Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
I think the first sequence hinged on the tunnel exit, so looking at working on tunnel exits:
It is possible that the wing wingless jump was a bit too offset from her line, making the exits a little harder? But yes – keep doing the verbals and letting her see the cross all before she enters (2 meters before she enters!) so you don’t have to stand still to get the jump when she exits.About the verbals… it is possible that the ‘right’ verbal is not effective for her in this context. At :41 – great verbal and decel timing, she did not read it at all. Compare to :57 – you did a here here and an outside arm and she turned.
At 1:19 you did right right and rotated… she didn’t get the turn until you said here here and stopped moving.So I think that the rotation towards her with the outside arm visible and the ‘here’ verbal was much more helpful for her!
Once you got that, the full sequence :21 – :38 looked great!
Sequence 2 – the opening looked great! You can do the sends, even layer 34 to get in between 5 and 6 for a FC. At 1:41 and 1:51 and 2:05 you started running backwards saying here here here – she had no idea what that meant so looked at you but continued on a line far away all those times (that seems to be her default behavior when she is confused). Rather than keep going and repeating and repeating… better to finish the sequence, reward her, and figure out the handling. Otherwise, she just starts running loops and that is not great for arousal (she ran in a big loop over and over from 1:34-2:19, that is a long time!!) So yes, if something goes wrong keep going and finish the sequence, then reward and sort the handling out.
I think you can trust her commitment and trust her turns, and keep moving forward to the correct line rather than back up to cue 6 – that puts you really far from the rest of the line. You might have been too worried about super tight turns and overhandled 4-5-6, which confused her and put you out of position for 8-9-10.
The 3rd sequence went well!
>> Also been working on putting a command on the backside slice vs the wrap as realise these are about my position and movement not the verbal.>>
Yes, a different verbal is very helpful! You can also add in more decel to help get even more collection there. The rest of it looked really strong too!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>We had a Teacup Trial last Saturday and I was especially proud of my girls. They both went 3 for 3 and they both did 13-14-15 while I layered jump 8 without a hitch.>>
YAY! Congrats! And well done with the layering – very cool to be able to use it in competition!!!! That looks like a challenging course, especially when the girls are going fast!
Looking at the sequences:
Great job with the walk through! As you plan your runs, remember to keep your arms lower and work in as much connection as possible. Also, remember to practice the verbals too, to have them well reheared before you run, especially in the ‘go faster’ parts of the walk through 🙂
On Rosie’s runs – On the first run, you have time to do the BC on the tunnel exit to jump 4, that will give her more propulsion 4-5-6!
You had more motion going to the #3 tunnel on the other reps, and more motion into the RC on 4, so that got more speed too!
The layering looked great each time!! Very impressive distance!!!
The Backside at 8 was the hardest part for her. At :31 – hold onto the cues til you see her takeoff for the bar. What I mean by that is keep pointing at the landing spot with your dog side arm (left arm here) and looking at the landing spot as you move past it, more like what you did at :55 and 1:58 amd 2:11 (you can keep her on your left as she exits the backside, no need to do the blind).
And if she misses it, no worries, keep going – those are handler errors and when you tried to fix, there were more errors and she started to freeze up
With Lily – she liked all the motion in the opening as well, especially the big connection after the RC on 4 to get her to the layering. Super!!
She got the first jump of the layering really well but didn’t see the 2nd jump when you layered, so you can move the 2nd jump in closer to her line so she can find it more easily (then throw a reward to help build lots of value). Any time she gets the 2nd jump on the layering line, you can reward her – there were a lot of reps where she ran past it and didn’t get rewarded and the rewards came more when you were not layering or when you were sending her forward without moving as much. So the next step is to be able to keep going on a parallel path, alongside the tunnel, so she sees the 2nd jump as well and so you can get the #7 jump too! The placed reward (like at the end of the video) can definitely help you stay in motion too!
Like with Rosie, shift your connection to the landing spot on the backside of the 2nd to last jump so she can get it on the slice – the wrap on the outer wing worked but it is an extra long distance and she questions (looking up at you). The slice line was smooth and fast when she got it.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>.. As a matter of fact, I used to think that she was a dog who barked while she ran the whole course. I am now seeing that she actually is relatively quiet other than when she has questions. Quiet while running that is, not necessarily in the rest of her life.>>
Yes! I have noticed that she is quieter running courses in general now too.
