Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi!
>>My shoes have gotten trashed over the summer and have been hurting my feet! If I can run better in rubber boots I think it’s time for new shoes>>
OMG so true! Your chicken boots were magical!!!
Excellent job on the push to the backside after the teeter – the turn to the 14 tunnel was much better! You have time to take noe more step past the 13 wing to push her to the tunnel. And since you are really trusting her layering skills, you definitely go to the 17 backside sooner! When that threadle wrap is more comfy, we can run this both ways and time it to see which is faster 🙂
Great job!!
TracyHi!
I am finally done with that long drive – sorry for the delay! Thanks for your patience!
I hope your A/C is fixed!!!>>I wrapped her around 1 a couple times as promise’s stay in humidity and heat is not good at all. Who can blame her?! I’m lucky she will even practice with me. I also struggle with thinking and running in this weather!
You are going to chuckle – 1 is on the other side on the map so you didn’t need to do the lead outs, you can wrap the start on all of them 🙂 And she is AMAZING to work during all this heat, it is a little mind-blowing that she seems perfectly fine with it.
On the first run –
Did you want to wrap 3, or was that an oopsie moment and you just kept going? Click/treat to you if you just kept going, that backside send to 4 was impressive! I think you wanted the wrap though, and it went well, but the slice you were working on later is a better option as it sets the line up better here.A note about the handling choices – when you have 2 decisions in a row (slice or wrap on 3 and slice or wrap on 4, and which direction on both of them): make the 2nd decision, first! So on paper, I would slice 4 the way you did it then slice 3 – entering on the same wing but exiting on the other, rather than wrapping. That will set a very fast smooth line. I say “on paper” because when the course it set, things might change. Based on the angles here, it is possible that you would want to turn her towards the dog walk on 4 to slice because it sets up a great line 5-6.
At :19 (7-8) – I don’t think you need the spin to get to the turn to the DW, and with a RDW, you don’t have time to spin. On this rep, the spin brought the bar down because it was a little late. Instead, you can try to just say left then the dog walk cues and be moving away the whole time, kind of like a fast moving send-and-go after the frame.
The line after the DW to the teeter looked great!!!
After the teeter (her teeter looks awesome!!) to 13 , you can add in more convergence with your running line and arm back/eye contact at :31 (and later at 1:54) to get her to the backside (this is especially important after a stop in momentum, like a teeter or table or even the weaves, where her line won’t carry her to the backsides like in the opening.
The layering looked great! YAY!
You can be sooner at :38 for the wrap backside at :17, or do a threadle wrap there 🙂
Looks like you were on her line 18 -19 at :42 so got the wrong side of 19, no worries because the rest of the reps looked great there.
2nd run – you sliced 3 here instead of wrapping it. For now, since she is still learning independent backside sends – keep a bigger connection (arm back, and use a lot of eye contact) along with running more of a parallel path to her line to get the backside at 3 (you were curling away at 1:05, which brought her to the front despite the backside verbal). Lower arm/more connection at 1:22 looked great!
She had trouble with the bar at 5 on this second run, so you can try to send and leave sooner because it shows her the turn info sooner: as soon as she exits 4 and looks at 5, you can send and leave. Also, is ‘get it’ her a-frame cue, or a get the toy cue? It might have bee a bit confusing for her (or maybe I am confused hahaha)
The spin on the 7 jump before the dog walk was definitely earlier on this run but I think your life will be easier if you send and leave 🙂 The send-and-leave will get the good turn at 7 and also get you further ahead for 9-10, where you ended up on her line to 10 so she took the backside (compare your line at 1:37 to your line at :24 where she took the front side perfectly.
The layering looked great on this 2nd run too, you got the BC before 17 even sooner at 2:06… but still was a little in her way. So definitely keep working on the threadle wraps so you can have that feeling really comfy and you won’t need to try for the BC.
Nice FC on the 18-19-20 section! Lovely ending!
Third run:
Good job getting the 3 backside – you can try to be further across the bar so you can move forward past the exit wing, which will give her a tight turns on the exit. She had a little oopsie running past the bar of 4 at 2:23, so opening your shoulder to connect more definitely helped her.
The send and go to the frame at 2:30 was great!
