[Tracy Sklenar]

Howdy! I agree that you are figuring this out, I think this is going well!!!!

Your faces into the camera crack me up!
I am REALLY liking your handling on that first sequence (sequence 2): basically you are saying to Kindle, “here is the info on what is next, go as fast as you want and set up your own turns, sister!” and… she does. She is so fast AND tight here without rushing, and you are super connected and not rushing.
That rear crossy move is a real winner in your toolbox – she just is beautiful. Do you have a verbal cue on it? I think you were quietly saying something at :20 and :59. All I could hear on the 2nd rep was the rooster hahaha

I feel like the soft brake and the spin were about equal in terms of her line but the spin might have kept you moving better? The soft brake on the 3rd rep had more motion but I still think the spin got out outta there sooner without popping the bubble.

Sequence 3:
>>not sure I really accomplished anything significant other than becoming more comfortable with the timing. >

Being more comfy with timing is actually very significant 🙂

Your timing on the FC at 1:20 was good! Your FC at 2:21 was even better – earlier and closer to the 4 jump. I suggest adding a verbal to get her to drive back sooner along with a really exaggerated exit line connection (frisbee across the body while you make eye contact). The verbal can be something like “KIN KIN KIN!”

The FCs at 1:39 and 2:02 were a bit late so she ticked the bar at 1:39 and went a bit wider on landing on both.

I think you were rocking your connection on the turns at 5-6-7-8. 5 and 6 were consistently tight with lovely jumping. Your timing on the 7 turn was good but I think it had too much ‘swoosh’ in the form of the right arm across your body – you can let the right arm be very subtle as the left arm acts as a bit of a brake on the takeoff side of the jump. She was a tiny bit wide on 7 due to extra swooshing. So it is not really leaving earlier on 7 or 8, it is more about using the other hand as a brake as you connect. Let me know if that makes sense! She was pretty darned close to perfect so I am just looking at tiny details now.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Lots of good stuff here to work on!
On the FC sequence:
Rep 1 – I liked all the verbals! You were a little too pointy with your dog-side arm on the speed circle, then too much swoosh into the FC (arm across the body, looking at landing) – it was a good line and turn but not as good as your second run, which looked REALLY nice! You had better “regular” connection (not as much pointing your arm) and more shifting to her eyes on the FC, a better turn for sure!! The close up shows you looking down and not at the landing spot, so that is good to know as it set up a really nice turn. You can put your right arm there where you are looking rather than cross the other arm across your body – that will allow you to finish the rotation and leave sooner. Also – you had a nice transition into it and nice connection on the exit line.
Sequence 2:
Let’s talk about the tunnel brake for a moment 🙂 You will need a verbal tunnel brake because she is too fast for you to have to handle it and then go to your next handling spot. Her name doesn’t seem to be a strong tunnel brake. And when you are at full speed on course, you won’t have time to make the big physical rotation you did at :51 and still get up the line plus you don’t want a strong tunnel verbal on that cue because it will propel her forward out of it. You did try to do it at :58 but it made the next turn late.
So… I suggest giving ehr a verbal directional when she is 5 or 6 feet before the tunnel. You can use a left or right verbal, or a special brake word. For example, with Voodoo, I say “hey hey hey” and he gives me a tunnel brake without a physical cue.

On the lap turn itself – when you had connection to her and not the jump, she got it much better except for when you hand swooshed back at 1:17. You can shift connection directly to you hand for this and let your hand and connection turn her on the flat to set up the turn before indicating the jump (keeping your hand nice and low) to draw her through the turn.

