[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Nice work on these!

1st 2 GO reps – nice! She really fires up into extension here when you accelerate (keep that in mind for a moment…)

On the first right cue at :08 – flip the energy your motion so the timing of it doesn’t include sudden acceleration. You were slow coming around the wing then as you cued the right, you exploded into motion. That adds a bit too much acceleration. The turns were good – but when you were less explosive and more chill at :22, that is when things got REALLY lovely on the turns. So go fast as she comes around the wing, and slow down into the turns.
Wraps:
Check cue at was :29 very nice! On the dig cue on the other side – I thought your timing was good but she might have felt too much pressure as you pushed in so she rear crossed – that is something we saw on the jump stuff last week too. She did MUCH better when you were more lateral at :41 and on the reps on the rest! Pressure towards her really pings her away from the line.
:37 was just a little too soon 🙂
The rear crosses looked great!!! And the entire progression at the end looked great – working through all the turns is challenging but you nailed each on in terms of timing, reinforcement placement, verbals, etc. YAY!! Great job!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

I think there is total hope! And I an ever-thankful for slow motion LOL!!!!
I for one am NOT so good at conformation critiques LOL!! And slowing improving in gait critique 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This is a nice continuation of what we were doing in tunnel class 🙂
Wilder’s GO looked great!
It was a little hard to see his right turn on the first rep rep at 14 but I think the turn looked good (and the nthe toy was there LOL!) but the left turns looked great both on the regular left and the rear cross! The right rear cross also looked great,

On the wrap cues – perfect timing on both the wrap cues and he turned really well! Verbal and physical cues were very timely and clear. Yay!

Poor Bit, I hope her shoulder feels better!!!
The Go cues looked great – nice timing of the cues and great job getting the reward out ahead nice and early too.
The first left cue was really good, she was actually turning tighter than the toy throw!
The other left & right cues had more motion so she turned correctly but a little wider: good to know that you have the added power steering of being able to add a little decel and get a difference in the turns!

First wrap – I didn’t think you were too soon at :39 in general terms… but she had a little trouble committing on that cue for sure! I think it is just lack of experience – she is committing really well but is still very inexperienced on this crazy stuff LOL! You waited longer on the last 2 reps and she looked great!

Sequences with Wilder:
That #3 jump was giving you trouble on the first course! On the first rep, you had a little connection break (:05) and it ended up pulling him into the front side at the last minute. He needs a lot of arm-back, eye-to-eye discussion to push away from you there 🙂
The backside wrap at :12 worked well – you can be closer to where the wing meets the bar so he can see the full wing, and that will give him a straighter line to it. Then stay super connected to his eyes to convince him to drive ahead for 4 – you pointed forward so he did not read it as a push into the gap for 4.
At :21, you had great connection to get to the backside slice and I thought you had clear connection to convince him to jump it – he thought otherwise LOL!!!! So that is a good skill to isolate: take the jump automatically on the backside. You can help get it by dropping a reward in to the landing side while you move forward towards 4.
Circle wrap on the outside wing went really well! And you had great connection on the send to 4 and easily got back up the line for the 5-6. Nice lines there!

>> Unless I am sending him ahead for a distance challenge, I have to pace myself with him or he knocks bars when I move ahead.

You were way ahead on this section, bars stayed up – you were super connected. But it did seem like he slowed down a bit 4-5? You might want to call him more, quietly, when you get way ahead?

Seq 2: Speaking of bars down… he dropped #3 at :52 when you were ahead. He might rush to catch you in those instances, and lose jumping form? You were not as connected here so you can possibly help him when you get way ahead by having your dog-side arm back so he sees more connection. I love that you can get way ahead, but we don’t want to sacrifice bars: so we can try to figure out if there is a helpful way to keep the bars up while also getting you waaaay ahead.

The 2nd rep looked great – but you were pacing yourself here at 3 and not as far ahead.

BTW – that pacing you mention is one of the hardest parts of small dog handling. Big dog handling? Just run as fast as you can LOL!! Small dog handling? HARD because we have to figure out how to pace the lines. It takes some experimenting for each dog!

Seq 3: Speaking of pacing your running… you had a great running line on the first rep and you were way ahead: either he was hot or he did NOT like it, he slowed down to a trot. Wilder is giving us a lot to obsess on LOL! Or maybe his cookies were behind him?
He was a tiny bit wide on the exit of the circle wrap at 3 and front side wrap at 5 – you stepped out to the side, so he read that line. Remember to step forward on his perfect path until he gets on it.

