[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>For the wrap on 2 the threadle wrap definitely got me ahead more than the push wrap.

Great to know!!!! And useful 🙂

>>Mookie did it on the threadle wrap verbal backside cue while Alonso needed the threadle verbal and arm as well as backside verbal but he flowed through it nicely.>>

That sounds pretty normal – Mookie brings his experience to the game and Alonso is still learning, so needs more help.

>>OM Goodness Tracy you out did yourself designing these >>

Haha!! Yes, they were intended to challenge you 🙂


>>Seq 1. I learned from this course that Alonso can both decelerate and accelerate on a dime and can follow what I tell him.>>

This is awesome! You have put that into his foundation and it is exciting to see it show up on course! YAY!!!

>> Mookie due his huge stride length he cannot decelerate on a dime well and seemed lost when I tried it >>

Right! He needs cues sooner and probably in a bigger way (like brake arms along with decel) so he has time to sort out the mechanics of the turn.


>>Seq 2. 12 to 13 I did a backside blind on 3 to a backside slice on 14 to 15 for Mookie as he wanted to flick to the dummy jump. >>

It is possible that you on his line a bit, if he was convinced to move away to take the dummy jump? Also, dogs of his generation are not used to staying on lines with off course jumps nearby like young dogs are.

>>I eventually worked this out with Mookie also. I learned that Alonso reads threadles beautifully while the impulsive Mookie doesn’t respond even if I stop for him to come to me. Mookie didn’t even follow my close, close verbal cue and arms for his first run today which he usually does.>>

This might also because of the generational differences. When Mookie was a youngster, we didn’t need to train these threadles 🙂 But now that they are a big element of course design, Alonso learned them from the beginning of his training and that might be why they are easy with him.

. So proud both dogs did well and showed nice skills. The puppy is catching up to Mookie on his skills. I will have to remember their differences when walking courses for them >>

Sounds like they were both super successful and also that you were able to sort out the cue needs for each. Yay!!! And yes, definitely talk the courses with this in mind… which is what the next games package is all about 🙂

Thank you for the update!!! Great job!!

Tracy


[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Yes, it has been weird summer heat this year! Hopefully things will settle a bit for the rest of the summer (but I doubt it LOL!!)

This course went really well!!!! She had some of the best distance work and commitment I’ve ever seen her do! Yay!!

Opening – super nice forward focus on 1 to let you get the 3-4-5 line both times!!!

That set up the next line to be really nice too. Small detail for a tighter line: You can give the get out cue with the upper body and opposite arm on the jump after the a-frame as soon as you release from the frame so she turned directly to it, rather than going stride for a couple of strides then turning to it.

At :26 and 1:54 on the 10-11 cross, you can be closer to the line to 11 rather than get across the bar at 10 – that cued a wider line and you had to stop moving to send her back. If you stay closer to the entry wing of 10, you can stay in motion, cue 11, and be further ahead after 12.

The tunnel verbal was very clear bur physical cues overrode it at :28 because you were fully turned and facing the weaves. You stepped in more when you sent again and it helped her by adding more connection. And on the full run at 1:56, you made sure you kept connection there too and she got it really well!

Nice weave entry each time! She is really owning that skill now!!!! YAY!

On the tunnel entry under the DW at 16 – at :58 even with the distance, there was motion support and visible connection so she committed really well.

When you went back through there, the connection was not as strong – you accidentally pulled her off the jump before the tunnel without connection at 2:05 and 2:29 – she thrives on connection as being a huge part of the cue. And then took off without connection at 2:08 so she did not take the tunnel. That is great info that she is able to pull off big distance work a long as there is connection support. Without it, she correctly changes her line into handler focus.

I think you were wanting to get to 17 (understandably haha), but she will give you permission to leave by looking at 15. If she doesn’t look at 15, that means you have to help with more info.

She had a question on the RC at 17 at 1:02 – the cue looked like a decelerated FC wrap then you pushed in and she was confused (and gave her opinion 🙂 This was where Katniss was turning to the wrap direction. Not just yells at you instead 🙂 So she also needs the clear RC diagonal that you showed her on the reset at 1:13.

