[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi again!

<< I tried doing sections of the course and see if I could make improvements along the way. I think this is working well! You were able to make some really good improvements on each section! Course 2: The opening 1-2-3 looked really good, all dog on dog-on-right. She really seemed to understand that line! Good job rewarding the weaves! the 7-8-9-10 section: strategically, it is important to keep moving - you were waiting at 7 and I think that made 8-9-10 much harder. And using the come verbal a lot - what specifically does it mean? Most folks use it as a threadle cue, but there is no threadle here plus you were stopping, so I wasn't sure what you wanted her to do there. So definitely keep moving and maybe do a spin on 8 to be able o keep moving, or even a double blind 🙂 When you revisited it later on (1:25 and after) - staying in motion really helped after 7, yay! Then stay in motion after 8 too (I know, I am a pain in the butt hahaha) The next section: he left on 9 at :45 was really good! Getting to the tunnel at 13: A FC there would need need to finish a lot sooner at :51 and 1:08 to get the tight turn and keep the bar up, and it is super hard to do when running hard like you were (because we humans have to decel to rotate). You might find it easier to do a BC there instead, because you can make the rotation and new connection more quickly. At :54 you skipped the 14-15 section so the tunnel exit to 16 was harder, and then at :57 on the wrap to the inside - you did the pressure thing of stepping into the RC line (same thing that happened in the previous video when she also grabbed the ball off the ground) that made it looked like a RC: so she was correct to turn the other way on 17 (then she backjumped trying to get back to you). On the next rep, you did the wrap on 14 at 1:12 back to the tunnel, which set up a nicer line to 16. That is a spot to play with turning the other direction on 14 to see if the left turn is faster than the right turn (the right turn there is more collected and has more turns to it). Then you had a clearer, stronger transition transition there at 1:15 for a nice ending line. That transition there that worked to get the wrap (and also on the 7 jump in the previous course) was when you would decelerate, rotate and move out of it and only push into the BC element of it after she was already turning the correct direction. Course 3: Good start! Don't point forward at 1:42 - keep your serp position open til she turns away to 5 - pointing forward sent her to 12 on the first rep. She is very honest about how pointing forward changes her line. You were much better about NOT pointing forward at 1:48 but you had a lot of motion up there - so she was wide. You started making good adjustments to combine the serp position with decel to get a good turn to 6: You had a brake up at 1:56 but there was still a lot of motion. The last rep had more decel and her turn was better and so was your position - that will also allow you to have a better position on the BC 6-7 (but not sure you really want a BC there based on what is coming next 🙂 ) Great job here! Let me know what you think! I will be back later with ideas for the standard courses. Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>In looking at the courses, I figured to have the most success and build our confidence one approach was to break them apart, work pieces and see how much we could then chain together. So I gave that a try on package 3 course. Let me know if there is another good way.>>

This is a good way to do it for sure!

Staring with middle section with the weaves:

12-13-14-15-16 well handled at :04 and also later in the video when you went back it to it.

>>She still struggled when I put them back into the course, so let me know if there is something else I should be trying. It’s getting collection for getting into that second pole.>>

How was she originally trained to weave? Sending her straight was probably not super useful for her, it was the angle with speed – backchaining it helped. But, to get it at full speed – I recommend taking her back to training poles (channels or 2x2s or however you did it) and opening them up so you can show her the high speed angled entries where it is easier to be successful. Then gradually close the poles back up, over time (it won’t happen in one session :))

2nd part of the session, starting from the beginning:

For 1-2, consider turning her to her right over 1 rather than to her left: it is probably the faster line ( more of a slice plus better exit line to the tunnel (if you start her on the slice line there rather than straight on)

The BC 4-5 is a good choice! You were late getting there on the first rep because you stopped to indicate 3 and she didn’t need it. On the other reps, you were connected and used your verbals and she nailed it at 1:25 and 145 and 206 – 2:32 was the best one you really trusted and did the BC early 🙂 Yay!

