[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

I think both dogs looked really good and your connection looked really good throughout – of all the reps here, there was a grand total of one spot where I thought connection could be better (in one rep of Ti’s skills). Because those were so good, I will totally be bugging you about what your verbals mean, exactly 🙂 I couldn’t figure it out LOL! Particularly dig versus push. Josie is mainly reading body language because she is young, but Ti did ask a VERY valid question in his skills video (thanks, Ti :))

Here is more:

Josie’s skills video:
Push push backside wrap – she had trouble on the first rep when you tried to leave fast, good job dialing back the motion and rewarding on the next 2 reps. Be sure you aren’t blocking the wing on the circle wraps!

Digdig at :42 – those turns were very similar to the push then at :51 it was a front side wrap, so what does the verbal mean? She turned really nicely on both so it is more about making sure you are consistent for the future when you might not be in the picture, physically, to help her as much.
At :51, rotate sooner so you are moving away as she is passing you – this will help get you up the next line sooner and also cue more collection when the bar is higher.

At :56 and 1:01, you used push push push for a slice and then something different at 1:06 (it couldn’t quite hear what it was, maybe ‘around’?) The physical cues at :56 and 1:01 were very clear! At 1:06, you were out on her line so she took a wide line – try to run more in towards the center of the bar (you might need to add more distance between them to have time to do that :))

1:10 had post turns (backside and front side) so you can rotate sooner on both of them: send and turn on a sharper angle. You used a digdig cue on both here, but they are different turns, so I will keep bugging you about clarifying the verbals 🙂 Compare that to the next rep at 1:20, where dig dig was backside and then I think you cued a push but the turn/FC was the same as the dig dig cue. Then at 1:33 you had a right wrap on the front side (she was nice and tight zipping around it!) then a right backside slice (both were dig digs) then push push for a tight turn around the backside… to the right LOL!

Last rep – the FC wrap on the first wrap looked really good at 1:43! At 1:44 for the next wrap, you started to turn into her like you were going to do a spin then you opened up again – I think following through with the spin there will get you up the next line faster. Those were both digdigdig then you did a push push to the bacskide.

Ti:
He did a great job on these too, it was really easy to get him to turn! You can stretch the distances for him to add challenge for your timing. On the first backside wrap, he might need you to set up the collection a bit with a little bit a of an earlier cue – he turned but brushed the wing. So you can put pressure on that line sooner and see if it helps. The front side wrap at :12 and :18 was a little wide, you can turn as he is passing you to set up an earlier collection (he turns so well that the tip off there is that he hadn’t turned his head and had to adjust on landing of the jump).

The backside push at :25 was a strong physical and verbal, but he didn’t engage his hind end on the jumping so pulled the rail, he seemed a little surprised? Maybe he hasn’t see a lot of backsides lately and needed a moment LOL! He did it again but to a lesser extent at :32 – so you can angle the bar so it is lower on the jumping side and have him come around the wing, sit, then takeoff to help him engage his rear.
Next rep at :41 – this was nice, he turned nicely, your connection was nice! Spread it out to see if you can do it with more motion too 🙂
On the FC at :59, rotate sooner. Even without a lot of motion, you will still want to be fully rotated as he takes off. At 1:02 he is lifting of and you are a bit sideways so he has to adjust on landing and is not sure of the next line. Then you can power out of the backside FC at 1:05 to show him the next backside sooner 🙂 He was polite and waited but we don’t want polite 🙂
Next rep at 1:15 – on the first 2 FCs, you are facing forward for a bit too long, so he ticks the 1st and 2nd bar (I like that he is honest LOL!). Then do more of an arm back connection as he comes around the wing at 1:18 – you were pointing forward so he got REALLY polite and slowed down to figure out the cue. Josie won’t be nearly as polite hahaha!

At 1:34, 1:46 and 1:51, he asks a question about what digdig means – you wanted front but he took back – but digdig has been used for both so it was a valid question. At 2:22 you used it for a backside, so I can see where he was coming from LOL!

Ti Sequences:
Seq 1:
First rep: he had a little trouble on the slice a 2 for some reason, probably just the angle. You can turn and cue the tunnel at 3 sooner: he looked up at you waiting for info when he landed. He read the decel nicely so you can be calling tunnel before he lands there.
Because of the angle of exit on the tunnel, you can do a spin there to get up the line even faster (more useful on a full course). You did a post turn which takes longer to get out of. He turned nicely but I think he will be even tighter & faster with a spin!

