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Good morning! This is great that you got to do this in a new place! Different footing, different environment: perfect for helping develop her agility career!
Seq 1:
Note how she jumps towards you on the first jump then back out on that first rep – you said the release and didn’t say anything else. So, try to release and immediately tell her to go go go tunnel to smooth out that line. On the second rep, you led out less and ran more, which helped! And also, she knew the sequence (smartie) so it was easier. The rest looked great!Seq 2: she read the whoa cue perfectly for the tunnel exit on both reps here! Super! I notice she is relatively quiet as she is working here. At a trial, she might be, um, more talkative 🙂 so you can repeat the cue a few times to help her process is when she is in higher arousal.
On the 2nd rep – she dropped the bar on jump 1 at 1:09. That lead out and release was similar to the first rep – a slightly longer lead out and release while you were not moving fast and no go verbals, so she jumped in to you then back out, dropping the bar.
Seq 3: She had a few questions about the 4-5-6 pinwheel. The timing was late, with the first turn to tell her that she needed to turn over 4 beginning after she was already organizing for takeoff at 1:25 – that made the turn for 5 later too so she ticked the bar. Then you you decelerated over 6, so she looked at you and dropped the bar.
The next rep at 1:43 had a longer lead out but faster motion on the release, so she had a straight line over 1 and no questions. Yay!
The timing on the pinwheel was the same… but she knew the sequence (fast learner) so while she still had questions and looked at you over 6, she didn’t touch the bars.
So to get the timing on the first attempt, put the turn cues in the WOO 🙂 That window of opportunity for the turn at 4 begins when she exits tunnel 3 – look at her, use your right cues, and start turning your shoulders so she takes off for 4 already turning to her right. Then, as she is approaching 4, before liftoff, send to her 5 and turn to 6 (staying connected, of course 🙂 sends work better when we are connected!). Then as she approaches 5 – accelerate to the tunnel and start your go go go cue. That might feel wicked early but it will give her plenty of time to find the line and organize the jumping.Seq 4:
You were very quiet in the opening, and she had questions 🙂 I didn’t really hear a GO cue before the tunnel or cues while she was in the tunnel or exiting t get on the line 2-3-4, so she was looking at you over 3. For the turn 4-5, you can start the shoulder turn one stride sooner – when she lands from 3. And, as you mentioned, remember to add more connection and verbals to keep her on the line to 5. She ended up coming in and looking at you, because the info was very quiet and not enough connection.
Th wrap on jump 9 went well! I bet you can start it one heartbeat sooner in that WOO – you started the decel and verbal when she landed, so she processed it one stride later. That produced a good turn. I bet you can start it while she is lifting off/in the air over 8, which means when she lands she already knows it is happening – that will get a great turn and allow you to rotate and run the new direction even sooner 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
>> . But outside I think I’ll just have to slow down and work on this engagement issue first.
Totally normal when moving a winter puppy to the great outdoors 🙂 All of my winter puppies had to learn engagement outdoors on a leash before I could do any fancy stuff 🙂
>> For the runaway, I actually had tried one of his favorite toys as a reward, but it was not enough. And maybe it would have been different if I had spent more time warming the thee brain as you suggest.
I think large chunks of delish meat and a brain warm up then a short session will do the trick. He loves his Zukes… indoors when the environment is not drawing his attention. So outdoors, for now? Go for the good stuff! And the brain warm up will be very helpful – there is a ton of science addressing states of arousal (google Yorkers-Dodson law if you want to geek out a bit) and the simplest thing to do is get him spun up a bit with tricks and high value food, then do a short session and be done before arousal changes.
>> Might mean I need to slow down in class a bit but in the end I really want an engaged dog that enjoys the sport, so taking this time now to ensure he’s feeling good about our sessions is important.
I don’t think you will need to slow down, because you will be able work the class games, using them as the framework to teach engagement. The key is that the actual handling stuff doesn’t have to be perfect – it just has to be fun and relatively clear 🙂 And we want both of you to feel great at the end of the session, and wanting to do more 🙂
Keep me posted!
TracyGood morning!