I agree that the wrap to the left (inside wrap) on 7 was the correct line choice.
At 1:29 at jump 7 – she was not looking for the ball before takeoff, she was reading your handling. At the point where she had to make a jumping decision, you were cutting in across the RC pressure line to do the BC so she flipped into the rear (good girl!!) and then low and behold… the ball was there. Good girl!

You had better handling on 7 at 1:52, there was no RC pressure as you exited so she was turning left the whole time,

The 9-10-11 section is tricky:
Good job on 9 and getting her to 10 with good serp shoulders and backside cues… then you stopped moving at 1:55 for a heartbeat (pulled the toy out of the pocket, I think?) , then stepped sideways rather than straight through – that caused the bar down because she was unsure of the line.

On the section of the video at 2:07 and 2:35 , the camera angles shows the landing of 6 – it was wide after the BC to get there. So you can decelerate sooner and use a brake arm there (a soft one) and a left verbal as she lands from 5.

2:14 – the serp cue from 9-10 was not as clear as it was on the previous reps so the bar was down. Very nice serp cue at 2:44 and 3:03! It really helped her see the line there.

About the 11 tunnel entry: to get it, you would need to run past the exit wing of 10, feet pointing directly to the tunnel 11 (lots of countermotion) with connection back to her so she can see the line to 11. You were getting the other end of the tunnel because you were running parallel to the bar of 10, then pointing forward to indicate the tunnel: all of which indicated the 2 entry of the tunnel.

You almost had it at 2:44 because you added a lot of great countermotion past the wing of 10 to your position… but as she landed, you pointed your arm forward which pointed your line to 2 when she exited 10. Compare it to 3:05, you nailed it there> great countermotion right past the wing and fabulous connection with no pointing forward. Super!!!

Nice work here!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi again!
Great work on this course!

Run 1: Nice opening 1-2-3!! Nice blind 5-6-7! Your out was great to get him out to the weaves, but you can say poles sooner – Nuptse got out there and then looked back a little: “I’m out, now what?” LOL! And he got right into the poles when you said poles.

On the threadle: I think you were too nice about it LOL! You only said “in” once and you were very gentle, and didn’t really rotate for the threadle – you can be really urgent about it, like you did in the video you posted above.

He went straight off the DW to the tunnel here – the main difference I see is the pressure of the physical left cue at :22 was late, as compared to the other reps. It is good to know that he needs a bit of support on the physical cue to make the verbal.

2nd run – He was a little slow to 2 in the opening, I wonder if there as a visual distraction out there?
Another really nice blind 5-6-7!
He got the poles really well here at :37 🙂
At :44, I think your in in cue was too quiet here too 🙂 So far, the one that worked best was the urgent, insistent cue from the previous video.

Left off the DW at :47 looked good! You called his name more than needed (probably in response to the off course tunnel in the previous run) but the physical cue was great! One other option here: You can also handle from the other side of the DW (dog walk on your right) and the distance element occurs on the 12-13-14 section.
On the ending line, you had a little disconnect at :52 – you gave big send cue to the pink jump and rotated away… but got quiet and you didn’t make a strong connection before that pink jump. So, look at him more and talk to him more before takeoff and you’ll get the turn, even with the delicious tunnel straight ahead 🙂

3rd run – another nice opening 1-2-3 and then nice blind and nice poles! Super!!!

On this rep, you had a clearer physical cue and name and in to get the 9 jump – all of that can start when he is almost done with the weaves, rather than after exiting the weaves. He also seems to like it when you are urgently calling and handling, so you can be louder and repetitive on these cues to make sure you have his attention, especially when working at a distance.

Really good DW exit cue and the connection at 1:22 was soooooo much better – plus you had a deceleration – so he turned rather than took the tunnel. Yay! You also used his name plus the decel and a little brake arm, all of which helped him to turn before the jump rather than continue straight to the tunnel.

I think you wanted the backside slice at the very end but he wrapped – that is about your lower body 🙂 Your upper body was good but your lower body showed wrap cue (your feet continued to point forward to the back fence). To get the slice exit there, have your feet turn and point to the center of the jump (towards the road) so that you can pressure the Rear cross line too – some dogs read it just on the one step to center of the bar, some dogs need a couple of steps. But that will help him read the difference between wrap and slice in that situation.

