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Hi! I am sorry I missed your other update! I know I read it and I thought I replied… but clearly I only replied in my head. EEEK!
>>Buddy my 4 y/o has been out since May due to surgeries for a tooth tumor. And I haven’t run Mookie since Feb because he slipped on the ice at my house injuring his achilles tendon which thankfully has healed. It was good to work on my timing for verbal cues.>>
Ouch! The boys have had a crazy time lately!!
>> But, by the time we got to sequence 3 Mookie started anticipating backsides. It seemed like every where. I needed to verbally say jump so he would take the front of jumps.>>
That is why I try to have a lot of balance in these games – so they dogs don’t assume it is all only backsides 🙂 Be sure you alternate reps so that he doesn’t get into the backside vortex – cue lots of front sides too 🙂
>>I went to the trial this weekend running Mookie at 20 inch preferred in Excellent to see how he and I would do after a lay off of 5 months. I had been concerned about his taking backsides every where in training but at the trial with use of magnet fingers with my arm back he did fine. I only knocked one bar from a mistimed verabl cue.
YES! My guess is that in training he had gotten himself into a backside vortex and it was gone by the time he got to the trial.
>> I also did a fabulous running blind and was so proud of myself.
YESSSS! High five for you!
>> I went in with First Run Best Run and came out Qing 5 out of 6 runs.
Wow, congrats!! That is awesome!!!
>>I can’t run him again at a trial until September due to my Husband having total hip surgery but I hope our team work continues. We actually had 2 Excellent DQs and earned our AXP and AJP.
I hope your hubby heals fast! Your teamwork is looking good, and you will be awesome at the trials in September 🙂
>>Again, I love your Zoom events !!!!
Yay! Those might be the one god thing to come out of the craziness of the covid shutdowns.
Have fun!
TracyHi!
Great weave entries!! And yes, she popped both exits. I think poening up the exit and leavin a toy or MM out ahead will help for now, so you can work on running away and she wil stay in and get rewarded for staying in without having to look at you.
You had two rear crosses on these sequences: the first one you did was at the 19 jump afte rthe weaves, and the other one is the tunnel discrimination at 12 – remember to be patient and let her get past you on both of those – you pushed her off them. You were very patient (#TeamFakeChill) on the last one at 12 and she was perfect!!
>>The line to tunnel threadle. I’m going to need a very, very independent threadle for this line. Ideally, I would like to layer 11(haha I have to layer 11, no other options except for a Segway😂😂). I see no other way to get to 13 and aframe. Ideas😊?!
I think a small motor scooter would work hahaha
It will be all about the verbals. I don’t think layering 11 makes sense because it assumes you will be near the exit of the dog walk… which will not happen wih a RDW on this type of course 🙂 So better options would be to hang back and send to the backside off the do walk from miles away (very doable!) and then BC 11-12. Or, do the tunnel threadle handling you did here, rear cross the tunnel and use your verbals to propel her to 13 as you head for the a-frame. Also very doable!Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! He did really well here!!!!
Course 1: Because he has a great stay, you can lead out closer to 2 and handle 1-2 like more of a serp – that way he doesn’t land straight from 1 and need you to push him back to 2. Plus you will be in motion as soon as you release, so you can stay ahead of him for 3 to the teeter, turning hm before he takes off.
The entire line from the teeter all the way around the back, down the DW to the backside at 9 and then to the tunnel discrimination at 12 looked great! You were late telling him about the tunnel threadle at :36 (he was in the air) – he responded nicely, but ideally you would start cuing it when he is landed from 10 and looking at 11, so he can take off for 11 already facing the correct tunnel entry.
Then – get loud 🙂 Before he enters the 12 tunnel, since you are rear crossing 12 – start your GO cues or jump cue to help him know to go straight. You were hustling there but got quiet, so he had a question – when you sent him back to 13, it pushed him to the off course tunnel.
At 1:03 on the push to 15 after the frame , you were on his running line, blocking the wing, so he thought you wanted 2. Great adjustment at 1:17 and 1:49 – you moved over so he could see the wing and he was perfect. YAY! An nice weave entry!! !