>>UGH! I’ve been trying to break this habit for a loooonnnggg time. It never works, so you’d think I’d stop, haha>>
Pointing forward and breaking connection is probably the #1 error is dog agility for all of us humans 🙂 We all do it by accident LOL!
>> I like the timer idea, too. My watch was very much dead, so I did not try that in this session, but typically I have it when training, so I will add this idea in to our next session.>>
Yes – the timer will help. You can set it to notify you twice: at the halfway point, then at the end.
>>However, the screen is too small to see any detail, so I may have to switch to my phone for videos if I watch it after each rep.>>
Highly recommend a phone so you can get a look at any videos, in the moment. The in-the-moment feedback from the video is totally worth any tradeoff in quality.
>>Can you help me understand when I should break something down versus just running it all the way through so that she doesn’t memorize it? I guess the obvious answer is the teach the elements away from a sequence, such as with the threadle wrap that we struggled with the other day, but there are times when she seems fluent in a skill but on a particular sequence it’s difficult. Or it’s good in isolation but not in a sequence.>>
Good question! You can sort it out when you look at the course map: any parts that you think are fairly straightforward and she has experience with in a sequence, can be done in flow on course. If you see something that is definitely a new skill or hasn’t been done in flow or on course yet – break those out. You can train those separately, and tweak the course to simplify the lines to be able to run the bigger pieces in flow without asking for the harder challenges.
On the video:
The opening looked great!
Based on her questions here, this is a skill to isolate: getting commitment on a GO TUNNEL cue while you peel away, so the verbal overrides your motion (:24 and 1:31 and 1:38 ). She can send forward to it if you face it (:58) but she struggles when you try to move away laterally. It would be very useful for layering and getting ahead if you can ramp up that commitment. You can throw a reward or place it at the tunnel exit (or use a MM).
Since we were talking about pointing ahead – pointing back to her and not ahead will help get the backside pushes. At :32 and 3:13 – your verbal said back but you were looking forward so the physical cues said front, and that it where she went. Compare to 1:09 and 3:08 when she got the backside pushes – Your arm was less pointy 🙂 and your motion was converging a little towards the backside so she went to it nicely!
>>I got a little stuck on this a few times as you’ll see in this new video. I tried not to stop, but my default to that appears to be circling back. I tried to keep in mind that it’s not a great strategy, but my feet were a little faster than my brain, so I ended up stopping mid-circle.>>
I think it is just about re-wiring the habit of stopping and fixing. Keep reminding yourself to keep going, and the new habit will form. You did a great job with it at the end of the video here!
Looking at tandem turn on 7 –
For the tunnel exit, you don’t need to say switch til after she exits, because the switch is for the jump not the tunnel exit 🙂 Saying it really early on that first run would indicate a switch on the tunnel exit. You had much better timing at 1:59, when you started the switch cue as she was exiting.She had BIG MAD at 2:00 because you were saying switch and decelerating, but your connection and cues were forward to she straight line, so she did not know what you wanted. 2:15 got better commitment because you were moving forward more, but you did the RC as she was in the air so she turned towards the other wing.
Things were clearer at 2:23 with more of a pull-then-turn for the tandem and definitely better connection. You can use your hands more, having them low and behind you to pull her in then turn her away.
To not have to pull with motion as much, you can turn away a little but make a big connection and have your tandem turn hands pointed back to her – be watching her the entire time as you move her through it, to support the line.
I think the walk through and the actual run looked in sync, in many spots! Yay! The things that made it harder was that you couldn’t always get the tunnel commitment to get the layering going, and needed stronger cues for the backside push, for example, But your overall pace and connection looks good! Definitely keep working that skill on the RYG sequences so you can get all of the details planned in the walk through.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>. It’s hard to believe that Sprite will be faster, but Gemma is slowing down. However, I feel less frenetic as Sprite doesn’t bark.>>
I believe Sprite is already faster. It is deceptive, because her stride is longer and she doesn’t bark, so she might feel slower but I think she is faster already 🙂
Looking at the videos:
>>I know, I know. Run through the end. Clearly that’s a bad habit!>>
Ha! You can set up a penalty for yourself if you don’t run through the end, like you have to run a lap of the field (without the dog) LOL!
Nice walk throughs!!!
