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Hi!
It is easy to describe your upcoming journey with him because he reminds me SO MUCH of my adventures with my dear departed dog, Export. Things were a wild ride early on, then we became a team and had a decade of running together. Dreamer is very much like a next-generation Export. That is one of the reasons I think Dreamer is such a cool dog 🙂
The threadle games are going well – he sometimes skips the threadle and grabs the toy, which is hilarious! Were you saying the threadle word? It was hard to hear – I think you were saying “Push”? If you were saying your threadle word – perfect! Your an repeat the word a bunch of times, no need to say it just once. If you were not saying it: add on 🙂 It should be a different word than any other existing cue.
I think you can add the 2nd wing to the jump now, and we will get you moving soon too! Nice work!!!
TracyHi!
There is a lot of great stuff here! And 9pm to midnight? You are my hero!I think I got al the videos, but they might not be in the right order:
The unsuccessful blind video, the blind on the jump with the off course tunnel: That is a connection question from him, and if we get stronger connection, he will read the blind. When you make the blind, bring your hands tight to your sides (wings in!) and look him in the eyes very directly as your finish the blind on the new side. That will get him to pick up the side change has you move forward. You were trying to reconnect with just a hand, and dogs don’t really read that as a side change cue on the blind (especially not with a tunnel right there 🙂 )
Video 3- serp w/ no weaves video: when you handled that line of jumps near the tunnel as a serp to a rear cross – nice! Just give the come verbal as he is over the jump after the teeter, so that he turns more tightly.
He was very close to getting the weave entry!!!! I think he just needs to see that a couple of times and he will get the weave entry there (you can play that weave game with the wing to help him out too!)
Got the DW video – very nice!!! Great job on the backside push to blind after the tunnel. That set a lovely line to the dog walk!! There was a little bonus jump in there (it was tight and he needed a stronger turn cue) but the rest looked great!
Layer jump before the DW video: this looked great until the layering. Your running line was spot on! As you pass the layer jump and say your walk it cue, you can re-connect to he knows to be on your left side. You were disconnected (looking forward) during the layering, so he guessed and come into you over the jump.
Great job on these!! Hope you got some sleep today LOL!
Tracy
Hi!
I am glad you like the line classes, they are so fun!!! And I appreciate the live participants being willing to jump in and try crazy things 🙂On the backside jump – yes it is a German turn (push to the backside then that wrap blind cross exit). And no, I don’t give it an additional verbal, I just use my backside slice verbal.
She is doing well with her German turn here! Nice timing of the backside verbals and ice suppler with connection! As she is approaching the backside jump, you can use a smaller shoulder turn to help her commit to it – you can face the jump with your upper body while your feet carry you through to the blind. I think she is ready for you to be further away from the entry wing – as you mentioned, you are pretty far to the right. So for the next session, try to have your running line go to the center of the bar on the backside as you send her, and your upper body sends her to the backside wing.Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I have 2 separate verbals for the push to a backside:
– “Back” is when the dog enters on one wing and exits on the other wing, like a slice
– “digdigdig” is when the dog enters on one wing and exits on the same wing, like this wrap here. It doesn’t have to be a blind cross exit.And yes, I train it and then do that either/or handling to show the difference. What are your current front side verbals? We can use something that is different from those 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>> I went out and tried just the portion with the lateral move and she did pull off at first. Once I gave an “over” verbal while I moved laterally, she was fine.
Perfect! If we get quiet and pull away laterally, the dogs often follow us. But if your upper body (connection and verbal and shoulders) support the line, then our feet can pull away while the dog stays on the line.
>>You’ll notice in the first go around I was slow in my handling on jump 8, and she cut in front of me. Fixed that the next time around!
Yes, that adjustment on the 2nd and 3rd reps looked great! You moved forward sooner, so you were able to get the blind – and I think she liked that, because she really drove out of it with a ton of speed 🙂
>>Is there anything I should do to make her approach to the back of that jump a bit tighter? She does swing in a rather large arc. Could be she is still thinking of going down the line to the first jump? Should I be saying more to the left wing of the jump so I can move aroudn to the back faster?>>
Well, yes and no 🙂 When I watch where she is on the bar at 7, she is in the right spot – turning and facing the correct line. Any tighter there would end up being a bit slower and setting a harder line to the backside circle. She needs to have enough room and momentum to ‘square up’ for the circle on the 8 jump, so we don’t want her to be tighter coming into it because then she won’t be able to set her jumping up as well.