Excellent job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Modifying is great, of course – concepts are more important than actual course design.

>>How to add a pdf file?

I will ask the tech folks – I don’t think the forum has a way to add files.

>>this was very instructive in that had to use directionals for distance work here and no obstacle names.

Yes – this is a big current trend in course design: distance! Especially with the dang dog walk sitting in the middle of the ring. Some obstacle names are fine, but we have to use the directionals so the dog knows where that named obstacle actually is LOL!

Good run here On 1-10!

At :04 – you did the BC at the pink jump to the tunnel, so he didn’t take the purple jump. If you wanted the purple jump before the tunnel, let him land from the pink on your left side, tell him to jump and then do the blind. Based on your timing, I thought maybe you didn’t want the purple jump but based on the course, I think you did and you were just a little too early.

GREAT job with the weave entry!! And great job opening the channels to make it easier to stay in: this is a challenge the dogs will be seeing a lot of in the next year or two, I believe. And it put you in a great spot for the threadle to the dog walk! And nice threadle – you had a strong physical cue plus clear, repeated verbals for the in in when he exited the weaves. And NICE left off the dog walk , if that was the last jump you wanted 🙂 I watched the video after this so maybe it was not 🙂 But it was a good left turn!! And he had a beautiful dog walk too. Yay!!

Great job here – onwards to the next video!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Yes, I think it covers the possibilities for backsides! And as you get more comfy, you will be able to make the decisions really fast and then install the best handling to fit the decision (more on that in the games posted today, too!)

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Lots of great work here, both dogs look great!!

First video, transitions to trial:
Instant Focus game is going really well! She is definitely getting good value on the prop here! Time to take it on the road – either totally new places, or new spots in the house where you can walk in and there is already something distracting happening, then just plop down the target. When you go into a new, difficult environment, you can reinforce approximations: if she is not perfect on her touch, reward it anyway. Any interaction will work, and stay close to the prop so you don’t need to send her to it. I don’t think you will need to put a touch it verbal on it – you can let the visual of the prop do all the work. It is very reminiscent of one of the early puppy class games, so she was totally in her comfort zone here! And the added cookie bag distraction was not an issue, she is definitely ready to take it on the road 🙂

Theadle Wrap 1 Lily – she is really good at these! And both sides look strong and pretty equal. You had really good hand flicks to start it – as you added motion, remember to keep your feet straight and try not to lean, don’t use a step towards the jump at all – it will be all verbal and hand cue when we add it to the course so ideally you can keep running forward. She went into “do all the things fast!” mode and so was offering the front of the jump before you could even take a breath LOL! So when working this on one jump, you can move to making the reward into a loop – after she does the threadle wrap, reward her back at your hand to help set up the next wrap – that brings her to where you want her to be and gives you a moment to take a breath LOL!

One this one jump game, as you flip her away, keep moving forward towards the camera – slowly at first, but definitely fade out the step back. More on that below. You can see that by the end of this session, she was totally getting it without much need of help of motion (especially when she was on your left side) – it is exactly what we will want her to do on the big courses. Yay! Also on the one jump practice: You can also add in the balance of sometimes sending her to the front side of the jump, sometimes threadling to the wrap, to make sure she is paying attention to the different cues 🙂

Threadle wrap 2: outside
Also really good!!! On the first couple of reps, you didn’t quite give yourself enough of a head start but then using the tunnel fixed that. And remember that all you need is the verbal and the arm flick – you can fade out the rocking back and step back, keep moving towards the camera. You might have to do this at a walk at first so she can process the cue and ignore your motion past the jump, and then slowly add back more of your speed. You can also get her more focused on the cue by calling her when she exits the tunnel and starting the cue sooner (you don’t need to wait til she is past the wing to start the verbal). That can help her discriminate between the times you will want the front versus the times you will want the threadle wrap).