On the ending line: with the big juicy dog walk out ahead, he was not sure what do at 17 – a little more connection and a verbal turn cue as he exits the weaves to approach the jump will help keep the bar up at 1:25 and 1:55. Then maintain that connection to drive him past you for the wrap on 19. Even adding that little bit of connection made a big difference on the last rep through there! Nice!!!
Course 2:
Hooray for a great stay, it makes the lead out easier! I like the slice on 3 better than the wrap for him! He was correct to take the off course tunnel after 4 – at ;18 you were facing it and sent him, he didn’t see the rear cross at all. If that happens, either keep going or start off, he really thought it was the a-frame 🙂The BC after 3 worked a LOT better!! Yay!
he had a little trouble with the weave entry, as did most dogs the first time they ran it – I posted a game today to train that skill so you don’t have to handle it, you can just cue it and weave 🙂 It is here:
NICE blind as he was still weaving! Because you were so far ahead, I think a FC or even a BC between the next 2 jumps will be even easier to set the line to the dog walk so you can get even mor ahead.
After the DW – Yay! The BC at 2:03 was so much better than the FC down the last line, because it allowed you to show the line to the backside without getting behind him. Yay! When you did the FC, you got caught behind rotating and when you stepped forward, he ended up off course, responding to the step forward.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Sorry this took so long, the thread got shuffled down and I didn’t see it til now! Eeek!!!
>> I thought there were challenging just because I am such a newbie so it’s good to hear they are “really” challenging>>
Yes, they are seminar-style courses – big long courses that are really hard, to work challenging skills 🙂
Nice job on the opening! Remember to keep moving on the 3-4 line – you were definitely better about staying in motion there on the 2nd run, and he was faster.
Very nice BC 7-8!! It was a little hard to see what was happening on the 9-10-11 line at :23 and 1:26, because of the shade and distance from the camera – it looks like he was on the other side of you but I couldn’t really tell. You were much more connected through there at 2:18 and he got it nicely!
It looks like you you turned him to his right on 13, which landed him facing the exit of the 14 tunnel and not the entry. When he gets into the 12 tunnel, you can keep him on your right and do a wrap at 13, so he turns to his left and enters the 14 tunnel on your right – that should be a smoother line for him.
On the 16-17 tunnel discrimination:
>>. The confidence building part for me of all of these runs is that I was able to do the blinds before the tunnels.>>
YES! The blind here and the blind 7-8 both looked great!
>> it illustrated how hard it is to get him to threadle a tunnel. He seems to focus on the tunnel really early and it is very hard to change his mind.
That early focus on the tunnel is a good thing, though 🙂 If you can’t change his mind, it just means you were late or not showing the info he needed to change his mind. So for the threadle at the end, he needs to be seeing all the info before he arrives at the 17 jump – you can be calling him and turning to face the entry of the tunnel you want, showing a threadle arm (I use an outside arm across my body for this, and an upper body rotation towards the dog) and even pulling away a bit if lateral motion helps him. You can start planning to deliver the info when he is landing from 16 – beginning the turn cues that early will help set up the tunnel threadles really nicely 🙂
>> I am sure given your observations that on a hot day 3 runs is too much for Buccleigh, but he was running fast during the 15, 16, 17 part >>
Yes, he only has 2 big runs in him a day… run 3 started off really slowly and he was slow for most of it – he got fast towards the end, probably predicting time for reward and air conditioning 🙂 So definitely limit to no more than 2 big runs, because we don’t want him to rehearse being slow an hot.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! Great to see you here! I admit to having a conditioned response to seeing you and Lennan: ICE CREAM CONES hahaha
Seq 1 looked fabulous. He looked very ‘forward’ here, meaning he was happy to drive the line and your cues were clear. Being forward also means that turn cues need to be emphasized a whole lot, as you see on seq 2 🙂 transitions will really help:
after you said go at :30, you turned away and got quiet – that got his attention but it was a little too early so he pulled the rail on the way to the tunnel, asking if he should indeed go to the tunnel. The right cue can be a little sooner but also as he exited, you were facing straight to the off course line.I thought your handling was better on the 2nd rep in terms of timing the right verbal and the physical cue, but you were too nice about it all hahahahaha What I mean by that is you can run more into it, so he can see the decel and you running away more – and the verbals can be totally different: longer, lower, more as if you are calling him by his first AND middle names. The other possibilities are using an ‘attention’ cue when he lands from 2 on the way to the tunnel, before the right verbal (LENNAN! Riiiight riiiiight) and maybe even a brake arm (opposite arm pressing downwards as a bit of a visual WHOA cue.
