[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Here are a couple of things. We worked Monday on the Games Package 3 Agility Course. I don’t currently have a decent A-frame, so I subbed in the dog walk. That made me spread the course out a bit, as you’ll see. (I have a friend over to train on most Mondays, so I like to include the contacts.)

It is hot here (Michigan) but most of the smoke from the northern wildfires has cleared.

I ran it twice with both dogs. On his second turn, Enzo got through it with only a couple bars down (and a really gross contact miss on the DW). Casper, who is supposed to have 2o2o on the DW was also missing his criterion. At any rate, after review I think it would be better to use Casper. I’ll just include his second run; it is quite awful but not as awful as his first run. Besides the multiple backsides, which are mostly a handling/positioning problem for me, I see him having these things to add to the “work on” list:
– 2o2o on the DW
– Find the weaves through a clutter of jumps.

Then, since I just got your response and I thought it would be much more fun, we worked on the updated under pressure work. I decided to use the weaves, since they are generally fun. When he exits stage left, it is because the toy chest is over there. Later on I used the toy chest as the exciting one and he still first looked for it in the usual place. <grin> After I had “finished” and reviewed the video, I couldn’t resist going back to use the toys in obvious places.

I started out being very meticulous about bringing him back to the house each time so he couldn’t watch me place the “thing” but towards the very end I just dropped it with him watching. He only had trouble once, the first time the toy we just played with was on the ground. Good, good boy.

I am trying to edit my videos to show “the whole story” not every bloody thing that happened. I hope that helps.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

The vacation was an interesting combination of relaxation and stress. Our train from Winnipeg to Toronto was canceled due to wildfires. But we caught up to our plan with an airplane and it all worked out.

I was pretty sure I would be sorry to send in 2 things at once—and I am.

Looking at the Double Whammy stuff, you wrote:
“At 1:43 there was no serp arm so he came directly towards you. The serp arm happened a bit as he was over the bar at 1:44 but he was already jumping towards you and dropped the bar as he tried to adjust. Ideally the serp arm starts as he exits 2 so he can adjust the jumping for 3-4, and the serp arms stays up til he lands from 3 and looks at 4. ”

I think maybe I don’t even know what you mean by a “serp arm”. My plan, in my head, was:
– Send 1 to 2
– Serp 2,3,4
At 1:43-1:44, I drop my trailing shoulder back which is my “serp cue”. Is that what you mean by a serp arm?

Interesting to me that you assign blame for the wideness at #5 to the backing up FC, I thought a sharper turn at 4 was the solution. When I do a BC I get a much wider turn than a FC.

On Enzo’s run, the choice at 5 was a 360 wrap or a backside slice; the tunnel exit pointed directly at the front side of that jump, therefore I needed to be in position to send to the backside slice. It put me behind but that slice is WAY faster than a 360 wrap. To say nothing of the fact that a backside slice is a well-known skill, a 360 threadle-wrap is a work in progress. <grin>

As far as the under pressure challenges.
The neutral objects were both winter clothes (the black one was a shawl type thing and the other was a hooded scarf thing).

We had some thinking to do on the teeter. I started with 4-on but have allowed it to morph to 2o2o, so that is what I asked for/reinforced. When you say more interesting, are we still talking neutral or should it be a less-than-favorite toy?

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Well, I couldn’t wait to try the under pressure challenges. And since it has nothing to do with the double whammy setup, I thought it would be fine.

Actually, I thought it was pretty funny.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy!

I’m back from vacation and the dreadful air quality issues in Michigan seem to be easing off. The temperature is not blazing hot, so we’ll give it a try.

Thoughts from before our runs…

DW1: I was surprised on the first double whammy by your use of the “off arm” send to the tunnel at both 8 and 5. It didn’t seem necessary. I also was surprised by your use of the threadle “in” on #6; I kind of thought I would go between 5 and 6 and use a backside send.

