[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This looked great, the favorite toy was in play and he was still perfect in his arousal state. Super!!!! Almost all of the reps looked strong; I was especially thrilled when you started with him and he drove ahead, even with you holding the Nemo ball! That is a BIG moment, good boy!!!
His only question, as you noted, was when you were way ahead an a little lateral. He perceived that as 2 elements added, so he did well when you were ahead but not lateral. Yay! To the other thing that might help there is if you put something more salient between the uprights when you are outdoors – he might have an easier time with you ahead and lateral is there is a more prominent visual for him to lock on to (it was hard to see what was between the uprights in the grass). If my memory is correct, you have a pool noodle on a stanchion, so you can use that by laying it down between the uprights for him to go over. Let me know if that makes sense.
Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Really great work on these videos!

Seq 2:
Nice walk through! You walked perfect path lines then went into the handling walk through focusing on the harder parts first. It was also VERY clear to see you adding in your connections. It cracks me up when the dogs follow us around during this! I think the only 2 connection spots to think about are the easier spots:
1-2 (stay connected when she lands from 1 and as you cue the tunnel, resist temptation to point forward) and after 7 on to the last line – don’t look forward because in your plan, the pups were still behind you 🙂 You can also do the fast walk through a few more times to get it into your bones 🙂 You only did it once or twice. I know it is grossly hot out but I force myself to do it anyway LOL! I make time during the 5 minutes by doing less of the path walking (only the hard parts) so I can do a couple of extra fast walk throughs.

On the first run:
Boom, this is exactly why I torture people with this exercise LOL!! You connected – released (as rehearsed) then you started to look forward while she was still behind you at 5:40 – so she blind crossed to the other side of the tunnel. The head turn is the beginning of the blind, so she was being a good girlie!!

You were perfect on the 2nd start at 6:01. So, make sure that remaining connected like that on tunnel sends when she is behind you goes onto your lists of things to remember, so you don’t get the off course when you see this scenario (I learned this the hard way – got this same off course on obstacle 2 with my Rat Terrier, Rebound – at NATIONALS!!!! Oopsie LOL!!!!)

Your push to 3 and connection after it – rockin!
Right verbal and connection on 4-5 – yay! This is a spot where she might have pulled off in the past, but your handling was spot on.
Nice job on 6-7. As rehearsed, you did disconnection on the 7-8-9 section (ending line) BUT the difference between this section with the disconnection versus 1-2 is that in this spot, as long as she knows whre to be in landing of 7 (she did, you showed her nicely) – then motion and verbal support the straight line. On 1-2, motion and verbal alone do NOT support the correct line, so the connection becomes critical. And, because she is not even 2 years old, she will tell you if it makes sense to her – and she it was groovy by driving ahead to the end. Yay!!! Loved this run, very nice!!

Your Wilson run was gorgeous too! He was ON FIRE (he might be a little jealous, knowing his sister had a turn first LOL!) but your connection was spot on throughout, and you worked his cues at a slightly faster pace with no problem. You gave a big GO to 7 so he was a little wider (a softer send and maybe a jump or right verbal would make for a better turn there) but he has a strong understanding of how to respond to the next line and nailed it.

Great job!!!

>>> I’m a bit annoyed at the last course video. Somehow it managed to cut off the end of my walk and my entire run with Demi! Dammit! I think it was because my phone rang at some point, and it also rings into my iPad. Maybe that shut it off? I’m not sure, but now you get only my master dog running a novice sequence. And Demi did better!>>

That right there is the Murphy’s Law of Dog Agility: great runs never actually make it onto video. LOL!!!! And yes, it might be the phone ringing in or a low battery – according to what I have learned during this pandemic, both with disrupt your video recording and your streaming. Who knew?

On the walk through – one little detail is that you might want to put wings on any jump used as a backside, it is easier for the dogs (especially the bigs) to line up their jumping.

1-2-3 is a hard line line! So it 6-7! In your line walk throughs, always look for the slices and see if the slices give your dogs good exit line ups – and if so, then add the handling to create the slices. You were leaning towards wrapping at 3-4 and 6-7 and those are harder/slower lines for big dogs (my rule for my big dogs is to almost always slice and there would need to be a compelling reason to wrap, such as the distance is much shorter or the next line is much better).

