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Good morning!
>> For jump 12 “So wrapping the other side of the backside would work a lot better there because she can jump 11 in extension, do a wrap on 12, then be back in extension to the tunnel. ” To make sure I understand this, the dog would be on my right for jump 10 and 11, then I would push her to the backside of the right wing of 12 and she would wrap the wing and I could pick her up on either my right or left to send her into the tunnel. That does sound easier.>>
Yes, that is correct. In this case, the wrap would be faster & easier. In most cases, it is the slice that is faster and easier but only if it is relatively straightforward to get the dog to it. If it requires a lot of turns to get to the slice, the wrap might be faster (especially with small dogs).
>> wanted to share this even if it wasn’t perfect because I did use my verbals more consistently and loudly and I also chose to layer the tunnel. Keltie seemed to like both of these and responded by running pretty fast. I was surprised and happy.
The imperfect walk through/run comparisons are the useful ones, in terms of planning future walk throughs! I am glad you posted it! And yes – it was very fun to see Keltie love that layering section!
A couple of ideas on the walk through – add in looking down and making connection to where the dogs would be. For example, the FC 3-4 is a great choice. As you finish it, remember to remain connected to her – she is behind you at that point – rather than look forward. Same with the send to the 6-7 layer and the tunnel exit. Then, when you have the connections, add the verbals. Then -got connections and verbals? Go faster and faster 🙂 The walk through ended here while you were still walking, so the run with her was your first time putting together your side of things: speed, connection, handling, etc (and verbals, but you ended up being pretty quiet).
Her first run was really strong, so you can see how well the rehearsal and planning will work! You were a little tentative in spots because it was the first time with a lot of motion and you didn’t get a lot of walk through as you mentioned, which also contributed to defaulting to the ending line of sequence 1.
>> >>On the second run she ran into the tunnel after 3. My guess is I was late on the front cross and she was definitely moving faster. I got the turn on the second try but it was pretty wide so I am sure I could be doing something different there.>>
On the 2nd run, you were thinking more about verbals and didn’t get the connection 3-4, so she took the tunnel, good girl! And, with the added speed in that spot, you were backing up towards the tunnel which also indicates the tunnel (backwards motion is still motion LOL!). The rest of it was looking stronger (and louder too :))
So for the next walk through (sequence 3) – after you set the sequence up, give yourself exactly 1 minute to formulate a plan (set a timer). It is also fine to have a plan based on what you see on paper, before the walk through, like we often do at trials. Then, after 1 minute, stat to walk your plan with connection, and verbals – do that for another minute or two. Then… add speed! Try to do all the things you have planned by running. Spend the next 3 or 4 minutes doing that… then add her in and try the sequence.
I think it will work well, we can already see how well she is doing! Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>> was thinking about the EO runs that I watched and just how hard it was to get through those courses without Eing, much less getting a score! And then just how perfect Angie’s EO Finals Jumpers run really was… Unbelievable how “perfect” that run was!
Totally agree – the courses were full of skills (I was surprised about how tight the small and medium courses were; I thought that had changed but clearly not). And Angie’s gorgeous gold medal run was due to all of the skills training she has done for Sundae and all of the skills training she has done for herself 🙂 It was truly amazing!
Looking at your walk versus run – the 5 minute timer is helping because you had to think about the decisions quickly and then rehearse them quickly, which is basically what happens at a trial. On your next walk through – set 2 timers. The first one can go off at 2.5 minutes, at which point you stick with all handling choices and move to rehearsing the speed, connection, timing, verbals, etc for the next 2.5 minutes. That is actually the most critical element: running it as much as possible as if you were running the dog. By the end of the walk through here, you were just getting into the nitty gritty of that and it would be helpful to have done it a few more times- the spin 7-8 was still looking uncomfortable, for example, and slower-paced, so it would be good to speed that section of the walk through up to get it into your comfort zone.
