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Good morning!
This looked great – your feedback is really boring because it is all “woohoo!” and “super!” LOL!!! Great job working it up from 1 jump to 2 jumps and so on. Easy peasy!! Every time I made a little note to suggest something, you did it on the next rep. Perfect!
She found it to be all very very easy. My only suggestion is:
on the serp jump before the tunnel at 1:54 and 2:08 , have your serp arm back more and sooner – no need to point forward then swing it back. As she lands from 1, the arm position (arm back, shoulders facing the jump) should look the same as you had it at 1:46 when she exited the tunnel on the previous rep (that was fabulous).>> I’m guessing she dropped the bar near the end since I gave her no tunnel break cue and she realized she had to turn too late. Worked much better with the tunnel break ‘whoa’.>>
Yes – there was no turn cue on the tunnel entry, so at 1:57 you were backing up as she was exiting the tunnel so she didn’t quite see the new line til she was close to the jump, so she slipped and knocked the bar. You set the line sooner on the last rep, and she was great! Yay!
>>Next time I work these I need to use some verbals.
Yes – you can add in the verbals you want to use: it can be left/right verbals, or her name. And also – add in more speed (for you, more running) and challenge her to find the lines and challenge yourself to be as clear with the cues as you were here.
Great job!!!
TracyYou are so kind! You’ve done all the work though, it is an honor to support Team Promise (who are also members of Team Fake Chill hahaha). She is my Sheltie niece LOL!!
Good morning! So much great work here; both dogs look fabulous 🙂
The barn runs looked lovely!
Jumpers 1:I love how you mix in some instant reinforcement after jump 1!
Great connection on the opening loop here!!! Also, a really nice decel to get the collection at 3, followed by getting her back out on the line to the weaves. Super!!! So much of htis is going well that now I will start bugging you to add back your directional verbals like wrap cues, etc. You were using obstacle names and her name, probably because maintaining the connection was the highest priority. The connection looks great so we can add back the directionals now too.
On thing that happened twice here was that you got too quiet before/after tunnels, so she had questions: On the line after the weaves: you got really quiet after cuing the tunnel at 1:11, so she came out looking at you, then you had to push her back out and that caused her to jump a little wide on the next jump. I
The same thing happened at 1:16, although I couldn’t see her eyes as well but we can see her path: you got quiet as she entered the tunnel, so she came out looking at you. The jump after that tunnel is actually a ‘get out’ type of jump, requiring a lead change away from you -which requires a stronger handling cue that you want to maintain til you see the lead change (her head will turn and she will take a step to the jump).
You tried to push her back out to the jump with an arm cue then you took off – which caused your connection to break and arm to get high, so she didn’t take the jump (never got the lead change). I thought your connection on the tunnel exit in that spot at 1:31 was clearer but you relaxed the connection a bit to soon so she also did not take the jump there. Using the connection you had at 1:31, maintain it for a couple more heartbeats til you see her look at the jump AND take that one step to it (looking at it does not necessarily mean she has picked up the lead change to it, so maintain the cue til she makes the lead change). The same line happens at the 1-2-3 section, but she picked up the lead change to 3 easily because you were running towards it. On the ending line, you were feeling the need to get outta there (understandably haha) so it is harder to convince her to lead change away from you.
Nice blind at the end and threadle! yay!
Run 2: the whole opening looked great!
She went past the jump after the weaves, mainly because you had big loud praise and closed your shoulders forward, which generally indicates that cookies are about to flow 🙂 Restarting too a moment to get back in flow, but then she did SUPER to the ending! Your handling was clearer in the 2 question spots from the first run: at 1:08, you gave her an earlier jump cue after the tunnel, so she had less of a question. Still try to give it before she gets into the tunnel and keep saying it so she has no question. And on the lead change jump, you moved into it more and with more connection, so I think in that moment you were able to see her look at it and take that step to it, then move away. That produced a big burst of speed from her on the ending line, wowza!!!!Haydn did really well on the first course!!!! I think you can work more independence for him: on this run, you ran into the lines with him, but that made you a little late on the FC before the 2nd tunnel and the threadle after it – you can add the layering and big sends so he can work the 5-6-7 line independently and you meet him at the tunnel exit for 8-9-10.
