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Hi!
>>I considered that here when I walked it and I would like to time to see the difference. She has never been one to generalize and the differences in surfaces make a big impact on her. She runs fastest on grass, probably a toss up between dirt and turf (really depends on the turf though), and then mats are the slowest. When I’m at new facilities I usually try not to give her any collection verbals unless absolutely needed because she is already so thoughtful and she’s so good at collecting that it really does slow her down. On this turn I purposely let her jump in extension because of that because normally in a trial she’s not going to be running on grass and it keeps her speed up.>>
That all makes sense! A dog in extension that knows where she is going will turn out to be the fastest one out there 🙂 I find that we over-cllect our dogs a lot, so it would be interesting to see if a little hint of collection here or there would be useful or not – and on surfaces she is confident on.
>>I think I will try the ending of this sequence again from 11 and on to try a few of these things.
>>I did plan the decel as part of the tunnel exit – the lateness getting down the line was my legs LOL. I will try it with the verbal only.Perfect – I see it below!
T
Hi!
Things are going much faster now with you moving more, which is probably more trial-like!
>> I did try to follow instructions>>
You totally are! This was a avery informative session!
I have 2 perspectives on this send to the 5 jump: one from the handling point of view, and one fom the training point of view 🙂
From the handling point of view: I think your sends are a bit too sideways (this is a great camera angle) meaning that you are turning so your shoulders are ending up parallel to the bar, and your arm & leg are indicating the jump with a bit of a side step. This causes your shoulders to show her a line that is past 5. So sometimes it works, but sometimes if you rotate too much, she doesn’t take the jump.
I think the sideways-ness of is it what is causing the question. So, think of the sends as more forward:
– with your dog-side arm back, look at her eyes very directly as she is approaching 4 (yo ucan decelerate a bit too, to do this). Then as she is jumping 4, your can use a bi gstep and a low arm (don’t let your arm get past your waist) to point to a spot halfway between 4 and 5, which should indicate the takeoff spot. It will feel like you are tossing a ball to the takeoff spot in front of jump 5, and will rotate your shoulders to the line she needs.From the training perspective: your handling (physical cue and verbal) is getting her inches from the jump… when the handling gets the dog that close to the jump, we want the dog to take the darned jump LOL!!! And keep the bar up! (yes, I am greedy).
>>The final jump of the pinwheel came down a few times. Am I leaving too early? not enough connection? I tried running away to the final jump and that just pulled her off the tunnel (maybe edited out).>>
Because she is requiring you to be soooo perfect… it is not a handling question, it is a training question 🙂
So, you can work Maisy on the lazy game stuff that Sassy is doing in MaxPup. That is all about training the commitment without needing perfect cues. Sassy can probably run this sequence with no problem at all, and your cues won’t need to be perfect 🙂 If you want, do a round of this sequence with Sassy while Maisy does the MaxPup lazy games and one step send games 🙂Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I worked on it by breaking it down with cheese then a toy and back chained it at add in speed. Here are the full sequences again.>>
Well done to you, they look fabulous. The feedback is boring, it is all “yay!” and “woohoo!!” haha! A quick summary :
Seq 1 with the GO line – lovely!
Seq 2 – also lovely! It looks like you had a little hesitation turning and leaving after you cued the right turn on the tunnel, but then you got up the line and her turn was great! Then you nailed it on the next rep, perfect! It is great to be able to trust her verbals. And it was really great that after 2 right turns on the tunnel exit, she went back to extension at the end with your go go go line 🙂
Great job here!
<
Hi! He is doing well here!
Love the slam 1 -It looks like he is happy to interact with the board, but not on the end that is really high off the ground (one end seems like it is touching the ground, or seems lower than the other?) I think what will help him is if he only gets on the end of the board that is touching the ground, then slams it. When he was getting on it that way (similar to running up the teeter), he was very confident!) When he was trying to get on the end that was a few inches off the ground, he wasn’t able to shift his weight and it probably felt weird for him – which might be why he got more tentative approaching that side.