He seemed to like the BC on the ending line there – you can actually turn sooner on this line: on this type of line, the latest to start the BC is when you see him exit the tunnel. You can actually start the BC earlier on this line, because your running line and your new side after the BC also support 7. The BC is definitely faster than the RC here 🙂

Bar down at 1:53 (I am looking for patterns of what specifically causes it when you are ahead, so we can work that out) – you were very lateral, moving fast – as he exited the tunnel at 1:51, you were ahead and looking forward (not connected). You reconnected at 1:52 but he might have already been distracted. When you did the next rep, you were very connected but not as far ahead.

So feel free to experiment: very far ahead & connected, and running the same line (very far ahead) but not connected. And we will keep track to see if we can find the exact pattern with the bars – it might not just be far ahead, it might have something to do with connection or if you are lateral or not.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello!
Good job on these!!

Seq 1:
Hey, nice job on the RC in the first rep!!!! Yay! You can actually face the rear cross line sooner – as you pass the wing of 3, you do not need to straighten up to face 4, you can be slightly turned and facing the center of the bar already. Excellent verbals too!!

Rep 2: BC – you can start it sooner – as soon as you see his head exit the tunnel, execute the blind. You waited til he was centering in on jump 3 – you don’t need to wait that long, especially on this type of line. On this type of line where your motion really presents the #3 jump you can probably start the BC as soon as he commits to 2!

Sequence 2: Wrap on the 4 jump:
Hard to tell at :26 how deep to the tunnel you went, so remember not to go too deep – it looked like you went a little closer to the tunnel than needed, but I think that was more of a depth-perspective thing on the video angle?
On the wrap – this is happening to almost everyone 🙂 You are trying to get to the rotation too early so it is actually producing a wider wrap than we want. When he landed from 3, you were trying to rotate and send back to 4 at :29 and :43. The propulsion of the big send back to the 4 jump is more motion than needed here (backwards motion is often read as forward motion when there is a lot of it) so you can delay the rotation: as he is exiting the tunnel, show him acceleration. Then as he is approaching 3/landing from 3, show him a forward-facing decel and hold that decel for a step or two, exaggerate it as needed… then when he is maybe halfway to the jump, rotate and leave. That can get better collection which will tighten the turn – and also keep you from getting too far ahead there, which makes it harder to show the line.

The rest of sequence 2 looked great!

Seq 3:
Rep 1: RC on the flat to 4 is a good RC to practice – you can start pushing in towards the tunnel sooner, so he is a little further over on the bar towards the tunnel on the 3 jump.
The wrap on 5 is another spot you can emphasis the decel and delay the rotation a little bit.
On the RC on the ending line 0- he is reading these RCs really well!!!!!! You can face the line to the rear cross sooner (no need to face forward to 8) and then it will be perfect.

Rep 2 – I love the idea of a long lead out on this sequence! Check out where you were on :29 – on a slice line on 2 that is not direct to 3. That set off a chain of events: he got 1-2 but then had to turn on landing of 2 to find 3 and at 3, watch his jumping effort – can you see how high his butt comes? (:32-:33) That means he was off balance and a water skiier losing the line of the boat LOL!

So on the lead out lines, the perfect path rules apply – lead out on the perfect path so you can handle it from the perfect path – as a FC or a serp, or moving into a BC.

Ooh, I liked the switch at 5!!! Very nice line and turn and it set a nice line back ot the tunnel. Because it was a RC, you had a decel then rotation and he was lovely!

You pulled away from the RC line at 7, so he slowed down a little on the 7-8 line. Stay tight to the wing there and get right on his tail 🙂

Next rep – you did the RC opening on 4, you can also push in sooner to turn hi to 4 – that will get you to the wrap even more easily. I liked this turn on 5 the best so far – you can still cace forward a little longer to make it easier to decel, but the entire cue here was decelerated and he was really lovely!
He smoked you a little on the last line at :59 🙂 You made a clear connection as he exited the tunnel there and then I think you had a “OH CRAP HE IS OUT OF THE TUNNEL ALREADY” moment ahd took off LOL! That made the blind late. So on this type of line – as soon as you see him heading to the tunnel, run like mad and do the BC before he exits.

Let me know if that makes sense about why we can get away with doing the blind so early (because the motion makes your line so obvious and also when hte blind is finished early, it will still cue 7). Other angles would make it a bad idea, but it works nicely here.