Short course 2: I think Haydn will do better with the BC 3-4 and not the FC – by stepping in to start the FC, he pressure of that pushed him off the line a :08. If you keep running forward to 4, he will pick up 3 and let you do the BC easily. Good job keeping going – thinkgs came off the rails a little but you were able to keep him moving and get good rewards in.
You got the FC on the 2nd run 3-4 by being later – he had a long loving look at the off course tunnel because the timing was late LOL! Good boy for coming back to 4.
At :26, he really thinks the tunnel is next after 10 – looks like it come back to running the 5-6-7 line with him, FCing before the 8 tunnel is making you late for the FC at 9 – which then causes you to drive forward more than needed to 10, which sets the line to the off course tunnel. It is a bit of a domino effect there – so definitely try the layering with him, rewarding him lots for the big sends away from you. I bet he will love it!
Sq 3: I bet Lanna was happy to get a turn LOL!
On the opening – you either need to lead out more to get the BC 2-3, or you need to RC 3. You started with her and tried for a FC 2-3 and she had to wait for you to clear the line.the 4-5-6 line is definitely a place where you can run in like you did here – or you can work a BIG layer so you send her to 4-5 and meet her at 6, which should make the turn 7-8 easier (you were a little late finishing the spin and then pushed into the line, so she thought you wanted the 3 jump.
On your second urn, you got the blind 2-3 and it worked SO much better! Yay! And the timing and position on the 6-7-8 section was much stronger, very nice adjustment there!
And, since rear crosses and layering are the wave of the future (did you get a peek at the European Open maps?), you can definitely work those skills with her too: rear cross 3, send & layer 4-5, and meet her at 6-7. Super independence! She can totally do it 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Lots of great work on the video here, you were tackling some really hard lines and skills!
>> Note: Wish there was a way to easily scroll or identify other students videos that apply to the section a student is working on (e.g. Pkg 2, Jumping 1 OR Weave Challenge…..).>>
I will poke around and see if there is a search function, but with everyone working at a different pace it is generally best to track similar dogs to see what they are doing.
To get the German turn to work, we need to create a more independent understanding of the approach to the backside, because you need to be further across the bar of the backside jump while cuing him to go to the backside (in order to get past the wing and do the blind). He was set up on a slice so it was easy to get him to the front, and you were looking ahead of him to the jump/takeoff side – that actually cues the front side not the backside because he is reading the line of your shoulders.
So before adding the blind on the exit, you can work on getting him to the backside more independently as you run to the center of the bar, then eventually you will be able to get him to the backside while you run to the exit wing of the jump. To work the skill – ask him to stay in a spot where he is directly facing the backside entry wing 0 you will get a little ahead, moving forward to the center of the bar. when you release him with your backside verbal, also have your dog-side arm back and make a very direct eye contact with him, because that turns your shoulders to the backside line and not the front side of the jump.
I start this on a wing:
Then move to the jump:
then eventually the Germans are much easier, when we have the backside commitment:
On the full course runs –
The dog on right 1-2-3-4 opening works well! You can get a better turn 2-3 by moving towards 3 sooner so that you are past the center of the bar at 2 an heading to 3 just after he has landed from 1 (he ticked a bar which meant the cue was a little late)
The switch rear cross looked really good on the 5-6-7 line!!!
For the get out to 8 – start that cue before he even goes into the 7 tunnel (the verbal started just as he went into it, which means he probably didn’t really hear it til he exited) , both the verbal and the physical cue (converging towards the 8 jump, more connection, and even an opposite arm can help put the dogs to the get out jump)You had a lower arm and more convergence to the jump at :45 and he got it really nicely! You were even earlier with the verbal and especially the physical cues at 1:00 and he was perfect.
