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Hi – Lots of good work here – nice connection! And also, great job with the verbals! You had a lot of verbals going and that really helped her.
A couple of ideas for you to get things even smoother:
Seq 1:
Before the threadle wrap, you can cue a turn on 2 so she is collecting before takeoff )like a right verbal as you commit her to jump 2), then go to the threadle cues so she is already turning before you add in the threadle cues for 3. Good job staying in motion to get her to take the threadle. And yes it is ok to be pretty far from the jump, because you will certainly encounter threadles when you can’t get close to the jump: just keep moving towards the jump, try not to pull away from it as that makes it harder for her to find the correct jump.On the BC 6-7 – at :12 it was late (bar down), but then your timing was better at :45 and GREAT at 1:03, and that set up more power into the layernig after it
She is definitely getting the hang of the layering! When sending into the layering, remember that she needs more connection and bigger cues like you did on the 2nd rep, to set the distance line.
Seq 2: One suggestion is to turn her to her right on 1, not left – the right turn lands her facing the line, which makes it faster and easier to handle.
Simmilar to sequence 1, the turn cue on 4 will help set up the threadle without you needing to stop your motion like you did at 1:31. She does a lot better with the threadle wraps when you keep moving (like at 2:34) and a turn cue on the jump before it helps her read the threadle cue better.
Running with her worked… but the layering puts you in much better position for that threadle (2:08 and 2:30 for example). Yay!
Seq 3 started off really well! Layering is going well!
You gotcaught standing still for the backside at 2:54, so she got the front. You moved directly to it at 4:20 and got it really nicely!Looking at the threadle – you were using motion that involved pulling away too much (like at 3:16) – try not to pull back away from the threadle because then you are too far away from the jump to get her take it. And if it goes wrong, just send her to the previous jump to try again or reset with a cookie: trying to send to the threadle from a standstill doesn’t work because she needs to see motion into it.
(Side note: All of the threadle wraps were rewarded from your hand, you can get better commitment by rewarding with the thrown rewards so she looks at the jump more and at your hands less).Seq 4 – a little hard to see because it was getting dark out, but it looks like the openng went well. The RC on 4 worked really well each time! Nic!
She had a little trouble finding the #6 tunnel. Part of it was that she is still learning the jump versus tunnel verbal discriminations. So to help her, you can add more motion to the layering so you can get to the tunnel #6 entry and do a FC like you did at 4:37 to help her see it, the verbals were late at 4:38 and you were hanging back, so she stayed on the line to the jump.
She had a little freestyling at 5:27 and took the jump instead of the tunnel, then a dropped bar on the next rep: probably too many reps so she was changing her behavior and was a bit mentally fatigued.
At the very end, one more suggestion: On the backsde at 5:47. try to point forward to it less, and make eye contact more with your arm back. When you pointed forward, she was coming into the front so you had to continue moving to the entry wing. If you keep the dog side arm back and out of the picture more, using more connection, she will go to the backside without you so you won’t need to get as close to the entry wing.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>.I only have 6 more videos to post after this one, haha!
Alrighty! It is a lot of video, so I probably won’t do them all in one sitting.
>>Since these videos were all taken before your comments about the last video, I’m sure some of the same issues are present, especially those involving a better way to keep going or making the decision to stop and reset, so expect to see that again, lol>>
Sounds good – definitely keep the resets and reinforcement and staying in motion for the next work you do.
Looking at P4, Course 2:
The opening section of 1-2-3 looked strong! Based on how the a-frame was set relative to 3, you needed a big wrap cue or maybe a spin to get a good line to it.
Turning to her right (wrap) in the 2nd part of the video allowed you to set a straigher line to the frame. So even though it looked like a left turn on 3 on the map, be sure to assess it on the ground and see which is the better line.5-6-7 layering section: She is getting the han gof the layering! At :26, the blooper was not a break in connection as much as it was your shoulders turning towards the DW too soon. On the next rep, you moved forward for longer, so she got it better! And also it was very nice in the 2nd session later in the video!
