[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!
Lap turns are going really well! Your mechanics are almost perfect -the only thing to add is to remember your step back with the leg, not just hand – your hand was perfect and you stepped forward, but the leg should move with the hand too to really draw him back and set up the turn away. The lack of leg is why you might have felt tangled up at 1:06 🙂 Then it was REALLY nice at 1:20, great leg!

With the prop – nice rewarding for coming to the MCH past the prop! You had your leg going too, which is good – you can start the leg one step sooner – it can move when your hand starts to move back (your timing on the hand was really good). He did a great job of going past the prop on these! Nice presentation of the MCH 🙂

You can work these now with the reward coming after the prop, either with the cookie held in your hand but not delivered, and/or an empty cookie hand – mix it up!

>>Question on the tandem turn. In the video with Contraband, it doesn’t look like he gets a treat for coming in. Is that because he’s more in to food or are the lap turn mechanics where you did treat for coming in different?>>

He is totally NOT into food LOL!! I do reward for coming in on the tandem turn and for turning away – I probably edited it out for time purposes (I usually have about 15 minutes of video between the 2 pups and the talking to whittle down LOL!). Oopsie, sorry! Yes, the magic cookie hand can deliver the goods on the tandem turn too 🙂

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Awww, your hamper is the cutest thing!!! I love her work here, so is ridiculously fun!
and OMG she hits that tug like she is doing Mondio or something!!! I notice that as the session progressed, her toy grab got closer and closer to your hand – that peaked in the middle then she progressively came back down the toy. When you got it nice and low like at :32 it seemed to help direct her focus to the end of it (but not always, because I am sure there is something inherently reinforcing about leaping to grab it) like the rep right after that :36. So, you can try two things that might help de-Mondio her drive to the toy:
– tie something big and visible and delightful to the end of it, like a holee roller (if she likes those). Those hollee roller things are so useful 🙂
– slap the toy down so the thing on the end whacks the ground then drag it – that can direct her focus to the end of the toy so all feet stay on the ground and so she doesn’t torque herself flying through the air 🙂 You can slap the toy down even earlier, when she is maybe halfway around, so she is targeting the end as it moves. This has nothing to do with her commitment and everything to do with directing her chomp 🙂
(These are both things that I do in Flyball to direct the tugging as I am running, partially to keep the dog safe and partially to protect my hands LOL!) The dogs that do not have directed tugging in flyball are often provided a mattress to target to help them stop – zoinks!!

About the commitment – lovely!! She was MORE than happy to zip around the hamper and let you leave hours early. I love it! Speedy and bendy. Good girlie! My only suggestion is to have her set up and opt in at your side, facing forward – so you can cue the send (looking ahead to upcoming games :)) She was mainly offering here which is terrific, but we are going to need you to be able to have a moment to send her 🙂 She was offering it with you already a bit rotated which is also really good!!
One more little detail – try not to say “go” here, just make a silly noise or use an interim cue. We will be putting directionals on it soon and saving go for extension lines.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

This is going really nicely, note how well she is driving in and lining herself up for the second turn as you bring her in and send her away to the bowl. She is showing nice self-control on the loaded cookie bowl on the ground!! You can have the bowl on the ground a little closer for when you are plopping the treats into it (making it easier for you :))
The toy on the ground was harder, she wasn’t coming in as well – you can warm her up for it by having the toy in the other hand, so it is enticing but not *as* enticing and she will still target then go to it 🙂
My only suggestion for your position is to extend the target hand out further from your body, lock your elbow with your arm extended parallel to your shoulders – that will look like more of a serpentine arm. Your elbow was bent so it was a little too close to your ribs. If it is hard to keep the target hand low, you can dip your shoulder a little (you won’t have to do that forever, because we won’t always want her touching your hand :))
She is totally ready to try the next step – concept transfer to a jump from the Week 4 package! Have fun! Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! The flatwork for the lap turn and the tandem turn are both looking really terrific! My only suggestion is that you can slow down your hand & leg movement on the lap turn: she seems like the type that wants to go fast fast fast LOL! So when you turn fast, she is bringing her front feet up in the air during the turn. Ideally, she keeps her feet on the ground and shifts her weight into her rear, and so you can get that by having her follow your hand around very slowly and also keeping your hand low. That is my mantra when I do this: slow and low! The tandem looks just about perfect 🙂

So about the prop – she was coming in and turn away really nicely. I think there was a rep where she came in and went straight to the prop, but that happened because you were early moving your arm and leg and ended up stepping sideways towards the prop (good girlie :))

