[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> The 5-> 9 line is an example of how I am not seeing all the choices to help figure out the best line/handling choice. Once you point it out, the circle wrap on 7 seems like it should be considered. Alas, the course is gone; since I’d have to get timings to decide.>>

Finding the wrap rather than the slice there might be part of the decision marking process – I tend to work backwards on those, looking at the exit line (from 7-8) then finding the fastest way to get to that entry line, so that is something to consider when choosing the path.

>>I would never do the blind at 10-11. Here is how I’m thinking: I am likely to be late trying to get to 11 because of how far I have to run. If I’m late with the FC, then it is ugly but clean. If I’m late with the BC then he is lost in space somewhere but not in the tunnel.>>

A couple of thoughts to help you consider the blinds 🙂 :
It is another spot where I would look at the end (getting the line from 11-12) and what is needed there before I decided how to get to it. So I would need to be up there and show the exit cues before the dog enters 11… so how to get there? The blind 🙂 And about it being late – as the dogs get experience with blinds, you can be a little late and still be clean – just focus on connection. And then you can still be timely for the cross 11-12. The FC being late will make The next cross late too.

It is worth trying, you’ll be amazing at how well he reads the blinds so that don’t have to be perfectly on time!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
There are good runs here and also things to learn from. Was the “I need to poop” run the only NFC run? I think that the Speedstakes run and the Jumping run were both good, fast and focused!! (the off course tunnel in jumping was because you took one step towards it, one little step :))
After that, 2 things I noticed – the courses got twistier, and also he got more depleted. So those 2 things might have combined to flatten out his arousal and make distractions more interesting. For planning, if the speed courses are early in the day, you can do more NFC as the day goes on so that he gets more play on the harder courses when he is more tired. That will help build up his ability to be both fast and focused on the harder courses, and as he gets mentally tired as the day goes along.

How did he do with his warm up games outside the ring? He was having a little trouble jumping up in the air in the later runs – you can try standing up straight or stepping back to help encourage him to jump up rather than lean over in those moments.
Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Oh no! Are you still in Texas? It looks like there was a lot of damage!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Looking at this, she was getting it right when you were either:
– rotating your feet towards her to get her attention (this is less desirable) like at :01, :23
– turning her better on the wing before the tunnel threadle then turning your feet to the correct end of the tunnel (this is GREAT!) like at :29

When she was getting it wrong, you were running fast and facing the off course tunnel so even though you were saying the verbal, the body language was saying go go go 🙂 like :07, :13, :41.

So as she is approaching the wing before the tunnel threadle, decelerate and turn to face the tunnel entry you want – then give the wrap cue for the wing, then as she is collecting at the wing – give the threadle cue. Do it slowly at first so you don’t have to turn towards her, then you can add more and more speed.
Let me know if that makes sense! She will figure it out with more practice 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This is a hard line of jumps, she did well! I think the looking around was a combo of the grid not having a lot of running in it (so maybe a bit boring LOL!) and also probably some distractions on the street. Yes, she was taking an extra stride so a couple of ideas for you:

– try moving the MM further away, so it is maybe 10 feet past the 2nd jump. That way she can power to it and not slow down. It was pretty close, so she might have been slowing down so she wouldn’t land on it.
– to get the distances shorter and more bounce-able, try using weave poles (3 foot poles) as the jump bars, instead of jump bars (which are 4 foot poles). That can help her find the bounces!

The only other suggestion is to connect and open your shoulder before you release her. When you did that, she was perfect! When you released before connecting and opening your shoulder, she went past the first jump.

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

You two look great here! I really love watching him develop into a superstar!

On the walk through – any time you find yourself doing a front cross, take a moment to see if the blind cross will be easier/faster. Because Razor is SO FAST, I bet you will find doing blinds to be sooooo much easier for you to handle him around the course.
So the 3 spots I think the BC would be effect here are:
4-5
7-8 (or landing side of 8)
9-10 (although the FC there might be more comfy after the send to the tunnel)

Also, 11-12 – the post turn there briefly opens up the line back to 10 and it is a lot of work for you – a spin rotation there will both tighten the line and get you to 12 faster 🙂

One more thing to consider during the walk through “rehearsal” – after your FC4-5 you were looking forward so be sure to rehearse the connection back to him as you finish the cross. Make it the same as your connection after the post turn at 11: big eye contact 🙂

On the run – he dropped the bar on 1 at 5:03. If you watch it in slow motion, I think it was because you were beautifully connected on the release then as he took off, you closed your shoulder forward and disconnected a little – youngsters often drop bars in those moments. Note the difference at 5:38 and 6:03 when you were connected for longer and he was great.

