[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I like your trial philosophy! Goals and a bit of competitive nature, but also keeping it fun and not allowing it to overtake your entire life (your horses and husband thank you for that LOL!)

The double crosses are going well! Super nice job with the connections!

>>Kashia also decided it was a day of more cantering than trotting so she also made it harder for me which is a great thing! >>

Yes! She had good hustle here!! One thing you can play with it keeping your elbows bent and tucked into your ribs (like chicken wings LOL!) – that will make the binds even quicker as long as you still reach back with your eyes to make connection like you did here. Having your arms fully extended and then having to bring them in and then extend them again can delay the quick connection changes when she is moving fast. Tighter arms plus having the toy either stay in the same hand or be in your pocket (so you don’t switch hands) will help the blinds be quicker and quicker.

>>I didn’t do so well with her on my left. I nearly ran her into the wing every time. >>

You did well with the connections! I think what happened with the left side reps was that the wings were a tiny bit offset, so the 2nd wing ended up right on your running line. On the other side, the 2nd wing was a little offset into a spot where you didn’t run into it 🙂

Looking at the threadle wraps:

>>The threadle wraps were a disaster! I’m not sure why it all fell apart this second video attempt.>>

You had plenty of good reps, where you decelerated, locked her onto your hands, and turned her away. A couple of reps had a little too much forward motion from you so the turns were a little wider.

>There may have been more environmental distractions than usual but I still don’t understand why she just kept squirting forward instead of wrapping the wing>>

It could have been the environmental stuff! I think there was a train in the background for a while. That, plus whatever else was happening (wind, train, etc) was causing her brain to have to split the focus to process everything so she was not really locked onto your hand cues for all of the reps – add in that she was going faster so the cues needed to be sooner, so there were some oopsies. No worries!

When there are distractions in the environment plus more speed, the hand cues tend to get a little ‘lost’ in the mix of everything else. So you can decelerate more, look at your hands and shake them a little bit (the shaking them adds motion which can help her focus on them). And, when you sense she is having trouble even if you don’t know why, you can add in rewarding her with a treat for coming to your hands.

She never left the game or got sniffy here, she just couldn’t quite process the hand cues on all the reps. The distraction processing is a normal thing for young dogs to work through, so if you see that she is having trouble (even if you don’t know why) it is fine to exaggerate the cues and reward the smaller pieces to help get back on track.

I bet the next session will be lovely 🙂

Nice work here!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I was thinking of that song too!!! Ha! Have you seen this?>>

OMG! Paul Rudd! He is hilarious!!!

Looking at the tight blinds video: Having your wings (arms) in tighter/lower and emphasizing the connection really helped! On the first rep on each side you did not emphasize connection – so she did not see the side change. But then when you really emphasized getting the eye contact, she was able to get the side change no matter what the timing was Yay! So keep reaching back to her with your eyes (and your hands should stay out of the way like they were on the successful blinds).

The earlier you started the blinds, the easier it was to get the connection (and therefore a tighter turn) like at :19 and :50 on the first video, :10 and :40 on video 2. Those reps started when she was halfway between the tunnel and the wing, so she had a tight turn and you had time to get the clear connection back to her.

If you waited until she was at the wing, she was wider and also it was harder to get the connection visible in time.

>>there is more video footage of me trying to figure out how to correctly do the spin by myself than footage of Bazinga actually playing the game>>

It is possible that you need think of it as two different ‘moves’ (front cross then blind cross) instead of as a ‘spin’? So if you start the FC as she is passing you, then as she arrives at the wing you do the blind, it might feel smoother and easier. The earlier timing of the FC will be. The key: for example, at :13 on video 2 the FC element of the spin starts a bit late, so it was harder to get the BC element of it. You were earlier at :23 but the rep at :42 was MUCH earlier, so the BC was earlier too and the whole thing was smoother 🙂

The threadle wraps session went really well in both directions! The hand cues, verbals, and placement of reward were all super clear. You can add in. The next step of being in motion before the release (as well as trying it from the tunnel exit then through the tunnel :))

She was great about offering getting on the end of the plank and then started offering the down! She was also doing a chin target which is great – it really shifts her weight back. You can release more frequently, because after a couple of cookies she would start to shuffle back a bit or drop a back foot off the side. Yo can wait longer before placing the target in position: let her get on and offer the down, then put the target in and start the cookie parade for a couple of cookies.

