[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>Am I correct to assume that you just put the Cato board back a bit from the jump so he has more room to take the actual jump after siting?>>

Not really, it is pretty close but the bar starts really low. It is usually a couple of inches from the bar.

>>How do you use it for slice jumping. Do you put the Cato board at the slice point, have them sit and ask for the slice jump from a static sit position?>>

Basically yes, it is a big progression 🙂 but they learn to organize to do that sideways jumping required for the slicing.

He is doing well with the tight sit! You can feed a little lower I think so he doesn’t have to lift up to get the treat, and be careful with the cookie release so he doesn’t torque himself getting off the plank.

The sit to stand is a good one, both the rock back and tuck variations.

>>I also included a zig zag grid session for your thoughts. I’m still getting ticks when the speed increases slightly. Should I lower the bars more? other changes?>>

Some ideas for you on the zig zag:

Only change one variable with the grid at a time. If you tighten it, don’t move. Or if you move, don’t tighten it. Otherwise we are asking him to process too much at once and you will get ticks.

What is the distance he is working? He is pretty tall.

I don’t think you should lower the bars, but you can use fewer jumps. I get this really good on 2 jumps, then 3 jumps, then so on. I think the video had 5 jumps? It might be too hard for now because as he was gathering speed and momentum, he was not able to control it and was ticking the bars a bit.

Also, I don’t really use a stationary target on grids anymore (because the dogs are trying to prepare to stop) but if you do, put it a lot further away so he doesn’t have to prepare to stop til he is 2 extension strides past landing.

I know that everyone else is using stationary targets but we have had amazing results with the moving targets 🙂

>>Yes, I’ve noticed he started doing that. I’ve seen it before with the Tervs. What can I do to help him with the follow-through form?>>

Those bars should definitely be lower so he has an easier time processing the mechanics (12” for now to start) and so he doesn’t rehearse the hoisting mechanics.

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
She is looking great and you are doing a fabulous job of really driving through the handling! Yay! Things are coming together so nicely! And she had plenty of tight turns – anything that was wider than wanted was more due to handling info.

>>you need to trust her on the 180 and get moving up the line!>>

Yes! And also sometimes consider a rear which is also very effective (see below). I have won plenty of classes with a nice rear cross when everyone else was trying to get blinds and ended up with wide turns or off courses.

Run 1 starts after the release to 1, so we will assume she was perfect 🙂 Nice blind 2-3! Nice layering and keeping her out on the line! Nice threadle!

2nd run – be careful on how you use your hands on the mark and on the releases. If you move your arm fast and high on the release, and do it the same way on the mark… she is going to release thinking that it is indeed a release to begin (:14)

You were better with the arm at :23 but she has some confusion (movement and not looking at the jump)

It is entirely possible that she is one of those dogs that will not stare at the jump (um, whippet… LOL!) so if she doesn’t look at it you can release her and see if she takes it, then reward. She didn’t look at the jump at :40 and took it perfectly. The staring at the jump is something that Border Collies and field dogs do, but Whippety dogs are not really into staring at things that will not be moving LOL!

On the tunnel on the 9-10-11 line, she might need her tunnel threadle cue as you move up the line (:45) – you did it at :56 and it worked great

I think that the BC on the tunnel exit here is not needed… it is brutal to show on time with a dog of her speed and also the RC here is just as effective to show the line to the jump and probably MORE effective to get the turn on the jump, because you don’t have to decelerate or manage a turn cue.
At 1:11 you got her attention on the blind but the turn was a little wide and so was the turn on the jump. You can use your tunnel left and then slide into a lovely rear cross… great turns and you will still be ahead! On the 2nd run, she was tighter on the tunnel exit but she had already seen the sequence 🙂

She is doing well with her weaves!! That is a hard entry and a hard layer! She got it and read the threadle after it. Super!

1:54 – she read the handling correctly. The FC at 2:09 was definitely better! And the left/tunnel on the jump looked GREAT at 2:10!

Full run 1 and 2
Why not layer? You went to the other side of the tunnel on the 5-6-7 line and I think it put you a little out of position. 
On the first run, you had. at :19 bar down at 8 – not enough turn cue there on the jump before the tunnel. And her line was a little wider on the 2nd run. It might actually work as a backside verbal, based on her size and the line!
On the 2nd run, the threadle was wider on the 7 jump because you were pushing in around the tunnel.