Kim Collins is great! And I haven’t had a chance to look at the Dogs4Motion website but it comes HIGHLY recommended as the best one by one of the pickiest trainers I know 🙂 I got a peek at AnnaLee Sanders website last night, and it is just spectacular! And, Anna doesn’t use a Border Collie in her demos – which is really nice because not every dog moves like a Border Collie 🙂
Anna has posture work, and I am confident that Dogs4Motion will have posture work (in the tight sit and in a stand) because it is the industry standard now (although it might have a different name with them). I will also dig up videos of Hot Sauce’s posture work – I have videos from before/after her patella surgery, but nothing recent because I am too lay to video during any conditioning stuff LOL!!
With the jump grid stuff, I have found the dragging toy to be really helpful with getting organization when the dog is at top speed (she is doing this sometimes, but not all the time, thus the swimming). Does she do cavalettis? We can add a dragging toy to cavalettis as a first step (literally haha) to getting foot organization when she sees speed out ahead. We can add that in to Kim’s jump grid work after Sprite has mastered those challenges at normal speed LOL! And I have a new organization game for tight turns that I will video when I get home this week (if Air Canada stops cancelling flights) – I don’t have my dogs with me but we did the game yesterday with some young dogs and it was really cool to see them process it so quickly.
And yes, with the bar crashing – it is an error of organization when you suddenly go fast. My Voodoo used to do that too, when he was an adolescent. It is more common than you might realize, because the go is organizing ALL the things and also t tying to go fast, and sometimes things don’t turn out that well 🙂 I see it happen especially on the jump before a tunnel, and a jump after a tunnel. That is where she is doing it too, for the most part.
So for now, let’s keep the bars low and no need for you to run really fast or have transitions to high speed. Keeping things super smooth for now really helps the youngsters, as we teach them the skills they need to organize while we sprint. You have looked “inside” at hips and stuff, so any side preference, strength or weakness is pretty normal (at 17 months old, 2 of my dogs were incredibly weak turning to their right) just like us humans 🙂 Chiro said she was good to go, so the only other thing to add at the moment is trigger point massage as a regular part of her routine (recommended for all dogs).
It is interesting that you mention figure skating! There are a couple of handler mechanics that I think are similar to figure skating, such as arm placement when trying to rotate fast. And, like figure skaters, the dogs need to know how to organize their bodies to lift off properly – sometimes she does, but when she is chasing your motion, she sometimes does not. So we will have you be ultra connected and moving medium-fast on sequences, as she is learning the organization – then it will all come together.
If she gets into jumping trouble on a sequence like she did here, you can immediately lower the bars and also keep up the rewards. I am definitely in the minority in agility in that I don’t feel the need to stop and tell the dog that they dropped the bar LOL! I mean… they know. And by the time I process that the bar has dropped, the stopping (neg punishment) is really unrelated to whatever decision caused it. And Sprite is a good girl and if she knew how to organize at speed, she would totally do it every time. That jumping effort where she splats the bar doesn’t feel good, but if you also tell her she was wrong, we risk more of an unpleasant emotion being built in. And if one bar drops, try not to stop suddenly as that will pull the next bar (like at :18). For baby dogs, I keep going and maybe reward a tunnel – then adjust the sequence for the next rep. She is not being wild or anything, so staying in motion and rewarding something else will keep her feeling good about it even when the jumping is hard. The 2-failure rule is in place here too – 2 jumping failures in a session? Dial it back, and we will do more teaching 🙂
Wingin’ it looked fabulous! I am loving her commitment! I don’t think you did too much for her here, but yes, protect that gorgeous new grass haha!
On most of the reps, you were doing good commitment and collection cues, rotating when she was close to the jump wing and committing – the resulted in nice turns! You were starting to get really comfortable at 1:05 and you rotated just as she was passing you… perfect! She maintained her commitment AND had a stunning wrap. The earlier cue really gave her more time to shift her body.The race tracks at the end were great, she seemed to have a HUGE smile on her face. And great job with her verbals throughout, but the directionals and the LSMs 🙂
This gives me an ideas as we work to teach her to organize herself for jumping: on the sequences that have a turn or something that might be a hard jumping effort, we can take a 2-pronged approach:
– show her the skill at high speed with a wing replacing the turn jump, so she can get sorted out with reading motion before we ask for a jumping effort.
– then add a bar and jump: since that is a big variable change, we then dial back your motion into a more smooth, slower speed.
