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Good morning!
>Yes, I was trying to work on the independent commitment and bring out some of the joy for her.>
That is super fun, especially if she might have been a little worried or smacked her back on the tunnel or something. It is always good to just go out and play, doing easy stuff, without the structure of trying to add hard stuff or specific handling.
>And I was thinking that me not running with her would take some pressure off her and help her build confidence?>
I think she enjoys when you run too! So feel free to mix in fast & fun sessions where you both run without doing anything complicated.
>The zoomies that happen are definitely her victory laps with her toy, she just gets so excited she takes a few very fast laps before coming back. I don’t mind that since she does come back and also doesn’t play keep-away with her toy. >
I don’t mind it either – it is a fun thing and a nice decompression, plus I love watching them just run run run!
>This morning when we did this a couple times my throw of the toy wasn’t directly in line with the jump, so it landed off to the side some, and she was still taking the jump before going to the toy. I was very happy with that. I’ll try to get video.>
Yay! You are definitely building value of the jump!
>I’ll keep going to the next jump like you suggested and reward with the toy to keep building her jump desire too.>
Sounds good! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Good morning!
>This helps. And no extraneous verbals! (not so many words?) >
Yes, on serps we really don’t need a lot of words, thankfully 😂
The teeter game went really well! He was more than happy to hop into the end position to get the target game going! The nose bopping is perfectly good for him to add because it helps with the weight shift if he keeps his head down and elbows a little bent. We can already see the weight shift when he was getting faster and faster hopping on – super!!!
So the next step is to duct tape the target to the very end of the board so he leaps on at the end, then move to the bang game 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
It was great seeing you in person! Brioche looked terrific!!Serps on left: these look really strong! You are showing great serp position (upper body) as you move up the line and he is finding both jumps really well.
Serp on right – also looking really good, with the jumps pretty ‘flat’ so the line was harder.
Since both of those went well, it was good to move to the end serps – much harder for both human and dog! But they looked terrific! Yay! I don’t think it was that the understood the first session with angled jumps less, it seems to be that he is locking in on understanding the serps so doesn’t need the angled jumps as much. Even with the added motion, he read your cues and was able to find the serps really well. We will be building on this soon!
Adding more tip to the seesaw went well – he wasn’t worried, but not quite full speed yet. So leave the tip at this leave for a bunch of sessions (including adding the wrap before it to add more speed) until he blasts to the top then you can add more speed.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
Wow, what a good boy getting the tunnel threadle right away on the very first rep! Even with the toy in your other hand! In both directions! It is highly unusual that the pups are perfect right away in both directions with this game.
He also did well with the advanced level – you were a tiny bit late with the threadle cue on the first rep, but then you were earlier after that and he was perfect 😍 Really great session!
The reverse retrieve also went really well. His only semi-blooper was when he was still chewing a treat so didn’t quite pick up the toy smoothly on one of the reps 😂
Interestingly, he turned away from you after picking up the toy, on all the reps. He turned left on the reps coming towards the camera, and turned right away from you on the reps on the other side of the room. It was not a side preference issue because he turned in both directions, so perhaps he felt pressure with you being nearby? So you can try throwing the toy further away from you (laterally) so he has more room to turn towards you.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hello to the new thread!!!
She did a GREAT job of not pushing the suitcase!
She might have needed more room between you and the suitcase: I think the proximity to it was pushing her to the other side ar the beginning. But then after a rep or two of moving over to show it to her, she sorted it out really well.
The same thing happened on the other side – you were a little too close to the suitcase, so she showed off her excellent wrapping skills from the other side 🙂 So giving her more room – being 4 feet away, for example – should help her come to the threadle side. And once she is on that side, she did a great job turning away.
Nice work here and extra happy that she didn’t push the suitcase 🙂
Tracy
Hi!
It was really cool to see her get herself moving and solve the ‘puzzle’ of how to get you to throw the toy 🙂 Basically, you let her think she was training you hahahaha!! I think figuring out how she learns best is the most important part of things and this was a session that definitely moves you closer to having her all figured out 🙂You were so patient and held your position to let her sort it out – it only took a couple of seconds but she did figure it out!
And she did not have any worries about having to solve the problem: she stayed happy throughout and was super fast! Really fun to watch.>We still had a few stall outs, but she got herself moving. I’m keeping the tunnel out of things.>
The stall outs were problem-solving moments, followed by her exploding happily on the line. Yay! We can bring the tunnel back soon and play the same game.
