[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi Lani!
I am a BIG fan of integrating verbals, but I am an even bigger fan of prioritizing… otherwise we get paralyzed and nothing gets trained LOL!

So – yes, work on threadle verbals and backside verbals… but at the moment, I don’t see a need for threadle wrap left versus threadle wrap right. You can consider threadle slice and threadle wrap as separate verbals but left versus right on these are a super low priority unless you are training for European A3 courses AND you are not able to run well enough to be somewhat in the picture, physically.
Same thing with push to the backside cues – I think a backside slice and a backside wrap are good to have – but adding left and right to those effectively doubles the training you have to do and is a very low priority.

So… I am not saying “no, don’t do it” but I am also not saying “it MUST be trained” LOL! I am basically saying… make it a low priority and revisit it after everything else is trained the way you want it to be. The extra verbals can be added later if you feel you need them at any point.

Let me know if that makes sense.
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This was pretty funny to watch, she is stealthy when food is involved, poor starving girlie haha! Sometimes, a girl just needs some snacks (and she sassed you when you wouldn’t give it to her on one of the moments LOL!)
So – try an empty food bowl? I’d normally also suggest a lower value treat in the food bowl and a higher value treat in your hand – but she might be stealthy enough to go get the low value treat and come back for the high value treat hahahaha! Love her! With the empty food bowl, you can use it as a target and toss a treat in it when she is correct. You can also put the treat in the grass and turn the food bowl over to cover it, then open it when she gets to it (correctly :)) Or a closed cookie bag. Anything that requires a bit of help from you to actually get to the cookies 🙂 I am sure she will remember the joy of decel really quickly 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

hi! Yay, the rear cross is starting to look really good!!!!! You pressured into the rear cross line earlier and you can see her look at you for a heartbeat, then look ahead, change her lead (:17) and set up for the rear. So cool to see!!! Nice!!!

It brings up a question… when you say GO she looks at you – is her name pronounced MO-chi as in MOE rhymes with GO? I wonder if she is confusing the two sounds? So maybe keep the GO as the forward cue in agility and use “Chi” as her attention/name cue? Food for thought, let me know what you think. And click/treat to you both for the rear cross!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!
I think he likes being called a nutjob, he was tugging like a fiend when you did LOL!!!
He is doing well on the left/right pinwheel – it will just take more reps to get it fully in his ears and not just following body language. He did well but this one might need to go into a rotation where he only does one or two reps, then maybe something radically different, then come back to it – he was losing steam at the end, kind of rolling his eyes at it all LOL! So keep working at it but in small bursts.

The jumping grids are looking good – he is stepping in nicely and striding nicely in the first couple of intervals. He is getting inverted (head up, butt over shoulders) on the last jump but I think it was more about getting hoppy towards the reward, rather than a poor technique. You can experiment with different reward targets to keep him more head down. If the manners minder is too hoppy, you can try a ball or tug toy? But overall, really nice job on his progressive grid, reading how the distances changed!

Nice work!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello!
I think the set point here looks a lot better! The distance and toy promote better jumping form. Next session – 8″ for a couple of reps and then maybe a couple with 10″ – still use the toy. One thing about the set up – the spider legs should be extending from the jump with the bar, as a guide for his eyes. Is there a way to set it up so they extend from the jump to create the distance and step-in? If not, you can just use a jump bump there. You can also have the actual jump be an oxer, with 2 jumps very close and the first bar low (4″ or 6″) and the 2nd bar higher (8″ or 10″).

>>Is it not advisable to start trying some 10″ jumps in a sequence if he isn’t looking good with the set point jump at 10″? Now going back to 6″ not sure what the plan is.

I suggest giving it another week to hash out the mechanics before putting 10inches into a sequence. The bad news of no organized agility in the near future means the good news of we can really take our time and go slowly to get it done – great for his brain and body! Plenty of time and I know it will all come together quickly.

