[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

In any given week, I have very little time to train. Obviously, this is my own choice, but I trial almost every weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). So I hope you don’t think it arrogant that I will mostly work on the courses.

This first standard course really kicked our butts! There were a whole lot of little things which really added up to quite a mess.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTiTB3wykVI

The second one was much easier for us. Or maybe it was because we had already worked through the first one! On the first run, I was happy with everything except the ending (14-19). I didn’t position myself after 14 where I wanted to be. So I redid the ending and handled it correctly.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vBdvYNRVsE

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

HI Tracy,

This is turning out to be a hard time for me to be taking a course! My puppy is almost all-consuming and the social justice work takes up the rest of the time; and that’s not counting the weekends when I’m showing. I had no actual meetings on Tuesday and thought I’d really get going. Turned out I needed a nap more than I needed to train.

However, I am feeling pretty good about these (left and right) because they are already in our toolbox and I use them quite a lot. I find it interesting that he can do left/right in a trial quite well but not check/dig (the wrap cues). Well, to be honest, he does the wrap cues but so wide…

With that long winded introduction, here is our soft turns part 1 video:

(this wound up a bit more choppy than I thought. My class started coming in…)

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Well, here is the rest of week 1. I hate to be so far behind but we have had much excitement here (including baby Casper). 🙂

Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Here is my next try. Bar at 4″. I’m pretty happy with this. Next time bar to 10″?

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

I will go back to 8 inches and see what we get!!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,
Congrats on the success of the UKI Open — I have heard nothing but rave reviews about how smoothly it ran (even with the WiFi shutdown disaster).
I am struggling with my energy level, so I won’t be completing the course at this time. However, I copied out the exercises and will work on them in January when my energy rebounds.
Hope to see you in person in 2022 but if not, I will certainly see you in the virtual universe.
Warmest regards,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Here I am—skipping ahead to make sure I get to this set of games! It is exactly what I want/need.
Ah, “why the dog never collects on the previous jump”: that’s it!.

The setup was a big help. I had to laugh because he immediately fell into the trap of all threadles, all the time! As continued, he got better. 😊 I wanted to have wrap, threadle and 180 all available. The go-on is pretty obvious from handler motion but I did include one or two.

In conclusion, I think he comes through on the threadle about the same distance he comes through on the wrap. In other words, a long ways. Perhaps the answer is to fix the wraps? Perhaps the answer is “good enough”. Comment?

I think I used up almost my whole weekly video allowance on this one. But that’s ok, it’s what I mostly need from this course.

While I used the correct wrap cues (Dig = wrap right; Check = wrap left), on review I see that I used “left” in the beginning for a right turn. <sigh>

I eventually thought I would stay with “in in” as the complete S-shaped turn.

Thanks!
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

First, quick response to your comments.
– presenter was Diane Patterson (Connecticut, I think)
– without actually measuring it, I can believe in slices over wraps.
🙂

Now, we’re off to week 3 (not sure how far behind we are: one week? two weeks?). Backwards Starts are something we have seen but we haven’t specifically trained the handling. It was fun, especially when we made a game out of Enzo running south and me running north!

Also, I have to put in a question about threadles. I am trying to work with a simple threadles (pull in). Enzo usually is successful but he goes SO FAR past the first jump, I think it must be enormously expensive in yardage = time. I created a setup which I hope will help me understand how he is doing.

The flagging tape is about 6 feet past the jump and he manages to stay inside it about half the time. Obviously I want him to collect more on take-off of the first jump. I tried using his wrap word but that didn’t result in much better results (instead of just IN-IN, I tried Check-check-IN-IN). Ideas? Should I try to teach a collection cue?

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Enzo and I went out today and played frisbee. Along the path of some throws, we worked on our threadles. I do have 2 cues:
IN – threadle slice
FLIP – threadle wrap

I have worked the FLIP much more than the IN, when approaching from the landing side of the jump with the dog between me and the jump (as week two’s exercise). The IN I have mostly worked with a traditional threadle and in place of a forced-front. Therefore, the IN is more difficult in this setup, from the perspective of “what he knows”. From the “what he likes” perspective, a slice is always preferred over a wrap. 😉

I thought it was interesting that almost all of his mistakes are slice v. wrap and vice versa instead of front side v. backside. I am using quite a bit of body language to support the verbals but I think that’s fair.

Here is the video: https://youtu.be/3gQOzm4pLAk

Thanks!
Barb

Ps: I was at a seminar this past weekend where it was suggested that I accept Enzo’s somewhat wide turns and stop torturing us both trying to get tight backside wraps. It was very welcome advice (since we are both sick to death of drilling backside wraps) but I’m not sure how “good” it was. 😊

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Interesting that you give your wrap cue on the jump before. It has seemed to me that that is “cheating”. As my dog approaches the first jump where an “S” shaped effort is required, I give my threadle cue. That is supposed to communicate the whole thing:
– Jump in collection
– Come through the gap
– Take the threadle jump.
The wrap cue means we are going to take that jump and change directions 180 degrees. I will need to think about it.

