So hard to know what is a reasonable outcome goal to set when our best performances are still deemed not good enough. Not just this run, but that Novice agility run where we had that one off course.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Masters Jumpers Q
So hard to know what is a reasonable outcome goal to set when our best performances are still deemed not good enough. Not just this run, but that Novice agility run where we had that one off course.
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I see several places where he was wide and could have shaved off a second or two. Plus, in some places he looks tentitive , so more speed to be had there. If you set the opening up again and brought him to the right side of the second jump, would that be faster? Allow him to open up more. The tight turns are impressive but the dogs have to gear down so much that they loose a lot fo time. (I cant really see the line to the tunnel , so not sure taken the jump from the right is do able. ). Its a beautiful run but I do think a lot more can be done to shave off time.
ReplyDeleteI think a few people went to that far side, not many. I think it opened them up to the wrong tunnel more. Whichever way people turned at 2, they tended to give their dogs a very flat, straight approach to 3 and the dogs jumped in extension and were headed at the wrong tunnel. My goal was to shape his line a little so he jumped 3 on a slight angle from left to right, which he does nicely and was looking right at the correct tunnel. I was afraid that taking him to the other side of 2, when I went to shape that line it would open up the possibility of him taking 1 again. I was very happy with how he handled 1-2-3, probably smoother than many of the other even more experienced dogs as he really didn't have to adjust his line to 4. Me on the other hand, after he took off for 3, I didn't really trust what I had cued, decelerated to make sure he was coming with me rather than driving him to the tunnel, so he slowed down a bit, questioning whether I wanted him to go there, then I realized that I might even pull him off the tunnel and accelerated to make sure that didn't happen. Not great training for future instances where there is a tunnel ahead of him that maybe I don't want him to take and I want him to read my deceleration cues. Plus, the last thing he saw before he went in the tunnel was me speeding up again, so I guess him coming out of the tunnel looking at that other jump wasn't completely wrong. I'm trying to pay attention to what he sees from me as he enters a tunnel to see if I can better influence what he does as he comes out. I'm finding out that LM's non-turning obstacles really aren't. I never bought it with running contacts, those certainly make the A-frame and dog walk into turning obstacles. And curved tunnels as well, it really seems to make a difference how those are cued.
ReplyDeleteLoved how he handled the tunnel-tunnel part, also smoother than some of the experienced dogs who attempted a verbal "RIGHT!!!" to get their dogs to turn but they were not far enough past the tunnel entrance so the dog still turned left looking for the handler. I think there are still people who haven't done any OMD stuff that don't know the "1 meter past the entry" rule.
And yes, several places where we can clean things up and shave time. I still don't think there are 7 seconds worth though, or even 3-4 seconds to be any where close to competitive.