Yes, at 8, don’t break the 2 failure rule 🙂
also, I would slice it the other way – push to the other wing so sh eis turning to her left over the bar not the right, to set up a better line to 9.
You can totally get the blind there after the tunnel if you wanted – looking at 2:16 and 2:33, for example, she is about 3 feet from the tunnel entry and you were just about where you needed to be for the blind.Then give her more direct connection at :38, more like what you did at 2:36 where it was MUCH clearer!
10-11-12-13 looked good on the round and the layering at the 13-14-15 section looked GREAT both times! Yay!
When you repeated it later in the video: At 3:00, I think you were blocking the wing at 12, so you needed to stay there for one more step so she could pass you, plus step into it with your left leg to support her line there. On those wraps, you have a lot of time so you can give her more commitment support.
She was layering very confidently, so you had time to BC 15 to 16 so you wouldn’t need the threadle wrap 🙂 hat would put her on your left for 16, then so a reverse wrap so she turns tight and does the DW on your left side.
Backside after DW:
>> I was essentially doing a German turn but without a side change. Is there a name for that move?
I call it a backside serp. I think the OMD people might call it “running the dog’s line” or something.
>>If it’s a legit thing, should I have a cue to indicate coming to the same side rather than behind me? I have found that she sometimes will go behind me when I try it, and I think it’s because it looks so much like the German.>>
It is totally a legit thing! Connection differentiates the german to the serp here. To show the line more clearly, you can look at landing behind you, as you move through then maintain connection (3:29 and 3:59) so she knows where to be as she exits the wrap wing. You can do this more clearly by keeping your arm further back so she can see your eyes, making very direct eye contact, rather than using your arm to point to where you want her to be as that blocks connection
>>At 1:48, I did two backsides in a row rather than doing a tight wrap in the other direction. If the path to the next obstacles is decent from either side, I tend to try to keep her in extension rather than slowing down for the tight turns, which she hates anyway. In this situation, do you think that was the best choice? >>
It really depends on the least yardage and best lines – in this situation,we want to exit 19 as close to the 20 jump as possible. So then coming fromthe DW exit, which line gets us there the fastest? There is only one natural way to get from the DW to the 18 backside, the slice to the right like you did. So exiting that slice there: to set up the 2nd slice, you have to get a super tight turn on the exit of 18 and a massive push to 19, followed by another tight turn on the entry wing of 19 – 2 tight turns and a lot of distance. Looking at the wrap, you would not need a tight turn on the exit of 18 and it is shorter distance/easier line, so in this case I think doing the German on 18 and the wrap on 19 would be the best/fastest/easiest line to 20.
Nice job here! Onwards to Package 5!
TracyHi!
>>So left would indicate a tighter turn in this case. I do get confused sometimes when to use them and when to be quiet on soft turns.>>
Another way to think about it is, when making decisions: How much collection do you need on the takeoff side of the jump and where does the dog need to be over the bar to get on the best path to the next line?
On a wrap: LOTS of collection and very close to the wing.
On a left/right soft turn: definitely some collection, not quite as close to the wingSo on the wall to backside here, she can jump the wall in extension on the center of the ‘bar’ to have the backside line, and a moderate collection to get the front of the jump after the wall. So the left would be good for the front but not needed for the back. Agility is a bit grey in areas, so we have to take our best guesses for these turns/verbals.
>>She did smoke the serp line and that was one and done! I don’t feel like she’s that fast as I don’t have frenetic barking in my ear. But, she’s going to be fast once she has all of her confidence. She likes straight lines and decel is still a work in progress.>>
I agree – she is faster than she feels, because she is not barking and she is efficient with her lines, so you are getting further ahead. She is doing fine with the decels and turning – I prefer youngsters to have a TON of power and then we finesse the turns over time.
