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Hi!
It seemed like she was expecting left turn on the first rep so had a slightly delayed response to the cue – but she did end up getting the right turn: OH WAIT MOM IS GOING TO THE RIGHT!!! LOL! She has great peripheral vision and is picking up the cues really nicely from way ahead of you. the 2nd rear cross looked great.
You can play with starting a little further from the barrel, so you are a step or 2 closer to the wing – decelerate in your start position as she is wrapping, then set the RC line from slightly ahead to challenge her to start behind you a little and then drive past you.
She only had one question here, when she didn’t go to the barrel at :28 – you stepped backwards and transferred the reward from hand to hand, which drew her attention to you and not to the barrel. She sees everything 🙂 So be sure to have support the handling with motion – she doesn’t seem to mind when you transfer the ball from hand to hand (like on the first rep here, when you supported with motion better), but the question happened when you also stepped away from the barrel.
Great job on these! She is definitely ready for the advanced level with the backside wraps!
Tracy
Good morning! Super nice rear cross on this clip!!! Yay! You showed a really clear diagonal and rear cross pressure, so she was able to make the direction change before takeoff. SUPER!! The only thing I don’t think you need is to use your dog-side arm to point forward ahead of you, as that turns your shoulders to the right turn side of the jump (while your pressure line and motion are saying left turn). So you can try it with more acceleration and the dog-side arm pointing more to her nose as she passes you.
Great job!
TracyGood morning! It is lovely that the weather gives us a break sometimes!! It looked so windy there!
She did really well with the Minny Pinny – you were very neutral and she was really strong about producing the correct left or right. Yay!!!
>.Should I be using a toy for this exercise? I’ve been using food. >>
Yes, you can use a toy and I think it might be a little better at this point for 3 reasons:
– the toy is more stimulating so she will bounce more and trot less
– the toy is more stimulating so ‘listening’ to the verbals will be a little harder, but she is ready for that
– the toy takes longer to use than food, which means fewer reps – and now that there is jumping involved, we definitely want fewer reps. There were approx 24 reps here which means approx 72 jumping efforts. Even though they are relatively simple jumping efforts, it is still jumping and the dogs get fatigued after a while and start to change their movement patterns. Using food and not moving much, we humans don’t feel that and keep doing a lot of reps. So the toy will slow down the # of reps and result in fewer reps. You can also set a timer for 2 minutes to help limit the # of jumping efforts.Now that jumping is involved, I count the # of reps on everyone’s sessions so we don’t end up over-jumping the dogs, even at this early stage 🙂 This is especially important because a lot of the games involve bars and jumping now, so it canreally add up.
The ladder is also going really well! The first several reps were mainly introducing the concept that there would now be 3 jumps (no problem, she says!)
When she went through the full grid, her jumping on bars 1 and 2 looked great, same as with the set point. The jumping on bar 3 was a bit forward (her weight in her front, rear end not powering through) but that is because she is moving to the stationary target and getting ready to stop – so no worries about that, it is not a jumping question, it is a reinforcement question.
Since she had zero issues with the 3rd jump added, and no questions with the 56″ distance… the next step is to go to the moving target. The moving target will get the great form on jump 3.
On the RC video:
My only real suggestion is to stay outside the edge of the wing of the jump on the GO reps, so you can keep running and not stop or decelerate until the toy lands. This will help you when we add the wraps and decels to this.Rear crosses – these went well, it was very clear to me as a spectator when you were getting ready to cue the RCs.
>>Should I move it closer so I can be closer to apply more pressure?
Nope, I thought you were good! You can get on the RC pressure line maybe one step sooner on the left turns, I think those were the harder side for her. Stay nice and tight to the wing and get on the line right away, and she will get it (the last rep was the best example of that, it looked really good!). The previous left turn reps had you stepping away from the start wing a little, which made it hard to immediately show the pressure.
>>Should I try this with placing a toy out on the turn that she can go to rather than rely on my bad throws?
2 thoughts – your throws were fine LOL! and I don’t think she needs the placed toy. She did really well without it. Yes, there were a couple of reps that were delayed responses because she was processing, and she had a question on the first 2 RC reps to her left – but overall she was reading the info really well so you can keep getting on that diagonal nice and early!