Decel games – this is going well!! Good boy, he is really watching! I think some of his wheelies early in the video were partially he was surprised and partially a bit of him shifting his weight back to stop quickly (good boy!) You can be earlier with your decels, which also means you can send him away to the cone from further away. Send him way away to the cone, so you are maybe 15 feet ahead as he comes around it – so you can decel as he exits the cone. On some of the reps, you were really close to the cone so the decel was a little late – he didn’t see it til he was passing you. He still stopped (like at 1:37, 1;41 and 2:00) but he ended up past you because that was the quickest he could process the cue.
And I totally feel the pain of hitting the remote by accident a million times! Someone needs to invent a third arm for agility training 🙂

Progressive grid:
>>I probably committed a cardinal sin by doing the backchaining all in one session but I wanted to get it on video and then see if/how I should continue backchaining or if he’s looking okay with the 5 jumps or what.

For me, it is all about the number of jumps. I think in this session, you did a total of 15 low jumps and that is fine! It would be a different story if you had backchained it then did the full grid 5 or 6 times, totally 50 jumps or something… not good. I think he did well! Based on this video and the set point, the toy on the ground seems to promote better jumping form than the treat dispenser. He was really good in form on this until the end, where he got inverted heading for the treat dispenser. So this is something to use a toy on – he seems to be past the taking-the-last-interval-as-a double-jump 🙂 So it should be fine to use a toy! Overall, he did really well reading this new grid and the distances seemed to not be a problem. You can revisit it in a couple of days with a toy, and in the same session do the regular ladder/balance grid. Then after that, a few days later, play with the bigger distances in the progressive grid and see what he does.

>>I noticed he jumps bigger over the last jump.

Yes, I think that was the inverted head lift for the treat, not poor jumping choice or struggle reading it. So a toy might be the answer here, I am sure he will tell us 🙂

>>For the last week, I will review all the feedback and also revisit things I didn’t get to add movement to like the serpentine and threadle, continue with advanced mini pinny (directionals), rear crosses, and our wrap/turn criteria wasn’t that great as I remember. If you think of anything you specifically want to see, please let me know.

Great plan! You might see that latent learning has helped smooth out some of the harder skills so you can add more motion. Have fun! Nice work here!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
>>It felt like he was so patterned to driving out ahead that he wasn’t really noticing/responding to my rear cross the way I would have anticipated. I ended up throwing in verbals to help turn him and help him find the jump once I had crossed.

Yes, I think there was a bit of patterned go go go here, especially because the first rep was a go and he seems to really enjoy it 🙂 Not a problem at all! The first blind cross at :10 was a little late with the physical cue and you were saying go on go on the whole time (til he took off for the 2nd jump), so he was correct to go straight.
The 2rd rep (2nd RC) at :18 was so much earlier in the physical cue (nice!) plus you changed verbals, so he turned. He didn’t quite pick up the jump but he got the turn – my guess is he was just surprised at first because he was so used to going straight.
The next 2 reps at :27 and :36 were also really strong in the physical cue and the verbals. You added a jump cue for the last jump which is great – I think he would have found it anyway but it absolutely helps to put the verbal in anyway. Based on your set up, you can even have him take the tunnel under the dog walk for more speed after it 🙂
You can alternate the RC with the GO – after one or two good RCs, do a Go line to help be sure that he is differentiating and that your cues (physical & verbal) are sharp.

>> Not a horrible problem to have with this little guy since historically we’ve had an over-abundance of handler focus and not as much obstacle focus/drive.

1000% agree! He was flying, going fast, driving lines. Yay! And good job rewarding even if it wasn’t perfect on the early reps – with handling, always better to reward in the place you want the dog to go (which is what you did) than to withhold the reward.

You looked like you were running beautifully, so hopefully your Achilles feels a lot better!! Nice work here!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! I hope his belly feels better! And yes, it is funny that he likes toys more than food LOL!!!!

