[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! This looked really good! I think the 8 foot distance is a weirdo distance for him which is why his form is a little different: not a compression bounce like 5 feet, but also not a big bounce like 9 feet would be. 11 feet looked comfortably balanced, so did 5 feet. I’m not worried about 8 feet so we can play with it 2 different ways:
You can start the next session with the 2nd interval being 9 feet instead of 8, then 12 feet instead of 11.
Then you can mix in intervals, over time, with 9, 12, 15 feet. The bar can start going up on 12 and 15 feet too, he is “of age” 🙂
Another approach to this grid is to expand the distance between 2 and 3 by 1 foot each time:
5 feet
6 feet
7 feet
Etc
So that we gradually expand the power bouncing to help with the uncomfortable weirdo distances 🙂
Both of those can go into a rotation to revisit once a week or so. He is doing really well (and he seemed unaffected when you added motion, as you noted) so we can keep presenting him with puzzles but no need to obsess because things are going so nicely. 🙂
Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
He did well sorting himself out with more excitement from the toy on the jump grids! He is still figuring out where all the legs go LOL! The striding was good overall in terms of choices of how many strides to take and where to put them. He was doing a 2 stride in the 16 foot distance, which is fine but also likely to change to a one stride in coming months. I think he might need more height on bar 3 so heis jumping more than running, which will help the striding percolate. I also suggest that because he is excited by the toy and leaping upwards a little for jump 3 more than jumping it, if that makes sense? It is what my Hot Sauce did at that age too 🙂 also Presto is much more subtle (she literally would leave 6 feet up in the air to pounce on the toy). So a little more height can help there too. He was strongest with the toy further away so he could land, take a stride, then leap on it like a monkey haha!!
The lateral lead outs looked great, he was easily finding the jump even when you added more distance. Nice!!! Your cue was very subtle, just a tiny step, so it was cool to see him locking onto the line so nicely! You are free to use a bigger step and some arm, all directed to the takeoff spot, as that might help when we add more to it. But he was awesome about picking up the line based on your position.
Great job!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I am starting to see some differences between Flint and Zuzu in places where you can adjust your handling choices a little! Small things might make a big difference –
Flint seems to like his verbals and line info early, or he looks at you a little bit. He does best when you say tunnel early (as he is taking off for the jump before the tunnel and with strong connection – you did that on the 1st rep and he did not look at you. On the 2nd and 4th reps, you were a little later and he looked at you for a step. You were earlier on the 3rd rep so his line was better to the tunnel, but that first rep was my favorite 🙂 Same with with exit of the tunnel to the jump after it: you can be telling him to go go go before he even gets into the tunnel, so that plus strong connection will let him look forward more to the last jump.
arm can be further back on those too
Zuzu is a little different in how she drives lines, and also tHings happen faster with Zuzu 🙂 She doesn’t need as much support or early info – she is reading the lines pretty early based on motion. So, you can have an easier time staying ahead if you don’t lead out as much past 1 so you don’t end up as close to jump 2 – you can send and leave 🙂 Also, she doesn’t seem to need as much support to the tunnel in terms of the early verbal or big connection, so you can be more lateral and get up lines more without having to help support the jump before the tunnel – staying more laterally away will get you further ahead for the jump *after* the tunnel 🙂

Great job here! And if you have multiple videos from a session or lesson ready to post, feel free to post them together, you don’t need to do them one at a time 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>So this has been a bit of a struggle. If I send in these situations, she tends to over jump. I completely agree that being able to leave earlier will get a better turn, but perhaps not going as deep 4-5 would allow me to show more decel at 6 rather than sending her there? Is there something I can do to build this “bubble”?>>

Sending using the decel more, and then as you leave stay in a smooth motion with very clear exit line connection – that will give the “not rushing” feel. If you don’t rush, she won’t rush (theoretically :)) even if you are bit further ahead.

>>I think this struggle can be seen in the next sequences too…the opening 2-3. I played with the LO…moving a little vs standing still. Her take off was good…just maybe a month or so ago that would’ve been a huge struggle…progress! But I’m still not 100% certain what is the best strategy for her here.>>

Her takeoff for 1 was pretty consistently good on both! But moving into the 2 jump was better than the stand still lead out – she reads the decel/rotation better than the standing still. More below 🙂

>>For sequence 6, I played with the front vs blind. I am trusting her more and more, so the blind felt the best to me, enabling me to accelerate past the tunnel. Would’ve been fun if there was a backside or something straight ahead of that tunnel to get to!