And you also had a rear cross diagonal at 2:34, but being so far away from it (getting around the DW) she checked in but then found the correct line. YAY!!! With Nox, it must have been clear info when she checked in because if it was still unclear, she would have continued to rage about it. But the RC diagonal was clear so she got right back on the line.

Nice ending line each time too!!!

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The crosses are going well! Timing it looking good when you get her committed to the jump after the tunnel. With connection to her (and hand pointing back to her) she committed really well, and that allowed you to start & finish the BC and FC with lovely timing.

There were a couple of spots (:35 and 1:09 for example) where you didn’t quite commit her to the jump after the tunnel – getting too far ahed without connection back to her caused your shoulders/feet to turn away from the line, so she skipped the jump to follow the ‘new’ line 🙂

You can be moving forward while committing her (rather than getting ahead and standing still) so you don’t have to do a massive acceleration when you see her lock onto 3. When you are stationary, she is more likely to slow down (collection cue) and come off the line.

The exit line connection after the BC or FC was the only place she was asking questions. You were finishing the cross by putting your dog-side arm/hand out parallel to your hip and looking down towards the hand, so from behind all she could really see was your back. That caused her to drift wide to hit for more info. She came in to the correct side when she saw the jump.

So to tighten up that line, practice the exit line connection mechanics every time you do a FC or BC (or spin too) – that is hagn a toy or treat in the original dog side arm before th cross begins, then when you finish the cross – that arm (now the opposite arm) comes across your belly and sits on the opposite hip. That will help push your new dog-side arm back, so you can point your fingers to her nose and get your eyes to her eyes. That will eliminate the wideness because the side info will be clearer a lot sooner.

Really lovely connection 5-6-7-8 on both sides at the close of the sequence!

Send and go –
Motion directed towards the takeoff spot on a send jump is a big piece of the cue, so be sure to send to the takeoff spot as part of the send cue by stopping towards it and using a lot of connection. You were staying in motion and pointing at the jump, while turning your shoulders away from it. She was able to pick it up out of the motion on the first rep, but at :33 as she landed from 3, you were fully turned away from the send jump so she correctly did not take it.

Your cue was definitely clearer at :44 so she committed to the send with speed and confidence!

Nice blind timing at :07 and :59! nice exit line connection there!
You don’t have to be as close to the jump for the blind. At :47, you were closer to the tunnel entry you wanted and her turn was great! The exit line connection was not as clear there at :47 and :59 (arm next to your hip, eyes looking down towards it, so be sure to use the exit line connection you at at :07.

The FC worked well on the 2nd rep but she was very hot and it was good to give her a break.

On the rear crosses: What was happening here was that info for the RC coming after she had to make a takeoff decision on the early reps. All the cues before then looked like a left turn wrap (FC), so that is what she did. What I mean by that is you were pulling towards the wrap wing, then as she got close to the bar, pushing towards her. Ideally, you would be showing the rear cross diagonal pressure (towards the center of the bar ) starting as she was over the bar after the tunnel, to set up the RC and make the info look different from the FC.

When you broke it down, the first rep there had a rear cross diagonal so she got it. Then. Think she figured out it was a RC/turn away game, so the cues were not as relevant. When you switched sides, she was delaying her response til landing so she did get it but you can see she is turning in the wrap direction over the bar then turning to the RC side after landing. This did get the Rcs, but it can also cause FC wraps to turn into rears if the cues look similar enough.

I grabbed some screenshots so you can see what I mean:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vuf5UdYvyTXZXudKhhCLPdteKp7ivJR7FENdFQwExfQ/edit?usp=sharing

So as you do the RCs, be sure to et the line very close to the previous jump (with decel if you have to turn her to the line) and then move up the RC diagonal to the center of the jump. And ix in some balance reps of FCs or just going straight, to keep the cues clear 🙂

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>But now I see how ‘routine’ can play against us so will try to be ‘less predictable, thank you!>

Dogs are just so brilliant at figuring us out LOL!!!!


>>Oops. Poor Fly!>>

He was fine with it, because you rewarded his effort to sort it out. 🙂 Yay!


