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Hi!
Work on these too!
Course 2:
One thign I notice here and also on Course 3 is that she generally comes in to you on the threadles but doesn’t automatically go back out. So while you work on getting more independence on going back out (by helping with position closer to the jump and placement of reinforcement on the landing side), you can help her with the cue to go back out – on the first rep you were a little too far away and didn’t step to the jump. When you used the other hand at :25, it helped her a lot not because it was the other hand, necessarily – but because you were more helpful but staying there and using the threadle arm to send her back out.Really good blind on the tunnel exit and nice cues for jump 5-6!!
When you have a big positional advantage on course, keep moving – for example, at :37 as you cue the tunnel after the weaves, keep moving as you do it or she catches up to you very quickly LOL!
You had much better timing on the blind at :40! And she was able to collect a bit. A little more decel and turn verbals and it will be perfect 🙂 this is a type of turn that really is not going to be a wicked tight turn on that line unless she slows way down (which we don’t want) – but a little decel will help. Also, you can be closer to the wing and don’t back up after the blind, keep moving forward to help set the line.
You can be sooner at :48 on the blind 12-13-14, and then do a decelerated send to 14 to make it a little tighter. Very nice ending line!
Course 3 –
Jump 2 should be a backside on the opening, that changes the line significantly 🙂On the line to the weaves – you were too close to the tunnel entry for the RC, so she turned pretty tightly on the exit almost didn’t get the weave entry – you can set a sweeter line there by being closer to 4 to set the line to the tunnel and then you will be able to cue the weave entry better
That is a spot to reward those weaves – she saved your butt a bit on the entry and stayed in while you ran away – good girlie!!Then you disconnected at 1:16 (note the head turn so she was correct to have a question there) You can would reward that as well – she is really paying attention. You can better connection cuing the tunnel at 1:38, try to keep moving as you do it so you can stay waaaay ahead of her 🙂
To get a slightly tighter turn on 9, you can start the verbals when she lands from 8 at 1:40.
She was totally correct at 1:45 – you didn’t turn her over 11 then said tunnel which is a forward cue, so she was right to get on the line – another spot to reward. Having the ball at the end is useful in some moments but in the big training courses, if was causing you to withhold reward too often – she was a little frustrated at this point so was getting sticky. Yo ucan
reward her then reset – if you keep going, she gets a little frantic and sticky and it leads to more errors like at 2:07 on the throwback and the threadles after it. So you can leave a ball down by the end, but bring reinforcement with you as well to reward out on course so she gets well-paid for her work 🙂
Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Nice work here too! Little details in the opening: I recommend the BC between 2-3 because it is easier and quicker for you!
Then you can call sooner at :18 & 57 before tunnel #4 to get a better turn (she didn’t really know where you were at :19) and keep moving through the serp – standing still puts you a little behind the next line.Since we are talking about the weaves – I would reward weaves at :28 and 109 with you all the way out past the tunnel – reward by throwing the toy to her to really establish the independence. She did really well on those!
Coming down the line after the weaves – you can call her before she enters the tunnel #10 and give a jump cue for 11 so she finds the line – she lost you the first time through because you got quiet 🙂 You called her after the tunnel on the next rep and she found the line a lot better 🙂
On the ending line: yes, to the Goldilocks analogy LOL! Too early at 1:12 and 1:55, too late at 1:36 and 2:02 (good job catching her with connection though, to complete the turn!)
To get it just right, a few ideas:
use your verbal collection cue (left cue), and a little bit of decel as she is landing from jump 11 – then do the blind relatively close to the wing of jump 12. Those will help make it really nice! You had a lot of acceleration and I think only her name as the verbal cue, so she didn’t know the turn was coming.Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
Good work here too!
