Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi! This looks good! And you can throw the reward to the end of the poles even as you do the blind, so she moves straight through the poles even as you move away 🙂
T
Hi!
>> had a different problem on a few reps that I can’t figure out. He started running by the jumps on some of the reps. On one of them I did have some distance but still thought I was connected enough. Must not have been!
Yes, on the rep where he did the FC wrap then ran past the next jumps, you were running real fast (yay!) and praising and not connected enough and not near the jumps (not yay LOL!) so he just followed you. Good boy, good reward. So be sure to make eye contact, keep your dog side arm back, and don’t praise – then I am confident he will get on the line 🙂
>>One might have been due to the toy throw, but still I would think he’d take the jump.
Once that toy has been marked and thrown… he is fine to just go get his prize. So try to throw it more on the line to encourage him to take the jump. You can also leave the toy out on the line and race him too it, I bet he will like that 🙂
>>Do I need to reinforce staying on a jump line for awhile somehow?
You can add in throwing the toy when he is on the line, but also don’t worry about it too much – he has a good understanding and will find the lines more and more as he gets used to being outdoors (he looked good here!) and as you add more connection.
>>What do I do in this case when there’s a mistake? Still reward I assume but how do I help him understand he needs to take what’s available? >>
Yes, still reward him like he was perfect 🙂 Then on the next rep, add more connection or get closer to the jump, and don’t praise him because that draws his focus off the line.
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think when we are running, our motion changes the sound of the verbals. It will be easier when the cues don’t need to be as rapid-fire and motion can match them.I think you’ll find most of the discussions of verbals and turning away in the live classes. I’ll see if I can find them.
TGood morning! Over 100 degrees…. ewwww!
>> Old habits are hard to break! I’m trying to get that turn back.
Totally agree – I had to walk around my house for weeks to practice the connection style, but it was game changing! Totally eliminated the frustration of the dog that was so mad at me 🙂 and all the dogs after him benefitted from it. So feel free to walk around your house or street, doing blinds with the toy across your body. LOL! That creates a more natural look back to the dog , without over-rotating your shoulders to connect to her.
On the video –
>> So, they have to pass you before you move out? I should be running to where the wing meets the bar, correct?>>
Yes, if you are ahead, you will want to decelerate at the wing (where it meets the bar) and let her get past you, then go forward again. When we put the handler in that spot, yo can be slightly rotated towards the next running line, so it will feel like your hip is next to the wing and not your stomach – that cues the turn better and makes it easier to move again after she passes you because you can move directly forward and not have to step back then move.
Your walk through at the beginning looked great! And the first run looked great! Great connection throughout, she had no questions. One detail – when you are sending her to the circle with your turn turn cue, your dog-side arm does not need to follow her. Your eyes can.. but the dog side arm can come back to your side as soon as she passes you – that way you won’t over-rotate your shoulders (which could show rear cross when the bar is there) and it is easier to run forward after she passes you.
2nd run looked good too! You are beginning to get past the wing a little on this one, I think it is because you are working the connection. To help for now, you can put a leash on the ground – running from the jump cups on a line perpendicular to the wing – to give yo us visual of your line. You will not want to go past that line on the ground as it will block the wing.
On the 3rd rep with the BC exit of the first circle wrap – at :34 you had your dog-side arm helping longer than needed, so it was too hard to get to the blind as fast as needed so she followed motion at :36,good girl. For the blind, as soon as she is past you – trust her commitment training and turn your hand forward and don’t let your arm swing across your body there.
You were much quicker and more connected on the next rep with the blinds, NICE!!!! Starting the blind even sooner will make it easier for you because you won’t have to be as quick. Also, bear in mind that there will be a bar there so you will have more time 🙂
The nex rep wasn’t quite as quick with the reconnection after the first circle, but the last one was and she was great!!!
Lovely work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
From what I see on the giant European courses with the running dogs walks… if the course is set up where the handler can get way far ahead, then the handler will do it but only if there is a reason to be past the end of the dog walk – otherwise, they will send the dog across it and handle the exit with verbals. This course can allow you to meet her at the end of the dog walk, but because it comes back up the line to the tunnel, it doesn’t make sense to go down there and then sprint back, unless you have a motorcycle or something LOL!
