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  • in reply to: Stephanie and Wayne (BC) #69912
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Good morning!

    >I am going back and watching the lessons on Volume Dial.>

    Yes! This will really help by getting him to play and engage before a run, right at the start line, which will transfer nicely to the run.

    >We ran VTs (Virtual Trials today- something offered in NADAC where you run a specified course and if you Q you can submit it). A little difference between this and regular trials is we only have 1 dog out at a time, so there is no waiting on leash for our run. This reduces the amount of time for Volume Dial and pre-run engagement (which we are still working on).>

    Fun! You can still work the volume dial stuff all the way up to the start line – that is more important than trying for a Q at this early stage of his career, because establishing that engagement will help Qs happen very easily šŸ™‚

    
>I definitely need to work hard on ā€œleash off engagement onā€ I couldn’t get a good sit at the startline today.>

    That is a fun one to play! You can do some tugging or cookie tricks, take the leash off, then immediately go to tugging or more cookie tricks šŸ™‚

    >I am still working on keeping that connection with him and my arm out of the way (obviously I need to work harder at this!)>

    Yes – he found the lines really really well on the 2 videos here when you ran a little closer to the obstacles and had less arm pointing. It will get easier as he gets more experienced, but for now supporting the lines like that really helps him.

    Also on the videos – getting that engagement before your start the run is going to make a huge difference. At the beginning of each run, it looked like you were not sure what he might do so it as harder to cue the line. When you get him going and he could see the info more clearly, there were really nice sequences!!

    >He missed obstacle 2 (the barrel- went the wrong side) then skipped obstacle 7. He skipped obstacle 10 and took the tunnel instead.>

    These were all small handling bloopers šŸ™‚ At the start, you were stuck behind the first hoop a little which pulled him off the correct side of the barrel. And at 7, you crossed his line too early so he turned on the flat (good boy!) And when he took the tunnel at :24, you set that line by saying ā€œgo goā€ so he stayed on the go line to the tunnel. He was totally listening there! Yay!!!

    >ISelf induced panic because he is still not comfortable on the walk- and we will be running at least 6 runs with dog walk (Regular/standard course). >

    If he is not comfortable on the dog walk in practice, then I suggest not asking him to do it in a trial (where there will also probably be tunnels under it).

    You can use those runs as FEO/training runs to work on other things in the trial environment! Plus, you don’t have to run all 6 – that is a lot of a baby dog, especially if there are also runs for other classes.

    >I channeled my ā€œInner Tracyā€ šŸ™‚ and reminded myself that we can run these FEO…I can run any of the runs FEO! >

    Yes! And your inner Tracy also says you can run ALL the runs FEO!! The goal at this stage is a happy, engaged dog in the trial ring. Qs or clean runs or doing all the obstacles are not important – that comes pretty easily with happy, engaged dogs šŸ™‚

    >Our weaves also aren’t real solid yet, definitely not where I hoped we would be at this point and I signed him up for Intro Weavers too.>

    Weavers requires pretty solid weave…. And LOTS of reps of solid weaves. So if they are not solid yet? Skip that class entirely. No need to potentially create failure by asking him to do weaves a bunch of times.

    >So…I am thinking trial strategy and would like your advice/input/suggestions!

    Happy to help plan!

    >Day 1 we have the Intro Regular, Intro Weavers and Novice Tunnelers. Definitely planning on FEO for Regular and will make game day decision on Weavers>

    Definitely yes to your plan of FEO for regular. And based on what you mentioned about weaves – either FEO weaves to play in tunnels and maybe ask for one set of weaves… or skip that run entirely. We don’t want him to experience failure on the weaves in the ring because he is still in the learning phase in training.

