Anatomy of a Gamble

A FaceBook friend posted this gamble from a recent ASCA trial.  She and her dog were the only team to successfully complete the gamble.  When I looked at it, I thought getting the correct end of the tunnel had to be next to impossible.  However, she answered that several dogs got the correct end of the tunnel, but then either took the AF or failed to take the #4 jump.


I decided to set up the gamble and see how close we would come.  The big question is whether to approach the gamble DOR or DOL.  There are two major problems involved with starting DOR.  First, the handler will in all probability end up fairly close to the gamble line when she sends her dog over #1 to the tunnel.  Because the tunnel is only 15' and quite curved, there will be no opportunity for the handler to step back from the line since her dog will see her doing so and be drawn to the AF.  This means that the handler has no way to apply physical pressure to her dog's line when he exits the tunnel.  Additionally, because the handler is already so far down course, the AF will block her from her dog's view when she starts to move toward the finish.

By entering the gamble DOL these problems are neatly avoided.  The handler will be behind the tunnel exit and have the opportunity to move away from the gamble line without her dog seeing her.  When the dog exits the tunnel, she will be in a perfect spot to apply pressure on the dog's line so that he will move away from the AF and take the #3 jump.  Additionally, because the handler is behind, she can maintain pressure on her dog's line until he has taken #4.

So, did it work for us?  Willie carried it off beautifully.  His speed and stride took him to the correct tunnel entrance and he didn't have much trouble understanding what I wanted him to do after the tunnel.  Belle, on the other hand, ducked into the wrong end of the tunnel.  However, she had no difficulty with the last two jumps.

 

P.S.  An important aspect of the gamble is being in a good spot to begin the gamble when the horn sounds.  I didn't set up the entire course, but if I were running this at a trial, I would finish up my closing with the teeter, the jump at (68,40), and the weave poles back to back.  Hopefully, the horn would sound when we were doing the weaves for the second time.

Just a Little Hustle

Qualifying runs have been eluding Willie and me.  So far we have 10 Excellent/Master Standard runs and only 3 Q's.  Ex/Mas JWW is even worse.  Nine runs and no Q's!  Among other things, what was killing us in JWW was being unable to complete a long closing line without incurring a refusal due to a spin.

I was a participant in Tracy Sklenar's online Learn Your Dog Camp 2015 and she was quickly identified my problem with the long-line closings.  I was trying to send Willie on ahead of me with the big arm fling.  What I should have been doing was tucking up my arms and sprinting toward the finish albeit many feet or yards behind Willie.  Of course, I didn't get a chance to try this out last weekend because there was not a long-line closing on any of the seven courses we ran.  However, when it crops up again, I will be prepared.

After going 1/7 last weekend, I decided it was time to start setting up two or three JWW courses a week and seriously striving to get them right the first time.  So far we are 2/2.

This morning's course was designed by Dan Butcher, and I was very pleased that we nailed it the first time.  Additionally, I was very proud of the timing of my send and run at the tunnel and at #17 and Willie's ability to read the forced front cross on the run at #10.  My biggest handling error was failing to reconnect with Willie after my BC between 17 and 18.

One of the greatest downsides to training alone is trying to improve your handling.  Video helps me to see when something is going badly, but I may not be able to discern why or how to fix it.  Even when things go well, there are probably things I could do even better, but if I knew what those things were, I would have done them in the first place, n'est pas?  

I was fortunate enough to find video of someone running this course at trial, and she did a wonderful job of handling her dog.  Actually, that wasn't too surprising since it turns out she is a handler of world team caliber.  I tried not to get too carried away comparing our run and hers, but I did come away with several handling choices to ponder.  (Left to my own devices I probably never would have thought of any of them.)

1.  Right off the bat, the WT handler gained almost a full obstacle on us by sending her dog to the second obstacle and taking off for a FC on the landing side of #3 so she could handle DOL through the weaves.  (I stuck close to #2 and RC'd #4, a much more leisurely approach.)

2.  At #10, I did a forced front cross and then RC'ed 11.  This meant I had to handle 12-15 from behind.  The WT handler sent her dog to the backside at 10 and ran along the bar on the landing side, picking her dog up on her left.  She then made a beeline for a FC on the landing side of 12 and was able to tighten her dogs turns at 13-15 very nicely.  That savings in yardage put her dog another whole obstacle ahead of Willie.

