[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Teeter: Starting from the climb gave her more balance for sure!

When you were adding the lateral distance and being behind her: put something yummy out on the target (similar to the mountain climber game) so she can drive to it and ignore all of your changes of position 🙂 A bit of cream cheese or anything that will stick to the target will be an excellent focal point!

With the different positions you were adding, she is focusing on you and not driving ahead to the end of the board (either slowing down to let you get parallel or ahead, or coming off the side towards you). She would sometimes hit the target on the 2nd cue, but ideally she goes directly to it . And releasing her to a thrown reward got her looking at you a bit more (watching to see your position to see where/when the throw would be)- so put a yummy on the target so she completely ignores you 🙂 It is easy to fade the reward when she is looking ahead more. And you can also mix in some releases ahead, but I think a placed reward will work better (like the MM or a toy already on the ground) so she doesn’t watch you or your positions.

Layering: She is definitely getting the idea! Yay! And we will for sure be adding more and more of it, because it is just o popular on course right now.

When she had questions here, it was because you were not on the parallel line (like at 1:02). And when you were on the parallel line to hers? She got the layering really well! I think the reps where you came off the parallel line were when yo ended up a bit too close to jump 1, so you can send her to 1 from further away so all you need to do is turn and run up the parallel line (rather than pull away from the line to be able to layer).

Good adjustment in timing to get the balance rep with the turn and NOT the layer! The name call at 1:32 was late (she was in the air already looking at the tunnel) and you didn’t turn so she was correct to stay on the line and turn after the tunnel. At 1:39 you called sooner and also turned, so she found the new line really well. Super!!!

The next timing challenge would be to start those cues as she is landing from 1: either the go go go tunnel plus parallel line acceleration, or the turn cues (name or left verbal, plus shoulder turn).

>>Are there other general exercises that we should do?

Did you get a chance to do the exit line connection stuff I brought over from the CAMP class? Those are fun and will be great for building up course work! I will go find your other thread to see if there is anything we missed.

>>I had a question on max pup4. There do not seem to be regular working spots just audit and full live session ones. >>

MaxPup 4 is only regular working spots – the live stuff is not working, it is a discussion/chat (no live dog training :)) The format is very much like here in MaxPup 3, except we have those live discussions every 2 weeks.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I am excited that you will be joining MaxPup 4! The weather should be better (I hope) and it is good timing as you begin your trial runs 🙂 And I am sorry to hear your hand is still bothering you – I am hoping for speedy healing!!!

The videos look really good! He was definitely happy to be playing 🙂

>>I didn’t reward startline by throwing treat back to him, because when I tried, it was ‘confusing’ him. >>

No worries! He is probably finding the ‘work’ to be very rewarding, so the reward for the start line can be the release as long as you maintain criteria 🙂

>>this ‘jumping up’ is his favorite trick, so that’s what we do at startline.>>

Fun! Little tricks at the start line are SUPER useful!

>>I’m also in-front of him since this seems to work better for him vs trying to position him on my left or right.>>

This is perfectly fine – as long as you have a line up that both you and Fly are happy with, then it is great! No need to add anything that is confusing or annoying to him, as long as he ends up in the correct spot and holds his stay!

He was lovely with his line finding on the blinds, excellent timing of starting the blind! You were not babysitting jump 2, so he had to commit independently and he did. YAY!!

As you exit the blind, you can add a little more connection back to him at :15 and :22 – your arm was in perfect position, low and back to him, but your eyes were looking forward so he was looking at you to see more info. You had much clearer connection back to him at :27 – great arm position, and your eyes on his eyes. That really opens up your shoulders to show him the line.

>>“Front Cross” – I guess you can see that I wasn’t exactly sure what I should be doing and which way I should be turning…>>

On the initial ones, I think you were doing more of a lead out push which is basically us humans being almost done with the front cross when we release the dog 🙂

He read the line really well on the lead out push at :38. You had really nice timing and connection and position on his line. As you exit it, don’t step backwards: step directly to jump 3. That will give him the turn info to 3 sooner, which allows him to set up the turn on 3 better too (at :41 you can hear his feet touching the ground bar because the info was late)

Compare to the next rep where you did not step backwards (:49) and he had earlier info for 3, so he had a tighter turn and did not touch the bar. Super!