The run went really well! All good choices, connections, verbals. The spin section was a still a little uncomfortable and delayed, and he had a question about where to be when yo were finishing it. The 2nd one went even better – a full second faster on a short sequence! The 2 spots where I think it went faster were the 4-5-6 line where you accelerated more, and the spin at 7 to the backside at 8 – you were more comfortable and moving faster on both, so you knocked a full second off your time. WOWZA! That right there should be a reason to do more real-life running in the walk throughs, because that 15.9 second run can be a walk through run and the 14.9 second run can be your trial run 🙂 Yes, it is hard to do the speed stuff at trials with all the people around, but doing it in practice will get the rhythm of his speed going, as well as help rehearse the connections and verbals (which can be done at trials, even with a ton of people around).
The flip is looking good! Once he is on the correct side of the jump, he seems to really understand how to finish the job, and that is great! Getting him to the correct side of the jump was harder: the successes were coming when you were past the wing or parallel to the wing. If you were on the landing side of the wing, he was not sure about where to be and often ended up on the front side of the jump. That is pretty normal as part of the learning curve, so you can warm up the next session with you moving and when you are past the wing, release to do the flip (your position and hands all looked good!). Then slowly increase the challenge by releasing when you are parallel to the wing. Then slowly increase the challenge to release before you get past or parallel to the wing – that might take multiple sessions, because almost all of the physical cues say ‘front side’ except the hands and voice which say ‘Threadle wrap’ – so challenging!
And yes, the tunnel distraction definitely has his eyeballs looking at it, but that is a great (and common!) distraction nowadays.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Well he didn’t really want to eat the treat (cheese) he just wanted to leave and go get his ball. Stinker.
That moment was actually hilarious hahaha it was as if the treats were an annoyance LOL!!!
>> Even though he didn’t have that much speed because the wing was set fairly close, this was the first time he was a little naughty about self releasing or not holding his four-on criteria. I did add a little more handler movement up to and past the end of the board. I did notice he was stopping closer to the end this session.>>
It was overall a good session – he is still sorting out the releases and weight shift. No worries! I think his main question is where to put his front feet. Our answer is… right at the very end of the board. You were using a strip at the end, and I think he was stopping short of the strip. Yo can have him put his front feet right on it, and that would be perfect – run to the end and foot target the strip. You can work it on the flat at first by elevating it so he steps up onto it (make it a couple of inches tall, maybe put the strip on a little piece of wood?). That way he can run to it then step up onto it, and stay there til released. Then you can attach it to the end of the teeter board, and he runs to the end and puts his front feet onto it. My Elektra did that in training, I used an old KN94 mask as her foot target LOL! I will go hunt up some video.
And once he knows where specifically to put his feet, I think the rest will be easy peasy! I am going to go find some video…
TracyHi!
I would put a weight on each end to keep the whiplash of the board to a minimum. And you can add a little movement at the bottom.>>When you couldn’t hear me, I was focusing on body language, not verbals lol very complicated 🤦♀️ I was very happy with her speed 😀
That is what I thought LOL!! And that is great! We an add the verbals back when the physical cues are very comfy.
T
Hi!
>>So, what is your footwork for a lead out front cross?
On a simple line like this where jump 2 is on their line? No precision footwork needed 🙂 Hooray! You can just release, say the word, turn and go (it is even easier with a blind cross there). The step to takeoff on something as simple as this line is redundant and makes us late (and facing the wrong way) for the FC.
>> I’ve done some OMD stuff which does have you step to take off. What exactly should I try?
The OMD stuff has some concepts that are a little outdated, because back in their prime, it was all about the handler giving the physical cues for all the things. But the sport has evolved a lot and we realize that we can easily train the dogs to find the line and respond to the verbal, so we don’t need nearly as many physical cues as OMD would recommend (thankfully, imo :))
So the step to takeoff on a front cross is really only for if we are coming in on a really severe angle where we have to send the dog past us to get it. No step to takeoff needed on any relatively simple line (same with backsides).
>> If it’s the same set up. I’d lead out to jump three with dog on right. Is my right foot back, forward etc? Which way am I facing if I am not facing her to step to take off?>>
If you are leading out to the FC, your body position to start would match your body position if you were moving into the BC: you are facing forward past 2 (not facing her) – maybe with a tiny angle back to her and arm down, to establish connection and see what she is doing – but no rotation towards her and no step to takeoff. Your feet are somewhat forward but you will find that it is easier to to have your weight on your outside leg (left leg) so you can just step back into the FC. To get the feel of it, walk into the FC and release as soon as you arrive in position, without stopping or rotating or adding steps.
