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Good morning!
Double whammy is going well! I think he really liked doing 2 tunnels in a row LOL!!
He is ready for the next step, which asks him to find the threadle entry without as much help from you: meet him more at the exit of tunnel 1 (you can call him before he enters so he turns nice and tight) then move forward, using the tunnel threadle cue… but don’t flip him away to the tunnel with your hands or feet 🙂 Let him drive to it on his own, then you can turn and reward him. That will help him be even more independent with his response.Looking at the backside slice video:
>If you see him dropping his nose on the way over the jump bump it’s because I put a dot there to try not to drift toward the barrel. He checked it out the first couple of times.>
Ha! That is funny, he probably thought it was a target of some sort 🙂
He did really well here too! Your connect, verbals, and line of motion looked good 🙂 You can move your line even further across the bump, so you are heading to the center of it then eventually the opposite side of it. You definitely are wanting to gravitate towards the barrel, so you can even put a line or long piece of tape of on the ground so you are moving forward the whole time and not moving to the barrel at all.
Threadle wraps: He is sorting these out nicely! Try to have your cues more forward-facing, as if you were walking up the line, meaning don’t turn your shoulders/ feet to him or the barrel as much because that created a few questions by pressuring the line:
On the first rep his start position was not quite far enough past the barrel and your leaned in/turned towards the barrel, which pressured the line and pushed him back around to the other side of it. He got frustrated and jumped up – you can reset any errors with a treat, especially since errors on a new skill like this are usually caused by handler errors 🙂
The extra rotation towards him also pressures the line on the exit of the wrap – he was not finishing the turn at 1:01, for example, because you were leaning into his line which cues him to go back around.
I think the easiest thing to do is to add motion 🙂 Standing still is weird, but if you are walking forward you can more easily have your feet pointing straight and arm cues visible – but like with the tunnel double whammy, see if he can find the turn away to the barrel without your hand cues flipping him away to the barrel.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyOne more thought – since you can’t work outside right now, you can use a wing or two to replace the tunnel for the rocking horses. It would be a FC wrap on a wing, then a ‘race track’ moment on the other side of the middle wing/tunnel replacer, then a FC wrap on the next wing. Let me know if that makes sense!
T
Hi! The countermotion looked really strong! He had to think extra hard on the 2nd side (dog on left) because you were releasing when you were on the takeoff side – that was a lot of countermotion! But he got it really well 🙂 Nice job with the reward placement!
The only thing I would add here is to look at him more as you move around the jump. When you were moving around the jump, you were not really looking at him so he was really locked into looking at you (dogs look at us more when we are disconnected). So if you look at him more then do the connection shift to the landing spot when you release, he will look at the line more 🙂
Since you are a bit constrained by weather for now, you can change the barrels to wings for this game. And if he is happy with that… add more motion! Go faster! Build up to running – and you can also sometimes run all the way around the jump without releasing and reward the stay instead.
Great job! Stay warm!
TracyHi!
The SS run looked great! 

Rehearsing the transitions in and out of the food box made this run look fabulous! She was on fire!!!!!! Nice handling! She knew exactly what to expect so she seemed to be very relaxed and in that optimal arousal state for awesome agility!>(I did ask for it twice because she looked at me like I had a 2nd head when I asked her to sit the first time).>
Nah, I think she was bathing in her own glory in that moment and didn’t hear the first cue LOL
>She got confused running to her leash at the end since I did run her right by the food box but she quickly ducked back out of it and over to me for her leash.>
She had a question but was not stressed by it.
>I had told the barsetters not to bother with changing the broad jump and then had to laugh when she went wide and checked it out.>
Ha! When you watch the video, your motion indicated it: sideways on the cross exit without exit line connection so she was like “ok, I will go to whatever that is” LOL!