On the video:
The opening looked good – I suggest moving a little sooner after you release so that you can show the turn 2-3 sooner. At :04 and :36 you were stationary for too long so she landed from 2 then turned. When you moved forward a little sooner on the next rep through there, the turn was better!About the weaves:
Yes, this is a particularly difficult weave challenge 🙂>>When I brought the ball up by the weave poles and we surprised rewarded it with her just 1 time, you’ll see the change in value for weaves.
I don’t think you overbalanced, I think there was some info you can change to help her out. I liked having the reward out at the end of the poles (with Julie throwing it or with you throwing it) a lot better for now than the delayed reinforcement of having to run across the field to get it. The delayed reinforcement can happen for simpler challenges or when you bring the weaves into trials. These were wickedly hard weave challenges, so immediate reinforcement was the way to go.
One thing to smooth it out is to have different cues: if you say ‘get it’ or something, that means ‘reward is out there’ versus calling her name, which means keep going to the tunnel.
And after the teeter, I think the verbal cues were very forward and propelled her in extension over the jump – I think you were saying ‘tunnel’ but the style of delivery (very loud, very long, repeated) and your physical cue were all very forward, so off she went in big extension which presents the weaves 🙂 In that section, a left or a name call on the jump then a quiet tunnel cue would keep her on the line you want, plus a send-and-leave for the physical cue. And placement of the toy from you and nearer to you more often will help keep her tracking your line and not looking out on lines when you don’t have anything with you.
>>Just wondering if you have any other ideas on smoothing the value transition with the ball potentially after the weaves and her knowing the ball is after the end of the course. I am seeing this issue with weaves at trials.>>
What is her trial behavior? Popping out? I recommend training in the ring at trials to solidify them – UKI and USDAA allow you to throw the toy but AKC does not, so a toy on a leash will allow you to toss it out to her and stay within their rules of not letting go of the toy 🙂
A couple of other little details:
Nice serp line! after the straight tunnel!On the jump after the a-frame at 2:35: it was hard to see where you were looking but she had a big question there – when you are stationary, you can see if looking back to the landing spot for her (rather than looking at her) will help – she is a tight turning dog so you don’t need to gt more collection by looking at her eyes. You can also try it by indicating with left hand there while looking back to the landing spot, not with the right hand across the body to see if that gives her a clearer line.
Nice independent DW at 2:43! She was unclear about the release – it looked like you started to release by turning your head but you didn’t say the word, so be sure to be super consistent with the release cues. I know we all want the release to be a verbal cue only… but the reality is that we have built in a physical cue too (your releases off the teeter a-frame had physical cues attached to them) so we want to be careful so the dogs don’t fail.
And about the weave value that you were seeing after the teeter – based on your position after the dog walk: the weaves were very close but your position helped her to not even look at it. That is part of why I think the cue for the jump after the teeter was more of the root of the drive to the weaves there than the value shift. You were in a great spot after the DW, she never even looked at the weaves and had a great ending line 🙂
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! So fun to be able to be back out and working in different places!!! She did really well here 🙂
>>I also love the idea of her knowing where her ball is!!! That seems to help her settle in really nicely.>>
Yay! Glad it is going well! You don’t have to use it like that all the time in training – for most training runs, you can have the reward with you to throw for an in-the-moment reward (like to the end of the poles or for getting the backside here). The dogs need to understand the concept of working without the reward in your hand… but they don’t need to do it all the time 🙂
Be sure to reward her a TON in the sequence – even if she is ‘wrong’, reward her immediately with the toy in your hand or pocket, because she is probably not wrong hahaha! She did a lot of things right here, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of rewards within the sequence before the video shifted to the next rep (which meant a really delayed reinforcement) – ideally, you have the reward and are tossing it out to support the cues she responded to. The reward left back behind the start line can be more occasional.
Lots of good work on the sequences! And great connection throughout 🙂 A couple of ideas for you and one theme (see below):
When you are hanging back, you can call her sooner or give her the next cue sooner, so that she can turn to the new line as soon as she exits. That cue can be while she is still in the poles, like at :10 – if you are calling her just before she finishes, you can eliminate that little hesitation when she tries to find you.
