[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

First, I took a look at your videos with Voodoo. Thank you, I agree this is work I should do with Casper. I have already done a bit of the 2 jump tight collection work (slowly work up to 3 jumps 40“ apart at 20” high). We’ll need to continue this kind of work between now and his first ‘real’ trial, tentatively scheduled for January.

Moving right along, here is the JWW course #1 from package 5. I am still too zapped to do a very good job on these longer, more complex courses, although I eventually got this one.

My biggest trouble was 7 to 11. The original plan was around 7, around 8, in on 9, FC and send 10 to 11. I never made that work, I was always on his line between 9 and 10 (and therefore bought the off course tunnel).

The simplest, successful way was leave out the FC between 9 and 10 and RC 11. That was the way that was ultimately the best. I also tried doing 7 as a backside R to L and 8 as a backside L to R. That should have made 9 easier and potentially could get me down the line for the send to 10-11. I couldn’t make that work. Enzo was offended by the linked backsides in that manner and took a lot of convincing to even do them correctly. And when we finally did it, I was still in his way and sent him to the off course tunnel.

The final (correct) run included a wildcard at #14. I don’t know if it was a byproduct of how I built the course but I was completely out of control of which way he would go around 14. I just showed him the jump and reacted to how he did it. A strategy which worked but which I generally do not recommend. <grin>

I hope to run the second version later today.

AND I am showing this weekend for the first time since June and probably the last time until December. A sort-of local trial is happening and a friend offered to drive me back and forth. I am SO grateful to get out and see everyone. For me, showing is so much about socializing and seeing the people.
(Many years ago, I did sled-dog racing with my Belgians. We used to describe people who wanted to come but weren’t wildly competitive as people who came for the potluck. Although I am competitive, I very much go to trials for the “potluck”.)

Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Love the geekery!

As far as Casper’s jumping; I can easily work on the zig-zag drill and Stephanie’s games.

I went looking for backside jump drills that Enzo did. He was born in 2018 so it would have been 2019/2020/2021. Do you know how many classes I took with you during that period?? AND when things happen on the computer, the dates get screwed up, so it wasn’t easy to tell when a class was taken. I found drills for pinwheels and serpentines with Enzo but no “sit-before-backside-wrap game”. So, I’d be grateful if you could dig it up.

I hope to build the JWW course and work on it this week.

Thanks!!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Yes, it was Linda M. who said backwards motion is still motion!

Thanks for the very clear photos of what I’m doing versus what you are doing. I hate to be “that student” who needs extra just to understand but it was brilliant. And look what happened!

As you can see, I belong to the “prove it wasn’t a fluke” school of dog training. What a good dog. We DID get it! Even the dread BC.

So, naturally, I moved on to the backside discrimination. And I clearly need more backside work: he is clipping the wings and doesn’t really understand the difference between “push” (wrap) and “around” (s-shaped slice). Plus he is dropping the bars when the cueing isn’t perfect and sometimes when it is. grin

Yeah for brilliant progress!

I see in the user guide that the last day for Video Review is 9/18. I’m guessing that is the “hot summer extended date”; correct?

Thanks,
Barb

Btw: I try to correctly praise/reward the bit we are working on, although sometimes a different mistake happens or I get greedy and try to get a bunch more stuff. But I am aware and do try.
However, when I get too concerned I remember that we don’t teach children in a logical manner. If a child says “Daddy just come home” we only correct it if, in fact, it wasn’t Daddy but Uncle Carl. So we say either “Yes, Daddy came home” or “No, that’s Uncle Carl” and the bad grammar is ignored. And yet, most kids grow up with grammar as good as their parents’.
An interesting analogy, don’t you think?

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

I was actually thinking about the brake arm before I got your response. I have looked at your demo a number of times because I have trouble with using a brake arm without rotating toward the dog (wind and unwind). I put the jumps back to your original spacing and gave it another try.

Eventually I made it work but it was not a nice, sure thing. I had the most success when I did the full FC. Then I did the tunnel and sharp turn; no problem. That is the first video:

(Notice that he dives between my legs at 0:13? Ann Braue once told me she only taught that between the legs lineup to one dog (maybe Scream) and he dived through her legs during a run. That was the last time she used it. I really like it and am going to try not to have to give it up!)