On the run – I admit to NOT seeing the off course tunnel after 2 as a possibility. LOL! I believe he saw it because you were a little late getting off his line after the backside so he looked up at you, didn’t see a connection or hear a verbal – and guessed. I am surprised he did not follow your line of motion there (you were clearly running towards 3, even though a verbal and more connection would help), unless you tend to pull then flick back to the tunnel on tunnel discriminations? Either way, he was convinced enough that it is a good training set up. What did Demi do there? (I bet she did NOT go to the tunnel).
Your second run was great – you had a moment of connection 2-3 and then you and Wilson ran the rest of it beautifully and almost identical to your rehearsal. He had a little moment of head check towards the last tunnel, your connection got softer and motion was pulling away a little. So, either stay a lot more connected as you pull away, or stay closer to the line if you are going to look forward and run (so motion can support it along with the verbal).

Really nice job here!!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!
It is fun to see you try crazy things on these courses – MANY moments of brilliance!!!!

>>Even with the speed I got a nice turn on 14. There was nothing smooth about my handling. I think the bee at .34 may have helped us. HELP US !

2 words for you: blind cross! I know, it is crazy and risky there… but trying to slow down enough and then finish the foot rotation of the front cross was REALLY hard. You did a nice job of it but I think a BC there will be more effective because you can start it sooner (motion will support the 14 jump). And if you can start it sooner, you can finish it sooner and ‘grab’ her attention with the new connection – all with your feet facing the correct direction and with you heading towards the tunnel entrance. The foot rotation on the FC was getting delayed as you were trying to make the connection on the exit – I think on a BC, you can snap around and get that connection for a tight line and it will be a lot easier!

Course 1 opening – yes, the FC to the RC worked nicely! I think you got one step past the wing of 2 so it was harder to get her back to 3 – try to not go more than a couple of inches past the wing of 2 to set the line.

Since your new-found super power is multiple blinds in a row, I think 2 blinds 2-3 would be AWESOME 🙂

Course 3 –
>>.I walked the opening a million ways and decided a turn away from me with a mm mo, turn tight on the wing would let me do a blind 3-4 so I could stay ahead. >>

the threadle to 2 then blind 3-4 is a great choice! You were a little far from 2 so had to push back to it, which made you late for the blind 3-4 by one stride (she grunted on landing, making the turn after landing) on the first rep and also at 1:10. I think that #3 jump is one of the places you can trust her, disconnect and run: when you see her taking 2, use a jump verbal but just disconnected and run to the BC 3-4 and execute it when you get there – your line and your verbal should support 3 without you needing to connect. And if you don’t need to connect, you will get to 3-4 sooner and finish the blind sooner too. I think you did something like that at 1:42 – sent to 2 and just left – and I loved your blind cross timing! She squeaked but didn’t bark or grunt, which means she had the info and was too busy to give you sass about it LOL

After the push cue on 5 on the 1st rep, you disconnected and left without a verbal – at :49 she was jumping 5 on the slice looking at the white wing, then noticed your line after landing so she ended up going around 6.

You were more connected there at :54 and 1:14 but it caused you to stay there longer. I think running away was fine but a verbal will get her to drive to 6 more nicely. You ran away but were connected and had your verbal at 1:47 and it looked good!!

Wow, really nicely backside sending on 7, 9, 11 – really independent and you set up great lines! The video showed her heading to 13 but not what happened after it 🙂 The second time through there looked really good too – the bar down at 8 might have been because you yelled the verbal as she was jumping? On this second rep, it looks like you got the RC on 13 but she was heading to the off course tunnel out there (and also at 1:59) – so you would probably need to decelerate into the rear cross to tighten up the turn. You did more of that at 1:35 and it looked great!

My favorite part there was 1:50, where you sent to the 7 backside and then just left – perfect execution and she nailed it. And then the rest of that line to 12 was perfect!!

>>There is that yellow tunnel out there calling her name. I think I could have blinded 11-12 and been on the other side. I don’t know if that would have helped.>>

It is possible that the BC 11-12 would turn her to the right on the tunnel exit, make it really hard to get her to 13 – so you would have to really drive down there and then you would be accelerating right towards the off course. I think the decelerated RC like you did at 1:35 was a great option.