Good blind 3-4 on both reps! Yay!
The questions she had on the backside after the poles bring up the big theme – keep moving, turning towards the line you want, rather than remaining stationary, facing forward and using a verbal. This happened a couple of times during the session and it is an easy fix 🙂 Moving and turning that extra step will give her the understanding of which line the verbal cue is related too – otherwise it is not clear and she might be guessing.
On this backside – At :26 – you stopped short and faced forward, so the lalala backside cue didn’t reference any of the jumps in particular, which is why she looked at you like you were nuts haha! She is very expressive LOL! So, keep moving one more step and face the jump that the lalal is for and she will pick up the line. And remember to turn your feet to the line you want her to take – when you were cuing the backside your feet were facing forward so she was not sure if she should run across your feet, or head out to where they were pointing.
One other thought on the backside – I don’t think you need the outside arm there, just motion to show her which jump. You can save the outside arm on the backsides for moments when she had a lead change away to get the backside.
Some other little details:
You had a little bit of convergence towards the weaves on the entry at 1:21 – she saw it before the entry and it got her thinking it was a RC exit, so she turned left there – you can pull away laterally even more and call her before she exits to help set hte line to her right.At 1:27 yes, wrong verbal (I was doing that this morning too, clearly more coffee was needed LOL!) but also you were on the center of the bar and in her way, which was setting the rear cross line she took. (I was working through myself doing the very same thing this morning LOL!)
At 1:31, she didn’t go out to the jump but I think it was part of the theme of take one more step and face the line you want. You said the “go jump’ but you had decelerated sharply and turned – so she went and did the jump you were facing. I consider that correct and would reward it 🙂 Note the difference on the reps at 1:45 and 1:59 – you were MUCH clearer with a little more motion and facing the jump line you wanted.
Looking at the slice jump after the weaves that she had a little trouble on… it was timing 🙂 after cuing the weaves, you can move away laterally to get into a good position for the cross. At
1:40 you were near the weaves for too lon so you had to foot race her to get into position for the BC – she won the foot race but dropped the bar because the cues were late. Same at 1:52, where she ticked the bar.
You were earlier at 2:09 and she didn’t touch it and had a nice turn! Yay!On these reps, she had really nice collection on the left wrap turns – nice job with the verbal and handling!!
On the last sequence – she had a little trouble figuring out where to go after the left, and I think it goes back to the theme of using more motion and handling to show her which line.
At 2:19 – the left verbal was clear and timely but your body position didn’t support the line you wanted – you were facing the line she took, and you can see her glancing at you – she was asking if the jump was next because that was out there on the left turn line where you were facing.
At 2:28 and 2:43 you added a little decel and she definitely turned better – but then you can keep moving to get her to see the line to the weaves. She had weave errors on these reps because she was trying to figure out the line. On the last rep, you turned more and kept moving up the line – that helped her read it much sooner, and she nailed the weaves. YAY!
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! This was a great road trip!
It looks like he picked up the rhythm of the game at home because he was able to pick it up pretty quickly in the new places. The towels were great! I think you will be able to fade them out too, as you add your movement of walking.
One thing to bear in mind is that when he enters the new area, you don’t have to wait for him to offer engagement – you can show him the goodies as he comes into the area (gets out of the car, in this case :)) then immediately start the game with the first ‘get it’ toss. That can actually speed up the game because he can go right into it, rather than taking a few minutes to check things out. Also, start a little further from the distracting areas- for example, at Home Depot, start on the pavement to be further from the grassy area, then as he gets into the pattern you can move closer.
It was hard to hear what you were saying – I couldn’t hear if you were using a ;get it’ cue of some sort – so if not, remember to use one LOL!! And praise is not the end of the world, we all get excited and praise the dogs – and it is fine as long as you remember to toss the reward and tell him to get it. The main thing we don’t want is to call the dog or try to use praise to engage them – and I think here you were only praising as part of the cookie toss, which is great 🙂Do you know of any local trials where you can just show up and play this game in a trial environment? Or training schools or classes? Taking it into the agility environment will help him as we transfer it to the ring 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning! Welcome to CAMP!!!!
