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Hi! You are off to an excellent start – he is SUPER fun!
Very nice job starting with the placed toy to help ‘warm up’ the forward focus on the jump – the cue was clear and he did great! As you work more and more laterally, be sure to connect and indicate that jump 1 before you release to help support the jumping. At :52 you were more lateral (yay!) but not as connected when you released. That caused him to have to try to multi-task and ended up dropping the bar at 1 (multitasking never goes well LOL!)
When you added the rest of the sequence:
He was able to jump the line 1-2-3 better when you added more lateral distance, which helped him turn more automatically over 2. He ticked or dropped the bar at :22 (hard to see if it fell) because you were close to the line and didn’t quite show the turn in time. You were further away on the other reps, which showed the positional cue to help him set up the turn.He had some trouble ignoring the tunnel 🙂 He will sort out the jump-tunnel discriminations this summer because we are going to see them a LOT lol!! They are very popular 🙂
He went long over 3 at :23 – you were decelerated but you can also use more verbals to help him, like his name to a right very before he takes off for 3 so he knows he is turning (and not looking at the delicious tunnel :))
You said his name as he was over the bar of 3 at :44 but that was a little too late (for a youngster). At 1:19 you used your outside arm and that really helped!! It allowed you to show the line from the landing side of 4 and get the end of the sequence really nicely.
To be able to handle on the landing side of 4, I think two things will smooth it out: Calling him sooner (no later than halfway between 2 and 3) and raising that outside arm before he takes off for 3.
>>I tried to put in a blind without walking it that way. Fail of course. I watched the demo video again when I got back in the house and saw that was your suggestion. Oh well. It would have been better if I had walked it that way.>>
I did a BC there because I had to run more, my dogs are not as self-propelled as Bacon is! You were a little more stationary (which is fine!) and ended up doing a FC.
Getting the FC 3-4-5 at :55 was a good plan! You were very close to getting it!! You got him to the correct side with no bonus tunnel til after the FC (but that was where your shoulders pointed so he was correct).
Two things will make that perfect:
– you can be more laterally away from 2 and 3, so you are passing the wing of 4 as you start the front cross.
– As you finish the FC, make a BIG connection to his eyeballs 🙂 so that he sees your shoulders turn to the 4 jump and that will help him commit to the 4 jump.One other thought: You can use directionals more, rather than just his name, because that will give him more info about exactly what you want him to do. What directionals have you been working on? Stuff like wrap, collection cues, GO, etc. Let me know and we can definitely incorporate them.
Great job here! I am excited to see more!!!
Tracy
Hi! These went REALLY WELL! YAY!
Sequence 1 – Super nice! Lovely connection! She found that opening line with lovely independence, no questions. Great timing starting the blind – try to finish it as soon as you can so she can see the new connection as quickly as possible . I keep my arms in tight to me so I can make the eye contact really quickly – because she is still young, she is really relying on the eye contact to cue the turn to 4 and not look t the tunnel 🙂 As she gets more experienced with tunnel-jump discriminations, she will start turning as soon as you shoulders start to turn 🙂
She had a good turn on 5 on both reps here – I think your decel was earlier on the first rep, which set up the better turn.
Sequence 2: On the first rep, she doesn’t seem to turn her head to look at the jump when you indicate it on the lead out… but she takes it 🙂 So we are happy, she doesn’t need to stare at it LOL! She did look at it on the 2nd rep, so it will be interesting to see if she decides to look at the bar or not (or if she was lokign at something else past the bar there).
The runs went well! The only suggestion is to keep running with connection and acceleration til after she lands from the last jump. At the end of first rep – you were stopping and pulling out the toy, so the bar went down. On the 2nd rep you were a little later doing reaching for the toy but it was still a bit too soon, so she ticked the bar.
Sequence 3:
You can set her up on a little more of a slice (thank back to the zig zags from MaxPup where she was sitting next to the wing). That way she will land on a better line to 2, so you can cue it and leave for 3 sooner. Sticking near 2 for a little too long delayed the turn info for 3 at :17, so the bar came down. On the second rep at 1:22, you started to move to 3 a stride or two sooner, so she was able to set up a better turn.The rest looked great – your connection is looking super smooth and comfortable!!!
Sequence 4: this is the only opening she had a question about – facing 1 with you behind her. Great job adjusting your position on the 2nd rep (you can see her look at the jump as soon as you adjusted your position) and then she got it nicely.
She had the same question at 1:40 the you set up for the next rep – you might have gone back one step too far for her current understanding. You did step forward to help her commit which was smart! She pulled the rail on 1 because she was sorting out the change in lead out (moving forward from a stay with you behind her is new and weird LOL!) It looked like you split the difference in your position on the last rep – one step further back from the 2nd rep but not as far back as the 3rd rep. And she nailed it. YAY!!!
