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Author Topic : Long time no post- VIDEOS!... for all you agility and/or running contact addicts! Doodle & Tulies recent trial update...
 TCrown
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12/3/2013 10:39:41 PM reply with quote send message to TCrown Object to Post   

Well not sure if anyone remembers me but last time I was on here and actually posting I had was just starting my agility training with my young BC girl Tess (who wasn't terribly thrilled with the idea of agility) and was working on speed and such with my Doodle. Plus a very long journey of attempting to train RCs with my two very diffent girls... one overthinks everything and is extremely sensitive and the other one doesn't bother to think at all and is a party child wink ;) Well after nearly 9 months of no trialing and very few lessons here are videos of my girls and I at the recent trial along with a little more detail for anyone who cares to know below! Hope someone enjoys as much as I have!

Tess T2B first day, NQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C0AbKwr_P4

Soph T2B first day, Q & 2nd place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kukwMcposR4

Tess Open JWW first day, NQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJml1gW2rPc

Soph Masters JWW first day, Q: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDGCZHzmfKc

Tess Open STD first day, NQ (DW to soft turn into the weaves): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGh4etOBV-E

Soph Masters STD first day, NQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm8DmQ3X6gQ




Soph Masters JWW second day, Q (broke a personal record... previous fastest JWW was 5.82 yps and this one was 5.92 yps! Improvement by a whole 10th of a second) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4DIqj292tw

Soph Masters STD second day, NQ (DW to tight turn into tunnel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GD0-FjP3Eg

Tess Open JWW second day, NQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbpZTunanag

Tess Open STD second day, Q & 1st place!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEOmCdG-kWo





Tess Open JWW 3rd day, NQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8YMQfCf8Jw

Tess Open STD 3rd day, NQ (DW to 90 degree turn into weaves): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUZzNl6uez4

Soph Masters JWW 3rd day, Q & 3rd place!!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4uCnz-80hE

Soph Masters STD 3rd day, NQ (crazy dog!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCk2MQ0PhfU


The girls are doing really well! Tess Q'd 1 of 7 times but all the NQ'd runs were just tiny little bobbles that I'm pretty sure I caused with not perfect handling. She's slowly picking up some speed and confidence when out there running. She loves agility and is pretty darn fast at home and sometimes even at lessons but other lessons or especially trials she just isn't completely sure where she's going or what the plan is so she's cautious of just letting loose and running hard as that causes a greater chance for mistakes. I was VERY happy to see this weekend that she was starting to worry less and even started jumping up at me in an excited manner if I had to call her back after an issue on course. She also went around the last jump once and thinking we were done started looking for her leash and when she couldn't find it she grabbed the chute fabric and tried to drag it over to me so we could play tug with it, silly girl! This weekend was the first time she's ever offered to run and grab her leash/harness at the end of the run so that just thrilled my soul!!

My crazy Sophie was 4 of 7 this weekend and each of the NQs were just quirky/crazy little things that happened, lol! Once my no-drive Doodle sucked into a trap tunnel when she should have pulled right with me off the start (this is the dog who NEVER drives to obstacles on her own), once I tried to call her into me as she was coming off the DW and instead she turned around and went back up it, and the last NQ we were standing together at the startline and I was asking if she was going to go get that start jump.. as she started pulling for it I released her and took off and she whipped around behind where we were standing and took a tunnel?! I think I might have a tunnel sucker, lol! Only took her 3 years to find out they could be quite fun wink ;) So guess I need to prepare for being on the look-out for trap tunnels on course, just not used to that AT ALL with the Doodle as she's NEVER drove to ANY obstacles by her own want. Might just take a few more NQs before I get it through my head though, lol!

But Doodle got 2nd "place" in 20" T2B on Friday (I think the 2 running AFrames may have helped us out there wink ;) ) . She was 2 seconds behind the 1st place dog (a SUPER FAST BC with an AMAZING handler!) but also 1 second ahead of the 3rd place dog (another fast BC) . Soph also won a 3rd place ribbon in 20" Masters JWW on Sunday! I think the tight turn cues are helping some happy :) Then in the STD run that she NQd before we ever went over the first jump she actually was less than a second behind a super fast and always in the ribbons when he places BC who was first place (Soph would've been 2nd place had she Q'd) and that was even with wasting nearly 4 seconds(!) taking that tunnel before getting back to the start jump! Granted, I don't know if they counted that into our time as that was before we even crossed the starting timer but either way THAT is AMAZING! LOVING(!!) our running contacts!!!

