[Tracy Sklenar]

This is going well!
Sending to obstacles is counterintuitive: we humans like to point with our hands, but the dogs read it better when we point at their nose and look at their eyes.

And the exit line connection where we look back at the dog, using the opposite arm on our belly to keep the do-side arm back, is *weird* at first for us humans then gets easier with practice 🙂

Think of keeping your dog-side arm pointing low and to her nose (never high, never ahead of her) on these so she can also see the connection. Connection turns your shoulders to the line she needs to be on, which is what she is reading.

Video 1 – you used dog side arm and good connection so she got it!

Video 2 and 3- nice connection and step to the send! Your arm was up but it was not the main cue.
After the FC on the wing, try to switch arms and yes, your dog-side arm (left arm here) is the send arm, but the connection is the most important part.

She got the tunnel really well because the connection was very clear. If you are rotated that much, getting the next line will be hard

Video 4 – At the beginning, you had a little too much pointing forward of her towards the wing at :08 and not enough connection so she looked at you on the send to the wing after the tunnel.
Compare to the same spot (:06) on video 5 where you had a lower arm and more eye contact, so she saw the connection and big step really well! Super!

And nice connection on the FC to get her back to the tunnel!

Nice work here! Keep expanding the distance bit by bit and the sending will get easier and easier too 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

The lazy game is looking great in both directions. Yes, se os a little better at it when she is on your left, but that will even out with practice.

So to keep progressing this:
When she is on your left, add more distance to the middle jump by moving it away a little more. Then when you do it in your right, go in closer to each jump and reward each jump. That way you can work on the needed skills on both sides without having to change the set up.

This is where the lazy game builds to – lots of independence!

She is very happy to run across the plank! Yay! 2 things to add to this:
– have her hop off the middle, *carefully* so if she ever does her balance when going super fast across the dog walk, she will know how to dismount rather than fall off. It I a safety thing to teach her!
– because she is very fast and courses are requiring a lot of independence nowadays, you can use a target for her to go to for the 2on 2off, rather than needing you to be there to help her stop. Let me know if you have used a target before or not, and we can plan to help her be super independent!

>>I know running contacts is all the rage, but I need more thinking time, so like 2 on 2 off! >>

Yes, running contacts are very popular right now but the time investment needed to do them successfully is HUGE plus a whippet will be able to get across the dog walk in maybe 1.3 seconds… eek! So the stopped contact is great for those of us who do NOT want to try to outrun a speeding whippet. The 2on 2off is perfect! Plenty fast and very reliable, and not too hard to train (as compared to the running contact).

Great job here!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

She is doing well with the sending!
2 things to tweak and then you will see the distance really blossoming:

– it seems counterintuitive, but connect more and use less arm on the sending. On the questions she had (:08, :27) you had a high arm pointing forward and blocking connection before she passed you, so she looked at you instead.

Compare to :06 and :32, for example, where your arm was pointing to her nose when you started the send, and you had connection. Then arm moved forward with her nose as you stepped into the send, so she got it easily 🙂

So set up the sends with more eye contact and a low arm pointing to and traveling with her nose, as you step to the send.

– to help build value for the distance, throw the reward to the other side of the send wing after she is heading to it. That will help her have a lot of value for working away from you rather than driving back to you.

Nice work on the mountain climbers! She is not totally comfy yet but getting happier and happier with each rep. You can use something soft and sticky as the reward at the top (like a dab of cream cheese) so she stays there longer and doesn’t jump off 🙂 That way you can move away a bit more rather than face her. Take your time building this up, so she can be crazy happy to drive to the end and hang out there, which is what she will need to do on a full teeter because she is light enough that it will tip kind of slowly 🙂

Great job here!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Was that Sharon cheering for you and yelling on the video? I love it!!

These were great – you kept moving and you were very connected. And Fusion was awesome!!! I only have small suggestions for you:

Video 1: you had to really run here and that was great! The opening looked good – do the BC 5-6 because you will be able to finish it sooner and get the 6 jump more easily. You were not able to get finished rotating on the first sequence, so she went past it. On the second sequence, you did finish the rotation and got 6 (yay!) but I bet the blind will be much easier there, in terms of getting the connection to her sooner so she can change her line.

