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Hi!
I thought this went well in terms of connections and verbals! OK, maybe the wrap verbals need to be more sorted out but they were there! And she did a great job 🙂 And on this particular sequence with the wraps, you can move to the center jump of the pinwheel, no problem. The sends will be helpful on the sequences with the blinds.
About jogging in a circle as you mentioned:
One thing I want to start showing Sassy are changes of motion: accelerations, sends, and transitions into decel so she can set up different lines for herself (kinda similar to what we are doing with Maisy :))
She is reading the pinwheel when you are moving through it with the verbals. You are moving all at one pace, so let’s mix it up now that she has it:
Accelerations: for any line that takes her from the jump straight to the tunnel, accelerate more and get loud, so she knows she has permission to accelerate too 🙂On the wrap jumps: accelerate all the way through the pinwheel (no need to send ot the middle jump there) so you are ahead of her as she lands from the middle jump. Then, when she lands, you slow down and start your shhhh or tstststs collection cue. If you are ahead, you can wait at the wing til she catches up. When she approaches the wing of the wrap, you can turn and finish the FC, accelerating again through the pinwheel with connection.
I am pretty sure she has the commitment, based on what we see here – at :39 for example, you were nice and early on your FC rotation. She went and finished the turn independently and was tight too! Yay! Same at 1:01 and 1:20, for example. As long as you remember to decelerate and don’t slam your brakes going into the turn, I think she will read it perfectly AND we will get more speed and independence on the rest of the lines 🙂
Lovely work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
He loves mountain climbers – squeeze cheese for the stay, squeeze cheese for the teeter, life is good 🙂 And he is a CONFIDENT dude running up it! I am happy with that! Sending, letting you run past, all looks GREAT 🙂 So 2 things for you:
– take Dice, the squeeze cheese, and the game on the road to different teeters, starting off easy and helping him then building up to speed like you have here.– at home, put a tunnel bag on the base of the teeter (on the chain if there is a chain) so it doesn’t bounce, and move the jump wing that supports the top of the board the teeniest tiniest but out so he has a tiny tiny tiny almost zero movement as he goes up the board. If you see any hesitation, take the tip out.
The lazy game part 3 did kind of morph into the timing and connection game, but that is fine because you were both feeling confident and it probably felt natural. Yay! No need to redo, it was really nice!
On the sends to the right turn, you were great with your timing and connection and verbal. Super! He had a question at :39 when you sent to the left – if you freeze the video there as he lands and you are sending, the timing was good but your send was sideways: your arm and leg were pointing to the jump, but the rest of your body was turned away from it (and the high arm was blocking connection). So he wasn’t sure if he was suppose to take it or not (good boy for taking it!). Compare that to :19, for example, where you stepped to takeoff more before turning and the commitment was better for him. So right before you do the big send, make a big connection to his eyes and send with a low arm to the takeoff side of the jump rather than the wing or landing side.
Overall, though, this looks great and you two are ready to move on to the crosses 🙂
Great job here!! Have fun with the crosses :) Tracy
Hi!
On sequence 3, you were totally turned on time for the tunnel exit and she turned really well on the tunnel exit each time. Yay!
About that send to 5, the middle jump – yes, things happen very fast with her 🙂 I think the more effective way to cue it and help her with the bar is to make a big connection as she is exiting the tunnel and start decelerating… so as she approaches 4, you can give the big send to 5 (arm and leg and verbal with connection, same as we are doing with her little sister in MaxPup :)) and then immediately head back to the tunnel. That might be a challenging commitment for her but it will also cue the turn and line a lot sooner while keeping you ahead. You were rounding the line with her, using shoulder turns, and she is too quick. So that send will start as she is lifting off for 4! The trick is to connect to her eyes with your left arm back, then send to the takeoff spot with your arm & leg while look at her and delivering the verbal cue to her eyes (and ears LOL!) :). Let me know if that makes sense. It is what you were starting to do at 1:22 and 1:27 at the end of the video, and it looked GREAT especially at 1:27 when you basically insisted she taker 5 and not run past it 🙂Sequence 4 went really well! A couple of small details: as she landed from 3 and approached 4 at :48, you were saying go go go. So even though you were starting to turn, she went straight based on the verbal. Use a left verbal there or her name, to match the body language. The timing of starting the cues for the wrap was EXCELLENT!!!!! She was in the WOO over jump 8! The only thing to add is look at her more and forward less. You were looking forward so she curled into you then went back out at :54.
One note on both sequences: your connection was almost 100% perfect, and you had lovely low arms throughout. Keep that up! Lovely!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
Hi! It was great seeing you this weekend and meeting little Beka!!
This session went really well 🙂 almost perfect! About the 2 bloopers you mentioned – on the first one, you were looking at her as you sent back, which created the visual of your shoulders facing the wing she just wrapped. On all the other reps, you looked back to the wing and she was great. Well, there was that one other blooper… I watched it a few times and didn’t really see a cause, so we can chalk it up to “youthful exuberance” and possibly left turns are harder for her and she needed a moment 🙂
So since this went so well, start the countermotion element of moving away as she is heading to the wing.
Great job!!! Have fun!
