[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I like when we find out what the dog needs in order to create training progressions to help him out! Yes the clicker session on the sends looks good but he left for the kennel on both the ready (:10) and on just the clicker (:56). So I think it has to do potentially with some clarity of behavior as well: when you were closer to the pillow, he did fine and had no questions. The leaving all happened when you were further from the pillow (plus the interactions with it that were not as accurate). The home session was also plretty close to the pillow and he was at his happiest when you were about an arm’s length away. When you got a little further – (like 2 arms lengths away) the behavior was not as crisp.
So I think that the question he has is more about adding distance too quickly – keep the next several sessions to no more than an arm’s length away from the pillow. I don’t think you have poisoned anything, I think he is preferring the clarity of proximity for now – we can add more distance much more gradually 🙂

Separately from this – do add a ready word (or any similar word) because a word like that is just so darned useful for getting engagement! But add it without the dancing – just pair it with great things: say ready thn throw a ball. Say ready then give him his dinner bowl 🙂 I use it conversationally all the time with my puppies and right before something fun is presented (toys, treats, activities) so they are pairing it and getting a positive conditioned emotional response. We can add in body language later on after the CER is in place.

Collection sandwich: This is looking terrific! Also, he did well with the toy on the first few reps! Cheese is delicious so I am glad he played with the toy. Your mechanics were terrific (this game has a need for 65 arms). When using all treats, you can have an empty food bowl out ahead – start with a cooke in the bowl to send him away, then toss a cookie into the bowl so he can drive to it as his destination.

Stays: I agree, catch is a fun word and it find it so entertaining when the pups do actually catch it LOL!! I do use this game when I begin to put the dogs into the ring (and a variation on this game) – it transfers brilliantly to NFC/training runs early in the pup’s career by giving the pup a framework for amazing stays and teamwork off the line, even as yougnsters. It creates happy relaxed stays – and he did awesome!!!! Having the foundation of a solid stay really helped too. You can also add the advanced level of the game (we didn’t do it in the live class, it is on the video :))

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! There are SO many good things happening on these videos! Happy dance!
Wing wraps – looking good, he is totally in the groove here. Yay! Next session: warm up for 2 or 3 cookies just like this (or however many it takes until he is in the groove) then move the wing out a few inches to add challenge. Try to do keep it to maybe 10 treats before you throw the party 🙂 Then take a break and come back after a minute or so for 10 mire treats. That will keep him in the right working state without him losing his train of thought.

Toy To Treat – this is a great game to help him learn to modulate his internal arousal, which will help if he gets frustrated! He did a great job here! You did a nice job of have those ‘frozen moments’ and basically rewarding him for being a bit patient when there were no active treats or toys! He was terrific! Yes, keep playing this game: add different places, different values of toys and treats, etc – and even a bit of you turning away where he might have done a butt chomp on the past – start a fake, minimal turning away and then toss the rewards for him waiting patiently.

Sends with Opposing Motion – yay, he is doing a great job here! Try to move away less quickly for now – early yes, but not as fast. Motion (especially fast motion) causes a lot of behaviors to break down, so as you move away, you can be very casual and slow about it – especially as you add more distance.
No worries about the 2 misses – you caught them and adjusted and he didn’t feel any frustration or pressure. Part of the game is to train us to see that and adjust… and you did that beautifully! I’d say that after another session or two like this, you can add more distance which will allow you to leave even earlier (but slowly LOL). This is where you might find the biggest difference between whippet training and RR training: motion! Add the motion in very gradually and casually with the pointy dog 🙂 I have found with RRs that we could add motion in right away in agility because it got them really excited! Let me know if you have also had that experience 🙂

Speaking of motion – your first rep of your collection sandwich handling combo looked GREAT – the perfect level of motion for the task at hand at this moment. He picked up speed on the next reps, but you don’t need to. The blind and the turns looked good. You lost a little connection at 1″29 so he ended up behind you, but you made the right decision to reward and carry on 🙂
You can add in a little bit of toy play on rep or two of this and see how he does:
Do a blind and reward with a toy, then a cookie toss, blind and reward collection/drive to you with a treat. That way we can build up to adding the GO at the end.