>>Yes, it’s ‘check’. I think I was using it but maybe I was using ‘over – check’ so by the time he heard ‘check’ it was ‘late’>>

I don’t think you need the ‘over’ because ‘check’ should mean to take the jump and turn tight. So your cue can be “check check check check check” as you decelerate into the cross, to help commit him and turn him.

>>If we ‘get lucky’ with the weather and can go to AG yard, do you think it would be better to work on games we haven’t tried yet, or work on those we did try, BC to tunnel and Straight lines? >>

I think he will like changing it up to new stuff! The other games are looking really good, so no need to repeat this. You can play with the new stuff! That also gives you an opportunity to work on crosses, but in a different context.

Looking at the crazy toy video: I loved it! He held his head together really well! He was moving faster, which then requires your cues to come faster too 🙂

>> “If toy flied forward first time, it sure WILL BE thrown forward 2nd time”>>

Haha! Yes! That is where he was looking! In his defense, the wrap cue was a little late. As he was landing from the jump before the wrap, you were still driving forward so the cues looked the same as the previous “go” rep. You decelerated when he was about halfway between the jumps (you can see his head turn to you at :14) but the moment, and physics from his speed and size meant he continued to go straight.

You changed the timing on the next reps and he definitely knew he was turning! Yay! Question: did you want him to turn away for a rear cross at :23 and :30 and :37? I thought maybe you wanted him to wrap to his left for a FC? Your timing of changing the info was good (he was over the bar of the previous jump) so he knew it was not straight. But at :23 and :30, you rotated and faced the rear cross line so he turned away to his left.
At :37 you added a decel facing forward (nice!!!) then rotated but he turned left – that kind of looked like a cue to turn right, towards you?

If you did want the FC (right turns) on these, I think you needed to decel like you did at :37 but face the right turn wrap wing for longer (rather than rotate) until you see him taking off to his right. That might feel ‘late’ but the decel will cue the collection, and the slight delay on the rotation will help him turn the correct direction.

If you did want the RCs, you can move up the line more like you did at :46.

The rep at the end (:46) looked more like a true rear cross line, with you driving up the line and putting pressure towards the center of the bar really set it up well!

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>It took a full 48 hours for him to sleep on it. I tried to work the exercise again last night, he was all gung ho to play and as soon as I asked him to wrap he just stood there with his tail at half staff. I tried one more time with food and I clearly had no dog to work. So we bailed last night.>>

He might have still been mentally tired from his big weekend! It was smart to bail.

He was feeling spicy in the first video for the toy! It took him a few starts to remember to go past the toy to the wing – good patience from you to ask him a couple of times to get the game going without losing the toy excitement!

One thing that really helped him leave the toy (and you) to go to the wing was when you shifted your connection from his cute face to the wing behind you.

At great example of this was at :44 – :50. When you looked at him during the send (:44 and :47) he didn’t go to the wing, he was locked onto you and the toy. But when you shifted the connection to the wing – he went right to it (:45 and :48). Super!!

Remember to reward each wrap, even if it was not quite what you planned or you forgot what was next 🙂 At 1:47 you did a great wrap and didn’t get rewarded – I think you were trying to remember the next wing, but he was not sure what was happening, so giving him the toy there would be fine to bridge the gap to the next moment.

He did really well with the food on the 2nd video! Toy play does tire the pups out pretty fast, so going to food gets a few more reps in. He did well finding all 4 wings!
We also had a really good angle of seeing how well shifting your connection to the wing supports his commitment. Starting at 1:06, and also at 1:10 and most definitely at 1:12, you were connected to his eyes and as you cued the countermotion to the wing, you shifted your gaze to the wing and pointed at it. It worked really well! At 1:16 you did not shift quite as well, and he looked at you for longer before gong to the wing. So definitely keep working tat connection shift – that is when he is more successful!

And yes, adding the circle around the outside was easy and fun, a perfect balance to the much harder countermotion sends.

Great job!! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Yes it has been a HOT summer so far!!!!

He did really well finding the lines on these videos, even with the bars getting higher now!

A couple of ideas for you to answer the questions he had in different spots:

When you moved your arm forward, he was sometimes dropping his head to look for food. That was because you didn’t have any markers for most of the first video, so the arm movement was indicating food throwing. And he loves food!