TracyHi! Good for you for watching the video for each run!! That takes a TON of discipline and since you asked how to keep improving? Discipline like this – that will definitely help 🙂 You can also operationalize the changes you want to make, by doing stuff like drawing a line in the footing for where you want to cue a turn, or making a mark where you want to run to – that can help you make the changes! You are making subtle changes so you won’t see any massive differences, but I see the subtle changes like the lead out and release position on seq 3 (different on rep 2 for sure, further up the line – which drove him to the tunnel better and got you to a better position for the turns 4-5-6. I don’t think handling will help with the head check on the tunnel, I have some training ideas for you (see below :))
On sequence 4 – nice opening! You were a little late with the turn cue at 4 – the left and shoulder turn started just before he took off, so the jumping decision was already made, so he was a little wide. As he is landing from 3, you can start your left cue and also use a little brake arm, because your motion will be driving forward as you try to get around that pesky jump in the middle 🙂 The brake arm is your outside arm (left arm here) softly coming up and pressing downwards, to help get a collection. It really helps when you have to run forward but really need a turn. Your left verbal was much earlier on t he 2nd run, right on time! He turned sooner and that created a better line for sure. We will play around with the brake arm and also add some layering skills too, t help create the best line on sequences like this for him. You added some decel at 1:20 and that helped tighten the line as well!
He did well on the wrap at 9, but I think we can do big dog timing for him there 🙂 What I mean by that is as he is jumping 8, you are already starting to decelerate (but still go forward, just slowing down) and start the wrap verbal. Then as he is passing you and getting closer to 9, you can rotate and move the other way. The decel here at :48 and on the last rep started after he landed, so he didn’t have time to process it in time to give us his best collection. The good news is that I think his timing will be the same as Dice’s timing needs, which makes life MUCH easier for you 🙂
About the tunnel – I think he just doesn’t have as much tunnel love as we would like him to have, so he checks in a lot and you have to hustle down to the tunnel a lot. So you can do some tunnel love sessions where the reward is placed just at the exit of the tunnels, all the tunnels 🙂 So every time he does a tunnel for a week or two he will get a reward at the exit (either placed there or tossed there). We should then start seeing a shift in his tunnel love and it will get rid of the little head checks or pulling off tunnels. He might even go off course to a few tunnels too LOL but that is no problem at all 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Great job here, she looks fabulous! And yes… it is a big runner 🙂
Opening:
You really had a fast, powerful opening! You used a lateral position from 2 to both get a really nice line 1-2 but also great position pretty far up the line for the BC 6-7! You had time to make a phone call before needing to do that blind, well done!The turn from 7 to the 8 tunnel is something we should play with and time. She was in big extension there, which creates a wider line. But the other option is that you can decel and cue a collection there (as she lands from 7, you are already decelerating and cue the wrap) and then we time the difference between the wrap and the extension.
The opening looked fabulous all 3 times you ran it!
The send to 9 and line to 10 looked good before you had a moment of “what’s next ?” LOL!
Mid course – after another great opening, I liked the blind 9-10-11 at :50. And it was even better (and earlier!) at 1:28, REALLY nice! The send to 9 really maximized her skills: you send and left all within a goo WOO for the timing, so she was able to turn in extension. NICE! It looked like you gave her a little collection cue before the 11 jump to get 12 – it was subtle and it was all she needed there!
Looking at the backside at 14: as she was over the bar at 13 at :55, your arm was back (yes!) your verbal was going (yes!) but you were looking at the backside wing and not at her (oopsie!) so that curled your body to the front of the jump. Then as she landed and you pointed forward, the arm movement forward curled your body to the front and she came in. So yes, you had your arm back to start, but keep it back the whole way through and stay connected strongly to her eyes (resist temptation to look forward or swing your arm forward). Compare it to when you got there at 1:35 – you had your arm back longer and you were a little more connected, so she went. When you are behind her and not at the jump as much, that arm back and big connection
becomes even more important. It sounds like you’re using an elongated baaaaaaaaack verbal for the line – that definitely sounds different, and that is good! Just make sure you can breathe and she will still commit if you say baaaaack baaaaack 🙂One other thing to consider at 14 – threadle her in and slice to her right, towards the outside of the course. It should be relatively easy to ge her to turn left at 13 for the threadle, and then the exit of 14-15 is a fabulous line with a ton of speed. The exit of the slice backside when she is turning left to get to 14 from the outside backside push is a tight turn, so the threadle line might be the fastest line for her.
The ending line looked great! Nice verbal on the tunnel entry, she turned beautifully on the exit. Try to cue that turn and then get outta there, you held position for a moment which made you a shade late getting down the line for 18-19. It is possible you were trying to decel as part of the tunnel exit cue, or your legs/lungs were angry LOL, but I don’t think you need to decel if that was planned – that verbal was very timely and super different-sounding, so I bet you can set it and leave and she will be perfect. You don’t need a cross there, as the serp handling you did well be fastest!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Nice start on the sequence 2 here! Question – what happened at the beginning where you started to run but didn’t release? It was hard to hear and I like those running starts 🙂
Good job experimenting with what would work best on terms of getting the tunnel exit at 3 AND jump 4! And good job rewarding her when things went a bit awry 🙂 That is how we keep the dogs happy to let us experiment!I think the main thing is going to be staying in motion, and not trying to hang back. Moving closer to the curve of the course will really make things smoother and clearer for her. Here are details:
On the first run: Your tunnel and right verbals were great on the #3 tunnel! As she is rocketing away to the tunnel, use that opportunity to move over to #4 so you can connect to her as she exits the tunnel and show the line to 4. You had too much decel at :38 so she exited the tunnel and was not sure what to do based on position and the verbal happened after she already thought she should come to you.
