[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This is the same link as from the 18th…. can you post the link from yesterday? One thought though, as I re-watched this video: At 1:21, you said “go” when you really want a soft turn verbal. Question: when you are working even these small skills, do you give yourself a walk through to practice pairing the handling with the verbal? You might feel like a dork, doing a walk through on 2 jumps… but it will totally help you get your verbal going! It will help pattern you to spit out the correct word so when you have to do it with her, it becomes second nature!

Also, does she have the same verbals as Wilson (or vice-versa)? That can really help keep you sane LOL!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>so he only runs my speed.

This might be a reflection of the value of the placement of reinforcement: food coming from your hand or very near you. So, with whatever rewards you use – throw it as far from you, out on a line, for all rewards 🙂 It would be fun to get him blasting to off course lines, because that is easy to “dial back” when he feels the wind in his hair 🙂

>>>He loves his balls even better than food, and I have been playing fetch with him after his training sessions are all done. I used his ball for his reward for each run today.

If he loves the ball more than food… the ball can be the agility reward on course in training! We can work to transfer the value and joy of the ball into the coursework 🙂

Seq 1:
1st rep – he had a lot more speed (wheee!) so your around cue for 6 was a little late and he got the front. No worries, I like the speed – so if it happens, just keep going then throw the ball on the next line.

2nd rep: He was super pumped up on the start line!! You were more prepared for the speed on this one, and got the earlier around cue at 6. One thing we are going to add to his training: rewards for correct line and speed while in the middle of a course, not at the end. When he is driving away (like to #4 here) or chasing you fast up a line, you can reward somewhere in the middle of the course by throwing the ball (rather than waiting for the end and stopping). I want him to be looking for jumps and then seeing the reward thrown out on the line while you are both moving.

This will mean that the reward is in your hand when you are training alone so you can throw it instantly while you run. If you have a training partner (maybe your videographer can multi-task? LOL!) or in a class, have someone else throw it. I know that it might be tricky to have a non-family-member throw it in pandemic times, so feel free to run with it in your hand so you can throw it. When it is in your pouch or pocket, he ends up stopping while you get it out and we don’t want stopping – we want it to appear while you are both running at high speed.

3rd rep – I loved the blind on 6, you were living on the edge there! You had to scramble to get it (and you did, well done!) and he liked that. Yay!
4th rep had the FC there on takeoff of 6… he outran you a bit so the FC ended up being late. He seems like a super polite guy and was patiently allowed you to finish your FC, but that slows him down. So, the blind cross is the better option here – it is better to be wild and take the risk with the blind, for him, to go fast than it is to do the FC and potentially cause him to power down and wait.

On this sequence – he has his most speed on 1-2,-3 so you can throw the ball after 3, for example, while you keep moving. His send to 4 is terrific so you can also send to 4, run away and throw it for jump 5.

seq 2 on the opening line: you can also run for the blind cross on takeoff of 3, or push to the backside of 3 from further away (I bet he will like the BC better :)) – you pushed but you were a little in the way so he politely waited on the first rep and 3rd rep (he ended up on the backside line to 4 because you were on his line when he needed it there). On the last rep, you sent from further across the bar (which he read perfectly, which is also why I have no worries about the handling skills here) then you really turned on the rocket boosters to get around the wing there at 3 and he was much better (he did have one moment of waiting, though, which is why I think the forced blind on takeoff side will be great for him – no waiting!)

On the 2nd rep, it shows just how responsive he is to handling: you got a little behind and disconnected to run forward (he was being polite again) and then when you reconnected, he read it ias a cue to take the jump: good boy! In that moment you can just keep going and throw the ball somewhere for the next jump.

On the end line on the 1st and 4th reps – he is so responsive that I think for this type of line, you don’t really need to do more than call him, turn your shoulder and run as fast as you can (and throw the ball somewhere on the line). It is a course analysis thing: if you think he will land from each jump and, with a shoulder turn, be already looking at the correct side of the next one… then you don’t need to handle the turn or decel at all. If you think he might be lookined at a backside line, then you can add more turn cues.

Overall, I like how his speed pushed you here and that caused you to hustle, which in turn created more speed 🙂 Yay!
Keeping the bars low for now will really help – we will creep them back up slowly while maintaining the speed. And, adding in throwing a ton of rewards all throughout the sequence will help too!
All of that reinforcement will mean that he doesn’t always run the sequences from start to finish… but the truth is that he doesn’t need to run them from start to finish. Your handling skills and teamwork look REALLY good, so I think the goals here are just to get him wild and fast 🙂 When we get that, it will eb easy for you to put it all together. You can play with that concept on the novice sequences if you like, plus everyone if going to get ‘custom skills sets’ tomorrow to play with this week… so Ivan is going to get SPEEEED sets 🙂 Fun!