>>I can’t hesitate and turn into her to get the therefore 15-16. What would you do 17-18 ? These are great courses for connecting. I need to do better at it. When I don’t have that connection she squirts away>>

On the threadle after the weave – the first rep there, you moved forward through the threadle so the BC was easy and looked really good! You can try to move more, but I thought your execution of the threadle was strong. When you trust it more, you will be able to do the blind on 16-17 even sooner. On the 2nd rep through there, you turned your feet towards her on the threadle: so when you tried to open back up for the blind, she followed your motion to an off course.

Based on how you set it, that is how I would run it. And then, as she is approaching 17, a wrap verbal and either a BC or FC to get her to 18 (if you want her to turn to her right on 18, or a brake hand/wrap verbal and keeper her on my right so she turns to her left on 18.
The other possibility is a double blind to replace the threadle, then blind #3 (super power!). On paper, I would suggest the way you ran it right at the very end, trying to get across the landing side of 17. But the way it was set, it was too hard to outrun her across it so your first choice was your best choice there.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi Sharon! Baby Mackee is looking great here!
On your food video – she did a really great job of getting into the rhythm of the back and forth – I love how she was offering going to the next bowl before you dropped the cookie into it. Yay! Smart pup! So now we can fade out some of the physical cues to make it even more independent. You might be more comfortable sitting on the floor or on a chair for this – try to get it so you can plop the cookies in without moving your shoulders or leaning back and forth at all. Basically, you can just hang out and she does all the work LOL!!! And when she is happy to do that, you can start moving the upright a little further away. At the start of each session, you can start her off by plopping the cookies in then when she is in the groove, you can let her offer like she was starting to do on this video.

On the toy video – she did a great job going back and forth between the two toys, no problem at all! Yay! If you have a ‘get it’ verbal (meaning to go get the toy out ahead) then you can totally add it on here when the 2nd toy starts to move.
You can try the next step with her on the 2 toys: when she is tugging on one, let it go still and get her to let go of it…. but don’t make the other toy ‘live’ yet: wait until she starts heading around the upright, then make the other toy live as a reward 🙂 I think she is ready for it! You can start her with the back and forth like you did here, then go to letting her offer it.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Wilder’s vision – you are correct; when he is doing distance he does not have to focus on me and his jumping is much better and I do try to keep a certain distance ahead of him.>>

We don’t have all the answers about *why* dogs might have trouble with choosing takeoff spots, but I think we are getting much better at figuring out how to help them! It is a fun puzzle.

>>First run – he was much slower than I expected and it put my timing off (he is faster in class.) On the 2nd run I remembered to rev him up with very quiet READDDDY! That has made such a difference and he was faster on the 2nd run which could be another reason he pulled off the tunnel – I wasn’t far enough along to push that line.>>

Ha! He smoked you! I love it 🙂

>>Hand touches – since our earlier classes this year we have worked about 1,000 hand touches. He will now come running and give me a light grazing with his beard but I’ll take it. At least he is coming to me and is always rewarded in practice.>>

That is awesome!!!! I know that convincing him to come in for that was a high priority. Well done!!!!!

>>>I’ll be posting my 2nd run today. We taped before the sun was up and did a better job.

Perfect! Pre-sunrise is when I am outside as well – steamy hot summer!!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I think the toy play helped him stick with you and not grab any bonus tunnels – looking good!!! He was a tugging fiend! He was downing a few times at the end of the tug moments – I couldn’t quite tell if he is pulling back then doing so much weight shift that he ended up in a down? Or teething was making the tugging feel weird? Just something to watch and see – you can let him win the toy more on the good pull backs, to help him not want to go into a down.
Doing the tunnel sends with him on the inside was no problem for him, other than he was slipping away to do it as soon as you started the cue on the early reps LOL! The angles are really hard and he did really making the collections, so I am really glad that you added a nice easy straight-ish send at the end, that was great. And the last rep away from the mulberries also looked great 🙂
Lovely session! We will be building on this on Saturday 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>But looking forward to that challenge (I think).

Ha! The RDW is SO FUN, you will enjoy the process and the result.

He totally thought the parallel path was the easiest game ever LOL! It was fun to see him driving back and forth! Great job with the earlier throws to keep his head straight and focus on the line. You can add challenge in 2 ways now (ok 3 ways, a little more lateral distance too);
— after you toss the treat, you can turn and start moving past the jump again before he turns back – so when he turns back, you are ahead & past the jump. This challenges him to find the parallel path when you are way ahead.
— after you toss the treat, keep moving forward to the treat so you end up close to him – then when he turns back, you start to move towards the jump and ideally, this will challenge him to find the parallel path by driving ahead to it.