You started a ‘get it’ marker at the end of the first video and on the 2nd video and that helped – we was looking for food on the ground less when your arm moved. So be very consistent with the marker and he won’t look for food until you mark and throw it. I think you can also be using either a toy, or a treat hugger/lotus ball because that is a more obvious placement when you throw it and he won’t have to find a cookie or check to see if he missed on.

Sometimes he would miss a jump or the tunnel, and it was because you were pointing ahead too much. He was out successful when you kept your hand pointing to his nose and your eyes on his eyes. If you point forward to the obstacle ahead of him, it turns the line of your shoulders away from the obstacle which actually cues him to *not* take it (like at :58 and 1:03 on the first video, and L27 and 1:29 on the second video). He committed beautifully when your arm moved with him rather than pointed ahead.

Now that you’ve added the wrap, you can start to time them to happen sooner – as he is landing from the jump before the wrap jump, you can start to decelerate. Then before he takes off, you can rotate and finish the front cross. The cues here were a little late (happening over the bar of the wrap jump) so you can add the earlier timing for sure.

Great job here! Stay cool!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
The Hot Topics went really well!

She had a couple of questions and was missing jumps on the line after the tunnel at the beginning – you can amplify your connection and stay closer to the line of jumps after the tunnel. When you got ahead she missed the jump after the tunnel, When you helped with that jump, she missed the next one (connection looked forward too early. At 1:08 it was just right – position and connection! She was able to find both jumps there.


The other thing that will help is randomly reward on that line with a thrown toy that lands between the jumps, so she keeps looking at the line and is not driving toward you. She was getting the toy after the last tunnel here but sprinkling it around as a reward on the jump lines will boost her commitment.

Nice job introducing the threadle wraps to her! Throwing the reward to the landing area was helpful to get her turning away to the jump. As you work these, try to fade out your hand motion, so they cue her to come in but you don’t need to also flip her back out. Your position (feet forward to the next line and verbal will help) plus the hand cue is different looking than your threadle slice cue.

She was doing well with the threadle slice cue too! Like with the threadle wraps – use the big arm cue to bring her in, but you can fade out also using it so indicate the jump bar. Keeping the arm back in threadle position keeps your shoulders open to the jump, so she should find it independently. Adding the additional cue means adding additional timing of that cue, plus it creates a conflicting indicator by turning your shoulders forward past the jump – so she might miss the jump entirely.

So for both threadle arm uses, showing her the arms is both the ‘come in’ and the ‘go to the jump’ cue – the different arm position, motion/lne and verbal help to differentiate the 2 types of threadles, so you don’t need to flip her back out to the jump.

I think she is ready for that in sequence! You did a bit of it at the very end and it looked really good!

Great job here 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
He did really well here! Nice job showing him all the different options!

The Go lines looked really good on both sides, and on 2 jumps and with the tunnel added too! Super!

I am also very happy with the wraps! I think you can experiment with decelerating sooner – after he lands from the previous jump, you can low down as you move forward. That will cue even better collection. Then as you see him get ready to takeoff, you can finish the FC and run the other way.

The rear crosses were a little trickier, but he did well! You used switch as the verbal on some reps and lala on others – the switch seemed more effective but I also think that was because you had clearer motion on those reps.

The RC at :58 was a little confusing to him because you said go go then a loud la la la, so he spun towards you to see if it was straight or a turn
On the other reps you had a clearer line so he didn’t spin.

To keep that line of motion clear for him, you can get on the switch/rear cross line sooner: as he is jumping the jump after the tunnel you can be starting the pressure of running towards the center of the bar of the RC jump.

We have a good view of it at 1:52 – you started when he was at about the halfway spot between the jumps, so he was approaching the RC jump but turning left. He did adjust to turn right but it was a lat minute thing for him.

Compare to 2:06, where he turned his head to the right before takeoff. This is because you started the RC line sooner: he was seeing motion to the center of the bar as he was finishing the previous jump, so had plenty of time to process the cues and find the correct turn. Yay!