Seq 3
The physical tunnel brake cue delayed your throwback, she slowed down to wait for the info. I think a verbal tunnel brake will make your life much easier 🙂 She reads the throw back REALLY nicely and it gets you to the next line really well! So adding the verbal-only tunnel brake will get you running forward away from the tunnel and to the next position sooner, so you won’t have to run backwards into it. You mentioned your arm up high: I think the arm up high could be lower, but it was not blocking connection – it was more like centrifugal force driving it up as you were running, mainly because your were driving to get there after the tunnel brake cue. Another reason for a verbal tunnel brake 🙂

I think your connection and her turns are looking really good!! The hardest part here for you both was the tunnel brake 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I was not aware I wasn’t rewarding her enough and I realized that again, during class and the few seminars she is getting rewarded for everything because I’m working harder to keep her with me (miss social butterfly).
When we train alone, I’m trying to get her away from me – LOL!!!!
I had more of a class mentality today which translated to lots more rewards and a much calmer Josie.>>

I like to literally count the number of rewards versus the number of offered/cued behaviors (I am a dork, yes LOL!) and that rate of success is almost always the cause of any issues, from sniffing to tooth hugs 🙂 And those issues go away with higher rates. It is fascinating to see!!

Good job on the course work here!

FCs –
Nice transition into the first rep! A slightly stronger exit line connection will help but you also had a nice line directly back to the tunnel.
2nd rep had all of the elements – nice transition, connection, great running line back to the tunnel AND exit line connection. Really nice turn!

Spin – nice transition into the collection! Nice turn! Small detail: You don’t need to wait as long to go to the blind – when you see her getting close to the jump, you can execute the blind – you did it after she took off so the reconnection was a little late.

Going to the other side of 3 – you were super connected to her eyes so got a nice turn on 3! I am not sure if you were trying for a spin but couldn’t get the rotation going, or if you wanted the brake hands? One way to make it easier is to lead out more laterally so you can be closer to 3 and start the blind before she gets into the tunnel – then it will be finished just as she is entering so you will feel like you have more time to set up the connection and transition. You started the BC right after she entered at 1:41 which made the transition a bit later to get done.

Next sequence: You were too early on the FC cues for 4 at 2:15 🙂 You were decelerating as she approached 3 then slammed on the brakes as she landed – she cursed you out but then went at took 4 (good girl). You were a little late at 2:21 so the bar came down. The transition should started when she is out of the tunnel – you kept moving forward so she thought it was extension til the last minute.

The next rep was a little later on the first transition so she was much happier with the timing 🙂 And your transition started much sooner on the next wrap at 2:46, much nicer turn and the bar stayed up!

Lap turn – getting to 4 and rotating sooner REALLY showed her the lap turn at 3:40! On the first rep, you were late rotating so she didn’t know to come in towards you. When you broke it down, you could see how holding the connection to her eyes and your hand helps – the first one. you let go of the connection too soon so she read it as a throw back (good girl) and on the next one you held the connection long enough to get her turned on the flat, and she read that too!

She had a question about the spin at 4:19 – she turned tight but it was because you got right in her face then it delayed the BC info on the exit (she was not sure which side of you to be on) – start your transition as she exits the tunnel so the BC part of the spin is done before she comes around the wing.

The decel/soft brake worked nicely at 4:33!

Last sequence – very nice connection on the 1-2-3 opening on both reps!!
I like the choice of a BC 4-5! You were in a nice transition so she collected at 4:48 and 5:17 but the side change was late (she was landed and took another stride before it was finished). Being closer to the wing on a tight blind will help, plus starting it sooner and showing an exaggerated exit line connection will really help tighten it up.
The exit line connection can also help her more on 5-6-7 – you were looking forward so she was not sure where to be after each turn there on both reps – as you move through this complicated section with a zillion turns, exaggerate the arm across your body on the exit of each cross (maybe have 2 toys, one in each hand) – that will help her commitment because she can see the line, plus it will make timing feel easier because you can see her better 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Lots of good stuff here to obsess over 🙂 I see a theme emerging that will help with the turns! Overall everything looks strong – your exit line connection in particular! You can fade out the obviousness of the toy across the body (unless you are going to reward) as long as you keep the dog-side arm back and seek out his eyes like you were doing so nicely here.

