[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Nice work on these!

Crouse 1 w/ Wilson:
Good opening line!! You can get closer to the wrap at 4 (closer to his line) to set up a tighter turn there back to 5. At :08 and :24 and :37 you were pretty center of the bar so he was jumping on it a slice rather than a tight turn. That created a zig zag on 5 so he needed an extra push cue on 6 to get the backside on the first rep, and when you tried to help more on the 2nd rep by being closer to the entry wing, it pushed him to the teeter. You helped him more at :42 and he got it, but it put you way behind so the ended line was a bit zig zaggy.

Demi had a good go-round on both of the reps! Nice connection, she was able to really power on her lines! One tweak for both reps: on the turn cue for jump 4 to 5 (:56 and 1:10), give her the decel, brake and turn verbal (I would use a left cue there rather than her name) starting when she lands from 3 – you did it when she was taking off for 4, which means she couldn’t really do anything til after she landed. She was a good girl and read it, but ideally she can make the adjustment before takeoff.

WIlson Course 2 – on the push to the #3 backside- maintain connection and say the push cue to him and not to the jump 🙂 You looked forward so he ended up on the wrong side of you at 1:27.
On the 2nd rep you had MUCH better connection and he found the correct side. He dropped the bar at 2 – I think that is something to proof (hand moving over the bar) because there was not anything else going on that would have caused it.

The turn at 3 looked good! Start your turn cues for 4 as he is exiting the wing of 3. At 1:43, they started as he was approaching the jump, so he couldn’t make the adjustment until after he landed. You were so much earlier at 2:08 (before he passed you) and he had a much nicer turn!

>>Question: wilson frequently drops the first bar when I lead out past the second jump. Am I leading out too far? Not looking in the right place? Do I need to work on where he needs to start?>>

It is something to track and see if you find a pattern. How far away is he when he keeps it up? How far away is he when he drops it? At what point in the session does he drop it – beginning? Middle? End? Where you standing when you released him? Keep track and you might see a pattern develop.

He pulled the bar on 1 at 2:03 – he was set up far enough bar (not too close) and it looked like fatigue, to me – he added a stride or two then tried to take off pulling from his front. He might need more power conditioning (strengthening the core and hind end) – 24″ is a HUGE bar!!

Skills Sets with Demi – on the soft turns, yes, your hands were too high on the first couple – you mentioned it on the video LOL! And then they were in a great spot on the last one and she turned much better. Use that cue earlier – as she is coming around the wing and just exiting the wing, start the cue. If she is close to the jump, it is too late.

She did a good job on the commitment skills – you had beautiful flailing arms hahahha!!! You can practice this with *less* connection though – try to deliberately look away and turn away sooner and then big rewards for still committing 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> Also, when I log in, can you make it so I can access camp on my course dashboard without having to click other things to get to it?

What are you seeing when you log in? You should be able to see it on the dashboard page… Let me know and we will sort it out.

On the video:
These courses fit really nicely, actually! It didn’t look tighter, it looked really good to me. And great practice to run big courses!

On the videos:
Course 1:
There is definitely some strategy required on this opening! The lead out position on the first rep drew him off the line – by being so lateral, he didn’t see the 1-2-3 line, even though you were moving back in. if you want to be lateral (which is a good idea here) then you can lead out laterally but not as far ahead, so you are moving on a parallel line then release then stay on the parallel line as you continue to move forward.
The FC was a bit too early on 2nd rep – you were rotated when he landed at :19 so he never got the commitment motion cue to 3. But it was REALLY nice on 3rd rep! Perfect!
I think maybe you had too much pressure towards the center of the bar on 5 at :37? Hard to tell from this angle because I couldn’t see your feet. When you fixed it with the Left to back at the end it looked really good!

Video 2:
First rep – opening looked really good! Not sure what happened at 5 – it sounded like left-left- right LOL! It looked like you needed more connection and more motion on the line towards 5, you might have been trying to leave too early. On the restart – really nice connection and line of motion!
WICKED NICE blind at 6 after the backside at :28 – perfect timing and position! Always do them just like that 🙂
Threadle-RC on 8 is good – just call him before he enters the tunnel and start the threadle pull sooner.
The Wrap cues on 10 can be a little sooner but also perhaps more forceful, more directly towards his eyes. A Slice works well there too, you can play with both and see what is faster!