    > (we also have the advantage of running 2 rounds of each, so I can always run round 1 FEO and round 2 for real if desired).>

    6 runs a day is a LOT for a young dog (6 runs for a whole weekend is also a lot!) So pick and choose what you run – even if you run all 6 FEO, his brain is going to get tired. Remembering that the overall goal is happy engagement, we want him rested and raring to go, mentally šŸ™‚ And also bear in mind that a ā€˜real’ run is without toys, so he struggles with that in training – no need to put it into the trial environment yet. Take your time and work through the progression, getting several strong of ā€˜just like home’ FEO runs with the visible toy before going to the ā€˜empty hands’ step where the toy is in a pocket but still FEO.

    > I think we can run Tunnelers for real- he has run the Intro level in trial before and it’s all tunnels). The rest of the weekend I am going to wait and decide after I see how he is doing each day (I don’t have to declare it an FEO run until I walk up to the line).>

    Tunnelers is a possibility for real however… remember it is engagement that we want! We want to build that complete focus, rather than him leaving then coming back. So if he is really engaged and not distracted? Then yes, a real tunnelers run is a possibility. I suggest planning for fewer runs, and planning to run them all FEO. And talk yourself into doing them all FEO too LOL – don’t be tempted by courses that look doable and don’t listen to anyone who tells you to just run for real – that skips a lot of steps and could make it harder to get engagement.

    Let me know what you think!!!

    Tracy

    in reply to: Debbie and Callan (Border Collie) Max Pup Extended #69908
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Perfect! Agility is a complicated sport – we need to protect confidence while also setting & maintaining criteria… and while doing all that, we need to provide all the handling info at the right time so the dog can run the sequence properly, set up the jumping, etc. LOL!! So doing it in smaller pieces and building it all up gradually can definitely help us put it all together šŸ™‚

    T

    in reply to: Lora and Beat #69907
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Good morning!

    >Or is that the goal? Do 3 90 degree turns in a row, and later we can gradually expand it out into a real size pinwheel?>

    Yes – that is the minny pinny goal – it starts with 3 quick 90 degree turns in a row (which is why the reward placement is so important) and then we gradually expand it. When it is a full pinwheel at real distances, all of the turns might not be 90 degree (depending on how the individual dog moves) but we use the concept to teach the verbals/turns that can be applied anywhere there is that 90 degree turn.

    On the video – the reps without the bump all looked great. The food rewards allowed you to have more precise setups and more quick reps, but she definitely had a blast playing with the toy šŸ™‚ especially when you added the FC and run. That definitely kept things from being boring!

    When you added the bumps:

    >I thought in the session that going left looked pretty good, but to the right she was having a hard time figuring out the striding, but watching the video back she wasn’t always bouncing going to the left either. >

    This is where you can line her up with food and use the toy as the reward. When she was coming off the toy reward and not fully facing the line (or looking at you) or a little far back from it – her footwork was not as consistent. For example at 2:17 was a little far from bump 1 and looking at you – then tried to blast into the rep and had some trouble with the striding.

    At 2:22 she was also looking at you and a little far from bump 1, but note how she changed her striding to be more coordinated on 1-2 there! Yay! That is an excellent adjustment.

    On the last rep, she was lineup better – the only tweak I’d suggest there is to have her closer to the first bump so she can push in directly from her rear.

    About the bouncing: You can try moving the bumps in a little closer together but mainly I think she is sorting out how to bend. She is 50% whippet and the bending is a learned skill for that breed šŸ™‚ What you will see if that she will sort how to to first turn her head to the line (you can refresh the head turn game on the upright) and then you will see her bend her whole body. You might not see it in the session but you’ll see it show up when she works the games. And bouncing the bumps here are not as important as sorting out how to bend – so if she throws in a stride to keep the bending happening and control her power? FABULOUS!!!!

    >Then we did some more with the spins and added the forward send without the spin. >

    This video is also the minny pinny – can you repost the spin video?