On the 2nd run, you were trying to hang back a bit more, so even though the verbal timing was pretty similar to the 1st run, she read the decel (good girl!) and when you turned too early at 1:09, she made a quick adjust to the line and didn’t go to the tunnel.
The 3rd rep was the “just right” sweet spot of verbals being well timed and you staying in motion: perfect! And she nailed it. Super!!!
4th rep was also terrific – note how the staying in motion go you all the way up the line to the blind AND she took the line. NICE! The toy hit the wing and that is why the bar fell on the last jump 🙂
The very last run was excellent too – one small detail 4-5 at 2:46 – when she was jumping 4, you looked forward and pointed forward to indicate the #5 jump. In that moment of looking forward, she sees the disconnection and jumps towards you and was not sure about the line. Ideally, you would keep your arm back and keep connection to her eyes as you run, delivering the verbal go cue to her eyes. That will keep her confidently finding that line.
The 2nd video is the go go go seq 1 🙂 The opening line looked great. When she exits the tunnel, you can match the physical cue to your verbal cue by pumping your arms to run, like an Olympic sprinter, and lean forward a bit as you run to 4 (which you stay connected to her eyes too, of course. All the things LOL!!)
The arm out to the side blocks connection and slows your motion down, so she was not sure if she should drive ahead of you at :05 and dig a zig zag line to 4 as you noted on the video.
You ran like this on the opening line on the 2nd rep, and maintained it all the way through the end – note how she never even looked at you, she saw the action peripherally and nailed it at :39. Happy dance! One extension lines, you will most definitely want to run like you did here, it was great! Even though you started with her, you moved faster with that running style and ended up in great position and the end. Click/treat for you for making that adjustment!
I think you are quieter on the very last rep at 1:15 – said go then a quieter hup – so she kinda glanced at you. The GO GO GO GO definitely works better for her on these 🙂I am super pleased with the adjustments here and how well she is running her lines! And great job to you with the connections and your arms down. Super!!! You can totally move on to sequences 3 and 4. Great job!
TracyHi!
Buccleigh looks really good here! Fast and feisty!!!! I like the angle of the send to 1, that set a sweet line for both of you (remind me to make that how-to-slingshot video when I get home – currently stuck in Toronto and thankful I am NOT traveling with a dog in this chaos!)
He did not commit to 5 here at :07 (and barked at you as feedback haha) – timing was good but the cue delivery was not clear enough. Great job staying in motion, then sorting it out on the next runs. And you nailed it on the next 2 runs (no barking from him LOL!) – the difference was in your position relative to 4 and 5, and your connection. On the first run, you were too far laterally away from 4 and 5, and you indicated forward to the landing side of 5 so it was not as connected or clear for him. On runs 2 and 3, you got closer to 4 and indicated to the takeoff side of 5 with a bit more connection – perfect both times! Yay! So definitely consider that position as being super important on the sends. Your timing was good throughout, you left after the send perfectly – and your connection was great! And the continuing after an error was helpful to him – he stayed fast, happy and focused.
For Keltie on Seq 4:
Keltie will help us strategize small dog handling (which is very different than large dog handling!). One thing about small dog handling is that we need to show acceleration, but the smalls have a lot of strides to take – so if we send and leave, we end up too far ahead and decelerating. That begins the vicious cycle of you decelerating so the dog decelerates so you decel so she decels…. LOL! I think that was happening here a bit. When I run my smalls, I drive into lines more so I can show acceleration while not getting too far ahead. In this case, that would mean leading out less, running into the tunnel more and driving closer to the ‘curve of the course’ so you don’t decelerate from being too far ahead.(Side note: I find that running small dogs strategically like this is much harder than running big dogs, where I can point and leave. Small dog handling is more yardage for my legs & lungs and more strategy for my brain. So if feels hard, it is because it is hard :))
So back to Keltie:
At 2-3-4, you were a little too far ahead so you were decelerated so she decelerated. Then on 4-5, you closed your shoulder forward and 5 was really far away, so she had a big question. On the second run, you had more acceleration so she was going faster, but the turn from 4 to 5 was to abrupt and she got mad. In that moment, just keep going (like you did with Buccleigh) as if nothing happened, so she can keep moving. That will ultimately be more reinforcing and fun than you going back to give her a cookie (because we really don’t want to reward stopping on course).