We work it as 2 separate tracks that eventually merge so you can go fast as she is jumping!>> Also, I’m probably going to try 4 on the teeter. Should I have her back up to 4 on?>>
Yes, you can totally have her back up to 4 on – starting with just 2on2off will get things rolling, then with reward placement you will quickly be able to get her to back up to 4on.
>>I looked at the one jump concept. I’m not sure I have a rear cross wrap and we haven’t done much backside sends. I might just try with the jumps first.>>
For the jumps here, it is a good opportunity to first work things with a wing on the wraps and backside pushes! She can ‘see’ the cues and organize for a wing, then when she is happy with that, we add the jump back in. There is also a jump before and after the tunnel here, so keep the motion smooth and not that fast for now with bars at 12, and we will gradually ramp the speed back up then raise the bars again.
Great job 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am so sorry to hear you ended up so sick! You ran so well at the live class! I am glad you are feeling well enough to do a little training – no rush, we have all summer to get the games in.
These were good choices of games – gives him a brain workout while you don’t have to run. You’ve already been working on his body awareness, and it shows! The plank game looked great, he as a fast and happy to go running back and forth across it. Even when the angle of entry was a little offset, he still used his rear and core to balance and had no trouble being coordinated.
He turned around really well too! The only thing I might suggest differently on the turning around is to make him do it slowly 🙂 Going fast, he was able to work his front and his hind end just kind of followed along without moving all that independently. So now, have him follow your hand slowly, so he has to work each back foot independently as well 🙂
Next step for this game? Raise the plank a little 🙂 What do you have that you can put under it, to lift it a bit while keeping it stable – Cato planks would work nicely if you have them, or yoga bricks or anything like that.
Mountain climber: As soon as he realized there was food at the top, it was GAME ON! Ha! When he stopped at :36, maybe it was because he thought he didn’t have permission to move?
Good job moving the chair in tighter at :54 so the teeter wouldn’t rattle or bounce – I am not sure if it was bothering him, but he definitely started going faster when the teeter was more stable.
Then he was getting a little nutty, trying to turn around, losing balance, jumping off, then running back up it. I am glad he was so confident! And he was happy to let you add more movement, so he was faster. NICE!
So, since he liked this 🙂 you can add more motion – I like to send the dog around a wing the up the teeter (just be sure he has a straight angle of entry to the teeter). And you can also add running past it too. And since he is fast and confident enough to turn around and jump up… try a shmear of cream cheese or squeeze cheese so that he stays there licking it, so you can go back and help him get off the board LOL!The only other thing to suggest for now on this game is to play it on both the Clip N Go teeters and a MAX200 type teeter, if you can find one in your adventures – they feel very different to young dogs, so I like to play this game on both before we start moving the board.
Great job on these! I hope you continue to relax and feel better this weekend!!!!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes, she did really well here! Lots to love about this session! (Also as you noted, the back door is closed – maybe it is a bigger distraction than you give it credit for!)Strange about the left turns – always include those so I can see what she is doing and either try to help or at least say “what the heck??” LOL! The left turns look really good, she definitely has the commitment here we are looking for. And good tugging in between too!! Nice! I think that she was a little wide on the left turns on the pinwheel jump for a couple of reasons – you were a little late turning, and she is probably looking at something out there (looking at what? Dunno… puppies LOL!!!) . You can also spread. The jumps out a little, because they are relatively close so she would need to collect more on those left turns than she did on the right turns. The right turns had a smoother line than the left turns did based on the setup – just a tiny difference, but enough for her 🙂
She was fabulous here and when you went faster, she said “LOOK MA I GOT FASTERS IN ME TOO!” Eek! That is exciting! So now, spread the setup out a bit and start adding the verbals, timing, and crosses.
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
Her commitment looks really strong here, which totally helps you be able to do all of these crosses and such. Nice!!!! She only had one question on these, about the send (and it was the same handler oopsie, see below).>> (Forty lashes to me?)
No definitely not haha! Your connection to her made up for any errant toy throws LOL!
FC wraps:
Young dogs are like mirrors, they are great reflections of what they see 🙂 On the sends to the middle jump, remember to step to the jump, she definitely reads your feet (and have a low arm and connection as you do it!