Great job, let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Keep me posted! It is also a good way to keep the skill “sharp” for dogs who are already good at it.

[Tracy Sklenar]

I posted the head turn stuff in a new thread for complete obsessing 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> I feel like my teamwork with Pose is coming together much faster because Lever required so much extreme connection from me.

We live parallel lives… my teamwork with HS is easier than with Voodoo for the exact same reason! What with the future hold with our tiny dogs? And my big pointy dog too haha

>>On the verbal wraps, I will ponder more on that and probably will have different verbals for them. Push is the current backside. I will have to think about whether that should be a backside wrap or slice. Then think of another cue that doesn’t sound like the others.

My guess is that is it easier to keep push as a slice because the behavior is easier and also she has probably had it paired with slicing more often. We need a ‘unique verbal’ generator app, just like there are password generator apss out there LOL!

>>I don’t know why, but I struggled with the diagrams on the skills sets. I’m not sure why. But it took me forever to figure out the lines and the numbers. I kept getting myself confused. Maybe because sometimes the lines ran the entire course and sometimes only parts of it and then sometimes I had to go to the end and follow the arrows back. I could not tell what the difference was between #4 & #5 and between #3 and #6. I must have dyslexia because going between the lines and the numbers was too difficult for me. Not sure how to make that easier.

Thanks for letting me know! The next skills sets will have more written stuff too, so it should be less confusing (and fewer lines).

1st video:
rep 1:
I loved the timing on the first wrap – I bet you can move forward out of it even sooner! But also, turn your head to the new side so quickly that you can see her rounding the wing, to match the timing on the 2nd wrap. As she was approaching the 2nd wrap at :09. you were still facing forward so she ended up jumping long.
2nd rep – you moved out sooner away from the first wrap than on the first rep – she ticked the bar so that is definitely something to show her (countermotion as she is turning in collection) and reward for the clean jumping effort.
On the 2nd wrap on this rep and also reps 3 and 4:

You got your connection back to her much sooner and started the turn cues much sooner on the 2nd wrap, but she still thought it was late (note how she kicked up clods of grass turning on landing at :18. The big difference that I see on :18, :26 and :35 compared to the first wrap on those reps is that on the first wrap, the cue is mainly the ‘new’ arm so there is more rotation and on the 2nd wrap, you are giving more ‘swoosh’ forward with the dog-side arm so there is less rotation. On the last one at :35, you left even earlier but the leaving earlier didn’t make a big difference – so she definitely seems to prefer the new arm (fuller rotation) as the turn cue because she was really lovely on the first wrap on all these reps.
I think she was scrambling a bit on the backside on this rep and pulled the rail, it didn’t happen on the other reps so no worries 🙂

2nd video:
these went really well! On the wrap on jump 2: more evidence that she really likes the ‘new’ arm as the cue (fuller rotation): :05, :12 and :21 were all really nice and had the new arm nice and early. On the last rep (:30) there was more dog-side arm (slightly less rotation) and she was wider there. So getting that new arm/full rotation into place is really helpful.
On the backside pushes, your connection was strong after the first oopsie – so strong, that it looks like you losing the line and ending up a little on her line (almost pushed her off at :25). You can walk the sequence so you end up running more to the center of the bar on the backside lines rather than towards the wing – you can anchor your running line off of the wing of 2, picking a spot to move up an invisible line from, so you don’t look forward to find the center of the bar. That will help tighten her lines to the backside while allowing you to maintain the connection.

3rd video:
Sequence 1:
Interesting that she dropped the first bar, it might have been a question about your position: you were up the line and a bit lateral? She was fine on the next rep, so she got to read whatever she needed to see to clarify it 🙂
2nd rep – the timing on the FC 3-4 worked nicely but it almost looked like she was considering the other end of the tunnel – so moving your line one or 2 steps further away will help her see the line to the tunnel more clearly at :13.
Also, try to call her just before she enters so she can be prepared for the tighter turn – you can also consider a left directional there too!

3rd rep – the line to the tunnel was much better here, it looks like she had no questions! Her turn on 3 looks really good too. And as with the 2nd rep – give her more verbal info before she enters to tighten up the tunnel exit (and you can move away to the last jump too :))

Sequence 2: This was interesting to watch her work through the soft turn cue to get back to the tunnel.
When she was staying out on her line you were facing forward and not moving much – she did better when you rotated towards her, like at :49 and :57. It works but is also makes it harder for you to get up the next line (that was some speed she was showing to and through the tunnel!!!). So can experiment with closing the shoulder more towards the tunnel (sooner) with that brake hand – to see if that helps her read the line . It will get you facing the new line sooner (and therefore running up the new line sooner :)) so it will be interested to see how she reads it.

Sequence 3:

>> I wasn’t happy with the opening much it felt like I was late showing the turn at #3.