    >I was pretty happy with this session until I noticed how much she was sliding around. This section of the yard is all pine needles, which is why the snow is melted, but pine needles don’t make the best surface for doing tight turns. So might have to limit what exercises we do here going forward.>

    Ugh winter is so annoying! Fingers cross for the snow to melt soon so you can have some nice grippy grass šŸ™‚

    >And the birds were just as active today, but I think she seemed less distracted simply because the exercises were easier. I think she’s an ā€œif I know my job, distractions don’t matterā€ kind of dog, but if she’s unsure about a task, then she will find a distraction to displace onto. Which is good information, if she’s distracted then she probably needs some help figuring something out.>

    That makes perfect sense! Plus the games here have a lot of fun fun movement, so that increases arousal in a good way (which reduces distractions). And also the more experience she has working with the distractions, the easier it will be even with the harder games. I think she is doing GREAT!!!!

    Nice work here šŸ™‚
    
Tracy

    in reply to: Amy and Skizzle #69895
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >Had more life stuff. And we’re working on some tricks and nosework, so less agility work for a bit.>

    Life gets in the way of the fun!!!! And he is a good age for tricks and nose work, so he can finish growing more a the agility get more advanced.

    He did great with the countermotion game here!! His stay is going really well – the mat really seems to help him out with that. You can fade it out by making it smaller and smaller til he is sitting on a dot, then sitting on the ground šŸ™‚ But no rush to fade it out.

    He seemed to have no questions about going to the barrel with the countermotion. Yay! Nice work with the reward drops. He didn’t always release on the first rep but that was probably a combination of the stay having a LOT of value and him having to think about going past you when you were facing him like that. No worries, he got it really nicely and was releasing beautifully but the end.

    I was going to suggest you move just as you said ā€œI am supposed to be movingā€ on the video LOL! The movement on the last rep was no problem for him so you can add more movement and also add the advanced level of the game.

    Great job here! It has been a blast watching him!!

    Tracy

    in reply to: Tom and Coal ( 3 year old SP) Beyond #69894
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    H! The totally sounded like a trial there! Nice and noisy with people in the ring šŸ™‚

    >The background noise was a recording from the last trial here.>

    OMG! Brilliant!!! I was wondering why they had the ā€˜ready’ voice in the background LOL!

    This went really well and I love that they did this for people to train!!

    >Simple and successful = better neural pathways??>

    Yes – neurons that fire together, wire together! So if we can get all of the ā€˜ignore the RC people’ firing along with the ā€˜do the jumps etc’ neurons, we will be on the right path šŸ™‚

    I am curious to see what he does with a shorter lead out at the beginning of a run for now. He holds the stay with the long lead out, but is looking around and doesn’t always release right away. So a shorter lead out with a lot of connection and maybe you quietly saying ā€œready… ready….ready…..ā€ Will be good for keeping that connection on the start line so he doesn’t look around.

    >Did not work on handling here, much of the run was made up on the fly. My criteria was take the jump, ignore the RC and get a reward.>

    I think I went well – it looks like you were focusing on fast & fun while going past the ring crew people šŸ™‚

    >Around the 3.20 point, almost lost him to the the motion of the bar setter but he recovered.>

    He might have been a bit brain tired by then, but he did recover really well!!!

    >1st round was very similar, with the addition of a judge type person walking around.>

    Great! When is the next time they are doing this? We can progressively fade the food out (or have people hide it around the ring for you, so you know where it is but he does not and you can surprise him in the ring with food).

    Great job šŸ™‚
    
Tracy

    in reply to: Kristin and Reacher (Min. Schnauzer) #69893
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >Do you think two classes over 2 days would be okay?>

    Yes, I think that will be fine at this stage.

    > Or..I could just do Sunday only and do Speedstakes 1-2 & Jumping for 3 things total. >

    That is also a possibility. You can reward weave in Jumping! Can you do day of show entries: 2 fun classes on Saturday then if you like what you see, add more on Sunday? If not…. Maybe enter all the things and you can always dial it back and do a short blast in the last run each day. And I think he loves the a-frame so maybe add one in. Let me know what you think!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Debbie and Callan (Border Collie) Max Pup Extended #69892
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >I really do need to start incorporating a brake arm in my handling as you suggested. It is something I really will need to learn to use.>

    It is very useful! You can ask your instructors to remind you to find places for it (90-degree-ish turns) and add it in walk throughs, so you don’t have to think about it when you are running him.