>>Can I still do the “Love the slam” game while we are doing this one? We only did one session of that game, so I’m not sure if we need more of that game.>>

Absolutely! The games can all be played separately and then eventually merge into the full teeter performance.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Yes, he totally would stay for hours with the Frisbee as the reward! Being in the down helped and on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th videos you were also more confident that he would stay, so you were more relaxed about it. Yay!!!

>>It is amazing how honest the dog is and that if he doesn’t do something right I know the reason will show up in the video>>

Yes! He reads every single cue you use, good boy!!!

Looking at the blinds:
Your timing and then connection on the blind on video 1 and video 3 looked terrific! He landed from the middle jump, saw your motion indicating the next jump, then you started the blind so he nailed it. Super!

On the 2nd video, you were a little disconnected on the send at 1:07 so he turned with your shoulders and didn’t take the jump. When you sent again at 1:12, you were a bit too close to the middle jump so the BC was late (he was landing from the BC jump before you started it) and your motion supported the straight line to the tunnel.

On the 4th video, you were actually a little too early on the BC – you started it by looking forward as he was taking the middle jump, so it was already in progress as he landed from the middle jump… that cues him to NOT take the next jump so he came to the new line. Note the difference with the timing here and on the 1st and 3rd videos, where the BCs started after he landed from the middle jump.

One other small connection thing: As you send to jump 1, be connected to him as you send (don’t look forward to turn your shoulders). When you looked forward too soon on videos 3 and 4, he barked and didn’t take the jump because the info was not as clear as on the other videos.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Oh good! Something to look forward to, lol!!! >>

Ha! Live by the 2 failure rule, and you won’t see the behavior 🙂 It comes from a build up of frustration, not from a single error.

Tunnel exits are going well! Nice job throwing the toy for the straight line at the beginning, and adding the verbals too! The more you worked it, the better the timing of the verbals got. You started with the verbal happening when she was in the tunnel, then at :22 you said a go right before she went in, then at :27 and :38you had great timing of getting the verbals to her when she was still 5 or 6 feet before the tunnel entry. That helped get the straight exit, made the wrap easy (nice connection in and out of the wrap!) and nice timing of the right verbal too!
On the very last go for the tunnel – add your acceleration to the go verbal so she doesn’t see decel paired with it.

On the set point:
Good line ups! And practicing the leash coming off is a good thing too 🙂
Because she broke that first stay, you can warm up the stay with the moving target on a rep or two away from the jump so she doesn’t fail on the jumps themselves.

>>Then she got up one other time, but I was pretty confident that she wouldn’t break again since she didn’t really leave the start line.>>

This was at 1:19 – it looked like an anticipation of the release and you were not really connected like you were on the previous reps and the reps after it. So, adding the connection will help a lot too, even before the release 🙂

She was clipping the first bump on a couple of reps – seemed to be a little excitement on the first time it happened, and she was too close to the bump on the last rep, so we will keep an eye on it and if she still has questions we can make adjustments.

Pill bug: this went well! And yes, it is challenging for us humans: we have to connect, handle, and not fall over the tunnels LOL!! You did a great job on on tunnel and on both tunnels!

>>When she catches up to me, am I always supposed to reward at that moment, or am I supposed to sometimes keep going and have her run next to me at my pace before rewarding?>>

You can mix it up: sometimes reward immediately like you did at the beginning and when you added the inside turns (she was between you and the tunnel), and sometimes keep going like you did at :26 and :30 or when you did the blind to the other tunnel. Those went really well!!!

