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Good morning!
I am having trouble getting the video to play – I think it is an internet issue on end, so I will try again in a couple of hours. Here are some answers to your questions, though:
>No issues o the lead out, because the positional cue is very clear. And I also like training both physical cues, so that I can both – there is a time and place for each!<< OK, would be a lot easier also. Same verbal is ok?>>
Same verbal is great – we are naming the dog’s behavior, so the same verbal is great 🙂 Kind of like saying “sit” when w are standing, walking, or sitting and the dog should sit 🙂
>>OK, will try to remember to do that but will not be easy going to say – LOL. Initial thought is keep the li and ri as the elongated and the in as rapid fire.
It is not easy at first but it is super motivating when it makes handling so much easier – I practiced a whole lot without the dog to get it into my blood LOL
>>Had another q as was trying the tunnel threadle work and had big issues adding in the wing before – have to redo to show you. Wondering, I don’t have a collection cue as you mentioned in the video – how necessary do you think one is and what does it actually mean?>>
You already have the collection cue: the left/right or wrap cues. The general ‘collection cue’ was mentioned because which cue you choose depends specifically on how tight of a turn you need on the jump before it Might be a left/right, or in those flatter & harder threadles, might be a wrap!
>>I think my main issue adding in the wing before the tunnel threadle was I wasn’t getting my feet/body turned onto the threadle line early enough (was basically facing the wrong tunnel entry), but she is going so fast to the wing I don’t have time to do the before she is there already after releasing her. I ws using my wrap cues, but maybe the left/right would be better?>>
Might just be that the verbal was late and the easy tunnel entry was more obvious to her. Start her in a stay further away so you are closer to the wing, and have more time to set the turn and change her line. If that is still too hard, turn the “obvious” tunnel entry to a less obvious line, where she would have to move away from you to get it and can’t just lock onto it as easily. The wing would be more in the center of the tunnel.
Let me know how it goes! Be back soon with the video!
TracyHello, happy Saturday!
>>So walk thrus should concentrate on connection and verbals. I am also finding I am a bit challenged by the spacial awareness, so that is also something else I concentrate on the walk thru, so it is a lot of stuff for 7 mins. And at the UKI trials when it is tall to small I am usually the first dog or very close to it and it does not give me enough time to rehearse the run>>
You’re correct, it is a lot for 7 minutes!
Let’s prioritize. Number 1 is connected. Number 2 is spatial awareness. #3 is verbals. So for the next courses and trials, concentrate only on connection. When that is comfy, we will add spatial awareness. Then last? Verbals! That will help you get good at each one!
Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyJust a quick Saturday night summary –
You didn’t blow the handling! You had some bloopers on some evil courses with an inexperienced dogs. The great stuff outweighs the bloopers! My only suggestion is to not stop and fix anything – just keep going after a fault, run run run 🙂 that’ll keep her happy and driven. She was high, but not too high – she is looking good and so are you!
This is her first experience on courses like those and in an event like this: you’re doing great! Stay connected and run your pants off on Sunday!Hi!
Yes, it is weird LOL! But very very effective. I’m sure my friends at trials and neighbors at home think I’m nuts, but it really helps my handing 🙂
TracyGood morning!
That Cosmo looked YUMMY!