T
Good morning!
Kim and Dr. Leslie are both wonderful. I am sure he is doing great!!Do you have video of the first jumpers course?
T
Good morning! I am glad there was less limping 🙂 And your connection looks lovely throughout the runs! Plus, you stayed in motion the whole time and that helps both of you.
1st course – yes, it was it was up close and personal LOL!!!! Great job on this run!
For the most part, he kept his head looking at the the line the whole time, which is great because we don’t want him to look up at you – the two spots he looked up a bit were on the threadle 10-11 and the exit of 14 to 15 (the 2nd time was better)
Tunnel pow pows looked great on both tunnels, I love that he does it on the verbal and doesn’t need rotation.
Speaking of rotation, you turned your feet to him on the10-11 threadle at :18, and it would be ideal if you didn’t rotate: better for staying ahead and easier for your knee.
I think the reason for the rotation was that he is not turning tightly on the left verbals, which brings in another suggestion: you can differentiate between left verbals perhaps, meaning save the ‘left’ for a jump that requires a good collection and don’t use it for jumps where he can work in moderate extension. You are using left for both types of turns, so I am not sure if he knows how much collection is needed when you want it. I save left or right for pretty tight collections (like the 10 jump) and use a ‘jump’ verbal for those moderate temperatures extensions like jump 9 here.REALLY nice collection on the 13 wrap! He was wide coming out of 14 the first time, so let him see and hear your turn verbal and FC at least 6 feet before he goes in, then keep calling him. He was great the 2nd time through there.
I couldn’t see him that that well on the ending line the first time but it looked like he was turning towards the backside over the jump before it. On this last one, you took a moment to praise him when he got the jump after the tunnel, but that made you late for the next cues – praising takes too long LOL!! So a short ‘yes’ or ‘good’ if you can fit it in, but remember to give him a turn cue before he approaches the turn jump to the backside. The backside wrap there looked good especially on the last rep!!
White circles: He also was able to look at his line the whole time here and had no questions. YAY!
Threadle opening: He was accurate on this opening but careful the first time, slowing himself down. He was more comfortable on the other reps but I would like to see him power through that opening more. He might power through running into a blind on the backside better, or even sending to 2 and doing a German turn. That way he is chasing your line. Facing him on the threadle might bee asking for too much collection. You can set up 1-2-3 at home and we can time the different ways to handle it 🙂 He has so many skills that we can choose the fastest one!
To get the layering – try setting it differently: don’t leave 2 as early, so when he arrives at 2 near the takeoff spot, you are on a good line to the layering. Then, start your go tunnel verbals and accelerate up the line on a parallel path to him, rather than pulling away.
You can also play with getting him to stay on the line to the tunnel while you pull away but keeping your shoulders open to him and facing the line, while feet turn away slightly. This is more of what you did at the end and he stayed on his line – excellent! Then you didn’t get connection on the blind so he took the straight line – note the difference on the very last rep where you made a BIG connection and he was perfect 🙂
The blind 6-7-8 was great! And you did a great job of NOT looking at him when running to the blind on the 9-10-11 line!
The middle section looked great, disconnecting to get the 10-11 blind put you miles ahead for the backside at 14 (I think he looked at the a-frame a bit :)) and then even when you are that far ahead: Stay a little closer to the line to the tunnel after the exit of the 14 backside to get a better turn to the tunnel. Try not to run laterally, as that makes the line wider.It was so funny that you could not stop watching him and ended up with the FC at the end LOL! He is very fun to watch, I understand LOL!!! We need to do more disconnection exercises – maybe put a backside on the last jump so that you don’t have time for the connection there 🙂
Fabulous job on all of these!!! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyAh yes, I understand the heat! I was outside at 6:30am filming upcoming demos and it got hot really quickly!
>>Typically her dog walk contact is good, but it slips once in a while (arousal can bite us), so I appreciate your ideas. Running past is easier for her than behind or slowing done.
She probably has not had the proofing of “hit and hold your position even when momma is behind and reaching for the toy” – so you can add a target to help that. And, you can also have someone else reward that so you can just keep running 🙂
Stay cool!