Seq 2: really nice opening line on both reps!! He turns nicely out of tunnels, so the name call on the first rep actually turned him too tight and he ended up on the wrong side of 3. The 2nd rep was perfect! Then one thing to note: because he naturally looks for you on tunnel exits, give him a big GO cue before the last tunnel and then accelerate and give a massive connection (keep yelling go) so he drives to the last jump without a little zig zag. You were clearer on the 2nd rep but he still had a little zig zag – feel free to be boisterous!

Josie Sequences:
Opening line 1-2 looked good! Commitment to 3 was good – you can give a left cue and turn sooner. You were facing forward as she took off and you deceled nicely so she collected, but decel then turn so she can power out on the landing (she slipped a little making th adjustment there). Then I think you had carry over from the otehr sequence and pushed her to the next jump – but that is fine and she got rewarded 🙂

Seq 2: She has a lot of giddy up and the bars are low: so the challenge is for you to maintain the excellent connection here and the strong running lines… while you run faster 🙂 You were being a little careful and it slowed you down, so she asked questions. Better to run fast and risk the connection break 🙂 You can lead out more (her stay looked great!) and then accelerate immediately to 3 (she smoked you a little there, so while she got it, there wa sa zig zag line). If you can get to 3 sooner, you can leave for 4 and turn sooner so she lands facing the tunnel – then use your tunnel send to cue it then leave for the ending line. When she entered the tunnel at :20, you were still supporting it and I don’t think she needs that 🙂 It put you behind for the tunnel exit to the last jump. And also use your loud GO GO GO to help propel her up the line.

So with both of the dogs on the sequences: your connection looks great, your handling choices are spot on! Now… push more and drive them 🙂 Trust the commitment, cue and leave (while staying connected of course!)

Great job here! Let me know what you think (especially about Josie’s verbals :))

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Good stuff on this video!!

She does have a little trouble driving by your rotation (1st rep), so the reward on the 2nd rep (nice and early) set up for a really lovely 3rd rep and 4th rep! You can also lead out less to show more acceleration into it, that can help with commitment. She turns really nicely so that is not a worry at all!
On the backside at :42 – you are connected a bit down to your side and not driving ahead as much – I think you can drive out of jump 3 more and then turn up the connection as she is maybe halfway between the 2 jumps (these have a lot of distance there) – the acceleration will help with commitment there too! You had more acceleration forward (less sideways) and a clearer connection to her at :54 and it helped!

Sequence 1:
You have a good grasp of the sequence and connections and lines, which means yo uare walking it really well for that… now add in walking with the verbals said out loud a few times – my guess is you aren’t rehearsing those enough which is why her name and “go” are the ones that pop out under pressure 🙂
On the first rep, lead out a little less on that big distance so you can show acceleration the whole time – that way you won’t have to slow down then speed up again, and she won’t see deceleration as she enters the tunnel (it caused her to look at you on the exit more than needed). You had a good jump cue on jump 3 and that is one to use rather than GO on the turns. It can mean ‘take it in mild collection’ which will work nicely on 3 and 4. The Go cue is appropriate on the tunnel to the last jump, so plan to yell go go go and not her name there.

It was interesting that she went past the jump at 1:23, she was really unsure. Hard to tell at this angle, but my guess is she needs to see that slightly angled release on a lower bar more and get rewarded for it (she was still not totally confident on the next rep or at 1:44) and then you can raise the bar again.

Rep 3 and 4 – the physical cues look good here! It is now a matter of hashing out the verbals – you had a GO on 2-3-4 on rep 3 (but quiet on rep 4, which worked nicely) but then went to digdigdig on 4 to the tunnel… is that a wrap cue or a soft turn cue? It was “here” on the first rep of this sequence 🙂 She looked at you there, asking if it was a wrap cue. Great job committing her to the tunnel then driving up the line! I have a challenge for you: to do all of these sequences with using her name at all 🙂 She almost never needs her name, and you called it here on a straight line. So, try to break the habit of the name calls and replace them with informational cues, like obstacle names or directionals.

Overall, the physical cues and connections on the sequence work really look strong! That is why I can bug you about the verbals 🙂 If you can match the verbals to your strong physical cues and connections… well that would be the icing on a perfect cake!!

>>Yes, I have the same verbals, but they are very weak.