You can create a little loop for him: he runs up the board, slams it down, you click – and then toss the treat back to his starting point so he runs and gets it… then he is facing the part of the board that is touching the ground and can happily run up it again 🙂
O n the 2nd video. you can see him going back to the part of the board where it touches the ground too, which is perfectly fine. I don’t think he is worried about the sound, I think he doesn’t like the feeling of the board falling out from under him. So, you can create a happy loop here too: start on the side of the board that is touching the ground so he can run up it. Then, click the MM – then after he gets the MM treats, toss a treat back to his starting point so he gets on the board from the ground side again too. No need to add extra noise it to yet, until he is happy to slam it and gets on it without running around it or only getting on a little.
Countermotion is going really well! He was sending really nicely and then you were able to add moving away as well (and you remembered your verbals!! Yay!)
>> I don’t really like my body position and cues in this, but can’t quite put my finger on exactly why.
Maybe you were blocking the wing a bit? It is hard to tell from the camera angle. And also, it is a little awkward to be sending backwards 🙂 Plus, he was offering a lot of wraps, so you can keep playing tug with him til you are ready, so you have a moment to get combobulated 🙂
For example, he had a question at 1:37 – based on your shoulder position and his response, you were probably looking at him and not at the wing behind you. So remember to look back to the wing you want as you send him. And also make sure that you are not blocking the wing – it he can’t see it, then he won’t wrap it, he will offer a different wing instead.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi Barb and Enzo!
That sounds like a great weekend!!! And so fun to be in a runoff – very exciting and great fun to lay it all on the line 🙂
These courses look good! Smooth and fast!
>.Here is a re-run of course 1:
Very nice opening, smooth and fast! The come-tunnel moment at 7-8 was super – he never had to look at you and just went directly to the tunnel. The name call out of the tunnel was well-timed and the left verbal at :24 to set up the threadle was also well timed. That might be the only spot on both runs here that I don’t think you really trusted him – as he approached takeoff at 10, you were still saying left and facing it so he dropped the bar – ideally you can already be moving away to the threadle when he is about halfway to 10.
You were fully rotated with a low hand on the takeoff side of the bar at 13 for the wrap (:32) – it was a really good turn, and I still would like Enzo to give us a little more collection there (I am being picky 🙂 ). Add some countermotion – as soon as he is approaching the jump, before lifitoff, starting moving back towards the tunnel and see if that helps convince him to put in more collection.
‘At :42, you gave him his turn back cue right befor ehe put his head into the 17 tunnel – what a difference in the turn on the tunnel! You can add the name call even sooner, to affirm that he was correct to turn like that out of the tunnel. That turn allowed you to keep moving up the last line, and set up areally strong ending line!!!>>Here is the re-run of couse #2:
Wow, that 1-8 line on course 1 just looked so easy now, with you using verbals and layering to get to 7 and cue the turn. SUPER! Nice timing on the verbals, too!
For the exit of 8 and the jump cue for 9 – he is so good at his commitments now, I I think you can basically say ‘jump’ once or twice as he is entering the tunnel then again when he exits, while you move down the line – yes, stay a little connected and moving parallel a bit, but the big send at :20 sent him wide on 9. The BC 10-11 looked great, which set up the backside of 12 nicely – and you were in motion the whole time, which set up the whole line to the 15 tunnel nicely as well.
I am doing a happy dance with his independence on the 14 backside (and how much you are trusting it)! You said the verbal and gave motion support but no big giant steps or over-helping, then just stayed connected and moved through to landing: that allowed you to set a great turn on the exit because you were basically past the exit wing as he was lifting off. Perfect! He has come a long way with both the commitment and jumping effort on these hard slices – well done to you both!!!
You got quiet when he entered the last tunnel at :34, so he exited wide. That is the only adjustment to make on these courses: he naturally exits tunnels going forward/straight, so cueing the exit you want while he is still a stride before the entry will make for great lines on the exit!
>>Also, I need a tunnel brake at #17 but I always forget
I htink that this point, all he needs is the verbal (he is doing really well with his verbals!!!) so you don’t need to add decel to it – always better to keep moving with such a fast dog. And now that I have seen how well he turns when you say the cue before he enters (from the ‘turn back’ moment on the other course), I will keep bugging you about it LOL!