Video 3: Wow, 1-6, loved it. That was just lovely! The threadle/RC on 8 was even sooner and smoother, but keep remembering to call him before he goes into the tunnel. The cue on 10 was earlier and that really helped him! Much better!

Course 2 video 1-
Leading out really laterally and then moving back in sets a different visual than he might find helpful – it draws his focus all the way off the line then back to it – might be clearer to lead out to the line you want, releasing in motion on the way there.
Overall, 1-6 looked great on the first run. One little tweak:
As he exits 2, reach your connection into the tunnel so he turns back out to 3 sooner, ideally while he is still in the tunnel.

You got the line 7-8 and a nice right turn on 8… but then he smoked you 🙂 so you couldn’t get 10. You should handle the exit of 6 and the 7-8-9 line a lot more laterally so you can be ahead of him on the tunnel exit – you can run a line from the 6 tunnel that stays parallel to 7-8 by is almost directly to the entry of 9.
On the re-start, he just needed a little more momentum into the tunnel, so maybe starting at 4 would have made it easier to get commitment (he had no problem when he did it in flow 1-2-3-4-5-6).
You were a little further over towards the tunnel on the 7-8-9 line at 1:05 so you got 10, but it is a good challenge to see if you can be even further over on that line and still commit him to it.

>>I tried different verbals including “dig” which wasn’t the right choice anyway…I think “left” should have worked if he had a stronger understanding.

Yes – he was correct on the way he responding to the left cue – I think a threadle cue for the 12 jump will be better because he has to come in to the other side and go back out to get it.

Full run at 1:53 – yes, I think starting way laterally is moving his focus away from the line – when you released him, you were moving back in but not really showing him the line 1-2, so he had a turn where you want a straight line. On the exit of 2, push him out with more connection and a cue earlier while he is in the tunnel, being closer to the line. And being a bit further away on the 7-8-9 line will make your life easier there (less sprinting :))

>>Question on tunnel entrance 13…it was set up kind of as a flat entrance so he didn’t really drive to it…should I give him a “turn” cue to change leads so he sees it?

Yes the way it was set here, you can give him a turn cue to set it or even do a BC between 12 and 13 to set it.

Course 3:
First run – opening line looked really nice, nice turn at 2 and nice threadle/rear at 4. Did you see him almost not go into the tunnel #6 at :14? Looks like you left too early and he was unsure of the commitment there. So one or two more steps in will help you support his commitment.
On the exit of tunnel 8 to jump 9 (similar to Course 2) – this is where the earlier connection (looking into the tunnel) will help get a smoother line.

>>Question on the 270 (jumps 10-11) which also appeared on course 2….I was saying “back” as if it were a backside…is this correct?>>

Yes, if you think he will land from 10 and have any choice of which side of 11 to go to, then yes the backside cue is helpful. On this map – 10 is a legit backside though (not the front side :))

On the last tunnel – remember to give him a wrap cue and also let him see you turn your feet and leave, all while he is still 3-5 feet before the tunnel entry. You were late on the turn cues there so he was wide on the exit.

2nd rep – another nice opening line! And this time you supported the tunnel #6 for an extra step or two and he had no questions.
All looked really good until landing from 11: you had connection then you looked forward at 1:00 and he thought it was a blind, so he ended up in the wrong side of the tunnel. One more moment of connection needed there to make sure he had the line set. Compare that to 1:17 (and also the first rep) when you had great connection and he knew which end you wanted.
The verbal on the tunnel entry was definitely earlier here! You can turn your feet even sooner so he is basically running across your feet, seeing the rotation nice and early.
The last full run looked really great! You again had a lovely opening, great support to 6, great connection 11-12, and earlier verbal on the tunnel entry at the very end. The only tweaks are to connect more on the exit of 8, turn your feet more before he enters 12, and run it with 10 as a backside 🙂
Great job here! Little tweaks here and there among many gorgeous moments!!! Let me know what you think.
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Opening line 1-2-3-4 looked great with Spot!!! He was a zippy little dude on that line too – tons of speed without you even running hard. Yessssss! You got him to the backside at :21 with a little more hustle (be careful of that knee!!!) to put yourself in the picture, and it helped. Because he is so young, he got there and didn’t quite know what to do with himself, so you helped him come in and take the bar at :25 and :30. Note how Wager, as a highly skilled professional, totally knew to take the bar there and you didn’t need to help (Wager looked awesome, btw!) – so with Spot, breaking out the backside slice was totally correct on the next session. Smart training!