That is great, even if they are weak: it is MUCH easier to remember just one set of verbals for both dogs, and they will get stronger with Wilson as you use them more (and I will keep bugging you to use them more LOL!!)

Great job! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Nice work on these!
Sequence 1:
Hooray for a nice lead out so you don’t have to sprint at the moment!
Question: what does your chchch noise mean in terms of how much collection you are asking for? I think you were using it for the wraps on the skills, so you don’t need to use it here at 3 – just a soft ‘left’ or shoulder turn will do it – you dug in a little and actually got too much collection there.
He loved the ending line where you called and left! You can call him one stride sooner before he enters the tunnel so he is already turned when he exits, rather than turning after the exit.

Sequence 2:
I think he needs to see that 1-2 line again – it is a hard slice and he pulled the rail. You started saying the tunnel cue as he was jumping, so that might be the contributing factor (distracting verbal) – you can work it as a one jump skill and reward him for keeping the bar up when you talk while he is jumping.

At 4 on this sequence – this didn’t quite have enough of a turn cue as he was coming in from 3, so he went a bit wide. Some decel and a soft turn cue after he lands from 3 should be the perfect middle ground.

He had a question about the go on at the end at :24 but I think it was mainly because you couldn’t run hard – so, for now, throw the reward really early so he doesn’t get in a habit of jumping up on you while you are protecting your knee,

Seq 2 again: he did a great job on 1 here with you talking – bar up! Good boy.
That 4 jump is the hardest part here 🙂 When he landed from 3, he heard a lot of stuff: yes over chchchch and as he took off, you were facing straight (:34) so the bar came down. We need to smooth out the info for him with the more specific verbal and earlier shoulder turn.
Great job getting away up the line after the tunnel sooner, to support the go to the last jump! You can throw the reward here so he doesn’t try to stick with you on the Go cue.

Seq 3: This was my favorite of your runs! Great job! You had your connection and your verbals and your feet pointing the right way at all times, he nailed it and was fast and happy. Nice!! You did have a little bit of ‘ready’ before the first wrap 🙂 When you walk the next set of sequences or re-do these, walk it with the directional verbals only, his name, or obstacle cues. try to get rid of cheering or ready – he doesn’t need those, he is doing great!!

Well done 🙂 Keep protecting that knee!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I am glad your knee was not too angry with us! Yay!! Keep being careful though, no one is allowed to get hurt at CAMP 🙂

These went well and he offered really helpful info! I don’t think the errors were a lack of focus on his part, I think it was a lack of understanding of the commitment when the connection was too soft. We will *definitely* work on that! More below:

1st rep – he had an oopsie at 2 when you looked forward too much on landing so he went into handler focus (this is common as dogs are learning commitment). When that happens, in that moment, re-cue the jump then throw a reward for taking it so he can learn to save you (because while I will try to bug you to always have perfect connection, I also understand how lovely it is when the dogs commit even when we are not perfect :))

2nd rep – still had a disconnection as you looked forward a little, but you were less abrupt on the rotation and stayed there longer which helped commitment.
He had an oopsie at 3: as you left 2, your running line and connection did not really indicate 3 (for a dog that is a year old. I am pretty sure Wager would have taken it but when Wager was young, he would have jumped on your back there). In that moment, show the jump to him again on that angle for the front side then reward. To get him to take it, more connection to his eyes will help – to get that, have your dog-side arm back more, hand pointing to his nose. It was down beautifully but at your side, which contributes to softening the connection more than he can handle at this stage of training.

3rd rep and 4th reps had similar issues with a stronger connection being helpful, and the arm further back will also help.
Good job showing what you wanted then rewarding at :26!

5th rep – much more connection, happy dance! – reward it 🙂 The around backside was good but you can reward him getting the front of 3 on the first attempt there.

Skill 7 video – this looked really good! Check out how clear your connection was here (you can still move your dog-side arm back more as opposed to down at your side). And on the way to the backside- you can start the backside verbal sooner (you were saying ready ready and he was like, I am totally ready, what is next? LOL!)

Skill 8 video – this is also looking good – you had better connection and more motion 1-2, which helps with commitment. You are definitely getting into the habit of ‘ready ready’ before each handling cue, which is actually delaying the cues 🙂 Your connection and running lines were good so see if you can go right into the verbals and not use the ready ready (he is ready hahahaha!)
Great job here! Onwards to the sequences!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I started a thread earlier in the week but I don’t know what happened to it so I’m starting another one.

