[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Lots of good work here – Ivan is telling us that we can really trust him!

Great job on the skills sets!! He is doing a great job committing to the bar on the backside slices so you are able to move through! My only suggestion is to remember to throw the ball on the landing side and not ahead of you after the exit like at :07 & :27. On the other reps, you tossed the ball ahead – he was definitely happy about it, but you’ll get more default value on the bar with the ball appearing near the landing spot. I love how he was digging in and driving, though!!!! So fast and tight!

Great job putting these skills immediately to work in the sequences 🙂
Seq 1: nice backside send at :52!! You can go to the blind sooner – as soon as he nears the entry wing, you can turn your head for the blind – it is a commitment challenge but I think he will be fine with it 🙂 The threadle 8-9 and the serp at 10 looked good!

Seq 2: perfect timing on the blind at 1:10!! That set up a strong send to the backside at 5 then a serp back to the tunnel – he was chasing you the entire time, which is his favorite thing to do 🙂 The send to the 8 backside was also really clear and independent! This is another spot (like jump 6 in seq 1) where you can do the blind cross head turn just as he is arriving at the entry wing.
The only question he had was that he slowed down a little as he exited the tunnel – so you can go in a stride or two closer to the tunnel and start your around cue earlier. I think he saw you setting up for the send and slowing down, so he went into collection for a moment.

Next rep – another perfect blind at 1:34! I liked your serp at 6 at 1:39 better than the same serp on your first rep here – you moved through it even sooner, getting more ahead on the way to 7 so his line was even better. Nice!!
On the tunnel exit at 1:43, you had bigger strides (maybe went in a step or two closer to it) so he was faster on the exit and still got the backside send really nicely!
One little tweak – as soon as you send to the backside at 8, try to step forward as directly as possible to the 9 jump. You took a couple of steps on a parallel line to the jump bar. which made you a little late for getting on the next line. I think you were watching for him to jump for too long – so that is a great spot for the big disconnection 🙂

Last rep – another perfect blind at 1:54! You are nailing it! Your serpentine at 2:00 was good (more like your first rep) but I liked the one at 1:39 better because you were further ahead so he could go faster.
At 2:04, you did the best job of sending to the 8 backside and immediately stepping through to 9 (not moving sideways) so you were on the next line as he landed from 8 – so he had the best line to 9 – tight and fast.

I think Ivan was perfect on his commitments here, showing a strong understanding of the skills. So we can keep pushing to get you as far ahead as possible, really leaving his lines as early as possible. If at any point we break the commitment – cool!!! We can train that. But for now, keep on trusting him to commit so you can get way up the line, so he can chase you at top speed.
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Nice work on these, I liked all of your different options on just a row of 3 jumps!!!

On the first rep, with all of the backside pushes: I bet you can stay super close to the jumps and just keep your chest rotated towards him, so he will self-send to the backside (I just made up that term, self-send hahaha) Keep doing the verbals like you did, and the chest turned towards him will cue him so you don’t have to use and arm to send.
2nd rep – really nice serpentine line!!!!! You can challenge him by getting even further ahead and seeing if he will still commit to the serp jumps!
3rd rep – very very nice threadles here! If you wanted more crazy threadles, you can do a threadle to a blind cross (in the package 3 skill sets) – as soon as you see his head turn towards the threadle jump, do a blind!
For added adventure, try doing doing blinds on these lines too. Wheeeee!
Great job! Stay cool!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!
Thanks for letting me know about the header – oopsie!!! And take your time working through these – it is wicked hot out! We have time in this class, I am pretty sure that we will be looking at videos until the first week of September at least 🙂

Great job on these:
Seq 1: very nice! You can show serp handling a bit more 4-5: he has to turn right then left on that jump, so opening your upper body to him like a serp will smooth put that line.

Seq 2 – very nice too! What were the verbals you used? I heard the release then the jump cue, then he barked LOL! I think you were calling his name but you can also use your threadle verbal there.

Seq 3
first rep – opening line looked good! He read the rear cross nicely, he totally knew to turn left! He was a little wide, mainly because you were decelerated while he was in the tunnel then you accelerated into the rear cross. If you flip that: accelerate while he is in the tunnel then decelerate through the rear cross – he will have a tighter turn on the RC wrap. Plus, it will put you closer to the 5 jump (RC jump) which will let you set the serp at 6 better. You took off at :08 so he just chased you.