Being patient to let her finish finding the treat was good, so she could pick up the connection. If you were too early, it ended up looking like a parallel line to the other side of the tunnel (like at :39).

The inside turns were the hardest part to keep going on – so after a blind that puts her in between you and the tunnel, you can slow down and curl more towards the tunnel so she learns to bend way and keep going. On the video here, she was getting rewarded really early (for changing sides) ad that was great! The next step would be to keep going with the inside turns – and slowing down o show them to her will help because turning away is a weird thing for most young dogs.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Great job here – the wing worked well as the 2nd obstacle! And he was working for baguette pieces as a reward?? Lucky dog!!!!

Your connection was really clear on all the reps, only one spot where you broke connection (1:25 when he was on your left for the first time around the tunnel) but then you adjusted it and the next reps were strong.

>>Here is one thing that I do catch myself thinking about a lot — trying to make sure I get the blind cross in BEFORE he catches up to me. Once he is by my side it seems very hard to switch. Is this the right attitude?>>

Yes – this is completely correct: the blind needs to be finished before he gets to you. You can see how smooth it was on the video here at :24 and :55, for example, and at 1:53 on the other side – you did the blind while he was still behind you and he had no questions about changing sides. When he is doing this on course over jumps, the blind will feel SUPER early but will be highly effective.

Compare to 1:06 where he had caught up to you and you did the blind, which made it harder to get the side change smoothly.

To help him wait for the blind cue and not anticipate it, you can also keep him on your right the whole time (or left, going the other direction)and go around the the side of the wing rather than do the blind 🙂 And if you wanted even more challenge, move the wing further from the tunnel so you both are moving even faster.

Great job here!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

She did really well finding the jump here on both sides! Super! Good job with the tunnel refresher at the beginning. And these were good distances between the wing-tunnel and tunnel-jump, and she was committing really well.

You can start to add more and more lateral distance away from the jump now. And to keep her from looking at you, you can throw the toy sooner so it lands before she gets to the jump. As soon as she looks at the jump after the tunnel exit, you can throw it. And you can add in a GO verbal as well – starting before she goes into the tunnel to promote a straight line exit, as well as when she exits to promote extension on the jump.

On the RDW foundation – she is getting the idea to hit the target! Yay! I have also seen a lot of leaping when the toy or PT or MM is out past the mat, especially when the handler trying to vary her position (getting ahead or going faster or being behind). One thing that really helped all of these things was to tuck the PT or MM behind a wing, so it was still pretty visible but the pup would have to go behind the wing to get it. That changed the visual enough that it got rid of any leaping and allowed the handlers to move faster 🙂

The other idea is to elevate the target by an inch or two by putting it on something solid like a small piece of wood, so she has to do a 1-2-3-4 footfall pattern across it (and you click on 4, ideally). That also helped get rid of the going past it moments (and the elevated target can go right on the plank when it is time to use it there).

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The find the jump game looks good! Breaking it down then building it up looked terrific, he had an easy time with it 🙂

One suggestion: You can throw the reward sooner – as soon as he exits the tunnel and looks at the jump, you can throw the toy. That will get you very connected (so you can see what he is looking at when he exits the tunnel, which is very useful on the reps where you will want him to drive ahead of you) and also it will get him to drive to the jump without looking at you. When he was arriving at the jump and the toy has not been thrown yet, he looks at you and throwing the toy sooner will totally keep him looking forward until after landing.

You can add more distance between the tunnel and the wing/jump now, and you an add more motion and the different positions on the line too!

Super good job getting the moving target going with the set point!! He was great about holding the stay and then getting good form!! You can add another 6 inches between the bumps now – the moving target adds a lot of power so he might need a bit more room before the bumps. If it is too much, we can dial it back.

Great job here!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The Serps went really well here – you were really good about keeping your feet moving forward and giving the upper body cue! Yay!

