[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

98 degrees plus humidity? EEK!!! It is ‘normal’ weather here with highs in the low 80s and some humidity. But it gets really hot, really fast when the dogs are working in full sun. I max them out at about 5 minutes each and only train in the early morning. I am not too worried about her pacing herself here – she definitely looked hot and all of our dogs need to get acclimated to working in the heat. You can still get plenty of training done even if she is not super fast – plus you were pacing yourself so she was decelerating to match that too.

On the teeter – she looked really good driving across it without needing you to also run 🙂 She seemed super confident and independent!
One question though: what is her criteria for the end of the board? On most of the reps, she kept moving through the teeter, no stopping. She did have a 4on, on a couple of the other reps. So I am not sure what the criteria was – and we want to keep it super clear to keep the teeter fast and accurate. If it is a ‘running’ teeter (hit and go) then you can give the next cue sooner so she doesn’t look back at you. If it as a stopped teeter (2o2o or 4on) then you will want to maintain it and reward it (and you can totally use a target to help her out when you are hanging back or moving laterally.

The handling looked really strong! You have consistent clear connection throughout and also did a really nice job on the backsides and sending away. Yay! At :33, :51 and :59, you had her wrap the jumps to create the turn. I think slicing those the other direction will be faster 🙂 and it challenges teeter independence even more as you move away to get a blind cross (for example) so you can set up the slice lines. I think she is ready to see that additional challenge. In coming weeks we will be specifically comparing the wraps versus the slices in terms of speeeeeeed 🙂

And the only other suggestion is to give the physical wrap cues sooner at :59 and 1:03. You had the verbals nice and early so now you can match that timing with rotation as well.

Great job here! Let me know what you think and stay cool!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

>>I have learned that to do a blind cross, one must first be ahead of the dog.
I don’t always feel like I’m far enough ahead. Some of that will improve as independence and commitment continues to get better. I haven’t had one that’s gone wrong per say because the fear is strong>>

Ah! Only kinda sorta ahead, because you can keep commitment to the line while starting the blind. If yo ucan do a FC, you can do a BC 🙂 Just stay out of his path and he won’t hit you. The motion into a blind helps with commitment too! Definitely give them a try in easy places and we will keep getting you happy with them 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>I tried running a jumpers course with Emmie this weekend but she was absolutely positive that the wrong entry was correct.

That is odd! You can break that down of course with the wing or guides. Giving her a break is also good.

>> However, my camera got too hot and I didn’t get video.

Ugh! That is my current fear too! It has been really hot!

>>So, here’s my older dog Kip running the first and second jumpers course. He really has only one solid verbal (switch) which basically means turn away from me. He’s got a “back” and “in-in” which are not solid. We are taking a class for fun to try to solidify the threadle cue.

He was great! Good boy! And you can totally just add Emmie’s verbals to his world… he might not know what they mean but it is great practice for you to be able to say them all 🙂

>>Of course he expects nothing less than perfection on my part 🙂

Ha! How old is he? Some dogs of a certain generation expect perfection in handling. Then we got smart with our younger dogs and taught them to deal with our imperfections LOL!

>>I don’t normally “pull” as much as I did on these courses but we had a really hard time with that second tunnel exit.>>

Yes – I have ideas for you! Onwards to the video. Looking at the courses in sections:
Course 1

The opening 1-2-3-4 looked good!

On the hard spot you mentioned (exit of the tunnel #5) – you can call his name and start the FC before he enters tunnel #5 at :08 That will get you a tighter turn. The FC has to happen REALLY fast there though… so a blind will be sooo much easier to do on time here because your feet can just fly forward and your upper body will show the turn. Then all you would need to do is reconnect, get up the next line, and give him a little more decel and turn cue on jump 8 before the weaves at :13 (you were in a great position, just too much power in your running there so he was a little wide).

Looking at the pulls in that section:
The pull at 4 at at :34 and on landing of 5 at :38 set wide lines (and got the bar at 4) and ended up pulling him off the jump before the weaves at :41. At :53 and 1:01, he was going around 5 because you were stopping then accelerating & converging and it almost looked like a backside cue – he felt the pressure of the sudden change in motion. You got the jump by holding still at 1:12 but that put you waaaay behind the line and messed up 8-9. And you have considerable running ability and if you get behind, that means you were definitely in one spot for too long 🙂

You got it cleanly at 1:27-1:32 but I think the original plan (but with a BC replacing the FC) will be faster and keeps you ahead.

