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Hi!
The handling combos went well!
I think it was adorable when she went to grab the toy on the first rep – silly and fun, but she wanted to play and that is GREAT! You had a chuckle then tried again, which is a good way to handle that moment.
Then after that, she had it figured out and at 1:00, she saw you throw the toy behind her but she was pulling to get to the wing to start the game. Brilliant girlie!!! LOVE it!!
The toy play and the running here got her really pumped up – all of the distractions fell away and she did great! I think the toy play works better for her outside when she is balancing all of the distractions that are bombarding her brain 🙂
As she exits the wing, make sure you get connection to her eyes before you take off and run to the toy. At 1:49, for example, she exited the wing and you were looking forward/pointing forward. She didn’t know which side of you to be on so she guessed. You get a big click/treat for rewarding her anyway even though it didn’t go according to plan. You had more connection on the next rep but you can make even more – hesitating at the wing to get that big connection before running forward so she gets the nice tight turn. You can use the exit line arm you are using with her brother Scotch to show the connection even more 🙂
And a TRIPLE GOLD STAR for when she ignored a jogger running past with a stroller. Wow! An off leash herding dog ignoring that challenge?!?!!?!?! I am so proud of her!!! That was impressive! Most dogs her age would not be able to do that.
Great job! Hope you don’t get any of that crazy weather today!
Tracy
She did great here! It was very challenging with soooo much in the environment but she was offering a lot of engagement! Super!
Dogs tend to have a natural preference when the environment is hard: some fidget or run around more, some get more stationary and a little frozen. This is normal and not even something they thing about 🙂 She wants to be stationary when the environment is hard – so you can help keep her moving by tossing the treats further away so she moves more to get them. The treats might have to be bigger and more visible (like chunks of white cheese) but getting her to chase them more will help even more with focus during distractions.
By contrast, if she was a dog that wanted to run around more when the environment was hard, we would have the cookies be a little more stationary 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
The lap turns are going well! One small detail is to keep your feet together until she arrives at your hand: then step back. Your leg was already back and you can see she was not as sure about driving to you. Your arm position was perfect!
The tandems went great – I think she really likes the added motion of these, especially when there is more distraction in the environment. Yay! Fast and snappy!!!
>She wasn’t interested in the prop, so I tossed a toy instead>
She was definitely interested in chasing the toy here! When she got to it, if you keep it squiggling and moving away from her, you will get lots of tugging. Keep it nice and low so she can really grab it.
It looks like she did hit the prop at a bit so you can do a separate game for that – in the distracting area, prop hits for cookies is a great way to work through distractions too.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
>Interesting! Do you mean after she goes thru the uprights & gets her cookie? >
Nerd alert! Yes, increasing arousal actually puts the brain in a more optimal state of focus, making it easier to tune out distractions. It is a balancing act to get it right and not get toooooo much arousal – the resilience games have already started working on that and I have more arousal games coming soon too 🙂
Arousal is widely misunderstood in dog sports (but the science is very clear) so people think higher arousal is BAD but actually… it is very helpful! Overarousal (stress) is bad and we will work on making sure Sunnie can self-regulate and we can help optimize her arousal as she grow up.
>Maybe I should be using cookie tosses when she gets fixated on the birds or flying leaves too? >
Pattern games help but you can see if she will play tug! It can be cookie toss to start, then when she looks at you: tug tug tug woohoo! Then cookie toss, lather rinse repeat 🙂
>We went to Lowe’s today, there were moments she was fixated on a thing, she wouldn’t take cookies (I had her lunch kibble) as a lure to move her off of the object. >
Being distracted at Lowes is normal – that place is distracting to me too LOL!! And I can see why kibble is not interesting enough to override that 🙂 I have a hierarchy of food rewards for the different environments:
– kibble for home and any place really easy
– string cheese or crunchy cheese balls or processed treats for other places or small distractions
– meatballs or chicken for the really hard places 🙂I am lucky in that my dogs have really solid GIs and don’t get upset stomachs, but I also introduce the food in tiny quantities.
>First lab that never took cookies like that! And she is my 5th one >
She is a good girl and is telling you about her reward preferences. You can also bring a fabulous toy to Lowes and see what she thinks.