DW2: Looks like a straightforward set of serps. I’ll see. At 8:41 and analogous places, it appears to me that you could have started/completed the BC a bit sooner. I’ll be interested to compare Casper’s runs.

DW3: On the single whammy, my question is how to go around #5 (slice or wrap) and the same question on #1 on the double whammy. My plan is to wait until it is built to decide. <grin>

Video: https://youtu.be/IJpfUWY61IE

DW1: Casper
This was very difficult for him. I don’t know if all the bars are from 2 weeks off or failure of 2 weeks on (with jumping exercises and grids and such) or just poor handling. I ran it with Enzo first, hoping to smooth out my handling but I’m not sure if that helps – except for remembering the course. They don’t run very similarly. I can see from the video that I wasn’t positioned well for #6 (guarding the backside instead of moving). Casper will almost always drop a bar if he doesn’t know exactly where he’s going next. I even called him “Enzo” once; poor baby.

DW2: Casper
I actually thought this was an easier course, although the bars were a’flying. I thought the FC worked better for us at 5, especially as it made it easier to control the turn 5 to 6. I was surprised that I had trouble getting him to come in at #8 – I would have to work hard to keep Enzo out if that were asked for (and Patt could serp an AKC “forced layer”)!
At every restart, I tried to remember to not fling him wide at #4 but I mostly forgot. At some point I dropped some of the bars he was knocking to 16”. At one point I used “in-in” to mean “come-come”. I had that bite me really bad at a trial with Enzo but apparently I didn’t learn.

DW3: Enzo
It was hot and I really didn’t want a bunch of reps with dropped bars, so I subbed in Enzo. It wasn’t a brilliant marvel but it went pretty well.
The single whammy was fine. After the first try for the double whammy, we had a short review session on “FLIP” (threadle wrap) which isn’t as fluent as I’d like. On #12 I forgot which way to go but it only cost time.

Thanks!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

It really bugs me that I can’t run as fast as I could 20 years ago. Obviously this comes to us all eventually but I really am struggling to get used to it. (In my mind I was running that fast in 2025 when I broke my leg; I blame all my slowness on that.) Therefore, I’m glad we are working on ways to get from here to there without being a sprint champion!

I am going off on vacation at a “rotten” time. I just watched your two intro videos for games package #2 and they both sound like great fun (double whammy and under pressure).

Wow, do I really appreciate your comment (from Games Package 2: Under Pressure Challenges) that you created the behavior problems! I try to suggest that to students, using me as an example, but I am not always successful in getting them to believe it. Same thing with generalization: very hard to convince students that their dog doesn’t know it (here, at this moment with these circumstances) when “he knows it at home!”.

Back in a couple of weeks—I’m excited to return!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

It looks like we are taking our vacation at just about the right time. Certainly we wouldn’t be doing any training with:
EXTREME HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THURSDAY
* WHAT…Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 105.
* WHERE… (basically everywhere near Kalamazoo, MI where I live)
* WHEN…Until 8 PM EDT Thursday.
* IMPACTS…Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat and high humidity events.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS…Little to no relief will come at night when heat index values will remain near to above 80 degrees.
I visited my hair dresser and they have free bottled water in a bucket on the sidewalk for passers-by to pick up. It’s the kind of neighborhood where people will appreciate it.

Back to dog training. Some thoughts: First, I really appreciate the amount of time and thought you put into these analyses.

You wrote:

“At the beginning, you were facing him as he is heading to 2 – rather than open up and face forward to 2 when he commits and do a post turn (which sends him wider and makes him wait for info, note him looking at you and drifting a little at :02), just complete the turn with a spin/blind so you are facing the new line at all times. Keeps that turn nice and tight!”

Darn and I thought that was one of the cleverest things I did. It might not have been obvious but I considered that he would, very easily, blast out of the tunnel to the backside of #2. So I released him with a collection cue and had no problem getting the correct side. He comes out of the tunnel almost perfectly facing the jump (0:02). I must not be following because the line 1-2-3-4 looks pretty good. Granted, I was too far behind, so he took off on 4 going right but he took the re-direction pretty well.