He got to the 11 backside really well here and slice it the correct direction towards 12 – as you keep getting more independence to do the German exit, you can keep this nice entry to the backside jump and either rear cross the takeoff side of 11, or keep him on your right to rear cross 12. You did the RC of takeoff side at 1:06 and it worked REALLY well, just keep moving forward 12 to so he knows he has permission to carry on to it (he looked back at you because you stopped moving for a heartbeat and got quiet there).
The weaves looked lovely and very independent, so you ended up in great position at 14! To smooth out that line – as you ‘throw’ him back to the 14 jump at 1:14, you can look back behind you to the landing spot. Your arms and position were great there but you were looking directly at him so he wasn’t sure if he should take the jump or not. So as he is on his way to the jump, you can use your left arm to point to the landing post, and your eyes can follow your arm to look at the landing spot as you move forward to 15. That is one of the few times where we ‘break connection’ and don’t look at the dogs, to get this type of countermotion commitment.
Then you can pick him up on your left arm there (rather than do a BC to get him on your right) – putting him on your left will allow you to cue the tunnel and move away sooner so he turns on the exit. When he was on your right, you rear crossed 15 and had to accelerate more to set the line, which contributed to the off course to the 8 jump instead of the next tunnel. To get the 17 tunnel, you can turn to it sooner and also call him sooner before he enters 16 (at least 4 feet before he enters, he should already be seeing and hearing the exit cues).
>>the attempted run where Timber knocked the first two bars. I stopped and restarted
It depends on the dog and what happened in the moment – generally I just ignore and keep going, because almost all knocked bars at handler error issues in terms of timing or training of the skills (and sometimes the dog just slips). So I am not going to stop the dog for my error, especially because by the time I stop the dog, it is so far pat whatever happened to cause the bar that the dogs don’t correlate it to the bar. They tend to either slow down when we stop them and they don’t know why, or they get a bit frantic. If the dog starts the course with a couple of knocked bars, I will stop, give the dog the toy (it isn’t his fault!), reset the bars, and re-evaluate my handling and timing to make sure he understands the info. If I don’t know why he knocked the bar? I go look at the video (and every.single.time. I have looked at the video, I can see exactly what I did to cause the dog to knock the bar LOL! That is why I don’t get mad at the dog :))
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Thanks for the update!
it sounds like the dogs are all doing really well!!
>> It is still hard for me to control my arms guiding my huge powerful large strided dog through a course. He gets intense and then I tend to over handle :).
With the powerful large-strided dogs, there is a LOT of trust involved – so work on seeing his WOO (window of opportunity) for the timing, deliver the cue… then move on to the next cue. Trust him to respond if you are on time (and go with the flow if you are late LOL!) Over-handling makes the cues late, and then there is often a domino effect where we get later and later and later 🙂
>> I guess I need to go back to practicng running holding water bottles
Yes, that is always a good refresher to keep the arms low 🙂
It sounds like everything else is going well! We will be incorporating the threadle wraps into sequences and courses coming up, so you will be able to practice them at higher speeds. And some new challenges coming tonight and tomorrow.
Glad to hear that your hubby is recovering well too 🙂 Keep me posted on how everything goes this week!
TracyGood morning! Congrats on a fabulous debut weekend!!!
For the behind the back starts – the physical cue of feet together for the circle and feet apart for the place will really help her differentiate. You can also begin the circle cue with the thrown cookie behind you, to both get her behind your bad too make sure it dies’t look like the between-the-feet lineup. She seemed to have a very easy time going around behind you to her right, so she must be a righty 🙂 So when you revisit this to get her to go around yo to her left, definitely add in the thrown cookie so she begins to understand that turning left in this situation is a happy thing 🙂 I don’t think you need to do it when yo us end her behind you to her right. All the different stays looked great!!!
Her novice jumpers run was absolutely spectacular and I loved the cheering of the crowd – they knew they were watching the start of a spectacular career! If you spit out the incorrect verbal – don’t let it distract you LOL! No worries at all, juts keep going. When you get a chance to do the walk through sequences we added more and more, you will see that the rehearsal at high speed with the verbals will make trialing so much easier.