On the first sequence, I am liking the attention to detail. You might have looked a little ahead of her on the backside push? And looking at the landing spot looked a little late, more like the exit line, at :20 and :39. You can make it more obvious by seeing her just about getting to the entry wing and then use your dog side arm and make a big obvious point behind you and big connection shift behind you to the landing spot. A name call can help her too!
The Fast walk through looked good too – it is hard to really hit all of the connections and cues without the actual dog, but between the walk throughs where you pinpoint what she needs and when, then the fast walk through: I think you are covering all the bases really well!
Looking at the run:
OH HELL YES! on the first run! Woohoo!! Both runs looked great!The connection 3-4-5 in particular – chef’s kiss fabulous connection and cues!!
The jump commitment on the backside slice was the oly hard thing for her here – since it is a known difficult skill, the bigger exaggeration of cues will help, in a proactive way (as she is arriving at the entry wing). You were more reactive, catching her as she was going past it on that first rep. On the 2nd run at 2:17, you were more ready for it so you slowed down and got your outside arm involved – but I think that being proactive and starting the “take the jump” cues before she is even around the entry wing will help and allow you to keep moving forward past the jump too.
Sequence 2:
Also really nice!!! The attention to detail in the walk through then the fast runs are letting you really prep all the components, so the runs look strong!When training the threadle wrap – the cues will be clearer if your position is past the wing and so you can more easily flip her away flip her away – at 1:49 you were closer to the tunnel, so the cues did totally look like you wanted the #2 jump. You had much better position and 1:55 and she read the cues much better 🙂
The full run was another moment of OH HELL YESSSSSS SO NICE!!!
I think you nailed all of the moments here: connection, timing, the threadle wrap, etc. And you had patience, like at the exit of 6 to 7, she has a lot of yardage to cover so it might have felt like you were waiting – but you stayed connected and patient and she nailed it.
>> I was tempted to run it twice, but stopped myself. I wanted her to sleep on success.
Good for you!!!!!
>> Also, I noticed she clipped the wing on the backside into the tunnel. She tends to drop bars on that skill.
In that moment, you might have been too decelerated for too long – you can leave a bit sooner and that will change her takeoff point because she sees the acceleration sooner.
>> How to I get her to target the bar and not the wing? Do I need to do something different. I suspect the bar would have dropped at 20. However, I only noticed it on the video.>>
Did you do the class with jumping work and organizers? I think you did… it is not a matter of targeting the bar (she was totally looking at it) it is more of a hind end organization/propulsion issue, relative to the wing. So I use the organizers as part of the conditioning to help the dogs not touch the wing and get the right angle of elevation over the bar.
>>I haven’t figured out how to do overlays. On the iPad I only have side by side, Picture in Picture or some blue or green screen option. Do you have directions?>>
What I do is save the fast walk through as its own short video. Then I go to the dog’s run and use the blue/green screen option, choosing the fast walk through as the video for that. This is what creates the overlay. You might need to move the walk through video to line up with the dog’s start (by pressing on it then dragging it to where you want it) but the blue/green screen works like a charm to overlay it.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This sequence went well too! Great connection! The opening looked good – you can trust his commitment and be earlier on the FC 5-6 (:13) and also closer to 6, to tighten up his turn there. He was following your line of motion really well, which is why he needed up slicing 5 (because you had run to the center of the bar).When he commits to the 7 tunnel… get outta there LOL! At :17 you were stationary waiting for him, and quiet – and that messed up your BC 8-9-10. So, as soon as he is about to enter the tunnel, tell him to go jump jump jump so yu can be on the landing of 9 before he even takes off for 8 🙂 That way you can get better commitment and position, and have an easier time with the timing of the decel for 10 because you will be miles ahead 🙂
The ending line looked great! Just remember to use more verbals on the tunnel section: go go go!
Great job on these!
TracyWow! He was such a good boy on the threadle slice here!!! Super nice! Great patience and connection from you to help him find the line. He seemed to have zero questions 🙂
Look at :05, when he exits 5 – you were really connected to his eyes there and started the push cue as he exited the wrap wing of 5. He had no questions AND kept the bar up – NICE!! Lovely! That connection makes a massive difference for him.
As with the previous sequence: remember to use the GO GO GO cues for the last jump, so he doesn’t look at you when he exits the tunnel.
Great job!
TracyHi!