You had a strong combo of acceleration and open shoulder/connection at :59 and 1:33 there and she got it! I think the distance from 4 to 5 was hard for her, so you can totally reward that and also you can tight up the distances to help her out, then spread them out gradually.Holy wow your wrap on the first run was fabulous! You nailed it. Her turn was GREAT and she was fast and happy after that, because she had clear info AND got to chase your line 🙂 On the 2nd run, you decelerated and waited while she was in the tunnel, so she decelerated, so you decelerated to send, so she decelerated… she did commit to 9 (and drove the ending line) but not as well as on the first run. So you can run in to the tunnel then run back out to get just the right balance of acceleration and position. You did more of that on the last run and she did really well! Yay! I am impressed with her independence on the wrap!!
Let me know what you think, especially the small dog handling strategy ideas 🙂 Great job here!
TracyHello from the Toronto airport!
Good job on this course, both in making it fit and in running it!
Opening line:
Wrapping to the inside on 3 (instead of slice to the outside) might have been a product of the fence making the slice impossible – ideally we would slice to the a-frame but we also don’t want to smoosh the dog there 🙂
With the wrap in mind, you can be on landing side of 1-2 and do a little push to 3, I think that will be smoother then the FC on the landing of 2 in the opening here which made him consider the jump next to the frame.The line across the back looked great – fast and great connection! It looks like you just needed one more step towards the jump after the frame (looks like he ran past a jump) to set him on that line before giddy upping to the RDW. You were much clearer with just one more step at 1:32 and he got it nicely!!!
Your timing of the pass pass pass cue was perfect when he was on the dog walk. His understanding didn’t quite get him all the way there and we certainly do NOT want you to have to outrun him to get him there (part of the joys of the RDW LOL!), so it is a good training game – you can angle the backside jump a tiny bit so the backside is easier for him to see, to help him both go straight through the down contact and find the backside. A bit of back chaining from the down ramp will help build the skill (I am happy with the handling – the only other handling would be to have you drive deeper into the gap from the RDW exit to the backside entry, and that puts you too far behind for the next line. So… verbal cue training off the RDW it is! Carrie said to go in and support him -she is not wrong, but also I would like to build up more independence so you don’t have to. The backside off a RDW is not a super high priority right now, though. The tunnel discrimination is a higher priority. I love the reward energy when you convinced him to do it, though! YAY!!!
Mid course – that line from the RDW to the tunnel discrimination is tricky indeed! I have found that the info starts at 10 (the backside jump after the RDW is 9). As he is lifting for/in the air at 10, give a directional (like left) or an attention cue (FEVER STEVEN ROBERT MICHAEL!) so he approaches 11 turning to his left… and before he lifts for 11, go the tunnel threadle cue. You gave him the in in at the right time, lifting for 11… but because there was no turn info before it, he didn’t process the turn in time. Adding the shoulder rotation will help too but as you hustle up the line, the turn cue before it will really help.
Good job rewarding the in when he skipped the 11 jump, good boy! It is a bit of a Goldilocks moment – the first run was too much running (and also at 3:11) the 2nd was not enough running so he came off the line: that is why the verbals will help so much! And that ‘left’ verbal can come with a brake arm that also turns into the threadle arm right after it!
The weave entry was a bit of a threadle entry, you were way behind, and I think the pool is right there, yes? It was very hard. I do have (theoretically) a specific verbal for those threadle weave entries, so that is something to consider but it is also a low priority. Since the weaves were right in front of DISTRACTION #1 and you had both sprinted the line down the dog walk a bunch of times (impressive!!) you can soften the weave entry to make it easier for him there, in the face of the distraction. You were a good dog trainer to try weaving the other way!!! And he got it 🙂 And, if going in the pool is an option – you can get him to weave then cue the pool 🙂
Great job here!! He did really well and I liked his speed and commitment a lot!! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! It is great to see you both again, it has been too long!!! I am sorry to hear your Achilles is still being a pain, which probably has caused your hamstring on the other side to be angry. You can skip the big courses for now and we can go back to them later in the summer!
It is REALLY fun to see how much Keiko has developed seen I have watched her run. Baby girl is growing up! YESSS!
First run on sequence 1 was almost perfect, she is developing a lot of forward drive, tons of speed, and she let you layer! She looked at you a little on the exit of the #3 tunnel, so as she is heading into the tunnel, give her GO cues and start pumping your arms to accelerate to the last jump. You got quiet so she thought perhaps it was a turn cue. On the 2nd rep you totally added more of the GO cues and you ‘cut the corner’ with the layering sooner, so you were able to present the body language to the last jump sooner too – nailed it! And the layering is a good thing and a topic will be looking at a lot this summer because it is so fashionable now in course design that we need tons of layering skills.Sequence 2 also looked really good! One thing to consider is releasing her with a directional (like GOGO TUNNEL for this specific line) rather than a normal release cue. When setting up a layer, the normal release cue will require you to run more to set the line otherwise she will curl into you a little like she did here (and running more puts you in a bad position) – so releasing on GO can get the forward motion without you needing to run run run as well 🙂
On the turn on the exit – the “Keiko here” was the tiniest bit later she was already in the tunnel – ideally it is 3 or 4 feet before she enters the tunnel. It looks like she turned just fine, as a product of your position & motion even with the verbal a little late. I think the issue of timing is where to breathe: we are all used to taking a breath while the dog is sending to the tunnel, which makes the turn cues late. So cue the go tunnel as she is over 2, then breathe when she lands, then start the turn verbals before she goes in.
