Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
>>I felt slightly uncoordinated and not super sure where all my parts should be at any point in time.
All your parts LOL!!
If you were handling these as backside circle wraps without the sits, you would be cuing the backside by tucking into where the wing meets the bar (so he can see the wing) and facing forward – as he rounds the wing, you would continue going forward, no rotation to the landing spot.
So – the organizers version is handled the same way except more slowly, so he can get into the sit. You will show the wing, and stay in the position facing the direction you will be going after he lands – but let him get into the sit with you staying there (facing the takeoff spot). Then when he sits, you release and move forward as if handling the rest of the wrap (because you are indeed handling the rest of the wrap :))
You were doing a full post turn to face the landing side, which we can take out so you face forward the whole time – that way he learns to organize even with countermotion. Be sure you don’t block the wing – you were over helping by stepping past the wing, and he doesn’t need that 🙂 Your position on the last 2 reps were correct in terms of showing him the wing, now we can fade out the rotation.
Eventually we will add more of your motion to it, but for now you can stop in the position where the wing & bar meet til he sits.
He is doing really well with the organization side of it, so you can fade out feeding him in the sit position – instead, you can go to releasing then rewarding in the target bowl or tossing the reward like you were doing after 1:00.
Great job! Let me know if the ideas on where to put all your parts make sense :) Tracy
Hi!
>>ps, have you read The Art Of Racing In The Rain?
I haven’t read it although I feel like today’s US Open is definitely a lot of racing in the rain!
She did really well with her organizers here! Super nice! She is getting stronger and stronger about looking forward especially as she jumps. You can leave the MM on the outer edge of the wing so she lands and comes around the wing for a stride or two, no need to put it on the harder angle that you had it on for the last few reps – she was confused about going past the organizer again 🙂
She lost form a bit on the last 2 reps (left leg off on the 2nd to last rep, right knee pushed out a little on the last rep) – my guess is it was just fatigue. These games are a lot more tiring than the look to use humans 🙂 So , limit to 4 reps on each side so she never gets into the fatigue zone and can maintain form.
Since she did so well here, you can move to the backside wraps! Great job!
TracyHi!
The threadle wraps are hard indeed! When you faced her with your feet facing her (like a lap turn) she was able to threadle wrap but getting to the foot rotation on a full course is really hard. Ideally we want your feet to keep moving forward rather than rotate to her, which is what you did at :29! But she read it as a slice at :29 and 30 because you then turned your feet to the bar, which is the threadle slice cue. Threadles are tricky!
For the wraps, you can try to pull your shoulders and hand cue away from the line, towards the wall, to pul her in, then flip her back out while your feet keep moving forward. And to make threadle slices different, you can do what you did at :29 – moving forward and then stepping to the bar.
The Push wraps were super! The last one did look like a push wrap, you were tucked in behind the wing then moved forward the same way you would for the wrap, so she was correct. To get the German turn and slice, you can push to the backside as you move towards the center of the bar on the landing side, then slide away towards the slice exit wing.
Let me know if that makes sense! Nice work here!
TracyHi! We are currently trying to outrun the rain here and get the outdoor rings finished before it rains. We are 90 minutes ahead of schedule… fingers crossed! The wind has really picked up….
>>I’ve been trying to think of how to change the setup to help him figure out the ZigZags starting off his right and after rewatching a bunch of the videos I wondered if I made the distance between the 2 jumps smaller if that would help so…. instead of wing in the middle I just used a couple of stanchions. I think it helped.
I think the setup worked really well! He did super well for 5 of the 6 reps, and the one rep with a question was fine too 🙂 It was a legit question LOL!
>>I should’ve stopped at 5 reps but just had to do one more – bad trainer, it was a bridge too far
>>I think I need to stop at 5 reps all the time – no matter what.>I don’t think the number of reps was a problem – it was more that he needed to see the same setup several times instead of it changing each time. So it might be best to start with the setup he saw in the previous session, and tighten it once only for the session so he can find his rhythm and power.
>>Should/can I use this setup for both sides? Or should I stick with the “harder” setup with the wing in the middle for him when he’s coming off his left first?
The setup worked well, and to make the session efficient you can use it on both sides. You might want to do a slightly easier angle for the right side reps then make it a little harder for the left side reps, or only tackle on side per session.
>>Jumps are at 6″, seems like a good height for this?
Yes, I think that is a great height for him here.
>>What would you suggest for going forward from here…..do more off his right than his left for awhile as that’s the side he’s less comfortable on to help him get more comfortable? Or continue to work both sides about the same amount and just let them both progress at however they progress?>>
I would do an equal # of reps on each side, to keep him balanced because it is quite a workout! You can make the left side reps a little harder in terms of the angles and the right side reps a little bit easier.