>>So I’m not sure how well this went but it felt a little better than last time. On some of the reps I don’t think I was headed towards the center of the bar. Am I supposed to be using the Left and Right verbals here? I wasn’t sure and I think I only did it once.>>
I think it went really well! You were heading to the center of the bar earlier on some reps (those were the better ones) than on the other reps, but you were totally doing it. And you can use the left/right here if you want, she is reading it well and it is helping her commit to the jump. I didn’t ask people to do it because there are a lot of other handler mechanics to concentrate on 🙂
And you can add on the advanced level now, with the backside wraps. She is ready for that!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyYay for green grass!!!!!! Mud is better than snow 🙂
The rear crosses looked super strong here! And you were also working to make the verbals sound different, which will be very effective!
My only suggestion is to keep your feet facing the center of the bar for longer, so he doesn’t have to run in front of you and so your feet don’t look like the backside cue.
At :02, :13, and :55, you were a little early turning your feet to cut behind him. He wasn’t fully past you yet, so he kind of had to jump in front of you.
On the other RC reps, you kept your feet facing the center of the bar til he was fully past you, and those looked great!That foot position will make a big difference when you add the backside pushes of the advanced level (which he is totally ready for :))
And all of the Go reps looked great!
Great job!!!
TracyHi!
>>On the RCS, I just didn’t do the left side. I will do that in our next session.
Perfect!!!
>>>Remind me though, where is the correct place to place a toy for this exercise?>>
I place it on an L-shaped line on the exit, just past the wing, so it is a reasonably tight turn.
>>>The Diamond. I did notice that I should have turned sooner at the middle wing. Being late seemed to cause him to turn wide out of that turn. Also, I see what you are saying about my decel at :56.
I think you were do that as a way of supporting your boy… and your boy was like I GOT THIS! So fun!!!
>>PS. Sir Robert is the most powerful dog I’ve ever ran. That Diamond drill felt pretty amazing.>>
He looks amazing and the best is yet to come! The handling games are super fun when the pieces come together ❤️
Have fun!
TracyGood morning!
>>the ladder. Feels like he is landing too close to bar 1 and as a result, taking off too far away from bar 2.
Is he not launching with his rear legs and more pulling himself with his front legs when he starts?>>I am guessing this was his first session of it? I think he did really well and there are no concerns. Remember that the visual of this grid with the 3rd jump added (plus moving target, plus being an adolescent) makes it a lot harder. And he is still in his ‘baby body’ so he doesn’t have his adult power yet.
With that in mind… he is presenting correct form. He is pushing from the rear especially out of the sit. He is *almost* center in the gaps, very close to center. But being centered is not a requirement – good form is, and he looked good. The only thing I might do differently is to have him start 2 or 3 inches closer to jump 1.
So in a couple of days, show this to him again and see what he does. He might be a little more centered – but he doesn’t have to be. He is definitely NOT launching in a bad way and is doing really well!
And remember that because he is literally just a year old (ok, a year and 4 days or something LOL!) that his muscle development is not in place like it will be when he is 2, or when he is 3. So for this grid to look this good already while he is still wearing his baby body? SUPER!!!! Compare it to the gangly spider legs of my dogs in the demo videos LOL! And watch it in slow motion and you will see how balanced and strong he looks.
>>The rear cross is just going to take sow more time for me…
The rear crosses to the right here looked fabulous!!! Because he is already so speedy, you can probably leave the start wing a step sooner so you are not as far behind. But I thought your timing was really strong and he turned the correct direction each time here. If there were bloopers that did not make the final edit here 😂 it might be that you were late getting on the line in those reps, or it might be that he just has trouble turning to his left. So for the left turns, you can help both of you out by putting the reward down on the turn line before you start the rep (I did that for Contraband to jump start the skill to his weaker side, because he just couldn’t do it without the visual target of the toy).
The rep of the Diamond looked HOT! Wheeeee!!! Like real agility, so fun – his commitment looked great! The bind cross on the tight line was great – super timing of trusting him and starting the BC when he was maybe one stride past the exit of the tunnel.