Video 2:
The 3-4 line here (:22) is also a good place for a BC) – you did it at :38 and it was fantastic! You got the info to her in time AND you were further ahead!

Video 3:
On the opening, you can lead out dog on right so you don’t have to FC, or if she won’t hold her stay for that – do a BC instead of a FC 🙂

The BC 1-2 will get you to the turn on the exit of 2 sooner. And… that one might work better as a FC because you can decelerate into it sooner. Also, the BC does turn your motion towards the tunnel for a heartbeat, so that plus the timing (you started it as she was already jumping) caused her to look at the off course tunnel and end up on the backside of 3 on the first run, and drop the bar of 2 on the 2nd run. She got it nicely on the 2rd run!

Great job with your connection and line to get the backside after the tunnel! Super!!!

Video 4 – super nice!!!! You can add a little more deceleration into the FC at the beginning to see if she will turn tighter. But I am really loving how you are driving her and staying connected! So terrific!!!

>>lesson for me there… trust my dog use my verbals and run.>>

Yes! Connect, run, yell the verbals, trust her. It is looking super!

Great job here! Fingers crossed for good weather!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The standard 2 course went really well!!!! Yay!
Wow, look at her focus on jump 1 at the beginning! Happy dance! Made things much easier!

The 3-4 line worked fine as a German. You can also consider staying on the landing side and flipping her away to the tunnel, so you can get way up the line ahead of her.

Lovely connection on the 5-6-7 line and you got a nice turn on the exit at :16!!
Nice teeter reward too!

You can set those layering lines for the giant sprint across the ring:

Send to the tunnel from the teeter exit, layering the 3 jump.
Then BC 10-11, send to 12 without going near it and layer the jump (staying parallel and ahead so you don’t get to close and have to move away from it). You can also do a RC on the line at 10-11 sending to 12 – the RCs are very effective to get us way up the lines there too!

Your right verbal was a shade too early at :37 – it happened before she entered the tunnel which does indicate a right turn on the exit of the tunnel. Good girl!!!

You can use a GO before the 14 tunnel so she exits straight, and GO JUMP can help her stay in the line. You probably don’t even need a right on the 15 jump – just let her power up the line You are pretty lateral there, so she is naturally going to curl towards you.

Doing the slice on the 17 jump makes more sense than a wrap since you are coming from the tunnel (if it was the a-frame, it would be better as a wrap).

Nice job keeping her out on the line to the last jump! SUPER!!! You two are really locking into place as a team, it looks awesome!

>>The live class sequences. I thought you said we could submit them, but if not, no worries!>>

Yes! They are meant for all of the working spots to submit too 🙂 It is good to know what types of cues she needs and when she needs them.

Video 1:
At :03 you did a brake arm but she was already gathering for takeoff, about 6 feet from the jump, so she was not able to collect that much (not sure she needs it there, but you can do it sooner if she does need it).
She needs a soft brake arm from the tunnel exit to jump 4 for the 180 (wide there, so the brake arm will really help that).

On the 2nd run, you did not use a brake arm on 2 and she was lovely!

You used a brake arm 3-4 for the wrap – you gave it bigger stronger more emphatically to her on the 2nd rep there starting as soon as her nose was out of the tunnel, so she collected more – NICE!! What is the wrap verbal: by or whoa? There were a couple of things happening there 🙂

So the emphatic brake hand is good for the wrap, and add the softer brake for the 180.

Video 2: Picking up where you left off with the emphatic brake for the wrap: really nice at :04 – BIG cue and you got a lovely collection before takeoff… and you did it laterally so you easily got her to the backside at 6.

For 6: she needs some more default-to-bar games, so she comes over the bar even if you don’t use your shoulders to bring her in. She came over the bar at :14 when you cued it but she should take it even if you don’t specifically cue it because the backside cue means: go to the back AND take the jump. She doesn’t fully understand it yet 🙂 We would never send to the backside and ask the dog to layer, so you can send to the backside and drop a reward on landing without any additional cues to get her to take the jump.

