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Hi! The jumpers run looked great! And I think those same jets come do practice strafing runs over my house – they are about 100 feet off the ground, I wave to them LOL! My understanding is that they are from the base in your next of the woods 🙂
The Opening looked great! Loved the blind and the tunnel send each time!
There were really only 2 challenging spots for you on this course:
On the tunnel to the out jump at :09 – you were using the verbals but decelerating so she turned into you based on the decel. You can accelerate into that line and it will help blast her out.
You had more acceleration at 1:26 – you can try an outside arm for the out, have you ever used an utside arm for an out? That can really help at a distance:
At 1:55 you ad more converging pressure before she got into the tunnel and a TON of connection (which brings your outside shoulder into play) and she found it treally well! Even better at 2:14! Nice!
The other hard part was the blind cross before the weaves – doing the blind on the takeoff side worked well for you at 1:36. That looked awesome! And yes, a little late on the blind at 2:41 but also maybe she was fatigued.
Handling it as a german will work if you are more laterally away from the jump after the tunnel on the way there, so you can more easily get past the exit wing of the German. Being clsoe to the jump after the tunnel made it very hard to outrun her to the German blind cross 🙂
Weaves to the end looked good! Doing the double front worked well. We can make the cue easier for you: you can do it more as a throw back where your upper body does the FC but your feet face the next jump, so it there is a collection cue built right into the first element of it. Here is what it looks like on the jump, please ignore my dog running around the tunnel a couple of times LOL!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I had so much fun with the live class!! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed the format and the sequences. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to participate.>>
It was great to have you there, you and Nox looked super!
>>As far as decel goes, I Shays forget it’s a thing, lol. It’s a totally new concept to me to SLOW DOWN while running agility!
Yes – when you are running a fast, opinionated dog like Nox, it is counterintuitive to slow down. Same with the one extra step – but both actually get you further ahead because she will commit better and then you have more time to get where you are going, while she is jumping.
>>>(Maybe you want to teach one online in the future… 😀)
Oh heck no, not me LOL!!!! I recommend either Jordan Biggs who teaches it here on AU sometimes and sometimes on her own site at http://www.argusranch.com , or Katerina Poplidnik who is amazingly extensive in her info and feedback.
>>we switched to stopped contacts and have been doing them for a month or so. She’s great if there’s a physical target on the ground, but if I take it away, she wants to creep and wait for me to go to the bottom with her.
It has only been a month? They are looking good.
>> I’m not quite sure to fade the targets yet. I’m thinking of using clear targets and cutting them smaller and smaller until they pretty much disappear.
Yes, or put clumps of grass over them to increasingly hide them.
>> I will try releasing with motion with a lead out since she is stopping at the target, though. I don’t think it would translate without it right now.
Add in walking past for now, while the target is still there. I like to teach all the things while the target is still there to help.
>>For big lines with jumps, do you think a jump chute would help? I’ve been told I can try putting jumps in a line at varying distances (15-30 feet) and have her run that with me in different places and adding motion gradually. I’ve been told jump grids will help (I’m not very good at adjusting things in terms of spacing or troubleshooting when things don’t look right…), but I didn’t know if that would help with the big lines at full height since most grids are tighter and lower (at least what I’ve gotten to in Susan Salo’s book).>>
I think some of the bigger distance ideas can help, along with giving her a focal point at the end, like the MM or her leash to target or something, so she is not trying to chase you motion. Start low height and then build up, doing maybe 3 jumps in a row at 18 feet.
Onwards to the jumpers video!
Tracy
Hi!
>>And I have a weekend with almost no plans (so exciting)>>
What is this ‘weekend with almost no plans’ of which you speak? I know of no such thing hahaha
I think the tunnel-circle wrap session went great. She is tight to the wing, finishing her commitment, driving in and out. Perfect! If you wanted to do a bit more of this, do the 2 wing ladder so she has to drive back to the circle wrap with a tasty tunnel out ahead of her 🙂 It is a good challenge!
