[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

I am kinda glad I bugged everyone about getting the independent backside pushes and disconnecting to leave, trusting the commitment: we are doing the US Open online competition and HOLY COW we had to use that skill over and over and over…. the results were good because I trained it with the big dog! My tiny dog is feral and untrained, and the runs were MUCH harder 😉

Both of your dogs look fabulous on these videos! I have ideas for you – tiny details because basically you did a great job 🙂

Video 1:
I see 3 options this on, in terms of handling choices at 4:
– The crazy backside push (for training purposes 🙂
– The wrap that you did on the 2nd run
– And also threadle 3-4 and take 4 to the dog’s right (towards your shed). My guess is the threadle slice is fastest, with the wrap 2nd fastest? But the training push is great for working the skill LOL!

Really nice first run!! You were past the backside and finished with the blind all before he took off, and then you were easily rotated to cue the wrap at :11 as he exited the wing of the backside slice jump. NICE!

2nd run looked lovely too, he has great wrap skills and you cued the wrap really well! You basically said to him: there is your takeoff spot, I am leaving. Yay!
Great timing on your rotation at 5, another nice turn there!
My only tweak on this one is to be on a slightly different line 3-4 – you were parallel to the wing of 4 as you finished the FC so he jumped a little wider. If you are more on the takeoff side of 4, he will have a tighter line 3-4. This is a nitpick – I am talking about a couple of inches 🙂 But since everything else looks so good, we can obsess on inches 🙂

With Juno, you are not quite as confident in his commitment on the crazy push to 4, you held connection for a heartbeat longer – but you still finished your blind before he even got his nose around the wing of the entry side at :45. YESSS! He was perfect, of course 🙂 That set you up for great timing on your rotation at 5!

One difference I notice between Jake and Juno is that Jake seems to collect using decel as part of the cue – Juno requires more direct connection for now. So at :47, as you rotate, I suggest moving your hand and eyes a little more towards Juno’s nose to get the same collection as Jake. Jake is plenty more experienced, right? So it might be an experience issue. But some dogs just need that bigger connection to get the perfect collections. Again, this is a nitpick detail but everything else looks soooooo good! I mention it because when Juno lands at :48 he needs a heartbeat to adjust. When Jake lands at :12, he immediately powers out to 6.

Juno’s 2nd run looked really terrific too, the sirens were cracking me up! I have the same tiny suggestion for him as with Jake: maybe 3 or 4 inches further up for the FC 3-4 (it will read a little like a reverse v-set to the dogs, you won’t have to show him the whole wing). And as with the previous run on the wrap at 5 – shift connection more directly to his eyes so he can land and out power more immediately rather than take the heartbeat to adjust.

How close were they in overall time? Both boys looked terrific!

Go lines:
Seq 1 – your disconnection was perfect 🙂 Be sure you are saying you Go verbal (I couldn’t hear it here, but it might have been the video). It is not totally important on this sequence (it is a really easy sequence) but it is good to rehearse for harder sequences.

Seq 2: also looked good!! Great disconnect heading up the line (remember to use your verbal Go cue). The reconnection was REALLY clear. Because of his big stride length, you might need to reconnect sooner to cue the turn sooner? But your connection on wrap cue at :16 looked great. Then you can actually disconnect *more* after yuo see him lock onto 5 – disconnect, run, yell GO TUNNEL 🙂 You were actually more connected than you needed to be from :18-:20 LOL!

Seq 3:
You can play with pushing to the backside at 3 from further across the bar and more connection/less step. At :30, you were center of the bar and gave a big step – which he got but then you had to really hustle to get past the exit wing. He was already taking off while you were passing it which is a tiny bit late because you ended up a little on his line, so he was wider than needed to 4. If you can be moving along a line more towards the exit wing, and use more connection and less step/arm, you will get past that backside exit wing in enough time to show him a better line to 4. And yes, you can disconnect sooner 🙂 But that will come as you keep playing with this and trust him – and it is MUCH easier to disconnect on these when you can send from further across the bar.