Also of note: HER START LINE WAS AWESOME. Her jumping and line finding and weaves? ALSO AWESOME. I am doing a big happy dance for you!!! YAY!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Really nice work here! I like how you had your hands lower on the cue at the wing, that really helps because he is such a small dude 🙂 You can start to add the verbal – he looks ready – just keep your motion slow for now so he can process the new verbal and see your hands and line of motion. Since he is so small, you can totally dip your shoulders down and bend over a little to make the hand cues even more obvious, and that will also look very different from the front side of jump cues.
When you do put them in sequences, you can slow down that section – walk through it rather than try to run for real – because the speed element of this is the hardest part.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyYay! This is awesome!!!! Everyone in this CAMP class needs more connection, so stay tuned for more connection games coming your way 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Great job working the stays – she did beautifully and also read the line really well.
You weren’t cautious, you were a smart trainer, setting her up for success 🙂
You built it up to big success on that last rep, where she read a really grown up lead out! SUPER! I don’t have a ton of feedback on this because it all went so nicely – the next session can be similar to this, to really continue to solidify that stay and reading of the line. Yes, try not to walk through the uprights LOL! And only one suggestion about the mechanics:
Have the toy already in your hand for when you are going to use it as a reward, to eliminate the hand in pocket visual (or hand moving ot pocket). That will distract her and focus her on your hands and pockets, drawing focus to your hands and away from the jumps (which could pull her off the jumps). On the last rep, the ball was already in your hand so you were able to give her a true handling picture without reaching into the pocket, and she was fabulous!Great job here!!
TracyGood morning!
He did great with the toy here! That is a fabulous toy, too! So fast & focused, even in the distracting park environment!
He was zippy and fast and most of all – there was a TON of engagement. SUPER! The commitment and countermotion looked strong.
He is not faster with the lotus ball, he just knows to look at the wing more because that tug toy is a big visual. He is actually a little slower (less stimulated) with the lotus ball but his commitment to the wing is better because the lotus ball is harder to watch (as you noted). But the speeeeed and really tight turns are happening with the toy, so we can split the difference:
Using this same amazing toy, you don’t need to carry it – you can show it in your waistband own your hip or at the base of you spine, do a little sequence with empty hands, then whip it out and party with it like you did here. That can get the speed and excitement and engagement of the tugging (and wicked tight turns) while also getting the forward focus to the wing (and stronger commitment) that you get when the hands are either empty or when the lotus is in your hand.
This should also help with the racetracks, where he was definitely watch the toy more than the wings.
I think if stepping on his foot turned him off, getting the lotus ball out was fine to change the picture and get him back in the game. No problems, he seemed to finish fast & happy. Was he tugging when you stepped on him? If so, try extended the toy further from your body and keep it low, so it is harder to step on him LOL!
Great job here!! Let me know if the toy idea makes sense :) Tracy
Yes, fold it in half so it is similar in size, and I think it was a different color too? For now, keep the target the same for all sessions, to help him fully understand it more easily.
T
Good morning!
She did really well in a new place with hard distractions!! And no worries about the 2 bars – one was a normal young dog moment and the other was just being too close to the jump on the lead out. More on that below, but I would leave the bars at 12 for now and in a session or two, put them at 14 (unless there is no a lot of room before jump 1, then leave that first bar low).
Lead out 1: She read 1-2 really well, no questions about finding the line! Positionally, try not to move towards the bar at 2 at all. Your path should remain outside the wing of 2 and be moving towards 3. And after the cross, do the big connection across your body to help her see the line to 3. At :24, you moved in between the uprights a bit then went straight without enough connection so she didn’t see 3 (a more experienced dog can help by finding the line, but a youngster will be very literal like she was here).
On the 2nd rep, your position at :38 was really good! You helped a bit with a step to takeoff for 2 after the release but I bet you can fade that and stand still, then turn even sooner (the step to 2 delays the FC).