The parallel path session looked great! You did a nice job of gradually adding distance but then you found the threshhold – you were a little too far so he had 2 failures out of 3 reps and he let you know he was frustrated at 1:00 but jumping up, I think what will help is as you add distance laterally – when you change sides, take a heartbeat to connect with him, then move – that way he doesn’t lose the rhythm and just follow you (and miss the target).
He is definitely getting the idea, the foot hits had some real intent – but adding distance definitely increases challenge! You can also tweak the placement of reinforcement for a few reps each time you add distance: click then toss the treat to the pillow case. Then, call him to you, reward, start again. After a few reps, he is likely to be ready for you to throw the reward out on the line again.

And yes, do a few more sessions on this before adding the RC. But, with the RC, there is no lateral distance, so I bet he will pick it up faster than you think!

Great job here, you are both looking terrific!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> I don’t think there is any one way to train a dog anymore, I think you have to train the dog in front of you and every dog is different so you better prepare to adapt!! >>

These are the absolute truest words that I have heard in a LONG while. Whenever I get arrogant enough to think I know what I am doing, one of the dogs steps up and reminds me that I have a lot more to learn and that I’d better pay attention LOL!

>>I’m ok at adapting but I could be better at it, ug, oh well.

I feel that – it is really hard to set aside what we think we know in order to learn what we *need* to know. Constantly working that skill!

He looks great on the videos!
With the bowls – he definitely was happy to wait for the food to hit the bowl at first, but then I was REALLY happy to see him getting into the groove of offering the back and forth on his own. YESSSS good boy! We will be able to progress this very quickly now: over the course of a couple of sessions, if he will let you push the upright to about a foot away (revealing the possibility of cutting in between you and the upright) then you can add challenge. You can working on standing up, and separately you can work on adding something bigger (see the game I posted on Saturday – something like a laundry basket. I use a pop up crate). You can work on these separately, with the end goal at this point being that you can both be standing AND having him wrap something bigger that is a foot or two away from you.

On the Blinds video: wow, the mountains behind you look like a movie panorama! Gorgeous!!! I was distracted haha!

On the blinds – very nice! He is a big fan of the stronger connection. The 2nd and 3rd reps were perfect examples – on the 2nd rep, he was coming towards you but did not commit to a side or to adding speed until you made the extra connection by showing the toy across your body. Then, watching the 3rd rep step-by-step: he actually stayed on your original side (right side) until the toy came across at :13, then he changed sides and drove to the new side (and the toy). The toy pushes your ‘new’ dog side arm back, so at :13 he could see your eyes/upper body better. Compare it to :12 when you had your head fully turned but your left arm was parallel to your side (nice and low but parallel) and the toy was not yet across your body) – he was still looking at the right side of the body). Great camera angle to see it!
So I don’t think he is waiting for a toy as a lure – I think he reads the connection as the side change cue and needs to see your eyes/upper body – and the dog-side arm back reveals that. More experienced dogs will know that the head turn predicts the rest of the cue so they will make the BC side change sooner, but youngsters do for sure rely on the full picture. Let me know if that makes sense!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I am so glad you are having fun!!! The working spots are all full though 🙁 We ill give you first dibs on any spots in the next class!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Ha! Chilling out on cue is HARD work and very exhausting LOL!

Great job on the games here. His sit stays looked good. Try to the sit without any physical pressure towards him – on some of the reps you would lean into him a bit, and that can be off-putting for dogs when they are in a more ramped up environment or more stimulated state of arousal (BCs get really sticky in those moments, slooooowwww to sit when there is pressure :))
The stays themselves looked great! You can add in doing them in front of something stimulating – a toy on the ground, or a tunnel (he has experience there) or anything exciting! You can also add more speed to your departure – jogging away.
You can also add in the advanced level with tugging before and then as the reward – challenging him to still hit and hold the position, even when things are really exciting!

Parallel path games – a bit of rewarding for effort is fine, but you can also slow down your motion to get more accuracy. He had more trouble on your right side (for whatever reason) so you can walk VERY slowly when he is on your right and only a little slowly when he is on your left 🙂
When he is highly accurate with you moving slowly, you can start to work back up to normal walking (which is what you were doing here).