On the ending line, great jump being less connected and using your verbals! You were pulling away as he was heading to the last jump, so be sure to start you tunnel verbal sooner – he checked in a tiny bit because he was not sure if he should drive straight. I suggest the tunnel verbal starting at landing of 5 to name the line. You said it as he was over 6.

Seq 4 – the way you did the backside on 2 was basically what I was talking about above! Yay!! Look at :42 – you are clearly on the far side wing, very little step to the entry – he nailed it, you nailed it. Yes, you can disconnect sooner 🙂 But when you are keeping him on the same side, you don’t really have to – the disconnections are most useful for when you are changing sides or have to hustle up a big line. Compare that to the backside at 3 – you had to change sides, so you did disconnect a lot sooner: you were basically done with the blind before he got all the way around the entry wing at :45
He was a bit wide going to 4 at :47 – it was hard to tell from the camera angle, but it might have been that you were a little too far over to the left, so he had to go around you to get to the wing? Also, you can decelerate as you drive him to it rather than accelerate, that can help.
And on that last line – you were nicely disconnected LOL but add more verbals to it. You said one ‘go’ then got quiet so he looked at you as he was over 5 at :49. Your running line was subtley moving lateral and you were quiet, so he was paying attention 🙂 If you are going to drift away a little (which I think is fine there), say more go go go tunnel tunnel tunnel to really support the line.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Both dogs are doing well!!!

First up: Haydn’s videos – I just think he is the cutest thing!!!!!
Video 1: the slice opening works well for him with the RC on the tunnel!

on the first rep at :09, definitely not enough connection on the backside send, he say you pointing forward and it did look like a BC to the front side. I thought you were better at :46 but he was insistent LOL! Same at 1:02, handling seemed clear – he was still insistent that it was the front.

Video 2 – his tail, his barking, his leaping into the tunnel: THE CUTEST THINGS EVER . Gah!! On the first run at :09, maybe a little more connection needed? I think it would be a fine level of connection for a more experience backside dog. You were good at :51 with the connection and cue but at 1:03 you REALLY exaggerated the connection and cue. He looked shock LOL!!! And he got it.
The rest of the lines on this sequence looked great!

So yes, I think it is basically a training thing plus he is really small so you can lower your connection so he can see it better – with my tiny dogs, I dip my inside shoulder down and back so they can see the connection better.
For the training – this seems to be a common thing – the front side of the bar has SO much value and his main frame of reference is going to the front – so the front side is actually a massive distraction 🙂 To get him more comfy going to the backside, you can take out the distraction: take away the bar and the other wing on the sequence, leaving only the entry wing, and work the backside skills. Then when he is successful running the sequences with the wing instead of a backside, add back the bar in a less stimulating way: one end in the lowest jump cup and the other end on the ground (don’t add the 2nd wing in yet) – and get the high rate of reinforcement going like that.
That should help him begin to better understand the backside cue with you needing the massive exaggeration from 1:03 🙂

Let me know if that makes sense! Everything else he is doing looks great!

Lanna is looking good! On her first video, the opening 1-2-3-4 looked lovely (that slice 1-2 is hard and she rally had to think about it – mission accomplished!)
Looking at her barking… sometimes they bark because things are unclear, sometimes they bark because things are stimulating, sometimes they bark because things are going great! You will learn to differentiate the barks: my Voodoo growls when I am unclear (I take it as a threat to get my act together haha), barks sometimes on sends because they are stimulating, and shrieks when I get a handling cue right. LOL! So I am not sure if she is barking because things are unclear in spots or if she is stimulated, or both.

I think the timing of your backside verbal was spot on at :08 – you were already saying it as her front feet were touching down from the 4 jump. And your line was good. But as she was landing, she was looking up at you – so it is possible that she needed a more direct connection there (you were looking at her peripherally more than directly).
She had a really nice jumping effort over the 5 bar before the tunnel, those backside slices are difficult and she is doing really well!!

