jump on the threadles, your feet at :06 and :09 pushed her off the line. Your line was much better at :11 and she read it really well.
>>kind of like the throwback option (assuming it is an option). I can see we would really struggle with something like this if she had some speed on in the middle of a course so we will practise this useful exercise!>
At :15, you did the throwback/lap turn which worked really well – as you noted, because the lap turn requires so much rotation and you have to basically be stopped in position and facing her, it is only useful when you can easily get there. The threadle wrap will work really well in the flow of the course when you cannot get to the lap turn.
>>I am also curious why do a blind there?
The blind or front can work there. The blind is quicker for us humans, so we can decel for the send better. The FC is harder and often we step forward out of the FC which cues extension to the next jump – so it is counterintuitive but the blind can set up the tighter turn on the next jump by allowing us to decel sooner.
>>You lose sight of them for a crucial second >>
Ideally, we are finished with the blind before the dog takes off for 2.
>>and also, does a blind not cue extension when ideally we want a tight wrap with collection at the jump?
Blinds can also cue tight turns, but mainly in this case the quickness of the blind allows us to decelerate better into the tight turn on the next jump.
>> and may also help cue the tunnel? I
The BC and the FC can also cue the tunnel if we are on the wrong line 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Sorry to hear it has been a tough couple of weeks and I hope the covid vaccine is not hitting you too hard!! But glad to hear you enjoyed Lori’s seminar 🙂 I will keep an eye out for her seminars for sure!Arram did really well on all of these. He is young, obviously LOL so he has some questions plus you are still sorting out his timing needs. Some ideas for you:
Video 1 – On these lead outs, try to line him up facing the jump before the first send, take a moment, then send. If he is looking at you and you suddenly start, he was taking the jump but not sure where to go – for example :18 he was moving but looking around, not sure where to be on the jump. He can definitely handle more slice angles, so you can gently hold his collar for a moment while he is facing it to let him look at it for a moment.
When you had him on the slice jumping towards the course at 1:12, he did beautifully and read that challenging rear cross – really nice! So that angle plus a lead out will help get the wrap to the left there too, so you can decel and rotate your feet to cue the wrap.
2nd video: I think he is ready for more of a slice angle on jump 1 on these too! Really nice job on the backsides, both the push wrap and threadle wrap. Depending on how his stay is going, you and add more distance on your lead outs on these slice openings too.
Video 3 – he is doing well with the backside stuff too!
He is ready for more trust, in terms of positional cues and not over-helping the backsides 🙂 For the push wraps, you can use more connection (dog side arm back, eyes on his eyes), and run to where the wing meets the bar but don’t block the wing. The first rep was good position but not quite enough connection, and the 2nd and 3rd reps wing more connection there but you were wing blocking (putting yourself on his line past the wing) so he wasn’t really sure where to be and you had to rotate to get it. So blend the position of the first rep with the connection of reps 2 and 3, and you will be perfect!
Threadle wrap – when you gave big obvious arms and went forward with connection? He was super! So definitely don’t rush this move (this is a slow motion move, even for experienced dogs). When coming in from the blind, you can decel, use big arms & connection, and move straight forward. Moving towards the jump was pushing him to the front of it, and if you were moving too fast he didn’t get organized to do it. So that decel and moving straight with big arms cues will help, no need to move away until after he has turned his head and is moving towards the jump. My favorite rep was at 1:42, nice and patient and connected! You can fade out the foot rotation too: see if you can keep your feet moving forward as your upper body, position and verbal cue the wrap. Turning your feet to the jump looks similar to the threadle slice, so feet facing forward will help keep the threadle wrap very distinct.
2:09 was also good, but you were rushing a bit for the next reps. 3:44 was also really patient and clear – the next sep is to definitely fade out the foot rotation.
Backside slices – I think you can trust him more on these too 🙂 You can be moving on a parallel line to his path, more towards the center of the bar, so you don’t end up showing wrap position and so you don’t end up in his landing spot.
At 4:42 and 5:12 for example you got past the entry wing so he went to the backside but then you were in the way so he didn’t take the jump. He took is nicely when you sent from further away at the very end, so definitely trust him more so as he gets to the backside of the jump, you are out of the way and he will take the jump 🙂
Video 4
Nice blind to the tunnel! REALLY nice timing and position at 1:52! He is doing really well reading the discriminations.Nice backside after the tunnel – it is another good trust moment (so hard to trust the baby dogs!) so you can end to the backside then get outta there… otherwise you set the line to 3 (which he was looking at).
You left earlier on the 2nd and 3rd rep and it helped him drive the line really nicely!
He had trouble turning away whatever distraction is past the weaves so didn’t quite get into the tunnel. Also, it is possible that he doesn’t fully understand the backside tunnel entry so you got some avoidance behaviors: leaving, sniffing, running on top of the tunnel LOL – that’s a good skill to isolate by starting where he can see it and working around the clock so you can get him to send without you needing to be close to it.5th video: He did well here too! It is fun to see the pieces coming together 🙂
16″ was a little high for the parts that required thinking right now, he was slowing down a bit, so you can probably leave the hard bars lower (like 2-3-4) and have the easier bars at 16″.