On the other reps where you did get the nice turn away, a couple of tweaks in mechanics and you will be able to convince her to touch the prop. What was happening was that after the turn away, you were remaining stationary and sending to the prop with a big point at it… and there was a big cookie over her head in the pointing hand LOL!! So she wasn’t sure where to look: at the cookie she was just following, or at the prop (she chose cookie LOL!!)
So, try this and let me know how it goes:
Start a little further past the prop, so when you cue her to come towards you, you are a solid 6 feet or more past it. She will come in to your magic cookie hand (like you were doing), you will turn her away (like you were doing, that part was really nice!) and then when she has finished turning away: let her eat the cookie 🙂 Then stand up and move forward towards the prop, like you did on the parallel path game – then reward again when she hits it. Move towards it rather than point at it and she is more likely to look for it. When she gets that, you can do the process with an empty magic cookie hand as well!
Let me know if that makes sense 🙂 Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>We’ve been stalled out for a little while because Teak didn’t under stand the paw target with the prop. I decided to make it an easier prop — a big rubber backed bath mat instead of a slippery metal lid.

That was smart – a bigger target 🙂 More salient in the environment 🙂 Yay! And super easy to get on it. The targeting behavior is not that easy, especially with very young pupsters 🙂

>> And we did a session with 7 year old Uncle Rhae so she could watch him and race him to the mat and see if that made the light go on.>>

Did it help? Sometimes modeling can work!

>>She didn’t understand the go to mat behavior and then she didn’t understand why she should leave it, so I mixed it up with “go to the prop” and then “come back so we can play position changes for cookies” and then send back to mat. When she didn’t know what was coming next I think I got a little more understanding and less stickiness to the mat.>>>

Yes, it was fun to see her processing the different cues! 2 small suggestions – for now, try not to say “go mat”. maybe just say “mat” – mainly because that Go word is going to take a life of its own when you use it to cue extension down a line, so I like to protect it like gold 🙂

And, rather than hand her the treat, plop it on the mat so she can pick it up as she gets to it. That will maintain the value while also helping you be able to add a little more distance away (mainly to get your hand further away so she isn’t thinking she needs to be close to the magic cookie hand in this situation LOL!) And then you can also apply that to the back and forth of the parallel path, cookie plopped onto the mat for a while.

You can also start to vary your position a little (sideways and backwards)

>> This was something that took all this time to figure out, but she is so little, we are learning how to learn too!

Exactly!!! She is sooooo young but doing really well 🙂 I loved seeing her think it through!!!

>>I think I could clean up my reward placement, but first she had too little value for the mat and then too much so it was hard to adapt in the moment.>>

Totally understandable – you are seeing the value swinging back and forth like a pendulum (not enough value then too much value) so it is a constant moment-by-moment assessment, like a tennis match! You can shift your placement of reinforcement within the session: for example, if she gets 2 or 3 reps of cookies plopped onto the mat and then she says, “well I will just stay on the mat, it is more efficient” (smart!) then you can release her off the mat for a tuggie or a tossed cookie… do that for a rep or two, then back to cookies on the mat. I think the one thing I would suggest avoiding is delivering the cookies from your hand to her cute little mouth, so we can start to vary your position more 🙂

Great job here!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

I hope you had a great vacation!!!!
Oh no! Bad dreams about the prop!!!! OK let’s brain storm 🙂 Yes, we need to build more value but I think the question is HOW we can make it easier to get the behavior. We can’t build value without getting the behavior. 3 things pop to mind after hearing your description and watching the video, let me know what you think:
– first, make the behavior harder. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it is one of the things that I learned at chicken camp from Bob Bailey about a million years ago: if the behavior is too easy, you might actually struggle to get it. And if the behavior is a little harder, it might be easier to get. And that has proven to be the case over the years any time I’ve tried it – make it a little harder and then BAM! We have the behavior. So – what do you think of getting him to step up to a prop? That is harder than just hitting it on the ground but not THAT hard. Plus it is easier for you to see, in terms of marking it.
– building on the stepping up onto the prop – to get him to do that, we have to raise the prop, which also helps by making it a lot more salient. Salient is also something I rely on when trying to build value. So, you can tape or somehow attach the prop to something that makes it about 2 or 3 inches off the ground, like a small balance disc so he can step up onto it – salient and harder and easier to see.
– last thing – I’d say 2 sessions of placement of reinforcement ONE the prop, with him holding position while you feed (kind of like getting him to get on a perch). That plus the other ideas might help build that value – it is possible that trying to place the reinforcement off the prop is causing him to touch it less in an effort to efficiently drive to the reinforcement, which dilutes the clarity of behavior? If you do 2 sessions with the placement all on the prop, you will know in session 3 if the value is being built because he will drive to it and get up on it right away 🙂