Now the turn 5 to 6 (teeter) was poor but it was set up poorly because I was behind. I gave the verbal “switch” as he landed from 4 and was happy he carried out to the jump (instead of turning on the flat).

On the weaves to the DW section, I didn’t plan a BC, I just lost him that rep. The way I finally did it (:35 and following) was always the plan. You wrote:

“And if you are already in deceleration, then you have to stay decelerated in order to set the turn (and accelerate again after you have the turn). Let me know if that all makes sense.”

That makes perfect sense. I had hoped that I had set the turn enough on the flat but clearly not. I accelerated up the line because I thought he had the turn.

I am getting a bit skittish with him, as far as send east while running west – but I agree that I should have been able to get to the far side of #17. That would make 18 to 20 really easy. That will be a practice point when we return.

Thanks again and I hope you and your dogs enjoy (endure) the fourth without too much disturbance due to the fireworks.

Regards,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

OK, I will think more about the backside jumping when I return from vacation.

I didn’t expect to do any more training on these courses but then my friend came over today and we worked on agility course #1. Except for the weather (hot and muggy) it wasn’t as bad as I had feared it would be. There were a couple of places where I forgot the course. <sigh>

Casper and I had a lot of trouble with the section from the weaves to the DW. Another case of “things I thought he knew but he doesn’t”. That would be the flick (threadle wrap) which I wanted to use from the teeter to the next jump. He also struggled with the whiskey RC.

I also wanted to get #17 on the slice by using a big send to 15, 16 to meet him on the far wing of 17. I did that a couple of times at the end and couldn’t get there in time. On the first try, I wasn’t far enough across the bar to avoid a collision; on the second time I wasn’t able to show the jump. Basically, for this moment (his training, my training, and the weather) it is not a good plan.

At the very end, I slid in a quick shot of Enzo doing it – he went second so I wasn’t even trying the slice from the far side – I did a whiskey type RC and it worked fine.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

HI Tracy,

Hmmmmm. I see almost everything you are saying, except regarding the wraps at the end:

“Doing it at 22” was a bit more challenging than he needs at this point – he was really hoisting his hind end over the bar and landing hard on his front”.

Now, I know we are not in perfect accord about jump heights but I went to 22 because it seems to me that a backside jump at 12 or 16 is not at all the same as one at 20 or 22. So while you want a lower height, I intentionally went to a bit above his jump height.

Why did I do that?

In obedience we have something called the “mental picture of the perfect performance” (AKC regulations: chapter 2, section 2). So naturally, I have a mental picture of a perfect wrap and a perfect backside. Casper’s backsides are not very close to my perfect picture (backside wrap is too slicey) but I think they are “adequate”.

Also, when I look at the video I don’t seem him landing hard on his front – so I guess I don’t know what to look for. For example, the last two (2:03 to end) look fine to me except for the previously noted tendency to slice. My analysis is that he is taking off too soon on the wrap which creates a slice. A lower jump height would allow him to take off even sooner on the backside, hence the higher height. A lower jump height also means he can fling over from his front instead of powering from the rear.

I can go back to the Kato board work to square him up if you think that is really important. I have been working on the premise that there are lots and lots of other things to teach before I care about polishing his backsides. Of course, I am happy to hear what you have to say, consider it and discuss it further.

At any rate
Here we are moving on to the standard courses. My A-frame is a disaster (new one on order), so I subbed in a teeter. When I looked at the two courses on paper, I thought the first one was more interesting (more choices of which way to turn on many jumps) but I’m not sure “interesting” is what I should go for with Casper at this time. So I built the second course which seems a bit more straightforward.