Having to adjust your position to help her at 1 made the FC 3-4 late at :52. But being one step further away on the last rep made the FC at 2:20 earlier and her line was much better! Yay!
So this is a definite lead out to revisit, because it was the only one she had to really think about. The rest looked fantastic! Great job here!!
Tracy
Hi! Welcome back! It feels like forever since I have ‘seen’ you and Sly 🙂 I am looking forward to this summer- I can’t believe he is over 4 now!
>>I haven’t really been doing any skill training that improves our “course running”.>>
This is good, then, because we can add some skill to the course running that I know you will be seeing on course!
>>Just watched video for the first skill, we’ve played with this skill a bit already so it will be good to “test” where we are with it in these sequences.>>
Perfect, keep me posted!
>>Question for you…….. I think you know Rebeccah Aube from Flyball. >>
Yes! Her name is familiar but I can’t remember if I met her in person or not.
>>Would it be OK with you if I shared a couple of the course maps with Rebeccah and let her set them up at Happy Tails? >>
Totally yes! If she is happy to do it, then heck yeah, it makes everyone’s life easier. Share whatever you like!
>>walk in, look at a map, develop a plan, walk a course and then run it so I’m renting a 1/2 hour at Rebeccah’s a couple of times a month. Working on the run it clean first time thing! And with only a 1/2 hour there’s not much time to do more than that…..>>
This is a brilliant plan! It sets up trial-like conditions and that will transfer nicely to actual trials 🙂
Have fun!
TracyHi!
>>We had a hellacious thunderstorm last night and we’re all a tad short on sleep.>>
Eek! I think those were the ones I experienced on Saturday night in Minnesota – picture waterfalls *inside* the RV. UGH! Hopefully Mother Nature is more cooperative from now on!
Looking at the jumpers course:
The opening looked good! He has a lot of propulsion and understanding of layering, so I think you don’t even need to go halfway down the tunnel when you did the 3-4-5 sending. You can hang out at 3 and send him, so he can do that line independently and you can go get set up for 7.>>– I didn’t appreciate that #7 would require an IN>>
This ‘hidden threadle’ is a super common course trend nowadays, so when you set and walk the courses, check your lines for potential backsides that should *not* be backsides (like at 7). The judges are tossing these in a lot now!
You got the threadle nicely on the 2nd rep but then the front of 8, so he probably needed a backside cue for 8 there (:56) – you gave the push cue at 1:11 and 2:03 and it worked like a charm!
This hidden threadle to a backside is something to definitely keep watch for – it looks like a simple line but the dogs read it differently.
>>– For some reason, my body wanted to insert a FC between 8 and 9; this is NOT a good plan but it took 3 tries to get rid of it >>
Yes – dog on right then rear cross 10 is the easiest plan, but your legs had another plan in mind 🙂
He did read the RC on the tunnel after the FC though – that was pretty impressive!The independent weaves (he is SO GOOD with these!) made your handling very simple for the 11-12-13-14 line! Super! You really trusted his threadle at 13 at 2:13 and left for 14-15 as soon as he looked at the bar – perfect!
>>– I thought the BC between 14 and 15 would be hard but it wasn’t (how nice).>
You had plenty of time! And at 1:36 and the last rep you gave the collection cue for 15 which worked really well and set you up nicely for the BC 17-18 as well.
>>We are TRYING to adopt the less is more philosophy, so we only ran it 3 times. Not coincidentally, it took 3 tries to have a clean run.
>> All he needed was 3 times here! You nailed most of it on the first run – the only 2 hard parts were seeing the threadle at 7, and convincing yourself to not do a FC 8-9. Great job!
Tracy
Hi!
>>In my defense, I was focusing on the object of the lesson.
>> I personally think the object/goals are more important than course setting LOL! Maybe because I detest course building LOL!
You course building looked good for the goals!
Sequence 1: 2-3 is a threadle so n the 2nd rep, you got 3 nicely! The trick is to be able to keep moving through it, so that he doesn’t smoke you to 4 with that delicious tunnel out there. Question: Do you need to rotate your feet to get him to threadle? It would be easier for you if he would come in on a turn verbal for 2 (given between 1 and 2) then the threadle cue where you rotate your upper body and not your feet.
If he does need the rotation, you can exit 3 on a throw back to a blind (basically a spin) to get the collection for the turn to 4 (without showing any line to any bonus tunnels). You can also add leading out as close to 4 as possible, so you are navigating 1-2-3 from a distance then you are right there at 4 to show the backside.
Sequence 3 (which is 2nd on this video): He found the slice 1-2 really easily! Yay! You might have given too much collection on the exit of 2, then not enough forward step to the 3 so he came in and took the threadle side.
