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Hi!
>I can send Kashia from much farther away than I can Kastella. But in courses or running sequences like this, it’s just the opposite! >
That is interesting! I wonder if Kastella is more responsive to decel, so she thinks she isn’t supposed to go without motion? Kashia might not care as much about decel so she is happier to go without motion? They are definitely different!
>I only went for one day. We did incorporate two blinds where we had to make almost a 90 degree turn to the A-frame and then another 90 degree turn one obstacle after the A-frame to the teeter. I did a blind in both locations with both girls and they worked great!>
Yay! I am glad you did them and they worked great!!
>I play it much more safely and conservatively in a trial than I do at home…but I will definitely look for areas to practice everything I’ve learned in the blind boot camp! >
Super! Definitely go for It 🙂 Remember that you are an excellent runner so you are more than likely going to be able to get ahead to get the blind! Trust yourself and your girls, and go for it 🙂
>My girls are just so consistent that if I play it safe, they tend to Q relatively easily. But I know it’s about more than the Q if I want to keep improving our skills!>
Yes, you can set goals for yourself: how fast can you go? How much can you drive to get the fastest course time? Have fun :) T
Hi!
Yes, definitely check your video to see what is going on! It is great that you have so much video – that will make a difference as you smooth out the handling to get those Qs more consistently 🙂
T
Hi!
I see what you mean about him sometimes getting stuck with the ‘over’ – those left turns are hard for him!
When he was turning to his right, easy peasy! He could do it smoothly and from harder angles.
But the left turns were needing massive thought to sort out on this. So you can help on the left turns but putting the toy down between bars 2 and 3 as a focal point. That can help him sort out the mechanics of the left turns, while you work on the harder angles and starting from the middle on the right turns.
He also gets a gold star and extra cookies for NOT running off to the person that approached at the end of the video!!! Good boy!!!
Nice work here :) Tracy
Hi!
He is getting really good about bringing the toy back quickly! Yay! That makes the session more efficient for everyone.
Dog on left at the beginning went GREAT! Nice connection, nice motion, strong toy throws – he sorted it out with you running and getting more lateral. Yay!
Dog on right – definitely a little harder! He finds turning left harder here for sure.
When he had questions at 2:59, 3:18 for example – both of your hands were in front of you on the toy, which closes off your shoulder (blocks connection) and also draws his focus to the toy.
But then compare to the connection you gave him at 4:21 which was PERFECT: eyes on him and more importantly – the right shoulder was back so he could see your connection.
I think you were strong with connection at 4:42 as well but the jump is a little off the line (it is not really a straight line from the tunnel exit) so he had a question. So throwing the toy early and being hugely connected like you were on the last rep in that session will help. Also, curving the tunnel a bit so it is a completely straight line when he is on your right will help too – it probably won’t be as necessary to do that on the other side, but he has a harder time when he is on your right (turning to his left).
>My body turns in one direction much more easily than the other, so that might have had something to do with it.>
I can relate! I have hit the age where my body does not turn well in either direction 😂 so I remind myself to point back to the dog, which helps keep my shoulder open and get connection.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
The first side went really well!
It was interesting that he read the wing wrap on the 2nd side as a full wrap and not as a line to the serp. In that instance, you can angle the jump so the bar is facing his line more and easier to see. Is that also when the neighbor dog was barking? Your ear buds eliminated extra sound so I didn’t hear any barking 🙂 Maybe it was just the distraction because he was getting that side really well at the end!
It is also possible that you were giving him more connection on the 1st side than on the 2nd side so when you disconnected a little, he read it as a cue to come through the gap. I thought your connection was good, so it was more of a stay-on-your-line question and angling the jump will totally help that.
Only one suggestion as you add more speed in the form of handler motion:
Try to open up your serp arm more, so the center of your chest points back to him across the bar.
Nice work!
Tracy
Hi!
> Over (with a weird N. American accent for some reason) has always been my soft turn cue.>
Ha! The weird American accent cracks me up LOL!! It is a terrible accent, really 😂 😆
> I was going to use “swing” as the soft turn cue away, so re-deployed for right. (My mnemonic is that each cue has the same number of letters as the words left and right)>
Clever! I love the mnemonic!!!!
T
Good morning!
>By the way, I do have a set of home channel weaves. And I found some 2 x 2s to borrow. The see saw is gradually tipping…not quite to the mid way point yet.>
Great! You can introduce the channels (wide open for now) and see how he feels about it!