2nd rep – good job with the right cue on the tunnel, nice timing! At :23, you didn’t show enough of the RC line so he wrapped to his right. The fix at :27 was the nice RC line.

3rd rep – looking good on this one!! You had the good verbal on the tunnel, acceleration then decel into the RC (nice clear RC line) and the backside verbal on 6. SUPER connection at :43 to get him into the #7 tunnel!!

4th rep – also looked good! You can do that blind sooner: you used the same running pace as on the rear cross line, then had to do some last minute hustle to get the blind. At 1:07 he was jumping 4 and it was jump starting when ideally it would be finished by then. If you send 1-2-3 more laterally then I bet you can get past 4 sooner – which allows you to do the blind basically while he is in the tunnel, which gives you tons of time to decelerate into the wrap on 5.
I do think the BC was faster than the RC, but it is definitely good to train the RCs too!!
And nice ending line here as well.

Serp default: great job on your casual toy dropping, it made me laugh, so smooooth! But perfect placement, well done!!! And he did really well, doing this with very little ‘help’ other than your motion and some connection. He had a bar down at :54, and I think that was because he went a little wide after the wing wrap (wheeee!) and the realized he needed to hurry back and take the jump – and you were not helping all that much AND you had some countermotion – so he just didn’t set up the jumping as well as I know he can. But he fixed it on all the other reps, including the various angles you worked too.
Now, when I say “you weren’t helping all that much”, that is CORRECT for this exercise LOL!! Of course, when running a sequence, we would want you to use a verbal and be as perfect as you can. But in training, you were perfectly casual and perfectly NOT calling him 🙂 I think he did well! Onwards to the backside serpentines now.

Great job! Stay cool, it has been a BEAST of a summer!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I love the Moonlighting dreamy effect hahaha!!
Great job here – my biggest suggestion on the straight lines was that you were too connected (I know, I know hahahahahaha!!!) Your connection is a good habit! So trying to disconnect to drive the line is REALLY hard. He is ready for the disconnection on these straight line elements for sure, so keep playing with it. The other stuff that was difficult is skills work we can do to make it easier. Here are some ideas:

On the straight line to the tunnel: The 1st 2 reps – very connected, too connected hahahaha! You can gradually show him less connection and see how it goes. On rep 3, you were less connected and he didn’t take the jumps – I think that was more about you moving away after the wing wrap and the big toy 🙂 From the tunnel up the line of jumps – you were mostly connected with some disconnects (yay!) and he found the line, good boy!!!! He had a bit of over jumping but that is because the reduction in connection was distracting but then he smoothed it out on the next reps. The last rep of this section (jumps to tunnel) – much better!

On the backside push section, we can break the backside skill down into 2 elements:

– getting to the backside – as a young dog, his main frame of reference is jumping the bar. And that bar becomes a pretty big distraction when we need him to go to the backside! So to help him pop out around the backside wing, start the skill on just a wing (take out the bar and the exit wing so the appearance of a jump is not there, and send him around only the entry wing, rewarding back near you). When that is easy for him (he will learn it fast), put the bar back in but in a relatively boring way: one end on a 6 inch jump cup on the entry wing, and the other end on the ground (no exit wing yet). That way you can introduce the distraction of the bar without it being too tempting! When he can go around the wing and take the backside bar, you can add back the exit wing.

– taking the jump of the backside as a default. When you got him to the backside, he didn’t know we also wanted the jump 🙂 so check out the custom skills sets I posted on Monday – start with the serp default to jump then you can quickly build it to the backside serp game.

Good job working the timing on the forced front crosses! Your first rep was too early, 2nd rep too late (like Goldilocks and the 3 bears: too hot, too cold) and the 3rd rep at 1:37 was just right! The blind cross after it there worked really well, and will continue to get more comfortable as you play with the forced front cross timing.

He found the lines nicely on the last rep! You are actually still too connected for this challenge of disconnecting fully hahaha! You had little connection breaks and he did just fine – feel free to continue working to run those lines without connection (I know, so weird LOL!!!) On the threadle to the wing at the end, because he is still learning the threadle, you can hold onto his head for a little longer. Think of that more like a rear cross on the flat to the wing – don’t turn his head away until he is past the wing. As his threadle understanding continues to develop, you can release him sooner and he will set it up himself.

Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>3 blinds in a row ???

So fun! Life on the edge! Tokaji would love it!