This is RYG 1b – very nice opening and push to the backside of 5!! Note your connection as you pushed to 5 at :06 – really looking at him, which supported the line perfectly. Yay!!Compare to the backside push at :08, where you were looking ahead and he had big questions and the late info ended up causing the dropped bar. Try to look at him as he is exiting 5 and start the push cue for 6 super early, both the verbal and the direct connection.
Remember to use verbal Go Go go cues on the big ending line so he does not look for you when he exits the tunnel.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
Great job on the pop out sequence here!!!
The opening looked really good – I bet he is ready for you to leave 2 sooner – as soon as you see him looking at it, head for 2 🙂 You waited til his feet were lifting off which is great – and if he is consistently getting those commitments, then you can easily start to leave sooner.I love the blind cross 3-4! The only thing he needed was a very direct eye contact as he landed from 3 – that direct eye contact will line your shoulders up to 4 to commit him to it – and you can maintain that eye contact til you see him look at 4. You had a softer connection here at :09 where you were looking forward more, so he never got the commitment cue to take 4. Good job carrying on!
Great job on the ending line!
See below for the rest of the sequences posted yesterday 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>. I will incorporate people standing by.
Perfect, she totally needs to see people sitting in the ring, and I am sure the other dogs need to see it too! Otherwise, there is a big WTF moment at a trial when suddenly people are in the ring LOL!
>> I will incorporate people standing by.
>>The leash off cookie was a total panic moment as I need to rid the leash and I was afraid to toss it. The leash I use that’s small and I can tuck away is at camp to the leash was a challeng but sounds like I am not giving her credit and should pause 🙂>>
This is totally something to work separately, at home, just to practice the ritual of leash off, pause…. cookie.
>>Today I did the back side and it worked better. Lol! She also stayed on her frame after a few warm up reps.
Yay! And it is fun to ‘teach’ her a course or sequence on her own, no real distractions… then try the same thing with the other people there!
Keep me posted 🙂
TracyGood morning!
>>Finding time to edit and upload video with this horrible country internet has been almost impossible. LOL>>
Highly recommend Starlink For RV. It works great in the boonies here!!! I use it as my home RV when
I need to do video stuff. It is as fast as fiber and I can do all the live classes and video uploads that I could not do with my normal crappy internet.SQL looked great here! Look at her leaning in on her stay in front of the jump here 🙂 Ready to play!!!
She got into position nicely, and help the stay really well. The down in front of the jump is probably a product of the arousal, being young (see below for more ideas on the sit) and the BC genes 🙂 I am glad that at :52 you went back and reset with a cookie as opposed to telling her she was wrong, because by the time you saw she was in the down, any marker of “you’re wrong” would have had nothing to do with the moment she moved into the down. She holds the sit position better when you stay connected on the lead out, so that can totally help.
Going straight was easy for her! Yay! For the decels, two things to consider:
– your position parallel to the wing drew her eyes away from the bar, so you can be more tucked into where the wing and bar meet – that can help her lock onto it.
– I think her questions on the collection had to do with movement: she was driving to it, but then she stopped moving when you put the toy in on the landing side (maybe she didn’t realize it was OK to go to the toy in that moment) and then she also froze when you started to rotate a shade too soon. Being completely stationary helped, and so did moving her closer. You can test the theory about being stationary for now, by moving her a little further away while you are stationary and see how she does.
OK, about the sit posture (and this might be part of why she sometimes ends up in a down) – she does a roll back sit and splays her toes out when she is sitting, which adducts her knees/hocks into her sides more. It is a bit of an awkward position, so she might relieve that by going into the down because everything is lined up better and more balanced.
She is at a great age to work on her sit position – not the stay, but the tight sit that the PT vets all want, for conditioning/strengthening, and for the first step to great jumping power. Separately from a jump, you can teach her this:
Then the tight sit can be added to the jump (and to the tug-sit-tug games too!)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This serpy session looked really strong! Just a couple of small details to sort out but overall, you are cuing them well and she is reading them well. Serps are HARD!!
The one jump work is looking good 🙂 No problem! When you play with 2 jumps, you can be further ahead on the release so yuu can set the serp from ahead (rather than having her drive ahead of you). Most serps will have the handler ahead, so we need to teach the pups to come in on the serp and not run parallel to the bar, when the handler is ahead.