You revisited this at the end at 1:14 and 1:29. Your lead out position was different on those reps: you were a little too far away from the line on your lead out push so he was not quite as sure about the turn 2-3 there. When you released him, you were on the straight line side of the jump so he was not quite as fast as he was at :49, when the line was very clear because you were closer to 3 the whole time.

The FC to the right wrap at went well – good timing of turning to 3! At :58, don’t go past the takeoff side (that will cause him to jump in more extension than you want for a wrap). If you are ahead, you can decelerate and then stay near the wing of the wrap without going past it.

Note how at 1:00 as he exits the wrap, he slowed down a lot. That was because he did not see connection – even though your head was turned, your arm was high (blocking his view of your face & front of chest) so all he could really see was your back. So he slowed down until he could see what you wanted next, then he sped up again. If you keep your arm back to him and eye on his eyes like you did on the exit of the blind cross at :27, then you will see him running fast the whole time, because the info is clearer.

>>Tandem Turns – at first I though “we’ll never got it” LOL But looks like he did get it!>>

You totally got it! He did great! What made it work was when had big obvious cues to get his attention on your hands, then you let him get relatively close to your hands before you turned him away.

When you were not as obvious and then too early trying to turn him away like on the very first rep, he stayed out on his line.

When you let him get closer to your hands like at :11 and :27, he nailed it!

Then you had really good timing of starting the cues with a big obvious hand gesture, like at :50 and 1:02 and 1:09, then also let him get closer to your hands when you flipped him away (literally a couple of inches away). So he got it really well! As he gets more experienced, you can turn him away sooner but letting him really drive to your hands sets the line super nicely.

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Patella are fine. He back wasn’t tight. >>

Yay!!!!!!

>>Not really sure what he might be doing. We’re going to begin more conditioning as the temps drop – mostly walks at first along with some basic sit-stand, down-stand, and posture work.>>

Teenage dogs might just have some shenanigans so they get tight. Or maybe in the heat he is not hydrating enough, which might lead to tightness? Whatever the cause, it is great that you’ve got a massage person seeing him – both to work out the tightness and to have him used to getting ‘worked on’ as he begins his career 🙂

>>Do I back chain, take out the layer jump entirely first, or some other approach?>>

Layering is definitely hard and I think it is harder for smaller dogs because they have to take more strides to get out on the lines.

The beginning stages of layering rely on motion into the line and understanding to stay out on the parallel line at a distance, so here are ideas on how you can break things down to get that going (disclaimer, these steps will take multiple sessions over a few weeks, so he can sleep on it and build it up):

The angle of 1-2 here caused 2 to be a little off the line, so he needed a bit of a ‘get out’ to get the 2nd jump here. In the bigger space you can move the #1 jump so the 2 jump is more directly on his line. In smaller spaces, you can use a wing on a smoother line to start so he can propel out on the line more easily.

To pump up the ‘stay out on the line’ understanding, throw all rewards on the line, even if it is not perfect. If he stays out on the line but doesn’t pick up the jump, that is still rewardable out past that jump: think of it as a reward for staying ‘out there’ which is still rewardable! You can also totally place the reward out on the line (landing side of the jump, or near the entry of the tunnel) – no need to keep going to the last jump for now and reward near you, because that is causing him to be more drawn to you (which makes staying out on the line have less value). So you can keep moving as if handling the ending line, but throw the reward out onto the distance line to pump up that value.

With that in mind: To build up the layering, first you will want to build up more distance to the tunnel to strengthen the ‘stay on your line’ concept. So take the layered jump out of the picture for now, and work on driving to the tunnel as your line is more and more lateral. This should work well in both the bigger ring rental space and also at home! Put a leash on the ground for you to run along, to be sure you stay on your parallel line and are not converging in towards the tunnel.

Can he find the line with you 5 feet away? 8 feet? 10 feet? 12 then 15 feet? And so on. All rewards thrown on the line 🙂 And of course use your verbals 🙂

When he can stay on her line with you about 15 feet away, you can add a jump wing to layer (not a full jump, just a wing – that way it is a visual distraction but not as enticing as a full jump).

When adding the layered wing, start the whole progression with you closer to his line so maybe it is only 8 or 10 feet of distance… then move the wing (and your line) further and further away til he can layer it at about 20 feet. When he can do that, go back to the closer position and use 2 wings, set up like a jump, but without a bar. Repeat the process – start closer then move it further and further away.