Tunnel video:
the home session looked great! He was well aware of the location of the Manners Minder yet always went through the tunnel to it.
The curve of the tunnel plus the new location might have contributed to him not being quite as fast to the tunnel at TCOTC – especially when you were on the outside of it – that made it look a little like the backside of a curved tunnel and he had a question on the 2nd to last rep. He figured it out at the end, though, yay!!!! And he seemed to be happy to come in and line up next to you for a treat. Yes, a bit more practice and he will be just as confident there as at home.

Great job on these!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

She makes me smile every time she works – you said ready ready on the first and she took off for the tunnel like a greased watermelon – I guess she was ready LOL! Her tunnels looked great in general, excellent commitment! She had a little question at 1:05 when she was on the inside – I think part of it had to do with your right foot pointing at one end of the tunnel and your left foot pointing at the other end, and part of it had to do with her not realizing that she could turn away from you to get into the tunnel. But as soon as she figured that out – perfect! And fast. When you do the inside sends, be sure both of your feet are pointing forward to the side of the tunnel you want.
She loves the jolly ball! I can’t remember if I mentioned this to you or not, apologies if it is a duplicate – you might want to get her a giant holee roller toy for her to scoop up at high speed. She is coming at the jolly ball with such speed and drive that she might pound her shoulders too much.

One more thought about looking at the target – I suggest that to help the dogs lock onto the target and drive to it. She is doing a great job of driving to the target, so no need to worry too much about looking at the target earlier than you did. You can basically just follow her eyes and you’ll be fine.
Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Both games here are looking great – she is super fun to watch!! Parallel path looks awesome!! She is going to be FAST. Great job gettig your rewards in early, I think she was looking ahead beautifully. You can add challenge to this now by starting with her – to see if she will drive ahead of you (and then throw the reward). We will be building on this game later in the class, and she is nailing it, so you can try this little tweak to add a little more challenge for her.

On your strike a pose game – this is also going well! Yes, you can look at the target sooner – as soon as she finishes the treat and turns towards you, look down at the target. However – she did a great job herem banging into the target with such gusto that I thought she was going to shake her brain LOL! Good girl! So you can emphasize the turn to the reward at this point, telling her to get the right just as her nose is hitting the target. On this game, it is perfectly ok if she slows down as she approaches you, because we will want that slowing down when we add the jump into it.

Great job on these!!
T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Tons of good stuff on the video!!

>>Anyway, it’s hard for puppy to see kibble when throwing it so I’m thinking (if you think it’s okay) to just start him from a sit/stay or have Kevin hold him when I can. His sit/stay is pretty freaking good (thank you crate games).>>

Yes – indoors it didn’t seem to be a problem, but definitely harder outdoors. You can use the stay like you did, or Kevin (or any human, it is a great socialization game). You can also use a food bowl with one cookie in it to send to to start the game. Or, a manners minder! That is especially useful if you are planning on doing running contacts 🙂

>>I think the heat affected him some. We only stayed out for 10 mins and that was long enough.

Yes, his tongue got ginormous! It is hot, and he has not yet been alive in this much heat!

The sandwich games look really good – he does indeed have a great stay!!! My dogs could barely listen to your video with your ‘ready ready’ and he was Mr. Perfection LOL!!!! Nice job back and forth from driving to you and driving away. And the transition when you go from a ‘catch’ cookie to calling him into the game looked really good, so maybe in the house he is better at finding the treat as a ‘catch’ cookie because he can track it better, and ‘catch’ is paired with an immediate resumption in the game? Either way – the indoor game looked good. Food to toy looked really nice! He was super responsive on the blinds and got right on your hand for the turns.
On the toy “get its”, remember to move forward so he gets used to you also running forward as you say go go go. When you are outdoors, you will be able to really run run run 🙂

Outdoors – I call that the testicle toy, so of course he will hump it LOL!