Plan based on course map:
Send to #1, wrapping to his left; dog-on-right 2 and 3. BC between 3 and 4 then whisky RC on 5. Send 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 with dog-on-right. After mental debate and taking into account that I don’t want him to wait forever at the bottom of the DW, I decided to plan a RC wrap to the right on #11. Based on the map, and assuming we execute it correctly, he should be able to stay on a left lead 12, 13, 14. Since I have a teeter instead of an A-frame, he will stop and I should be able to get a BC between 14 and 15. I’m not sure I can get the cross between 17 and 18 so I’ll plan a whiskey rear on 18 and handle dog-on-left for 19 and 20. (I didn’t see 21 until I was building the course)

Modifications based on walking the course:
– Eliminate the wrap at 11 and just FC to send down the line 12, 13, 14
– Walked a FC and RC after 14 and ran it each way.

Actually, I was pretty pleased with this effort. It is HOT and humid here, so we went out, did 3 reps and came back in. Total time under 10 minutes, a lot of which was Casper warming up by running around and me walking the course.

Rep 1: Forgot where to go after #5; Casper was perfect

Rep 2: Dropped #3 & #21. Also popped out of the weaves which I didn’t realize until I was inside doing the video!! I am so used to my dogs doing perfect weaves; I guess I wasn’t even noticing.

Rep 3: Dropped # 8 and so I changed #21 from the dropped bar to #9

One day I will stop shouting while he is over the bar.

(I hope YouTube doesn’t ban my video! My neighbors were playing some kind of music and it has caused a problem before. )

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Thanks for everything but especially for pulling out the still pictures to look at.

I wouldn’t call learning to “see” the RDW straight forward – but it is true that with sufficient practice AND being in the correct position, I can see it both with my dogs and other peoples’ dogs.

However, I am still struggling with the weight shift. What I expected to see was a takeoff position located closer to the jump. At least that is pretty analytic and simple to judge. However, if you compare #7 (weight shifted) with #1 (straight), the #7 takeoff is actually further from the jump. <sigh> I will go out and film the turns to the right and see what happens.

The trick to the RDW is watching the contact area, not the dog. I will try to apply that principle to the takeoff area in front of the jump and see if that helps train my eye.

My course is about to be destroyed by my very wonderful lawn mower person, so I’m waiting on a balance of “let the dew dry” and “run before Jason gets here”. I’m going to try to get 1 through 7.

I realize it isn’t obvious but EVERY time I restart there is a thought in my mind about how this run will be different from the previous run. It isn’t always obvious. The roar in the background is Jason mowing the rest of the place.

I immediately notice that using 2 hands to create the turn at #3 is getting him out to #4 then #5 every time, so that is a good improvement. And, he doesn’t need the “GO ON!” cue!!

Alas, he is still changing leads too often. Instead of one lead change at 3 and staying on the right lead at #4, we have lead change at 3, then 4 then correct away to get #5 then lead change again to come back toward jump 6. It would be much easier (I think) if I could eliminate the extra 2 changes.

I am struggling with the right turn at #5. It isn’t a true wrap, so I don’t want to use my wrap verbal but it is sharper than a 90 degree right turn. My coming to a stop should, in my theory, bring him back to me sharply but that isn’t working. I did a bit of back chaining. My mental plan became: run north toward #5 and go the other way as soon as he commits to #5. Eventually we got over #5 and to #6 and I called it victory, even though the bar went down.

On the right wraps (dig), the bar is at 12” and the helper jump is about 4 feet past the jump. I had a failure of recording but I think you can guess what happened: he was “getting” it, at least a bit.

Then I did a few backsides with the bar at 22”. This is clearly pure learning that I thought he had but he clearly doesn’t. I expect to get a much better verbal response in a week or so (except I’m on vacation 7/3 to 7/17 so there will be a bit of lag. It will be interesting to see what sticks due to latent learning and what disappears due to forgetting.

Which is not to say I won’t be able to get in a few training sessions in between now and 7/3. <grin> I don’t have a functional A-frame right now (it is at least 15 years old, maybe older) and I have a new one on order. So I’m going to sub in the teeter where I can make that work.