Compare :17, where she got the jump really nicely, :34 where your feet were turning away to the next jump – so she didn’t take that middle jump. You can keep going when that happens, or reward and restart – it is human error so no need to stop and not reward. On the rep after it, you stepped to the middle jump so she took it 🙂On the wing wraps, your timing of starting the verbal was great! Yay! You can also start your decel into the rotation at that same time (when she was landing from the middle jump). You were moving quickly forward to the wrap wing and rotating when you got there, which works with a very low bar because she can turn on a dime, but will end up wide when the bars go up. So when you start your left or right verbal for the wrap, when she lands, you can also decelerate and then as she is passing you and committing to the jump, you can rotate for the FC.
Fluffy blinds:
These are going well too! Like the wraps, your timing of starting your jump verbal here is great! So now, you can begin the blind right as you say jump (keep moving forward through it as you change sides). You were saying jump at exactly the correct time when she landed from the jump after the tunnel, then saying it again when she was halfway between the 2 jumps and then starting the blind – which ended up making the blind late and she adjusted when she landed at 1:02, 1:36 and 2:06, 2:31The wraps after the blinds looks great! Keep making those earlier and earlier, more of a send and go right after she gets to the correct side after the blind.
BC to tunnel:
The blinds were earlier here, because it was the best way to get the new end of the tunnel. Nice! At 2:49, you were able to start the blind shortly after she landed from the middle jump, so she was able to make the turn before takeoff there. Nice!!!
It was not quite as smooth on the next rep because you were turning your feet away on the send to the middle jump (look at your toes at 3:21, you were sideways- stepping instead of forward stepping) so she had a question and the extra moment to support it made you a little later for the blind. So that step forward to the send jump was clearer at 3:55 so she had no questions, sent really well, and that made the blind cross nice and timely 🙂RC: I think she was a little hot here, which made it hard for her to accelerate – it will be even easier when she is fresh 🙂 On both the RC here, you were doing a bit of a pull to the post turn wing when she was close to takeoff, you did the RC. She did get the RCs but had a question about that – she looked at you before turning to the new direction. You can try setting the RC diagonal sooner: decelerate at the jump before the RC jump til she just about catches up to you to set the RC. Then, drive the RC by running to the center of the bar of the RC jump. When she passes you and is nearing the bar, you can cut in behind her to seal the deal 🙂 This will smooth out her question and also put you ahead again after the RCs 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
On the mountain climber game, I am glad he is very confident! So fun to see him driving up the board! What was the reward you were using at the end? Ideally, you can place the reward there in advance so he doesn’t look at you or wait for your hand. A little smear of cream cheese will work nicely! Then you can face the leash, because it was tightening and that can throw off his balance. When fading the leash, it the smear of cream cheese at the end, put him in a stay, and call him up the board so that you are facing him and at the end before he is 🙂Looking at all the handling – I think a lot of questions will be answered if we plan to help him be more engaged! The handling itself is going well – he has lots of skills and understanding. The errors are not really handling errors, they ar mostly engagement questions.So if we structure the reinforcement and sessions differently, it will be easier to work on the handling and he will be more focused and engaged. Here are some ideas for ya!
Wraps and blinds – rather than think about the handling cues, which are going fine, we can look at the focus and engagement! It will all be much easier if you can get more engagement.
First up – what are you using for reinforcement in the lotus ball? When working outside, use the most aiming food rewards ever, because the environment is soooooo challenging. Regular dog treats won’t cut it for a lot of puppies… try meatballs or something insane! And reward any speed to drive ot lines in short bursts, so that he gets used to working that skill – then when he is able to run the speed circles and not sniff, then add in the handling. He did a little jump/tunnel stuff but then had trouble with the environment. So when you see that happening, rather than say no and interrupt and keep going, try to shorten the sequence and just get speed loops going, throwing the rewards a lot more to get him very very engaged.
Also – will he play with toys outside? Throwing treats even in the lotus ball will create pools of scent, which he has to then ignore. A toy or a ball might be a better reward in that environment.
He did get going and do the sequences nicely but he was definitely struggling with the environment. So, do lots and lots of speed circle reps for high value rewards, before throwing in a turn here and there. He is a great turning dog so I am not worried about his turns at all! It is perfectly fine to focus on the speed lines in the great outdoors with crazy high value rewards – then it will be easy to add the turns 🙂
On the blind cross reps – the other thing I think would be fun to add is, instead of dropping the lotus ball when you want to reward, either throw it long and far. Or attaché it to a toy so you can drag it and he can chase it. Dropping it kind of promotes stopping! So he might be preparing to stop a lot, plus the food on the ground adds more food scent.