You and the boys look terrific on these videos! For some reason, I couldn’t get the sound to work on them – either my internet is being really wonky or the videos don’t have sound LOL! No worries 🙂 Here are some thoughts:
Bob looked great in the tunnel video! he was pretty darned perfect about driving ahead to them and letting you hang back. I couldn’t hear the verbals, so Iam guessing you were using a tunnel cue and not turn cues, so the rewards being thrown out ahead really helped him drive straight and fast.
you can totally add in more of the moving away laterally now – use your one step send to the tunnel plus tunnel verbal after the wing, and you start moving in the other direction – you started at 1:50 but you can do it sooner on that rep, more like what you did at 2:07 – he committed AND turned, good boy! Really nice!Teeter video – this is harder for him than the tunnel! Good job giving him just enough of the one step to the teeter to convince him to get on it before starting to move away. He showed us that he does need the one step to the teeter – at 2:00 and 2:17 you moved laterally from the wing without the step, and he wanted to come with you – but then went back out to the teeter when you did give him a step. His smoothest teeter entries were when you use the one step send cue right as soon as he was exiting the wing, before you moved away laterally.
Question about his teeter criteria: I think he is a 2o2o dog, based on your placement of reinforcement? But maybe he is more of a ‘hit and go’ based on the sequences below? I ask because when you were behind and moving laterally, he want to stop 4on at the top of the yellow. When you were moving up the line with your motion a little lateral but moving past the end of the teeter, he did get into the 2o2o. He is focusing forward on the board but with your lateral position he was stopping higher than needed – so you can use targets or something that helps him drive to the bottom. You can go back to however you trained it (I use targets) and put them back on the teeter to help him drive through the end, even as you add the crazier challenges of hanging back or moving away laterally.Sequence 1:
Bob’s run:
PERFECT one step send to cue the teeter after the wing wrap!!! PERFECT! Great connection and timing 🙂 I love how he drove up the teeter! On this rep, he ran through the end as a hit and go – all the way through the end, which is good, rather than stopping up high. I think the visual of the other obstacles really helped him. The ending was really connected and smooth – your send after the wing to the teeter really set you up for lovely position after the teeter.Good send with the Pete too! He came off the teeter a little high and to the side – so as you add the independence with him, you can use your targets (or anything that you might have used during the original training process) to help him find the bottom even as you change your position to be behind and lateral.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!!!
TracyTotally makes sense! Somehow it is so much easier to build in looking at us with the littles than it is with the bigs. I think it is a little dog thing, because I have had to sort out similar issues with all of my littles. That is why Hot Sauce does the running dog walk through the target and over a flyball jump and to the MM haha!! I needed 75 things to convince her that she didn’t need to look at me.
Hi!
>>There was an actual target. He doesn’t pay that much attention to it here does he? LOL! Am going to work on target away from the equipment and bring up the value for it.
Ha! Good news is that he loves you more than the target. That might also be the bad news LOL!!!!! Yes, you can refresh the target. You can also change the placement of reinforcement to help keep him as straight as possible: the target is in the same place on the teeter, and the reward is then placed 6 feet straight past the teeter. For example, you can leave a Manners Minder or a toy out there. And when he targets, you can use a word to send him to it (perhaps the zing word?) or you can use your ‘regular’ release word when you want to keep handling. We would want to reward straight a lot – and this also keeps him from looking at you as you deliver the reward. Having you deliver the reward, even if you place it perfectly, chains in looking at you. It goes back to the gem from Bob Bailey: everything between the click and the reward gets built into the behavior. So when you click (or praise, same idea) and he looks at you throw or run back to deliver the reward – we get more looking. So if the reward is mainly out ahead and you cue it before he looks at you? No looking at you and no curling in 🙂 But it won’t create wide turns off the teeter because when you use the regular release, he will drive to you (plenty of value there) and plus dogs are brilliant with context 🙂
>>I don’t have one for the weaves – I can’t even really visualize how to use it at the moment.