Seq M3:
I think the lines you set on the first rep 1-2-3-4 and 7-8-9 are the fastest lines through the backsides. You did rep 1 as serps with rears on those spots – it worked nicely, but yo ucan also try them as serp-to-blind (german turns) which will be faster 🙂

The switch at 5 on the first rep was lovely!!!!

On the 2nd & 3rd rep – you can set a nicer line 2-3 by leading out more on the exact line and not past the wing of 2, that set a big zig zag. Having to push back to get 3 delayed you from getting into the exit line – you did run the right line, it just took a little longer to get there so he saw you slicing and that is the line he took 3-4 which contributed to missing the #4 tunnel at :42

You wrapped him to his left on 5 – hard to see inthe sun spot but his exit line was a little wide – that is a spot for decel too before the rotation.

At 1:10 on the last rep you did the serp-blind on 7 – nice! To get it really smoothly, send him to the backside there from further across the bar – at least center of the bar but ideally closer to the exit wing. Your goal is that you are already on the takeoff side of the bar when he arrives on the takeoff side of it – then the blind will be earlier and he can have a tighter line there. You were a tiny bit late getting to the takeoff side so he had to go around you on the blind.

Nice work! I am especially happy with all of the RC work 🙂 Let me know if the ideas make sense!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Great job on the verbals, everyone!!! I love that you all also posted ones that are not yet trained 🙂 Priorities!!
It can be SO overwhelming to face training ALL these verbals, so I have prioritized them. GO, wraps, left/right: those are top priorities for me personally, based on what my dogs will need to know and when they need to know it. Along with the name as an attention cue.
Then… obstacle names for commitment.
After that: tunnel discrims/threadles and ‘get out’
Then threadle slices and backside slice/wraps.

Somewhere after that – threadle wraps. I almost never see those on course. I will need to emphasize them more if I ever want to go back to Europe to compete, but that is soooo not on the radar with the youngsters right now, and Voodoo is not a dog that I want to jump at 24″.

Just a bit of Sunday morning food for thought!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

I totally have an out drill 🙂 Disclaimer: there are some handling schools/systems that will not like the way I cue it LOL!! But it gives my dogs useful info, they get to be fast AND accurate, and it does not damage any other cues 🙂 One of my favorite instructors hates it LOL! But I can’t survive those big UKI courses with Voodoo without it 🙂 I will dig it out and post it up with the custom skills sets tomorrow 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning, hope you are having a great weekend!

I think the backside wrap is going to work well for you! He automatically collected better. I have a skill set coming about it tomorrow so you can see more about it and play with it too 🙂

On the full sequence – the around at 3 was good! You were at the exit of the tunnel when he entered – Iwant to play with using his skills even more (when ya gotta ’em, use ’em! LOL!) Lead out a tiny bit more so that when he is entering the tunnel, you are closer to the entry: then proceed in a straight lint to 3 so you are closer to the exit wing to push him around to the entry wing. Then keep moving forward like you did – the goal is that you are entirely on the takeoff side as he arrives on the takeoff side of 3. You were *almost* there at :35 and you can drive through it even more if you are one or two steps further ahead.

Loved the double blind on the 2nd rep! the 2nd one can come sooner – as soon as you see his head turn to the bar, you can whip your head around to the 2nd one. I timed the serp versus the double blind: almost identical through that section. My guess is that he really liked chasing you into the first blind cross, more than pushing to the backside serp. But they were both fast!

The send to 4 and the serp on landing of 5: YAY!!!! Looks great. A perfect example of using the tools you’ve trained! His commitment at 4: FABULOUS. You can add in raising this bar, because his skills are so strong AND the jumping effort is rewarded by getting to chase you up the next line and into the tunnel. Wheeee!

Only one suggestion for the ending:
Call him more urgently on the last tunnel to get even more speed up the last line – he had to take a moment to locate you 🙂 Run away calling his name and see what he does 🙂

Great job!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Happy Fourth of July. Did you like Hamilton ?

Happy 4th! Yes, loved Hamilton 🙂

>>I have a tendency to wait until ahe exits the tunnel before I go. Need to work on that.

That is an interesting point. It sounds like you are being more reactive in those moments than proactive? So you can plan to keep moving and go to where you need to be – and use your connection to switch gears if needed.

