[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Nice handling session here!
Did you have a dish out for every possible exit? LOVE IT!

The turns looked great – she was super tight and fast on both the left turn and right turn exits. Yay! Nice timing of your cues, click/treat for you!

More impressively, she got the go line, even after 2 turn reps! Yay! Her head was straight but a little high on the first one, as if asking “are you sure it is straight” LOL The 2nd go rep did not seem to have that same question, she came flying out (same as the last rep).

She had one commitment question on the FC at 2:12, so I obsessed a little to see why she committed so well at 1:56 on the mirror image of that challenge. Nice exit line connection there! And good job continuing when she had the question at 2:12!

On the rep at 1:56, you had a clear step or two of decel and rotated a shade later. At 2:12, you rotated when she was at the same spot she was in when you decelerated at the other side… so definitely the decel was part of it (the connection looked similar on both reps – you can give her a bit more connection but I don’t think that was the question from her).

The rep at 2:28 sealed the deal that it is the decel as the critical factor: you had a definitely clear decel there and rotated at the same time you did at 2:12… but the decel committed her. The rotation might have been a shade early (she did give you a look as she went past you) but she committed with a nice turn. So definitely emphasize the decel as part of the commitment and delay the rotation til after it.

On the teeter video:

>> I’m going to bring her little scratch pad with us to Canada so that we can do more work just targeting and scratching the pad when it is flat on a surface.>>

Perfect! I was going to suggest pumping up the value for it a bit more, maybe even elevating it a bit so she can step up on it and get to scratching 🙂

She seemed very happy to pop onto the end of the board! Yay! Pumping up t he scratch pad plus not not leaning over her quite as much should help get her more into the end behavior foot position.

How is she feeling about being held/restrained lately? Her hop ons are good, but she was getting mad when you were not letting her jump on by herself LOL! Since she likes this game, you can do a line up, hand on collar, then instant release onto the teeter. And gradually build up to a longer restraint (which can also build even more drive into position).

Great job here! Safe travels to Canada and have fun!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Thanks for your kind words about Crusher… it sucks to lose them, as I know you understand.

>>It really is all about the correct parallel line, isn’t it?!?! And Sly is SO clear about when I’ve got it and when I don’t

Yes – parallel lines make it sooooo much easier (as well as a great tunnel verbal LOL!) And not getting too far ahead helps too so the motion of the parallel line helps propel the dog out to the layered line. Thank you to Sly for the feedback!!

The backside reps went really well here, I think those were easier for him than the tunnel reps. The backsides looked very independent and you were very lateral, so he could jump the line with a ton of speed too. Nice!

The tunnel reps were harder here – it might sound counterintuitive, but the closer you started to 1, the easier it seemed to set his line (like at :08 and :33). When you were too far ahead at :21 (where you were running a bit rotated) and :28, he found it harder to choose the tunnel over the jump.

Not getting too far ahead for layering is a definitely less-is-more approach from the start of the line, because getting too far ahead puts us peeling away (like at :21) before the dog might be on the line, which can potentially lose the parallel line and open up the other obstacles. Started closer to 1 but already on the parallel path so you are running forward the whole time can smooth out the bloopers.

Sequence 3 looked great!!

>> Warmed up our blind/threadle wrap a couple of times>>

Looks like he never considered the tunnel! Yay! You can use your hands a bit more perhaps, to help get the collection for the wrap, but he did really well!

>>Took 3 tries to get the threadle slice with the layer but once I paid more attention to the connection on landing of 4, >>

Getting it in only 3 tries is great – this layered threadle stuff is a new skill and the dogs are going to have some questions at first LOL!! But then I think when they know to expect that it might happen, they will do it really well like Sly did here. Happy dance! And it put you in a great spot for the threadle on 7, no problem at all.

Great job here!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! These went really well. A connection idea (below) will smooth out the blooper spots 🙂

On the first rep, one small detail – when sending to the tunnel, do a post turn exit. You did a spin at :15 which cues a turn. So he exited turned and then was confused for a moment: “where did she go?” He exited straight at :25 (post turn) and that is more of what we want on this sequence
You did a spin at :52 on the tunnel entry where there was a turn on the exit and it was perfect, because the turn is what you needed there.

You can start the wrap rotation sooner at :34 – it started as he was lifting off, so you can move into the FC and decelerate when he lands from the previous jump, then do the rotation to the tunnel before he takes off.

The bigger sequence went really well too!

The rep at :39-:44 looked great – low arms, great connection, good running lines from you so he was fast and accurate on his lines!