Running contacts: ALL Aframes were perfect(!) even with pulling/leaving them! AND we were 6 for 6 DWs too!! The first run was a simple DW into a corner with a soft turn into the weaves... wasn't sure if I should run Soph mostly straight and kind of just direct her into the weaves of if I should run completely straight and then at the last second stomp on the breaks to give a heavy "collect some to turn with me, please?!?" cue but in the end decided to run Soph pretty straight off the DW with only a slight pull as she was on the downramp to direct her into the weaves... she landed a foot perfectly in the yellow with good separation and nailed her weaves! Thank goodness for that separation we've been rewarding the entire contact training time cause if she didn't have that excellent separation she would have missed! Decided that with Tess I would hang back a bit while still pretending to drive hard (lots of action but with little actual ground speed) so that she would be driving but looking back at me a bit which would prepare her for the turn without freaking her out... thought about doing some lateral turn cue but was afraid it would yank her right into a wrong entry into the weaves. Tess also nailed her contact though was still a touch slow, probably didn't help her speed that I was lagging... but 3 feet in the yellow! Not a lot of separation but I think that's just a lack of confidence & speed and think it will come as she gains them both back during trials. Also nailed her weave entry so very happy with that!

2nd day was a tight turn onto the DW (from a tunnel underneath) to a tight turn off the DW to another tunnel underneath, but rather than what you usually see where you flip them into the tunnel and come out the side that's further underneath the DW this time you had to take the side that is further underneath and come out the side you usually flip into... strange new challenge! The common choices were either to do a post turn and pull your dog into the tunnel while trying to avoid the aframe, table and jump nearby and the other choice was to pull your dog into yourself and then just kind of redirect/rear cross into the tunnel... With Soph (remember I don't have a verbal turn cue for Soph so it's all about driving to the contact and then handling what comes after that) I decided to try to get a tight turn by calling her name as she's coming down the ramp and pulling her into me and then redirecting into the tunnel underneath the DW... well Soph saw the other tunnel entry (the side you usually flip into in trials) and turned to take it with great enthusiasm but caught herself just in time and realized I must've meant she needed to turn around and go back up the DW... so once that was all settled I finally got her into the correct end of the tunnel wink ;) Looking back maybe the post turn would've been the better choice but with how clueless Doodle is I'm afraid she wouldn't have noticed me and would have continued onto the next obstacle... so live, learn & experiment! With Tess I couldn't decide if I should use our tight turn cue which tends to cause a last minute panic/adjustment but usually hits the yellow (working on confidence so not really thrilled with causing her to possibly have a panic moment) and if I did this should I give her the cue earlier than normal to give her more time to prepare to make the adjustment or should I still give it to her last minute and hope that even though she's running slower and not as extended as usual that she will still stride into the yellow with her adjustments.... OR I could run her straight off the DW and try to turn her on the flat and hope I don't make her think she made a mistake since I couldn't tell her the gameplan ahead of time OR I could give lateral distance and just see what happens but hope it does what it does at home which is drive her hard forward yet keep her head with me (and off the other obstacles) since I'm moving *away* from her which in turn signals a wide turn. Well I decided to go with the lateral distance and Tess read this BEAUTIFULLY!!!! laugh :D We got a wide turn but she drove hard yet still knew a turn was about to come and she didn't freak out in the least and we didn't take ANY offcourse obstacles!!! It was PERFECT!!! laugh :D laugh :D We can always tighten those turns up with more experience and confidence happy :)

And the last day was another DW into the weaves but this time a pretty good 90 degree turn and a harder entrance into the weaves. Ran Soph pretty straight off the DW and just easily directed her right into the weaves without any issue and she was driving HARD across her DW and into those weaves!! She's not like lunging across her DW or anything, more of a leisure gallop but honestly if there's no thrown toy involved I doubt she'll ever be throwing herself across the DW. And Tess I again decided to go with the lateral distance and then just give a quick "WEAVE!!!" and collection cues right as she approaches the weaves but well after she's done with her DW and just hope she collects enough in time to get her entry... and what do you know? She NAILED them BOTH!!! Such a spectacular weave entry for a baby dog! And her speed over the DW was even a little faster as I was running HARD and you can see on the video if you slow-mo it that she even had to do a quick stride adjustment at the 2nd apex this time while on her DW which she did really well! Oh my goodness! I am IN LOVE with running contacts even with all the stress and effort they took me during training and while I'm figuring out how best to handle with them in trials (which in all honesty is proving to be no sweat at all)! Will NEVER have it any other way again laugh :D It is ALL SO WORTH IT!!!! For anyone who might not know my crazy Doodle is a 2o2o retrain and is now 5 years old and has been trialing for a couple of years while my cautious younger BC is purely running contacts trained and is 3 but only has been out in trials for 4 weekends now over the course of a whole year.