One small blooper, at 1:02: you stepped in too much to the jump before she got to the backside, so she took the front.
And on this setup, balance tunnel exit to front of jump versus getting to the threadle wrap so she sees the difference between the two and doesn’t always assume threadle wrap 🙂

Rosie’s turn on threadle wraps –

She is quite good at these too!

>>Then I decided to use flip like with Lily.

For the sake of sanity, I think this is a good decision 🙂 Speaking from experience, it is very difficult to remember different sets of verbals for different dogs. All of my older dogs have been switched to the verbals I use with the younger dogs, it is so much easier!
Also, it makes sense that this skill would be harder for an adult dog who has a lot more history of taking the front of the jump – but she also did really well!!

For her also, especially to help keep her off the front side of the jump, try to make more of a verbal connection as she exits the tunnel – call her like you did at :40 to help her lock into the cue, then start the flip verbal.

After you call her once, you can go directly into the ‘flip’ cue. And I think shaking your hand a little and also sometimes giving her rewards for coming into your hand will help too.

She had the front of the jump at :52 – you stepped in towards it before she could get to the backside of it, like at 1:02 of the previous video with Lily.

Lily sequences

>>These were a little short because we had a series of 90+ degree days with high humidity.

It seems like this summer has been hotter than ever, right? The humidity has been so bad! Lily did really well here, even in the heat!

Sequence 1:
1st rep – had a little too much pressure into takeoff spot (you ran fast to it then rotated) so she read it is as right turn/rear cross – and I think that is what your cue for the rear cross looks like, so she was a good girl. The transition into deceleration will help (see below)

2nd rep – you had a clear deceleration and she knew it was a left wrap. NICE! You did a BC there – I bet a FC would be tighter for her and easier for you, coming out of the decel.

3rd rep – really well-executed RC to the right wrap!!!! So nice, this is a very strong skill for you!

I timed the difference between the wider blind cross (left wrap) and the tigher rear cross (right wrap) – BC is actually about as fast and maybe even faster.

Then you did the FC wrap at rep 4, the left wrap: It was well-executed, tight without being slow and also: Fastest 🙂

That is such a good reminder about small dog handling! All of the big and medium dogs that have posted videos so far, including my own, were faster on the wraps to the right but small dogs who turn nice and tight like Lily can be faster on the shorter yardage line – and the left wrap here looks to be shorter in yardage. The big dogs had to collect more and turn more on the left wrap, and they could extend their strides on the right wrap – so the right wrap was faster even if it was slightly more yardage. Lily can basically run either side in extension as long as she gets the info in a relatively timely manner, so shortest yardage is going to be key for her!!

Seq 2 –
Rep 1 – this went really well. Little details: you can send to the tunnel from further away to get further ahead and smooth out the lines – then a little decel before the inside wrap will tighten it up.
2nd rep – you had better decel for the wrap and she was really good – but you never got the big connection to bring her to your left for the last jump so she ended up running past it on your right side. My guess is that this would have been the fastest rep, overall.

3rd rep – Slice line with the serpentine: really well done but a little slower than the inside wrap when I timed it – possibly because you were behind and decelerating up at the last jump (it was 150 degrees outside LOL!) but also because it was longer yardage.

4th rep – I like attacking this sequence with blinds for her! 1st one can start a little sooner but she was in full extension, which is good. Decelerate into the 2nd one and then grab the massive connection so she knows which side of you to be on. On the exit of the wraps, because she is so little and you are tall, really exaggerate the eye contact – she likes that and it gives her a really clear line.

5th rep – you had the decel there on the wrap exit of the slice, and good connection, NICE!!!! It was slower than the inside wrap… could have been all the extra yardage even though she was in extension. Or, could have been that you were both slowing down because it was hotter than the surface of the sun and twice as humid LOL!. My guess is that it had longer yardage and that was why it was slower. So when it gets cooler out, you can try it in reverse: do this slice line first, then do the inside wrap and we can time it again 🙂

Also, great job rewarding her even when things didn’t go as planned – that is 1000%! And you maintain a really high rate of reinforcement, which is why she is SO driven and focused. I wish everyone would reward as much as you do, whether the sequence was right or wrong – click/treat for you!