But definitely move to the straight line 4 ways game, she is ready! And we can add a little height to her bars on it too – what in she jumping in class? And stretch out the tunnel and add more tunnel bags, she is going to be going REAL FAST and we don’t want any squished toes or splats.
>>She did so well at her class last night! She’s really understanding her lefts and rights, even coming out of tunnels. And we got some really good sends to jumps too.
Happy dance!!! I am not surprised at all, you’ve done all of the foundation work with her – and it is SO COOL to see it beginning to come together. You might even consider some NFC Speedstakes in the late summer or fall? Let’s take a road trip so our baby dogs can play with no one watching hahaha!
Great job! Let me know how the weekend goes!
TracyHi!
The entries were brain steamers for her with all of the countermotion and crosses! It looks like she got them all 100% when coming in off your left side. You can definitely use this in courses to help her become even more independent.
When coming in off your right on the wrap around weave entry, she wanted to enter between 2 and 3 and did on the last couple of reps. That was the correct wing placement, she was just going around it. If you think she doesn’t need the wing on those entries, you can do it without the wing, or you can show it to her from closer so she gets into 1 and 2 and doesn’t go around the wing.
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
These were super easy, compared to the no motion game LOL!! She was quite strong on these – her only questions were when the jump and tunnel motion looked the same. And that is a good thing to work on: keep moving the whole time, moving forward, so she listens to the word and style of the “jump” versus “TUNNELTUNNEL” verbals.You were tending to stop and rotate a little on the tunnel cues, so keep facing forward on both the jump and tunnel cues – no speed yet until she is able to process the different verbals when the body movement is virtually the same – then we can add speed to it 🙂
Nice work!
TracyHi! This was a good session too! She is excellent with her verbals 🙂
Try to keep your body language completely neutral – on some of the reps, based on how you leaned and got the toy ready… it was obviously going to be a tunnel send and I am not even as smart as a Border Collie LOL!!!
It is normal to get some failures on this game, so I recommend just calling her back with her name and resetting with a cookie to try again. The toy party can keep happening when she gets it right.
>>Key points – she REALLY listens to her verbals and is very good at them if I give them to her timely. This really showed up with the tunnel. If I didn’t give her a “go tunnel” she’d turn back to the side the I sent her from. If I did say go tunnel she didn’t even look back at me and just ran straight. When I gave her a timely “right” command out of the tunnel, she was perfect.
Yes, that was really cool to see, especially the right verbal on the tunnel at the end.
>> Next time I’ll put the camera a little closer to me – it was hard hearing some of my commands at the beginning.>>
No worries – I figured the really quiet moments were the jump verbals, which is a good because we want the jump and tunnel verbals to sound totally different.
Great job!
TracyHi!
The layering skills are looking good! I think you can tell her sooner about the turn or the go on the jump before the layering (the blue jump close rot he camera for most of them, and then the blue jump further away on the last sequence) – you were tending to tell her when she landed from those jumps – ideally she would know before she makes a takeoff decision if it isthe layering jump or the tunnel, so turn on the big loud verbals for the layering as early as exit of the first jump, or the quieter turn verbals to the tunnel.
Walking the wrap instead of the threadle does make it harder because theoretically the tunnel could be on the wrap exit 🙂 But the threadle is a good one to time as well 0 she would need to hear the turn cues for it as she entered the layering – you could use a name call or directional on that jump, then move to your in in cue. Definitely play with it next time and see how it goes 🙂
Nice work! Onwards to the next video 🙂
TracyHi!
>>It would be wonderful for Ronan to not need that!>>
He won’t need it… and in fact you won’t have time to do it – he is still a ‘baby’ dog and I can already see that he has too much speed to require you to decel at the contacts 🙂
The indoor session looks great! And so does the outdoor session, where you were also able to add more speed 🙂 So now we keep adding speed while getting him to respond from anywhere, not just near you:
Using food, you can even do a “get it” release so he races ahead to get the treat while you turn and go the other way – then you cue a sit while he hurries back to you, but while he is still maybe halfway to you. That way you will have a big head start so he learns to do it even when way behind you.