Nice job on the line all the way through to the teeter! Great job getting the backside at 2:45 – you can be further away from the teeter and entry wing, as long as you stay connected and are parallel to her path – that will help you set a better line to the tunnel
Very nice ending line too! Yes, the BC to 17 was still late but this section will get very easy when your threadle wrap is ready for prime time 🙂 And the FC at the end looked terrific.Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Sorry for the delay, I am finally back at the computer
OK, I will assume the verbals were perfect LOL!Threadle wrap video:
I think there are a couple of small tweaks to mechanics that will make this much easier.One suggestion is to be sure to show the hand cue for a couple of steps before the release rather than release and show the hands all at once like at :16 and 2:22 for example. Moving forward and showing the hand cues for a few steps will give her a focal point for the release. If you do it all at once, she is going to assume the front side of the jump (which is a pretty good assumption :)) unless your footwork is perfect on the release and that is too hard for us humans.
Also, we can change up the rewards a little: you can do lots of reward for coming to your hands as you move but I think showing her the hand cues before the release will help with that a lot. The other spot to change up reward placement is when you flip her to the jump, throw the reward to landing and as far from you as possible – have it ready in your hand (so she doesn’t look at you switching hands with the treat, poor starving Aussie haha) and consistently toss the rewrd to the landing spot. You were tossing it when she was turning away, but it was landing near you which puts more value on being near you. If it is always on the other side of the jump, she will flip to the jump more easily.
That will also allow you to keep your feet and shoulders facing forward more, which gets rid of the slice. The rep at 2:33 did look like a slice cue, because you turned your feet/shoulders to the jump to help her commit. Keep everything facing as straight forward as possible more like 3:04.
Looking at the sequences:
Seq 1: this had some good Goldilocks moments to work on in terms of the Timing 🙂
On the first rep :
Good decel, she reads it really well!! You can definitely start it sooner. Thinking back to the WOO: when you saw her land at :09 you started the decel. On the first rep, the rotation happened as she was taking off for the wrap jump so she was a little wide then you closed your shoulder and didn’t get connection at :11, the handling almost looked like a blind so she came off the line. If that happens you can either keep going or just reward, she was reading you correctly.On the 2nd rep, trying to be sooner, you decelerated sooner at :37 but she didn’t carry on into commitment. good connection on the wrap exit!
On the 3rd rep, trying to get commitment, you drove to the wrap jump more then tried to rotate before she took off, so there was not really a good decel…. so she committed but the turn was wide. Good connection on the exit after the wrap!
So to get it just right,, like Goldilocks would want? I think you can work on more commitment while you decel. I liked the timing of your decel on the 2nd rep the best (the WOO was correct as she was over the bar of 2, so she saw it when she was landing) and I liked your timing of the rotation on rep 3 the best. So let’s combine them 🙂 You can work on getting her to drive ahead to the wrap jump on decel to get rid of her question on the 2nd rep, bu using the good decel timing, keep a stronger connection – and when she goes to the wrap jump, throw a reward to the landing side. Stronger commitment will make the timing easier all the way through.
Seq 2:
Since we need her to jump the 2nd jump already turning towards the #3 backside, you can be showing that as she lands from 1. Rather than running straight past 1 and towards 2, then pressure in towards 3 as she is taking off for 2 (:05, :23), you can be running to the backside wing of 3 the whole time – that puts you very close to the 1 and 2 wings, showing convergence towards 3 as she is landing from 1 so she can adjust her takeoff for 2. That will smooth out the zig zag from 2-3 (:06 and :25 )Super nice connected independent backside wrap at 3!!!
The 4-5 turn was challenging: Be as early and connected as possible, to show her the line and that will help keep the bars up. For example, you can be more connected on the landing of 3 to show the line to 4 so she can adjust her line sooner – you were pretty far from it a :28 and she was not sure of the line (bar down at 4 there)
>>I just need to figure out how to get her to turn the correct way on 7 where she needs to dig and I’ll do a spin and I’ll move up the line. I totally agree she’s turning the right way based on what I’m doing. >>
Wait, did you want her to turn to the outside at :13? That looked like a wrap cue to the inside, as opposed to :32 which looked like a RC cue so she turned to the outside. More Goldilocks moments here, she was reading you correctly each time: :44 was a pull & flick so she turned to the outside (rear cross). 1:03 was a threadle wrap shoulder turn. 1:14 was a 180 so she should have gone to the other side of 4. Good girl!
