[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Lots of nice work on this video 🙂

Strike a pose – that target definitely has value, so you can toss the reinforcement back more frequently for the stay when you present the target (like you did at :34) – maybe 50% release to target, 50% reinforcement for the stay, for now.
Interesting go-behind behavior at 1:02! Does he had a trick or behavior where he is cued to do that wrap behind you (some folks have an obedience/rally behavior, or a set up behavior, and some folks teach that for disc dog stuff too). If so – no worries, we just make the set up look different so he know which behavior you want. Or he might have just been trying out a different behavior to see if it worked to get to the reward faster 🙂 He only did it once, so it falls into the ‘interesting’ category and you don’t have to change anything at the moment.
He did a super job coming in from the cookie toss! His speed and focus to your target hand was great on both the stay releases and the cookie tosses. And great job rewarding him to help create the 2nd turn. So, time to go to the next step – the reinforcement on the ground (can be an empty food bowl or manners minder). You can also put this on the jump, with the reinforcement in your hand (just like you did here) – and then at some point we will add in the reinforcement on the ground to the jump as well.

Lap turn – nice job with the cookie hand, he had no trouble with this at all. Easy peasy! You can also try this with a toy – a toy scrunched up in your hand for him to drive to, and you can also toss it behind you (to reinforce driving to your hand) to help keep the value of driving to you when you are facing him super high (that value diminishes as we add more obstacles and running :))

Tandem turn – Nice job here too! On one rep, you did the turn away using the dog-side arm and it was not as crisp as when you used the opposite arm (which is what you did on all the other reps). I think you can start the turn away sooner for him, by one or two steps – he is driving to your hand (then thinking he is getting the cookie, based on his open mouth LOL!) so you can start the turn away cue when he is one full stride (3 feet or so) from the cookie hand.
You can also use a toy instead of a cookie here too – I know he loves his toys, so feel free to substitute them at any point. His food drive is looking really strong, you’ve done a great job building that!!

Parallel path – also looking really good!!! The jump set up you used is fine 🙂 He seemed to be able to find it very easily as you moved parallel to it, only one question from him but I think you were a little too far away on the restart in that moment. He LOVED it with a toy – not sure how long it took him to bring the toy back, so you can play it as a two-toy game: toy #1 as the reward, then you turn and walk back towards the jump and toy #2 is the reward for the jump there (he is likely to carry to #1 over it, which is fine – and cute – because he will drop it when you throw toy #2.
When using food, try to have a handful ready so you just pluck one from your other hand to throw. He was tracking your hand going to your pocket which delayed him from going right back to looking for the jump.
The other thing you can do when using food is add in the element of him ‘finding’ the jump with you way ahead: after you toss the reward and he is finding it, turn and start walking past the jump so you are well past it when he lifts his head after eating the cookie – now the challenge becomes can he find the jump with you that far ahead? Don’t be lateral at first, just ahead so he can kind of see you between the uprights – and if he has no trouble with that, you can add in more lateral AND ahead challenges 🙂 That will simulate the course elements where you send him to a tunnel, for example, and leave to get to the next position, so he needs to ‘find’ the jump after the tunnel with you way ahead (and not just chase da momma :))

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! He is finding the tunnel with no problem at all, so we can look at the hanging out in the tunnel:
I think he is telling us that one or two or three reps are enough in the heat 🙂 He seems totally on board with the set up until :42 when he gets the toy and says, “check please!” and tried to leave. Hanging out in the tunnel is a form of leaving, and there were a few other moments when he wanted to leave. So – it might feel cool to us humans, but because he is so young, and running, and black – he might be hot and avoiding getting too hot. I see that in my pups too – the building where I film the demos is not climate controlled, so you might notice that my pups have their tongues hanging out a lot LOL! Especially Contraband who is doing more of the running demos and more tugging (he has chilled out in the tunnel too, sometimes). I think puppies just absorb heat more and don’t quit regulate it as much or as well as adults, so I try to keep my sessions super short. I don’t feel the heat all that much… but I am not the one running LOL!! So try 30 second sessions on the tunnel with the toy and see how it goes. I think you can do longer sessions if you use food, because a cool piece of cheese might help him handle the heat and there is a little less heating up involved with food rewards (tugging gets very heated up :))
Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
This is looking good – he is giving you really strong hits even as you move away. You can start to add a little more leaving early, to put even more daylight between you and him 🙂 And, on the timing you used here – you can start to leave faster 🙂 Speed is a distraction! And nice job mixing in reward back on the prop, he was very happy to go hit it 🙂
He is offering before you are ready, so try to give him something else to do until you are ready so he doesn’t offer a fabulous hit and get called back with no reward (which basically says it wasn’t correct) – a stay is fine (reward then release then send) if you need to reload the treats 🙂

