Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Good morning! He is looking really great!!! We can obsess on the little tiny details 🙂
Seq 1:
The opening line looks good! Connection is strong, timing is strong! I agree, he is approaching the last jump in collection – could be the dog walk! Could also be you haven’t cued anything else so he is slowing down to get the reward. You can try it with a very early throw or a placed reward, to keep him driving ahead.Seq 2: You said right on time and turned on time… but it got lost in all of the other processing he is doing. The 2nd time you added a ‘Ripley come’ so he turned wide on the tunnel exit. The 3rd and 4th times, he knew the sequence 🙂 and also you added a decel and a tiny rotation towards him (the tunnel brake). I think he is too speedy for that: you are going to need to say the cue and leave for the next line with hustle and even a little rotation there puts you behind on a bigger course. Try repeating the right verbal a few times as well as making it more salient with a different pitch and style of delivery. It sounded like “RIGHT!” Which is similar to “break!”or a forward cue. You can drop it in pitch, make it quieter, and stretch it out: “riiiightriiightriiight” that will sound entirely different and help him process it better.
I think some of the veering in and out over 4-5 was due to how well he knew to turn on the tunnel exit. But yes, layering is a great option here!!
Seq 3 : This first rep was good to hash out some timing needs! Basically… you were early 🙂
At 1:23, you were decelerated and turned to 6 before he took off for 4, so he had a question about whether 5 was in play or not. Then as you got ahead and turned to the ending he had a jumping question on 6 (head up, bar down). MUCH better on the next run here because you were later 🙂 AS he was exiting he tunnel looking for 4, you were facing the right line and then turning, so he knew it was a turn to 5 and not a turn to 6. Super!! Good verbals there and he had a lot of lovely distance too!!!Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
Congrats on your success in premier! It is fun to bring the trained skills into the ring and nail them! Yay! And the FEO for contacts and start lines is definitely helpful – you can use the behind the back start in places where you can send her and leave, but layering is pretty much mandatory for fast dogs and behind the back starts LOL!
On the video:
If you find that you are a step or two late on course openings all the time, you can try to anticipate the timing more. What I mean by that is you can start to time your cues at takeoff of the previous obstacle or anticipate when she is exiting in the tunnel. Then, you can watch her approach the previous jump and be ready for when you see her lifting off (all while running, of course :))
The opening of this course went well – I think you can leave sooner at 2 (the threadle) – when you see her turning her head to 2, bye bye up the line you go LOL! And then you don’t need to run the curve of the course with her (meaning, don’t move along the line 3-4-5 with her: use your verbals and connection to set that line while you run across the field to 7).That way you will be ahead of her and nearing 7 as she is exiting 5.
On the first run, your verbal left cue started on time as she was exiting the tunnel but that moment went wrong (off course tunnel) because the verbal was urgent (which she reads as “go forward!”) and the physical cues did not match it: you rotated to her, which pulled her in after the 5 tunnel, then turned back out and accelerated and that put her into the off course.
As you worked that section, you were decelerating which helped, but facing forward: try to decel and turn, really trusting her commitment to 6 (she will stay on her line as you turn if you stay connected). Also, quiet the left verbal so she gets drawn into you – being loud propels her forward.Super nice job on the middle section 9-10-11-12-13! The backside at 12 was great, especially after the rear cross!!!
On the threadle: I don’t think she fully understands the circle threadle (Charm had the same questions in her video) so you can play with that arm cue: use 2 arms, nice and low, to get her attention then turn her away from you in a circle – first on the flat and then we add it to the jump. More on that coming in the next games package.
Ending line: after the 15 tunnel t :52, you decelerated and turned… and she did the 6-7 line. So save that for the opening and accelerate into the 15-16-17 line, leaning forward and the tunnel verbal can get really loud here. And when you have said the whoa cue… don’t hang out on the 18 jump after the tunnel because she is coming at you like a speeding race car LOL! You got out of the way at 1:12, but you can trust her commitment to find the line and just run into the blind there, no need to stand still and cue it.
Course 2:
I like the BC in the opening! Lead out more (towards 2) so you can be another step or two ahead. The blind was a little late (she was over the bar of 3 when you started it at 1:21 and 2:07) Also, stay more connected to her eyes – the disconnect on the way to the 7 tunnel at the beginning got a zigzag line (that tunnel placement is a ‘get out’ line here, so a very strong connection will smooth out her line to it) and the disconnection to accelerate to the BC at 2:06 caused her to pull the bar.On the middle section (9-10-11-12) I think you had too much decel so she was checking in with you. You can power through that and use your shoulder turns and verbals, deceling when there is a change in direction.
