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Good morning!
Your teeter plan for gradually making it move more sounds good to me! And it is great to train her with distractions and friends 🙂 She looked super!
The turns on these reps all looked good! She seemed very balanced, turning really well to both the left and the right 🙂 You can try to say the right and left verbals one stride sooner – you were saying the verbal just as she entered or just after, so I think if you say it wihile she is still 3-4 feet away from the tunnel, that will be perfect timing 🙂
The Rear crosses at :59, 1:05 ,1:14, 1:26 and 1:32 all looked fabulous! Like with the other turn, she did well in both directions and your cues were VERY clear! It was hard to get her to the wing after the RC because she was moving so fast, but no worries on that – you can keep your dog-side arm back a bit so your shoulders turn to the line more, rather than point forward, and that will help.
The GO reps were harder for her – she was going straight-ish but we can get her really exploding straight. 2 ideas for you:
– throw the toy sooner, so it is landing on the straight line before she exits. You might need a helper for that (hi, Steve LOL!) because it is really hard to throw accurately and run fast. Or, leave it placed on the ground straight out ahead (or use a MM)
– move the ‘go’ wing in closer to the tunnel exit, maybe 6 feet away, so she can focus on driving straight to it (the reward gets thrown past it) and then, over time, you can gradually inch it back out as she extends the go line.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The walk throughs are helpful in terms of telling us what we can do more of in the walk through to help the runs!
The biggest thing to add in both walk throughs (I didn’t see a walk through for sequence 3, but it will probably need the same thing based on the bloopers) – connection! When walking the courses, you were tending to look forward, at the obstacles… but in the actual run, he would be behind you on those lines or behind you exiting the tunnels. So when you looked ahead, it broke connection and the info got diluted, which is why he didn’t always know where to be.And yes – say your words a lot more in the walk throughs 🙂 It feels strange LOL! But it will help you not have to think about them during the run. If you are trying to spit them all out during the run, and connect, and handle… something will go wrong. But if you rehearse them in advance, you won’t have to think about them and it will all get much easier to be smooth and clean.
Walk 1 – On this walk, the handling ideas were really strong! So now take them to the next level and add your connections and verbals. For example, when you lead out, look back and release him, and keep looking to where you think he will be as you move up the 1-2-3 line and again at the tunnel exit. You said a few verbals but try to say ALL the verbals 🙂
Riun 1 -not sure where he went after 2 (some sort of distraction) but good job getting him back! You held on but it was a little choppy because you were doing the speed, connection and verbals all for the first time.
On the 2nd run, you were trying to connect but also looking forward a bit (that is what you rehearsed in the walk through) so there was a disconnect on the tunnel exit and he ended up on the wrong side (you were looking forward and ahead of him, so he took the front, good boy. So in the walk throughs, always look at the invisible dog at the exit of every tunnel to set the next line.
3rd run – much better and barefoot LOL! You had the connections and verbals here. What I recommend is during the walk throughs, do 2 walk throughs like your fist 2 runs, without him, but with speed, connection and verbals. That way this smooth run 3 can be your first run!
The 2nd sequence had 2 walk throughs – more connection can be added here too, especially on the exit of the FC 3-4 and on the big sends. I agree, it did look like you were doing a threadle on 10 instead of a serp because you were stopping and rotating.
There was only 1 short video of this, with a loss of connection 2-3 so he came off the line. Let know if I missed a video or if there are more?
Seq 3 – didn’t have the walk through, but you can add more connection here toots support the lines especially on the sending into the layering and around the other side of the tunnel.
When layering the 2nd half of it, I think a GO directional at :23 will help, plus keeping your shoulders open to him and more connection. He had a question there because you closed your shoulders a bit and said over, but there were 2 over possibilities (both choices were jumps) so a directional might work better for him.
Nice work here! Working the walk throughs is hard but totally worth it!!!
Tracy
Hi!
This is going well!