The serping is going well! She had the miss on the first one, no worries – the rest all looked good. You can use the first rep as a bit of a ‘warm up’ by angling the serp jump so she sees it a little better, then after a success you can ‘flatten’ it what it was here. Since I am always obsessing on handler mechanics – to get the serp shoulders of being open to the jump (shoulders facing the bar more for serps) – would it be easer to show serp shoulder position if your arm was higher, at shoulder height? There are two spots where a high arm is useful: Serps and threadle slices. The high arm in those 2 spots make things easier for both you (easier to rotate the upper body) and her (the connection is clear with the high arm in those 2 instances, because the upper body is rotated back to the dog). Keeping the arm low might be losing the connection a bit, making it harder for you to show the serp position while running. Play around with it and let me know if it is more comfy – and yes, you can totally have a cosmo in your serp up when it is a little higher too 🙂
RC video – wow those first 2 runs were great! Those are HARD RC angles and getting the backside on 3 is hard too: nailed it! She stumbled a little on the exit of the first tunnel but I think it was because she is getting really powerful and needs more tunnel bags. The water bottle rep looked good too – you were later getting to the backside because you were switching the water bottle but even being a little late: Connection was SUPER clear and she got it. Yay! I think the connection on all 3 runs looked great – extra click/treat/cosmo for you for the connection as you exited the FC after the backside: super duper clear and she had no questions. That is an easy spot to lose the dogs to the wrong end of the tunnel if we are not connected, and she had zero questions.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am so glad the suggestions made sense, the video looked great! The name call and line both totally helped, no trouble on any of the these – only one wide turn when you were late calling her. Super! You can quiet the name calls (more of a whispered ‘Beka beka’ and less of a yelled “BEKABEKABEKABEKA” because the whispering will draw her in even more 🙂
FFC – great job rewarding the stay after your hand has gone into position! We don’t want the hand movement to be the release. She read the FFCs really well! The next thing to add is releasing her on her threadle/slice cues. “OK” is generally a front side indicator, and threadle/slice is a great way to indicate the FFC cue. The lead out push also looked great here!
Forced threadle:
She is reading these well too! You were good about not twitching too soon most of them 🙂 One thing to consider here is changing the delivery of the verbals so they are more different from each other: in in in and le le le (and ri ri ri) are almost identical except for the letters. Pitch, rhythm, speed are basically the same, which makes it harder for her to differentiate (especially when you add motion). So you can keep one of them as a ‘rapidfire’ cue, and the other can be softer and more elongated, to make them different.
About the foot position – I think using the dog-side arm and not the cross arm will help the foot position feel a lot better. With the cross arm, you have to twist a lot which makes the proper foot position very hard. That ended up morphing into a FFC in the 2nd half of the video 🙂>> Question – I opted not to do the Forced Threadle using the ‘serp’ arm as wanted to ask you a question. You don’t see any issues doing that re it’s the same arm as for serps or if planning on using the cross arm for jump threadle’s mid course?
No issues o the lead out, because the positional cue is very clear. And I also like training both physical cues, so that I can both – there is a time and place for each!
>> On the teeter work a question – if she is totally comfortable I assume it is ok to drop the teeter after 2 sessions at same amount of drop?
Yes, if she is totally comfy, drop it another notch but each time you do that, add back something to dampen the sound and stabilize the board a bit, just to help guarantee she will be happy with it.
>> Also, when can we post until?
We have until September 15th :) Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
The physical cues in the walk through all looked good – very clear connection!
You can work this in the walk through too 🙂 You were very quiet, so the next step now is to do the walk through like you did here and add in the verbal cues, both in terms of which ones to use and when to use them. That will immediately help you get them out sooner, because your brain won’t need to ‘reach’ for them in the moment of running the dogs, the verbals will be prepped and ready to go without active thought. It might not feel like you are actively thinking about them, but the slight delay means you are actively thinking about them in the moment.
The run looked really strong! Yay! Keiko and I both loved the extra tunnel at the ending 🙂 Looking at the run – the big thing I see here is another vote to work your verbals in the walk through too, and work them at the same volume and intensity as you would use them in the run. The reason for this is not just to get them out sooner, but also to match the physical cues to them. In the run, the big loud verbal change your physical cues with both RCs:
On the first RC, the verbal got more motion from you and also caused your arm to go up higher. That worked in your favor here, as you got more acceleration and maintained connection so she nailed it.,
On the 2nd RC, the verbal also got more motion from you…. but that did not work as well because the 2nd RC needed a tight wrap which needed decel. So the verbal needed to be quieter and match the decel you used in the walk through to get the tight turn. She was a little wider here, reading the motion and the urgency of the verbal.Since everything is going so well, I think this is the perfect next step: verbals in the walk through 🙂 Big loud ones on the extension lines, and softer ones when you need the tight turns.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyThis is good info!!! It seems that the resilience factor is more about changes in reinforcement (internal environment) than changes in external environment. Track it – each time it happens, try to jot down a note about what changed. Then we find the pattern and help her out.