Most of the lead out FCs have been replaced by either running into the blind or leading out on the serp line (lead out push), because they get better turns and are far easier to handle 🙂 You will see a lead out FC sometimes on a really hard angle, but the lead out push/serps have replaced a lot of those too nowadays.
The laps and tandems on the video look good! You are not bending over too much – the lap turns require a lot of bending over, and a good tandem has a little bending over too. Both cues have a lot of hand movement as part of them, so we need to bend in a little so she can see your hands.
Lap turns are a slow motion move with your eyes following your hand: when you did that, she was perfect every time. On the 2 little errors at the beginning, you were too quick to move forward again and your eyes didn’t follow your hand so she didn’t get it.
The tandem turns looked really good too! Great job using your hand cues and your eyes following your hands to help her read the line. She as a bit wide on the first part because you had a lot of acceleration and you were a little later on the cue. On the other side, (and when you went back to the first side at the end) you decelerated a bit and you were a little sooner: lovely!! She was nice and tight. How tight you need the tandems to be will depend entirely on the course, so you can add decel or acceleration based on what line she needs. The lap turns are always tight, so always do them as a slow motion move with the eyes following the hand.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
These are going well, I am glad the whole family had a turn! Your timing got better and better as you got more comfortable with the blinds!You were starting the blind nicely on time for her, so the next area of focus is to be very quick about finishing the blinds. Two ideas to help this:
– your connection is good as you start the blind, then your original dog side arm is coming up a bit high (centrifugal force tends to cause that as you rotate). That delays the head turn to make the new connection. So, as you do these blinds, pull your arms in tight to you as you rotate (my mantra is: wings in!) and that way you can very quickly get the head turn and connection on the new side.
– you can also either have the reward stay in one hand, or in a pocket. You were switching it from hand to hand, which also delays the info: you was starting the cross, switching the toy, then finishing the cross. So if switching the toy to the other hand is not in the picture you will be quicker to show the new connection after the blind 🙂
I think that will also help commitment to the middle wing – earlier connection on the blind exit, plus she won’t be watching the toy switches. You can also spread things out to get more speed going to the middle wing, which will also help commit! You did a great job dropping the reward back to her to help her commit while you moved away for the front crosses and spins.
Nic work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! All sorts of good stuff here for sorting out his timing and connection needs!
On 2 jumps:
Go rep looked great for you both!
Wrap towards you:
Mike -more decel needed on the first rep rather than hitting the brakes to rotate. You were great with your decel on the 2nd rep at :23 and again at :33 🙂
Karena – great transition into decel and rotation at :28!rear crosses:
I think he is keeping you honest about the rear cross cues. He is reading them perfectly when you give the info, and not saving you when you don’t 🙂Karena – to smooth out the L shaped running lines, don’t be polite about putting the pressure on his line for the RCs – at :36 you were facing forward as he was approaching 1, and you can already be moving towards the wing and pressuring into the center of the bar, getting into his space more. You were slightly less polite about in at :41, putting the pressure on as he landed and he got it, But you can be already showing the RC line as he is taking off for the first jump, which really puts you in his space to set the RC diagonal pressure.
Mike – you were beautifully NOT polite about his space at :45, put the pressure on the RC diagonal before he landed and he nailed it. Yes!
Backside push:
I think the style of cue delivery will help him read this without you needing to go in closer to the backside wing or change the setup. This will sound counterintuitive: rather than look forward at the bar or point forward, keep your dog-side arm back and deliver the cue to his eyes very directly (as you keep moving up the line to the backside, a little past the center of the bar). The reason for this is that the dogs read the line of our shoulders, especially on backside pushes:
– if we look at the dog and keep the dog-side arm back, our shoulders point to the backside line.