This is a different target though – so while it is in a good spot, it is big and different so there is a new learning curve with it in terms of what he should do (2o2o or all feet on the target, for example). So stick with this target for now. And, since we are shaping to the 2o2o, you can wait longer before the reward on the target – let him get into the 2o2o and reward. Sometimes you did that, sometimes you rewarded when he was off the plank but front feet on the target. So now you can wait til he gets back feet onto the plank and into the 2o2o. For now, he does better when you are closer (that might have been part of the learning curve on the new target) so start closer but over time you can also move a little more away and back in front of him.Nice work!
TracyOMG that is so fun! It is like a MaxPup game spread out LOL!!!! It looks like he had a great time and he was so fast & tight!!!!!
T
Hi!
I think she is doing REALLY well here! Yay!!!!
The hardest part is not looping around – I think she needs more room on these videos, things were close together so she didn’t really have room to turn around and was relying on your body language a bit or sending herself.
So give yourself more room, so you can reset her between each rep, hold her collar, start the verbal then let go. When you were doing that, things looked great!
Also, to get rid of her sending herself and allow yo auto line her up – give her a reset cookie for coming back to you to restart each rep. That builds value for the setup. You started doing this in the 2nd video, and it got rid of that looping around almost immediately.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
If she prefers to look for you and not drive straight, yes you can totally throw the toy before she exits. And, you can also place it out on the go line in advance so she doesn’t even need to wait for the throw. Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
This looks soooo good! She was on FIRE!!!
Yes, moving out the jump really helped and she needs them to stay angled for a little bit longer.Great connection here too ,and she jumped in really well when you were stationary!
>> did keep adjusting the jump angle if she failed. She was tugging but if she tried to hump me I just pushed her off and either would have her sit or tug if she was ok
Since this is going well, revisit this setup and oh-so-slowly tighten up the serp angles. Do it inch by inch so she barely notices it, but she can maintain her speed and turns.
With the humping – try tugging a little then taking the toy back and giving her a little boring cookie to keep her more thoughtful, but still keeping the tug drive.That can help!
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
We are not up to week 9 yet, I just posted the sections but not the games LOL!
This session went SUPER well! She is committing and turning so well!! When she exits the tunnel on your right, you were ealier starting the FCs and spins on these, so she is looking rally fabulous and fast. When she was exiting the tunnel on your left, you were later starting the FCs and spins so she had a few questions (especially on the spins where she had to wait to know which side to be on). So my only really suggestion is to start the FC and spins sooner, when she is on your left. Looking at her timing – when she is indoor right, she was maybe one stride past the tunnel exit and you were sending her past you and starting the cross. So try that timnig when she is on your left too. On your left, you were starting the crosses when she was arriving at the wing.
>>When I added verbals I think I went at half-speed, lol.
I think it was less comfortable for you, so your timing was delayed – but you were nailing it on the right, so make the connection sooner on your left and send her past you so you can start the cross sooner too.
Great job on these!
TracyHi!
Watching these, I think what he is doing is trying to respond on the very first moment of verbal and sometimes he is correct, sometimes not (meaning, he is guessing).
So 2 things to change (no need to move the chair around at all):
– make the verbals sound more different in terms of volume, length, etc. The jump and tunnel sound very similar here. You can make a bigger contrast by being super loud and long with the tunnel verbal: TUNNEL TUNNEL TUNNEL. And be quieter with the jump verbal, keeping it short: “jump.”
– place him between your knees and hold his collar (he will be facing the jump & tunnel setup) – while holding his collar, say the verbal a few times and watch where he is looking. If he is looking at the correct spot, let go and reward when he does it. If he is not looking in the correct spot or he has not decided yet, keep holding him til he finds the correct obstacle. You were starting to do this at the end of the 3rd video, and I think this will really help!
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Here is video on the One & done skill set. Sequence one, I was able to find a better way to handle.