O the 2nd run, the 3-4 turn at :31 was wide even with decel, I think a soft brake arm will be perfect there on the 180 (starting when she exits the tunnel)
The brake cues for the wrap at :34 started a shade late for her – she was past the halfway point between the jumps so the turn was a little wide. Try starting the cues when she lands from the previous jump and see if that gets more collection.

3rd video: I think you might have been blocking the wing on the first rep a little too much on the wrap at :03 (hard to. Tell from this angle, but she was driving it past it for a few strides then came back to it)

She drove directly to it on the 2nd rep at :17 – it looks like you were a little further over so she could fully see the wing, plus your brake arms were visible before she passed you. VERY nice turn there!

Great job on these! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Passing along a compliment: the person who owns Quicksilver (Julie) told me that she was REALLY impressed with how good you and Synnie looked. Yay! And not much impresses Julie LOL! so for her to deliver that info is high praise to be proud of!

On the video: I think this went really well!!!

Nice serpy opening on all 3 runs! ! Nice BC 3-4 on all 3 runs!! A little decel into it will get even more collection before takeoff.

>>although it did take me 3 tries to actually PROVIDE a real cue on 5 to get to 6! >>


Yes, that is a tricky 5-6 line:
First rep needed more decel into FC on 5 and 6, but decel facing forward. She was wide on the first run because there was not enough decel. On the 2nd run at 1:54, you were decelerating but also running sideways so she came into you.
You nailed it at 3:00 – decel plus facing forward to commit her got a lovely turn!

The 7-8-9 Iine looks good, you can play with layering it so you are up at 10 sooner!

Small detail for the 10-11 line: you can use your “check” verbal and shoulder turn for the 10 jump starting when she is landing from 9 so she turns before takeoff for 10.

Wow, backside at 12 then switch to the weaves was GREAT – nice connection and smooth patience to show her the line there! You can see if she will still get the weaves while you layer 12 🙂

For layering at :48 and 3:27- I like the get out verbal and your acceleration. When your dog-side arm came up high, it turned your shoulders off the line and she came off the line. Try an outside arm there, pointing to the first jump on the layer line, and see if that supports her. And if it goes awry, it is better to reward there than to swing her around to try it without momentum, that led to several more errors and she started slowing down.

On the 2nd run, you hung at the weaves a little more so there was more acceleration up the line, and less high arm – she did the layering really well!! Super!

And adding that bit of decel got a nice turn on 17 to 18, and set up a lovely ending line! Super nice!

Let’s talk about bars:

>>If possible, could you please provide guidance on the dropped bars? I know that they are usually my fault (talking over the bar, etc.), but I just don’t know how to fix the problem. >>

Jumping is the most complex part of agility indeed! And there is so much that goes into it particularly with young dogs. For clean jumping efforts, I see 3 things as being equally important:

– clear, timely cues and clear understanding of cues (jump education)
– ability to maintain form when cues are NOT clear or timely (jump education – proofing)
– conditioning, conditioning, conditioning.

>>I walk a course and talk to myself about when I’m going to cue, but when we are actually running, my brain says “wait, we don’t really trust her, let’s give it another stride, second, etc.”…and then the bar goes down.>>

Part of that is the learning curve of experience, and staying in motion, and not being too concerned about the Q or going clean. Just focus on connection and giving info early.

Looking at the bars down on the video here: there was late info happening on the bars at 17 (1:04), and 21 (1:17).
The bar on 16 with the layering is more of an education issue (2:25) and I think the bar on 7 at 3:04 – was a bit of fatigue and she might also need a brake arm to set the turn better (check out the live class for that).

So about jump education: doing grids with handler motion, and some proofing games will help a lot too! I will add some proofing games later this summer (after our special guest instructor next week!)

And for conditioning… every agility dog needs a conditioning program. What is she doing for conditioning? The special guest instructor will be able to provide useful info for that, but the more you can add conditioning, the less the bars will come down because she will have a strong core, powerful and coordinated hind end, and a lot of stamina!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Lots of lovely work here! She is really fun!!!