    >What is your opinion on missing contacts or weave entries? Do you think we should continue or stop to work on it in training sessions involving short sequence? >

    I try not to continue when there is an error on a contact or weaves or start line… but I am also very careful about how hard the challenge is o the dog has a good shot at success (and don’t fail more than twice, total). It depends on what his success rate is with the skill in the context of the challenges. I tend to ask for harder challenges in shorter sequence – such as high speed weave entries, or me running past a contact. That way I can isolate and reward the behavior I want. In a bigger sequence, I might dial back the challenge on the contacts or weaves to work the bigger sequences.

    If you find yourself stopping a lot for contacts and weaves, then the challenge is too hard – you can dial it back with less motion from you, or an easier sequence (and be sure to reward when he is correct šŸ™‚

    Let me know what you think!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Lora and Beat #69891
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!!

    The tunnel threadle is going really well! She seems to be having fun in the snow too šŸ™‚

    On the first couple of reps, you were a bit too far from the tunnel entry both laterally away and behind it. She had a
    big lightbulb moment when you held her at :45 and you were a little closer. Being closer, positionally, helps her a lot!

    >We’ve done some work indoors with a focus forward cue while maintaining a stay which I think helped her understand to look forward without releasing. >

    The forward focus work is showing u her nicely – I can see her processing where to go and looking in that direction. Nice!!!!

    The double whammy went well too! On the first rep you were too far from the threadle end but then at about 2:00 you got closer and she got it. So be sure to be moving towards the threadle end of the tunnel to help her get the positional cue/motion info as well.

    >I marked a few times when she turned the correct way and she pulled out of the tunnel,>

    Yes, it was amazing how fast she could change her line LOL!! So you won’t want to say ā€˜get it’ on the head turn, and don’t move your hand to prep to throw the toy – mark when her feet going into the tunnel LOL!!!

    Looking at the threadle wraps –

    >since she’s really made those seem easy indoors in a small space, but she said otherwise>

    Most of this was really strong! I think some of her errors (especially later in the session) were more of a split brain issue and not a threadle wrap issue. The birds were singing like they were in a freakin’ Disney movie LOL and that might have been distracting her just enough that she couldn’t differentiate the cues if you were not past the barrel (and if you were moving fast). On the reps where you were pat the barrel? She was fine! Yay! If you were not past the barrel get, she went to the other side – so if you are not past the barrel, give her more room on the line by being further away laterally, so position helps her differentiate.

    >So I guess threadle wraps are just going to go on the list of things we aren’t going to figure out before the end of this class>

    I think she has the basic idea! Now it is a matter of getting it with you not past the barrel, and getting the birds to shut up for a moment LOL!!! But she has the idea in general and you’ll see it gets easier and easier for her.

    Great job!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Jimothy Beyond! #69883
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >So, funny stories.

    Yay! I love stories!

    >I got yelled at for exactly this on Tuesday night in class. >

    Ha! It is good to know that we are all being consistent… connect and run run run!

    >(she was having a girl’s day with my husband)>

    I am not sure what that entails but I am sure it was enjoyed by all šŸ¤£šŸ˜‚šŸ¤£

    > BUT – in his ā€˜real’ class (his last puppy class!!!) on Wednesday night, I did a full-on blind, a rear, and some other stuff, like I was running Mo, and he. was. BRILLIANT. So a good lesson for me.>

    YAY!!!!!

    >You’ll be happy to hear that I did do this correctly on all the nights, to the point where Shenna even cheered for me and told me she could see I was thinking REALLY HARD about not moving while I release. So I swear it’s getting through – I think it’s only like the 50,000th time I’ve needed to hear it.>

    Yay again! And the more you focus on the stay, the easier it will be – he is speedy and we definitely need a stay šŸ™‚

    >He is also getting lots more excited about doing agility though, so we’ll need to keep working on it.>

    You can start to make the stay behavior into the gateway drug for agility šŸ™‚ You can also let him ā€˜train’ you for this: I let the dogs offer the stay in order to get me to release them for a sequence. It starts off easy: I look at the dog, they offer a position. It can be any position, I don’t care – most offer a sit, one offers a stand, one of the whippets offers a down (weirdo! Ha!), one offers a sit while barking at me. As soon as they are settled into position, I move away (I am not really cueing a position or stay) and release. The release comes after a step or two early on, then gets expanded into longer lead outs. I also mix in throwing rewards back to the dog.