It was a bit of a domino effect: the BC on the tunnel was a little late, so she came out like a rocket – which then made showing the turn at 3 a little late because you had to catch the rocket 🙂 When I froze the video, when she was a bout 3 feet from the tunnel entry, you had started the blind but she couldn’t see the new connection and you were pretty quiet – so it didn’t register. Try starting it a stride or two sooner so when she is about 3 feet from the tunnel, you are almost fully turned & reconnecting, and talking to her. That will give you a tighter turn on the tunnel exit AND give you time to cue the turn on 3.
I liked the wrap turn at :26 but LOVED the wrap turn at :38! You basically ran her across your feet, feet facing the last jump, soft hands – that gave her hours to set up the turn (well, hours at Pose speed hahahah). Very nice!!!! And it also kept you ahead more in case there was something crazy on the next part of the course.

Great job, let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Let me just say in general, I have no idea how to run this dog yet :). We have had time to work individual skills, but we haven’t spent much time putting lots of things together. Hard year.

Yes – crazy hard year and also she is still so young, that it is completely understandable that you are still finding the rhythm.

>Also, it felt like two jumps is harder than 4 or 5. She and I both love our adrenaline.>

Yes! it adds the element of not being able to drive in with motion – definitely harder 🙂

Do you care if we start these skills from a tunnel? I am not a fan of having Zing doing a bunch of sit/stay.

>>2nd rep, yep, I want a wrap. I don’t think I have proof this one as well. Can’t remember doing in on an angle jump. She is sensitive still to the angle of jumps. We will go back and work that.

I’ve git a head-turn thing coming, stay tuned LOL

>>“it did totally look like a backside send at :22, because as she landed from 1 you did the big arm change – so that created pressure out to the backside .”
interesting. I should never have that arm up for a backside send. In this case I would use my left arm for the send. So I obsessed on this, I was looking at the backside at .22, at .29 my focus was more down and to the right wing.Does that have anything to do with it, was she also paying more attention to where my eyes were focused?>>

Could be! It looked like it was more of a pressure thing – the opposite arm sends to the backside are natural for many dogs even if they are never trained, because of the pressure of the shoulders/chest and where you eyes are. It was probably an all-of-the-above moment 🙂

>>.39, total f*&^ up on my part LOL>>

Ha! She got her prize so she was very happy 🙂

>>let me know what you think of the tunnel start.

Sure! Or a wing to wrap around. Either way is fun!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Hope you’re up for more of Mochi & me, because you got us. 🙂

ALWAYS happy to see you both!!!

>>I don’t have huge amounts of space in the backyard, so I may have to get a little creative for the coursework, but I can also rent training space, so I will do that when I can.>>

Everything is flexible so we can be creative.

>>On a couple of these, we only did one rep if it was right on the first go, just to save her energy since she likes to give 8000% on everything.

Smart! No need to drill her!

>>Stupid question – what is the difference between 4 & 5 in the skills? I could not figure it out, but it’s been a looooooong week.

Haha not stupid at all… it is an accidental duplicate. Sorry!

Onwards to videos:

A general tweak on the first video is to have her line up on a slice for 1, so she if facing the backside at 2 and can run a straight line rather than have to turn on landing.
1st rep – very nice!
Backside wraps on the other reps:
it was the handling not the tunnel (the poor tunnel takes the blame for everything hahahaha!!)
She was being a very honest girlie. As you were cuing her to come around to the backside, you were moving forward and turning your shoulders at :18, :26 and :39. That shoulder turn towards the bar commits her to the slice line (as if it was a slicing rear cross aka whiskey turn). So – treat it like a wing wrap and not a jump bar: be sideways to the wing, (your right hip near the wing) and cue her to take it – but then step out of of and don’t turn your shoulders to the bar (no need for a hand on landing side either) – moving forward should be plenty (and connection of course). That will help her discriminate slice versus wrap.

2nd video:
Nice job on the post turn wrap! Try to do it a lot sooner – cue and leave so she can see your departure before she decides how to take off.
on the 2nd rep, you were facing a little too forward so she jumped long and ticked the bar, but the 3rd rep had more movement away so she was able to pick up the turn. So the suggestion on this one is to trust her commitment and leave early 🙂 I would say that the timing will be best if you leave before she passes you.

3rd video:
first rep: the bonus tunnel was valid: at :07 when she comes around the wing, your feet and chest were pointing to it and you were moving, sooo… tunnel! Wheee!
With the tunnel there as a potential on the line, she would need more than a post turn, probably needs a spin.
On the 2nd rep at :18 you did more of a threadle/reverse flow pivot to get her off the tunnel – she didn’t take it but she sure had questions 🙂 It also put you behind for the line to 4 – as she took 3 (no worries if it was the wrong side :)), you lost connection trying to get up the line at :20 so she took the wrong side.
3rd rep was definitely smoother! I do think a spin on 2 will get her eyes off the tunnel easily while also getting you running forward sooner. The threadle worked here but it still faces you the wrong direction for a shade too long.