The one thing I do recommend, though, is a different backside verbal for this wrap versus for a slice (I think you have the same verbal and physical cues tells her the difference). The different verbals will get her to power through more because she has the turn info sooner – she is drifting a tiny bit before setting up the turn, waiting to see more of the physical cue to know if it is a slice or a wrap. If you give her a different verbal, she will know way back at jump 7 and then she can drive right into it.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyMy little Hot Sauce dog is a bit worried on start lines at trials if there is a ring gate swinging around behind her, so I plenty of training where I run her off the start in case I use that at trials. I have also taught her to run around behind me so I can do a start without a stay and also maybe have a tiny lead out LOL!
Good morning!
A little acclimation walk is a beautiful thing! Bearing in mind that a dog’s brain is basically a giant olfactory bulb – they are a walking nose and need some time to sniff the world 🙂
I think all dogs should have daily quality time just getting to roam and sniff – on leash, as youngsters, then eventually off leash. There are some studies about how sniffing is just great for their physical and mental health.At trial sites – true, you can’t have a good sniffy walk inside the ring but you can do sniffy walking around the site, and there are a ton of other games to play. And by the time he trials, the agility will have so much value that you won’t need a sniffy walk 🙂 I bring young dogs into their trial careers using NFC/FEO runs, which means a toy in the ring so it feels very comfortable for them 🙂
On the video: His commitment looks really good here, I think it surprised you on the first rep LOL!! The other reps were quicker on the blinds and connections, and he seemed to read them perfectly each time. The little dude really likes the blinds!!
Try to either leave the toy in one hand or stick it in a pocket as you do the blinds – you were switching it from hand to hand which delays the info. That might be why you felt a little frantic and not fully connected? The timing and clarity gets especially important now because he is moving fast and needs to see the new connections ASAP 🙂 The toy can live in your pocket during the sequence and then you can take it out to reward as you run – it is not a ‘precision’ reward (meaning, we don’t have to get the toy to land in a certain spot at a certain time) so you can start running and praising and take it out for him to chase.
And great job with the running rewards – a little sweaty, sure, but he was running hard for the entire session. I think his only questions where when he exited the tunnel and you want the first wing but your dog side arm was pointing a little ahead. He slowed down a little on those because that arm high & forward blocks connection. Remember to have your arm back and down, fingers to his nose, when he is behind you so he can see the connection.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The handling is going really well, she has very few questions at this point and I didn’t see any frustration behavior at all.
First rep, very nice! Connected and smooth so she got it. Arm back with some connection as you move forward: perfect!Second rep – it was all good til she landed from the jump after the tunnel where you were pushing into her line and rotated too soon so she stopped . To get that wing, continue moving forward as you decelerate don’t rotate til she is at the wing for now. You were trying to push into her line and rotate, which was a little confusing to her. You got closer to the wing on the next rep and at 1:10 which helped, but moving forward for longer and letting her see the wing will help more and she will drive past you so you don’t need to get up to the wing. Think of it as having the bar there: when you were pushing into the wing, you were putting yourself on what would be her takeoff spot, getting in the way a bit. So, moving forward to the outer edge of the wing is going to help her see the line to the wing s she can charge past you. That is more of what you were doing on the wing on the other side, after the tunnel: more motion and less rotation, but with lovely connection, so she got it.
The line back down to the tunnel looked great each time 🙂 So CONNECTED! She had no questions here.The plank work is looking good – position changes are going to encourage “tight” sits and downs where she has to bring her feet in and use her core, all of which is great for strengthening and balance.
And it makes sense that the largest RDW mat was helpful – it makes the criteria easier for a youngster who is just now learning where all of her feet are LOL!!
Great job!
TracyOK, you are definitely upping the ante on your video intro photos! SNORT! Now ice ice baby will be running through my head for the next 10 or 20 years LOL
The extra room gave you both more room to flow, and added speed – but in a good way, because this session is looking really good!
Looking at Ronan’s behavior: he is turning out to be a REALLY great turning dog and he has lovely commitment: play the section from :21 – :24 in slow motion and you will see that he is committed turning beautifully even when Mike is already finished and heading the other way. Super! And all this with a tunnel straight ahead. Yay! Same thing going to the left at :31 – :34. Nice! And again at :45. I don’t see a side preference, meaning he is turning REALLY well in both directions.