>>I can go deeper into the tunnel and run out of it, but I am afraid moving up the line to 4 will cause her to jump 4 long. ???? She seems very sensitive to forward motion.

It will be something fun to try – add in the turn verbals and see what she does!

Keep me posted!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! I hope you aren’t too sore from the trees, I am tired just hearing about that!

>.RCs were a bit of a challenge for us. Just when I was going to quit and ask your assistance, I did the cross earlier, and wala! It happened! I love the leash in the ground. I need that visual, and I never complete a handling move that early. Game changer!

Perfect!!!! The ones that you did earlier really helped!!!!

>>I wasn’t sure how to get the tight turn out of the tunnel. Much of that comes from my lack of confidence to cue before the leash. I started saying dig. I’m not sure that is appropriate here, and I didn’t like it anyway. “Dig” seems to be a word best dedicated to jumps only. >

I think the tight turn actually went well when you were on time (more below) – she can’t get tighter on them without slowing to a crawl, which we don’t want. You can of course use a different word, but it is less to have to remember if you use the same one. And when you did cue on time – looked great!

>>I see in my video I started saying “go” to get her around the wing. Totally falling back into oLd habits where I used to say “go” for just about everything.

Oopsie! You can set up a start procedure for yourself to help make the verbals more of a habit: take her collar, give her a cookie (she will not be sad about collar-taking if she is getting cookies each times) – when she swallows it, start the verbal (plan for the correct one :)) then let go. We all tend to use the wrong verbals when we are trying to go right into things and are thinking ahead too much.

On the video:
For the RCs, you started off a little late but then got sooner and it really helped! Also, moving forward and getting closer to her tail helped too:
The first couple were pretty good, I think that is a stronger side for both of you. When you switched to the right turns on the RCs:
The cues were really late at :47, still late at :55… but NOT late at 1:04 and the rep after it. I think on those, you were standing still for too long and then exploded into it, so the acceleration overrode the RC cues.
The rep at 1:22 was great! This has a more even motion and you were on her tail sooner.
Scrolling ahead to the very last rep at 2:37: YES! Perfect. On time AND steady smooth motion the whole time, tight on her tail 🙂

On the wrap exits – you were hashing out the timing and commitment on the dig dig cues – the verbals were generally on time, it was more about when you needed the physical cues.
– 1:42 was better and 2:09 was great!!!
2:17 was late and a you did post turn, so it was too much motion forward. 2:28 was really good, you are starting to trust her and cue early 🙂

Her commitment to the tunnel is looking really strong, so keep using that line on the ground as a visual to help with timing – she reads the cues beautifully when you are nice and early. And, when playing with doing something wicked early like this, the worst case scenario is that we find out where she has a commitment question and we train it so there is no more question 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning, hope you are having a fun weekend!
TONS of good stuff here to obsess on, I think we can make a few tweaks and then things will be really easy! The camera position was fine 🙂

First sequence:
I don’t think pushing her to 4 on the first 2 reps was a noob-move LOL!! It is a good move! That line is a serpentine and serps are always FAST – you just needed to cue it sooner in terms of the line. When she was landing from 3 you needed to be up there and pushing across 4, on that perfect path. You were trying to do it from outside the line – which means a really independent verbal. You totally could have gotten there (I bet you were just thinking you could not have gotten there): as she is landing from 1, use your GO TUNNEL commitment cue and keep yelling it as you leave 🙂 You can get there easily.
On the last rep with the RC – very nice!!!! She read it perfectly.
Another option on this is to do a BC between 3 and 4 – it can keep you further ahead as well! You will also get there easily.

Seq 2: Looking at the wrap cues, I think one tweak you can make is add decel. You were working hard to get to your rotation and new arm/leg… but that actually showed her a flurry of motion (backwards motion is still motion) so she didn’t really collect. Try adding deceleration nice and early (as you also start your wrap cues) and then rotate kinda late – the rotation is the icing on the cake, it is the transition into the deceleration that is doing the heavy lifting here.
On your reps here, there was not a lot of decel so she had a bit of trouble on the wrap.

On the 2nd video – your first rep was too “slammed” meaning you drove hard and then tried to rotate fast but then yes, 2nd rep was really nice! It had a bit of decel!
With her speed, she will be working these from ahead (and that is fine) so be sure to set the line back to 5 not only with your line and position, but with connection – when you did not connect, she ran by 5. So stay connected until you see her pushing herself back to the takeoff spot of 5.