Nice wrap on 13! You can decelerate even sooner at 1:38 2:25 and you might find a spin there is even easier to get the turn – with the decelerated post turn, you are still facing forward as she is jumping so she has to wait for more info as she lands. With a spin, you are rotating to the tunnel before she takes off, so she will see the new direction before landing.
And on the 14 and 17 tunnels, she needs you to be past her in order to get her to commit to the tunnel, so face forward longer til she is a step past you. On the 14 tunnel on the 2nd run, you were facing forward but as she passed you, you stepped back and said whoa, so she didn’t commit. O the last 17 tunnel, you faced forward long enough for her to get it. So, this might make you laugh: she needs more tunnel commitment 🙂 Separately, you can have a little tunnel fun and send her backwards into a tunnel so you can leave early like you wanted to do here.
Nice job getting her to the circle wrap backside at the end and moving through it without stopping to help her! She had a question (bar down) on the jump after the tunnel – you were serping at 2:35 but as she lifted off, you looked forward and released your serp arm by moving it forward, which changes the exit line: keep your serp arm back and eyes on her til she has landed and turned to face the next jump.
Question (hard to hear the verbals): do you have the same backside verbal for the slice and for the wrap? She was slicing it and waiting to see the handling before deciding to turn when she landed. Having a wrap verbal for the backside (different from front side wraps) will help get a better turn there.
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!!
TracyHi!
The opening looked good! Nicely timed left at 6-7. You got a little quiet during the middle section, letting the physical cues do the “talking” but you can definitely add more verbals there too! You used more verbals on the 2nd rep, and they were earlier which really helped (especially the backside verbal at 11-12).For the threadle at :21 – call her after she lands from 12 and looks at 13, so she is prepared for the threadle cue at 14. You surprised her while she was over the bar there. On the 2nd rep, you had a bit of decel there which helped. Then, try not to pull away from 14 because then she didn’t know you wanted her t o turn back to it. Try to run directly at the wing of 14, giving just enough room to let her get past you – that’ll help her find the line. You were moving away then moving back, so she was relying on footwork when ideally, it is just upper body and verbals that get the cue to her.
Where you intending the slice or wrap there? It was hard to tell, until the last rep where it was the wrap. Try to use your hands more – keep them lower and turn her away on the flat to the jump, rather than using your motion to pull her away then turn her back.
Wow, course 2 went well!! Nice blind 3-4, with the threadle cue to help out! I think you can drive more into the tunnel #8, you were decelerating and she looked at you til you started accelerating again.
The whole 9-10-11-12 section was very smooth. And all she needed for the wrap at 13 was a little decel. Very nice!
Before the last tunnel entry, call her for the turn before she takes off for the jump before it. She was jumping straight to the wrong end of the tunnel at :31 and adjusted when she landed.
The ending line looked great!>> I’m really struggling to get that tunnel break cue out. Not sure why that one is so hard for me.
Yes, on both of these courses, your whoa cues were late (when she was almost done with the tunnel). To help get good timing, you can put a leash as a line on the ground 6 feet of more in front of the tunnel entry, as a focal point for you: when she arrives at the line, start your whoa cue 🙂 That’ll give you a concrete spot to working on being on time.v
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! You’ve been busy!
I’m so glad you love your puppy, he seems so cool 😎
Sounds like the dogs are doing well with the layering!
You can show Buddy that threadle rear cross without the layering first, then add distance… then add the layer. As soon as he understands the threadle rear maneuvers, the layering will be easy. 🙂>>>Mookie when I was clear with my hand cues and verbals of what I wanted, could layer a threadle/ rear in either direction. I think my clear handling this time prevented a confusion and getting stuck in a vortex. Mookie needs very clear conisitent cues to the letter :). He has 40 rules I need to follow
But, he is fun to watch once we (I) get it togetherHa! I believe it! I can totally relate about all the rules rules rules hahaha
>>I also fit in some of the pop outs . So glad you did this as my space is small and these are fun to work on. Both Mookie and Buddy nailed the short tunnel discrimination and the layering pop ups. So much fun !!!!
Awesome! I figured the pop outs would be easy to do for people who don’t have a ton of room or who don’t feel like setting full courses haha
>>hope I can watch the Live Zoom next week but it depends how my husband is doing post op surgery. Glad you are recording these
We will miss you if you aren’t there, but fingers crossed for an easy surgery for hubby!!
Thanks for the update, it sounds like the dogs are doing amazing. 🙂
TracyHi!