Countermotion sending – he definitely got the hang of it and was happy to let you leave earlier and earlier! Yay! He was definitely faster driving back to you for the reward than he was when driving to the prop – so for the next 2 sessions, do everything the same except after the click, toss the reward out to the prop. Then we can switch back to reward on you, when we see if the speed is getting equal both sending and coming back to you.

Good job sorting out the various mechanics needed for the collection sandwich without needing to attach a 3rd arm! You did only try to hit the camera person with the toy once LOL! On the cookie toss – it is taking him a while to find the treat on some of the searches (or he is smelling good smells) and then he might have been skipping the treat – hard to tell. But it wasn’t crisp in that moment, so you can use an empty food bowl out on the grass with a cookie in it to send to – just to make a more obvious target. The rest of it is very crisp and fast! He likes the ‘bread’ part of this sandwich (drive to handler and drive ahead) so you can add some more reward to the ‘meat’ (collection) by rewarding with the toy on some reps for driving into you. Your timing was fine but the excitement of the extension was overpowering the collection – I think toy rewards will help balance that out. Also, you can help him to NOT anticipate the go line by turning in a full 360 so he doesn’t whip around you, ready to leave: you can keep turning (or even do 2 circles) and reward with the toy. Just don’t get dizzy or fall over LOL!!

Great job here!! And thank you for your insights about the various words for reinforcement in the chat on Saturday – I think it was helpful for folks to hear how helpful it was for Lennan to have those clarifications in his world!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Sure! I can go back through this week and add PDFs to those 🙂
T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This was hard! This is the first time was have asked her to do a line without connection, so clearly it was really hard!! Eeek!!! Glad that only the jump wing seems ouchy afterwards. The 2nd video looked much better – you were a tiny bit connected rather than completely disconnected, and that was a smart choice. I think we can change this up to show her the concepts without challenging her so much that she hits the wing or your leg. I think your set up was good but the challenge made her brain steam!
So – showing it to her from ahead of her more will help. The best way to do that will be starting from the tunnel, sending her to it, then getting way up the line so she can chase you. And, on the line heading towards the tunnel, try it on one jump at first (wing to a jump to a tunnel) or even from a stay in front of the jump to the tunnel, giving yourself a nice juicy lead out so your motion and verbal can support from further ahead. Let me know how it goes! When she is happy with that, we can add more challenge 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I think the frustration was mainly because the backside slices and threadles are trained skills, which makes them really hard to just hand AND run LOL!!

The disconnected GO lines looked really good in both directions- you were a little far from the wing to start going towards the tunnel so she wasn’t as sure, but the jumping lines looked good (she seemed to enjoy the speed!!)

I feel the pain the ipad falling over!!!!
So she was getting to the backside very nicely (it will be even easier if you put wings on the backside jump) but she doesn’t fully understand the default of ‘take the jump’ – so you ad to stay there and help with a blind cross – in order to get you to be able to run past the backside , we will train the default behavior. Stay tuned for the skills sets coming today!!

Same with the threadle to the backside – you were using physical cues like rotation to get her to the backside and send her back out, and that relies on the perfection of your handling cues. When you tried to move through it forward, she took the front of the jump. So, instead, we will train it 🙂 I posted the threadle how-to i the forum late last week (I will bump it back up) so you can start with that, then later today I will add the other skills sets. The threadles and backside slices are all dog training skills – and when she understands it more fully, the handling will be very easy 🙂

Let me know what you think as we get the skills sets underway 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Thanks for resetting the listing!

Video 1 (Course 3)
The opening line looked strong! At :10, when he land from 4, at that point you can make a transition into the wrap turn on 5: decel then rotate your feet, and move forward to the weaves when he passes you. You might not be right near the wing of 5, but that is fine, you don’t need to be near it. You kept moving forward for longer than needed there and turned and faced the bar at :11 – then cued the wrap – so he pulled the bar,
Nice job with the 2 blinds after the teeter! You can push the timing up and test his understanding: just before he gets to the entry wing of the backside after the teeter, do the blind then take off. You did take off at :20 but you waited one stride longer than I think you need to for him 🙂 And leaving 8 sooner will let you get the BC at 9 sooner – I am sure he can handle that.
Good job on the turn info before 10 (the straight tunnel) – I couldn’t hear what you said, exactly, but he knew to turn = you can try cuing that threadle even sooner to smooth out hte line from the tunnel exit to 11.
He read the straight line after the 13 tunnel really nicely and you get the name call in, so he exited 14 looking directly at 15. Yay!
On the 15 jump at “32 (the last wrap) you can switch to the left arm sooner and turn your head to leave for 15 before he takes off. You were supporting more than he needed: as he was in the air, you were still helping him commit – you can be blinded and off to the next line at that point 🙂