Second video – wow, this is going well!
First run: I am not sure about why she is barking a little – on the first run, it was when you were sending her past you (she was silent on the chase lines where you were ahead of parallel). You can give more connection and see is that helps? I thought you were connected on the backside send at 4 there but it was hard to tell at this angle. As soon you see her heading to the wing there at the backside, disconnect to get the blind sooner – you started the blind as she was jumping, so she looked up at you on landing then had to push away from you (woof, woof :))
Lovely turn on the wrap and lovely ending line!!!

On the 2nd run, you got 2 barks at the backside send! And 3 barks at 1:06 on the wrap LOL! I think she might need more direct eye contact on the backside pushes, dog-side arm back more. On the wrap because the blind was a little late: you didn’t quite establish connection on your left so she wasn’t committing as you tried to rotate and leave at 1:05. That is a common young dog thing – if we don’t connect, they go into handler focus and don’t commit (choosing to bark at us instead LOL!!) That barking was definitely a bark of “more info, please!”. So the earlier blind and added connection will help there, and I also recommend a proofing game where get close to a jump and you do everything ‘wrong’: fling your arms, disconnect, rotate, etc – then massive rewards to her for taking the jump anyway LOL!! It helps them learn to save us in those moments when we are not entirely perfect :))

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!!

Here is the info for Dr. Leslie, she is AWESOME 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/thetotalcanine

http://www.thetotalcanine.net/

The video looks good!! He had a little trouble finding the jump at first. One thing to try is to be angled towards him and when you release – step/point more towards the takeoff spot and not towards the jump. The takeoff spot will be 2 feet or thereabouts in front of the jump, so it might feel like you are pointing back towards him more than forward to the jump. And when he takes the jump, toss a treat out to the landing spot: – it was hard for him to ignore the momma’s position especially when you had a cup of cookies 🙂
You were perfectly sideways to the barrel at 1:27 – but pointing forward so he didn’t quite get it. You were perfectly sideways at 1:50 and 2:13 plus you did the arm & leg send motion before you released him – he found that VERY helpful! (My dogs find it helpful too :)) Plus he did not break his stay when you moved the arm and leg before the release, which is great! So keep that timing and add in slightly stepping back towards him and not forward. Because he is small, keeping your arm lower will help too 🙂

When you you went to the other side of the barrel at 3:00ish – EASY! He read that line really well 🙂 based on your position, so you didn’t have to work too hard to get it at all. You can still toss cookies to the landing side of the jump – with small dogs, I do a lot more tossing of rewards on the line than I do with big dogs, to get amazing commitment 🙂 The littles have to take more strides to get out on a line, and lots of reward throws will help him have amazeballs commitment.

Great job here!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

OMG! I totally forgot to put the link up! I got busy with a zillion other things. Sorrry!!!! It is in the Course Syllabus section now 🙂 Thanks for the reminder!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Hope you are having fun with the US Open! The courses are, um, a bit “different” from the ones were ran at the Canada Open, especially today LOL!! I am sure tomorrow’s will be lovely 🙂

The lateral lead outs look good! I liked your mechanics on the release on the second rep: Super clear and he read it perfectly.

Now remember how you were saying that he needed to learn focus forward for his in-person class? Watch his head as you lead out starting at :39. He was looking away as you moved lateral. When you started walking up the line to 2 (:41) – he looked at you walking the line, then look at the jump (:42) then when you got into position and it looked like you were about to release: he completely focused on the jump (:44) – PERFECTAMUNDO! That is showing a balance between seeing where you are going and reading the line. Impressive for a pup that is barely a year old! He basically did the same thing on the next rep – but settled into looking at the jump for longer.

No worries that he came through the gap at :50, he fixed it on the next rep. Good boy!

He had a big question at 1:21: check out you feet. When you released, you stepped forward with your left (opposite) leg which rotated your feet towards him – dog-side leg (right leg) remained back so it looked rotated and he wanted to come to you (correctly) but then he saw your arm and went and took the jump. Super!!
At 1:34, you had a great step with the right leg so he was totally going (but you rotated a little too soon – fixed it on the next rep really nicely).
The last reps with you on the backside of 2 had great commitment to 1! He went to the ‘wrong’ side of 2 at 2:19 – when I look at that one, I think you stepped in towards 2 a little? When you fixed it at the end, you slid outta there and just used connection to get 2: Nice!!