4th video – the timing of the first wrap was really lovely! You can match that timing for the 2nd wrap but starting it the instant her head comes around the wing. And nice job on the backside! Note on that backside at :07 that your feet were pretty forward and you did not turn your shoulders to the bar: she committed and did not consider the delicious tunnel 🙂 So this is more like what the backside wrap on the 1st video should look like, the only difference being that you will be more on the landing side than on the takeoff side.

Great job here! Let me know if it makes sense, especially the backside wraps 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>She also tends to take off far from the jump, I see where you said I need to rotate sooner to help tighten her turn.

She doesn’t take off very close on tight turns, but she does make adjustments to her approach that allow her to turn tight (versus where she takes off for extension lines)

>>We did the novice seq. today. I couldn’t find Seq 1 so we started with 2.

Sequence 1 should be in the PDF – I reloaded it because it was wonky for a bit. Sorry!

On the video:
theses are looking good!

1st rep – you can give the left cue before she enters the tunnel and run a bit more closer to the lines so you don’t get stuck dancing in place. That is especially true at :05 as you go from the jump to the tunnel and have to get up the line – connect to her eyes and cue the tunnel but run sooner. You are tending to bend over and wait, and I bet you can get outta there sooner.

2nd rep – you gave your right cue on time before the tunnel and she did turn right… it is possible you need a wrap cue on the tunnel exit here to get a tighter turn. The threadle hlped get her to the correct side but I think that a wrap cue rather than a right cue will help that too.
At :22 on the wrap jump after the tunnel, you can cue a bit more collection – rather than indicating the jump and the landing spot, go to the position you were in and use your left hand more towards her and nice and low, kind of like a stop sign toward her nose before she gets to the takeoff side. That can tighten it and also allow you to leave early 🙂
Something to try is to see if the slice line is faster here – you can use one of your strong rear cross skills to slice her over that jump and take off! It would be fun to time the difference.

3rd rep – you had 3 verbals on the tunnel – a right, a collection (I think?) and then the threadle. At least that is what I think they were 🙂 You can drop the right and just use the collection verbal and see how she does.

Good job trusting her line to get the jump and the tunnel! Verbals and a little bit of connection are all she needed there at :30
At the wrap, when you try the hand on the takeoff side, also try to move more directly forward to that last jump for a few strides then move away laterally (so you don’t end up jumpin the bar haha) – a few strides of running forward right past the wing will set a tighter line to the last jump. You’re running away laterally so she is going wide to follow that line.

4th rep – I like the idea of the side change on the tunnel exit! She needs to see it happen before she goes in: the last thing she saw was you accelerating forward, so she also accelerated forward. Let her see you execute the blind while she is still 3 to 6 feet before the tunnel entry, so she is prepared when she exits.
That, plus a little decel on 3, will set up a really nice line 🙂
There was that lovely slicing RC on the 6 jump!!

>>Even though it was longer, I liked the rear on 6 and I think it was easier on her body. I see was not a backside

Haha yeah, not a backside but it is harder that way LOL!

And I am not convinced the yardage is longer when you take into account the yardage of the wrap. I timed the difference between the slice here and the wrap on rep 2: the slice is faster by about .15 🙂 Yay for slices!!!

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Thunderstorms and deluges derailed my head turn video – heading out in a few minutes to try it again, the rain has stopped for a moment.

1st rep – very nice! This is an easier slice to his right here than the other side to his left. You can see if you can cue then elave earlier: you stayed near the jump til he took off: try to move out of there as he is passing you.

2nd rep & 3rd rep – this left turn is a harder angle based on the angle of the jumps, so you can emphasize the collection in one of 2 ways (or both :)) – you can rotate your feet more to the new line. Rather than have your feet parallel to the jump, rotate your feet fully back to where you are going next: your toes will be perpendicular to the jump bar and not parallel to it.

You can shape this turn more as more of a reverse v-set, by changing your position on the bar: placing yourself more where the wing meets the bar to shape the line.

The angle of the jump & line suggest this, not the left turn itself 🙂

On the 4th rep at :19, you had a little bit more of a shaping position and he definitely collected a little more on the takeoff side. Not turning his head (yet) but still collecting 🙂 So the shaping position on that type of line is something worthwile to play with, along with more rotation.

MIrror:
1 -now the left slice is the easy slice! At :26 he is taking off and you are still cuing the jump… feel free to be long gone by then 🙂 As soon as you see him collecting, you can move out to the next line – this will also turn your feet more and will result in an even sweeter turn.

2- the right wrap is the harder one here but your rotation and timing of leaving earlier made a BIG difference – you started moving away at :30 when he was passing you, so he added more collection! The earlier departure and turn of feet make a big difference to him.