Then I went off and worked on skills I can practice almost standing still (contacts and weaves). When I came back, I thought, “Why not try it with the backside?”. Such a surprise! He obviously heard the “around” and looked for a jump. Who would have guessed?

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

My Terry was very fast and had a very long commitment distance. That is, if you wanted to create a turn you needed 19+ feet in which to do it. On an AKC course, that might be BEFORE takeoff of the previous jump. Yikes. Alas, I might be finding that out for Casper. My hope is that we can condition him to be able to respond more quickly but….

So, I worked on the JWW pop-out with Casper. From Casper’s perspective, the line is clearly 1, 2, tunnel. Every time. So the first part of the video shows a lot of that and a lot of (failures of) back-chaining. I dropped the bars to 12”, not because I thought it would help but just to avoid constantly resetting the bars.

It took me a rather long time to realize that the issue might be the tightness of the setup. Eventually, I moved #’s 1 and 2 out leaving the same tightness of discrimination on the jump tunnel. While not instantly successful, it gives an idea (4 of 5 reps successful).

Here is the video. I think it proves that if dog don’t really pattern as much/as easily as we sometimes say. I did send him to the tunnel (100% correct response) a few times.

You can see that I lose faith in my verbals quite quickly. It is a simple 90ish degree turn and should be LEFT. At least I didn’t use any naughty words…but it quickly became LEFT, LEFT COME HERE. I’m not sure why I would use COME HERE on a dog with such a poor recall….

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

First, thanks for the kind words. I think the folks are doing the best they can. I have a friend who takes me to class across the state a couple/three times a month. And, goodness knows, Jen Pinder is being the most accommodating that she can allowing weird class drop-ins and helping me plan how to break up the planned courses.

I had to look up “corn sweat” on google – good grief! We are having cooler mornings, so I got this course in without too much hassle. Of course, it was already built. 😉

How disappointing that the biggest trouble I had was regarding Enzo’s teeter performance. Or maybe that’s a good thing, since I can isolate and work on that with little expenditure of energy. The A-frame was not glorious but at least it was legal.

On the first run, I had to “fix” the sticky teeter, so then he turned the wrong way around 7 and it was amazing he was mostly clean through 12 (probably a refusal in there). He ran 13, 14, 15… exactly as planned. I don’t much like that loop de loop but it seemed like the best path. Certainly 14 needs to be a wrap, as that sets up the line for 15, 16, 17 so nicely. I don’t like the slice on 13 because it requires me to pull the dog completely across the face of 13 and, to be honest, I can’t see me doing that IRL (unless I got a cross in after the A-frame, which isn’t happening now). All things together, those were pretty good wraps for Enzo.

After the first run, I didn’t try to run the whole thing perfectly but focused on 4 to 12. He was fine on the start and the ending was lovely.

First I did a bunch of teeter reps. Since Casper is going to have stopped contacts, I had better get in the habit of reinforcing and strengthening stopped contacts. That will only help Enzo’s teeter and it looks like he needs that.

The original problem on 7 was caused by my coming in to fix the teeter. As long as I could maintain some distance, I had no problem getting the correct turn (right) around 7 and the rest flowed beautifully.

I see that I am willing to sacrifice correct contact behaviors in a sequence. <sigh> I know better. That will go on my training list for Enzo: no sequencing with bad teeter contacts.

Nostalgic Aside:

My very first “real” agility dog was Terry the Malinois. I don’t think I worked with you when I had him. He had perfect stopped contacts because Ann Braue said this is how to teach them and I treated it like an obedience exercise. I taught it, proofed it and insisted on it. Alas, since that time I have migrated to a more laid-back agility approach to training instead of keeping my obedience brain. I am going to get it back and work on beautiful contacts.

I am now desperate to mow the lawn underneath the current course. I will start moving the stuff in a bit and then hope the grass dries out enough to mow.

As always, thanks!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Again, I am so sorry to read that you lost Crusher. It is always so hard when we lose them.

Here is package 4, Standard #1. It took me 2.5 days to build the course and, naturally, the grass now needs mowing. I think I might be going backwards as far as energy and stamina. But I did see the Doc and he expects me to gradually improve. I certainly hope so, since I don’t have much to give to this sport that I love. The most recent estimate for “when Barb can drive again” is 12/11. I may go nuts before then.