He got it the third time but it might be that he figured out the puzzle 🙂 He also got it on the seq 3 rep, you had a very quick shoulder turn there which m ght help.
The other thing is – if you want him to be forward on a line, match that with your acceleration. Otherwise, if you are walking or decelerating, he will match driving forward with you decelerating and that will make turning harder for sure.
If you try these again, do the same order of festivities: A rep of sequence 1 to show him how to go straight then try to the turn on the tunnel exit using some of the ideas above.
On the pinwheel section of seq 3 – try sending him to the 5 jump and turn and go, to be able to accelerate up the next line and see if he maintains his commitment and turn.
Seq 4:
He was a SUPER good boy to take the middle jump at :16 and :36, based on your line of motion! He was actually quite brilliant at :44 when you changed verbals to GO – go is relative to the line he was looking at, and as he was jumping 3 at :43, your motion & position turned his head so he didn’t see 4 -and go meant run straight, so he did (not taking the jump). Brilliant boy!To Go line needed you to run forward. To get the go and also set the layering line (more on that posted today :)), you can run in closer to the tunnel so you are turned forward and accelerating forward as he exits (rather than past 3 and pulling away), on the running line you want so he doesn’t see you pull away to layer.
You did more of this at 1:08 – you an also ‘soften’ the connection there to get that, looking at him a little less so your dog-side shoulder is not as open. The open shoulder pulls his focus towards you, and a slightly closed shoulder will propel him forward.
The turn 4-5 was a little wide at 1:10, but that was because the turn cues were later because you were supporting the go line extra after having trouble getting him on it.
You were DEFINITELY better about setting the line at 1:27! And earlier with the turn verbal. Ideally, you would also turn your shoulders away but with the layering, that is really hard to do. Have we ever done a brake arm with him? I think he needs to see that, because it will help you be able to turn him even when motion doesn’t support the turn. Here is an idea of what it is:
You gave him a little outside arm at 1:45, rotating into him, it TOTALLY helped! I would like to see if you can use the brake arm without rotating in towards him because that will make it easier to run hard and layer.
He was surprised about the wrap cues at 1:55… even though you were timely with the verbal and early with the rotation. My guess is that maybe he sees a lot of forward lines where you are not accelerating, so he doesn’t respond to decel as well as we would like – and the decel predicts the rotation which predicts the wrap, so we need him to respond to decel. I haven’t seen him work sequences in a long time, so I might be wrong – let me know if you are seeing questions on wraps too?
We can teach him to wrap better by showing transitions – you run hard til he is taking off for 8, then decel with the verbal then turn and run the other way, calling him and rewarding. Start that with a wing replacing 9 for now and then we can add back the jump soon – we will know on the wing if he is collecting or not 🙂
I personally LOVE that he is so forward, it usually means the dog is confident and FAST, and all we need to do is sort out some turn cues and BOOM! All good 🙂 Let me know if you are seeing this forwardness everywhere in sequencing?
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
She did really well here! She is getting a whole lot more comfy with the commitment while you move forward.A couple of ideas:
put a leash on the ground for where her line should be heading to the wing… and then stay off it LOL!! You are moving up the line on the path she needs to be, so she is having to cut you off to get to the wing. Ideally, she can see the path to the wing and the whole wing so she passes you but doesn’t have to run in front of you. Your path would be towards the jump cups (not past the outer edge of the wing). And if you get there before her, you need to wait there to let her get past you.The other thing to add (which will also help add more speeeeed and even more independence!) is to start her on an angle rather than straight to the wing: if she is happy with you holding her collar, she can start next to you on a slight angle so she ha the direct line the backside and you can keep moving while also showing her the wing. So if you are facing the wing and the wing is at 12 on a clock, and a straight line to it would be starting at 6 on the clock: then angle would be a bit more like 4 or 5 on the clock.
Let me know if that makes sense! Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
She did well with all of these! Wow!!! You nailed them all in one session!
2 jumps :
Good job throwing the toy on the go, she was totally looking ahead even before you threw it! And SUPER gold star for nailing that left turn after both of the GO reps! Nice! You can decelerate and turn sooner on those, but that will be easier when you add the tunnel in.