    > I will stay far away, and might just use our jumpers runs in the March trial to do happy stays, and we’ll save sequences for Speedstakes.>

    And a lot of it depends on the course design, so that can be a last minute decision when you see the maps.

    >I have a half-day novice handling seminar with Karen Childs this weekend. I’m hoping to use it for big ring time (has been hard to get this winter) and for practicing baby stays and me not being weird. I’ll get video and will post, as proof that I truly can follow directions if nothing else. šŸ˜€>

    Fun!! Have a blast!! Send video šŸ™‚

    Tracy

    in reply to: Stephanie and Wayne (BC) #69882
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi! I am glad t see a video here! Yay!!

    > I kept in the part where I was trying to engage and using a little Volume Dial as we walked out to the field. >I 
>As you can he disengaged and took a detour (he does this in the wide open field we practice in.) The good news is he didn’t go as far away as he typically has and I was able to re-engage him much quicker than in the past. >

    You are going to chuckle… but I think your volume dial game was too chill šŸ™‚ It is totally counterintuitive, but to get him more engaged, you will want him to get more pumped up before the run.

    You can use food for this, but have him do moving tricks and chase you a little for the treat. Don’t do anything really calm, as that doesn’t prepare his body for the excitement of running and he probably takes off to deal with the arousal of that.

    >I pulled a tug out of my pocket too. Of course the tug got his engagement but also sent him to a very high excitement level. >

    The tug is definitely more exciting! You can use a combo of tug and treats – you can do a trick, a few seconds of tugging, then trade for a treat. That often produces the right arousal level and great engagement! 

    >He still has ZERO start line stay….definitely something we can use help with!>

    How is his stay, when there is no agility around? You can do the stay practice where you cue a sit then throw a reward back to him, and you can gradually move away more and more to get a longer lead out. He is fast so we definitely want a stay šŸ™‚

    The sequences looked good and I loved the applause at the end! So fun!! He was at his best when you were just running and looking at him, and not really pointing. He was able to really see your connection nicely. When you were pointing at to the obstacle, he would look at you or miss the obstacle. This is because pointing blocks connection (he loves connection!) and also pointing turns your shoulders away from the line you want. So simple running and connecting works best for him.

    Great job here! Let me know what you think!

    Tracy

    in reply to: Chaia & Lu #69872
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    >So we did a wrap at 15 to the #6 tunnel with the intent of working a turn out of a straight tunnel with a placed toy after it. I didn’t feel like she really even turned with the toy and Jen Weaver said I was being too picky.>

    I vote with Jen LOL!!!! I think accelerating from the start jump to the tunnel overrode the more subtle left verbal and direction of your motion. She would need to see that in flow and something that would really help… a brake arm. I think a visible brake arm on the soft turns would be a game changer for you and Lu šŸ™‚ so have Jen bug you about adding it šŸ™‚

    >But the turn out of tunnel to take jump 4 became impossible. I didn’t think it was a hard turn which is why I tried it but that was obviously incorrect.>

    It was harder than it looked for sure at :51 – tunnel exit pointed directly at the backside plus a jump right there blocking you from adding lateral distance. So the line plus your position close to it plus 20″ jump made it seem like a backside line. Plus, even when you sent her over it, the jumping form was hard. That is great information!!

    >I think this week was just overall frustrating because I’m not sure how to fix this issue.>

    It was great info about what she needs – yes, it can totally be frustrating but that also is where training plans are created.