>>Something to aspire to. I imagine the timing would have to be spot on and you would have to keep moving thru it>>

I bet you can do it. Yes, 1000% you would have to trust and keep moving. But the timing is not that hard, it is all about the reconnections (so no hands needed):
first blind happens when she is at pole 10-ish, so it is done before she exits. 2nd blind is done as she is approaching the backside wing. 3rd blind is done as she gets to the backside and turns her head to look at the jump. If she has seen a couple of blinds in a row in the past, she will find it easy to read these.
T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Yay, this was very fun to watch! The value of the prop was very high so you were able to add a lot of opposing motion – and having played with the concept to a pre-placed reward is likely to have helped as well. As he was picking up speed, his mechanics changed – note the lower head. That is good, because it is a sign of subtle weight shift, preparation to turn (because he was understanding that it was a hit then drive back). I like when the dogs set themselves up to turn and shift their weight!!

You were able to leave really early, which is great. Now we can also focus on a higher level detail of the countermotion: pressure on the line. This will support commitment on the SUPER tight turns on course, especially the ones with rotation. As you leave on the countermotion, we want to the dogs to stay really tight to their lines. He was moving out a tiny bit away from the pressure, so we can teach him to stick tight to it: Using the same set up, send him to the prop but time your moving forward so you don’t move til he is right at your leg, passing very close to it. Move slowly at first so he is happy to be very close to the pressure, then we can add more and more speed like you had here. Let me know if that makes sense, I am not sure that I am explaining it properly hahahaha

Great job!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! He is so cute with his smacks! Good job really working to lock into the foot smack only and not just when he trotted near/over it. It was NOT easy to see but it definitely helped clarify that it was a touch behavior, not a ‘near it’ behavior 🙂 I think this session directly contributed to the success of the session below!! It is all about teaching a commitment concept and he did really well!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! The lead outs worked nicely here! The game went really well – my only little suggestions are little tweaks to handle: lead out a little further (gives you more time to do the blind LOL!) so you can get a little more eye contact at the reconnection after the blind (it will get him to switch sides sooner) and also you can throw the toy ahead sooner – as you are doing the collection/turn, you can also be throwing the toy so it is in motion and out ahead as he finishes the turn. He was looking at you after the turn for one step, so we can get him driving ahead sooner by getting the toy out there sooner (and yes, you might need 35 arms :))

Speaking of throwing the toy – I think he definitely drives ahead better when the toy is landing On the drive ahead after the turn) as opposed to when it has already landed (when you were doing the straight line driving ahead) It is maybe one step of difference – but it is a big difference in his acceleration! So keep letting him go before the toy has landed to really maximize the acceleration. And we will be able to gradually release him to drive ahead later to help build value for the ‘dead’ toy. Let me know if that makes sense. Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Wheee! This was a fun session to watch. I think he enjoys the toy catch! Nice tugging on that toy! He made me laugh with his leaps for it 🙂 The stay looks really strong – he already had a really nice stay, but this will allow us to layer in more arousal and excitement for it too! Don’t forget to do some ‘catch’ with cookies too, he won’t be sad LOL! And, check out the advanced game – I think he is ready for the added arousal that it brings to the stay as well. Keep up the nice job with the connection as you lead out and with keeping the success rate high.

>> noticed that when I say catch he gets up but stays back vs when starting forward when I say break.

So cool!!! It appears he is beginning to really understand the difference between the words – excellent!

He did well on the driving ahead to the toy – but as much as he seemed to enjoy tugging on this toy and catching it, he didn’t seem to love driving to it as much when it was dead. He loved driving to it on the release forward at 1:04 but was not nearly as excited about it on the driving ahead reps after it. I don’t think he was tired or distracted – so you can make the toy a little more alive by throwing it further, maybe a little higher and then releasing him just before it lands. That should keep it more alive like it was at 1:04 and get even more excitement driving to it.

Great job 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Lovely session!

>>. It does help to watch the cap although in one of them his neck ruff got in the way of me seeing it!

Hmmmm maybe that is why there are so many shaved shelties in Europe? LOL!!!

Great job here – yes, it is hard to leave earlier when you are that close but you were leaving perfectly for this early session: you were basically leaving as he was passing your leg. And he was highly successful, which is really the most important part. The last rep was ideal (and there were a couple more that looked like this one) – he was passing your leg and you moved forward, nice and calmly. Yay!

