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Hi! This went really well!!!! You did all sorts of hard stuff mixed in with the fast lines. Super!!!
The tight blinds were really nice! Nice job with the exit line connection – as soon as he changes sides, you can move the toy out of the way a bit. You kept it pretty obvious til he got to you, so he was not sure if he should grab it or not 🙂
First race track great!!! Perfect connection and line of motion!
He came off the line when you turned your shoulders too soon on the 2nd race track – he just needed more support to the far wing, one more step – you supported more on the next run but didn’t need quite that much motion towards it. You can split the difference: go past the first wing and be super connected – when you see him looking at the far wing, then you can turn and head the other direction.
The figure 8 FCs looked good, low arms were good and the connection was lovely!
> I need to find someone to yell at me and my flinging arms.>
I don’t think there was a flinging arm problem here! You might have felt weird because your arms were moving, but they are moving low and smoothly in a way that helped him.
Arms moving to the jump during countermotion worked well – they were following his line as you moved away. And you were not flinging or pointing ahead so he had no questions when you did that.
A really good example of good arm use is from 1:46 – 1:53.
At 1:47 he exits the tunnel, you are running and pumping arms, and connected. At 1:48 you do a blind and reconnect with low arms and clear exit line connection. Then at 1:49 you deceled and turn your feet to the next wing, and your arms help ‘swoosh’ him past you to the FC on the wing you are cueing while moving away. Then at 1:50 you resume your connected running to get back down the line to the tunnel.That is not the only example – you had multiple really good moments like this!
There was only one blooper: He took the tunnel at 1:40 – you were wanting the wing but disconnected and your right leg was way back, which turned your body to the tunnel line. He took a long look at you and decided it must be the tunnel
Compare to when you re-sent him at 1:44 and your right leg stepped to the wing – no questions at all 🙂Great job here!
TracyHi!
>I’ve been keeping the barrel close bc she really cuts corners and shoots for the actual jump even when I’m doing what I’m supposed to.>
That is a good send to work on, then: sending her away to something even though you are right next to something. The connection will need to be BIG and be sure you are not getting pointy with you arm: generally the pups end up taking the jump and not the barrel when the arm is too pointy (turns your shoulders to the jump/away from the barrel) and connection is too much looking at the barrel and not directly at the dog.
>I’ll keep working it. May be the only thing I do this session lol!! One of my dogs is going to like SERPs!>
Serps are super useful!!!! Have fun!
Tracy
Good morning!
Yes, the rear crosses went super well! When you add in the Go reps for balance, make sure you stay on the outside the wing so she doesn’t rear cross on those too (looks like she turned away at 1:59). You can add in backsides and also RCs the other direction.She did have a question about finishing the barrel wrap – I think part of it was you were sending her then stepping out to the side, so she was like “where are you going” LOL So keep facing the barrel and you can rotate, but stay on the line rather than moving to the side, and see if that helps her out.
She is doing MUCH better with the serps, yay! Yes, angling the jump helped but you were kinda of angling it the wrong direction, creating threadles not serps for most of it – she should be coming towards you over the jump, not jumping away from you over the jump. I put the angling progression here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b6iyjH5R6DMxshGGxkM4H6ngreC02k59-vHDAFxVCwk/edit?usp=sharingThe reps at and after 2:45 were correct when you moved the barrel in line with the jump – but that was the flat angle again, so you can start the next session with it angled again as a refresher.
And with it still angled… add more motion! The start barrel should be further away and the reward should be on the landing side line but also further away (when it was too close, she would hit the wing). You can keep it somewhat angled until you can basically run through the serp, then work on getting it back to the fully ‘flat’ position.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>Someone started a tractor to move it which spooked all the pups a bit, pretty normal reaction but they all got over it after a quick startle. But then the judge’s 9 year old daughter appeared from where the tractor had just disappeared and Beat did lose it a bit barking at her. We had the girl go out and come in a different entrance but same thing so I just leashed her, kept her moving and playing her pattern game until it was clear she wasn’t just going to get over it and then put her up so we could finish course building. So it was at a trial, but pretty unique circumstances and I think the main trigger was the tractor. Had her outside the next day while the little girl was just milling about and no real reaction.>
I agree, pretty unique situation and probably a bit of trigger stacking… she could get over the tractor surprise but the appearance of the kiddo tipped her over and she struggled. Moving her away and getting her outta there til her body could return to baseline was the best thing in the moment, and then do more stuff like pattern games with kids around will be helpful. Sounds like she did well with the kiddo the next day!