>As far as my handling – I’m definitely late on most of the BCs, hard to make sure she is committed and get away in a timely manner. Left wraps and turns are still stronger than the right and All in all, I am pleased with the progress we’ve made to sort out the stall outs. >
No worries at all about timing: it was really hard indeed because you were waiting…. Then had to hustle to the next line while she was rocketing to it. And it is better to be late and get commitment than to be early and pull her off the line.
Great news about a plan being in place in Seattle and a relatively soon start date. I am sure you are ready to be done with waiting or uncertainty.
>Not sure how much I’ll be able to keep up with lessons. Will you be repeating Max Pup 3? I figure we will need to repeat it cuz we are so far behind. >
Yes – we will be repeating MaxPup 3 twice more in 2026 – so if you want to repeat it, the fall date should fit nicely into your schedule! And in Seattle, we can adjust games and play with whatever you have access too, even if it is just a laundry basket 🙂
What is your next planned session with her? Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! This went well for a first session – it is a hard game!
Good job breaking it down a bit by moving the wing closer to the tunnel so he figured out that it was not just a wing wrap game. And the tiny bit of movement to the tunnel you added at 1:43-ish helped a lot when the wing moved away so there was room to wrap it.
One thing you can do is angle the tunnel 90 degrees so he sees the direct line into it as he goes around the wing – that makes it easier to find the tunnel and harder to wrap the wing!
There were a lot of tunnel reps in a row, so he was not able to get the wrap – easy fix, do one or two tunnels then go right back to the wrap so doesn’t forget about it 🙂 And you can help too by using movement or the toy to show him the gap 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
I think this session went really well with both dogs!!!>On the second two jump game I focused on connection with Sammy and did it a bit slower.>
You were super 🙂 Connection looked great throughout the session and the dogs had no questions at all.
Looking at the video:
For the first couple of runs with Sammy, you were sending to the backside on the jump after the tunnel with a bit of an arm and leg cue. That caused you to be a little bit in his way on the line for the blind, so Sammy thought about going to the backide on the jump after the blind for the first few runs (you were blocking the line a bit to the front of the jump).I don’t think you needed to do the big send to that jump after the tunnel – you didn’t do one at :55 and he found it easily and it was the best blind cross line! Yay!! Connection looked great and you were on a lovely line.
Jazz also didn’t need any help finding the backside on his run on that sequence – he found it independently and you got on a really good blind cross line. He was not totally sure about finding the BC jump after the tunnel so there was a little bit of slowing down – to help him find it with more speed you can angle it so he sees the front of the bar a little more and can drive to it.
>Jazz slowed down at the wing before the jump and even more on the wing wrap at the second jump after the tunnel. >
He might have thought the individual wing was a little weird at first but he was moving well – the slowing down might have been him collecting to make a tight turn. He got faster and faster driving to it in the 2nd sequence!
And on the exit wrap of the jump after the blind cross jump – I think he was a bit surprised to have a wrap right after a blind cross but he also got faster and faster as the session went on.
>Therefore I switched to give the tunnel cue directly after the wrap.>
That really helped him drive to it!
>It took all my attention to accelerate and decelerate appropriated.>
It might have felt weird 🙂 but you are getting really good at it. At first, I felt like you were waiting too much after the blind and standing still – but then you were really finishing the blind with connection and driving hard out of it: LOVELY! It just takes practice to get it so you don’t have to think about it at all 🙂
On the 2nd sequence – you can move into jump 2 more with Jazz (1:34) rather than send him – that will send him faster and you will still easily get the blind cross. And you can keep moving after the blind you might be turning to connect as a little too much which is delaying you moving up the line.
On seq 2 with both dogs:
You are actually a little early on the blinds on the jump after the tunnel! You were finished with the blind just as they exited the tunnel (like at 2:07 and 2:27 with Sammy and 3:06 and 3:25 with Jazz) which is causing you to have to stay near the jump to get commitment – which sets a wider line. So you can actually be later 🙂 Keep moving up the line, decelerate a little bit so you don’t accidentally get past the jump too far – then when they exit the tunnel you can cue the jump and begin the blind.>The blind after the tunnel felt a bit weird to me. My body offered continuously a FC instead. But I am 100% sure that I saw both dogs before entering the tunnel entrance in the last runs.>
I think it felt weird to et the connection at first because you were slowing down to see them. And slowing down or being too far ahead will cause your feet to want to do the front cross – front crosses feel more natural than blinds when we are not moving much. But then you started staying in motion and they turned out beautiful.
