[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for the great feedback; I was pretty pleased with his work on that video!

I will try to post about the CA adventure on FB.

Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Btw, I will get done what I can this week and will miss most of the rest of the class as I’m going to the NAC (3 days driving to CA; 4 days there; 3 days driving home). I used to do that kind of thing all the time but I just realized that was 30+ years ago. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes. I’m just taking Enzo, so will have only one dog to mess with and he’s a pretty easy traveler.

Anyway, here is my video. I didn’t do all the exercises but I got in some with the OUT and some with the SOFT TURN. It went pretty well, I thought.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

I had a bit of an organizational failure today. I got out to the barn with both intro pieces (get-out & soft turn) but didn’t have the sequences with me. So I did the intros and I’ll do the sequences next time.

The get-out went well, I thought. Once he got the idea, he stayed in or got out and stayed out. At least as far as the barn would let him.

Of course, I should have done both sides. Oh well. When we do the sequences, I think he will understand.

My setup for the soft turns was not very nice, as the tunnel was straight ahead. So I used it as part of the triple: tunnel, wrap, soft turn. I am very happy with his wraps but the so-called soft turns, no bueno. Mostly, I think they are pretty wide and I don’t think he is planning to turn until he touches down; so he is jumping straight and turning upon landing. The last 3 reps (X,Y,Z) were an attempt to give him the information very, very early. I don’t think that helped. Also, his starting wrap around a wingless standard (for the get-out) looked pretty nice but the wraps with the soft turn were around a wing and they were pretty awful.

<sigh>

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Well, this didn’t turn out as well as I hoped. I started with Casper and tried to correct the items you pointed out. That went maybe ok except he is dropping a lot of bars and that is making me crazy. I included the tunnel on the rework, hoping to up the energy.

When trying to get the backside circle wrap to work, I had trouble because I’m blocking the wing and Casper can’t see it and doesn’t know there is a jump there. I am generally positioned where the wing and bar meet, so the dog can see the wing and knows there is a jump there.

Starting about 1:05 you can see why I almost never to blinds.

At about 1:55 is a series of 3 reps where Casper drops the bar on the first two. I’m not sure if it was merely repetition which finally kept the bar up. The FC was earlier and earlier each rep but I wouldn’t do it as early as the third one if I hadn’t done the first two.

About half way through, I pulled out Enzo. He isn’t feeling tip-top right now (slight digestive issue) but he was keen to go. I decided to work with Enzo because it was too hard with stuff I’m not comfortable with and a dog (Casper) who is difficult to work with (which is ok if I read the instructions correctly.) So Enzo did a bit in the middle. Then I picked up again with Casper for the last bit.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

The first thing I think is that I wasn’t very successful with this set of exercises.

You wrote: “and we don’t want even a small part of his brain to be considering it :)” Well, I was looking for a strategy that covers him not giving me 100% of his brain. Actually, I’d be happy with 75% or 80%. Mostly his issue is not normal distractions (people, random food or fluffs, dogs). When he is aroused, what I have right now is a dog who will take the line and stay on it regardless of additional handling. Or he will need handling so early that it can pull him off the line if he happens to be clued in. Obviously, I would like it if “all brain bandwidth can be used to organize the tight turns”.

In this case, the toy was serving both as a distraction and reinforcement. I often train with a toy lying around and release him to it as a reward. I take it you are not a fan of that approach. Even toys on his line are not available unless I release him to get them.

But ignoring all that discussion, my takeaway is that I am late in getting the information to Casper. OK, I can work on that.

The backside with brake arm – I obviously don’t get it. That is what I thought I was doing at 2:32 (??!). It didn’t seem to help so I tried it at 2:40 as a turning cue. The last one is more like I would do it without the brake arm. When I re-reviewed your demo, I thought mine at 2:32 was very similar to yours. Now your dogs…they both do lovely round circles while Casper’s are more oval-shaped.