It might be on page 2 – you can scroll down to find the different pages.

Nice work on these videos! Little suggestions for you:

rep 1 and 2: backside commitment and connection look great! One suggestion – Your the lead out line and release motion should support the backside line immediately. You were leading out on the front side line, releasing, and then when he landed you were pushing to the backside – so he had a zig zag on these between 1 and 2. You can show the motion as soon as you step away from him in the stay, even before the release, as long as he is lined up to easily take 1 (which looked good here). The verbal doesn’t need to start until landing of 1 but the motion can start before the release.

rep 3 – wrap – great connection and verbal! The physical cue was almost perfect – add in deceleration between the release and the rotation. You released and run and rotated… but while rotated, still moving forward pretty quickly so he turned but had to adjust on landing at :38 to make the really tight turn. Compare it to rep 4 at :45 – you showed an exaggerated decel and then rotated – he approached the jump really differently and had a much better turn! He did not have to adjust on landing, he could just power out of it. Yay! That decel made a big difference to him for sure.

2nd video, continuing the discussion of wrap cues:
the first rep did not have the decel, you were rotating but moving forward with speed, so he was a little wider (adjusted on landing) and barked at you. It gives us even more insight into the importance of the decel for him, and how early rotation is not important. Good to know! The ‘right’ at the end of this clip was lovely.

Video 3:

>>It seemed to me that set 4 and 5 were the same?

Yes, my mistake, sorry!!

This video is marked unavailable (probably listed as private) can you relist so we can see the fun 🙂

Video 4:
This was cool to see decel versus no decel:
on the first wrap – decel then rotate, gorgeous. And you didn’t even exaggerate the decel, you just slowed then rotated and he nailed it. 2nd wrap: also a good transition but one step late so he was one step wider than the wrap on jump 2 here. You can also exaggerate that exit line connection so he can drive around super tight. Backside looked great! You can play with sending him to the backside from further across the bar – you run more towards center of the bar (as opposed to running to the entry wing) and then use your upper body/verbal/connection to get him to the backside. Great connection through the backside!

Video 5:
This was also cool to see – first wrap was good and 2nd wrap you had a clear decel before the rotation – very nice! It is becoming 2nd nature – big steps then smaller steps then rotating) and he is turning well! The backside looked good here, so as with the video 4 suggestion: send from further across the bar 🙂

Video 6: you are totally getting the hang of that small decel before rotating to set the wrap turns! This one has the wrap to the right that the 3rd rep had… but you were making a much prettier transition so his turn was much nicer. Yay! As he exits the wraps, call his name more so he can drive to you really hard out of them.

>> I have a bad habit of running inside the wing to cue turns and affecting his running line so I need to work on that!

Yes – You can see a bit of that where I mentioned you were too close to the entry wing of the backside on the previous reps, and or sure it happened here at the end – definite over-helping hahaha! So you can work on running more towards the center of the bar on the backsides. Bear in mind that it is not ideal to turn and look ahead for where the center of the bar is 🙂 so you will need to ‘anchor’ your running line off of a spot on the previous jump. You can see that spot while staying connected to him, and pretend there is an invisible line from that spot to the center of the bar – you will run on the invisible line and be able to cue the backside without breaking connection. Let me know if that makes sense.
Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Future training packages will have more specifics on tunnel exit turns 🙂 Stay tuned!!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>> I worked on that as well as being PATIENT, and looking at her eyes!

You definitely get a gold star for both, especially the being patient part LOL!! That is so hard for me LOL!!!

>> I think #3 was my favorite.

I agree – and I think the stopwatch agrees too 🙂 Here is more:

Very nice first run! She looks much better on the backside wrap! We can do 2 things to play with that backside wrap – you can soften your push arm so it moves a little but you don’t need to draw as much of a circle for her as you did here at :03. The reason I suggest less arm is so you can leave sooner – by drawing the circle for her, you are still there when she lands and a bit on her line, so she goes a little wide to 4. Am I nit picking? Yes! LOL!! But mainly because we can shave time there and go even faster.

The other thing on exiting the backside wrap is to get ahead by maybe just one step or two, so you can send to 4 and leave like you did on reps 2 and 3. You had spectacular sends on those reps (FOR REAL!!!) and you got MILES ahead, so she was incredibly fast and then you could smoothly do the rear or go straight. I bet you could have gotten a blind cross on rep 2 isntead of a rep cross between 6 and 7 if you wanted it, you were SO far ahead – note how she didn’t even have time to share her opinins on the ending line of rep 2 or 3 (well, she shared her opinion when she landed at the end, and I think she said WOW!)