You can add more motion (jogging then running) to this like you were starting to do in the 2nd half of the video – as you move past the serp jump, stay a little closer to it. The ideal serp line will be close enough to touch the jump 🙂 If you are further away, it might make it harder to cue her get the jump after it on a serp line. Plus it will help her understand to jump towards pressure on the line which is a very useful serp skill!!

When the jump was more of a backside, you can be a little further away on some reps but also you will want to be nice and close on others, to help her get used to the pressure of the position.

On the wrap balance reps, do a full FC and see if she can stay on the correct side of you and ignore the jump (and see if you can hit and hold the connection needed to cue it)

>>Other than issues of me knowing my right from my left

That’s relatable! When I was adding the left/right cues, I would stop before each rep and double check that I was about to say the correct direction 🙂 It is much easier now but I still spot check myself a lot so I don’t accidentally switch them 🙂

Zig zags – Look at her stay! YAY!!! Very nice! The lead changes were easier to cue when you were stationary and giving her big cues, so keep going with that as the game gets harder.

2 ideas for you on this one:
– Rotate the angles of the wings so that the jump cups are facing each other (picture bars going on them
– Move them closer together – 6 feet apart for now and then if that goes well for a session, get them to be 5 feet apart.

Great job!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Actually no he doesn’t have a cue for stay – just “sit” or “side” which is my line up at my side word.>>

Training a stand was really easy. I never asked for a position and just said “stay” even though it was brand new… boom, I had a stand stay. Hooray for lazy training LOL!!

I can see why he would be a little uncomfortable with the line up spot for the RDW homework. Maybe having him find a small target to put his feet on, between the 2 cones or whoever his start point is? That way he gets to do something active (which he loves). And if he is a little sideways? No worries, part of the joy of RDW training is teaching them to self-correct their striding if they are off balance.

First video – your throws here were pretty good, actually! He just wants to leap up and grab them 🙂 You can throw sooner (as soon as he exits the wing wrap, when he looks at the jump, rather than waiting until he gets to the jump. The earlier throws will mean the toy is further ahead, which means he is less likely to try to do any fancy leaps for it.

The placed toy was a good plan and definitely harder – but a good thing to work through!! Getting him to wrap the and go to the jump with the big distraction of the toy out there required more connection from you (which simulates the amount of connection young dogs need in new environments, like trials)and was a great impulse control game for him! He did well even though he had some questions and the placed toy is definitely something to re-visit.

>>retrieve vs extended victory lap vs jumping and pummeling – I tried throwing cookies to trade but there were these little pieces of tree bud and he would eat one cookie and 10 of those so I traded instead. >>

Trading for a treat from your hand is great! Or another toy can work too!

>>Did you say you have a victory lap on cue? I am wondering about that and putting the jumping up on cue too?>>

Yes – for my dogs that love to run with the toy, I put it on cue. That does help diminish the victory lapping! And yes you can put the jumping up on cue too… but anything that is on cue also gets offered sometimes (like barking on cue, victory laps, and jumping up) so be prepared that he will sometimes offer the jumping up. I don’t mind a victory lap on cue or barking on cue because I don’t get pummeled 🙂 but I have not put jumping up on cue for any of my bigs dogs (the smalls jumping into my arms).

At the beginning of the 2nd video, he was being a good boy about trying not to grab for the toy! And he had a very short lap before brining it back. The food has good value for him so he needed

You can count to 3 in your hand before asking for the bring because the noodling around with the toy is part of the reinforcement 🙂 So let him have a few seconds of “woohoo!” with it, then cue the bring. If you have a 2nd hollee roller to throw, that can also get him to bring it faster so there is no moment of ending the game. He likes the food but the dance party with the toy is super fun 🙂

>>I edited out but he got the pattern and wanted to do his wrap and take off without me, as a precursor to touching the collar, I was asking for a hand touch to start us off – clearly he has some collar paranoia bc I got some nice backing up away from me and my hand but we did sits downs spins and eventually he could give a nose touch to start>>

Good job noticing this and NOT pushing the issue. For this game, yes, start with a hand touch instead of the collar grab as we sort out the collar holding. Separately, you can help him pair being held by the collar with the opportunity to move – so it can be collar grab then immediately throw the toy and let him go. And shaping him to put his collar/neck in your hand will help too – he will think it is all his idea to do the collar grab 🙂 We can keep all that separate from the skills games for now and then add it back together when he is not avoiding it anymore.