I will try to get to the rest of week 1 soonish. I’m showing this weekend so it won’t be until next week.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

First, I was a bit confused by
– 5 minutes / week
or
– 2 minutes / game.
I’m not exactly sure what you meant by a “game”. Anyway, this is week 1 take 1 (3:32):

Here are some things.
Verbals:
“check” = collect left wrap
“dig” = collect right wrap
“easy” = generic collection cue
Casper is very good at exercises with little or no motion. For example, his wraps are pretty good until speed is added. Today, he looked pretty good. I think you can see where I planted a toy to add some “pull” in the wrong direction. I did that to try to simulate some of the excited “out of control” behavior I get at trials.
If I can get close to a jump (as we are doing here), I can usually collect him pretty well. I hope we work up to some distance from the wraps.
He seems to turn better to his right (“dig”) but I’m not sure if it is because I am better at cueing with my right hand.
In the beginning exercises, I put in an extension jump (with toy) so we can compare his take-off points.
Of course, his wing wraps are not very good. If they were, I probably wouldn’t need so much work on his jump wraps (grin).
I repeated the first exercise from the side so we could see how much of a difference we are making with the take-off point. [Pretty good!]
There was at least one place where I didn’t think I could get from one side of the tunnel to the other and so I did a rear-cross wrap.
I am not familiar/practiced with using the collection arm on the backside exactly the way you do. I “trail” my offside arm.

Thanks!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

I managed to sneak a short training session into today (then “Community Conversations with the Police Department”, then drive to Cleveland for a trial this weekend).

I didn’t really have time to rebuild the course (that is, move the tunnel) so we’re right up against the wall with all the tables, chairs and such. I think that is why I had some trouble getting him to wrap the wing. Also, I sometimes used my wrap word (dig) and sometimes my around (which is supposed to be backside slice but gets used sometimes for regular speech).

The barn floor is very rough and his feet are still “summer soft” so I try to have short sessions.

Also, I tried with the airpods in. That way you can hear the whole stream of consciousness that happens when I train. Well, I tried to cut out most of it…

We struggled a bit with challenges 3 and 4. I think 3 was because of the timing of the BC and backside slice command (and poor connection). I think 4 was because his understanding of “IN” is not as strong as it could be. However, he was 100% in tunnel versus something else. Proud of that, anyway.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Sorry it is so hard to hear on some of the videos – outdoors with the wind blowing does not work well with my iPhone.

And I’ll take a sushi reward anytime!!

I’m still wondering about #4. I think if I had seen that with Patt in real life, I would have done a Japanese. That way I would carry him to the backside and be out of the way on the jump to tunnel. Might have to try that…

HA! I found some time to train today!!

However, what did happen is that I got my new 10’ tunnel and it, of course, lives in the barn because it is all new and beautiful. We did the “Jump-Tunnel Discriminations Around The Clock Verbals” and I was astonished. Possibly because of doing the first week’s work, but at any rate, Casper was GREAT at this.

I see, looking at the video, that I am “helping” with my handling but still – I think he is doing really well.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Here is our attempt at Handling Challenges #3.

I do not understand sequence #2. It says to threadle your dog to #4 but I can’t figure that out at all. I looked at your video in slow motion and put on my thinking cap and everything. All I can come up with is: if you send your dog very wide around #3, then his natural path is to the backside and so you could argue that you had to “threadle” him in with an “IN” command. So that’s what I tried. Seems like spinning #3 would have the same impact.

I was surprised at how well he did the threadle wraps – for the most part. I left the bar at 20 for the beginning but dropped for those!

I was amazed that he did the threadle wrap between the tunnel and the jump.

Btw, the “shadow alien” is actually a ladder with a tripod bungeed on it. <grin>

I’m wildly busy for the rest of this week and showing Sat/Sun, so I don’t know if I’ll get to the next week in the next week.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Here is our version of Handling Challenges 2: Combos. These went really well! Before I started I actually measured and adjusted my setup to more closely match the dimensions you gave. <grin>

I think our biggest “problem” is that I am not allowing the verbals to come to the fore. I tend to allow the handling to do all the work. Not exactly what we are hoping for…. I did remember to at least say them (after the first try or two).