Ok, back tracking to the beginning of reps 2 and 3:
The threadle to the circle on 2 worked well! But… I timed it and it was slower than the backside wrap (rep 1) and the slice from the other side (rep 3). So you can keep working it to see if you can stay a little closer to jump 3, it might be that you moved away a step to set it up? I personally think that these lines are always a little slower (I like to time things a lot), so they are best used when there is no other option.

On rep 3, you tried the slice on jump 3: this was FAST and might be the winning line if you make one tweak: don’t do as close to the entry wing of the backside so you can be a little more ahead and off her line when she needs it coming around the wing of 3 to 4 (she told you about it there too :)) Try to send from the center of the bar or even on the exit wing of 3. When I timed rep 1 versus rep 3, they were just about even – so if you can get away from the entry wing and off the line a little, I think this will end up being fastest 🙂 But it is very cool that she can execute both skills (wrap and slice) so well that they are almost equal: that is unusual!!

Rep 4 – the threadle/slice (switch) on 3 is also a good skill to own! You can probably take one more step to the jump for now on the switch cue, she seemed to question a tiny bit. She was coming around that exit wing pretty darned tight, so you might not have needed the come cue there (it didn’t look like she was going to take the wrong side of 4.)

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Big progress on your push cues on the skills sets! He is going to the backside from more of a distance for sure – I see the difference here! You were moving up the parallel line and and not having to shove your foot to the backside to help him. And when he was on your right, it seems like you were even a little further away. Yay!! You are cueing it correctly 🙂 As he gets to the backside slice, if you takeoff with too much speed, he is running past the bar. So, for now, move away with less speed. That was when he was most successful 🙂 And keep rewarding that skill for sure 🙂 This session looked good (I will head over to CC2 after I finish up here LOL!)

>> I abandoned the threadle as I think it was just too much

Yeah, that was a good decision! You can work on the threadle as a one jump game – but also, it is kind of a low priority (definitely lower priority than backsides!) We have a ton of time to get him to be proficient on threadles before you need to actually use them anywhere 🙂 So you can work on the front side and backside commitment, and we will add threadles in at some point 🙂

>>I am guessing it will just take time before I will be able to be on the other wing and just use the verbal like you do with Voodoo.

Yes – Voodoo is 7 years old and I also worked him extensively on this skill using my opposite arm to cue it. For a couple of years. Possibly for longer than Watson has been alive! Watson is not even 2, right? I think he is younger than Hot Sauce… who will be 2 in July. So Hot Sauce is a better frame of reference – she cannot do backsides like Voodoo can either hahahahaha 🙂 You are on exactly the right path with Watson!

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello and welcome, so happy to see you here 🙂

>> due to all of the travelling involved with my job I have not been able to travel to agility tournaments on weekends as well.

I guess the good news of these crazy times is that you can do agility tournaments at home or with your training group!

Charlee and Dikkens sound like so much fun 🙂 Check out the class overview, and you will see how they can each get turns working. You don’t have to choose just one. And Gidget sounds terrific – I love Rat Terriers!

>> My question is my A frame is broken and I have to purchase a new one. Right now looking around for a used one. Is it possible in the exercises to substitute a dog walk as the contact.

No problem! You can substitute just about anything: a dog walk ( you would stretch out the course because of the length difference between the frame and the DW) or anything you have access to: a jump or two, a straight tunnel, a teeter, even 6 weaves! We can be completely flexible so you can still get tons of training in 🙂

Have fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

Lots of great stuff on your skills work here!!! Here are some thoughts and ideas:

Using a wing on backside jumps will make it easier for her jumping effort and also allow you to send and leave sooner on the backside. It is not as important on the front side wraps.
video 1:
1st rep – good push to the backside, you can try to leave sooner! She read it really well.
2nd rep – At jump 1, you can line her up on the slice for jump 1 so she is facing backside and doesn’t do a zig zag to it when she lands from 1. Good job leaving sooner on the backside and very nice connection on exit!

