[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I kind of laughed at your comment about not playing it safe and pushing hard. Kimber only knows one speed, RLH, and she yells at me (as you have seen) if I’m not getting with it. Well, she yells at me anyway. Ha!>>

Perfect!! Opinionated dogs are always welcome 🙂 And the game is more fun when played fast and on the edge 🙂

>>See, you have such good ideas that I don’t even think of! Never thought about a RC from 12-13, but yes, I think it would work better.

That is the fun of online classed – plenty of time to obsess and play with different options 🙂

>>Now, I know what a force FC is, but I’m having trouble envisioning what the “forced blind on the takeoff side” would look like. I tried to find a diagram or something that might help me with this, but no luck.

So a forced blind and a forced front happen in the same spot: takeoff side of a backside jump. The difference is that one a forced front, we turn towards the dog and on a forced blind, we turn away from the dog. Forced blinds can be a little tricky to get used to but then they are SUPER awesome in the toolbox. Based on how well she read your blind 3-4, I think they are great fun to try with her.

I found these 2 videos of it. I will look for something more recent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHuX-lMu-EY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCf7eLDl4Jk

>>This is at least twice you have mentioned I should be further over on the jump on the send to the back side; I’m trying! I’m just not trusting her I guess. We will continue to work on that because we definitely need it.>>

You can isolate it as a skill set and then it will get a lot more comfortable.

>>if I can figure out that force blind cross, I will try that!

Yay! Have fun!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Do you mean the tunnel exit to ping away to 5? The closest you’ll see if the independent backside line, but you can adjust it to be a front side from the tunnel exit, where you move along your parallel path and use upper body and verbal to push her to 5.

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Most of those dogs never will get it right the first time because it hasn’t been trained.

Agreed!!! I am certainly guilty of lack of training 🙂

>> I think the dogs really do want to find the best way to do the turns.

Yes – and that is where it is hard. To do the wrap turns the way we want them to… they need to slow down, shift, turn their heads. But it might feel easier for some dogs to land then turn – it must be an awesome feeling of power to dig into the turf like that and kick up some dirt! But those dogs often don’t mind falling on their heads or shoulders either…. (Voodoo, I am looking at you buddy!)

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>Yes a wrap cue, I actually looked at that 3rd jump to decide if it was a wrap or a soft turn and since his left and right aren’t strong yet I talked myself into it being significantly more than 90 degrees, but looking at the video I see that he over turned the first time. When I tried it tonight I used a left and I think it was better.>>

I have narrowed my verbals down in definition to help myself decide: wrap cues are only for true wraps where I want the dog to come right back around the wing, very close to it (not eventually back around the wing). Those 90 degree turns or “eventually” back around the wing are soft turn cues. Food for thought 🙂

>> He was such a thinker and slow before I’m doing it without thinking.

He is in the same track that my Voodoo was at a year old – thoughtful, deliberate…. I thought I was going to have a medium-speed steady dog. I was fine with that, actually hahahaha! Well, turns out this style of training brings out a lot of speed so I have more speed than I need with Voodoo. Spot is just like him! And my Contraband pup is like Spot – very deliberate right now. But on the stuff he understands… scary speed. Ha! So, Spot will be plenty speedy, I can see it already. Fun!

On the video:
first rep: nailed it! And he was moving faster too! The decel and left looked gret on jump 3. Great connection too! Yes, you had the ‘wrong’ last jump but you were emphatic about it, so he was happy 🙂 And the fix looked great too.
2nd sequence: he doesn’t need quite as much name call out of the first tunnel, it pulled him in a little too much. Just the over cue is all he appears to need there at 3. The rest was super connection and clear – you did a particularly good job with a calmer “over left” on 4 and a more excited GO at the end. Nice!!

3rd sequence – also really nice! Great job with your connection on the opening 1-2-3 – NICE wrap on 3, really nice use of both the physical and verbal cues. You can play with showing him the slice there too and we can see which is faster 🙂 On the way to 4: it was the only time you said “ready” – so I will only bug you a little 🙂 And also very nice wrap at 6!

So overall – you had great connection throughout, smooth running lines and clearer verbals… check out how fast AND tight he was on these. VERY fun to see this developing!!!!!!! Well done 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! GREAT job on these – you were aggressive in your handling, great choices, and so much of it was connected and fabulous! I have a few tweaks for you but overall, you and Kimber looked super! And the radio was funny LOL!!!