I agree that your running line 4-5 can be a bit better but his question there was mainly a connection question. At 5:07 and 5:41, you did the FC then looked forward before he could read the side change, and he read it like a spin. When you did it again at 6:05, watch your head: as he is approaching 4, you are making a direct eye contact connection and you maintained it all the way through landing – he nailed it. Yay! The FCs with you looking forward looked exactly like the walk through – so when you are walking courses, practice the connection after the crosses just like you did at 6:04/6:05, with eye contact back to him so he can read the side change.

You did the BC between 7-8 (spur of the moment, LOL! But effective!!). And note your gorgeous re-connection after the blind at 5:11 and 5:47 and 6:10. Click/treat for you! You can get the blind in sooner by sending to 6 even more, it looked like he had great sends skills there!!
You had a little bit too much acceleration into 10 at 5:16 so he was wide there but then on the next rep at 5:51.

The post turn at 11 did open up the off course at 5:54 and had the bar down at 6:15. You can try adding more decel to it – but also try to do the rotation of pointing your feet forward to 12 and let him run across your feet – then pick him up on your right there.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Oh no! I am sorry to hear that you had vertigo, that must have been awful! It is great to see you up and running again!

Super nice work on this course! It is a whopper LOL! He seemed perfectly fine with the jumps at 22 – any bar issues were not related to the height. Looking at it in sections:

On the in in you stepped in towards 2 too soon on that very first rep and did a much better job maintaining the line on the 2nd rep so he got it nicely!

On the tunnel- weave line – you over-helped LOL!!! Try to give him a turn cue before he enters the tunnel and then when he exits, cue the weaves 🙂 You called him after he entered the tunnel then I think yo said ‘yes ready go weave’ and he was looking at you a lot – so I think just cuing the weaves and a little rear cross on the flat (tandem turn) handling will smooooooth that out 🙂

Nice line from the weaves all the way through to the end of the DW!!! You gave him mainly info there (I think a little praise snuck in LOL! But it was mainly just the facts) and he did great!

When you asked for more independence in the weaves at 2:36 – wow! Great weaves! The push was harder with you that far away so he needed the ramped up connection you gave him on the last run.

I liked your forced blind better too (your first run) – it was just smooth and easy for both of you!

The line from the end of the DW to the teeter looked good except I think he needed one more step to get to the jump before the teeter – your verbals and rotation looked good until he landed at :47 – when you said over for the next jump, your shoulder closed forward so he didn’t see a commitment cue for the jump and ran past it. Opening up more connection b ack to him will get that nicely. On the fix at 1:51 – better connection indeed, but still not quite enough – connection and one step at 2:06 and 2:15 made it perfect!

He dropped the bar after the teeter at about 1:08, possible needing more connection? The push after it looked great! 
You moved up the line nicely towards the a-frame at the end but he missed the jump. When you get that far ahead (which si a GOOD thing :)) add in a lot more connection after the tunnel to get the jump before the a-frame. I think he could only really see your back so he was not sure which side to be on. You had great connection there on the fix moment, so use that same connection as you keep moving.

>> when does this course end as far as submitting videos?

It is scheduled to end on Sept 1, but I need to check the calendar to see if we can work a 1 week extension for folks, it has been a crazy time for a lot of people!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi again! This also looked really good! A few ideas for you:

Yes, that 1-2-3 looked really strong!!! As he made the turn 2-3, his butt swung out a little wide – possibly he was jumping a little long to your position then had to swing back to get the weave entry or he just needs more experience on this lead out. 2 ideas for you – you can handle it like a forced front on the weaves, positioning yourself on the entry side and letting him drive to you more directly.
Or, lead out between 1 and 2 with him on your right, then send 2 to the weaves and you run past the exit (serping the exit) to get him on your left for 4-5. That option is more running than the forced front option (so that is a con) but his weaves will be faster (that is a pro!). Enzo’s weave understanding will allow you to play with any of these options 🙂

I think your flick on 6 looked great at :12! Good spot for it and it looked as good as a reverse wrap would look there!