Based on course design challenges I’ve seen on European courses, I have added a weave threadle verbal – I wouldn’t bet my dogs truly “know” it and it is a low priority, but I have added it in for the future. I will grab a map to show you where it might be helpful. We don’t need it yet, here in North America… but it is coming! Maybe in a year or so, we will need it.
I think the rest of the verbals list covers just about all the things! One thing to think about:
>>threadle at jumps is in in
Is this for a threadle SLICE on the jump? Because… a hot new trend is going to be those threadle wraps. We will begin working on those here in this class soon because they are the newest trend coming our way. I think they are kinda stupid but we do need to train them. I have added a verbal for that but like with my weave threadle verbal: lower priority and I wouldn’t bet you any cash that my dogs truly know it yet 🙂
>>have added zing for a reward thrown ahead to drive on to get.
way to go is the lets go together and get a reward
get it is used for both starting a tug game and a dead toy on the ground, also used for directing to a treat on the ground not driving on away.>>Zing and way to go are both very clear, I think. The get it might be a bit muddy if it could me the toy in your hand or the toy on the ground. I added a separate cue for the in hand stuff because my dogs were having a bit of trouble know where to look: at the one in my hand or at the one on the ground.
>>get your leashie is to get a leash at the end of a run especially during relay and for our new transition to trial exercise.>>
Perfect LOL!
>>I have one question – I want that ‘zing’ to be a drive on looking forward reward, so I don’t think that’s appropriate for this week’s transition to trial game.
Based on your descriptions, I agree – zing is not the cue.
>> Think it’s still ok to use get it to mean get a treat and grab this toy either in my hands or on the ground?
I think those are two entirely separate behaviors and he might be wrong or he might choose based on value: if you have a frisbee in your hand but toss a cookie – which one would get it mean?
>> I guess I could change the word for grabbing the toy in my hand and still use get it for either toy or treat on the ground.
That is what I am currently using with my dogs and they are fine with it. I also say ‘get your ting’ (thing) when I want to be more specific about the toy. Some folks have separate cues for toys and for food.
>> It’s worked in the past because I really used only one reward word. It meant they were now able to interact with the thing to play or eat whether on the ground or in my hand, so kind of a release from a self control behavior of not grabbing things before given permission. I hope that makes sense.>>
I like that we are adding more, but I also recognize that we somehow trained our dogs in the past without it LOL! The key is to be minimizing frustration while maximizing clarity. And remember that dogs are brilliant at context. But I do like that I can carry the frizzer (highest value of mind-exploding joy for Contraband) and he won’t grab at it in my hand until I say ‘bite’ and he also will go get the cookie off the ground when I use the get it (and cookies are not even close in value to DA FRIZ). There is more clarity… and he is so far a lovely balance of motivation/speed and zero frustration on course. This is different than Voodoo at the same age, who was motivated and fast… but also had some frustration because I was lacking clarity in some situations.
Food for thought! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>We will be / are doing running contacts on both the AF and DW.
FUN!!!
>I have been asking for a down at the end of the teeter. My real purpose is too keep her body weight low at the end. She is running almost to the end and then she doesn’t get released until the down. Sometimes the down happens just before or at the yellow line, but then when released she will hit the yellow. I need to decide what I want the criteria to be and stick with it.>>
You will want her to run alllll the way to the end of the board for the down, not to the top of the yellow – that is both faster and clearer for her.
>>Maybe I should try training with Holee roller. She brings the big one back to me so I can throw it again.>>
Perfect! Have 2 of them – so you can reward her with tugging on the 2nd one when she brings the first one back 🙂
Hi!