Barb

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

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Well, if obedience in your area was all prong collars and shock collars, I understand why you weren’t into it. We had a wonderful obedience person who “brought” positive obedience training to Michigan. I was able to have privates with him and that colored my opinions about how to train dogs.

I am trying to absorb your feedback on the low jumps with wrap: it is very difficult for me to see what you mean on the video; in real time it is just not happening. I can move the helper jump closer – what do you think of that? I find it extremely hard to give proper feedback in the moment because the criterion is just not black and white enough for me. I’m good with went over the helper jump or didn’t.

Moving on to the Jumper’s course.
What a surprise to have a course with no handling advice; almost like real life. <grin>

As far as the build; I subbed a 10’ tunnel for your 15’ straight tunnel. I am chagrinned to discover that I am nowhere near the shape I was in 2 summers ago (last summer I sat around with the broken leg). So that is the best I’m going to do with tunnels. Also, I built the course south to north but filmed it north to south – sorry, it really made sense in my yard…

I’m thinking that having the potential for 2 plans reflects the way I trial, so here goes:

1. The plan based on the course map.
Lead out to 2; send 3-4-5 while layering the weaves, pick Casper up on right (this may be fantasy, not sure if I can get there). Sent 6-7-8-9 with minimal handling. Send to 10 (weaves) and RC being sure he knows I did. Show 11, 12 and send to the 13 backside and cross before sending to #14 jump. Should be a BC but I might change during walkthrough. Send 16, 17, and BC between 18 and the #19 tunnel. Run like a crazy person so I can pick up my dog-on-right as he exits the #20 tunnel – then send 21, 22 with dog on right.

2. The plan developed (or confirmed) during the walkthrough.
Ha! Decided that the BC 14 to 15 would not happen. My plan was otherwise the same as on paper.

Then we tried to run it. We got the backside 2 easily and 9 not as easily and gave up on 13 (2 out of 3 tries). Also, didn’t have the oomph to get to a cross between 20 and 21. I might have if there hadn’t been multiple starts.

Proud to say I didn’t do a “Bob” and keep going for a clean run. That wasn’t going to happen, not Casper and me. Enzo and me, maybe. At any rate, here it is. The whole session was 6 minutes, so I’m feeling pretty good about that, anyway. Temp was only 75 but with sun and humidity, it was plenty hot for us.

My summary of our effort on this course: somewhat above our pay grade. I can’t handle perfectly for 22 obstacles and Casper needs an almost perfect effort to keep the bars up.

It is hard for me to omit praise when he succeeds at something we’ve been trying to fix (e.g.: #5 bar). Also, when he drops a bar, we are unlikely to continue cleanly from that point: we both let down and the next part is likely to go bad (e.g.: at 58 seconds). At 1:43 I forgot which way to go out of the straight tunnel. Eventually we got from the weaves to the end in pretty good order. When we are at a trial, I have better luck continuing after a down bar.

I suppose we should take tomorrow off (Friday). Maybe we’ll go for a nice walk in the park and then do some stretching. <grin>

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

I’m glad you ask what I think and then don’t get offended when I tell you. That is not always the case in seminars, on-line classes and/or in person classes.

It is interesting that you didn’t get the negative vibes about “proofing” from obedience; really interesting. Perhaps I had a purer agility experience because I started, for reals, in about 2005. With my obedience experience, I wasn’t willing to take any local instruction and spent Terry’s first 3 or 4 years learning almost exclusively from on-line and seminars. It wasn’t until Jen Pinder moved to MI that I was able (willing) to take in-person classes.

I am sure Denise Fenzi (and her academy) are keeping up with the times but I’m not, necessarily.

“He is landing then turning for the most part, with his hind end fishtailing out a bit.” YES! That is what I was trying to say with less accurate wording. My impression is that Patt did almost all his jumping like that and Enzo only does that when I am dreadfully late.