I don’t think that this oopsie will be an issue when he is seeing this on a big opening, where these are jumps 2 and 3 and he is doing 16″ bars. One one low jump, it is very easy to collect for that turn but with higher bars and coming in from another jump (therefore, more speed), he will do a 90 degree turn, not a wrap, unless expressly asked for one 🙂
And BIG gold star for ignoring the squirrel!!!!
Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi again!
This session also went realy well!! She is finding the line really nicely. The hardest part for her was setting up the turn over the bar on the first couple of reps, but then she was doing a great job. On the first rep, she didn’t quite figure it out and then you threw the toy, so the bar came down. She turned better on the 2nd rep and you delayed the toy – clean jumping effort there 🙂
As the session progressed, it was cool to see her setting herself up to turn before the jump like ar :22 and :28. She tickled the bar at :28 but I think that was because you were moving away and she was like trying to multi-task 🙂
There was an oopsie at :34 with you on the takeoff side of 2 – you might have been too forward to the jump on the release? Or the distraction of the visual of the other jump was challenging? You made a slight adjustment at :40 – you stepped towards the takeoff spot more (and less directly to the jump) and also you started your step before you gave the release (I found that my dogs liked that as well!) Note how she shaped her set up to get a great turn at :40! The next rep looked strong too.

At :52, you indicated forward to the jumps rather than to the takeoff spot of 1, so she came off the line and towards you (freeze your chest laser there – it was pointing to the line she took :)). Compare it to :58 where you were sideways to jump 2 and really indicated the takeoff spot: freeze your chest laser there! Very strongly indicated the takeoff spot, so she nailed it. Yay!

The 2 oopsies were very helpful – we can clearly see a preference for you stepping to takeoff on these, rather than indicating the jump ahead of her. I think she is really reading your shoulders/chest laser, so remember to be a bit sideways to the 2nd jump so you can really indicate the takeoff spot, almost stepping towards her rather than turning away from her.

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! She is doing well! I see what you mean about adding the stride in the 2nd rep between jumps 1 and 2 – I think part of that was her looking at the line and saying “wait, what??” and part of it was that the first distance might be one foot to long for now. Was it 6 feet? If so, dial it back to 5 feet for now – she is young and figuring out her body, so it is possible that 5 feet is the magic interval for now, and when she is a mature adult, it will be 6 feet. She was making strong, thoughtful decisions on this grid, which makes me SUPER happy because I know that she also really enjoys the wind in her hair 🙂 Because she loves to go fast, seeing her choose balanced striding is *fantastic* because many young dogs like to fling themselves LOL! I think she did really well adjusting to the one- stride distances then coming back into the bounce distance at the end.
One little suggestion to help her – lead out further before you release her, so you end up 12 feet or so past jump 3 – and try to have to toy on the ground already (or place it when you release her). This will change her focal point so she looks more directly at the line and not as you or your position, relative to jump 3.
This is a GREAT start to a hard grid. YAY!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I also have seen comments that indicated you had knee surgery? Wishing you a full and speedy recovery! I’ve had an ACL repair myself so I know a little about knee stuff!>>

Actually, one of my young dogs had surgery to repair a luxating patella. Poor girlie, but she is doing well!

>>As far as my previous post: And btw some of those “tics” (not all) were Juno hitting sprinklers! FYI>>

Ah! That might explain it! I didn’t feet really touching bars, but I heard something happening.

>>So…More arm to the jump, and eyes to where I’m going vs supporting the takeoff and landing that I’m so used to doing?

Yes – more arm to takeoff spot and eyes to him or where you are going. And he does not appear to need support to landing at all on his wraps – it causes him to go a little wider and his commitment is lovely without it 🙂

>>On Seq 5, obstacle 4 to 5 felt very awkward for me. I would be more inclined to do a FC after 3 to a left wrap/blind on 4, and a spin/throw back to the left on 5. I’ll have to try both and time it!>>

Timing it is fun! There are a ton of options on that line, and my suggested option was probably the hardest – suggested for the whole extreme connection – disconnection purposes 🙂 It might not be the fastest line there, but it is a fun skill set to work on for when you use it elsewhere 🙂

Have fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Glad the rain has stopped and the weekend weather looks lovely!!!