And you had perfect timing on the BC after the tunnel at 2:14 and 2:34!! And you kept moving beautifully at 2:36 after the blind 🙂 All of your blinds after the tunnel with Jazz were perfect too. Really terrific!
So I am very happy with how well you are doing and the boys are reading all the cues brilliantly. Keep practicing like this and it will feel less weird and a lot more natural 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
It might be specific to your position relative to the jump? And yes, we will be doing it in CAMP because it is useful and also, it sets up layering really well!
T
Hi!
Super nice timing and exit connection to all the blinds here! And you did it while getting closer than needed to t he 2nd wing AND while running in boots… impressive!!!!
I was happy with the timing of starting the crosses here – you were starting shortly after he exited the wrap and he was seeing the new connection before he took off for the jump so he seemed to have no questions. YAY!
>I just needed to support the 2nd wing more on the first rep or just send him there first so he knew it was there. >
Yes – you didn’t need to go as far up to the wing, you can add more connection to him on the send and less arm. Looking at him very directly will propel him away, which makes it even easier to get back up the line.
You can try this with him on the other side, and also move on to the 2 jump games.
Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>Mini Rough Coat Piebald Belgian Malinois>
HA! Perfect description. His noises were impressive in this session 😂
The session went really well! The bloopers were all connection-related bloopers (remember to reward for his effort because he didn’t always get the info he needed).
On the reps where he did not take the jump before the blind, the main reason was that you were actually too early for what he was seeing 🙂 You were disconnecting a stride or two after the wing wrap to start the blind, but also the high arm was blocking his view of your connection which put him even more info handler focus there.
On the reps where you started the blind later, he committed well and your exit line connection was great and timely too!
To get him to commit sooner, you can make ore connection to his eyes as he exits the wing wrap: keep the dog side arm down and back so he can see the connection. That will commit him sooner so you can start the blind sooner too.
There was a little blooper coming around the start wing, and that was a bit of being disconnected – he was behind you when you looked forward and pointed, so he was not sure where to be. Compare that to the reps where he got it really easily and those were all super connected.
I grabbed a bunch of screenshots for you to see all this! They are marked as too early (for when he didn’t take the jump) and you can see how high the arm was and where you started the disconnection before the blind And there are a bunch that went well so you can see the timing of those too! They have you disconnected because that is the first part of the blind.
And a couple of screenshots of coming around the start wing so you can see where he didn’t see the connection versus where it was really clear.
Here they are:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zERY_i5wyQgk7w6KFv7yrUdXyxxDpZ_NfWJ-iMYwuWc/edit?usp=sharingThe trial run looked great!!! I am not sure all of those UKI distances were actually legal – the jump to DW opening looked like 35 feet! But you ran it really well! And he could easily be the poster dog for the teeter class – WOW!!!! Good boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great job here 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
Overall, I think these went well and you were really emphasizing connection: looked great!!!
The best reps where the ‘death zone’ reps where you had to pass the exit of the tunnel to the other side of it. Each of those has good timing and clear connection: zero questions from Casper!!
On the exit of the tunnel for the other reps, a couple of thing that will make it smoother:
– a lot of the reps had what I call “reverse motion” where you are decelerated (walking into the send) then you accelerate to do the blind. It creates a flurry of motion that adds too much ‘go’ cue to the tunnel, so you were getting wider exits. If you stay in steady motion (jogging, for example) that won’t happen and it will be even easier.
– on the blinds after the tunnel exit: he was reading them as soon as he saw them, but you were very close to the tunnel exit (5 or 6 feet) so he didn’t have a lot of time or room to get to the other side (and was sliding a little bit). You can send to the tunnel from further away so you are 15 feet or so past the tunnel exit – that, coupled with your clear mechanics and staying in motion, will help a ton!
– for the blinds before he goes into the tunnel, yo can send a bit further away too and stay in steady motion so he doesn’t see you accelerate right before the tunnel. And trust his tunnel commitment – you can set the halfway point between the jump and tunnel as the time to start the blind (or front), so he sees it before he enters. They were a shade late (like at :36 and :49, where his head was right at the tunnel entry so he might not have seen the cues).
And of course – keep moving after the blind rther than stop because that will make it even smoother to get the new side.
But overall really nice work here!!! Onwards to the jump games 🙂 Let me know what you think.
Tracy