Weaves: if he will allow it (I don’t know how independent his weaves are), you can do the cross and start moving up the line before he exits, so you can be further ahead after the tunnel #10 at :18 and 1:38. He looked pretty independent here!

That can allow you to get the FC 12-13 at :23 and 1:39 sooner (he was already in the air when it started (a blind would work here too :)) Ideally you would decelerate and start the FC when he lands from 11.

Course 2:
opening 1-2-3-4 – nice, both times!!!! A little decel on the “in in” threadle at 5 will tighten up the turn to 6 on both reps there.
Layering the tunnel while he weaved was awesome at 2:04 and 2:26!!! Yeah!!!!
After the weaves: you can call his name before he goes into the tunnel then keep moving at an even pace – you were quiet and stationary then when you re-started your motion, it read to him as a little bit of convergence (like what happened in course 1 after the tunnel 4-5) so he pushed out around the jump.
He got it on the next rep because you were standing still – I think he can get it if you are in motion the whole time, it seemed like stopped then accelerating again is what was the hard part.
Depending on his commitment understanding on jump 11, you should be able to keep moving through it to a blind cross to get him on your left, rather than serping then doing a FC on the landing side – moving through to a blind is easier and also gets you to the next spot sooner, as long as he understands the commitment

The ending looked strong too! He dropped the bar on 18 at 2:44 – when you suddenly accelerated. So he finds that sudden accelerations to be challenging! That gives us a good training opportunity to be able to show him that and reward for keeping the bar up. And it is linked to the opportunity to reward him for finding the jump after a tunnel and not running around it, even if there is a sudden change in motion or a bit of pressure on his line.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Unfortunately Carrie does not have channel weaves. She has a set of 2x2s. Should I just avoid them at her place for now or just use 3 slightly open 2x2s?

I think he would be fine to do it with the 2x2s, just show them to him first to be sure he agrees with that idea 🙂

>>Blinds are still really hard for me to get with him.

When they go wrong, what happens? Does he end up on the wrong side of you? Or…? Let me know and we will sort it out 🙂

>>I’m still learning how to run a fast, big striding dog.

Lesson #1: More blinds. HA! But for real – they are survival skills with the big fast dogs.

>>ended up running backwards to ‘catch’ him… and backwards motion is same as forwards motion
>>zero awareness of me moving backwards ever… unless I fall

Usually that backwards stuff happens when people try to do a FC where a BC would be better 🙂

>>not sure if you caught the best verbal vomit I spit out last night which was “wait! slow down!”

Ha! I missed that but now I want to go back and find it 🙂

>>You mentioned left and rights.. I haven’t spent a lot of time training them. We did the stuff in your previous course but haven’t spent a great deal. He also knows turns for circles on the flat… Should I just start incorporating these? I need to get better about utilizing his wrap words more on course.>>

For now, just start using all of them so you get used to using them. And put the training game for the left/right into the rotation so he plays it once a week or so.

>>This is a great example of me using my wrong words. Pass means backside slice… I should have said seek seek if I was planning to get the wrap. On the last one, I said zip zip cueing a threadle wrap which was also incorrect.

We will be emphasizing turn skills in the next few weeks so you will get good practice with the verbals, and then in Games Package 4 I have my FAVORITE handler torture to help solidify the verbals – but I won’t tell you yet #Cliffhanger

Reviewing your handling hints for the jumpers course one
“Super Independent 1: Set the line to tunnel #4 so you stay on the ‘backside’ and blind cross to handle
5-6 on your right side.”
I cannot visualize how to end up handing 5-6 with dog on right.

No, I was having trouble with my written verbals there – I meant left. Sorry!!!

>>thanks for pointing out the need to reinforce more. I did edit most of it out, but he probably still needs it more often.>>

So if it was there but edited out… you probably need to do it sooner. Most of the edits happened about 2 seconds after something was finished, so he should he getting rewarded more immediately. It is always better to err on the side of fast reinforcement 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello and welcome!
I hope things settle down for you so you can play with the dogs! Lanna is ready for more action and it would be great fun to see Pippin and Haydn 🙂

Stay cool!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>Both had the opportunity to handle the 3rd jump with a “throw back” and I really didn’t remember at all what I was doing!!! I remember doing these in one of the MaxPup classes but it’s not something I’ve done a lot of and would definitely like to add them to my toolbox!