3.  Additionally, the WT handler chose to handle the weave exit with a grab.  I used a FC close placed close to 6.  Her dog had a much tighter turn out of the weaves, but her dog is also a 16" Sheltie.  The only way to know if it would improve our time is to try it.

Both 1 and 2 demonstrate the advantage of getting ahead of your dog in terms of saving yardage.  However, whether or not it is always possible to get there is another matter altogether.

Willie and I went out in the afternoon and gave this another go.  The different opening and the weave exit grab presented no problem, and they definitely saved us a few yards.  I was able to easily push Willie to the back of #10 and pick him up on my right.  However, my FC before #13 was late and I was in Willie's way.  We ran the course one more time, and instead of trying for the FC on the take off side of #13, I merely got closer to the landing side and directed Willie from there.  (Interestingly, his turn from 14 to 15 was tighter when I was further away, although overall this section benefited from me being closer to the action.)  With just a little bit of hustle on my part, we shaved almost a whole second off of the run.

A Little Bit of Motion Gives Clear Direction

I set up the course below  based on the Balsell's course I posted a few days ago. 

This is just one of several sequences we ran.  Last night, I decided to add the dog walk at the periphery of the course so Belle and I could get in some DW practice.  This morning I added the two hoops and moved jump 5 to the square #13 position to produce this challenging course.  At least it proved to be challenging for Belle and me.

Our first problem was getting from tunnel 4 to tunnel 5.  My path is along the orange line and my plan was to get to the left wing of 6 and send Belle to tunnel 4.  Wrong.  When I stood still and tried sending her to 5, she came over 6.  When she realized that wasn't what I wanted, she defaulted to turning right out of 4 and taking 9.  (Over the last few days, more times than not, that is the direction I asked her to take in the sequences we worked on since it gave us so much trouble in the original course.)

I finally wised up and realized I had to keep moving along the orange line until Belle had passed the middle of jump 6.  Standing still just wasn't going to cut it with this dog and in this particular sequence.  It doesn't matter where I am along that line since it is not my proximity to the tunnel that matters.  What cues Belle to take the tunnel without taking the off-course jump is my movement along the that line until she is committed to the obstacle.

Next bobble was the backside jump, #11.  Belle is used to working with lateral distance and although I didn't have my left arm extended out to the side, it was far enough away from my body that Belle took the dog walk.  The solution here was simple.  Keep my arm even lower, call Belle's name and make eye contact with her.

The last two challenges involved which way to wrap after the straight tunnel.  Once again, since we've been working on wrapping away after a tunnel, Belle's preference was to turn right.  Getting her to turn left proved to be quite a bit harder.  I finally realized that what I had to do was make sure that my motion was going in the direction of the turn I wanted before Belle entered the tunnel.  As soon as she was committed to the tunnel, I could make the left turn indicated on the purple line if I wanted a left wrap.  If I wanted her to wrap right, I had to keep moving along the green line until she was in the tunnel.

Biathlon Jumpers Course from IFCS CCOA

Steve Schwarz, the Agility Nerd, did a Chalk Talk on this course from last weekend's IFCS Championship of the Americas.  I decided to set it up and work on it for a couple of days.  The biggest physical challenge for me was getting from 7 to 11 in time to indicate which side of the jump Belle was to take.  I tried a rear cross in my first efforts because I didn't think I could get in either a blind cross or a front cross between 8 and 9.  However, with a little bit of hustle the blind is certainly doable.  Much to my surprise though, Belle turned left after #10, both after a rear cross and the blind, despite the fact I was on her right side.  I must have been pressuring her line ever so slightly to get her around the wing of 11.  Note to self:  Run at the wing or standard when I want Belle to take a jump from the backside.  Don't run at the bar and don't run at a spot 6" from the wing.

After I watched our complete run, I also watched video from the actual trial.  For our next session, I wanted to do the following:

1.  Do a running LO and do a FC on the landing side of #3.  Worked on this, but I wasn't able to consistently get far enough ahead to do a FC between 5/6 and get 6 from the backside.

2.  Don't run so fast at the gap in the threadle so I can keep moving instead of having to wait for Belle to catch up so I can push her into the gap.  This one I was able to remember and do.