100% the blind LOL!!! And you executed a good FC… but the winner here is the blind. Here are details 🙂

Sequence 5:

Rep 1 – moving opening – nice turn on 2 at :05! Try not to go past the wing of 2, though, it sets a slightly wider exit line. Stay just barely on the takeoff side.
Rep 2 – you stood still and she was a good girl but did not process the collection nearly as well as when you decelerated into it. She had a good turn, but not as good as rep 1 (and this patterns holds for your other runs here too).

Very nice backside push on both reps!! One place to resist over-helping is on the backsides: Your physical and verbal cue means “go to the back and then jump the bar” so you don’t need to serp her in like you did at :10 or on the 2nd rep, you deceled a little. Just run and see what she does 🙂

Seq 6 – On the first rep, you moved into opening but not quite as early with your decel as on the first rep of Seq 5 – her turn was good but not as good as the very first rep on the video 🙂 The earlier decel will also lead to earlier rotation, which is helpful to her.
You stood still on the next rep at :55 and on the last one – it was not as good of a turn as the ones where you were moving into them.
On your backside pushes – they are so lovely and independent!! You had really good timing starting the FC starting at :45! But FCs take a while (in dog years) to complete – so even with starting it nice and early, she caught up to you almost immediately at :47. Your blinds did not start *quite* as early as the FC but they were still good in timing… and both reps with the blinds kept you further ahead, for longer. Yay for the blind here! And the turn on the blind was as good as any turn you would get with a FC, so there is no benefit to the FC here 🙂

>>It comes down to trust…I don’t trust my dog and I need to more!

So that is where agility is a mental game 🙂 “trust” is a vague concept. But turning your head forward at a particular time, or running a line a certain way – those are specific action items. When I know I need to trust my dog and leave, I ask myself what could happen – and work through the scenarios. Well, if I trust the dog and it goes wrong, then I am provided with a training opportunity to figure out why and fix it so it doesn’t go wrong again. If it goes right – then yay I can get up the course and reward the dog. So there is a good outcome either way, and it is easier to turn my head away and help or watch the dog less.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

His backside understanding is going really well!!!! On this set up, you can proceed now in 2 ways (not at the same time haha)
– maintaining the same steady pace, move your line even further across the bar to eventually be as close to the tunnel as possible 🙂
– using the same line you had here, add speed 🙂 Start jogging and is he can handle that, you can start running 🙂 You can start this on a line that is where the wing and the bar meet on the entry wing so the line is easy because the motion is challenging.

I see what you mean about the rewards. Yeah, dropped toy is dull – his play style on dead toys is “stalk til momma kicks it” LOL So we can adjust to make it more fun: you can toss it way back, as in throw it 15 feet behind you so he chases it gleefully (he is not going to turn wide on these so I am not worried about the exaggerated placement) or you can attach it to a line so when you drop it, you can then drag it after you drop it for him to chase. Or use a lotus ball because he won’t ignore food 🙂

I like the serp backside combo game! The tunnel and more motion from you did add more zip indeed!! And he did well with the threadle-backside combo too! These games balanced and challenged his understanding! Yay! Try to have the toy stay in the hand that will drop it – he is thinking hard about the different cues so the toy and arm movement at :36 was too much distraction. Otherwise, I really like how he was pretty much spot on for all the different cues!! Good boy!!!!

>>. If I don’t need a diga I could make dig dig the left wrap.

I agree, I haven’t needed to differentiate left and right from more of a 180 turn – if I need a mild collection that is not a left/right, I just say ‘jump’ or call the dog’s name.

>>Or I might go with Kiri-kiri (left in Malay).

Or just ki-ki? Easier/faster to say?

>> Zuo in Mandarin is a 3rd tone which is drawn out and it would bother me that I am getting the tone wrong when saying it quickly. I haven’t retained much Mandarin since we left Singapore when I was 8 but I can still hear the tones and it bothers me if those are qrong).

Haha! I am chuckling but also nodding in agreement, I would totally get distracted mid-run if I started mispronouncing things LOL!

>> I’m off to go video to make sure check check, kiri kiri and circle circle are different enough

I think they are good! I am sitting here saying it:
chchch is where the emphasis on check is
will kiri be pronounced with the emphasis as in KEE-ree or kih-kih?
the soft Cof circle is more of a sir sound, and the iirrr is elongated so it should be pretty different.