TracyHi! I am sorry I missed your other update! I know I read it and I thought I replied… but clearly I only replied in my head. EEEK!
>>Buddy my 4 y/o has been out since May due to surgeries for a tooth tumor. And I haven’t run Mookie since Feb because he slipped on the ice at my house injuring his achilles tendon which thankfully has healed. It was good to work on my timing for verbal cues.>>
Ouch! The boys have had a crazy time lately!!
>> But, by the time we got to sequence 3 Mookie started anticipating backsides. It seemed like every where. I needed to verbally say jump so he would take the front of jumps.>>
That is why I try to have a lot of balance in these games – so they dogs don’t assume it is all only backsides 🙂 Be sure you alternate reps so that he doesn’t get into the backside vortex – cue lots of front sides too 🙂
>>I went to the trial this weekend running Mookie at 20 inch preferred in Excellent to see how he and I would do after a lay off of 5 months. I had been concerned about his taking backsides every where in training but at the trial with use of magnet fingers with my arm back he did fine. I only knocked one bar from a mistimed verabl cue.
YES! My guess is that in training he had gotten himself into a backside vortex and it was gone by the time he got to the trial.
>> I also did a fabulous running blind and was so proud of myself.
YESSSS! High five for you!
>> I went in with First Run Best Run and came out Qing 5 out of 6 runs.
Wow, congrats!! That is awesome!!!
>>I can’t run him again at a trial until September due to my Husband having total hip surgery but I hope our team work continues. We actually had 2 Excellent DQs and earned our AXP and AJP.
I hope your hubby heals fast! Your teamwork is looking good, and you will be awesome at the trials in September 🙂
>>Again, I love your Zoom events !!!!
Yay! Those might be the one god thing to come out of the craziness of the covid shutdowns.
Have fun!
TracyHi!
Great weave entries!! And yes, she popped both exits. I think poening up the exit and leavin a toy or MM out ahead will help for now, so you can work on running away and she wil stay in and get rewarded for staying in without having to look at you.
You had two rear crosses on these sequences: the first one you did was at the 19 jump afte rthe weaves, and the other one is the tunnel discrimination at 12 – remember to be patient and let her get past you on both of those – you pushed her off them. You were very patient (#TeamFakeChill) on the last one at 12 and she was perfect!!
>>The line to tunnel threadle. I’m going to need a very, very independent threadle for this line. Ideally, I would like to layer 11(haha I have to layer 11, no other options except for a Segway😂😂). I see no other way to get to 13 and aframe. Ideas😊?!
I think a small motor scooter would work hahaha
It will be all about the verbals. I don’t think layering 11 makes sense because it assumes you will be near the exit of the dog walk… which will not happen wih a RDW on this type of course 🙂 So better options would be to hang back and send to the backside off the do walk from miles away (very doable!) and then BC 11-12. Or, do the tunnel threadle handling you did here, rear cross the tunnel and use your verbals to propel her to 13 as you head for the a-frame. Also very doable!Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He did really well here!!!!
Course 1: Because he has a great stay, you can lead out closer to 2 and handle 1-2 like more of a serp – that way he doesn’t land straight from 1 and need you to push him back to 2. Plus you will be in motion as soon as you release, so you can stay ahead of him for 3 to the teeter, turning hm before he takes off.
The entire line from the teeter all the way around the back, down the DW to the backside at 9 and then to the tunnel discrimination at 12 looked great! You were late telling him about the tunnel threadle at :36 (he was in the air) – he responded nicely, but ideally you would start cuing it when he is landed from 10 and looking at 11, so he can take off for 11 already facing the correct tunnel entry.
Then – get loud 🙂 Before he enters the 12 tunnel, since you are rear crossing 12 – start your GO cues or jump cue to help him know to go straight. You were hustling there but got quiet, so he had a question – when you sent him back to 13, it pushed him to the off course tunnel.
At 1:03 on the push to 15 after the frame , you were on his running line, blocking the wing, so he thought you wanted 2. Great adjustment at 1:17 and 1:49 – you moved over so he could see the wing and he was perfect. YAY! An nice weave entry!! !