3rd rep – nice timing on the dig dig wrap (yay for the verbal too) and nice connection exiting it! You are showing excellent connection on the exits of your crosses and backsides.
Compare it to rep 4 at 1:18: on rep 3, you were handling Winnie: connected and clear! On rep 4, you were handling jump 2, very connected to jump 2 LOL!! So she was looking at you because she was unsure of what to do and then didn’t take the jump. In the video, you said it was ‘too hard’ but I think more connection is all she needed there.
Much much better connection at 1:44 and she took the jump of course 🙂 Now, let’s obsess on timing 🙂 On rep 3, at :54 – she was just getting ready to pass you and was still maybe just past landing of jump 1 and you were starting the verbal and rotation – great turn! On rep 5, you started the rotation as she was taking off for jump 2 at 1:42 and I don’t think there was a verbal cue – so it was a little late and she jumped wide. Even on the bigger lead outs, you can start the verbal and rotation at the same time as you did at :54.

Compare it to rep 6 at 1:45 – YES! Connection plus earlier cue got a LOVELY turn, look at your girl bending there! Yay! Just add the verbal for complete perfection.

Then stay connected, though, to show her the next jump at 1:49. You had the connection as she came around jump 2, but then looked forward and turned your shoulder so she didn’t take 3. You can revisit a bit of ‘lazy’ handling and just walk past jumps with minimal connection to remind her to take them even when you aren’t perfectly connected.

You had all the elements on that last rep! Connection, timing on the wrap, connection to 3 and then a strong clear connection to the backside and after the cross! Excellent rep!

2nd video:
1st rep – nice wrap on 2! I think a spin on 3 will tighten up the turn 3-4 or an earlier send and go. You rounded the corner there, creating a curve so she went a little wide. The backside looked good!

2nd rep – the backside pushes were really good on this one (at the beginning and on the last jump). I think she was hot so she was letting you get away with being late on the wrap cues at 2 🙂 Remember to use the lovely timing from the previous video and also from rep 1 here.

3rd rep – this sequence looked good from the handling side of things – connected and timely. The bar came down at 2 – my guess is that she was hot and just didn’t jump high enough. You can work the skills stuff at 4 inches so she can go fast and stay cooler longer, in the summer heat 🙂

4th rep – she did a much better job on the bar on this rep – I don’t think she enjoys knocking bars, so she really put in a big effort to keep it up. Good girl!! Then you broke connection a little and she didn’t take the next jump… I have custom skills sets coming out starting tomorrow, and yours is going to be able convincing her to commit even when you aren’t perfect in your connection! You over-helped a little there at 1:21 and got the backside, but that is better than her not taking it.
The last rep looked great! The rotations were easy for her to read and your connection was strong. On the hot days, put the bars all the way down so she can push you with her speed, more like what she was doing on the first video 🙂

Great job on these, I am happy with the skills! Keep reminding yourself of the timing: she turns BEAUTIFULLY when you are early on the turn timing. Connection is looking strong and we will add in the games to get her to stay on her line when you turn your shoulder or head too early.

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This is the same link as from the 18th…. can you post the link from yesterday? One thought though, as I re-watched this video: At 1:21, you said “go” when you really want a soft turn verbal. Question: when you are working even these small skills, do you give yourself a walk through to practice pairing the handling with the verbal? You might feel like a dork, doing a walk through on 2 jumps… but it will totally help you get your verbal going! It will help pattern you to spit out the correct word so when you have to do it with her, it becomes second nature!

Also, does she have the same verbals as Wilson (or vice-versa)? That can really help keep you sane LOL!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>so he only runs my speed.

This might be a reflection of the value of the placement of reinforcement: food coming from your hand or very near you. So, with whatever rewards you use – throw it as far from you, out on a line, for all rewards 🙂 It would be fun to get him blasting to off course lines, because that is easy to “dial back” when he feels the wind in his hair 🙂

>>>He loves his balls even better than food, and I have been playing fetch with him after his training sessions are all done. I used his ball for his reward for each run today.

If he loves the ball more than food… the ball can be the agility reward on course in training! We can work to transfer the value and joy of the ball into the coursework 🙂

Seq 1:
1st rep – he had a lot more speed (wheee!) so your around cue for 6 was a little late and he got the front. No worries, I like the speed – so if it happens, just keep going then throw the ball on the next line.

2nd rep: He was super pumped up on the start line!! You were more prepared for the speed on this one, and got the earlier around cue at 6. One thing we are going to add to his training: rewards for correct line and speed while in the middle of a course, not at the end. When he is driving away (like to #4 here) or chasing you fast up a line, you can reward somewhere in the middle of the course by throwing the ball (rather than waiting for the end and stopping). I want him to be looking for jumps and then seeing the reward thrown out on the line while you are both moving.