>>A question came up with a friend about BC timing for a contact. Once they are on the correct line to the contact can you blind before they actually get on it? That’s what I tend to do with Gemma who has excellent obstacle commitment. If not, what is the correct timing of a BC with contacts?>>
Do you mean blind cross on the line after the contact? So if the sequence was jump-aframe-tunnel, the BC would be between the frame and the tunnel? I agree with your Gemma timing: if the line makes sense, the dog has strong commitment and verbals, you can start the blind as soon as you see the dog heading to the a-frame. Otherwise, you will to start it no later than the first foot getting on it (running or stopped for the frame). You have a little more time on a stopped dog walk.
>>My next question is when to bump her up to 20 in? We are mostly practicing at 16 in as she sorts out handling maneuvers along with jumping effort. How do you determine when it’s time to learn the skills on the actual jump height?>>
I actually let my sports vet tell me when it is time 🙂 At about 18-19 months old, all of my dogs get an official assessment to see if we can start full height or not. When the doc clears us? We add the full height to one jump, easy lines, slowly, etc. All of my dogs start their trial careers at a lower height than what their full height would be. Full height jumping takes a lot of organization work, and the dogs have it in their working memory but not their procedural memory when they are young. And that takes up a lot of brain space, so when they need that brain space to handle the trial environment, there is not enough available: and something goes wrong. Either the jumping goes wrong, or they struggle with the environment. So I let them begin their careers at a height they don’t have to think about at all, so they can devote brain space to the environment.
This working versus procedural memory also explains why dogs often cannot see or do weaves in a trial (or contacts) – they do not have the brain bandwidth to handle the environment AND do the weaves, as the same part of the brain is trying to handle both. So I also start my young dogs in jump/tunnel only classes, so they don’t have to think about weaves til they are very comfy in the trial environment 🙂
>>Thank you so much Tracy! It’s always a pleasure to work with you.
It is always great having you in class! You have excellent training and handling skills, and it is so fun to watch your teamwork develop 🙂
>> Plus, I think I’ll do resilience with Sprite. It’s probably too late to reprogram Gemma. But, I’d like to get Sprite the best start possible. Gemma can play along for fun. It can’t hurt her.
The resilience stuff is amazing – what the neuroscience brings to us to help inform our training is very helpful!!! And Gemma will love it too 🙂 I teach my dogs all of the resilience stuff, whether I think they “need” it or not, because of course they need it haha!
Keep me posted! Great job here!
TracyHi!
It was so great finally see you two in person!!! He blew my mind, being able to do all the hard things for 6 DAYS! Amazing!
I am glad to hear the heat has broken and hopefully the smoke continues to be minimal!And he looked good at 22″. Is he close to the 21″ cutoff? I have some measuring ideas if you need them, from dealing with world team measurements (when I coached Canada, they would often choose the team THEN measure the dogs) and from flyball 🙂
>>We have had an issue at a couple of shows last month where the jump standards are super light-weight and not winged PVC where as he jumps and is turning in the air his tail is wrapping sideways horizontally and hitting the flimsy wing and knocking it over or just enough to drop the bar. No idea if there’s anything to do about that, other than avoid venues with the super flimsy uprights/standards (and maybe tell them their standards suck). It doesn’t happen in this session but just remembering it from a few shows (NADAC and CPE where fewer or no jumps have wings).>>
Yes, I think the flimsier jumps do a play a role, as do the use of wingless jumps. So other than continuing to condition him to jump powerfully, you can add in a lot more wingless jumps so he sees them more regularly and doesn’t have to think about them. Is there also a difference in bar length? A 4 foot bar versus a 5 foot bar might make a difference to him as well.