Good boy on that first rep of the threadles – he read it really well! But I think the angles are too hard for now because he has so much good value on the front side of the jump.
Based on the angle he was on, it is too easy to fail right now and he was needing a lot of physical help to be successful. So, line him up so he is facing the edge of the wing – so he still has a choice but the choice to threadle is MUCH easier than the choice to take the front of the wing. And, have the threadle word be the only verbal attached to it (not the release), otherwise it might be a bit confusing as to when you want the front versus the threadle.

Decel games- nice choice of reinforcement here! You might have to reward him with a toy for choosing to eat from the MM LOL!! Good job with the nice early reinforcement – this session was at a much higher rate of success so he was more engaged. You can have the cookies already in your hand for whne you are going to reward at your side, so you don’t first have to reach into your bait bag – that way it is a quick presentation of the reward. You can start adding a little bit more motion into this and the shoulder circle, maintaining the same big distances away from the MM to help him be successful.

Nice work!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Glad breaking it into little sessions and having more of a buffet approach is helping (I am hungry, thinking about buffets now hahaha)

The decel games look good! It looks like it is hot there, such a long tongue!! He is responding really well. The MM is a bit distracting but not mind-blowing, so he had a lot of success. On the straight lines, decel sooner – he is passing you as you decel and he is responding, but getting ahead of you – he is correct, but you can decel sooner so he sees it sooner. He was a bit wide of you on some of the straight lines, so you can do more of the circling on your shoulder to help him come in tight to you – he looked really good with that on the last rep!

Rear crosses
First rep – go balanced with 2nd rep left – very nice!!!! I think he noticed the distractions of the obstacles to his left but carried on straight on the go cue, very nice. The rear cross was well-executed (good verbal too!) and he read it – rear crosses are NOT intuitive so this was the product of good training and good info 🙂
3rd rep go balanced with 4th rep right – a little late on your pressure for the RC here, so he was a little late responding. If you drive in deeper to the tunnel, you can get on the RC line sooner like you did on the RC to the left.
Overall, though – MUCH to be please with here: he is driving ahead, he is moving over the bars nicely, he is reading the difference between GO and the RCs, and he was very engaged (he loves the running!)…. Happy dancing!!
Well done!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

I can’t believe he is coming up on a year!! Time flies! He is such a cool boy, I am so glad he is yours 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
I think your outfit is fabulous here (says the person sitting in her pajamas and a hoodie haha!!)

The grids were cool to see – the main thing is that he is developing into a powerful but also balanced jumper. YAY!
On all of them, start him close enough to jump one that he doesn’t take a stride then start the grid – we want him to elevate from his hind end and so the first time his front feet come down is between 1 and 2 – that emphasizes hind end even more.
On the 5 foot grids –
rep 1 – this is going well – he might have been a little excited to get the toy at the end by was overall pretty smooth!
rep 2 – when I watched it, I thought he was rushing for the toy because it was moving 0 but then I see he broke his stay… which would explain why he was rushing LOL!!! No worries then, this one was an outlier.
rep 3 – progressive – I think he was fine with your movement but seemed to leap/lift his head when toy was thrown/dropped? I couldn’t tell if the toy was already out there or not, but you can also use an empty food bowl as a target then plop a treat in – it might be less exciting LOL!
rep 4 – On this one, I think he was excited by the toy too – either it dropped right around when he was at jump 4 or that is when he got excited by it 🙂 So either have it pre-placed or use a more boring target.
But overall, he is doing well – those are big distances for a little dog and he is handling them really well!!!

Threadle – Good job angling the bar to make the jumping effort a little easier. And yes, the toy was a bit too exciting so you can also use the empty food bowl here (then chuck the treat into it) but I gotta say – your throws were really good and consistent!!! Note how he is NOT looking at you and doing the in-then-out behavior that you want. You are tossing the treat before he looks back. You can do it with a toy or ball as well (then reward him for bringing it back, if that is an issue LOL!!) The only error was when you released him before you were fully set at :18, you said the Here cue as you started showing the threadle. On the others, you were settled then released and it went really well.
This is going well, so you can add some motion: Get settled in your threadle, say your Here cue, then start to just walk – your feet towards the far wing, and upper body frozen in threadle position (yes it will feel SO WEIRD lol) – see if he can do it with you sloooowwwwlly walking! And keep going with those great reward throws.