1st full run: Good turn on tunnel exit with the blind but wide on the turn after it – you can consider a brake arm or a spin there. Or a rear cross LOL!

2nd full run – she as wide on the blind cross tunnel exit and then you were on her line so she took the backside of the jump. I mean, the rear cross there would be easier and get a sweet line too 🙂 If it is still set up, let’s play with the rear cross!

I think the rest was pretty fantastic – the only wide turns were on the jump that landed her looking at the DW. Even with it blocked off, it is a big visual draw for her, so no worries about that. Everything else was great!

You left the threadle after the weaves too soon on. The 2nd video so she didn’t take the jump – wait in the threadle spot until she turns her head to look at the jump. And then by the end I think yo were a bit fatigued because you were pulling her off things . So good job recognizing that and finshing up – there was SO MUCH GREAT STUFF here that you didn’t need to keep working it.

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! She is looking great here!!! And I agree, she is looking for that first jump better. We will be seeing that challenge more and more, so we will really solidify it this summer.

She had a little trouble with her middle cue. There were some banging noises in the background that maybe were worrying her? Gunshots or fireworks or something? But after that she was great with her lineups!

Yes, as you mentioned, you were a little too early looking forward so she read it as a blind cross (smart girl!) Good rewarding!

The 2nd run looked fabulous – great job getting the opening line and layering on the tunnel send! She has lovely speed so we will want to use a lot of layering to get you way up the lines.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
It was great seeing you too!!!!

>>Saphira’s training has been a patchwork. If you remember we struggled a lot when she was younger. So we’ve probably got quite a few holes in our training. >>

I think these sequences went really well!!!! Most of my ideas are handling suggestions, such as timing or connection things. Yay! The only training thing to add is more forward focus on the jump, as a cued behavior when you arrive in your lead out position. Ideally, she goes directly to jump 1 rather than zig zag (:15 :43 on seq 1. :10 on seq 2, :18, :31 on seq 4, etc). You can really see how important it is on Seq 4, but I think it is also important on th simpler lines so she is looking at the jumping and sorting her jumping, all before the release.

It is easy to add indoors if the weather is poopy: with her in a sit stay, you can put a toy on the ground or a food bowl. Then lead out a tiny bit, use a slow-moving arm/leg to point to it, and when she looks at it: release her to it (or use a marker for it, both are great for this stage).

Then we add it to a jump but putting the toy or food bowl on the other side of the jump. Then we fade it and use the jump and throw a reward.

The reason I suggest a slow-moving arm/leg to become the indicator is that if you do a fast point, she might break her stay. Your releases here also had arm movement involved so we don’t want to confuse her or set her up for failure.

Seq 1:

2-3 is definitely a natural line to the backside (a common trend nowadays) so on the 2nd rep you had more decel and pulled away a little to help her adjust the line. Yay! But that bought the off course tunnel when you started moving again – I think you wanted the backside at 4 based on handling, and I couldn’t hear a tunnel verbal? But great job rewarding her so it was hard for me to tell 🙂
You can also stay in motion more by using a verbal turn cue between 1 and 2 (so she approaches 2 turning to you) and then the threadle cue for 2-3. That can make handling 3-4 a lot easier!

Seq 2:
This went well! I am pretty sure you wanted the tunnel on this one 🙂 You were really lateral as she was approaching 3 so if you want to get the layering with the tunnel, you can be closer to 3 so she accelerates past you and you don’t decelerate and have to wait for her. There is a lot of strategy in this layering thing!

Seq 3:
She read the serpy opening line really well! You can decelerate more as she lands from 1 and heads to 2, partially so you can a turn before takeoff on 2 for the rap, and partially to put you on a great line for the FC to 3.

You can also stick closer to 3 and 4 to set up the layering to the tunnel if you wanted to layer the jump rather than run into the gap between them.

I think she broke her stay on the 2nd run here – you can totally stop and bring her back for a re-start, because there might be some confusion about when she should release if you run. And, because things happened sooner than you expected, the cues for 2 were late and she hit the bar.