>>How long should my arm be back and supporting the prop as I’m moving away? Sometimes I feel like I’m dropping it too soon when I start moving.>>

I thought you were fine in terms of arm support – and he seemed to be fine with it too. The main thing I saw was that your connection was really clear, and that supports him more than your arm would. Even when you relaxed your arm position, you kept your arm low and back, and that helped keep your connection very strong. Nice!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>And, yes – she looks like a kangaroo jumping backwards and waving (actually high waving). She’s a character.

Ha! That is a common Papillon behavior and it is outlawed in my house, from any Papillon or half Papillon or any dog that hangs out with Papillons. LOL! It is cute for about 2 seconds the first time then it is a behavior I personally never want to see again LOL!!!

>>I’m so lucky that the Border Collies are teaching her so many good habits.

I bet the BCs just think it is a very uncool behavior LOL

>>I’ve been training a lot, but since I have 3 dogs I have had to prioritize what to work on. Plus I went back to working the BCs on sheep and that didn’t exactly give me extra time LOL.>>

VERY fun to hear about the sheep! And yes, prioritizing is key, very helpful to do things that way!

>>I’m having trouble with the nose touch prop because she is learning a retrieve. I will have to come back to the nose touch later because it’s confusing her right now and I don’t want to build in bitey behaviors to a nose touch.>>

Makes sense! We don’t want a nose touch to be a tooth hug 🙂 Another option is to NOT use a nose touch on this, you can go right to where we fade the nose touch and shape the in-then-out by marking coming towards the hand and then reinforcing from the other hand (basically, going to the advanced level but you don’t need to have the reinforcement on the ground if she is not ready for that yet, the reinforcement can still be in your other hand).

On the lap turn video:
>> I turned the phone vertical to get more height in the video and you can see me here.

It was perfect!

>>She’s turning pretty well.

Yes, totally agree, the turns look great! You did a terrific job using a nice low hand to emphasize front feet on the ground, such a critical element on these turns. Excellent mechanics: good timing with the hand, the step back, then turn – and also you were nice and slow because too fast makes things muddy or rushed for the pups.

>>Is it okay to feed her before I toss the food forward?

Yes, totally ok and also encouraged! You can feed her when she arrives at your hand, then after the turn – then again for the drive out of it. But you don’t have to throw the reward on the drive out if she might pretzel herself to chase it (I see what you mean on the first rep, where you toss a cookie and she almost turned inside out to chase it). You can replace a cookie toss with a destination – the prop or an empty bowl or a perch or any stopping point where you can then place the cookie (either by handing it to her or by putting it in the bowl) so there is no rush to chase it. I don’t think speed is going to be a problem with her, we don’t need to make her nuts or encourage her to go faster – so you can modify the cookie toss elements to encourage movement with good form and not throwing herself at the treats 🙂 And, by having a destination out there, we are also layering in value for driving to your hand on cue versus going to the destination on cue – nice foundation for threadles, discriminations, etc.

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

She is a bit of a Kamikaze food chaser and it’s better for her if I can feed her in position and then get another piece of food to toss. She will be an interesting girl to train because she doesn’t care what she does with her body for the sake of chasing a toy or food.

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Strike a pose – that bowl is exciting! And yes keep telling yourself to look at your hand (for now)- eventually it won’t matter, but what I think will help him when the bowl is on the ground is
– let him see you move the target hand into position (and look at it 🙂 ) as he turns back towards you – motion can help for now!
– feel free to wiggle the target hand a little – motion can help draw his attention to the target hand.
Overall this is going well, he got better and better at doing hand-then-bowl rather than bowl-then-hand-then-bowl LOL!!

