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Hi!
Sorry to hear about the heat! And the humidity is the WORST – it was a rare day of only 72 degrees after a bunch of storms this afternoon so I ran out to the agility field but it was about 2000% humidity – ewwwwww! So gross.I love the animal soundtrack in the background!
The wingin’ it game is looking great! She is VERY responsive to all the cues and the left/right tunnel exits looked great.
On the Go exits of the tunnel, she wants to look at you. You can throw the reward before she exits, so she is driving straight ahead and doesn’t look back at all.
He had a little commitment question at :19 and :30 and :36, I think you are stopping a bit too soon and too far from the pink wing there – you were much clearer at 1:10. So keep moving towards it til you see her locked onto it.
She did well on the rear crosses! She didn’t get it at :51, maybe she was surprised that it was a rear and didn’t quite process it. The cue looked timely. She was great at 1:01 and 1:30. You had a little handler oopsie at 2:15 where your feet never turned to the tunnel, but you were much better at 2:28, your feet turned to the tunnel for a heartbeat and she got it 🙂 Nice!!!
Bang game – she is very confident with the teeter! Love it! And you can keep starting her right at the bottom of the yellow, so she basically leaps into position. And she is beginning to get the concept of the 2o2o.
>>When I start to move forward after the 2o/2o she tends to come with me. Should I be working that differently ?>>
To add more of the stay into the 2o2o, add motion very very gradually (you were moving pretty fast :)) So as she leaps into position, give her a bit of quiet praise and slowly walk past her for one step (it is very much like the motion override game). Then either release forward or toss the reward back, You were starting to do this on the very last rep and it looked great! When she gets the concept of staying there, it will be very easy to build up a lot of duration.
Concept transfer lead outs:
Great work here!!! It was very nice to see her looked balanced: turning well and reading lines on both sides. YAY! That is highly unusual with young dogs!Her stay looked great on all reps. No worries about the bad throws for the stay rewards, she was happy LOL!
Looking at the handling:
Blinds looked really strong – your running path can be more towards 3 (and less straight past 2). Also, you can start the blinds earlier, as soon as you see her front feet touching down from 1 (give yourself a longer lead out, she is fast!!)Throwback looked great! She knew exactly where to go and how to collect.
Lead out push is also looking strong – my only suggestion is to be at least halfway across the bar of 2 when you release to get earlier info to her and a better turn. She was seeing the straight line to 2 when you released, so her turn adjustment was a little late.
All of these skills are ready for you to try the most recent live class sequences, which use a lot of lead out skills 🙂 She is ready! Fingers crossed for better weather ahead so it is not so hot.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi!
Those threadle wraps are hard! Yes, the spin verbal and physical cue both cued the slice at :05. You had a better physical cue at :17 but I think you moved away too fast. What I mean by that is she had not yet turned her head to the wrap or changed her leads, and you accelerated away – so she accelerated and that meant slice. To get the wrap, slow down the process by remaining in decel, help with your hands, get her head turned to the wrap line… then you can run away fast 🙂 And as she gets more used to it, you will be able to leave sooner and faster.
Also, the cue at :17 was clearer because you ran forward more rather than rotating and running backwards.
>>However, I think I probably want to get her to where “in” is the only verbal needed for a treadle wrap?
Yes – ideally we have a threadle slice verbal and a different verbal for a threadle wrap.
>Also, did I even use it correctly pn the course, it felt backwards to me at the time (probably partially why my verbal was incorrect).>>
Yes, I think it was correct! Especially when you were running forward.
Backside push at :30 looked good – no need to cue her to come in over the with your right arm, you can go directly to the blind (left side) as soon as you see her passing the entry wing
The right turn tunnel-jump discrim at the end looked great!
Great job on these!
TracyHi!
This is looking really good! A couple of spots to make a little clearer but not it is going to be all about if you can cue and leave earlier 🙂Seq 1 – looking really good! One thing to consider when you walk a sequence are the subtle lead changes:
The way that jumps 3-4 (which are also 6-7) on the first sequences are set have some lead changing to get on that line – she is doing really well coming up the line 1-2-3-4 but it is harder coming back down the line 5-6-7-8.