>> I didn’t get her pushed soon enough and she just ran parallel past the jump. I think this was the most difficult part of the course.

Yes – 4-5 was hard. Upper body connection is helpful – you can keep your eyes on her but your feet on the running line and that can help push her away there. I thought you did a really good job on the videos!

On both runs – great running. You were not playing it safe, you were pushing hard and it was great!

First run:
Nice job here throughout! On the opening – you can push to 2 from further across the bar, so you are further ahead for 3 and get the FC sooner. Ideally, you would be at least center of the bar to give the push cue, or even on the exit wing so you can leave as she is heading to the entry wing. Or another option is to lead out past the entry wing and do a forced FC or forced blind on the takeoff side, if your lead out is strong enough and she will let you get there (I think she will!) Nice line 4-8! Great driving and connection. 5 looked great! VERY nice a-frame to threadle to tunnel (9-10-11), really lovely turn over 10 to the tunnel!!!
One little tweak at the end: you were a little too forward on your cue to turn at 12, facing forward a bit too long and ending up on the landing side of the jump. You can rotate sooner and stay on takeoff side to make it a little tighter. The other option is that you can also turn the other way on 12 (to her left) – might be faster because it is an easier wrap and then the line is better back to the tunnel. She is of the size where it is possible the wrap is faster but it would be fun to try both and time the difference.

2nd run – Another lovely run! I agree: I like the blind on 3-4 better. You started it sooner (nice commitment!) and she had a nice turn! One suggestion – keep your arms in tight on blind and on the send – your arms were high and they slowed you down trying to get up the line after the tunnel – you had to fight to get 5. Since I am short and not fast, I have learned to pull my arms in so I can get going fast out of the turn, and high arms tend to slow us all down.
That line from 6-11 looked great again! She really did not put a foot out of place. You had a better decel on the takeoff side of 12 and she had a nice turn! If you get a chance to run it again, try turning her to the left on 12 and we can compare the speed!

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> I guess I just need to say her name, or even just to give the command of the next obstacle. I’ve got to work on that.

I like to plan all of that in the walk through – I am the crazy person who walks around saying all of the verbals as if the dog is right there 🙂

>> She is so “twitchy”; sometimes I can send her long distances, and then other times she will sense me going somewhere else and pull off…and I never know when to expect the pull off, so I’m usually overly careful, which slows me up on getting further ahead. But definitely something we need to work on.

We will look for that here and see why she is sometimes twitchy. My guess is that it is a connection thing: when you are looking at her, she commits. But when you aren’t, she doesn’t commit (that is pretty common :)) It could also be that if you are smooth in your transitions (decelerating the rotating while connected, she commits. But if you slam on the brakes – so does she.

So with that in mind, you might want to look at the Custom Skills Sets that focus on transitions and also commitment when our connection is weak or we slam on the brakes – both can help!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi Eileen! These were great!!!Perfect timing on your reward on the first one.
On the 2nd one – did he give you sass on the start line right at about :04 when you were beginning your lead out? I love sass, it means the dog is pumped up!
This was also really fast and fun – almost bordering on wild, which is perfect 🙂 For now, try to run closer to all of the obstacles so he sees you running hard and almost in a panic at all times LOL! He seems to be LOVING the ball throw!!!!

I added the customs skills sets yesterday on the Course Syllabus page (after you ran this) – the main one for him is the running rewards. That is another way to build speed on sequences.

And then of course we can game plan how to bring it all into trials as well!

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Thanks for the update!

>> was able to get through the Novice and Masters sequences with my dogs this past week.
My young dog Buddy had no issues for me ( he is slower than Mookie but runs steady and ha been reading my cues) (which I have time for 🙂 )

Yay! Great job, Buddy!!

>>I could only do short sessions due to the heat here so it took me 3 days to figure it out.
He kept knocking the bar of jump 2 into the tunnel 3 when I showed decele, did a shoulder turn and used a verbal turn cue.>>
>>When I actually did a break cue with both hands and a verbal turn cue he got it every time and kept the bar up.>>

That is good to know – he felt that decel and a shoulder turn was not clear enough, but the brake hands really helped! Great!!! And yes, glad to hear the verbal helps too!