On the jump – this is also going well! Yes, keep bugigng yourself about a slightly lower hand and looking at hand, but we are going to fade the actual touch in the next steps, so only bug yourself a little LOL! 2 suggestions when you are on the jump: be closer to it, so he has to start his turn before he approaches it (rather than after he is through the uprights). Make sure you can easily reach out and touch the upright without having to stretch or lean. And keep your target hand back and open until after he has turned to approach the reward. This will be MUCH easier with the bowl out there, so I think you should go ahead and meld these 2 levels together 🙂 Your angles looked good, position 3 was a little difficult so you can keep him at position 1, 2 and maybe 2.5 (not quite 3) when you have the bowl on the ground 🙂

Parallel path – he totally likes this, he has gone to a gallop 🙂 Yay! The only difficulty was a bit of treat distraction on the ground, but that is not a problem at all. Also, well done to you for establishing a strong connection on the line as well – you were pretty much locking onto his eyes when you are ahead, parallel or behind, which forms a great handler habit in you and really support his line. Nice!!

Turn and Burn – yes, weight it down, I think you have the same barrel that I do (my border whippet was sending it flying across the room LOL!)

>> He sent pretty consistently and overall had good commitment.

Yes, he did a great job! Yay!!!

>> He did have a couple where my motion was too much

This was at 1:11and 1:22 – you were a little too exciting and marked too early, and that drew his attention away from finishing the job. You can do the FC and start to walk the new direction exactly when you did it at 1:11 and 1:22, but be less exciting and don’t mark until he has finished the job.

>> I did realize I’m not really burning…should I be consistently running with him as well? I was using a lotus ball with treats for this, and that seemed to be very motivating for him.

Yes, that is the one suggestion I have for you – BURN 🙂 LOL! You were turning and throwing, and staying there. So that was actually causing him to hit the barrel on the exit. On the reps where you moved and he chased you for the reward, he didn’t touch the barrel as much. The lotus ball is a great reward, but use it the same way you would use a tug toy for this game: he chases you and get it when he arrives at you (he can get it in the form of a throw forward as you keep moving, or you can tie it to a leash and let him chase it like a tug toy 🙂 )

Lap turns – yes, it is all about the mechanics! This is going well! You can mix in feed him when he arrives at the cookie hand and that will help balance the value when the prop goes in. 10 zillion cookies for the prop make it hard. You can also make the cookie hand more salient and magical by making it look like you are actually offering the treat (not cuing him to come in) – I think that will make a massive difference – extend your arm forward, palm up, cookie in your fingertips – and lock your elbow so your arm is held out away from your body. Basically, it is the international position for “would you like a cookie” or “here kitty kitty” LOL!! Then deliver the cookie when he gets to the hand – then start the step back and turn. He was totally getting the idea and this will help for sure 🙂 And looking at the hand helps because pups are nosey and they will often come to see what we are looking at 🙂

>>I also started playing with the tandem turn but realize I need some clarity on where this is leading. I have already started shadow handling stuff with Presto just using my inside hand to turn away for a rear cross. But if this is going to be a tandem turn where he will need to go PAST the jump and then turn, then is adding the off hand helping to differentiate between a rear (take the front side) and a tandem turn (take the backside) cue? In other words, inside hand is a rear, but both hands is a tandem?>>

Great question! On a regular rear cross, it is the dog-side arm that does the heavy lifting. The tandem turn is more of a rear cross on the flat, where the dog has to be drawn off the line and turned away. Sometimes, yes, it means going past the jump like on a backside threadle/rear but also can be done on a front side when I need to pull-then-set a rear cross (and yes, I use 2 hands but that outside hand is very prominent).
Visuals might help make more sense:
SOme exaggerated tandem turn videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQmcyNFINUo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv7eXR9zq_Y

Let me know if that makes sense!

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I just realized I made a new thread for the last video we did. I meant to keep everything under this one post and will try to do that in the future. I realize keeping everything in one place is helpful to both you and me.>>

No worries! I did a “merge” thing and it seems to have put it here in your thread. I am still learning how to use this software and it seems to have worked LOL!