I spoke with my dog massage therapist about bendiness. She indicated it is not her area of expertise but had some suggestions:
– Work when the dog is warmed up (as part of the cool down).
– Do both active (dog reaches for cookies) and passive (handler manipulates legs) stretches.
Then she described a few, which I had already known about. If you have a source of stretches you would like to point me to, I’d be happy to look. Most of the rehab type things I have done with my dogs have been muscle building not flexibility.

Since you advise it, I will go out and try it at 16 but I am having trouble imagining how that will help. Won’t a lower bar reduce the all-important “bascule” of the jump? I know I am not keeping up with the neuroscience of the dog-training as you are but I would have thought this was simple physics (simple for physicists, not simple for me).

Part of my issue may be that I have taken literally tens of seminars and on-line classes, including over 25 from Agility U <grin>. My understanding of jumping is a mish-mash of all of that. <sigh> My memory of Linda Mecklenburg’s and Silvia Trkman’s jumping is that they quickly moved to full height in order to get the bascule and prevent “running” over the jumps. I also have jumping information from Beata Luchowska, Alenka Škrabec, Ann Croft, Bad Dog Agility, Agility-U <grin>, One Mind Dogs and many others. Here are a couple of videos:
– September 2024 (Casper almost 3 years) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igOFYIimeLM
– December 2024 (Casper 3 years old) https://youtu.be/2_VkuPB8IoM
Of course, all those classes were not all Casper! I also have jumping classes from lots of other people featuring Enzo and Lollie and even Patt (especially poor ETS Patt).

Length of dogs:
– point of breastbone to point of rump: Enzo 24 Casper 22
– end of the ribs to the hip: Enzo 6.5 Casper 5.5
I’m not at all sure how to interpret that. They are both longer than tall; with Enzo longer in proportion. If they were Belgians, I would be sad about that (they are supposed to be square) but I don’t have any idea what this means in BC’s. According to the AKC standard, they should be longer than tall in a ratio of 10:9. So a 20.75” dog (Casper) should be 23 inches long. Oddly enough, Casper is “too square” according to that standard. Of course, the AKC standard is a description of physical appearance and probably not useful in our situation. <giant grin>

I’m very glad you like discussing all this stuff, I have no one in my agility circle who wants to dive into the weeds. Most of my near-by friends (and students) are in it for the social aspects and just don’t want their dogs to make them feel foolish. Anyway, here is today’s effort on the “under pressure game”.

The active jump is at 12” and the helper jump at 6”. He clearly processed the difference between throwing the frizz (very good) and a cookie (a little good) and made a change. Sad for him, it was a change in the wrong direction. But he took the information on board and tried again. You will have to tell me if you like it better than yesterday’s. (My trouble is that I like the helper jump as the criterion. If I have to use something else, it is much harder to see.)

I did the longer-delay on the teeter but he was solid. Good boy! This is actually the second time he did the teeter sequence; I screwed up the video on the first try. It was identical, except he didn’t drop the bar on jump 3. I’m going to go build the jumper’s course and I hope to run it later today. Or not, depending on the heat and rain and whether I can get done and cleaned up for a 4:30 event. <grin>

(Happily the estimate for upload wasn’t very good. At one time it said 1,321 hours remaining.)

Warm regards,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy

No, I haven’t tried a foot treatment, although there is some around my house somewhere. Mark’s place is probably the best footing we have for indoor and, as I said, outdoor is going away.

(Speaking of going away, I’ll be on vacation July 1 to 15, so I’m not entered until late in July. I will get some video of him jumping then.)

I will try to find my foot stuff and try it next week. My theory has been
1. Avoid the very worst places (we have some in MI that I won’t show Enzo in, much less Casper).
2. Expect them to figure it out (I know some very fast dogs who have figured out how to run on almost any surface but I think it was inherent, not taught). This strategy is a fail with both dogs.

Also, I will try adding some flexibility stretches to his exercises.