On the decel video:
The one jump reps looked great. I am pretty sure he thought you were nuts (he was a little hoppy hoppy at first LOL) but then he was great. He was ever-so-slightly better turning to his left (better collection, better head turn). I think his commitment was great too, because we had stripped out so many of the commitment ‘helper’ cues. Good boy!>>One weird rep where it was a send but I didn’t step to the jump at all and he opted for a rear cross wrap on his own (wrapped left when I was on his right).>>
Yes, I think he was reading your feet there. As you noted, try to be more forward-facing on your decels. When you were sideways, like at 1:19, there is an element of your feet facing the RC diagonal. On that rep, he exited the tunnel at 1:20 turning right, looked at you, and decided the cue said “left turn”. You can reward that, it was a good decision! Compare to 1:27 where your feet were facing the right turn wing, and he turned right (the big YES! over the bar probably brought it down)
I think he reads your feet a LOT more than we realize, as we see here and also on the sending (see below).Nice sends at 1:44 and 1:49! The send at 1:58 was good too – he is a lefty, I think, because he considered turning to his left for a heartbeat then turned right.
>>Looks to me like he’s wrapping a little tighter to the left than the right.
YES! We have spent a year trying to figure out if he is lefty or righty LOL!!! Ha!
Adding the decel to the 2nd jump on the line was no problem for him either. He did look at you a little but that was more about “why are you so quiet, still, and disconnected?” LOL! When you handle ‘for real’, you would be more connected and there would be more motion and verbals, so he will have all of the supporting info and not just decel.
And about those feet: he barked at 2:50 when your dog side leg did not support the send and you looked forward rather than at him. So was it the leg/foot, or the connection that he was mad about? I think it was the footwork, like we saw earlier:
No bark at 3:03 and 3:56 and 4:11 when the leg was correct, you were insanely early (this is a good thing haha) and it didn’t matter if you were more connected (3:03) or looking completely forward on the other reps – he got the support from your feet. This is good to know!The grown up weaving at the end looked strong too! So he has USDAA this weekend? FUN! Keep me posted!!!!
Great job here 🙂
TracyHi!
The form on this grid definitely looks better! I grabbed 2 screenshots – they are a little hard to see because of the shade, but on the top one from Sept 6, you can see the difference in the head position which changes her shoulders and topline. Her head position is much better is this new video. Here are the screenshots:https://docs.google.com/document/d/19mdC01gBmnxD0gg8pRWKkuOvTY2DTPCmToiY4I1_v4c/edit?usp=sharing
On the 2nd video, the Decel looks really good! Considering how little we are cueing the behavior, I love how she is driving into the turns and setting up a tight collection.
The one thing I would add to it is more of you running so she chases you for the reward, which helps her drive back to you after the turn. It is a turn and burn moment! If you are stationary, even if you throw the toy, the drive around the jump is not as strong especially if you were a little late like at :42 and :49 (she ended up a bit wider there). You were on time at :59, she needed just a little more connection. You can totally use your GO verbals on the big go lines 🙂 but resist temptation to use them on the sends to the wraps.
She went around jump 1 at 1:02 – she was on an angle and you were lateral, so running around it was a pretty common young dog error. Try to have her facing it completely and you can be more visibly on the straight line and not lateral – isolate that skill on the lead out to one jump, so you can throw the reward and gradually move yourself further and further over
About the sends: it is all about your dog-side leg and a little about your arms 🙂 When she was on your left at 1:07, 1:23, and 1:42 , your dog-side leg stayed back so she was not sure if you wanted her to commit or not (plus your arm was really high). Compare that to the other reps (1:19 and 1:35) when she was on your right, your dog-side leg moved forward with the send and she was perfect each time 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyWhoa, that is a Graduation With Honors video! Great job – that run truly showed off your connection, your planning of the run, your timing, and all of the trained skills. HOORAY!!! The future is bright! And I am sad there is no JWW run, I bet it was AWESOME!!!!
Hope to see you soon, either online or in person!
TracyOuch! That sounds painful, but hopefully it will improve very quickly!!!!! You can totally do the sitting down game of tunnel-jump on verbals, or tunnel-weave, etc. That way you can sit and the girls can have fun!