On the turn aways video:
The length of the video was perfectly fine 🙂 She is looking really good on the lap turn style turn away! Most of your mechanics were spot on perfect. My only suggestion is to take only one step back, not several – the leg under the magic cookie hand moves, and the other leg stays planted 🙂 Plus, we want her to drive into you when you are basically standing still, we don’t want you to have to move backwards in order to get her to come in (I personally tend to land on my butt when I try to run backwards away LOL!)

Lap turning to the prop is going well!! You might need to feed her the treat then move forward so she is less interested in the treat in your hand.

The tandem turn looked great! And the tandem to the prop. Nice mechanics, she was able to turn AND find the prop.

So – since both the lap & tandem look great, and the prop added in was absolutely not a problem (yay!) then you can ramp up the game. Start her from a stay or a cookie toss, and do everything the same *except* the magic cookie hand used to cue the turn aways is empty and the other hand is empty: cookies remain in your pocket or treat bag 🙂 You can dig a reward out quickly after she hits the prop. That adds challenge because it is easy to focus on a cookie and harder to focus on an empty hand and on the prop, but I believe she is ready for it. But the entire process is the same except for the empty hands – your mechanics looked great. Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>>> Question about the toy play first: will he still jump up for the toy if you immediately throw a treat and then walk past the jump? Or, did you try to get some tugging then do a ‘party’ with several treats? Just curious, for planning 🙂 Teaching youngsters to return to ‘work’ after tugging is a puzzle but fun to figure out 🙂

I tugged, threw one treat and then tried to start the parallel path, but he still jumped for the toy.>>

Alrighty then! A different approach: what is perhaps the easiest thing he knows how to do, or his favorite thing? We can use that as the toy-treat-behavior-toy process 🙂 It is more about helping him modulate arousal when the toy is present, so the actual behavior is not that important 🙂

Strike a pose – awesome!!! You can have the toy dnagle more to add a little challenge. And you can also move to the next step, where the reward is on the ground (your ready treat would be perfect for this, or an empty food bowl – valuable but not mind blowing in distraction level :))

Rear crosses – the is adorable to watch as he is sorting things out. He looked so surprised on the first coule of bowl reps! But yes, I think they totally helped. Perhaps it was something that made the reinforcement more predictable or perhaps he realized that something would happen *after* the prop? Or latent learning? All of the above? LOL!! Anyay – great session! And next time you can start with the bowls as reminders and then fade them out. Great job with your handling too, the rear crosses looked obvious and you set him up for a high rate of success 🙂

>>We tried the wing wrap using toys and it didn’t go so well. He just wasn’t that interested in playing with the toys. My thought is that the setup implied treats, since all our wing wrap work has been with food.>>

Entirely possible that he associates the wing wrapping with treats! Or teething a bit (molars setting?) or he was just in a food mood 🙂 Or all of the above 🙂 You can work the toy play by just playing with the toys in the presence of the wing and then work then in over time as reinforcement. He has good toy drive, so I am not concerned about it at all 🙂

>>We’ve been working more on the start line stays, he’s doing awesome! I’ve started working on holding my arms out to the side gradually so he gets used to holding the stay with my body doing different things.>>

Yay!! Sounds perfect!!!

Great job on the very chill tunnel verbal 🙂 Excellent session (also, maybe latent learning – that is a thing I am seeing with him and some of his cohorts: maybe first session is not super successful then after a few days, they nail it as if they have been practicing without us LOL!) I loved his turn away into the tunnel to practice the threadle foundation!
He does a little head toss when things are hard (1:14) that is something I see in my pointy puppy too (Lazlo’s cousin!) and other pointy dogs – good to watch for, because when yo usee a head toss you can assess whether they need help or something, before they get frustrated. You noted the head toss, did a touch which both rewarded him AND moved him to a better position – then he got rewarded for the tunnel. That was an excellent dog training moment, click.treat for you 🙂

The BX-drive to handler – go looked really great! You can start the blind cross sooner by moving away as he is on the way to the cookie and then do it as soon as he takes one step back to you 🙂 The drive to the handelr and the go to the toy looked fabulous!