I think he has a little trouble gripping the sand for these turns, so you can try wetting the sand or maybe taking him to some grass surfaces? Here in VA we have plenty of well water so hosing stuff is easy, not sure if CA has different water rules? I would like to give him more bar height for this, but we need to make sure he won’t slip in the sand.
Looking at Mike’s behavior: also very strong! Lower arms, super connected, nice early timing on the wrap cues, and you seemed to trust him a lot by rotating and leaving so that you were already facing the next direction. I think you were facing the middle jump just fine on all them except on the last run, you rotated on the middle jump so Ronan started to collect on it. With your connection and lower arms, you don’t need to face it all that much because he is seeing the line so nicely 🙂
Great job here! I think you can move into the straight-lines-4-ways to play with the different cues in a different context that is also going to get more speed 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>> So, if she’s not following the handling and I can’t help with a placed toy then what do I use? I’m sure I could have been more timely, but if kept moving she was just paralleling the outside line and not coming through the gap.
Keep moving… but use the cross-body connection and do it at a walk for now – that should be all she needs 🙂 I think if the connection is not clear, then she is likely to stay on the parallel line. But if the connection is clearer, she will come right in. Slowing down the motion (but not fully stopping or decelerating) will also help her process it all – ideally you are moving in one steady motion the whole time.
>>Also, I’m trying not to jus5 keep going if we aren’t getting it. What, then, is the split?
You can move through the rep, reward whatever happens (dogs are such good mirrors of our handling that I just assume that they were right in situations like this). Then, on the next rep – connect more, really exaggerate it. If you think you were fully connected, then you can slow the motion down.
The other thing to do is put the camera on an angle that shows us what she sees after the blind. So instead of facing the sequence, you can have it facing the blind cross line so you can see your connection after the blind. That might give us the best view (literally haha) of what she is seeing and why she is responding the way she is. And if you cannot get the line you want after 2 reps – watch the video in slow motion to see what she is seeing.
>>Also, which verbal if any are you using? Really it’s a threadle, no?
I was using left and right on the wings, the soft turn verbals. If you think about the 3 wings as 3 separate jumps, it is not really a threadle, more of a bypass of the middle jump. Plus, the dog should look for a bar after a threadle slice verbal so I tend to only use the threadle slice verbals when bars are present.
>>But, for now is it the wrap verbal or a right and left? I’m thinking wrap as they need to come through the gap.>>
They dog come through the gap, eventually, but I keep the wrap verbals fo when they need to come through the gap *right now* 🙂 and right at the end of the wing – in this case, the wrap verbal here should get the dog coming back to the tunnel. On a bar, the double crosses would produce soft turns so I like the left and right verbals for this one.
Let me know what you think and how your next session goes!
Tracy
Good morning!
Oh no! I am sorry the teach it fell out from under him! Poor Levy!!! Yes, it was smart of you to change the picture entirely after that and take a different approach. His slam game is looking good – using this setup, you can also pretend it is a flyball box 🙂 and have him hit it (from any direction, at this point) and then race off for the toy. He will recognize that and like it a whole lot 🙂 You can also prop the teeter between tables of Klimbs, to get him running back and forth across it (eventually adding movement and sound).
He is definitely looking good on the lower dog walk. One thing to add before moving forward with the dog walk – while it is low, ask him to jump on in the middle of it, then ask him to jump off. He needs to learn balance and how to jump off, in case he loses his balance or something happens. Knowing how to safely dismount will build a whole lot of confidence 🙂 And yes, you can start the running dog walk training now if you like 🙂
The verbal game is going well. As soon as he understand the framework of it, he did really well with you sitting! Now you can fade out the pointing – you can use your line up so he is facing the obstacles and not you, so he can move forward to whichever one you say without looking at you first or needing an arm cue.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Lots of great work on both of these runs. You were really driving her, which resulted in a ton of great lines and far fewer head checked. YAY! You don’t need to edit out any chaos 🙂 It helps me see what is happening so we can figure out how to de-chaos the situation LOL!On the jumping course: This went really well!!! The opening looked super nice! The threadle lead out worked beautifully to get 1-2-3.