    A two-pronged approach can help:
    – finding lines with you very close and moving fast on low bars (high speed lazy game)
    – finding lines with 20″ bars with you not as close and not moving as fast, so she can sort out the jumping

    This will gradually get merged together šŸ™‚ The other things you can do are:
    – work on striding into a 20″ bar with an accordion grid (3 or 4 jumps, with the first bars low like at 8″ and 6 feet apart, and the last bar 20″ and changing distance from 12 to 15 to 18 to 21 feet)
    – get her checked by a PT person to make sure there is nothing locked up or hindering her movement. Winter weather and snow can cause some trigger points or locked up areas which affect jumping.

    And wrap her feet flyball-style so she has more grip and will trust the footing more. I will post that video soon – plus Animal Inn has some of the best flyball people in the country. maybe they can help too!

    > I have her signed up for an ISC trial (jumpers only which I was going to FEO and move her back down to 16″) but I’m leaning towards just pulling her for now. >

    When and where is the trial? Who is the judge?

    > yet I want to do something that is productive during the winter.>

    Winter is brutal for being productive (as I stare out the window and see the field covered in snow and ice šŸ™ ) but you can work the jumping stuff indoors to help her out.

    > But maybe I just need to say screw it and wait until we can really focus on things like this during the spring/summer instead of rehearsing bad habits.>

    Spring is thankfully pretty close! And we don’t want to rehearse unwanted behavior but more importantly, we don’t want to build stress or frustration into the trial ring. So before trialing, see how she does as you build up to finding jumps and lines with you going faster and being closer.

    Let me know what you think!
    Tracy

    in reply to: Chaia & Lu #69871
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!

    Looking at the speedstakes course – this is a hard one on paper (harder than it looks!) and also the way it is set, there is pressure on the lines that make it even harder.

    >1-3 was great.

    Yes! Super nice! You were decelerating into the cross and connected. Yay!

    >But then she just ran around everything>

    A couple of factors here caused that:
    – after the cross, you had to accelerate which cues her to accelerate. That is hard for her on 16″ bars when you are right next to the line and even harder on 20
    – The tunnels being that close to the line forced you to be close to the line and running, which pushed her away. She does better when you are further from her line and not running as much as we see in other moments from the runs
    – add in the complication of the 20″ jumps – so she ran around them because she just didn’t know how to organize them. I do think she struggles with the footing (she was a bit hoppy here, even when she was coming back to you or going to the backside at :51) and I think having all the bars at 20 made it hard to recover if she got off balance.

    Getting her running shorter sequences with you close to the line and you running hard is moving up to the top of the priority list! First with all bars at 16, then move one up to 20, then mayeb 2 up to 20 etc.

    >. My friends were yelling at me to reward her for something, but I felt like she was just running and not taking anything until the end when I reset her.>

    You can reward the tunnels! Or you can reset her and do something easy which you did in the last run. And if she runs past a line, rather than ask her to do that whole line again: just ask her to do one jump and reward. Then maybe 2 jumps and reward.

    She was able to pick up the jumps from :51 to the end, with you not running much and being a bit further from the line – but the jumping looked uncomfortable (you can see her butt going higher than her shoulders). She was taking a lot of small steps to figure it all out then pulling over the jumps rather than pushing from the rear. Also, she was able to figure it out because there was less pressure on the line and you were not moving as much. And that makes sense why she couldn’t do it when you were really moving and close to the line at the beginning of the run (because you had to get around the tunnel).

    So in training, simple fast line sequences with you nearby are top of the list! Think of it as the lazy game, but with you starting slow and building up to going faster and faster and faster (and gradually raising the bars).

    Onwards to jumping!

    T

    in reply to: Chaia & Lu #69870
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi!
    Looking at the stuff here, I think moving all the bars up to 20″ and running on the mats is really hard for her.
    One thing about going up to full height – you can do it one jump at a time to ease her into it, rather than all the jumps going up at the same time. And I think wrapping her feet to give her grip will really help too!