Video 2 (Course 2)
Nice job on 1-2-3, getting the name in at the right time before the tunnel so he turned beautifully to 3!
You were a little off the line 3-4 (too far over towards 3) and the blind was a little late (happenign while he was in the air at 3) so he hit the wing of 4 at :12 trying to adjust to get the line. You can start the blind as soon as you see him exit the tunnel (as long as he is looking at 3) which will help with the jumping at 4 – also, stay connected a little while longer there – you looked forward as he was adjusting and that contributed to the bar as well.

The 5-6-7-8 line looked good – to set up the RC with a tighter line, remember to call him before he goes into the tunnel (I bet you can send more and get a blind before the 9 jump too!)
The backside wrap at 11 worked icely (:25) and I LOVE how independently you handled it!!! YAY!!! I do think a slice will be faster there though, always try to replace wraps with slices wherever possible on the backside. You can have him come into the backside the same way and exit it on the other side, that will work nicely based on this set up.

He turned a bit wide ouf ot 12 at :28 – mainly because even though you were decelerated and giving a verbal and arm cue, your motion was still forward – and forward motion of any sort if king 🙂 So give the cue and move away laterally more.

At :30 for the FC 14-15: trust his commitment and turn sooner. He jumped wide because the turn started when he was in the air. When he lands from 14 and looks at 15, turn and go on the FC. That will help keep you closer to the perfect path line – which will also help tighten the line. He found the line to 16 beautifully!! On the exit of 16 – based on how you set it, it looks like you can send him back out to the last jump even sooner – you pulled him in then turned him away, but you can probably show him the turn away on the exit fo the 16 tunnel to create an almost-straight line to 17.

Video 3 is the ending line of course 1 – the outside arm being up as he exited the tunnel helped set up a really nice turn on the FC at 13! You can start the rotation and do the turn itself before he takes off (you waited til he was in the air, maybe trying to get past the wing?) but the outside arm prepared him that a turn was coming.

Video 4 (Course 1) – very nice blind in the opening! The 4-5-6 line is really hard – if you lead out more, release in motion and execute the BC further ahead, you will then be closer to 4 to get into the gap and do the FC when he lands from 3. At :05, you were a little behind so the FC started when he landed from 4 (so he was wide there).
The rotation on 5 looked really good! You can use your left arm there to do the throwback, which saves some rotation and gets you outta there sooner.

Very nice lateral distance on the weaves! When you do the BC from 8-9, two ideas to help tighten it up a bit:
First, trust him more and start it sooner. You started it at :15 as he was taking off, so he had to land long then adjuts after landing.
Second – the line you started on was good for the perfect path! You can get a little closer to the wing of 8 to start it, that way you are running more forward through it and not as laterally across it.
Great connection at :16 to help him get to the new side!!
Nice sprint down the line to the tunnel! At :23 you had a bit of pointing forward so he was unsure and hit the bar, then a bit of pointed forward so he didn’t take the last jump. The redo on the previous video looked great on this section.
You can also play with layering to get down there sooner: you can do the blind a little closer to the jump 8 after the pooles, then send to 9 and use verbals to support his line to the 12 tunnel while you layer the 3 jump (or even the straight tunnel) to get all the way down the course to 13 🙂

Overall, this all looked really good! The main theme is to trust him more and do the turns/crosses sooner – he understands his commitment so you can show the cross and leave, all before he takes off. Great job here, let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I have been totally thrilled with Enzo’s coursework!

As you should be – he looked fabulous! It is easy to forget how young he is!!!

>> There are no places where I think “Oh, this will be hard for us.”.