>>>> On one of the first reps outside, he blew right past me. ha! we got a little better after that but he still went wide. I think that is due to some of my body positioning. >>

Yes, the mechanics are harder outdoors because everyone involved is moving faster. Indoors, you were pretty perfect with your collection hand and outdoors it was more random. On thing you can do is not emphasize your hands as much on the blind crosses – you were connecting and pumping your hand, then blinding and pumping your hand. You can just make eye contact (I don’t think he needs the hands there at this point) and then it will be easier to decel and get the collection hand down to him.
You did a GREAT job of driving out with the GO toy here in the big outdoors!
And yes, he is a crackup, going splat on his side and then not realizing that the toy was the Catch reward LOL!!! I think he was hot at that point, and/or thought catch only applies to cookies 🙂
He was a hot baked bhippet by the 3 minute mark – mine gets floppy too in the heat 🙂 He did a good catch of the toy but then I think he was just too hot to want to do a lot of chasing a dead toy (the moving toy is more stimulating, so he couldn’t help himself on those and drove to it and also it is easy to eat in the heat).

>>He had some questioning about the catch cue outside, but I’m not so worried about that at this point in time.>>

You can play with the catch with a toy indoors or first thing in the morning when he isn’t hot and see if it was the heat? Or if he doesn’t realize that catch + toy = release to get it? Could be either, it will be interesting to see! I use a game similar to this with a toy as a trial prep thing, and I plan to introduce the game later on in this class – it has been incredibly helpful in getting Hot Sauce to transition into trials with confidence and focus on the start line (at least, back in the olden days when there were trials to go to :))

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! The foot target on the parallel path only seems slightly random LOL! I think when you are moving, you are getting a bit of a ‘trot across’ targeting, kind of like the beginning of running contact mat targeting. When you are stationary or decelerating, it is more of a definitive paw smack. That is actually *perfect* for our need here – the parallel path on a jump is more in motion, and the wrappy stuff like the countermotion is more decelerated (and he has to decelerate and weight shift to give the paw smack). So, on the parallel path, I think it is fine to mark/reward the touches even if they are not as smack-like as when you are decelerated – they are showing understanding of the ‘find your line’ concept relative to motion that we are building up. You can start with a little less motion and staying closer to it, to get higher quality touches on the move, but don’t worry about anything that is a pounce or requires a weight shift while you are in motion.

>>I did some work with the hand target and they toy in my hand and after the first rep it went beautifully!!!>>

Yes!!! This is was great! We are getting the line of body that we want on serpentine/threadle behavior (the in-then-out). Very nice!!!!! The next step is to reduce the target size, so it is easier to fit into your palm (we begin fading the target on Saturday :)) He did really nicely ignoring the toy in favor of the target, then driving to it. Well done!!!

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Hopefully others will chime in here –
a hula hoop is a fun one! You can prop it up or hold it. Or, a tire on the ground.

Depending on how big your pup is, I have also taken a garbage pail and and cut off one end of it, so it is a barrel that is open on each side. Then put pool noodles around the entry and exit, and glue a bath mat or rubber mat to the floor so it is not slippery – and then you have a homemade tunnel 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>his week’s technology fiasco is that my iPad thinks my headphones are plugged in even when they are not. I didn’t connect that problem with what would happen when recording. I have no sound! So just imagine me giving perfectly timed verbal cues, okay?>>

I was reading your lips, the verbals were all perfect LOL!!!

>>Not sure if I want someone else touching my iPad right now and I have tried all the online suggestions to fix the problem, to no avail.

I just sent my iPad off for a screen repair (ipad meets concrete is VERY BAD for ipad). I plan to give is a full disinfectant protocol when it gets back!

On the video:
Seq 1: really nice!!! He is committing really nicely!
Your connection overall looks really good. Remember to stay connected to his eyes on the landing of the serp jump at #4 – at :07 you looked forward so he was a little wider there compared to :16 where you were more connected.

Seq 2 – he is getting the idea of threadles! He still needs a little help but the threadle at :31 is looking good!
At :40 you over-helped 🙂 by rotating and pulling away and stopping your motion, so he came all the way in and didn’t know where to go back out to (compare it to :29 where your feet kept moving forward).
At :52 and 1:51, you had much better footwork (in terms of not rotating) but you did a clear decel – so he came off the line.
We don’t want him to ignore decel but we also don’t want him to think decel is the threadle cue – so keep moving forward on your threadles, but for now don’t move *fast* yet. If you are walking through them, he is more likely to be able to read the upper body and hear the verbal and then you won’t need to turn your feet or stop moving.

At 2:08 you were closer to the line and in motion better, so he read it pretty nicely there! Yay!