Some specifics for you:

First video:
On the Spin – It was strong but you were decelerated a bit too soon, so it was harder to power out of it. You can drive in deeper to the tunnel to show the transition so you can get out of there faster and stay in motion. The reconnection on the left side should be moving and you stood still so he slowed down and looked at you for a heartbeat.
On the next rep – the connection too swooshy to landing side at :17, a little more decel in the transition and more looking at his eyes will get a nicer collection. Good exit line connection!!

Getting the BC sooner totally helps – he had a good line from the tunnel exit on the first rep with the BC after the tunnel but doing it sooner on the next rep allowed you to give the spin info sooner. On both spins, more connection to his eyes and less to landing will tighten it up a bit more. Nice exit line connection here too!

Seqeunce 1:
Yes, a little oopsie where you were too early but the next rep looked really good! Your connection 3-4 was spot on! It looked like your connection shifted to his eyes at 4 at :14 and the turn was good! Compare that to :18 where you shifted to landing and he was wider.
He is WHIPPING back around the jump after the turns back to great exit line connection and verbals!
What you did at :19 with that was great: arm back, eyes reaching back to his – without needing a big arm across your body, fading that out. Really nice!

Sequence 2:
On the 1-2 line on these, make sure he is lined up facing directly to the tunnel so you don’t create any additional turns – by the last rep, he was a bit sideways to he line and had to turn over #1.

You were maybe the tiniest bit early at :05 on the BC but your position was good so he got it. Nice! The connection on the spin at 4 was a swoosh to the landing spot and he was a little wide. I am sensing a theme here 🙂
The soft brake at :13 looked good!
You were definitely too early on the BC at :20 – it started when he was about 4 feet from the tunnel entry, so it should cue a turn and then when he exited you were looking over your right which should technically bring him to the backside of 3. So… don’t be so early, let him be in the tunnel or just exiting it before start it because it changes the line 3-4, not 2-3.
The connection spin at 4 was a swoosh to landing spot at :23 and he was a little wide…
You did a post turn at :29 and I think the soft brake arm was produced a nicer turn.
The lap turn on the last rep can be done from your position there – it had too much swoosh to landing LOL! If you look at his eyes or longer or down at your hand, he will collect more then get a tighter turn as you send him out to the jump.

Sequence 3:
1-2-3 looked good, nice connection on landing of 1 to set up the good line!
The post turn at 4 to the RC at 5 works… but it is very decelerated so he slowed down. You can drive into it more by running in closer ot the tunnel, then driving to 4, decel, drive to the RC line of 5. You had a bit more decel on the 2nd rep at 5 so the turn to 6 was really nice!
Or… get in for a blind cross there – then you can BC to a spin or a decel/soft brake and get tight turns plus a ton of speed through there.
He was a little bit wide on the wrap turns on both reps… I think they were all using a connection shift to the landing spot. Totally sensing a theme on that 🙂

>>: In retrospect, maybe I should have tried a different ending like rearing that last turn even though more yardage probably but maybe better on speed?>>

Possibly! You can walk his line and see how different the yardage is, from the previous jump all the way through the tunnel entry. The line is definitely better to the outside – but you can FC the previous jump then send him to it, rather than rear cross it (RCs where you have to decelerate to set up are generally slower than if you can power through a FC.

OK, going back to the theme – he is slightly wide when you shift your connection to the landing spot on the turns. As he is coming into the turns, keep doing the good transitions but look at his eyes and keep looking at his eyes, even as he passes you – and when he is past you and committing, you can immediately go to your exit line connection (rather than look at landing). He has a lot of speed, and looking at landing tends to propel the dogs – so fast dogs go wider when we look at landing. Try shifting to his eyes, which will also keep your hands softer/lower and on takeoff side of the jump.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Lots of good things to look at here – you tried different options so we can really see what works best for her.
The opening line was the same on the first 2 sequences so I have lumped some ideas all together by section 🙂
On the 1-2 line up, you can have her facing the tunnel more and release while you are moving to help her have a better line 1-2. The first run was zigzaggy as she jumped towards you and then back out – each run got better and better there.