I have a soft cone on Hot Sauce… she cannot be trusted to not lick or pick at the incision, plus she will chew off a surgical suit – so cone it is.

Lots of great work with Kindle here!!! Some ideas for you:
On the grids you can actually click the MM sooner so she doesn’t look at you (or put the frizzer on it?) we aren’t really marking anything specific so you don’t have to wait on it – I generally trigger it right as I release, so the dogs look ahead (I don’t use the beep, but they hear the grinding noise LOL!)

Add in a little more motion now – jogging! That will help her still think about the jumping even when things are more exciting. She as definitely looking at the line and sorting it out. She started to fatigue a little by :43 (the lowered head and a little stutter is one of the first things I see with fatigue) because it is soooo plyometric. She was set up in a good spot for jump 1 and 2: she had to get on her rear! Good job not letting her lean forward in her stays, that would not be helpful to her form 🙂
On the 15 and 18 foot distance she experimented with a little fling to see if that would work and then adjusted to adding a stride. I think next time, start at 15 feet then 18 then 21 then 18 then 15 and see what she does there.

Sequences: These are looking really good!!!!
seq 1: really nice first run! Great connection out of the tunnel and lovely send to the backside on all of these! You can turn your head forward to the blind sooner on the backside – it looked like she was immediately coming in and not waiting for you on these. Nice!! And I bet you can turn your head forward out of the wrap as soon as she passes you – really trust her commitment, she is going great! No need to see hr take off or land on the original side – you can skip seeing her take off and go to seeing her landing on your new side 🙂

She experimented with a definite fling at 2:29 – you marked it, but try to mark it sooner (and not just with decel, because we don’t want your deceleration or stopping to be associated with a marker that something was wrong) – she got the marker when she exited the tunnel, so ideally you can say something when she takes off! I use stuff like “turkey!” It is quick, light hearted and also seasonal LOL! Her jumping there at 2:49 was much nicer – you were more in the bubble at 2:49 maybe? A little less acceleration up the line to the tunnel? It was pretty similar to the previous rep but the motion was not as accelerated and you might have been a step closer to the line.

seq 2: 2 great runs! Woohoo!!!! Super connections really helped set up the brilliance: clear push to the backside after the tunnel, awesome exit line connection there, clear connections and transition on the wrap then a great threadle!!! Wheeee! If I had to nitpick about something – at 3:37 you might have been pushing in a little too much towards the center of the bar on the wrap jump, she almost considered a rear cross there.
But that is a tiny detail – the runs were really lovely!!!

Great job here! And hope she had fun on her dog walks too 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there! Hope you are having a great weekend!!

Overall, this is going really well, she is not having any trouble finding the lines even when you disconnect 🙂

Seq 1 – good commitment when you disconnected! She jumped a little early on the last jump so this is a skill she probably needs to have more experience with.

Seq 2:
I think you did a great job getting up the line and turning your connection back on as she was taking #3! On the first rep, you were rotating but still moving forward, so she jumped a little long and missed the jump after the wrap because you left a little too laterally. On the 2nd rep – much clearer decel and she had a better turn AND saw the line because you stayed closer to it. Nice! On reps 3 and 4, you were even clearer in your transitions so her turn was even tighter and she easily found the next line. Really nice turns and lines!
Once you showed her the jump after the wrap, she seemed to have no trouble with you running, using verbals and not really connecting 🙂 Yay!