– if we point forward and look forward, our shoulders point to the front side of the jump (and with young dogs, the verbal cue will not override this).That style of cue delivery will also help eliminate the need to do a big step to the backside, except for those really hard angles of approach to it (we really don’t have time with the fast dogs to step to the entry and then try and get outta the way for the next line LOL!)
Karena: You were getting right on the backside line here, and being this close to the wing of the first jump will totally help set the RCs sooner too!
You *almost* had the backside at :49… til your arm came up way high and you decelerated to face the front of the jump so he came in to the front at the last minute (watch your conneciton being forward to the jump and how that plus the arm turns your shoulders to the front of the jump)
The cue at :54 was a bit late, he had landed and was looking at the front plus the push cue was delivered to the jump and not to him – which turns your shoulders to the front side as well here.
You were both able to get it by moving more to the wing, but definitely keep playing with the arm back, direct connection style of delivery because it will create a TON of independence!
Adding the tunnel:Go looked good again here too! Yay!!!
On the wraps:
For Mike, he had a dropped bar at 1:29 – it was a late cue, the bar down was not caused by looking at the toy 🙂 Freeze it at 1:29 as Ronan is about to take off – Mike was still decelerating and facing forward when he should already be turned and moving to the next line. You can reward that moment – if something goes wrong, it is almost always handler error and we don’t want to withhold reinforcement on that because it delivers a negative punishment in a handler error moment.Karena Go – yes, arm down, just run 🙂 I am going to film the arm down game today now that the rain has stopped, so you can get more armdown rehearsal 🙂
Karena’s Wrap – decel at 1:38 before you rotate (the decel is the most important element of the commitment cue) as he landed, you hit the brakes and rotated so he didn’t commit. That is what Mike did on the very first wrap rep on 2 jumps. Look at the difference on the next rep, where you did the decel as he was landing and rotated, and he was great with the commitment AND collection!
Mike: the Push at 1:50 was strong – you can be a little earlier by giving the verbal cue as he is jumping the previous jump and keep your arm back and eyes on him like you did here.
Karena – you can also be sooner on the push cues a 1:56 – both starting the verbal as he is jumping the previous and and the connection/arm back to deliver the physical cue so you don’t need to run as close to the entry wing.
Mike – the rear cross at 2:03 looked like a backside push for a few steps because you got a little past the RC line, and then you turned and face the front. The line in the sand totally helped you both get the RC! Mike, you got right on that line, which is great. Karena, you gave a little pull of going straight then got on the line – you don’t need the pull at all, you can just get right on the RC line.
Great job here! Let me know if the backside cue suggestion makes sense.
TracyHi!
This is going really well – he only had one question. I think you line was good and your motion was good too (your rotation was good – not totally backwards to the jump but certainly rotated!)
His only question was at :14 as you were rotating to send him past you, he jumped up a little. That little jump up was a connection thing – as you finish the rotation and point back to the wing, let your eyes follow your hand and look at the ‘landing’ spot on the wing (if there was a bar there). It is one of the only times we stop looking directly at the dog: let him see you shift your connection from his eyes to the wing, and that will smooth out the commitment. Also, try to either leave he toy in the same hand or put it in a pocket – you were passing it from hand to hand there, which might be part of the reason why he was looking at you there.The race track speed circle CERTAINLY looked liked fun! Yay! He was lovely!
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The video editor worked nicely!!!!
He was a good boy here, and you were super connected and smooth!! When running FEO for now, find places to reward in the middle of the run – it can be when there might be big distractions, or for a fast line, etc., so that he can get rewarded for the pieces of the course in the middle (especially when he is far from his rewards outside the ring). That way you can spread the value throughout the run, rather than it all being at or near the finish.
Great job here!!!
TracyGood morning!
The teeters are looking great, I think the weights have reduced the whiplash of the board.
For the bang game – start her lower down next to the board, very very close to the end position – so she basically leaps from the ground into her target position. She was starting higher up here so she was getting on then trotting down. We ideally would like for her to hop right onto the end and ride it down. It would be quite close to the end, like this:
The mountain climber game also looked great – you can add a wing wrap before it so you are both moving a little more 🙂 Just be sure that the exit of the wing wrap gives her a straight line to the board.