2nd video:
1st rep:
At :03, you are really very rotated and leaving and he is still pretty far from the jump: very nice turn there! At :06 on the 2nd wrap (also to the right) he is in about the same spot relative to the jump on the first wrap where you were already leaving: but on this wrap, you are just starting the info so he is little wide.
Same thing happened on the 2nd rep – at :12, he has landed from 1 and is miles from the jump, and you are giving tons of collection info (you are basically fully turned before he takes off) so he sets up a great turn! At :15 you started the info much later, so the turn did not have the same quality.

>> I did it as shown and then I did a mirror to answer the question: “Does he turn better one way than the other?” It appears to me that he turns right better than left.

I am not sure yet – I think you showed better info on the right turns than the left turns, so try to flip the sides and show the early info – I bet he turns equally well on both sides.

>>Then I went off in a corner to obsess on backside wraps.

Haha! I will be trying the head turn video again, rain seems to be done, fingers crossed!
T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Nice work on these!
1st rep – yes, you left really early on the first wrap (:13) and he did great! Be prepared for the 2nd one sooner: as he exits the first wrap, you will need to start to slow down & rotate – you started the rotation just as he lifted off (:15) so he jumped wide and that also contributed to the reconnection on the blind being a little late. Good backside send!!

2nd rep – great timing on the first wrap (:31) and 2nd wrap (:33)!! Nice turns on both!! I think as soon as you cue the wrap, you can then turn your had and start the blind – that way it guarantees that you will be reconnected before he lands. His commitment is strong enough to handle that early head turn.

3rd rep – great turns again on the wraps (:44 and :46) but then you reconnected so much sooner after the blind (you reconnected as he was landing, so he saw it as soon as he turned) and it set up smooth lines to the next backside. The bar down at :50 was due to the timing of the ball throw.

4th & 5th reps – at :57 & 1:15 you did a post turn blind (turning away, as opposed to a spin where we turn towards the dogs) – it is a good skill to use! You can start it earlier so it is ideally finished before takeoff. Your motion supports the commitment as you move towards it, so you can start turning your head for thr blind before he even passes you. That earlier timing will allow you to tighten that turn and then also be earlier on cueing the next wrap. On the way to the backside at 1:03: you made a really nice connection with him as he rounded the wing at 1:01, but then turned forward to the jump at 1:02 so he read it as a blind cross because of the shoulder rotation and switched sides. Keeping your arm back here and maintaining the connection will help keep him on your left side. You made the adjustment nicely at 1:19 and held the connection longer as you moved up the line – and he found it really nicely!

So keep pushing the early limits of the timing – you’ve built his commitment really well so you have more freedom to do things really early – which will help create tight turns and get you to better positions on course 🙂

Great job! Stay cool 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This looks great!!! She is doing very grown-up stuff 🙂 Yes, the verbals were a little soft but the soft verbals were the turn verbals… and there is no need to shout them hahaha!! She did so well that we can obsess on the finer details – fun!

1st rep – backside slice: see if you can cue it from no further over than center of the bar then keep your chest open to leave. That can help with staying further ahead and setting exit lines.

2nd rep – threadle – wrap or slice? I think you wanted wrap, so you can get her to turn her head more before you cue the jump – a larger hand cue will do it and it is definitely on my agenda for CAMP – getting the dogs to turn their heads!!

3rd rep – very nice wrap! Nice timing and connection and she was nice and tight!

4th rep – it did totally look like a backside send at :22, because as she landed from 1 you did the big arm change – so that created pressure out to the backside .
On rep 5 at :28, you loved forward for a moment longer, and more towards the wrap wing, and she got it 🙂 Stay a little more connected on the exit there so she can drive to the correct line/side immediately.

6th rep at :35 – she read the handling (post turn wrap) really well based on the physical cue – as she was taking off, you were facing the fence so that is the direction she thought you were going. So, to do a stronger cue on the post turn, you would need to be more fully finished before takeoff for it which would likely mean shaping the takeoff a little by being closer to the center of the bar so you can also turn and go sooner. Or, to create the line… a ketchsker would work nicely too 🙂
You had good connection as she came around the wing, so you can being your right wrap cue sooner – verbal was a little late but the physical cue had too much support forward before you rotated – you started the rotation just before she lifted off, so the jumping decision had already been made. It will be fun to see how much she understands about commitment: as she comes around the wing of the 2nd jump, you can decelerate and then when she is made halfway to 3… turn and go and see what happens 🙂

7th rep – :43 – good job getting the RCs, those are hard cues with youngsters!!! You can stay closer to the wings of the jump before the RC jumps, so she feels the RC pressure sooner and so you can be ahead again when you cut in behind her. You had good patience with setting the line for the 2nd RC – you were blocking the backside wing on jump 3, so be sure to show her more of the wing so she can do directly to it (rather than around you) – but stay patient like you did 🙂