I’m glad she got back on the teeter 🙂 I didn’t think you’d see any big issues getting her back on, but I’m glad to hear the session went well. The cone is a great tool (change in external environment, no problem, leads to a chance to move more, all good!!)
Tracy
Good morning!
Great job working through the threadle wraps!
>> Threadle Wrap but the angle between jumps 2 and 3 “messed with my head”. Got it eventually but I’m not really comfortable with the Threadle, Sly on the other hand nailed the wrap >>
It is a really hard angle, a true threadle. On the first couple of reps you needed a bit More turn cue on 2 (so that starts on landing of 1) then the threadle wrap with one more step from you to help him take the jump in the context of a sequence. Looking at 1:24, for example, you used handling to get collection before takeoff of 2, then the threadle wrap was much easier. NICE!!!
>> Easily able to get to where I needed to be to front between 2 and 3 to do the wrap with Sly on my right. Tried this with me on both the landing and takeoff side of the jump.
Doing the FC to the backside wrap on the rep that started at 1:43 was easier for him to read for sure! However, it was not necessarily faster than the threadle wrap – when I timed it, it was at best equal to the threadle wrap. Interesting!!! So if we can get the threadle wrap more comfy for you both, that will ultimately be faster 🙂 The 2nd rep of the FC to the backside wrap was slower by a stride because you were late on the FC and a step too far off the line on landing of 2, so he landed wider.
>>I liked going in for 7, 8, 9 better than layering the tunnel.
The rest was easy and looked really good! Running with him on the other side of the tunnel was a stride faster than the layering (yes, I timed it LOL!) but I think that you can give more connection and verbals support in the layering, and that will end up faster. It looked like he slowed down a little as you got quiet and looked ahead at the last jump. And the choice to layer or not will depend on what is next on course, so it is good to have both tools in your pocket 🙂
>> My 5 and 6 are a little closer than yours and when I walked it a front felt better than a blind there. Tried both, not sure I have a preference, need to figure out how to time the 2. >>
I think it depends on if you are running into it or planning the layering:
To set up the laying, do the FC because as you exit the rotation, you won’t be as far ahead of him and can send him away into the line without you needing to decelerate. To set up running ahead of him – do the blind like at 2:13 because it gets you ahead, faster, which speeds him up too! The blind into the layering is likely to feel more awkward, because you can really accelerate through the blind which puts you way ahead… but for the layering you would then need to decelerate or even back pedal, which is counterproductive. Let me know if that makes sense!Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad you had fun with these sequences – the rear crosses are an important tool for us and our dogs 🙂 He looked great – he was indeed vocal but in a good way!
>> After watching them, I wonder why my arms are so high on the walk throughs with my invisible dog.
I don’t know why you had your hand so high either LOL! Maybe as a way of connecting to the dog? You were looking forward so the arm up might be a way to connecting, but you can switch that to looking at his eyes more. Or maybe your body was subconsciously planning a send? Your arm did went up when you sent to the backside, but it worked well there because you were connected before it.
>> Also, I’m thinking about changing my verbal for backside wrap to push instead of “ah nanana” (too hard to say).
I like the push words, and I agree that ah nana nana is harder to stay (plus if you use lalala too, it sounds too much alike.
Seq A:
The runs looked consistently great! I think you can put that converging pressure on him even sooner: you were being a little polite and waited for him at 2 – because he is so fast, I bet you can take off up the line and head directly to the wing of 3 – then if he is still behind you, you can decel at 3 to set the line for the RC or get right on it if he has caught up to you.
The backside and blind to the tunnel looked awesome 🙂
On the sends to the tunnel, you can send more with verbals and connection while your feet move away, to see if you can get ahead and layer the jump
And not he last rep when you did NOT want the rear cross? Your handling was SUPER clear and he nailed it.One small suggestion on the RC itself: I notice that as you start the RC line, he looked at your for a step at :47, 1:08, and 1:35. He got the RC right on all of them, so I think he is looking at you either because you are closing your dog-side shoulder forward (so he is not sure if it is a post turn or a RC), or he is not totally comfortable with RCs (or both :)) So try to keep your dog-side arm back more and make a little more eye contact connection with him as he is passing you (sounds counterintuitive but works really well). And throw lots of rewards to the landing of the RC. Those 2 things should help him stop looking at you.