The FC 3-4 worked nicely! On the first rep, your position was really good (where the wing and bar met, right on his line) and a nice early rotation so he turned really well and never considered the tunnel.On the 2nd FC at :53, you were a little further past the position by a step by also you showed more acceleration and a later FC, and he was wider there. He was not scoping the tunnel, but he was responding to the cues he saw on the way to 2. Good boy!
After the FC on both reps, as soon as he lands, remember to decel so he turns before takeoff to the jump and not after landing to pick up the next line.
Great job here! He is really putting big pieces together. And I am glad Lanna smoked all of them 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>I audited the recent Got FACE class with Bobbie Bhambree.
I think some of those exercises have helped with her overall experiences too. yay!>>That is super! I was really impressed with her resilience after the crash. She was like, “no problem, let’s get back at it.” Good girl!
>>How long are we able to post video for feedback in this class. I missed seeing that.
We are going to keep this open until Thanksgiving, so folks can get everything done 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi!
Yes, the US Open is very exciting and the hurricane added plenty of spice! We are back to normal weather now, thankfully.
This session went well, these are hard skills!
A couple of ideas for you:
– I think you should have separate verbals for the threadle slice and the threadle wrap 🙂 You can hate me now LOL!! It sounded like you were using the same for both but then adding left left for the wrap… but that makes things late and she is speedy 🙂 When she lands from jump 2, you can already be telling her if it is a slice or a wrap if you have 2 different verbals. But if it is the same verbal, you can’t really tell her til she is on the takeoff side and you also have to add lots of handling (which is why it was hard to get the last jump at the very end at 4:24, too much time spent handling the wrap). So definitely consider using the here cue for the slices and something entirely different for the wraps (I say “in in” for my threadle wraps). They are very different behaviors, so the different verbals will help her.Doing the blind to set up the threadles definitely go you into position sooner. Just be sure that you keep moving forward until she can get o the threadle side and show her the arm cues. At 2:17 and the rep after it, you did the BC by pushed her to the front side. On the rep at 2:37 and after that, you gave her more room and showed her the threadle arm, and she got it nicely. YAY!!
The Push wraps looked great !!! On this sequence, you don’t need to go as close to 2 – you can send her to it and leave, so you can show the line to where the wing meets the bar to set up the backside wraps.
You’re going to hate me again… with her speed, I think you need 2 separate verbals for backside push wrap and backside push slice 🙂 I use “back” for the backside slices and “dig” for the backside wraps (repeated like you were repeating them). Like the threadles, they are VERY different behaviors so different verbals tell her a lot sooner what to do. She is very fast, to having the extra verbals will really help 🙂
>>Fritzi had her first crash on a jump, I left it in the video, let me know if you see something I did to cause it. I noticed she rubbed the jump before the crash too so maybe just testing proximity to the wings>>
Yikes, that was a big crash! She is very resilient, good girl!!
I watched it several times in slow motion – I think your handling is what the grown up version of the handling will be. But, she is young and had trouble processing all of the speed and cues (starting with rubbing the wing on jump 2). So as you ran through to the takeoff side she got disorganized and had the crash. So, considering we eventually want you to handle like that: do everything the same but don’t move as fast, so she can process the cues while seeing less speed and less countermotion. That way she can think about the jumping organization. This is similar to what you did at 4:00 and the rep after it, and it really helped set her up for success. As she gets more experienced, you will be able to add back more and more of your speed. And having the separate verbals will help too, because she will be getting info sooner.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, she was very happy to do the distance work 🙂 She looked super! I think if we clarify the verbals and use them sooner then it will be even easier.>>Are there cues for turn left or right out of the tunnel or do they just rely on body language and “out” – I notice she looks at me, particularly for the turn -aways.>>
You were using go for the distance jump at the very beginning, which was appropriate: Go should mean stay on your line in extension. In the 2nd half of the session, you were using out and go somewhat interchangeably – towards and away – so I think you should save Go for the line straight/parallel to you and use out for the turn aways after the tunnel exit. Left and right will create turns that are generally too tight.
The next thing to add is saying the cues (go and out, depending on which direction it is) before she goes in the tunnel – so when she is maybe a meter before the tunnel, start you go or your out cue, and repeat it so she hears it before, during, and after the tunnel 🙂 so she doesn’t rely on body language (but of course you should still use your physical cues too to support the verbals :))
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Great job with this session, in terms of progressing from stationary to movement and adding the wing – all good! You were also really good about emphasizing getting the treats in the bowl, so her head position was good over the bar.I noticed she was a little less snappy than usual, so the heat and bugs might have been an issue plus she might have been thinking very hard about going past the food dish 🙂 and organizing while facing you. So let the learning sink in for a day – then try it again and if she is faster with the sits, you can add more motion! Yay!
And after adding more motion, we will start fading the organizers. Fun times ahead!!!!
Tracy