This will mean that the reward is in your hand when you are training alone so you can throw it instantly while you run. If you have a training partner (maybe your videographer can multi-task? LOL!) or in a class, have someone else throw it. I know that it might be tricky to have a non-family-member throw it in pandemic times, so feel free to run with it in your hand so you can throw it. When it is in your pouch or pocket, he ends up stopping while you get it out and we don’t want stopping – we want it to appear while you are both running at high speed.

3rd rep – I loved the blind on 6, you were living on the edge there! You had to scramble to get it (and you did, well done!) and he liked that. Yay!
4th rep had the FC there on takeoff of 6… he outran you a bit so the FC ended up being late. He seems like a super polite guy and was patiently allowed you to finish your FC, but that slows him down. So, the blind cross is the better option here – it is better to be wild and take the risk with the blind, for him, to go fast than it is to do the FC and potentially cause him to power down and wait.

On this sequence – he has his most speed on 1-2,-3 so you can throw the ball after 3, for example, while you keep moving. His send to 4 is terrific so you can also send to 4, run away and throw it for jump 5.

seq 2 on the opening line: you can also run for the blind cross on takeoff of 3, or push to the backside of 3 from further away (I bet he will like the BC better :)) – you pushed but you were a little in the way so he politely waited on the first rep and 3rd rep (he ended up on the backside line to 4 because you were on his line when he needed it there). On the last rep, you sent from further across the bar (which he read perfectly, which is also why I have no worries about the handling skills here) then you really turned on the rocket boosters to get around the wing there at 3 and he was much better (he did have one moment of waiting, though, which is why I think the forced blind on takeoff side will be great for him – no waiting!)

On the 2nd rep, it shows just how responsive he is to handling: you got a little behind and disconnected to run forward (he was being polite again) and then when you reconnected, he read it ias a cue to take the jump: good boy! In that moment you can just keep going and throw the ball somewhere for the next jump.

On the end line on the 1st and 4th reps – he is so responsive that I think for this type of line, you don’t really need to do more than call him, turn your shoulder and run as fast as you can (and throw the ball somewhere on the line). It is a course analysis thing: if you think he will land from each jump and, with a shoulder turn, be already looking at the correct side of the next one… then you don’t need to handle the turn or decel at all. If you think he might be lookined at a backside line, then you can add more turn cues.

Overall, I like how his speed pushed you here and that caused you to hustle, which in turn created more speed 🙂 Yay!
Keeping the bars low for now will really help – we will creep them back up slowly while maintaining the speed. And, adding in throwing a ton of rewards all throughout the sequence will help too!
All of that reinforcement will mean that he doesn’t always run the sequences from start to finish… but the truth is that he doesn’t need to run them from start to finish. Your handling skills and teamwork look REALLY good, so I think the goals here are just to get him wild and fast 🙂 When we get that, it will eb easy for you to put it all together. You can play with that concept on the novice sequences if you like, plus everyone if going to get ‘custom skills sets’ tomorrow to play with this week… so Ivan is going to get SPEEEED sets 🙂 Fun!

Great job, let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Keep me posted! It is also a good way to keep the skill “sharp” for dogs who are already good at it.

[Tracy Sklenar]

I posted the head turn stuff in a new thread for complete obsessing 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> I feel like my teamwork with Pose is coming together much faster because Lever required so much extreme connection from me.

We live parallel lives… my teamwork with HS is easier than with Voodoo for the exact same reason! What with the future hold with our tiny dogs? And my big pointy dog too haha

>>On the verbal wraps, I will ponder more on that and probably will have different verbals for them. Push is the current backside. I will have to think about whether that should be a backside wrap or slice. Then think of another cue that doesn’t sound like the others.

My guess is that is it easier to keep push as a slice because the behavior is easier and also she has probably had it paired with slicing more often. We need a ‘unique verbal’ generator app, just like there are password generator apss out there LOL!

>>I don’t know why, but I struggled with the diagrams on the skills sets. I’m not sure why. But it took me forever to figure out the lines and the numbers. I kept getting myself confused. Maybe because sometimes the lines ran the entire course and sometimes only parts of it and then sometimes I had to go to the end and follow the arrows back. I could not tell what the difference was between #4 & #5 and between #3 and #6. I must have dyslexia because going between the lines and the numbers was too difficult for me. Not sure how to make that easier.