Just wanted to share happy :)

TCrown laugh :D
 Element Malinois
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12/4/2013 4:31:39 PM reply with quote send message to Element Malinois Object to Post

this post has been edited 1 time(s)

Your dogs are awesome!! love your doodle's weaves (really cool how you can pull off so fast and drastically and she doesn't' pop) and great blind crosses happy :)

Does your doodle have motivation issues (not that she looks like she does!)? My little sheltie does and I stopped leading out with her after Silvia Trkman said that "start lines are over rated" wink ;) just wondering if you are doing the same thing?

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Last edited by Element Malinois on 12/4/2013 4:32:18 PM
 TCrown
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12/4/2013 10:07:44 PM reply with quote send message to TCrown Object to Post

Thanks! Love my girlies happy :) And yeah, not really sure how Doodle's weaves got so reliable but I'm hoping she'll teach that trick to her little sister wink ;) Still working on crossing before or after without popping with Tess, lol!

And yes, that is why I dropped our startline. Not sure you could tell it now but Doodle had/has a fantastic and very reliable startline but unfortunately she just doesn't drive as hard coming off of it as she does when I start with her. She LOVES to train/work and she is easily motivated but she is not intense/drivey so we've been working on building that and speed with her. I taught her to pull toward an obstacle before being released (for cik/cap turns) and this has greatly improved her value in the obstacle itself. It is finally worth Doodle's time to kind of want to DRIVE to obstacles as after she takes them/turns around them she gets to chase me or her toy and the more intense she is to pull to that obstacle the bigger her reward is (food is very high value)! I apparently need to sharpen back up on her pulling skills as I was doing an awful lot of pointing and talking at the startline before she'd offer to pull much... but still, very fun!

Interestingly enough I've found that Tess actually gets nervous if I start with her... she seems to feel the pressure (what makes Doodle so crazy excited) and it makes her feel like there is a boundary that can not be pushed through. Rather I've found if I sling shoot Tess around me OR if I lead out and ask her if she's "READYYY???" and wait until the slightest indication that she's ready to break her stay (eight shift, leg movement, etc) and then release her (rewarding that moment of lack of control) she is a rocket! So yes, very different girls! happy :)


TCrown happy :)
 Anchor Paws Canines
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12/5/2013 5:08:13 AM reply with quote send message to Anchor Paws Canines Object to Post

Awesome job, congrats!
 griffin
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12/6/2013 6:09:14 AM reply with quote send message to griffin Object to Post

Love watching Soph, she's awesome. It is amazing how different she is from Tess. Tess is still so unsure of herself but so responsive to every little thing. I feel like you could probably stand in the middle of the ring and just flick your fingers to direct her around the course.

grif,
 
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12/6/2013 11:12:05 PM reply with quote send message to Object to Post edit post

Thanks happy :) And yeah, I realize every dog is different from another but these two continue to amaze me in just *how* different they are, lol!

I guess I've never really considered Tess to be so "responsive" (probably due to our poor distance skills and my lack of dogs to compare to) however I've certainly noticed the difference in how much she reads and reacts to where my feet and upper body are pointing (anticipating what's to come) vs what I might be trying to point her to with simply hand/motion (what is currently going on) and that's something I continue to try to work/improve on in my handling. Soph just seems to "read my mind" and always know what all paths are available and simply waits for me to decide which one we're going to cruise down... whereas I'm learning to become a much clearer handler for Tess so that she hopefully rarely has to wonder... and yes, we're working on our distance skills now as well wink ;)

She's certainly teaching me and growing my training abilities! Love my girls!


TCrown happy :)

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The figure 8 exercise requires the team to heel in a figure 8 pattern either on or off leash. Generally two of the ring stewards will assist the judge with this exercise by acting as "posts", standing 8 feet apart, that the team walks around to form the loops of the figure 8.