>>It’s a bit hard to try to leave any sooner when you’re that close. Should I move a bit further away for the send and then add in leaving sooner once I establish that the send from further away is holding up

My personal rule of thumb for this game (ok, for all games haha) is 2@80; 2 sessions at 80% success or better in a row before I change anything. So, this totally counts as session 1 – do one more session just like this (in terms of when you move forward) and when that goes well… you can move further away. And yes, it is a good idea to establish that the send from further away is holding up – you can ‘warm up’ eash session with a couple of sends and then when he is in the groove, you can slide in some countermotion.

Nice job!
T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>Are you saying to add in the motion slowly with the whippet because it will be TOO exciting if it’s added too quickly?

Yes – motion is stimulating and with certain individuals and certain breeds, motion can either stimulate the dog into the right state of arousal for work, or can stimulate the dog into the *wrong* state of arousal LOL!! The wrong state is when things go wrong, like the pup can’t ‘remember’ the skill, or can’t handle frustration, or chases the momma, or grabs for treats/toys, or tooth hugs… so we add motion slowly with all of our sports pups 🙂

Wing wraps

>>So then when we restarted, I think I had it too far out and well….as you can see it was a trainwreck

Totally NOT a trainwreck!!!! True, the second part of the video didn’t exactly have a lot of successful wing wraps… but you handled his errors well (but trying to reset and get things rolling again) and HE handled his errors well! He offered plenty of stuff, and he seemed to be able to handle frustration really well. So, in that respect, it was *great*!!

I think getting the game rolling at the start of each session will help – you can start with engagement on both sessions, a couple of tricks for treats, just to get him ready for the offering. Eventually we can do this with toys but I think cookies for now. And, at the start of each session, start a couple of steps back from where you left off – think of it as a warm up to get back into the groove if the break was more than a minute or two. You’ll quickly be able to work your way back to where you were.

Also, and there is no scientific data to support this LOL 🙂 I have found that doing one session with a whippet and NOT coming back to it the same day is actually helpful – something about whippets and how they learn and process… their latent learning is amazing! I have seen it in all 3 of my whippet mixes and I have heard this over and over from whippet owners (particularly owners of whippets related to our pointy dogs :)) So one session then revisit a couple of days later and you will be amazed at the progress. Sounds so weird but it is pretty true!

Stays – fabulous session!!!!

>> I only tried working on stay one time weeks and weeks ago and he wasn’t getting it so I immediately jumped ship and haven’t worked on it since lol.

That was a good call! I mean, he is so young – if he wasn’t getting it, it is fine to come back to it later on. There are only about a zillion other things to train LOL! Better to jump ship than to build in frustration. A bit of maturity now that he is a little older, plus a different approach – he did a great job here!

>>He was offering a couple downs, and I just rolled with it.

Yes, that was 100% the right call. You hadn’t asked for anything other than giving him the international sign for “offer me something” so he did! He was excellent in his choices. A couple of ideas for you:
He was amazing in his ability to catch the treat LOL! So you can throw the treat behind him or off to the side so he gets up and you can reset the game. He is so smart – “I will just stay right here, keep those treats coming” LOL! Made me chuckle 🙂 If he doesn’t get up, you can release forward, reward him and reset for the next sit.
As we build this game, we are also going to build in arousal and work on teaching him to self-modulate his internal arousal: start the next session with a tiny bit of tug, then put the toy in your pocket or on a shelf (tossing cookies away during the transition) – then do the session with the treats. This should create a higher arousal. I love how you had a bit of cookie play happening and he was stimulated by offering and holding the stay – YAY! I want to see how it goes, adding a toy before, and then we can move to the advanced game which is really all about modulating arousal 🙂 He is really young still, so we have time 🙂 There is no rush at all, he will let us know.

Opposing motion session – also looked great! You had a lot of energy and that created more stimulation – but he still got the behavior AND no chomp chomp moments 🙂 You did a nice job moving away just enough to begin showing counter motion… but not tooooo much because he was successful 🙂 Love it! You can add in gradually more and more countermotion over the course of the next few sessions.

So overall these were looking really lovely. Let me know if the ideas make sense. Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! She did a great job here!! Yes, it is GREAT that she offered the stay so nicely – even when stimulated, we want the pups to think it is fun to sit and stay in front of something they want (the toy for now, the start jump or tunnel later on…). You can always use a verbal or hand signal for the sit or stay but she will likely not need one 🙂 I am pretty sure my adult dogs understand the start line routine and just roll their eyes at me when I say “stay” LOL
You can start to add more duration now – first longer praise…. then add in moving away. Bearing in mind that she is going to be more ramped up, keep the duration and motion away short so she can be successful. It will be easy to build it all up into a great stay even when she is wild 🙂
Question – what release word do you want to use on your start lines? You were using a “yay” here – some folks do use that as the release, some use it for praise. At this stage, use your start line release word when you want her to come out of the sit so it is even easier to transfer to trials.