When you broke it out, the reps where you kept moving forward and didn’t help too much (then dropped the reward in) were the best ones. We want you to have to move as little as possible in terms of turning your upper body so you can keep the upper body open and drop the reward in earlier.That can help him anticipate it being there so he just goes there and doesn’t need to watch you at all. I think you were cuing it just fine when you had the open shoulder, he just is still learning it – so the earlier drop of the reward can help him automatically come in.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This first run looked really good!! Tons of speed on the opening and you did a good job of moving into the tunnel #2 and #6 – you didn’t really hesitate after 6, it looks more like you were balancing to change directions. You almost took off too much after tunnel 9, but then caught yourslef and then ahd to scramble… he liked that LOL! Yes – it was a good fling at 12 LOL! He needed you to call him and give a tunnel verbal – he was turning and looked at you at :29 but you were disconnected and quiet, so he guessed. Good job just continuing and rewarding for a fast finish.

2nd video: this had a MUCH clearer connection and verbal at 12 and even an arm cue – it helped him find that line nicely! Try to do it a fraction earlier, before he takes off for the jump – that will allow you to set the line and leave sooner… he smoked you on the ending line and you got behind on the a-frame to the last jump (but that is GREAT news – I love that he smoked you!)

3rd video:
yay, he loved the reward in the beginning of the course : ) You can take a tiny opening section like this and put the bars up 2 inches and reward – we will begin inching the bars up while maintaining the speed.

4th video: Nice connected opening line! The blind cross 3-4 will be better than the FC because you will be able to stay in motion – the rotation slowed him down Will it be riskier? Yes! Because the timing has to be spot on. But I think he will enjoy living on the edge 🙂
Wow, look at his a-frame on this one! Flying!
The blind cross on 6 at :14 needs to start sooner – he was already taking off, so he was a very good boy to read it on landing! You can set it up to be sooner by leaving tunnel #4 even sooner, then completely trust his a-frame so you can get waaaaay up the line – and as soon as you see him start to head to the 6 backside, start the blind so it is finished before he takes off. That will also set you up to be earlier on the 8-9-10 section.

5th video:
Nice job on the ending line – you were driving him and taking risks and he nailed it! You were ahead of the exit of the 7 tunnel, so the 8-9-10-11 section looked much smoother.
At :19, you trusted his training and, before he was even past you, you sent him to the 12 jump and took off the new direction. Ivan wrapped tight and ran his butt off back down the line!! You got the 14 backside with no problem because you were right there and then a lovely ending line. He has such nice skills that is it great to trust him and then see how fast he executes them! Great job here – that section at 12 in particular was fabulous.

Lovely job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Sequence 1: VERY nice! Great connection throughout, and that is the most important thing!
Because it went so well, you can try to leave earlier on the FC at 4: as soon as you see her approaching the entry wing, turn and go (but maintain that great connection of course). And on the backside push at 6, you can stay closer to the exit wing, just to set a slightly tighter line for her.

Seq 2: I think you were trying to control these lines a bit too much, so she slowed down in spots or ended up in the wrong place. I think she does better when you are flying! Here’s what I mean:

Video 1: By leading out all the way past 2 and standing still, she slowed down on the opening line and stayed slow through the wrap at 3. Trust your skills more! You can lead out less and drive her in and out of that section 🙂 And then when you cue the wrap, you don’t need to show her the landing spot (note the 2 shakes of your right have as she was taking off at :13) – you can trust her and move forward. That will allow you to give an earlier turn cue on 4.
You had 5 as a backside but it was a front side on the map – you did a harder line LOL! That is fine – you can do a FC on 4 then push to the backside, or you can do a FC on 4 then a forced blind to the backside 🙂 Wheee! More aggressive handling for sure, but you’ll get more speed and excitement on the course, like what she did on the last 2 jumps here.