He did well on the tunnels! Using the pet tutor is perfectly fine but you can also use the toy of course (he has great understanding of how to work with the toy on the ground). You can start to work a little further and further from the entry each time and yes, definitely add in the threadle element and see what he does. My only tweak is to not move your hand when you let him go – simply let go of the collar and see what he does. You were moving your arm forward with the collar and that can sometimes shift the pup’s weight forward when we want him to shift to his rear. Also, fading the arm cue here will help with increasing commitment because he will get the cue on the verbal and the hint of the physical cue, meaning you can leave for the next line even sooner (which it appears you will need to do, because Fizz looks like he is gonna have plenty of speed and POWER!!!!!)

Great job here! Let me know what you think of prop ideas!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Wheeee! Turn and Burn looks great here!!!! It is a fun one 🙂 One little suggestion (to help you be able to move away even sooner) – as soon as he is locking onto the barrel and moving towards it, stay connected like you did (it was a thing of beauty!) but support less with your send arm. You can just let the send arm relax down into a natural running position rather than staying up to point towards the barrel. When he was on your left, your left arm was up for longer than needed, meaning it was causing your chest/shoulders to rotate more than needed. This delays you from running up the next line (because you have to unravel that rotation before you leave) and also it can create accidental rear crosses when we put this on a jump (because you can’t fully turn your feet when your shoulders are rotated like that, so the dogs see RC pressure). When he was on your right side to start, it looks like you relaxed your right arm immediately and ran. His commitment was perfect 🙂 The goal is that his commitment is so well trained that you can turn and leave super early, without needing extra upper body rotation to help him commit. I believe you are totally there, in terms of his understanding of commitment so far!!! We will keep ramping it up, of course, but I think he will be fine to let you use let arm support.
Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! I love the sessions that test my training brain!!! And did you say breakfast? I can understand how the thought of breakfast would make things very exciting, I can relate LOL

Good job on the RCs! And it is entirely possible that he is stronger turning one way over the other… and the plastic cylinder is also very helpful to get the behavior. Yay! I think it came down to timing, though 🙂 On all of the successful reps to either side, your timing was sooooo early, cross behind him before he had to make a decision on how to hit the prop (which foot, which lead). And on all of the errors – he had already had to make the decision, so it was too late to adjust before the prop. On the ones where you asked if the timing was better or ok and he still turned the other way – those were still late. Not SUPER late, but late in that he had already made the decision. Compare those to how early your feet were facing the new direction – the plastic cylinder helped give you the confidence that he would do it, so you were much earlier on all of the cylinder reps (and he was correct because of that and the cylinder). So – be as early as you can and trust his prop love 🙂 The other thing that will help you be earlier (ok 2 more things) – start even further away, maybe 15 feet! That simulates the timing he will need on jumps. And, I think you can use less arm support. For example, when he started on your left, you can totally use your left arm on the early part of the send. But as you move up the line and he is passing you, and you are cutting behind – when you had the left arm continuing to support, it kept your upper body rotated towards the straight line (which does not show the RC line). So you can try softly dropping your arm as you move up the line, using motion and connection (plus prop value) to help get the commitment and turn.
And I share your love of blinds! But you are doing a great job with these rears!!!!

Well done, let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>> A hand touch is probably the easiest thing for him. Let me know how to insert it into the treat-toy chain!

You can do it like this:
Tug-treat for letting go of the tug, another treat for NOT jumping for the tug when you move it away – hand touch – treat, tug. Lather, rinse, repeat 🙂

>>>Unfortunately my phone wasn’t actually filming, but we did a couple more of the bx-turn-go! and he did really well with it! But then I was thinking that it is actually a nice switch from eating the tossed treat to chasing and playing with the thrown toy!>>

Yes! Exactly! It stealthily layers it in 🙂 Glad it is going well!

Rear crosses are going well! On the left turns, you can start pressing in and cutting across sooner: you were just a little late on those (he was almost at the prop so it was too late to turn). On your rear to the right, your timing was much earlier and he was great. At 1:05, you had really good timing on the left rear cross and he was perfect 🙂 Same at 1:22, nice and early 🙂 Super happy with these!!!!

Wrapping the object here is looking good! You can add in lining him up to face, by tossing the reward straight back after he finishes the wrap rather than feeding from your hand – I see you did the next step and he had a question, so that might be the gap we bridge: having him face it here before offering, then it will all be easy. You can also reward, then line him up then reward again (he won’t be sad about all those rewards LOL!)