Right at :46 you broke connection with him still behind you and pointed forward to the next jump. That changed the line of your shoulders away from the jump so he did not take it

:49 to :57 also looked really good! You gave him a bit more connection at :58 so he did find the jump, but you will see even better commitment if you keep you dog-side arm back to him and eyes on his eyes as you step to the jump and say the verbal.

It is counterintuitive 🙂 but works really well because it points your shoulders and your motion to the takeoff spot, while pointing ahead of him turns your shoulders and feet away from the takeoff spot. That is basically what you did at 1:18 and 1:31, and he committed with zero questions. Yay!!!

He came off the line at 1:20 because as you ran down the line, you looked forward and then to your left… that is exactly what a blind cross looks like so he did a blind to your left side. You both tried to save it (you re-connected to your right side, he tried to find the jump) but you were both moving too fast and couldn’t quite save it.

He also had a question at 1:33 on that line. You were looking at him more and could see him… but your dog-side arm was pointing forward. That blocks his view of the connection and turns your shoulders a bit away from the line, so he was looking at you and trying to sort out where to be. At 1:34 you dropped the arm a bit and gave more connection so he took the jump.

You can see that same question at 1:50 when he is on your left, heading to the tunnel. The arm points forward changing the info, so he looks up at you for more info.

Ideally, in both of these spots, your dog side arm points to his nose the whole time. That means your arm will be way back to him when he is behind you, so he will be able to see your connection and stay on his line without looking up at you for more info.

That is what you were doing more of on the lines he read beautifully (like on the BC between 5 and 6 on this sequence, at 1:44 for example) so adding that to the sending and when you are way ahead will smooth out those lines too.

Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

These are looking really good! Look at her fabulous stay!!! She had no questions about which side of the jump to go to, even on the hard angles.

The forced fronts are going well – one detail as you finish the FC is to maintain connection to her eyes. That will point your shoulders/chest to the jump so she will commit nicely. You were looking ahead so if you tossed the reward early, she got it. But when you did not toss the reward early, she went past the jump (which is the line your shoulders were indicating).

The threadles went really well too! You can be closer to the jump, and more tucked in behind the wing – basically the same spot as the forced front cross but facing her in the threadle position. Then as you release, you can look at your threadle hand to help guide her to it. Being close to the jump will help with commitment too so you won’t have to cue her to take it – it will be right on her line.

Great job here!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I’m not sure the best way to post all our work for feedback since there’s no way to apply feedback from one part to the other parts.>

That works! Plus another thing we can do with all of the video here is look for trends for training sessions. Here are a few ideas to help support making the most of the training time:

Make the overall goal to have every time he is on the floor to be crazy silly fast fun – accuracy is a bonus but since that depends on handler info, accuracy is less important 🙂 So be super careful to avoid drilling by doing the same set up over and over. Do a rep or two of a sequence, get it roughly right… then go do something else that is silly or take a break. An example would be to just run tunnel-tunnel and throw a toy, or let him run around with a tug toy.

And if something goes wrong in the handling – don’t stop, even if you drop the lotus ball to him. Yes, he will like the food 🙂 but stopping communicates error. It is perfectly fine to just keep going and reward something else – 99% of the errors are human-induced 🙂 And if you get the same failure twice (or more) – do something else, re-assess the setup, or add more motion support or a toy on the line to get no more failures on that particular question.

I think there were too many sessions/too many reps here (about 24 minutes of working time), so what was happening was he was pacing himself to your speed and in the smaller space, you were walking a lot – so he was trotting (which affected the jumping). And he was wandering out of stays, sniffing, which usually indicates a bit of tiredness and reduced excitement.

So, shorter sessions will totally help! Leave him wanted more more more 🙂 And you can also adjust the setups so both of you have more motion and more momentum. A few ideas for that:
– add more distance between obstacles so there is more speed happening
– use weave poles as jump bars so there is a more distance between obstacles too
– limit yourself to a total of 2 reps on any given sequence then take a break then move on to the next one
– build in fast and fun reps where he can run run run 🙂 especially if you are working on tight turns in the sequence
– always keep going even if he misses a jump (or if it is the end of a sequence, reward with a big party)
– line up his start position further from jump 1, so he can come into the sequence at a run
– add tricks with a lot of movement between runs to keep the energy high

Video 1 went well! Make sure your motion supports acceleration to the tunnel so he is not seeing decel at the same time he is getting a verbal to drive ahead (he dropped the bar before the tunnel when that happened)

Video 2:

>>starting at 2:40 – back chaining the K turn lead out. We really struggled with this lead out so I need help figuring out how to help him. >>

There were a couple of things happening here. At the beginning, there were some questions about where jump 2 was: the angle of the setup didn’t really have it on his line, plus there was a bit of high arm/lack of connection, so there were errors and stops. It really helped when you moved into it and stepped to it a bit, but spreading it out so 2 is more on the line will help too!