I distinctly remember a recent discussion about a threadle in an AKC premier course. Someone asked how I was going to cue it. My response was something like: “I am going to lie to my dog and tell him to wrap the first jump, once he processes that, I will give my threadle cue.”
Your threadle cue is not used to predict an “S” shaped jumping effort but an “other side of the jump”. Thinking….

Moving along…
Week 2 starts out with stuff Enzo knows pretty well. That doesn’t mean he did it perfectly but he has seen it all before. Owing to some scheduling issues, I was at my club very early and so I set up and did the first two lessons on that matting. It is not a good surface and Enzo isn’t able to dig in and go fast on it. That probably made it a bit easier. 😉

I’ve probably already told you my instructor’s force front story. I asked her when she uses threadle handling and when she uses the forced front. She answered that, as soon as she teaches her dog the threadle, she stops using the forced front. Makes sense to me.

I don’t think I have spent much time doing the threadle or forced front at a distance from the “operative” jump. We tried it today and I don’t think Enzo had any trouble.
I did get a kick out of the “automatic” threadle. He was in desperate need of a balance rep! Took a couple of tries to get him back to paying attention!
Video: https://youtu.be/s51enDAvhdw

For the distraction piece, I started by showing him the tunnel. Perhaps too much of a hot-shot move? At any rate, I did get one error before he decided to focus.
Video: https://youtu.be/2ZTmt4s0ngU

The last bit I did today was the layering. Enzo has done a LOT of layering and this was fun but not difficult for him. 😊 For the video, I started with the wing in place. I thought the turn (right) on the jump was not as good as it could be, so I decided to start cuing it much sooner (as soon as I was cuing the tunnel). I think that helped. He really does know a lot of things…
Video: https://youtu.be/goLe-PB6ydc

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

Another picture video: https://youtu.be/Hy78PsZSfqk

One more thing, while I’m sharing my confusion. This is the situation with threadles that I see most often: the dog is moving into the “first” jump of the threadle at very high speed with the handler behind; it is very difficult to get him to collect enough to come through the gap. Comment?

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Tracy,
BTW, this video shows the One Mind Dog Flick:
https://app.oneminddogs.com/article/Flick-Agility-Handling/
Terminology is such a hassle!!
Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Oh dear, Tracy. I am confused.

When I think of a threadle, I think of two jumps which are set-up like a 180 but you take both of them in the same direction. For a threadle slice, you continue along the line. For a threadle wrap, you come back on your line. Since I can’t figure out how to put in an image, I did a video: https://youtu.be/YT2cHAuybsY

The green line is the threadle slice and the red line is the threadle wrap. It seems to me that what you are doing for the threadle wrap looks more like a OMD Flick (see — I’m confused).

Help!
Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Hi Tracy,

We gave it a try! The immediate tunnel exits (left, right, go-on) went very well. He is struggling with go jump-left and go jump-right. I worked with the ball today since it adds much more energy but it does have a longer pause between reps while we discuss outing and whether the ***BALL*** should be traded for a mere bit of steak or beef liver.

I’d like him to be a bit more forward focused instead of “waiting” to see what happens. Of course, part of that is the timing of the verbal. Interestingly, he was almost perfect on the first 9 reps or so and then mistakes started to happen. Maybe his brain began to fry… At any rate, his go-on continued strong. 😊

Video of that part: https://youtu.be/b4d06OyM9zY

Then we worked on the next lesson: discriminations.

After the wing work, there were 3 basic ones: tunnel, dig (wrap right wing) and Push (backside wrap). Those went very well, although there is a certain amount of handling support.

Video: https://youtu.be/CSWh9Ds4qqo

Thanks,
Barb

[Barb VanEseltine]

Tracy,

Ahhhhh. That makes sense. Let me rephrase to provide I have it.

(1) I want Enzo to take the tunnel and turn 90 degrees left
6 feet before the tunnel, cue “LEFT”

(2) I want Enzo to take the tunnel, straight to the jump and then turn right
6 feet before the tunnel cue either “jump” or “go”
At exit of the tunnel, cue “jump right”

(3) I want Enzo to turn back 180 degrees on exiting the tunnel
Give tunnel brake (verbal noise, name, hand signal)

(4) I want Enzo to exit tunnel and go straight for 1 or 2 jumps
6 feet before the tunnel, cue “Go ON!”

Sound better?
Barb

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