>>I was then able to get it down to using one break hand with a verbal turn cue the next day.

Perfect!

>>I am so glad you listed the Custom Skill Sets just when I needed them to work on.
>>I can see now that Mookie needs a strong break cues while Buddy responds to less.
Mookie also needed a stronger cue as it was at the start. He had to turn at jump 2 and he takes off >>like a bullet from the start line.

That is something that is pretty normal – different dogs needing different levels of intensity on the cues. And, for some dogs, the start line is SO HARD that the basically EXPLODE and need very strong cues… then they settle in LOL!

Thanks for the update, it sounds like the boys are doing really well!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello! Fabulous shirt, of course 🙂

Great job on these sequences: I loved his speed here – he was pushing hard, which I love!!! Some thoughts about the various reps:

Seq 1:
The timing on beginning the spin at 3 is pretty early – on reps 2 and 3 you started the physical cue (decel on rep 2, dropping into position on rep 3) while he was in the air over 2 and those were much better turns. On rep 1, you started the verbal only while he was in the air – and that was the widest turn.
On rep 2, the spin worked well – on rep 3 you were more in the ‘in your face’ position, almost shaping the turn – but there was not a really difference in the turn. I suggest saving that position for the tighter turns (wraps, reverse v-sets) so when he sees you there like that, it will always mean ‘exit SUPER tight’ – if he sees you there and then you exit on a wider line, he won’t do as much collecting (which is what was happening here).

You can also play with a soft-brake collection to see if that can get a nice soft turn without needing a spin- the spin rotation can cause you to show too much acceleration to the tunnel – on your first rep, the turn cues on the tunnel entry were a little late. On the 2nd rep, you were earlier because there was decel and verbal happening and by the 3rd rep, he was turning nicely! You can work on getting your feet fully turned before the tunnel entry so he sees countermotion to the last jump before he enters the tunnel, to see how much of a turn he can produce on the exit 🙂

2nd sequence:

Really lovely opening!!! The spin on 4 (first rep) went well, but I think it delays you from getting up the line after the tunnel. You can add your verbal go cue earlier before the tunnel entry, then as you drive up the line: reach your connection into the tunnel more, try to make connection before he exits to help straighten up the line there.

2nd rep – another nice opening! You were a little late on 4 so he was a little wide but you were
further ahead on the tunnel exit to the end so that set the line better to the last jump. Try to turn your head a little more to your right side – that will make it perfect because he won’t have to check in at all.

3rd rep – Your lead out position near 4 worked well for the line 1-2, but he had a question 2-3 (big slip) probably because you were stationary and he wasn’t sure if you wanted him to stay on the line or come in to 4, skipping 3.
As I mentioned on the 1st sequence – being right on the wing, almost shaping 4, might result in losing the strength of the cue when you want tighter turns (because it is paired with a moderate turn here) so I would save it for those super tight turn moments. You can do the spin in a similar spot without as much shaping and it will get you up the line past the tunnel like you did here! Nicest ending of the 3 reps on this one!

I agree that the 7.0 times were due to better ending line on the last rep… also note that adding the stronger collection cue actually did not help more speed there – he was faster on the previous rep when 4 was a little late but you had a nice ending line.

Seq 3:
You can play with turning him on the slice line on jump 6 – when walking the distance from the tunnel exit, it is probably close to the same – and the slice will be very fast. However, I did think his wraps were really lovely!! I agree with choosing the slice line at 3: definitely fastest.

Rep 1:
Nice timing of the turn cue before he went into the tunnel!
Moving backwards into the turn at 3 slowed him down on the way to 3 a bit too much (especially compared to rep 2) – you can rotate and leave to show him countermotion, which helps him produce really nice turns!
He needs a bit of a turn cue on 4 – just a send and go and matching verbal (left) will tighten it – you were a bit too parallel and the tunnel verbal was very exciting, so he was a little wide there.
Nice turn on 6 at :23! Good transition to get into it, and great job getting outta there to drive the next line!

Rep 2 – I like this opening even better for 1-2-3 – you ran forward into 3 more. I isolated that section and it was faster than then previous rep where you were backwards and he slowed down.
As with rep 1, a turn cue on 4 will help him read the line 4-5 – he fell on his head there (which also shows how much faster 3 was if he had a spill and the overall time was still faster!)
You can call him a little bit (just a little :)) before he enters the tunnel so he is a little tighter on the way to 6 – and another nice turn at :47! Very nice!