Using obstacle names is great on lines like this, when we handlers are in the picture and when the obstacles are distinct (like jump and tire). I like your choice to use the big GO ON cues for a big line of 3 jumps in a row or something similar. 🙂Great job! Let me know what you think and onwards to sequences 3 and 4!
Tracy
Good morning!
Kris saved you and Christine a lot of course building LOL!About repeating the words too much… I think you are fine 🙂 Agility has evolved into a NOISY sport 🙂 So many words! And that is fine, because it helps the dog and allows us to keep moving. The key is that the dog understands the differences in the words so more on that below:
Seq 1: really nice! Loud, long verbals and great connection! Just be sure that you don’t decelerate on the last jump even as you throw throw the toy – the toy helps us in training (but might teach them to ignore decel because the throw launches them past the decel) and at a trial with no toy, she might ask questions and drop the last bar. Yes, there was a little head check but it might be that you yelled the cue (more on that below) and decelerated and turned a little… so she was checking on the decel to see what you wanted. So, stay in full on acceleration mode there 🙂
Seq 2:
Another good one! Now that you mention it… yes whoa and go sound alike 🙂 But no worries, deliver them differently and she will differentiate. Go can be loud and long and a bit higher in pitch like you had it here. And whoa can be longer and a little less loud: whooaaaa. You had it sharp and loud – she was not confused here but it is possible that the decel was helping her too. So try changing the verbal delivery so you can keep moving up the next line.Sequence 3: we can definitely looked at making your verbals sound different! This is a good sequence for bringing that to light – go and whoa were a little similar here, and so was the verbal for jump 4 (it sounded like you also said whoa for the jump but on the 2nd rep I think it was “right”) Body cues were strong here, so it is a good opportunity to play with verbals: Long loud GOOOO GOOOO TUNNNEL TUNNNNNELLLL and a lower pitch, longer but still loud whooooaaaaaa and the right can be even softer because it is a softer turn: riiiight riiiiight. I say my left and rights like a question (riiiight? Riiiiight?) because it sounds wildly different from the other verbals and it helps the dogs. When we are in position to use great physical cues, the verbals are less important. But when we are behind the dogs, or wanting to stay in motion to get to the next spot? The sound differences will really help the dogs process verbals as we haul butt across the course 🙂
Seq 4 – this is a spot where the change in delivery style of the left verbal will really help! With that dang jump in the middle of the course, you had to run forward towards 4. You started the LEFT verbal right on time, but it was loud and short… so Charm jumped a little long on 4 because you were running forward to get around the jump in your way 🙂 So changing the way you say left: “Leeehft” and repeating it pretty quietly will help her set up the turn while you run forward. Then you can get loud with your verbals again like you did for the 5-6-7 line 🙂
You can start the digdig wrap verbal and physical cues sooner too – as she is in the air over 8, start decelerating and saying the verbals so then she can process it sooner and collect on takeoff. You started it after you saw her land from 8, so she heard it and she approached takeoff – so it was too late for her to adjust til she landed. This was really the only spot that you were late, your other timings looked really good!!Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi Nelci! Great to see you an Grizzly here 🙂 Thank you for the verbals list! And I also like to release on a directional in a lot of situations, because it is SO helpful to the dog!
You two are looking really really strong here, so we can get into tiny details to apply to the big courses 🙂
Sequence 1: Connection looks great! Two things to consider with all these good verbals are:
– making them sound distinctly different in terms of energy, volume, length and pitch, not just words. That way the dogs can process it better because the added details give the dog more info. With that in mind, the tunnel tunnel corre corre sound a bit the same, so we need to make sure the other verbals in the other sequences sound very different, especially turn cues.
– support the verbals with the physical cues. For this first rep, you were saying corre corre but decelerating as he approached the last jump, so he dropped the bar. Yes, placing the reward out ahead totally helps! But it only helps him, not you 🙂 so be sure that when you are giving these forward cues to go go go, to match that by dropping your shoulders forward as you run and accelerate to help support the verbals. On the sequences that ended with the corre corre, you had the toy placed ahead so he got it but you were rehearsing decelerating over the bar – we don’t want you to rehearse decelerating on an ending line, and we don’t want him to rehearse ignoring decel when he sees something fun ahead (like a tunnel replacing the toy :)) so be sure to race him to the toy on those ending lines and don’t decel 🙂Sequence 2: both reps looked good! Your tunnel turn cues did sound different – in fact, the cue and the hand signal might have been more than he needed – the verbal and the decel and the brake arm caused him to turn a lot out of the tunnel and then he hesitated and looked at us at :35, because the decel and arm slowed you down from showing the next line. Because of his size, it should be pretty easy to turn him out of the tunnel – so I bet you would get the perfect turn on the first run by just using your verbal and turning and running the new direction. He was perfect on the 2nd rep but I think that might be because he figured out the sequence LOL!