Seq B:
On the walk through, you are going to close to 3 – see if you can RC 2 and send away to 3 while not going much past 2 at all. THe first run went well because you ran your pants off! Your tried leaving sooner at 3 on the 2nd run, but that caused a disconnection so he dropped the bar at 3 (the wing at 5 was just him chasing the reward :)) The 3rd run went well because of your hustle 🙂 So if you try this one again or see something similar, try to do the big send to 3, support the line to the 4 tunnel rom miles away (you will be between 1 and 2, ideally, when he gets into the tunnel) and then you can meet him at 5 with lots of speed from him and very little effort on your part 🙂Seq C – looks like this tight wrap away skill is strong, because you got him doing it right away and your were using clear verbals – and you didn’t not need to run all the way to the jump and show rear cross. Yay!
When you added it to the bigger sequences: you definitely get the need to NOT go all the way down to the #3 jump 🙂 and at :37 and 1:02 you were already much further from 3 and 4. That definitely helped you get back up the line to deal with the tight RC at the end!
The blooper at 1:09 was great – not enough connection as you set up the tight rear cross and you turned your shoulders a lot… so he read it as a threadle wrap. That is good to know, for when you want to use a threadle wrap: rotate more, connect less, and he will nail it! You fixed it for. The next rep: a little more connect and less shoulder turn at 1:32, and he was back to doing the RC perfectly.
The walk through for the other sequence as next, and it was interesting: you walk it very differently than you actually run it! When you run it, you have lower arms, a lot more connection, more speed, more verbals. The walk through is probably muscle memory from doing walk throughs: quiet, slower, arms high. The more you can convince your arms to stay down, worth the connections, the verbals, etc – the better your runs will be because your brain will do less multi-tasking during the runs, devoting more bandwidth to the harder stuff and the easier stuff (like connection) will be automatic)
On the last sequence: I agree, he might have been getting a little tired, but he was still running well! There were two tiny details:
On the first run, you didn’t quite get connection after the first tunnel at 2:20 so he didn’t layer, then you were much clearer on the last rep so he was perfect again.
And on the last RC – it probably felt more pressured to you because there was so much more speed, and so at 2:23 and on the last rep you gave him more of a shoulder pull than he needs to set up the last RC. Compare it to the Seq A runs where he didn’t really need the help, he found it really well without the shoulder pull. So when you are in the high speed situation, you can keep moving forward on the diagonal like you did when there was less speed, and I am confident he will be great 🙂
Lovely work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! I am glad to see this video! Bummer about the knee, and I know how hard it is to breathe at 8000 feet!! I am sure he was happy to receive as many contact rewards as you wanted to deliver LOL!
Hopefully these runs built up your confidence after the poopy trial! These are big, challenging courses and you did great!
Course 1, first run – this went really well, I think the weave entry is the only hard part!
You can some layering in the opening – since you sent to the tunnel on the landing side of 2 at :11, you can layer that jump as he gets on the DW. That will minimize your yardage (yay!) and get you really far ahead for the teeter (double yay!). If he will hit and hold the contacts, you can be on landing side of 6 as he hits the contact position.Weave entry – it was hard for him, so you can add that wing to it to help him find it, so you don’t have to run in closer to help him find it.
The line after the weaves looked good too – you can trust his independence more and as soon as he turns his head for the correct direction for the jump after the weaves, you can get outta there and move up the line. He found the line to the tunnel beautifully, even with you layering the jump! He probably needs a go cue before he enters that tunnel so he exits straight – you can give him the go cue before he enters then switch to the a-frame cue while he is in it.
After the frame – he read the next line well too – nice FC and then he was great about sending to the tunnel so you could take off up th being ending line! You can trust him even more there – for a moment, you stopped your moment and waiting for him but then he caught up pretty quickly LOL! Try to trust more, be sorta connected on lines like this, yell the verbals and run for your life 🙂
Run 2: he missed the jump after the tunnel at 1:28 in the opening here (after having gotten it on the first run and then he got it at 1:42 when you re-started). I think the difference was your position. On the first run and at 1:42, you were more in the center of the bar. At 1:28, you were past the exit wing. So he might not fully understand the independence here – good to know! You can walk through it with you past the exit wing, so he finds the jump, because I think being past the exit wing was the best position!