Keep me posted1
TracyHi!
These went well! One thing to add now: have your toy stuffed in your pocket, so that you are not changing it from hand to hand as you are doing the crosses… Ronan is just moving too fast now so you simply don’t have any extra time to switch the toy around LOL!!
And you can also spread the distances out even more – the bars are higher, he is going really fast, so the bigger distances will give you more of a ‘real feel’ for running bigger courses 🙂 while letting him open up more and more. You can go for a minimum of 23 feet on the dog’s line now to see how it all feels 🙂
Seq 1 went well with the wraps!! He is turning beautifully. Both of you can stay more on takeoff side of the jump – you were both a bit on the landing side which creates a wider-than-desired turn. Also, Mike’s position nice and close to the wing set a better line to the jump after the wrap. Karena, you were a bit far from the wing at :38 which set off a chain of events resulting in the dropped bar: he was wide on the wrap based on your position, then had to come back to find the next jump, then I think he was scrambling a bit at :42 to catch up (bar down). Better connection at :47 helped with the bar for sure, and so will tucking into the takeoff side of the wing.
On the ‘fluffy’ crosses – they work better when the baby dogs are slower and less confident hahaha! He was full force here, so the timing was trickier 🙂 On the shorter distances that might encounter, you can probably start the FCs and BCs before he lands from the previous jump.
Yes, FC at 1:00 was late because you are still sorting out the timing (and switching the toy to the other hand) then you freestyled a FC to a RC, he figured it out LOL! Good boy!
The next rep at 1:13 was much more timely and was much smoother. You did the post turn on the wrap, but a spin (FC-BC) would be fine there too.
Blind crosses: At 1:22 – watch his butt elevator 🙂 Be sure that his butt is squarely on the ground before the release. And at 1:26, yes, he must have seen the connection breaking and was anticipating the blind so came off the jump. As he gets more experienced, that will not really be an issue because your motion was pretty clear but definitely the added connection on the next rep helped him out a lot.
About the verbals – yes, you can use your dig instead of the right for the wrap. And you don’t need an “over” cue before it, because ‘dig’ means take the jump and wrap-right.
On the line after that wrap, remember to turn sooner and resist the temptation to say “go” so that he is turning nice and tight to the ending line (6-7). You were driving forward as he was committing to the 6 jump so he was (correctly) jumping it in extension at 1:36, 1:49 and 2:02. You can send-and-go on that line, rather than round the curve with him, so set up a nice turn to 7-8.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I am glad the heat wave is done but wow, the fires look bad 🙁 I am glad you were able to get some training in!!!Holy monkeys she was great on that first sequence! SO FAST! And you did a great job cueing that backside at :03 – note how as she is approaching the takeoff spot, you were already turned, super connected, arms low… and verbals in place. And you maintained that connection through landing so she could power back to the tunnel.
She had no questions about jumping the wall jump. She did have a question at :29 about which side of the 2nd jump to take. You said “left” for the wall which would theoretically mean the threadle side of the next jump – but then your body didn’t say threadle, it said backside. So she was coming in on the left then scooted herself back out with lots of little front end adjustments to sort it out (good girl!). So in this scenario, the left would make the most sense to be followed by the threadle verbal. And to get the backside, you don’t need a left on the wall and you can just say ‘jump’ then your backside cue.
The serp looked AMAZING! She smoked you LOL!! Fabulous job with your running line to set the serp, and with your low arms and super clear connection. That allowed her to really think about the jumping effort (and it is a challenging line!) so she nailed it and had a great acceleration on the go line at the end. SUPER!
>>Let me know what’s next!>>
After this class officially finishes, we are going to do a series of ‘short’ classes that begin with a Zoom and then turn into 2 or 3 week classes – they will cover handling sequences for the youngsters to help get them ready for trialing! And we will begin to add in things like the weaves or contacts. I figure doing short-form classes with a live seminar will give folks the ability to work around their schedules and without getting overloaded, as well as pick topics to focus on. I will have those topics/dates posted later this week 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Nice work on the video – keeping in mind the reinforcement options, you can definitely add in staying in motion, as well as reset reinforcements here if something went wrong in the handling and there was no option to continue. More below!