Great job on these – let me know what you think of the suggestions.
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Fashionably late, but still in time for the party 🙂

On the skills video:
1st rep – your rotation was a little too abrupt because you were not moving a lot on the release. You can move into it more – but also work the custom skill set (see below) so she will commit even when we are abrupt by accident. And then you can add a bit more connection to the backside to smooth it out.

2nd rep – much smoother in your motion 1-2!! She committed nicely.
On jump 3: she probably would be fine with a send and go, just needs more connection to the backside than on the 1st rep. On the 2nd rep you did a spin there at :41. You can start it earlier by deceling so you can rotate as she is passing you, then do the blind element as she is gathering for takeoff. You started the fC as she was lifting off, so she had a zig zag on landing before the push to the backside.

The RC at 1:25 and 1:57 looked really good, those are hard with very little momentum on 2 jumps!!
On jump 3 at 1:27 – it looked like you were going to rotate then changed your mind – but it lets us see that the send-and-go actually works really well with her! If you send sooner and go, she will be quite tight around that and then you won’t need to do a lot of rotating!
I think at 2:00 you were wanting the backside on 3 – more connection to her and less arm cue will help all that – the arm cue and looking forward turn your shoulders to indicate the front of the bar, which is why she didn’t take the back even though your running line was near it.

You can work 2 of the custom skills sets to help some of the oopsies here: the independent backsides and the commitment when are connection is soft or we turn abruptly:

Sequence 1:
Rep 1: Nice connection on the opening! As she lands from 3, maintain that connection – she looked up at you a little there.
You had a little too much forward movement after 3 so she picked up 4 and an extra jump 🙂
Nice line and connection to the last jump!
Rep 2: Nice connection on the opening AND over 3 to 4! You had a clearer turn cue on 4 so she did not pick up any bonus jumps. You had a decel and earlier rotation going and a name call, it set up a really nice turn! You can start your tunel verbal as she is over the bar at 4 so she is hearing when she lands: she looked up at you as if to say “what’s next?” there. Nice ending line again there too 🙂

Sequence 2:
set up on a straight line 1-2, GREAT turn on 3!
nice send and go at 4! I suggest adding verbals to all of that – wrap verbals for 3 and 4, and the tunnel verbal for 5. As you run away at :10, you got quiet and closed your shoulders forward, so she did not push away to the tunnel (good girl! Your body language did not indicate tunnel). Your connection & verbal on the redo at :18 were great! And she got it perfectly.
Really nice turn at :21 on jump 6, she is such a nice turning dog!!!

Quote of the day from you at :36: “Holy shit, you’ve got a lot of speed on you. ”
HA! Yes! I love it, she is so fun!

Last rep – nice line 1-2-3! As you indicate the wrap at 3, slow down so you can stop your motion a bit more – your momentum is causing you to rock back a little at 1:22. If you decel then you can turn your feet to 4 and move forward – which will help out for the send to 4 because you can send sooner (you will already be pointing that direction). You were a little late sending and leaving at 1:24, so she pulled the bar there.
You had a little decel going into the wrap at 6 and that allowed you to step more forward (while also getting a really nice turn).

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I feel your pain about the weather!!!

>>On Nov seq I couldn’t decide if I was going to do a slice of wrap. No time for indecision. I need to just pick one and do it.

Yes – she moves too quickly for any unplanned moments LOL!!!!

Nov 3: The verbal cue on the tunnel entry (right) was great timing, but the physical cue was late (all that was still outside of the tunnel was her tail :)) so try to match your turn with the verbal before she enters the tunnel.
And I think she ended up on the wrong side of 3, so you can be one or twp steps further down the line to set up being on the correct side nicely.
NICE send and go at 4!
Start your verbal cues for the tunnel exit to 6 before she enters 5 – we will definitely be making that a priority so she can come out more on the line you want.

Masters 1:
GORGEOUS opening line 1-2-3 to the push to 4! WOW! Both reps!

Perfect timing on her backside slice verbal at :14 to 6… but as yousaid it, you turned forward/broek connection so she took the front. When you are that far ahead (which is a good thing!) you can keep moving but turn your upper body back to her (dog-side arm back) to help her set the line to the backside). You were definitely clearer on the 2nd rep and she nailed it – great job staying in motion there to set a tight exit to 7!