At :10 she was coming from a slightly different angle than the sequence, so it was easier than at :26. If you turned your shoulder at 6, she came off the line (this happened at 2:46 too, on the ending of the 3rd sequence) so you would need to either keep your shoulders open, or use a ‘get out’ cue there. :45 and 1:08 had more of this and she did really well! So definitely look for these lead changes on course so you can help with handling and not assume it is a simple line for her.seq 2:
Looks really good! No problems at all, so now you can try not to go to the other side of the tunnel at all 🙂 Even with the rear cross – do a bit of the pressure and the verbal, and see if she can turn away without you going past the tunnel entry (remember that a big ol’ dog walk would be in your way :))Seq 3 – also looking really good! A couple of small details:
At 1:51 and 2:36 you gave a push cue to go to the jump after the tunnel, but swung your right arm way back then forward – so she looked at you before going to the jump. Try not to give such a bit swing back, you can move your arm directly forward as you say the verbal. You can also say the push cue sooner: before she takes off for 3 (then a few more times after landing 🙂 )
You can do the FC to the tunnel sooner – as soon as she is lifting off for the the jump before it – so you can leave sooner for the next line. It is a big countermotion moment on the tunnel entry: you would be running away and yelling tunnel, to see if she can still commit to it. You were definitely earlier on the last rep but you can be even earlier 🙂
She ran around one of the jump at 2:05, I think she was paying close attention to your line: you were running parallel towards the teeter then backwards – you ran more directly forwards on the other reps and it was not a problem, she found the line each time.
When you were finishing at the tunnel at 2:14: she was responding beautifully to the right verbal! That means you can then say tunnel sooner. You did that at 2:29 but it can be even sooner: as soon as you see collection for the jump on the right verbal, right before liftoff, you can say the tunnel verbal. That way she doesn’t drift or look at you; she will drive directly to the tunnel.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She was definitely distracted, but it is good to work around distractions! When something is harder in the environment (distractions, in this case), you can balance that by making something else easier (jump height is a good one to adjust). 24 inches is a really hard height, regardless of size of dog, especially with smaller spacing – so it is fine to help her out and practice at 20.
To help get the runs the clean & smooth the first time – be sure walk the sequences very thoroughly! Not just the handling… get the connection and speed and timing and verbals. And at the speed you think she will be running it. Definitely walk them and film them so we can compare the walk through to the first run! That will help us sort out any mistakes before they happen 🙂
I think the 2 main things to focus on in the walk through and the run: connection and staying in motion (move out of her way faster :)) Most of the errors here were connection errors, meaning you were running the sequence with proper handling, but without connection so she had a hard time seeing the handling.
On the first run, be sure to connect on the exit of the 4 tunnel to show the 5 backside at :33. You were running forward add pointing forward and she was behind you, so all the physical cues were pointing to the front which is where she went. When that happens, reward her immediately (even if you don’t know why it went wrong) then re-walk it – don’t just go right into the fix because you might not have the answer to why it went wrong. On the video, you said something about not getting there soon enough – at
1:10 you got there faster but still didn’t connect so she didn’t get it. The magic is in the connection 🙂You were much better at 1:20 with the connection! Yay! And she went directly to the backside, no question. Then after she passed you, you stayed there on the landing side and she dropped the bar because you were in the landing spot. As soon as she passes you, you can move to 6 but with big connection.
You were very connected in the layering section (6-7-8) and she was fast and confident! You had a little disconnection (looking forward to the jump with her behind you) to show 9 at 1:29, and she slowed down because she was not sure what you wanted.
So in your next session, spend a lot of time walking the sequence, trying to connect every step of the way – especially on tunnel exits, backside sends, etc- and try to do while ‘seeing’ your invisible Maple 🙂 That will really help the runs!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I am sure Annalise will provide excellent feedback!!!
And about the feeling of needing to rush… I have decided that the topic for the next live class will be “how to use rear crosses to get ahead”! Since we cannot outrun the dogs, we can be strategic to get ahead of them 🙂 Stay tuned!
Hi! Lots of great work here, she is putting together so many big pieces!!!
On the opening:
On the first run at 1-2 the FC works on the tunnel exit but doing it sooner will make it feel more comfy: you can lead out more so you can be finished with the FC (or BC) before she exits the tunnel. That will keep you way ahead up the line.On the second run you stayed on landing side of 2 and serped, that looked gorgeous! I agree that it is a better option. Her line looked great, the layering looks great!
That weave entry with first time was hard, yo can give her one more step to pole 2 to help her find it (or put the wing there so you don’t have to help as much). She skipped a few poles at the end at :23 – yo can use 2x2s or channels and open up the last few poles just an inch or two, so she can maintain her rhythm and stay in all the way to the end.