3.  Try a BC between 8 & 9.  Worked better than a RC even when I was late.

4.  Be a little quicker with my FC at #12 to tighten Belle's wrap.  (I don't have to get to the wing, I only have to get to the line between 12 and 13.)  Not so much.  By this point on the course I'm starting to suck wind :(

5.  Don't outrun Belle to #19 and head toward the left wing, not the bar.  Yep.  And I was even able to take off for the final jump before she cleared the bar.    

We ran the complete course a second time, but unfortunately I forgot to turn the camera on.  The most memorable thing for me was that I got too far ahead after the triple and added a heck of a lot of extra yardage to my path.  To add insult to injury, the course is uphill at that point.  So maybe another thing to try would be:

6.  A FC after the triple.  Yeah, right.  Like I could even get there in time.  A well-timed RC cut my yardage and made for a nice turn into the weaves for Belle.

The video shows our "first" and final attempts on this course, plus some bloopers.  The final run is almost three seconds faster, and the only substantive change in my handling of the final attempt was using a BC instead of a RC between 8 and 9.  Most of the difference was due to tightening up Belle's path at the back of the course (9-15).  Interestingly, she still faded left after #10, but not nearly as much as the first time.  I think the only way to avoid that fade would to run faster, which is easier said than done.

Distance and the International Course

A couple of days ago, the Agility Nerd posted this course designed by Eduard Bonet and some exercises that he designed that were inspired by Bonet's course.  (The original course was in meters and oriented in landscape format.  I took the liberty of orienting it so that corresponds with the angle I planned to shoot from.)

1-9 wasn't too bad for this old body, but from 9 to 18 there is an awful lot of running to be done.  Since I'm still working on a running DW, I wasn't about to stop Belle in a 2o2o so I catch up to her for the back side of 18.  That only left me with one option. I had to start running along the DW while Belle was traveling from the weaves to 16.  Since this sprint comes at the end of the run, I decided to send her to the broad jump and the chute, and then call her over 16 and do a post turn to the weaves.  The first time through, I forgot myself and ended up scooping her across my feet into the weaves.  It worked, but I think a FC followed by post turn would have been more efficient.  Other areas that could be improved:

3-4:  Do a post turn.  I finally decided the post turn was too boring for me, so I did a Ketschker.  The K was no faster, but at least I felt like I was doing something.

8:  Slow my stride sooner.  Belle went way deep because I was still showing extension in my stride.  Once I realized I had made this mistake, I was very good about showing collection soon enough for Belle to make a nice wrap at #8.

9:  Go to the tunnel with Belle so that I don't have to stand still or slow down to let her pass me on the way to the teeter.  This turned out to be an exceptionally bad idea.  If the handler is running, the logical obstacle from the dog's point of view becomes the weaves.  I also tried doing a FC on the landing side of the panel jump.  It certainly takes the weaves out of the picture, but it makes it a little more difficult to send Belle on to the chute and pick her up for the weaves.

The best approach for us was handling from the TOS side of the panel jump.  I just had to make sure to bring Belle into handler focus so she didn't have a loopy path to the teeter.

14:  Stop moving before she exits the chute.  Get her attention and move toward the weaves for my post turn.  Actually, an even bigger problem was that I never remembered to give her a verbal cue while she was still in the chute.

Here's the video of our first run, some efforts to improve a few sections, and our final run.

Trying Different Options

Belle and I haven't run in an AKC trial since the end of January.  Since we have one coming up at the end of September, I decided it was time to start practicing some AKC skills.  I found a course on the Agility Nerd's blog and set it up Wednesday.  I ran it a couple of times and then reviewed the video and Steve's comments on handling the course.  It was hot and humid Wednesday evening when we ran, and my handling was sluggish.  Thursday morning, I went out while it was still relatively cool and re-ran the last half of the course using Steve's suggestion for handling the jump after the weaves.  Talk about mindset, it was an option that never even occurred to me.  Yet given the distance skills we have as a team, it was a very easy option to implement, and I felt it resulted in a faster and less stressful line for Belle.

When I ran the course on Wednesday, I had to send Belle to the jump after the A-frame and do a rear cross to turn her 180 degrees into the tunnel afterward.  I messed up the timing of my cross more often than not.   This morning (Sunday), it is a blessedly cool, so I was able to try several different ways of handling the first half of the course.  First, I tried running on the inside of the teeter and doing a blind cross between the tunnel and A-frame.  Not too bad, but the blind cross could be iffy in a trial setting.  Also, I used a post turn to direct Belle over the jump following the A-frame and then a rear cross to turn her to the tunnel.  (Actually, I could have done a front cross at the bottom of the A-frame, but I just didn't think of it.)

