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Holy wow! What a great run!!!! That is a beast of a course and you both nailed it!!! The bar towards the end might’ve been fatigue, I think the course was 5 miles long LOL!
I think the biggest victory though, was being able to focus on your plan and execute so well with all of the distractions in the environment. A big trial like that feels like a nationals and I totally bet it was a hard mental weekend! But when you do your visualization of big successes under pressure, this run goes into that file YAY!!!
About the start line – the more I learn about the neurobiology (8 hour drive today spent listening to deep dives on dopamine LOL!!) the more we can develop plans to help the dogs recharge between runs. Does he sleep or rest deeply between runs?
Tracy
I am on the road (hello from Indiana!) and I was TOTALLY thinking today: I really hope nothing messes up Barb’s trip and I want to meet Casper!!!
T
Hi!
These actually went really well, there is only one issue that was biting you (and it bit you several times :))>>I definitely want to improve our rear crosses. She often barks and spins when I do one, but I know it would be very useful to be able to do them!>>
That is a connection issue, because basically rear crosses are moving sends – see below š
Basically, the only errors here were your connection was too soft in the places where you need BIG EYEBALL connection. Those are: exit of crosses, sends (including rears), landing of countermotion, and exits of tunnels.
Pretty much everywhere else can be normal connection which is more casual, and that is where things went really really well!
On the first walk through, everything looked good except you never looked at her at the exit of the tunnels, you were always looking ahead. And that is where things went wrong because she had to look at you at the exit of the tunnel then figure out where to go, so there was a delay and she would get The Big Mads.
At :38 you said you couldnāt get the backside because the threadle wrap isnāt independentā¦ it was because you were looking ahead at the tunnel exit and pointing ahead, which indicates the front and causes her to look at you.
Same thing happened at 1:07 and 1:50
You got further ahead at 1:34 which helped but still not enough connection so she was mad – she had to look up at you and away from the line, which makes processing harder.And also at :47 (and also at 1:13) after the tunnel as you mentioned – no connection, all she saw was your back.
Look at 1:18 when she exited the tunnel – you were kinda mad and you looked at her like āTAKE THE FREAKINā JUMPā (TTFJ) which is actually perfect connectionā¦ so she took the jump. Yay!
At 1:58 you went back to not really looking at her so she didnāt go to the jump. But then at 2:12 you had the TTFJ connection and she easily took the jump š
Seq 2 walk through – the switch is a rear crossy send and it was at a tunnel exit, so it needed you to look at her at the tunnel exit.
That was why it was hard to get her to do it at 2:52 – she had to look at you first to see where the connection was.
When working the layering, rather than you go to the other side of the tunnel, you can move the jump in closer so she sees it better. She figured it out nicely!
Nice connection to get her to the backside at 3:59! That was definite TTFJ connection! But then you have to shift your connection to the landing side to get her to take the jump at 4:00 because it is countermotion (donāt look at her, even though she is cute). You did that connection shift really well at 4:25!
She had a question on the send at 4:07 – you are pointing sideways and ahead and that is not enough connection. Compare to 4:28 where you looked at her while saying the verbal, no pointing ahead of her, she got it nicely! The theme is: MORE TTFJ connection š
And the exit of the blind to the tunnel at 4:33 also needed more TTFJ connection, except it would be TTFT: take the freakinā tunnel!
Sequence 3 walk through – it all looks really good, except you are not looking at the tunnel exits so I can guess where she would have questions š The switch on the jump was the big questions but when you looked at her, she got it!
Same with 6:33 – big connections and she got the line really well!So truly most of this went really well – you just need to add in connection in those spots (exit of tunnel, exit of crosses, sends, countermotion) and then it is all perfect!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Sorry to hear about the footing and his paw š Poor guy!!!! And it stinks to have to replace it.
The timing sequences from the last live can easily be done with the smaller tunnel! And yes, feel free to post trial runs!
Tracy
Hi!
>>Iām looking at the pop outs and Iām not sure what to do 2-3. Would you lead out and call to the threadle, then spin to get the turn and instantly threadle then FC?>>āØ
Part of the challenge of the 2-3-4 line is choosing which way to turn her over 2 and over 3! I would want to turn her to her right over 3, so she has an almost straight line 3-4-5. So which way at 2? It dependsā¦. LOL!
You can turn her to her left: lead out to a threadle then do a FC to 3. Or, lead out and do a throw back.Or turn her to her left on 2 (it will be like a reverse wrap, you can lead out to the landing side and handle 2 like a backside wrap) – the wrap is more collected but sets up a better line 3-4-5.
Try it both ways and we can see which is faster š
Tracy
Hi! This went really well!
ļæ¼
Seq 1:
Very nice! Great connection and verbals!