Moving along to the Under Pressure Challenges.

You must have had some sad experiences with proofing to put in a sentence like: “It is really important to understand that this is NOT proofing, and we are NOT trying to set the dog up for failure or punish the dog.” Even back in the 90’s, when obedience people talked about proofing it didn’t mean “set the dog up for failure”. It meant: create a situation where the dog has a choice and reinforce when he makes the correct choice. We had Denise Fenzi come to Kalamazoo a couple of times (before she was as famous as she is now) and my take-away was: everything needs to be taught twice. Once with cookies in a calm environment (for example, teaching puppy to sit) and again when the dog is high as a kite (which we achieved with wild tug play). I’m not sure why I am feeling so protective of obedience but it does sound like you weren’t exposed to the best of obedience training.

In general, I get very close to the same behavior in trials (or class) that I get at home. I’m not sure exactly why but this has been true of almost all of my herding dogs.

Casper’s start line at trials has been exemplary, so I don’t think that is a good choice for the under pressure game. I decided to work on wraps and teeter contact performance for my under pressure examples. He does a lovely teeter but doesn’t necessarily hold it until released. <grin>

Looking at the video, I see that Casper is not a fan of circling the tunnel. By the time I reached the teeter rep, I was handling a bit more intentionally but I still give me a B- on tunnel handling.

The wraps are first. The helper jump is about 8 feet away and he never got near it. On the second one (check = left), I added some wild tug play to try and jack him up. It worked a bit, as the second wrap was looser than the first.

For the teeter, I set it up as tunnel, teeter, jump, toy. I wasn’t expecting him to be successful, since he makes the error in training and class, especially as I run by. I only have one tunnel outside (such a hassle to mess with tunnels and tunnel bags!!!). I could reverse the order and maybe do tunnel circle, jump circle to teeter with the teeter facing the tunnel.

Bernie Brown (famous obedience instructor and exhibitor) once said: “I’m not in the ring to make my dog look stupid” which I have interpreted to mean: if I need to help my dog, I will. In other words, I could maybe make my dog break the teeter stay but I’d rather him be successful.

Well, suggestions needed: those were beautiful, don’t you think? He did tick the left wrap but that was about all.

You made a comment about Casper being bigger than Enzo. According to their jump height cards, Casper is 20.75 and Enzo is 20.88 – so I’d call that about a tie. Casper has those long legs and no hair which make him look tall. As far as weight, Casper averages about 38 pounds and Enzo is 35.

Looking forward to your comments!

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

This is probably the very last outdoor, AKC trial in Michigan. We (Kalamazoo Kennel Club) have been putting it on for years in the face of wretched weather (often hotter than h*** or freezing cold with pouring rain). This year was the best weather I can remember but the club members are totally burned out and no one has stepped up to be Chair or Secretary or Chief Ring Steward; sad but not that surprising. Attendance has been dropping, since people don’t like to be burning hot or freezing cold. It reminds me of obedience: there used to be outdoor trials back in the 1980’s and early 90’s but that hasn’t been true here in over 30 years. In the case of obedience, we perfected our turns and striding and changes of pace and didn’t want to trip in the grass.

Yeah, when the question is a skill (like weaving or teeter performance or…) then Casper is your man. He wants to do the right thing and learns pretty easily.

Of course I agree that he needs to learn how to collect and keep the bars up:
– When there are a bunch of collected jumps in a row
– When I move suddenly
– If I say something.

At any rate, as a baby-step beginning, I took some time this morning to work on collection, mostly when I am on the landing side of the jump. This was filmed at Mark Bills’ place: Highest Hope Dog Sports. If I arrive early for my weekly class, I can use the “empty” half of the ring most weeks.

So what I see is that he is not jumping quite as long when I ask him to collect – adding a stride – but he isn’t coming as close to the jump as I’d like him to. Also, he is doing something Patt did. Instead of adding a stride, or in addition to adding a stride, he is flipping in the air to land on the line but not in a good way, in a weird upright way. If that isn’t clear, I can try to film it from another angle to help you see. (You can sort of see it at :51).