Video 2:
first rep: you moved up the line to 3 a little more on this one, so she was already faster. She was surprised about the turn 2-3 (landed a little heavy and turned on landing) so you can still lead out less, but push in a little sooner towards the line to 3. It means you will have to move faster but she will like that 🙂 She was faster on the 2nd rep on the opening but I think it was because she knew where the line was from the previous reps 🙂

As with the previous video: no need to indicate the landing side of the jump on 3 (:19) – she is gonna land LOL!! And she shouldn’t need it for commitment – so try it without and if she has questions, we can play with training it more.
Staying there to show the landing at :19 put you in her way when she landed and came around the wing at :20, so she slowed down there and on the way to 4.
The spin on 4 to the threadle to 5 had a little too much control and decel – a FC then a push would be faster.

On the 2nd rep – you did a full post turn on 3 at :44 – this ended up being wider because you were facing the teeter as she was jumping and had to finish the rotation. That caused yo uto do a RC on 4 which showed her the line to the tunnel.

On the last rep, you sliced 3, I think the slice is much faster than the wrap here! You can also play with slicing her the other way (out towards the wall) – that might be the fastest way. Then you can do a spin on 4 (it will get you back to your right side faster than the threadle/post you did here at :58) and by being faster to get back to your right side, you can rotate your feet sooner to tighten up the turn on 5. But note how at 5, you sent her and took off, not indicating the landing spot, and she was perfect! And that allowed you to drive the ending line so she was perfect AND fast.

Your connection has been great on these – so keep up the great connection and now adding in the handling that allows you to show-and-leave and drive her harder 🙂 Let me know if that makes sense! If she doesn’t understand something, we will teach the skill!
Nice work here! Have fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Yay! Nailed these!!!!
Yes – the goal on the backside slices is to be on the takeoff side at the same time she is 🙂 Your first rep had that! She was so tight!
Great job trusting the wrap and leaving – she committed perfectly even with all the motion of you taking off. Also, super tight!
And great job on the 2 forced blinds – you were early on the first one and even earlier on the 2nd one, impressive 🙂
And lovely FC on the backside at the end.
Listen to her noises on these – she wants to bark at you but doesn’t have time, so she makes monkey noises LOL!
Great job – I look forward to using them in the week 2 courses!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Good to know I was rushing and didn’t have to run faster. 😊

You were flying!!!

>>On the blind 3-4…a little late. (Ideas on how to handle if I can only lead out between 1-2 ?).

On a shorter lead out – lead out super parallel, laterally away and handle the line laterally away with distance… and run on the other side of the tunnel, RC 5 then push to 6 🙂

>>I wish I could say I planned the slice at 10, but alas I didn’t, but I liked it

Ha! I liked it too! Remember that you have wicked awesome slicey RC skills, so you can use them in places like that!

>>I hope you have some softbrake exercises for us. We have never done them.

Start with the one jump and wing-to-jump in the skills sets – and the Week 2 package coming tomorrow has more 🙂

>>Not sure if just a verbal here would do it. I will have to try.

Definitely something to play with, testing the power of the verbal and then we can add value to it if needed!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I need to be more thoughtful about when to face her, and try to find more ways to put in accel/decel. I thought I did in the sequences, but as I’m looking at it, not as much as I thought! LOL. I should probably be running them without a dog first.

2 ideas for you on that:
– you can take less of a lead out and run closer to the wings, that will keep you facing her less because you will be moving forward for longer.
– some dogs need strong turning cues, some dogs are naturally really good turners…. she seems to be one of those naturally good turning dogs who does not need a strong cue – so you can face forward longer and not need to work as hard on the rotations – decel is more useful for her, and it appears that early rotation is more than she needs.