You can leave the threadle wrap at 5 (:12 and :32) on a blind cross not a post turn, to get you further up the line and to get an even tighter turn. What I mean by that is: as he turned to the jump, you turned with him (to your right) and faced the jump. That sent him one extra stride wide (less so on the 2nd rep where you were more decelerated). Instead, as he turns to the jump, you can turn to your left (towards the frame).Yes, turn your back on him and get outta there LOL! It will tighten his turn more and you get further ahead by a step or two – that is not critical here but will be on those ginormous UKI courses š
Seq 2: Oh wow the judgement at :44 was impressive LOL! Your timing of the verbal was really good but he couldnāt see you at all, so he got BIG MAD when he didnāt know where to be LOL! He definitely had his hands on his hips and was giving you āthe lookā LOL!
You were more visible at :51 and 1:03 for sure! You can give him more visible hand cues too – your arms were up high so he was relying on your feet. If you get your hands lower than the top of the tunnel, he will have verbal, feet, and hands to cue off of which will make it even smoother.
The rest looks great! Nice backside send and commitment, and great commitment to the wrap after that too.
Seq 3: the jump/switch cues were late at 1:28/1:29 – better at 1:48, nice adjustment! You can probably use a GO before he enters the tunnel in this context so he rockets straight out of it, then add the switch as he is exiting.
Layering looked GREAT! Yay! Since he is so confident, you can start the FC sooner at 1:33 and 1:51 (a stride before he takes off for the layer jump).
Strategically, try not to go past the landing of the jump after the tunnel so you can send him away to the next jump and get way ahead again. You can start the send as soon as he lands. To make that happen, you can pick him up closer to the tunnel exit, so yo urn accelerate then send: that will get you miles ahead again so you can get the front of the jump and not the back (which is on the natural line).
At 2:08 you were at the spin jump with him so you got some questions from him at the exit of the tunnel – that send to the spin jump can be from miles away, to get you ahead of the tunnel exit to smooth out the questions. He definitely liked the switch-and-runā¦ there was a whole new gear of speed as he chased you up the line! Yay!
Great job š Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
She did great here!!!!
I like that these premier courses had nice open lines too, not just hard stuff! She was definitely following the handling nicely, then got to get on a big line. That way she could do the hard stuff then get to run run run š The hard stuff will get even easier sash gets more experienced.Her stays looked great and her focus was perfect š her stay n the CPE run was impressive – most Masters dogs canāt do that! LOL!!!
Great job :)āØTracy
Hi!
He is definitely getting his feet into the box nicely on each rep. And it looks like he had some angles as well – no problem! Nice!So the next step is to give him reward targets so he is not looking at you as he is going through the box š A manner minder is the easiest one , and you can use a food bowl on the other side. Or, you can use the manners minder only and donāt go back and forth – you can line him up to send and you switch sides so he practices on both sides.
Great job!
Tracyļæ¼
Hi! This went really well!
Warming up with the wing to tunnel looked good (that is easy for him) so it was really cool that he was able to NOT take the tunnel when you asked that first time on each side! Yay! Great connection from you is what got it to happen.Sending to the tunnel from the backside approach was easier to his right than to his left, so you can definitely hold still longer when he is turning to his left to get into the tunnel (like you did when you did the full sequence).
You almost lost him at 1:57 into the tunnel – there was not quite enough connection but you fixed it with more connection before he ended ip in the tunnel. Then you can bigger eye contact on the next reps and he was perfect!
Great job putting it together into the longer sequence! You were connected and clear so he was really very smooth.
>>think I need to go back and work on commitment to wing>>
What was happening was that you were not accelerating enough, so he was going into handler focus in those spots. So when you tried to decelerate and do the turn, he was not fully committed and if you stopped short, he would come off the wing. So remember to accelerate, then decelerate, then as he is passing you and looking at the wing, you can do the FC. To get more acceleration, you can more the wings further away š
Having the toy in the pocket totally helped him too – you didnāt have to switch it from hand-to-hand, so he didnāt watch your hands.
Great job!!
TracyHi!
>>I need to work on that feet running with body facing the other direction thing, not my strong point.
You can try using both hands for now, because that will help the upper body turn back to her while the lower body stays forward.
>>I just ordered a teeter teach-it, and am going to borrow a teeter. Is that the method you use on the terrific teeter course? I have an idea of how it works, of course, from your videos, just want to make sure I donāt mess this up.>>
Yes! I use it pretty extensively in the class – it is a big piece of how I trained my dogs š
Tracy
Hi!
Nice work here!The serps are going well! The Tunnel to jumps looked good – you can send to the tunnel from further away so you can get further ahead!
On the 3 jump serp – very nice hustle!!! Keep your serp shoulders open to her (rather than point forward to 3) until after she lands from the middle jump and looks at 3, so she gets the info to turn to jump 3. She was ticking the bar a little when she was on your right, but you were pretty connected and comfortable on that side.
