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Hi! This went well too!
The big layer to the tunnel looked great, and it is really nice to see that even though he definitely has high value for the tunnel, he doesn’t grab it when you haven’t cued it 🙂 Yay!
The FC on the 2nd rep was a little late so I was not sure if you wanted the front or back of the jump (hard to hear the verbal). The BC at :14 was very late but you had the threadle verbal going so he got it. Yay!
The timing of the FC and BC as still a little late on the next reps but your cue as to which side of the jump you wanted (front versus back) was very clear. This was especially true at :3 when y started your backside verbal while he was in the air over the previous jump – perfect!
So about the timing of the physical cue – you can send to the wing and the first jump from further away, so that you are in position and starting the FC or BC so that he sees it the cross finishing before he takes off for the jump. You were trying to get to position then start the cross, which was making it a little late.
On the threadle slice – he is reading these nicely, following the body language! Try not to go as close to the first jump so then you don’t have to pull back at all, you can keep running on a parallel line as you cue the threadle (instead of running backwards then moving forward again).
Threadle wrap – this is a good one for more decel into it, so you can set the big collection and rotate your lower body. So as he is landing from the jump, you can be decelerating and showing him a big arm/hand/shoulder cue – try to use a lot of upper body and very little motion/feet to show the jump. It will feel like you are grabbing his attention with your hands then turning him and sending him away to the jump with your hands, not with motion of your feet 🙂 The extra motion was why he ended up in the tunnel because that was the line that the motion was supporting.
The mini sequences at the end looked great – the big tunnel distance allowed you to get to the threadle really easily, and he committed to that at a distance and allowed you to stay way ahead! Nice!
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
This session went really well! Yes, he seemed happy to take the tunnel any time, any place LOL!! That made the little sequence really easy (one little blooper where your threadle cue was late but the 2nd rep of it was perfect).>>I tried to speed it up, but I couldn’t get far away from the jump for him to take the backside.>>
He did well here and actually having to help how the backside makes the tunnel more tempting…. But I don’t think he took it at al when you wanted the backside!
So you can approach the backside training 2 ways:
– yes, without a tunnel discrimination right there 🙂 gradually inch over closer to the center of the bar so that you can cue it from the center of the backside bar.– for this setup, you can angle the backside jump so when he lands from the previous jump, he can see the bar more (so the wing closer to the tunnel gets angled towards his landing spot from the previous jump). You can start it on maybe a 45 degree angle from its position here, then work the way back to the flat angle you had it here.
Nice work!!
TracyGood morning! I am getting an error message on these (an exclamation point in a triangle). Usually the iCloud shares work well, so I am not sure why they are misbehaving today LOL!!! If I can’t get them to work, can you load them on YouTube?
Thanks!
TracyGood morning! I am glad she is reading the soft brake easily – it is intended to be intuitive, so we don’t have to train more – we can just do it LOL!!
The combo games looked awesome!!!! She read everything really well, no questions about if it was the jump or the tunnel, and she ignored the neighbor dog. Wow!!!!
On the 2nd video, she was perfect about reading the change from the tunnel on go-rounds 1 and 2 to the wing on go-round 3. Yay!
Since that all went well and I believe you are in for hot weather… here is a game to practice keeping your hands low 🙂 Use a cold drink which feels good in the heat LOL! The smaller the dog, the lower the hands should be – and I bet you can get even more success with lower hands so she sees connection better, especially as we add more distance 🙂
I play this game all the time to keep me hands calm LOL!!
(And if you are anywhere near Ocala this weekend, come by the WEC, we will be there helping with the ESPN Flyball Invitational!!)
The chair-verbals game is definitely going better! The main thing is that she has figured out that it is about responding to verbals and moving away, even without you moving. Good girl!!! She had a LOT more success!! I think the hardest part was when you wanted her to go to the tunnel after a series of jump verbals, so you can mix in more alternating so the jump doesn’t get too much more value than the tunnel here. And on the way to the jump, she was stopping to look at your hands, so you can definitely throw the rewards. And if you want another level of challenge: put the MM out there past both obstacles, and you can use it as the reward for both!! It is a hard visual for the pups but I think she is ready 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>Well, this was hard! I don’t really have enough space, so the wing and jump are closer than ideal and at a very flat angle.>>
You made it work! You got it set up so that all of the challenges were maintained (it is supposed to be hard :)) and you and Sprite looked great!
Tunnel sends – looking great! You can add even more distance for bigger layering. That tunnel send distance is a HOT TOPIC right now in agility (I am sure Loretta presented some of that last weekend!) so the more distance, the merrier 🙂 And she was a super good girl because she never ended up in a tunnel unless cued to it (there was one accidental cue, see below LOL!)
Looking at the crosses:
The first FC was late (:08) but you recognized that and the next FC at :14 was PERFECT – nice adjustment!!!!Your blind cross timing was also great – she turned a lot better on the blinds than on the FCs. Was it because she already knew the sequence? Or because the blinds work better for her? Not sure, so the next session of this type of thing (even if it is a different setup) should start with the Bus so we can track what she reads better when she doesn’t know the sequence.
