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Good morning!
I am so jealous of that arena, it looks SO NICE! It is rare to find a big ring with great footing like this. What a great place to train! And looks like the instruction is really strong too. YAY!
About the FC versus BC on this course:
If you take a long lead out like you did at the beginning, the FC make a lot of sense (BCs don’t make sense when we are standing still to begin LOL!). Just be a little more close to his line – your lead out position was a bit past it and had to push him back to it. I couldn’t hear what your instructor was saying but based on her position and gestures, I think she was saying something similar to your position needing to be a bit further over. A BC is something to run into in these openings and has to start pretty early otherwise it is harder for the dogs to read. The FC here looked really great.
However… the FC versus BC when running? That will almost always be a bind cross, like at :21 after the first tunnel. The FC was late and it takes longer to finish the rotation – a BC will work better there and you can start it before he even goes into the tunnel and finish it as you continue to your position.
The distraction of the other ring is hard, so rewarding each time he is successfully ignoring them is GREAT!
The line from the 5 jump to the 10 jump looked AMAZING – he was SO fast and focused, I don’t think I have ever see n you have to run that fast! He was on fire! Great job maintaining the connection and cues for him, it looked beautiful AND he ignored the other ring. Yay!!!
Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
Lots of good work here!!! Starting with the harder skills parts is a good way to start, especially if you know they will be really hard in sequence. It also means that there might not be enough left in the tank to run the full thing, so be careful of that too. I think you both ran out of steam a bit towards the end of the video here.
She was a good girl finding the weaves at the beginning! She had trouble finding the tunnel after the weaves at the beginning her and later when you ran the full course, so that is a good spot to take on more step to make sure she has it – you were pulling away a bit which set the line to the jump.
Looking at the section after the DW – the teeter is on her line there so she was correct when she took it – reward that! I reward partially because she was correct and partially to keep the arousal levels in a happy state. Telling her she was wrong will make her more aroused which will make processing information harder. My philosophy is that off courses get rewarded because I somehow showed that line.
As you can see, the right verbal on that jump could set the line to either the jump or the teeter, so the name call helped turn her. When you run the full course, try to just use the directionals there – you said “go jump” as she exited the teeter which is more of an extension cue – the right verbal should commit her in collection.
She has a little trouble understanding the commitment on the serp #9 with countermotion, so a good training element would be to drop the reward in on the landing side as you move through it – first without a lot of motion, then gradually add more and more motion but till dropping the reward on the landing side to help her default to taking the jump.
A cross on the landing side of the jump #8 will also help get the turn and get you up the line sooner for the backside – you did that at 1:04 and she totally turned! The timing of it would start right after she exits the DW, and the position is easy to get to with the layering as she was on the DW.
The Backside at 12 is a tricky discrimination, especially coming up that big line! The ideal handler path and position is to where the backside wing meets the bar, so she can see the whole wing. If you are too far across the bar, she will either. Take the front of slice the backside. If you block the wing, she will take the tunnel (like at 1:51). So that is the position that will help, with your shoulders open too (arm back and lots of connection) because that also shows the whole wing.
One other thing to ad to your training sessions:
On the resets and restarts – ask her for a position to hold (either a stay, or the end of the contact like you did at 3:29) as you take one step ahead to show the line, then release her into it. When you try to resend her from your side, the line is not clear enough and you get lots of frustration barking and not enough smoothness 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>>When I face her back towards them, should I face her all the way back or sideways first as a transition?
Sideways! That plan should help add challenge in small pieces while keeping her highly successful.
On the video:
One general thing about the start:
turn her to her left on jump 1, rather than to the right. Wrapping 1 to the left pts her in a straight line to the tunnel, and turning right puts her on a much harder line.For the setup for rear crosses, you will want to start closer to the #1 jump and move into them. Sending from far away and getting way ahead worked nicely for the wrap to the left (a FC) but didn’t work as well for the RC, because you were ahead and end up running out of room especially when you want to show her the difference between the tight RC and the wider one into the layering line.
For the jump tunnel discrimination – try to run the same exact line on all of the reps here, on the landing side of the jump and heading towards the 10 jump of the sequence (the #1 jump of the line you just ran). That means you will layer the jump when cuing the tunnel and also serping the jump when cuing the jump.
When you did the full sequence:
I think you were actually early on the RC at 1:26 – you cut across her so early she might have questioned whether she should take the jump or not (she looked surprised when she landed LOL!) Being that early to cut across did put you on the wrong side of the tunnel, so you had to step around it to get back onto your line which delayed the info on the 6-7-8 line.
On the 2nd rep at 1:45, I think the timing was clearer but stopping near the tunnel definitely caused her to ask questions: the decel and position didn’t match the verbal cues there.