The opening looked good- did you want her wrapping to her left or to her right? The cue looked like you wanted to her left but she went to her right so I was not sure. VERY nice line to the 3 backside each time! 4 is supposed to be a backside too but you handled it nicely as a front side so the flow was still strong.
She had a little trouble turning away from the course on jump 5, wanting to turn towards the teeter. It might have been hard for her visually to turn away from the rest of the course, but on the different angle at 4:54, it looks like you were stepping into the bar of 5 which can also set the accidental rear cross. Those were both places where it was easy to keep going and that was the best option.
The line to the dog walk needs a turn cue for 7 to get the dog walk entry – at :17 she had already made a takeoff decision, so she went past it. In this situation, it is really hard to carry on so you can acknowledge the handler error with a reset cookie delivered immediately which will work to keep the frustration down, then re-start her at the base of the a-frame. Your left verbal & physical cues had much better timing at 2:48 and 5:11! Nice!
After rewarding the contacts, give yourself more of lead out so you can time the next cues – the reward on the DW made the BCs a bit late at 9-10 at :41, 2:59, 5:25.
You had a couple of extra cues at :46 (outside arm and a here cue) which pulled her off the teeter, but the next reps were much smoother there.Getting out to the #14 tunnel was definitely hard: because it requires a significant turn away from you, stay in motion and make a big connection until you see her head turn and she takes a few strides towards the tunnel, then you can relax the cues and move to the next thing. If you moved away before she made the turn to it, or stopped moving, she was not sure if she was supposed to take it or not.
It presented a good opportunity to keep going: you can either keep moving to 15 (the next jump) or keep her on your left and send her back over 13, or do the shadow handling cirlce on the flat and back into 14. All of those will keep you both moving and reduce the barking/spinning rehearsal.
The layering skill was a good one to work on! Putting the MM into the tunnel totally helped but she needed more reps of you being closer and not pulling away so fast. Think of it as a shaping exercise, breaking it down more into successive approximations, making it harder only very gradually. You want her success rate in shaping to be 90% or higher (this was probably more like 50-60%) so you can invoke the 2 failure rule: If she fails twice (doesn’t have to be twice in a row, it is twice in the sessions), make it easier by slicing the behavior thinner so there is no more failure = adding in moving away more gradually so the added challenge is barely noticeable.
And, on the reps where she ran past the 16 tunnel while you wanted to layer? You can totally keep going, cue 17-18, reward. Then go back to the layering. Otherwise, if you stop to try again, she will get frustrated and then get stickier. Bearing in mind that the dogs perceive the stopping as a negative punishment (withdrawal of availability of reinforcement), you can either keep running, or immediately reset with a reward so that you can shift the condition response to stopping to a more positive reinforcement space.
Being able to layer helped get the ending line, so definitely keep building up the layering skill! At the end, you were a little past the line at 5:51 so you had to push back to the 2nd to last jump (19) so the turn info to 20 was late and that is why she dropped that bar. But she read it all very smoothly and it was a really hard sequence! Yay!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I understand the value of continuing on and the impact it can have on her frustration level, but I do struggle with it.
You can reframe coursework and think of it differently: not as an opportunity to run the course, but as an opportunity to reinforce the dog.
Correct line? Reward. Reset? Reward. Getting back on the line after continuing on? Reward. All good! Most of the reinforcement during the video below was being delivered at the end of the contact (and during the layering work) – yes, it is valuable to deliver rewards for the contacts, but it is more valuable to deliver them out on the lines to build more commitment and extremely valuable as well to deliver fast reset reinforcement.>>Partly, it’s because it’s such an ingrained habit to fix it (one I’ve bene trying to work on but it doesn’t always happen in the moment).