The line of motion at 2:17 was also really good – he had a small question about the turn because even with a good line of motion, your right arm was pointing t the jump which actually turned your shoulders to the left turn side. He did a small check in then found the right turn. So you don’t need a lot of arm use at all on the rear crosses, just connection and motion up the line.

Since you have good directionals, you don’t need to use “go” on the rear crosses as that can muddy things a little. Go means to accelerate straight, so it makes it harder for him to get he RC info on time. You can say ‘jump’ which is less of a directional and that can help commit him as you move up the RC line.

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

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This went super well! he was able to find the line on almost all of them! And even on the one rep where he did not take the jump, it was still a good rehearsal because the toy landed in a good spot to support the go cue 🙂
Let latent learning work some magic here, and try it on the other side (dog on right) with you staying closer to the jump but getting way ahead, so he has to find it from behind you.

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This session with the bosu and wobble went really well! She seemed to have an easy time refreshing her memory an did not seem overly concerned about the movement or bang of the big wobble board. Yay! She seemed most confident getting on the side of it that was touching the ground, but then you got down lower to the ground and that seemed to help convince her to get on the taller end of it. Yay! Really nice session and a good balance for the teeter games.

>>Fluffy tug toys seem to be the most popular with her. >>

You can tie a favorite fluffy toy to something heavier so it is easier to throw? Like a hollee roller with a ball in it? She night like that!

>> Is there any concern with the dog being disappointed that other thrown toys don’t contain food? Or do they just learn which toy can have food?>>

Do you mean something like throwing the fluffy toy versus the food toy? I think they know the difference when they see you holding it (or smell it) so I would be surprised if she got to the fluffy toy and expected food. But if she is expected one over the other, then yes -she might be disappointed that is was the cookie instead of the toy, for example (or vice versa). So definitely check to see if she is interested in the toy or treat hugger before using it 🙂

Nice work here! How did the seminar go today?

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

The opening looked great! She understood the layered lead out, and the big send away on the line allowed you to easily get the FC near the end! Really nice!!!

>>kept losing her in the tunnel in the closing… maybe I needed to move more?>>

Yes, that is definitely what would help: stay in motion. After the FC , you stopped moving until she took off for the next jump. That decel cued her to turn and also when you rotated your shoulders, that confirmed that you wanted the tunnel. Yo can see it at :04 and :14, as well as :41. At :33 you also said tunnel 🙂

Compare to :24 – you kept moving there and she got the jump brilliantly! So after the FC, stay connected back to her but keep moving so you are cuing extension on the next jump and you can then be moving and showing connection to get her past the tunnel.

Nice work here!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

The pop outs are looking good!
Pop Out 1:
1-2-3-4-5 looked good! Nice blind 2-3!!

And yes, he was fast out of the tunnel and also yes, the threadle cue was late enough that he thought it was the front side 🙂 What happened was what I call a reverse transition – you went from decelerating at 5, to accelerating to 6. That blast of forward motion overrode the upper body and verbal cue.

In that moment, just keep going – we really like the speed! And he was confused when you turned away and walked back to 1. We don’t want him to dial it back after that, so it is fine to keep going and adjust the cue on the next run.

He got the 6 threadle on the 2nd run – the motion did not suddenly accelerate so it was easier to process the cues.
I really liked the double blinds there!!!! He was really fast and read them beautifully.

The threadle there at 1:27 and 1:46 was also tricky – the forward motion was supporting the from and the upper body was not quite rotated enough to open up the shoulders. He did catch it at the last minute at 1:28, but not at 1:46. On these reps, you did not rotate your feet like on the previous threadle wrap, so that made reading the motion harder.

Since we don’t want you to rotate your feet and this is a hard threadle where the front side is super obvious, 2 ideas for you:

– I think he might need a turn cue on 5, even if it is a mild attention cue like his name as he is approaching 5 so he is in the ‘something is coming’ mode for the threadle. Doing it from. Stay on 2 jumps simulates that so he got it easily. And on the very last rep, you either said left or Lift 🙂 but that got his attention and he also got it nicely!

– open up your threadle arm more, back to him, so he sees more upper body rotation on the threadles to help override your motion when the front of the jump is really obvious. You can till use the opposite arm, but also swing the dog side arm way back.