You work that level until you’ve got him layering at a bigger distance, then the bar can go back in with the jump with the same process: low bar on the layering jump, starting closer – to maintain the parallel path and support the layering, it is also perfectly fine to step over the bar of the layering jump as you are running, as long as you don’t trip on it and fall!

And if something goes wrong, and he doesn’t take the obstacle on the line? No problem, throw the reward out past it anyway as big thank you for staying out on the line (and so you don’t reward near you, which already has a lot of value). And don’t stop or indicate he is wrong (by stopping or walking away from you) – he was running fast on a lot of the reps, but when he was not quite right you didn’t reward/turned away, so he slowed way down.

Generally having a lower arm/more connection helps the young dogs stay on the line on the distance lines, and also starting further from jump 1 so he can propel over it will help him keep that first bar up too!

To keep him running fast, keep the 2-failure rule in place: if he fails twice in the session, make it easier. Even if you throw a reward out on the line when he has missed the jump, you can still count it as an error and if you get that twice… change things to make the line easier. And definitely keep those effort rewards flowing as he learns this new skill!
Working the distance first before adding the layered obstacle can totally help! Having the reward already placed out on the line is a good way to jumpstart the behavior too. And moving the jump closer to the tunnel like you did at 3:21 also helps!

And the more motion he sees, the more he runs like you did here – you can see that at the beginning, at :58, 2:15, 2:38, and after that. Your motion made it fast and fun! He had a bar down at :58 as he turned on the acceleration, mainly due to you taking off into acceleration as he was jumping. I think in the bigger space and/or with a wing to start, you will be able to accelerate sooner and that won’t be a problem at all.

Nice work here! Have fun at the rental today!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Took both pups for a massage yesterday afternoon, Ven had a tight tendon in his back right leg. Not sure what he’s doing to cause that but it’s the second time she’s found that leg tight. I’ll be keeping an eye on it and checking it regularly.>>

Interesting! Which tendon? Same one as last time? You might need to give him more warm up before running sequences and a longer cool down so he doesn’t get tight. Was his back tight at all? Sometimes that can cause tightness in the leg, or a patella that is going somewhere it shouldn’t go LOL!

>>So here is another round of the forced front and forced threadle.

This went really really well, he read the lines really nicely! He knew to come to the backside and take the jump, so the throw backs were easy. Nice job with the reward! Perhaps the backside stuff went a little too nicely on the lead out push at the end, where he did the backside with gusto LOL!!!

You were clearly between the uprights there at 5:14 but he might have just been anticipating the forced front cross there? He self-released on the last one anticipating it too! So when you get there, Mayne look down at your hand to help direct his focus there and shake it a little, so he knows that it is not the backside. He was probably a bit on “this is backside” autopilot 🙂 He did the previous lead out push really well – you can start moving sooner on that one so you are passing the wing just before the takes off.

>>I realized about the time this video ends that I hadn’t done any rewarding the start line stay so I actually did about 3 rewards after I stopped the video.>>

Good for you! Perfect!

>>Goodness that boy knocks bars everywhere;

In this session, he knocked bar 1 a couple of times because he was set up very close to it. Try moving him back so he is 10 feet away from the bar, so he can get more power into it on the release. I don’t think he dropped bar 2 at all?

>> I counted 5 times he knocked the bar the other day just in one turn. Does he not see it or is his brain just not processing that it’s there? >

On some of the other videos, if I recall correctly, there was not a lot of motion so he was running in collection/trotting so that contributed to the bars down. Try to give him a lot of motion so he can respond with extension over the bars. And if a bar does come down (especially more than once) you can look at the video before the next rep so you can make the adjustment: was there enough motion? Connection? Was the timing early enough? All of the can contribute to the bar coming down. (And making sure he is not tight anywhere).

>>even when he’s just coming back to setup he manages to knock them.>>

That is just him being silly coming back to you 🙂 so try to get him to come around the bar not over it in those moments 🙂

>>I’m starting to worry when he just walks over the bar taking it out with his chest or a back leg.>>

If is he walking over it, then definitely add more motion to get him jumping and that should totally help!

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Yesterday went well:).

Looks like the whole weekend went great – he is all business in the ring. What a fantastic debut weekend!!!!