Masters 2:
Strategically, I think the long lead out past 2 at :25 and :37 actually did more harm than good – you had to slow down to get 3, to let her catch up – which delayed your exit and made you late for the turn cue on 4. You can handle this opening more like how you handled the ending of Masters 1: less lead out so you can push her to the backside while also continue running forward. That will get you further past the wing of 3 so as she exits there, you will be ahead to turn sooner. You were a little late on that moment, and the turn was a little wide there.
Great job on the big ending line!!!

Masters 3: setting the 1st jump as a rear cross to her right caused you to drive forward to catch up just a little too long, and caused the off course after 2. You exaggerated the pulling away more on the next rep at :53 and 1:03 and it worked but it put you pretty far behind on the next line. You turned her left on the last 2 reps, but I think that was even harder – you had to set the line to 2 for longer so she was off course on the 1st rep of it then landed long on the 2nd rep. I think turning to her right on 1 sets the best line 2-3, and more of a send-and-go approach of starting her on your left and sending then leaving can get you further ahead to control the line better.

She was turning nicely out of the tunnel here because your rotation awas nice and early!! She didn’t take 4 on any of them, though, but I think it was more because you read the 5 jump as the one after the tunnel, maybe? Your timing of the rotation for the wrap at 6 was GREAT at 1:08! But too early at 1:21. Both of the rotations happened as she landed: The difference that I see if that at 1:07. you had one more step of commitment with your right leg and arm – more of a lean, than a step – and you looked back to where you wanted her to go. At 1:21, you looked at her the whole time and tried to move forward and look forward to the next line immediately – she needs that one moment of leaning back and looking back – it was really perfect when you did that at 1:07.

This sequence does go back to #8 (the far end of the tunnel) so you might choose to turn the other way at 6 to see if that is the faster line back to the tunnel.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Helloooooo! And welcome!

>>My girlie was a bit slow today, more trotting than normal. She’s also in season, that doesn’t normally bother my girls, but maybe this time?

Nope, I don’t think it was a season thing, I think she was making a point about something – more below 🙂

On the video, some thoughts for you:
1st rep – backside circle – yes, it looked really good! You can leave sooner , it looked like you hesitated for a heartbeat but she was committed nicely.

2nd rep – backside slice RC – your decel and position looked a lot like the slice she just did, so she offered it again 🙂 On those backside slicey RCs, you can keep moving and turning to face the bar on the takeoff side, so your feet face the center of the bar – that should help set up the RC slice.
The next 2 reps of it were better for sure, you can be even more exaggerated on the turn to face the jump. At :17, your shoulders turned to face the jump and that really helped her! Your feet can follow that line as well.

Wrap left – yes, really nice wrap!! You can lead out on your right to make it easier – you led out on your left and had to do a quick side change to get to the other side between 1 and 2.

Wrap right – she turned left at :31, got the backside at :35 – I think you were actually too early on the rotation (I know, right? LOL!) so you ended up pressuring in towards her line to get commitment… which pinged her away to the left turn or backside.
:39 had the least pressure in towards the jump and she did well. You moved pretty far away from the jump to get it, and your running line on the other reps were good, so we can focus on the transition more – as you move up the line, emphasize your deceleration more as you face forward, and rotate later. That should smooth it out (and you will see the transitions outlined more in the Custom Skills Sets section).
Smart training to add some straight lines in 🙂

Speking of transitions: you did a nicer one at :47 and :54 and 1:03 – running forward then decel more before the rotation, and she read the right-wrap really nicely! After the wrap, reconnect more to tell her about the jump at :56 – connection and a verbal will help so you can do the blind cross there.
At 1:04 you handled jump 3 as a ‘throw back’ – facing her as she came towards it to create the turn: she said it was toooo much collection cue and she went into a trot. Good to know, Winnie, thanks! So you can run forward longer and rotate later – I am sensing a theme that she does not love it when the rotations are too early.

