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Good morning!
These are good ones to do without a lot of motion, because it requires the connection to be really clear and she gives you feedback on when it is and when it is not.
>> I found I sometimes pulled her off but I think my slowness doesn’t help.>
There were two spots where you pulled her off the jump (:03 and 1:44). That happened because you hit the brakes hard and rotated before she was passing you/nearing the jump. Even without being able to run hard for now, you can do a transition into a little bit of decel to let her get more committed then slide into the rotation. On the successful reps (like :09, :19 and the others) you had more transition and smoother rotation so she committed really well. On those, she was closer to the jump when you rotated, even if you were not ahead of her.
For the clearest connection on the exit of the blinds and fronts, you can keep the toy in your dog side arm as you start the sequence, then don’t switch hands 🙂 Leave it in that hand so as you exit the cross, it is now in the opposite hand and you are showing it across your body. That pushes the dog-side arm back and really opens up connection, so she has gorgeous turns (because she sees where to be really early on and picks up the new line fast). You can see that at 1:19 and a bit at 2:11. Once you have the dog-side arm back, leave it back to set the next line (resist temptation to look forward or point forward, as that will widen her line).
For the blinds at :36 and :44, you can trust her commitment and start the blind sooner, definitely before takeoff and probably at this stage, no later than when she is halfway between the tunnel exit and the jump. You were starting those as she was in the air, so she landed a bit wide (you were a bit far from the next jump too). And when it is a left arm to right arm blind, the toy will stay in your left side the whole time, so you can use it to really open up the connection back to her as you finish the blind.
The sequences are going well! Be sure to stay upright more because bending over will close off her view of the connection. Having the toy across the body visible back to her will keep your more upright. We have a really good visual of it in front of the camera at 2:04. In that rep, you show a heartbeat of exit line connection with the toy across your body while she is over the jump but as she is landing, you switch the toy to the dog side hand which closes the shoulders forward – so she looks at you and is a little wide for a few strides until the tunnel comes into view. You will have a super line there with the toy in your right hand the whole time, resting on your left hip as you exit the FC with your left arm pointed back to her. That will feel weird at first 🙂 but then it will get easier and easier, so you will be able to short perfect connection each time.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
The forced fronts are going well! One suggestion: Try to have your hand down in position before you release so she knows exactly where she is going before the release. But we don’t want to have it be associated with the release or for you to move it into position as you release her (like at :36) because then she will leave the stay before the release, so move it slowly so she doesn’t mistake it for part of the release then praise her… then either reward or release.
Also be sure to set her up on and angle so she takes jump 1 on a slice directly towards the backside (which makes the backside easier to see), rather than facing it straight then having to turn after landing of 1.
For the lead out push at :22 – To get a tighter turn there (she should collect before takeoff) you will want to stand literally on the line you want her to run, nice and close to 2 in this case. Then as she is landing from 1 and looking at 2, you start moving to 3 to get out of the way 🙂 On this rep, you are too far from her line so she is jumping 2 in extension and turns after landing.
Layering game:
>>layering was a mess. How can I break it down for her?>>
I think pumping up her understanding of staying on a parallel line to the tunnel with you further and further away will really help! Parallel path is key to layering, with you moving along a path parallel to hers. On the first couple of reps, you were pulling away a bit and pointing forward a bit, which pulls her off the line because it turns your shoulders away from the line.
To build up the layering, first you will want to build up more distance to the tunnel to strengthen the ‘stay on your line’ concept. So take the layered jump out of the picture, and work on driving to the tunnel as your line is more and more lateral. Put a leash on the ground for you to run along, to be sure you stay on your parallel line and are not converging in towards the tunnel.
And be sure that all of the rewards are way out past the tunnel exit (like at 1:01 but even further away)and nowhere near you 🙂
When she can stay on her line with you about 20 feet away, you can add a jump wing to layer 🙂 but start it closer to the line so maybe it is only 8 or 10 feet of distance… then move it further and further away til she can layer it at about 20 feet. When she can do that, go back to the closer position and use 2 wings, set up like a jump, but without a bar. Lather, rinse, repeat 🙂 til you’ve got her layering at a bigger distance, then the bar can go back in with the jump 🙂
The bang game on the teeter looked really good here! She was holding position really well as you added more motion – yay! Yes, one little blooper but that is part of the learning process, no worries at all 🙂
On the teeter video – she is doing well finding the angles of entry with the mountain climber game. And she is driving straight to the top when you are parallel to her or ahead of her. But if you were behind, she would wait for you and not drive to the top. It is probably because you were using a reward that was nice but not *compelling* 🙂 so she was checking in with you. We want the reward on the target to be so high in value that she doesn’t care at all where you are LOL!!! So, try cream cheese or spray cheese or liverwurst or a dab of peanut butter or something ulta-delicious. It will get her driving forward regardless of where you are. Since it will be higher in fat & calories, you will want to do fewer reps but that is also good for making it really exciting (less is more!)