Next, I layered the teeter and did a front cross between the tunnel and the A-frame.  This worked, but was rather cumbersome.  Lastly, I took a minimal lead out and ran with Belle, keeping quite a bit of room between me and the teeter so I could step in for a push to the following jump.  Once Belle was committed to the tunnel, I ran to the bottom of the A-frame and did a blind cross which enabled me to pull Belle over the jump and do a post turn to the tunnel.  This was by far my favorite way to handle the opening.

The details that made the difference:

• Taking only a modest lead out so I could run which encouraged Belle to run faster.
• Staying way lateral to the teeter so I could step in and indicate the turn to the correct jump.
• Being on the inside of the turn from the A-frame to the jump and jump to the tunnel.

Here's the video of our work with this course:

What's in a Name?

When I started my agility career with Max, my instructor stressed using our dog's name rather than "come" or "here."  I've only half-heeded that advice over the years, but this weekend I ran two courses that reinforced the importance of opting for "Belle" over "come."

Black line = handler's path; blue line=dog's path.

The first was Saturday's Jumpers course.  We had a beautiful run going.  I got in a nice front cross at 18 and took off for the home stretch.  I made two mistakes at this point.  First I didn't realize that Belle's momentum over 17-20 would very likely carry her to the #2 jump.  I assumed my change in direction would be sufficient to indicate where we were going after #20.  

However, I did realize #21 wasn't a given when I walked the course, so I remembered to say "come" as Belle went over #20.  She did come, but unfortunately it was after she took the off-course jump.  I don't know for sure, but I think if I had said "Belle," she would have looked at me and that would have brought the correct jump into her line of sight.

The other course was Sunday's tunnelers course.

I opted for a front cross from 3 to 4 so no verbal was really needed.  After that I very thoughtfully planned where I would be saying "Belle" to achieve the tightest lines we could.  As Belle came out of 4, I tried to say her name soon enough to achieve an efficient turn to 5.  Once Belle makes the curve in 6, she is staring at an inviting line of tunnels, so I used her name here to bring 7 into her line of sight.  I expected Belle to build up a full head of steam while running through 7, and I also thought the off-course red tunnel will be very, very inviting.  A sharp "Belle" as she exits helps to redirect her attention to the correct tunnel.  (Turns out it really didn't have to be all that sharp, but it would have been nice to be a stride earlier with it.)  Lastly, a quieter "Belle" to get from 9 to 10.  (Lots of dogs wouldn't need this many verbal cues to get through this course.  But this was our first tunnelers run since March, and I was hoping to have a fast and clean run.)

In all these examples, I wanted to bring the correct obstacle into Belle's line of sight, since like most dogs she tends to move in the direction she is looking.  I know some dogs are capable of looking back over their shoulder and running more or less forward, but by and large, dogs, like people, move in the direction they are facing.

But why use the Belle's name instead of "come" or "here"?  What happens when you are in a group of people and someone has the same name as yours?  My name is uncommon enough that I turn my head toward the speaker--no thought required.  It's my name.  I'm used to looking up when someone uses it.  But I suspect that even if your name is Tom or Sue, you have the same reaction.  Heck, it was years before I stopped looking around every time I heard some kid say "Mom." :-)

By using my dog's name instead of "come" or "here," I'm tapping into to a whole bunch of training that I've done without even thinking about it.  My dogs respond to their names because they have learned that there's a high probability that something (hopefully something good) is going to happen that concerns them--walks, meals, cookies, belly rubs, or just being let out the door for a potty break.  For most dogs, there is a long history of positive reinforcement connected to their name.

Giving the Right Impression

Yesterday morning, I used the course I posted on Sunday to practice short sequences, trying to discover why Belle and I had so much trouble with the tunnel to tunnel sequence.  It finally occurred to me that this problem was very similar to the one I experienced with the turn from #4 to #5 in March on this course:
 

My first thought on handling the opening was to lead out to about (30,-5) so that I would have plenty of room to cue the turn by moving right as Belle took #4.  Great plan, but it just didn't work.  I decided to try more or less starting with Belle on my left and rear-crossing the #2 tunnel.  Even though I far less real estate to move in, that worked.  I decided leading out way left didn't work because it inadvertently gave Belle the impression we would be going LEFT!  By starting with her on my left, Belle didn't start with any preconceived idea about where the course was going.