>>I’m just not sure how to get her to turn left and me still keep moving to get up the line. Maybe let her turn to the right and I just do a blind and get up the line?>>
To get the wrap to the inside which I think is what you wanted (like on the first rep) – you have to do 2 things: decelerate as she is exiting the previous jump, then as she is passing you (and before she makes a takeoff decision) – you need to rotate your feet to point to the next line. If your feet point to the center of the bar like at :32, it is a rear cross move. If your feet are pointing to the next jump after the inside wrap, she will turn and do the wrap (which is mostly what you did at :12-:13). You can’t really keep moving the whole time on these, because you are ahead of her: you have to decel long enough to rotate your feet and let her get past you, then you can move forward again.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Oh dear, somewhere in the craziness of the weekend and the long drive from Iowa to Virginia, I missed this! Sorry!!!! But it looked great 🙂 Note how clear your RC lines were at :02 and :10 on the first sequence, plus the decel at :10 to set up the RC wrap. Nice!You also had the strong RC info at :18 on the second run and a VERY clear RC diagonal at :26, which is great because she had just done all of those right turns to the tunnel 🙂 yay!
And nice connection and motion parallel to her line to show the backside at :28 to set up the FC to the tunnel. So nice!!!So looking at reinforcement:
>> I always struggle to know when not to reward. I was taught that rewarding what you don’t want is not good. But I see your point, if my handling told the dog to do what they did, then they should get rewarded.
Correct! I always remind myself that they are reading my physical cues and a little bit of verbals… they are not reading my mind. LOL! What I want the dog to do and what I actually cue them to do might be very different 🙂 So if they get it wrong in handling? I just reward because it is highly likely that my cue was wrong or late or both 🙂 Or, the dog doesn’t understand what the cue means. If they get it wrong twice, I stop and fix what I am doing to help make it clearer.
>> Often, I just can’t tell in the moment if it was my handling or the dog not following the correct handling. Should my motto be “when in doubt reward”? I think so>>
In handling, yes – but even that ‘when in doubt’, just assume it was a handling error and reward. No doubt there! And I try to reward in a place that helps the dog understand my cues, evenif the cue is late: so if the dog turns the wrong way on a RC, I am still going to throw the reward in the direction on want (adult dogs do eventually start to read my mind and forgive my late cues :))
I am sure you will encounter people who will tell you to NOT reward when something goes wrong in handling… but that places the blame on the pup, as if the pup was ignoring you or making bad choices. Thanks to being able to put videos on a big screen and watch in slow motion, I consistently see that sequencing errors are 90% handler errors (late, slow, bad cue, etc, all the stuff we humans do haha) so the dog was actually correct, and maybe 10% lack of understanding errors (behaviors that the handler *thinks* are trained but are actually not trained). So it is far far better to reward the dog and take the blame on the human side, than it is to tell the dog she is wrong – that creates a lot of stress in the dogs and leads to unwanted fallout.
Other behaviors like weaves or contacts are slightly different because, in theory, the dog should understand the behavior and get it right, regardless of handling. But that assumes a super high level of understanding in all sorts of environments (internal and external) so with contacts & weaves, and also start lines, I prefer to set the dog up for success and definitely don’t let them be wrong more than twice.
By rewarding for my handling errors and also keeping the skills work successful for the dog, the long term results are pretty outstanding: we get dogs that are fast, have a huge amount of understanding, and are very happy to be in the ring even when my handling stinks LOL!
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyOuch, poor girl! Ripped nails hurt – that would explain why she was slow! Skip agility til it is healed, because the use of feet in agility puts pressure on their nails and we don’t want her to have any pain associated with agility.
When she is healed up, just work 1-2 without the blind, with you running straight but progressively further and further from the jump so she gets used to finding that line with you more laterally away from her. Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
The FCs all looked good here for both of you! Excellent connection in and out of the FCs, and lovely commitment and timing.
He had the *tiniest* question on the spin exits for both of you: he was looking at you as he came around the wing. That means he considered the next info to be late 🙂 You can see it most clearly when he was coming toward the camera for Mike (at 1:14 for example) and away from the camera for Karena (at :29 for example). In those moments, he hesitates, looks at you, then powers out.