The same thing happened at 1:15 on the next set up – she read the wrap well and she committed to the turn at 3 when you were facing her… but she trotted into it. So after the wrap, face forwad longer and turn later and I bet her speed comes right back up. She was a little faster on the next rep at 1:25 as you faced forward – on these 2 jump skills, you can stick around at the previous jump a little longer so you can accelerate more towards #3 – she prefers the chase, that is when she seems to be at her fastest. You can see it at 1:28 when you send her to the backside of 4 and take off running, she really picks up speed again.
Good turn at 1:18 to get the RC on the backside, you are getting clearer about the rotation there and she is reading it nicely.

Nice job on skill 6 – you really drove into the first wrap at 1:33 and she was speedy AND tight on the turn. On the wrap on jump 3 at 1:37, you faced her and she slowed down. I bet a forward send-and-go moment will be worth a try – it involves less facing her and more chase!
The slicing RC at 1:41 looked good- you were way ahead there, so you can also look at doing a blind cross on the takeoff side (forced blind cross) – more chase!

Skill 7 – nice drive into the first wrap! Then when you faced her early, she slowed down. This is useful info! And she really liked the send and chase on the backside!

Skill 8 – this also had really nice drive into the first wrap at 1:59 and 2:14, nice transition! She once again mae her point about the rotation at 2:03 (trotting) and 2:18 (backside) on the 2nd wrap here LOL! Noted: she does not like you facing her too early.
On the last backside, you had a little disconnect at 2:06 getting up the line so she wasn’t sure which side to be on. On the very last one at 2:25, stay connected like you were, but move a little further over so she can see the backside wing to drive to

So now going back to this:

>>My girlie was a bit slow today, more trotting than normal.

She definitely does not like it when you are facing her while she is moving forward to a line. She is a chase-and-go girl! So when you did the rotations later, following a decel: perfect! Fast and tight! When you rotated early and faced her for too long, she either trotted or pinged off the pressure to the backside. Good to know!!! So you can play with using more send-and-go (fewer spin rotations) because she is a really nice turner and doesn’t need a lot of rotation. And when you are going to do a rotation – emphasize the deceleration as the collection cue and rotate then leave – she seemed to prefer that. And on sequences where you might get too far ahead, you can strategize to stay closer to the line so she sees more motion on that line and a later rotation. I appreciate Winnie’s help in letting us know what she needs 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Lovely job getting this to fit, it worked out perfectly!! It gives you a chance to get more speed going !
On the very first rep it looked like he needed you to move closer to the line to 2, which you did really nicely on the next reps. At that point, 1-2-3 became really easy.
On your fly cues, turn up the intensity of your connection to his eyes, be very direct to his eyes 🙂 and keep your arm a little bit further back. In the context of a bigger sequence, he was locking onto the front side more so you needed a stronger connection to his eyes at :11, :25 (he almost took the front but then did get the back there) and :33. Your arm was turning your shoulders forward a little there, so even though your position was good, he was picking up the front side.
On the reps where he did get the backside at 4 (:22 and :46, your position was strong, heading to the backside wing and that really helped .
On the backside at 6 at :25, :38 and :49, you were working your way further across the bar there and that really helped. On the last rep (:49) you were furthest across the bar, which sets the nicest exit line. Great connection on all of those backside slices! So you can increase the challenge now by seeing how far you can be across that bar while still getting backside commitment:
as you exit the FC at 4, don’t go too close to 5: stay conencted like you were and send him away to 5 then use connection and verbal (maybe outside arm too) to get the backside of 6 – your running path the whole time will be to the center of the bar of jump 6. That will put you way ahead, which is useful for future challenges.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I have a 10 foot tunnel so I think my distances were different from the map and may have affected the choices I made for handling but anyway here goes

I think it was set up well and the handling choices were good ones!

>>Maybe my set up at jump 3 had too sharp a left turn to the tunnel for sequence 1

Nope, you set it up correctly, it was supposed to be challenging in that way 🙂

Rep 1 – really nice connection here all the way through!
On the turn on jump 3: I think you were correct to originally consider it a split step and a left verbal – he might need a soft brake arm there to solidify it? I put the soft turn cue into the Custom Skills section, but here is the visual:

It is possible you were late and it is also possible he was reading just a shoulder turn/split step to stay on his line, so the soft brake might help that. On the video, you used the wrap verbal and rotated towards him – so he turned, but then you had to rotate back out onto the line. Ideally, you would be able to kee moving along the line, so this will be a good one to sort out.
The timing of the rotation and verbal on the tunnel entry was really nice!!
And he seemed perfectly fine on the 10″ jumps.