Nice job driving into the blind at 1:05! You can start it sooner, she seems to have really strong commitment. Looking at 1:04, she is locked onto it just after she finishes 4, so you can start the BC so the new connection is visible to her before she takes off for 5. The connection at 1:06 was a shade late which is why she was a little wide (she aw it after she landed). You can also call her so she is expected the turn there – verbals really help in these jump/tunnel discriminations,

Seq 4 – this I where the forward focus can really help get you into great position! Without it, she is looking at 2 like at :18, :31 and :44, even with the step to it at :31 and :44. You did a great job trying to help her out, like showing her the jump at :44 before leading out, and at 1:01 staying closer. At 1:23 she had it (you pointed at it before you lead out a bit). At 1:51, you didn’t indicate the jump before the lead out and also were further away and she said he was not ready for that by taking 2 instead of 1 when released. Staying closer at 2:10 helped!

The connection element of the BC can happen sooner at 2:14 – the side change was almost complete as she was lifting off to the jump which is really good timing! But the visible eye contact (with your arm back) came at 2:15 when she was locked onto the tunnel.

Because she is young and relatively inexperienced, the connection has to pop out sooner – one way to do it is to keep your arms in tighter to you and in your back pockets 🙂 so that as you start the turn, the eye contact is very quick and easy to show. When she is more experienced, I think she will read the cue you did here.

Good job on 2:31 showing her the jump before the lead out, and keeping the lead out short! I LOVED your BC timing here at 2:37! Really timely and her commitment was great. Freeze the video at 2:38 as she is over 3: look at that connection! YESSSSSSS!!!

Seq 5: the first minute or so of this is the same as sequence 4.
When you picked up sequence 5, it started at about 1:17.

She found 1 very nicely! At 1:27, the commitment cue for 2 is keeping your arm back in serp position and maintaining connection until she turns to look at the jump. You turned forward too soon which cued her to go past the jump. You moved into the blind on the 2nd rep and it worked well – you had great connection to 2! I think the serp plan you started with was slightly better because you can get the serp and the FC on 2 sooner without having to also do the timing of the BC 1-2.

The wrap exit on 2 looked really good – nice decel and rotation coming into it! And the cues from the tunnel to the backside also looked great!

Seq 6: this one went well too!
On the collected exit of 3, add a little more decel and turn verbal so she collects before takeoff. My only other suggestion is to keep your shoulders open to her more (like a serp) for the 4 backside to support the jumping line there.

Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Omg that will require a lot of caffeine for times when you run them both LOL But it makes sense that you should both use the same verbals 😀

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
<> I think a lot of it is me but some of it is arousal related.>>

When training, do you get her into an arousal state that is similar to how she’ll be in the trial ring? You can use the toy to get it and then it will be help prep for you both!

>>I do better with the full out running on regular courses but the small courses I get stuck in the between because I feel like I get out of her way, so I’m glad I’ll have plenty of practice with small space stuff.>>

Yeah, I agree that tighter smaller courses can actually be harder to handle with a powerhouse dog like Sahweet!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Welcome back!
I figure with the heat, we will all be out training at sunrise lol!!!

The Friedman and Sternberg opportunities are too good to pass up. I was seriously considering the Sternberg trip!!! Can’t wait to hear all about it, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Kool too!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Welcome back! It is to see you and meet the 2 new campers, Sahweet and Puddin’ 🙂 So fun!!

>>Sahweet is a power house and way faster than any dog I’ve ever run. She’s AMAZING and tries so dang hard. We are working on putting it all together but tend to have just one thing right now. She’s learning to handle me running all out without her head exploding. She’s really pushy but I adore every hair on her.>>

Yes! She is VERY fun and powerful – and she is doing great with you running because the sequence that you ran the most on was also the sequence that you absolutely nailed. So we will keep working on the whole running thing! It was fun watching her to try to figure out what she needs (or doesn’t need :))


>>Puddin is still just a baby. We are really green. She’s got really good understanding of the skills she does know but I’ve taken things slow. She had little self preservation for some things but can also be on the softer side if she thinks she’s wrong.>>

I think the “just keep going after an error” will really help her – you can freestyle a fast and fun line and reward her line you just won.it.all!