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Once he got the hang of it with the tunnel out there, he did really well! I don’t think the 2 early errors were handling-specific, but more of a dog training thing – the tunnel might have been too much of visual ‘pressure’ to move towards, so he might have needed to see you go to the takeoff side of 2 on the first rep, or have the jumps further away to start. But then when you di go to the takeoff of 2 and he got the idea – it was very nice! I think he can power out of the stay a little more (part of that might have been the pressure of the tunnel) so you can toss rewards to the landing of 1 more and since he has such a nice stay, you can also jog to position then release – that will be exciting and challenging!

On the 2nd video – now he was fine with the tunnel out ahead and it was good to balance with going to it so he didn’t have to think about too much there – sometimes it is good to just go fast on a straight line LOL! He was committing AND turning really nicely on the first jump – yay!!! At :40, your verbal right cue was on time but he didn’t see the rotation so he exited wide – motion still rules the roost, so let him see you rotate before he goes into the tunnel. When you repeated it on the next rep, you had the same good verbal timing and also some decel so he turned better there.
On these reps, he was turning nicely over 1 and also powering to it a bit more. He was very quick chasing you after you rotated!!

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! It has been great having you in class and so fun watching Keiko grow up!! See you tomorrow for the start of the blind cross class (turns out there is more content than we will be able to do in the live seminar LOL!!) so you will be plenty busy in the quick class LOL!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This is definitely going well!!! He is much more successful on these 🙂 Your upper body is helping him push away to the push line 🙂 Yay! I think the next step (no pun intended haha) is to get you to not have to converge as much to the entry wing. You were converging from further away so he had more independence, but there was still a bit more motion towards the entry wing than you needed – he might have been reading the backside cue based on which way your feet were pointing more than the verbal and upper body. So, 2 ideas to get that:
lay a leash on the ground as a line to mark the straight line to the center of the bar – and you will move along that leash line and not past it to the wing 🙂
And, while he is in the sit, start moving and start showing the upper body cue for 3 or 4 steps… then release him. He did MUCH better on the reps where you were moving for a step or two – that motion sets the line. At 2:24, you released and moved at the same time, so he took the front of the jump. At 3:18 and 3:39, you had motion and upper body supporting, so those had the least amount of convergence while still getting him independently to the backside. Yay!!!

Those two things will get him to the next step! Keep up the clear upper body cue & connection – it is exaggerated for now as he is learning it, and then you won’t have to exaggerate as much when he is more experienced with it.

Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I’m just putting the videos here in case you would like to see how he is looking on various things.

I think his contacts and weaves are coming along really nicely!!! Yay!! A couple of things on the crosses at the beginning – blinds are indeed very strong turning cues, if they are in the right place – on that line to the teeter, I think a FC would have turned your feet to the teeter sooner than a BC did, so a FC is likely to be faster & tighter. But on both of them, try to be closer to the wing of the jump and run right on that perfect line as you execute the crosses. On the first one, you were late starting the blind (he was already taking off plus you ran a wide line and didn’t have any exit line connection, so he did not pick up the line you wanted. In those moments… don’t blame the dog LOL!! Reward him because he was trying – I think sometimes you tell him that he was wrong when actually the issue was handler-induced (almost all issues on course over jumps are handler-induced, for all of us!) He did get pissed off there and told you off a bit LOL! Your 2nd attempt at the BC there was both earlier and better connected, and he got it better. You did go back and try the FC there – it was more on time too but getting your position on a better line and with stronger exit line connection will tighten it right up.

>>At the end of this video we are working on “GO”. He has such a good go usually….I guess that jump off to the left presents a different picture from any other “GO” drills we’ve done.