To get the blinds: connect less. I know, I bet you have NOT heard that one from me before hahaha 🙂 When you are watching her, it slows down the running a bit – so in certain situations, you don’t have to watch her and you can just disconnect and run. 5-6-7 is somewhat like that (you can watch less and run to it, and then I bet you get it pretty easily :)) and 9-10-11 is DEFINITELY like that 🙂 As soon as you see her committing to 9 (looking at it and driving towards it) you can use your jump verbals but stop connecting and run down the line to the blind. You watched her for a little too long at :34 which make you late for the BC.
Good job getting the backside at 14! For a smoother exit line to the tunnel, keep running forward like you did, but stay closer to the exit wing of 14 so she lines herself up on the tight line to the 15 tunnel. You stayed in motion perfect, but you were moving laterally so she was a little wide.
On the ending line, yes, you can call your left verbal sooner to get a tighter turn on the last tunnel exit. You were AWESOME about staying in motion and going directly to the blind here! You connected only a little and got to the blind really well at the end.
Standard course:
Good job moving over to show the wing on the opening of the standard course at :14! She came in to 3 really well because of your strong position. Super nice send-and-go on 4 to get ahead of her on the next line! The cues were early and fast, so she seemed to keep her eyes on her line the whole time, especially driving to the tunnel. Nice backside wrap after the teeter!It is this weave entry that was the reason why I put the weave entry game into week 2 🙂 Almost every dog here in CAMP missed it the first time. Check out the training game in Package 2 – your handling was fine, it is a dog training moment. You shaped the one more on the 2nd and 3rd reps, but she still didn’t get it, so I think the training game will really help her.
She got it nicely on the 2nd approach on the line from the teeter, but we would like her to get it the very first time LOL!
When she did get into the weaves: great job starting your blind while she was still weaving! That set up a really nice 2nd blind followed by the send-and-go before the dog walk. You can decelerate into that send and go more, don’t run as much to the jump: as you finish blind #2, decel, turn on your wrap verbal, and send her. She will be tighter on that jump to the DW, and you will be further ahead (which is always a good good thing :))
On the last tunnel (after the DW) – you called her when she was in it, so move up the timing of the verbal to before she goes in (about 6 feet before) to get a better turn on the exit. Her tunnel commitment is looking strong here, so you can add the exit verbals in for sure.
I love how you didn’t over-connect on the line after the tunnel and just ran for the blind. YAY! You can give the push verbal a little sooner and then when she lands from the push jump at 2:12, decel and send as soon as her feets hit the ground to tighten her turn on the next jump at 2:13. And give your left verbal as soon as her feet touchdown from that push jump. You can leave the post turn sooner that way, or consider doing a spin instead to be able to drive to the ending line way ahead of her.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Good morning!
For Arram:
Tugging and engagement looked great. What a fun little guy! For now, you can over- emphasize the line to the tunnel and wing as you add them together, with a lot of connection (arm back, your eyes on his cute little eyes) and probably a little more motion to the tunnel and wing (less send, for now).Because he is so new to all of this, you can structure your sessions differently so things don’t fall apart. Start the session with something really easy, for just a couple of reps. Then, in the early/middle part of the session: add one slightly harder challenge. Do one or two reps… then go back to the easy stuff for the rest of the session. That easy-hard-easy bell curve approach to a session will get the harder stuff in a little earlier, when he is ‘fresher’ and then you can pump the rate of success up again if needed with the easier stuff towards the end.
I am so glad to hear that Lanna did well at the MEB seminar! MEB is indeed brilliant 🙂 So fun!!!!!! Yay! I am really glad the games you taught her helped – that is a challenging environment and the dogs need a lot of tools to be successful 🙂
She looked really strong in the barn videos! You were super connected, which helps. And it appears that you were carrying some type of magical reinforcement because she was on fire AND came driving back to the reward the instant you told her that she could have it LOL! Good girl 🙂
On the first video:
The opening sections looked really good – you were connected, talking to her, low arms, and hustling. She loved it!