The turn rear cross also looked good! She was a little wide but that was because of your motion and line (is ‘turn’ a general RC cue, or a wrap RC cue?)Well done on the backside too. Yay!
Adding the tunnel – also very nice!
After all the turning, throw the toy a lttle sooner and accelerate more up the line to remind her of the go 🙂 She did it but was almost waiting for a turn cue.
For the left wrap, you can be sooner starting the cues: you an start to decelerate and say the verbal as she is taking off for the jump after the tunnel (but keep moving forward as you decel) so she has more time to make the adjustment for the wrap. You nailed that perfect timing on the turn RC at 3:37 – you were starting the RC diagonal as she was lifting off for the red jump and her RC was awesome!
You also had the good timing (starting as she was lifting off for the jump after the tunnel) on the 2 backside cues at the end: your motion and verbal and itming was all good at 3:57 but you didn’t have connection so she took the front. On the last rep at 4:08, you had all the same great timing/motion/verbal and you also had connection, so she nailed it.Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Teaching the go go go is all about her knowing where the reward will be: out ahead, on the line.
You can re-visit those toy races that we did in puppy class, where you raced her to a toy on the ground.
Then, add in a jump (she goes over it, not you haha) as you race to the toy.Then build it up to more and more jumps – and you can have the toy placed out there on the ending line for now, or have someone throw it for you when she is looking ahead.
T
yay! I think he is ready for you to try the other sequences, either the ones from the live class or the new ones posted today 🙂
Tracy
Hi! It was interesting to watch these all in a row!
I think the he is a bit stressed about not knowing exactly the how/when/where of reinforcement in the trial environment. If he was moving and the jumps were clear and the line was smooth, he did well in the ‘real’ runs… but he didn’t really ‘see’ the weaves or contacts. When you kept him moving, he stayed in the game but if he had to stop (like on the DW) or the weaves came up on course (like when they were 2nd in FAST), he got stressed. But he was an entirely different dog when the toy was visible! Very confident, no worries at all…With that in mind:
>>I’m wondering if I should re-train the dog walk and teeter to running. The reason is that way he wouldn’t be stopping and then get worried. I remember you saying to not do St because of all the stopping.>>
He will enjoy the running dog walk and teeter, and it will certainly build value for those obstacles! It is not the full answer, though. I think he needs to you to work through all the FEO steps before he runs for real again: visible toy, hidden toy, short runs with toy outside the ring, then long runs with toy outside the ring. This will become especially important if there are things that worry him like strange people or dogs that growl at him. He does well with the toy in your hand, so the next runs should be toy in pocket, where you whip it out in the middle of the run (especially for the weaves) to help bring value into the ring. Then when he can do that with total focus for several runs in 2 or 3 different locations, then you can move to the next step. It is a gradual process but totally worthwhile! AKC allows it in T2B, FAST and ISC. UKI and USDAA allow it in all runs 🙂
Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I love the fireworks photo!>>Glad to be baaack doing the ‘gilties with Ronan! He was a bit naughty with his sit stays tonight (broke a few times and some elevator butts) and so we started to reward with a “catch” every 3 reps or so. He was very excited to play! I>>
He looked SOOOO happy! Yay! The sit questions were just small crimes of passion because he was so happy to play.
The lazy game is a good one to review to get back in the saddle. Great connection, both of you!!! And his commitment looked great, plus he was setting up his own collection, which is exactly what we want.
On the one step sends, you both can send and leave immediately, using the send leg to push off and move to the next line (as you throw the toy, 3rd arm needed maybe haha)
And he was in heaven to add the tunnel and even more speed. You don’t need an arm out parallel to you, as it will slow you down and blocks connection a little. You can keep the arm low, or just use it to run run run.
He is ready for the drills, so you can spread the jumps out a little more (more room to run and easier for timing) and that might help answer the verbals question:
>> we are still deciding what we want to call a pinwheel versus a 180. I like the idea of doing “left left left” for a 180 and then we just say a single left for when we want him to turn left. Is that too confusing? My current border collie was only taught a single left or right verbal and I do say it multiple times if I want her to do the 180 versus the pinwheel (I now say nothing or “over” for jumps in a pinwheel). But honestly it did take her a few years to really understand that because I never taught it. Any suggestions?>>
It depends on how the dog moves, but in general – if the line from the pinwheel jump to the next one is not really tight, just a more gradual turn, you can send on a general “over” cue and not need the left or right. I would consider a left or right if the dog is a wide turner – but he is not a wide turner. If the pinwheel jump to the next jump is tighter, more of that “L” shaped turn, you can use the left or right.