8th rep (:53) – it is hard to show a transition on just 2 jumps, but you can accelerate more as you release her, so you can show her the decel into the rotation – she did collect but she wasn’t 100% sure of exactly how much to collect on 2. A change in motion can help clarify that. And then have a patience moment at jump 2 as she wraps, so you can set up the RC while not setting too wide of a line… you left the wrap wing and ended up taking a wider line to set the RC, so she was wide going to and then out of jump 3. Patience is my least favorite word EVER haha but staying closer to the wing of 2 will tighten those lines up 🙂

rep 9 – 1:03 – wraps are looking good! You had a little more transition going especially to the 2nd one (and you were closer to the lines) so she turned well! After the 2nd wrap (1:09), try to move your running line over more so as she is thinking about the backside, she can see the wing. She is a little wide there because you were running on the line she needed to be on 🙂 If you get the 2nd wrap then run more towards the center of the bar on the backside jump, she will see the wing better – this will mean more upper body connection/arm back/verbal to get the backside, but I bet she can do it (I *know* you can do it :)) and the lines will be really nice!

rep 10 – 1:13 – this rep had all of the really lovely finesse pieces for all the turns… so now you get to trust and leave sooner on all of them. Wheeeee!
On the wrap on 2 at 1:15 – leave before she takes off, so you are done with the blind when she lands. You hung out a bit and started the blind when she landed at 1:16, so she had to slow down to let you clear the line 🙂 On he wrap FC at 3 (1:17), you can decel, turn and leave sooner – you’re going to laugh, but yo can connect a little *less* there LOL! Connect yes, but don’t wait as much.
On the backside FC – you started the cue really nicely at 1:18, nice and early! You can keep your upper body more open to her, no need to turn and face forward to support it – that way you are still rotated as she passes you to the backside, making it easier to show the FC earlier and setting up a tighter turn there too.

Rep 11 (1:27) – nice collection on 2! She couldn’t quite see enough connection here as she landed from the wrap – note how your arm ais a bit parallel to you and your head is turned but your eyes are looking down and not back to her… so she drifts at 1:28 trying to sort out which side to be on. So as you exit the wrap, keep the dog-side arm back and make a strong eye contact with her, so she can see which side to be on. And to set up a RC on 3, you can actually stay closer to 2 to set the line – that will help clarify the physical cue of RC versus wrap.

Speaking of that: rep 12 at 1:34 – same thoughts on the wrap at 2 – more connection so she doesn’t drift coming around it. And then the physical cue did look very similar to the RC cue on rep 11… and you said right LOL! So yes, say left – but also to show the wrap more clearly, setting the line from 2 will help and run forward a bit longer, decelerating forward and then rotating (towards the wrap wing).

Last rep:
Same thought about showing more connection exiting 2 🙂
I think you are trying to get your left arm up too early on this wrap, earlier than she needs – it was up as she came around the wing at 1:44. That inhibits running forward – at 1:37 (previous rep) – you were in a good spot near the wrap wing but the too-early new arm caused your body to rotate as if asking for a RC. On this rep, you adjusted your running line to step out towards the fence more – which worked but it will make it harder for you to leave to get to your next spot on courses. I think you can face the wrap wing longer to commit her to that side and use the new arm coming up just after you start to decel and it will work really nicely.

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Question – do you have a different verbal for backside wrap versus backside slice? That can help! See more below.
>No. I don’t have two different verbals. I’ve been concentrating on too many others. I could certainly add these or modify her collection to the backside.

Two options to consider on this, then:
* A compound verbal: back + wrap verbal. Done early enough, the dogs do really with it. It is a slightly longer sentence: go there and wrap to your left
* A different verbal. I use Back for backside slice and Dig for backside wrap with my youngsters. It is a short sentence that I can deliver fast: back wrap.

Ideally, there are 2 distinct cues… but in reality, you can prioritize the importance of 2 distinct cues based on the other things on your list to train 🙂 I freely admit that I have only so much brain space for all of the verbals. I can do more verbals with Hot Sauce because she is easier to run than Voodoo, which means there is more brain space available to spit out the correct words 🙂 Voodoo does fine with the back + wrap verbal. Would he be better a separate verbal? Possibly, but it is a low priority because of other factors (like the amount of connection he requires from me on course is so intense that I am lucky I remember my own name, sometimes :))

>> But if the wrap is on a slicy line, she might slice it a little more than setting herself up to turn.

After watching your videos and Barb w/ Enzo, I think there is a training thing we can do to help with those hard backside slices – teach the dogs to turn their heads as part of it. Not just their bodies… turn their heads! I am doing this with Contraband (it is important to get whippety dogs to turn their heads :)) and I will post videos.