At :32, you got in for a RC but I think you could have either sent her more to the yellow jump after the tunnel, and gotten the blind, or decelerated sooner and set the RC earlier. Part of the way to get her to send to the yellow jump sooner is to praise her less in tunnel exits – she was hearing praise as she exited the tunnel at :28 so didn’t have commitment info. Over jumps, she can still see the physical cues and get the line, but on a tunnel, I think the energetic go go go will help her find that jump so you can blind 🙂 She did well with the RC but the blind will be really energizing for her and also puts you ahead if there is crazy stuff ahead on course.At :59 you worked the in in on the threadle jump – good timing of starting it, she came in off the line nicely -try not to stand still as that drew her off the line too much and you couldn’t get her back to it. Keep moving towards the wing of the threadle jump, so the converging motion pushes her back to it (yes, the verbal and upper body will need to override the convergence to get her to NOT take the front, that is the joy of threadles LOL!!!) You moved into it more strongly on the next rep, so try to fade out the decel and just move into that line like you did at 1:15 here 🙂
2nd video:
Wow, she read the backside instead of the tunnel beautifully on the first run!!She had a little threadle question here too: she seems to have a strong understanding of the ‘come in’ element but not entirely sure of the ‘go back out’ as a default behavior without you needing to handle it.
You can isolate the threadle and walk through it without stopping or change in motion, showing her the converging motion so she puts herself back out to the jump without you needing to handle it at all. The in in cue means “come in – go out” so that you can build up to running through it. And you can place or toss a reward out on the landing line, so you can move away as soon as you see her head turn to the bar.
At 1:07, you were much closer to that but yo are handling the 2nd part with decel and arm cues – we can help her do it all by herself 🙂The weave video started off brilliantly, I liked your additions of the RCs on the soft side entries!
Then things got too hard, and you were definitely a little in the too-much-failure mode. Good job breaking it down, though, and ending on big success! For the next session, you can start on a slightly easier variation of where things got really hard, then try the hard stuff again (start on 4 poles, then build back up to 6)
For Haydn, we can help with that bend back! Working on open poles will help (open channels, open 2x2s) and you can place the reinforcement (or a target) right where you want him to make that bending back (just past the base between poles 2 and 3) That way he can get a whole lot of success on that bending back, while you can gather gradually move the reward further down the poles. For example, I just started Contraband’s weave training by putting a Manners Minder right in the poles, at pole 3, and moved it down the line of channels. Since I think Haydn is super food driven, you can use an open lotus ball as a target and then plop the food into it when he makes that bend back. That can help him build understanding with you needing to physically help : )
And I am glad Pip got to play – I hope you have a big birthday celebration planned for him <3
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Good session on the weaves, these are hard entries! Clicking that moment of ‘bend back’ in the entry was well-timed and seemed VERY useful for her. On your second session, you were really good about sending and leaving without standing still. Yay! She hit a sticking point at about 1:48, where the entry was just a little too hard for now. Good job seeing that and adjusting things to help her get success. I think you didn’t have the clicker in that session, so you can bring it back out to clarify the entry and bend back on that angle. So on the next session, tackle that entry but start with a rep or two of a slightly easier angle… then inch the start wing back out to the harder angle (and eventually, past it, but that might take a couple of sessions). You can also put the wing in on a full course when she has a hard entry like this.
Great job! Have fun!
TracyGood morning! Nice work on this course, she is doing really well! Some subtle details for you:
Nice blind to the tunnel!!! Both times!
On the send to 10 – your timing is good there, but the cue had a little too much propulsion and energy to it, so she was a little wide over 10. She was really driving (yay!) so you can send like you did but with a ‘softer’ arm send, meaning instead of a big swoosh forward, just drop your right hand down next to you leg so more of a decel cue. That will get more collection and tighten that line to 11 even more.
At the 13 wrap: the turn was good but I think you cue can still be earlier. At :13, she is halfway to the jump when yo start your decel/collection cues for the spin, so she didn’t have a lot of time & room to process it. And by driving forward a lot as you exited the line, she didn’t see a lot of connection so glanced up at you. You can start the decel as soon as she exits the tunnel (you don’t have to be at the wrap wing) so she can make a bigger collection on the takeoff side, and so you will have more time to be able to be fully rotated and connected before she lands from the wrap.
At :48 (and also at 1:01 even though you stopped) she read the cue correctly to go to the backside of 13 – as she exited, you were pushing in towards the takeoff spot (your line heading to the center of the bar) and rotated, so it read as a backside push. Note the difference at 1:07 where you moved to the wrap wing and decelerated – perfect! You decelerated earlier on this one too, which helped her. Because she reads the decel and rotation so well, you don’t need to pressure into the takeoff spot at all.
On the first run, even though you forgot your line for a heartbeat, the ending line worked well! She was really independent on the backside wrap and that is fabulous 🙂 To keep that last line even tighter, run more directly to the last jump (you were moving away from it a bit so she followed that line and was a little wide to the last jump).
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