On the ending line: with the big juicy dog walk out ahead, he was not sure what do at 17 – a little more connection and a verbal turn cue as he exits the weaves to approach the jump will help keep the bar up at 1:25 and 1:55. Then maintain that connection to drive him past you for the wrap on 19. Even adding that little bit of connection made a big difference on the last rep through there! Nice!!!
Course 2:
Hooray for a great stay, it makes the lead out easier! I like the slice on 3 better than the wrap for him! He was correct to take the off course tunnel after 4 – at ;18 you were facing it and sent him, he didn’t see the rear cross at all. If that happens, either keep going or start off, he really thought it was the a-frame 🙂The BC after 3 worked a LOT better!! Yay!
he had a little trouble with the weave entry, as did most dogs the first time they ran it – I posted a game today to train that skill so you don’t have to handle it, you can just cue it and weave 🙂 It is here:
NICE blind as he was still weaving! Because you were so far ahead, I think a FC or even a BC between the next 2 jumps will be even easier to set the line to the dog walk so you can get even mor ahead.
After the DW – Yay! The BC at 2:03 was so much better than the FC down the last line, because it allowed you to show the line to the backside without getting behind him. Yay! When you did the FC, you got caught behind rotating and when you stepped forward, he ended up off course, responding to the step forward.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Sorry this took so long, the thread got shuffled down and I didn’t see it til now! Eeek!!!
>> I thought there were challenging just because I am such a newbie so it’s good to hear they are “really” challenging>>
Yes, they are seminar-style courses – big long courses that are really hard, to work challenging skills 🙂
Nice job on the opening! Remember to keep moving on the 3-4 line – you were definitely better about staying in motion there on the 2nd run, and he was faster.
Very nice BC 7-8!! It was a little hard to see what was happening on the 9-10-11 line at :23 and 1:26, because of the shade and distance from the camera – it looks like he was on the other side of you but I couldn’t really tell. You were much more connected through there at 2:18 and he got it nicely!
It looks like you you turned him to his right on 13, which landed him facing the exit of the 14 tunnel and not the entry. When he gets into the 12 tunnel, you can keep him on your right and do a wrap at 13, so he turns to his left and enters the 14 tunnel on your right – that should be a smoother line for him.
On the 16-17 tunnel discrimination:
>>. The confidence building part for me of all of these runs is that I was able to do the blinds before the tunnels.>>
YES! The blind here and the blind 7-8 both looked great!
>> it illustrated how hard it is to get him to threadle a tunnel. He seems to focus on the tunnel really early and it is very hard to change his mind.
That early focus on the tunnel is a good thing, though 🙂 If you can’t change his mind, it just means you were late or not showing the info he needed to change his mind. So for the threadle at the end, he needs to be seeing all the info before he arrives at the 17 jump – you can be calling him and turning to face the entry of the tunnel you want, showing a threadle arm (I use an outside arm across my body for this, and an upper body rotation towards the dog) and even pulling away a bit if lateral motion helps him. You can start planning to deliver the info when he is landing from 16 – beginning the turn cues that early will help set up the tunnel threadles really nicely 🙂
>> I am sure given your observations that on a hot day 3 runs is too much for Buccleigh, but he was running fast during the 15, 16, 17 part >>
Yes, he only has 2 big runs in him a day… run 3 started off really slowly and he was slow for most of it – he got fast towards the end, probably predicting time for reward and air conditioning 🙂 So definitely limit to no more than 2 big runs, because we don’t want him to rehearse being slow an hot.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Great to see you here! I admit to having a conditioned response to seeing you and Lennan: ICE CREAM CONES hahaha
Seq 1 looked fabulous. He looked very ‘forward’ here, meaning he was happy to drive the line and your cues were clear. Being forward also means that turn cues need to be emphasized a whole lot, as you see on seq 2 🙂 transitions will really help:
after you said go at :30, you turned away and got quiet – that got his attention but it was a little too early so he pulled the rail on the way to the tunnel, asking if he should indeed go to the tunnel. The right cue can be a little sooner but also as he exited, you were facing straight to the off course line.I thought your handling was better on the 2nd rep in terms of timing the right verbal and the physical cue, but you were too nice about it all hahahahaha What I mean by that is you can run more into it, so he can see the decel and you running away more – and the verbals can be totally different: longer, lower, more as if you are calling him by his first AND middle names. The other possibilities are using an ‘attention’ cue when he lands from 2 on the way to the tunnel, before the right verbal (LENNAN! Riiiight riiiiight) and maybe even a brake arm (opposite arm pressing downwards as a bit of a visual WHOA cue.