In hard situations, you can also whip out decompression tools (moving her away to a snuffle mat, for example, or moving away to a massive throw of treats in the grass) as getting her to breathe and eat can be more helpful than pattern games. It is something to experiment with, and the behavioral outcomes will help us decide which tool is most effective. Adolescent dogs are interesting in that this can also change day by day, and you can also consider breaking up training sessions or play sessions in arousing environments with decompression moments to help balance her internal biology.
>We did some work on the rear cross exercise this afternoon. It was quite warm and she’s definitely not acclimated yet. There was a several minute break of sitting in the shade between working the first and second directions, so this is essentially two sessions.>
I guess we have all gone directly from winter to summer! It is so hot lately!
> We struggled a bit with the warm up exercise of just having her drive ahead to the jump.
It looks like it might have felt weird to hang out at the wing then accelerate – on rep 1 on each side (1st rep on video and also at 1:25), you were waiting for her to exit the wing and then when she did, you didn’t really accelerate then turned away, pulling her off the jump. That overrode the go verbals because motion is all-powerful 🙂 Good job rewarding her anway because she was paying attention to the handling. When you had more motion forward to the jump, she found the line really well. You can hang out at the wing then be connected as she exits and run forward, pumping arms like a sprinter (no need to point to the jump if you are connected). She should blow right by you on the straight line 🙂
>> When doing the rear cross, she found it easier if I moved faster and was really running/driving the new direction rather than trying to move slower and be less distracting.>
Rear crosses are actually pretty hard in these early stages! And yes, the best reps were at 1:11, 3:28, and 3:38 where you were moving up the RC diagonal towards the center of the bar. The motion along that line is the main cue for the RC and on those reps, you really delivered the info and she got it in both directions! Yay!
When you were not moving as much, or trying to change sides early – it was not clear enough info and she turned the other way. So I think your motion driving up the RC was not distracting at all, I think it was helpful to her. Keep getting right on her tail to put the RC pressure line info in play as early as you can. One of the cool things that the Whippet brings to the table in this mix is that there is no “bubble”, meaning that you can get as close to her as you like and the pressure won’t push her off the line like it might with BCs or other herding breeds.
If you end up getting the backside of the jump, that means you pushed the line too much and get ahead, which indeed cues the backside (the advanced version of this game adds the backsides :))
Great job!!
TracyHi!
> We had him at 6′ between the jumps….but on these at 6′ he doesn’t look as balanced. Maybe it is because of the movement of the toy…>
I think he did well, especially if this was the first time with the moving target! This is really challenging from young powerful dogs and I think he was lovely. You might see some interesting choices at first but it is all about him sorting out his mechanics. He was working hard to balance the ‘step in’ on the first jump and control his core, and he had tons of power over 2nd jump. He was not off balance, I think you were seeing perhaps more power and speed that he was bringing to the game.
>.maybe I should have done a couple just with a food bowl. I might go back and try that this afternoon. What do you think?
I don’t think you need to 🙂 What you can do it lead out a little further so the toy is at least 8 feet past jump 2 when you release him – it was a little close especially on rep 1, so he had to figure out how to stop pretty quickly 🙂 And as you are moving, have the toy dragging from the dog-side arm so you are not over-rotated back to him.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
>As far as the lateral lead outs, I was sort of testing how much support she needed, so you’re right, I definitely should have rewarded when she came with me since I was really pushing the edge of how far I KNEW she could commit from.>
I think she can get it from that distance if you slightly rotate to face the tunnel entry more. You can also help her out with a toy right at the tunnel entrance 🙂
>And as for the FedEx guy, I think he ran because he was legit afraid!>
Maybe! I thought he was running to get the package placed when she was coming back to you.
> It has gotten quite a bit better recently, partly because of working the pattern games with her in those situations, partly maturity, and also partly because I take her with a buddy most of the time now. My terriers may have their faults but stranger danger isn’t one of them!>
Perfect!!