>> To answer your question about front side verbals: over, back, wrap, turn (rear cross). For us, digdig is a tight turn out of the tunnel. So suggestions for a verbal for a backside wrap around the wing?
Maybe something like checkcheckcheck or zip zip?
>>At this point, I’ve just used body motion and chest/eye looking to the landing.
That has been effective for a long time, but now the judges have outsmarted us and made courses big enough that we can’t count on physical cue.
Seq 3 looked really good!! Your German turn on the backside looked strong, especially the 2nd run where you helped her with the bar a lot less. She seems to have really strong commitment to it, so you can just keep moving through and help her less. And she loved chasing you up the ending line, TONS of speed 😍
For the turn at 3 – you can consider a reverse spin but I don’t think you need it. That’s a whole lot of work and we don’t want to anger your Achilles!! Instead, I think we can try your decel sooner, and that little brake arm/FT sooner too. You were doing as she was jumping 3, so she couldn’t adjust til landing. Try beginning a decel when she lands from 2, and when she is about halfway between 2 and 3, you can do a soft brake hand and name call. That should be perfect without all the rotation.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHoly bananas he looks great!!!! And he also loves the cheering crowd #Showman
Hooray for frisbee freedom in public! He looks so good here <3Hi!
Definitely an interesting session! He was largely successful, which is good! Also, VERY clever to tie your toy to a rope to reel it back in without having to stand up. I bow to you!!!So we can look at the little trouble spots.
First up, you mentioned that he might bark at you at tunnels on course. And you got some of that here (coming off the tunnel and barking). I think we can rule out a handling error because you were not moving here LOL! I think we need to reward the tunnel more specifically, meaning the reinforcement comes immediately at the end of the tunnel. In this training, shorten the tunnel so he can see the exit. And then as he starts heading to it correctly, you can either throw the toy so he sees it land on the other side of the tunnel, or you can have your MM out there and use that.
When running courses, reward the tunnels A LOT by throwing the reward at the end of it
That’ll help too!Rewarding the tunnel differently (short tunnel, toy or MM visible at the end) will help a lot in this training with the barking.
Another thing that will help us if you use reset cookies after every rep, successful or not. So if he gets it right, throw the reward or click the MM, then call him back and give him a cookie.
If he gets it wrong? Call him back and give him a cookie. Then, if needed, you can get your next reward ready while you are holding him: that kept him calm and ready to work. If you left him hanging out on his own while you got the next reward ready, he would bark.
And if he barks for some reason? No worries, call him back and either have him come to hand for the cookie, or throw it behind you to get him moving. I think the resets will help a whole lot, to get him in the groove of just coming back and lining up, no matter what happens. 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This was an interesting session – she started off happy to get on the lines but then got stickier as the session went along. I thought your connection was strong, and you had nice low arms! So keep doing that 🙂 And she definitely loved your high energy verbals!When she was getting more sticky, it might have been that she was getting fatigued. But i also think she was watching you intently for cookies 🙂 All of the reinforcement came right near you, in the form of cookies dropped from your hand. So when your handling was very clear, she took the jumps but still had a tiny eyeball on you, which made it harder to get her to commit independently. And when you were not totally perfect, she didn’t take the jump like at :49.
So with that in mind, I think for the next several weeks we should have you toss all rewards out on the line, away from you, so she drives ahead. Does she like a lotus ball or treat bugger? That would be ideal for throwing!!! That way you can throw it out on the line like for the middle jump, or when she drives ahead on a line at the end (no more stopping for cookies near you LOL!)
I think that will really help get more commitment!! She is doing well, so this will take it all to the next level. Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>> I’ve been trying to time things without running to all obstacles with him. Is it okay right now to run with him to every obstacle knowing that working go go go lines will increase obstacle commitment and eventually I won’t need to go with him? Is it best right now for me to run with him knowing independence will come later? Hope this makes sense.
Run as much as needed for now, for always 🙂 Peeling away when it is not needed is going to potentially obscure the info, especially with a young dog. So yes – run all the lines right now and let the commitment build. This particular setup doesn’t really require lateral distance or anything, so running lines is perfect.
Good morning!
Opening line:
I know the backside circle at 3 might be the more obvious choice, but for him at 24”, I would love to see the BC 2-3 and do a backside slice instead! It might be a lot faster. He is accurate on the backside circle wrap, but he needs to slow way down to do it.
He missed 5 at :10 – I couldn’t see what you were doing but my guess is you were disconnected. Much better connection at :20 and later at 1:54 you ran a better line towards it too.