>We had an amazing tunnel session tonight
She’s flying thru the tunnel no matter where I send her from! I would have loved to show you but my phone fell
You can hear my verbals really well tho’ LOL!!>HA! That sucks about the phone but also it is hilarious. The BEST sessions somehow never make it to video LOL!
Tracy
Good morning!
The tandem turn mechanics are looking really good!!!!
>I don’t think she’s really seeing the prop she’s just doing the turning exercise and I see why my arm stays there the entire turn! It’s hard for me to execute the turn without following thru (making the complete circle)>
She is definitely aware it is there, and was deliberately hitting it on the way to you on a couple of reps. But the prop was really close to the exit of the tandem turn, and your hand was still in front of her so she was watching it.
So what you can do is do the tandem turn further from it – rather than have the prop in the middle of the floor, have it a little closer to one end of the room. Then as you do the tandem turn, you can have her move with you all the way to the other end of the room (near where the couch is in this video). Then when you do the tandem turn, the extra room to the prop will give you more time to ge the turn hand out of the way and then you can move forward, like the parallel path game to the prop. That will cue her to hit it.
And no worries if it is a game that needs to go outside for more room – we add this to barrels soon and that will make it easier for her to see.
>At this point we are not calling this turn ?(or the lap anything yet right? I don’t have a word!)>
No words yet LOL!! Eventually it becomes a threadle wrap verbal for most of these types of turns (and a regular left/right verbal for the ones that happen on the front side of the jump). The verbal is specific to the context it will be used in.
Speaking of barrels: the rotated sends went really well!
Yes, she seemed to find it easier to turn to her right, as expected, but the left turns also went well – she was interested in your cookie hand for a moment then sorted it out. Yay!
You can add a bit more distance away from the barrel on the send now, which will allow you to begin moving away from the barrel even sooner 🙂
>She was funny when I was trying the motions without her she jumped right in and circled the barrel lol! (not on the video) I dropped cookies on her line rather than feed from my hand – was that ok?>
Yes! She was like GOT IT WE WRAP BARREL 🙂 And for the reward – at this point, you can use a tug toy 🙂 That will accomplish 2 things: make it really exciting, and add the challenge of ignoring the toy in your hand (this will come in handy in the future!)
As the weather continues to improve, you can take the prop and the barrel outside – but refresh the concepts with the simple sending games to see what she ‘remembers’ about them outside 🙂 Although the weather today around the country makes me wonder if the weather is actually improving hahaha
That first beep looked great!!!!
>But in all fairness we have been working on a few other things with me facing her like that – stand by & down stay, stays with catch to name a few! >
I didn’t see anything in particular to cue the difference other than right before the first rep, you pulled her towards you and handed her a cookie, then cued the beep beep. That might have been the cue to do it. On the other reps, you didn’t do that (she was further from you) and that might have been the context cue for sits and downs.
If that happens, you can toss a treat off to the side to get her up again without rewarding in the down position. Then call her right to you give her a cookie, then cue the beep beep. Towards the end, you were leaning lower and tossing the treats back – that helps! She might need a mat or target to back up to, so she remembers to back up and doesn’t offer sits or downs which probably get lots of rewards too 🙂
>Did I push too long trying to figure it out?>
Nope, you were good! The session was about a minute long, definitely not too long (unless there were another 50 reps after you turned off the video hahahahaha). She still got a LOT of cookies, and you didn’t get mad or tell her she was wrong. It was all good trying to sort it out.
Super nice work on all of these!
Tracy
Good morning! He did SUPER with all of the steps here!!! He is showing strong value to drive to the barrel. That means he is ready for turn and burn 🙂 which is what you were beginning to incorporate at the end.
You can start the turn and burn by having him lined up at your side like he was here, then you can step to the barrel. He was already going to the barrel when you had movement towards it, so I think that will be easy. When you put a cookie down in front of him when he was at your side, he was not sure if you wanted a stay or not – so you don’t need that cookie, you can step to the barrel and I bet he will go 🙂
Remember to have a line on the ground to tell you when tp do the FC and run. It is explained on there video 🙂
>I liked using the ball to keep Tribute from focusing on my hand. I have a Hollee Roller that migh work well too. It’s in the car under a pile of leashes. I will need to dig it up! >
He definitely liked the ball! I think a hollee roller is good too. You can use a tug toy in your hand – but for now, have it scrunched up in your opposite hand (in your left hand if he starts on your right side, for example). That way you can use it to reward but it won’t be in his face as he figures out the barrel commitment. And it will also help get him to look at the barrel and not at your hands.