>>As for managing it at home, I can take a slip lead out with me and close the gate to the potty yard (since she also nailed herself rushing through the gate). I have a good old agility table I can use as a station, though may need to rethink where I put it>
This all sounds good. Country dog living does make it more likely to get big responses when someone shows up randomly. Has she ever had a big response in a dog sports environment?
Keep me posted 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
>I made a cheat sheet on a post-it to take outside with me and then addressed all of my issues from last session.>
Post-its are awesome! I also text info to myself LOL Anything we can do to help remember and plan is great 🙂
>On the ladder, I moved the jumps to 8″ locked in. I added more motion with dragging the toy.>
The first rep was really strong! On the 2nd rep, he touched the 1st and 3rd bars – possibly a tiny bit of rushing because you started running more or sooner? Hard to tell from the camera angle, but also nothing worrisome. Having the bars a little higher definitely produced jumping form, so you can leave the setup like this to revisit for a session or two in a few days.
The turns on the blinds were looking good! Your timing was earlier and when you stayed closer to the line between the wing (like at :24 and :45, for example) he turned nice and tight! Staying in motion after the cross got good driving through the cross, even when you ended up a little past the wing.
In this setup, you want to stay nice and tight to the wing to get the best turn, so you can go a little closer to the tunnel then decelerate into the blind at the wing. That will both cue the collection and keep you on a nice tight line.
Good job adding the sprinkler! You turned your shoulders away from the line a little too soon on the first rep at :52 so he turned with you. The rest of the reps were much better in terms of supporting the line – I bet you didn’t need to get as close to the middle jump, as long as you faced it for one stride longer.
Great job!
TracyHi!
>Frankie had an amazing weekend! She was amped & engaged for every run and we didn’t do any FEO! We did 3 runs a day. This is the location that we had the most trouble at 2 years ago and I skipped it last year.>
This is fantastic! I am so excited for you!!!!
>We played the remote reinforcement game about 20 feet from the ring until we were closer in the lineup. Then we switched to volume dial games outside the gate. Lots of barking on cue! She even did some “middle” line ups in the ring AND barked in the ring before we started!>
She is kind of the opposite of Bazinga, in terms of getting her ramped up before the run: Crank Up Frank 🙂
>The errors were mine and she dropped a couple of bars but I think the dirt was slippery. It felt like when you stepped, the sand compacted but then the sand beneath that compressed sand moved underneath your foot and I could feel my footing slip a few times.>
Yes, deep footing is especially hard for small dogs.
Standard 1 looked strong – she was running with a huge stride and was especially brilliant on the line that took her right past the crowd at the front of the ring. Nice save at :31 – I think she read it as a rear cross based on your motion converging in a bit. But you were connected and saw it happening, so you immediately changed plans and kept going. Excellent thinking on your feet!
JWW 1 – lookd strong too! You can try for more FCs and BCs, just to push harder! Weaving into the corner of the ring is a common and also annoying 😂🤣AKC challenge so definitely help her by going all the way to the end of the weaves with her.
Super nice Premier JWW 1 – you were connected and worked every line really well! She got a really hard weave entry and you went with her to the end, which really supported her line. Super!
T2B on Sunday – also super nice! She was really good on the start line with the giant walk through happening behind her. That might have contributed to the bar down: she was jumping directly towards that ring, you were accelerating and maybe not quite connected enough – she tried to balance her stride there by adding one more stride. but it didn’t quiet work so she hit the bar.
Sunday standard – she was flying! Nice run! Was the fault for taking an extra jump after the weaves? It was hard to tell because your motion did present that jump.
Did you want a left turn wrap at 1:00? You got a rear cross, similar to what happened in Saturday standard – she is reading converging motion as rear cross cues. So to get the wrap, you can stay further away from the jump, even pulling away a little, so the is no convergence as you move into the wrap cues.
She looked a little more tired at the start of her run in Sunday JWW but mentally was still with you and very engaged – the run was great! She really picked up steam and you really drove her. I love the blind at the end! Did you hear the big loud noise at :45 that she completely ignore? Super!!!
Great job on these! I am excited to hear about your Nationals adventure!!!
Tracy
Hi!