Adding the tunnel went really well overall! Like with 2 jumps, you can get further ahead when she is exiting the tunnel, as long as you shift your connection back to her eyes.
She had a little trouble at 1:32 and 1:44 – your ‘right’ verbal to turn on the tunnel was too soft and a little late so she didn’t process the turn til after she exited. That, plus you ending up too far ahead, made it hard for her to find the serp jump. Nice adjustment to show better position on the other reps (closer to the blue jump and not the 2nd (red) jump) and she had a big a-ha! moment and got the serp 🙂
As you add more and more speed on the serps, remember to look directly back to the landing spot and at her, while running parallel to the line you want. At 2:23, you didn’t quite have connection back to her, your shoulders were a little forward facing the camera, so at 2:24 she never turned to look at the 2nd jump based on your connection and position. Adding more connection to her eyes will automatically turn her to the next jump, and don’t throw the toy til you see her look at the 2nd jump (which will create more connection too!)
And as you add more speed of your own – be careful not to pull away from the serp jump then push back/converge to the next one. This is part of what happened at 2:31- 2:33, where she missed the jump at 2:34.
It also happened a bit at 2:48 – you ended up a little too far ahead, pulling away from 1 then the shoulder closing forward/convergence pushed her to the wrong side of jump 2. It is super subtle, but she sees every.single.thing 🙂
You definitely ran a better line with better connection at 2:54! Super!!!!
>>Should I be moving the bars up from 6″ at this point? I know you usually want to bars low when we’re working new skills. What do you look for to increase height?>>
Yes, and no. It is complicated hahaha! The one thing to avoid is that at a certain age, all the bars go up. Nope!!!
Yes, on the stuff where she has a high rate of success and you are happy with her jumping form (watch the videos in slow motion!) then yes, raise the bars for the next session to 8″ then 10″. It can probably be done all in one session, as long as nothing else changes. One variable gets harder? The others either don’t change, or they get easier. That is where most people mess up: they raise the bars AND make the handling harder, which is too much for adolescent dogs and then frustration gets built in.
Then if you want to add another variable, like more motion, on the next session? Leave the bars at 8 or 10. And you can ping pong like that as you add all the variables until the bars are eventually at full height.
So what else do I look for to increase height, besides this? Physical maturity and mental maturity. The physical maturity is decided by my sports vet: before going to full height, all of my dogs get a physical exam where the vet clears them to go to full height (or not lol). This happens sometime between 18 months and 2 years old.
Mental maturity is more about how they handle training, especially in new places. Fully confident? Cool! Bars can come up. Concerned about new locations? Over-stimulated? Bars stay lower, to keep that element of processing easier because the internal and external environments are harder.
Then, even if she is jumping full height in training, all competition should begin at a lower height. This is partially because of the processing (keep the jumping easier because trialing is hard!) and partially to keep us humans in line. Jumping lower and FEO work is the best way t oset the ton for a great trial career. And jumping lower helps us NOT over-work the dog or stress the dog, because OMG Qs!! LOL!!
I start all of my dogs at a lower height for at least the first 6 months of trialing (their confidence and success will tell me when the bars can go up). If I like what I have in training, and I like what I have at a lower height at trials? Then I will raise the trial bars to full height.
Yes, that means my dogs do not likely run ‘for real’ at full height til they are over 2 years old, maybe 2.5 years old…. but WOW the results are great. I took a lot of crap from people when my current dogs were younger about running them on lower height. I hear no more crap from those people now that the dogs are adults – they run brilliantly and blow away the field (CB won his last Speedstakes by 7 seconds in the 20 inch regular division LOL!)
So, take your time, ignore what other people are doing, and remember that the future is so bright that you don’t need to see it on full height bars yet 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! The serpy stuff looked great!! I agree, she seemed to have no questions. YAY!!!
I think your position was really good on all of it! You can move faster now, to get further across the jump because she is going to also be moving faster 🙂
My only suggestion is that when you are serping jump 1, don’t turn your shoulders to point to jump 2 like at :17. Keeping your shoulders open to her and connecting back to her is actually what cues the 2nd jump, and then when you see her turn her head to look at jump 2, you can ‘relax’ the serp position and move to the next thing (or reward :))
As you add more motion, feel free to angle the jumps slightly so the jump line is easier as the motion gets harder.
Great job here!
Tracy