Looking at the runaway – same question as above… what rewards are you suing? And the next question is – what did you do to mentally warm him up before you brought him to the jump and took the leash off? Super high level rewards, that are super frequent, following lots of tricks, will help. I think you are too invested in running the sequence, so you miss opportunities to reward 🙂 Since the outdoor environment is challenging, bring him in with high value rewards, do some tricks on leash. If he can do tricks, take off the leash, ask for MORE tricks (reward each one). When he can’t take his eyes off of you? Do a sequence and reward while he is still working, before he gets distracted. That might be 3 or 4 obstacles, and that is great! When he runs off, the only thing you can do is call him back like you did here, regroup, start over, get him engaged, and try again.
I think we can also use a ping pong approach to getting longer and longer sequences – he often starts off really fast then gets slower as the sequence goes on. So, reward after ever couple of obstacles – 4 obstacles, then 2 obstacle,s then 5 obstacles, then 3 obstacles, then 6 obstacles, then 4, and so on.
With that in mind, on the blind cross video, he was really speedy at the start so you can reward that! Then on the next rep, do just 2 obstacles for a wild and crazy reward. Then next rep? 6 obstacles or something. These were all pretty long for a baby dog, so he was powering down a bit which made the handling hard especially on the pinwheel jump.
And, one other things to consider – he was pretty much done by about 1:40 here, so you can do 30 second sessions and be done. His tongue got pretty long, so he is going to generally slow himself down when he gets hot. This is pretty normal for young dogs, to do super short, high energy sessions and be done while they are still pumped up and running. So set a 30 second timer and be finished when the timer goes off. And if he wants to do more? Cool! But be done anyway LOL!! You will be able to extend those sessions, but for now we want him to be wanting more and going faster, rather than dialing it back.
Nice work! Let me know what you think of the engagement ideas!
TracyHi!
Interesting about the glasses! I always wear sunglasses when I train, because the sun is hard on my eyes and my eye doctor basically told me to never go outside without sunglasses, based on the potential eye damage he was seeing. Eek! Select did fine with the glasses, I don’t notice them until I read your note.
He did well here on his threadles! I think the MM kept his energy high, so it was fine to have a slightly longer session. And most of it was brain training, and easy on the body 🙂I like how you started off easy peasy then built it up to the a-frame! Smart training!
Did you do any ‘this or that’ training with the MM there, where sometimes you cue the front of the jump ,and sometimes the threadle? We don’t want the MM to be a threadle-only use 🙂 Thankfully, he does not think it of that way yet, but adding in some on-purpose sends to the front will keep him honest LOL!Nice work here! It is a good skill to work back into the courses too!
Tracy
Hi!
He looks great! And I like that you have a compromise on the start line! It is much better than fighting with him.
And bummer about the phone not saving the videos!!!! But he did great here and you were smart not to overdo things.Seq 3- really nice!
He looks at his lines really well. Your timing of your right verbal before the tunnel was spot on!I agree, it would be good to try without the spin: with his speed the spin is going to slow you down! It got the turn here on the tunnel exit, but made you a tiny bit late to show the turn on 4-5 – as he was taking off for 4 at :14, you were facing forward so he went wide then turned a stride after landing.
So, you can use your right verbal and turn before he enters the tunnel, then when he exits, cue 4 and keep turning so you are turned before takeoff.
The rest looked great! And sounded great, lovely timing of the verbals too.Sequence 4 also looked lovely
The timing of your physical cue at 4-5 (:30) was great – when he landed from 3, your were clearly turning before he took off for 4. The only thing to add there is your “here” verbal at the same time that you started to turn your shoulders. He turned well but I think he finds the verbals useful, so this will help even more!I thought his wrap at :39 was also really good! You started it when he landed from 8. I think we can see if it will be even tighter, if you start it while he was over the bar of 8, so the cue is in progress when he lands. I bet that he will be even tighter, and you will be further ahead because you can turn and leave even sooner 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I love that you timed these! So fun to obsess on it 🙂
Seq 3:
I loved the blind on the tunnel exit!