Rep 2:
You asked about the verbal on this line in the context of sequence 3, but the same question is relevant here: backside or turn cue on jump 3? Of course it depends on exactly what you want your backside cue to mean – but jump 3 was right on his line here after 2, so I would not use a backside verbal. I save those for when there is more of a choice, and it usually means “push away to go to the other side”. So on this opening, don’t call his name, let the tunnel turn him – but you can just say “jump” if you want.

You did a spin here on jump 4 to get the turn to the tunnel which is definitely an appropriate place for it. The left verbal would go with it. It started a little late, he was just about taking off so he went wide but he DID read it as a turn cue! The soft brake will get you away up the next line sooner – spins take longer – so it is worth it to play with that concept to help him understand it. Then you will have more time to get the GO verbal started before the tunnel entry at the end, and be even further ahead there too!

Seq 3: also really nice! You are nailing the connection and that is truly the most important element. Yay!
Little tweaks for you:
I loved your lead out position – you can straight his line over the first jump by moving forward for a few steps like you did (on a parallel line to his line) and then release, so he sees the parallel line a little sooner. You moved a step then released, so he did a little zig zag from 1-2. Moving forward 2 or 3 more steps would help smooth that moment out.

.>> I was saying “back” on jump 6…is that correct or should be “tight”….I felt like he would have to find the backside coming out of the tunnel.

2-3 is a mirror image of this moment – you used tight and it worked great! I can see why you considered the backside cue on 6 – in the process of figuring out how he reads lines, if you think he might have a choice of sides of 6 when he exits the tunnel, then yes, use the backside cue. But he is exiting this tunnel on the exact line to 6 and you were in a great spot to support it, so the backside cue wasn’t really needed – tight tight would be fine.
Also – great send-and-go on 4, to help you get back up the line to the tunnel! He read it wel and had a great turn, and you were able to get to a great position for 6.

Well done on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>On Sequence 3 Rep 1, I did not realize in the moment that she thought it might be a rear cross, but I totally see it on video. I have struggled with telling her the difference between a whiskey and a backside wrap; I think the main difference is where my feet are pointed?

Yes! It is about feet – and position, and also often some decel. But mainly feet 🙂 If my feet go towards the center of the bar (along with motion, and shoulders closed a bit forward) then it should read as a slice rc. If my feet rotate forward to the next line after the wrap, then the dogs read it as a wrap – and that is why she read the wrap SO nicely on the last rep – your feet were pointed to the wrap line way early enough for her to set up great collection.
On that Rep 1 where she thought it was a slice for a moment, I don’t think it was a foot issue – I think it was more that there was so much motion that all she could see was go go go – then she saw your exit line and was like “oh crap it is a wrap, gotta hurry back!” so she back jumped. That is why a bit of decel as you turn your feet, plus (if needed) a little extra connection and verbal, to basically say “hey, things are changing rapidly here, pay attention to the changes”. And she will pay attention, because I truly believe she wants to get it right – she is not a party-of-one type of dog haha!!

>>I also love that you pointed out that my physical cues aren’t matching up with my tunnel cues. All my brainpower goes to remembering to give her tunnel break (“HEY!”); I have to remember to reserve some for my shoulders.>>

One thing you can do is lay a leash on the ground 5 feet in front of the tunnel entry – and start your physical cue as she is arriving at the leash. It is risky – she might pull off the tunnel – but it is good to work on to see if she has any tunnel commitment questions. We can train any commitment she needs. I have added tunnel turn timing to the week 2 package here because I think a lot of the dogs will really benefit, and we need to make sure they understand the layers of cues and commitment.

>>Also, thank you for the alternate handling suggestion; I really need that. We took your Feet Forward class…oh, man, it was a while ago…and it was all about the blinds. Then we started trialing after that, and in trials I am nervous and Cheery is on fire and I tend to revert to wimpier handling (not that it actually reduces our faults, haha!).>>

Yes, that was 2 years ago maybe? One of the themes for CAMP this summer will be “Take The Risk” – try the crazy things in training so we can see how to get comfortable, what cues are strong and which ones need to be strengthened – then you will be more comfortable doing it at trials! Stay tuned 🙂

Tracy

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