Seq 3: He follows your shoulders really well on all of these, so now we can push for more speed 🙂 Using less turn cue in the tunnel exit at 3, you can be turning as he exits to show him 4… then send to 5 and (still using your verbals) – accelerate and run to the tunnel. Let him find the line more independently, which will also produce more speed and better turns than when you turn with him. You can add a blind cross on the exit of the 7 tunnel to get to 8 if you want more incentive to send and go on the pinwheel 🙂
On the right verbals, you can elongate them so they sound very different than corre corre, tunnel and the tunnel turn verbal. And, they can be softer in volume, with the forward cues like corre and tunnel being louder 🙂On the rep when he went straight, I think 2 things were happening:
When you were giving the tunnel brake cue, you were still moving forward as he entered. Then when he exited, you were still moving forward a bit (more lateral, so it was forward on a parallel line) . Those forward cues, plus the toy past the off course jump, caused him to think he was supposed to go straight 🙂 Compare to that the 3rd rep where you had more decel before the tunnel and you were definitely more turned when he exited, so he turned.One more reason to make the tunnel brake more of a verbal only with no arm or decel: the arm is causing you to rotate towards him and then if you add decel… you get left in the dust 🙂 Then you have to run hard, which shows him acceleration places you don’t want. So, as he is over 2, cue the tunnel. Then when he lands and is about 6 or 8 feet from the tunnel, say the turn cue and turn and run to 4, so he sees/hears all of that before he enters. You will get a great turn AND be ahead of him 🙂
Sequence 4: I love to watch walk through practices! 2 suggestions on your walk through:
– after walking it… be sure to run it with all the cues and verbals and connections. That will give you a better feel for the sequence at his speed.
– on your way cues at 9, you walked it with your outside arm coming up but without decelerating into that or rotating. So when you run it, it is possible that he might see you slam on the brakes and come to a halt, rather than collect.On the runs:
Yes, you can cue the left sooner for 4-5 – your connection is great, so as he is in the air over 3, you can begin the left cues of verbal, shoulder/motion turn, and a brake arm if you think he needs ones there. On. the second run, I think the little disconnect and you turned in the layering position,so he came off the line to 5. When you did the 3rd rep, you maintained your motion and connection through the line, so the layering went really well and you were way ahead! Nice!
We will keep working on layering skills this summer, because it is so useful to layer nowadays!For the wrap, on the first run: the outside arm did come up as you walked it, and he didn’t collect – he tried to turn but feel as he was landing, which means the cue was late. O the 2nd run, I think a similar thing happened where you were working hard to get to the outside arm so there was not a lot of decel – he didn’t fall, but he did most of the turning after landing. So we can get him to collect before takeoff to get the best possible turn there and the key will more decel and less arm.
So as he is lifting off for and over 8, start your decel so as he lands, he is seeing decel and hearing the verbal wrap cue, then seeing the arm cue as he passes you and you start to rotate. That should help him get collection before takeoff because the cue will be sooner and he will get more decel, which is a powerful element.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! So much good work here! A huge percentage of it was really lovely! I have ideas to help get it a little smoother in spots and iron out the sections where he had questions:
On the first video, both runs were really lovely, he is finding his lines well and is FAST!!
Sequence 1: Nice job! He found the line easily. You can be earlier with your tunnel exit cue, telling him and go and over all before he enters.Seq 2: Also really strong! And same small details as on the 2nd sequence – call his name before he goes in the tunnel, so he exits turned. He exited wide here and found you after he exited.
Seq 3: I liked the timing of the tunnel cue, he was in the WOO over 2 and you cued it. Perfect! You can all him before he enters the tunnel here too, to get the good turn on the exit. That sets up the whole next line: when he exits the tunnel, you can be turning and showing 4, as you continue to turn so you are turning and showing 5 before he takes off (he was a little long in his jumping over 4 and turned on landing, because you were facing straight when he was taking off (being on landing side caused you to have to face straight longer, so this is a good spot to get to takeoff side).
Then, the tunnel verbal was good timing to start, but you got quiet (only said it once) and turned and ran the other way, so he was totally correct to follow the physical cue there. In that moment, just keep going as if was correct so he doesn’t stop and ask questions 🙂 then reward him at the end.
The 2nd run was much clearer throughout! You turned sooner for the 4-5 line and definitely had stronger cues to the 7 tunnel. Nice!!! He read it with no problem.Seq 4:
NIce opening line! As he lands from 3, start your check check cue and start turning your shoulders – you had a lot of forward motion and your over cue, so he went straight over 4 (the check check happened after he landed).
He turned nicely on the wrap at 9 – you can probably start the decel sooner (as he is jumping 8) and also give a lot more connection on the exit with your arm back and making eye contact as you run forward – he had a nice collection but then drifted wide on landing as he came around the wing, because all he could see was your back so he waited to see which jump was next.
A question about verbals… at 4-5 you used check check check an at 9 for the wrap, you also used checkcheckcheck. The same verbal for 2 different behaviors will ultimately cause him to go wide and wait for handling info. I recommend a different verbal for that soft turn 4-5 (such as ‘left’ or his name) and save the checkcheckcheck for the wraps.Standard 2: this went well, you and Carol made good choices in how to fit it in and make it flow. And his weave entry – WOW!!