Yes, and also it is possible that the triple was not a go jump but actually and out jump – there is a slight lead change to the right happening. So, Go would imply stay on your left lead, which is why he was wanting the other jump. When you said out or handled like it was an out (with pressure into the line) even when you said go – he totally changed his leads and got out. Now, would a big dog likely find that line very easily on a Go verbal – yep, my 2 21″ tall dogs would probably read it as a go. Would any of my small dogs consider that a GO? Nope, that lead change was enough to make it an out.
Now if you are way ahead, you running line shapes the lead change and you wouldn’t even see it. When you are parallel or behind – you need to handle the lead change specifically especially with a novice dog.
Also, on all go lines – be super connected to his eyes (or the back of his head when you are behind) and lean forward into it, like a sprinter. You were leaning back/getting upright with your shoulders back, which tends to curl the dogs into us. You got clearer with the physical cues as he went along, but note that the clarity ended up become out cues (physical and you threw in the verbal too).
As with the BC on the first video – if something goes wrong, don’t blame or tell him off about it. It is entirely possible that it was handler-induced 🙂 I prefer to fix it in tha moment by getting him to take the jump and rewarding, or do a trick for a reward, then try again. If we humans take the blame for the errors and find ways to reinforce – our dogs get faster and faster and faster with more resilience to any errors on course. If we blame them or withhold reward… the dogs slow down a bit to be sure of things and avoid errors, and become less resilience. I like speeeeed so I always take the blame (and I am generally correct that I am the one who was wrong hahaha!!)

Great job, he is looking good!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

These are looking really good!!!

>> I think after I do about 67,000 more ball drops I can increase backside understanding. 😁.

Haha! You are getting there! My Voodoo is fabulous at this skill now – but he is 7 years old and has probably had the 67,000 toy drops. I am sure that my young dogs will take some time to learn this independently too 🙂

> I’m babysitting the landing bc I’m not convinced she will come back over the jump.

I am not sure I would call it babysitting – you were connected and your arm was back, but you were not hanging out or rotating your feet. So you were supporting her but not babysitting, if that makes sense? Support is fine as you keep building the skill 🙂

>>I also find myself depending on my convergence to get her to the backside. After “reviewing” my runs, I should have given her more opportunity to take the backside with me further away, and not quite in her path. Right?>>

Again, I think you are making great progress in the right direction on this skill – you are generally working it on connection with less and less convergence. And most importantly, you are not flinging your arms and not doing giant steps to the wing. There were a couple of spots where I thought you converged more than needed (see below) but those were either you got too far ahead or you were praising her too much hahaha She is getting more and more independent on these – I can really see the progress!!!!

On the video:

Nice job randomly throwing in rewards to help create the default jumping on the backsides! Remember not to rotate as you do it, just keep running through to the next line as if you were still handling.
Seq 1:
Nice push to 4 at :08 (you can have the toy in the hand ready to drop), :21, 1:06! I think these are getting pretty darned independent!

Nice ending line! on the 2nd and 3rd full reps, the backside is getting more independent so you got a nice wrap (REALLY nice exit line connection out of the wraps, she was NOT drifting at all) and a GREAT line back to the tunnel!

When you broke out the push to train it, start it from further away so you can movee into it, it is awkward without motion into it and that might be why you felt like there was too much convergence happening.

Sequence 2:
This is going well! A little strategy You can go in deeper to the tunnel entry so you don’t feel like you are waiting for her on the backside push. An you can give her a GO verbal before she enters so she exits straight – you were calling her name so she was looking at you and turning in when we want her to stay out here.
She did well committing to the 3 backside at 1:39 and 1:56 – more motion into it will allow you to stay more parallel to it rather than converge into it. 2:10 didn’t quite have the same connection as you had on the other reps as you were saying push so you had to converge more

At 1:42 after the 3 backside, you didn’t show any exit line connection so she picked up the wrong side of you. When you looked forward, she might have thought you wanted a blind cross. You had MUCH
better exit line connection after 3 at 2:25 and 2:46 and she got the line perfectly.

Coming back down the line to the 5 jump: you were blocking the wing at 5 at 2:39 and 2:51 so that pushed her out a little wider. Plus the wrap on 5 is the longer/harder (for her)/slower route back to the tunnel… I recommend the slice 🙂 The slice handling in this case is harder for you (easier for her) and definitely faster 🙂

Seq 3:
Really nice job getting the correct tunnel entry each time here! I could see your confidence blossoming on it! Maybe give her an earlier verbal or turn verbal at 3 at 3:02 and 3:21 maybe, to help guarantee the turn. You had really good line and position on that line, I don’t think she ever looked off course here. The rep there at 3:43 was a little late but she was paying attention to your line of motion so she still read it really nicely.
You had more motion coming into the backside a 5 at 3:06 and especially at 3:47 so she got it with you further away! But you spent too much time praising her at 3:26 and she almost took the front LOL!!! I think the dogs prefer information over praise in the moments when we are continuing the sequence: information (the next cue) can be just as strong as praise 🙂

On that last backside wrap – a little more connection needed on the push cue at 3:09 – you were looking forward so she took the front. But then you fixed it with much better connection at 3:30 and 350, she really left to go find the backside so nicely! !! Yay!!