He got it the third time but it might be that he figured out the puzzle 🙂 He also got it on the seq 3 rep, you had a very quick shoulder turn there which m ght help.
The other thing is – if you want him to be forward on a line, match that with your acceleration. Otherwise, if you are walking or decelerating, he will match driving forward with you decelerating and that will make turning harder for sure.
If you try these again, do the same order of festivities: A rep of sequence 1 to show him how to go straight then try to the turn on the tunnel exit using some of the ideas above.
On the pinwheel section of seq 3 – try sending him to the 5 jump and turn and go, to be able to accelerate up the next line and see if he maintains his commitment and turn.
Seq 4:
He was a SUPER good boy to take the middle jump at :16 and :36, based on your line of motion! He was actually quite brilliant at :44 when you changed verbals to GO – go is relative to the line he was looking at, and as he was jumping 3 at :43, your motion & position turned his head so he didn’t see 4 -and go meant run straight, so he did (not taking the jump). Brilliant boy!To Go line needed you to run forward. To get the go and also set the layering line (more on that posted today :)), you can run in closer to the tunnel so you are turned forward and accelerating forward as he exits (rather than past 3 and pulling away), on the running line you want so he doesn’t see you pull away to layer.
You did more of this at 1:08 – you an also ‘soften’ the connection there to get that, looking at him a little less so your dog-side shoulder is not as open. The open shoulder pulls his focus towards you, and a slightly closed shoulder will propel him forward.
The turn 4-5 was a little wide at 1:10, but that was because the turn cues were later because you were supporting the go line extra after having trouble getting him on it.
You were DEFINITELY better about setting the line at 1:27! And earlier with the turn verbal. Ideally, you would also turn your shoulders away but with the layering, that is really hard to do. Have we ever done a brake arm with him? I think he needs to see that, because it will help you be able to turn him even when motion doesn’t support the turn. Here is an idea of what it is:
You gave him a little outside arm at 1:45, rotating into him, it TOTALLY helped! I would like to see if you can use the brake arm without rotating in towards him because that will make it easier to run hard and layer.
He was surprised about the wrap cues at 1:55… even though you were timely with the verbal and early with the rotation. My guess is that maybe he sees a lot of forward lines where you are not accelerating, so he doesn’t respond to decel as well as we would like – and the decel predicts the rotation which predicts the wrap, so we need him to respond to decel. I haven’t seen him work sequences in a long time, so I might be wrong – let me know if you are seeing questions on wraps too?
We can teach him to wrap better by showing transitions – you run hard til he is taking off for 8, then decel with the verbal then turn and run the other way, calling him and rewarding. Start that with a wing replacing 9 for now and then we can add back the jump soon – we will know on the wing if he is collecting or not 🙂
I personally LOVE that he is so forward, it usually means the dog is confident and FAST, and all we need to do is sort out some turn cues and BOOM! All good 🙂 Let me know if you are seeing this forwardness everywhere in sequencing?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She did really well here! She is getting a whole lot more comfy with the commitment while you move forward.A couple of ideas:
put a leash on the ground for where her line should be heading to the wing… and then stay off it LOL!! You are moving up the line on the path she needs to be, so she is having to cut you off to get to the wing. Ideally, she can see the path to the wing and the whole wing so she passes you but doesn’t have to run in front of you. Your path would be towards the jump cups (not past the outer edge of the wing). And if you get there before her, you need to wait there to let her get past you.The other thing to add (which will also help add more speeeeed and even more independence!) is to start her on an angle rather than straight to the wing: if she is happy with you holding her collar, she can start next to you on a slight angle so she ha the direct line the backside and you can keep moving while also showing her the wing. So if you are facing the wing and the wing is at 12 on a clock, and a straight line to it would be starting at 6 on the clock: then angle would be a bit more like 4 or 5 on the clock.
Let me know if that makes sense! Great job!
Tracy