The whole opening looked great – to help get more speed and flow through the 360 wraps, try to send him to the wrap and then move forward (rather than turn with him) but look at the landing spot for now (and toss a reward past the landing spot). The more he gets used to you moving through like that, the more he will be able to power through them with commitment and speed.As he is weaving, try to start the FC before he exits (it is good weave practice to reward him to be able to finish the weaves as you do a cross and leave). That will help you get the FC wrap on the next jump sooner & tighter – as he exits the weaves, start to decel and give your check check cue (the over cue sends him too long and makes the checkcheckcheck late). Then as he passes you and before he takes off, rotate and move the new direction.
Great job on the send and leave on the jump before the dog walk! On the ending line after the dog walk: his tunnel sends look great, so you can definitely use that BC instead of the FC on the next line: send to the tunnel and replace the FC you did with a BC like you did on the re-start. The FC rotation makes it hard to then turn him to the backside – the motion caused him to go straight. With a BC there instead, you will have time to finish it and move over to cue him to the backside.
On the 2nd run – the rotation on the backside wrap pushed him to a-frame, so we can keep working on you moving forward through there and not needing to turn your shoulders to feet to the jump. On the re-start, you turned left and it helped him! He dropped the bar on the circle wrap after the teeter, so we can definitely add games to help him out! I have some ideas that I can post when I get him tomorrow 🙂
Another great weave entry! And, you used more lateral distance and you turned a shade sooner before he exited, and gave the checkcheckcheck cue rather than over for the next jump, all of which helped set up a better line and another good send and go to the DW.
On the ending line, you were more prepared to get him to the backside after the FC and moved more laterally sooner but I still think the BC there will make your job a lot easier through there to get it the first time 🙂 The rest looked really good! (There was something one the ground there at the end as you noted, but he came back to focus very quickly).
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Lots of great work here!
>> LOL I love the water idea! Though I don’t know if I could concentrate on the water bottle and the course at the same time. :).
It is fun! I will post some links to it later this week so people can noodle around with it – it is great fo helping to multi-task connection, arm position, and remembering the course 🙂
>>Yeah, I figure he will get faster as he gets older and has more confidence. :D.
Faster, yes, but also easier because he will be able to read cues sooner and understand the flow of the course, which helps us humans because we don’t need to be as perfect. Then it will be much easier to get the first run, best run theme solidly in place 🙂
On the standard course, looking at the 2 videos:
Opening:
That opening line to the teeter is a definite keep moving moment. On the first run, you helped a bit too long at 1-2, so he got ahead for 3 and ended up wrapping on the backside. Ideally, you can set him up on more of a slice at 1, so he is facing 2 – then you can lead out further. Once you have released him – upper body (arms, shoulders, eyes and mouth :)) handle the line and feets just keep moving to the exit wing of 4. That way you can get the 3 backside and slice the 4 jump to his left to exit facing the teeter .Excellent adjustment on the 2nd run, to keep moving and you got much further across the line! YAY!! Very nice! The blind was actually early there, for that type of turn 🙂 On the backside blinds with the wrap exits (German turn), you will want to be passing the wing on the exit before you do the blind, to get the best turn. You will actually be doing the blind on the takeoff side of the jump, after running past the landing side. If you do it while you are still on landing side, he will think you want the weaves like he did here, because that is how the line was set.
The line across the back looked great! Wheeee! So fast! You can give the exit cues for the 7 tunnel sooner, so he exits straight to the DW (he had a little zigzag there and needed your help getting on the DW). You said walk it when he was already in, so you can try saying go go go and then walk it…. all before he enters 🙂 The go between 6 and 7 will help get the straight tunnel exit, then the walk it before he enters the tunnel should affirm the straight exit and tell him which obstacle to look for too. He was straighter on the 2nd run, but that is probably because he knew where the line was from the first run.
For the dog walk criteria – if we can get him to go do the end of the DW without you, you will have more flexibility to run to where you need to be and not slow down with him. If you originally trained with a target, you can totally put it back in here and teach him to run the DW more independently to help with the handling.
MIdcourse – that 10-11-12 line is a doozy, so much speed into a tunnel discrimination!
Remember to reward him after off courses if you are going to stop and restart – he is an honest little dude and when he goes off course, it is because you sent him there 🙂 After the backside at 9, try to run up the line with a low arm – by pointing sideways at the jump at :30, your shoulders and chest turned straight so he almost didn’t take it because he definitely reads shoulders and motion more than arms/hands. Then he went back out and got it, but the motion then stayed straight and you cued the tunnel while he was straight, so off he went. Good boy! Same thing happened on the second run – you tried to decel more to get him turn, but that pulled him off the jump so then when you put him back on it, he ended up going straight to the tunnel according to your motion and verbal (I think you were saying tunnel there).
>> I found 9-10-11-12 exceptionally difficult. He locked onto the wrong end of the tunnel so early I didn’t know how to cue the left end of the tunnel. After we ran the full course, I tried some decel, but he was already locked onto the right end. I can post that video too. He’s sooo far ahead of me I don’t know the best way to handle that.>>
The tunnel discrimination actually begins as he is jumping 10 – as you hustle up the line and he is jumping 10, you start to cue a turn on 11 – it can be decel, but ideally it is verbal only so you don’t get caught decelerating that far from the rest of the line. Then, after you see him approaching 11 and turning, you would then go to a tunnel discrimination cue. This can vary, of course, depending on each individual dog, but generally the most effective ones are when the handler turns her upper body to the dog, and shows the outside arm (threadle arm), and uses a distinct “other side of tunnel” cue – and definitely don’t say tunnel, because that means to stay on the line he is on. I use a separate word for the tunnel discrims and it really helps! Ideally, you would not turn your feet towards him on the threadle but you might find it useful to do so in the early stages of training it. It is a good sequence to isolate in your hard and work on!