She recovered from it really well – in the past, she might have been a leaping lizard but she simply adjusted her line here and carried on. That is a big win! And the rest looked super strong too – she didn’t quite understand the turn on the exit of the short tunnel to find a jump that close, so it is something to show her in training.>She was tired enough after this to actually fall asleep in my lap while I was scoring even with all the human & dog traffic going by. >
It is exhausting to be brilliant! And it was smart to not ask her to do the snooker class too.
>Dean commented that this was by far the best debut he’s seen. >
That is excellent feedback!!!! I mean, I think it was pretty excellent but he has seen all of the debuts so it really puts things in perspective.
>I told him this was the debut that had the most preparation!>
Yes, in terms of what to expect in the ring. Kaladin didn’t have the benefit of that, thanks to being a covid era pup!
>The photographer said she did get a shot of Lift coming straight at her from yesterday’s run!>
YAY!!!
>Tomorrow is going to be a lazy day (maybe with a short jaunt to run around the yard. I’d take her for a leisurely walk except that the high is neg 4 for tomorrow.>
Yay for lazy but seriously, winter can be finished already.
>She is entered in an OTR UKI Trial in 5 weeks (2 classes, 1 day). I’m undecided on whether to enter her in a USDAA trial at On the Run in 2 weeks. (it closes on Wed 2/19). She has been to OTR to spectate and to do brief stints in the warmup jump area (which has the new turf), but she hasn’t been in their big ring. Plus she would be jumping P8 and there’s no food reward box so I would probably do something like her 2nd run today with a short sequence while holding her toy, toss it at the end, leash & out.>
Who is the judge? If it is a user-friendly judge, then yes, why not enter and have some fun in Jumpers or something easy. Even if it is a short run, it is a great opportunity to have fun on the turf in the big ring. And great prep for the UKI there too! I don’t see 8” as a problem for her at all.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
>Used to video with my phone, upload to drive and then download to my ipad so I could edit in I-movie. The download to Ipad seems to have disappeared so now I transfer from phone to laptop and edit there. I’ll figure it out.>
Ugh! Google and Apple really don’t like talking to each other. You can try sending it to yourself with http://www.wetransfer.com
What I do when using my Android phone is I upload to Youtube then download to the iPad. It is a small pain 🙂 but still works. I found it easier to get a tripod for the iPad and video most of the stuff directly to the iPad.First run as great!!! Try to get him off the start line even sooner – maybe job to your lead out position? He ran great – it looked like you disconnected a little after the runnel in the back of the ring, so he lost the line a bit? But he recovered great!
On the last UKI run – he might have been a bit brain tired sp if he can’t sit, try to ask for a high five or something to get his attention back on you, or maybe touch his shoulder to help him re-engage. You were pulling on his neck a bit and that didn’t help get his attention.
>tried to work with the just keep going philosophy here.
When you kept moving, he did pretty well! When he skedaddled off, you can switch to running invisible Cody 🙂 that can bring him back pretty fast as compared to standing still calling him.
>The dog following us had his snout poking thru the ring gates here, that’s what grabbed Coal’s interest.>
Booooo that is rude of the other handler to do that with an inexperienced dog in the ring.
He finished strong, though!!! The weave versus tunnel discrimination needed a physical cue too to help him see the weaves. His only other handling question was pushing off the rear cross jump because you turned your feet to the next line just before he passed you, which pushed him off. He found the rest of the lines really well!
The first part of the CPE run went really well too! The ring crew people in the corners are SO HARD for him. He kept moving for most of it even if he couldn’t quite do the obstacles. I think a good focus for NFC is to get him to go past them and then immediately reward him by throwing the ball or running out for treats. Some UKI trials have a food reward box so you can give him a treat then run back into the ring for more.
That is really the last piece, the ring crew people in the corners (he is ignoring the leash runner really nicely!) so it seems appropriate to shift focus to that in the NFC runs.
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>We had a few days off with some fitness stretching, toy play with a few waits just incorporated into the play. Just generally chilling out having fun while reinforcing basics. >
Perfect!
>Early we started with two by twos- this wasnt going anywhere. >
It might have had something to do with reward placement and the line up, see below.