Great job here, I am really enjoying her independence on the lines and also she keeps getting faster and faster!!! Fun!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

It sounds like you had a complete comedy of craziness trying to get home. It was bananas – LITERALLY! LOL!! And I totally understand the ‘i need to get home before my bladder explodes’ thing too. Eek!
And yes to special guests hahahaha!! I live so far out in the boonies that it is not even the middle of nowhere… and yet my “neighbor” sometimes drives his tractor over to chat while I am trying to run or video something. LOL! I have gotten good at smiles and conversation even when I want to throttle him LOL!!! And Chloe was very supportive!!!!

The good news is that even with you being stressed, you still ran really well!! Your connections held up and my only suggestions are little strategy tweaks.

>>So on the spins for 3: trust her a whole lot and as soon as you see her approaching the takeoff spot… disconnect and leave to get the new connection before landing 🙂

>>Ok…don’t kill me…but I know I still can leave earlier here too…why why why can’t I seem to get this???

I chalk it up to muscle memory – the art of disconnecting and leaving is probably much newer than stay connected and stay near the wing. Especially in your region – your area was heavily influenced by a lot of takeoff spot and landing spot handling, which became habit – and now we re-wire all of that 🙂 So keep practicing disconnecting – you are likely to need to actively think about it for now and with enough rehearsal, it will become natural 🙂

And yes, I totally see regional differences in handling, based on handling trends in each region. It is really interesting! The MidAtlantic versus the Southeast versus California versus Washington State/Oregon versus the Midwest and so on. Very different! And then there is Canada…. haha!!

On the runs here:

Sequence 1: my comment on run 1 was to leave the tunnel send sooner so you were further past the exit to set the line (you supported the 3 tunnel for too long so her turn on the exit of 4 was a little wide. You made the adjustment, though, and the next reps were all really lovely!!

Sequence 2
run 1 was strong, you were a little late on 6 but I think you had gotten lost for a moment.
Here is a strategy tweak – because the timing of the turn at 6 starts just after she exits the tunnel, you can stay closer to the exit of the 3 tunnel and send to 4 and 5 more (don’t go as deep to 4) so you are further ahead on the tunnel exit. You were a little late starting the rotation for 6 at 1:29 because you went all the way to 4 and had to really accelerate to get back up the line for 6.

Seq 3: Also good adjustments about leaving early on this one! On the first rep, you helped her find 3 for too long and then you were toast LOL! As soon as you see her going to the 2 backside you gotta go – your upper body cues the tunnel but lower body leaves for the next line. On each rep, you got happier to leave sooner: You were better on the 2nd rep you didn’t go in as deep to the 3 tunnel and on the 3rd & 4th reps – now you are getting confident NOT having to go close to 3! You can probably strip out even that small step to it as well, just using a ‘get out’ upper body cue as so you can really leave (regionally, that step to the line is something that is common in your agility community – I strip it out and that allows us to go pretty darned fast 🙂 )

strategically – you can hang back on the send to 6 to cue it and then leave to get back past the tunnel entry #7 sooner. I know that there is no real urgency to get to 8, but sending and leaving will get a sweeter turn on 6 and guarantee the left turn on the tunnel exit because you will be further past the entry when she gets into it.

Part of that strategy is not needing to get to the wing of the jump at 6 to cue the turn – make sure that you begin the wrap FC cues for 6 when she exits the tunnel even if you are not at the wing- you were driving close to the wing, which was causing your cues to start a little late so she was not as tight as she can be there. Hanging back will allow you to start them really early.

Seq 4 – you ran a great line on the 1-2-3 opening! Nice backside send, she doesn’t need the cross arm to help her come in at 2. That delays you from getting up the next line, so you can send and leave as long as you call her and stay connected like you did here. She was totally coming and the left arm actually pulled her attention off the line and to you, in a place where she totally was looking at a good line. The rest of it looked really good, you handled from ahead but still within enough of a bubble that she had no problem finding the line AND jumping nicely. YAY!!

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Things are going well here!
First run – nice job showing 3 and leaving – but brilliant jump showing 4 and leaving! Look at the turn on 4 at :07! NIIIICE 🙂

Second run – this was not as tight at 3 (:13) as you mentioned – it is hard to get in and out of the FC on time. You might find it easier with a blind cross because that eliminates all the rotation and you can leave sooner!