Sequence 1:
Rep 1 – you asked if the BC was late – nope, for a backside BC, it was right on time and her turn was nice! You can re-connect sooner and with less arm (arms block connection on blind cross exits), which will help her drive into the turn even sooner.

Rep 2 oopsie – can you get her to sit with her feet facing the bar? That will help! And it looks like she looked at jump 1 at the beginning of rep 3! You had decel into the wrap on 5 at :27 and a really nice turn!

Seq 2: nice forward focus on jump 1! To feel more comfy with the layering, you can get closer to 2 and 3 so you don’t end up too far ahead with no place to go and having to slow down. If you run closer to the line 2-3, you can send/accelerate her on the tunnel send, and not have to get too close to the tunnel at all.

Seq 3 – the first rep had a good backside on 3 then a bonus tunnel send 🙂
Nice timing on the FC at 3 at 1:06 and 1:17, and nice decel into it! I think you were a little too much on the center of the bar so she jumped a little long – if you tay closer to the perfect landing spot of a tiny little mouse, she will jump even tighter. In this case, it is more like where the wing and bar meet – that is more like where you were at 1:30 and 1:31 – you pulled her off by being too early at 130 but 1:31 was much better and she got it nicely! And that one extra step and connection at 1:37 helps her see 4 really well too.

Interesting that she ran past 5 at 1:11! I think you had a parallel path for a few too many steps, so she was layering. Turning your shoulders sooner at 1:19 made a big difference for her!

The ‘here’ for the backside at 1:21 and 1:41 happened after she was locked onto the tunnel. Compare that to 1:51, where you started you ‘here’ as she was over 5 AND you used an arm cue and that got her off the tunnel! The jumping on bar 6 was not perfect but that is fine – she had a lot of cues to process there and did not go into the tunnel! Yay!

Seq 4:
She took the back of 2 on the first rep, possibly going a little wider to be able to expand her field of vision. She took the front really well on the 2nd rep and the rest of that sequence looked easy for her 🙂

At 2:13 where you mentioned the zig zag start and also at 2:33, she was lokign at you and feet facing 2 when you released. Then she saw your foot stepping forward to 1 (good job making sure she had it before you took off down the line). Compare to 2:23 where you waited til she turned her head a little to look at the jump before releasing – that looked great!

She came through the 2-3 gap at 2:16 when she saw you looking forward, it looking a bit like a blind starting so she was really paying attention there!

At 2:26 you held the parallel line to get 2 and 3. To help tighten up the turn, you can start the blind when she is halfway between the 2 jumps but also you can use more connection by looking back to her eyes immediately (keeping your arms in tight to your ribs will help with the re-connection speed after blinds)
The blind was definitely earlier on the lat rep (yay!) which also helped you get your connection back to her sooner. Super!!!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

He was a lazy game rock star! The heat didn’t seem to bother him and he was happy to try to figure out the puzzle 🙂

I think you did a good job of randomizing when/where you would throw the lotus ball. That can really increase motivation – you also noticed how sometimes he just went faster and faster when he didn’t get the reward 🙂 Love it!
You can time your throws to happen more when he is looking forward at the jump, rather than looking at you when he gets between the uprights.

>>When he didn’t take the jump, I think I increased distance too much, or turned too soon? (Distance between me and jump, not distance between jumps – distance between jumps I didn’t change in this session)>>

I think when that happened, you had turned your line away too much so he was following your shoulders. Try to stay parallel to his line and I bet he can get it even with more distance.

>>2nd rep. OUCH! This is first time ever it happened, and I’m glad it didn’t scare him!!>>

Yes, OUCH! Poor guy! And I glad he was fine with it. In the rep before it, I was thinking that his head was too high and his center of gravity too high – he looked off balance because of it (1:19). And that is why he slipped off the side when there was more speed on rep 2. He definitely did not like slipping off the side, because he had a better weight shift and lower head on the reps after that.

So I think we can add a target to help him keep his head low and shift his weight back – not only will this be faster, but it will be safer too (probably more important than fast!)

About the target – that is what he can use as a focal point and that is where he can get the cookie. Without it, he looks at you and that causes his head to be a little too high or turned.