She was great with the teeter between 2 klimbs! My only suggestion on that is to start with her already on one end of the board rather than have her jumping onto it. When she jumps on, she first has to catch her balance/shift her weight before she can run fast then shift her weight again at the end… so she ends up slower. But if she is already on it and doesn’t need to catch her balance? She can really rip across the plank to the end position with a lot of speed 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
What a fabulous debut!! I love it!!!!
>> He was a good boy and I was really happy with what he gave me. He was trying super hard. He held his start line (Mr. Business), got weaves, finished on a nice go, and totally followed my body when I turned off the loop. >>
Heck yeah to all of this. This is what a debut should look like… so exciting!!!!!
>>I thought he was committed, but it’s pretty amazing how in sync he is with my line as he pulled and pushed back to the jump.
Yes – bearing in mind that he is inexperienced and processing a whole lot of things at a trial, try to over-commit him by amplifying your connection a lot more and taking extra steps to each line. That will help support the commitment. Will you maybe end up with some off courses? Maybe, but that is easy to dial back when he is more experienced. And if something goes wrong, like he runs past a jump…. don’t fix it 🙂 Just connect more and keep going. Running past a jump is handler error, so fixing it can set up more errors and also can be frustrating for him because he was following you correctly.
>>One question is on the first three jumps. The dummy jump was in play even when I tried different lineups and I wasn’t confident a shoulder turn would be enough.>>
For a lead out push, you would want to be closer to jump 2 to set the turn more. When you were that far away, he read your position as an extension cue – then when you started to move, he tried to adjust but couldn’t keep the bar up. The other option is to run into a blind cross by leading out close to 2, release, run, start the blind when he is landing from 1 and looking at 2. Don’t worry about the dummy jump, pretend it is not there and handle the line 🙂
Have fun today! Send updates!
Tracy
I think this went really well!
>>so I tried to “race him back to set-up” a few times to bring up the energy.>>
I think he liked it!!!!
>>I struggled with which foot and hand went where so before we do this again I’ll be in the back yard watching and talking to my phone while I try to fix me.>>
You basically had it – for the forced fronts, it is the hand closer to the wing and then you would step back with the leg closer to the wing. That is what you did her at the beginning and he read it really well!
It was not clear if you were doing a full front or a throwback (tighter wrap) as the exit because you rewarded rather than finish the rotation – the full FFC has use finishing the rotation to face the jump. The throwback would have you moving forward out of it when he is on the way to the jump (it is kind of an ass-pass :))
He had a good question at 2:05 – you had your opposite hand as part of the cue, which rotated you more to kind of be facing the jump. If you wanted a forced threadle, you would be fully facing the jump but your threadle arm would be outside the wing. For the forced front, you would use the arm closer to the wing like you did at :52 (he had no questions there).
My only other suggestion is that you can set him up on a slice facing the backside line so he is not jump 1 straight – that will take out the front side as an option when you want the backside because he will see the backside but not really see a line to the front.
You set him up perfectly for the balance of the lead out push at the end! If you wanted to do the lead out threadle, you would use th exact same body position as you did here fr the lead out push… but you would move your position over so the threadle arm would be fully visible outside the line of the wing.
Nice work here!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
MaxPup 4 is next on tap! It has been posted:
[AU-072] MaxPup 4 Transition To Trials: To The Line – And Beyond!
Starts in October!
T
Hi!
Is it his first time in the ring? Please keep me posted and send video! Very fun!!!!You did great this summer, learning to drive your new baby dog! Exciting times ahead!!!!
Tracy
Hi! This also went well – it is a hard one!
>> I need to work on getting his name (soft turn) out when he is going into the tunnel.>>
Yes – before he goes in. Put a marker on the ground in training to give yourself a visual 🙂
He was collecting really well on the 4 jump, all you needed to add was to keep your shoulder back like a serp and call him to get him to take 5. You closed your shoulder forward at :09 which pinged him back to the tunnel. And you were a tiny bit too early with your rotation at :21 there, you can keep moving forward for longer (til he lifts off) – your decel was very clear and he was collecting well!