At any rate, the first thing Enzo did was DW to tunnel; twice. Since my running is pathetic, I took a gigantic lead-out on the third try and at least managed to avoid the tunnel trap. In addition to the lead-out, I started closer to the DW and moved laterally towards the jump.

I did pick up #17 between 5 and 6 but the rest was ok.

After that run, I took some time to reconsider my plan for 4-5-6-7 and decided I HAD to get a cross in between 4 and 5. So I took another HUGE lead-out and was able to do the BC after the backside push. That made everything much easier in that space. Then I was out of gas, failed to indicate 12 and stopped. I picked it up at the A-frame and finished out.

Regards,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

The training yard is a mess; half mown and needs raking (double yuck)! But we did get a bit of work done. Here is the first JWW course from package 4.

We ran is twice and got through it both times. On the first run, I thought it was “ok” until the end, and then it was a wide mess. Looking at the video, Enzo doesn’t know the line at #12 but recovered well. Then I flung him into space at #17 and was lucky to recover for 18, 19, 20.

I think there was a pretty dramatic improvement on the second run with surprisingly little additional handling/motion. Hmmm. Wish I knew ahead of time where that might be needed. <grin>

I tried to do the second JWW course later on but I just didn’t have it. We missed a couple of jumps on the first try (7 and 17) and ran into a major confusion about 17 on the second try. I just had to quit.

Next up is more mowing and then I don’t know what (rake??). At any rate, I’ll try to do the standard courses next week.

I really hope to get back some energy and stamina pretty soon.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

HI Tracy,

This bit is from last night’s discussion about BC/spin versus RC wrap (“switch”). First, it is my intent that my dog be able to be sent on the RC wrap from a reasonable distance. That should mean I don’t need to go much past #4. How could that not be faster than handling which requires me to do-si-do with my dog between 4 and 5? Ah well, the proof is in the pudding.

Now, let me be totally fair to poor Enzo. I had an ep study and ablation on Monday and I’m still pretty wiped from it. So, as you can see, I’m not quick. However, when I was out there, I didn’t think I did one significantly better (from a physical perspective) than the other. I didn’t even bother with Casper, since I don’t think I could be sufficiently “present” to work him.

I included my first attempt at the BC/spin. I was too blasé and didn’t get up or down stream briskly. Even on the second attempt on BC/spin, I was only able to get the backside because Enzo has good verbals. On the RC wrap, I was easily much further down the line. I think my exit connection after the BC was good, after the spin “ok”.

Which was faster? If I measure from peeking out of the tunnel to reentering the tunnel, I get: 5.5, 5.2, 5.2. So basically the same.

Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

HI Tracy,

Thanks for looking those up.

I wouldn’t have said that about Sylvia except I remember her saying that about herself. Something about teaching the cik&cap turn verbals and then leaving them to worry about it. I remember a video from her website where she comments about not watching but I sure can’t find I now! 😊 Apparently, she hasn’t been trialing much. There is a bit on her website from 2019:
“I still came to a realization I REALLY don’t enjoy trials anymore. I do enjoy running my dogs, but the rest of the time, I just want to go home or walk in the woods”.
So maybe there isn’t much to find.

I am going to work on that bit from last night later today or tomorrow (can’t miss Olympics gymnastics!!). As an aside, I had a medical thing Monday and can’t lift more than 10 pounds for 10 days. I didn’t tell them about course building (grin). So I will build this course around where my tunnel already is and hope for the best.

Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

All this happened before I read your response to Enzo’s run… This is almost (but not quite) too embarrassing to share. I set out sequence #2, walked and ran Casper on only 1 to 6. I reviewed the video and wrote this:
Well sure enough, here is Casper. I have a hard time guessing when he will be stuck to me like glue and when he will be off doing any old thing. That’s why I failed the tunnel brake on this one. So the first run got off but the second one was lovely.

Only THEN did I see #7 and #8. So I went back out and re-ran with all 8 obstacles. <sigh>

How do you think Casper looks? I was surprised at what a nice turn I got over #5 on the last run with no spin.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Why did I think that 2024 would be walk-through challenge free?

In defense of my 2:40 walk-through, I did study the map ahead of time. Also, it is only 9 obstacles.