Seq 3: I see what you mean about having to help a bit with her coming in and taking the jump after the backside. At :46 you tried to disconnect and she did not come in. :52 was better and 1:05 and 1:16 were much better! You were still a little connected but further ahead each time. You can embed a bit of training on these sequences to help build the default behavior of coming in: when you see her going to the backside wing, drop the toy in on the landing side (before she makes a jumping decision) as you disconnect and leave. That will help condition her to look to the bar more and look at you less there.
Backtracking – on the push to the backside, keep moving forward on the line rather than rotating into a send – your upper body was goo but your feet wanted to rotate 🙂
The only other detail on this one is to give her a little more connection on the exit of the rwaps at :57 and 1:09 and the last rep – you got a really nice turn and then looked forward out of the wrap – she got it here but you will want to stay connected long enough to make sure she is heading to the correct line and then you can disconnect and yell your verbals 🙂

Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Sorry to hear about the snow 🙁 The video looks so warm and sunny!!!

The tandem turn games are going well!!! One general note is to call him right before he enters the tunnels so he is expecting to look for you on the exit. You were using verbals, but it was at the exit and a ‘heads up’ cue before he enters will also help (in this scenario, a name call is perfect)

First rep – looked great! You were ice and patient on the tandem turn: you turned him away *then* you stepped in. On the second rep, you stepped in as you were turning him away, so he ended up on the other side of the wing. You can reward that – those moments are handler-induced 99.99% of the time – and he was frustrated at :23, thought he was getting the reward, and jumped for it. The next reps at :30 and :40 were lovely! :48 was good too, but it looked like you might have pulled too far away, he almost turned right instead of left? Hard to see in the shadows of the trees 🙂
1:03 was really nice again 🙂 And so were the last reps on the green wing closest to the camera. Yay!!
On the race tracks, you might have been a little far ahead on a couple of them, which made it harder for him to see the wing & connection – you can drive closer to the tunnel in those moments, so he can see the wings fully. His turns on the tunnel exits looked great!

(side note: we have been working tunnel exit turns with ALL the levels in the last 4 or 5 months, from the puppies up to the Masters dogs online – and that Speedstakes course today was ALL about the tunnel exits! Eek! Voodoo has been the Masters demo dog and his exits looked great, thankfully!)

Great job on these! Now I have to get off my bum and try that Speedstakes course with the 2 Papillons… wish me luck, they are feral and have no independent skills LOL

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Sorry to hear about the snow 🙁 The video looks so warm and sunny!!!

The tandem turn games are going well!!! One general note is to call him right before he enters the tunnels so he is expecting to look for you on the exit. You were using verbals, but it was at the exit and a ‘heads up’ cue before he enters will also help (in this scenario, a name call is perfect)

First rep – looked great! You were ice and patient on the tandem turn: you turned him away *then* you stepped in. On the second rep, you stepped in as you were turning him away, so he ended up on the other side of the wing. You can reward that – those moments are handler-induced 99.99% of the time – and he was frustrated at :23, thought he was getting the reward, and jumped for it. The next reps at :30 and :40 were lovely! :48 was good too, but it looked like you might have pulled too far away, he almost turned right instead of left? Hard to see in the shadows of the trees 🙂
1:03 was really nice again 🙂 And so were the last reps on the green wing closest to the camera. Yay!!
On the race tracks, you might have been a little far ahead on a couple of them, which made it harder for him to see the wing & connection – you can drive closer to the tunnel in those moments, so he can see the wings fully. His turns on the tunnel exits looked great!

(side note: we have been working tunnel exit turns with ALL the levels in the last 4 or 5 months, from the puppies up to the Masters dogs online – and that Speedstakes course today was ALL about the tunnel exits! Eek! Voodoo has been the Masters demo dog and his exits looked great, thankfully!)

Great job on these! Now I have to get off my bum and try that Speedstakes course with the 2 Papillons… wish me luck, they are feral and have no indepedent skills LOL

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I am not always sure when to use the right left verbal vs the wrap verbal but from what you just said when going to the tunnel he is just partially turning compared to the threadle verbal where he is turning a greater radius.>>

Exactly! I think of it in terms of how tight of a turn it is. A left or right is kinda of a 90 degree angle of turn like the letter L, and a wrap is more of a full U turn – extra collection on the wraps.