Rosie sequences:
Rosie was feeling the heat here on the first rep! She was executing well but needed more running from you – when you ran in closer to the tunnel on the next reps, it made a big difference.
Like her sister, the left wrap (front cross) was faster than the rear cross to her right! Good to know – at a trial, most of us would be turning right and you would be turning left LOL!! But, as we see time and again: small dog handling is much different than big dog handling.

Sequence 2 – I couldn’t see the last jump to get an accurate time, but I am going to guess that the inside line is faster of her too. I was able to time it to the exit of the 2nd to last jump – the slice line was a tiny bit faster BUT there is a lot more yardage that direction and I bet she made up that time on the inside wrap because the yardage was shorter. Sending to the serp on the 3rd rep was the slowest one because you got really close to the send jump, decelerated, then took off again, so she slowed down too.

Great job on all of these!! Let me know what you think! And fingers crossed for cooler temperatures!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Copying is totally fine LOL!!!

>> am not creative and if you don’t mind my copying, what is your wrap left cue? I couldn’t hear you at the beginning of the 1st skill set.

It is a really quiet sound – a repeated tss tss tss, almost like a short hissing noise.

I use these shorter, quieter noises because it helps me decelerate and cue the turn better, and helps the dogs collect and listen for it. And it prevents me from yelling hahaha! Yelling tends to propel my dogs, so I save the really loud cues for the times I want them to propel away from me, like GO haha:)

>>It’s cooler so I rented some ring time later this morning. It’s not air conditioned, but it’s super nice.

Super!!!! Fingers crossed for more cool weather 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Thanks for the Week 3 report 🙂

>>The transition to trials games with the small prop has been wonderful for my young boy Buddy who is sensitive to new environments. I was able to bring it on the road to parks and my training center and it really seemed to focus him to work after he touched it for several reps. It is Amazing.>>

Perfect! That game, plus the pattern game, are really great for ‘settling’ dogs into new environments 🙂 I also find it they help the dogs that get a little ‘higher’ settle in as well (my Contraband, maybe Mookie too?)

>>The threadle wraps are going well with both of my dogs.

Awesome – we will be seeing these more and more on courses.

>>I found from the sequences and the jumpers courses that I handle wraps better than slices but over time practicing them the slices became smoother as my handling improved especially with my fast boy Mookie.>>

This is a really good point: I think most people handle wraps better because it is easier for US 🙂 but, wraps are harder for the dogs AND slower, so I am glad you have been working the slices! Slices might be harder because the dogs can go so much faster 🙂

>> Buddy tended to stall at a slice but again with practice he learned to keep moving as my cues became clearer to him.

Good boy Buddy! Placement of reinforcement can help too. If he needs more speed, you can have him chase you out of the wraps to get his reward. If he needs better commitment, you can toss the reward past the landing side of the slice as you move through it.

>>This section really helped my handling for slices which I had tended to avoid due to Mookie knocking bars in the past when I tried to slice. The zig zag grid with 5 foot bars with wingless jumps has been going great for Mookie. I did it once each week and will continue to do it at least once weekly. His bar knocking has decreased a lot in practice. I get to show this upcoming week for one day and will see how it goes.>>

That is great! Yes, the dogs need to learn how to jump those slices – it is not all about handling. Slice jumping requires a TON of strength and coordination because thy dogs are basically jumping sideways. Eek! The grid helps. Mookie is likely to come into the trial ring in higher arousal and that might change his jumping – you can practice it by getting him much wilder at home (tugging, tunnels, etc) and *then* trying the grid 🙂 The dogs that go into higher arousal at trials need to rehearse maintaining their form over jumps while they are in that higher state!

Have fun at the trial, keep me posted 🙂 I love your updates!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi everyone!
Bumping this up as a reminder. See you on Monday morning! Enjoy the rest of the weekend 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Girls are coming to the beAch with us so we’ll be getting a little agility break (though I’ve got the contact mat packed and planning on working on some
Of the sitting while
Im in motion from a few weeks back.>>

Ah, the beach! So fun!!! Enjoy every moment!!!!

