# Some backyard practice tonight



## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Found these sequences a bit ago, and getting around to trying them out tonight.


















Here they are:





Pimg's doing good, I think. I signed her up for a CPE trial in three weeks, so I decided to see where she stands with 20" bars since she hasn't jumped that high in a while. We will only be running Jumpers, Colors, and Snooker. Honestly, I've been noticing some hesitation with her lately around the house when she's jumping up on the couch or bed. I'm really sad about that, and while she could just be in a funk lately, she is 6.5 years old. Perhaps she's just slowing down... I dunno- she still seems to be giving her all. Like I said, I think she looked good- just a little slow.

Fun sequences though. You guys should give them a shot!


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## NWHeather (Oct 29, 2010)

Looks like fun! I'd love to set up a little course like that in my backyard, to give my dogs some fun exercise


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks NWHeather. You should go for it! Bar jumps aren't that expensive, and you can do _plenty_ with even just one jump!


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

Jealous  It was 106 here yesterday and 104 today so no agility for us. Pimg looked really good. I put my 7 year old GSD on a supplement called Ligaplex 2 that I got from her chiropractor. I didn't think it would do much for her but she definately perked up about a week after her being on it. I'm keeping her on it and putting my 2 year old on it also.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

I'll have to check into that kbella. I do have her on pretty decent (in my opinion) supplements already. I'll check into Ligaplex to see what I think.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Have any of you guys given these short sequences a shot? What did you think? Discover anything interesting?


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

You are BOTH doing great. And I think her speed is fine considering how tight the course is along with the challenges! 

Love love love how when there is a 'mistake' you immediately look to what YOU are doing and what she must be reading (or missing) from the handler. It really usually (always  ) is something we did or didn't or haven't or shouldn't or..... rather than the poor DOG!

I do not think your issue is the 'tunnel' but rather the tunnel holders. So you may want to come up with more of a sandbag type holder(s). 

You should be very proud our yourself and you pup!


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

I'll try to set this up this weekend and see how it goes.



wildo said:


> Have any of you guys given these short sequences a shot? What did you think? Discover anything interesting?


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

I tried the 1st sequence this weekend. We had trouble going from obstacle 3 to 4. When I watch your video it looks like you had your jumps set farther apart than I did. So how do you train the 'back side jumps'? Jerry Lee has gotten pretty good at the 270's and threadles but sending him to the back side of a jump is something we need lots of work on.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Awesome kbella999- so glad you tried it out! It's interesting your questions- turns out, they are _exactly_ the reason I wanted to start an agility course of the week kind of thing. There is so much that can be learned from a small course...

In sequence #1, going from 3-4 isn't really a "send to backside" per-se, it's more so a simple threadle. I choose to handle it exactly as such using a reverse flow pivot. You can see an example of RFP handling on a threadle here:






The RFP is a very "Derrett system" thing to do. The Derrett handling system is the one I have finally (FINALLY!) settled on, and so that's what I choose. I like the clarity it brings. If you prefer a more Mecklenburg style of things, you could certainly attempt something like this which could still work quite well:





As to "sends to back side" I honestly think this is nothing more than practice. It's still a send to the jump; you just have to be more clear about what side of the jump. In SG's "Success with One Jump" dvd, she instructs you to be sure to get your outside leg close to or even with the jump stanchion essentially blocking off the front side. With time and practice, you can name this behavior and start building value for it. I've seen video of SG with Swagger and she has four verbal cues for performing specific jump wraps. I'd log into PuppyPeaks to refresh my memory on it, but the service is currently down for some reason. In the end, try to get your foot in there as a blocker until the dog has figured out the behavior a little better. In Sequence #1, coming out of the tunnel (#5) and around jump #6 is a "send to backside."

Here are some backside jump handling strategies (I just love Steve at AgilityNerd- rarely a question comes up that he hasn't already addressed! And he's pretty good about showing different handling strategies, even if he is totally sold on Mecklenburg's handling system):


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

I take a 3-5 jump sequence out of a lot of full courses and just practice that one part. Definately can learn a lot that way.

We can do threadles when I am on the jumping side like the first video you posted and not the landing side. We just learned threadles btw. When I ran the course you set up, I was on the inside so I had to send him to the back of jump number 4. We got jump number 3 fine but I have to go more towards the back to cue him to jump to the back side, so I wasn't able to get to where I needed to be to cue him to go to the back of jump 4. I'm sure we just need more practice on this. My boy is only 2 1/2 years old so we are both learning and having a great time doing it.

I love Greg Derrett. I got a copy of his dvd "Great Dog, Shame About the Handler" and watched it over and over and learned so much from that video. I'll have to check out SG's dvd you suggested. 

I'll try that sequence again this week if I get a chance. I can only do a few repetitions of any sequence before he starts memorizing the course. LOL


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

kbella999 said:


> I take a 3-5 jump sequence out of a lot of full courses and just practice that one part. Definately can learn a lot that way.


Oh yeah- most definitely. I plan on using a few parts from the courses here to design the first course of the week challenge next week.



kbella999 said:


> I'll try that sequence again this week if I get a chance. I can only do a few repetitions of any sequence before he starts memorizing the course. LOL


Sounds a lot like Pimg! Sometimes I think she's got it memorized after even just ONE rep! :rofl:


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

That will be interesting to try. I like it when I have a course map and a video of one of the "pros" so I can see how they handle things. I've downloaded the AKC World Team Tryout courses from here http://images.akc.org/pdf/events/agility/world_team/2012/WTT2012AllCourses.pdf
and then I watch Tori Self run them on Youtube.



wildo said:


> Oh yeah- most definitely. I plan on using a few parts from the courses here to design the first course of the week challenge next week.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

wildo said:


> With time and practice, you can name this behavior and start building value for it. I've seen video of SG with Swagger and she has four verbal cues for performing specific jump wraps.


Follow up, Kbella999- SG uses three cues:

"lalalalalalala" means to drive the plan of the jump and go around (a send to back)
"sssssssss" (or "Swing" [she uses both the same way]) means a tight wrap away from her (as in a rear cross).
"check-check-check" means to wrap towards her (as in jump over and wrap back around towards me)

Of course you can use any cue. Slivia Trkman uses cik/cap where SG uses check/swing. I don't know Silvia's cue for sending the dog to the back side (or even if she has a cue for it)


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

Interesting. I started using "around" for his 270's and my teacher said we could use the same verbal command for back side jumps. We still need practice on our 270's but we are getting there.

For the tight wrap away from me, I would use a double command of "back" and then "here" which he already knows. For a tight wrap towards me I would use "here". 

I do know that Jerry Lee seems to be more visually motivated as in, he does what I tell him to do with my body movements as opposed to verbal cues. So I really have to learn a visual cue for him on the around and back side jump which I am working on. I've tried using my "evil arm" (the arm away from the dog) to cue him on the back side jumps and we will just have to see how that works with him.



wildo said:


> Follow up, Kbella999- SG uses three cues:
> 
> "lalalalalalala" means to drive the plan of the jump and go around (a send to back)
> "sssssssss" (or "Swing" [she uses both the same way]) means a tight wrap away from her (as in a rear cross).
> ...


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