Looking at Miss Sahweet:

Seq 1:
She is doing great with her forward focus on jump 1! You were way up by 3! She does better with her jumping when she looks at the jump a little more rather than the half-an-eyelash 🙂 At :32 it as a half-an-eyelash moment and she pulled the bar. So if she doesn’t give you a pretty decent look, ask her again for it before you release her (she might be annoyed but it is better for the jumping LOL!) You can also start her a stride further back so she has more room to set up the slice

And about that threadle line 2-3: yup, it I is definitely one of those semi-hidden threadles we are seeing nowadays! You were a little late cuing it on the first couple of reps but you were really in locking in the timing at 1:05: you had the turn cue for 2 (which is very helpful to set her up for the threadle!) starting when she landed from 1 then the threadle before she took off for 2. Now keep that timing and add your motion. She seems like the type that would quite enjoy intense cues, so feel free to be big and loud in your verbals and arms cues so she reads the threadle line as you run.

Sequence 2:

She had trouble with the first bar at 1:12 – because you were stationary then starting moving as she was lifting off? Because it was a pretty severe slice? Both? She did not have trouble after that, so it might be a combination of more experience needed and her line up position was a little better on the other reps (you were moving on the other reps as well, so if the movement was the issue then she worked it out nicely!)

Question about your verbals with her:
She can turn a lot tghter on the exit of 2 which will make 3 easier too. You were saying dig there and a few other places, so what specifically should it mean? Wrap or general collection?

I think you can add a brake arm (outside arm joining dog side arm and decel as you say the verbal) on the send to 2 as she lands from 2, to get more collection – let me know how she does with that!

She cracked me up at 1:27 when she moved in the stay, caught herself, put herself BACK in the stay and looked around like “what? I was here the whole time?” Hahahahahaha

On the FC at 3: She is jumping out to your position on 3 and pulled the bar there because she didn’t know the line was heading back to 4 on the first rep.

She did not read the send to 4 at 1:51, a little disconnected as you tried to move away to the next section. But them you made a great adjustment:

You got the BEST turn on 3 out of all the reps when you *ran* into it at 2:01 – she read the line better, you showed decel and a much better line. And the send to 4 was MUCH more connected. Then you *nailed* the blind on the jump at 2:06 – YES! Great job driving into that, your motion helped a LOT and the sequence looked great.

So definitely keep moving! That will help us sort out her timing needs and how powerful you can make the cues.

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! These went really well, lots of good reps here!

>>Big thing I noticed was when I ovr thought or focused on something I felt was hard Iforgot to keep going…>>

Yes, you will have to actively tell yourself in the moment to either keep going or praise & reward. If you stop or get quiet… she seems to get stressed. So the reward must always come before the reset or the re-start, whether it comes from stopping and rewarding or continuing and rewarding.

On the videos:

Video 1, Seq 1: nice work! Great connection! And really nice adjustment to use the threadle on jump 2-3, that worked really well.
For the start – she found the first jump but it will be useful if we can get you into a more lateral lead out spot. What is her stay status? We can figure out how to maximize the forward focus and lead out without adding stress.

Video 2:
She turned to the right on jump 1 because you were on the line to the center of the bar (which indicates rear cross) as she was making a takeoff decision. No worries. Rather than have her freeze out by the jump, you can just say your “yay good girl” like you used on the previous video and reward, so you can reset and start again from a better spot while also giving her practice in coming back happily after something has gone wrong.

The rest of this sequence went well!

Video 3:
This one also had really strong connection!
Layering right at the beginning was a good way to use lateral distance without a lead out.
The 3 jump should be the backside though – you had her turn right on the front side, which set up a harder line to 4
The FC at :10 and the BC at :39 were effective in terms of getting her turned – it is hard to tell from the camera angle, but it looks like you were moving too much towards the tunnel while you did the cross so she went wide based on your position. That then caused you to push her back to 6 which set the line to the off course jump.

Hard to see what happened next- after the first off course, it looked like you praised her and she came right back for a treat. Yay! After the second off course, you didn’t praise or anything so she was more tentative about coming back… remember to always praise and reward the off course if you don’t keep going, otherwise she gets concerned. Then take a moment to look at the video and you will see the handling that caused the off course 🙂

It looks like you took a moment to show her the line to the tunnel, but you don’t need to do that 🙂 The off course was entirely cued by handling, so it is better to *not* show her the sequence so that she can continue to give you feedback about the handling.