You had more of a layering element with the dog walk at 1:47 and he was great! Now… layer and run away laterally 🙂 How close to the teeter can you get, while he is on the DW? That will keep you ahead on the teeter and for the jump after it. The ‘here’ cue on the jump after it was a little late, so he was wider – being a little further ahead will allow you to show him the turn cues before he takes off (and since he is not really going to hold the teeter position, being more laterally away from the DW will really help :))Good boy got the weave entry! Yay!
You wrapped the other way on the jump after it at 2:32, but that set a different line and he did not find the tunnel when he got ahead of you and you tried to turn. I looked back at the first run when you did this (:36) and I think you wanted the wrap to the right there too, but your footwork cued a left wrap by accident? But that left wrap flip-away worked GREAT here! You did a spin there to get him on your left on the last rep at 2:48 but then you had to RC the tunnel and sprint like mad – I vote for that flick away move, it was so much easier 🙂
Great job on the ending line! After the FC and send to the tunnel, you took off and yelled the verbals but did not stick around to help: perfect! He found the line really well and you were ahead of him at the end. YAY!Overall, really well done! My only suggestions are to work more layering skills and lateral distance while he is on the DW, and also work the left-wrap flip away on the jump after the weaves 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Congrats on the title, that is awesome! It is pretty normal for the dogs to not be quite as fast in their first trials as they are at home, plus add in the covid years… I think she is doing a great job!!! She will speed up when she has more experience at trials.>> Question – If I decide to try something, such as not going as far in toward jump 3, I assume I should still keep everything else the same when it was so successful the first time round, correct? I was changing more than distance, and it showed. She is really keeping me honest, and is really clear in her communication back to me, isn’t she.>>
Yes, she is totally keeping you honest LOL!!! And also yes – if you are going to change one thing, change only that one thing and leave the other variables in place. That will help her let you know if the change you made was effective or not. If you change several variables, it is harder to know what was happening and why it happened 🙂
TracyHi! This went really well! I think did really well reading the cues!
When it was just 2 or 3 jumps, she was not really running because there was not a lot of motion. But as soon as you added speed into it? She was very happy 🙂
So I think the tuns looked really good and the next step is to put it into the really big sequences, so you run into it, do the decel & turn, then accelerate out of it. That will get her really driving and it will also give you the chance to play with the cues at speed. When you were stationary, you were rotating towards her but as soon as you started moving, your facing straight and that was better 🙂 Her commitment and turn looked great, so I think she is ready for more 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! This went really well! I think did really well reading the cues!
When it was just 2 or 3 jumps, she was not really running because there was not a lot of motion. But as soon as you added speed into it? She was very happy 🙂
So I think the tuns looked really good and the next step is to put it into the really big sequences, so you run into it, do the decel & turn, then accelerate out of it. That will get her really driving and it will also give you the chance to play with the cues at speed. When you were stationary, you were rotating towards her but as soon as you started moving, your facing straight and that was better 🙂 Her commitment and turn looked great, so I think she is ready for more 🙂
Great job!
TracyHi! She seemed pretty happy to bang the teeter around in this session! And I think the sound of it was just fine: a little sound but not too much noise.
The broom toy in the first part was definitely high value – she was very engaged and did not seem worried about the noise or movement at all! She was at her happiest when you released her to get her broom toy when you moved it further from the teeter – she was not as engaged with it when you kept it close to the teeter. That was really the only indication that it was a hard game for her. So, keep using it and when you click, you can run away a few steps to get her happy to chase the broom.
She definitely liked the squeeze cheese too! She kind of wandered off between reps, so you can get her to hop on, then click and release to get the cheese (rather than reward in position). And then she will be right back in the right spot to hop on again 🙂
You can also play this game for her meals: have her meal in a bowl in your hand, then hen she hops on the teeter, release her to eat the whole meal. Yum!!!Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
