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  1. #31
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Annette47 View Post
    I haven’t seen that many handlers from the West Coast, only a few from the Midwest. I think it depends but I will say that some of the very TOP handlers around here (i.e. NOC winners) do use very flamboyant signals. Personally, as my dogs get more and more experienced, my signals get smaller and smaller, usually so that I have the option of turning it bigger if they seem to miss it. For example, my sit signal is to start with my left hand at my side, flip my hand so the palm is showing then bring my arm up about to elbow level. My dogs are trained (eventually - Chloe can do this, the pups are still working on it) to sit as soon as my hand flips. I need the bigger signal so the judge can see it and be sure they didn’t sit on their own, but in the event she is distracted I can continue the motion until my hand is up as high as possible (i.e. with my arm straight up in the air). That will usually get her even if she missed the initial one. Any signal is fine as long as it only involves one hand/arm and a continuous motion.
    Yep, I was aware and I use the same for sit with the palm and the dog should sit as soon as the palm is showing. I'll have to look on YouTube at some of the bigger names. I've only heard "stories" about crazy signals.

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Labradorks View Post
    Yep, I was aware and I use the same for sit with the palm and the dog should sit as soon as the palm is showing. I'll have to look on YouTube at some of the bigger names. I've only heard "stories" about crazy signals.
    If you do, watch for their Finish signals ... those are the ones that are over the top!
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  3. #33
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    So I played around with the new exercises in class today with Cookie and Chloe (Sass wasn’t there). We did the Open A version with Cookie, just not at full distance because she’s never been asked for that. It took about 5 minutes to teach it to her ... the only problem I had is when I asked for the sit, she wanted to do down-backs because she is not used to a down-sit sequence; usually they are asked for in different situations. Remember though, she hasn’t even been in Beginner Novice yet, and is mostly training Open, not Utility.

    With Chloe, we tried the B versions. Aside from needing more distance on the stand (but I already have added some, and I know how to get the rest of the way easily), one issue we ran into both with her and my trainers OTCH dog, is that they have been taught that the only time they go into a down from heel position, it means they are doing a down stay, so they both tend to go off on a hip right away, which is a problem because it makes it much harder to then stand or sit. With Chloe, she does a crouched down right before going onto the hip, so I was able to catch her and tell her to wait in that position and it wasn’t a big deal. My trainer’s Border Collie collapses immediately into the “rest” down so she will have to teach him a crouched down from heel position. Other than that, her only issue (which was brief) was since she hasn’t been asked to do Stand to Sit in a while, she thought I was asking her to do back-stands. Easily fixed though.

    I really don’t think this is going to be a big deal for her, and if it is, I’ll just finish her OTCH out of Utility since she has several Open B firsts already, and all the points are in Utility anyway. With the pups, since they are blank slates when it comes to putting signals together (although they have been taught the signals), I think it will not be a problem, even if they have to go in B for their CDX’s.

    I do think it isn’t right that Open A and Open B will have different exercises though. Hoping they figure something out about that but I suspect they’ll leave it that way. At the least, they should then let OTCH trainers finish the CDX out of A, since their dogs are just as green even if they themselves are experienced handlers.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  4. #34
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Annette47 View Post
    So I played around with the new exercises in class today with Cookie and Chloe (Sass wasn’t there). We did the Open A version with Cookie, just not at full distance because she’s never been asked for that. It took about 5 minutes to teach it to her ... the only problem I had is when I asked for the sit, she wanted to do down-backs because she is not used to a down-sit sequence; usually they are asked for in different situations. Remember though, she hasn’t even been in Beginner Novice yet, and is mostly training Open, not Utility.

    With Chloe, we tried the B versions. Aside from needing more distance on the stand (but I already have added some, and I know how to get the rest of the way easily), one issue we ran into both with her and my trainers OTCH dog, is that they have been taught that the only time they go into a down from heel position, it means they are doing a down stay, so they both tend to go off on a hip right away, which is a problem because it makes it much harder to then stand or sit. With Chloe, she does a crouched down right before going onto the hip, so I was able to catch her and tell her to wait in that position and it wasn’t a big deal. My trainer’s Border Collie collapses immediately into the “rest” down so she will have to teach him a crouched down from heel position. Other than that, her only issue (which was brief) was since she hasn’t been asked to do Stand to Sit in a while, she thought I was asking her to do back-stands. Easily fixed though.

    I really don’t think this is going to be a big deal for her, and if it is, I’ll just finish her OTCH out of Utility since she has several Open B firsts already, and all the points are in Utility anyway. With the pups, since they are blank slates when it comes to putting signals together (although they have been taught the signals), I think it will not be a problem, even if they have to go in B for their CDX’s.

    I do think it isn’t right that Open A and Open B will have different exercises though. Hoping they figure something out about that but I suspect they’ll leave it that way. At the least, they should then let OTCH trainers finish the CDX out of A, since their dogs are just as green even if they themselves are experienced handlers.
    Agree that A and B should not be different.

    I think pattern trained dogs (whether on accident or purpose) will have a harder time with this. I always do random signals at a distance so that there is no anticipation and the dog is actually watching for what's next. We determined that would be best for Linus in training and it's kept signals really fun for him. We do them almost every night while I am making dinner. We do sit, drop, stand, spin and bounce in a box or on a platform. Sometimes I use a zen bowl.

    I use different cues for down (on a hip) vs sphinx, which is "drop". My friend uses "hip" for relaxed down and "down" for sphinx. I know someone who uses "chin" for sphinx as she wants her dog's chin on the ground since she had some elbows up issues.

 



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