Fabulous job getting the threadle side versus the backside of the jump after the blinds and the fronts – great connection and verbals! I saw no questions from her on those.
The threadle wrap was a harder skill for sure, but that is fine because it is a lower priority for a 2 year old dog. The FCs and BCs are the higher priority skills and they looked great!
For the threadle wraps – you can. Fade some of the rotation you were doing at the first jump, it was putting you a little too far from the threadle jump. Instead, you can be moving towards the threadle jump wing and as she is coming over the first jump, then you can rotate, get her on your hands, and do that pull and circle move with the hands that cues the actual threadle.
By already being closer to the threadle jump, it will be less motion for you which helps her in 2 ways by setting up more of a collection cue, and also taking out any extra motion in a direction you don’t want. That extra motion is why she took the tunnel at 1:09 – you were definitely moving that way as she was taking off for the jump, so she was being a good girl. Compare that to your decel and foot rotation and she never looked at the tunnel after that.
Also, click/treat to you for seeing things in a rep and making an adjustment in the next rep (like timing on the FC, and decel/foot rotation on the threadle wraps) to get success. Yay!!!
>>Saw the wrong hand on threadle wrap on the video afterwards and we didn’t do one of the threadle slices… that’s what happens when you don’t check and are in a hurry!>>
Yes, I use a low 2-hand threadle cue for the wraps (as well as a turn cue on the jump before it, if needed – a name call would work here). But the hand cue is personal preference, lots of folks use one hand here like a flick. I have found the low 2 hand cue looks different than my other hand cues, which helps the dogs. And yes, when you get a moment, try the threadle-slide 🙂
The confident tunnel sends made the little combo sequence look great, you easily got your right verbal in on the tunnel exit and picked her up on the threadle side of the jump. Lovely!!!!
Great job here!!!! Fingers crossed for more good weather ahead in your area!
TracyGood morning!
>>Left in a blooper where he slammed onto and rolled my ankle, then showed very little regard for my injury. >>
I thought you meant he hit you during the handling! But hitting you during the tugging looked really painful, OUCH!! It was very helpful of him to bark at you while you were trying to soothe your ankle LOL!!! I am glad your ankle is OK!
The session looked good! He responded really well to everything and it looked like you had plenty of hustle and excitement happening too! Even in those moments where you were trying for the ‘rushed’ feel, he was still really good about reading the lines. Yay!
The only time I thought he might have had a tiny question was when he was wrapping to his right and you were picking him up on your right for the jump: he was a tiny bit wider on those turns than on the wraps to the tunnel or the left wraps to the jump. An example would be at 1:18, but he had similar lines in that context throughout. Was it because he was looking at the tunnel? Was it because he was following your running line? Or both 🙂 ? Not sure! Either way, he still took the jump and we will look for any wideness questions in the upcoming sequences.
The other thing to do with these setup is to move the jump closer to the tunnel (5 feet apart) but the week 2 games have that, so feel free to move to those (they also have more variety in handling challenge, which he is totally ready for :))
Great job!!!
TracyHi! This session went really well!!!
Nice job building up the distance on the layering to the tunnel – she was getting a lot of distance there by the end of the session!
Very nice connection on the blinds, she never looked at the tunnel 🙂 Getting the front side was easy after the blind. Nice! The backside push went well, nice job helping her come in over the jump on the serpy line there.
For threadle slice – you can cue the jump sooner t help her take it after pulling her into you, but also work separately so you don’t have to cue it and she automatically goes out to it.
The threadle slice and the serps are both from the strike a pose games in max pup, so you can revisit those!
Great job here – keep adding some distance on the tunnel send, and you can move to the next game as well!
Tracy
Hi! This looked really super!!!!
I am very impressed with how she is not looking at the wrong place at all. Yay!
The big layered sends to the tunnels? Easy peasy! Yay!
The blinds to the inside of the jump? Super! On the first one, you were a little wide from the jump so she was wide too. On the 2nd one, you ran a nice tight line so she was pretty perfect.
When you did the blind to the backside, you ran the same line as the blind to the threadle so she wa sa little wide (nice job staying connected to use her to the backside!). For the backside there, you can run a line more to the wing of the backside of the jump and that way she will see the correct side when she lands and won’t need an extra step.
The threadle slices went great too! You can give her a turn cue (name call, in this setup) on t he jump before the threadle just to tighten up her line over the jump there.
The threadle wraps are going well too – nice job slowing them down to show them to her, she doesn’t have a lot of experience with them.
She did really well! When the weather gets decent again, you can do more of the threadle wraps and definitely move to the next game which adds more challenge too 🙂 Fingers crossed for nice weather ahead!!
Great job!
TracyHi! She did well here! Putting the tunnel into these adds a whole new level of speed 🙂
Adding more connection will definitely help: one the first couple of reps, you didn’t have a ton of connection on the tunnel exit so she had some questions Your connection at :12 was great! Because she is learning that the tunnel goes into a sequence, you can slow down as you cue her to go back into the tunnel, you can set the line to show it to her. Then you can add back more speed when you see her have the “a-ha!” moment to realize the tunnel is a part of it 🙂
>>I moved the barrel further away from the tunnel and that seemed to give us more time to connect before we interacted with the barrel.>>
Yes! That totally helped – you were much better with connection after the collision moment (she was only a little mad about it LOL!) and that really helped her! So for now, keep over-emphasizing the eye contact to set the lines, then it will get easier and easier as you practice it and she experiences it more.