That is awesome!!! And, you have put in the time to train the foundations, so it makes sense that things are coming together really nicely 🙂

>>He does not turn as tightly as I would like but I think a lot of that is that I am learning how to “cue and leave” in a way that communicates best to him.>>

Yes, part of it is his youth – the two of you are still sorting out the cue-and go thing. And also, as he matures, he will also get stronger in core and hind end, which tighten turns as well. He is young and male, so not yet at full strength 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

On the first video:
>>I liked the last run: spin on #5 and I did the best job of being out of the way on #6. But it was the slowest, I assume because of the threadle.>>

I agree! Your #6 was GREAT here and he also had the best jumping effort over #6 (balanced and fast, no possibility of hitting the wing or bar). I do think the threadle contributed to it being the slowest by a tick mainly because the yardage is longer by a little going that way, but also take a slightly obsessive look at the spin: when he was taking off at :28, you were just starting the rotation and you were at the wing of the jump after a brake hand to cue the collection. When he landed at :29, you were not yet connected and said something (hard to tell what it was exactly) before the around cue – so he took a stride in to the front then had to take another stride to get to the backside. Those extra little strides will add up to be somewhere around a half second of extra time on the clock. So, you can do the spin earlier on 5 so you are reconnected when he lands and also use the around cue sooner. It is Monday so we can be obsessive, right? LOL!

>>Moving on to sequence 2. Of course, the beginning was the same. I handled the ending two ways; once as a serp and once with a FC. The FC required a threadle entrance to the tunnel which felt very, VERY slow but the whole thing was only a bit slower.>>

OK, since Mondays are for obsessing… at :05 as he landed from 5, you were not yet reconnected from the spin and so you got the zig zag of extra strides 5-6. At :22 when he landed from the spin at 5, you were reconnected and delivering the around cue – he did not have the extra strides to the front then back out to the backside of 6. The earlier reconnection definitely helps!

On the ending line – The threadle to the serp on the first rep was a tighter line – but I think the exit of the threadle was a little wider (he landed then turned) so that added time – you can get a tighter turn with the wrap cue and moving away to the serp as soon as he turns his head to the jump after the threadle. The FC created a VERY nice turn and a lot of speed! He just needed you to cue the turn on the jump before the tunnel sooner: a right directional and decel then threadle – he was FLYING! That might even end up being faster for him there…

>>Then there was sequence 3. I ran it twice, the second time using the correct verbals in all places. I was very pleased with how this one went.

This looked really nice, especially the 2nd rep! Yay for the great use of verbals!
1-2-3 was strong on both. On the BC 4-5: You can be sooner on this: anticipate the tunnel exit so as soon as you see his head exit, you can start the blind. At :06 the BC stared as he as over the bar so he had to adjust when he landed. At :22 it was earlier, about a stride before the bar so the reconnection happened sooner and he had less adjustment when he landed – but if you can start it when he exits and have it finished before takeoff, he can power through there even faster. And finishing the blind sooner set up a better backside at 5 on that 2nd rep too.
The serp at 6 looked good both times!

On both reps, he exited the tunnel looking at the front side of the bar (:13 and :29) and then had to push back out. You can start your around cue while he is entering the tunnel (and say it again before he exits, and then again after he exits) to see if he can exit the tunnel facing the backside line and not do t he little zig zag after the exit.
On that backside jump (8) at :15 and :30 – this is another spot to disconnect and move through without helping him on the bar, It can actually be even more important on this one, because staying there and helping sets up a really tight turn and you don’t need a tight turn to get to the last jump. So as soon as you see him heading to the entry wing on the backside – disconnect, move through the line and get to the BC side 🙂

>>I find that I can leave much earlier in training than when I’m running a course.

Do you mean that is it easier to do it on smaller set ups, or easier to do it on course in training versus at a trial?

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> If not for that little tunnel issue, he could have Qd if we were doing competitive runs! That wasn’t the point but nice to think about…he ran a whole course!

Yes! So fun to think about that he read and understood the handling well enough on the rest of it that it would have easily been a Q with a fast time.

>Can you tell me if you thought the dig cue was appropriate for that part of the course though or maybe overkill? It wasn’t exactly a wrap back on the course.

Yes, I think it was probably a bit of overkill on that course (hard to tell without seeing the exact angle). I only use wrap cues (especially with the smaller dogs) when the dog immediately has to come back around the exit of the jump or tunnel – and if they don’t have to do it immediately or if they don’t have to do it at all, it is a left or right verbal.