On the 3rd rep, you were earlier citing behind her again and ended up standing still at the tunnel and using the outside arm – that rotates the body and caused you to have to move backwards to get up to the 6-7-8 line.
So to smooth this section out – strategically, start closer to the #1 jump and turn her to her left (starting her on your right. That way, as she exits the tunnel you will be parallel to her or only a tiny bit ahead – then you can run forward to the center of the bar to set the RC line – by setting the line with motion like that, you will also be able to move up the next line (without needing to stand still or getting caught on the tunnel line). And as she turns, especially for the layer, your motion should be parallel to her line with lots of verbals 🙂 You can use an outside arm but only if you keep running forward while layering. I don’t think you need it here if she understands the verbals and layering.
Speaking of the outside arm:
If you are going to use the opposite arm for the 6-7-8 backsides, you need to leave it up the whole time – by putting it down at 1:31, she correctly read it as a straight line to 8 and not a backside, and by the time it went back up and you said the verbal, it was too late for her to adjust her line. That 7 jump is a serpentine, so turning your shoulders to face the jump and making a direct connection will help, with or without the opposite arm.
Also, keep moving through that line – at 1:48 you stopped then started again – the stopping changed the line info so she couldn’t quite adjust when you moved forward so dropped the bar.
On the last rep, you kept moving really well and had great connection, so she got it perfectly. See if you can handle from the landing side of 9 rather than takeoff side, to present her with the jump-tunnel discrimination 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracySorry to hear about the rain! Fingers crossed that it all dries out soon.
You might not find a suitable class, so you might need to find *any* class 🙂 You can put her in any sequencing/course work class as long as it is kind to young dogs – and even if it is below her level or above her level, you can work lines and skills around other dogs which is soooo valuable! I put my dogs in the wrong levels all the time to get them into classes – I usually put them into lower level classes because that way I can work on handling them at high speed 🙂
TracyGood morning!
I understand about the weather! I had to drive to upstate New York to handle a property issue and it is 62 degrees here right now. Coming off a 98 degree weekend, I had to go to Walmart to buy warm clothing LOL!!!! I was the only wackjob walking around in long pants and a hoodie LOL!!!
Great job on the course here:
The opening went great! She was happy to layer and happy to work tighter on the jump/tunnel discrimination. Nice bind cross to the next section and she was perfect on the out jump after the tunnel – which then got rewarded by two tunnels in a row LOL!
>>My attempt was to rear 16 and then do a push to the backside… well we never made the backside lol as she has huge value for weaves the same as tunnels too apparently >>
For the rear cross you would need to push to the center of the bar more – you were stopping a bit at the wrap wing, which is why she kept wrapping to the left, overriding the right verbal. Rear crossing at 16 does make the backside at 17 much harder and not necessarily faster, so the other option is wrap 16 to the left (which is easy to get, as you can see LOL) and do it was a spin so you do a blind and exit on your right – then slice 17 from the side closer to the 8 jump, and slice toward the 18 weaves. I think that will work really nicely!
Everything else was pretty darned perfect and she looks ready for her weekend adventures.
OMG Annalise was the funniest! Her run was great! The beginning cracked me up – I was just like that as a kid and perhaps I a still am, and the difference is that I edit out the faces I make at the camera hahahahaha
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyWhat are the training in the ring rules there? Can you bring a toy in and just show her the weaves, then reward?
Good morning!
Mission accomplished on the one and done! The walk through was pretty thorough and produced a really nice run the first time. Yay! That is what we want!! Good handling choices, rehearsal, and execution! 2 things to consider here as you work the walk throughs:
I think you can get to the speed part of your walk through sooner, so you can rehearse the connections more and verbals more, at speed. And do it several times (which is easier if you add speed to the walk through sooner). You will feel connected while walking but the running will let you know if you can actually “see” the invisible dog or not 🙂 For example, you had a little disconnect on the run from the first tunnel to the backside, so he had a little zig zag line – one my mental checklist is to always look for the dog to connect on tunnel exits.
Plus, the verbals sound different walking versus running – as was definitely the case here, comparing the last walk through to the run 🙂 So in that last walk through, work the verbals as if Sly is in the ring with you, so the first run is *not* the first time you work the verbal like that. So many people ask me how to remember verbals during the run, and the answer is to work them fully during the walk through. Yes, you might be the only one out there properly saying your verbals in the walk through, but that is a good way to stand out!
Great job!
TracyHi!
I am glad the weekend went so well!!!!On the videos:
I see a line on the ground – yay!!! Your job is to be on one side of the line or the other, til he passes you. On both videos… he was 100% correct on every rep, based on your motion relative to the line 🙂 I didn’t see the rewards in the video because of the quick edits, but be sure to reward every single one of his efforts because he is highly likely to be correct even if he is off course, according to your plan 🙂 It is important to reward because BCs will keep working when they don’t get rewarded, but they will get more frantic and less thoughtful, which doesn’t help with the verbal processing skills.