The line from the tunnel to the teeter looked good- you can show more of the wing on the circle wrap before the weaves. He has a good teeter stop so you can be running to where the bar meets the wing on the next jump to get an even better line to it.
At 1:05, you were playing with the teeter and did a blind for a moment – that is a great place to do the blind to the slice instead of the circle wrap! He is a BIG dude and the 24 inch bar is very tall… so he has to work soooo hard on the circles that I bet the blind to the slice on the other side is going to be easier and faster.
When you did the full run at 2:02, your running line to the wing was good but I think you released him too soon – you were still running forward so he was also running forward and almost went right past the jump.
I *think* you used a ‘break’ release from the teeter (hard to hear) but in this case, it is great to use your back verbal as the release so he doesn’t look straight and looks to the backside immediately.That weave entry is why we added the weave game to the 2nd set of games – almost every dog who has run this course missed it, and needed handler help. I saw your post about a photo – I will get a photo at some point this weekend so you can see what the setup it if is it not clear on the demo video. I am out of town and will have access to weaves later today. He got it the second time and again on the 4th time And when you did the full run at the end but you had to stand still – we want him to find it the first time and you can keep moving 🙂 If you can keep moving, you will be one or 2 steps further ahead on the next jump, setting a better line to the jump before the DW. At 2:12, as he was lifting off for the jump after the weaves, you were still passing the bar so he read it as a regular serpentine. If you can get past that wing and show countermotion to the next jump, he will set up a great turn – and it all comes back to being able to leave the weaves immediately.
The iz iz on the tunnel at :51 was late, it needs to be at least 6 feet before he enters the tunnel especially coming off that fast RDW 🙂 The RDW looked good on that first rep! He had trouble with it on the reps at the end, maybe he was more tired and moving differently?
Great job on the ending line, both times through!!! Your physical cues were very clear so he totally got it 🙂
>>
STD Course #2, I just remembered I also have a verbal for a situation like 16-17-18 = Fufu (Argh, and I am just creating the list but I have not completed it).I am also still practicing on the changing the verbal sounds, but I could not think about it on the big course, I even forgot what verbals I needed to use hahaha.>>
I have some games in the coming weeks that will help that 🙂 It is important but really hard to do on the big courses – so we will practice and build up to it 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
The opening looked really good. A couple of small details to consider:
On the BC 2-3, rather than stop on your lead our., release, then explode forward, try to stay in motion the whole time. That way, she won’t see a big acceleration followed by the turn cue, she will only see smooth motion followed by the turn cue.Great job getting the #4 tunnel!! As soon as you see her heading there, start the BC so you are finished and re-connected before she exits. Yu were late at :14 and she had a question. BIG difference at :38 and 1:21 when you were earlier and she nailed it! The layering there was very effective!
Mid course:
She needs to see and hear the ‘out’ cues for 8 while she is still a stride away from entering the 7 tunnel. At :19 you did it as she was exiting, which was too late to make the change. You were more dramatic with your cue at :43 and 1:27 but still did it after she exited, so you had to be dramatic and had to be relatively close to get it.For the 11 backside: Great job getting there! (You were a little more forward facing at 10 on the 2nd run, so she went wider – try to be moving towards 11 the whole time and not running straight t 10)
Is lalala the backside slice cue? And what is the twist verbal? If lalala is the backside slice, theoretically you wouldn’t need anything else, so she might have some questions on the verbals. It looks like you were doing it as a rear cross on the backside (totally good choice) so you would need to make it look different by turning your feet and shoulders to the center of the bar, then stepping to the center of the bar on takeoff side. Or, handle it as a serp on the landing side and flip her away (which could work here even though it puts you behind, because you could catch up while she is weaving :)) At :47, your physical cue looked like a backside circle wrap which is why she had a question. The cue at 1:37 was much clearer!!Closing:
Very nice first rep there!!! Nice weave independence!!! The slice on the 14 jump looked good and you can also try the wrap to compare which is faster. You can get a slightly tighter turn on the slice at 14 by putting your hand on the takeoff side of the jump rather than leaning back and indicating the landing side, which gets a slightly wider turn.You disconnected on the 2nd rep so she missed 15 at the very end.
On the pop out:
Doing the German turn on that backside was fun to try! To get it even tighter, get past the exit wing before she takes off – that means being even more lateral , running directly forward, and not helping her take the jump at all 🙂 You were late at 2:09 so she as wide.