So when you got to the K turns at 2:40, he was already well into the session. The first rep at 2:44 had a good step with your leg but the 2nd one at 3:17 had no leg so he was more hesitant.

More K turn on video 3 – this is also a really long session, so he was losing steam which affects powering into a tight turn. When you stepped back with your leg, he did well like at 2:25 and after – he was watching the toy in your hand there so you can have it in the other hand to throw behind you.

But definitely mix in some fast fun crazy with fewer tight turn reps 🙂

Video 5 –
>>Back chained the K turn lead out and again, only successful once and then back to a fail so I stopped.>>

I think by this time he was a bit over it 🙂 He had gotten it right but asking for it again caused trotting… he is not too different from my sighthounds who are like “I just did it right 2 or 3 times, why are we doing it again?” That is good for us humans as a reminder that we really don’t need to see the behavior more than twice to be able to check it off the list for the day 🙂

The angle there too on 1-2 was hard and had more failure, so he was also being careful. That is where the tricks and silliness and tunnel fun can keep things spicy.

>>Leads Outs and Big Lines 3
0:38 – why did he knock the bar wrapping towards me?>>

I think a couple of things were happening here:
Your feet were pointing to the RC line on the jump then he realized it was a wrap when you didn’t move, so he was adjusting the takeoff. Then you switched the toy from your left hand to your right hand, so he lifted his head to see what was happening – that is when he hit the bar. Try moving into it so he can see the decel and foot rotation sooner, and leave the toy in one hand the whole time 🙂

>>I’m just amazed at how much dog I still had left at the end of an hour. This is the end of the session. I’m proud that not once did I see his tail droop>>

Yes! He has a ton of food drive which really helps and this sequence had more motion which also really helped! He was definitely pacing himself and not moving as fast as we know he can (cantering a bit mixed in with trotting, especially by the end).

>> We did have some struggles with the rear cross left wrap direction, probably my handling.>>

That was him pacing himself – he was sticking to your pace rather than driving ahead, so the rear crosses are going to feel smoother when you have more distance between the jumps and more acceleration up the line. The shorter sessions where he is feeling fresh and spicy will help too, so he goes blasting up the line ahead of you 🙂

So while his tail was up here, I do think maybe half hour rentals are better with fewer reps of hard stuff and more go fast stuff 🙂 And lots of breaks! If I have one dog and a full 30 minutes, I will turn on pop music while I train: I can train until the song is over, then must take a 2 or 3 song break. Then the next session can be one song’s worth of fast & fun stuff 🙂 Then another 2 or 3 song break. That keeps things really exciting – and doing just one or two reps of each sequence is fine 🙂 And in the breaks I can look at my video to see what I am doing wrong LOL!!!

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>just assumed you had a life …>>

HA! I have no life LOL!!!!!!

First 2 runs here on the first sequence were very good- connection, you kept moving, and added verbals too! Yay!

The 2nd sequence was more complex but you were working through it nicely with connection and motion.

One this sequence and the next one, you can look for smoother lines in your handling plans – mainly, find the slice lines towards the next jump rather than wrap her back towards you. I think that will make it even easier to keep moving along the lines and showing her the line you want.

Same for the 3rd sequence – it went much better when you are showing slice lines and not as much wrapping towards you.

You can move to the hot topics with the walk throughs now, as that will help us analyze your plans and see what works best for her (then execute it during the run).

She did really well sending to the backsides and finding lines for the most part! That means connection and timing were strong.

Two details where she had questions:

When pushing to a backside especially a circle wrap, be sure to let her see the wing and don’t block the line. When she saw the wing of the jump, she was great! When you blocked the wing like at 1:41 and 3:09, she didn’t know where to be and moved to a different line.

When adding the threadle wrap 3:12 – 3:23, add in turning your line of motion to be a bit away from the jump and more parallel to the line you want her to take rather than rotating as much to her. Facing her too much was opening up the front side of the jump and not showing her the pull to the threadle side.

Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>You’re going to think I’m a hypochondriac. I am dealing with some blood clots in my leg and in my lungs. On blood thinner and the whole nine yards.>>

OMG!!! I know you are not a hypochondriac! The clots must be scary and painful – I am glad the blood thinners are working their magic and you are back to running!

Sequence 1:
Great job making the connections on the first part of the walk through! You were emphasizing woking back to her as you exited the crosses and that really helps her.