>>And DARN I need to work on remembering to use DIG and CHECK correctly! Another reason to run without a dog at first…

I personally spend quality time before each sequence making sure i remember which verbals to use 🙂 verbals are new enough that I still require a lot of mental bandwidth to get them right.

On the video:
Seq 1:
first rep – it looks like you were blocking the wing of 4, so she went long and wasn’t sure what you wanted there. Note your position on rep 2 and 3 (:13 and :21) showed the wing beautifully and she had no trouble finding it. On thoese 2 reps, you turned pretty early which creates a very strong turn cue – I don’t think she needs that strong of a cue so you can actually swoosh her forward for longer, then turn and go. That early rotation is for dogs that need to be really convinced to turn because it will bleed off speed- she is happy to turn to the line, so we don’t need as much convincing to happen 🙂 and we can let her blast into it.
Great connection on the exit of 4 on that 3rd rep! The 2nd rep didn’t have the connection, nice job adjusting to be sure she saw the line there.

Seq 2:
One of the things you can do is anchor off part of the jump before a cross, so you can get on the line you want without disconnecting to look ahead – on the first rep, you were perfectly connected but hit the wing of 3. You can anchor off the middle of the bat 2 – what I mean by that is as you are doing 1-2 on your right, you can be looking at the center of the bar, running towards it… then as you pass it, do the FC or BC – that should line you up in a good spot to show 3 AND she will still see your face and feel the connection.
I liked the BC better on the 2nd & 3rd rep – it looked much easier for you to execute and she really got to extend and run. She did a lovely job on the wrap of 3 there – the motion of the blind coming in kept you facing forward longer, so she had a minimal turn cue and could set up a tight turn without slowing down. On the turn cue at 4 on those reps, you faced her too soon (she was coming around the wing of 3 at :44 and :55 so she slowed down there. On those, you can keep facing forward and then do the rotation as she is much closer to the jump. But, because she sets up turns so well, you can probably just send and leave (no spin) and see how much speed you can get!
The other thing to consider on this sequence is slicing #3 instead of wrapping it. Slices are almost always faster (especially with big dogs).

Seq 3: She read the right cue on #2 really nicely! And, since we are talking about facing forward longer on tight turns – on that first rep you almost forgot 4, then had to scramble up the line to get the turn at 6: LOVED It! There was a lot of acceleration and then a decel and the rotation was a little late minute – look at how nice her turn was at 1:12!

I do like your handling choices better on the next runs of this sequence, turning her to her left on 6 presents a much better line before and after it! You were a little early rotating at 1:33, sh slowed down more than we wanted. But on the last rep, you were later on the rotation at 6, facing forward longer – she had more speed AND still had a nice tight turn. Let me know if that makes sense about being later on the actual rotation. We can also strategize running the lines closer to the jumps before tight turn moments, so you don’t end up getting there too soon. This last rep had a lot of you running hard, tight on the lines near the jumps, and she was fast AND tight. YAY!

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Yay! Welcome! I am excited to see Wilder and Lit’l Bit!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This went well, so much lovely stuff!!

>>. I set up some jumps to practice the turning and running away and also the reverse spin, so he could see turning should happen even when there is motion. Apparently, when I reverse spin, I forget to use my left and right verbals.

haha!! Yes, our verbals all disappear sometimes LOL!

>> so I need to become more fluent in the move. I think it will be a good tool for handling courses him.

Yes, 100% agree! I want to save them for really tight turns, so see below for more thoughts on where the soft brake can be more useful.

>>What skill sets should we be working on this weekend?

I think the soft brake skill set and the transitions skill set will be helpful.

On the video:

The opening skills warm up was a great way to start him on these:
On the nice collection on the wrap looked good!
At :17 he pushed out to the backside – I think it was due to a bit of pressure as you turned, so you can decelerate, moving forward, for longer and then you can rotate and move away.
The left turn at “33 looked really good, he read the decel and shoulder turn and found the jumps, GOOD BOY! You can add the ‘soft brake’ arm as you begin the decel to tighten it a little more.