Nice work on the tunnel go exits! She was fast and leaving you in the dust!
>>So when I wrapped the wing, my friend and I had a discussion on what verbal it should be.>>
The answer is… you are both correct LOL!! For the reps where you were saying go before the tunnel and throwing the toy past the wing (no wrap) – it was definitely a Go verbal. When you added the wrap on the wing, it gets more complex:
Go before she gets into the tunnel, so she exits straight towards the wing.
Then after she exits, you use the wrap verbal to help cue the turn on the wing. Then after the wrap? The Go verbal again back to the tunnel like you did at :20, if you are going to throw the toy straight.At :27, you were saying go go go but handling a wrap – so that is where you can switch from the go to the wrap then back to the go. You did not say go on the last 2 wraps (you either got quiet or you were saying a wrap verbal, it was hard to hear) and her turns were much tighter on those. She di da great job going from extension to collection then back to extension.
>>I started the tunnel /crate and I think the crate has more value even tho she’ll just do tunnels 🤦♀️ she wouldn’t look towards the tunnel…maybe she was tired lol it was the end of a long day>>
Could be that she was tired! Try it again when she is fresh, and let me know how it goes!
Tracy
Good morning!
This looked great – your feedback is really boring because it is all “woohoo!” and “super!” LOL!!! Great job working it up from 1 jump to 2 jumps and so on. Easy peasy!! Every time I made a little note to suggest something, you did it on the next rep. Perfect!
She found it to be all very very easy. My only suggestion is:
on the serp jump before the tunnel at 1:54 and 2:08 , have your serp arm back more and sooner – no need to point forward then swing it back. As she lands from 1, the arm position (arm back, shoulders facing the jump) should look the same as you had it at 1:46 when she exited the tunnel on the previous rep (that was fabulous).>> I’m guessing she dropped the bar near the end since I gave her no tunnel break cue and she realized she had to turn too late. Worked much better with the tunnel break ‘whoa’.>>
Yes – there was no turn cue on the tunnel entry, so at 1:57 you were backing up as she was exiting the tunnel so she didn’t quite see the new line til she was close to the jump, so she slipped and knocked the bar. You set the line sooner on the last rep, and she was great! Yay!
>>Next time I work these I need to use some verbals.
Yes – you can add in the verbals you want to use: it can be left/right verbals, or her name. And also – add in more speed (for you, more running) and challenge her to find the lines and challenge yourself to be as clear with the cues as you were here.
Great job!!!
TracyYou are so kind! You’ve done all the work though, it is an honor to support Team Promise (who are also members of Team Fake Chill hahaha). She is my Sheltie niece LOL!!
Good morning! So much great work here; both dogs look fabulous 🙂
The barn runs looked lovely!
Jumpers 1:I love how you mix in some instant reinforcement after jump 1!
Great connection on the opening loop here!!! Also, a really nice decel to get the collection at 3, followed by getting her back out on the line to the weaves. Super!!! So much of htis is going well that now I will start bugging you to add back your directional verbals like wrap cues, etc. You were using obstacle names and her name, probably because maintaining the connection was the highest priority. The connection looks great so we can add back the directionals now too.
On thing that happened twice here was that you got too quiet before/after tunnels, so she had questions: On the line after the weaves: you got really quiet after cuing the tunnel at 1:11, so she came out looking at you, then you had to push her back out and that caused her to jump a little wide on the next jump. I
The same thing happened at 1:16, although I couldn’t see her eyes as well but we can see her path: you got quiet as she entered the tunnel, so she came out looking at you. The jump after that tunnel is actually a ‘get out’ type of jump, requiring a lead change away from you -which requires a stronger handling cue that you want to maintain til you see the lead change (her head will turn and she will take a step to the jump).
You tried to push her back out to the jump with an arm cue then you took off – which caused your connection to break and arm to get high, so she didn’t take the jump (never got the lead change). I thought your connection on the tunnel exit in that spot at 1:31 was clearer but you relaxed the connection a bit to soon so she also did not take the jump there. Using the connection you had at 1:31, maintain it for a couple more heartbeats til you see her look at the jump AND take that one step to it (looking at it does not necessarily mean she has picked up the lead change to it, so maintain the cue til she makes the lead change). The same line happens at the 1-2-3 section, but she picked up the lead change to 3 easily because you were running towards it. On the ending line, you were feeling the need to get outta there (understandably haha) so it is harder to convince her to lead change away from you.