Lap and tandem turns: You might not need these with your ridgey but you’lol need them with your pointy 🙂 Your lap turns are almost perfect: my only suggestion on those is to wait one heartbeat longer before you move your leg back. Your leg was moving too early so then you ended up popping it out a little sideways which is probably why it felt a little weird 🙂 You can wait to move the arm and leg until he is about an inch away from your cookie hand. Everything else looked great on those.
Tandems look terrific!! Good mechanics and he turned beautifully each time. Yay!
You can add the prop to both of these, they look great!!

Turn and Burn – This is where I think we can add a session of getting him to offer facing forward to the object and not facing you that I mentioned above and that will reduce the “what the heck” look he was giving you LOL!! I agree that that might be the element he wasn’t sure about. However, you did a great job of getting the ball rolling here, without him getting frustrated! His offerings of smacking the object are pretty normal errors- paw whacking is much easier than going around now that we have changed the picture a bit! So I still count this as a really successful session, because you got the behavior in a new context and even though he had a couple of questions, he modulated himself and didn’t get frustrated (no chomp chomp!!). So on the next session, have him offer on the upright started with both of you facing it. Then move that to this object – then back to turn and burn for the session after it.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

This is an excellent question!

Good job keeping things fun for her! In these games, the previous skills should serve a building blocks so you can go to the next step as each game is introduced. Because she is young, though, you can start with a reminder rep to see what she remembers from the previous session(s) – for example, with Turn and Burn, I started with a reminder of getting my pup to offer going around the barrel. When she said she remembered it, I went to the next step. If she had said, ‘wait, what was this again?” I would stick to the reminder level. If she really struggled, I would go back even more.

So think of it like grade school. We started a kindergarten level, and now maybe we are in grade 3. So if the next level is grade 4, you can ask her for the last thing you did in grade 3 then go right to grade 4. There is no need to go all the way back to kindergarten and grade 1 and grade 2, or even the beginning of grade 3, unless the pup is really struggling.

I define struggling as success rate below 80%. And yes, I am that crazy person who counts the number of successes versus the number of reps to make sure my success rate stays over 80% (or higher, depending on the pup).

Let me know if that makes sense and if I am understanding your question correctly.
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Starting with Course 2:

>>Your first comment is contrasting the throwback/spin on #3 versus a threadle forward exit. Or, I could even have done a simple forced front without the Jaako exit. I agree that my choice was too tight; not sure why I didn’t consider either of the others.>>

It is possible that in the moment you were considering how to best get up the line for the straight tunnel followed by a backside (that was intentionally daunting :)) And also, his ability to turn *that* tight is definitely a more recent skill – I think even when we start in June, he would not have turned that tightly on 3. You’ve worked on that and it looked amazing here.

>>I think the comment about the way I did the BC through 12-13 is giving me more credit for planning than I can do. Just getting there on time was the goal (fail).

You did get there on time! I am just bugging you to redefine your ‘there’. 🙂

>>For the runs, yes, I was THRILLED with how well he took the tunnel verbals; both of them, both times.

Heck yeah!! On the turn back to the weaves, in theory that is a “must be in position” moment, 3 feet past the tunnel entry… but the reality is that I don’t think any of us can outrun our dogs to get there so it became a test of how the read the intent of our line of motion and also the verbal – nailed it! Woohoo!!

>> The handling on 14 was kind of a shot in the dark. My friend, Andrea’s dog does this really well and I thought I’d try it. Worked much better than I expected.>>

You mean the backlap (I think that is the name) to 15? It looked like it was part of your toolbox and totally comfy! Wow!

>>And once you are in the bumpy water, it is really hard to recover!

I feel that pain! Ha! The only solution I have found is that the course is so well-rehearsed, that I can immediately let go of the bump and either get right back on plan or switch to plan B. And one of my favorite seminars to teach is about how to recover without skipping a beat – maybe one of these days we can put it on again when it is safer to do so. It is FUN 🙂

On to the next course!
Glad to know it was not a goat rodeo (I just like saying goat rodeo LOL)

Going in with a plan is more trial-like and definitely saved time on the walk through.

The 5 tunnel entry is a doozy (3 tunnel entries there and 5 is the least visible!) but sometimes the best plan is to just run fast 🙂 Motion is the strongest cue!

On the walk through:
6:30ish is a really good length of walk through on 21 obstacles with all this yardage! I liked all of your choices in terms of which handling goes where. I could also “see” them all clearly in play, which is a good indicator of how the run will go. The 2 things I see in the walk through that might cause trouble are really the same thing in different spots: converging to a push through after a serpentine. At 16-17 and 19-20, you walked the 16 and 19 jumps on a parallel line to the bar, which presents ‘regular’ serpentine. But 16 and 19 have a push through, so you will need to show convergence into the gap before he makes a takeoff decision, so he can alter his striding to get the wrap exit (to get the 17 backside and the push into the gap for 20).