Yes – they are a FC melded with a spin. Ideally, you would be standing with your butt to the jump and you toss him back behind you. But standing still facing him is tooooo much decel cue for a small dog. I only use that much facing the dog for my 8 year old dog, who really needs to be sledgehammered to convince to turn LOL!!! So the smaller dogs, you can let him see you do the FC to get him on your right then rotate into a spin.

When he was coming from the stop on the teeter, the lack of motion from you slowed him down – so you can also stand still there, release him, then fling a toy (ball!) for him to chase when he comes towards you. That will get him driving to you more even when you are not moving.

He didn’t have as much question about it or slow down as much on the weaves video, because he was moving and you were moving, so it had more flow 🙂

>> They seemed like a good handling choice in both of these sequences…but maybe not?

Yes, good choice on the weaves. Coming from the teeter, a little more motion would help him power off the teeter.

Speaking of the teeter – looking good! I think he did *not* have a target on those? He did really well – because of the lateral distance/lack of motion, he took an extra moment to step into 2o2o but overall he was really strong and drove right to the end. You can mix in some ‘easy’ ones where you run past the teeter so it is not all about adding the really hard deceleration and lateral position – we don’t want him to get too thoughtful about it 🙂

>>He’s figured out his weave rhythm 🙂 and is getting quite comfortable and confident.

Heck yeah! The weaves looked great!! You can definitely add in the other sequences and also try this on 12 poles 🙂

>> Hope you somewhere where you can stay cool

We are having ‘normal’ weather here – low 80s and a bit humid, so it is fine. Nothing crazy like what the Pacific Northwest is seeing! EEK!!!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>He does settled down with his harness on after a while. so I will put that on and once he seems not to notice it we can head out for a fun training session.

Perfect! Leave it on him to acclimate him as much as possible to wearing it, so it fades into the background.

>> He is doing well with the big loop so I will start making it smaller. I did use his slip lead this weekend and he was handling me slip it on pretty well. I am seeing some improvement. I will try to get a short video of a session with either the loop or the harness this week.>>

Also great! Leave the loop super big for now so you can bring it into more distracting environments. And always give great cookies after putting the slip leash on, so he thinks the slip leash = cookies LOL!

>>I have a quick video of skill set 1 with teeter. He hadn’t done the teeter in a while so the 1st one was a bit rusty. The only struggle I see is when I stopped my motion. ( ran out of room on the right side) I noticed he curved into me. Over all I was pretty happy with this session.>>

He did well here! Yes, I see what you mean that he needed to warm up a little bit on the first few reps. But then he settled in and did well. I think you had the MM out ahead (no sound on the video for some reason) so that really helped him. He did want to curl in when you were lateral or stopped – when you originally trained his teeter, did you use a target? You can put it back out on the teeter for the training reps where we add the independence. If you didn’t use a target – we can totally add one really easily then fade it back out. He was amazing on that last rep though – he ran all the way to the end and didn’t even look at you, even though you were really far away. Yay!

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

There is a massive trend towards independent weaving in trial courses, so I figured we would get it rolling here 🙂

Both dogs did really well!!!! Only 2 suggestions for you, one of which you already knew:
– start to add more motion now 🙂 But you had already mentioned that 🙂
– the second idea might sound strange but I think it will help: Try to eliminate the “yes” and “yay” markers (because it causes them to look at you) and just use a marker that tells them where the reward will be (out past the poles). I say “get it” which tells them the reward is being thrown, so don’t bother looking at me. You can’t say ‘get it’ because that sounds too much like the weave cue – so something different like “toy toy!” can work. The goal would be that they just keep looking straight and not at you or not at your motion – if you build in “yay” as part of the reward, you will get more looking at you and less independence. Badger is better about staying straight after the poles because of his experience, but Mochi definitely would benefit from more emphasis on looking forward. I am personally working on getting rid of the yay and yes markers too because it turns out they do more harm than good – my dogs think they are reward markers to run to me for reward LOL!! OOPSIE! Clearly I have done some exciting “YES!” and thrown a toy so the dogs glue themselves to me when they hear it. We can fix that issue before it even starts with your pups by focusing on just using placement words and not yes or yay. This is for before the reward – after the dog gets the reward, you can definitely use your YAY!! words 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense.

