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Good morning!
I agree, the zig zags went well!
>> With the same angles as our last session. I thought went really well, so flattened out the angles just a little bit.
Yes,that was the right move, he was ready for a bit more challenge and did really well.
All of the left-to-right reps looked strong! And he did have trouble with the right-to-left reps at the end (but not at the beginning, those were the reps you started with). Why did it happen? Could be the harder direction, could be fatigue, could be a slight change in how the reward was moving, could be answered D) All Of The Above LOL! He definitely was running more than jumping on those last two reps, and since it was later in the session, stopping was the right choice (any loss of physical or mental form is a good stopping place :))
>>One thing I have definitely learned from this class is that he is much more comfortable turning to his left. Would you expect this much of a difference?
Yes, it is expected and these technical jumping skill stuff tends to reveal the side preferences because the dogs can’t compensate and we don’t chalk it up to something like a late turn cue. I saw it in all of my dogs during training. It is really no worries – we humans are exactly the same and can learn to be more balanced.
>>Thinking I should get him in for a massage just to make sure something physical isn’t going on.
Because he is now in the stage of his career that he is doing all the big fast stuff, definitely have some regular massages – partially to keep him loose, and partially to make sure nothing is brewing that might be restricting his movement. My guess is that there is nothing brewing, but I am a huge advocate for body work for our canine athletes 🙂
So on his next zig zag session, you can do a quickie warm up on the easier direction, same angle, one or two reps… then go to the harder side and see what happens (this should take out any fatigue factor) If he still has the question, you can dial back your motion to a very slooooooow moving target or even being stationary. If he still has questions, you can open the angles up a bit to make it easier.
>> And some Organizers with a Wing. Took a bit to figure out how to let him know what the game was and sort of sort out my mechanics. I’m guessing you’ll have some suggestions on this one
The organizers with the wing are all about figuring out the mechanics and teaching the framework to both us and the dog – there is a lot going on LOL!!! The original conditioning exercises bring this to a jump right away, and I am like: let’s start on a wing so we can all get our mechanics together LOL!! That wing is a powerful visual as a thing to wrap, so he had trouble realizing he needed to sit on the platform which is currently a lower value skill – and hind end work fades into the background of processing a bit when presented with a powerful visual like the wing.
You did a really good job of setting up success with a big obvious physical cue, then fading it – he really had the idea by the end!!! I think the hardest part for him was when you were facing him – giving him a little more room to come in between you and the wing as a serp or recall to heel will help. But, we also address it in the slice games so you don’t need to worry about it here. The handler position facing the dog was mainly to get the dog to stop in position and you got it with you facing the wing, which builds us to the jumps.
Even as you sort out the mechanics on just the platform, you can count reps so he doesn’t do too many especially on one side. You can limit to maybe 5 reps then switch sides to keep him balanced and avoid fatigue.
If he can start the next session with the organization he ended with here, you can switch sides and do some right turns. Then the session after that can have the bar added in.Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyWow, Wendy, she is doing SO WELL!!!! Thoughtful, fast, organized AND holding the stay, all with the moving target happening. SUPER!!!!
I am very happy with this so I think we can move on again to the next step:
Definitely flatten the angles a bit more. You can repeat this session on a flatter angle, but also I think you can do the backsides too on the flatter angle. You can see the backsides version of this on the Course Syllabus page.
The backsides don’t involve a stay, she is starting next to you can you send her and move – this is good because the stay has looked really good, and I don’t want her to get mad about all the stays LOL!! So you can start her at your side with you both in the middle (where the 2 wings touch) – send to the backside so she jumps the grid with more speed and a harder approach. You will be moving forward the whole time, walking at first then build up to jogging then eventually running.
Because she is fast: when you do the backsides, you should have a reward target on the ground about 4 meters past jump 2. That way she won’t look up at you holding/throwing the reward, and you won’t need to try to outrun her to do a moving target.
Great job! Let me know how she does with the backsides!
TracyGood morning!