>He’s not all that thrilled with the DW mat work. The manners minder was totally boring for him so Jess started using a toy with him and having him go to wrap a wing after hitting the mat. At home, he is just kind of blah about it.>
He might be ‘meh’ about it because it is maybe boring and repetitive? I trained my RDWs with the wing after the mat then the reward – the dogs loved it! Are you placing the reward after the wing, or tugging? I am guessing he prefers tugging or a thrown toy over a dead toy.
You can also elevate the mat so he has more challenge – attach it to something that lifts it off the ground a little higher. And you can add a wing wrap before it, so it is wing – mat – wing- reward.
Looking at the zig zags – he was definitely sorting out his footwork on the first video. Be sure he is very close to the first bar so he can’t step in before takeoff, he has to take off from his rear.
I think the distance was just a shade too big for now to get consistent bouncing, so yes to using the 4 foot bar. You can even overlap the wings a bit so there is a smaller distance, or use a weave pole as the bar 🙂Lap turns – these are not as commonly found on course nowadays but they are a great gateway to the more challenging tandem turns and threadle wraps! He was pretty perfect when you were patient and decelerated to let him get to close to you hand before cueing the rest of the turn.
You were too early at 1:10 which is why he correctly went to the other side of the wing (don’t mark him as wrong on these because it relies on handler info 100%). You need to let him get to within a couple of inches of your hand before moving, otherwise the movement looks like a throwback to the other side of the wing. You almost moved to early at 1:25 but caught yourself so he knew which side you wanted 🙂
You told him to put his thinking cap on… but he was totally responding correctly to the cues 🙂Check out the difference in timing at 2:08 and 2:12 – he was a couple of inches from your hand before you started turning him away: perfect!
Tandems: so funny that he was trying to snack on a bee! Eek!!
About the arms:
He was reading the outside arm really well so you can reduce the rotation towards him – ideally your feet are facing forward and you decelerate into the cue. You might find that using both arms/hands is ideal and easier to keep moving forward. You can also revisit the dog-side arm and add deceleration and also a bigger more obvious punch down with it and maybe a shoulder dip – it is possible that he doesn’t really see the dog-side arm because he is small and needs something more obvious.
Because you train at UDog, I looked at what Perry does with her arms on these turns with Spike, her small dog – small dog handling needs to be visible to the dog plus I like to try to keep things consistent with what folks do with their in-person instructors especially when the in-person instructors are of the highest caliber like at UDog 🙂
I am sure Perry and Jess have the same or similar approaches to each other. And Spike is wildly successful which means that Perry’s cues are SUPER clear to her!
Perry uses the outside arm on her threadle wraps and often both hands/arms to cue turns – all relatively low and very clear, with some decel too. The high arms are more for the big sends/layers, and she is still really connected. We are all on the same page 🙂 which is nice because it makes it easier for you! Just food for thought as you add these cues that it is great to use both hands or the outside arm alone.
Serp video:
Ha! Yes, this is a different setup but still serps! Maybe even harder serps! Your cues and your position on the serp jump were really clear – well done with your send-and-leave on the jump after the tunnel, followed by really clear serp arm and line of motion through the serp. And you got the soft turn verbals too! He had no questions from what I could see. Yay!
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning!
Lead outs:
She is reading the lines well and she is holding her stay brilliantly! Those are 2 of the most important things on lead outs 🙂One thing that can smooth out the turns 2-3 is to use positional cues a bit more, so when she is at 1 she already knows where 3 is.
The blind and the lead out push kind of blended here – for the blind, move up the line closer to 3. For the lead out push, lead out and be stationary on the bar at 2 (roughly in the enter of the bar). Being in motion and on the center of the bar made her think you wanted extension on 2 so she was jumping straight rather than turning. That made it hard to pick up the line to 3, like at :20.
When you were closer to 3, like at :27, the line was much clearer and she found it really well.
Towards the end of the session, you were moving through the lead out push line but releasing on the straight line (just after you passed the first wing of 2) so she jumped straight at 1:24 n didn’t get 3. You were a little further across the bar on the last rep and that already helped a ton! So on the lead out push, you can lead out to the position halfway across the bar or more, and be stationary before the release. Start to move as she takes 1 – that will set a really nice line to 3!