You got it with more decel and verbal at :53 and on the last rep but be sure to also reward the off courses so that she doesn’t get stressed if you stop.

Video 4:
This is the same opening but with the easier ending to the tunnel – very nice! Great connection and verbals!

Video 5 – she turned to her right on jump one for. The same reason as video 2 (you were on the line to the center of the bar which looks like a RC line). Line her up on a slice facing jump 2 so she knows which way to go when she starts moving. This time you brought her back and reset. Just be sure to praise and call her while you do it – she froze a bit then jumped up at you. So, you can totally praise then line her up again with the treat.
The rest of the sequence looked good!

Video 6:
You layered the opening here too which can be effective but in this case, you were pulling towards the tunnel too much so she looked towards you to see the line and knocked the bar.

Then when you did the FC to the jump, you were very close to the tunnel, moving forward, and at :06, your dog-side arm was forward – that blocked connection and she didn’t see the side change, so she took the tunnel. As you exit the cross, be sure to have your dog side arm pointing back to her and look at her eyes, so she sees the side change. Think of it as looking at where she is (behind you) and not where you want her to be (next to you).

Call and praise immediately – it looked like she took off or kept going, so we don’t want to telegraph that anything was wrong on her part, so either keep running or praise/reward.

She got it on the next 2 reps – you added more verbal and that helped! It looks like the way the sequence was set that the line does indeed take her to the backside of the 5 jump, so you would need a threadle there like you added at :38. . Be sure to keep going or reward that off course, she was being a good girl!

Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Seq 1:
The threadle cue worked great! The sequence went well overall!

The bar on 2 is hard. Staying closer to it and connected really helps her – she touched the wing on the first rep (bar stayed up) and the bar came down on the 2nd rep (:18) when at :17 you turned your head forward (looking ahead, which drew her focus off the jumping and to you) and were pretty far ahead of her too.

After the blind at 4 to get 5: she barked at you at :08 when you pointed ahead (blocks connection and changes the line of your shoulder). At
:20, you didn’t point ahead and instead kept your arm back til she passed you: this showed more connection and line support, and she was great! No trash talking from her LOL!

On sequence 2:
Be sure to support the lines for laying on a parallel path as well as the verbal.
Rep 1 had a conflicting indicator: the verbal said go tunnel but physical cues said to turn, so she went with the physical cues. On the second rep at :43 and 3rd rep at :54 you stayed closer and help the parallel line until she was looking at and moving to the tunnel. Super!!!

Speaking of tunnels:

>>However, we struggled with forward focus out of the tunnel (0:56). This is a common problem for us. I can get the forward focus on the first obstacle consistently, but I often can’t get her back off of handler focus during the run, and she just stares at me and barks while curling in. >>

Forward focus on the line is all about placement of reinforcement and handling cues 🙂 For her, throw all of the reward miles and miles away from you on the lines, especially on the tunnel exits – and for now, never feed from your hand on course even if it is just a reward after a mess up 🙂

You tend to drop the reward relatively close to the tunnel exit, so she curls toward you (like at :13 and :26, and also at the end of 3B like 2:30). Dropping the reward close to you promotes the habit of curling towards you and we can shift that by having you accelerate and throw the reward as far as possible.

>>I know I can throw or place a reward out there, but that doesn’t help me during a bigger sequence, >>

Consistency of throwing it (not placing it in advance) will develop the habit of driving forward.

Plus, consistency of cues before it will help a lot too!

At :45 and 1:14 barked after tunnel – you were quiet as she entered and decelerated so she turned on the exit. To get a straight exit, you need to say GO GO GO and accelerate before she enters. If you might end up too far ahead, you can run in closer to the tunnel so you can show the acceleration,

At :56 you said right before she entered (which cues a turn on the tunnel exit) so she turned to her right on the exit, she was 100% correct. You rewarded which is good but reward by throwing the toy miles and miles away 🙂

So I think the combo of long long reward throws for all tunnel exits (and jump lines!) plus more clarity of handling before it will help solve the tunnel question!