Seq 3 –
This opening is also a serp line, which means it should be handled on the perfect path – so I suggest leading out to a spot more between 2 and 3 and not on the outside of the line. It will smooooth out the line nicely! On the first rep, you had a dropped bar on 1 and that was because you were on the far wing of 2, so she was prepared to jump towards you… until she saw you move towards 3 and she tried to adjust while in the air of 1.
rep 2 – you were a little further up but note how she lands from 2 then turns to 3. Ideally she would take off for 2 already turned to face 3.
On reps 3 and 4, you were further up the line each time which helped! But you can play with being more *on* the line. Another option there is to lead out dog-on-left and blind cross between 2 and 3 on that perfect path 🙂

On the wrap at 5: this is another spot where I think a transition into decel will really help that turn. On the first rep, you were too far from 5 so when you stepped back towards the line after she landed, she back jumped
Your position there was much better at :30! And even better on the next rep (even with the wrong word) and really nice on the last rep!!

On the RC at the end (you could probably also send her to the 6 tunnel and get a BC 7-8 :))
You can get on the RC line sooner so she sees that pressure starting before you get past the wing of 7 then stay connected and drive more to the last jump – you got caught off the line and behind the jump so she pulled off on the first rep of the RC (rep 4) On the last rep, it was interesting watching the rear cross. In regular speed, it looked fine but then if you it at 1:03 as she is just starting to take off for 8, she is looking straight which means she has not yet seen the turn cue (you are on the diagonal there but have not yet cut across behind her fully) The left verbal started as she was taking off for 8 so she did turn left on landing but ended up on the backside line because of the extension coming into it. So you can really ramp up the pressure on the RC line and get on it before even passing 7, driving on her tail as much as needed 🙂

Let me know if that makes sense! These are looking really good – just a bit more transition needed on the wraps and also a couple of tweaks on lines 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>The biggest problem on all of these runs is the turn out of the tunnel!

Definite training opportunities afoot! These runs give us a good idea of what he reads and what we need to train.

>>He is only reading the tunnel brake when I am near the entrance.

I noticed that for sure, so I have ideas for you for training – yes, use the position in front of the tunnel to get the turns when it works best for the specifics of the course but we will also train to get the turns from anywhere so you have more freedom on course to get where you need to be.

First, thoughts on the runs:

Sequence 1: Being indoors, these are generally 1-stride distances which require different timing – it looks like he will need to see the next cue while still in the air over the previous jump, so he lands with clear info – if he lands and that is when the info is being delivered, it is a shade too late on some of the turns.

Rep 1 – The tunnel turn cue timing was good and his turn was also good, but then he was slipping a little, which set a wider line 3-4 making you late turning to 5 (that is where he would need the cue to be happening over 4)

Rep 2 – this one had a wider turn on the tunnel exit, I think you showed acceleration sooner and that is why he turned wider.
Very nice soft brake on 4!!!

Rep 3- ah, glad you tried this, because while watching reps 1 and 2 I was wondering what the difference would be if he saw you cue the turn closer to the entry and it totally helped. Good news! Nice turn! But… it was a very in-yer-face spin and when he exited at :26, you were parallel to him and RC’d 4 – it worked nicely here but we want you to be further ahead on bigger courses, especially in the opening.

Seq 2:
You did a reverse flow pivot- style tunnel brake rotation on the tunnel entry here (rather than the spin) to get the turn, and had a nice transition into wrap at 4! Nice collection and line. One detail: he drifted coming around the wing a little, his head came up. Part of that is balancing on a harder surface and part of it is a question on which line: try to keep your eyes back to him til he makes the turn and gets on the new line – you peeked forward as he was exiting the wing so that moment of connection was missed. You can peek forward after he gets on the good line LOL

Rep 2 – Tunnel exit here was better than rep 1! Good transition to show the collection on the wrap! He went wide on the exit line though – your feet were on a good line but your dog-side arm was high and opened up way back – and that motion drew him off the line (plus a bit of slipping). Keeping your arm in tight and low and only a little back) should help draw him into the next line but closing your shoulders to it more clearly. Stay tuned for a skills set on that.

Rep 3 – It looks like the tunnel exit was very similar to rep 2 here. The switch looked really good!