Now, I did some home study on my run:
1. I didn’t take into account how far “out” Enzo would go on jump #1. That means the angle to #2 was shallower (more favorable) and I didn’t need the hard collection.
2. FC over # 5 is late – I had time to get to a better position
3. The turn 6 to 7 is not a thing of beauty. Not sure I could have “sent less”. The verbal is late, since he has already determined his takeoff point. If you compare the takeoff point for #6, when I wanted collection and the takeoff point to #9, where I didn’t, they look about the same.

Per your instructions, I didn’t run it again.

Maybe I’ll try the next one with Casper. <grin>

Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

AHA! Cues for the threadle wrap/slice that both start with “Come!” Well, yes. When the dog is presented with the front of the jump, square on, my minds says to me: “First break him from taking the front side”. In the cases you have seen recently, that has been “come” but I will also use “out” for the same purpose followed by PUSH (wrap) or AROUND (slice). When the jump is not completely perpendicular to the dog’s line of travel, I am more likely to trust the cue by itself. Also, I trust PUSH and AROUND more because they have a longer history.

In Package 3, JWW #2, I used all of it. <grin>

First a bit of analysis. I wanted a slice on #4 traveling from left to right (away from the weaves) because I thought that would be the best, quickest path. With me located between the tunnel and the weaves, he should exit the tunnel on his left lead so “IN” (or come in) should get what I wanted. However, it is a VERY short distance from the tunnel to that jump and not much time to process a tricky cue. Happily, I can take a giant lead-out and be partway down the tunnel before releasing him on the send to #1.
On the first run, I was in position for a backside slice going right to left, so I took it.
On the second run, I lead out to the far side of the tunnel which made the left to right slice easy.
On the third run, I just did the threadle wrap.

For the 7,8,9 line, I was confident I could get across the tunnel exit without getting hurt. I did not consider crossing before the tunnel entrance. Because too much motion right to left? At any rate, it did not seem to me that I would show him the correct path if I tried to get a FC or BC between 7 and 8.

I really wanted to treat 11 as a backside slice (left to right). That would make 12 easy. However, it was difficult to communicate.
On the first run, I was totally late and he took the front side.
On the second run, I stayed closer to the tunnel and was able to get the convergence and backside slice.
On the third run, I did the threadle wrap. That was easiest by far!

Then there was the 13-14-15 line. Should be easy-peasy but I really wanted the course to go 13-14-7. I didn’t get it right until the third run. This is the only part I was disappointed with; I walked it and reviewed it but couldn’t get it to stick in my head. Enzo was brilliant throughout.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

I should have known we wouldn’t just smoke the rest of the courses, given that we got one of them. <grin> We found the Package 3, JWW #1 course to be quite a challenge.

While, of course, it is all my fault; one big problem was I couldn’t keep 15 in my head. I really wanted to go directly from 14 to 16. Enzo’s problem in the first run was he wanted to go directly from 8 to 10.

After the first run, I repeated a few pieces, trying to fix/tighten up some things.

I think the second run just suffered from lazy handling. In particular, layering the tunnel for the 16, 17, 18 line doesn’t actually buy anything I need and cost the #18 bar. I tried to do better on the third run.

I feel like I could have BC’d between 14 and 15 and treated 15 as a push instead of a threadle wrap. I might have gotten a bit tighter turn, since he’s more used to the push but I like the threadle wrap as a skill and want us to get better at it.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

HI Tracy,

Hope your trip is going well. I have been looking into exercises for Casper. I have only taken about 100 courses on-line and surely some of them would (you’d think) address core strengthening. And I’m sure they do but they didn’t pop out at me.

So, I am starting these simple ones on the ground. As he gets better, I’ll put them on balance inflatables.
• Sit to Kick Back Stand
• Stand to Down
• Bow
I also think about sit/sit-pretty/up and then back down. But he isn’t ready for that yet.

This video is just more jumping at 16”. I wasn’t sure exactly what you saw as the next steps (except core strengthening). I was excited about a couple of things on this video:
1. This is the first time I’ve used a ball with him and
(a) he loved it and
(b) he brought it back and released it without a struggle
2. I think his forward focus was very good
3. I added some motion and that seemed ok.

Thanks,
Barb

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