First run, really good – but when you gave the right cue on the tunnel, he was wide for 2 reasons :
– the verbal was loud and energetic, which tends to propel dogs forward. 🙂
– Your line turned and faced the last jump for a while before he went into the tunnel, so it looked like a go cue
Send and go looked good, but I bet you can do it even sooner2nd rep- MUCH better right cues on the tunnel entry! The verbal was calmer and you turned sooner, so his exit was great. That allowed an earlier send and go. The tunnel exit to the send is what made the difference in time!
Seq 4:
Both runs looked really terrific! The only spot to tighten is 4-5, he was wide on the left turn on 4. The verbal was perfectly on time, but the physical cue was late because you ran forward and didn’t turn til he took off, so he was wide there.For the timing of the physical cue for the left, I see 2 options:
– as he is over 3 and landing, you can be decelerating and turning, which would mean sending to 5 and layering because of that dang jump in the middle of everything.
– if you don’t want to layer, you can keep moving forward but add a brake arm (outside arm and dog side arm towards him a bit, palms down, as a bit of a whoa cue.
The turn there was tighter on the 2nd run, which is why it was faster. But I bet we can get him to collect before takeoff with one of the options above.
The wrap looked great on both reps, you nailed the WOO with your verbal and decel starting as he was over 3.
And your connection and verbal and motion on all the rest looked terrific!! You two are working so smoothly (and FAST too!!)
Great job! Let me know what you think 🙂
TracyHi!
>>He wasn’t super great about taking his reinforcement- he kept wanting to run to to the fence for swimming. I know I need to battle this monster but it just feels so discouraging. I’m working on my motivation for that>>
Yes, it is hard, but worthwhile because I think back the trials he was doing and he was really good with reinforcement! So with the pool, use the frisbee and having him chase you for rewards!
>>I feel like our wraps at speed need work so I’m hopeful in improving them with you. He tends to be a bit wide.>>
Yes, but I am not worried – I prioritize it after we get all the commitments on all the jumps. It will be easy enough to add after we strengthen the commitment even more.
>>That’s it. I’m framing this and putting it on a tshirt and won’t take any further feedback. I’ll just bask in my early glory forever. Thank you>>
Heck yeah! Class is over now, let’s get the t-shirts and go out for oysters and beverages 🙂 We definitely need more t-shirts 🙂
>>I was surprised he did that turn so well. His lefts and rights just feel so much bette than I think I deserve. He’s a good buddy.>>
Well, last I checked you trained and rewarded them lots, so he is being a super good boy to show you the results of your training!
>>Also for the toy- I had been trying to throw as you suggested in our other class to keep the comittment but he doesn’t digging it while thinking about the pool. I guess I should try a frizz and see but if those aren’t working and he prefers to take it from my hand, do you have other suggestions?>>
I think the first priority would be a thrown reward like a roller frisbee or a tennis ball or something. If that is a no-go, then chasing you for a reward can work too but it is less ideal for commitment.
>>I’m doing a seminar in 2 weeks and I’ll have Britney there. Her dog likes when I run on the line and she chases me down for the reward. I suppose that’s an option to try with him?>>
Yes! Dogs love that, it is really motivating. It tends to shift focus more to the handler and less to commitment, so the ideal would be the thrown reward – will he chase a friz if someone else throws it? If he is not into the thrown rewards at all, you can definitely go with the chasing rewards 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>> Not sure how to improve videoing.
I think the video angle was good! The only thing that was hard was the sound, because the camera was near the dogs who are angry 🙂
>> Me I was not so pleased with I kept loosing my verbals and not moving smooth then she went in the wrong place. When I was right so was she.
Yes! The smoothness is the most important part that I see too. Try to keep moving and turning your shoulders, never stopping. And, before running her, try to practice this by walking the course a few times, using your verbals as well.
On the video, it was hard to hear the verbals because the dogs were barking – so I heard that *something* was happening but I didn’t know what, exactly 🙂
It looks like she had a good stay on all the reps – well done with that!!!
So looking at the physical cues since it was harder to hear the verbals – on the opening line, you can start sending her to the 5 tunnel sooner: when she is at 3, you can be turning towards and moving towards 4, which will set the line to 5 sooner (and add the tunnel verbals too between 3 and 4.) The big arm cue did get her to go back out but it was a little late and she did a zigzag on 4-5.