I think the timing of the verbals and the physical cues will help the dogs understand which jump we need them to turn on and how tightly: a more forceful left verbal said a few times with maybe some decel and a brake arm will get a tighter “L” shaped turn than a quieter left verbal with no decel and no brake arm. Agility is challenging in that way, because there is more than one potential “L” shaped turn (as opposed to flyball, for example, where we always want the same turn).
Based on how well The Pony is already setting up his turns independently, I bet a general “take the thing” cue like your existing over will be great, saving the directionals for amazing turns on the tighter 180s.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>.I have just watched the training from the other day- it looked so much better than it felt.
I think it looked great!
>>Was there a 4th bonus sequence that we didnt get to
Yes – Seq 1 B with the backside circle wrap.
>>Fusion did well on the second jumpers- I just struggled with no tunnels remembering wjhich way I was sending her to give her the right directional. Fusion says handler needs to get her act into gear…>>
Yes, doing it without tunnels is definitely more challenging because she can see you the whole time and you don’t have an extra moment to get where you need to be!
>>Looking forward to the second package sounds like what we need.
It is posted! Have fun!
Hi!
>.With 3 tunnels setup right now I’m tunnel bag poor! I just bought another set of 4 bags. But I could probably use another 4. Or even 8 since I only have 4 on the puppy’s setup. $$$$$$$$>>
TOTALLY relatable!!! I have used tote bags or cheapo backpacks that I buy a t Walmart and show bags of baby sand or water jugs into them 🙂 I use straps to hold them down and BOOM! Lots of cheap tunnel bags 😉
Lots of great work on this video! Your connection was so clean throughout!!!
She did really well on the threadle opening 1-2-3! Remember to keep your shoulders open to the bar as you move away, until you see her basically taking off for 2 – you kept ‘closing’ your shoulders forward earlier and earlier, and then very early on the last rep (which is where she hit the bar). Closing your shoulders changes the cue, so be sure to keep them open in the same position as you released her, as you begin to move up the line.
And nice blind 6-7 each and every time! Also nice blind 10-11 🙂 especially the 3rd time at 1:45 – perfect! Also really nice backside at 12 – she did a lot of backside slices in this session, and did really well with her bars when your shoulders were facing the bar as they were here.
The backside at 14 is going much better! I like the opposite arm for it but you definitely had too much OOMPH at :25, so she sure did go out 🙂 That arm was high and it turned your running line, so she turned away entirely.
The next rep at 1:11 was PERFECT handling! Perfect send, perfect moving through to the tunnel. Just the right about of arm and connection, and great running line. The perfect handling requires a default understanding of taking the jump on the backside so you can run through like that. The Seq 2 game from the live class is the answer for training it, so she understands how to take the jump even when you run through like that,
The handling was good at 1:52 (not as great as t he previous rep because you were pulling away laterally instead of running forward, but still good) and then you helped her with a cross arm to get the bar. You got it by adding that little extra help on the last line, which is fine for now as you work on building up her independence so you can handle like you did at 1:11 🙂
Ending line was great each time too! Yay!
>>I do like the line from doing a threadle slice on 14. I just don’t know if I’ve worked on those with her in a setup like this. Are there any other courses that I should go back to and review the skill?>>
You can isolate that section and work the threadle, starting with the same angle you did 1-2-3 and adding motion, then gradually work her back to be coming in from 13.
>>Should I move on to the next Jumpers course?
Yes, this one looks great 🙂
Nice job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>is the main difference (to the dog) between the rear cross and that of the backside push really just the verbal? Because now that I think about it, the motion, line and body position seem to be the same between rear cross and back side or what is the difference?
Good question!
Yes, the verbal is different, but the running line is also different:
on the rear cross, you are running to the center of the bar til the dog passes you.
On the backside wraps, you are running to where the wing meets the bar on the entry wing.Subtle differences for us humans, big differences for the dogs 🙂
Tracy