>> He dropped a bar where he tried to bounce. It was just a bit too far and his back leg took it down.
>>This morning I was wondering what I did that got him off? Also if he gets off like this, should I keep going or stop and reset?>>

Welcome to the joys of AKC distances at 24″ (I think he was jumping 24 here?) Yesterday’s bounce distance caught him by surprise probably. And on this run, your first blind was a tiny bit late (reconnection was after he landed) but then he was unable to re-balance because the distances where he dropped bars were collected one-strides for him. And the RC at :11 was a little late but then he had a collected one -stride to the next jump.

So basically those distances were brutal for a dog his size and power and speed – he tried his heart out but couldn’t catch his balance (plus probably a little mentally tired on day 3). Most of the high level 24″ handlers with super fast BCs like him don’t do regular AKC because of the distances.

So if you want to do regular AKC (especially Excellent/Masters), you will need to show him those little distances in training (the ones here are typical of what you will see). So take relatively simple sequences and set them on 18 or 19 foot lines so he learns to regulate his stride and work in collection to get around the courses. Or, stick to UKI and USDAA where his stride and speed is an asset 🙂

>>Also if he gets off like this, should I keep going or stop and reset?>>

If there is a way to reset and keep it fun and in flow, then sure! Maybe send him to a tunnel or have him come to you for the toy if it is FEO. Otherwise, just get more connected and help him out more and keep going – he was working so hard! And stopping tells him he was wrong, and I don’t want him to be frustrated – I think he is just inexperienced with these smaller distances.

Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This was a great video because it highlights what he is reading versus what he is not reading.

>>You can see that I lose faith in my verbals quite quickly. It is a simple 90ish degree turn and should be LEFT. >>

True, but it was not working, so it was fine to abandon them for now.

>>At least I didn’t use any naughty words…but it quickly became LEFT, LEFT COME HERE. >>

Ha! At one point you did say COME HERE NOW which made me laugh because it was so relatable LOL!!!

>>That is, if you wanted to create a turn you needed 19+ feet in which to do it. On an AKC course, that might be BEFORE takeoff of the previous jump. Yikes. Alas, I might be finding that out for Casper. >>

Yes – a 19’ distance with a big striding dog usually does mean that the cues come before takeoff of the previous jump. But I don’t think the question here was timing – it was motion! It didn’t matter what you were saying, he was reading continuous motion as the cue to go to the tunnel and stopped motion as the turn cue. The steady motion moments did look similar enough that I can see why he thought it was the tunnel.

You can see it throughout the session, but here are some pinpoint moments:

:44 (steady motion) versus :51 (motion change)

You can also see it at 1:24 versus 1:29.

He had several successes in a row at the end (like at 2:08 and 2:26) but you can see the decision to turn relates more to when you stopped your motion (after he landed) than to what your verbal was.

This also supports my theory that it was not the tightness of the setup… he would have gone to the tunnel if you had not stopped your motion on those reps.

So that is great! He responds to decel!!!

But also……… We really don’t want you to depend on having to decelerate or stop moving to get a turn, especially when a tunnel discrimination is present (because that is everywhere now in course design). He is too fast for that!

A few years ago we would have done a spin there, but I hesitate to recommend that there because it is a LOT of handler rotation when you will want to be moving up the next line. I really only do spins if the rotation turns me to the next line – and in this case it does not. But you can show him a spin to see how he responds to it, because basically it says to him: “DUDE! It is NOT just about motion!”

So then what tool do we have in the toolbox to keep you moving forward but still getting the turn you want? The brake arm! Huzzah! I bet that will work: As he lands from 1, your motion remains the same: steady, no decel, not stopping. But your opposite arm comes up to join your dog side arm as kind of a WHOA YOU NEED TO COLLECT cue 🙂 as you keep turning your shoulders to the correct line. The brake arm will override motion, which gets collection and allows you to keep moving.

He is will probably outgrow the need for it over time, but it is SUPER useful for now and will help attach the verbals (and saying the verbals quietly helps too, as the different ‘energy’ actually helps attract the dog to turn). And at first, you might need it to be REALLY obvious as long as you don’t stop moving. You can see more about the brake arm in live class 2!

I used it when my Voodoo was a youngster to teach him to turn (he was very much like Casper at 2 years old – all go go go :)) He needed it less and less as he got experienced and then when he was 4 or 5 years old, didn’t need it much at all.