>>One question – I only used 6 weave poles (to save bodies) – does it make more sense to use all 12 for this? They both did 6 with little trouble and a fair amount of distance from me (but not a lot of motion). I am pretty sure 12 would be harder to stay in, so I probably need to practice that? >>

Yes, they will need to see this on 12 at some point. Make sure they are happy to do this with you really running on 6 poles, then you can do it on 12. The courses have a lot of independent weave opportunities so you can work the 12 poles there 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

I am glad the initial love-the-weaves-project worked so nicely!! Over the years since then, he might have lost some value for them. He was really good with the double Manners Minders out there, but I think he is in it for the payoff 🙂 And that is fine: for now, on the independence games, leave a MM out there about 10 feet away and reward lots. Then we can fade it back and out of the picture – basically incorporating it into the transition to trial game where you put it on cue and that is the end of run reward (or weaves reward!) My Papillon runs for it at trials: the MM sits outside the ring and the Pap knows where it is. He goes and runs the course, then I give the cue and we run to it at the end 🙂 That way we will be hitting on both things: refreshing the value of the weaves, and getting him happy to do them in trials again too!

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>tried it with Hero and I was like a novice all over again

Not at all! It took you a moment to get really aggressive on course but then it went really nicely 🙂

Looking at it in sections:

Opening 1-2-3-4 to tunnel:
I think you chose a good option! You had a good push to the backside at 2 but then you can get outta there faster, no need to cue him to come in or hold your arm out for that long over the bar – he ticked the bar at :02 because you stayed there. He also dropped the bar at :09 because you were there for too long (also he sometimes doesn’t ‘lift’ with his hind end hen he is distracted if you are in the way or late or something, so you can working some jumping plyometrics with him and see if he will push off his rear even if you are disconnected).
he FC late 4to 5 at :12 on the first rep, he was lifting off for 4 already. The FC works well there! Or you can do a spin then get him into the tunnel on your left, but that makes it a lot harder to get the line from the tunnel to the weaves.
Leaving sooner at 2 will get you past 3 sooner to let you set a nice line to 4 – so you can also do a forced blind on the takeoff side of 2 to see how far ahead you can get!

On the next attempt starting at 1:43:
One tiny detail that can make the difference between a win (or not a win) is how you line him up at jump 1. On this rep, he was facing the center of jump 1, so he had to land and turn to find the backside of 2. That costs you a couple of tenths on the clock. You can line him up on a slice for 1, so he is facing the backside of 2 and doesn’t have to add an extra turn there.

This rep was great – you left 2 really early which let you set 3-4 really well AND the timing of the FC at 147 was much earlier too! Yay!

>>When I practiced with Ruse I actually did a threadle wrap on the left wing of 2 with a blind to 3.>>

Interesting! I would bet the slice like you did here was faster, but we will be timing these things to compare in a couple of weeks.

Weaves:
He definitely found the weave entry line to be difficult from the tunnel! You probably needed to set the line from the exit of the tunnel and take one or two more steps to the weave entry to help him see it: he exits the tunnel turning slightly to his left and a lead change away will set up a nicer line to the entry.

When resending to the weaves, you can reset the line from the tunnel to help him learn to find the weave entry from the tunnel.

Opening the last couple of poles definitely helps and one other thing to help will be placement of reward – either have it in your hand and throw it early (use a ‘get it’ so he doesn’t look at you) or leave your MM out there so he doesn’t look at you (and yes, it is a nice challenge for him to ignore it the rest of the time LOL!) When he was successful at :40 and :59 you praised a lot which drew his attention up to you then rewarded next to you – which will make it harder for him to ignore you when you run away laterally to the next line.

8-9-10-11-12 looks good! You might be able to tighten up the lines with more decel or a brake arm or the other ideas you mentioned but that might *not* be faster – he was turning but in extension so that might be the fastest way to do it.

When you came through there again on the second rep, I think you were a little in his way on the FC at 1:29 so he added a stride. The BC there at 2:15 allowed you to get out of his way (but the threadle worked really well too!).
You had a spin on 10 at 2:04 and he collected. Later in this class, we are going to time all of those options and compare which is faster! That will help you select what to do in trial runs. Stay tuned for that!