1st run on the sequence:
Nice opening line! He turns well out of the tunnel and there was a lot of distance there, so your verbal acutally got too much turn at :40! He was a good boy. Nice wrap at :41, you had a good transition into it. At :42, you were too early on the rotation. So for transitions, think of the distance between the exit of the wrap and the next jump as being divided into thirds: while he is in the first 1/3rd, hyou go fast forward. When he is in the middle 1/3rd, you decelerate but still face forward )this is when the dogs commit). As he is entering the final 1/3rd… you rotate. At :42 you rotated as he was exiting the first 1/3rd so he hadn’t committed yet. He might have chased the bird shadow because of the oopsie – dogs sometimes have a little zoom when that happens. I love that he came back very quickly!!

2nd run – a bit more arm back on your connection in 2 spots will smooth this rep out. When he exits 2 at :56, you were looking forward so he looked at you and slowed down, so you had to push harder to 3 which made the turn late (a bit of a domino effect). I liked your transition so much better on this rep (:59!!) I don’t think you need a spin here at 4, you can use a soft brake and leave – the spin should cue a VERY tight turn for a poodle 🙂 tighter than we need here.

A little more arm-back to show connection on the exit of the 5 tunnel at 1:04 will help smooth out that section too. When you re-did that at 1:24, you had your arm back and he had no questions on commitment. Yay!

Seq 2: Very nice!!!! Both runs!! You were really working the connection, arm back, seeing his eyes – looked great! 2-3 had a similar line from the tunnel to jump 3 as on the previous sequence (5-6) and you had great connection here!

At 1:39 and 1:56, 4-5, you can add the soft brake to tight it as you turn and go.

As you drive up the go line at the end – excellent line of running and verbals! Give him a little more eye contact – he looked up at you as he exited the tunnel at 1:41. You had more connection on the 2nd rep at 1:58 and he accelerated to the ending line. Nice!

At the very end you did a spin on jump 4 (2:15) – he read it and responded nicely… but I think a soft brake will be better here and then we can save the spins for the SUPER tight turns.

Great job! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! So fun to start putting the pups on big courses!! A few ideas for you:

She had some bars down on the first rep in particular and later on, likely due to the multitasking of go fast-big course-pay attention to cues the ‘putting it all together’ aspect of all this 🙂 so because of her youth, you can do a ‘tour’ of the course before you run it: break it into 4 or 5 sequences, show each of those at speed, then string it together. That way you are protecting bars by giving her advance knowledge of what is out there 🙂 (because I don’t want to protect bars with defensive handling, if you know what I mean, and I think you agree)

Small detail: She needs a little more turn cue on jump 3 – a right verbal and maybe a soft brake? But that is a lower priority for now, just something I noted.

On the 4-5-6 line:
For now, exaggerate your connection, really let her see your eyes and keep your arm cues a little lower and quieter. That really helped the slicey RC at 5, and it was the factor on the send to 6:
On the first rep, you had the clear connection on the exit of 5 for longer as you moved to 6 – arm down more eyes for a few steps at :07.
At :23 on the 2nd rep, you exited 5 looking too far forward towards 6 and using too high of an arm cue (for now) so she went wider and was looking up at you so came off the jump when you tried to send and leave. The same thing happened on the next time through there: she was drifting at :41 trying to see connection. You held position longer and it helped. But I think matching the connection you had on the 1st rep will help her: youngster tend to go into too much handler focus and lose commitment skills when we break connection and it looks like that is what happened here. I do add a lot of proofing to this, though, so we don’t have to rely on perfection of connection hahaha! Just ask my class this morning that had to run sequences without connected AT ALL 🙂 LOL!