>>First off, he does have a separate cue for backside wrap versus backside slice. Alas, the jump is performed as a slice in both cases, but he handles it differently on landing. For the wrap cue (push) he expects to come back or even circle. For the slice cue (around) he expects to continue on the slice line and maybe continue behind the jump (back towards the takeoff side).>>
My confusion might be the 12 (push) and 14 (around) jumps getting different verbals here so I think sometimes that push pops up in around situations. You had push as the cue on 20 for hte other course (with some decel too) and he had a nice wrap there 🙂
Great job!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>And although I’m wearing another 10th anniversary shirt on this one, please don’t expect a new one for each video. >>
Wait, what? I demand new CAMP shirts for every video LOL!!
He did really well on the first run!
“” I redid the last exercise to see if we could get the layer and we did! yay!””
Layering is TOTALLY a trend nowadays, so we are going to add more and more of it.
He had 2 littles questions at 5- 6 -7 (:09) – a little too much decel on the layer (so he collected over 5, but that was probably you wanting to be sure he got the layer) and then too much go over (he looked at you over 6) – try to keep moving and as soon as he has 5, switch to the tunnel verbals so he can find the whole line.
For the wrap cues – I think his WOO is even earlier than you did it here – Your decel cues and verbals started right as his front feet touched down at :13 – and he was a little wide on 9, making most of the turn on landing. That means it was a little late. So, I think his WOO opens as he is lifting off for 8 (the jump after the tunnel) – so as he is exiting the tunnel start to prepare for the decel and verbal to happen as you see him lifting off for 8 – I bet that is perfect for him, and gives him more time to process and adjust for the turn (and helps you rotate and turn sooner as well!)
>>The other part is getting a better turn out of the tunnel. I did a straight exit first then 2 tries for the right turn. Didn’t get my shoulder turned as quickly as I had hoped on the first rep. Second rep I tried to turn sooner, but watching it looks like I put up an opposite arm also.>>
The straight exit on Seq 1 looked good!
Seq 2 – Wager makes it a lot harder by plopping down in the middle of the sequence! I think Spot turned well on the exit of the tunnel at :33 – you can start the right verbal sooner and say it more than once – if you only sait it once, they may or many not catch it – so say it 2 or 3 times. He was definitely tighter on the last rep because you were sooner and more adamant (shaking your fist at him a little :)) So it depends on the line – for this relatively wide line 3-4, you can call the right verbal sooner like you did on the last rep, but in the softer tone you used at :32. If you need something tighter but not quite a wrap? The more adamant tone and a little fist-shaking with the outside arm works like a charm!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Sorry for the delay, I was stuck in airport craziness!!
Ronan looks very comfy here!!! No problem at all with the taller board. Feel free to elevate it more, if you have higher stuff to stabilize it with. And since he is doing a RDW (if my memory is correct), you can have him hop off in the middle of the board – since he will be going REAL FAST, he needs to know how to safely dismount if something goes wrong (rather than fall off) so we teach it at this stage 🙂Speaking of real fast:
>.seemed quick on the video!>>
ha! Yes, he has quick feet and likes anything that involves going fast. When he is going fast, he just pivots on his hind end rather than moving it independently – so when you slowed him down and turned him at the end of the boat at :19 and then again at :32 and :36, he had to use his hind end independently and he did well 🙂 You can slow him down even more to do that turning around – that way he has to think about each foot and not just get it done with momentum 🙂
Great job here! Have you played around with backing up onto the teeter board? That seems like a good next step for him!
Tracy
Hi there!
Really lovely first run! 2 little details to smooth it out, and they are related:
She is so speedy that you don’t have time to decel at the tunnel entry for 3: say your right verbal exactly how you did there (that was great!) and move away to 4 so you are ahead before she exits the tunnel.
By decelerating at 3, you had to accelerate to 4 – she saw this acceleration ad ot made you late turning your shoulders to 5 (you were facing straight at :24 as she was taking off) – then you said an energetic “JUMP!” so she thought you wanted her to continue straight til she saw you turning after she landed.
She was a little wide at 1:14 and 1:46 too on the second run for the same reason (you can see her land and then adjust her striding) – you were earlier turning but the decel on the tunnel entry made you a bit late getting there too.