For the FC – you can be standing right next to the wing of 3, almost touching it. That will give her the turn cue before you release the stay. At :51 and 1:03 you were on the straight line past 2, so she jumped straight
She is a speedy lady 🙂 so you will want to give her more room between the jumps (which also helps you cue sooner) and more room on landing of 3 (the teeter was close so she dropped the bar on 3 on the first rep).
The spacing on the tunnel/wings of the 2nd video was great – lots of room to run 🙂
The reps at the beginning of GO then ‘bye’ on the wing looked terrific!
>She goes perfectly ahead for a bye wrap but whenever it’s a way wrap she pulls in front of me out of the tunnel or spins. Am I slowing down too much?>
I see what you mean! I don’t think you were slowing down too much – she was turning into you at the tunnel exit.
It is possible on the ‘bye’ reps you were a little further ahead before she entered the tunnel and not as far ahead on the ‘way’ reps. That, plus ‘way’ possibly being the harder side for her, made it harder for her to go all the way to the wing.
She went to the wing perfectly on the way side for the reps where you broke it down a bit, so when you add the full wing-to-tunnel to it you can cheat a little: send to the start wing from further away so you are further ahead on the tunnel entry and exit – that will give her more propulsion on the exit, plus you can be further ahead to show more connection on the exit to support the line to the wing. You can also move the wing closer on that side, and throw the reward earlier to reward going straight on the tunnel exit.
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
He was SO CUTE playing with the toy, dancing around with it!!
I think he was trying to figure out if he should start without you, or if he needed to wait for a cue. He was keen to play and very engaged and not looking worried about the teeter, so we can test that theory by giving him a cue to start:
Have him wear a light collar or harness for this: Line him up next to the board, right near the very end – I like to point my toes parallel to the end of the board (just make sure your toes are not under the board, ouch!). Gently hold his collar/harness, ask if he is ready (I am sure he will be :)) then let go of the collar/harness. You can also say something like “hop on!” if he needs a little more verbal permission.
When he hops onto the board, give a big reward 🙂 You can use the toy like you did here, or you can use a great cookie and reward in position on the board.
If he doesn’t hop on directly, that might indicate that he has a question. In that case, we can reduce the tip of the board to almost nothing, in case he is having a concern.
>I think it’s just that mornings are sub-optimal for him.>
This is entirely possible! Dogs have cycles of energy and focus that fluctuate throughout the day, just like us humans do 🙂 He might be in breakfast mode, or in rest-amd-digest mode if he already ate. So you can try it in the evening and see how it goes!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
He was very happy to go the prop on the get out game! And he was able to do it on both sides – most pups struggle on one side or the other, but Lew had no questions. Super!
It was so fun for him that he preferred it to coming to your hand 🙂 Actually, I think that he was viewing any motion as motion cueing the prop – maybe because he is small, he is extra locked onto motion. You can show him the balance reps without motion: stand still and get the cookie hand really low and maybe even shake it, so it visually draws him away from the prop. Then you can add a bit of motion – I bet that will help him see the difference.
Looking at strike a pose:
Nice job with the super quick reward (especially on the first rep) to show him that his line is between you and the jump n the strike a pose serps! He was coming in beautifully to your left hand even on harder angles, making some very specific choices to find the serp versus going around the jump. YAY!!
Coming in to the serp to your right hand took a moment – his first inclination was to go around the jump and turn left towards you. He figured out the right turns nicely and was able to get faster and faster coming in and turning right.
You can add a reward on the ground for him to focus on (an empty food bowl would be perfect) to get him zipping in and out without needing your hand as much for the reward. Then when he can do that, you can add more movement to this game, walking sloowwlllyyyyy through the serp line and see if he can still come in over the jump even if you are moving.
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>It might be a good idea for me to practice with the Cato board and set that as a starting point gently holding her. >
Yes! You can totally do that, with the Cato close to the first jump so she doesn’t step down then try to get over the first bar.
You can also use the Cato in the zig zag jumping game, if she will hold position on it. Or you can use the Manners minder to get her to go to the starting point further away, so you can add the 3rd wing. She did really well with the introductory level here and is ready for more – and you being near that 3rd wing will really help!
> It’s a tad hard to get her to the exact right spot with the way she leaps and suddenly stops to get the food. We got pretty close except for that one she missed.