Wrapping wing with you standing and rewardin from the hand – looks great! You can move the wing a little further away. Same with going around the storage tub – he looked great here too, so move it out to where it is a foot away. And if he is happy to offer the behavior with you a foot or so away from the tub… onwards to the game from Aug 1: Turn and Burn. Wheeeeeee!!!!

>>Should I be trying to switch up my training location more? This is the biggest empty space in my house so I tend to do a lot of my training here, but I should probably work on some of the smaller space things in other rooms. My yard is unfortunately very sloped, but I do have a deck I could use too.>>

Yes, if possible. Maybe take a simple behavior to a different spot in the house or yard? When I change locations, I start off 2 or 3 steps easier than where I might be in the comfortable loction: environment change is a doozy for most puppies!!

Great job here!!!! Tons of progress 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I totally didn’t see these, thank you for reposting!! I saw the tunnel post and went right to that. Oopsie!!! Sorry!

Good boy on the serpentines!! Note how he is starting to get the idea of how we want him to use his body – come in then turn. Love it!! Excellent job to you for NOT twitching LOL! And The angles are looking good. You can make position 3 even harder at this stage (with the reward in your hand).
It is really hard not to move the target hand towards him – so keep reminding yourself. Double gold start for having the 3rd arm doing the clicking 🙂
As he was starting to get the chain, his touches were getting softer – at 1″05, you basically stood still as he went and fixed it, then rewarded. That is my preferred method on how to handle a drive by. Bear in mind that we will be fading the hand touch on the advanced level, so you can probably get to that very quickly.
Also, good job recognizing that the stay was hard when the hand target was moved into position: lots of nice rewards built in there. I think after the ‘catch’ reward, he wasn’t entirely sure if he was supposed to move to the target or not – so you can re-cue a sit then release, or call his name to let him know that it was a-ok to get moving to the target.
Question: have your tried this yet with something on the ground, like a toy or empty food bowl or MM? If not – that is the next step, he appears ready for it (but he will likely need LOTS of rewards for holding the stay while you put the thing on the ground, because coming over the little jump and touching your hand both now have a TON of value 🙂 And if the thing on the ground goes well, onwards to the Advanced level!

Wrap and Go – Very nice session!! Who was that person prattling on in the background? LOL! He did better when you stepped forward with your leg as part of the cue, as opposed to when you already had your leg forward such as :58 (where you stepped) and 1:02 (where you did not step). So…. use your leg.
Also, resist the temptation to say go at this point (go will have an entirely different meaning. You can put on a noise or interim cue for now (I tend to just make silly noises) and then we will add wrap cues later on.

He is doing really well on this. Nice job leaving earlier and earlier!! You can ping pong in rewards thrown back to him for going around the basket, landing on the line as you leave. This will maintain the value for the thing and not just for chasing da momma 🙂

Lap turn – great job feeding him for coming in on those first few reps – note how quickly he figured out that driving to your hand was a GOOD thing, smartie! That is something to maintain for a while (reward for coming in). You can also sometimes through the reward directly behind you when he arrives at your hand, to pair coming to the hand with en exciting toss/chase game. The turn away element looked really good, he was happy to whip around, no problem! And then the prop hits were looking good too (try not to click too early :)) So the only thing to bug you about: don’t say ‘go’. LOL! The prop stops the pup, so he is decelerating/collecting which is probably not what your go cue will mean (eventually). So, just use a random cue or noise, or be quiet for now, to save the power of the go go go for later on 🙂

Great job on these – again, sorry I missed them! Looking good!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
yes, you will find all of the recordings posted in the Course Syllabus section, under the corresponding week/day/time.

Have fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Good for you for training last night, I was on the couch eating nachos at 8:30PM last night. And ice cream LOL! The dogs got zero training but they did get some nachos 🙂

This is indeed a hard skill!! When you made it easier at about 1:09 by having him on a slightly easier angle, it totally helped!!! A few other ides for you:
you can ‘prime the pump’ by starting him near the tunnel entry you want on an outside send or two, where you are between him and the tunnel. Then in the flow of the session, in that spot, switch to the inside (he is between you and the tunnel) and see how it goes. I also suggest starting this with him turning to his right to get into the tunnel – if my memory is correct, he is a righty like his sister, so his right turns are better than his left turns at the moment. So, start a hard concept on the easy side, then go to the harder side when he has the idea. You started him on his left turn here. Unless I am remembering it incorrectly and he is a lefty?