>>Anyway….maybe the Pumi didn’t work out for agility but holy smokes is he an amazing nose work dog. We are competing now towards our Elite 2 title (earning points) and he not only took 1st place overall but got 3 placements out of 4 searches AND got “pronounced” from the judges in ALL 4 SEARCHES! That’s a special acknowledgement judges give for exceptional technique and/or team work! I’m just thrilled.>>

Yay! Congrats!!! He is an amazing dog – his body did not make agility an easy thing (too much injury happening, right?) but he was phenomenal in agility (not easy – but a phenom!). I think it is so fabulous that he can show his brilliance in nosework!!! Such a cool dog!!

Fingers crossed for cooler weather! Feels like the desert here LOL!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Yay! It is great that you are working the skills, and I see that she is really beginning to drive in to you AND think about the next line – for example at :13, she looked ready to take the backside jump correctly (and then you rewarded her for driving to the backside)
Great job adding the blind at :21! Nailed it! At :34 you were just a little too far away from the jump and a little late on the blind, She thought about saving you but wasn’t sure – so in that moment, you can re-cue the jump then reward her, to help build the “thank you in advance for saving me” understanding 🙂
The next rep had 2 of the backside blinds and both went well! And the backside blind on the last rep also looked great – you are more comfortable with it and she is beginning to anticipate that the cue to take the jump is coming. Yay!! Great job training it! My only suggestion now if that you can move the timing up for the blind by one stride: on these, you were waiting until she arrived at the backside wing (passing the edge of the wing) then starting the blind. Now that she understands it so much more, you can move the timing to one stride early – when she is almost at the backside wing, almost arriving at the edge of the wing but not passing it yet. I think she is ready for it!
Great job! And yes, onwards to the next set of CAMP games 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>The loud go go at the tunnel was actually mo mo (tight turn) need to remember to tone it down a bit

Ah! I think it needs to be more than toned down, I you can alter it a little to have a better response: it is too easy to yell the O vowel (MO MO MO GO GO GO) so it all ends up sounding the same. Perhaps alter it to muh muh muh – which is MUCH harder to yell when running, it is naturally quieter and also sounds very different from Go. (Yes, I do run around yelling verbals to test them out, ask the neighbors :))

>>The double blind is a weakness of ours. I need to figure out how to train it. Ideas ?

Fortunately, the double blind doesn’t take much training – it is one of those “natural” handling cues that dogs read if we get it right. So it is a matter of getting us humans to be more comfy…. I think that most folks in this class are NOT comfy with them so I am posting a skill set for them later today 🙂 It is all about timing & connection. You can see a bit of about it on the skill set from 2 weeks ago with the backside blind to blind.

>>Starting the blind while she is in the tunnel is the same thing you told me to do last week, I didnt remeber.

That is a good thing to add to your walk through – reminders about when/where to start the cues relative to tunnels.

>> Is it a pretty safe rule to turn your head and start the blind when the dog is in the tunnel ?

Nope – it is specific to the sequence. If the dog is in a tunnel and my motion & new connection on the exit of the blind will support the next jump, then I can start it early (while the dog is tunneling). If the dog is in the tunnel and I start the blind early and my motion/new connection will pull the dog off the line, then I need to wait until the tunnel exit so the dog can see the commitment cue to the jump after the tunnel. Stay tuned for a skill set about it today too 🙂

>>Remember the days when you waited until the dog was one stride before the jump before you gave the next cue ?

Oh heck yes, the poor dogs LOL!!! Or when we would “wait to see commitment” and then start? Oy, so very late. We are getting better. Habits are hard to break indeed!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
These went really really well, so I am going to bug you about the tiny details where we can get more trust and more speed. One thing I have seen with Ivan is that he has pretty fabulous skills – so now I am going to bug you to trust those skills and challenge him by leaving sooner (even disconnecting to run run run in certain spots) so he can maintain the high speed across the sequence. When you stick around for too long, he slows himself down to wait. He is very polite LOL!!!

I didn’t see any issues with the higher bars at all, he did well!!!