3A – nice layering to the tunnel on the first rep and at 2:02! Both of those had a parallel line of motion from you until you saw her look at the tunnel, then you peeled away.

There was a conflicting indicator at 1:37 second rep: mouth said tunnel and body said turn turn turn.
Same thing happened at 1:49 – you said jump but were peeling away, so she came into the gap to the jump you were facing. Good girl! In those moments, you can reward by letting her take whatever line she is heading toward then throw a reward 3 miles down the street 🙂

3B went well too – she never looked at the off course tunnel! To tight then line after the blind, you can add more connection as you exit the blind. Keep your arm back to her nose so she can see the eye contact – think of it as looking/pointing back to where she is, not where you want her to be. You had your arm down at your side and look down at your side, so she was a bit wider there while sorting out the info. I use the exit line connection skill of my opposite arm across my belly, to really help get my dog-side arm back and out of the way.

Second video: She found jump 1 perfectly! Yay!
She definitely had a question on jump 3! I wonder if a brake arm would help her? That is a soft opposite arm joining your dog-side arm as you turn from 2-3. It helps cue the collection better for most dogs and she might find it helpful!

Sequence 4b, blind cross 3-4:
I think the timing was pretty strong in starting it but you can be more connected back to her like I mentioned above.

>>I’m worried that she’ll knock a bar if I blind and leave it “unsupported,”>>

You can support it with connection!

Since we are obsessing on reward placement on lines after the tunnel:
At :34 you tossed the reward to her as she was looking at you. Replace that with throwing it like an Olympic javelin thrower (super far!), before she looks at you . We can change the habit of looking at you on lines.

Sequence 5
She read the 1-2 line really well! As you indicate 2, you can decel sooner so you don’t end up going past the wing. That will get a really tight turn there.

At :44 and :59 you gave your threadle cue but also closed your shoulder forward – it is a good camera angle! She can’t really see the exact side to be on until you get closer to the jump. The arm and eyes back to her nose will help get a more immediate drive on the line.

At :48 you gave the back cue (a forward cue) before she went into the tunnel, so she exited pretty straight! Yay! After the backside, you can reward with the toy on landing, but keep moving through so that the toy is nowhere near you 🙂
The back cue was a little later at 1:02 so her line was not as straight plus she had just been rewarded near you, so was gravitating towards you (because food is LIFE! I can relate, I must be a Sheltie LOL!)

Sequence 6:
She read the opening well here too! I bet you can leave jump 2 sooner (you were still between the uprights at 1:09) so she went a little wide then had to wait for info about 3 = but then she sent to 3 beautifully! You left a little sooner on the last rep and she had a better line there.
Nice job with the backside and the tunnel sending! This is a tunnel exit where you can throw the reward super far and long too – both reps had the reward curling her back in towards you.

>>I plan to move on to the jumpers course next rather than do another round with sequences 4-6, especially since the main point was the forward focus, and I think we have that down, at least for the first jump, haha!>>

Yes, she did great with her forward focus on jump 1. You can move to the jumping courses! And apply the “all rewards thrown 75 miles away especially on tunnel exits” concept to those 🙂

Great job on these!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Thanks for posting, I love to look at the in-between moments!

The sequences went well overall. I think the main thing is to work on getting him to look at the first jump or acknowledge (even if he doesn’t stare at it) before the release. He was taking it one most reps but there was a zig zag before it (you had to handle to it) or he had a miss or two. So starting closer and adding in a low hand cue to look at it will help smooth out the line and guarantee he takes it, which will give you even more independence on some of these opening lines.

You can also put him on more of a slice line so he is jumping pretty directly towards 2, rather than straight over 1 then turning after landing.

For the sits:

>>I’ve always used a sit cue as something of an impulse control tool, mostly when I wasn’t paying enough attention to use a pattern game or something more proactive.>>

Do you mean you would use a sit cue to interrupt a behavior, or redirect his focus?

>> Since the addition of Millie (husband’s almost 4 month old Berner puppy) and managing Sly, Millie and Mags (12 and blind) I’ve been yelling “sit the f___ down” to Sly
a lot it seems. >>

When is this happening – when you are interrupting behavior or putting a stop to behavior?