Call him sooner before tunnel 7 – you were quiet as he entered so he exited wide. He was not going to go off course there, so the earlier call is just to chop of some time on the clock 🙂

The 10-11-12 section was harder to hold onto, which might be why you had the refusal at 13 – I think you can totally do the blind 10-11 🙂 You were there, you had plenty of time to slide through the blind – the FC ended up being late in terms of finishing the rotation, which made the FC rotation late for the tunnel exit to get a good turn to 12.
So, as he is heading towards 10, start the blind and cue 11, so you’ll be further ahead there and also you can show the FC before he enters tunnel 11.

The refusal on 13 looked like a ‘thinking ahead’ moment where you got 12 then started thinking about the backside at 14. Oops! But then the rest looked smooth (you can start giving him the backside cue for 14 before he exits 13, so he exits directly to it and doesn’t look at you at all – tiny detail indeed, but it chops off some time on course by a 1/10th or two 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I understand the caffeine as a critical element of the drive home LOL!!!

Nice job on this course!!!
I think your walk and your run matched up nicely and you are really getting a feel for his rhythm on course (this is great for trialing!)
The opening 1-2-3 look good – one thing I suggest is a BC from the 3 tunnel to the #4 weaves – you can start it before he enters the tunnel and then be finished and reconnected before he exits to set a smooth line to the weaves. The walk through looked like the FC would be late there, and it was during the run – he ended up going wide towards you out of the tunnel at her than directly towards the weaves. I believe his weave skills are strong enough that the BC there would be easy for him to read and find the entry.

Looking at the 5-6-7-8-9 line: based on what I would want to have the dog do on 8-9 (enter 8 on the side closer to the yellow #3 tunnel to land facing 9 squarely, the line you set at :35). You can consider a circle wrap on 7. The slice on 7 works well for the 5-6-7 section but makes it harder on 8, so you don’t get as good of a line 8-9. At :35 his backside serp was LOVELY but it still makes for a really hard line to find 8.

So I think it might be one of the rare times that the circle wrap ends up being part of the faster line overall and you can also be strategic to run the line – you did a FC 5-6 at :18 and as he landed four 6, you were in a great spot for a reverse wrap on 7 to pick him up on your right for 8-9.
Another option would be to keep him on your left 5-6 and do one of those threadle wrap thingies to get him to your right for 7-8. Now, you have trained lovely independent weaves, so my personal preference (maybe yours too) would be to do the FC that you did or a BC 5-6 and do the reverse wrap. But judges might put a straight tunnel there on course or a curved tunnel, so the FC between 5-6 would be really hard to get so the threadle wrap is a great option. Food for thought in terms of things to practice.

The rest was really strong! I love how much you trusted the backside sends and his jumping on the slices looked great!
2 small details:
You can add a bit of a brake arm (outside arm giving him a “whoa nelly!” Moment as he lands from 12) or decel (or both :)) to tighten up the turn on jump 13 at :46. Yes, a spin would do it too but… that would make it harder to get the next one so a decel or brake arm would allow you to cue and then sliiiiiide away to 114-15 without having to accelerate out of a spin.

Also, he had a little question on the 2nd to last tunnel 17 to jump 18 (looking back at you) at :53, so you can leave for that line and turn on the go go go sooner – the go verbal needs to override your position there. Pr you can handle it is a bit of a tandem turn with a left turn cue (or turn away on the flat, maybe an application of your switch?) so he can look to 18 sooner.

Great job! Onwards to the next course!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

So, for fun – I timed the opening for both dogs. The results were interesting!

For Ruse – the BC was faster than both of your reps on the lead out push.
For Hero – the lead out push was faster than the blind. So interesting!! Good to know for planning purposes 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

These were 2 almost perfect runs! You I’d a great job with both dogs.