On the exit of the 7 tunnel – the positional cue on that side of the tunnel was what was causing her to turn a bit too tight, you would need to be able to get further ahead so you can be connected on the exit and push her back out (like you did at the end, :49). You can show her the line 5-6-7-8 a little differently to get it: cue 5, but hang out there: send to 6 from waaay back near 5 and then bring her to the tunnel while you run away. You might need a threadle cue as you do it for the correct tunnel entry (it will depend on exactly how the line is set) but it should put you miles ahead for the exit. The other options would end up with you rear crossing 8 but that makes the ending line really hard.
Speaking of the ending line (you did the jump line 8-9-11 per the map) – 9 to 11 is likely a lead change away and not a straight line (it is set like that on the map and she appeared to read it that way, needing to turn a tiny bit to her right). When you were behind or parallel to her and pointing forward, it turned the line of your upper body to the tunnel…. yeeehaw! Great commitment, as you mentioned LOL!!! When you were ahead of her at the end (:51) your line of motion helped produce the line. So – either get way ahead to set the line with motion (which is admittedly really really hard on this particular course and requires 6 to be incredibly independent, which is definitely do-able) or cue a lead change as she is approaching 9 so she lands looking at 11. I cue that by going from ‘regular’ connection (shoulders in a natural position, looking peripherally at the dog, dog-side arm engaged) to a more forceful connection (VERY direct looking at the dog’s eyes so that my opposite shoulder comes forward of my body) and I also use a ‘get out’ verbal. Just how much you need to do will depend on the dog and how comfy they are with lead changes like that – it is a skill I plan to work on here because it is actually pretty hard and we see it a lot on course. I am not sure if the judges do it on purpose but it is certainly there!
Great start on the course work! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I will keep bugging you about timing 🙂 And I think now in the Zing/Hot Sauce generation we are better in terms of training technology to teach things (commitment, turns) so that timing is FAR less important than it was in the Hoot/Voodoo generation.

But also – it is hard to know a lot about timing at this stage with her – I figure we will have it hammered out pretty quickly… then she will find a new gear of speed at which point you will have to hammer it out again haha!!!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Ooh yay! I am seeing head turning! I think she had a light bulb moment at about :15 and then it got better and better on each rep – she is beginning to lead with her head! And still doing a good job with her rear (she is good at not losing her self-awareness). You can change your position for reinforcement a tiny bit, by being about 2 more steps inside the wing, more in line with where the wing meets the bar so she can come around for one or two more strides – making the head turn the most efficient way to get back there, ideally.

I think you can also do this with toys. Since she is not a foodie, we can have a toy reward for this (which will also layer in an element of excitement, which I believe she is ready for now). I used for with CB to start this because he likes food now and he was not ready for toy excitement. But I am starting the baby dog level of this with Elektra with toys, because food is still a bit in the ‘meh’ category, depending on certain factors, so she is much more likely to offer when there are toys – and she is able to handle the arousal that toys bring more easily without losing her ability to offer such a small detail while maintaining body awareness. I think Pose will do just fine with toys!

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello!

>> It is fairly popular to put it on the landing side in the middle of the wing. My opinion is firm on that one–hate it.

Agree: eewwwww!

>>I do think that this method has value when you approach it as a conditioning exercise.

Yes – there is are plyometric elements, bending, etc that we need to be including in the conditioning to be able to get these turns without injury.

>>Building the strength and muscle that it takes from those great turns and power out of them must be done, otherwise you are going to get muscle fatigue on some types of courses and perhaps injury. IMHO, it isn’t the Euro designs where you see this exclusively, sometimes it is super common on the USDAA/AKC designs. Two pinwheels on a course can give you a lot of that.>>

So very true!!! The wrap work can be working more than just wrap jumping!

>>In terms of her shaping those turns. I am not opposed to that. It might add a bit of yardage, but a slightly more forgiving angle can allow the dog to stay in extension some and actually be faster. I know you have thoughts and perhaps data on this portion of this. What do you think?

I am not opposed to it either 🙂 A stop watch will tell us. But I will mentioned that some of the fastest/winningest dogs to have ever run agility were NOT the tightest in terms of producing the traditional visual we expect on a turn. And some of the best looking turns produce times that are much slower.

T

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Tracy Sklenar.

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>These were fun fast little things.

You and Tokaji were HUSTLING!!! So fun to watch.

>> In general I think I can leave earlier in some spots.

Actually….nope 🙂 I think you were rushing in spots and it caused trouble LOL!! When you patient and connected, lots of lovely stuff.

>>Need to work on back side push on Nov 1 jump 6. I added more distance than I usually do for a push.