Great job here! I am excited to see him do the turn and burn!!
Tracy
Hi!
>I tried not to do this in practice today but not sure I was very successful. >
He was not collected to turn to you on the tunnel exit, so it was definitely successful!
>For the Get Outs done today I think I was overhelping again and getting into his space way too much, not following the straight line. >
Yes – you were using some distance but your feet were pointing to the get out jump on the successful reps – then when you didn’t point your feet to it, he went to the backside at :50 or too the tunnel at 1:54.
Your line was good at :50 and 1:54, but he was thinking the foot stepping was part of the cue. So to be sure he doesn’t need your feet to step to the get out jump, you can be less far from it laterally but still moving forward with your feet (and upper body giving the get out cues). That way he will have a better idea of which obstacle/line you want.
>Also, how is my arm position?
It is good!
>Am I bending over too much?>
Nope! He is little so you have permission to bend so he can see the arms.
>Basically stopped on the second to last rep which is why I think it worked.
because on the next one he took the tunnel instead of going out. So, we just went back around and he got the second time, but I didn’t see much different in my handling.> When you stopped, your feet were pointing at it. When he got the tunnel, your feet were not pointing to the out jump. So I don’t think it is motion he was reading there, it was your feets 🙂
Adding the threadle slice went great after the out jump! That seemed to make the turn and threadle slice really easy 🙂 Yay!
He picked up the backside at :13 – as you went to throw the toy, it activated the outside arm/shoulder so he went to he backside. This will serve you well in week 4! At :34 you didn’t throw early and he stayed on the line perfectly.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Hi!
Yes! Your mechanics on the turn away games were great!
First rep was too early in terms of moving before she got to your hand, but the 2nd rep was great because she got very close to your hand – about 2 inches away – before you started the turn cues. After that you were locked in and the lap turns were perfect!The tandem turns also went well. To help make it even smoother, show her that outside arm more obviously. When you did that on the last 2 reps: very smooth! When you didn’t quite how the outside arm on the first couple, she was not as sure about it until she did see that opposite arm.
Tunel threadles: These ended up going really well!
She did not see your motion on the first couple of reps as a turn cue on the first couple, which is why she went straight to the tunnel ahead of her. When you got more of a turn on the wrap wing like you did at 1:09 and 1:23, things got more obvious for her and she did great! Any questions after that (like at 3:50) were because you didn’t get the turn on the wrap wing.
After you get that turn on the wing, moving towards the tunnel entry – try not to pull too far away and rely on your hand to flip her away to the tunnel.By moving away to the tunnel entry, she will flip herself away 🙂 which will help make the skill more independent.
Good work on the backsides – you amped up the connection on rep 2 and beyond, which set the line nicely!
To get her to come in and take the bar, you added in dropping the toy as she got to the backside: perfect! As you do that, you can keep moving on a serpentine line so she learns to drive into the jump even though you are right thereThe countermotion exits also went well! Nice job with the release and dropping the toy on the landing spot. You can add in releasing after you pass the wing, so she still takes the jump even though you are on the takeoff side instead of the landing side.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
He’s doing great with his backing up! Yay!!!
Since he is offering backing up really nicely here, we can go go the next steps to get more backing up 🙂– at this next stage, you can use a mat but not the clicker mat. I suggest this because the mat was not consistently clicking when he got a back foot on it, but it was clicking for front feet and stepping off it. So, you can mark for back feet and he will have a clearer picture of it.
– when he lifted his head, he stopped moving backwards. So you can keep his head lower (chin parallel to the ground, or pointed slightly downwards, by keeping your cookies hands in front of you and down by your knees. That will give him a nice visual target to back away from and you’ll get more steps backwards.
Let me know how it goes! Great job here!
Tracy
Hi!
These went well! I guess he likes the blue tunnel because he kept going to it 🙂
Getting ahead on the tunnel exit allowed you to show GREAT connection and line of motion on that 2nd run, so he found the next wing really well.