However, I think he is too big and long for a 2 on, 2 off behavior so we can play with target position being maybe 6 feet past the end of the board, so he moves off the board looking at it and getting his reward. It might end up being more than 6 feet past because I don’t want the board to smack him in the butt as it returns to position, if he is standing close enough. So maybe 8 feet past it? Start it 8 or even 10 feet past and if the board is not close to hitting his butt, you can move it a little closer – having it closer helps with the weight shift.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I am using big chunks of cold string cheese. They are about the size of my thumb nail for the smaller dogs. I have small hands LOL but they are still pretty big chunks. That does mean a decent amount of cheese, so I kept sessions short with them and also cut back calories in meals so they wouldn’t get chubby 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Gotta love latent learning! Yes, he was definitely zipping around the 3 jumps really well! And he was balanced to be able to do it really well in both directions. SUPER!!! He was a little slower at the end (getting hot!) but overall he was super!
You can add more challenge by adding even more distance between the jumps, so he has to cover more ground (but you can still be lazy LOL!) But to keep him from getting bored with too much repetition, you can do the one step sends from the tunnel!

Great job!! Fingers crossed for cooler weather!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

She seemed very happy to engage with the board here! I think it might actually have been too easy so she didn’t have to think about her feet that much.
To add more challenge, elevate the board a little with blocks under it.That way she will really have to differentiate the board from the grass and think about her feet and moving across the board rather than being half on the grass, half on the board.

I agree that the toy on the ground does indeed make things more consistent! You can help pump up the value of the food by rewarding her with a cookie then sending her to the toy, then back to ‘work’. That way the cookie can really take on the value of the toy! And be sure to play with her with the toy, even with it anchored, so she keeps you in the picture as a teammate 🙂

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Welcome back, it is great to see you here!!!

She did really well with the lazy game!
No need to point or help her with the middle jump, just keep causally strolling pat it then reward if she take it. You can definitely have her do multiple jumps in a row and spread out the distances.

It was hard to hear if you were saying a ‘get it’ marker before the throw – I think you were saying search but it was after the throw. So say it sooner and then throw. Is search 1 cookie only, or is it multiple cookies?

>>I definitely need to use more visible treats

Chunks of cold string cheese work perfectly for this!

The plank game also looks great! She had plenty of speed and her head was forward and low for most reps.
Do you have some thing you can elevate the plank with, like blocks for each end? She is ready for more height and to hop on and off in the middle of he plank.

>>I bought the self-study teeter class a while ago but have been waiting until Kat was older. I am planning to buy the weaves class as well.

Those both teach the skills pretty quickly. I generally start those around 14 or 15 months.

>>My question is what to prioritize based on what’s in this Max Pup 3 class. Do you think it would be a good use of my time to do the weaves class this summer and then go back and work on contact and teeter stuff once this class is over? >>

The class goes into the teeter foundation and some RDW and some stopped contact foundation, so you can start with these games here and then finish the obstacles themselves later in the summer. How old is Kat? Maybe start weaves in late summer/early fall so you won’t feel overloaded at all?

>>Or does this class not go into that much depth, so I should work on the those skills concurrently using the other classes?

This class gives a good jump start for teeter and contacts, but does not going into finishing the behavior at all. But I would do these games first before tackling the higher level games.

>>There’s so many things puppies need to learn, lol!!>>

OMG SO TRUE! LOL!!!

Great job here! Have fun!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Super nice work here!!!
Her forward focus is going well! We can transfer this to a trial if you can get to a UKI trial: do. The toy beyond the jump at a UKI trial! You can place toys in UKI (or throw them) so it makes it easier to transfer this skill to a trial.

The sequence went well!

2-3 were not visible but it looks like she did well, and the FC to 4-5 looked good! On the first rep, you waited too long at 6 (bar down and refusal on 7). On the 2nd rep, you powered through there and she got the whole line with no problem. Super!