His running a-frame looked good!
>> I really don’t know the best way to handle that
Since I am just getting to know him – have you trained a threadle cue (arm and verbal to bring him to the other side of the jump)? If so, we can use it there. That would be the best (and easiest :)) way to handle it, but it is a trained cue. If not, we can start training it and in the meantime, we can do crosses (like a double blind) to get it done. Also reward him in that section as you work it – he gets frustrated and barks at you, so we want to keep him at a high rate of reinforcement as you work out handling.
On the 2nd run – Doing it as a push to a blind is hard in this scenario but you stayed in motion and got there! I am sending you a big high five!!!! Throughout the summer, we will keep working on more backside independence so you can send and leave, rather than having to help him over the bar like at :50, which will smooth out the line to the weaves.
On that ending line – the flip to his left on 19 looked great! Then, you will get a better line if you keep him on your right. You added a FC, which is late no matter as you do it and pulled him off the ending line because the FC would have to start before you finished the RC flip, which is impossible in terms of physics LOL! So, you can RC and then run to the end with him on your right.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Great job on this training session, I think you totally kept him happy and motivated!The opening line looked really smooth! Doing a FC between 1-2 made it harder for you to get to the BC 2-3, so yo can try setting him up on more of a slice at 1 to then moving into 1-2 dog on left, which allows the BC to begin sooner with less rotation before it. Great job with the verbal on the turn before the teeter! He read it nicely 🙂
The speed line across the back was lovely, he seemed to enjoy that LOL! And you started the push to the backside after the DW a lot sooner here, and he was both able to hit the DW and get the push! Yay! He did look a little surprised, so it is probably an experience thing – the more he gets used to that type of line, the less he will look at you like you are crazy LOL!
He considered going to the off course tunnel at :30 – even though you were pulling away laterally and using some verbals, he read the motion as forward motion. It sounds like you said come as he was taking 10, but it didn’t seem to get his attention to override the motion, so yo had to keep pulling away and using a stronger verbal. Two things to try in these scenarios where it is an extension line to a tunnel discrimination: a direction as he exits 10, so he turns on 11 (it can be a collection verbal like a “left” cue if you have one, if not, we can train one pretty easily).That will set up the turn on 11 so as he approaches 11, you can rotate your upper body towards him for the threadle arm (rather than arm) to get the tunnel discrimination at 12. Pulling away from the line did get the 12 tunnel here but let you further from the line than you would want to be here.
Working that piece at the very end – he was more powerful going to the backside after the dog walk, more sure of himself – yay! But…. the RDW hit was higher. So if you trained with some type of prop or aid for the RDW like a mat, you can put it back in to help remind him to hit even when you are behind and cueing a turn.
At 1:44 you didn’t say anything over 10 and stayed straight up the line, with the tunnel discrimination cue starting at liftoff to 11… so he did not turn. When you were up at a 11 and able to decel, he got it nicely but you won’t always be up there is time to decel – he is flying! So, taking the timing all back one WOO – that directional at 10 to get attention on a turn at 11 will help, so then when he is approaching 11 he is turning and then it is easier to get the turn to the tunnel at 12.
Hooray for the threadle! He did a great job there, in the heat of the moment! Handling was really good – you kept moving up the straight line, no pulling away or rotating, and started the verbal while he was on the a-frame. You did a bit of an arm cue too, but you didn’t have time to do a big arm cue because you were hustling 🙂 And yes, the spin was because he probably picked up the praise in his left ear, but then he sorted out the weave entry nicely too!
Great commitment on the wrap jump on the ending line – great job starting your deceleration as he was lifting for 19, he totally read the line there! One thing to play with as he continues to mature and develop: you used a high, moving send arm to cue the wrap as you rotated at :50. He did well! It would be interesting to see if you use a low arm with less movement to see if he can collect and tighten that turn more – the arm would be about nose high to him (or a little higher, maybe waist level for you) and would indicate the takeoff spot rather than the landing spot. We can try to get the different collections then time then, to see which creates the faster line 🙂
You worked the wrap to his left at the end – I think that the exit line for the left wrap is really great but turn away to get the left wrap might not be faster than slicing into the wrap to his right? Do you know if he is lefty or righty? For example – with two of my dogs, that wrap to the right would be faster because they are righty and can power through it ever-so-slightly better than to the left. And for one of my dogs, he is a little better turning to his left, so that turn away to the left wrap would be very easy for him, and ultimately faster.
You can try both and time it! And you can also see if you can leave him in the poles to do a BC between 17-18 to get a sweeter line to the wrap to the left. At some point this summer, we will be timing all the options to truly know what it better.He was so funny at the end of the full run – he didn’t want the toy til you engaged with it with him, and you were like “I’ll be there in a minute” LOL!
Lovely work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