Excellent timing of the verbal and physical cue for the right turn at 1:08!!! He turned really well! So why didn’t he take the wing? Lack of connection. You had both hands up (which generally draws the dogs to us, like in threadles or tandem turns) and you were looking at the wing and not at him, so he came to you. If that happens, assume lack of connection and keep going. Stopping can be punishing to him when it was handler error not poodle error 🙂
Your connection at 1:18 was better and he had the line til you swung your arm forward – keep that connection really clear for now. It gets a lot easier and moving the arms won’t matter as much as he gets more experienced.
The last rep here really gave us a glimpse of the future! You had lovely connection (especially on the exit of the FC between wings and at the tunnel exit to go straight) so he found the lines AND he found a new gear of speed. SUPER!!!!
He also looked really engaged and not distracted by leaves, etc. Did you feel he was more focused?
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
> For my brain, it is hard for me to remember to say the left wrap cue in the moment. >
The most important thing with the verbal cues is that we use them correctly and consistently, so it has to make sense to your brain 🙂 Keep playing around with what makes sense, keep practicing – all of the verbals are learned through repetition for human and dogs, so you can practice the ones you want to use then it will be easy to spit them out on course 🙂
> I remember you said your RC wrap is the same as the regular wrap verbal for the right vs left wraps no matter RC or regular….did I understand that correctly?>
Correct! A single turn away verbal doesn’t actually tell the dog how much to turn, so there are questions from the dog if my physical cue is unable to support it clearly (like when I am too far away). There are plenty of handlers who are consistently and reliably able to show physical cues to support them (like Jess :)) but I am not that fast so I need the verbals. So I use a wrap or a left/right soft turn. And I use a ‘switch’ cue which means turn away and accelerate onto the line for layering (soooooo useful!)
>I only do AKC so don’t need as many verbals as maybe UKI would require. Still processing it in my mind…>
Keep playing with the ideas and it will all come together. You don’t need quite as many verbals in AKC for now… but those AKC judges are a clever bunch and they are bringing those international design elements in to regular classes, so you will see more of that in the next couple of years.
On the video:
Baby dogs do keep us on our toes! It makes sense that he didn’t quite recognize the long dark tunnel at first but you broke it down and he figured it out really fast. Super!
Then the smiley face went really well after he was comfy with the new tunnel. As you are handling, don’t try to indicate the obstacles. Instead, indicate the line you want him to take by being super connected and not pointing ahead to the wings.
When you were pointing ahead, he was doing little zig zags on the line because he couldn’t see the connection (he could see your back, mostly). You can see it when he was coming out of the tunnels – it was very clear at 3:23 and the lack of connection pulled him off the wing. You can also see it at 2:44 for example (between the wings) and on the exit of the blind at the end – he doesn’t know where to be because your arm is showing the line ahead and what he needs is to see your eyeballs 🙂
At 3:32 you had great connection from the tunnel exit to the wing and he had no trouble finding it. Compare to 2:50 and 3:17 between the wings where you made connection and your arm was basically out of the picture, pointing back to him: no questions from Brioche! Yay!
You also handled with great connection to the tunnel entry each time and he had no questions.
And handling with more connection will reduce the need for you to run fast, which helps protect your hamstring for now 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyGood morning!
>I think she may have slowed down in the last two runs yesterday as I switched to food which clearly is not as exciting as the ball.>
Aha! That is why I want to keep the ball and frisbee in the picture – for the joy! And to not see the freezing up.
>Her lack of retrieve is really frustrating. >
>Can you hear the desperation in my text?>I hear ya! And also there is some PTSD from Duffy never learning a retrieve. But we can approach it differently to get both the passion for the agility AND the retrieve.
One of the keys to the retrieve is to not worry about it that much, because putting pressure on bringing the ball back does not get her to bring the ball back as you see.
Side note: I have been down this road. My highest achieving agility dog had ZERO retrieve until he was about 2 year old. When he was about 10 months old, he was doing demos at a seminar I was teaching and I threw the toy as a reward. He then spent 15 minutes running around the outside of the barn with the toy – the seminar carried on, no problem at all. We just had a laugh and let him run. The folks in that area STILL talk about it because it was so funny and also because they learned how to not freak out LOL! This happened in 2006 (20 year ago, EEK) and they still talk about it. 😂 😆 That fiercely independent little dog went on to compete and win at the highest levels here in North American and in Europe – that taught me a lot about retrieves 🙂 which is why I am not freaking out about little Jazz running around with the toy 🙂
So I know that we will get BOTH the passion for agility AND the retrieve if we don’t freak out and think outside the box.