Yes, it is a habit for sure! You can also do a reset cookie at your side, then carry on. Anything that gets reinforcement rolling in so she doesn’t rehearse the barking/spinning.
>> However, it’s also because I don’t know how to keep going with her.
>> but in a trial, that’s obviously not possible, so it would be nice to be able to do have the option of continuing on.Yes, in training, you can do quick reset reinforcement. But you can also practice carrying on to keep going. There are a couple of ways to keep going, all of which involve motion:
– don’t let on that something has gone wrong. Don’t stop, don’t mark it, just keep running to the next obstacle.
– if the next obstacle is not immediately on the line, run to *any* obstacle to get her back on a line, any line, as if it was totally intended
– do a bit of ‘shadow handling’ on the flat, have her run a circle at your side, then back onto the line.All of this will work to continue the flow without stopping or re-sending from a standstill (because if you are not moving, she tends to not resend after an error).
Onwards to the video!
TracyGood morning!
>>When I walked this, I had trouble figuring out how to send to the tunnels 3 and 6 and still keep my shoulder from rolling forward. Maybe it isn’t a problem? >>
The main thing I see with running smaller dogs is that we need to keep our hands as low as possible on the sends – I would say no higher than our knees or past our knee til the dog passes us, with connection. On this sequence, it didn’t make a big difference to have a higher arm/rolled shoulder on the 3 & 6 tunnels because the lines were very clear, but it might make a big difference on harder lines (as it did for the 8 backside on the first run and the 7 jump on the 2nd run, see below).
So the main goal for handling the smalls is to either always keep moving towards the obstacles, or send with a ton of connection and low arm, especially when we are ahead of the dog and need the dog to pass us.
For example, looking at jump 4 after the tunnel at :27 & :48 – you were sending forward with a higher arm on both of those. On the first run, you kept moving better but on the 2nd run, you didn’t move as much (you stopped and pointed forward) so you can see he was a bit hesitant at :48. The arm never going higher or past your knee til he passes you will make a big difference.
>>Then on the second run, I must have had a lapse in concentration so I was in the wrong place and totally lost connection after 6 and Buccleigh let me know it!>>
Yes – on the first rep you had better connection and kept going. On the 2nd rep at :53, you were stationary then as he was exiting, you pointed forward and high, so he read it correctly as a blind cross at :55.
>> I wanted to keep going but he was barking and dancing around.>>
Yep – the fix moments don’t work for him because he read it correctly and stopping is basically a negative punishment (withdrawal of access to reinforcement). So he got BIG MAD, super frustrated. Ideally, you never fix an error and just keep going with him – you might not know what caused the error in the moment, but fixing always gets him into the BIG MAD zone. In this case, you can have him stay on your left side and go to the other side of 7, rather than a ‘hey’ moment and getting him back on your right side. If you do end up with him barking at you, you can ask for the sit, but you MUST reward the sit in training, otherwise it becomes a punisher as well (stop in the action) and might increase frustration. The other option is to run him back to another obstacle then pick up the line again: for example, run him back tp jump 5 or tunnel 6, then pick up the line again.
>>Was the timing of the cue for the push better here?
I think the timing of the cues for the 8 backside were pretty strong on both runs… it was the style of delivery of the physical cues that made the difference:
On the first run, your verbal could have been a stride sooner but it was generally good. More importantly, your voice said backside but your motion/feet/shoulders all said front at :35 because as you said the backside verbal,. you pointed forward ahead of him. The high arm/connection break turned your shoulders to the front side, and you didn’t move as much, so the motion showed front side too,
Compare it to 1:09 where you were more connected with the arm lower and not pointing forward and you kept moving to the center of the bar, and he got it nicely! Yay! I think the timing was a bit earlier on that rep, but more importantly, the style of delivery was MUCH clearer and he knew exactly where to go. Yay!Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad you hurband is doing well after his hip surgery! It sounds like he is almost back to normal! Yay!