The brake arm is fashionable right now too (so people won’t think you are insane to use the outside arm 🙂 )- because so many courses require the dogs to turn with cues that need to override forward motion. I don’t know what other people call it or how they explain it, but it is the same concept 🙂 I think Jen uses it too for some things so definitely ask her when you see her in person next!

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

These are super challenging sequences/course and I think they went well! A couple of ideas for you as you keep working on the hard elements (she’s pretty perfect on all of the easy elements and all of the sorta-hard elements 🙂 )

Looking at the hot topics sequences:
Because she is young, the hardest thing right now is the conflicting indicators: when verbal says one thing and physical cues say another. Youngsters almost always process the physical cue over the verbal, and that is what was happening when she had any questions here. When we look at the very experienced, highly successful fast dogs – they are able to prioritize verbals over motion because they have the exposure, learning history, and experience to be able to do it. She is ready to start on that path!

For example, she was reading the backside cues and the tunnel cues really well on the first video when the motion really matched up with the verbal. She took the tunnel instead of the backside when you had a conflicting indicator at :39 – big arm movement when your verbals were saying “tunnel”.

Similarly, when you were staying in motion for the threadle, she took the backside of the threadle jump (because the threadle verbal/arm should override motion) but when you decelerated/rotated, she got it… but that put you behind on the line.

She didn’t have any bloopers for the pushes to the circle wraps, because your motion supported the circle wrap… but also kept you on landing side of that jump for longer than needed.

So I think we can start emphasizing verbals overriding physical cues for layering and backsides (carefully, so we don’t get too much failure or frustration). 3 ideas:

-You can set her up further from 1, so she can really stride into it – this is unrelated to verbals versus motion LOL!!

-Start by keeping your motion and line exactly the same, regardless of whether you are cuing the tunnel or the backside. The only difference(s) will be the verbal(s). If you are walking up the line for the backside cues? Walk the exact same line for the tunnel cues. Same speed, same line, same arms. Verbals differentiate. To make it easier at first, you can rotate the backside jump so it faces her line more and is easier to find. When she is successful with you walking… add jogging! Build up to running!

-When she can can do successfully with the motion being the same, we can add more challenge: like an arm fling while you are cuing the backside. Or a big decel on the way to the tunnel. Think of what the physical cues for each would be, and apply a small bit of them to the opposite verbal cue. That will really help her prioritize the verbal in those contexts.

When doing this, live by the 2-failure rule: if she fails twice in the session, it is too hard so you will need to dial it back to make it easier. It takes a while but it is totally worth it! Did you ever play the games where you sit in a chair and do verbals only for front of jump, back of jump, wrap, tunnel, etc?

The same will go for the circle wraps too, so ideally you can drive into position and use more countermotion, even with the tunnel right there.

For the threadles, I think the turn cue for the jump before the threadle will also really really help – just going into the threadle verbal here did not get the line. But compare it to what you did on the 2nd video, with adding the ‘left’ verbal and she was VERY successful getting the threadle! Your timing got better and better and at :54 you gave her a left as soon as she got to your right arm and as you were sending her to the 4 jump: that was great timing. When you were later with it, she was later processing it and picking up the threadle (which is why she dropped the bar at :35)

Also on the 2nd video – a small moment of physical cue overriding verbal – she missed the threadle jump at :55. I had to watch it a zillion times to figure out why… looks like your threadle arm swung back extra as she was sorting the line, and that is what pulled her off the line. She sees everything! The other reps had a more stable threadle arm so she got the threadle. But with the emphasis shifting to verbals overriding physical cues, she will get it. And that will allow you to run like mad to the next line, like at 1:07 for the blind – that was your best timing so she had a great turn!

Looking at the full course – this went really well! There are a couple of spots where I think you can trust her line & commitment more, which will then set up ways to more easily have your motion and verbal support the next thing. The little blooper spots were all motion overriding the verbal.

She got the layered threadle really nicely at the beginning!! :03!

At :09, did you want a slice or wrap on 6? It was hard for me to tell because upper body said slice, I think your verbal was slice, but change in motion said wrap – and you had a complete poker face and kept going (click/treat for YOU!!!) Motion there can help support the verbal – keep moving across the face of the 6 jump and turn your feet towards it, so she doesn’t see lower body wrap cues.