Consider the left wrap at :58: it is not ideal but I would take it if I could get it on a course. It is plenty tight enough for anything we might want to do, I think. On the other hand, at 1:07 I would like a sharper turn. However that is much better than the one at 1:15 when I am on the takeoff side of the jump.

As far as flexibility, when I am right on top of the jump (:34 for example) I think it looks pretty good. He gets a massage every week and sees the chiropractor every month – this makes me feel like he is “ok”. However, I can add flexibility exercises, if you think they would help.

And despite working on tight turns today, I will take your advice, work the camp material and see if we can improve handling and connection.

Bring on the Summer of Casper!

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

No, nothing exciting for him to see, he just doesn’t collect very well. We are working on it but so far, it is not sticking very well.

I have a couple of things to show you. The first is from yesterday’s trial. I handled the “same” way with both Casper and Enzo. Enzo Q’d and Casper did not. This video shows Casper doing a lovely job while I layer the weaves (although he goes much longer than Enzo did before turning into the weaves). So that went well and the judge (Lisa Selthofer) left lots of blank room in that corner for dogs going long before the weaves. I left a bit more of the run in this clip because he dropped a bar that I don’t understand.

My thoughts:
1. I didn’t trust him on the layer, so sent him VERY long and wasted a ton of time
2. Maybe the bar came down because I wasn’t moving soon enough to show him the line (??).
(I would have included the video of Enzo’s run but it is blurry. I’m not at all sure what would cause that but the video is pretty much unwatchable.)

Back to our LYD course! Here is the continuation of the first handling skills challenge, going around the other way. I had hoped that he would get it better going right but I don’t think so.

Things I tried:
– Two hands on the first turn
– Back chaining the end
– As much connection as I thought I could

Other thoughts:
– He doesn’t know the backside verbal as much as I thought
– I did chicken out a bit on trying to get the simple dog-on-left backside, since Casper would hit me without a qualm. It seems to me that his first attempt at the backside was the best, since he acknowledged that I was asking for something. Part way through I moved the camera, so we can see down the line 4-5-6. I feel like the secret to this is a nice sharp turn at 4 but I’m busy layering and can’t make it happen.
(…then a couple of RDW from Enzo…)
Lastly, I included Enzo doing the drill which he did easily both ways. And it was easy to see that his turns are much closer to 90 degrees.

Maybe I should devote my summer to trying to get Casper to collect and turn nicely 90 degrees and do the LYD with Enzo. What do you think? If I continue with Casper, I don’t think I’ll get much benefit from this course, since we’ll wind up doing baby things, like trying to get a decent 90 degree turn.

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

That turn off the running DW was aided by the walls of the building and the absence of other reasonable choices. <grin> My 5 verbal exit from the running DW is not close to fluent (left, lay, go-on, ray, right) but we’ll be working on it now that summer is here and I can put it in the middle of a 100×200 field.

Well, here is Casper trying the first handling skills challenge.

There were LOTS of bars. (Sad but true, I didn’t realize the bar came down on the very first run.) Also, I think I was punished by the agility gods for being too lazy to put down a baseline and build the course correctly. I made a number of changes to the course as we ran it.

I thought I was doing a pretty good job of staying connected but must not have since the bars kept flying. Here is what I see comparing your video with mine:
– Casper is running a giant oval shape instead of lines
– The #4 jump in your demo looks like a “gimme” but for Casper it is a send and he dropped it a lot.
– On your setup, the backside of 6 is the continuation of the 4,5 line – mine wasn’t until I adjusted it.
– Maybe my path isn’t good – I think I’m standing around too much. I tend to minimize going north if I’m just about to turn around and go south.

I did not include the reps where he dropped jump #1 or #2.

Help, help.

Thanks,
Barb

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