My only connection suggestion is to connect more on the way to the backside (7-8) so she doesn’t end up on the front side.
You added your verbals and more speed and maintained the connection, which is great!

Your handling plan was also super clear.
Wrapping her to her right on jump 1 works, but wrapping her to her left on 1 will set a bette line to 2 – it is right in front of her as she exits the left turn wrap, and that will allow you to move up the line sooner because you don’t have to step her to 2 like you do on the right turn wrap.

The first run looked fabulous! Great connection and timing, and she seemed to know where to be the whole time, no questions. YAY!

>>At the end of this run I did a post turn instead of a front cross, think that’s the only difference.>>

Yes – I think what happened was you got closer to the entry wing of the backside at 8 than planned, so stepping into the FC there would have put you in her way. It was a good think-on-your-feet moment to do the post turn and keep going.

The 2nd run was great too! You your blind 5 to 6 was a bit earlier and looked great! And the post turn after the backside worked well here too.

Sequence 2:

>>I did not use a lead out hear even though most would. I am having trouble getting here to start, so I am working on techniques to get her going at the start line. It is much worse at a trial. >>

Start lines at trials are stressful and have a lot of pressure, so it is great to practice what you would do at a trial to help get her going.

You did a rear cross on 2 which totally worked. You can also treat 1 like a bit of a backside and send her to it and do a FC on the wing closer to jump 2. Have you taught her the behind-the-back start where she runs around behind you? She might think that is super fun!

The rest of the walk through looked really good! You might have gone a little closer to the 4 jump for the blind than you needed to. And you can go closer to 5 and see if you can get her to layer for the 7-8 line.

The opening line 1-2-3 working great with your plan of starting with her and rear crossing 2! And you nailed the rest of it. That is 2 courses in a row that you nailed on the first run! YAY!

Interestingly, on the next run, she did not do as well when you had her spin before jump 1 or asked her if she was ready. She was slower and wandered off a bit. That might be too much pressure? She did a lot better when you basically got right down to business o the first run at 1:45.
The rest of the run was great when you started moving 🙂 So trying the start line without pressure might be the key!

Sequence 3: This also went well! And good job continuing even with the little bobbles – that helps you think on your feet like you would need to at a trial!

Just about all of it looked really good – the walk through matched the run in those parts, like the 1-2-3-4 opening with the rear cross, and the ending line. Those sections had clear connections so you also had clear connections in the run! Lily thrives on connection 🙂

The bobble spots were where the connection was not as clear in the walk through – at 4-5, you were looking forward in the walk through and that is what happened in the first run, so she missed the 5 jump. You fixed it beautifully in the 2nd run.

The other spot was on the way to the 10 backside – in the walk through you were looking ahead of where she would be too, so that made it harder to connect in the first run (she had the spin to the left in the first run and missed the next jump). The 2nd run went much better! She still had a small question about going to the backside, but that was probably lack of backside experience (she doesn’t see them that often) but also you were running towards the wing, which pushed her away a bit.

Her only other question was at 2:45, where she was running past the jump. I think it was because your path after the tunnel exit was converging towards her, so she read that as a push away to the backside line. It is also possible she was heading to the shade 🙂 but I think it was mainly your line of motion was moving towards her (rather than parallel to her line) so she was reading that as a handling cue.

Great job here!!!! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! (Or afternoon there :))

Looking at the first video:
Her wait is getting better and better!! She is moving as you reach in to reward her from your hand, so using a ‘catch’ marker will be more effective (it really helps with all of my little dogs :))

Just be sure to say the marker without moving… then throw the reward.

For he mat versus tunnel: ideally you are holding her so you can say the word a few times (‘mat mat mat’) then let her go. By saying it a few times before she moves, she has a better chance of processing it and getting it right. She is used to running to the tunnel on any verbal or movement, so she had a bunch of tunnels when you said mat.

Adding the jump before helped the processing because she could hear the cues a bit more before making a decision, plus there was a little handling involved. But she started to get frustrated at the end and leaping up. It is possible that the session went on too long (almost 5 minutes is a lot for a young dog) because it is mentally challenging to ignore her favorite thing (tunnel) to do a mat or stay, especially when the reward is food.

So to avoid the frustration, keep the sessions shorter (2 minutes total) and incorporate the toy more for the mat sending too!

She seemed confident to go up and down the plank! And was finding the entry really well – nice and balanced from the side. Hopefully you never see the angle of entry on course but it is good to train her to do it!