Since she is very responsive to the verbal, let’s just take out the decel and have you move away to the 4 jump for the next line – that way, as she exits the 3 tunnel, you will be connected and turning before she makes a takeoff decision.
She is curling into you over the last jump (even when you ran harder on the last rep), so keep repeating the go go go and jump cues, and throw a reward there to keep her driving straight and not looking at you.
>>how much of the “improvement” is due to patterning versus how I adapt?
On this video, I would say it was your adjustments that made the differences. If you want to be sure, don’t repeat a sequence – move to a different one then come back to try again after that 🙂
great job! Onwards to seq 4!
Tracy
Hi there!
Really lovely first run! 2 little details to smooth it out, and they are related:
She is so speedy that you don’t have time to decel at the tunnel entry for 3: say your right verbal exactly how you did there (that was great!) and move away to 4 so you are ahead before she exits the tunnel.
By decelerating at 3, you had to accelerate to 4 – she saw this acceleration ad ot made you late turning your shoulders to 5 (you were facing straight at :24 as she was taking off) – then you said an energetic “JUMP!” so she thought you wanted her to continue straight til she saw you turning after she landed.
She was a little wide at 1:14 and 1:46 too on the second run for the same reason (you can see her land and then adjust her striding) – you were earlier turning but the decel on the tunnel entry made you a bit late getting there too.
Since she is very responsive to the verbal, let’s just take out the decel and have you move away to the 4 jump for the next line – that way, as she exits the 3 tunnel, you will be connected and turning before she makes a takeoff decision.
She is curling into you over the last jump (even when you ran harder on the last rep), so keep repeating the go go go and jump cues, and throw a reward there to keep her driving straight and not looking at you.
>>how much of the “improvement” is due to patterning versus how I adapt?
On this video, I would say it was your adjustments that made the differences. If you want to be sure, don’t repeat a sequence – move to a different one then come back to try again after that 🙂
great job! Onwards to seq 4!
Tracy
Hi! Nice work on these, it gives us really good info about what Forrest needs to see & hear on course!
On the blooper video:
There is great news and bad news on this one:
great news: He TOTALLY watches all of your cues! Good boy!
bad news: He TOTALLY watches all of your cues! LOL!! Still a good boy 🙂This is a good blooper to work through – as he is landing from 1 at :04, you were turning forward and pointing forward, with your other hand in your pocket (probably your reward pocket). So as he is over 2, he is already looking at you and turning, because your feet and shoulders are turning too. He is paying attention!
So we can change how you use your arm and eyes, and I think it will make a world of difference for him – I call it magnet fingers, where my fingertips are drawn to his nose like magnets. I did a video this recently, explaining what I mean:
And one other thing that will help is to deliver all verbal cues to his eyes, when you area ahead – I remind myself to talk to the dog, and not to the obstacles LOL! That adds more cnnection and turns your shoulders to the line you want, which will help him get on the line 🙂
On the 2nd and 3rd runs, your line of motion was directly forward to the tunnel as he was landing from 1 and taking off for 2, so he got it easily 🙂 Yay!
We have a great angle on the camera video at :07 on the 2nd run and :08 on the 3rd run, when he exits the tunnel – you are looking forward and talking to the jump, so he takes the 4 jump at :09 on both but he is taking it towards you, trying to see connection.
He does that also at :14 on the 2nd run and :13 on the 3rd run, on the jump before the last tunnel (jumping towards you because you were looking forward, talking to the obstacles and not to him :)) – increased connection will totally help him find that line.
You might be thinking: wait, I was told that I was NOT supposed to make eye contact, and look at the line instead? Well, no, you can totally make eye contact as long as you keep moving like you did here, your motion was great! 🙂 The eye contact turns your shoulders to the line you want, which will really help him. And delivering all the verbal cues to him also helps keep your shoulders turned to the line. Looking forward at the line (and not at him) actually turns your shoulders away from the line, as we see here, which can cause him to question the line.