Did you video your full walk through process before the first run? That is important on these 🙂 I think we can add things to your walk throughs to get that first run looking really smooth 🙂 Definitely video and post them! It helps us figure out how to improve the runs (or how to maintain the brilliant pieces :))
On seq 1:
You can do less of a lateral send on jump 3 – the lateral send is a collection cue, so he was starting to turn then heard the tunnel cue and pulled the bar both times going back out to the tunnel. You can try to lead out less and run into the line more, so he accelerates to the tunnel and you don’t need to send and move laterally away.The middle section looked good – after the 8 tunnel, you can choose easier handling for the 9-10 turn 🙂 He turns well, so you don’t need as much rotation to work the tight turn, especially if it rotates your feet to the wrong 10 jump. Trying to get in for the extra rotation to do the throw back caused questions about which jump you wanted (at :26 and :38 you were pointing to the off course jump when he would have been coming out of the tunnel as you walked it). The throw back choice creates a SUPER tight turn for him (when you ran it at :50 and 1:10 so he almost didn’t take 10 because the turn was so tight) so you can go with a RC on 9 or BC the tunnel exit and do a send with a turn verbal on 9.
Seq 2: Thanks for the walk through here! Add in more connection for him, especially as you exit the crosses. You were looking ahead of him pretty quickly, which causes a disconnection and also can change the timing.
If yo are going to stay on the landing side of 4, the lateral send is a good choice here! Add a turn cue on 3 like a right verbal and a brake arm (outside arm) to get him off the tunnel (which he just did a few times in seq 1). The FC worked really well 3-4!
On the walk through at :45, he landed from 5 and then you immediately turned forward, pointing ahead to 6 and 7. But with your invisible dog behind you, he is not going to stay on the 6-7 line, he would follow your shoulders and take the tunnel which is what happened at 1:00. So in the walk throughs, plan to make a connection on the landing of 5 to send him to 6, taking an extra step into the gap to help propel him out to it.
So overall as you walk it – you can slow yourself down to match him more and add a lot more connection. Try to ‘see’ the invisible dog in the walk through and that can really help with handling choices and execution!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Yes, there was a lot of obsessing on this walk through LOL! The plan you had by the 2nd minute was a really good plan, so you might be second-guessing yourself. I’d say by 6:20 you were ready 🙂 and then you have to jump in and try it. Set a timer on your walk throughs – for these short sequences, set it for 5 minutes and then live with whatever you have planned and rehearsed 🙂 At 945 you changed your plan which is generally not something you want to do unless you have a really good reason (like realizing your walked the opening incorrectly)
>>I thought my motion to get from between jump 4 and 2 to between the tunnel and jump 4 would tend to cue the off course tunnel but I wasn’t sure we had the skill to layer 4. >>
That is a timing thing – if you cue 3 when he land from 2 and start the FC< he won’t go into the off course tunnel. On the run: There was not quite enough connection at :06 with the layer and with the layering, he did not really see the foot rotation which is the important element of the FC. Then you ran a little sideways and right next to the tunnel, so he assumed that it was correct to take the tunnel. You hd better connection on the 2nd rep at :14 but then ‘released’ it by looking forward before he made the turn, so he took the tunnel. You had a lot more connection at :26 and he got it. That connection had your shoulder open to him so he really saw your eyes and shoulders. Try this for the connection to really make it clear for him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFaVNaTphLY (I bet running into the FC without the layering per your original plan would have worked beautifully :) because he would see the rotation and connection very clearly) >>’m not sure the blind was the best choice,
I like the BC there! He just needs to see the new connection sooner, so you can start it sooner but more importantly:
Tuck your arms in to your sides when you do the blind there, which will make the blind very quick in terms of showing the connections. Your arms were up higher which takes longer to reel them in to change sides, so delays the new connection (and creates a wider turn).Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Basically, make and keep connection – everywhere. I”m embarrassed since this is something I always talk about when I’m working with others – and then I blow it myself.>>
Don’t be embarrassed, connection is the hardest part of agility – it is so easy to all about it and so much harder to do it consistently 🙂 I obsess about connection but my #1 error on course? Yes, disconnection. LOL!
The walk & run here both looked great!!