With Ruse – The BC opening worked well. If you have a moment, we can time the difference between the BC opening and the push (I will go back and do that in a minute, when I am done typing this LOL!). Her threadle looked great, and so did your rotation on the #13 wrap. I am not sure we can get it any tighter than what you had here without slowing her down – she was turning beautifully and moving fast.

That 14-15 line was hard for both dogs LOL!! Yes, you did call her really hard but it is better than an off course 🙂 The more you show her this “running past stuff without flicking away to it”, the less you will have to be demanding of her attention 🙂

And well done on the ending line! I think you were spot on there and she got it nicely.

Hero also did well. With him and the threadle at 4 – he didn’t hear the cue til after he was in the tunnel, then your physical line of motion was towards the jump, which pushed him to the front. So you can try calling his name (or starting the threadle cue) before he enters the tunnel so he is looking for the threadle already when he exits, and then run more forward/parallel to the jump and less towards it, til you see him go into threadle-mode 🙂 Then a step towards it will seal the deal 🙂
He also did well on the 13 jump, it looked fast and tight which is what we want!
And the 14-15-16 line for him is different than with Ruse – he seems less likely to want to go grab the off course, so remember to maintain connection with him as you run past the off course #3 tunnel. You had your arm up and were looking forward, so for a moment he was not sure which side of you to be on – he came into you almost as if he was considering a blind cross because the connection shifted forward.
Great job on the ending line with him too!!! That was lovely and he seemed to know where to go the whole time so he could be fast and tight.

Great job!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! He looked great! Wow, he is really nice turning dog! Those right turns at the beginning look great – he is a natural lefty, right? So having the right turns look SO GOOD at a young age is awesome!
The left turns also look great!
When you added speed from the tunnel, he also did well – on the turns to the left, lovely! You can do the FC sooner and run away – try to do it before he even takes off. On the right turns, you can decelerate sooner to help him set the turns sooner (it is a slightly harder line for him with speed on the right wraps, so the earlier decel will help and you can also start to rotate sooner now too!
And great job adding in the big GO line at the end! As he starts to pass you – keep connected like you did but also lean forward (think of yourself as an Olympic sprinter :)) and pump your arms, to help support the forward go go go. When you stand up he reads it as decel and he looked at you a little. The connection plus accelerating and leaning forward will make it perfect 🙂

Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I figured that he got really excited and offered circling around you 🙂

I don’t have advice for a super specific routine – it is more about building a tool box of tricks and engagement games, then experimenting to see what works and how he does in the different environments. I keep track of it all and eventually you will find it pretty easy to pull from your toolbox to have him totally engaged all the time 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> Yea, Maybe I need to do those for maintenance now and then.

Yes – I would totally put it in the maintenance rotation , it is a hard skill so it is good to keep it sharp by visiting.

Wheee! She did well on the zig zag grid! Your form was really good, and so was hers!
The only hard time she had was when you made it tighter for the first time, she added a stride – but then she worked it out and went back to bouncing. Super! So you can totally keep making it tighter and take it out on grass whenever the weather improves. This is looking really strong so you will be able to get it pretty straight!

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Yes, sometimes the bigger walk throughs are difficult! I like to run to the middle or end of the course to be able to have some room to myself on the course before the crowds get there LOL!
The walk through looked good – I think more connection will help, because there were times where you invisible dog was behind you but you were pointing forward, so it might not show her the line. Your plan looked good! But

On 1-2, I think you can give her more motion to get even more speed, rather than stand still.
The connection rehearsal bit you a little on the backside at 5 at :49. By pointing forward ahead of her, your shoulders turned to the front of the bar and that is where she went. At 1:24 you used your body position to get up there but she still had a little question and slowed down – if you have the dog side arm back and look more directly at her eyes, I think she will find that line to the backside with more speed.

The German on 6 worked well! You helped her with a bit of rotation to help her come in on the jump, but with some more experience you’ll be able to run through there and just go the blind, and she will still commit. For now, after sending to the backside, you can keep moving through and look at the landing spot to help her commit, then toss the reward on the ground behind you to help her commit as you move forward.

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

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