Seq 3:
Since we are also obsessing on the lines here, not just tunnel exits 🙂 I like the FC lead out on these! And you had GREAT timing on them. But your position was too far over, off the line – so he jumped 2 more on the center of the bar and turned when he landed on these reps. Try to lead out right on the line and execute the FC with the same timing but on the exact line you want him on (then get outta there of course) – the goal is that you see him jumping on the inside part of bar 2 and that he turns before takeoff. A blind cross might feel more comfy there as well!

Another option 🙂 lead out to do a FC or BC on the landing side of 3 (between 3 and the tunnel) on that perfect path – I think that might draw the most perfect line – he certainly has the lead out skills to make it happen!

On your wraps at 5: on the first rep, you were running hard to get to the jump and even though you got your hand down in front of the jump before he took off, the overall cue was late and he jumped long. Compare it to the transition you made into it on rep 3, where you were planning a different strategy on the tunnel exit so you showed decel and more rotation… NICE wrap! One thing I really see on these sequences is that the deceleration element of the turn cue is really useful for him to process it: running hard then trying to show a strong cue is not as helpful to him. And that is great, because there is no real need on this sequence (or on most courses) to always go right up to the wrap jump – he does better when you plan a decel/rotate transition without trying to get there, which sets you up nicely to be ahead in other spots.

On the 2nd rep, you did a switch/RC on 5 which set up a really nice line back to the 6 tunnel. You and Enzo do a great job on all of your switch/RC cues!
rep 1:

OK, back to tunnel exits 🙂
On reps 1 and 2, there was a lot of motion before he went into the tunnel – you didn’t really have a turn cue on the first rep, so he went pretty straight. You had a high energy name call on the 2nd rep – still pretty straight. On the 3rd rep, you did a BC there – it did help you set the next line by putting you there! I believe his tunnel commitment is quiet strong, so you can get an even better line if you let him see you start (and, more importantly – finish!) the BC before he enters (that 6 foot info line is where he needs to see the BC finished). Letting him see the complete cue should help him expect the turn and to find your new side very easily. And if he has any questions about tunnel commitment, we can train it.

A few more ideas for tunnel exit training:
– keep working the distinct verbals to give them value by pairing them with the handling and placement of reinforcement. Left/right/wrap etc are not super strong… yet 🙂 But keep working them in along with the other stuff so that they will have value when you are not up-close-and-personal on the tunnel entry
– I suggest a shift in the reward placement in your tunnel exit training sessions: on the left/right and wrap turns, have him chase you for the reward (rather than throw it or place it). So you give him a cue, then run away making a lot of noise and have him chase you for it. That can make it even more worthwhile to drive out of the tunnel turning towards you new line. Start this with the up close and personal cues like the spin in front of the tunnel that he is already does well. Then move it to the harder skills – like doing a spin rotation but you are 10 feet laterally away, then 15, then 20… Or a brake from those distances as well.
And add in decel and turning on the left/right cue – at first from in front of the tunnel entry, then more distance away, then from further past the entry. And it all ends with him chasing you for the reward in your hand (part tunnel training, part workout program).
– when you see him turning better, you can start to add more and more motion – I suggest the decel at first to set him up for success and practice the mechanics of the turning.
– start on a relatively short tunnel (10 feet? or 6 feet if it is really hard) then gradually extend it too.

It won’t take that long – but it should isolate the skills and put a lot of value on the turn by adding in the chase 🙂

Let me know what you think!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I’ve continued to work on head turns with Pose and I’ve added a toy and she’s much happier! I’ll check back in when I have more.

Great! I will add a little more to it as well, stay tuned for it coming tomorrow.

On the video – The Left cue out of the tunnel looked good on both runs here!

First run: your Push to turn from the landing side of 3 is a good idea because it also sets up 4 as more of a send rather than trying to rush up there then rush back. The position you had at :20 (more center of the bar on landing side) was a clearer way to show it (also a good running line to set it). On the first reps where she wrapped, your position looked like the backside wrap cue (on the entry wing with feet forward to 4) and the turn cue was not soon enough to help differentiate – the turn verbal should come just before she gets to the backside wing so she is coming around the wing already hearing the slice cue. I think it is actually great to not try to get up to #4 at :30, hanging back helps get the turn without the potential of showing too much motion forward. She showed really strong commitment there so I bet you can switch to your cap verbal sooner and probably rotate sooner too – You might have been waiting to be sure she committed but she seemed to not question it at all! Good girl!!