The key to getting the retrieve? Not wanting the retrieve. Let the dog run! And let the dog opt in when they want to do more agility. Here are some ideas for you:
>The only way that I can get it back is by tossing high value food and praying that she goes for it and leaves the ball for me. This is working less and less, resulting in more time racing around with the ball. >
This is happening because the behavior of going to get the food gets punished, because you take the dog away. The food is not a reward, it is a behavior for her in this instance, so she is not going to the food in favor of keeping the ball.
So rather than try to switch for food and grab the ball, be prepared to maybe only do one fast, joyful rep of whatever you are doing. And have a bag of balls – throw one ball as a reward, then cheer her on when she run run runs with it. Then you have 2 options:
– you can keep praising her and cheering for her as you go sit on the ground by a jump, with a couple of balls. You can be rolling them or just holding them – they can be visible – but you can’t try to get her back with them. At some point she will re-engage and then you can throw the next ball.
– you can praise and cheer for a minute or two, then start running the little sequence with an invisible dog. This includes verbals and dropping a ball then playing as a reward. It might take a couple of reps of this but the dogs do join in! And when she joins in, throw the ball and repeat the process.
– you can praise and cheer while she is running around, then run a sequence on the wings only with Jack. No tunnels when they are both out, so there are no collisions. Then Jack gets his reward. Then you can run a sequences with invisible Jazz 🙂
This keeps it fun and enticing and she can opt in on her own without any pressure and without any conflict about the toy. It might take a bit of practice to get it going, but it is worth it. Don’t abandon it if you don’t see it work immediately. There are steps after this but these are the first steps.
Looking at the video:
There was a lot of joy and speed here, even in the moments when she had a question! This is why I want to keep the ball in play even though the lack of retrieve probably makes you want to stick a needle in your eye 😂. She was paying fantastic attention and got all of the moves until the end. You threw in a threadle and she didn’t quite know what that meant in that context. Good reward though!The 2nd rep started off even faster!!!! Yeah!! The threadle is what she had the big question here too, so she stopped. In that moment, you can keep handling invisible Jazz. Yes, there was a bit of a lack of clarity on what you wanted but pretend it was perfect and keep going, run a few more wraps on the wings, then throw the reward. She may or may not rejoin you, but it also keeps the ball in play and then you can reward the invisible dog that wrapped the wing rather than trying to get her moving by throwing the toy.
So your job is to keep going, no matter what! Then reward at the end, doesn’t matter where Jazz is. The goal of this is to show her that the reward is available in handling even if she doesn’t understand the cues.
And for now, take the complex cues like threadles out. They are complex in terms of reading the handling, and they are complex in terms of physical movement. So, we will revisit threadles eventually but for now, keep it a little simpler as we work on other stuff too 🙂
>She seems to be reading the handling cues pretty well. My handling is still pretty jerky.>
She is indeed reading you well!! And I don’t think you were jerky – I think you were running hard and staying connected while she was going REAL FAST. Love it! So keep the sequences nice and short, fast and fun, and it will continue to come together like the reps here.
Nice work!!
Tracy
Good morning!
The decel video was good to see and she is actually paying close attention to the handling. It is hard to ‘feel’ that in the moment but the video shows us really good stuff!
>One of the hardest parts is getting her to go ahead to take the jump and also not turning in to me between jumps for the toy. >
The tricky part was separating the ecel from the rotation. When you decelerated for several steps then rotated when she was getting ready to take off, she turned really well!
You can see this on the first rep: you decelerated and remained facing forward so she committed – then you rotated. She turned really well!
You can also see it on the 3rd rep – she was a little careful there because the 2nd rep had gone sideways, but then she kicked back into high speed after the FC.
Compare those to the 2nd rep and last rep:
On the 2nd rep, you lost a bit of connection and turned away from the jump, so she turned with you (didn’t take the jump).
On the last rep, you were decelerating and rotating almost simultaneously so she didn’t take the wing at 2:30 and didn’t take the jump at 2:44. She was following the rotation on both of those moments.
So the rotation will actually feel a little late, because she will be relatively close to the jump when you rotate. Facing forward longer as you decelerate (until she is just about taking off) will help get the commitment.