>>“On the wrap, though, a little detail – you will get better collection on it if you drop your hands into the front side of the jump and not swoosh to the landing side. You handled more of the front side on the other side and his turns looked better there too.”
I’m not sure exactly where you are talking. Is that at :10? I’m not getting the “swoosh to the landing side” comment.>>
Oops! I made perfec sense in my head after 2 cups of coffee haha 🙂
It is at :08 – your feet are rotated but your left arm is high and extended out to the landing spot. That causes extra motion and is a bit an an extension cue. So to ask for more collection, try getting your hand stationary and lower (closer to the level of the 16″ jump cup) and on the takeoff side of the jump, when he is still about 15 feet from the jump. That can really help him sit back into collection.>>Looking forward to the new work with verbals. I had no idea people had such varying opinions about verbals until the seminar this past weekend.>>
Eek! I am interested in knowing the various opinions. A lot of people are in the ‘less is more’ mode (which is fine) and they believe their position and motion will cue the behavior they want (ummmm… the judges then say ‘hold my beer’ and they are in trouble). But either way – the training to get the dogs to understand them even when is arousal is key 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
>>Regarding your comments about turning away on the weaves, we do have that skill. In your example, I would currently need to go to the “third to last” pole in order to send to the tunnel while remaining on the other side. Based on how infrequently I see this challenge, I am going to call that good enough for the time being.
>> Perfect! The skill is in the ‘coming soon’ bucket of things I think we will need in the 2022 season and beyond.
>> (Speaking of which, when are you next doing an in-person seminar? I had such a good time at Agility at the Farm. You could just slip me an email…)>>
I have Moline, IL in August then the next closest thing might be Muncie, IN during October, still figuring out dates.
>>I am almost caught up to the new lesson you released today. I built the course from week one this morning (temp 78 to 83; going for a high of 91 degrees). If I recover, I’ll run it either later this afternoon or early tomorrow morning. 😊>>
Stay cool! No rush on these, we have all summer and into September 🙂
Hi!
>>Before I was so bad about rushing the wing and motioning with my arm and totally closing connection. In what way can I best utilize my outside arm while still keeping connection?
The outside arm supports the open chest: extend it ahead of you and have it point to the entry wing of the backside, while you are running forward (don’t rotate your feet)
>>We moved the girls but left the jump intact because we could see it was too much. In a scale of pressure in training, was that making it too easy to quickly? Should I drop to a wing first before removing more pressure (ie moving the screaming Roulez)
Because pressure opportunities are so limited, you could keep the pressure and go to the wing. I think you were working the handling skill, so it was wise to take the pressure out. Then you can put the pressure back in and work the pressure skill 🙂 Both need to be worked, so there really is no wrong answer.
>>I love how politely you managed to say unless your cueing or stopping to reward, STFU Jamie 🤣🤣🤣🤣>>
Well… it can also be phrased as:
“unless your cueing or stopping to reward, STFU TRACY” hahahaha I catch myself doing it and it does NOT help my dogs lol it does help some dogs… just not Fever or Contraband or Hot Sauce.>>This made me happy cry into my coffee. Thank you
OMG SALTY COFFEEE NOOOOOO hahahaha go have some more 🙂
>>Also… I was today years old when I realized your course progression is by difficulty and I probably should have started with course 1 🤣😅>>>
Bwahahaha! And note in the games package 2 that was posted today that I emphasize doing these in order – folks like to skip around and y’all are not going to want to do that in the next one LOL!
T
Hi!
Great to see you and the poodles here! How is Riot 3 already?? Time flies 🙂 And it is great to see Pixey also giving her opinions from the xpen haha.Riot looks great – he has grown up since I saw him last and moving beautifully! He is reading the lines like a pro and so it is all about the handling now!
Video 1:
loved your opening 1-2-3-4! Nice blind! I bet you can send to the tunnel more and get a BC 4-5. If you want the rear cross, come in closer to the tunnel exit so you can set the RC line by moving forward, which will help get the backside on 6.Video 2: also nice opening here!