Looking at the video here:
You can make each rep “cleaner” for the poles and you will make faster progress. Be sure to line her up carefully before sending her to the poles. Sometimes she is facing you and you send, which causes errors. And lining her up (even I you need a cookie lure to do it) will allow you to change her angle of approach so you can show her different entries.
Also, be consistent with the reward placement – a thrown reward to keep her looking straight through the poles will be more effective than rewarding from your hand is going to get her looking at you a lot. The bag was off-center plus the reward was not on it, so it was more of a distraction than a target.
>Previously I have also got better results when I introduce a jump. I seem to get more energy from her when she is moving- also can get more misses but she seems happier working when she is more in the zone.>
It is possible that the jump gave her a clearer line up. There is nothing wrong with using the jump to do that, but you will also want to be able to line her up next other you and facing the poles (not in front of you or barking at you :))
>Contacts are slow progress but it is happening- each time she goes abit further before she bails,>
This was also the video of the weaves, was it supposed to be a contact video?
>Have also been working on her measuring and she is getting more relaxed aout it and her measures are getting lower- am pleased about that as dont want her to go up a height.>
This is great!
>Lines we have been working on – she is getting much better coming out of the tunnel but still struggling long straights. I think I need to work on me more for this as dont think I drive enougn up the long lines.>
One thing you can do is get her to lock onto a jump after the tunnel by starting the jump very close to the tunnel exit (2 meters) and throwing the reward. Then gradually expand the distance and add the Go Jump cue, so she can find the jump as you move it further and further away… up to 10 meters!
Yes, you can run more but the distances are really big and she is really fast, so she needs to do it without you 🙂
Nice work here! Keep me posted!
Tracy
Hi!
>We revisited with paying attention to Mechanics as well and all is good!>
Yay!!!!
Looking at the serps:
I agree, serps with motion are hard!!! The natural impulse of the dog (especially a BC) is to move parallel to us, and the serp requires them to drive in. So yes, you can totally keep that stationary warm up. And when you ad motion you can do three things to help her out:
– move sooooooooo slowly like you did at :53 (you were a lot faster on the previous rep!) She did great there!!!
– look at the serp arm as you release
– shake the serp hand a bit 🙂And you can also add motion without the excitement of the toy on the ground. You can toss a treat from the other hand, or have the toy in the other hand, so you are able to get her more focused on you as you add more and ore motion.
Nice work here!!

TracyYay! She did great!!!! Pretty much the same Lift you have in classes, even with the added distractions!!!!! Congrats on a fabulous debut!!!
>She stayed focused even with the leash runner right where I wanted to start.>
Yes, and the leash runner was showing weird body language (back turned to her, then stiffly turning forward). Lift was like “ok, you are weird, whatever” LOL!
>She ran the outside of the tunnel on the first loop. Not sure if she noticed the photographer behind the tunnel but I called her name and she came flying down the line.>
It might have been the photographer but also it looks like the judge moved too and was very close – so she found the line but not the obstacle. That’s a normal baby dog thing, no worries. Hopefully the photographer got some good photos 🙂 And you were great to keep going and set up a lovely line for her!
>So proud of her rear cross to the finish jump. It’s a bit hard to see over the tunnel, but she ran straight to the leash with me and pushed her head through the loop right away.>
Yay!!! Looked like the same as class… and that is *exactly* what we want. No stress, no pressure, just fast happy trained behaviors. YAY!!!
>. She’s entered in SS, Jpg & Snkr which are the 2nd, 4th and 6th classes of the day. She would be first on the line in each class since it’s small to tall. My plan is to run one, maybe two depending on how it goes.>
You can decide in the moment, depending on course design, if she seems mentally tired, or if it is just better to end on a high note 🙂 And if something goes sideways? No worries, she is doing great.
Keep me posted!
TracyHi! Hooray for no snow!!!!!