Nice work!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Great – distances are good and good job praising as you went back to reward.
I would resist doing more this afternoon… he has probably been doing jumping work pretty regularly (every other day?) and already 20 jumps under his belt today, so there is no need for more (he is not quite a year old, right? It is hard to resist temptation, but less is more! You can work on some plank/contact work or flatwork/decel games but I would skip doing more jumping 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!
It was a hard angle but from what I can see, it looks great! I didn’t see anything other than nice balanced jumping with a lot of confidence. Yay! Did you use the 6-7-8-9 distances? If so… yay! Do another session just like it with you on both sides, then we can add a bit (a small bit) of movement. If not, go to the 6-7-8-9 distances 🙂 My only suggestion is that when you go back to reward the stay (I think that is what you did!), tell him why you are going back – you got very quiet and walked back with a lot of intent, so for a moment I couldn’t tell if he had moved or was breaking – tell him he is a good good boy. Or if he did break and you were going back to fix, a happy oopsie marker will tell him why you’re coming back.

Nice work! Remember to give him a couple of days off between jumping games, so he isn’t jumping every day or more than a few times a week.

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Wow, she did a great job on the decel, yay!!! I didn’t even realize there was a toy out ahead for a while because she was so great at it. You can decel a little sooner (just after she exits the wing but she also nailed it when you were a little late. And she did a great job with the GO when you asked her to.
2 other things that were lovely about ths session – seems like terrific focus in your yard, with all of the good distractions. YAY!
And also, you had the wing really close to the tunnel, and she read you correctly every time! At 1:37, you pointed to the wing with a bit of an arm fling, which turned your chest to the tunnel so that is why she ended up in it. But on the other reps, you were more connected and did less pointing so she easily found the wing. Yay!

The mini pinny also looks really good. She was hoppy on the first rep probably expecting jump bars but then started to slither into tighter turns. She did really well responding to the verbals – she seemed to need a verbal get it affirmation after the left at first but then she seemed to understand that the get it was implied in the left cue towards it. Also terrific job balancing the right and the left with ignoring the toy (also in the other direction). I think it went GREAT – the toy has a lot of value ot her, but well done on the listening to verbals and ignoring the toy til cued (and also being so focused outside!!!). So many good layers coming together here 🙂 AND the snow melted, good times ahead!!!!! You can start to fade ut your motion a bit and see what she can do with the verbals alone 🙂

Well done on these – you nailed it!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> 1. Do we do one run thru on the regular grid prior to introducing the progressive grid in the same session or just go right to the progressive grid?

I would go right to the progressive grid. I don’t want to start a session by getting him into the rhythm of the other grid then change it. Also, you can begin the progressive grid by back chaining it – start in the last interval then work your way back to the beginning – to help him scope it if needed.

>>Benni was working at a 4.5′ ladder grid distance but if I use that as the starting point for the progressive grid, that means the last grid spacing would be 6′ assuming I increment by 6″ in the progression. 6′ sounds like a lot for him to bounce or not? As you remember he got ahead of himself at the 5’spacing I had tried before. I was thinking maybe to try 4′ – 4.5′ – 5′ – 5.5′ at first. What do you think?

Yes, I would start with increasing the intervals by 6 inches for now and see how it goes. At some point in the future, I think a 6 foot interval will be fine but definitely work up to it in the 6 inch intervals.

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I would not show the other grid first, as he will come into it expecting the same distances. Hie might expect it anyway, but if there is a couple of days between sessions then he is more likely to think about it rather than go on what he did a few seconds before.

T

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