Thanks!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

We did some weaves and contact work yesterday. Today we were back to your games.

I did a bit more of the purely verbal discrims and then moved on to Handling Challenge 1. I thought Casper found it easy so I did it from both sides.

Thanks,
Barb

Ps: I let Enzo try it, he said: “not challenging at all yet”. <grin>

[Barb VanEseltine]

Thanks Tracy!

So happy you didn’t vote strongly for the manners minder. While I “can” use it, I don’t particularly like it and getting “good” treats to run through it nicely is a hassle.

Much as I don’t want to (sigh) I will give him today off that kind of training. Is it ok to work something else? Like weaves? Or do you want a complete non-training day?

Thanks!!
Barb

ps: It seems like everyone else started with Handling Challenges 1 instead of Verbals Only Commitment. ?? Am I doing this right?

• This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by Barb VanEseltine.

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Casper and I want to make sure we don’t have “typical” or “common” errors. So here is his video; he was pretty good at tunnel versus “jump not a tunnel” but, alas, he is pretty random about which side of the jump. ALSO, I think he was being Clever Hans for a bit using my feet as guides. <sigh> I moved the jump and tunnel further apart but, unless I move my body, I’m not sure that makes it easier. Once I got out the chair, it was obvious what the problem was: he doesn’t know it.

At the end, I just isolated the jump and tried to work on front versus backside wrap versus backside slice. I fear we will have to clean that up before we can progress with the jump versus tunnel.

I should have brought out some food for reset cookies. Since he thinks food is “meh” I forgot but next time I will bring it. Also, I forgot to lower the bar. I’ll remember that next time, too.

And another thing…when we are running courses, I don’t feel that Casper is TOO handler focused. His “go-on” is pretty good and he stays committed to things pretty well (at least that’s what I think). In this little exercise, however, he looks back at me a lot. It is particularly obvious on video.

Also, I will try harder with the two mistake rule. Most of my life I have used a different two mistake rule: if he does it wrong twice in a row, then change something.

What about using a manners minder set out so it can be used to reward either the jump or the tunnel? That might help with forward focus, don’t you think?

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for the careful analysis – as always I appreciate your insights!

Between obedience and conformation, I have a mostly-unconscious bias for having my dog on my left. When I watch people intentionally train heeling on both sides (e.g., Denise Fenzi) it makes me squirm inside. So even though I don’t do either any longer, the habit persists.

I was wondering if I was “doing something” to cause the difference between dog-on-left and dog-on-right; that’s why I put the camera straight behind the start. And I also couldn’t see anything. I’m a little bit concerned about them exiting the tunnel to their right, even when they “should” have done so to the left. I think as I become more capable (and can move better) that will go away. If it doesn’t then I’ll worry about it then. <grin>

So here is our last turn for summer 2025. I took the standard pop-outs from package 5.

First up is Enzo on #1 and #2. He is brilliant on #1. On #2, my first plan was to do 3 & 6 as threadle slices – should have warmed them up. <grin> Then I realized that I should have planned #6 as a threadle wrap. So I got that to work. Then I realized that I could just lead out to a spot between 2 and 3 and the whole thing gets lots easier.

Then I thought I’d do #3 and #4 with Casper. And I was pretty pleased with how that went, also.

Thanks for the summer fun — see you later!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

HI Tracy,

Love the idea of turning the jumps to be parallel to help Enzo with his discriminations!

On Casper, I had forgotten how he jumps into the tunnels; cracks me up. I will attempt to work on the fading with the plank present but mostly skipping the sit.

I think Dawn has a spot for me on Thursday (10/16). Who is the contact for Chicago?

Progress, I think.

Thanks,
Barb

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