Since she is weaving really well… as soon as she gets the entry, get outta there 🙂
She had a bonus jump on the layering because at :14 the left verbal and brake arms were late on tunnel entry 9, she was just about in – and all motion was forward, which sent her forward on the exit. So, if you can send her to the weaves and head directly to the blind, you can do the BC starting when she exits the weaves and then as she is landing from 8, start the tunnel turn cues. The earlier timing will give you a lot more time to get the motion and verbal to line up to deliver the turn cues (yes, eventually verbals will override even if they are late, but we can work on earlier timing too 🙂 )

She had great lines 10-15!!

Two other spots where she had conflicting indicator of motion versus verbal:

At the exit of 15 weaves at :26 – she is following motion of your lower body converging even with the upper body doing a threadle, and that is what pushed her to the backside. Ideally your motion would be parallel to the bar of 16 (more like what you did at :37, yay!!) so you can get the info to her starting sooner (before she exits the poles, really trusting her to stay in) by getting up past the exit so she is not seeing convergence motion when she exits, and start the threadle verbal and upper body sooner (before she exits, no later than pole 10 for now) with your motion going more straight towards the teeter (clever to replace the frame with the teeter here!!!)

And I think you wanted a wrap not a slice on 18 at :54? It looked like your upper body, your decel, and the verbal said wrap but feet/motion said slice (you were facing the slice line, not facing parallel to the line to the dog walk). But again, you had a poker face and kept going so click/treat to you 🙂

In these instances, she had to choose motion versus verbal – motion won out, which is fine, because we can totally tweak the physical cues. But we can also isolate the the verbals so she is less reliant on the physical cues too! For example, you can start her with someone holding her – you say the verbal cue a few times as you are walking forward, then she gets released to start moving – you keep saying the verbal then add the physical cue to support it. The goal of that would be that the verbal cue predicts the physical cue… so she just starts the response without waiting for or needing the physical cue. It is a super fun way to prioritize verbals!

Great job here! Let me know if this makes sense!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

These are good ones to do without a lot of motion, because it requires the connection to be really clear and she gives you feedback on when it is and when it is not.

>> I found I sometimes pulled her off but I think my slowness doesn’t help.>

There were two spots where you pulled her off the jump (:03 and 1:44). That happened because you hit the brakes hard and rotated before she was passing you/nearing the jump. Even without being able to run hard for now, you can do a transition into a little bit of decel to let her get more committed then slide into the rotation. On the successful reps (like :09, :19 and the others) you had more transition and smoother rotation so she committed really well. On those, she was closer to the jump when you rotated, even if you were not ahead of her.

For the clearest connection on the exit of the blinds and fronts, you can keep the toy in your dog side arm as you start the sequence, then don’t switch hands 🙂 Leave it in that hand so as you exit the cross, it is now in the opposite hand and you are showing it across your body. That pushes the dog-side arm back and really opens up connection, so she has gorgeous turns (because she sees where to be really early on and picks up the new line fast). You can see that at 1:19 and a bit at 2:11. Once you have the dog-side arm back, leave it back to set the next line (resist temptation to look forward or point forward, as that will widen her line).

For the blinds at :36 and :44, you can trust her commitment and start the blind sooner, definitely before takeoff and probably at this stage, no later than when she is halfway between the tunnel exit and the jump. You were starting those as she was in the air, so she landed a bit wide (you were a bit far from the next jump too). And when it is a left arm to right arm blind, the toy will stay in your left side the whole time, so you can use it to really open up the connection back to her as you finish the blind.

The sequences are going well! Be sure to stay upright more because bending over will close off her view of the connection. Having the toy across the body visible back to her will keep your more upright. We have a really good visual of it in front of the camera at 2:04. In that rep, you show a heartbeat of exit line connection with the toy across your body while she is over the jump but as she is landing, you switch the toy to the dog side hand which closes the shoulders forward – so she looks at you and is a little wide for a few strides until the tunnel comes into view. You will have a super line there with the toy in your right hand the whole time, resting on your left hip as you exit the FC with your left arm pointed back to her. That will feel weird at first 🙂 but then it will get easier and easier, so you will be able to short perfect connection each time.