>>. As I watched with the three jumps I started to think about how I will signal threadles differently. Maybe I need to start teaching that to make sure I’m not patterning the serpentine pattern?

The threadle can have a slightly different upper body cue (some folks use the outside arm, others use more movement of the inside arm moving back, I use both depending on the situation). But the bigger differences are what happens before the threadle and the serp: your position will be slightly different (serp position is across the bar, threadle position is between the 2 jumps) and the verbals: for threadles, I give a turn cue for the previous jump then the threadle cue. For serps, I either use just the dog’s name or a left/right verbal (depending on the scenario). Threadles are very verbal-based!

>>I always have to worry about something, hah!

SO TRUE! Agility is complex!!!

On the video:

>>We were better on one side than the other with the single jump. With all three I was pretty pleased both directions. Worked it coming out of tunnel as well. I also felt she read it well when I did the tunnel and two jump exercise.>>

I agree – everything is going really well!

The first one jump rep looked really good – you can stay closer to the jump, close enough that you can touch the wing without having to reach for it. Your proximity to the line will help set up the turns. Plus, keep your shoulders open to cue the toy – it is good rehearsal of keeping shoulders open on the faster lines, because that is a big piece of the cue.

On the rep at :36 – it was hard with the toy there but that is why we train – it is an added distraction 🙂 She did well on the next one 🙂

When you went to 3 jumps – keep your shoulders open for longer on the line, like at 1:39: exaggerate by having your upper body ‘face’ the jump (arm swings back a bit) so you can make a big connection – and keep the shoulders open til she has landed and then turned to the next line. That will allow you to add even more speed!

Last setup, tunnel to jumps: really nice! You can tighten the angles of the jumps more, I think she is ready – and as the angles get tighter, open up your shoulders more so the center of your chest faces back to her over the jump, so you can make eye contact. That open upper body will help her ‘see’ the serp cues as you add more and more running 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi again! These also looked really good – great job start her off with easy angles then making them a little harder 🙂

As with the 2 jump setup (above), keep emphasizing that early, opened shoulder and arm back, more like what you did here at :28. Looking at :40 – your shoulder was ‘closed’ forward and you were quiet, so she didn’t come in. You were better on the next rep (clear connection and verbal, plus nice open shoulders), but keep moving (don’t stop to help her come in because she will smoke you on the next line LOL!

At :58 she didn’t take the last jump: This was because you turned forward too soon (serpentines are complicated!!) When you get the serp position with the open upper body and arm back for the jump after the tunnel, hold that position and make connection as she lands – and keep moving of course LOL! That will cue her easily to go get the last jump. Don’t relax the upper body posiiton or point forward, because that might cue her to run past the last jump. You got the serp position and held it really well at 1:05 and 1:12, so she got the last jump there.

At 1:31 – you didn’t open up your shoulders or put your arm back, so she ran past the jump. She keeps you honest! You got it nicely at 1:40 – but keep moving 🙂

>>I also left in some parts where I am trying to stay connected in between, so she doesn’t jump. Give her treats. Walk her to the next rep. But then she did jump later on a few times. I need to catch her before that happens I suppose.

This was good to see! Yes, when you were moving her to the next place, she seemed to NOT jump up. At 1:38 and then right at the end, she jumped up for the toy. At 1:38, she was fine til you said READY and then, she aid “yes I am ready I will jump up at you” LOL! At the very end, the video didn’t show what happened before she jumped up, but the situation seemed similar, you might have said ready ready – and she jumped up. She might think “ready” is a ‘get the toy’ cue? Or maybe it is just really stimulating? Either way, stay connected, give cookies for lining up, and when you say ready ready – give another cookie for NOT jumping up.

Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Welcome back, hope you had a great week!

On the serps here, the 2 jumps looked good – my only suggestion on those (at the beginning) is to try to show position with your upper body open, feet lined up – all before you release from the stay. You were getting into position and releasing all at once, and we don’t want her to release on the motion of the arm (we do see this as openings of courses sometimes).