Doing just a FC on the jump after the weaves doesn’t quite show the correct tunnel, you can do a FC to a FC like a throwback or a FC to a threadle then rear cross the tunnel I think that FC – threadle-RC is what you did at 1:57 and it looked good! As she gets more independent with the weaves, you can also run to landing side of the jump and do a serp to the tunnel.
Layering on the DW looked good in terms of her confidence to do it! Not sure if there was a target on the down contact to help her out on that first rep – that second rep didn’t have a target on the DW so for the higher level challenges (like the layering) you can put the target back in to help her NOT be Superman LOL!!!! I put in a small target to help support the dogs as I throw the crazy handling challenges at them 🙂
She *almost* got the Threadle wrap at 1:12! She back-jumped at the last minute – maybe use just a wing here so that it helps her finish the wrap (no bar to think about going over, and the wing alone will cause her to naturally want to wrap) Another option to help her get it without back jumping is to delay the BC element of it – try to do the FC and let her finish the wrap (as you move away) then do the BC when you know she is finishing the wrap. You were very quick to do the BC, so she was trying to match the quickness and get to the new side – so she back jumped.
The rep at 2:12. had a better angle to see the timing – earlier info can help too. 2 ideas for you to help her find the threadle wrap:
When she lands from the jump after the DW, you can be giving her the wrap cu for the next jump so she really collects for it (which will help her find the line to the threadle). Then, as she is jumping the previous jump, you can begin cuing the threadle as she is just about taking off (at latest, when she is in the air). You started it when she landed, which is a bit late. So the timing WOO would be one stride before takeoff to when she is in the air, so that she sees all this happening before she lands.Doing it as a ‘push’ to the wrap worked really well too, and it set you up nicely for a gorgeous ending line (she was a good girl to find the jump and not the tunnel at the end there!). Breaking down that tunnel – jump discrimination is a good thing to do, because it is more about the dog training skill of it than the handling skill.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracySounds good! I ran with a water bottle in my hand a lot, to help keep my hand from getting high or forward 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Last weekend I had an issue with dog walk to tunnel(non-obvious, lead change away from me) side.
Do you mean one of those AKC tunnel discrims where she is running directly to the off course side o the tunnel, and she needs to come in towards you then turn away to take the tunnel entry? If not, send me the map LOL! (or more coffee, that can help too LOL!)
>> Being ahead and looking back, my chest is pointing at the wrong end of the tunnel. Artie has a pretty good understanding of my tunnel bypass/threadle cue but Maewyn and I seem to fail on this particular set up frequently. I am working in the backyard on tunnels and trying to improve her understanding of my “close” cue. I was going to add in the aframe and then cue it on that….but I really feel that when they are stopped, it feels different versus when they are running. Any suggestions greatly appreciated!>>
Do you have any video of the bloopers? Feel free to post! It might be how you are cuing it – she might need more shoulder turn, or a different style of arm cue. Also, I like to cue a turn on the jump before the tunnel discrim – something like a left or right verbal, to help set up the correct line. And I agree – coming into it stopped versus running is entirely different in feel! Post some video and we will see what she needs to work more on.
On the video: This run went really well, especially in the zillion degree temperatures!
The handing in the opening looked great! She definitely had a WTF moment on the dog walk at :14 when she realized your were layering LOL! You can put a target in for her to help give her a focal point while you add in the layering. No problem with the layering on the a-frame though.Nice job with the handling of the 8 jump threadle after the tunnel, the layering got you there really easily.
She had a bar down at 10 for some reason – it was hard to see, but my guess is that she was not sure of the line to 11, so you stepped in a bit late and talked ot her over the bar, so she adjusted a bit late.
GREAT job working the connection from the 12 jump to the poles! And the ending looked lovely!!!
On the second course, you handled a BC 12-13 but you can also do a threadle wrap there at 13! That might even get you further ahead for the 14-15 line. The ending looked lovely, though – you can definitely use more verbals. You got really silent til the last tunnel cue – my guess the silence was a combo of focusing on the handling and the zillion degree temps (hard to run, breathe AND yell when it is that hot!)
On the full run: The opening looked great!!!