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I think it is great that you and Paul are training Kishka and Chitlin together!!! So fun! Bummer about the roof leak 🙁

The serps are going well! Looking at the 2nd video first:
You started her on the outside arm (so you were between her and the jump) and you were moving as you did the serp. That is spot on!

On the first video, she was between you and the jump, and you were not moving as much – so the mechanics on the 2nd video are more of what we want for the next steps:
– send her on the outside of you and start walking to the manners minder, with your upper body rotated back to her but you feet facing the MM as you walk.

And if she continues to do the serp while you walk, you can add jogging when you take it outside! If she runs past the jump when you add motion, you can angle the jump to face her more so you can keep showing motion and she still comes in for the serp.

The Wrap for balance was good too – super use of verbals to help tell her the difference between the serp and the wrap!

>>Yes, we had a bit of a glitch on the second side as she was trying to go between my legs. She likes that and it’s kind of her “go to” thing. >

Yes! She wasn’t sure, so she went to line up position. Adding eye contact/connection as you send will help her know where to be 🙂 And a verbal for the line up cue will help too.

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

This game os all about maintaining connection and not running into the tunnel or falling over 😁. Yes, it teaches the dogs to stay on our side as well especially as we add the crosses. I think you did really well! The next step would be to have the toy more crunched up in your hand, so he doesn’t get it as soon as he gets to you. That way you can keep moving around the curve of the tunnel.

If you have a 2nd tunnel, you can add the advanced game too – but if you do’t have a 2nd tunnel, you can totally use a barrel to replace it and that way you can add the blinds too!

One thing worth pointing out is how well he went from the food throw back to the toy! Getting the toy back was hard so you can present the cookie you are about to throw right after you cue the ‘give’ and then he will let go more easily.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Super great job here on all the games! Looks like he was very successful AND had fun. YAY!!!!! Having a great stay *really* makes all of this easier – well done teaching him the stay! He seemed very happy to hold the stay as needed!!

>> I never would have thought we could do all of these skills so soon and yet, you advise advancing speed and distance in a few of our critiques. My stomach tightens. Is he really ready?>>

Sometimes we are guessing that the pup is ready… but also that is why I live by the 2-Failure Rule: if pup fails twice in the session (not even in a row – twice, total, for the session) then it is too hard and I dial it back immediately to get success. That, plus using reset reinforcement AND not blaming any handler errors on the pups… we get a whole lot of success!

>>. The only real issues on our 1st rep is ME (my timing, etc), then he’s got it by the 3rd rep and we move on. No drilling, no overtraining.>>

Yes – the hardest part of it all is OUR mechanics LOL!!! But when the rate of success is so high and the pups are getting a lot of reinforcement, they are very happy to let us sort out our mechanics 🙂

Looking at the video:

>>This is first attempt at Find the Jump. I love the way he found it on the left turn rep 1!!

Yes! It was terrific! And the jump was a little offset on the left turn side, so he really had to find it (your motion supported it better on the other reps). You can throw the reward sooner: when he exits the tunnel and looks at the jump, throw the reward so it is visible before he gets ot the jump, and before he looks back at you. You can add a little more of the lateral distance, just make sure that the jump is on the line.

>>SERP went well once I remembered that we did this before and had all the instructions.

Yes – looked strong! It was so lovely to see a BC come right in to the handler rather than staying out on a parallel line! The wraps looked strong too, no questions at all. Next step: the toy goes out on the line so he doesn’t look at you and you don’t need to time the toy delivery… plus it is an added self-control challenge for him!

The minny pinny looked good!

>> I used a toy target for the turn-away reps, is that ok?