On Sunday's course, the same issue of inadvertently giving the wrong impression arose with the send to the #20 tunnel.  When I walked this course, I thought the tunnel to tunnel sequence was a given.  After all, the dog comes out of #20 at a good clip and #21 is definitely the first thing they see.  The first time that we get that far (about 1:50 on the video), Belle responds to the "go tunnel" command, but I mess up by moving too soon and too quickly to the left and pull her to the #6 jump in front of the tunnel.

Since turning left was the wrong choice, Belle starts reacting to the last cues she receives before entering the #20 tunnel:

• Handler is on her right
• Handler is facing right
• Handler is moving right

If we hadn't gotten off to such a rocky start with this course, Belle might have been willing to trust her ears a second time.  However, once things began going so badly, I think a better choice would have been to do a front cross at the #18 jump as shown below:

Red path - actual handler's path.  Black path - a better idea?

I would have to hustle to get the front cross in, and I would have to be sure to move laterally and support Belle's path to #17 while I'm moving to #18.  But hopefully, being on Belle's left as she enters the tunnel would make a right turn coming out of the tunnel less of option.

P.S.  I had a chance to try the front cross this evening.  It was not a viable option.  By the time I managed to move far enough to left of #18 (looking at the course map) to execute the front cross, I was up against the bonus line.

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Getting the front cross in would call for some hustle on my part, and I blush to disclose that I've become complacent in my handling with Belle.  Yesterday evening, I ran the reverse of this course with all three dogs (no bonus line attempt), and even Libby did a better job of it than Belle.

I thought about that for a few moments, and realized there was an enormous difference in the way I handled Libby and Dusty as compared with how I handled Belle.  With Libby and Dusty, I know I have to really made an effort to ensure they stay on course. Therefore, I made sure to support Libby and Dusty at all these places:

• The #4 jump between the A-frame and the #5 tunnel
• The push to the #6 tunnel
• Hustled to do a blind cross at exit of #6 so I'd be on the inside for 7-10
• Made sure to support the #9 jump
• Had to push out for the #12 jump, but be ready to grab the dog's attention in order to get to the weaves (the off-course tunnel was really, really tempting)
• Support the pinwheel
• Hustle down the dogwalk so I would be in position to push out to the #20 jump and #21 tunnel
• At this point I was really far behind for the final two jumps, but I kept pressure on and both dogs completed the course.

I brought Belle out again, and handled her with the intensity that I used with Dusty and Libby, and what a difference it made.  This time, she nailed the course.

Communicating Clearly

Yesterday, I set up a jumpers course from a NADAC trial we went to in mid-October at the Quad Cities Dog Center in Davenport, Iowa.  When I saw where the bonus line was, my heart sank.  Too many turns to even consider the bonus line.  It was a fun course to run with Belle, but  I decided to set it up in my yard yesterday and work on trying to work it from the bonus line.

Here's the video I posted of Belle:


This is video of Dusty:

In running the course from the bonus line with Belle, it became very apparent that we have to work on "turn" some more.  With Dusty, I want to eliminate head checking that was so noticeable after the jump #11 in the four jump pinwheel.

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I went out this morning without the camera and worked on the rough spots.  I finally came to the realization that I may not really want to train Dusty and Belle to go out a great distance as I stop moving.  Stopping with Belle has a tendency to produce wrap or a tight turn, or, worse, a very confused dog who proceeds to the next obstacle without conviction. 

Actually, this is similar to running up to the handler line in Chances and stopping.  You've just given a very strong collection cue, yet what you really want is for the dog to go out away from you.  You want obstacle focus and speed; not handler focus and collection.

This problem was much more noticeable when I was running the course with Belle and Dusty.  I wanted to be able to send them into that pinwheel and be ready for the tricky bits that followed.  Well, I can do that.  But I may have to pass the plane of the first jump and support their path out to the second and third if I want to be clear in my handling.  That still leaves me plenty of time to get in position to handle the tricky bit that's coming up.  The more laterally distant I was from them, the better I handled it.  But there was still room for improvement on my part even at a distance.