[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
These are looking really good!! Some little details for you but overall they were quite smooooooth and fast!

Seq 1 – super nice!! – he was a little wide on the first tunnel exit, so you can add a name call right before he enters it or a left verbal.
And – when you see him heading to 4, turn your head and disconnect sooner to have more time to reconnect and set up the tighter turn on the wrap on 5 – the earlier disconnection to get the blind there on the backside push will make it feel like you have a lot of time to make the adjustment.
2nd rep – he was not quite as early to commit to the backside cue on this rep – when I compared it to the cue on rep 1 here and your other cues on the other videos, I think this one was not as direct to his eyes so he was not as quick to get out there to 4. Your other backside cues were *very* direct to his eyes and he got himself out to the backside REALLY nicely!
On this 2nd rep, it looks like you got away form the 5 wrao faster and gave a clear out on the line back to the tunnel (also supporting with motion) and he had a great line there.

Seq 2 – nice backside to 3!!! Wowza – very emphatic cue delivery and he was great about going allllll the way out to the backside 🙂

On the first rep, he turned to his right for a RC on 4: The transition at :08 took your feet/pressure to the center of the bar at 4 so it looked like a RC to him. You decelerated and rotated all in one motion, which flipped him away. Yu can get the wrap more smoothly by decelerating but continuing to move forward to the wrap wing, then rotate into the FC as he passes you.
The RC on the takeoff side of 5 look *great*!!!! But you mentioned the double blind – the first blind comes on 4 so he exits on your right side – and the 2nd blind starts as he is getting to the backside commitment line which is a 45 degree intersection of where the wing and the foot of the wing meet – and definitely before he passes you. You will be moving to the wing, and then when you do the 2nd blind, be sure to exaggerate the connection as that is what will help him read the turn to 5.

Seq 3
The timing and connection in and out of the FC was spot on! Nice! You can lead out more so you are off his line to the tunnel – he has a great stay so I think it will be no problem for him. Really good backside cue! On this backside, you can also disconnect a lot sooner- you were a little late getting him to your left side because you didn’t change sides til after he landed (he almost stayed on your right side). That disconnection feels weird but as soon as he is heading to the entry wing, turn your head so you can be quicker on the reconnection to your left side. The ending looked awesome!

Seq 4 –
Really good strategy on the start to get up the line – spot on timing and connection in and out of the wrap at 3, you produced a great turn and he never looked at the off course tunnel 🙂
The switch at 4 totally works… but pulling laterally to set it up puts him on a wider line as he follows your path – I bet you could easily do a spin to get him on your left exiting 3 for the tightest possible line 🙂 When he is passing you to take off for 3, turn your head to your left side and move to 4 and see what he does 🙂

Really nice job on these sequences!!

>>I see you have a long list of courses for the winter. Is there anything in particular you recommend for us?>>

We do have a lot of stuff… Blind Cross Boot Camp 2 will address the harder blinds like the double blinds. And the super independent backsides will be good but honestly, after seeing these videos, you have most of that already 🙂
The proofing games will be GREAT fun and helpful!!
And I think the mental prep class will be great, because he is looking ready for lots of fun trials in the spring (or whenever it is safe to trial again :))

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

>>That’s a great way to think about it…and that brings me to the last 2 sequences. I am super proud of the last rep of sequence 7. I cued and left and the turn was great!

YESSSS 100% agree – my favorite rep!!!! And also by not over-helping on the turn cue, you shifted connection forward a bit (rather than to the landing side) so she put in a great collection!

Here are some details:

On seq 7:
Strategically, lead out less, send more to 2 so you are more done with the cross before she can see you in the curve of the tunnel. You mentioned this as well – these types of lead outs are harder because there is not exact positional cue, it is all specific to the individual dog. So, you will want to be done with the cross before she can see you (to keep you off her line when she exits so she has a straight path to 4) but also not standing still at 4 (see more below on that). And that way when she exits, you can decel, rotate, leave. You don’t need to keep moving to the wing of 4 as that will send her a little wide.

Wheeeeee you really nailed the 3rd rep!! At :32, perfect strategy on the lead out to get you past the tunnel exit, nice timing on the turn and excellent getting outta there!! Lovely!

Seq 8:
Yes, that opening is tricky – on the first rep, you can get across the tunnel exit sooner. I think you were smoother through there on the 2nd rep, getting in and out of the turn at 4 but maybe a little less “swoosh” to the landing spot will make for the perfect turn. She does best when you look at her on the takeoff side but don’t indicate the landing side.