The tunnel rocking horses are going well! I don’t think his questions were about verbal cue timing, they were more about connection. He was a little sticky in the early reps because you were looking forward and he was looking at you to see what you wanted. So to help that, lock your connection to him at the tunnel exit (saying the verbal directly to him) as you send him.
In the middle he jumped up at you – he was not sure what you wanted and when you stepped to the wing and he went to it, he got frustrated when he saw that was wrong. In his defense, I didn’t know what you wanted either 🤣🤣 It was hard to tell if you wanted him to sit? There was not clear cue. And I couldn’t hear what you said as you stepped forward. Being ultra clear will help him and also if something is wrong? Keep going or reset with a cookie.
>>when does this class end for feedback?>
February 25th is the last day.
> I am not sure if Ringo and I should be going into MaxPup 2 or if I should focus on the MasterClass Timing with him. or both? Your thoughts?>
He’s kind of at an in-between age… Module 1 of MasterClass is doable but Module 2 gets above his current skill set pretty quickly. MaxPup 2 has some good proofing games that we can pump up and jumping skills too.
Great job here! Let me know what ypu think!
Tracy
Hi!
Both of the sessions here went great!
For the countermotion serp exits – he’s definitely ready for you to add the rest of the serp to it (advanced level) and I bet you can use the same jump set up as the serp versus threadle session.
Or, a small space skill you can add to this is a slight tweak on what you did here: he is in a stay 6 or 8 feet from the jump, and you are right at the barrel facing the countermotion line.
Release him while you are walking forward on the countermotion line – he will have to pass you more dramatically and that is HARD!Seep versus threadle went really well! He’s finding the turns and bar really nicely, especially on the threadle with the MM out there on the slice! Yay! One blooper, no big deal, I think he was just looking in the wrong spot when released.
The thing to remember here for the handling is to have your hand in position as you are walking to the position (serp or threadle) – have it up the whole time. You were tending to move it into position and release at the same time, which will make the hand the release (he was starting to move on the hand movement). The hand can swing back a bit on the threadle and be stationary on the serp, but you will want it separated from the verbal release.
The last video day is February 25th, so keep ’em coming! Great job here!
TracyAwesome awesome awesome!!!! I’m glad you had fun at the seminar and double glad about the measurement!!!!
Keep me posted about tomorrow! Have fun!!
Yay! Latent learning is magic!
Since the opposite arm is generally the strongest cue, you can have a treat in your dog-side hand to toss back and that can help with mechanics. Keep me posted!
TracyHi!
Do you have more video of the easier side? The hand cue when she was turning left (:03) was a little different than the other side:On the left turn, your hand was a little more visible back to her, and it moved to help her turn away.
On the reps where she struggled on the right turn side, the cue was less clear: your left arm was out ahead of you and I don’t think she could see it, so when you added movement it probably looked like a send to the other side of the barrel. When you broke things down and your hands were lower and more visible to her, she was able to come to the correct side of the barrel nicely! And you used your hands to turn her away.
So for the right turns, try a little less motion (for now) but more obvious/bigger hand cues: the opposite hand should be across your body towards her (elbow touching your chest) with a bit of rotation towards her so she can see it and see connection. And you can give her a little arm “swoosh” away to the barrel at first, that is pretty easy to fade when she knows what the cue is.
Nice job breaking it down for her here!! Let me know how it goes with the more visible cue!
Tracy
Wow! What a lovely run! VERY connected and he really loves when you are connected. He didn’t see the teeter after the tunnel, probably because the tunnel had a slight curve and was kind of facing the a-frame. When he did get it, you were converging more and had BIG connection (he has a great teeter!!!). And facing the weaves for an extra heartbeat (til he had the entry) really helped.
I agree, he didn’t seem worried about the music at all. So you can have other people walking in the ring (not just the big instructor dude :)) and other dogs outside the ring and maybe even barking. Crank it up to be like a trial 🙂
He has a trial this weekend, yes? Keep me posted! Great job here!
Tracy