On the 2-3-4 line – she was jumping to her right over 3 because she could only see your back and not enough of your eyes (at :04, :18, :34, 1:07, 1:24 and 1:38) Your position was great, so add in more regular connection back to her as she exits the tunnel and lands from 3 so she looks to 4 without the zigzag. That connection will also help with the timing of the turn cues on 4.
I loved the connection you gave her on the tunnel exit at :50!! You changed your position to do it, putting yourself closer to the tunnel exit, which made getting the FC at 4 a little harder – I think the best combo would be your position you had in the previous reps (on the landing side of 3) but clearly connected like you had here at :50.

On the FC at 4:
The cue and connection was a bit too early and too forward- looking at :20 and :36 on the FC so she slowed down & had questions – I think maybe you were trying to show the turn with your outside arm rather than use a transition into it. Compare that to when you had more of a transition into it at :52 and she was very nice in and out of the turn! Plus nice exit line connection there – that makes a massive difference for her, that is something I noticed a lot on this video and the previous videos too. At 1:24 you had a nice transition and more connection shifted to her eyes – also a nice turn AND really nice exit line connection! Yay!

More about exit line connection – You can give her more exit line connection after the FC at :09 to go back to the last tunnel – you were looking forward so she drifted wide waiting for more info. Compare it to your nice connection shift to her eyes and nice exit line connection at :25!! Really nice turn!
And since we are looking at exit line connection 🙂
Good job starting the BC before the tunnel for the ending line at :40 – a verbal and a bit more arm across the body for the exit line connection (or dipping your shoulder downwards) will get an even nicer tunnel exit there. At :56, she was wider on the tunnel exit: you had a VERY clear connection and dipped shoulder but your left arm was pointing out – so I think that blocks her view of the connection (she is really small :)). Based on what we have seen on these courses – the exit line connection (when your dog-side arm is all the way back and you are looking across your body with the other arm across your belly) sets the best, clearest lines for her. So having an more exaggerated exit line connection there on the tunnel exit will help get even smoother spins on the jump after it at :41 and :57.

On the slightly different elements of the next sequence –
The spin on 7 at 1:13 and 1:43 can start a little sooner – the rotation can start as she is passing you so that you can be finished before she lands – you started it over the bar (with good connection, she was nicely collecting!) but she had to wait for you to finish it before powering out to 8.
Now, the opposite happened there at 1:29 – you were too early LOL! You ended up way ahead and decelerating into the rotation at 7 too early, so she came off. This might be a spot where you gauge the line and drive into the tunnel to then drive out, in order to set up the transition into 7 and 8. She reads deceleration as a clear ‘heads up!’ that the turn is coming, so moving into it works really well for her.

Sequence 3:
The 1-2-3 serp opening works best with clear exit line connection – Nice connection on the release at 1:50! Then you looked forward to cue the tunnel and broke connection so she launched a bit on jump 2 at 1:51, landing on it and dropping the bar. I think that threw off your rhythm for the next turns (there are a lot of turns on this one :)) so you ended up with a bonus tunnel.

On the 2nd rep – you had more connection on the landing of 1, for maybe 2 extra steps, and it set the line to the tunnel really nicely 🙂 And then this might be where you forgot your plan for a moment LOL! You had a nice FC that turned into a spin then a RC – she looked at you like you were nuts LOL! But she did it (the rear was hard for her on 5 because you were ahead and decelerating, but she still went past you into it, yay!)
But then the FC to the spin to the FC all looked really good – tight turns with no bonus tunnels LOL!