So what was happening was that you would lead out to the line, then release… then cross the line and block the backside path before he got past you, so he would go to the tunnel, good boy.Even with the backside verbal, he would have to choose to go through you, literally, to get to the backside – so he is taking the tunnel correctly. If you are at the line/wing ad he isn’t past you yet, hold still at the wing til he gets past you and that will get the backside.
He did get it a little better on the 2nd video because you moved past the line a step or two later – but he was definitely asking questions and doing little zig zags, so wait longer til he is totally past you before you move forward past the line on the ground. He needs to see the full wing til he is past you.He dropped some bars on the videos, but those were handling-induced more than anything – at the end of the 1st video, you cued to the tunnel with a high energy release and he was set up very close to the jump, so he didn’t quite get organized for it. On the 2nd video, the toy drops were close to he bar so he was hitting it as he went for the toy.
For the jump-tunnel discrims:
>>I am not sure where to go from here to add the two together.
You can pull up a chair to just a tunnel or just a jump and see if he will take the obstacle with the verbal only. And if so? Try that with the jump and the tunnel in the picture, maybe 6 or 8 feet apart and see how it goes 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>es I do a lot of plyometrics when I don’t have the pool up, in the summer is all swimming time, since I have not time for other stuff (works gets in the way hahaha).
Work is annoying like that sometimes LOL!! I will get that ploy game filmed so you can try it, it has really helped my dogs with the hind end organization stuff.
>> I don’t say the verbals allowed since I don’t want people to hear me talking while I am walking the course 😉
That is something to work on! It is important – people might think you are nuts but that is fine, because you will then kick their butts haha!!
T
Hi!
>>I think the two tunnels back to back made her day
I figured she would enjoy that LOL!
>>Well, the humidity is good for one thing lol. There is no choice but a one and done
This is the perfect time of year for a one-and-done session LOL!! Too hot and humid for much more 🙂 And it was great that you had an audience! So Fun!!!
>>It’s also so hard for my brain to spit out my verbals at high speed! I snuck a peak at next week and saw we would be working on this
Yes indeed – most folks rehearse incorrectly and then when you are running your speeding sportscar, the verbals go all haywire because we are running for our lives LOL! The proper walk through rehearsal will make a big difference. It is the part of CAMP that people have a Love/Hate relationship with hahahaha
I think this run went well!
Your BC 2-3 was a bit late because you didn’t quite lead out far enough – and ended up starting the blind as she was taking off for the jump so she dropped the bar. So, in a perfect world, lead out to or past 2 before releasing her. But since you might not have a super long lead out at the trial, you can also work this opening as a rear cross which might be more realistic to what you will be doing in coming weeks.
That rear would also allow you t send to the 1st tunnel, which would also get you further ahead to do the BC after it sooner.
The middle of he course looked great!
>>The things I noted while running it, the German turn- I got the backside. My setup Was an obvious line to the backside, so no surprise there.
Do you mean she took the #1 jump again after the backside? That is what seemed to happen ,it was hard to see being far from the camera and she goes sooo fast LOL! What happened there at :18 was that as you did the German turn, you were moving parallel to the bar of the jump when you did the blind so you ended up on her line – which is why she took the line to 1. To get the tighter turn, try to run directly to the exit wing (no parallel line to the bar a all) and if you can’t get around it quickly enough and still think she might pick up the wrong line – you can delay the blind as you push through the exit very close to the exit wing. You can keep connection on your right side til you are past the wing, then do the blind. That will get a tighter turn to the weaves there.
The ending looked great too! VERY nice turn on the jump after the weaves, she read that beautifully and got rewarded with 2 tunnels in a row 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Sounds like she needs to work with the more rigid poles, as they might ‘bounce’ her out when she can’t move them. That might be why she struggles at trials. The ideal would be some type of holder for the poles where they remain solidly upright.T
Hi!
>>I’ve never thought about it terms of the number of jumps in a session. I tend to think about the time and how the dog is working. I also try to be aware of how many weaves and contacts I ask for. I will have to keep this in mind when planning my sessions!
I used to only focus on the amount of time, until the canine ortho vets and sports vets asked me to count the # of jumps – each jump is an impact on the body – and it was really eye-opening.
>>Do you apply this idea even when using very low jumps (like 4 or 8 inches)?
Yes – I might do a bit more at a lower height, but I also think of it in terms of how any turns and type of turns. The wraps are really challenging for the dogs, and so are slices (like backside slices in particular).
>>This might be the most valuable thing I’ve gotten out of CAMP so far…
Do you have access to a sports vet that can see Nox regularly? I get amazing insights from the vets who work on my dogs and it helps me plan my training.