And great connection on the exit of the BC!
Lovely patience on the wrap at :54 to set it and let him commit.
At :56 you decelerating to set up a bit of a send, and I don’t think he needs it. You can stay connected like you were and run run run 🙂 Because his commitment looks great, you can turn away from the middle wing and start heading back to the tunnel a step or two sooner (his line mirrors your shoulder turn, so he will tighten up his line when you turn sooner).Great job here!!!
TracyHello and welcome!!! I am glad your snow melted, finally!!
She is tiny! And cute and fast! So fun!!!
Really nice session here – she is totally understanding the framework of the set point so now we can make it more challenging 🙂
The stay is looking good too!
>>I did a couple of stay proofs by throwing the toy back and saying ‘catch’. (I know the idea is to do it before the dog moves, which I think she did on my first attempt. But I think I was able to do it the second time before she moved :)).>>
I think she was just tensing up to move forward but then she caught onto the catch game and was perfect after that 🙂
My guess is that we will end up moving her distance to 4.5 feet and then to 5 feet, as she ‘powers up’ in her jumping – she looked comfy here but feel free to try this at 4.5 feet as we add the next steps 🙂
So now that this went so well – we add the moving target. The goal of the moving target to replace the stationary target is we get more power and organization from the dogs… while also adding handler motion and a little distraction 🙂 The stationary target is good for teaching the framework but the dogs also power down in the set point because they are preparing to stop at the toy.
The first stage of the moving target is in the pre-games, where you are showing her the concept on the flat then over 1 low jump. I am confident she will be fine with that, so after a short session of that, you can add it to the set point (that is in week 2, here:
https://agility-u.com/lesson/concept-transfer-set-point-plus-moving-target/)When you add the moving target, keep the bar on jump 2 really low (8 inches) to start – it is a whole new level of organization for the pups 🙂 so we don’t want to add the challenge of height yet 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Really nice session here!!! You found the edge of the bubble, meaning the spot where the serps goes from easy to hard 🙂 All of the other reps looked really good, she was coming into the bar beautifully! So for the next session, 2 ideas:
Start maybe one inch easier than the successful spot you finished in this session, then if that is still easy, go to the successful set you finished with in this session… then go a tiny bit past it and see how she does.Also, add a verbal and see if that helps her out 🙂 Eventually, the verbal will match the turns (like left or right) but for now, a name call might be all she needs. So you can do a directional around the start wing then go to calling her name a couple of times as you move past the jump. That will either work beautifully or it won’t work at all LOL! but it is worth a try to see if we can enhance the jump and get her to turn towards it with a bit of verbal help 🙂
Nice work! Let me know how she does!
TracyHuzzah! Rear crosses! Yay!!
The GO lines looked great! And I am doing a happy dance about the rear crosses 🙂 You are actually a little too far behind at the start of the rear crosses. Rather than be behind on the wing wraps, you can be in front of the wing (on the same side of the jump) so that you can get right on her tail for the RCs – that will get the turn even more clearly and you won’t be as left in the dust LOL!
>>The backside wrap problems were all me, I’m sure.>>
Yes, you were running too fast, actually LOL!! One error was you praising before takeoff so she came to the toy (no worries!).
On the other questions – try to show her more of the wing by running to where the wing and bar meet… then hanging out there til she is past you., with soft low arms that are back. I think 1:28 on the first video is a great example of that! Lovely!In the spots where she had questions, it was mainly because you were blocking the wing a bit too much. At 1:38 on the first video, your arm with the toy came up to point ahead while you moved into the wing, so she wasn’t sure. At 2:06, you were blocking the wing which pushed her line wide and off the backside line.
You can see it at :15 in the 2nd video – you are accelerating a lot and getting past the edge of the wing before she can pass you, so she does’t have the wing to lock onto. So the 2 options are to either stay closer to the start wing so you can be running to the wing-meets-bar spot and staying in motion. Or, you can get ahead of her then tuck yourself into where the wing and bar meet, then get moving again after she passes you and makes the turn.Great job on these (and especially on the rear crosses :))
TracyHi!