>>I practiced the set point again today. When I moved the jump to the 12 foot distance he actually bounced. I couldn’t believe how much he pushed off with the rear legs when he realized how much further the last jump was. So I then moved it another 3 feet to 15 feet and he did take one stride.>>

He is a powerful dude! A bounce at 12″ feet for a Viszla is totally a good thing! It is a powerful breed. When he is all grown up, you might find that he can bounce 15 feet!

>> We stopped at that point as the birds were roosting and making all sorts of noise to totally distract him. >>

OMG hardest distraction!!!

>>His sit stay was really good at that point.>>

Perfect!!!

>> Do you want him to take one stride at the 12 foot distance?

Not necessarily, based on his stride and power. He can bounce as 12 foot distance. As long as he is maintaining good form, a 12 foot bounce is fine.

>>I was working on his sit stay. I think part of the problem right now is it is a little colder out and his package is sitting on the cold ground and he lifts his butt up!>>

HA! That is too funny!!! You can try a stand-stay to help protect his package? LOL! The joys of intact boys lol

>>I am using an iPhone to video. Any help with editing is appreciated.

You should have an app called iMovie on your phone. It is a white star in a purpley square. If you click on it, you should see a “+” sign – click on that, and you can click on “Movie” then then you can select your video and click Create Movie
If you click on the video on the next screen, you will see “Actions” with a little scissor icon – click that and then you can use the ‘split’ feature to cut stuff out.

It takes a moment of playing with it to get used to it, then it is easy 🙂 Now my list is from an iPad so here is a video for the iPhone 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Looks like you are having super nice weather!!

Set point – he was a really good boy and I like how he was looking ahead and setting up a nice arc over the bar. He has good jumping form! He got the ‘bounce” on that 2nd rep – you set him up nice and close, so he powered in and lifted from his rear. Yay! My only suggestion is to have to reward another 6 or 8 feet past jump 2, so he can land, take a big stride, then get to it. The reward was close there so he was landing on it a bit LOL!

On the backside game: the key element is your eye contact. On the first rep at :28, he was behind you and you were looking forward, so he couldn’t see your eyes and was not sure where to be. The same thing happened at 1:04 and 1:21 and 1:44, and he guessed that he should go to your left side and did not end up smoothly on the backside. Compare it to the reps at :43 and 2:03 and 2:23 and 3:02, where he could see your eyes much better and went to the backside. Nice!!!! At 2:52 and 3:26 he was starting on the wrong side of you so he was confused 🙂 A lower arm and having your hand more back towards him will really help him see the connection too. So as you work the backsides when he is behind you, keep your arm back towards him (not forward to the jump) and make eye contact so he can see where to be. Then I think it will be easy 🙂

Great job here! Fingers crossed for continued great weather!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I did a late FC here and threw out my opposite arm after #6 to keep him on the line to left tunnel entrance – it works but I try to not use it>>

The run looked good! The FC could have come a one step sooner (or a BC would work) but he read the line to the tunnel really nicely! You can probably go in towards the 4 jump by a step or two closer, so y oucan move into the FC or BC on 5. It might have felt like you were too far ahead there LOL! On the video, it appears that he was not going to curl in to the other end of the tunnel, but it might have looked or felt different in real life 🙂 The outside arm can keep him out especially if you feel like you are behind on the line – and if you want to save the outside arm for other situations, I bet you can ramp up the connection and he will do well with that too!

>>So sometimes I just start in another place and move into the skill we are trying to learn.

Makes sense! And it keeps things fresh for him 🙂

He did like the nighttime session! He is a night owl! LOL! The blind 3-4 started sooner and he had no trouble over the bar here (you can play with starting it even sooner, so you are on your left arm already when he exits the tunnel. Verbal and motion can support 3 so the blind can be wicked early. That will give you an extra heartbeat to decelerate into 4 to tighten it up a bit – you were accelerating so he accelerated too, causing him to land long. He has a really good send, so you can do the blind and then basically stay where you are, connected, and send him past you. That should cue the turn and get you back up the next line nice and early 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think! And I totally feel the pain of the time change too – bleh! I like long sunny days 🙂

Tracy

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