>>Do you have a video of this? Are you saying that I would look to the landing spot as I pull away (after commitment?) .
Here is a rather lengthy explanation with demos that show them in exaggeration 🙂 We tweak the volume dial of the connection based on what the dogs need:

At first, yes, you can shift back to the landing spot as you leave progressively earlier and earlier – but eventually I bet we can take that out (or sooner rather than later, she will tell us).

>>Also, what does “frontier” mean? Or was that a typo. I can’t figure out what that means so it must be a typo.

Sorry! Frontier means “the next training thing to focus on” 🙂 in terms of ‘expanding horizons’ with the youngsters. So what I meant was the future can bring us ways to cue and connect less, to be able to get up the next line more easily (for us) without sacrificing precision and teamwork/success rate

>>Interesting. Lever responds to that cue so nicely, but she obviously reads it different. Again, do you have a video example of this? I’d love to make sure I had it visually correct before trying it.

Yes! Somewhere – I will find it because it is not in my regular videos, hmmm…. if I can’t find it, I will do a video.

>>Not sure which I should use….I currently have so many verbals (also have a SHITLOAD of location specific event markers for her, which HELP her a lot!!). I feel like things need to settle for a bit before I can handle more.

Go for the compound verbal then, so you don’t end up with too many for now: backside + collection. Those are 2 verbals that are already in use and should be at your fingertips, so to speak, when running.

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Every other agility dog of mine has responded to namenamename as a turn cue, so I was pretty flabbergasted to see it fail so miserably here. >>

Riot says that he is a 2020 dog where he wants ALL the words LOL!!! I feel the same way – several of my other dogs would turn so nicely on namenamename…. and then I got Voodoo. HA! Now there are a lot of words happening 🙂

>>Check is a wrap, but by rep 4 I was desperate to get some kind, ANY kind of turn, in motion. A total bandaid in the moment and I knew it, but I did it anyway! I also made a note after that to keep working on his left and right, which is something else I can do in my little yard.>>

Completely relatable. Sometimes we are all like, “please just turn!” haha!

>>I really like the turn and go the other way idea and rewarding when he arrives. He greatly enjoys running in big loops and circles with a toy or without a toy. Always has, from the time he was a baby puppy. Drive bys are quite common, where he will swoop by and keep going.

Get him to chase you for it, don’t stand still – then then if he chases you pretty quickly, you can release for a go-round with the toy 🙂

>> If I had to guess, I would say he finds his own motion very stimulating, and I think reinforcing, as well as stress reducing. >>

All of the above, yes 🙂 Kind of self-stimulating and a release valve… but that is fine! We use motion as a reward – chase da momma, go for a run! And I think it is perfectly fine to let the dogs run around as a release valve – makes for very happy-making brain chemicals 🙂 My dog Export was just like that as a youngster – I remember he once spent about 10 minutes running giant loops around a barn as part of an extensive victory lap LOL!!!! He is 14.5 years old and still runs runs runs runs. It is all good 🙂

>>So if you have thoughts on that, or games or things we can work on, please let me know.>>

Don’t obsess on it – and don’t try to put more control on it. Just reward with chase then let him have moments where he can just run. And keep sessions short and sweet so he doesn’t have too much steam to release 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Nice work on the sequences! He has a really strong skill set and you are really connected, so we can really obsess on how to get more and more speed on each element. Fun!
First a couple of thoughts on the sequences then ideas to get to the goal of more speed:

On sequence 1: this was all really smooth throughout all 4 reps – excellent connection, your backside send was really strong and you were able to leave early to create a really nice turn on all the reps! On the backside slice at jump 6 – I bet you can send to the backside and just run forward. As long as you maintain connection like you did, it seems like he does not need any help (like shoulder moving or decelerating) coming in to take that # 6 jump. That adds more speed! You used less and less ‘help’ on 6 on each sequence, and he appeared to have no questions about the line on 6.

You were early and you did trust him more… and his turns were SO NICE!!!! He knows his job, you’ve clearly done your foundation work!!!

On sequence 2: he wrapped the bar at 3 really nicely on these reps, and you did a lovely job of cue, trust and go go go 🙂 With that in mind… it would be fun to see if the slice lines are faster for him! Slices are almost always faster – so you can see if having him slice 3 to get 4 (the slice 4-5) is the fastest route. You can play with slicing 3 so he turns to his left (away from the tunnel) and then turning left again over 4 (and you can also see if turning to his right over 4 is fast, as it sets up a good line for 5!) It is possible that running into a blind cross on the takeoff side of 4 (he enters on the same side he wrapped on an exits on the other side) might be the fastest line. A bit harder to handle? Oh yes LOL! But worth it!