2nd rep – She exited the tunnel nicely but drifted a little wide to the backside wrap – you can be a bit more sideways in that position for the wrap, with your left hip almost touching where the wing meets the bar: that will expose the how wing to her view and also cues the collection. You can also try calling her name a couple of times so she drives more directly to you then go to your push cue. Also – since push is the same cue to get her to the backside for both slice and wrap, you can switch to a wrap cue before she gets there so she can set up the collection as well. As with the other cues, she has good commitment here as you left for 4 so it is more a matter of figuring out what she needs to come to 3 more directly.
Really nice commitment on the cap cap at #4, nice timing, she added a collection and you got way ahead!

I bet you can also get to the takeoff side of the backside (#3) to do a forced front cross (exiting on your right arm). And your running line 4-5-6 was really spot on here even though you were pretty far from her – as she came around 4, she had a VERY direct line to 5. No questions that I could see!

Also, for more challenge – the #6 tunnel on the map is on the other side (closer to 7) so that can give you the chance to play with turning her the other direction on 4 as well.

Seq 2: this appears to be the same video as Seq 1. Can you repost when you get a minute? Thanks!!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

>>Zing doesn’t want to play the tunnel proofing game LOL

Ha! We will make them fun, she won’t even realize it is a proofing game LOL

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I am staring and staring but I am not good at deciding if he is properly jumping off his rear or improperly pulling off his front.

It can be hard to tell sometimes, dogs are great at figuring out how to get it all done! I look for a few things when watching the grids, looking more for balance. If the dog is balanced, he is using his hind end. If he gets off balanced, he is shifting his weight back and forth, front to hind to front. Here are some of the things I look at:
– ease of motion: is it smooth like silk? Or more of a bucking bronco? Or somewhere in between
– takeoff and landing points: on these grids, the dogs should be taking off and landing in approximately the same spots on each interval between the jumps. If the takeoff/landing spot is changing, he is likely off balance.
– what does it sound like? When the dog is balanced and jumping ‘from the rear’ you are likely hear it: very rhythmic (even rhythms) and you can hear a powerful hit of the hind end (baBAM baBAM baBAM). If the dog is struggling, the rhythm changes, usually gets faster and loses the even tempo (baBAM baBAMbaBAMbababa) and also the accent of the hit will change: baBAM turns into BAbam as the dog shifts weight to the front to try to catch his balance)
– top line, shoulder position, head position, hind end position: I look for fluidity and all body parts stay below the top line: head low and straight, shoulders looking like a dolphin in the waves, and hind end stays controlled and never goes above the shoulders. Spine is rounded and not inverted (when the head comes up, we will see the inverted spine and often also see the hind end coming higher than the shoulders – that is all a sign of getting off balance and losing the hind end as the driver)

So that being said: I think he is doing well on the 12″ bars! Those reps check all the boxes above for the good things to look for.
On the 16″ bars – he is doing well for jump 1-2-3 but then he loses form from 3-4-5.
A great example is the slow motion: the landing of :46 is pretty different in terms of his mechanics in landing at :43. And on the fast motion reps, you can hear it too (and some toenails on bars, I think). On the last rep, you can see it at 1:02, landing from jump 3 (the non-technical phrase is that he is a little “ass over teakettle” there).
So a couple of options for the next visit, with the goal being good form all the way through:
warm up on 12.
Do 3 jumps only on 14″ bars, so he practices good form.
You can also give him a little more room as the bars get higher – have the wings end-to-end rather than over-lapping.

I think it is going well and giving us a great opportunity to pinpoint the tiny details that will help on the bigger courses!

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> I didn’t think I had an independent enough backside yet with Lanna. It is also one of my weakest skills even with the stable pony :). I started agility in era of the front cross and blinds have been a much more recent skill for me.>>

The backside blind is going to be a part of the skills sets coming on Monday (tomorrow) – stay tuned! They are weird at first but SO helpful when they are comfortable.

On the 2 videos:
both of your GO reps looked great – (1st rep and last rep). The cues were timely and high energy and the ball throw was great!
The first right cue (1st video) was a little late, she was very close to the tunnel – but she was turning her head when she exited (even though her body was not quite following LOL!)
The 2nd right rep (2nd video) was much better in terms of timing the physical cue, at :08 you were already turned and doing the verbal when she was a solid 6 feet away, so her turn was really good! I think you said left there though? Hard to tell but it sounded different than the right verbal LOL!! But good to see that the early physical cue is very strong AND that she has the commitment to still go in the tunnel. Yay! Nice job!
Tracy

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