I think the angle of the plank was a bit too steep for getting her to stop at the target on the way down. She was running down with her weight forward and then her rear was swinging off. You can avoid that by moving the target further away so she can run straight off the plank to it. She is too small to do a 2on 2off on the teeter, but have you decided if you want to do it on the dog walk? If you want the 2on 2off, you can reduce the angle of the plank and work on the position from an easier angle, then eventually make the angle harder so it simulates the dog walk.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
The sequences are looking really strong! Your connection is looking good too 🙂 Taq is getting super great at reading lines!

The first rep was a rear cross to a FC which worked well! The 2nd rep of leading out dog on left to do a FC had a great turn, because it provides info for the collection.

You did a FC 4 to 5 and it worked well – be sure to stay connected back to her as you finish the cross. A blind will be even more effective there and get you up the line faster. Getting up lines faster will be helpful because she is so fast already (and will keep getting faster!)

You had a bit more sequencing at the end of the video: 

The FC 2-3 is great there – you can send more to the #2 tunnel instead of drive to it as much, so it is easier to get back to the FC position and push to 4. That will also give you a bit more time to decel into 4 (as she is jumping 3) to get a tighter wrap. Or, you can do a BC on the landing side of 3 which puts you right there for the turn at 4.

Connection looked strong and Taq seemed to have no questions! Super!

The bang game on the teeter is looking good too – she is seeming to be very confident and you had her jumping on right at the very end there. Yay! She wants to look up at you, so I want to convince her to get her head down more though (it will create a better weight shift). You can try a toy on the ground about 6 or 8 feet ahead (or the MM or food bowl) – this is a good challenge because it will get her head lower and looking ahead (don’t watch da momma!) and also will challenge the impulse control a bit of staying on the board and stopping in position (or jumping off to run to the reward :))

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

The Tunnel threadles are going well! You can add more motion to them now (when doing the double tunnels) – after sending him into the tunnel, ru t the exit to connect to him, then move forward while threadling to the other side of the tunnel. Keep moving towards it until he turns himself away to the tunnel.

He had a little more trouble when you added the wing at first –
He was not really processing the verbal wrap cue so a name call can help there to kind of break through the exciting visual of the tunnel. You kept working it and he had a lightbulb moment:

The sequence at 1:39 – 1:43 was great – you got his attention around the wing and turned really well then kept moving to the threadle side of the tunnel. Super! Moving towards the threadle entry on the tunnel really supports his commitment to it.

Doing it to the left seemed a lot easier for him – he processed the wrap cue immediately and really well. That s definitely his stronger side on this skill!!

But the right turns are coming along nicely too: the rep at 2:17 was great to the right! And then he finished strong – the last sequence to the left looked fabulous!

So for the next session, start with the left turns to refresh the skill and then that is going well switch to right turns.

The teeter is looking good! I think a couple more sessions at this tip is great then we can add more tip in a couple of days.

The zig zags are going well too – you can ‘flatten’ the angle a bit now for a harder challenge. That will widen the distance, so you will probably need to overlap the wings even more to maintain the bounce. As it gets harder, definitely have his reward already on the ground to help keep his head lower (that will promote the best jumping form).

Great job here!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

You must have read my mind… I was thinking of you last night and wondering how your hand felt!!! No worries – take care of the hand and we still have until September 23rd to post videos!! Feel better and thank you for checking in!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I agree – this went really well!!! Click/treat to you for making GREAT exit line connections!

At the beginning:
Going through the box past the tunnel looked great – nice exit line connection after the first jump!

Adding the sequence:

Good timing on the check to get the tunnel exit – you were consistently strong with this timing for this session, so another click/treat for you! Yay!

You were a little decelerated the first time through there (3-4) at :37 so you almost got the front side, but you kept moving on all the other reps and she never looked at the front side. You can add more connection back to her (have your dog side arm back to her nose more) so she can see the connection and the backside wing more clearly and won’t need to glance up at you.

Terrific exit line connection on the 4 jump every time – on the video, it is so clear that I knew she would come to the correct line (even on the tunnel balance reps!)

One tiny blooper was when you were a little too early with your cues for 2 at 1:15 so she took the tunnel, no worries though – that was the only time it happened and you were great on the rest.

The full sequences starting at 1:32 were great: consistently clear timing of the check for the tunnel exit 3-4, great connection as you sent through the box, nice layering!

>>Am I doing the dig/dig/dig correctly here? Is it even supposed to be a dig/dig/dig?>>

Yes, it is a threadle wrap, so it is the dig dig. You were doing it correctly for sure!

She went to the backside there on the first full run – I think your forward cues in the layering were too powerful. Instead of a big GO ON for the layering, cue a right turn at 1:38 to bring her back to the dig dig jump.