When moving into the running starts, connect before taking off and kind of roll into high gear rather than immediately sprint, for now. When you ou took off running away at :45, it did look like a release, so it was a legit error from her – you can reset with a reward there, no worries. The distraction behavior she presented right after that was more of a stress response than a true distraction. You were more connected the next times you did the running lie and out and the transition into them seemed smoother, so she held the stay.
She dropped the bar at 1:20 – her set up was a little too close to jump 1, she just didn’t have enough room to set her hind end. At speed she needs more room to get a full stride, so at least 10 feet is good and maybe closer to 12-15 as the bar goes up.
The blind at 1:30 looked really strong! You did move towards 2 (which we don’t want) but you moved towards 3 sooner than you did with the FCs, the timing was really good, and your connection back to her was stronger for sure! To keep working the mechanics to show the line, keep showing the toy across the body to get the dog side arm back behind you and down at your side or ahead of you. At 1:32, you can see your left arm is down by your hip and ideally you want your hand/arm extending back to her to really show the connection.
At the end you did the lead out push on landing side of 2. Positionally, it might help her if you were slightly less center-of-the-bar and one step further over to 3. Your connection with the dog-side arm back here was SPOT ON and fabulous! That is what helps her so much! Your timing of moving to 3 was excellent. No worries about the bar at 1:55 on her first rep of it – she was delayed responding to the cues, probably because she is just inexperienced with this cue – it was a bit of a “wait, WHAT?” moment from her LOL! And you did the exactly right thing by just showing it to her again, and she was fast and powerful in her jumping and turning.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi again!
On the tunnel exits – he is turning beautifully on the regular left/right turns and also did well with the Go cues t the end. Try to give the left or right cues sooner, while he is still about 6 feet before the tunnel entry (you were saying them just as his head was going into the tunnel or a little later, which made them harder to process.
For the rear crosses, yes, those are much harder 🙂 Because he is so fast, the RC info has to come sooner – and also because he is so young, he needs it to be very obvious (rear crosses are not intuitive to the dogs, so the handling needs to be super clear). So with that in mind with the rears, let’s change his angle of approach to teach him the tunnel rear crosses:
If the tunnel entry is 6 on a clock, you can start about 15 feet away from it and at 12 on the clock. Have hum next to you, holding his collar: start saying your tunnel verbal, then let go and run forward towards the center of the tunnel entry (til he is past you) and then cut in behind him, ideally before he goes in (which is why starting further back will help). That should show him the rear cross more smoothly.
And if he still finds rear crosses hard, you can place the toy (or the MM) on the line where you want him to turn to – that visual will really help him (I placed toys for rear crosses a lot with his brother from another mother, Contraband). When he gets mor experience with the rear crosses, we can gradually add back the harder angles.He did a great job with the teeter!!!! Yay!!! He is totally going to have a great teeter. No problem finding the different angles. Was the big food reward already at the top of the board, or in your hand? If it was in your hand, can try placing it at the top of the board so he doesn’t even have look at you. If there was food at the top of the board, try something higher value like cream cheese or something, so he is more excited about the food 🙂
Great job here! Have fun!
TracyHi!
You are not far behind, we are just starting week 7 🙂 Being in week 6 is great!Levy did really well here, this flip move is HARD!!! The turning away is the hardest part for him – you kept it slow and clear at first, and he had a lightbulb moment and the last few reps were GREAT! This is an excellent start. So keep moving through the steps just like this and you will be able to add more and ore speed.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Mountain climbers looked great here! He is a confident (and hungry) little dude!!!All were perfect reps except the 2nd one – on that rep, he came in at high speed but on a bad angle for some reason (I can’t see where the wing was, or how he exited it, but you can see he is coming in at an angle and aborted the mission because he was not angle to straighten up). We have a game coming for that! But, he was NOT happy to have missed the food so he fixed the angle on all the other reps. Great job adding the running past, rear crossing, etc.
So the next question is: what do you have that you can use to prop the teeter but progressively add more tip to it? I use a Teeter Teach It (I bought it and it was totally worth the money) but you can also make one or use a saw horse or something. Anything solid that you can adjust in tiny increments will help – he is ready for more 🙂
Great job!!
Tracy