So- he needs the info sooner: as he is rounding the wing you can already be re-connected on the new side and saying the tunnel verbal. That means starting the FC element of the spin sooner (which is fine because I think he has great commitment). As he exits the tunnel, you can begin to decelerate then when he is maybe halfway to the wing you can begin the FC rotation. This will be great for the FCs too – they went well here but they will also go well if they are even earlier.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Terrific session here. As you mentioned: she had no trouble with any challenge here. SUPER! The only thing I saw was that when you were really running, she would sometimes leap onto the board a bit rather than run up it (like at 1:13). So, since we don’t want her to add any leaping dance moves LOL, don’t be quite as fast for now. But, she is definitely looking ready for a tiny bit more tip, so can you lower the teach it maybe half an inch? And add the yoga mat under it again? We are entering the lather, rinse, repeat phase of teeter training: get her to be confident like she was here, then add a little more tip, then get her to be confident like she was here, then add a little more tip, and so on.Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
This was a really fun session to watch. He started out with a few questions on the first couple of turns, experimenting with how he wanted to set himself up. Then he kind of landed on the bar on one of the early reps (:07) – after that, he added ore power to the collection and they were all terrific! He changed up his approach so his takeoff point was not quite as close to the jump and that is great – being a small dog, we want him to turn but not slow down a lot to do it. I really liked what he was offering on the left turns and REALLY liked what he was offering on the right turns. There was one turn to the right that was not quite as good as the others, perhaps, but I think that was because the others were SO GOOD LOL!!! But overall, he was producing fast, powerful efforts that were also lovely turns. Super!
So he will need a revisit of this each time you bring the bars up another notch. And then when you add real handling back, his commitment and turns will be really great.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Glad that you finally got a break in the weather!! She looks great here.The forced front crosses at the beginning looked really strong. She is reading the lines really well, the tart line looks great, and her jumping looks solid too!
On the lead out push balance rep at :38, you were a little too far from jump 2 and from her line, so she jumped wide over 2, And you started moving a little late (she was taking off for 2) so she stumbled when she landed from 2. Ideally you would be closer to 2 (literally on her most perfect line to start) and then after she lands from 1 and is looking at 2 (usually when the back feet have landed) you start to move. It is fine to be on her line to start because it shows her exactly what you want and you will be moving off of it and towards 3 long before she needs that space 🙂
The timing of your movement at :48 was a stride earlier and she was already better able to read the line 2-3.
On the last part of the video, you did the forced front crosses to the throwback – she read these really well too. Super!!! You can use a little less throw on the arm, a little more “here is your takeoff spot” for a slightly tighter turn. You did more of that very subtle throwback hand at 1:14 and 1:24, it looked great! I also like how she is recognizing the cue and is heading to the backside bar without much help from you other than being in position.
The hardest part if going to be standing still til she is committed: you are starting to leave too soon 🙂 as the session went on. At 1:32 (and a little at 1:43 too) when she landed from 1, you started moving sideways towards the tunnel for a couple of steps. She still got the opening nicely here but you don’t want her to see movement and have to figure out what you want, it is is not supporting the rest of the cue.
She had a bar down at 1:37: you said tunnel and turned your shoulder as she was jumping. So, using an easy jump grid, show her that you might talk or turn over the bar, and reward her for keeping it up!
The jump work is paying off – note how she was able to 1-stride the go line 1:38 at top speed!! Nice! She was doing well on the last rep there too, but you tossed the toy a little late and too short on the line, so she dropped the last bar. Throw sooner and longer there, or have it already placed.
Two other things to consider on these lead outs:
Line her up on more of a slice at jump 1, so she is learning to slice 1 and go directly to the backside At 1:42 for example, she was jumping a little too straight on 1 (based on her stay position) and had to turn after landing to find 2. That might be why you are moving – trying to help her find the line.
You were doing well with not releasing with the hand movement and the verbal at the same time. You were doing the verbal then the hand. I think reversing that will make it even clearer for her: get to position, put your hand in position… then release. Having your hand in position before the release will help give her a focal point on the line to drive to.
These were all forced front crosses, is your back to the jump. You can do another session with the same sequences, but with your belly to the jump to work o the forced threadles. Everything is the same except you are facing the jump when you release.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Great job with the Blind here, it worked really nicely for both of you! I think the first rep was a little better because the timing was a little later – the timing on these backside blinds is later-than-expected: he should be landed from the previous jump and committing to the backside, the you start the blind. That was what you did with the first rep. O the 2nd rep, you start it as he was over 1 so he was surprised, tried to adjust over the bar and then slipped.>>But proof I am still not watching my dog. I didn’t know he had that slip until I saw the video.