Great job here! I think the only 2 adjustments to add are the magnet fingers 🙂 and looking at him more 🙂 Have fun and stay cool!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I did not get your comments above before Keiko and I went out to try sequence 3. I like the idea of using a “go on tunnel” as a release for a line like the beginning of this set, and will have to try it when we go out again.
Yes, try it with sequence 4 and see how it goes!
> I’ve heard the suggestion to give a tunnel break or an exit cue 3 – 4 feet before the tunnel. I don’t do that with my white girl Yuki because she has always been weird about tunnels and will often just stop before them and bark at me. I’ve worked with several different trainers and in workshops, and the consensus has been “that’s Yuki”.>>
It is not too uncommon for herding dogs to refuse tunnels – I think our training ‘technology’ has improved a lot in the last couple of years, so we could probably do more to convince Yuki to take it even with exit cues coming before entry. Keiko has been trained differently, so she should be fine to let you cue early 🙂 The other thing to remember is the dogs’ natural tendencies on tunnel exits: some naturally blast out so require REALLY strong turn cues on the exit and less emphasis on the GO cues for the straight line. Some naturally look for the handler (I believe Keiko fits into this category), so the turn cues are softer/quieter and GO cues are bigger/louder – but all cues should before they enter.
On the video:
Because she has a strong stay & lead out, this sequence can use that: lead out more, maybe even past 2, so you can be on the takeoff side of 4 as she exits the tunnel. Being on landing side and up near 5 actually made it harder to cue the turn at 4 and 5, because you couldn’t send and leave – so at :06 and :42 she jumps 5 facing straight (back towards jump 1) then turns on landing, because that is the direction you are facing.
You definitely turned your shoulders sooner there at :25 and 1:20, and she had a much better turn on those reps.
At :43, as she was over 6, you were already rotated (shoulders, feet, connection) and your arm was pointing forward – so as you swumg your arm forward to indicate the tunnel and decelerated, she read that as a post turn and came off the 7 tunnel entry – your feet were totally pointing there LOL!
Easiest thing to do when you want to send her away to a tunnel without running to the tunnel: Keep your arm back til she has past your, and make more eye contact on the send verbal, because that turns your shoulders to the line you want.
At 1:08, you had much better foot position – but standing still and getting quiet actually got her attention… then you gave the big YES which probably means “reward time” to her so she came off the tunnel entry. A lot of dogs do that, and it is because humans have totally paired the big excited YES! with a treat or toy throw. OOPSIE! LOL! So keep saying tunnel tunnel tunnel or go go go like you did on the 1-2-3 line, and resist the temptation to praise her til she is in 🙂 This is what you did at 1:23 and it was perfect your footwork and motion is not as importnat to her, if you keep repeating the cue.
On the tunnel exit:
at :12 she took the 4 jump, turning out of the tunnel towards you – you were a bit dosconnected and pointing fowaard, so that plus lack of motion caused her to come to you.at :31 she considered coming into you (you were pointing a little forward and facing the yellow tunnel in the distance) but did get the #8 jump because you were more in motion more and saying over. Nice!
We will be working on specific layering skills in the ocming weeks, because layering is a popular course trend nowadays! So upcoming layering games will help this section too.
At the very end, you ran the line with her and she drove perfectly to the las jump (and definitely enjoyed her frisbee time!)
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
So much good work here, he is coming along nicely! And you were great to keep hustling the whole time, that really supports his line throughout. I think the hardest part was getting him to stay on the straight lines after the tunnel exits.The 1-2-3 line looked good, that is a hard line and you did it well! He went past 4 at :05, your connection was a little soft – you were MUCH clearer there at :12 with the connection to get him to take it! But that is also a good lazy game moment to play with him, because you were running right past the 4 jump and it would be lovely if he would take it without you having to work that hard 🙂
About those tunnel exits: you got really quiet after the tunnel cue so he exited right towards you at :07 and :15. It is good to know that he will come towards you on tunnel exits if you are quiet, so definitely use your verbals early and often when you don’t want a turn on the tunnel exit.
He did a GREAT job getting that backside at 12!!! You were clear and connected, and stayed in motion there and on the next line too – it all looked really good!
>>. However, I can’t seem to get 10, 11, and 12. It zigs zags so much I can’t seem to get the crosses in on time.