The 3rd rep is my favorite – you did a FC 4-5 then a little soft brake with the outside arm – that set up a nice line 4-5 and then the other turns (5-6-7-8) were all really connected & timely so the turns were tight and fast! You also showed good exit line connection, which helps her a lot.
On the last rep – you were not as connected 1-2-3 so she almost turned left on 2 rather than drive to the tunnel. That extra step or two from 1-2 of connection really helps her. The rest looked good except the spin on 5 was a little late because you had to rush into it – I liked the outside arm being used for the soft brake there – easier to di so you can do it sooner and she reads it really nicely!
Your connection before the tight turns here and your exit line connections on these turns all looked good!

So the main thing for her is that exit line connection!! It makes a big difference. Shifting connection to her eyes with a low hand in front of the bar plus the transition into it is what produced the best turns on all of the tight turns here.
Really lovely work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
The serping looked great! In the first part, when he was on your right, remember to give him his left cue (you might have been but it was hard to hear on the video). When you switched sides and he was on your left, he almost threadled at :18 then he did threadle at :24… so yes to opening up the angle 🙂 I think the threadling is more about chasing da momma when you get ahead, so teaching him that he can chase your line AND take jumps with the opened up angle will really help him. You had a bunch of successful reps then when you flattened it back out again at :58 – perfect! The angle was actually a little harder at 1:14 and he did a GREAT job on staying on th serp side AND popping in to take the jump as you ran forward (rather than running parallel). He was great about that on both sides and it looks like you were doing actual legit running too 🙂 Yay! He was better coming in when he was turning to hus left, it took him an extra moment to get it when he had to turn to his right- but he did! Good boy 🙂 You can add even more running now (he is a whippet, you will need to be running as fast as possible) but keep him successful by doing short sessions with the serp jump angled into an open position.

The stays on the grid looked great – well done for rewarding so much! He is looking really fabulous on the first 2 bars – we are having moments of puppy hopping on bar 3 but it looks like you moved the rewar dfurther away so he settled in and produced nice form on bar 3 as well. Yay! I am super happy with how well he is able to control his speed & power and harness himself into really nice form! So now you can add motion to this one – lead out to where you were on the last couple of reps – release and walk forward to the reward. If that is easy for him, you can lead out less and less, walking forward more. A couple of sessions of walking forward will give him time to sort things out – and then he will let us know if he is ready for you to jog. If it all goes to poo when you walk, you can add in walking forward sooooo slowly that it is almost not walking 🙂

Rear cross video – yes, I agree that he is still figuring out the drive ahead so the rear crosses are harder. He got it at :46 and then at :53 you were just a little too early and pushed him off the RC line. I think it is fine to reward him for effort (because, after all, he was working to figure it out and also he was in the great outdoors and could have left at any moment LOL!) but you can use the placement of the reward to your advantage – throw it out past the jump, a nice long throw, whether he has gone over the jump or not 🙂 So as you are starting the rear cross pressure, you can throw the reward nice and early out to where you want him to be – that will help him figure out that the RC cues means “go over the jump and turn” even if your timing is not perfect 🙂
And, like you did in the beginning – keep doing a ton of driving ahead. The go is starting to look really really good! You can up the value of the reward – will be bring a toy bck in that environment if you throw a toy? For example, with his cousin Contraband, my GO cue didn’t get strong til I went to throwing toys – I would throw a fun toy and then trade him for a treat or another toy to encourage him to bring it back rather than take it on a victory lap haha!

He is *thisclose* to getting the rear crosses – I think the reward placement even on the oopsie moments plus more excitement on the go lines will solidify it.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Yes, he was definitely finding this a bit more challenging! There was a lot happening – movement, extra jump (even when you started between 1 and 2), snowing, etc. But if this was his first time on 4 jumps, then I think he did well!! (If it was his 10th time on a 4 jump grid, then we would sort out how to answer his little questions). Since he is learning the 4 jump grid – keep them straight for now and stay pretty close to the jumps – you were lateral enough that I think he was tilting his head towards you a bit. You can ‘show’ it to him with you standing still out by the reward on the ground then you can add back motion and the moving toy. I am sure he will sort it out in the next session or two – there were no form ‘errors’ to worry about, just a bit of steam coming out of his ears due to additional challenges 🙂 This is going well, so we sit here for a few sessions then he will let us know when to add more to it.

