Visual Feedback

Having video of my runs yesterday is amazing. I can't stop watching them, especially the jumpers run. Not only does it make me grin to see how happy Sadie is, I'm using them to figure out where I could have handled better.

Jumpers:
The obvious place to start is the first bar she knocks down. It took me several viewings, and finally stepping through the frames, to figure that one out. She never hits the bar... she hits the standard! She has a rather long takeoff, but actually clears the 26" jump cup. I think my cue for the jump accidentally gave her a send as well, rather than pulling her back to me for the weave entrance. I should have leaned hard away from the jump as I cued, which would have helped her not only stay with me, but wrap around the standard.

The second bar down was absolutely my fault. I didn't give her enough space to leave the tunnel, which caused her to cut around behind me. I needed to move back at least another 3 feet get her out and reoriented. Then, if she still had the hesitation, I should have just circled her to allow a better approach to the jump. That part actually did occur to me on course, but I knew we'd already lost the Q on the second jump. She often can take tight jumps like that, so I sent her over.

One last spot stands out to me: her movement from the last jump to the final tunnel. You can clearly see her lose the course, as she fails to orient herself immediately to the tunnel entrance. It might have been beneficial to have given her a verbal just as she landed, rather than relying on my movement to fully communicate the next obstacle. Once she gets me in her peripheral vision you can see her head snap to the tunnel.

Standard:
The clearest point for improvement was definitely the chute. She has no hesitation taking it, but apparently needs more work on keeping a straight path through it. I don't like seeing her pull the cloth so far to the side. It's potentially dangerous if she were to get tangled and/or feel trapped and panic. I'll need to work on sending her through to a target a lot more, with me moving at various angles to her path. In this particular case, it would have helped if I had stayed with her. My movement away pulled her over.

We also need to work on enthusiasm and drive over the dog walk. While she took it immediately, she also lost a lot of speed. Again, this means many repetitions of sending her over the equipment to a target with super-extra-awesome treats. I'll also need to start selectively rewarding for faster and faster runs.

General positioning issues show up throughout this run. The first is even before the run starts, when I set Sadie up. She is crooked to the tire, and even facing away from the curve I want her to take. Start lines are a bit challenging with her since she runs far better if I rough her up and go, rather than asking for a start-line stay. That means I can't fine-tune her direction as well, and my start (which necessarily must go out and around the jump) tends to pull her into the handler-side of the first obstacle. Two more spots with potential for improvement are when I crowd her teeter exit a little, and when I should have lead out more from the table. The table wasn't so much a problem as a lost opportunity to ask for more speed.


One thing that is quite clear from both videos - Sadie knows her rear crosses!