After the weaves – you got to great position at 1:38 for the #8 jump after the weaves, but your right arm was high and forward which pulled your feet & shoulders away from the line, so connection was a little unclear (note how she slows down and gets a little sticky). So keep your wings in tight to your ribs there, so she commits sooner which gets the next blind sooner too 🙂
The ending looked really strong here too! She had more speed coming in from the full DW, and you still did a great job with the crosses to get the closing line.
She hit the wing of 13 at 1:58 – the decel was a little late so she was not quite organized with the jumping. You can decel after she comes around 12 to look at 13. it might mean you are not as close to the 13 wing, but that is fine: she can send past you to it and you will still get the ending line really nicely 🙂
She totally wants to look at you as she does the frame and coming off it, so in practice try to have the reward placed out ahead (like a Manners Minder if she likes those :)) so she doesn’t look at you (or maybe Nelci can video AND throw LOL!)
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
This looks good, she was liking the food toys! One thing I see here is that because you are getting her to work more on the lines, you are able to be further from her – which doesn’t look like “driving ahead” as much on this particular course, it ends up looking like you being further ahead (because she is getting on her lines with far less help from you). YAY! On this type of course, that works really well because you can get everywhere you need to be – she was committing more independently while still going FAST!!On future courses and at fun matches, you can find sections (or ask me and I will pull them out :)) to work on the transition from handler focus to line focus even more, as well as driving ahead on really big lines.
One thing I noticed here: check out the spot at :13/:15 where she runs past Kyla and slows down, looks at her… this is similar to what I was seeing in your trial videos where she slows down and looks worried. I don’t think she was worried here, it was more of a “how am I supposed to run fast past THAT big distraction?” A-ha! That is something to address with her in training, to help her be more comfy in trials (where it might indeed be a bit of worry). Definitely have friends and family out there in the ring with rewards, so she learns to confidently drive past them. Then switch to people she doesn’t know 🙂 That can all help build up the confidence of driving lines that we are seeing, then transitioning to the trial environment.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She is looking confident here, so you can add in the teeter to this (if it can be lowered or you have a higher table) after showing her the mountain climber games. One thing you can do it have the reward placed out at the end of the board or on the table just after the end of the board. That way she won’t watch your hands as much as you move along or past the board.>> I realaized that perhaps c’s getting on mid plank several times during our session was not good.>>
Yes, ideally, she always gets on straight so for now, ask for easier angles of entry so she is not tempted to shortcut to the top and get on in the middle LOL!
This is a game to revisit here and there, after starting the mountain climbers. She looks really confident and was using her hind end nicely, to line herself up 🙂 Super!!!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis video is the same as the blind cross rep, can you resend the link to the lead out pushes? Thanks!
Hi! This blind cross looked strong! His stay was good, so keep rewarding it when the toy is involved.
And yes, plan your mechanics: have the toy already in the hand that will go across the body, so he can see the connection sooner and make a tight turn – the wideness was just late connection 🙂
T
Good morning! Fun session here!!
>>Needless to say there was more play than work,>>
Yes – and I think this is the right balance!! There should ALWAYS be more play than work. And Susan Garrett used to have a saying along the lines of Play = Work = Play. So all work should be play, and there should be tons of just playing. That increases the quality and understanding of the ‘work’ elements 🙂
He did great! It was a little too distracting at first to have the other dog right there – but good job getting him back to play! Yay! Then the other dog was no longer a distraction. Perfect!
For the handling – really good work! My only suggestion is to give him a better line up position for 1-2 to smooth it out – on the first rep, you were a little too angled and didn’t lead out enough so he didn’t see the line. You had better lead outs on the next reps, but line him up at 1 so he is on a slice and can see 2 as a straight line. You were generally standing where he needed to be, so he was facing 1 straight and had to turn to find 2. The rest looked great!
My only other suggestion here is that more work is needed on the stay behavior when a toy is involved (this does not mean you should use more food :)) Just practice stays when using a toy because he simply doesn’t understand them with a toy and when arousal is higher. So do shorter lead outs, and release to tug, throw the reward back to him, etc – but set him up for success more so that he can have a higher rate of success on the stay.
>> Going down again Thursday, maybe more work?
Definitely not more work 🙂 This balance was good! More reward for the stays, different fast & fun sequences. Keep it fun like this!
Great job 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Wow, this session was fabulous all around. I felt that you were connected, focusing on mechanics, and not trying to go fast – letting her take care of the speed, you just provided the info 🙂 Looked LOVELY – she was accurate AND fast. And the bars were 14 or 16 here? Jumping looked good!!!! I think there was one bar down on the last jump on one of them, due to the timing of the toy throw.