>>but got in all the skill sets and Zooms which I LOVED !!!!
Terrific! I had fun watching people do the Zoom sessions – and I think they turned out to have 2 levels: the more advanced groups of dogs (who can give you insight into Mookie and Buddy) and the younger & less-experienced dogs who needed things broken down more (perfect for the pup!!)
And good work teaching the dogs the various tunnel turns – that is a BIG trend nowadays, so we need the dogs to have independent tunnel skills fo rall of the various challenges we will encounter.
>>Mookie tended to knock the bar for the backside jump #8 and he needed me to “clap” to get his attention after jump #8 to get through the box to tunnel entrance #9
That is a HARD turn. I used a soft turn verbal and a brake arm AND a shoulder turn, starting after landing of 7,so the dog was seeing & hearing the cues before he made a takeoff decision for 8. The tunnel skills helped me be standing right at 8 to help the dog too 🙂
>>In his defense my jumps were probably closer than they should have been due to limited space. If I really supported jump #8 he kept the bar up but then I needed to turn his head to go throught the box.>>
If the jumps were closer, you probably needed to start the cues as he was in the air oer 7 so he coud see/hear them when he landed. And, use your position to support the jump as you also deliver the turn cues – too much support will send him off course after it 🙂
>>On a different note, I signed up for Terrific Teeters Introduction for my puppy and looked through the course. It looks great for us.
Fun! It has a ton of different games – if he doesn’t like one of the games, you can skip it and move to a different one LOL!
>>And since my puppy is one class behind your live versions for puppies due to when I got him and his age, when will your MaxPup 3 Agility Foundation Course 047 become a Self Study ??? Please let me know.
It is finishing on the 15th and will become an independent study in the week or two after that.
I hope to meet your pup someday soon too! Great job with summer CAMP this year, and thank you for the updates 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>. What else could I have done? I could leave him on the DW & get on the landing side of 3 for a blind cross & picked him up on my right, but that is a long way to go to get around the wing on 4. >>
Thanks for the maps! It is the AKC version of 3 of the challenges we have been wrestling with this summer:
a) a jump-tunnel discrimination
b) a spot where a RC is the absolute best option
c) obstacles in the handler path so you either need to layer or choose a different option than normalDoing a blind on the landing side of 3 would have set him up to turn left over 4 and go into the exit of 6. A blind between 4 and 5 is a possibility but the teeter is your way so you would either need to do a MASSIVE layer while he is on the DW to have any chance of getting to the blind (I don’t see that as a good option here) or have him hold position on the DW while you keep running for a couple of seconds.
So the best option is to set the RC at 4 with a decel and brake arm if needed, then drive a RC on the takeoff side of 5. This is what you did when you did the fix and go after the off course. The other option is to do a landing side RC after 5 and do a switch away to 6.
The RC on takeoff side of 5 actually put you in great position to be ahead again for the 7-8-9 line!
>>As far as just decel for turns, I can see I was late on it (esp when I sent him back to the tunnel to the turn 7 to 8 😉 ) But it seems like decel would just have me standing there through or have me way behind.>>
You don’t need to decel for all the turns, it really will depend on the context. For hte 7-8 turn here, you were facing forward and moving straight as he was jumping 7, so he was correct to go to 3. You probably didn’t need a decel at 7 – I think less forward motion to 7 will help, and you can turn your shoulders and use verbals – you did that after he landed from 7, so the timing needs to be starting the cues at exit of 6.
So looking at the decels:
yes, the RC on the 4-5-6 line would need a decel to get him turned to face 5 and set the RC line.
No, the turn 7-8 would not need a decel to get him turned to face 8.>>I plan to work through the sequences from the last zoom class >>
the last 2 zooms have useful stuff for this scenario, specifically: the rear crosses and the switch aways! You will be able to sort out which ones need decel, and which don’t 🙂
Let me know what you think!
Tracy