On the turn from 6-7, you were definitely telling her to turn and using a low hand cue – nice! Now you can add more shoulder turn as well, to really smooth it out. As she is jumping 6, you can be turning to face 7 and that will help show the line nicely. Then trust her and keep moving – she was heading the right way but you stopped and stepped back, so she pulled off the jump. On the last rep, you were much smoother so she found it better, but you gave more rotation than she needs 🙂 Try it with just the verbal and shoulder turn and keep moving, and see what she does 🙂
On the 9-10-11 line, this is another spot to trust her more and keep turning – that will set her nicely to the rear cross at 11. You were moving forward so she ended up on the backside there. O the 2nd rep, you got her to the front side but because you had stopped turning, she did not know it was a rear cross. In that moment, just reward her – she got frustrated and jumped up at your arm, which we want to convince her not to do 🙂 And reward will convince her not to! Even when you stopped on the next jump, she didn’t get an immediate reward, so be sure to be very fast with the rewards as she is learning these big courses.
I really liked the FC you did there at 1:15 and 1:24! The FC and even a BC will keep you moving AND show the line. Nice! The BC will be easier to keep moving to the backside.
On the backside jump, putting a wing there will help her see it. (And also on the 14 backside) She ended up on the off course, because after the FC you moved forward at 1:15 so she was correct. Yo got it better on the next reps and good jobgetting the backside at 14 as well!Nice work here! The big pieces are starting to come together really well. Remember to keep moving, no stopping, and it will keep getting better and better 🙂
TracyHi! These are going really well! They are particularly challenging with young dogs, because the teamwork with our youngsters is still percolating. I think you and Nox are doing great!!!
Sequence 3 looked good! The verbal feedback she delivers might just be excitement!
Dropping a bar might have been fatigue, as you mentioned.
On sequence 4 –
“500th try” cracked me up! I feel that 🙂 Backchaining to get 4-5 was very smart!On the pull off moment at :39 and 1:16 that is a connection issue. Your lower body was pulling away and your upper body was pointing forward, ahead of her, so she never saw a cue for 4. Feet can pull away but upper body must be super connected like you did on the next rep after :40 and at 1:02.
Good job lowering the bars too, it is a really hard high-speed jumping effort so learning it on lower bars is helpful! I think also when you lowered it, you got the line a little straighter? She did well there! So you can gradually raise them back up.
For the wrap at 2:28, it was a little wide but I wouldn’t stop 🙂 Keep going there, partially because it was just a late cue, and partially because it is good practice for trials where we are sometimes late and we want to keep going. And also, even if you are late, she will fight harder to turn tight if you drive back to the next line, so she will chase you into the turn. Plus, it made her really mad to stop LOL!!
So for the earlier cue there, try the decel starting as she is lifting off for 8 (the jump before the wrap). That way, as she lands, you are already decelerating and using your verbal – then as she is passing you and nearing the jump, rotate and leave for 10. She can do it really well, so now we add more speed and sort out how early to tell her. The timing at full height might be earlier than what you did here, so trying it really early on a low bar too will help give us a sense of the timing.
>> I think I am going to set the jumpers course and keep this sequence in my library of things to work on so I don’t spend the next 9 weeks on one sequence, lol.>>
Yes, you can totally move to the courses. The skills sequences are more about gathering information so we can apply it to course work. The skills don’t need to be perfect 🙂 You are looking good so definitely onwards to the courses.
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This is a helpful video to see what she needs!
I am not sure which of the verbals would be better on the turning but we can definitely work the physical cue timing to help! That will also help us know which of the verbals will be better.
When she was dropping the 4 and 5 bars, it was because you were turning too late so she was not able to adjust accordingly for the jumping effort.
So when she dropped the 4 jump, it was because as she was taking off, you were facing straight. Ideally, as she is exiting the #3 tunnel, you would be connecting and turning already. That way, as she approaches 4, you are already turned and she can also turn.And on the reps where she was dropping 5, the middle jump of the pinwheel – also a timing thing we can make earlier. So as she is jumping 4, you can be connected and do a one-step send (same as we do in MaxPup :)) to send to 5 then you run away to 6 and 7 (with connection, of course :)) That will cue the whole thing sooner (rather than you slowing down and rounding the line with her) and it will also keep you further ahead on course!