My feedback is going to be a bit boring hahaha because it was all SO GOOD. You emphasized mechanics and nailed it.. so she nailed it too. The FFCs and throwbacks all looked great, including the different exits. She mostly had zero questions because you had the connection and line of shoulders in the right spot at the right time. Click/treat for you!!
She had one FFC question, at :27 – I think it was just a small blooper where you did not have quiet enough of your hand visible, plus also on the previous rep, your hand was in position for a couple of seconds before the release. When you had your hand a little more visible and you held it in position for an extra heartbeat before the release, she nailed it.
Wraps – all looked super, excellent attention to mechanics. Nailed it! The most boring feedback ever haha! When you can add the tunnel, you’ll have more of a mechanics challenge because things will be moving faster. If you don’t want to use the tunnel on the grass, you can send her into a wing wrap to add more speed.
The rear crosses also looked great! You moved up the line more an she read them NICELY! One small detail – if you are a little ahead of her, you can decelerate a bit (hang out at the previous jump) to let her catch up before moving up the line – and in that decel moment, you will be facing the RC line. At 1:22, you turned and faced the right turn line then went into the RC, and that moment of facing the right turn line might add confusion if you are not quick enough to get onto the RC line. So always be facing the center of he bar, and you can decel for a moment til she just about catches up to you on the previous jump, before accelerating up the RC line like you did here (she read it beautifully and her turns LOOKED GREAT!)
After 2 rear crosses… VERY nice balance at 1:30 with the FC wrap towards you and also at 1:40. Timely, connected, great mechanics. SUPER!!!!
The shakey shakey hand on the “look look” threadle lead out was REALLY salient and she knew exactly where to go – followed by keeping your shoulders open to support the threadle line to the jump – looked great! And the balance of the lead out push after it? Fabulous!
So overall – keep going just like this! It gets harder to maintain this clarity of mechanics as we add more speed, but 2 things will help: planning in advance of each rep like you must have done here, and not trying to go really fast – just be clear. She will go really fast and it will continue to look great like this session did. YAY!!!!
Amazing job!!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am so glad you finally got good weather!!
>> It felt a bit awkward. Dellin was brilliant at reading which side of the jump to take. >>
I agree, she read them all really well, and also the info was pretty clear! The FFC to the throwback is a pretty useful cue – chances are you won’t use the full FFC as much as you would use a threadle (where you are facing her) so be sure to practice the threadle a lot too.
>> I did put a leash on the ground to help me, but things still look a bit late on my end.
I think what was happening was that yes, you an turn a little sooner, but more importantly: You were releasing with the motion of you arriving in position and that was causing you to not be fully ready… plus she was beginning to release on that motion before the verbal release (aka breaking her stay LOL!) for example at :31 and :37 and :40 and afterwards.
So be super careful to not pair the motion of getting into the position with the release: Try to assume the position, count to 2, then release. And release with the threadle verbal if you are doing the FFC or threadle move (same behavior for the dog, so it would be the threadle verbal).
You can release with her ‘break’ word with the lead out pushes – she read these really well too, so start moving on these: release and begin to move, maintaining connection to maintain commitment. As with the FFCs, get into position, count to 2, then release so she does not begin to think that the hand arriving in position is the release.
>> The mechanics for the throwback were hard since I did not want to show her the “cookie hand” with toy, so I had to switch hands to make the toss going the correct way.>>
Yes, the hand switching was harder and was delaying your movement which might also be why things felt a little late – was she having trouble with the toy in your hand? I don’t have a problem if the toy is in the magic cookie hand and I think she would be fine too (it is not a lure, you were getting the behavior without it). You can squish the toy up so it is not that visible.
Or, leave it placed on the landing side so she has to run past it in order to get it – challenging! But she does have a foundation for this from the strike a pose games, so I bet she can do it 🙂
>>Am I standing too close to the jump? Even when my set up on the second side was causing her to zig zag a little.
On the forced FFCs and threadles, you should be close enough to the jump to casually reach out and touch it for now with a slightly extended arm (it looked like you were fine here). The LOPs can be close for now as well, but that position will vary depending on where the next jump is. And eventually we move the handler further away from the jump or the FFCs and threadles too, but stay close for now.
Great job here! You can definitely add in the jump before it!
Tracy