Third run – very nice! The backside send at 2 was very strong. It was hard t osee where you were coming into it from (standing still or moving in) but it looked like you were there at the send to 2 for too long – moving into it can eliminate that step on the send to 2 at :15 and get you out of there sooner.

Last sequence, with the 2-3 tunnel discrimination – we can interpret this in the Tokaji Handling Method:
You had 3 off course tunnels: Not enough motion out of it at :22 (she doesn’t turn very tightly unless she can chase your motion out of it) At :26 and :31, she might have turned but you opened back up too soon, so she stayed on the line to the tunnel in front of her.
At :35 you waited longer to get her into the correct tunnel entry, but she was correct to turn right at :37 based on where you were as she entered the tunnel. At :41, you had better timing to get her to 3 and get her to turn left. Yay!

But what works best with her to get turns? Seeing you run like MAD to get out of the turn cue so she can chase your line 🙂 So you can tackle puzzles like this with that in mind: You can lead out to 2 (or run into it), cue a FC as she lands from 1 (same timing as you did here, but closer to 2 and moving in and out of it)- then run away from 2 looking strongly over your left shoulder. When she lands from the wrap at 2 and makes the decision to wrap (like she did at :35 and :41) you can do a BC on the flat to cue the tunnel and keep moving so she turns left on the exit.

>> We are working on a new cue to mean take the jump and come back to me….I think momo has too many shades of grey. So she is coming in to me a bit when I release her.>

It might be the timing and position of the cue was causing her to come into you a bit, which is where motion into it can help 🙂 I know it sounds crazy to run in more towards and off course tunnel, but that is where you get the BEST turns from her. Note jump 4 on run 1 on this video! She had plenty of wide turn or off course options there, but she produced a REALLY nice turn because you cued and left so she had to chase you up the next line 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Good job on this one with *both* dogs 🙂 Now it is SO clear how different they are LOL!!

On both dogs, all rep: perfect connection from the first jump to the tunnel and then from the tunnel exit to the next jump. Yay!! When you connection is so good like that, you will find that you will not need to run as much to the tunnels which will help you get/stay further ahead on course.

The only place it was harder to keep connection was on between the last 2 jumps – on some reps, you looked a little forward and your arm came forward so the dogs looked at you – a slight head check. For Flint, you can see it at :23, :36 and 1:01. With Zuzu, you can see it at 1:27. When you had your arm back more and a little more connection to their eyes, they looked ahead more and not at you: Flint on his 3rd rep, and Zuzu on the first rep and at 1:41 on the last rep. It is a subtle thing, but can lead to questions or bars down, so keep reminding yourself to keep your arm back and eyes on their eyes when you are ahead 🙂
On this video, you didn’t have your outside arm involved as much – you used it more to just run (and throw the cookie :)). Perfect!!!

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Ah! Now I can see it! The lighting on the video makes the look the same color but they do run really differently and yes, Flint is a LOT bigger!! I was so busy watching you that I didn’t notice that it was 2 completely different dogs LOL!!!!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

He did well on 5 feet here! How tall is he now? He definitely had to think about 5 feet and I bet we see differences in how he approaches it in future sessions. One thing I like about this session was that he was thinking about his mechanics and made good adjustments – reps 4 and 5 were better than 1 and 2, and that is *awesome*!! (Usually they are worse with young dogs)
2 little details about the reinforcement (because I watch in slow motion and can obsess haha) – have your reinforcement target further past, but at least 10 more feet so he has 15 feet to the reward – that is so he can land in and power out to it. He was landing and already decelerating to it, which changes his form/choices over jump 3.
Also, I think he will have more impetus through the grid (especiall at 5 feet) if the cookie is already on the target, it looks like it was placed there after? If you think he won’t hold the stay, you can drop it onto the target as you release him. More impetus will be good for balance and striding as the grid expands and eventually height goes up.
His 2nd rep was interesting, I think he was sorting a few things out there LOL!! But he immediately went into thoughtful striding for rep 3 and had a nice balanced bounce for reps 4 and 5! Excellent!!!
You can start to add more challenge now – jump 3 can start at 8 feet away, then go 11 (or 12) then 14 or 15 – these will probably be one stride distances so he can learn to extend or compress that stride.

Nice job!! We close this course out on Sunday, if you get a chance to do it again 🙂
Tracy

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