On the tight wraps:

>>Also, I just have difficulty getting tight wraps. What is it? Why does he jump long even when I am stationary? What can I do to help him?>>

On one jump there, I think he was starting a little too close and when you stepped in, he took off longer based on that motion. Starting him further away (10 feet or more) will give him time to set up the collection better while you show him standing still or being rotated.
Also, some of it could have to do with how he was originally taught as a puppy – what games did you use to help him turn really tight, back on wings or cones? There might be something we can add to the foundation to help him. I notice he doesn’t turn his head until after he lands from the tight turns, so the head turn games from the June 22 custom skills sets will definitely help! If we can get the head turned, the body will follow 🙂

Sequence 3:
He is reading the serpentine jump after the tunnel really nicely! Be careful about rotating too early for the FC on the jump after it – at 2:17 you were a little early and he hesitated. At 2:29, you were not as early but without a deceleration into it, it points your feet to the other wing – and that can dilute your rear cross cue. The very last one at 2:54 was a little late, so remember to decel as he is landing so then you have maybe one more step before rotating for the wrap.

Since I can’t hear the verbals, so maybe you were trying to do a RC there? I am wondering because you did a BC on the landing of the serp jump after the tunnel and turned him to the left on the next jump (2:41), which sets up a really good line!! You did a spin on that jump – you will want to start the FC element of the spin sooner, so when he lands you are finished with the BC to get him on your right for the jump before the tunnel. At 2:42 when he landed, you were finishing the FC so he had a zig zag line thinking he needed to come all the way in to you. The other option which can work really nicely with him is a send and go there – will get a great turn and might get you up the line sooner for the next serp jump 🙂

Speaking of that serp jump – try to keep your shoulders open to it for longer – each shoulder should line up parallel to/facing a wing – you were turning away and being more perpendicular to the bar. The center of your chest should face the center of the bar. That will help get the sweetest line back out to the tunnel and will also help maintain commitment when you push him to the backside like at 2:31 (you tried to pull away too soon, so he ended up on the other side of the jump).

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Wilder has poor depth perception – it shows up in daily tasks like walking up different flights of stairs or climbing up the patio stairs. He misjudges the depth of the steps. That translates to knocked bars in agility when he takes off too early. He does better when I keep an eye on him when we are parallel but in distance work when I can send him ahead he does much better.

That is really interesting and good to know! I find that dogs with poor depth perception will rush the takeoff when the handlers are ahead, so we try to keep the handler within a certain “bubble” – maybe 6 feet ahead, at most? Or 10 feet? It depends on the dog. It is something we can play with to see where the best distance is and then how to gauge your lines to be able to maintain it. When he is sent on away or ahead of you, it is possible that he doesn’t need to multitask where you are AND where the jump is, so he does really well in those situations because he only needs to think about the jump. Is that something you have noticed with him?

>>Lit’l Bit is still in PT but she is improving. She is full of herself and working off her energy in scent trials which don’t require stress on the body. She is treated by Dr. Faith Lotsikas at Skylos in Maryland – great staff.>>

Glad to hear that Lit’l Bit is feeling better!!! I have heard GREAT things about Dr. Faith and the staff at Skylos.

On the video: Glad to hear the downed trees were removed! We are all hoping for cooler weather ahead (and I am ignoring the big storm heading up the East Coast soon…)

I think your walk through looked strong and your handling plan also looked good! Your last walk through had a different handling plan than the actual run on the first run. I think maybe the difference was in that he takes longer in the tunnel than you practiced in the walk through, so it threw you off in the run – you switched to a FC on a different line 4-5 at 2:51 (which threw off the rhythm heading to 6 too) and then a blind cross 8-9 at 3:04 (bar down at 10).

When I look back at the difference between the last walk through and the run, the main thing I see is that with the big tunnel to go through, you gauged your lines differently going into the BC 4-5 and into the RC 8-9. I think your choices were both really good choices there – so you can go in closer to the tunnels (especially longer tunnels) to be able to set up the next line without getting too far ahead.