At 2:03 you had some decel and her name and she turned right towards you after the layering. Super! And you got the left turn there back to the tunnel!!! And the last rep looked good there too.

The go was a little late at the very end on the first time through it, because you were pulling out the toy 🙂
Much better at 2:35 – the go verbal was right before she entered the tunnel and she saw your motion and she drove straight to the last jump.

Terrific work here! It is fun to see her balance the tight turns with the big layers and GO lines. Great job showing it to her!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Nice work here! For the RCs, I think you found the right balance of where to be on reps 2 and 3 (a shade too far ahead on rep 1). It would be interesting to see what would happen it you got in closer to jump 3 to set the RC but drove forward to the RC diagonal at 4 – it is a precise line but can get you further ahead after the RC for the backside at the end!

Looking at the Backside versus tunnel: He gave really good feedback! I think the main thing is the think about running parallel lines to the obstacle you want:

For the backside, when he is jumping 2 he needs to see the entry wing so ideally you are on a parallel path to the center of the bar of the backside (or even further over). That means lateral distance away from 2 – when you got in close to jump 2, it was much harder to show the backside.

At :30 you were on his line and blocking the wing – body said tunnel and mouth said jump. You can see that he looked at you, saw the motion, then went to the tunnel.

You cleared the line more at :42 but it was late (running forward close to 2 then moved over to 3) so he made a last minute adjustment

You were earlier about going to the backside at :48and 1:1 1 so he got it sooner! You were still showing the tunnel line a bit while he was at 2, but moving sooner to 3 definitely helped.

On the lat backside rep, you were definitely showing tunnel line at 1:23 so he was looking at the tunnel then looked at you as moved laterally.

So as you keep angling the backside, you can send to 1 and don’t go anywhere near 3 – just run to the center of the bar at the backside.

The parallel line will help the until too, but further away from 2 as well. When you wanted the tunnel at :53, you were actually starting on a great line for the backside 🙂 You can see him look at you to affirm that yes, it is the tunnel LOL
Then at 1:01 you didn’t have a parallel line to the tunnel so as you were pulling away – so he pulled off the line too.
Pulling away a bit less at 1:06 helped get the tunnel there and on the other reps.
So for a strong parallel line here, your goal os to run a line parallel to 2 and the tunnel entry, but as far away as the tunnel exit! That strategically starts as you send to 1 so he sees the parallel line the whole time (and the big loud verbals of course :))

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Sorry for the delay – I was waiting for the first video to finish processing but it is still saying it is processing. Maybe it has an error?

On the 2nd video:

The bigger distances definitely added challenge – harder to stay in motion and connected, harder for her to control arousal (she did well with this as the handling info got clearer and clearer!)

At the beginning, to set up the next line:
Be further from 1 so you can be more across the tunnel exit then

Also turn her the other way (to her right) for two reasons:
– it is a better line to the tunnel
– you can move away sooner because you won’t need to step in and cue her to take the tunnel

The biggest struggle on this one was the connection on the tunnel exit at :05, :28, and the other reps. You were looking forward too much so she did not exit knowing where to be next.

Keep going if something goes wrong, even if you have to make up a sequence on the fly. Sometimes you rewarded and some times you did not, but you always stopped there. It is all handler error so the best option is to keep going so she doesn’t get frustrated. You can see that she was having some mini zoomies on the line after the first tunnel, where the frustrating moments happened, even when the connection was clear.

Once you locked into connection and staying in motion, things got a lot smoother (like after 2:08). And you kept going after a blooper so she didn’t get frustrated and there were no zoomies. 🙂

The hardest part on this sequence was turning to her left on jump 2! She consistently turned right there – that means she did not see the rer cross diagonal early enough, so lead out a little less (her stays looked good!) so you can set the RC a lot sooner so she can adjust her takeoff to turn left.

Finding the layering looked good the you set the line. Lots of motion and connection really helped!!

Doing the FC to get her back to the other side of the tunnel opened up the tunnel – a blind will work better there because you can show the line sooner and get out of the way sooner 🙂

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! The Hot Topics went well!
Looking at the different sequences:

Video 1 -Brake arms can totally help these turns! She had a question at the beginning about whether the 3 jump was a threadle wrap or not – you had 2 hands and a lot of shoulder pull away from the line. The brake arms can be different looking with open hands, palms down or facing her, that are visible to her but kind of locked in place (not swooshing around at all).
And your motion can still face the front of the bar, no extra pull needed – the brake arms just get added on top of that to add to the turns. You got that smoother and smoother – to get the RCs, you can be closer to the 3 jump to set the line so you are not as far ahead for the RC. That actually puts you further behind the next line.