When you went to 3 jumps – overall, it went well! She gave you good reminders to get your upper body into serpentine position (facing the bar, arm way back). She should see you open up your chest/shoulders to the serp bar, arm back, not later than landing of previous jump or exit of the tunnel in the next session. You were a little late on the first couple but she got then but then at :26 you had your shoulders facing forward (facing the house) so she didn’t come in (no serp cue). You were a little clearer at :30, but still quiet and the serp position was late enough that she didn’t see it there either. Then you got earlier and :33, :37 and :48, and those went really well 🙂

>>. I supposed just really make connection with her till she gets the hang of it.

Yes – the serp cue is that really connected upper body position (plus calling her) so definitely emphasize that. Great job here – onwards to the sequences!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Wheee! He did really well here! I think his understanding of countermotion is really blooming.
His commitment looked great and he picked up even more speed. That is good news and bad news hahaha!! So, keep working the countermotion like you did, add those 360 wraps too. Only one little detail to consider on all of these reps is about your arms – couple of ideas on how to use your arms to be able to keep up even better and stay ahead on course:
On the backwards sends, having your arm move backwards was great especially starting from a standstill. When you were moving into the FCs, sending forward with your arm (pointing it past you) was slowing you down in terms of your rotation. So you can use less of an arm point out ahead, and soften the send arm – think of it more as bowling with the send arm, a low gentle push, rather than a big point. The reason to soften it is that you will be able to turn faster to get running the other direction. Think of the Olympic gymnasts who rotate really fast: they keep their arms in tight and not out away from the body.

And he was great on the big race track lines around the outside – so it is another place to modify your arm use so you can go even faster: rather than support the line with your arm out (which slows you down) – you can just tuck your arms in and run run run, like the Olympic sprinters (I am feeling very Olympic-inspired :)) The only difference is that as you run, keep your connection to him (rather than look forward like sprinters do). Your connection on all of this was terrific!

Now that he is really solidifying his commitment and line driving, these arm suggestions will help you move around the course faster – which is a good thing, considering how fast Cowboy moves around the course!

Great job 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Am still not sure of the definition of the entry for the BS. Is it the path and the landing spot or just the landing spot? When you talk about entry = exit for a BS decision, do you mean that the same wing is used for entry and exit?

Backsides are more complex because there are 4 options for lines on each backside: 2 wrap options, 2 slice options. Generally we can toss out one or two of the options because they make zero sense, but often we are looking at 2 or 3 potential options for lines.

For the entry line, looking at the sequence in your video: I look at the fastest line to either wing of the backside, from the previous obstacle. Not the landing spot (not yet, anyway) but just from the exit of the pink jump in your video, to the wing of the backside jump. I am looked for straightest possible line with fewest turns or lead changes.
Then after I find the straightest possible lines, I look at the natural landing spot that I get based on coming on from that wing – landing spot and then exit to the next line. I look for the slice landing spots first because they are almost always faster than wraps on the backside.

The best possible line is the fewest turns to the entry, and a slice that lands the dog looking at the line I want for the next part of the sequences.

If that coincides – great!! If not, in those cases, usually it becomes a choice between the better entry line plus a wrap exit (if the better entry and better exit are on the same wing), or slicing in from the other direction to slice to the better exit wing. That becomes a harder decision, where walking the distance becomes really important too.

So looking at this sequence, based on how you set it:
the better entry line is to the outside wing (closer to the a-frame) because there is a tiny turn to get to it and 2 little turns to get to the other wing (inside wing).
The better exit line is towards the street. So in this case, the better entry line and the better exit line are on opposite wings, so the slice you did in rep 2 was the ‘winning’ line and dramatically faster. You can get the wrap line on the inside to be a little faster by doing a BC between the pink jump and the backside jump, to pushing to a circle wrap (rather than the threadle wrap) – threadle/wraps are generally slower than the more familiar push-wraps.
Let’s say that in this same opening, the course went to the a-frame. The outside wing is still the better entry line, but the exit line is now on the same wing. When entry and exit wing match, you have to consider doing the wrap here and also consider entering from the inside wing and exiting on the outside wing (towards the frame). Yes, there is an extra turn or two on the inside-to-outside slice BUT slices are almost always faster. So, we would walk the distance. In this case, my guess is the slice distance is shorter so that would be faster.