The distance was fine, positionally – you were pointing forward/looking forward so it pulled her in.

Here are more details and ideas 🙂
Course 1:
On the Blind 3-4 – a little late at :02, she had already made a takeoff decision when you started it, You will likely need to lead out further to be closer to 3 as she approaches 2, so you can start it when she is landing from 2 with a little decel into it to give her a heads up to collect.
You started it earlier at :19 but she still was surprised and went a little wide. She might also need a front cross there to tight it up more, or a long lead out very laterally so you do the side change on the exit side of the tunnel.

Reach your connection more into the tunnel to push her away to 5 and move towards it at :05 & :23, more like a serpentine to get her to move to 5 more immediately rather than come into you then push back out.

On the push on 6 at :07 and :24 – you broke connection by pointing forward to the jump on the push cue so she came into you. Remember to talk to the dog, not the jump 🙂 especially on sends. She was a good girl to take the jump, even if it was the wrong side. You can be patient and connected there and still get to the line for 8 nicely like you did at :33
You took an extra step in there at :28 and also talked more directly to her and she got it.

On the 10 jump, which way did you want her to turn? I thought you wanted the wrap based on the 1st run handling, but the 2nd run she did the slice? I like the slice better there (faster line). The difference in what she read was based on your feet: at :15 on the first rep, you turned your feet forward to the last jump really early so she wrapped. On the 2nd run at :34, you kept your feet facing the bar for a stride or two longer and she sliced.

Course 2:
Really lovely runs here! A couple of slightly wide moments but in general really nice!!
The opening looked great on all 3 runs – connected and fast. I think there are 2 places you can use the ‘soft brake’ arm handling here – 4-5 (to get a slightly tighter turn on 4) and also 8-9 (to get a tighter turn on 8). You can do the soft brake arm softly and from a distance and it should give her a little more collection in those spots. That soft brake involves turning towards her a tiny bit to show the outside arm – you were pulling away (like at 1:07, for example on jump 8) which tends to propel her wider.
At 1:35, you gave her a big chop arm and verbal as she was landing from 7 and then said tunnel really early, so she didn’t take 8. You gave a verbal but I couldn’t hear fully – what was the verbal there? Just wondering so we can sort out if it implied commitment or if it meant “turn now!”

Great job on the wrap at 10 – connected and patient and smooth at :53 and 1:39!!! 1:12 was good there too, but not as calm – it had a lot more energy and SWOOOSH to it, so she was wider.
The ending looked good on the first run! – she doesn’t need to be tighter out of the 11 tunnel because her line set up a nice high speed line to the ending!
On the 2nd run, you had a bit of a domino effect happening: the turn on 10 was wider so you had to wait to bring her back to the tunnel which made the left cue on the tunnel late – her nose was inches from the entry when you said it, so she was wide on exit and missed 12. You were at least 2 strides earlier on the on the ‘fix’ moment and she was perfect.

On the last run – it looks like she took the wrong end of the last tunnel – I think it was just a product of you making sure she got the jump after the tunnel, so the threadle cue was late there. Compare it to the first run where you had a verbal before the last jump and a clearer threadle handling.

Course 3:
On the opening, being far away from 2 didn’t help get you to 4 as much because she didn’t see the line to 3 so you had to hesitate at 1:47 and 2:05 to get her back on the line before heading to the blind on the exit. You can play with leading out a lot less by very much on the line towards the wing of 2 and then you can set the line to 3 sooner which allows you to leave sooner for 4.

4-5-6-7-8 looked really good! I don’t think you need the spin on the entry of tunnel 6 – it was late on the first rep, so she didn’t really see it 🙂 A verbal is probably all she needs there. It was earlier on the 2nd rep, but I still think she will turn nicely without it 🙂

It looks like she exited 8 straight and didn’t see 9 on that first rep – this is a spot similar to the first course #5 where you want to reach your connection into the tunnel and serp/push her back out before she exits.

Nice ending on the 2nd rep! 9-10-11 is HARD! Great job! You can keep your shoulders open in serp position on 11 to push her to the 12 tunnel as well.

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

Tracy

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