Your planned BC line 12-13 looked really good, it was more perfect path and presented a tighter line.

On the run:
1-5 looked great! I watch his jumping effort on the backside slices now to see how the zig zags are transferring, I he did a great job on 3 especially with you getting out of there and trusting his commitment (:11)
You might have been one step closer to the entry wing of 6 than planned, but you still executed the 6-7-8-9 beautifully (I loved his turn to the poles at :20 – powerful, fast, but tight and with no question. He never looked at the off course jump ahead. Nice!
Nice RC on the poles (great skill to have) and the teeter is going nicely on the first run (2nd run, not as good).
SO CLOSE to perfect on the BC 12-13!!! SO CLOSE!! When you can be more laterally away from the teeter you will have the extra step to make it perfect. You can also try running up the line but turning your head sooner – rather than wait to get past 12 then reconnect, start the reconnection before he takes off so it is in place as you are passing 12 (using a jump verbal and his name to support commitment and the turn). I think that BC is definitely in play there! Your line was also strong so while the BC was a little late, he was able to predict the line and still find the jump.

Nice job on the 14-15 send. And the parallel running line past 16 (regular serp line, rather than a converging line into the gap) is what caused the crash at :37

The RC on 13 looked great on the re-run, and it did not appear to put you behind at all – you still had the nice send to 15.

Look at the difference in your position at 1:45 as he was lifting off for 16 versus at :36 when he was lifting off:
1:45 had a definite convergence into the gap and :36 was a regular parallel path.

Also freeze 1:50 as he is taking off for 19 – you are running parallel to the bar and not into the gap to 20 (converging) so he is jumping towards the regular serp line. (nice jumping effort there, btw!) He makes the turn on landing but lifts his head and has a zig zag over 20 to find 21.

That little convergence detail is something to watch for on course and build into the walk throughs 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Thank you for the great comments and especially for making me feel better about Sequence 3.

I know how it can feel in the moment! But definitely not anything bad happening, just one question from Pose about a skill that happened to be needed multiple times on that sequence.

>>All the dogs had a 1 hour massage today and she was really good, so there was nothing physical wrong with her. I suspected that because she was jumping nice otherwise. The dogs’ massage therapist is doing massages while I wait outside. I’m so glad that she and their chiro are both still accessible.>>

I didn’t mention anything physical because I know you had already thought of that LOL!!! I figured you were already ruling that out 🙂

>>I’m going to try the zig zag grids tomorrow or Friday. She’s done them before, but I didn’t raise the height. Could you do me a favor and repost the 5 jump zig zag? The 3 jump grid was posted twice.>>

Oopsie! Her ya go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvjkED-e7jw

She might need the added challenge of more height to help sort out the organizing (and hind end) she needs. I am also on a quest for more fitness ideas in terms of the plyometrics needed for pushing off for this kind of jumping effort, as well as for ‘sitting’ back into tight collection. It is possible that on the tight turn cues she is not shifting into collection before the jump because she doesn’t know how to get organized at that speed. She is lovely with it when she is coming in from less speed, so I will get some ideas from fitness people (I have a consult tomorrow! Woot!) and then build it into skills work. More to obsess on 🙂

>>Love that you pointed out the short step that got such a nice turn on sequence 2. I knew that I didn’t take an additional step, but noticing that small detail is great information.>>

Slow motion video being so easily available has been so helpful to see what is happening when the dogs are moving this fast!!! I don’t remember being able to see things this well when Lever/Voodoo were babies!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I’m self-diagnosing with “course map backside dyslexia”!

I totally relate 🙂 I often draw lines on course maps to make sure I see the backsides 🙂

>> We have NOT worked on threadles…yet…so no surprise he doesn’t understand them.

When you see a threadle line on course, you don’t have to handle it with threadle handling. You can do it with double crosses: FC-BC or BC-BC. I have complete confidence that you can execute those nicely!

>>Anyway, on sequence 1 for the “out” at the end….I guess I’m just trying to make sure he doesn’t curl into me which I understand if the obstacle is straight ahead, the “go” should work if given in a timely manner. I think I also questioned which was going to work for him and which was the correct verbal. So I will make a note of this. And you are right on sequence 2 ending…I didn’t know really if I would be ahead of him, if I would need an “out” or a “go”… I feel like it should have been a “go” but I didn’t do that.>>

This brings up really valid points. Something to consider: the verbal GO can name an entire line, so if he can read GO as ‘go straight for a couple of jumps’ then go is the correct verbal. If he has to push away from you a little bit, then you can add the out. The out cue (or go) can be done no matter where you are, when he needs it. If you are WAY ahead, you can straighten the line with your position (like a serp) but you can actually use an out cue there too (verbal, probably won’t need the arm) because the behavior is indeed an out.