Yes, that was perfect, nice work placing the toy to help him understand turning away – that is a HARD skill for a baby pup!! That placed toy jump started the behavior and then it will be easy to fade out, but just moving it around the setup til it is back in your hand 🙂

>>He doesn’t know his verbals L/R. Maybe a few more reps will do the trick>>

It will come with practice of the verbal coming before the motion. My only suggestion is to start him with your hand on his collar and say the verbals a few times before either of you move (same as you did on the serp game). That way the verbal predicts the motion, which will make it more solid (otherwise it is all about the physical cue and motion, which is fine but we are going to want really great verbals with him :))

>> I have a question about the end. Post Turn or FX? And how do I keep him from banging my leg on the FX?>>

Front cross! And presenting the toy with the arm opposite of the arm he exits on (in the same hand as the side he started on), with it across your body, will help him be tight on the new line and not hit you. Presenting the reward with the dog sidearm and coming towards you can result in him hitting your legs as he drives to the toy.

I agree, the lead changes looked great! The stay was sooooo helpful here and he looked balanced in both directions! So…. move the barrels a little closer together to see if you can cue the lead changes sooner, and see if he can do them quicker. A little closer can be maybe 6 inches because puppies are not that coordinated and his body is still growing and we don’t want to over-do it LOL!

>>No drilling, no overtraining>>

Exactly! There is no need for it! And honestly, the session doesn’t even need to be great – the pups learn even if we don’t see it in the session and then cement the learning when they sleep (latent learning). That is why the less-is-more approach works so well for the pups – lots of learning without frustration or stressy stuff 🙂

Great job here!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

> I have to use my right hand to signal my dog to turn left! And vice versa!>>

Do you mean you are saying “right” when you want the dog to turn left, because it is your right hand? That is actually fine and might be easier to remember!

And other options include a ‘towards’ and ‘away’ verbal rather than right or left – totally depends on what feels best for you!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>.Obi is 11 months now!

Baby dog is growing up! Large breed, boy dog – I would say 11 months is a good time to start showing him wrist-height bars. In the next couple of months, go up to elbow height but take your time – the big pups take a little longer to develop.

>>I’m not sure where to get jump bumps, but I can make some out of pvc + pool noodles (DIY ftw!). Already ordered the noodles >>

Pool noodles are perfect!!!! I have also gotten PVC plumbing supplies at Lowes or Home Depot (and the staff there has cut them into 5 foot sections for me).

>>that’s not the reason for my lack of coordination. Lots of things happening at once/quickly and I think I just need to go run circles by myself before involving Obi >

The pillbug game is pretty easy for the dogs but I find them super hard for ME! LOL!!! We have to connect to the dog, do handling and not fall over the tunnel. LOL! Wearing a hood probably limited your peripheral vision, so the rain was a factor here too! Darned rain!

Looking at the video: you did GREAT!!! If you hadn’t mentioned that it felt weird, I would not have known – you looked very connected and you did not run into anything LOL! At the end, as you both added more speed, it was a little harder but still went really well! You did well showing him the connections and he got a TON of reinforcement – so he thought it was a fun game 🙂

>>More specifically I see myself hesitating to make sure he is on one side of me and somehow try to observe as he switches over as I make the cross.>>

It looks like you were connecting to be sure of where he would be – and that might have felt like you were hesitation, but it looked like connection and he was reading it beautifully!

You might find it less awkward-feeling if you had a 2nd ‘tunnel’ so you can do the blind between the 2 tunnels. If you don’t have another tunnel, you can use a barrel or jump wing instead. That way you can run more, get the blind in between the 2 obstacles, and not feel as hesitant.

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! I hope your migraine went away!!!!

The 3 foot spacing challenged her footwork and coordination… and she had no trouble! Good girl! So if you are still indoors, you can add a 4th wing to this 🙂 and also give your cues sooner – it will feel like fast dance moves LOL!!!!

Fingers crossed for nicer weather ahead!!!

Tracy

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