O the 2nd rep a 1:36, you didn’t ask for a collection on the exit of 2 and that set a nice line to 3! And a nice turn!
But he did drop the bar there – playing it in slow motion, I think you can leave for 3 too steps sooner: when he lands from 1, cue 2 then when he looked at 2: leave for 3. So you will be leaving for 3 when he is about halfway between 1 and 2, which gives him plenty of time to set up the jumping. At 1:36 he was lifting off and you were still at 2, which caused him to jump pretty straight and without enough turn. Compare to 1:57 – you turned and left for 3 one step sooner: nice jumping effort!
A similar thing happened at 1:41 – bar down on the way to the tunnel because ou were not turned to the next line til he ws in the air (you can see you are facing the camera here when he is gathering for takeoff, and should be facing the tunnel). You were a step earlier at 2:02 but he still took the bar, so keep working to be earlier to turn to the tunnel and also – do you remember the zig zag grid you worked on with Enzo for slice jumping? I bet it is Casper’s turn to learn that grid this summer! Or, revisit it if he has already seen it. There is a lot of slice jumping on these sequences so some more slice jumping education might be good to put on tap for the summer.
>>When I led out too close to #3, he looked over the wrong shoulder (so I couldn’t direct him properly to the jump). I fixed that by moving him to a shallower>>
Yes, I think that was a good fix – it might be possible he was perceiving your position as a rear cross. He definitely had a question on the first release there – took the jump but dropped the bar – but then he sorted it out and kept the bar up on the next sequence. Super! And he got the FC to the jump with no off course tunnel. That is HUGE!!! YAY!!!
Great job here! I am not worried about the slightly wide turns or the off course tunnels, that will be smoothed out with more experience and sorting out his timing. He is still pretty inexperienced so he has some processing delays: He goes really fast and sometimes he moves to a jump or line before his brain has processed the info about HOW to take the jump or line. But again, that will smooth out with experience and also we will be able to work jump skills too!
Tracy
Hi!
>>I couldn’t figure out how to get jump 3 in sequence one. Sprite sliced 2 and was on the backside of 3 naturally. Where should I be in lead out and how do I help her with this line?>>
Yes, that is a tricky section and there are different options depending on how exactly it is set up. But yes – the exit of 2 can indeed show the line to the backside of 3! You did a great job sorting it out for her!
I liked that you led out to 3 just about all the way at :10, :28, :54, 1:12. At 1:38 and on the last rep you were at 4 and that was even more effective – she had a little more trouble looking at 1 when you were out there so you can throw rewards to landing side of 1 (or have it placed out there) to keep solidifying the forward focus with you basically behind her.
And her focus on the line 1-2 was awesome!
It took a couple of reps to sort out the threadle handling 2-3. When walking the sequences, you can stand at the exit or landing of each jump and see if she has a choice (front or back of jump) on the next jump. Then you can decide if you need a threadle or not.
The first rep did look like a post turn to the backside cue. The 2nd rep (:34) had the threadle verbal but not threadle handling, so you still got a backside.
You added the threadle hand too at :45 and :59, and it totally helped. Rotating towards her too much made you late for the blind on 4, but doing the threadle without the rotation like at 1:20 got you to a great spot and lovely timing for the blind. You just needed more connection at 1:23 to help her drive forward to 5 more smoothly. You got it at 1:58 nicely and added more decel at the very end to get an ever tighter turn. Well done!!
>>I’m pretty sure I didn’t build it wrong, but it is possible that I did.
You built it right 🙂 Doing the moving threadle and the super quick blind is the way to go on that sequence.
Sequence 2: super easy! You handled the threadle smoothly and she had no questions (and getting the tunnel as 4 is much easier to handle than the blind to the jump at 4 in sequence 1).
Sequence 3: You can have her more on a slice at 1, so she lands facing 2 more (think of the zig zig grid in the jumping class, this is an application of that skill.
Seq 3a 🙂 You ran the line to the 5 without the 4 on the 1st rep, but I liked your independent cues on 2 and 3 more on this rep than the previous rep, You didn’t over-help as much at 2 nd 3, and she showed really lovely line execution and understanding! And that got the blind easily. To tighten the turn to the blind at 5-6, you can stay closer to the 6 jump and don’t move towards the tunnel. Being an arm’s length away from the 6 jump will set the line, and staying in motion will prevent her from picking up the backside there (or doing a blind to a threadle which is a common challenge lately)
Seq 4 also looked really good! You are pretty far behind her (correctly) for the forward focus to 1 and it took her a moment on the first rep in particular at 1:45 to look forward to the jump. But she did and then had no commitment questions. And the 2nd rep was even quicker to acknowledge that first jump (and her lines on both looked lovely!!)