> I’m leaning towards CAMP because submitting homework keeps me accountable & moving forward. Otherwise, I seem to get stuck in a perfection-illusion loop!>
Yes, it is good to get feedback! And the MasterClass site is available whenever you want, as opposed to CAMP which is the summer only.
I am so glad she did well at the trial!! She seemed very comfy there and it is a loud, busy environment!
> When I watched the video again, I do think she was waiting for me to release her and she thought what I said was “break.” When I think about it, I saw her expression & her face said it all, she really thought I released her.>
It was an honest anticipation, she is the best girl 🙂 Watching that video again, you can also set her up on a slice at jump 1 so she has a straight line to 2. She was straight to 1 which creates a turn to 2, so went past it as you move in. The rest looked great!
On the 2nd video:
Clearly the 8″ class is the CUTEST bunch of spicy nuggets – look at the dog leaving when she was coming in. SO CUTE! Anyway…Nice lead out and rear cross in the opening! You can start from a stay after the reward – things got a little sideways when you tried to run with her, and she got ahead. She loves her stays so you can use that to your advantage, to get ahead of her and show the line.
>She had a great run on Sunday too. I did the volume dial after I warmed her up and when we got closer to the ring, I switched to the up & down game with treats on my shoes at the gate. She did tug the leash on the way in (which I was happy about) and she let it go when I unclipped it which is perfect! She let me drop it & gave me her attention. Then she did “middle” line up for me at the start jump.>
This is great! It is possible that the pattern game is the sweet spot right before she goes into the ring, for optimal arousal!
>Next stop is the Boston Nationals! I am going to stick to my guns and stay FEO for novice JWW. I could try doing FAST as In & Out (no toy) and see how she does with playing once we get to her leash at the end. That would be a first attempt at in & out for us.>
FUN!!!! If the FEO in JWW goes well, and the FAST course has a smooth easy line and an easy send: you can totally try a longer in-and-out. FAST is a short amount of time anyway, so if there are lots of good jump/tunnel options then you can create a smooth course including an easy send, then get out.
>I have some crazy news! We are picking up a hitchhiker on the way home from nationals!
>OMG this is the CUTEST jumping bean!!!
>He is my hubby’s puppy and I’m going to try hard not to steal him, but I think he needs to learn agility foundations at least for his well-being & happiness>
I think you will end up stealing him hahaha but also yes – definitely do agility!!! I can’t wait to hear more about him!!!!
Keep me posted on Nationals!
Tracy
No worries! There is SO MUCH to remember in the moment when training young dogs… I don’t remember most of it LOL so I have gone to writing it down in advance or after each turn. I either text it to myself, or write it on a post it note 🙂 And sometimes I write it on my hand LOL!! That helps me plan and more importantly… REMEMBER what the heck I am going to do 🙂
Have fun! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>Here is the diamond we did not do the very last exercise because Diane was tired.>
That is relatable LOL! There is a lot of running on this one!!! It went really well 🙂
At the beginning, you were doing FCs not BCs. Your conenction was lovely and his commitment/turns looked great! I love how he drives away from you to get to the next wing after each cross!
To get the blinds instead of the FCs, you can remind your feet to turn away from him (towards the next wing) rather than towards him. And definitely keep the clear connection, that worked great!
He was not quite as sure about the race tracks around the wings, but I think that was more about connection and not about the wings. You were pointing ahead to each wing, which blocks connection and turns your shoulders away from the line so he looks up at you.
You can see it at 1:18 between the orange wing and the blue wing – you were pointing ahead and looking ahead, which almost pulled him off the line. Getting closer to the wings helped, but you can get the distance you wanted by using more connection and less arms: your dog-side arm can be pointed back and down to his nose, or you can just use your arms to run . With both of these, the connection to his eyes will turn your shoulders to the line, which will support his commitment.
There was one blooper at 1:59 where he ended up behind you – after exiting the wing you pointed forward to the tunnel entry you wanted but that blocked connection and looked like the beginning of a blind, which he executed beautifully 🙂 That is another spot to keep your arm low and pointing to his nose, and looking back at him so he sees the line of your shoulders.