On the 5-6 line, he needed a turn cue to get the front of 6 because he was running in extension (yay!) and understands how to stay on backside lines (also yay!). You did a FC on the last rep there and it worked! You can also do a soft brake/shoulder turn, where you decelerate a little bit and show him a little bit of the opposite arm to get him to turn before takeoff, while you keep running up the line. This would start as he finishes coming around 4 and is looking at 5, so he can collect a bit before takeoff.

Some general ideas:
A few things I notice – he drives nicely off the start line! So you can lead out and give him a little ‘ready…ready…….’ then release and run. That should get even more of an explosion off the start line!
And, since he loves loves loves to chase you – you can try to race him up the line 4-5-6 to get a blind cross on the *takeoff* side of 6 (rather than push to the backside). It will make you scramble to get there, but I think Ivan will like that – he will go faster but he won’t lose his mind 🙂
Speaking of chasing you… he has a definite preference when you are ahead. When he catches up, he doesn’t seem to drive past you on a regular line. He will send but not drive ahead. So, we can use his reinforcement to help with that. He appears to be a foodie, so we can move the reward off your body to get him driving ahead more. 2 ideas for that:
* the treat hugger is great for throwing treats that he can grab out of the toy without you needing to open it! I have found that they work better than and are better liked than a lotus ball. We throw it when he picks up a line, rather than reward next to you
* have you tried a Manners Minder or Treat n Train with him? Foodie dogs often love it – and we randomly can click it and send him to it when he drives away (I just place it somewhere off to the side).

Another thought on getting more speed: training sessions on lower bars to let him feel the joy of the wind in his hair. Full hard is hard – he isn’t that tall compared to the jumps! So, jumping the sequences at, say, 10 inches will make it easy to go fast while you build lots of reinforcement for driving lines, then we gradually inch the bars back up. I train my dogs all the time at much lower heights – partially to make it super fun for them, and partially because it makes the handling so much more challenging for me LOL!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Wheee! The big yard is fun fun fun fun! First off… It is GREAT to have a dog that loves lines and then we add the finesse of turns. Yay!
His 1-2-3 commitment and his tunnel exits and commitment to the last jump all looked great!
So now we can focus on that “soft” turn over 3. A couple of ideas for you!

First, a question: does he had a verbal for a soft turn (like “left”) – on the first couple of reps you used his name and that was too energetic and not informational enough. Then you went to check check – is that a 90 degree turn cue or a wrap? If it is 90 degree – perfect, use it. If it is wrap, we can save it for wraps and add a 90 degree turn cue. If it is a general collection cue… we will clarify exactly what it means.

In terms of reinforcement – you can add in more specific reinforcement for turns. When you stand still, and he doesn’t come (even if your cue is late), run the other way and then reward him for chasing you. If my cue is late, I am happy with 1 off course, but I do want the dogs to come back to me eventually 🙂 On the first rep, the cue was late and I think we can clarify how he sees that type of soft turn cue… but he wasn’t going to come back – so I don’t want him to then get a tunnel cue. We can keep it fast and fun while also saying “follow the momma!” by having you turn and go the other way, rewarding when he gets to you. When you did get the turn going on reps 3 and 4, you can reward right away from your hand rather than continuing, so that we shift value a little more to the turns (just a little more).

Thoughts about the soft turn cue (3-4 is what I consider a ‘soft’ turn because it is about 90 degree and not a wrap):

He seems to have a better understanding of the big decel & send that you did on reps 3 and 4 – YAY! Nice! Reward that specifically.
He seemed to not understand the turn cue as well when you were moving into it (reps 1 and 2), so let’s work specifically on that (because the handling choice is a good one, he just needs to learn it :))

First, when you are moving into the soft turn cue like reps 1 and 2, take out the off course jump ahead – it was too tempting, too much of a distraction 🙂 Then, as he lands from 2: keep moving towards 3 like your did but decelerate more, and bring up your outside arm (left, in this case) to use as a gentle stop sign. So when he has landed, he is seeing deceleration – show him your stop sign then step away to the 90 degree line towards the tunnel: and reward the turn 🙂 Use your soft turn verbal too.

Alternate this with GO GO GO and reward straight.

When he is pretty good at going back and forth between those 2 cues, jump 4 can come back into the scene, but a little further away. And 2 concepts to show him when the jump is out there:
– the soft turn cue that you worked on with out
– also, a reverse spin so that he starts to read that turns can happen even when there is a lot of motion 🙂
And, mix in reps where he *does* go straight to that jump 4, so he sees the difference.

When you are working at home in a smaller area, you can totally start this on 2 jumps, showing the difference between soft turn on 2 and go go go on 2 – and you can put a 3rd jump out there eventually or even a jump wing, which is also a good visual.

The rest of his commitment looks lovely, so we can focus on adding the soft turn understanding 🙂

Let me know what you think! Nice work here!

Tracy

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