You got the BC on the tunnel exit – NICE! Now I will bug you to call him (your left cue) and show the head turn of the blind before he enters, so he knows where to face on the exit. Ideally that would start when he is still 3 feet or more away from the tunnel entry.
It was hard to see what he did in the weaves but it looked like you were pretty close to him. Getting more laterally away from them will allow you to get ahead for the closing line.
On the tunnel after the weaves, calling him will help too, he had to find you for a moment there 🙂 And add in a little more connection as you are running down the line – you were looking forward a bit so he was not sure which side to be on and zig zagged a bit.
I think your plan for a BC but you did a good job getting the RC to keep him moving! It was a good save, and that is an important skill!!
One thought on the verbals: what does your go verbal mean? Is it a general “jump” cue or does it mean “big extension on a line”. If it is a general jump cue, then you are using it perfectly! If it is a big extension cue, then try not to say it to help get commitment on turns.Video 3 and…. another great opening. Yay! Love it! Also, you were earlier on your verbal left cue on the #4 tunnel so his turn on the exit was better.
After the weaves, your connection coming down the big line was clearer (even with the big sprinting happening!) so he had a sweeter line (keep remembering to call him before he enters the tunnel)
Then after the BC, grab the connection to get the turn tighter by keeping your left arm (dog-side arm) back more and make big eye contact. You were using your left arm down at your side to cue where you wanted him to be, but that blocks the connection so he was not sure which sied to be on til he saw the jump. It is crazy how the dogs don’t target our hands at all – it is all about the eye contact to get the side changes on the blinds.Course 2 (actually course 3 on the maps)
Video 1 – you made it a little harder with 2 as the front side – 2 should be a backside which would buy you time to get up the line for the 4-5 sooner to get the blind. You got it on this first run, a tiny bit late but still a good turn (it is a really hard angle).Good job getting to the cross after the tunnel without the full set of poles to give you a head start!
It was hard to see him for the timing, but he certainly knew where to find you – you were a little on his line so he had to go around you – try sticking really close to the tunnel exit to clear the line sooner rather than running a few steps wide of it.On the ending line 9-10-11, you can use more of a send to 10 to get the blind 11-12. You turned him well to face the tunnel when you threadled it here – he read that line really well but you were one step too quick to turn your feet so he came off the line rather than pushing into the tunnel. This is a good skill for him to work in isolation so that you can leave that soon. It wasn’t that you were wrong, it is just that we need to expand his commitment so you can do that early departure an he feels comfortable continuing even though you turned that soon.
Video 2
You were a little later on the blind 4-5 here than on the first run – so keep trying to be as early as possible – when he lands from 3, you can cue 4 and start the blind (2 as backside will be easier but even on a front side, a longer lead out can help get you up there).
You had good lateral position on the exit of the weaves at :23 but turned away rather than running the parallel line so it looks like he just came with you to the tunnel exit. You can mainain that position and run forward til he locks onto the tunnel, then pull away so you can get around the tunnel.Video 3 – this one picks up from the weave exit and you had a much clearer tunnel send, plus you were tighter to the tunnel exit so he had a better line to the 8 jump – nice!!!
On the ending line, the threadle worked better in terms of tunnel commitment: you held your feet facing the tunnel for a few more steps. You can turn and face the tunnel sooner like you did in the previous video, you held the slice line (facing the exit of the tunnel) – he jumped a little wider over 11 here because you faced the slice line longer than you did on the previous video.I bet you can get the blind before the tunnel, though! You can get it by sending to the 10 jump (and you can do a spin it if is easier to get out of it) and then drive to the 11 wing for the blind, Easy peasy!