We have been SO LUCKY with this weather! Glad you got out to enjoy it 🙂This session looked great – he did really well with the zig zags at the angle, including with the moving target. The one oops moment was when you were on the ‘outside’ of the setup and he did really well when you were on the inside of the setup (the side where the 2 wings were touching). So you can stay on the inside, keep going with then moving target… and flatten the angles a little more, moving the jumps an inch or two flatter for each session.
With the jumps at this angle, you can also add the 3rd jump (same angle, same moving target) or you can keep the 2 jump setup and do the backside version of it! He has reached the point where you can choose your adventure 🙂 of flattening the jumps or backsides or the 3 jumps. You can choose a different one for each session, to keep things spicy 🙂
Great job here! Enjoy the seminars with Lee today! Keep me posted about how Coal does 🙂
TracyPoor buddy! I hope he is feeling better today. You can do all of these at a lower height so he still gets a workout 🙂 and keeps his body safer 🙂 Keep me posted!
Hi! I didn’t think the videos were too long at all – you were doing the in-between stuff like telling him how great he was, getting the cookies ready, etc, rather than doing 80 zillion reps. But it is interesting how quickly the dogs get fatigued here, it can be quite a workout! Some of the classmates are coming back from massage and PT checkups with reports of increased muscling and core strength, so that is a very good thing for all of them!
T
Hi!
Ewww the mud situation sounds gross! Fingers crossed that things stay dry for a bit 🙂The angles on the setup looked great and he jumped it well, no matter if you were ahead or he was driving ahead. Boring feedback alert: I didn’t see a difference in what he was doing on any of the reps, and there were plenty of variations presented to him in terms of motion, stationary, your position relative to him, etc – yay! It is good to see no difference and no questions 🙂 He looked strong. Was it challenging? Yes! He was having to think for sure. But he executed it really well!
Since this went well, you have options for the next session:
You can do this same angle, with the moving target reinforcement.
or
You can tighten the angles a bit, moving the outer jumps maybe 10 degrees or so (approximately, no need for a protractor haha!) He should still see the straight line through the bars, but it can be less obvious than it is here.Great job! Keep me posted about how he does!
TracyHi!
You are totally spoiling me with the front AND side views of the zig zags! Love it!
I think he is doing super well here. He had one question, at :28 on the front view video (:22 on the side view) where he kind of landed on the 2nd bar. Looking at it in comparison to the other reps, I think on that rep you were stationary near the last wing for longer, so he processed it as a decel cue and then when you started to move – he tried to change his organization and it didn’t work out in the moment. On the other reps, you were further from the wing (closer to the toy) and/or moving sooner, and he was GREAT. So keep being closer to the toy and moving nice and early.
>>I think one more session and then I can add the third jump. What do you think??>>
You can add that 3rd jump now with the stationary reward like it was here (same angle, it is pretty close to flat) or you can use the 2 jump setup with the moving target toy 🙂 We will eventually want him to try the 3 jumps with the moving target, so you can start with the 2 jumps and the moving target – and if a couple of reps go well, you can add the 3rd jump in that session and do a couple of reps with a stationary target.
The organizer game looked good!
He did really well with getting the cookie while sitting then released to the cookie dropping into the bowl in the first 2 reps. Then NOT getting the cookie in position and the cookie already in the bowl was a big direction at :20! But he fixed it and was great on all the other reps on that side.He had a similar distraction moment at :48 but did really well and was QUITE bendy when you helped remind him to take the bar and not just grab the treat in the bowl. He also did well with the wing wrap before it and to be honest – the best reps with the cookie already placed in the bowl were the ones towards the end where you released pretty quickly, before he had time to think about the cookie 🙂
So keep going with the wing to plank, and releasing over the bar as soon as his butt gets down on the plank. You can more the bar up to 14″ and also move the cookie target back towards the takeoff side by about a foot, so he comes around the wing further to get to it after wrapping. And yo ucan add in the backside wraps as well.
Great job!! Let me know what you think. He is making terrific progress!
TracyHi!
Really good work here!!!Ah you read my mind on the first video, I was just thinking we needed to move the plank over to get him to go directly over the bar and not to the ground first. Great minds thinking alike of course hahaha Great job getting it in a position where he could get over the bar directly from the plank.