Great job here!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

The forced fronts are going well! One suggestion: Try to have your hand down in position before you release so she knows exactly where she is going before the release. But we don’t want to have it be associated with the release or for you to move it into position as you release her (like at :36) because then she will leave the stay before the release, so move it slowly so she doesn’t mistake it for part of the release then praise her… then either reward or release.

Also be sure to set her up on and angle so she takes jump 1 on a slice directly towards the backside (which makes the backside easier to see), rather than facing it straight then having to turn after landing of 1.

For the lead out push at :22 – To get a tighter turn there (she should collect before takeoff) you will want to stand literally on the line you want her to run, nice and close to 2 in this case. Then as she is landing from 1 and looking at 2, you start moving to 3 to get out of the way 🙂 On this rep, you are too far from her line so she is jumping 2 in extension and turns after landing.

Layering game:

>>layering was a mess. How can I break it down for her?>>

I think pumping up her understanding of staying on a parallel line to the tunnel with you further and further away will really help! Parallel path is key to layering, with you moving along a path parallel to hers. On the first couple of reps, you were pulling away a bit and pointing forward a bit, which pulls her off the line because it turns your shoulders away from the line.

To build up the layering, first you will want to build up more distance to the tunnel to strengthen the ‘stay on your line’ concept. So take the layered jump out of the picture, and work on driving to the tunnel as your line is more and more lateral. Put a leash on the ground for you to run along, to be sure you stay on your parallel line and are not converging in towards the tunnel.

And be sure that all of the rewards are way out past the tunnel exit (like at 1:01 but even further away)and nowhere near you 🙂

When she can stay on her line with you about 20 feet away, you can add a jump wing to layer 🙂 but start it closer to the line so maybe it is only 8 or 10 feet of distance… then move it further and further away til she can layer it at about 20 feet. When she can do that, go back to the closer position and use 2 wings, set up like a jump, but without a bar. Lather, rinse, repeat 🙂 til you’ve got her layering at a bigger distance, then the bar can go back in with the jump 🙂

The bang game on the teeter looked really good here! She was holding position really well as you added more motion – yay! Yes, one little blooper but that is part of the learning process, no worries at all 🙂

On the teeter video – she is doing well finding the angles of entry with the mountain climber game. And she is driving straight to the top when you are parallel to her or ahead of her. But if you were behind, she would wait for you and not drive to the top. It is probably because you were using a reward that was nice but not *compelling* 🙂 so she was checking in with you. We want the reward on the target to be so high in value that she doesn’t care at all where you are LOL!!! So, try cream cheese or spray cheese or liverwurst or a dab of peanut butter or something ulta-delicious. It will get her driving forward regardless of where you are. Since it will be higher in fat & calories, you will want to do fewer reps but that is also good for making it really exciting (less is more!)

She was great with the teeter between 2 klimbs! My only suggestion on that is to start with her already on one end of the board rather than have her jumping onto it. When she jumps on, she first has to catch her balance/shift her weight before she can run fast then shift her weight again at the end… so she ends up slower. But if she is already on it and doesn’t need to catch her balance? She can really rip across the plank to the end position with a lot of speed 🙂

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

What a fabulous debut!! I love it!!!!

>> He was a good boy and I was really happy with what he gave me. He was trying super hard. He held his start line (Mr. Business), got weaves, finished on a nice go, and totally followed my body when I turned off the loop. >>

Heck yeah to all of this. This is what a debut should look like… so exciting!!!!!

>>I thought he was committed, but it’s pretty amazing how in sync he is with my line as he pulled and pushed back to the jump.

Yes – bearing in mind that he is inexperienced and processing a whole lot of things at a trial, try to over-commit him by amplifying your connection a lot more and taking extra steps to each line. That will help support the commitment. Will you maybe end up with some off courses? Maybe, but that is easy to dial back when he is more experienced. And if something goes wrong, like he runs past a jump…. don’t fix it 🙂 Just connect more and keep going. Running past a jump is handler error, so fixing it can set up more errors and also can be frustrating for him because he was following you correctly.

>>One question is on the first three jumps. The dummy jump was in play even when I tried different lineups and I wasn’t confident a shoulder turn would be enough.>>

For a lead out push, you would want to be closer to jump 2 to set the turn more. When you were that far away, he read your position as an extension cue – then when you started to move, he tried to adjust but couldn’t keep the bar up. The other option is to run into a blind cross by leading out close to 2, release, run, start the blind when he is landing from 1 and looking at 2. Don’t worry about the dummy jump, pretend it is not there and handle the line 🙂

Have fun today! Send updates!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

I think this went really well!