Nice blind at the end and threadle! yay!
Run 2: the whole opening looked great!
She went past the jump after the weaves, mainly because you had big loud praise and closed your shoulders forward, which generally indicates that cookies are about to flow 🙂 Restarting too a moment to get back in flow, but then she did SUPER to the ending! Your handling was clearer in the 2 question spots from the first run: at 1:08, you gave her an earlier jump cue after the tunnel, so she had less of a question. Still try to give it before she gets into the tunnel and keep saying it so she has no question. And on the lead change jump, you moved into it more and with more connection, so I think in that moment you were able to see her look at it and take that step to it, then move away. That produced a big burst of speed from her on the ending line, wowza!!!!Haydn did really well on the first course!!!! I think you can work more independence for him: on this run, you ran into the lines with him, but that made you a little late on the FC before the 2nd tunnel and the threadle after it – you can add the layering and big sends so he can work the 5-6-7 line independently and you meet him at the tunnel exit for 8-9-10.
Short course 2: I think Haydn will do better with the BC 3-4 and not the FC – by stepping in to start the FC, he pressure of that pushed him off the line a :08. If you keep running forward to 4, he will pick up 3 and let you do the BC easily. Good job keeping going – thinkgs came off the rails a little but you were able to keep him moving and get good rewards in.
You got the FC on the 2nd run 3-4 by being later – he had a long loving look at the off course tunnel because the timing was late LOL! Good boy for coming back to 4.
At :26, he really thinks the tunnel is next after 10 – looks like it come back to running the 5-6-7 line with him, FCing before the 8 tunnel is making you late for the FC at 9 – which then causes you to drive forward more than needed to 10, which sets the line to the off course tunnel. It is a bit of a domino effect there – so definitely try the layering with him, rewarding him lots for the big sends away from you. I bet he will love it!
Sq 3: I bet Lanna was happy to get a turn LOL!
On the opening – you either need to lead out more to get the BC 2-3, or you need to RC 3. You started with her and tried for a FC 2-3 and she had to wait for you to clear the line.the 4-5-6 line is definitely a place where you can run in like you did here – or you can work a BIG layer so you send her to 4-5 and meet her at 6, which should make the turn 7-8 easier (you were a little late finishing the spin and then pushed into the line, so she thought you wanted the 3 jump.
On your second urn, you got the blind 2-3 and it worked SO much better! Yay! And the timing and position on the 6-7-8 section was much stronger, very nice adjustment there!
And, since rear crosses and layering are the wave of the future (did you get a peek at the European Open maps?), you can definitely work those skills with her too: rear cross 3, send & layer 4-5, and meet her at 6-7. Super independence! She can totally do it 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Lots of great work on the video here, you were tackling some really hard lines and skills!
>> Note: Wish there was a way to easily scroll or identify other students videos that apply to the section a student is working on (e.g. Pkg 2, Jumping 1 OR Weave Challenge…..).>>
I will poke around and see if there is a search function, but with everyone working at a different pace it is generally best to track similar dogs to see what they are doing.
To get the German turn to work, we need to create a more independent understanding of the approach to the backside, because you need to be further across the bar of the backside jump while cuing him to go to the backside (in order to get past the wing and do the blind). He was set up on a slice so it was easy to get him to the front, and you were looking ahead of him to the jump/takeoff side – that actually cues the front side not the backside because he is reading the line of your shoulders.
So before adding the blind on the exit, you can work on getting him to the backside more independently as you run to the center of the bar, then eventually you will be able to get him to the backside while you run to the exit wing of the jump. To work the skill – ask him to stay in a spot where he is directly facing the backside entry wing 0 you will get a little ahead, moving forward to the center of the bar. when you release him with your backside verbal, also have your dog-side arm back and make a very direct eye contact with him, because that turns your shoulders to the backside line and not the front side of the jump.