On the video:

The opening line of the first 2 sequences: 1-2-3 looks fabulous, he really drive to the tunnel. You had a slight hesitation as he was exiting the tunnel at :08 and :33 and :53 and 1:19, moving in a bit too far to the tunnel exit, so he collected more than needed at 4. If you were going to the tunnel exit to avoid getting too far ahead for 5 (which TOTALLY makes sense), you can tweak that to go deeper to the tunnel entry and then accelerate away, so he doesn’t see any deceleration as he exits the tunnel.
You had more acceleration on that line 3-4 at 1:43, so he extended more too.

His send to the 6 backside was great at :12 – perfect verbal, perfect connection, he appeared to completely understand what to do. So, at that point, as he is heading for the backside: disconnect and run into the gap to 7 and do the blind to reconnect on your right. At :13, you were too helpful LOL! What I mean by that is you used a come verbal and turned your feet towards him as he was taking off and stayed near the exit wing, so he didn’t see the blind until after he landed and exited the wing at :14. He had to slow down to let you clear the line. You were less helpful (in a good way) at :38 and :59 by cuing the around and then running through it more – and he did a great job committing! That allowed him to see the line much sooner and have more speed to 7. You still had your opposite arm come up and that delayed your blind (especially at :59 and 1:48) – I bet he does not need th opposite arm to support commitment there at all. At 1:23 and 2:18 you didn’t really use the opposite arm there, you just opened up your shoulder so you got around the wing even faster. I think he doesn’t even need that, and you can just disconnect and run.
Let’s find out if he truly understand the backside cue to mean “go to the backside AND take the jump” so cue it like you did and then leave and see what he does 🙂

On the threadle at :18, you had the verbal going but rolled your shoulder away so I think he read it as a pull and flick and sent himself back out to the backside of 9. At :44, it was the same shoulder pull and his name, same result. But at 1:04 he had a better view of your threadle arm (more rotation of the upper body towards him) and also you pulled away from the line a bit, and he got it. Yay! He also read it nicely at 1:29 when you added the next section (next sequence).
The straight tunnel out there is actually on his line after hte threadle, so he was correct to get it (he took it on the previous rep, too), so you would need a wrap cue and probably an opposite arm to treat it like a discrimination. I see you moved it after that LOL! Darned tunnels hahaha!

Without the tunnel in play on the line at 1:53, he read the exit of the threadle jump perfectly! Now, trust that serpentine jump even more: as he is approaching it, keep moving towards the tunnel. The connection is still important (it is not one of the disconnect and run moments) but you hesitated there to help pull him in and he doesn’t need it – it caused him to have to slow down and look up at you. You hesitated less at 2:25 but he still saw a little decel and a little pull away from the jump, so he lifted his head. On this serp jump, keep your chest open to the bar and your eyes on him, but stay ahead and run towards the tunnel line – it is another spot to challenge his skills. If he has a question about commitment, we can train it. But I think he will be happy to commitment independently there.

Seq 3 – Really nice! I can bug you about trusting him more for the tiny details on this one too 🙂
When he is committing to the #3 tunnel, you can drive away directly to the blind cross 4-5 to try to get it done no later than him exiting the tunnel. You were moving more at 2:35 so he was faster – but you were not past 4 early enough so the blind was late at 2:37 and 2:57 and he slowed down for a stride to let you clear the line.
The backside send looked lovely! And you moved through the serp at 2:41 more smoothly and he read it perfectly. You hesitated a bit and pulled away a little on the serp jump at 3:01 so he looked up at you and slowed down – you can totally just blast through it.

Great camera angle on the around after the tunnel at 2:43: he exits looking at you for the around cue, which means he is ready for it a lot sooner. As he is entering the tunnel (6 feet before he gets in) you can start the around cue: say it before he enters then again before he exits and then one more time after he exits (or 2 or 3 more times :)) blanket the line with it so he hears it early and often – that way he can exit the tunnel and blast to the backside. The around cue was earlier at 3:05 so he had a better line to the backside (fewer questions).

Then, just like that #6 jump on the previous sequences: when he is heading to the backside, you can disconnect and run to the blind. You were watching/helping as he was jumping the bar, so he had to jockey in to the new line after he landed. On the very last rep, he dialed his speed back and waited a bit more, but we want him to blast as fast as he can 🙂

So – take the risk of trusting him more and handling the serps and backside slices less, so you can blast to the new spot – if he has an error, no worries we can train the commitment more if he needs it. Great job here, let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Author]

Posts