Well, it is a blind cross so you had to stop watching to do the blind 🙂 It was just a little early so that is why he slipped. Otherwise it looked great!
Tracy
Good morning!
The walk through looked good! Your pace was good and the handling looked clear. My only question is which way did you want to turn him over 1? It looked like you wanted to turn him to the left but on the run he turned ti the right.On the run looked great, one of the best runs I have seen him do! Yay! On jump 1, he did turn right and the handling cued it (looked like a RC) so if that was what you intended: perfect! If yo unwanted he left turn/FC wrap, turn more to the left turn wing rather than send to the center of the bar.
On the a-frame: was he supposed to stop or run? It was hard to tell what the criteria was – on these bigger courses, you can put out a target or an aid to help him get it right at top speed.
The rest looked really strong! Great jo with the line after the dog walk. He was very happy to layer (more tunnel bags needed LOL!) and the ending line with all that handling looked super: you were in perfect position for all of it.
So keep working the pace and connection in the walk throughs, it is making the runs look so smooth and connected!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I love the opening photos LOL!!!
The zig zags looked good! He had one moment of question (added a stride) when the jumps got into more of a flat line, but then he sorted it out and went back to bouncing. Super!!! So one tweak for the next suggestion of this:
Change his start position slightly so he is sitting parallel to the wing (the outer wing of the first jump) rather than facing the bar. That adds in the initial lead change to the first jump, which is useful for serps and backside slices.Great job here!! Let me know how it goes with the different start position :) Tracy
Wow, she looked great here! So fast and also reading all the cues! And also very impressive with all the distractions!
The first sequence looked great – really nice speed and handling!!!! Yay!
>>She did the spin wrap good but didn’t like the wrap to me.
Part of that is the spin wrap is a beret line (more slicing) and the FC was to her right in that spot was a harder line with more collection. On both of these, you can be sooner: decel as soon as he lands, so you can be doing the FC or first part of the spin before she takes off. You were generally doing them as she was in the air, so they were a little late. I think :36 was the best rep there.
>>I definitely need to work on the landing side blind so I did that mostly. >>
It is a useful tool and she did well! You can do it even sooner – start her BC as soon as you are running past the jump, before she even gets there rather than keep her on your right then blind as she is lifting off. The will keep her line fast & tight while getting you further ahead.
All of the RCs looked good! Now that she is very comfortable with them, you can add in a little deceleration as you move up the line, to tighten the turn a bit.
Looking at the lead outs at the end:
The first rep (dog on left) looked great!On the lead out blind, she is reading it really well and you can keep moving your position more and more over to jump 3, rather than to the landing of jump 2.
On the throwback readout – the faster line to the tunnel should be turning to her right on the wing closer to the tunnel, so you can lead out to that wing and do the throw back with your right hand instead if you left. That will be smooth and fast!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! The sardines have worked their magic LOL!! She looked really good here! Super confident (and hungry haha)
No need to do severe angles anymore, as you begin to add more tip. For now, keep the entries very straight. And before adding more tip, add two handling things:
– getting ahead of her so she is behind you driving up the board (and with you moving past the end) just walking at first, then build up to running eventually.
– starting super close to the wing, and letting her drive ahead so you can rear cross the entry of the board.When she can do those? Add a tiny bit more tip. I like your idea of adding the yoga mat back for the fist few reps when you add more tip, just to be sure she is comfortable.
Great job here!
TracyHi! Hope you are having a good weekend!
>>I was totally shocked that I had so much trouble with the rear crosses because usually I can be really far behind and he does them beautifully especially at the end of a course when I’m really behind.
They are hard rear crosses! They each had a technical element to them which makes them a little harder than normal RCs.
Looking at the A sequence: try to drive from the wing of jump 3 to the center of the bar of 4 for a strong RC diagonal, rather than pulling towards the lap wing then trying to show the RC. That made you a late on the first video o he didn’t know it was a RC, and also a little late on the 3rd video and at :28 on the last video.
It is a balancing act, if you push in too soon rather than run to the center of the bar for the RC, you will end up pushing him off like at :08 on video 2. :35 on that video was strong in terms of the diagonal and he read it nicely 🙂The RC 2-3 on the B sequence looked good on the first video of that! You blocked his line to it at :06 on video 6, but then got back onto the correct line nicely for the next rep at :18! And remember to add some decel to the 7-8 RC where you are flipping him away for the wrap, and it will be perfect!
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