I start this on a wing:
Then move to the jump:
then eventually the Germans are much easier, when we have the backside commitment:
On the full course runs –
The dog on right 1-2-3-4 opening works well! You can get a better turn 2-3 by moving towards 3 sooner so that you are past the center of the bar at 2 an heading to 3 just after he has landed from 1 (he ticked a bar which meant the cue was a little late)
The switch rear cross looked really good on the 5-6-7 line!!!
For the get out to 8 – start that cue before he even goes into the 7 tunnel (the verbal started just as he went into it, which means he probably didn’t really hear it til he exited) , both the verbal and the physical cue (converging towards the 8 jump, more connection, and even an opposite arm can help put the dogs to the get out jump)You had a lower arm and more convergence to the jump at :45 and he got it really nicely! You were even earlier with the verbal and especially the physical cues at 1:00 and he was perfect.
He got to the 11 backside really well here and slice it the correct direction towards 12 – as you keep getting more independence to do the German exit, you can keep this nice entry to the backside jump and either rear cross the takeoff side of 11, or keep him on your right to rear cross 12. You did the RC of takeoff side at 1:06 and it worked REALLY well, just keep moving forward 12 to so he knows he has permission to carry on to it (he looked back at you because you stopped moving for a heartbeat and got quiet there).
The weaves looked lovely and very independent, so you ended up in great position at 14! To smooth out that line – as you ‘throw’ him back to the 14 jump at 1:14, you can look back behind you to the landing spot. Your arms and position were great there but you were looking directly at him so he wasn’t sure if he should take the jump or not. So as he is on his way to the jump, you can use your left arm to point to the landing post, and your eyes can follow your arm to look at the landing spot as you move forward to 15. That is one of the few times where we ‘break connection’ and don’t look at the dogs, to get this type of countermotion commitment.
Then you can pick him up on your left arm there (rather than do a BC to get him on your right) – putting him on your left will allow you to cue the tunnel and move away sooner so he turns on the exit. When he was on your right, you rear crossed 15 and had to accelerate more to set the line, which contributed to the off course to the 8 jump instead of the next tunnel. To get the 17 tunnel, you can turn to it sooner and also call him sooner before he enters 16 (at least 4 feet before he enters, he should already be seeing and hearing the exit cues).
>>the attempted run where Timber knocked the first two bars. I stopped and restarted
It depends on the dog and what happened in the moment – generally I just ignore and keep going, because almost all knocked bars at handler error issues in terms of timing or training of the skills (and sometimes the dog just slips). So I am not going to stop the dog for my error, especially because by the time I stop the dog, it is so far pat whatever happened to cause the bar that the dogs don’t correlate it to the bar. They tend to either slow down when we stop them and they don’t know why, or they get a bit frantic. If the dog starts the course with a couple of knocked bars, I will stop, give the dog the toy (it isn’t his fault!), reset the bars, and re-evaluate my handling and timing to make sure he understands the info. If I don’t know why he knocked the bar? I go look at the video (and every.single.time. I have looked at the video, I can see exactly what I did to cause the dog to knock the bar LOL! That is why I don’t get mad at the dog :))
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! Thanks for the update!
it sounds like the dogs are all doing really well!!
>> It is still hard for me to control my arms guiding my huge powerful large strided dog through a course. He gets intense and then I tend to over handle :).
With the powerful large-strided dogs, there is a LOT of trust involved – so work on seeing his WOO (window of opportunity) for the timing, deliver the cue… then move on to the next cue. Trust him to respond if you are on time (and go with the flow if you are late LOL!) Over-handling makes the cues late, and then there is often a domino effect where we get later and later and later 🙂
>> I guess I need to go back to practicng running holding water bottles
Yes, that is always a good refresher to keep the arms low 🙂
It sounds like everything else is going well! We will be incorporating the threadle wraps into sequences and courses coming up, so you will be able to practice them at higher speeds. And some new challenges coming tonight and tomorrow.
Glad to hear that your hubby is recovering well too 🙂 Keep me posted on how everything goes this week!
Tracy