It is entirely possible that the sit has been paired with punishment or stress if that is how it has been used a lot lately. Plus, a new puppy coming into the house is always hard!

>>At a trial he’s still fine but starting to see this stressy stuff in training, and realized while watching this that he gets more concerned with each sit. >>

Yes, he did check out a couple of times and didn’t always bring his toy back relatively quickly (although that might be normal :))

>>Need to fix me and how I’m relying on his sit to get me out of a potential issue with the 3 of them at home>>

Yes! That is the big first step – the sit cannot be the “YOU ARE IN TROUBLE” word or it will definitely cause some stress. So it might mean managing the household differently do that they have a little less interaction for a little while and more control so they can be getting rewards and not getting in trouble 🙂

>>want to “rebuild” his love of his sit cue. Am I making sense? Thoughts, ideas? Back to hugely high rate of reinforcement? Only ask for one sit/stay in a training session? .>>

At home, reward lots of sits and don’t use it as an interrupter or punisher or anything that could be paired with something uncomfortable. For agility, let’s take it out of the start line for a while! Try playing with a stand stay or a down stay and see how it goes (lots of rewards because it is different).

Also, does he do any mat work? That is a really fun way to get stay behavior – you can do sits on the mat in front of a jump. And he can do mat work at home (so can the puppy!) as part of the management stuff 🙂

And, keep your sessions shorter with fewer stays: if he gets a sequence right the first time? Move on to the next one. Then give him a break, and do something else. If you want to repeat the sequences, do it after a break – leave him wanting more more more 🙂

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>This is what happens when you don’t give me hints for the pop outs! lol.>>

The pop outs are mainly to see where we can improve our choices (everything else has hints or demos LOL!)

>>So, I’m concerned about a brake arm for a 180. I do tend to use them to help her wrap. So, how would she know the difference if I use it for a 180 to stay on the line, but I also use it to get her to come through the gap and wrap?>>

The brake arm would be accompanied by the amount of decel, verbal, and line of motion to help her differentiate. Thinking of the line of motion and amount of decel – they are pretty different for wraps versus 180s. And the brake arm is a bit different too: it is more exaggerated for the wraps and a little softer for the 180s. The dogs are great about telling the difference!

>>however, I was surprised when I did try early and she came through the gap of the 180 rather than take the jump in sequence 2. I had to run further than I expected to get her to take jump 5.>>

That happened when you had too much decel and pull away, so it did look like a wrap.

>>She does tend to brush the wing on back side slices in general. If you watch in slo mo she hit the wing several times in the sequences, but the bar didn’t fall. I’m not sure they were all back side slices though. We are working on the jumping homework.>>

That is a trend we are seeing in a LOT of the dog in class! The special guest star instructor has been enlisted to help us out with some easy things to do at home, and I have more stuff coming for it later in the summer too! It is a universally big issue in agility.

>>It would be ever so helpful to have grid coordinates for the pop outs if possible. I tried to extrapolate them from the big sequence. >>

I can totally add them for the next pop outs, no problem! They are intended to be extrapolated from the bigger course like you did – they are literally copied from that and maybe angles adjusted a tiny bit.

>>I’m considering UKI with Sprite, but it is mostly AKC around here. The lines are definitely much tighter.>>

Yup, AKC is the most popular and the shorter distances make a big difference in timing and striding, so we can shorten things up so you are even more prepared for trials.

>>I’ll see if I can get to the park this weekend for the next set of pop outs. But, it’s supposed to be hot.>>

Yes, the weather is sooo hot here too! I think we will all be out training at sunrise this summer!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
The 2nd threadle wrap went well (you were a little early on the first one). I timed the blind to threadle wrap here versus the circle wraps on the previous video… the BC to threadle wrap is faster by about 3/10ths (starting from landing of the first layered jump). I think the drive to get the blind is partially where he gets faster on the line! We will keep comparing and tracking!!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I entered the Canadian Open and their Speedstakes is times plus faults so we’re going to have to really hustle to come out ahead of some blazing fast dog that drops a bar.>>

Hmmm, that is weird that they got a rule change for scoring it for UKI? I am confused LOL Not sad necessarily for a couple of my dogs, but it is strange to me that they would change the scoring rules for the big event.