>>His cue for a right wrap is deedeedee, but now I am wondering if that sounds too much like weaveweaveweave?>>
I think it is fine, because the deedeedeed is quieter and you can emphasize the ‘d’ and say it faster. With weaves, it can be louder and also longer: weeeave weeeeave weeeave. I don’t think it sounded like weeweewee, which would be similar to deedeedee 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> It appears that all the pro’s do exercises with 6 weaves, so it should be okay, but it still bugs me. In order to make it “fair”, I spread it all out a bit.
No problem to do it with 12 poles. I had 6 in there because of the small space requirement. Spreading it out to 12 poles add handling challenges on the jumps & wing because the distances are really big!
>>On the first exercise, I turned him “in” at 4 and then repeated it turning “out” at 4. My thinking was that turning out would create a better line to 5 and 6. Also, I think I got a better turn on the “out”. When I took the time off of iMovie, I got 14.3 on the “in” and 13.9 on the “out”. Which is quite a lot.>>
Was the “in” the wrap and the “out” the slice? I didn’t time it but the slice looked fabulous and faster – it checks all the boxes for the faster line, so should be faster. You did it with a switch here and he was LOVELY. On the other side, you did a FC and then a collection cue: It was good but I think the switch might have been gooder 🙂 We can compare on the same side to see if the switch gets better collection in that situation, and which is actually faster.
On the wrap, though, a little detail – you will get better collection on it if you drop your hands into the front side of the jump and not swoosh to the landing side. You handled more of the front side on the other side and his turns looked better there too.
On the other reps, he really had no questions on the weaves at all.
On the 3rd rep: Soft turn to the weaves and then you driving ahead? No problem at all. Super!At :50 add a collection cue (verbal) on the wing – you had extension cues (go around) so he went wider – and it is also a good opportunity to challenge him to find the poles while you keep running rather than holding a stationary position until he has them.
Good turns at 1:15 and 1:32 on the jump after the weaves! He had the refual at 1:20, a couple of things happened: the verbals changed and that caught his ear, plus then you had a high arm and turned your shoulders. The high arm causes you to turn your line away from the jump as you decelerated to set the turn, and on the big distance that pulled him off. You had a high arm again at 1:35 but the motion of your running line supported is path much better, so he got it. Yay!
Now, since high arms on sends are really not the end of the world and we would like him to commit anyway 🙂 that is a good one to proof on a jump (show him ALL the high flingy arms with shoulder turns and reward him for taking the jump 🙂
And, since you did have verbals going (but they did not override the body language) – check out the games in the Skills Sets posted this morning, where we begin to really focus on teaching the dogs to process verbals even when there is a lot of motion and high arousal. Sooooo many people have told me that this is a big area where their dogs have questions, so we will definitely tackle it this summer 🙂Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>As far as turning away on the weaves (when I am running counter to his motion), I usually whisper “here I am” when I think he might not notice a cross. In this case, he turned away when I didn’t cross but it was artificially set up running counter to his motion. Will have to think about when I might need that.>>
I would use that flip away skill any time I needed to stay on the same side and get away up a line. Here is an example:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TyvKbSbiA1OmLl5HYn7dp0-sjcB6jBxUR9JCD7s9DZY/edit?usp=sharingI would want to flip to the tunnel to be able to get the line 5-6-7.
>>On the teeter, I am using a small lid (peanut butter, I think). I haven’t ever done the lid plus MM at a distance. Will try that technique out. I was at Ann Braue’s summer camp this past 3 days and he was “pretty good” with his teeters. I played a lot of “bang” games before camp and we didn’t embarrass ourselves too much. Without the target he doesn’t drive to the 2o2o position; he stops at a random 4o and then needs another prompt to assume 2o2o. I wish I could pack a teeter in my car when trialing (which I am doing a lot) but I will throw a travel plank into my car.>>
Hope you had a great time at the camp!! A travel plank will totally work. And you can also use the lid a lot to help get the drive into position (to break the habit of the 4on) and I have lots of ideas on how to fade it (with or without the MM). The lid can also be used in NFC runs (as long as it is not placed on the actual teeter).
Tracy