Handling 6 as a slice to the outside made 7-8- really easy! Super nice each time! The tighter you stayed to the exit of 6, the tighter his line was to 7.

Pop out 2: The BC and the RC looked good on the 4-5-6 line. It is definitely a right turn over 5. The. RC there is less risky in terms of getting out of the way… but I timed it and the blind was significantly faster (about 4/10ths on the broader line) so it is worth it to try for the blind!

Nice job getting the blind to the threadle slice 10-11!!! You can add in a bit more decel into the threadle so you don’t push him off the line, and also more upper body rotation and name call coming into it. That is what opened at :58. Compare to 1:16 and 1:58 where there was definitely more rotation (your left shoulder dropped way back) and he got it nicely! I don’t think you were in his way there, it is more about getting the upper body to override the lower body.

>>Didn’t get video but I did work some on starting with layering the tunnel and without the tree in the way. He does better when I also take a step forward and into his line a bit as I release him.>>

Super! I am sure he will keep building and building tay understanding.

>>Got some nice threadle wraps in at more of a distance and check out this bit from Masters Jumpping where he flipped away from the weaves to the tunnel 20ft away!>>

Wow!!! That looked great and check out the burst of speed on the line after it!! YAY!!!!!!! Super nice 🙂 Sounds like a fun trip!!

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I feel so upset that we can’t do much for this class now because of stupid weather:( Are there other AG classes planned as ‘working’ later this year?>>

It has been a terrible weather summer!!! What I will do for this class is extend it deeper into September, so people can finish the games without worrying about the weather. We have already extended the other class running this summer, and I will do the same for MaxPup 🙂 There are other classes coming up in Sept/October but we will give everyone time to finish this one 🙂

>>if we can get to AG field later this week, I want to try this setup again but without tunnel so we can do more reps. Suggestions how to set it up without tunnel? I was thinking 2 jumps in-place of tunnel (so he does 180 on those jumps for ‘first’ tunnel, and BC to jump on ‘2nd tunnel’ )>>

Yes – 2 jumps to replace the entry and exit of the tunnel. Or, just a wing or cone to replace the entry & exit. He can wrap them at pretty high speed 🙂

>>it’s amazing how much me slightly turning to him changes the way he runs! I did know about ‘connection’ before this class but I was thinking if I SEE the dog, all is good. I see now there is more than just ‘eye contact’!>>

Connection is so cool! The dogs read it as a handling cue and it every clarifying 🙂 And yes – there are times when I can see the dog but I am not connected, so they don’t know what to do.

On the video:
This is looking great! And he was very fast and motivated!!!

I think the broken start line is an anticipation of the rhythm of the release. You probably have a specific rhythm and he recognizes it 🙂 We humans are very predictable LOL!!!! And you did the rhythm but didn’t release so he had the oops. Try to be a little less predictable: sometimes a long praise before the release, sometimes look at him and release, so you are never doing the same thing every time.

Go line: Keep moving forward as you say the verbal like you did at :21. If you are stationary, he will look at you because the verbal and motion conflict. If you are moving, the verbal and motion are saying the same thing so he will look ahead more and more. Plus, he will anticipation that motion plus verbal GO means the reward will be thrown out ahead. You can see he was already starting to look forward more and more as you sprinkled GO reps in throughout the session.

Lovely lovely connection and motion to get the push to the backside!!

>>0:52 front-class. IDK if I did something to cause him to wrap the other wing, or it’s just his ‘favorite direction’….>>

I thought you were cuing a rear cross, and so did he 🙂 It was the lack of deceleration moving forward, and the sudden turning into him: it looked like a rear cross cue 🙂

FC wrap at :58 – you were a little early with the rotation (which is good, we humans are usually late and not early 🤣)
The deceleration is the most important part of the cue, so as he lands form the jump remember to keep moving forward as you decelerate. Then when you see him collecting before takeoff, you can do the FC rotation.

At 1:05, you moved forward longer (yay!) but did not decelerate until he was jumping – so he was wide.

At 1:15, I think you nailed it: you ran forward, then decelerated, then as he was collecting you did the FC. His turn was LOVELY!