On the walk through, I think your lines and connections looked really good! One thing to add is a different arm height on the big layering lines versus the come in lines. For example: 1-2-3 is layered so your arm can be higher. Then 9-10-11 I a tighter line but right near the layered line that she just did, so you can have your arms lower at 9 so she sees the difference even sooner. That is why she went a little wide at 9 on the run. So you can pick her up on the until exit with a lower arm to indicate 9 and he turn will be tighter.
The only big difference I saw on the walk versus the run was. That you were moving faster during the run than on the walk through. It is possible you were protecting your Achilles by not running the walk through and that is fine – so that means the added connection becomes really important and you nailed it here 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi!
The layering went well for her but the tight turns were really hard here!
On the first part of the video, it is notated as ‘wrap left’ for the first 2 reps. I think the physical cues looked more like a rear cross, because you were leaning in and stepping into her path (watch you feet) so to get the wrap to the left, run to the left wrap wing and be more upright, just decelerating and then doing the FC. This is more like what you did at the end of the video, and she did really well!
The turning to the right all looked good in terms of getting the turn to the right, but convincing her to NOT layer was really hard as you mentioned. The tunnel is a forward cue, which gives the dog permission to drive forward on the line. So even though there was no tunnel on the line, saying tunnel was part of why she was accelerating away. So, since she does like the tunnel, let’s take a different approach:
Decelerate into the right rear cross – then stand still and call her name. When she comes to you and doesn’t do the layering line… then you can reward her with the tunnel cue. But don’t cue it til you know for sure that she is on her way to you. I believe we did this with some of the dogs in the live class and it really helped!>>I had gone back and just practised wrapping a wing to help her a bit.
That was a smart training strategy!
>>It was better when I hid jump 4 in the bushes but I don’t see this as a long term strategy. >>
This was smart too – but I agree, it is not a long term strategy. So try the ‘no permission to keep going til you make the turn’ approach and let me know how she does! You can start with the jump 4 hidden in the bushes at first to get it started, then add it back and see how she does 🙂
Keep me posted! You are making good training/handling choices and we use need to convince her to listen 🙂
TracyHi! These are looking good! Little suggestions on both:
For Min – I like your original choice of blinds and on a bigger course, that can get you further ahead if needed (no positional advantage on this course for FC or BC because it is small :)) So in your walk through, plan the timing of the tight blinds very specifically and then you will nail them in the run.
At :5 and :12 in the first walk through, InvisiMin was one stride from takeoff for the BC 3-4 and in the air at 9-10, which means the BCs were late. That is approximately the timing you used at :26 and :36 (she was just taking off) so she was a bit wide. If you can bump up the timing sooner, I bet the BCs can be definitely as tight as the FCs.
Because of the decel required for the FCs, you walked them to be earlier and ran them DEFINITELY earlier at 1:06 and 1:16, so her turns were better. So if you can tie the blinds to match your FC timing, then you can have the same fast tight turns and better positional advantage because you don’t need to rotate. It is a subtle detail but can totally help!Kaladin’s video is the reason why I love working walk throughs because we can really plan what/how to rehearse for the run 🙂
Your initial walk through matched your actual run, which helps us know what to improve and what you nailed.
Looking at the walk through:
He is great with reading tight blinds, so you can be sooner with the tight blind 3-4 (:07 on the walk through, matching :46 on the run when you started it about a stride from takeoff which is a bit later than he needs). You were a stride earlier on the re-run and he was definitely tighter!At 7 (:12 on the walk through and :52 on the run) your arm went really high and you turned your shoulders, breaking connection to InvisiKal. Your execution was almost identical from walk through to run, so those big sends are something to rehearse in the walk through as a low arm, big connection moment. That is what you rehearsed at the re-walk at 1:09 and handled beautifully at 1:39.
Your timing of your tight blind at :14 on the walk thought matched your great timing on the tight blind at :56 (which was even harder because you had the little blooper on 7 before it) You were even earlier at the very end, and he was fabulous on that tight blind!!!!
So in the next walk throughs, find the timing spots for the blinds and also get the big connection and low arm for the sends, and then the run will be perfect!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