Great job!
TracyHi!
I think you got plenty done on this course and you will be in excellent position to start MaxPup 2!! There is a ton of content in these classes, but they all build on each other so it is fine if you don’t get everything done right away 🙂
>>out was I came in on a discussion of Field Guides. Oh, I definitely need that. >>
Yes – the field guides will be sent with the verbals webinar. We are using them in a couple of other classes and people say they are very helpful!
On the tunnel threadles – yes, calling her name is fine on the exit. Try not to rotate towards her – instead, you can facing forward (and moving forward, when you meet her more at the middle of the tunnel or at the exit of the first tunnel cue.
The verbals were all really good! Question – were you using the dog-side arm as part of the threadle or the opposite arm? Either is fine, but you will want to use more of an exaggerated movement of the arm – the opposite arm can be across your chest at shoulder height, or you can swing the dog side arm back to open up the threadle cue.
She is ready for you to be moving on these now: when she exits the first tunnel, you can be at the center of the tunnel and walking forward giving the threadle cues. And if that is easy, you can meet her at the exit of the first tunnel and show her the threadle cues so she drives ahead to it.
The reverse retrieves are looking good! On the first rep, I don’t think she realized what the game was… but then she was super excited to drive back to you! Super!!!
The next level of this game is to leave her in a stay, and you lead out facing her: you dangle the toy, release her to get it and you drop the toy as you run forward. That is a lot of hard countermotion but I think she is ready.
>>Couldn’t remember if I was supposed to use her name or not, so the last 2 reps I did without calling her name.>>
You can use her name, or you can use a ‘bring it’ cue, both will work nicely here! She also read your physical cues when you were silent at the end.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Glad you liked the video!
We do handling classes sprinkled throughout the year, with the big one starting in June called CAMP!
THi!
>>In this, I attempted to follow your advice from last night – wait to reward verbally til he is committed to the obstacle, throw the ball (don’t reward from hand), and use body and low arms to support what Forrest is being asked to do.>>
This went really well!!! Nice job making the adjustments!!
He was good boy, finding the difference between the jump and the tunnel! As the wing and your position get further away from the line, it is fine to take the extra step to help him see the jump past the tunnel. That really helped him! And if he ends up at the wrong obstacle, you don’t need to throw the ball – you can reset with a cookie then try again.
On the 2nd video,:
>>He was ok with the wing “in line” with the other two obstacles,>>
Yes, he did well there! You can take an extra step to the tunnel like you did :33 to help him see it, then fade it out as we add more and more layering skills.
>>but once I moved it back, we had trouble getting him OVER the backside of the jump. Did I remember my directional (BACK) – Nope.>>
Yes, the backside verbal would be better there and you can also change the position of the wing so it is far but not fully a backside. At 1:04 and 1:53 he was correct because you said “over” and that is the front side cue, which is where he went. He did well when you stepped to the backside though, that really helped!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
It sounds like the seminar went really well – so many new variables and she was great! Yay!
The first wing position was hard because there was no place for you to go, making it harder to find the jump. But the others all looked great! I think she is ready for more motion – you can be cuing the obstacle and moving up the line, so you end up layering the jump when she is taking the tunnel.
On the other side:
Going past the tunnel could potentially be really hard, so you set her up for success by using just enough handling to show what you wanted (one or two steps past the tunnel) – then you artfully faded it as the session went on. VERY NICE! And that set up great work on the last couple of reps, where she went to the jump with minimal handling help. And of course there was no problem getting the tunnel 🙂She only had one question, at 1:34. I think you were saying “go” and that could apply to either obstacle, so she did a little zig zag and ended up on the backside of the jump. Good girl, nice reward for the effort too! The rest was very clear with the verbals.
>>I noticed in exercise 2 that you said to use your threadle command on the rep where it’s wing, jump, jump. Isn’t that really just a discrimination though? Do you use a threadle cue for both a true threadle and a typical discrimination? When I took Jordon Biggs threadle class she made a big point about what is and is not a threadle. But, I still get confused sometimes.>>
Do you mean on the blind cross between 2 and 3? It is indeed a discrimination because of the tight handler line – when the dog lands from the first jump, it is entirely possible she sees the front and back so has a choice especially in those moments when the handle is not perfect LOL!
The handler needs to help with cues, so the “jump” verbal is too vague and could apply to either side. Because the dog has a choice of front or back in this context, a threadle verbal after the blind helps a whole lot. I think Jordan would use a blind-to-threadle in this context too, she leans towards the Shape Up method of handling and I am 99% sure they would use a blind-to-threadle here too.The other option is a forced blind which delays the blind til the dog has reached the backside plane… but in this context, that will put the dog right into the tunnel because it is a pretty late cue 🙂
Great job here! Fingers crossed for no rain!!
Tracy