The layering looked good! She had trouble coming back into handler focus there because the line is so challenging. You were using the verbals and physical cues pretty late: as she landed on the jump before, you gave her a forward cue so she took the last layer jump in extension. So even though she is working miles away, you still want to give the cues when she lands from the previous jump. You had the earliest time on the last rep of that section, and she had the best turn! Because there are so many options in front of her, you can do a spin or a double cross (FC or BC on the jump, FC or BC on the flat) to help adjust her line to the obstacle you want. At the very end you had a rep where you used her name – she responds really well to her name, so use it but use it sooner – before she makes a takeoff decision so you can get her to adjust and land facing the correct direction.
Last section – she appears to respond better to her name there than to her left cue – so you can cue the left and then go to her name in the jump tunnel discrim sections. You can also just try saying jump or left quietly – all the verbals were loud which will tend to propel her away on the line.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I think his obstacle commitment is going generally well, unless there were issues that were not in the video? We can always get more with young dogs, especially small dogs.>> I know I’m not supposed to drop treats on the ground anymore but I was thinking about playing the lazy game some more?
Nope – no more treat dropping. No more lazy game for him 🙂 It has served its purpose and how we move onto into different use of reinforcement and other handling things.
>>What should I be doing? Is it my connection with him that’s bad?>>
Definitely more connection will help, especially on the exit of crosses. Also, you were doing plenty of thrown lotus ball and toy on the videos above – keep doing that a LOT!! And, mixing in a ton of Go GO Go lines will super help too!
Commitment is like coffee which needs to brew, or a fine wine that needs to develop – we keep up the connection and tossed toys, and he will develop great commitment 🙂
Tracy
Good morning! It is fun to get into the bigger sequences!! And great job staying engaged with the toy and lotus ball throwing and high energy interaction.
First video, Straight lines 4 ways on 2 jumps:
FC wraps:
More connection on the cross exit to tighten it up – you are turning and running away without looking at him very much, so he is drifting wide trying to figure out what you want. Stick closer to the line of the wing and make a big connection (with your dog side arm back) so he can see the new one immediately.RCs:
RC is late at 1:01, try to run more directly to the center of the bar. You were running an L shape to your line: towards the wrap wing then over to the RC wing. Try to run a diagonal line towards the center of the bar.Backside looked good!
Mix in a zillion more straight line GO GO GO moments because we want him to do a LOT of extension. So after every turn rep or two, do a straight line.
2nd video, adding the tunnel – yes definitely you want more connection here. Try to run these without pointing your arms to support the line at all, because your high arms actually turn your shoulders & block connection, which pulls him off the line – on the FC and RC reps, you had the high arms going and he had a lot of questions. On the backside rep, though… you didn’t use your arms to do much other than run and it was GREAT! He saw connection better and had lovely lines.
As with the first video: do lots and lots of straight line reps! There has been none so far on these 2 videos.The 3rd video had a Go rep and a wrap rep – the Go rep was really good, do LOTS more of these pleeeeze LOL!!! We want him on the lines more than we want him doing crosses at this point, to get massive commitment.
On the FC rep here, I think you were a little early decelerating for now (starting as he was lifting for the jump after the tunnel) – keep driving him forward until after he lands from the first jump after the tunnel, then decel and start the wrap cues. Doing more go reps will make the timing easier because he won’t be slowing down to expect a turn.Nice work here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi! She is doing great! I am super happy with this all! SO FUN!
Great job with your connection – she was nailing it because you were soooooo connected. Super! It might be easier to connect if you bring your wings in, meaning, run with your arms tighter to you and not fully extended back. You did this more at about 1:40-1:50 and it looked easier for you to keep up with your pocket rocket 🙂 Also, wings in tighter to you will help get your connections clearer after the blind – at 3:13 and 4:08, for example, you were finishing the blind with your arms out and she had trouble reading the connection change. Keeping your arms in tight to you will allow you to do the blind quicker and make a very clear connection to her eyes 🙂
About those verbals… you might need to run (literally run) the sequence before you bring her out to spot check the verbals. If you walk it, you won’t get the same feeling of full on terror that you probably get while running her LOL! And that added speed for you is what makes all the wrong verbals come out. LOL! So blast around it a few times so you can work on the correct verbals and timing them nice and early.
Also, spread this out now – you both need more room to work the skills, so you both get used to doing this on 20 foot distances or so 🙂
Also:
One thing I would like you to do now is, at the FF Home Base, bring her out playing and not with the cookie toss pattern game. She is relaxed here, she is engaged – so we can now shift to the things that will be useful in the trial environment, fo example, when you can’t come into the ring with cookies tosses. It is a good time to start preparing her for that! You can still to the pattern games in new environments, or at FF when the environment is harder if more people or dogs are there.Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