Thanks for letting me know! The next skills sets will have more written stuff too, so it should be less confusing (and fewer lines).

1st video:
rep 1:
I loved the timing on the first wrap – I bet you can move forward out of it even sooner! But also, turn your head to the new side so quickly that you can see her rounding the wing, to match the timing on the 2nd wrap. As she was approaching the 2nd wrap at :09. you were still facing forward so she ended up jumping long.
2nd rep – you moved out sooner away from the first wrap than on the first rep – she ticked the bar so that is definitely something to show her (countermotion as she is turning in collection) and reward for the clean jumping effort.
On the 2nd wrap on this rep and also reps 3 and 4:

You got your connection back to her much sooner and started the turn cues much sooner on the 2nd wrap, but she still thought it was late (note how she kicked up clods of grass turning on landing at :18. The big difference that I see on :18, :26 and :35 compared to the first wrap on those reps is that on the first wrap, the cue is mainly the ‘new’ arm so there is more rotation and on the 2nd wrap, you are giving more ‘swoosh’ forward with the dog-side arm so there is less rotation. On the last one at :35, you left even earlier but the leaving earlier didn’t make a big difference – so she definitely seems to prefer the new arm (fuller rotation) as the turn cue because she was really lovely on the first wrap on all these reps.
I think she was scrambling a bit on the backside on this rep and pulled the rail, it didn’t happen on the other reps so no worries 🙂

2nd video:
these went really well! On the wrap on jump 2: more evidence that she really likes the ‘new’ arm as the cue (fuller rotation): :05, :12 and :21 were all really nice and had the new arm nice and early. On the last rep (:30) there was more dog-side arm (slightly less rotation) and she was wider there. So getting that new arm/full rotation into place is really helpful.
On the backside pushes, your connection was strong after the first oopsie – so strong, that it looks like you losing the line and ending up a little on her line (almost pushed her off at :25). You can walk the sequence so you end up running more to the center of the bar on the backside lines rather than towards the wing – you can anchor your running line off of the wing of 2, picking a spot to move up an invisible line from, so you don’t look forward to find the center of the bar. That will help tighten her lines to the backside while allowing you to maintain the connection.

3rd video:
Sequence 1:
Interesting that she dropped the first bar, it might have been a question about your position: you were up the line and a bit lateral? She was fine on the next rep, so she got to read whatever she needed to see to clarify it 🙂
2nd rep – the timing on the FC 3-4 worked nicely but it almost looked like she was considering the other end of the tunnel – so moving your line one or 2 steps further away will help her see the line to the tunnel more clearly at :13.
Also, try to call her just before she enters so she can be prepared for the tighter turn – you can also consider a left directional there too!

3rd rep – the line to the tunnel was much better here, it looks like she had no questions! Her turn on 3 looks really good too. And as with the 2nd rep – give her more verbal info before she enters to tighten up the tunnel exit (and you can move away to the last jump too :))

Sequence 2: This was interesting to watch her work through the soft turn cue to get back to the tunnel.
When she was staying out on her line you were facing forward and not moving much – she did better when you rotated towards her, like at :49 and :57. It works but is also makes it harder for you to get up the next line (that was some speed she was showing to and through the tunnel!!!). So can experiment with closing the shoulder more towards the tunnel (sooner) with that brake hand – to see if that helps her read the line . It will get you facing the new line sooner (and therefore running up the new line sooner :)) so it will be interested to see how she reads it.

Sequence 3:

>> I wasn’t happy with the opening much it felt like I was late showing the turn at #3.

It was a bit of a domino effect: the BC on the tunnel was a little late, so she came out like a rocket – which then made showing the turn at 3 a little late because you had to catch the rocket 🙂 When I froze the video, when she was a bout 3 feet from the tunnel entry, you had started the blind but she couldn’t see the new connection and you were pretty quiet – so it didn’t register. Try starting it a stride or two sooner so when she is about 3 feet from the tunnel, you are almost fully turned & reconnecting, and talking to her. That will give you a tighter turn on the tunnel exit AND give you time to cue the turn on 3.
I liked the wrap turn at :26 but LOVED the wrap turn at :38! You basically ran her across your feet, feet facing the last jump, soft hands – that gave her hours to set up the turn (well, hours at Pose speed hahahah). Very nice!!!! And it also kept you ahead more in case there was something crazy on the next part of the course.

Great job, let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Author]

Posts