At 2:05 you said “go on” as he was approaching 11… so he went on indeed, to the off course tunnel. And the threadle cue was a bit late which didn’t help your cause there LOL! Good boy.

Closing line –
>>13-14-15-16 worked as a double backside with a blind on 14 to get 15 with a fc to 16, but I had to move quickly.>>

YES! And you did 🙂

Very nice double backsides 13-14! It looks like he sliced the long way on 15 at 115 and that threw you off for the turn at 1:17 to get the correct #17 tunnel entry

I loved how you got in for the BC before 15 on the 2nd time through there – it set up a MUCH nicer turn at 15 and allowed you to get the correct entry at 17 too.

On the next rep at 2:17, you were MUCH more aggressive in the handling choices: blind to 15 then a FC to takeoff ide of 16: LOVED it! So fast!!!

You did a threadle on takeoff side of 14 on the last 2 reps – it worked well, but he had to collect more. So I am not sure it was faster. That all goes on the list to compare when we get into the timing.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Yes, she was a little wild here! Ha! The presence of the HH food plus being hungry (hangry?) might have stimulated her into more of a trial mode? That is great, it gives you the opportunity to play with skills when she is higher, like she might be at a trial.
She is GREAT about going to the end but still getting great about staying balanced and staying there til released. She almost fell off the side on the first rep but then fixed her balance on the others. She self-released on some “good girl” and “yes” verbals that coincided with the board hitting the ground, so she might be anticipating where the release usually would be? You can use a good or yes verbal, but be less exciting so she is less likely to release: yesssss rather than YES! And she might do even better if you are quiet and don’t use the praise: staying quiet til the release word or the reward word.
The only little handing tweak is to see if you can line yourself up more exactly onto her line on jump 3 for the FC back to wing #4. You were across the line, more on center of the bar, so she jumped wide towards you then pushed back to the wing. If you stay closer to where the wing meets the bar for the FC, she will have a wicked tight turn.

Great job here! You can definitely add the other sequences here too!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Nice work on these- they are both really challenging!

He was definitely thinking hard in the weaves while you moved away laterally, but he was a good boy and finished them! He let you move away on the hard line and also weaved without you moving – good boy! You can totally have your PT or something out ahead as a focal point for more confidence as you continue to add challenges.

> I ran with him on the last one to end on an easier one.>

That was smart. You can mix it in more because he is so young – if you do 6 reps, for example, reps 1, 3, and 5 can be running with him like “normal” and reps 2, 4, 6 and be the harder challenges. And for now, that can all have the reward target and then we can fade it out pretty easily.

Teeter session – good warm ups! And he did well on the full teeter too.
About the HH cue: Yes, ideally you would say HH and then move but the reality in the ring is that you will be moving and saying it 🙂
Also, Happy Hour can be the release cue. And you can add the game in to this training as long as he still gets a TON of reward in position at the teeter, like you did here.

>>how he sent ahead but he is stalling out a bit as he rides it down so I decided not to send him on ahead without me. He started this the last session about a week earlier so I added the target back in to to see if that moved him into 2o2o faster. I think it did but he still looks a bit sticky to me.>>

Yes, I see what you mean and it was smart to get the target involved again. I do think the higher value reward (toppl) needs to come onto the field with you for the teeter rather than be off to the side. It is too much of a distraction (along with the jumps) and we want him to think less and be a crazed lunatic more LOL! He is still percolating the behavior so the highest value reward should be in relation to it for now. The cookies-in-hand were likely to be lower value. Eventually the remote reward cue will be added to the teeter when he is blasting across it consistently (he was stopping a little short here).

Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Nice work here – yes, there were some really lovely parts and some parts that were tricky 🙂 Tweaking it to fit the yard worked nicely, I think you maintained the challenges really well!
Your connection is looking really solid, which is very helpful. One overall thing to add is reward him more often, and with more excitement 🙂 Even if there is an off course or something – reward him like he just won it all, because that stuff is handler errors and we want him to feel great about it 🙂

Course 1, looking at it in sections:
Opening:
He had a little trouble finding the line after the exit of tunnel #1. You can call him before he enters the tunnel or a ‘right’ verbal would work at :05 and on the 2nd rep as well. And reward him if you are late or don’t call him and he can’t find the line 🙂 You had really good connection at 1:22, that helped him find 2 and 3 better. Yay! You can also throw rewards on the line to help him find the jump after the tunnel regularly – he had a little trouble with it here and on the second course too.