I agree about the disconnect on the bars being a contributing factor to the bars on this first run – the sun glare at 6 made it really hard to see! And on 10, you were ahead and looking forward and pulling away – too much for him to multitask AND sort out a good takeoff. So in the planning process, you can add extra connection in the walk throughs as a reminder to be super connected when you are ahead, and also to stick closer to the line near the jumps so he can easily see that connection in that 6-10 foot ‘bubble’.
On the 2nd run – you were really clear on the lines there, I think you had the rhythm of the timing through the tunnel there plus you had reminded yourself not to get too far ahead – so the lines and connection were much better! The only spot he needed more connection was on the way to 3. I think your original plan on 4-5 of the BC can still work beautifully with you going deeper into the tunnel so you are not too far ahead then strong connection in and out of the blind.
The rear cross at the end on the 8-9 section was really nice! You gauged your lines pretty much as you had walk them, and you were patient and connected. NICE!!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Sorry to hear about your mother; sending all of my thoughts for a fast recovery and for safe travels for you. I am glad it is not Covid!!

On the disconnection video:

Yes, definitely easier from the stay! And the little arm cue helped her find 2!
Of course, we don’t want to run without connection if we can help it 🙂 but this will help her find lines in those moments when you are perhaps less than perfect 🙂

On the walk through/run:
This is a wicked hard assignment with a youngster, because as you found out: we can plan plan plan and then anything can happen LOL!! I feel that – note how I did the demo with the adult dog and not the baby dog 🙂 Handling baby dogs is not always a reflection on your walk through skills, because the youngsters still need a lot more support than an adult dog would need – So if you want feedback on your walk through from a dog and do the side-by-sides or overlays, 2 ideas for you – you can do the full walk through like you did here (really nice walk through!!!) and then run it with Pippin as a whole course (to compare to the walk through) then break it down to train with Lanna. And, with Lanna, you can isolate a section (like the opening of this one, or the middle line, for example) and walk it with baby dog needs in mind, and run it with her in pieces. I am open to either/both possibilities – as you know, it is two completely different approaches for the experienced professional dogs and the young baby rising stars 🙂
Either way, no rush – you can catch up without pressure after you are back from CO. We can be watching videos and obsessing until whenever is needed so everyone can get whatever they want done 🙂

Your walk through was really strong. I liked seeing your plan develop, in terms of both which moves, and then when and where to do them. It is not the easiest novice course! Some small details to consider as you plan and execute your walk through:
That #9 jump is a doozy, probably the hardest post on the course. Your original thought appeared to be to slice it, which I believe is the fastest line. Then it looks like you discarded that in favor of the wrap, because maybe it felt like you were getting in too deep and would not be able to get up the line for 11? So you can play with staying further away positionally to be able to get the slice and still get 10-11-12.
The wrap works well there, so as you plan that wrap (and the one at 14) remember to decelerate into it, be connected as you exit it and be as close to her perfect path as you can be.
And also add a little more exit line connection 12-13 as you finish your cross.
Everything else looked very clear!!!

On the run –
your handling on the very first rep was good! But she needed the baby dog version of it: more connection before the release and mayeb a shorter lead out. That is more of what you did on the 2nd rep nd she found the line much better! Then baby dog inexperience showed – she needed more conneciton and more motion to exaggerate the line to 4 and 5.

Great job getting her on track through the double tunnels (6-7-8) with a lot of connection and not running as fast, which set up a REALLY nice wrap at 9 at :43!
Baby dog moment on the way to 11- you were pulling away and raising an arm, so she came off the line. Good decision to keep going, and she picked up the line 12-13-14 nicely! You had a little disconnect wrapping 14, so she started to look for your line and then she went to check out the bird nest.

So her run didn’t really reflect your walk through, but it does give us good insight into how much connection she needs right now on the big courses (especially in distracting barns) – TONS! LOL! I think prioritizing connection over running fast will help her a lot right now. At home and in the turf facility, you have moved into the running faster, not needing ot connect as much. In this big dirt facility, with wider distances and more delicious distractions, the massive connection will re-establish the skills and then it will all generalize really nicely! The spots where you did exaggerate the connection looked beautiful and her skills looked great!

A good example of that is on your round 2 – your opening looked great!! Really connected, you were not trying to run too fast or be too early, just trying to exaggerate the line. 1-10 was just about perfect!!! And this is good to keep in mind at her first trials (or matches) whenever that might be: extra support in new environments.
Yes, right at about 10, things came off the rails – it is hard for her to remain on task for that big of a course without a reward, plus you were entering the distraction zone there 🙂 So you can cut the courses in half for her: 8 or 10 obstacles on each walk through.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

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