At first, it was hard organizing!!! He offered the down, he had some scrambling… but then he got it. Yay! By the end of the session, and into the next session, he was much smoother. You were definitely on team fake chill here while he was working, and that totally helped.
>> He seemed to need more traction for some reason this time versus the other times. I will get a yoga mat on top of here for our next films to make sure he can push off properly. Maybe he’s going a bit too fast?>>
You can definitely add a yoga mat, but I also think he wants to GO FAST which is good! But we want him to organize the jumping so he was having to regulate himself, which is also good. And you might be hearing the power of his push off! But the yoga mat will be a good addition and I bet it will be helpful for him to move the plank maybe 6 more inches to the center of the bar.
the 2nd side went well too –
Keep having the cookie already on the target like you did towards the 2nd half of the session, and keep moving slowly – it was hard for him when you stayed in motion, that was when you got the downs instead of the sits. His sits looked good when you decelerated to help him so see if you can fade out the decel and keep walking oh so slowly 🙂The backside slices are going well too! I think he was a little mentally tired by the time you got to these (more distracted) and also maybe a little fatigued (by the end he was not organizing his rear as well). So when you revisit the slices, start with these backside slices! If he does well wit the first couple of reps, you can add in a wing wrap before it (both front and backside slices can have the wing wraps) for more speed into it.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I agree that we don’t want any confusion! You can work the obstacle names separately either by holding his collar and saying the obstacle verbals like a discrimination, or by doing a wing wrap or something before it so there is a motion element but no stay element.T
Good morning!
Your Pap had lovely form on the 18” jumps LOL! Paps do NOT like to be left out LOL!!
The session went SUPER well. I loved the opening line of each rep – independent jumping skills from him, connection and strong motion from both of you EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Love it! It allowed you to easily get to the backside and threadle stuff very easily.
Yes, the push wrap was the hardest element for him out of all of these. My guess is that it is the hardest thing because he has to coordinate a difficult wrap jumping skill while also seeing you run forward with a lot of speed (like at :11), and he couldn’t quite do it (hello, multisensory integration and sensorimotor integration!) So he was better able to get it at :23, when Mike dialed back the motion and also at :36 with Karena delaying her forward motion a bit. Both of these helped him be successful!
To help him be able to execute this skill while you stay in motion, you can use just the wing (easier to process) while you add more and more motion. And try to keep your feet facing forward to the next jump, rather than rotated to the bar, so the wrap cue looks different from a slicing rear cross cue on the backside. Using the wing, you will be able to add more and more motion – when you can run through this with a wing in the center of this sequence, then you can add back a low bar. And throwing the reinforcement behind you past the landing spot as you run forward will help solidify it too.
The threadle wraps looked AWESOME!!! Why is he able to process those beautifully when the jumping effort is similar to the push wraps? The cue for the threadle wraps have deceleration built in as part of them – the handler doesn’t move forward again til the dog is pretty organized for takeoff – so it is easier to process successfully. Which means on this cue… you can start to add more motion 🙂
Getting into the threadle wraps, you both can do the blind sooner. When he lands from 3 and you see him looking at 4, start the blind so you are fully finished with it in time to see him before he takes off for 4 – gives you tons of time to cue the threadles 🙂
The threadle slices also looked great!!!! Both of you executed really great running lines on those jumps. You two used different arm cues (Mike had one arm, Karena had 2 arms) so it might be good to decide which to use? But Ronan didn’t seem to have any questions at all on it.
He is also pushing VERY nicely to the backside slice for the German turns. You can trust him more to find the backside line but not getting as close to the entry wing, which sets up a better exit line. At 1:42, Mike was too close to the entry wing so you ended up in his way as he was jumping and landing (Ronan touched the bar there). And at 1:51, Karena gave more step to the entry wing than Ronan needed, which delayed your running line and you were on landing side when he was taking off rather than past the exit wing (and on takeoff side).
So, strategically, you can run closer to 3 and be further from 4, so as he is jumping 4 you are running a parallel path to the center of the bar of 5 (the backside jump). As he is jumping 4, you are giving the backside slice verbals then as he looks like he is heading to the backside, you slide past the exit wing.