Going through the box went well, you did a good job of getting off his line! Adding the circle wrap complicates it because you had to step precisely to the next line: you moved into him too much at 1:07 and 1:32 and he looked at the off course. You stepped back towards the tunnel at 1:53 and he considered the tunnel (dropped the bar).
Nailed it at 1:21!!! That was the exact line. Yay!
He layered really well!!! You can add in giving him a decel and turn him away sooner for the TW so he can collect – too much motion got the spin the first time then the threadle slice the 2nd time. But no worries, he got the layering and the correct side of the jump, and that is huge for a young dog!!!
Great job here!
TracyHi! This went well! It is all about the small details:
Since we are thinking about which verbals to use:
I think you were using lala (backside slice) on jump 1, but it is highly collected and he enters/exits on the same wing so a backside wrap verbal is more appropriate.Don’t forget to give him a tunnel cue after 2 🙂 Adding the obstacle name will totally help give permission to take it!
The GO went great!
For the left turn, you might need to switch to ‘jump’ as soon as he enters the tunnel at :16, the left was almost too tight and he almost missed the jump on the first rep. He found it easily on the next reps but he had already seen it once 🙂 He dropped the bar a couple of times but I am guessing it was more about the toy throw happening at liftoff.For the backside: He turned really well with his name, nice and quiet! But then you didn’t really tell him about the backside at :48 so he took the front because it was visible
You gave the name calls later after that (1:17 and 1:33), but those turns were wider – the timing of the first rep got the best turn 🙂Thinking of verbals:
At :59 it sounds like you used a lalala but it is a circle wrap so it should be your dig dig like you did at 1:32.The layering went great! Make sure you don’t cut him off too soon on the RC at 2, give lots of connection as you run to the center of the bar so he can get past you. You don’t need to accelerate to 2 as much, it is more of a send.
Small detail on the circle wraps, let him get past you before you move forward again, you were pushing into his line which made getting past you harder (more on that below!)
Great job!
TracyHi!
>> I usually see it with the dog jumping from the inside of the jump and wrapping to you on the outside of the station.>>
Yes – front side wraps.
>> I want to confirm that it can also be if the dog jumps the outside of the station and comes back through the jump?>>
I use one of the backside verbals there – if the dog goes to the backside wing and exits on approximately that same wing, I use a backside wrap verbal. It does not have to be the full circle you drew for your dig verbal – it can also be the almost full circle or come back to you on the same wing because it there is a lot of collection there.
Of the dog enters the backside on one wing and exits more towards the other wing (including center of the bar) then I use a backside slice verbal .
There is a bit of a grey area on the backside pushes so you have to base it on how much collection he needs.
let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy
Hi!
I am glad you are able to get to some classes! Jen is great!
And yeah, corn sweat. I have lived a lot of decades and have never heard of such a thing LOL!
>>My very first “real” agility dog was Terry the Malinois. I don’t think I worked with you when I had him. He had perfect stopped contacts because Ann Braue said this is how to teach them and I treated it like an obedience exercise>>
I think Terry had retired by the time I met you. And that is totally Ann… getting us to be precise in our training! She is a top-notch trainer indeed, I always really enjoyed her seminars.
On the video:
I liked the getting up the line as far as possible of your lead out position, but it was very lateral so his turn was wide, which causes you to stick around more to adjust the line. He has strong forward focus on 1 and 2… what if you led out to pole 6 or something and did the FC on 2-3 from there? That might get a tighter turn on 2-3 and get you even further ahead. It would be fun to see if you can lead out as far up the line as possible and still get 1-2.
He had a little question exiting the tunnel about continuing straight to the teeter, so you can add a Go or Go Teeter before he goes into the #5 tunnel.
I totally see what you mean about the teeter – what is his criteria, and how did you originally teach it? If you used a target, you can put it back out there as a reminder to help build the criteria back up.
>> Since Casper is going to have stopped contacts, I had better get in the habit of reinforcing and strengthening stopped contacts. That will only help Enzo’s teeter and it looks like he needs that.>>
You can also put out a training aid to help when doing sequences – a target for the stop, just like we would use a mat for the run. That helps both human and dog get it right in the sequence.
> he was mostly clean through 12 (probably a refusal in there).>>
No refusals, at least not in UKI! Getting him to find the correct side of 9 at :36 was impressive though 🙂 Good job thinking on your feet for the whole 7-8-9 section! That section was lovely in the 2nd run – Enzo can still go deeper to the bottom of the teeter there so I think your plan to clarify criteria will help.