On the smiley face videos – getting her playing got her past whatever the distraction was in the very beginning, and helped her stay engaged as you figured out the handling. Super!
Try running the handling games without your hands 😂 except for the threadle moments. What I mean by that is you can keep your arms low so you can watch her eyes as you run – that will turn your shoulders to the line and show lot of connection. When you did that (like after the front crosses from the wing to the tunnel) she knew exactly where to go, and was fast and accurate. When we point ahead to the line, it makes it harder to see connection and that is when young dogs in particular ask questions.
>Getting into the tunnel was also tough.
I think there was confusion about when you wanted her to take the toy versus take the tunnel. On a lot of reps, the toy was right in front of her on the way to the tunnel so. I wasn’t sure if you wanted the tunnel or not there. And if connection breaks, she will turn towards you hands (like on the very last rep of the 2nd video). Putting the toy away in the 2nd video for some of the reps helps! You can do all of these with the toy in your pocket, so she knows when it is available for tugging versus when you want her to look at the obstacles.
>The first video she seemed distracted in part by the others being in the house. So, I brought them out and took turns with all of them which seemed to help. >
Yes, she was more focused the 2nd video which is when I think they were out there. You can also practice the handling with one of the experienced dogs first to sort it out, then you can try it with her. I do that all the time
>I think I need to make her turns shorter, like you said.>
You can give her one or two reps then switch to one of the other dogs. That keeps things short and leaves her wanting more 🙂
>To end the evening I practiced some stays and releases, did some of the chase games, throwing a cookie and then running with the toy. Also some throwing a ball, letting her run a little, and calling her back. She liked all of that.>
That sounds so fun! And those games are a nice balance to the handling games, which take a lot more focus and have a ton of turns.
Nice work here!
Tracy
Good morning! These sessions looked really strong.
The soft brake worked GREAT for Ringo. I am guessing it will end up being a really useful move for him on AKC courses: with his speed AND jumping 24”, the soft turns are challenging so this brake arm should be helpful as you navigate those courses. He responded perfectly!
The soft brake arm might have been too much collection for Artie Ross. She added a LOT more collection, more than I think she needs on those lines. You can try being more subtle with it, or save it for when you do need a relatively tight turn.
One technical suggestion:
Remember to show the soft brake arm/hand pointing towards them pups not away or at the obstacle. With Ringo on the first couple of reps, the hand was towards him and he was great. At :43 with Artie, the hand/arm was pointing to the next jump and not at her so she looked at you as if asking if you wanted her to come off the jump. So you can show it to them and when they collect, you can release the arm and go back to running normally 🙂
The ‘out’ arm does point to the next jump and it certainly helped get the jump after the frame so you can layer! That looked lovely!!!!
Great job on these!
Tracy
Good morning!
The footwork on there tandem turns was great! Yay! The hand mechanics on the first side were perfect! On the 2nd side, your opposite arm was not as clear so she was not as sure.
Compare how she is locking onto your right hand at :07 for example, and can’t see your left hand engaging at :52. So you can make the outside arm more visible before she gets to you on both sides then it will be super smooth.
The next step is to not reward immediately when she turns away. Keep moving but lift your hands so she looks for the prop. When she hits the prop – that is your cue to mark and throw the treat 🙂
>Look! No snow! Now the yard is a whole new world & I don’t have a recall on this kiddo! >
That is the trend in all 3 MaxPup classes this week: getting the pups used to the distractions of the great outdoors now that the snow has gone away, at least temporarily 🙂 Using the long line was a good safety net to start with for sure.
You can also add in tugging – that will increase arousal, which helps tune out distractions. You can use a food reward then tug, then a food reward, then tug. Or tug after every 2 or 3 treats.
The pattern game went really well! Charlee bears are visible but also might not be that interesting compared to blowing leaves 🙂 Can she have pieces of string cheese mixed in? Visible and super high value!
She did well with the parallel path game. It is relatively easy for her on your right and seems harder on your left – probably because there is more value for being at your side on your left. You can help her by giving her something that is bar-like, as a visual to go over between the uprights. A jump bump or even a big rolled up towel will work nicely 🙂 I think the visual target to go over is an easier concept than going through/past the uprights in this scenario, so she will likely have an easier time finding the line on both sides of you.
Great job!
Tracy