Eventually, you will be able to cue it while you are already running towards the exit wing, but center of the bar will work well for now 🙂
The Countermotion of the German turn (you running past the exit wing as he is organizing for takeoff) so you might see some of the same questions as on the backside push wraps. As you pass the exit wing, dial back your motion and look back to the landing spot to help support him, and I think he will get it easily.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am glad you posted – hope things get easier now and we have some great weather ahead!
Forrest looked great here – no problem jumping away from the course AND finding the 2nd jump on the 180 (that is a hard angle for big dogs)
For the backsides – yes, definitely add your verbal. The other thing that helps is to use less arm and make eye contact (strange but true LOL!). The arm pointing forward will turn your shoulders to the front of the bar, but keeping the arm low and making more eye contact as you cue the backside turns your shoulders to the backside line you are running towards.
Great job here! I am looking forward to the threadle videos 🙂
TracyOh wow, I am so impressed with her! She was great here – this is the most relaxed and accurate that I have seen her… and still fast! SUPER!!!!
She was very good about thinking about her organization as she approached the plank and jump, even with more speed from the wing and the tugging. There was one moment where she did not sit and took the jump, and that might have been more of a late sit cue or just a blooper, no worries. Her form on that one looked good too 🙂
By the end of the session, she was doing a better job of looking at the reward target as she was jumping (her head was a little high, looking at you, on the first couple of reps). Definitely keep the reward target there as you do this, and you can even make it higher value by either placing the cookie in it before you start the rep, or using a toy as the reward target. This will both help with her head position and also add a little bit more arousal/distraction 🙂 The distraction is great for her at this level! She is ready for more 🙂
You can also add in the backside wrap games and the slices! She is doing super well 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
It is crazy that it was 75 in Minnesota! Good prep for Florida and also, his floof looked majestic in the wind 🙂And it is great news that the massage therapist could feel a different in his strength! This is GREAT!! And perfectly timed for the Open.
The sessions went well! Yes, on the slices, I can see his argument about layering on the first rep, especially because the timing and position of the toy placement did look a little past the jump. The others all looked good. It was interesting when you switched sides that he almost threadled to be able to jump to his right, rather than to his left as indicated by the plank. The handling didn’t really tell him either, so it was interesting to see what his choice was. Was it side-preference based? Was it because he had just gone that way a few times? Hard to know, so next time you can start with him jumping left then switch and see what he does.
You can also use this setup for threadle slice jumping. I didn’t put it into the class, but he is doing well so it is easy to add: The plank will be between you and the jump on the threadle takeoff spot – you threadles him in, get the sit, then release to take the jump slicing away from you.
For the serpy slice and also for the backsides and the threadles, I think you can now add the toy on the ground the whole time. Either the pet tutor placed maybe 6 feet away or more, or the Nemo ball if he will target to it when it is dead. That can help him keep his head down on the releases too, as you add more motion.
The front side wraps looked good – after the release you were doing a post turn, so he was not sure if he should take the jump or follow you. You can replace the post turn with a front cross (indicate the bar then cross) and that should help get rid of that little question.
This game can also have a reward target visible: on the exit side of the wrap, a pet tutor or toy on the ground to help as a focal point after you release him to take the bar. It also serves as a handy distraction for when he needs to approach the bar and sit 🙂
Great job here! Do I remember correctly that you leave on Sunday? He should probably go into bubble wrap now for any jumping, and just do some organizers on the plank or platform. See you in Florida!!!
TracyGood morning!
Good for you for carving out the time to give her this workout! The height and jump position were challenging without being tooooo challenging – she did well! The first 2 reps showed her definitely WORKING. But then the last 2 reps looked easier for her, she was sorting it out nicely. Good girl! We should leave it here (height and angle) for another session today or tomorrow and see what she says after sleeping on it 🙂
Thinking about the steps after that, I think the 3 jump setup might be best to ask her to hold onto her balance and power across 3 jumps. I think this is a better challenge than the backside challenge, which I think will be straightforward for her, based on what she is doing here.
Great job! Let me know how she does!
Tracy