The shoulders āclosingā forward was more obvious when she was on your left:
As she was taking off for 2 at :48, you were facing forward ahead of her and you said goā¦ which cues a straight line past the 3 jump (and she barked at you).While she is in the air, ideally you would have your feet running to 3 but upper body facing her over 2. That is more like what you ddi at 1:09 and 1:50 and she got 3 really nicely! YAY!
>>I looked at the video, and if I wanted her to bypass it, I couldnāt have done a better job. >>
Ha! That is why we video things š
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Good news – she was not flanking at all! She was doing what I call āmirroringā which is when the dog reflects the handling back to us (whether we like it or not LOL!!). She was feeling good and going FAST š Wheeee! But paying attention and she did everything the handling asked her to do, which is why she always had the ānailed it!āexpression on her face š
For whatever reason, there is no sound on the video, so I couldnāt tell if you were calling her before the tunnel or not (definitely call or give your right verbal when she is 6 feet in front of the tunnel entry).
So she was missing the #3 jump after the tunnel – part of it was her turning wide on the exit (needs the verbal before entry) but it was more so that you were way ahead at :04 and even more so at :13 and all she could see was your back – there was no real indication for 3, but a lot of indication for 4! Then when you tried it from a stay, you were too far ahead to set the line and ended up moving past it, so she did too. Good girl.
To get that line, you would need to not go past the wing of 3 and make sure you are hugely connected – and donāt move up the line until you see her turn her head to see the 3 jump. When you did the last 2 reps at :58 and the last rep, you helped position there til she picked up the line and it looked great!
The other jump she was running past was 5 – that was a parallel path issue. At :30 and 1:00, she was on the parallel path backside line and you were running forward, not turned to show the front so she correctly stayed on the backside line. At :37 and :42 you turned so she got the front. The timing of the turn would start as she lands from 3, so she faces the front of 5 when she lands from 4.
The rear cross went well! At :45 exiting the RC, you got stuck behind the yellow jump after the RC so as you moved out from behind it, you turned so she turned and took the jump. Good girl! It is like driving a Ferrari, isnāt it! When you did the FC wrap on the last sequence, you nailed showing all the lines, so she nailed it too.
So, nothing to worry about, she is reading everything. We need to just plan earlier timing for you and to consider raising the bars, so you have a little more time. How much jump height has she seen recently?
Great job here!
TracyI agree, it was not stop turn turn turn and cue cue cue. But it will make regular courses seem easier for sure!
I think she was pulling off because she was paying attention š The pull offs that I saw were all her following the handling š
She might have burned or torn a pad on the dry grass, or in the tunnel as you mentioned. Poor girl! She worked really hard!T
Hi!
Yes, these are a lot more challenging than they look! But things went well – we are not looking for perfection, we are looking for feedback from the dog (reward all the things!) and making adjustments.
And yes, watching the video during the session will really help!
Video 1, without the tunnel:
1-2-3 looked good! As you decelerate, try to face 4 rather than turn away from it (:08), then staying connected coming back down the line. You were definitely facing 4 a lot better at :27 on the 2nd rep!
On the threadle, you pushed back into the jump and she ended up (correctly) pushing to the backside. You stayed on a parallel line to the jump at :31 and she read the threadle really well!Seq 2: Yes, 3-4 was hard here but I think it was a connection issue at :41 – be sure you are looking at her all the time, not ahead of her to the jump.
Video 2 – I think the off course tunnel was a little close to her line here which made it harder, but the key was getting off her line after the blind, being further ahead. On the first couple of reps, your blind cross position actually cued the tunnel. Then you did a great job getting past 3 to the next line,
like at :21 and :46, and she didnāt take the tunnel anymore. Super!! So she read the lines really well, you just needed clarity on he lines šGreat job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I am so glad you enjoyed CAMP! You and Sly looked amazing!!And I am also glad the layering and other skills are coming in handyā¦ I think we will be seeing more and more of these skills so we will be prepared for them š
And good for you for NOT getting sucked into negative conversations! And I agree – we agility folks go negative really quickly, what is up with us? LOL!! I have been trying to redirect people when they start that, or when they are negative about themselves or their dogs. And I try to redirect myself too! It takes work but is totally worth it.
And good for you for stepping out of a negative conversation, especially when it was clear that it was not going to be resolved positively at the time.
>>Felt a little brusk,>>
You were probably direct – which is uncomfortable for our generation š Ah, to be a millennial or Get Z with their directness (which shocks me sometimes LOL!!!)
And it sounds like you turned around her mindset too – I am thrilled to hear that she was receptive and you ended on a good note.
And the 3 wins, plus one dance class with the judge? And amazing RDWs? Icing on the cake! SO FUN!!!!!
I am thinking of a 2-level Transition To Trials in late Sept/Octā¦ one level for the current MaxPup 3 grads getting ready to trial, and one level with the CAMP folks to bring the mental game and handling stuff into the ring even more š I will keep you posted!
Have a fabulous vacation! I used to live in the Fingers Lakes area – this is great time of year to be there!
Tracy