Also, have a reward out there at the end of the tunnel (toy or MM or even an empty cookie bowl where you can toss a treat to while he is tunneling), anything that he can use as a target. On this clip, he had to turn away to do the tunnel AND leave the toy, which was double whammy hard.

One last idea: don’t use your arm. Don’t twitch LOL!! The arm movement made it harder, because you were trying to point to the tunnel, he was trying to figure out what you were pointing to and it made finding the tunnel harder 🙂 The turn away game of course will help him understand that he can turn away on an arm cue, but I don’t think he has applied it to the tunnel yet. So, set it up just like you did in the early games when he was on the other side of you: gentle restraint (don’t move him around a lot to get him in position, whippety dogs don’t like that LOL) and then say tunnel then let him go offer.

Nice job here getting this started! Let me know what you think!
T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! She is looking great! And I agree – I love how all of the games come together 🙂
On the video – nice choice of toy for this! And you had perfect mechanics – not twitchy LOL! Great toy drop as you exited on the hard rep at :30 and :58 (these had the most countermotion). She was not entirely convinced because you were leaving so early, and the early toy presentation helped seal the deal for her.
One thing I notice is that she is much faster chasing you than she was going to the barrel. Part of this was that chasing you is exciting and that toy is REALLY exciting (her favorite, I think!). So one thing you can ‘ping pong’ in is tossing something fabulous to the other side of the barrel as you leave, so the reward is all about going to the barrel and doesn’t involve chasing you at all. So you can drop in a ball or a giant treat or something she loves on some reps, tossing it to just where she would start to exit the barrel (but not anywhere near you). And on some reps you can have her chase you for the reward. That will help get her to run to the barrel more while maintaining chasing you fast when you want to reward nearer you.

Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This is looking really good!! Good planning in the walk through, your lines looked really good. Because she is young, it is hard to know exactly what her speed will be (right now it is basically characterized as “fast ” LOL!) but you can ramp up your connections in the walk through. The more your rehearse being hyper connected, the more easily it will flow during the runs. You were kinda connected in the walk through but really connected in that first run – yay for getting the connection, but it was not as smooth or ocmfy as it will be if you rehearse it fully in the walk through: she hit the wing a little on 2 then wasn’t fully sure on 3-4 (a little zig zag). You locked in with the connection from 4 to the end and it was GREAT! Then on the 2nd run, you were fully connected to match your clear lines and the run wsa lovely. So, on your walk throughs – remind yourself to look for your invisible Lanna on the landings of all the jumps and exits of all the tunnels – full on looking, not soft connection 🙂 We will be able to connect less as she matures, but the rehearsal of the big connection for now will help you both. That also includes the lead out and release: on the 1st run and the 2nd run, you connected then released. In between when she didn’t take 1, you connected and released at the same time, so she didn’t consider 1 (her line up was not as good as you mentioned on the video, but I think she will be able to find 1 if you connect for a few heartbeats and then release).

Nice work here, she is looking great!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Good job on this one!

I like your line choices and also the handling choices – there are lots of options but I think you chose the fastest lines and terrific handling choices. The only other handling choice worth considering would be a German at 2, but it might not make sense because it would put you closer to the tunnel and there is no need for that on this particular sequences. Plus – he read your plan 1-2-3 beautifully on both runs and your position for 4-5 was good without having to sprint to get there.

I think you can plan an earlier collection cue on 5 before the threadle cue – the walk and the run looked entirely different there 🙂 and his turn over 5 was a bit wide. He came back and got the threadle jump both times (SUPER yay!) but you can plan to start the collection cue when he has landed from 4 so he can approach 5 already turned.

Side note – I really like how he is jumping that slice on 6 after the threadle! Zig zag grid influence there for sure!