That is what you did at 2:17 and it was lovely!Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! He did really well here! What is the distance? We can keep track and keep adjusting as his skills develop. Were these 4 inch bars? You can try this at 6 inches now 🙂
He was hilarious at :06 where he tried to move into his down, with his foot draped on the bar LOL Since we know that the down is his preferred position but also we don’t want the down on the jump grids: if he moves into the down, you can lure him up with a cookie (he might not like being lifted up, and he is not necessarily wrong about the down…)
He had one broken stay at :31, it looks like he thought the release was you connecting. So stay connected as you lead out, then praise before you release so he doesn’t think the release is anything different than the word 🙂
The angled jumps were not visually hard for him, but I think the distances might have ended up being too big – he added a stride between jump 1 and 2. So you can shorten up the distance a little so he bounces. Ticking the first bar on the last one might have been him being a shade too far back like you mentioned, or fatigue from his exciting day 🙂
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! His commitment looked really strong here!
On the tight blinds at the wing, you were actually doing reverse spins (FC/BC combos) rather than true blinds. He read them well and your handling/reinforcement looked great! They are a useful skill for sure. You can also work the true blinds, by reminding your feet to turn away from him instead of towards him.
The first race track looked awesome! Fast and connected, great commitment!
On the 2nd race track: you had a little break in connection at: 53 by looking ahead to the furthest wing, which pulled him off the line. You got closer on the next rep but I bet you can get him to work at more of a distance by ramping up your connection, more like what you did when he was on your left.
On the last run where you put it all together: the wraps looked good and the race track on your left was great! Note how connected you were, and how he had no questions about staying out on the line. You didn’t need to use your arm much at all, and you also didn’t need to get close to the wings. Super!!
Great job!
TracyHi!
The set point is going really well! I think the next step is to have you start moving faster after the release, building up having you running 🙂 The form is looking good! And you can also go to the 3 jump grip that is posted, if you haven’t done it yet 🙂
>Some broken start lines probably for the same reason as before.>
Yes, and it is both hilarious and brilliant. The broken stays were at about step 10! And most of your releases were at step 10 LOL!! At :48 you had one rep where you had more steps before the release and that was great. You can keep mixing it up 🙂
On the tunnel exits:
The timing of the tunnel cue and the wrap cue after it were both really good! Adding the turn cue for the tunnel exit when he is still 6 feet away from entering was good- he is naturally is turning towards you on the exit, probably because of where he saw you last, and we want to get him accelerating straight even more.You can make the wraps, left/right and GO sound more different (and look different). Right now they are all similar sounding in terms of volume and rhythm, which can make it harder for him to know which one you want.
The wraps can be super quiet, almost whispered 🙂 The left/right verbals can be at a conversational volume and more drawn out, and even sound like a question: leehft? riiiiight? And the GO can be SUPER loud: GOOO! GOOO! And shoulder turn/not as much motion will help get the turns. where big acceleration can help cue the GO:
Sending him around the start wing from further away and letting him see big acceleration like at :43 and :55 helped him exit straighter for sure! And as he exits the tunnel, keeping your arm down so he can see connection will help him stay out on the line – when you did that, he found the wing nicely (like at 2:11 and 2:27)! When your arm was up high and blocking connection (like at 1:49), your shoulders ended up pointing to the other side of the wing so he was not sure where to go.
On the next session, you can add more distance by moving the wings on the side of the tunnel even further away 🙂
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I think what was happening here was motion was overriding the verbal, so you were getting extra tunnels.
When you wanted the tunnel (like at :17 and :27 for example), you had motion that turned towards the tunnel. After that – when you wanted the wrap, you were turning towards the tunnel too… so the motion facing the tunnel overrode the verbal. Even when you were holding his collar longer so he could hear the verbal several times before moving, you turned towards the tunnel when you released him to move (:35 and :54 for example). Then I think he was guessing a bit, because the motion to the tunnel was not the cue so I think he was trying to figure out what was the cue.
On the other side, and on the successful wraps on the first side, you were either completely stationary or even turned a little away (like part way through a front cross). So when you re-visit this, definitely hold him so he hears the verbal a few time… then be careful when you let him go 🙂 For the wrap, you can do a FC or don’t move at all, but be careful not to turn and face the tunnel 🙂
Nice work!
Tracy