This game is good for stopped and running contacts, because the dogs have to think about where their hind end is even while we are running. He is looking really good and paying lovely attention to his back end! Yay!
Great job! Let me know how the next steps go 🙂
TracyHi!
He is doing well here – definitely has lots of value on the poles and did well with the various entries!>>He has not seen any props such as the wing or guide wires yet, with what you see here, do you think I should introduce something?
I think the next step is to teach him the striding. He is trying to figure out the footwork, so before going to more distractions or more poles, let him focus on that. I let the dogs sort out the footwork by making a channel of 4 or 6 poles (you can use 6 2x2s and open them up y about 2 inches), with easy entries. It is fine if he chooses to ‘swim’ (separate front feet) or bounce (front feet together) but now is a good time in the training to let him choose 🙂 A couple of sessions with the poles 2 inches open should help him decide, then you can close them up again while he maintains his footwork. Then it is easy to add the distractions and more poles 🙂
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyNo patience needed at all, he was so fun to watch!!! Thank you for working through storms, sweat, and blood. You both looked great!
>>If I were going to work the tunnel rear cross to have him successful, should I start with my small tunnel, a wing, and a toy placed on the landing side and then work up from there?>>
Yes, this would be great. And also start him on the left turns first to see if it is a rear cross question, or a right turns versus left turn question. He looked awesome on his left turn last night.
Tracy
Hi! Good question!
The around the back start would be helpful for that backwards 1, as you mentioned. I think it can also be helpful with the tunnel starts that we see a lot in AKC and sometimes in CPE and USDAA.And, I think it is great for dogs who have struggles on the start line – not in the stay element, but with concerns about people or noise or dogs all right there. If things are hard environmentally, the around the back start gets tue dogs moving, doing something fun, and into the course with no worries. That’s why I taught it to my Hot Sauce pup – she HATES the noisy slamming of the entry gate, and yet people continue to slam it shut behind her no matter what I do. So, to make that situation fun for her, I use the around the back start. I don’t need it in rings that don’t have that loud slamming gate 🙂 Yes, I’m working on getting her happy about the noise, and this fast fun start totally helps – no stress of having to wait there with the scary thing behind her while momma leaves (leading out).
Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I agree, having her face you produced the highest success rate! Yay! And there was likely too much failure when she was facing the setup, which is why you got the stress responses.So with that in mind, keep starting with her facing you. And add 2 things:
– gently hold her collar so you can say the verbals 3 or 4 times each, then let go. That gives her more time to process them before making a decision. They sound pretty different here but since she was moving on the first part of the first bit of sound, she was trying to make a decision with limited info. Holding (still facing you) her til she hears more should help maintain the higher success.
– if she has an error, don’t mark it as en error. She knows it was wrong based on subtleties in your reaction, and the error marker stresses her. So, just call her back, reset with a cookie, try again. The reset cookies will help reduce stress too but maintaining a high overall rate of success.
You can throw the treat after the jump, but I think she did fine with coming back to you on the session where she started by facing you.
Nice work changing it up to get success! Let me know how the next session goes!
TracyGood morning!
Great job here, it was really fun to watch all of the challenges! And it sounds like you are getting some wicked weave challenges in class 🙂 If the challenge is really hard, yo can reduce the difficulty of the weaves – open them a little, put a guide in, etc. On this setup, you simulated the tunnel right at the exit but with the toy replacing it, which is a great way to start 🙂 Putting the toys all around the weaves are a great way to simulate the visual chaos he might encounter on course when trying to find the weaves, but in a way that is super simple so he can be highly successful. Perfect@Most of it was really easy for him – the RC at high speed was still hard on the first rep but he got it after that – he lifts his head a bit on those, so you can have a reward target out for those.
Since this went so well, you can gradually add more challenge: I like to put random wings out to see if he can still find the weaves and stay in, like a wing visible past the entry or right past the exit. You can do the same with a short tunnel (like a 3 foot tunnel if you have one) and I hale also introduced tunnel distractions to weaves by having only the back curve of the tunnel visible (entries either turned away or turned down so the dogs don’t perceive it as an available tunnel.
Have fun!!