On the first video: nice run here!!! A couple of strategy ideas for you:

Yes, more of a slice at 1 can help! I think he will have no problem with that.

The line for the blind 2-3 was almost to the tunnel (you can see as he lands at :14 your blind is finished but you are running towards the tunnel and he is running straight at it, then adjusts after landing). So we can totally pick up a faster time there: to get it, walk the tightest, most perfect line you want him to run… then you run exactly on that line for the blind (and keep moving so you are not in his way).
It looks like the line would start as you are passing the first wing of 2 and not further towards the 2nd wing.

Layering looked great! Yay!

He turned correctly on the exit of the 9 tunnel – if possible, turn him on the slice to his right at 10 (not sure if there was room there to do that there, there is some foliage LOL)

If you have room for 12 poles there, you can layer the tree LOL! Great practice for all the crazy layering 🙂

The BC line at the end (15-16 at :52) can also be tighter in the same theme as the 2-3 line – at :51, you are running directly to the tunnel so he is heading that way too. The connection on the new side does get the turn but we can take out the extra strides:

Your line should not go past the wing where the cups and bar meet – a decel will help keep your there and that might also mean the FC is the better option than the blind (which tends to have more acceleration and a wider line presented by the direction of our feet).

That can also set up a send to 16 and 17, making for an easy peasy BC after 17 and a right turn on 18 for the shortest/straightest line to 19-20. Turning left on 18 works but I think it is more yardage and also not as easy for a line (more turns for him). He layered to 19-20 really well!!!!

2nd course:
The opening went nicely, no problem at all, those skills are totally in his wheelhouse. I was super happy with how well he got onto the layered line because coming out of the 5-6 turns, there is not a lot of momentum and it is hard to get past the purple tunnel in the smaller space…. And he took off like a rocket! Yay!

He needed a stronger turn cue for the turn from the 10 jump to the 11 tunnel – the weaves were straight ahead and the off course jump was right there too, so decel and facing forward indicated the weaves first (he looked at them) then he ended up on the off course jump at :21. You decelerated more at 1:02 but he still looked forward and thought about the off course jump.

This seems like a perfect spot to add a handling cue that is getting more and more useful – the brake arm! That is the opposite arm joining the dog-side arm to cue the turn, and it is becoming incredibly successful to get the turns when we need collection cues to override a bit of forward motion (as is the case in this sequence).

He did really well layering the 14-15-16-17 line, going right past the tunnel entry to the 16 jump! YAY!!!

>>I felt like I was standing still and waiting too long for the circle backside at 18 but wasn’t sure if running into a BC and doing a threadle wrap there would have still gotten me the jump or the off course tunnel.>>

I agree – he was decelerated more than we need him to be because you were there so early. So you can meet him sooner after the layering line to move into it more (he was not looking at the off course tunnel at all).

For the BC to a threadle wrap – the only way to know is to try it :)It is a great skill to play with, especially with the off course tunnel right there. I used to say that the off course would never be that close… but it looks like it would totally be that close nowadays LOL!!

It would be more of a tandem turn than a threadle wrap, but definitely try it and we can see which is faster. And if you can’t try it on this set up, no worries – that is one of the hot topics for the next training package: BC to threadle wrap versus push to circle.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Nice job sending away to 8 from more a distance here: not only did you get the correct turn on the tunnel exit to 10, but you also got the blind at :44 and 1:40! Yay!

You don’t need to go meet her at the tunnel exit, you can hang out nearer to 10 – that way you are already decelerated for the turn cue on 10 and you don’t need to send her to it then decelerate again. Meeting her at the exit then accelerating caused the turn cues to be late and the bar came down both times.

After the weaves, you did a circle wrap on 13 but I think your original plan of threadle slice from the other videos was better – better/faster line for her, better position for you 🙂 You got the BC after the 14 tunnel but only barely (she had to wait for you to pass, especially at 1:58) but it will be even easier and sooner on the threadle slice. That way you can get the wrap on 15 and turn to 16 even sooner too!

One small detail for the ending: you can give the turn cues for 16 (jump before the tunnel) starting no later than when she is exiting the wrap at 15. That will tighten the line to the tunnel and make getting that blind cross 17-18 even easier for you.

Great job here!!!! Have fun trialing this weekend!

Tracy

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