She did drop the #1 bar but that was mainly because you released without connection, so she rushed. Be sure to release or send to one with connection, like you did on the other reps 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know how it goes with the earlier turn for 4, and the send-and-go for 5!
Tracy
Good morning!
>> She actually has a pretty tight tucked sit. But, I haven’t worked up from that position.
Awesome about the tight sit! That is the first step to having great jumping “organization”.
>>I agree she’s pulling off her front. I’m actually in a jumping class online that just started and that instructor thinks she’s not pushing equally off of her left rear.
It is entirely possible that she is just stronger/more coordinated on one side over the other – I see that in all of my dogs at some point and in myself (all the time LOL!) Which jumping class? Jumping instructors can often help with exercises to balance strength, and there are a lot of great conditioning classes too, I have a list of classes that are getting great reviews and producing amazing things 🙂 Also, core strength is a biggie for this – have you done ‘posture’ work with her?
>>It’s subtle. Vet couldn’t find anything, but she was spayed 3 1/2 weeks ago.
The spay is a big surgery – all of my girl dogs needed an adjustment and some trigger point work after their spays. If the vet didn’t find any issues orthopedically, then a bit of time and some soft tissue work will help.
>>Might just need more conditioning.
Always! Youngsters always need more conditioning, at a slow steady pace to help build up their growing bodies. And more organization games. At her age (approx 17 months old), I always get my dogs in to see a rehab vet or sports vet, for an assessment to see what is strong, what is weak, structure feedback, etc.
>>She did well with wings, but adding jumps is harder for her. She will jump 20 in, but I’m only at 16 in. Should I go lower?
I would go lower on anything that involves organization skills that she finds challenging, or turns to the harder direction.
Looking at the swimming:
At :14, it is what I call a ‘reverse transition’. You were decelerated so she was decelerating as she landed from the middle jump. Then you exploded with motion and a forward cue, so she tried to adjust to extension at the takeoff point…. not successful. So you can help her organize that extension by accelerating right away as she commits to the middle jump. And yes, that bar can be lower because it is challenging! I only saw that one moment, were there more? I might need more caffeine 🙂>> Then, the BC that I’m not getting timed right. Watching the video I agree the swinging toy isn’t helping>>
For the BC timing, you had a lot of great timing moments, but I think earlier re-connection will help. And, you can get earlier by being quicker: when you see her landing from the first jump, start the blind and get to the new connection (eye contact on the new side) as quickly as possible. Since I can’t run faster :), what I have found most helpful for being “quick” is keeping my arms in tight – biceps to rib cage! That way you don’t have to bring your wings in to make the connection, all you need to do is turn your head (wings were out at :44). So I always tell myself “wings IN” for blinds, meaning, bring my arms in, biceps to rib cage, elbows bent (for me, some folks like their arms straight, it is a personal preference thing).
You were quicker at :56 but then moving away from the jump a bit and the toy was dangling in her face, creating confusion because sometimes that is the reward and sometimes not.
I liked your timing on the BC at 1:14! I still think arms should be in more because it will be quicker to show the new connection.
After the BC, though, you were running a bit sideways towards the right side of the screen and dangling the toy… so she thought it was the toy based on your motion and the style of delivery of the cues there. Try to run forward to the jump after the BC more, and the delivery of the right verbal can be slower & quieter and more elongated as compared to a toy marker (Strike! And Right! Might sound too much alike when the toy is dangling).The BC at 1:28 was definitely late – she was jumping the middle jump and you were still looking over your right side – by the time she saw the new connection, she was already passing you. Timing was much better at 1:42! The wings in tight arms will totally help her 🙂 At 1:48, good timing and good running line got the blind AND the jump after it!
Good timing at 2:04 and 2:11 of starting it but the quickness of connection will help (wings in!) get the turns better.
>>But, I need help with the turns. I can’t seem to get the decel correct. I understand what you are saying, but I struggle to execute it.>>
That will come with practice and probably make more sense in a different context or sequence. For this sequence, have her wrap a wing rather than a jump as you work it out. That way she can rehearse correct mechanics as you keep practicing the decel. We will keep working on it – it might make more sense to your feet if you think of it as get low in your running (acceleration) then stand up (decel) before you rotate. We will get it sorted out.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