>>Thoughts on how often….I’m kinda thinking 2 sessions of 5 reps with a break in between – and I’m going to count! and stop! 2 or 3 times a week.>>
So approximately 10 reps, 2 or 3 times a week? That should be great, unless he is doing a lot of other jumping. We just don’t want to put too much jumping into his world 🙂
>>And too funny but I was thinking the same thing about the Organizers to the Plank……he’s really getting focused on looking at my hand – the POWER of the placement of reward especially with a foodie >>
Poor starving dog haha! Plus, they spend much of their lives looking at our hands for food, so it is pretty natural 🙂

>>I played with this some yesterday and really had to break all the pieces down. No food/hand, he couldn’t stop on the platform, so put the MM right in front of the platform to get the stop and then slowly worked it around the wing a little bit. Didn’t even try to add any speed…… Plan to see how he does later today with ability to stop on the platform with no speed coming in and if that’s good then we’ll give it try with the wing. Video later, I hope>>You can also start with the food in your hand, then let him see you drop it in the bowl for a rep or two or 3. Then you can start with it in the bowl, and use hand cues as if you are holding treats to get the sit. That might brea it down and help him get the sit but look at the magical cookie bowl.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This went really well! I am happy with how well she is getting into the sit and waiting for release. Good girl!
Her head position was better when the cookie was already in the bowl on a few reps, rather than waiting for you to drop it into the bowl 🙂 So you can have it already in the bowl before you start each rep. That way you can release sooner: as soon as she gets into the sit, you can release her to come over the bar and get the cookie in the bowl. You can be moving the whole time, slowly, even if you get past the reward bowl 🙂You can also add tugging in between reps, to get more arousal – that challenges her to work the skill even when she is a bit wilder 🙂
Based on how well she did here – if the next session goes well too, with more of your motion, you can add in the backside slices too!
Great job 🙂
TracyThank you for all the different angles, I love obsessing on that 🙂
The first 2 reps looked easy but when I watched from the side, they were NOT easy and he was working pretty hard. Good boy! When things got tighter, he was sorting out how to handle his power and was doing a bit of “bicycle” action on his front feet on the 2nd part of the grid. On the last rep he added the stride in the first bounce, but either he was tired or he was trying to find an answer to the puzzle, or both.
But no worries, he is a gifted athlete and will sort it out – a couple of ideas for you.
You can do one more session with 4 or 5 reps on the 5 foot bars and the angles where they were when you started, staying the same for the whole session, so he gets his rhythm back. If that goes well, the next session can be approached like this:
* You can make the first interval tighter (jumps 1 and 2) so he organizes with more challenge on the first interval only, and can maintain form in the 2nd interval because it is a little more open (but still plenty challenging :))
If that goes well, you can:
* add a slightly tighter second interval, but start him at jump 2 so he only has to jump the bars of 2 and 3 to show him the organization of that gap.Let me know if that makes sense, and how it goes!!!
TracyGood morning!
>>I am going on vacation (without dogs, gasp!!)
What is this vacation of which you speak? I think I do not know that word. LOL!
She was actually well-organized on that sit-free first rep! That is what the fading reps will look like 🙂
Overall, she was doing well with her hind end, and I was especially happy with her work on your right side (that is her harder side, yes?)
But yes, she probably needed a sit arm up/refresher at the beginning because she was ON FIRE lol!!
>>She was starting to get into her slow-motion sit thing (battles we’ve fought on the start-line)
I think the toy seems to make her stalky when asking for the sit – things go better when she is working for charcuterie. For the fast, tight sits with a toy present, you can work that with the motion override game: have a toy out straight ahead, 20 feet away, start walking towards it and cue a sit (but be pretty far from it to start so she doesn’t freeze like the Border Collie she is LOL!
But for the start line, just ask her for the stay and let her freeze in position of her choosing, as long as she freezes 🙂
To work for cheese, I think it might work best to have a bowl or something more visible past the wing so that she doesn’t turn to look at the magic cheese hand. That might be the best setup: cheese bowl waiting for cheese placement on the outer edge of the wing, and the toy in our hand or pocket for play in between reps to keep her pumped up.
So for the next session, do a warm up or two on the plank with the cheese bowl, then add the motion back in. And I think we will be able to get the backside wraps going too, within a session or two.
Great job!!! Enjoy your vacation if you don’t have a chance to post before you leave!
TracyGood morning! Your solution with the plank worked great!
First video: really good slice session! You got the sit cues out earlier and he also figured out the framework so he was able to sit then take off from the sit without putting his front feet down. He needed the same progression on the other side but then figured it out there too and looked really good!