The 8-9-10 section is something you can put on the list of things for planning in the walk through – similar stuff to the Sequence 1 planning ideas! Strategically, to get the turn you want on 8, you have to be there, passing it and slowing down. In your walk through, you were moving to it in acceleration when the invisible dog was exiting the tunnel, because after the threadle (8:09ish) your path rounded the line towards the tunnel and you walked a curving line. That sets you up to show acceleration towards 8 – and when you ran it, you ran the curved line exiting 6 to 7 to 8, so he saw you accelerating to your FC and went wide based on motion plus timing was late. On the re-walk, you made an entirely different exit from 6 – you cued your invisible dog to go to the tunnel and then stepped directly to 8 to get to the FC, with your eyes on the tunnel exit. That planning of taking the very direct line to 8 while watching the tunnel exit for timing – that was GREAT and it enabled you to get to a nice FC which sets up the nice exit of 9 too. You ran it like you rewalked it there, and it looked really strong!!!
So – definitely one thing to consider with Enzo is when you are planning a FC or BC, strategizing how to get there so he sees you in position and slowing down, rather than accelerating to get to the position for the cross.

Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

HI there!

>>Here is #2, it went much better.

It went really well!!!

>>I remembered to “pre-cue” the #4 backside and that went very well.

That section was particularly terrific – early cue (early and often haha) and great connection so he was super independent to the backside. Loved it!!

Comparing the walk through to the run –
Fun to see the whole family on the walk through <3 Terry looks fabulous!!!

The walk and run looked pretty similar and I am sure that helped with the success of the run. The only real "issue" was more of a training thing. On detail - try to line him up so he ha a perfectly straight line 1-2. He turned a bit on landing of 1 to come in then back out, which costs time to get to 2.
1-2-3-4 was well planned and well executed on both the walk and the run. On the walk through, you can plan to have an earlier, clearer re-connection after the blind. On the first run, your execution of the blind was SO good that the connection didn't matter as much (timing and position were really nice so he had no questions). On the 2nd run, you were a little late with the blind (you held onto the left side connection a little too long, he was jumping and you hadn't done the blind yet so he had a little zig zag on landing at 4:58.
You were getting on a good line 6-7 for that blind and try to get the reconnection super quick in the walk through - it was on time in the run but it was easy to get because he was coming in wide so you had more time. When the exit of 5 gets nice and tight, you will need to be really fast 🙂

About hat 5 exit, you mentioned that he was sometimes flipping the wrong way - do you mean he sometimes reads this as a rear cross instead of a send? Is it only happening on sends or happening when you do a a spin or Jaakko? Got video? There are a couple of reasons why that might be happening and video will tell. He was definitely reading the regular post turn as a wide exit (even on the 2nd one where you were softer with it to get it tighter). You can definitely add in a verbal wrap cue (I don't think you used one here) and then maybe a soft brake arm? I think a spin or jaakko would be GREAT here because it both tightens the turn and get your feet turned to the BC line 6-7 really early - but that is also a place where dogs might read it as a rear cross. That seems to happen when we push in more towards the takeoff spot or center of the bar, so our feet end up facing the rear cross line. The other time it seems to happen is when we don't decelerate into the cue, but rather slam on the brakes - which often leads us to step out of the rotation towards the dog and not towards the next line - and towards the dog looks like a rear cross cue. I have some video me doing this (not on purpose haha). Let me know!

Nice work here! Onwards to #3 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>> I walked it for 3 minutes and then warmed Enzo up and ran it. I think the issue here is not so much that I didn’t walk it “properly” but that I don’t yet know how to walk it for Enzo. >>

Agreed 100%. I would bet at this point, you wouldn’t even need to walk it for Patt and maybe not for Lollie too – the rhythm and flow of the teamwork is exactly where it needs to be. Now, this young sports car?? Yeah, at just 2 years old, I think it is a fair assessment to say that we don’t know exactly what he needs. It is going to develop and that is what has happened with all of our agility dogs 🙂

One thing that has always helped with my young dogs is to keep a running list of their on-course needs and timing. The list changes as they mature, but it helped me be able to support them on course better as youngsters.