>>Somewhat related question… Nox can jump 12″ in preferred, select, and skilled (NADAC). How do you decide if you want your dog to jump their full height or do the lower height classes?
I always start my dogs at the lower height in their trial careers. it is better for their brains (easier jumping because the environment is so much harder) and also allows them more time to develop athletically. Then, when they are physically mature, mentally mature, and have successful trial experiences, I might move them to full height – meaning, jumping above their shoulder height. I will only do that if that is easy for them! There are plenty of titles that can be earned at any height, so I try to see what works best for the dog. Right now, they are all jumping below their shoulder height, partially because the big dogs can jump 20″ as their regular height (they are both about 21″ tall). And the smaller girls are both jumping 12″ – one is 15″ on th nose and that measures her into 12″ for UKI (based on her drive for agility at the moment, I would have her at 12 anyway to make it more fun), and the other is 15.5 but had a luxating patella repaired, so I might never bring her up to 16″ to protect her bionic knee and the other knee.
Because there are so many titling and national-level opportunities in agility in different venues, I choose to jump a little lower in order to have a longer career. If I had international goals for the dog, I would work up to jumping the international height – that is very hard on the body and the dog needs to be conditioned to a high level and have the structure to support it all. I have been there with a dog and he had all the right elements for a international-level career. My other dogs who had the skills and speed did not have the structure to ‘hold up’ so I didn’t pursue it with them. My Contraband has the brain & body to do it (the younger girls do not have the structure), but I am not sure I want to have him work that hard – and jump that high for my own competitive desires 🙂
>>We have done very little trialing so far (still trying to get those contacts and work on her BIG feelings about all the things), so it would be easy for me to do either at this point. I will jump her at 12″ in NADAC because does not change anything about the titling system or champs. I’m not sure what the benefits are in AKC and UKI really.
Lower heights make it all easier, so the bigger feelings are easier to control 🙂 I believe UKI counts all the points together regardless of jump height so it is all the same in terms of titles and levels. AKC has different titles for the different heights, but it is all still a lot of fun!
TracyHi!
I think this is looking really good! It is interesting to see what looks comfy in the muscle memory and what you have to think about – that toy across the body is definitely something you are thinking about, because of the slight delay: you do then blind and *then* the toy comes across the body. The FCs look more comfy than the BCs. – the FCs actually look GREAT – the camera angel shows really strong connection.
So the next steps are to keep – gradually – adding speed. The speed is where things can come off the rails – see if you can work up to running and getting the mechanics to be as good as they are when you were walking/slow jogging here! As the toy comes across the body and you open up the connection, you can also use a trigger phrase like: “show the dog” (show the dog the toy) or anything that helps your “find” Sprite with connection and keep the dog-she arm open.
Great job here!! Tracy
Hi!
>>videos I can see a lot of the time I’m still deceling and stop just before or just as he does. I’ll keep working on that. At home I feel like I’m better about it.
I find that it is very easy to decel at the same rhythm as the dog on stopped contacts, so I had to plan how many steps I would take before stopping – something like 4 more steps then stop after I see the dog stop – it gave me something else to do besides match the dog’s rhythm LOL! I think you were probably planning your reinforcement and wanting to see what he was doing, so you were slowing down with him. I also do a ton of moving releases, meaning I never actually stop – I keep moving the whole time and either release or throw the reward back to the dog.
>>So we’re working on being able to sit on cue or offer a sit (Premack) when he’s in a higher arousal state and really wants something – like to go out on the agility field, or when we play with the hose to get me to start spraying it again. Any other ideas on that part?
I like the ‘offer me a sit’ game when the dog wants something! It is very helpful for working through the higher arousal. And, it is pretty normal to see arousal shifting at this stage PLUS he is an adolescent, so the various parts of the brain are not necessarily talking to each other LOL! With that in mind, I also don’t always ask for a sit – I often cue a ‘stay’ at the start which allows the dogs to pick a position. I say stay then move away ,they can go what they like 🙂 The “rule” is that they can pick any position, but there is no movement forward at all (no foot movement). That allows the dogs to have more agency over the moment and the arousal, and more success – and there is never a moment where the dog & I get into any ‘that is wrong’ conversations. It has been magically helpful! One dog will choose a stand, one dog chooses a sit, one dog will choose a sit or down. They all hold position really well and there are no stay issues.
The serps are looking good! One jump and two jumps reps all looked good, and he was just fine with the added motion. He did well on the tunnel-jump setup too – true, it was not exactly the same setup but there were still serpy lines on it and it looks like he had no questions! You can set the serp line so he wants to exit straight from the tunnel and has to come in and serp the jump after it – that is probably the hardest challenge when you are moving up the line. If he does well with you being in true serp position (moving between the uprights across the bar), you can add a bit of challenge by being a little ahead so you are past serp position – the challenge is to see if he can still come in and get the serp jump 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