One other suggestion – your position at 10 turns him to 11 really well, so you don’t need to call him too much. That almost pulled him off at :39. You called less there at 1:15 and it was better. I think one name call is all he needs there.
12 to the end looked great – sounds like you gave the push cue at/just after the apex of the frame so he was able to do it pretty independently. The FC on 13 and the switch-wrap on 14 set up a great ending line!!
Great job! Fingers crossed for dry grass for mowing and no more corn sweat LOL
Tracy
Good morning!
>>For the standard course I had to make up one from what was already set up in the building. I started at your # 1 jump and went to 2. Your 3 was a teeter. From the teeter which was about 15 feet from your # 4 I did a BS on 4 to your tunnel #9 to the front side of 1 to a threadle to your # 13 on the front side to your # 6 to the weaves to your #8 to tunnel 9 to 18 which I had put closer. >>
Sounds like you were able to use the existing setup and still get a lot of same/similar challenges! Yay!
>>At speed out of the tunnel to the front of one to threadle to the front of 13 was a nice challenge which I was able to work out with Mookie and Alonso.
Threadles after tunnels are tricky because of the timing – some dog might need a turn cue for the tunnel exit, before they even enter the tunnel.
>> Both dogs nailed the backside from the teeter to 4 from a large distance away so I could handle the tunnel exit to the threadle sequence. You have taught me this summer how to set up challenging stuff for me and my dogs. >
Yay! Super! And hopefully that makes regular courses at trials feel much, much easier 🙂 Training courses are a bit crazy in terms of level of challenge 🙂

>>Pop Outs from the JWW course Pop Out 1 flowed nicely for both Mookie and Alonso>>Super!
>>Pop Out 2 This was a challenge due to poles in the way so it was passable but it didn’t really flow for us as nice as Pop Out 1.>>
Yeah, darn poles – they create entirely different handling challenges and it is hard for us to run aggressively when our brains are trying to prevent us from running into the poles!
>>I loved the Zoom challenge and your Zooms have always been my favorite from Camp.>>
Me too! It is crazy how much we can accomplish with the zoom training – it is perhaps the one good thing to come out of covid times?
>>I did the warm ups separately with both Mooke and Alonso before I put them together and both Mookie and Alonso did fine. Then I went for the final course to put it all together. Both dogs needed both the turn cue to enter the tunnel plus seeing my body turn before they entered the tunnel or they would layer the tunnel >>It sounds like you got great info from the dogs about which cues they needed and more importantly – when they needed them. Those tunnel cues are useful in any type of agility!
>>The go cue for the straight exit out of the tunnel was fine for Alonso but Mookie kept flicking out of the tunnel to his right to jump 5.>>
That is great info too! Mookie might have been on that lead so the GO cue set up the line to 5. So he needs a subtle turn cue before the tunnel, perhaps, and maybe NO verbal cue to go straight. Definitely something to keep experimenting with.
>>Mookie was also in a brain fog today not listening to cues and just assuming. I guess at almost 9 ½ y/o he is allowed to have senior moments >>
Ha! Probably not a senior moment, probably more that all of those tunnels are VERY STIMULATING which changes the timing and intensity of the cues. It is like the difference in cues for my Voodoo & Hot Sauce (they need STRONG cues to get turns because tunnels are very exciting) versus my Contraband who is faster but can still process turn cues even with tunnels involved. So I adjust the cues accordingly.

>> Boths dogs layered the tunnel without an issue and both had nice threadle wraps 6 to 7 and back to the tunnel. >>Awesome!!!
>>Alonso actually did the course nicely as he is extremely verbal and listens for such a young boy. Mookie got over his jealously of having to take turns with Alonso and got it together by the end of the session.>>
Yeah, jealousy is a real thing LOL!
>>On a happy note, Alonso earned his AX AXJ this past weekend outdoors with all first places and won his T2 B class. >>
Wow! Congrats! The T2B win is especially impressive because that is against all levels of dogs, right?
>>He really knows his lines and follows my verbals even if I am out of position. I am sure it is because he is a Max Pup Grad. Mookie not so much, but Mookie has 40 rules and has always been hard for me. But we have done well despite his rules >>
The younger generation (Alonso and friends) has definitely had more emphasis on verbals from the very start. Mookie and his generation has not had the same emphasis on processing verbals so they are more motion-based in their handling skills.

>>I did sign up for the Clean Run course you are involved in this Fall.>>Awesome! I think it will be a fun thing and a lot of info for relatively cheap price!