>>I guess I should say that I do not generally “commit” to my handling plan. I often change it in the heat of the moment. Of course, I would prefer to have my runs look more like my walkthroughs>>

That is an interesting comment and the source of much debate in the agility world. I have friends/colleagues who insist that we should make a plan and commit to it fully, no matter what. I tend to be more like you: make a plan, commit-ish to it: but always have a fully fleshed out plan B and plan C, ready to think on my feet. Of course, I do commit to the ‘must do’ moments on a course if I only see one option for success, but I also acknowledge that we need to be able to shift immediately on course to a different plan as needed. I have 2 rules for myself about that:
always run aggressively (my dogs hate it when I am ‘careful’) and always try to set the dog up fo success, help as much as possible without being too careful.

I do my walk throughs mostly for my Plan A – but if there is something risky in there, I also spend a little time on plan B in the walk through too 🙂 Maybe Plan C as well haha then your subconscious is ready to change lanes at any time, without active thought.

I personally have found that the people who can make a plan, walk a great plan, but aso know all of the other options available to them are the most successful on course in the long term. The people who commit to only one plan and never vary – they can lay down a great run here and there, but *consistently* great runs do not ever happen.

On the run here:
the 3 minute walk through was really good for where it went… but it needed one more minute at least, so you can install the timing and connections and speed. When I look at the last walk through, you were cuing things nicely but they were happening when the invisible dog had landed (like the FC 4-5 was happening when he landed from 4, rather than when he exits from 5 and the FC on 9 was happening on landing) – I can figure out the timing based on where you are looking when you start the cross. So one or two more go-rounds at higher speed with you looking for the tunnel exits and land spots to start the timing will really help.

On the run – the timing of the FC 4-5 was exactly as you walked it – landing of 4, so he went wide which caused you to try to do a switch (RC?) on 5 (not what was rehearsed) so your position was not where wanted to be, The timing on the wrap at 9 was earlier than rehearsed but still a little late.
The 2nd run was earlier at 4-5 but still not as early as he needed – so the question is how to plan to be on time, and it has nothing to do with the actual FC 🙂 by leading out relatively close to 1-2-3, you had to use significant hustle to get to the FC 4-5 (to be on landing side of 4 to start it). So as he was exiting the tunnel, that is what he saw: significant hustle which means to jump long over 4. On the 2nd rep, you were trying to start it earlier but also trying to get to a good positition – so he was still wide over 4. That is not a FC error…. it is a planning mistake by being too close to 1-2-3. You can support 1-2-3 from a parallel line that is much further over (closer to the 5 jump) so when he exits the tunnel, you are past 4 and ready to show the FC without acceleration forward to it. That will then allow you to execute the original plan of the throw back rather than the switch, which also takes the weaves out of the equation.
Your timing on the wrap at 9 was much nicer on run 2! Try to run forward out of it back towards 11 as soon as he commits, rather than step back laterally or wait for him – that will help him drive around even more.

When you re-walked for the turn cue on 4 and then the Rc on 5 – you were totally looked at the tunnel exit, which helps with the timing planning on when he needs to see it. (You were also saying that the way you did it should have worked – I am guessing you meant your original plan, and I agree – that is where the planning during the walk through will help, in terms of locking in the timing).

On the run with the RC at 5 – I htink your planning there was much better – you lead out to a great spot so when he exited the tunnel, you were at 4 ready for the cue. Yay! You almost forgot the wrap at 9. but no worries about that 🙂

>> At any rate, I watched my original walkthrough for the 100th time and realized I hadn’t executed it even once. When Enzo came blasting out of the tunnel, I didn’t “catch” him on the FC; I immediately switched to a post turn and a disaster. Then I changed the handling but never actually ran my original handling plan. >>

Yes, the original planned hadn’t been fully installed so your muscle memory didn’t drive it.
The re-walk already looked better, with you looked more to the tunnel entry and being more laterally away from 2-3. Check out :46 – you were looking at the tunnel exit so and NOT showing any hustle to get past 4, so he was already prepared for the turn cue. It was much better! He went a little wide because you were moving sideways through the rotation (towards the poles) and motion is motion (forwards, backwards, sideways :))

So 2 things to add to your list for things to remember in the planning stages and walk through
– strategize your positions on the ‘easy’ parts so you can get to where you need to be for turn cues without having to accelerate to them
– add in thinking about timing the cues from the exit of the previous obstacles (this is related to strategizing) so you are connected to those exits, in position and ready.

Nice work here!! Onwards to course 2 below 🙂

Tracy

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