Nice job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

This was very cool to see! The FC rep was good – but the BC reps were *spot on* in terms of the anticipation: you were in progress as his nose exited the tunnel at :21 and :50, so he had 3 hours (in dog years :)) to read the blind. VERY nice!
And nice job getting a better line to the last backside #8 – and also leaving sooner (not cuing the bar). He was able to power into that jumping effort better (at :39 especially). I am liking what he is doing on the backside slice jumping, I think your work on the zig zag grid is paying off!
Great job trying crazy things!!!!
T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello!
Monday mornings are the perfect time for Agility QB-ing 🙂

>>On sequence 3, let’s talk about the tunnel exit. My thought was I can’t start the blind until I see him see the jump (#4). Then, when I see him see it, I can blind. I agree the second time through was better. So, at :21 I see him exit the tunnel and see the jump and at :22 I start the BC. I suppose in theory I could whip my head around faster on the blind but I don’t think that’s a good plan (balance and repeatability). So I reconnected at :23 as he lands. If I do the blind before he exits the tunnel, then he can run around #4: taking a straight line from the tunnel exit to the backside #5. In fact, I think I would want that (blind would put #4 behind me; at least in theory, if the exit from the tunnel was very sharp).>>

This very discussion inspired a small skills set that I posted yesterday: if your motion and verbal on the exit of the cross easily support the jump without having to run a wonky line, then you can do it while he is in the tunnel. If your motion and verbal do NOT support the jump, or you would have to run a line that is not a perfect path… wait til he exits then start it. That also means there is an anticipatory element: you would need to anticipate his exit so you can be ready: as soon as his nose pokes out of the tunnel – commit and cross.
The decision is made based on the specifics of how the sequence is set up. Your set up was right on the edge of being black & white – so it falls into the ‘anticipate the nose exiting the tunnel’ category. I would also be saying “jump jump jump” or a commitment cue while the dog is in the tunnel on this one, so the exact timing is less important and you can be slightly early, and he will still commit. If we wait too long, the dogs can’t adjust to the new side earlier enough – so they need to see the blind cross starting as soon after the tunnel exit as possible – which means the head turn almost completely finished before takeoff.

>>On #8, I might be able to leave sooner, except for him aiming at the front side as he exits the tunnel and needing to be kicked out to the backside. I was stuck there until I could see him take the backside cue.

Yes – kicking him out to the backside is critical – at :13 and :29 I can see his head turn to look for the backside, that is the exact moment you can leave – and you did start to leave! But then you deceled and gave him an arm cue over the bar – I don’t think he needed that, you can just head directly for the blind there.

>>Then I disconnected at 31 for a stride or two and then reconnected. I’m looking at it in slo-mo and I don’t see that as too sharp a turn…(?) I complete the BC in time for him to be on the correct side. ?>>

Yes, you cleared the line and he didn’t have to wait too much on the exit – the slowing down was happening on takeoff for the 8 jump, he had to wait there. Plus, you can also get further ahead after that line on a bigger if you aren’t helping at the backside 🙂

>>I have always figured that shouting at a dog in a tunnel was futile (noise echoes around in there) and after one or two tries, it would be patterned. But I’m up for giving it a try…

I agree that it is unlikely that the dog will clearly hear or process my yells in a tunnel – maybe? maybe not? But I repeat the cues because it is like throwing a blanket over the line – at some point, I will hit the spot with the correct timing 🙂 If I only throw a hand towel on the spot, I am less likely to cover all my bases 🙂

>>I can leave earlier in training because I’m braver in training. Of course, I haven’t trialed since March, so who knows how brave I’ll be when I get to show again. And Enzo hasn’t ever been shown except the UKI home trials. Tomorrow is his second birthday.>>

Happy birthday Enzo!!!!!!! I hope he gets a day of whatever he loves most! And I understand about the bravery in training – especially with a young dog, it is easier in training. But I believe it creeps over into our trialing when we are comfortable with it in training 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>If the cone was the weaves (too hot to take the weaves out) is this what you mean by handling from the landing side of 11?

Handling from takeoff side of 11, yes, this would be it! She read it pretty well!!! You would want to be there when she exits the weaves, right at the entry wing of 11. The other option would be blind crosses, 3 in a row 🙂

T

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