The proofing game is going well! to start the serps, get into position and hold it for a moment, then release her. I think her early questions where because it was all happening at the same time and she was trying to guess at the first possibility of moving 🙂
Tunnel layering looked great!
Adding motion looked great too – you had the serp position the hold time you were moving and that really helped her!Good job adding the threadles too – I think the first threadle rep was a little confusing without the threadle word but then she nailed them beautifully! Keep on adding motion with those. With one of the live class dogs (Thursday class) we added a start wing before the set up for even more speed 🙂
Minny Pinny – turning towards you is super easy for her. Nice! The turning away is hard, especially to her right! You can help her more, there were too many failures and you got some barking here. So your choice of how you want to help: you can either put the toy two down in between bumps 2 and 3 in the direction you want her to turn, or you can use a turn away hand cue after you start saying the verbals to help her out. When she has the lightbulb moment of “aha! I CAN turn away to the right!” Then we can fade the help and gradually go back to just the verbals 🙂
The jump grid is looking good in terms of jumping form, especially when she was in a sit at the start. Was the toy moving or stationary?
I think you running away on the lead out is too stimulating – she is moving out of her sit and into a down, and you are sometimes releasing it, sometimes putting her back in a sit. So watch her as you lead out, stroll to position (try not to be terribly exciting about it) and throw back lots of rewards for whatever position you left her in. A down is a fine start position on a sequence, but the it shifts her weight too far forward on a jump grid so a sit is more ideal for these.
The next step is to have bumps or bars at 2” instead of on the ground, if you have a 2 inch cup. If not, you can lock all of them into a 4” cup and see how she does. She will probably end up using a 6 foot distance as her set point distance.
Great job here!!
TracyHi! The rear crosses are going well! They are a hard skill for both dog and handler, and you both had a nice high success rate here.
>>On the left turns, when I made extra special connection with Changtse as she completed the wrap, she received the message about the left better!!!>>
What was happening on those reps was that you were waiting a little longer at the start wing, then connecting and driving forward on the RC diagonal so she read it really well! :38 was a great example of that! (:30 and :59 were also nice but a little early so she didn’t take the jump).
Compare it to when you didn’t wait to set the line at the wing, but took off straight – that made the RC info late, as she was committed to going straight before you did the RC pressure on the line (:48 is an example of that).
So definitely keep patient at t he start wing so you can put that pressure on her RC diagonal to the center of the bar sooner.
And, you can throw the ball later 🙂 Wait for her to get to the takeoff spot then throw it: straight for the go, but on a dramatic turn line for the RCs. The throws were early and straight for the most part (and you were stopping your motion on the throw) so she was watching the throws when she didn’t have motion info.
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Keep me updated about the vet stuff!
>>Murphy’s Law being what it is, he was AWESOME today!
Question: did he eat today? What was the temperature outside like? We can track how he is feeling as you figure out why he isn’t eating.
Looking at the 2 jump did videos: they both looked good!

>> in the first set I noticed he “caught” the first jump bump a couple of times and on the last rep, he cleared the jump bump but ticked the 2nd jump. >>
I wasn’t sure if he was slipping on the take-off on the mats since he’s done the prior set point jump outdoors with no apparent issue.
So for the second session I put a yoga mat under the first jump bump>I think he was slipping on takeoff – when he was trying to explode into the grid, he didn’t have the grip to support his power. The yoga mat TOTALLY helped – brilliant idea – he looked much more organized on the second video.
>>and moved the jumps in to 3’. He looked much better, actually a little bouncy.>>
I think the bouncy was because it was the stationary MM target… so for the next session, use your moving target 🙂
I am guess he will end up at 3’6” as the distance soon so you can try the 3’2” again if you like!
>>But of course me being me, why fix 1 thing when I can fix 2. So now I don’t know if he was slipping on the take-off or if the bars were too far apart LOL.>>
HA! The yoga mat was definitely a smart addition, so leave it in when you are working indoors.
Great job here!!
TracyHi!