    > No matter what I did, she just could not get jump 5. She went around it to the tunnel every time. She was jumping 20″ but I moved it down to 18″.>

    I am guessing that she went around the outside of 5? Is it possible that the line from 4 put her on the backside line to 5, and without a backside cue she just continued to the tunnel? And that is where you can have 4 as a 20″ jump, but 5 can be 16″ because it is a harder line to pick up.

    The 2 things to take away from this are:
    – remember the 2 failure rule! going around a jump twice in the session means it is too hard, so everything from that point needs to be easier for success šŸ™‚ Then you won’t be as frustrated by anything that happened.
    – always video all the things šŸ™‚ so we can see what was going on.

    Onwards to the trial runs!

    T

    in reply to: Julie & Lift (Sheltie) – Support Group Extension #69869
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi! She seemed fully recovered from her weekend here and happy to run! And the two of you seem more “locked in” than ever, in terms of teamwork and handling. Very connected and speedy!!!!!

    >You can hear her barking before we go into the ring -didn’t have much time to get her acclimated inside before her turn but she is getting better at handling that.>

    Yes! The more positive experiences she has in the ring, the more she will naturally adjust to the optimal arousal state (and will need less mental warm up time). She is also getting really good at ignoring people in the ring or entering the ring.

    First run:
    The layering is looking great!!! It was a hard one because there was not a lot of momentum into it (being the beginning of the course) and she seemed to have no questions. SUPER!!!

    Remember to balance the layer lines with ‘don’t layer’ lines by cueing the turn instead of the layer.

    2nd run – backside slices are going well! I bet she doesn’t need you to push her out quite as far – she was heading to the backside and then went extra wide because you were pushing extra hard to it.

    >Totally didn’t connect with her at 2:15 and she decided that was a blind cross moment.>

    Yes, that is 100% what it looked like (blind cross). The connection to serp needed big exaggeration which is what you did on the next rep.

    You did a lead out towards the end and she was perfect – I think that is something you can move higher in terms of priorities: long happy lead outs (and also forward focus for those slice openings and send-away openings, where you might not want to be next to her).

    These are things you can do with one jump indoors, varying your position and rewarding for stays and forward focus to the jump.

    >She doesn’t have any ring time until class next Tuesday. It is supposed to hit 40 this weekend so I’m hoping the snow melts. Kaladin gets to do a seminar with Karen Childs tomorrow night, but there wasn’t a session I wanted to put Lift in so we’ll be figuring out what we can do in my indoor space.>

    Maybe she can do stuff in the breaks, like little lead outs or short sequences?

    >I did enter her in 2 classes (P1 Jprs & Snkr) for 1 day at the USDAA trial next weekend.>

    Perfect. FYI, since I only ran FEO at USDAA with the young dogs, I didn’t have to have them measured and no one cared LOL!!! The P1 classes will be fun!

    Great job here! Enjoy your heat wave!

    Tracy

    in reply to: Michelle & Indy Beyond! #69868
    Tracy Sklenar
    Keymaster

    Hi! Thanks for posting the runs!

    I agree, he was in flight mode at the beginning of the JWW run – his ears and tail definitely told that story and his eyes were big and wide. He was able to come back and offer jump 1. Yay! Good job to you for keeping him in motion. He seemed concerned about the ring crew person in the corner – almost stopping as if he was afraid of her. That might just have been because of the weird noises? But we will keep an eye on it in case he shows that concern elsewhere. What a good boy to nail his weaves! And he found most of the jumps even though he was definitely looking a bit concerned about the noise.

    The 2nd run was really good – I haven’t seen an Indy video in a little while and there is a big improvement! He is finding his jumps, finding the lines, weaving, etc. Yes, he had to look at the jump and ring crew person but that is lack of experience, I believe. Winter is a hard time to get to classes and fun runs, but any time you can get to a run definitely ask people to be nearby as the judge and crew… and deliver good treat to him for ignoring them šŸ™‚ Once he is 100% comfy with the judge & crew, you are going to see his runs be consistently fast and smooth! Yay!

    Great job šŸ™‚
    Tracy

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