That will also get easier when he has more practice finding the line after a tunnel – if you can tell him to go so he goes an does 9 on his own, it will be easy to get a blind in between 10-11 to get 12 more easily too.
>>I had planned on layering the jump after the tunnel but went too far in to support Watson’s forward motion
For now, you might have to go in close to the line to support his line after tunnels, as he learns to drive straight more independently rather than look for you.
At :26 when he came out of the tunnel, you gave a really big GO and he went and took 16 and then also 17 on the GO TUNNEL cue. You can do these even earlier too! You can start that GO before he even gets into the 15 tunnel – knowing that he will turn towards your line on tunnel exits if you are quiet, it is important to cue extension lines before he enters the tunnel if that is what you want, like on the 5-6 line. And then when he exits the 15 tunnel and is looking towards 16, you can also start the GO TUNNEL for the line over 16 to the 17 tunnel.
Really nice ending line! Because 20 is offset and he is fast, you can totally rear cross takeoff side o 19 to get that more easily.>>Also, the threadle slice at jump 14 I know we do not have that at speed yet.>>
It looks like you cued the front side of the jump, which is great. For now, the higher priority is getting the front side lines independent, and the tunnel exits independent. Then we can go back and get the threadle slices at speed (they are not as important right now).
Praticing the go at the end:
you said the go at :39 but it was late, he was already out of the tnunel and looking at you. And you were looking forward getting ready to throw the toy, so he didn’t take the jump. Start that go verbal before he goes in, and say it several more times so he is still hearing it and seeing your connection when he exits.The 6-7-8-9-10 line at the end was perfect! Connected with timely cues – so smooth and fast! You can keep playing with getting further and further from the 9 jump after the tunnel, by cueing early (before he goes into the 8 tunnel) and often (keep saying your go jumps cues as he is in the tunnel and when he exits) – and then throwing rewards past 9 to build it up with reinforcement.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Sorry for the delay, I am finally done with travel craziness!
Looking at these drills from the perspective of getting her to not head check:
Something to consider on sequence 1 is to release with a GO GO GO instead of break – that gives instant info about the line. And, if she will hold her stay, you can be moving the entire time on the lead out (releasing while you are moving) rather than stop, release, then run. I don’t think you were late on the go tunnel or the cues for 4, but still got a little head check. So we will really focus on getting the reinforcement out on the line to her on every part of the course, to really encourage looking forward. I think the reward was on the ground past 4 here, but you can also have a reward on the ground at the end of every tunnel, to help with the driving forward without head checks.
Seq 2 – same as with sequence 1, I think your timing was all good here, especially the turn cues for the tunnel exit! Nice! So, you can also do the moving release with the directional here (GO!) and throw the reward sooner. She turns and watches you throw the reward, which build in more looking at you. So, you can throw sooner before she can really head check you: for example, as she enters the tunnel, you throw the reward at the exit. Or. on this sequence, you can cue the tunnel exit and start up the next line, throwing the toy between 4 and 5 to get her looking at the line and not at you.
Seq 3 – she did not look back over jump 2 here, which is good! Strategically, sending to the 3 tunnel and waiting at 4 got a bit too much decel from both of you. So, you can lead out more and drive to 3 more (use the same timing of the exit cues), so as she exits the 3 tunnel she sees you in motion for 4, then send to 5 like you did – all the timing of physical cues and verbal cues there was great, but the decel with you waiting at 4 caused too much collection on the turns.
She looked at you over 6 on the way to the tunnel – those cues can come a heartbeat sooner, perhaps, but she might still look at you there – that is why I think having reinforcement thrown or placed in advanced at the tunnel exits will really help her drive to them more. She has a bit of a head check built in when you say go tunnel, so the placement of reinforcement can help change that. Plus, we can consider changing the cue because GO causes her to look at you in this scenario, so we can add a new and different cue (maybe something like run run run) that doesn’t have any head checks built in 🙂
>>I really struggled on 4 because of the narrowness, I wanted to layer the middle jump but Artie kept coming in on it. I am hoping to set this up tomorrow at the JAG field so I can run it will more space.>>
I don’t see the seq 4 video here, feel free to post! The layering is a good skill – going in closer to the 2 tunnel so you have a ton of propulsion up the line will help! Plus, in the next games package, we will be looking at layering skills very specifically, because it is becoming sooooo useful 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Baby girl is growing up and sequencing like a star!