>>Maybe it is just that this feels awkward with a new youngster, after all Gingji will be NINE this year and I haven’t done any agility at all in about 5 years! So thank you for making me feel better.
My guess is that it feels weird to run a puppy. And if it really looked bad, I would totally tell you LOL!!! But it is all looking really good 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
The serps are looking good! He was great about coming in to take the serp jump each time except 1 (2:07) where your shoulder was closed forward so it was more of a layering cue. Speaking of shoulders:
Try to rotate your upper body to ‘face’ the jump more (rather than pull him in with your shoulder) as that will help get the turn to the next jump.
For next steps here, you can move the start wing further from the jump to add more speed for both of you!
The zig zags look great! He had no trouble finding the in and out 🙂 Super! You were a little early on one of the throws and that pushed him back out but otherwise he did really well.
But all – CHECK OUT THAT STAY! Perfect!!!! Love it! So you can add the 3rd wing and gradually work up to the advanced level.
Nice work!
TracyHi!
>>First a little info and/or concerns. Baxter is currently staging a hunger strike. He’s never been a good eater but now has decided to refuse his meals about half the time.
Yikes, that is a lot of food refusal. Does he eat during training? Will he eat his food during training?
>> Under all that fur, though, he’s pretty skinny so I do have some concerns.
Yeah, that is concerning! Plus you mentioned recently that he has had some GI upset issues – do I remember that correctly>
Havanese are known to like food, and food refusal 50% of the time a lot for any breed. I definitely recommend bloodwork at the vet – see if there is any underlying issue in his kidneys, liver, adrenals, tick panel, urine, etc etc. And do an orthopedic check of patellas and shoulders. There is a strong possibility that something is happening ‘under the hood’ that is affecting his ability to eat.
>>I also feel like Baxter is losing enthusiasm for training. I’m finding myself doing a whole lot more playing to get him enthused to train.
Yes, it makes sense – the brain requires glucose for energy to function, so if he is not eating then his brain is not getting energy. And his brain might be conserving energy for the rest of his body, which means less enthusiasm for training. And whatever is causing it might be painful, which will also cause less enthusiasm for training. So I recommend a blood panel (CBC chem, with electrolytes as well as a tick panel and also a urinalysis to make sure there is no UTI or anything).
>>So regarding this I don’t want to fall into the habit of begging him which I feel like I’m beginning to do. He’s a year and almost 2 months so I know he’s smack dab into adolescence but I don’t want to create problems now that will bite me in the butt later on. Any advice or words of wisdom would be appreciated.>>
This stuff (eating, loss of energy) is not operant, so it is not a matter of begging or bad habits. It is a matter of helping him feel 100% and then he will be very happy in training. The loss of appetite is also not likely to be an adolescent thing, because that tends to only happen when there is a bitch in season nearby.
I have also noticed a bit of ‘sticky’ stuff like he will freeze in some situations or lie down and not want to keep going… so definitely make sure nothing hurts and he feels good under the hood 🙂
So for training, if he will eat (because he is conditioned to eat during training) – try to use awesome food/meals in training, just to get calories and nutrition into him while the rest gets sorted out. And keep the sessions wicked crazy short – 1 minute – so he can keep his energy way up high and doesn’t lose energy or freeze up.
Looking at the RC video:
>> I didn’t think this session went that great because I was side challenged and wasn’t clear on which side I should start him on to get what I wanted. >>
I think it went really well! The GO lines looked great and he did the RC really well to the left! Then when you switched to the RC to the right, he nailed it too.
>>I realize it would have gone much better if I wrapped him from the side of the wing rather than where I was standing in front of it. It made me have to wait too long for him to get around me before I could move and set an adequate line.>>
Yes, the FC on the wing will make it feel smoother but also it was helpful that you remained decelerated near the start wing because it helped you set the line without any extra steps forward, He looks at you for a couple of steps but then looks forward and drives ahead, which is great! Yay!
The diamond is looking really good! Yes, the bind can be maybe one step sooner, but your connection and line were great!!!! On the race track – the right verbal cues a pretty tight turn and these were all extension lines for him, so you can replace the right verbal with go go go and he can leave you in the dust 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