For the tunnel exit, you can play with reaching your connection into the tunnel (looking back into the tunnel for his eyes as you run forward) so he sees the line before he exits – so he is less likely to curl into you there.

>>Sequence 3-
If I had done a BC 5-6, would I wait for him to come out of the tunnel to see it or have it done by the time he exited….I don’t quite get how to decide on that.>>

It varies based on the exact set up, so I decide it in the walk through: *after* the blind, does my motion and connection support the line to the jump behind me when he exits the tunnel? If yes, and the jump between the tunnel and you will be obvious, then yes – you can do the blind while he is in the tunnel. If you do the BC while he is in the tunnel and then you would have to be on a crappy line or lean back to show the jump after the tunnel – then no, don’t do it while he is in the tunnel and wait til he exits so you can cue the jump then turn.

>> There are certain BC options that make me unsure and I default to where I can keep my eyes on him…even if the BC might be better.>>

Ha! That is certainly not a bad thing with a young dog 🙂 In training, you can start to take the risk and see what happens, which helps flesh out the specifics of what he will need on course in trials 🙂

>>And if I had actually done the backside of 2 as per the map…I’m picturing it would be best to push to the backside on the right wing so it’s like a German?>>

Yes – push to the wing on the outside of the course (on our right, looking at it) but technically not a German because you serp the exit – I believe the ‘official’ OMD jargon says that a German has a blind cross exit (although I am admittedly not up-to-date on my OMD jargon).

>>I have to say I was a bit nervous about this assignment on the walk thru/then running the plan all on camera! Oh and YES! He does vocalize on backsides even in lessons! Maybe it’s just exciting! LOL>>

This assignment is SO HARD!!!!! But I have found it to be the most enlightening thing I have done for myself so now I force it on my friends, family and students LOL!!! For example, the demo video with Voodoo showed the final walk through and the first run being nearly identical in pace. And that is directly reflected in our trial runs. When I first started this with him a few years ago, the pace and planning was so “off” from the reality… which also reflected in our trial runs (which were quite disastrous at the time LOL!)

>>>Wicked rain and winds swept thru, power outages all over, trees down everywhere blocking roads etc. Seems to have passed thru quickly and our power is back. Can’t complain compared to what other areas got. Hope you are safe down there!>>

Very glad to hear the storm is gone! We got super lucky here – it didn’t touch us at all and we had blue skies and gorgeous weather.

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Modifying the course to fit is always fine! I should be able to tell what that course is based on your walk through 🙂 I will go by what you built and spaced on the ground, the maps are not as important 🙂

Video 1: I like the modification!
Things I see in the walk through:
the left cue 2-3 is probably late, your invisible dog was ahead and committed to 3. So look back to landing of 2 to begin the cue.
Your #7 is the backside after the tunnel – great job considering the slice over the wrap, that will almost always be the best answer – and definitely the slice is better here. The other option is to consider slicing the other direction by bringing her into the jump from the inside wing (the one closer to the center of the course) then slicing away to the outside of the course. That is shorter yardage and a better exit line (more on that in the Custom Skills Sets that I posted on Monday :))

On the run: WOW Peggy, this was a great run!!!! Runs like this with a baby dog are NOT easy to get because the success relies almost entirely on your planning and execution (baby dogs can’t save us LOL!!!) I loved it!!!! I especially loved your 4-5-6 section – great connection and handling to drive her ahead to the tunnel so you could be in position for the backside after it. Click/treat for you! Great connection throughout the run, especially when she was tempting to run past the backside jump and you convinced her to take it while also maintaining a great exit line. Keep working on the backside jump as a default behavior, that will make your job as a handler easier in the future.
My only nitpick is that yes, your left cue (physical and verbal) on 3 was late, she turned after landing. So that goes on the list of things to remember: When she lands from the previous jump, decel and begin the cue so she sees if before she makes a takeoff decision.
This is one of my favorite Demi runs ever!

Wilson’s run was *almost* perfect! Yes, be earlier on the left cue at 3 as well – he landed then had to adjust for the turn, which caused a hesitation because he has more body to adjust.
Note how he takes the jump on the backside as more of a default so it was much easier to handle. You were prepared to help him if needed by being connected, but he nailed it.
At 7:14, he ended up on your left side rather than your right. That was a connection break. AS he was jumping, you took off, disconnected, and said GO. And Go means ‘go straight in the direction you are heading’… so he did 🙂 He never had cliear info to get in your right side. Oopsie! So that is a spot where you need to ramp up the connection (exit of serpentines) to show him exactly where he needs to be. And only say GO when you see him looking in the direction you want him to go to (I have learned that lesson the hard way LOL!)