He was looking up at you over the bar, because you were exciting on the release 🙂 Try to be less exciting LOL and release then immediately trigger the MM. If he likes the beep, you can release and hit it at the same time, so he jumps while looking at the MM and not at you – and try not to praise until after he arrives at the MM 🙂
So the next step would be getting him looking at the MM more, and also having you stay in motion the whole time (slowly at first, then more and more :)) You can add in a wing wrap before it too, sending him to it and then slowly walking through the serp position while still cuing the sit and release to the MM.
One wraps – what a good boy sitting on the plank as soon as you put it down <3
For the wing wraps, on the first part when he was getting onto the plank on your left, the line up worked better when you sent him to his left around the wing so he had a straight approach to the plank.
I think he is organizing really well , on both sides - he is a big, young dog and look at how well he was getting himself into a nice tight sit! YEAH!!! Happy dance!
And listen to the rep at 1:18, where you can here him sliding into the decel and sit for a powerful takeoff. SUPER!When he was on your right in the 2nd half of the session, you had the MM involved for the reinforcement. That was great, so add that to the left side too. As with the slices - you can be less exciting until after he gets to the MM, so he focuses more on that and not on you. And when he is eating the treats? That is when you can be more exciting LOL!
I think you can add ore of your motion into it, walking a little faster into the wrap position, and doing the FC faster after the release.
And you can also begin to add the backside wraps too!
Wonderful job here! Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
He did really well here, looks like the grass footing was really good!
The first couple of reps were easy peasy for him – and happily the first rep on the flatter angles looked the same in terms of form, which is GREAT! He appeared to acknowledge it as flatter but did not lose form at all. You were on the other side on the last rep – he seemed a bit more “forward” on the first jump (more pull from the front and less push from the rear) but then the same form for jumps 2 and 3. My guess is the slight change in your position make him think a bit but that is fine 🙂If you still have it set up, try starting at this angle again, working both sides, then flatten it out a tiny bit more – it is a game of inches now, so maybe just two inches flatter for the next level of challenge.
Great job! I hope it is drying out for you!
TracyHi! The camera angle was great!
I agree, he did REALLY well here! He had a big slip on the first rep as he went to the backside wing: he slipped, rotated, added a stride… it was a wild ride! I am not sure if he was surprised by the backside and didn’t organize, or the ground was slippery, or both. We will watch the first rep and see how he does in future sessions.Most dogs would have been concerned about it and the rest of the session would have been more careful with added strides. But he is a resilient dude – no worries about the big slip, he was perfect on all the other reps. Impressive!
I was going to give a more on each rep but they were all perfect 🙂 So… you can add more of your speed! Send to the backside, and jog! And over the course of a few sessions, build up to a run and see how he goes. For safety, make the first rep of each session a slower one so he can find his footing and get organized, then you can add more speed.
Great job!! Let me know how he does with more speed!Tracy
Hi!
I am sure Promise is bored, but it is great to see Potter here!Annalise, you are doing a great job!
Bearing in mind that we can’t rely on his hearing, I watched this without sound 🙂 That will help us know what he needs to see in terms of position, timing, and connection. So, yes, keep using your verbals, but we are really going to focus on body language.Sequence 1:
Nice work sorting this one out!! He had a question about the tunnel on that first run:
To set up the rear cross on the tunnel at :05, get closer to jump 3, decel there at 3 and when he catches up, drive to the tunnel so he can get ahead of you for the RC. You looked like you wanted him to enter the tunnel on your left, then hit the brakes and pushed him off the line. You were MUCH better with the decel near 3 at :13 so he drove into the tunnel. The rest looked really good!!I also think you can handle him more aggressively – you are a fast runner so you can easily get the blind cross between the 3 jump and the tunnel rather than have to wait on the rear cross. I felt like you had to slow yourself down a LOT to wait for the rear cross, so you can definitely use your speed to get in there for the BC before the tunnel 🙂
Seq 2 – good job on the FC 3-4 at :29 and the BC at :43! You used strong connection after to the cross to be sure he knew it was the jump and not the tunnel.
You can trust him more on the 2-3 line. When he lands from 2, send to 3 and start heading to jump 4. You were helping more than he needed, so you ended up going to the landing side of 3 – so he thought it was the tunnel for a moment, which is why he was wide. If you run more directly to the 4 jump, he will follow your motion and position, and that will take the tunnel out of the picture more.
Great job working on the switch aways at 1:06 and after! The more you decelerated and got him focused on your hands, the better he was able to read the line. At 1:06 you had a lot of motion and not enough hands – but compare it to 1:36 then also when you ran it in sequence, when you decelerated and really emphasized your hands – SUPER!!!