The middle section from 7 all the way through the weaves looked awesome! The layering looked great and then you easily got her to turn 10-11 (nice verbal and decel!) That is a really hard section and you made it look easy 😁

The flip to the weaves from 12 also looked great – she was a little surprised but then dove right into the pole. What made the flip to the weaves so successful at :57 and 1:52 was that you were right on the bar, so you could flip her away and step forward to how her the line. At 1:23 and 1:40 you were further back, and ended up showing ore of a parallel line (so it looks like she went to 2 and not to the weaves)/

Great job here!!!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

The dogs are both doing really well! And both tugging really well before the sequence too!! I know that the cats made things hard but they were really working hard to ignore the cats 🙂

Seq 2 – that in in on 3 will be easier with a turn cue on 2 (name or directional) to help set that up already turning before you cue the threadle.

A more exaggerated cue will help her see it too – you can really swing your arm back for the threadle. On the 2nd and 3rd reps, you turned your shoulder forward which brought her into the gap but I think your arm back will let you keep moving better there.

Sending to the tunnel with layering looked great!!!

Arram did really well too! He was easier to bring into the 3 jump – when he is thinking about the environment like he was here, he seems to prefer to stick a little closer to you and that is fine 🙂 And you were good to not try to layer: your motion really supports him and that helps overcome the distractions in the environment too!

Arram sequence 3: definitely some focus issues here, the barn is hard! I thought you did a great job free styling a sequence to get him moving: the movement brings up the arousal and gets the endorphins going so then he was more successful when you tried the sequence for real. When the barn environment is really hard, you can totally simplify the sequences into something line big speed circles where he doesn’t have to process a lot in terms of cues, and he can go fast and find simple lines 🙂

Lanna seq 3 video 1
She did well here!! It is possible that you were powering through it with a lot of intensity to help override the cat distraction (it worked!). A little more decel into 3 for the FC will help tighten the turn there, and a brake arm after 3 as she is approaching 4 with tighten that turn too.

She has really strong commitment so you can start the BC 5-6 no later than when she is halfway between the jumps even if you are not in perfect position yet. You did it a she was taking off for 5, so she couldn’t make the turn til after she landed .

Video 2: The cats seemed like less of a distraction on this one! You had a little more decel into 3 at :15 but stepped a bit too far across the bar, which set up a wider line 1:03 was better

The back for 6 didn’t happen til after she was already landed from 5 and locked onto the tunnel (:20) You called her sooner which turned her better on the next rep add go the backside nicely!
At 1:07 you called her name but then kept moving on a parallel line so she took the tunnel You mentioned on the video that you you could not look at her – what was happening when you made a big connection was your shoulders were turning to the tunnel line. When you made less connection and turned your shoulders forward, she got it every time. YAY!

I think a directional might be better than her name (left) and a brake arm to get a turn on 5 – that can make it all easier too!

>>Also you can blame Shelly for the landing side rear on Sequence 3. She suggested I do the landing side blind and well to say that ran into some issues is a bit of an understatement.>>

Ha! I think the landing side rear then flipping her away is a great skill! The landing side blind doesn’t make as much sense here, because the takeoff side blind is much more effective.

Backside wrap work: the turf building is a much easier place for him! And he did really well with the circle wraps!

Looking at the landing and dropping the reward behind you might be the double whammy to help him nail this skill. It looked like he got it each and every time!!

You can add a little more countermotion: lead out less so you are moving the whole time. He will pass you to the backside and you will shift connection to the landing side as you continue moving forward. You started doing this right at the very end of this video and he was GREAT!

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Yes, we don’t want to readjust her a lot on the start line. So you can put yourself in as perfect a spot as possible before asking for the line up, to help get the best possible spot. And I agree she’s doing GREAT with the lateral lead outs!!!!!

Also yes – I think Sprite is more of a hands-towards-her brake arm dog, similar to my Voodoo and Hot Sauce, and Diana’s Prism from the live class. What do they all have in common with Sprite? Fast, driven, powerful dogs that commit big and love extension. So they need a little extra power to collection cues to get the turns processed.

Voodoo grew out of needing that by the time he was 4 or 5. I’m sure Sprite won’t always need it but it is a great way to communicate turns for now.

Have fun!
Tracy

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