TracyGood morning! Great job in class last night, you both looked fabulous!!!
Great job on the course work! The video is not really that long, you had lots of stops for rewards 🙂 And her contacts looked great!
Opening looked good – it was hard to tell, but I think you layered the #2 jump on the way to the dog walk? Looked good! On the 2nd time through there, I think you showed a little too much pulling away to get the layer, got a little close to 3, and she considered taking the jump but went back out to he tunnel (good girl!)
The whole opening line past the teeter looked really good! You can give a little decel on the 8 jump to get a slightly better turn to 9 but she was a good girl and didn’t go to the tunnel 🙂
That is definitely a really hard weave entry for her! It was good to take a break in that first session when she couldn’t get it, and then I love that she nailed it in the last big run!!! Yeah!
When you picked up after the weaves: really nice turn on the wrap after it! When you had that wrap in flow at 2:45, she found the extra jump – your FC was good but I think what happened was you were a little too far from the wrap jump, so as you moved up the line, your position showed the off course jump and she took it thinking it was part of the FC. Staying a little closer to the jump for the FC will help (which would require her to go to the tunnel after it ahead of you. I think she can do that!
She needed one extra step of you pushing up the line to get to the tunnel at 1:31 – because she is so young, you can take that one extra step pretty much everywhere 🙂 to help with commitment and then as she builds up even more commitment on these bigger courses, you can get more finesses and tighten the turns a bit. Her turns are already good so getting added commitment is more of a priority.
After the a-frame – if you can lead out more (or if she can do the down contact very independently in a full run) then I agree, you can get a blind cross or front cross and not get the off course teeter. In the video you mentioned that she had trouble on that jump in previous reps – when she had the barking moment here at the end, she was facing you when you released and then you stepped, so she didn’t turn away. Try to be moving to set the line before the release, so she sees the info before she comes off the a-frame and can find the line.
You were right to handle from the landing side based on your position here at 1:53, and she read that whole ending line well – especially that massive ending run, your connection was perfect and she jumped it beautifully!
On the last run where she fell on her head (ouch!) – I think you broke connection a bit on the line after the last tunnel, shoulders turned forward – so she missed the jump, then there was a bar down, and at that point she was in catch up mode and didn’t think about her takeoff. When I scrolled back to her previous run through there starting at 1:53, the difference was that you were closer to the jump after the tunnel, so she saw more connection and was able to sort out the jumping. So, for now, be a little ahead but not more than maybe 6 feet on these big lines, to keep her from rushing and losing her striding. It will get easier as she gets more experience jumping big lines like she did at 1:53.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think this is going well! She has a much higher success rate here and your connection was really strong!
The circle wraps are going super well on both sides. She is having a slightly harder time turning to her right on those (and on the tight FCs and BCs too) so keep progressing like this and she will get better and better so then you can move faster.
>>’m still trying to get the crosses right. I feel like I’m letting her know in time, but she’s not always looking for me even though I FEEL like I’m connected to her.>>
I think for the most part, the crosses look really good! She had a couple of errors here: :37 and 1:12 were right turns and you were a little too far up the line for her current state of understanding (you were at the center wing – so motion and position overrode the connection and verbal, which we will write off as “young dog stuff” and help her out a little :))
On all the other reps, you were closer to the turn wing or halfway to the center wing when you were finishing the cross and connecting (rather than right at the center wing), she got it right away with no questions. So start the turn closer to the turn wing and then we will keep expanding her understanding as she sees tight crosses in sequences.
The only other blooper was 2:12 where she made the turn then you stepped back to the center wing, so she went to the center wing – that is was just a matter of timing, all of the rest were really good!
>>BTW, I’m not using any target for contact board work. So, I’m not sure what to do with this weeks video info. We did Nancy Gagliardi Little’s contact class,
You can tweak it to use how the end position is offered in the method you are using (with a toy or something out ahead?) or you can use your teeter behavior. It can be changed up for any method except running contacts.
>>I’d there a live this Sat?
Nope, the next one is Aug 3/4 , which is midweek 🙂
Nice work here!
Tracy