>> I think I was going too far towards #2 in all the reps, but finally got it more on the last rep of sequence 8. Only problem…I didn’t leave as soon on jump 4 that time…ugh! >>

Yes – on the last rep, your FC was done before she even entered the 3 tunnel! Yeah! And you were right at 4! And rotated! Yeah! But she did not collect as well as on the previous reps… I din’t think it was because you didn’t leave early enough, I think she just doesn’t really turn as well when you are standing still as she does when you are transitioning in and out of the turns. It is the same as we saw in the previous video where you were standing still at 2, and she did not turn as well as she did when you were moving into it. So be early like that with your cross on the tunnel exit, but closer to the tunnel exit so you can move in and out of the turns – those get you the best turns. I mean, the turn on the last rep here was not a BAD turn and most people would kill for it! But we know what she can do (saw it at :32!) so now it is a matter of being able to consistently cue it,

>>>This will likely be our last video for the class! 🙁 I’m sad it’s ending…we had some much fun and got sooooooooo much out of it, THANK YOU!!! Seriously…it was great!

You rocked it! Great job working through all the things 🙂 And thank you for the greetings at the end of the video, even if Kindle would have preferred to be doing dog walks hahaha

>> We signed up for the Blinds Boot Camp Part 2…I REALLY need to get some schoolwork done, and figured a couple week break wouldn’t hurt! You get a break from me too! HA! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Again!!!>>

Thank you for all the hard work!! See you in a couple of weeks 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Yes, this is definitely building the skill! You are getting further across the bar for sure – and your feet are a little turned towards the entry wing, but only a little (especially on the 2nd rep) and you are pretty far from it! You looked like you were center of the bar on the 2nd one. You can have your outside arm look , more towards your hip, so that way your lower body won’t rotate as much and it will feel more comfy. Then as he is approaching the entry wing, you can add in stepping away on a slice/serpentine line (still dropping the reward in line you did here).

I think it will get easier and easier each session!! Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! These are looking really good, I only have small tweaks for you (and most involve pushing her commitment harder haha!)

A general note: you can line her up in front of 1 on a more severe slice, so she has a straight line facing the tunnel and you don’t end up with an extra turn on landing from 1.

Seq 1
Look awesome! She was powering through AND turning tight, exactly what we want. You can probably leave sooner at 3 – sending and leaving, staying connected but pushing to see if she will still commit. The post turn is the right choice for her – you got a tight turn without bleeding off speed. Yay!

Seq 2: This also looked good, both variations you tried.
Little details –
On the opening line at 3, you started rotating at 3 like you were doing a spin, then opened up again at :31 – you can either complete the spin or do the post turn/send like you did in seq 1. Either of those will be easier for you. The post turn created a great turn on 3 in the first seq, so it will probably get a perfect turn here too.

She committing nicely on 4 on all of the reps, while you were rotating! :34 looked really tight. At :42 on 4 you were running backwards – backwards motion is the same as forward motion, so she was a little wide then it took you a moment to get outta there.
You can push her harder at 4-5 ( :35 & :44): Take off to 5 as you reconnect after 4 so she chases the line rather than hesitate for a moment to make the connection. It is a big trust moment but I am sure she will be fine.

Doing the 2 FCs on 3 and 4 looked really good on the next rep! You rotated in and out of them quickly and she was chasing your line nicely. On the FC at 3, you can decel a little sooner to tighten it up a bit more, but it was really quite nice.
Now, I timed the first rep of seq 2 and the last one (double FCs) – they were almost identical, which means that you have lots of flexibility to choose which one you like better! Yay!

Seq 3:
On the FC at 3, try to be decelerating sooner so you can be rotating and leaving for 4, before she passes you to take off. At 1:00 you were facing forward til she took off, so she was wide on landing. You were earlier on the rotation there on 2nd & 3rd rep were sooner (1:09 & 1:16) and it looked tighter!
The Go lines looked great on all reps! I love how she was driving ahead 🙂

Seq 4: This is indeed a wicked sequence 🙂 You can lead out more so you are able to get way ahead and be done with the cross at the tunnel exit (a blind will be easier) so you can be off her line and into the rotation for 3 sooner (1:24 & 1:33 & 1:42)
Her commitment at 3 and her turn was *fabulous* on all reps! She was able to commit and turn while you were really rotated and leaving. GOOD GIRLIE!!!
Her exit line to 4 looked best on the last rep, you were pushing in towards 4 sooner. You can also add more exit line connection to keep the exit tight – she was drifting on the 1st and 2nd reps there trying to see the line.
The backside cue is tricky for young dogs. Watching this, I think she is reading a combination of connection and motion:
You started the backside cue on time at 1:27 but didn’t connect strongly til 1:28 so she needed a moment before committing. You kept moving in towards the backside wing and you ended up turning your feet, but she got it.
You gave the connection earlier so she was much smoother at 1:36 to the backside! Yay! You gave some pressure to the backside entry wing and ended up turning your feet. On the last rep I thought you were nicely connected but you did what I would consider “perfect running line” where your feet were forward and running to the center of the bar, and she took the front. Hmmmm…. LOL!! SO for now, keep that great connection and keep your feet facing forward (not rotating) but also keep the pressure of the running line to where the wing meets the bar on the entry side. That will help get her more independent and then you will be able to work on getting further and further across the bar.
Great job here! You have done such a lovely job getting her to commit to her lines and turns, so now we are in the ‘fine tuning’ stage – so fun!!!!!

Tracy

[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

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