>>And are you offering any post camp courses yourself this Fall. Just Checking >>Yes! But I don’t have a topic yet for the higher level dogs (I have the puppy classes all set). I need to come up with something fun for the adult dogs 🙂

Great job with your boys this summer! Thank you for the updates and keep me posted on how they are doing!!Tracy
Good morning!
I didn’t mean to panic you but I am glad that the rehab vet was able to take a quick look! Tight quads could certainly restrict jumping movement, so I am glad she is loosened up now 🙂 Tarot is reaching the point in her training that regular massage is probably a good thing.
She did really well with the 2 table game! You can start her on one table, get her amped up, then run across to the target on the other table – that can add more speed which then asks for more weight shift to be able to stop. I think she is ready for that!
I don’t have the teeter or weaves class on the calendar – not enough hours in the day! I think you are doing really well with the games though and don’t need the full-fledged class 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
>>I phone is being a pain- sorry.>>
Yes, sometimes iPhone and iPad gets MAD when there is a lot of memory used on a webpage with embedded video; Doing a Part 2 is perfect!
She was flying here! I love it! She also was unclear about the stay release so to be 1000% sure it is not paired with reconnection or hand movement: for the forced fronts and lead out pushes, get yourself set up, hands and feet where you want them to be – then praise her. Then either release or throw the reward back to her.
Her reading of the handling is going great! The Forced front crossed looked lovely!
On the first sequence, you can do a blind 4-5 at :15 instead of a FC – she had to go around you to get 5 and that is why she ended up on the wrong line and missed 6. The BC can be finished sooner, so you can showing the next line sooner too.
For the Lead out push at :23 – positionally, you can get closer to her line (a little more on the exit side of the bar. exactly where you would want her to run) and closer ot the jump (close enough to casually touch it without stretching). When you start moving, handle it like a serpentine: keep your dog side arm back and eyes on her eyes like a serp, to support the line. On this rep, you were past her line and far from the jump, so she was taking 2 in extension. Then when you drove away to 3 without a lot of connection, she tried to adjust and dropped the bar. Your position and connection were definitely better on the next rep! Getting your position and feet and arm all set before the release, you won’t need to step to the jump at all, you can just slide away (starting when she is approx halfway between 1 and 2) like a serp.
The last sequence looked good! You can add in looking at her more when you say “back” at 1:04 and she won’t need to look at you to get more info.
The BC works better than the FC here too (5 to 6 at 1:10) – you were in the way and that set her line up past the last jump here too, So if you get a chance to play with this setup again, try the blind in those spots (starting before she even exits the tunnel) and see how it goes.Great job here!!
TracyHi!
Wheeee! Look at that teeter! You can add a half inch of drop now 🙂 Looking great!The layering was a little hard but he did well! One thing about the smaller dogs is that have to take so many more strides, which makes the layering harder for sure! And yes, if you moved a little lateral, he was following motion. But I think you did a great job of breaking it down to show him that yes, he was allowed to go into the tunnel even when he had to layer a jump! The verbals sounded different and also your arm position was very different, so he was able to succeed. YAY! He just needs more experience with layering and it will lock in after a few more sessions.
Interestingly, he seemed to have no questions going the other way (from the tunnel to the line of jumps) – that might have been because there was so much more motion on that line. You can add more motion to the jump-jump-tunnel layer by adding a wing wrap before it, so he is already running and not starting from a stay. That might make more sense to him, plus you will be able to stay on the parallel line more easily. I think that when he sees it more often, it will be easier and the tunnel verbal will override your motion if you pull away a little.
Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi!
I think this setup worked a lot better! Yes, he totally cheated on the release on rep 1 but had good jumping form 🙂 The other releases got better and better so now we can obsess on getting him to not look up at you 🙂2 ideas for that:
Will he hold the stay if you already have a cookie in the bowl? Put the cookie in the bowl then put it down, so he knows it is there and look at it the whole time. Bending over as he released was too much rotation so he dropped bar 1 and added collection. He didn’t drop the bar on the next/last rep when you bent over to get the cookie into the bowl but his head is still up. So the cookie in the bowl (or in his lotus ball placed in the bowl) can help keep his head down.
The other thing to try is as soon as you release him and he looks forward, you can use your ‘get it’ marker (which I am pretty sure he understands indicates permission to get the treats :)) That can totally help keep his head down! Be sure to say it early so he is still looking ahead at jump 1 and not up at you at jump 2.
Great job here!
Tracy