Great job, let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> Sometimes I felt like I was teetering on a gamble line for the get-outs.

I totally feel that LOL!! Sometimes my feet do whatever they feel like doing LOL!

You caught yourself moving towards the jump at :12, The movement towards it was still there on the next rep but not as much (same at ::59) – I think the movement towards it is a product of the extreme use of upper body which turns our feet to it. When you moved slowly at 1:50, you had the best line of motion under the upper body doing the get out cue. But the little tiny motion is so small that I still think you will find it useful on course AND not feel like you are running into the line more than needed. Yes, on that one blooper, the connection was not quite as clear but you were great on all of the others!!
You already started adding more speed to the motion so feel free to continue ramping up your speed 🙂

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This was great feedback from him about what he needed to see on the wrap cues (and also great info about rear crosses 🙂 )
Bear in mind that his previous knowledge of this set up is go versus RC so he might have been anticipating that a bit.
Go reps looked good!
The transition at :43 was late so he was wide 🙂 At :56 you had better timing but your body was definitely pointing to RC line as you finished the deceleration – At 1:20 I think the cue was fine but he disagreed – I can see his argument that you were pointing a little to the center, adding in that he has been working RCs and also just got rewarded for one. At 1:29 you were much clearer in terms of facing the wrap wing on your decel before rotating – then you had it at 1:40, and 2:03 also. I think the wrap verbals will help for now so you don’t have to be as perfect 🙂 And also now that he realizes that wraps can happen on this set up, I think it will be much easier to get him to wrap to you 🙂

Nice work!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Go looked good (you can add a higher height here) – only a little yeehaw moment or two where he went past when on your left (I wonder if he was being literal because the tunnel entry was pointing to a straight line past the jump? We don’t need him to be that literal hahaha) and perfect when he was on your right.

The rears are also looking good, I think you can get on the RC presssure line sooner though – you were turning your feet to the straight line for a step or two when he exitd and then pressuring to the RC line – I bet he will read that sooner especially on the first rep on each side. On the left at :11 and right at :57 (first ones on each side) you were straight for a bit too long – so he was wide an read them on landing). You were earlier at :39 to the left and :1:24 and 1:36 to the right and he read them with a much tighter line (and he appeared to have no commitment questions – yay!!)

I think the hardest part of the zig zag with bars was convincing him to hold his stay because he seemed to know what the grid was all about LOL! It appears that he had no questions about transferring the lead changes from the flat to having the bars there – happy dance! This can be sso hard for dogs and he was fine! So…. onwards to 3 bars! And if that is easy… add another wing and do 4 bars 🙂

Great job on these!!!
Tracy

PS – great job with ALL of your verbals, on these games and also on the games from yesterday you posted above. Yay!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The set point is looking really good!! Watching each one – they are organized, nice jumping form, and consistent – he isn’t changing things around each time to try to get more comfy or use different body parts. He seems to be saying “I’ve got this!” Yay!
What heights has he seen ‘on course’ so far? We can build up heights on ‘easy’ jumping efforts like straight lines and then build up heights on the harder efforts as well when he is happy with the easier efforts.

On your Diamond blinds – the first rep was really good – great connection on the tunnel exit to commit to the wing, and you started the blind nice and early so it was basically finished at :08 just as he got to the wing. He read the timing really well and turned nicely! You rewarded from the dog side arm here, so try to pattern yourself to reward across the body to really open up your connection.
On the 2nd rep you had good connection to commit to the wing on your right side, but the turn was late and you had the toy in dog side hand – that delays the dogs from reading our turn cues, so he drifted wide.