On these front cross wraps – do you have a wrap verbal cue? It is hard to hear (partially because I am on the road and there is a lot of noise here!). If you were using a wrap verbal – keep doing it 🙂 If you were not let’s add one to help give him even more tools.

Looking at the rear crosses, starting at 1:30 – the timing was really good and you got on the line for the RC as soon as his feet touched down from the jump before the RC. He turned before takeoff. LOVE IT!!! When he is jumping full height bars, you will probably need to start that info before he lands, because he has such a big stride.

The last rep was also a rear cross (1:39) – you were a little later there by telling him to jump and turning your shoulders forward for a stride. As he was approaching the RC jump, he was turning to his left which means he did not know it was a rear cross yet. He changed lines in the air to get the RC. The timing of the previous RC was better because it was sooner! So you can commit him to the jump by saying jump but also showing the RC line like at 1:30, without turning to the straight line.

>>But we only got Novice JWW, 2 legs in Novice STD and Exc FAST. Sure becaue in FAST, she can run her own course and still Q LOL Just mentioning so you see how much (not much!) experience I have with Ag…)

You are doing awesome! The good thing about not having years of experience is that you don’t have to un-learn or re-learn any of the things we used to do in handling and training that turned out to be NOT helpful LOL!!! Agility is much better nowadays in terms of training and handling 🙂

>>I also have a video with him on other side of me AND me using a toy as a reward. That was ‘wild’! I will post it later, didn’t want to do one long video since we aren’t going to do much AG in the next few days>>

Looking forward to it! It is good to look at arousal and how we can help him be fast and aroused, but also very engaged. Toys tend to produce more arousal and that might be how he is at a trial, so it is great practice 🙂

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Ok for today’s fiasco. Taq wanted me to send you a message asking if we could bypass 3 wing ex since mom failed to do 2 wings!>>

Ha! Definitely NOT a fiasco at all. This game is really hard, especially with the circle wraps!

The FCs and the spins on the wing to the tunnel all looked lovely – super nice connection so she always knew where to be, and good timing too!

The circle wraps do have the element of you moving forward right behind her line. This is what you did at :44 and :51 and later on at 1:36: your lower body was good, trying to move up the line after she passed you. So what went wrong? Connection! You were looking hard at her so she did not commit. In this countermotion moment, you will want to look at the ‘landing’ spot of the wing (not at her) and point back to it, as you move forward. This is hard, so move forward slowly at first til you get comfortable shifting the connection and she gets comfy with the countermotion.

On the other reps, you were waiting for her a bit longer so you were still on the landing side. She committed well, but there was not as much countermotion. Your instinct to have lot of countermotion on the first reps was spot on, so keep working that and we will see if she can commit as you move up the line right behind her.

There were a couple of bloopers on the 2nd wing wit h the wraps – I think you were rushing a bit (that is relatable, she is FAST!). Remember decelerate and step forward with the dog side leg, which will help smooth out her commitment to wing 2.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! The sequence went really well!

One thing I notice is that you tend to say the verbal once, and it sounds the same in terms of pitch, volume, rhythm etc, making it easy to miss. You can repeat the verbal and change the pitch/rhythm/volume, even on these smaller sequences, so you get used to doing that for the bigger courses.

The blind to the tunnel 2-3 looks great on all the runs here!

You can connect more to him on the backside cue for 6 – you were looking forward a bit, so he was looking at you while over the 5 bar. More connection back to him will show the line sooner, so he won’t need to look at you.

Most of your exit lines on the FC after the 6 backside were ERALLY good, right on his line, so his line was really tight. You were not as close to the line at :51 and he went wider there – compare to next rep where you were on the line and he was much tighter 🙂

Looking at the ending:
Doing the push wrap/circle wrap went well – he read it really well, had a lovely turn. You were just passing the wing as he was landing from the jump.

The threadle wraps went great! He got it immediately (yay!) and also you were MUCH further ahead. That is good to know if the sequence would require you to be further ahead on the next line!

On the very last run you did a blind to a blind to the threadle wrap – it worked, but it was a lot of extra crossing and didn’t get you quite as far ahead 🙂

Great job here! It was fun to see him get the threadle wrap on that very first rep: nice clear cues there!!

Tracy

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