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>I havent for a while as it wasnt working at that point. Have been focused on brain camp stuff so probably time to revisit. If there is something hard (for her) at the start can lose her.>>
She might be ready for you to visit it again! You can start it at home, no agility, just building the love for the game with the pattern game. Then you can do it with one jump ,etc, to help her understand that it is a good thing!
>>She got the serp but turned wide onto tunnel and got the wrong end I tried to just collect her as she came out and carry on as if that was correct but she was gone. >>
I am glad she got the hard part!! An idea: if she realizes that something has gone wrong (sometimes we hesitate the tiniest bit, or we say something) then you don’t even need to keep going in class. You can just reward immediately 🙂
Have fun! Keep me posted on how she does!
Tracy
Hi!
Thank you for the first update!!>>Buddy who I just include to keep him in shape (He choose Nose work to be his main sport) needed me to be closer but got the job done as he is way slower then my other 2 boys.>>
Perfect – it is a good balance for him!
>>Seq. 1 Mookie needed a front jump verbal cue between 4 and 5 or he would do 5 as a backside. I needed to keep my arms low 2nd run as I am sure my arms floating up caused him to think I was giving him a backside cue >>Yes – that for sure can be tricky with long striding, fast dogs! So when you walk the sequences, be sure to look for where he might be landing and where he might need to know if it is a front or back, so he can nail it 🙂

>>Alonso needed a verbal “in, in “to get the front side of 3. He releases from the start line like a bullet and my saying in in got my body in the right position for him. Both 2nd runs went well.>>Perfect! That is indeed a common course trend now for bigger dogs: they see a line to the backside so we have to make extra sure to show them the front side
>>Seq.2 All 3 dogs nailed this on their first runs.>>
WOOHOO!! High five to you!
>>Seq.3 A Buddy was fine. For Mookie and Alonso, I needed “close close arms and vc” for my body to be in position & indicate to go to jump 2 otherwise they missed it entirely. 2nd runs for both Mookie & Alonso were fine.>>
Good job working through that – since they both had questions, it goes on the list to revisit in the same or slightly different context, to help sure they really understand it.
>>Seq.3 B All 3 dogs were fine first run as I had gotten my stuff together
Yay! And my dogs agree with your dogs that it all goes better when the humans have their stuff together LOL!

>>Seq. 4 A & B Mookie and Alonso were okay on their first runs.>>Super!
>> Buddy decided he was done for the day with agility even though we rested a lot in between
He also gets distracted in my backyard.>The sequences have a lot of mental challenge, so he was probably mentally done with it 🙂
>>Seq. 5 I needed left and right verbals for the bars to stay up for Mookie and for Alonso to read my blind cross between 2 & 3.>.Yes! Definitely add in all your verbals to help support the position.
>>Seq. 6 This was easy for me and both Alonso and Mookie >>Super!!!

>> am finding that I need to use verbal cues not only for the dogs but to help my body get into the right position where it needs to be >>That is super useful to know so be sure to walk the sequences while practicing the body cues AND the verbals. And do this at trials too! I personally find that my verbals support the body cues like you are saying, so I like to practice them a lot.

>>I also know I still need to work on keeping my arms low. This will be a forever goal >>Same here! Keep reminding yourself to point to the dog’s nose (which is low!) and look at their eyes.
>>Next week we will work on the jumpers course in pieces and the pop outs.>>Great – those build off of these sequences. Keep me posted! Have fun!
Tracy
Welcome back!!
I can totally relate to the feeling of THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO with young dogs! But it sounds like you are on the right track: teaching contacts and weaves, while carving out time to work sequences and skills. Perfect!!Have fun!
TracyHello and welcome back! it is really exciting to hear that he is trialing and being successful!!!! Congrats! And no worries about using the faults in Novice… that is what they are there for, to be used LOL!!!
Looking forward to seeing you two in action!
TracyHello and welcome!!! I am excited to see you and Levy because I agree: you two are really coming together! FUN!!!!!
I will generally have the Hot Topics sequences and live class sequences set up at my house if you ever wanted to come use the field – training in a new location and not having to lug equipment around 🙂
Have fun!
TracyWelcome back! I am excited to see the boys in action!
>>Enzo is pumped and Casper isn’t sure what’s happening yet.>>
Ha! That cracks me up and is exactly what happens at my house: 4 year old dog knows exactly what is happening. Almost 2 year old dog? Doesn’t know what all the fuss is about but is happy to get happy about it LOL!
>>a million thanks for posting the courses on Sunday mornings. This makes a big difference to me as far as course building.>>
Great! Your feedback on timing of course builds from last year was completely on my mind when we went to Sunday crack of dawn releases this year.
Have fun!
Tracy