>You can leave the Cato where you want her to start and send her to it so you can have more room to get where you want to be 🙂
>We have a long weekend of dog shows so I’ll do some play time working on her left turns.>
> I had to chuckle watching this. It’s a busy busy time at work and I had an early meeting. I got up extra early to train and apparently my brain wasn’t engaged. I completely forgot my marker cues for most of the session.>
That is hilarious! But inspiring to get out early and train – good for you!!! It was still a worthwhile session, with or without marker words 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
> I did do the first introductory sequence of 1-3 but didn’t include them for time savings. With these longer exercises, it’s hard to keep things short enough to get 2 dogs in the allotted time. >
Oops, sorry for any confusion, that is on me: I consider each sequence to be a separate ‘lesson’ so you can have the 2 edited minutes or 5 unedited minutes per sequence, for example, not for all the sequences together. That should allow for plenty of time for both dogs.
The sequences went really well!!
Looking at Nifty’s video:
On the first run, bar down on the jump after the tunnel:> I see maybe I was moving too far over and not keeping true to the mouse line?>
A little bit, yes, but I think it might have been a bit more about the distance being shorter than expected, so Nifty didn’t see the blind soon enough and was adjusting over the bar.
The blind was definitely earlier at :29 (you were finished and reconnected a full stride before takeoff) so she got it – but to do that, you had to start the blind before she exited the tunnel. That worked for these distances but would probably be too early when the distances are bigger (might pull her off of the next jump).On the 2nd sequence, you were a stride late on rep 1 with the blind, as compared to rep 2 at 1:21 where you started before she exited the tunnel.
One other thing to consider: after the blind, you might find it easier to keep rotating towards her to do a spin (that FC-BC move) at :30 and 1:24. Getting connection and doing a post turn is sending her a little wide and delaying you from getting back up the line – you still got to the blinds after the tunnel really well with Nifty but not as early with Canny.
With Nifty, the blinds after the tunnel went great – she is seeing you starting them and appears to be turning really well on the tunnel exit. Super!
On Canny’s video:
Interestingly, you want to use your dog-side arm more to connect after a blind with Canny, which blocks connection (like at :06 and 2:19). Keep making that exit line connection with the opposite arm across your body, because that is soooooo clear to him!Your timing was good on the blind on the first sequence – adding more connection will keep things a bit tighter and being a little more on the mouse line will help too. Because he is small, the mouse line is even more important on that turn.
Looking at the timing on seq 2:
You were a bit late on the timing at :58 but great exit connection!! That got a nice line even without the perfect timing.
The timing was MUCH earlier at 1:18 and still great connection. At 2:18, you had good timing too but the connection was better at 1:18 and :58. The rep at 1:18 was the winner: great timing and great connection!I think doing the spin exit of the jump after the blind instead of the post turn will help get you back up the line sooner for the BC after the tunnel. The spin gets your feet pointing to the new line sooner than the post turn, so you can send Canny to the next jump and the tunnel while you move to the blind. The blind on tunnel exit ended up being late at :10 & 1:39 & 2:24 so he turned after exiting. You were hustling to get there, but he didn’t see the side change starting so exited wide. But you had fantastic connection so he was able to pick up the new side really well. Using the spin on the jump after the blind in that situation should definitely get you back up the line sooner!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Aelfraed had to concentrate very hard to hold his position. You can tell by the eery quiet, lol>
Ha! That made me bust out laughing!
Good job rewarding all those stays! He stood up at 1:04 on video and :23 on video 2 but didn’t otherwise move forward – will he sit on a verbal cue with you out there? Rewarding the stand can be a slippery slope that gets more stands. Asking him to sit again can help, as long as you lead out more before releasing or rewarding – so that sit-stand-sit doesn’t become a chain.
Looking at the blinds:
Super nice timing of the BC at :27 & :48 on video 1, and at :11 & :28 on video 2!
On both videos – you can be more laterally away from jumps 1 and 2 so you are heading to 3 the whole time. You were tending to be moving more straight up the line towards 2, so he was jumping straighter. If you are heading towards 3, he will see the positional cue and be ready to turn.
Your positional cue on 3 for the FC at 1:15 on video 1 was really strong, he was turning over 2 before you even started the FC (and you can start it sooner :))
On video 2 at :42, you were near 3 but facing straight and stepped forward so he jumped straight over 2 before turning after landing (good boy!) Being slightly rotated back to him and dropping your left arm & leg back into the FC will set up earlier turn cues there. This is more of what you did at 1:02 and the turn was definitely better!For the lead out push at 1:36 on video 1 – you can wait longer to release, until you are at or past the center of bar 2. That will get a better turn to 3. You were a little further across the bar at 1:48 and the turn was already better! Ideally, you would get to the center of the bar or past it, set up in a stationary serp position, then release him. You might have been releasing a little early to protect the stay, so you can get to the position and throw the reward back instead of releasing.