On the tunnel exit – start the head turn of the blind (and call him) before he enters the #4 tunnel at :17. You called and showed the position better at 1:26 so he turned better – this is a good place for a left verbal (not just his name). If you are not yet in perfect position, you can let him see your head turning anyway as you keep moving to the next line.

About the weaves –

>> I pushed it WAY MORE than I should have but I was hoping I’d see a successful rep.>>

Yes, you need to become one with the 2 Failure Rule and don’t let thigns go past two failures (and that is two failures for the day, not two failures for the moment). He had 7 failures here. It might have been a combination of factors: different location, closed poles, no reward target (weaving into ‘nothing’) and Roulez right there barking (lots of pressure even though he knows her).

Since this was a low rate of success session, the next session should be set up to get 100% success – so I recommend opening the poles and putting the MM out there. That will simulate what he is very successful with at home and help him generalize the skill in a new place with new distractions. And you can practice the handling and independence while he gets rewarded 🙂 And then you can ask him for a stay at the poles exit to do the handling for the next session.

On the closing line for the turn 12-13-14:
at 1:13 you were parallel to him when he landed from jump 11 which means no FC between 12 and 13 🙂 You would have to be past 12 to start it when he landed from jump 11. Having the independent weaves will help that, and you can get it on these courses by leaving him in a stay at the weave exit after rewarding the weaves.

He went around 13 at 1:17 because you were on his line to the front side – still party like he won it all! That is a good spot to reward anyway 🙂

The spin for 12 at 2:17 is a better idea: start deceling as he is jumping 11 so you can have the spin in play before he makes a jumping decision for 12. You were a little late starting it and had no deceleration so he didn’t read it and ended up in the tunnel. Still rewardable!

Starting on the tunnel send made the FC more do-able at 2:45 for sure! You *almost* got it: you only half-finished it and ended up running backwards to ‘catch’ him… and backwards motion is same as forwards motion 🙂 So that is also a good off course to reward. If you are late on a FC (sh*t happens) be sure to finish it and run the new direction so you don’t end up running backwards. That 12-13 line is a great place for a blind cross because you can finish it sooner (no rotation of feet!) and get the connection, without ever running backwards there.

2nd course, also looking at it in sections:
Opening:
This was a Goldilocks moment to get the jump to the tunnel:
Rep 1 was tooooo hot: at :13 there was no turn cue so he was being a good boy to try the weaves
Rep 2 was too cold: at :36 you deceled too soon (as he was in the air over the previous jump) and at :38 curled away as you sent to the jump so he was correct to come directly to the tunnel
Reps 3 and 4 were just right! Much better at :53 and 1:19, the decel happened after he landed from the previous jump so he committed AND turned. Yay!

One thing I will start to bug you about here and in general: you can be more specific with your verbals. You were generally using obstacle names (jump, tunnel, etc) and his name. But he will need directionals too! You said “jump” and “tunnel” here – but a wrap cue would be more helpful, and since he can see both sides of the tunnel on the tunnel verbal, the tunnel threadle verbal will help him know which side you wanted.

Middle section: at :16 and :58 missed jump after the tunnel – more connection will help (arm back so your shoulder is very open to him) and also this is good training skill – so reward lots on the line when he takes the jump after the tunnel (he had trouble with it on course 1 too) He got it at 1:24, that is a good place to reward because that way he will learn to look for that jump rather than go around it.

We can help him out on the 10 jump a bit more. At :20 and 1:00, give the turn cue when he lands from 9 so he can adjust his takeoff for 10 and keep bar up and turn tight. You were earlier for sure at 1:26 but also backing up – keep moving forward or even consider a spin there rather than moving backwards – moving forward (even with a spin) will put you in a great spot for the next cue while also getting a good turn on 10.