The next couple of reps (:26, :33, :40) didn’t have the same connection on the tunnel exit so he didn’t commit to the wing. You had the clear conneciton at :45 so he committed – but the turn was late starting (as he arrived at the wing, probably because you were trying to make sure he took the wing :)) The timing is not a big deal if the connection on the side change is clear, so that is where rewarding across your body will really help – the toy was in your left hand (dog side hand) here, and showing it in your right hand and across your body will help him make the turn even if you are a little late starting it. At :57 on the next rep, you did show it to him and he came to the new side immediately when the connection opened up – so now add that showing of the toy as soon as you start the blind so he can see it instantly (or as instantly as possible :))
WHen you switched sides to go back to your left side – your connection and timing were spot on at 1:10! The BC was finished before he arrived at the wing at 1:12 plus you were instantly showing the connection & toy as he came around it at 1:13. Perfect!
When yo uswitchd back to the right side to start, getting the connection on the tunnel exit was harder which made the BC late. So keep doing the connetion & timing that you had on the left sdie reps 🙂 and see if you can make connection sooner & much more clearly (you might have to extra-exaggerate it for now) to get commitment to the wing on your right and then exaggerate the quick reward across the body there too.
His race tracks look good! He is tighter when he is on your left – I think there is a combo of him turning better to his right plus you being comfy with him on your left, which made the right side race track wider (where he turns left) and probably also contributes to the right side BCs being harder. It will all even out as you keep playing with this, the difference is pretty subtle 🙂

Great job on these!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

First up, some handling feedback!
On the FCs – you did a good job working out the timing and transition on these. You slammed on the brakes on first rep so she didn’t commit but then you were too swooshy (late and forward) on 2nd rep – but the 3rd rep was good in terms of connection and timing the transition with decel and rotation! THe bar was down, I think she just slipped there. 1:48 was also really good, you can get it even tighter with a more direct exit line back to the tunnel: try not to step out to the side after the FC, but rather run directly to the tunnel entry and she will chase that line.

lap turn –
On all these reps, you will set up a better line into the lap turn (and therefore out of the lap turn) with a turn cue before she enters the tunnel – I think her name will be all she needs there. The lap turn was good at 2:17! You didn’t give turn info on the tunnel at 3:10 plus you were moving so she was a good girl to go to the other side of the jump. I would have rewarded that – without rewarding, things went off the rails for a moment and she got frustrated and jumped up at you at 3:19.

Your spin rep looked good, you had a nice transition into it like you did on the FCs. The decel is more important to her than connection shift.

On the bigger sequence:
Your exit line connection after the blind at 4:03 was not clear, she didn’t know which side to be on – it appears she did not get rewarded. Then connection from the tunnel at 4:12 was unclear – still no reward…. hmmmm…. she is getting pissed here LOL!

You were much clearer on the next rep on the exit line connection – a little late so she was a little wide and the bar o the spin was down, but the last rep was earlier and clear and it looked really smooth. Yay!

>>She was jacked and jumping up and barking about 2 inches from my face. This is not normal, she had Ti outside barking and at class I would normally be using food to keep her with me from socializing. This could potentially be trial behavior>>

It might be trial behavior and she was stimulated… but she was also getting frustrated which was part of the cause. If something goes wrong in handling, reward her! Either reward her for the off course, or ask for a trick and reward her. Then figure out what went wrong 🙂 She was frustrated with lack of clarity followed by lack of reward – that plus arousal was causing the leaping up. Yes, sometimes we humans lack clarity in handling – but we can always reward! But if we withhold reward, we get unwanted behaviors. So, unless you are willing wager $1000 that the error was totally due to her bad decision and was not in any way related to a handling or training error… you should just happily reward her.