On the BCs 3-4 and the tunnel layering balance: the cues were very distinct and she read them well! You can lead out more on both of those: with a bigger lead out, you will be better across the BC line when she needs to be there (you were on her line so she went around you). And with a bigger lead out, you will have more time to cue the tunnel exit and be well past it when she exits.

Video 2: looking at backside versus front side versus tunnel: You don’t need her name on this before the backside, let’s use the backside verbal versus the tunnel verbal. Your backside verbal and tunnel verbal sounded really different (yay!) so the difference in sound plus the position should get it very clear for her. She is doing great!! The name call should put her into some handler attention and set up a front side or more of a turn.

Positionally, you can be further across the bar on the backside (closer to the exit wing) which will help get the discrimination and also help get the exit more easily because you will be able to get past the exit wing sooner.

Video 3:

Push wrap started off well! Then at :12 she ended up in the tunnel: you pushed her off the wrap by moving forward before she was really past you and before she turned to the bar – the motion forward, plus the connection of looking at her and not at the landing spot made it look like a RC on the flat (into the tunnel :))

A more experienced dog might be able to push past you there? But mainly you can wait in the position for one more heartbeat until she cues you to move forward again. She will cue it by moving past you and turning to the bar (if she hasn’t turned to the bar yet, you can’t leave yet – that first step is important). You held position a lot better and you can see her cues (like at 2:06) so that is what you want to wait for at this point.

You added additional verbals to get her to the backside but I don’t think you needed to – she was always coming to the backside (yay!), it was the timing of you moving forward that was the question. But you were more patient on your motion on the other reps and she did great!

Adding the threadle:
On the first reps, she needed at turn cue on 4 to set up the turn to the threaddle (and help her come off the line to the backside). The turn cue was much better at :52, so the next step is to really open up the threadle shoulder and stay in motion…. But slow steady motion to help isolate the skill.

Walking through it (like 1:06) was great! That is something to show her for now, so she can process all of the cues happening. You added decel and foot rotation on some of the later reps (where she got ahead and got the threadle) but I like the slow steady motion better because it is truer to the motion she will see.

You will be able to crank up the motion pretty soon and won’t need to turn your feet – which will make it easier to get to the blind on time. The BC ended up late or out f position when you were decelerating or rotating in the threadle (getting the front side of 7 on some of them) so definitely add staying in slow, steady motion through the threadle so you are in better position for that.

I think by about 2:20 she was toast on this sequence (and also on the 4th video) You were a lot of reps into the sequence at this point so she was slower, left the stay, not as responsive. You will probably want to shelve this for a couple of days and let latent learning percolate, then revisit it.

4th video – she was definitely toast here, definitely slower. The can of worms of the layered threadle was probably best left to a different session, because she was trying to sort it out but was tired, and also the info was not as clear because you might have been tired too 🙂 You can always ended a session without getting the correct behavior, because whippet brains will figure it out on their sleep and come back knowing it (it is as if we have uploaded a course map LOL!!!). She did get it at the very end, so leave it be for a bit and revisit after a few days. It is a hard skill but I am sure we will be seeing it on course soon!!

Courses: This is going well! There are a lot of places where you matched the walk through to the run really well! And some good learning spots about strategically setting up lines and giving info.

Two suggestions:
On the walk through, add in a lot more verbals. I could only really hear the occasional tunnel verbal and you had a lot more verbals than that in the run 🙂

You can also add in more running on the walk through. Yes, it is exhausting… but it will get you very comfy with the speed you will need to be moving with during the actual run. That helps especially at a trial, when space in a walk through is so limited and you can’t really run. We are training your brain for her speed 🙂

Course 1:
Strategically on the opening, this is a place where you don’t need a lead out on 1. You can start closer to 1 so there is a ton of motion into the layering and so you don’t get caught decelerated too far down the line for the sprint back to the 6 Threadle and weaves.

On the run, you handled it as you planned – she totally seemed to understand the layering and didn’t need much help at all besides your verbals (you had some turn cues planned but she didn’t need them). By leading out further than needed, you were late getting to 6 so there was too much acceleration at :27 and she shot past the threadle. That is good info that she doesn’t need a lot of help in the layering and you can get way up the line for 6-7!!!!

Great Exit line connection at :21 in the walk through. (BC 8-9). You matched it perfectly in the run at :25 🙂 which allowed you to time the turn cue on the tunnel as well. That is exactly what we want!