Timing video:
Timing is looking good, you had your verbals early and often on the first run, and they matched the physical cues nicely as well.
2nd run – I think you had a little bit of decel as you were turning, creating a sharper line for you, and that collected her on the middle jump and pulled her off down the line, so keep powering through when rounding the line like you did on the last rep, or do a clearer send-and-go rather than rounding the line. She dropped the bar on the last rep when yo said “tunnel go” as she was lifting off – that is a late verbal (it should start as she is finishing the middle jump) also, talking over the bar is generally a distraction that she will get used to with more experience. It might have also had the element of disconnect as a cause, as you mentioned. There was a lot of distraction over that bar.For stays – She was a little spicy here for sure! I don’t want to get mad at her if she makes a mistake, but you also don’t want to be super fun when she breaks (you were a one-woman dance party when she broke LOL!) so a calmer middle ground to reset her will help 🙂
Wraps – Gold star for wrapping and not tunneling!!!! Even when you are late! You can be sooner with the transition into the wrap on the first rep – you started the cues as she was taking off and she gave you some verbal feedback about it all LOL! MUCH better on the 2nd rep where you started decel and verbal as she landed from the middle jump. On that rep, after you decel and you see her approaching the bar for the wrap, you can turn and finish the FC even before she takes off there. On thing that I think was making the timing a little harder was that you were running pretty close to the jump after the tunnel – if you handle that a little further ahead and a little more laterally, I think it will be easier for you to be a bit ahead of her for the wrap cues, which helps you see the timing even better.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> Also, I noticed I’m typically on the send foot when she lands, so I was NOT getting a step to the pinwheel jump. I’m still running a rounded corner. What’s the trick to getting on the correct foot? If I slow down first then speed up to send that seems to cause her issues.>>
The trick would be to slow down then send – she read the line so well here that you did not need to! And I think the send then accelerate is a little different than the reverse transitions that are hard for her, but we will definitely address it to help her organize herself for sends for when you do need them. For now, if you want to play with them, angle the pinwheel jump so the bar faces her more and is more parallel to the bar of the jump before it (rather than at a right angle to it) – that will be an easier jumping organization then we can gradually angle the send jump back to 90 degrees.
>>So, Sprite has not seen a full teeter before, but it was out in the training yard. I’m not sure my space away is correct, but she got it.
She was a good girl! She might need the board to be a little less off the ground for now, she was smacking into a bit before stepping up. So maybe just have it a half inch or less off the ground. Your space away was good – at first you were far enough to promote back feet, then you scooted forward to get all 4 feet (which is harder). You can work backing up four feet onto the board on a Cato board (I think you have one) because the width will help with the concept, and it is good practice for when you don’t have a teeter available. Then you can go to a narrower width on a Cato plank or the teeter itself or any plank, really 🙂 The width was hard for her here, she had a lot of sorting to do but that is great because we want her to sort out where all the legs need to go 🙂
>She’s always leading with right rear. Is that an issue?
Not an issue… but fascinating! She also leads with the right rear when she is not pushing off as strongly with the left! So, we can isolate the left rear to help strengthen it and build awareness: do you have 4 paw pods or something like that? Or 2 perches, one wide/long enough for both front and another wide/long enough for both back feet. Ask her to get all four feet on (should be easy). Then, use a treat to let her lick as you bring her left back foot off the thing (the other 3 feet remain in position, on the thing). Then c/t when she places the back left foot back on the thing. She will need to be happy with you touching her feet, but I am guessing food will help with that.
Have you done back feet hand touches? You can also shape her to put her back feet in your hand on cue, one at a time.
Then eventually, we can take this to the teeter and cue just that left rear to move – it will be fun to ‘wake up’ that left rear and get it stronger and more involved 🙂 I know that you have the skills as a clicker trainer to sort it out with her, and it will be fun too!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