Getting him on your right side for the spin worked perfectly there both on 2 jumps and after the BC when you added the sequence. Just be sure you don’t accidentally show the line to the tunnel when you do the BC like t 2:17 🙂 Keep running to the jump and he will follow your line perfectly.
And getting him into the tunnel on your left was easy peasy of course 🙂 Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I think the length is not as important as the distance between bars, so you can keep replicating basically the same distance by altering how you set up for the 3 foot bars versus the 4 foot bars. It will change the visual slightly, but that is good!
And next year for the Open for Grumio, it will be FUN!
TracyAh yes, that worked well too! I like that there are so many options.
Sorry to hear about the rain! Rumor has it that we are getting some here too, in hurricane form LOL! Yes, in theory, there are 7 rings: 3 outdoors, 2 under cover and only 2 fully indoors. We’ve made a schedule change to get all rings under cover for the day the forecast is the worst, and I am sure we will keep making adjustments. We won’t run the dogs outdoors in a hurricane 🙂
TGood morning! Great to see you here 🙂 She is doing really well!!!!
My dogs are running around looking for the rooster LOL!
She has good commitment to the line, so you can use a variety of handling options here! Yay!
For all of the starts where she is jumping away from the course, you can start her on more of a slice angle so she has one less turn to do than she does when she is facing the jump straight on.First sequence – looking really good! This is a good one to ask her to slice the #1 jump more by putting her start position near the outer wing of it.
For the backside at 3: add a little more connection before she passes you to get more of a send to it and don’t block the wing (:26) – she needs to lock onto that wing to pass you to the backside 🙂
Much better connection at :37 on the backside send! So with that strong connection, you can run to where the wing meets the bar so she sees the wing, no need to put yourself past the wing there.Sequence 2, jumping towards the course – nice line! No problem at all for her. Super!
You can cue and leave sooner for the FC on jump 2, so when she lands from 1 and looks at 2, you can turn and leave for the FC to tighten up the turn a bit.Seq 3, slicing away with the easier angle at 2 – this was a good way to ease her into it! You can definitely start her on an angle for 1 at 1:06 and 1:12, that makes the line easier.
Blinds and FC both worked… but the Blinds got your further ahead with a great turn and a lot of speed from her.
When adding the threadle at 1:26, this is a really good spot to line her up on the outer wing of 1 so she is slicing towards 2. I think she slowed down a bit because of the angle you sent her on was creating a really difficult wrap (you were starting her near the inner wing). If you start her on the outer wing so she slices in extension more, coming into the gap for the threadle will be even easier.
The threadles looked good and so did the turn on the threadle exit!Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Lots of good work here! My suggestions are in the order you posted the clips, but the skills reps are at the end but I am guessing you did them first.
On the sequences: One overall thing you can add is more acceleration on the 1-2-3 line. He was being careful because you were decelerated. And on the reps with the blinds, you can send him away to 3 more so you can get further up the line for h the blind: the blind should be pretty far ahead so your threadle position is past the wing of the threadle jump.
Video 1 – looks good!! This is a spot where you can send to 3 more to get further ahead for the blind and threadle, which will make the threadle even easier.
Video 2: Push slice on the backside: On this skill, you can stay closer to 3, send to 4 more so you are past the exit wing before he takes off (At :15 you were in his way on landing). The further you can be from the entry wing, the better his exit line will be and the more you can get ahead on course (which he loves :))
Video 3: Back back 1 – On this one, you can send to 3, trust 4, and get way ahead for the blind to set up the threadle. He slowed down 2-3-4, reading your decel.
Video 4: FC to the threadle wrap worked but the blind will be easier – ideally you will use the blind to be past the wing of the 5 jump (threadle jump). Sending to 3 and trusting 4 will make it easier for you both.
Video 5: Back Back with the blind – the blind was not a bad blind as you noted on the video, it was good! I think it felt weird because it was not far enough up the line which made the threadle a little late, so be sure you get ahead and keep moving as you send him through the threadle (he stopped when you stopped there).
Video 6: KK push wrap – He had a question 3-4 there, at :17. It looks like you slowed down and didn’t really turn so he slowed down not sure where to be. Another trust moment 🙂 You can send to 3, cue 4 but drive to where the wing and bar meet to show the backside. When he saw it, he did really well, so keep moving as soon as he is past you.
The last few videos were Push slice – on the first one, you had very nice position and you got way ahead! Yay! You can add more connection to look at him more as he lands from 1, which should allow you to send without having to step to the jump as much. Not the next ones, you pushed to the slice from a lot closer to the entry wing, and ended up in his landing spot as he was jumping. So keep practicing sending from the center of the bar (at the closest) and you can keep moving your send position over to be closer to the exit wing too!
The last in in video looked good! He is doing well with the threadles, so you can now try keeping your feet forward more on these (rotating less).
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