That section went REALLY well… there was a bar down at :39 on the run because you were standing still and praising – no time for praise on course with your tiny rocket ship – run and tell her about 11-12-13 🙂 That is all the praise she needs LOL!!!

Add more exit line connection on the spin exit at :30 in the walk through (jump 10). She found the line there but you were pointing a bit forward, so we want to keep rehearsing pointing back to her and making the big connection.

The hardest past of the course here was 16-17-18-19. On the walk through, the line to 16 was unclear. I think the way it was set is it is more of a serp from the tunnel exit and not a threadle for her.

On the run, she had questions about it – at :49 the open shoulders pushed her o the backside Then at 1:13 you overcompensated and did a threadle cue from really far away, which is why she came in towards (because threadles do involve coming towards the handler). It is more of a serp from the weave exit to the front of 16, so moving along the line from the exit of the weaves to the exit wing of 16 can present a serp line to her more.

The TW after the a-frame was also hard. 2 suggestions for that:

Start the cue when she is still on the a-frame. Ideally, she is seeing it as she comes over the top of the a-frame so she exits ready for the TW. On these reps, you were started when she exited the frame which made the info late (there is so much speed and momentum coming off the running contacts that the next cue has to be delivered while they are still on it – the joys of running contacts!)

Also, I think your physical cue varies and so she is not consistently seeing a clear TW cue.

At 1:16, you had a shoulder pull with a forward arm so you got the backside. More decel at 1:34 and more shoulder pull at 2:08 helped – but I am not sure what your threadle wrap cue is: one hand forward, or low closer to you, (like the walk through) or 2 hands? More clarity there will help you consistently show it to her so she can respond better.

The ending went well, adding the threadle to the last jump really helped based on how this was set.

Course 2:
Looks like 1 was on th wrong side in the walk and the run, but either way you still had a great send on the line and to the dog walk to get way ahead!

For the push wrap at 4 – remember to rehearse letting her get past you and turn to the jump and wait for her cue for you to leave, same as in the hot topics. You kept moving forward at :45 before she passed you which pushed her off the line. Good job getting her back and continuing!!!

Backside after a-frame unclear at :32 in the walk through.
It was very clear in the run! Be sure to rehearse the handling cues in the walk through, because you ended up in a different spot on 7 (it was not clear in the walk through but appeared to be landing side of 7).

You got it really well (low 2-handed threadle wrappy move – she read all of those 2-handed cues here PERFECTLY so that is something to consider because she is not reading the one-hand TW moves as well on the first try).

You did a serp 9-10-11 in the walk through. You have time to do a cross 9-10 since she can weave independently.

In the run, you tried for the cross but hadn’t walked it… you were early with high arms at :57 so she correctly did not take 9. Keep going there! Try to save the refusal or fix it and continue. That will help trialing!

And in the walk through, walk all of the options so you are ready for anything 🙂
You are positionally a bit too far over on the BC at 1:08 but timing was better so she got the jump. Then too much decel and turn cue (not really needed there because she can set up the line to the tunnel pretty independently) put too much pressure into the takeoff spot which read like a RC/turn away and she turned the wrong way on 10.

Keep going! Save the back jump and carry on. Yes, she was getting rewarded with the toy but at this point trying to continue is better for trial prep (more on that below).

For the jump after the tunnel there (12) you can use forward cues to get her to commit at the distance. I think you were using turn cues so she was turning 🙂 The more you rehearse those verbals in the walk through, the easier it will be to get them out before she goes into the tunnel.

Back on track for the 14-15 line – you ran it as you walked it, with a decel two hands on the TW to the left. NICE!

Handling the TW at 17 dog on right really hard for baby dog so she didn’t quite get it at first (too hard to see the threadle wrap cues with you on the other side of the DW for now). Moving back towards the jump really helped her!

More about continuing when something has gone wrong rather than stop and restart:

The stop and go (even with a toy) can be frustrating plus it doesn’t give you a moment to reset and show clearer handling. We see it here when she is just sending herself to various lines at 1:50 for about 15 seconds, trying to guess and frustrated (and tired) – plus the cue to wrap 15 is a right wrap cue and you wanted her to turn to her left. So there was more stop and go there (failures) until you clarified it more at 2:14. The dogs know this is a game of “keep going” and they are brilliant are reading us – so if we stop and deliver a toy at our side in the middle of a course with a ‘good girl’ or ‘nice try’, that is actually not going to be a reward (it is more of an interference or can be a punisher). If you use a marker and reward placement (like “get it!” Or something that indicates correct response) that can be more of a reward. But continuing is also a reward for effort and is a great way for both of you to think on your feet and have resilience to little bloopers 🙂

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Author]

Posts