The Tunnel threadle is a good option to get the correct tunnel entry! At :23 but you can make a sweeter line with less rotation. You set a good line at 1:32 in that you didn’t pull him more than needed so he had an almsot straight line to the tunnel entry. Yay!
BTW – you had plenty of time for the blind before the tunnel which would get the tightest fastest line 🙂
On the double backside moment at the end- this is a hard section and you two both did really well!!! He got the backside at :27, so keep moving and stay connected so you aren’t in the way (he pulled the bar). You were much better at 1:11 – connected but also moving through really well! An then he got the 2nd backside nicely. At 1:38 he wrapped and you told him good try, but it was the same handling as what he had just been rewarded for so were you trying for the slice there (I think the slice is the best line to the closing line). You would need to move further across the bar if you were wanting to ‘flip’ him away from the landing side. You can also keep him on your right and move into the gap between t he jumps so you are on the takeoff side, then do a blind on the flat to get him on your left and get the slice 🙂

Great work here! Lots of stuff you should keep in your toolbox and some new stuff to try. Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Also, my throwing skills are not as good as yours – just saying!>>

Ha! Some days I am spot on… some days I look like I am using my arms for the first time 🙂

His weaves look super awesome, as per usual for him. Pretty darned super! My only suggestions to add challenge are to move the wing closer to the weaves so your departure is much more visible and obvious – you will be close then suddenly leave. It might be more challenging… or not. LOL! Or do the 90 degree run-away angles as rear crosses – so start him on your right to send to the poles, then rear cross so he is on your left as you run away on the extreme angle. That is a challenge that is getting popular on course.

The other suggestion is to throw the toy while he is weaving – throw it when he gets to pole 4 or 6 to challenge him to stay in 🙂 The sequences will add obstacles to ignore which is also a good challenge for him.

Teeter –

>>For the teeter, I should have used the MM but it wasn’t working. Maybe needs a new battery?>>

Yeah, they are temperamental! New battery might do the trick. You can also leave a toy out ahead if he can resist it til cued 🙂

This is going well for just the 2nd week of the new end position! How are you helping him learn the new position: a target? You can totally have it out there on these challenges, if it wasn’t already there – it was hard to see where he was putting his feet when the board got to the ground, plus he wanted to curl into you a bit – a target will help there too.

The weaves can totally go into the sequences! And the teeter can go in if he does well with a target helping him rehearse the correct behavior (otherwise, do a couple more sessions with it in isolation before we add more challenge).

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>For the previous discussion: he can do the threadle when we approach it at an angle or with less speed. It is just a thing we need to work up to.>>

Got it! Hopefully the skills and sequences for the next set of games will help this: we are focusing on TURNS 🙂 As in, how to help the dog process verbal cues when they are more stimulated and also how to apply that to sequences, in terms of timing, style of cue, etc. We start it with “easier” turns but then will get to the harder stuff like threadles in the Games Package 3 stuff 🙂 Stay tuned!

On your transition to trial video here:
This was not terribly difficult for him, but I also felt it was not super easy. He did have some question marks over his head, in the form of looking around a bit more as you were lining him up, and not being as quick to respond to some of the cues. The leash at tug toy needed a bit of encouragement at first but then he got more into it – I think the leash will be a nice reinforcement in the ring (just the visual of having it there really helps in trials) and a nice anchor for the stays and for the arousal he will encounter at trial. It was hard to hear some of the cues – I think “Let’s go” is the cookie cue and ‘get it’ was the cue for the leash? That is good, I recommend distinct cues and the leash should *definitely* have a cue on it so he doesn’t become one of the dogs that leaves the course to go grab the leash.

He did well with the tricks when the reward was behind him! Those are useful for getting him into the right state of focus on the start line even if you don’t have toys or treats. And you can use the leash tugging as a reward for those. The barking on cue is GREAT because it raises arousal in two helpful ways: gets his focus back up to you (useful for situations where he might be tempted to watch something moving in the environment like a loud, fast dog running before him) and also you can use it to raise arousal to a trial-like state in training (which allows you to work through challenges you see in the trial ring but not necessarily at home when he is relaxed.

He had just enough challenge here that I would revisit this game periodically in his training, building it into longer sequences. The more experience he has with knowing where the reward is and with you NOT having a reward on you, the easier it will be to make the trial behavior more like the home behavior. Most of the training should be done with the rewards in your hand, but you can totally do a couple of reps of this game scattered in throughout the training sessions 🙂

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

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