You fixed it at 7:42 – I think you overhelped him over the bar (too much connection and hand shaking caused you to slow way down :)) but you were very clear with your connection when he landed so he knew exactly where to be. Yay!

So the WIlson things-to-remember:
– be earlier on the left cues (same as with Demi
– maintain connection on the exit of serps (backside and front side)
– don’t say go until he is already turned the correct direction 🙂

Video 2:
Walk through:
Good rehearsal of connection on your push on jump 2!
4-5 is trick and spaced a a threadle here
better line turning to the inside on 7
Last walk through looked like you were doing 4-5 as a backside on 5? Hard to tell if you wanted front or back.
Also, you can do a Demi walk and a Wilson walk, to plan for the differences between the 2 (good practice for when they are both in Masters)

Demi run:
I htink she would like it if you ran into the opening more: less of a lead out to blast her through the tunnel. She was accurate but not as fast as she could be with you being pretty stationary on the release. Great job with the connection through the push on jump 2 – you rehearsed it and then you nailed it!
You can turn your shoulders a little sooner before 3, so she can set up her turn before take off to 3: as she exits 2, you can be starting a soft turn.

7:02 and 7:35 and 8:27 on jump 5: you turned before her head gave you permission: she never looked a 5. Yes, you can keep going, reward, then sort it out.

If you can’t get it twice…. walk it again before running her.

7:59 – she thought you wanted the tunnel because you accelerated and yelled GO!…. which means go straight on the line you are looking at 🙂 And that is exactly what she did. Same thing happened with Wilson on the previous course. You were right to reward her.

Wilson:
At 2, same thing happened as on the previous course: not enough connection on the exit so he ended up on the wrong side. Own that the error is handler-induced when the dog ends up on the wrong side, and reward! And if you are not sure whose fault it is… reward anyway as a goodwill gesture 🙂
At 9:28 you got a little too close to the entry wing and he did not take the jump – possible because you were in the way of where he would need to be and he didnt’ want to hit you (understandable and appreciated :)) In that moment, send him over the jump and reward – never walk away.
By the next rep… you started to sound annoyed. You got it on 10:02 but you can it is all handling – so if you get an error twice – put the dog in the shade and re-walk that section or watch the video.

Yes, that 5 jump for him is a little tiny wingless and also you were running on a parallel line at 10:05 which didn’t draw him in – so your 3am assessment is correct that wings would help, and also calling his name. And it was uncelar if you wanted the back or front based on body language (you would need to give more push to the backside, driving to it for longer). The other thing that is happening here is thst his rate of success has dropped super low, because there have been a lot of failures and you stop and turn away from him on each one. Yes, on some you did eventually give him the toy but the instant feedback was the turn away – and dogs read that. So the dogs then get worried and offer a variety of behavior.
So what goes on the list to remember for walk throughs and runs on this course –
Small details such as plan the connections on the exits of serp for Wilson as you did for Demi.
Move more on the opening lines for Demi to get the most speed.

But the most important thing is a training thing:
if you get it wrong, reward the dog (either just reward or a quick fix) then plan what you are going to do next before you ask the dog to try again (that is why I ask people to talk to the camera on the 2nd rep and tell me what you are going to change in exact detail). If you cannot get it right on the 2nd try… reward the dog, stop the session, re-walk the course, watch the video – then try again. You were trying again and again without planning how to get it right, which is a lot of bang on the dog’s body )so much repetitive jumping, even at a low height) and also not good for the dog’s confidence because he is aware that he was ‘wrong’ each time based on your reaction (he wasn’t wrong, but withdrawal of reward/attention/flow is a punisher so the dogs perceive it as wrong).

So – that is a biggie!! If I make one mistake… little red lights go off in my head. 2 mistakes? Doesn’t matter if it is my error or I am convinced the dog is wrong – I will stop and figure out how to get it right. If I can’t figure it out… I stop trying in that moment and then let the 3am lightbulb help me out (or I watch the video :))

Let me know what you think!! Nice job tackling this assignment – it is a really hard one but the lessons from the dogs help so much!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!
You are so busy – 3 dogs, agility, obedience, herding and puppy stuff! I love it 🙂 Makes for a great summer!