>>so I tried to “race him back to set-up” a few times to bring up the energy.>>

I think he liked it!!!!

>>I struggled with which foot and hand went where so before we do this again I’ll be in the back yard watching and talking to my phone while I try to fix me.>>

You basically had it – for the forced fronts, it is the hand closer to the wing and then you would step back with the leg closer to the wing. That is what you did her at the beginning and he read it really well!

It was not clear if you were doing a full front or a throwback (tighter wrap) as the exit because you rewarded rather than finish the rotation – the full FFC has use finishing the rotation to face the jump. The throwback would have you moving forward out of it when he is on the way to the jump (it is kind of an ass-pass :))

He had a good question at 2:05 – you had your opposite hand as part of the cue, which rotated you more to kind of be facing the jump. If you wanted a forced threadle, you would be fully facing the jump but your threadle arm would be outside the wing. For the forced front, you would use the arm closer to the wing like you did at :52 (he had no questions there).

My only other suggestion is that you can set him up on a slice facing the backside line so he is not jump 1 straight – that will take out the front side as an option when you want the backside because he will see the backside but not really see a line to the front.

You set him up perfectly for the balance of the lead out push at the end! If you wanted to do the lead out threadle, you would use th exact same body position as you did here fr the lead out push… but you would move your position over so the threadle arm would be fully visible outside the line of the wing.

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

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

MaxPup 4 is next on tap! It has been posted:

[AU-072] MaxPup 4 Transition To Trials: To The Line – And Beyond!

Starts in October!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Is it his first time in the ring? Please keep me posted and send video! Very fun!!!!

You did great this summer, learning to drive your new baby dog! Exciting times ahead!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This also went well – it is a hard one!

>> I need to work on getting his name (soft turn) out when he is going into the tunnel.>>

Yes – before he goes in. Put a marker on the ground in training to give yourself a visual 🙂

He was collecting really well on the 4 jump, all you needed to add was to keep your shoulder back like a serp and call him to get him to take 5. You closed your shoulder forward at :09 which pinged him back to the tunnel. And you were a tiny bit too early with your rotation at :21 there, you can keep moving forward for longer (til he lifts off) – your decel was very clear and he was collecting well!

Going through the box went well, you did a good job of getting off his line! Adding the circle wrap complicates it because you had to step precisely to the next line: you moved into him too much at 1:07 and 1:32 and he looked at the off course. You stepped back towards the tunnel at 1:53 and he considered the tunnel (dropped the bar).

Nailed it at 1:21!!! That was the exact line. Yay!

He layered really well!!! You can add in giving him a decel and turn him away sooner for the TW so he can collect – too much motion got the spin the first time then the threadle slice the 2nd time. But no worries, he got the layering and the correct side of the jump, and that is huge for a young dog!!!

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This went well! It is all about the small details:

Since we are thinking about which verbals to use:
I think you were using lala (backside slice) on jump 1, but it is highly collected and he enters/exits on the same wing so a backside wrap verbal is more appropriate.

Don’t forget to give him a tunnel cue after 2 🙂 Adding the obstacle name will totally help give permission to take it!

The GO went great!
For the left turn, you might need to switch to ‘jump’ as soon as he enters the tunnel at :16, the left was almost too tight and he almost missed the jump on the first rep. He found it easily on the next reps but he had already seen it once 🙂 He dropped the bar a couple of times but I am guessing it was more about the toy throw happening at liftoff.

For the backside: He turned really well with his name, nice and quiet! But then you didn’t really tell him about the backside at :48 so he took the front because it was visible
You gave the name calls later after that (1:17 and 1:33), but those turns were wider – the timing of the first rep got the best turn 🙂

Thinking of verbals:
At :59 it sounds like you used a lalala but it is a circle wrap so it should be your dig dig like you did at 1:32.

The layering went great! Make sure you don’t cut him off too soon on the RC at 2, give lots of connection as you run to the center of the bar so he can get past you. You don’t need to accelerate to 2 as much, it is more of a send.

Small detail on the circle wraps, let him get past you before you move forward again, you were pushing into his line which made getting past you harder (more on that below!)

Great job!
Tracy

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