What I mean by getting to position is being at the landing side of 2 (kind of close to the jump) with your upper body showing him the line and your feet pointing to 3 – and be stationary in that position when you release him. When he lands from 1 and looks at 2, you can start moving towards 3. Being stationary there sets the turn really well while also committing him to 2.
Moving through the position (rather than stopping to set the line at the bar of 2) made you early in the motion at 1:15 on video 2, so he was a good boy to not take 2! Good job rewarding him.
At 1:22 you compensating by releasing earlier but that read as a straight line, so he was jumping straight over 2 and made a grunt noise at you LOL! At 1:31 you were further across the bar but it still read as a straight line to him. So definitely use that position across the bar, but be stationary when you release til he locks onto 2 – that should be perfect!
Next steps here are to add challenge by spreading the jumps out, to get closer to competition distances!
Nice work!
Tracy
Good morning!
>We started with lead outs. Skizzle did a good job holding his position. It wasn’t super obvious for him where to go, but after a few reps, I think he was patterned to it.>
Lead outs are one of the few places where we do want the dogs to pattern and recognize the patterns. There are a handful of different openings we teach them – and then they can actually recognize the different openings on course. Thankfully, there are not zillions of variations on course openings 🙂 The ones we are working on here are some of the typical openings.
Nice job building up the stay and starting him gradually further and further back! He did beautifully finding the line and holding the stay! When you trust hm more, you can lead out further to be able to start the blinds sooner 🙂 But he is totally recognizing the set up – zipping towards 3 the instant he gets the turn cues. Super!
>From the example videos, it seemed like you expected the dog to know to take jump 3 from your movement?>
Yes – your line of motion and connection shows the dog where 3 is. You can see it on your first couple of reps:
At :16, you did the blind really well so he changed sides, but you were moving straight and not towards 3, so he was going to go past it (til you threw the reward :))
Compare that to :25 where you were closer to 3 when you did the blind, so he knew exactly where to go: to 3!You can also do the blind on the way to 3 as you add longer lead outs. At :43, the blind cross timing is good but you were moving towards the landing side of 2 rather than towards 3. Yo can trust his commitment to 2 and be moving closer to 3 for the blind (rather than closer to 2). But he is clearly recognizing the structure of the lead out line because he totally zipped away to 3 when he saw the new connection 🙂
The FC went well too – you can be closer to 3 on those as well. Moving towards 2 supports the straight line, so you can see him jumping straight over 2 at 1:06. He makes the turn after landing, but you can be closer to 3 on the lead out – that positional cue provides really strong turn info too.
>I have a couple questions – do you use a verbal to tell the dog to turn left after the 2nd jump to take the 3rd? Assuming that might be a soft left verbal?>
For the gigantic dogs, or dogs that don’t turn well, I might use the soft turn verbal. For smaller dogs and dogs that turn well (this is Skizzle :)), the soft turn cues might get too much collection because they can work this line in extension. A ‘jump’ verbal is all you probably need, just to support the line.
>2nd question: I’m catering a bit to Skizzle with having him stand and wait. He doesn’t like to sit in wet grass, and sometimes would prefer not to sit or lie down in grass. It seems to be working all right.>
I call it teamwork! He has given his opinion and you are taking that into consideration. We don’t want him to start the run with an ‘ick’ feeling, and we don’t want the two of you fighting about the position. And a stand stay is a great start position!!
> I think I’m decent at holding criteria for the stand stay position. >
Yes! A stand is great! You can totally use it.Sometimes he might prefer a sit or down but it doesn’t really matter – what matters is that you are both comfy, he holds the stay, and no one is fighting with the other 🙂
>Bonus question – will there be a “live” MaxPup 4? Having a blast, and planning for post-MP3.>
Yes! It is actually on today’s to-do list: pick the MaxPup 4 start date! I figure it will take us through the summer and into the fall.
Great job here!
Tracy
Thank you for the kind words!!!! The Syracuse-area/Fleischmann Field crew has been putting up with me since as far back as 2005 (!) so I really appreciate all of the support and willingness to try new crazy things. And it was SUPER fun for me to see all of these amazing youngsters in person. They did great!!! Baby Ember is fantastic and SO MUCH FUN!!!!! I am excited to see more of you and Em 🙂
Tracy