Nice job on these sequences! Here are some ideas for you:
Course 1:
Good walk through, nice planning – I could see the connection and lines throughout!! On the parts where you were running, your speed was pretty darned close to the actual speed of the run when I played those sections side by side. That is great with such a young dog!
And I think part of your walk through was spend strategizing if you could get into the gap 8-9 for a BC to get the turn to the right (faster line) – yes I think you can 🙂
To do it – you can strategize 4-5 differently – use your plan to 5, but then send more to 6 and 7 (sending and verbals) so you can cut straight across to 8-9. And you can also keep her on your left 4-5 and RC 5, to set up 6-7 with you even closer to 8-9.
Your execution on the 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 part was good, nicely connected and good timing and turns! (Stopping for the bar at the very beginning, reset, tug, restart is a good protocol. Do you think it is more reinforcing to reward when she gets it right on the next rep, or keep going?)

Wrapping 9 was the final plan, and I think your execution was solid on the run – you were already decelerating as she was jumping 8 and rotated when she landed, with verbal in place. She did not turn til after landing, though, so that is something that we can work on in terms of training – breaking it down so there is still all the speed from the tunnel, but then replacing the jump with a wing so she can find the tight collection with all the excitement – and you can then handle with a tight wrap exit rather than back to 10.

You did go back and try the BC 8-9, yay!!! And you actually were in a good spot at a good time to get it (relatively in position and head turn completed before takeoff for 8) – double yay! Being inexperienced, she was locked onto your motion (lower body) and did not read the head turn/reconnection of the blind – that is another fun thing to train, and that is where I would exaggerate the connection on the new side with a reward across the body to help her read the ‘upstairs’ info and not just the ‘downstairs’ (motion) info 🙂
I think it is great you were pretty much there – you can leave 6 even sooner to get there even sooner!

Course 2:

On the 1-2 line, that is a pretty common spot for the bar down 🙂 You can experiment with what might help – to lead out more, or release while in motion to show extension, but also mainly to figure out what helps get her to read the bar better while you start moving. She was fine with the challenge on the 2nd and 3rd times there! It is more of a training & experience challenge than a walk through or planning challenge.

The backside on 3 was nice both times! Yay!
On the first run, you ran it liked you walked at 2:46 on the walk through – a little too much power forward to 4 after landing of 3 with the shoulder turn a little late, so she drove forward too much on the run at :33 (you said something to her but I couldn’t quite make out which verbal it was) On the 2nd round you were much earlier at 2:32 with your turn, and her forward cue to 4 was one little tiny step after landing from 3 – nice turn! And that is a good thing to remember – one step at landing then leave 🙂
I like the choice of the BC at the end! On the first run, you ran it differently than the walk through (2:50) – you were moving more towards the bar at 8 rather than forward on the line to 9, plus you were later on the BC. That contributed to the bar down. On the 2nd run, you ran it exactly how you walked it (heading to 9 and blinding as soon as she landed from 7) and it was perfect! So it might just have needed a few more high speed passes on the walk through to get it fully into muscle memory there.

Course 3 -definitely not a trainwreck! I think the walk through was good planning, you had one little moment you can add to the list of things to remember but the other stuff was just training stuff (not handling or walk through stuff).

So the one thing to add: you have more time than you think to get to the FC at the 5-6 line, you were rushing a bit and that is what pulled her off at :53 (you were saying go tunnel as she exited 3 but had also fully turned and started towards 5 (which is exactly what you walked at 4:05) – and Go Tunnel is relative to body position, so she was being a good girl. One heartbeat of upper body turned to her and eyes on her eyes, and she will get that tunnel with you still having plenty of time to get the FC.

Small training detail: On the turn cue on 6, you were there and decelerated and connected, she still turned after landing – so you can play with just a wing there too, and running away for the reward on a tight line to help encourage her to put in a collection before takeoff (starting with a wing is easy and fun, then we can add back a bar).

For the jumping on 2 and 7: I was watching her set up on each of the reps, and I think she is just not sure how to jump those angles while you are moving – it is a bit of a sideways jumping effort on those types of slices, and very common for dogs to hit those rails (or hit the wings). You mentioned that she was looking at you over 2 – that is indicative of not being sure how to set the jumping on that slice relative to the physical serp cue you were showing (and you were showing it, otherwise I would bug you to show it :)) So, we can help her out! I have found that the zig zag grids are the absolute best way to help the dogs sort out this jumping angle while we are moving (although you don’t move at first).
First on 3 jumps:

then on 5 jumps:

nice and low until she is very comfy and then with motion… then you can help raise the bars 🙂 She is probably athletic enough to do it at full height or close to (Voodoo doesn’t have enough angulation in his front, so I stay at 16) but even without full height – very helpdul for sorting out how to jump those lines.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

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