I don’t think collar grabbing her or a loud talking-to or petting her to calm her will be effective. The collar grab or the talking-to made her more stimulated (note the change in her barking pitch) and the touching at 2:35ish did not seem like something she wanted in that moment. Calm happy response to incorrect behavior is always best – if we bark at the dog, the dog just barks back at us 🙂

For the stay – establish a line up routine and a stay routine that is super clear. I think on some of your reps the release was not clear like 3:42 when she broke then ran, and 4:35 when she did basically the same thing and got in trouble. I liked the very last stay you did, where you led out, looked at her, praised, took a breath, then release. That was clear! Do the same when you reward: lead out, praise, breath, reward. And to get her into a stay, some tricks to line up will help too. (Tricks between reps also help her stay focused and not too stimulated).

So, I agree that we don’t want her leaping up or delivering tooth hugs – but take those as a sign of frustration due to low rate of success, and you can eliminate those by increasing her rate of success & reinforcement. Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy

My instinct is to collar grab time out, I can’t. She has always scooted away from me.

Any other suggestions to work the stay?

Should I pull out the food to keep her next to me in between reps so she’s not jumping up, barking telling me I’m stupid?

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
He found the rear cross after the tunnel really nicely AND I think he did a great job finding the wing after the RC on both sides – nice!!! Great job handling it so it was clear to him 🙂 And the Go lines (and post turns) all looked lovely.

On his circle at :57 and also at 1:47/1:58, I think 2 things caused a little question from him on those – you were pressuring into his line so he was not sure if he should come take the backside wing… and also the visual of the wing out to the side was a little distracting. It is possible for a moment that with the pressure on the line he thought he should go directly to the wing. When you showed more of the wing at 2:08, he got it immediately. So be sure to run directly forward to where the wing meets the bar til he has passed you, then you can proceed to the next line. That should show a clear line to the wing and take out some of the pressure that might cause him to consider the other wing.

On the backside slice at 1:7, I think that you were moving pretty fast but you didn’t drop your shoulder back (like he is used to) until after he ran parallel to it. At 1:22 you took out the motion so he came in, but you can also slide through the serp like you did with less speed (from you, he can go as fast as he wants haha!) so he can process coming in even when you are moving but not necessarily opening up your serp arm.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Yes, I think she likes this set up 🙂 Fun!!!
The Go lines are all looking good. Be careful of saying “go” on the rear cross reps though – I think you were saying that on the first couple of rears to the right so she went a little wider than needed because go cues extension on the original line (not the turn away). You did do a really good job on the RC pressure line on the right turns – you basically got right on the line as she exited the tunnel and accelerated so she was able to read the turn. You use “over” at :29 instead of “go” and I think that was more helpful for her to set up the turn! You could also use a ‘right’ cue or a ‘switch’ (to mean turn away).
When you switched sides, you were a step or two later getting onto the rear cross diagonal – that is why she pushed off the jump at :54 and was a little wide at :58 and 1:23 and 1:29. You can match her left turn rears to the right turn rears by turning your feet to the diagonal (center of the bar) just before she exits the tunnel so as you start to move, you are already showing the diagonal.
Your connection was basically perfect here! One little oopsie where you cued the tunnel and turned away too soon at 1:06, but the rest was perfect! It really helps her read the lines.
Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I think this is going really well!!! You were really emphasizing your connection on the sends and on the exits of the crosses, so it looks like he knew exactly where to be – so helpful!!! The blind at the beginning looks really good – he was nice and tight and your connection was super clear. When you built it up into the bigger sequences – you did really nicely hitting all of your connection points and committing him to the wings & tunnel. He really liked coming in from the jump to the tunnel at the beginning (lots of speed :)) He was not quite as fast on the triangle of wings yet, because I think he was trying to figure it out 🙂 Give him a couple more sessions of this and he will be very speedy. And yes, practice makes perfect LOL! and it will make running courses when he is older feel nice and easy 🙂
Great job!
Tracy

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