Let me know if that makes sense! Nice job on your runs here, they were both really nicely executed which is why we can nitpick about lines and decision making 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I had a great training session this morning …. And recorded a lawn chair!!

Eek!!! I hate when that happens (or when I forget to hit the ‘record’ button).

sequence 1:

>>Not a fair comparison since I think if I had hung back and pushed more more for the whiskey it would have been faster. And I didn’t cue the tunnel properly.>>

I agree! The handling execution matters as much as (and sometimes MORE than) the choice of lines. Your rear cross cues were not as good as the wrap cues so that is what made the difference. Also, you didn’t have to RC that – you could have gotten her to your left side after the wing with a BC on the flat and just sent her 🙂
2 little details: if something goes wrong with handling, reward her. For example, at :29 you were late with the physical cue for the RC and also late with the switch verbal – so she wrapped and didn’t get rewarded. If you are willing to bet $1000 that it was her fault, then don’t reward. But if you think that video review might show it was your fault and you’d lose the $1000? Reward her 🙂 Withholding reward is almost never warranted in handling.

Your RC had a MUCH better cue at :40, you hung back like you mentioned and drove through it more – but then don’t say ‘yes’ – say tunnel LOL!! I am trying to break that habit in all of us, because it causes the dogs to make mistakes due to lack of info. You only had a little “yes” at 1:12 and she looked at you – it was that heartbeat that caused her to have a slower time than the wraps, where you were giving a more immediate tunnel cue,.

Sequence 2:
This was also a good one to look at execution! Your 3rd option, the wrap to the left (inside) was the most smoothly executed, similar in time to the 2nd rep (BC to outside slice). The BC and the FC to set up the outside slices were both really good- but then you had too much “giddy up” on the slices so she jumped long and went really wide. After the FC or BC, decel and leave sooner, or even use a spin to tighten up the exit of the slice – and it will end up being dramatically faster than the wrap 🙂

Sequence 3:
>>In the last sequence I think the me-me would be fastest, but we don’t have that skill. I had paralysis by analysis on that move.

It is very possible that the me-me would be fastest. It is a fashionable skill, you will need it on course in coming years. Let’s get you happy with it! You can do it by walking and using it, maybe a tiny bit of rotation that we can fade out, then step to the slice line and I think she will do it! You can also do a FC on the tunnel exit to a BC on the backside to set up the same line as the me-me would give you.

>>Regardless, I ended up using a lap turn, it worked but, in timing to the start to #4 ….
9 sec vs 8 sec with the threadle/lap. That surprised me, then again her commitment to #3 backside could have been much better!!>>

When I isolated the #3 jump from the tunnel entry to the landing of 4 – it was the backside slice that was significantly faster, not the threadle/lap. If you timed the whole thing, other elements might have changed the timing but the slice was definitely faster on the jump after the tunnel. You can tell her a little sooner to go to the backside slice (start telling her when she is still in the tunnel so she exits already seeing/hearing the cue).

And then when she arrives at the backside… stay connected like you did but then get outta there. You stayed there a little too long on the first rep, but then a LOT too long when you did it again (she dropped the bar because you were standing in her landing spot for too long). If she doesn’t understand the commit, we can train it – but the only way to know if she understands or not is to keep moving 🙂

I think there was a last minute change to a slice cue at 2:43, she was already wrapping when you cued it. Much better on the last rep there!!

Nice work here! Part of this was to see what was faster, but part of it was also to see what you were more comfy with.

>>, I don’t think my faster time was necessarily my best handling choice in some cases. Rather I think I need to improve skills to increase the “slower” time.>>

Totally agree! So isolate those uncomfortable skills, and let’s get them comfy 🙂

Have fun!!
Tracy

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