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Hi!
Wow, she looks super confident on the zig zags! Fast and happy and organized! Super! So 2 ways you can make this more spicy and challenging:
– move things closer together so the bar is touching the other wing (no gaps).
– you can add one more wing and one more bar, so she has to do it on 4 bars 🙂Huzzah! Rear crosses! I am doing a big happy dance!!! These went really well and she is nailing it!
One tiny handling detail – you are lining up with the line of the tunnel exit and facing straight for a moment, and I think you don’t need to do that. You are turning with t he curve of the tunnel then getting on the RC diagonal. But you can just be facing and moving towards the RC diagonal immediately, which will make you perfectly on time (as long as you don’t get too enthusiastic and push her off the jump :)) You were facing the RC diagonal more immediately on the last 2 reps to the left and she was great: fast and tight on the turns! YAY!!!
It is really fun to see the RCs coming together so nicely!!!!
Great job here 🙂 Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
>>Great live class the other day! What fun!
Everyone was great and those were hard games!!!
>>I crack myself up when I review these videos and just imagine what you hear when you review your students’ work. I’m, of course, talking to Baxter like he’s a person and then am humming as we do the racetrack games LOL >>
I think is it great! Singing, smiling, humming to our pups… so fun!

Looking at the first video:
The warm ups on one wing looked great! Lap turn to the right – good! When you switched to the left – also good! Super!When adding the rocking horses, the first rep on each side had a little blooper of forgetting he needed to be between you and the wing. But then you were perfect after that and got him to the correct side.
He had a couple of little questions:
At 2:30 he didn’t commit to coming in for the lap turn, and it was because you were too early! You broke he 2 inch rule LOL so he didn’t quite get the turn – remember to let him get 2 inches from your hand before you start to move back.
Compare to the rep at 3;20 – you got the 2 inch rule and he was perfect 🙂OK the humming on the race tracks was HILARIOUS! Every race track needs a theme song and Baxter definitely liked it! And it created great handling, so I highly encourage more singing LOL!
Looking at the get out game:
He did really well! He is very responsive to the verbal and outside arm here!
When you aded the blind – the timing was good. Yes, can be a shade earlier but also he was completely not expecting it to happen so had a little delayed response on the first one. He got tighter and tighter on each one. But here is an idea to both add challenge and make it easier to be more timely on those:
On the next session, send him the other way around the wrap wing so he enters the wrap wing on the side that is closer to the jump. And he will exit further from the jump, which makes the ‘get out’ cue a little harder but also when he does get out, you have more time to see the head turn and start the blind.
Great job here! Le me know what you think! And we will miss you in Syracuse!
TracyHi! I’m glad he is having fun training! Yay!!
>>His stays also took a hit. I ended up having Jamie hold him for the wind in my hair sequence. This morning I also practiced stays with all 3 dogs using your method. He did well. I didn’t include that video, but I did video.>>
This is normal for all of our dogs, even if we didn’t have to crate rest – sometimes the sty just disappears LOL!! Good job breaking it down to help bring the stay back 🙂On the first video – the set point: Nice job getting him to look down to the reward target!
What is the distance you were using on the set point? I think he was struggling with it actually being a little too short for now! If it was 6 feet, maybe try 7 feet.
But also, start him a lot closer to jump 1 so he is not running into it – ideally, he is less than 6 inches from jump 1 so he pushes off his rear directly into the set point. That will keep him powering through on his rear which will also feel more balanced.Did you get a chance to play with the moving target pre-game? That gets applied here and I think he is ready for it, after he sees it in the pre-game 🙂
>>The progress we made with his weakness with left turns has taken a hit with our crate rest.>>
Yes, he definitely had a little trouble but we can help him. The right turns were definitely easier for him on the barrel wraps and wind in your hair game!
On the barrel wraps – on the left turns, a couple of ideas to help smooth it out for him:
– you can smooth out the starts by lining him up at your side with a cookie, slipping a finger on his collar, saying the verbal a few times and then stepping forward and letting him move to the barrel as you stay connected and also indicate with your arm and leg. This is especially important on the left turn side (when he was on your right side) when he was jumping up at you (frustration) rather than smoothly going to the barrel.
Also – I think having the other 2 dogs watching/string/sometimes barking was too much social pressure on his adolescent brain and even though he didn’t go to them, he still felt the pressure. (You can see him look at them more in the next part of the video, when there is barking) The social pressure causes him to have to focus a lot of brain power on ignoring them rather than processing hard things like turning left. So, he gets alone time when training and his mom and brother can be in the house 🙂
2 other things that might help refresh those left turns: You can place the reward out just past the barrel to help him have a focal point to turn to and drive to, as you get started with the left wraps. And you can also revisit the head turn game with the clicker from MaxPup 1 (it was in one of the final weeks). That game works the mechanics of the turn specifically and can help those left turns come back.
Wind In Your Hair – he was driving forward really well! Super!!! The wraps also did well here, you were more patient to let him set up the left wraps. Yay! You can keep adding more speed and distance here and start building up to the rear cross games :) Great job!
TracyHi!
Good job working through the timing needs on this game – it can be tricky!! On the first sidde (dog-on-left heading to the jump) I think the decel was a little too early so yay were walking a bit , which reduced some of her speed. My. favorite rep on that side was at :07, when you accelerated for a bit longer then did a little decel – that as fast AND tight! Yay!
On the other side, you definitely had more acceleration which helped a lot! As you were decelerating, you were sending her past you with the dog side arm which also helped. When you had a little less motion of the arm, she had a better turn (like at :59). When you had a big arm send and ,ore arm motion, she was a little wider. So definitely keep moving the arm but move it a little and not a whole lot 🙂 to find the sweet spot for the turn.
One other thing that will help: after the FC, rn run run run and then when she catches up to you, throw the ball. When you were standing still, there was no need for her to drive around the jump to get back to you. If you take off and run, she will tighten up the turn automatically because she will be motivated to chase you out of the turn.
Great job here!
TracyHi!
I am glad they played today! Yay!And yes, the timer is a great way to keep from getting caught up in the moment! And I definitely think training *before* she runs around will help keep her energy up for the session 🙂
T
Hi!
I think the reason this felt weird was un her son which had to use with the toy was because you did spins here (front cross then blind cross combo) instead of the blind – so the toy placement probably felt weird because she was starting and finishing on the same side of you. These were really nice spins!
But to get the tight blinds, keep reminding yourself to turn away from her (not towards) and then it will all make more sense: the toy will starting the dog-side hand, then you turn away from her, and then the toy is in the opposite arm which you show across your body. Once you get the feel for it, it will feel great! For now, keep remdinding yourself to turn away from her, and you will have it 🙂Nice work!
TracyHi!
For some reason the first video link won’t play, it says it is not available – let me know if it is working for you.
The 2nd video looks good! The angled jumps are definitely challenged so on the first rep, she was a little more “hoppy” and upright. She then got adjusted more on the 2nd rep and was more balanced – the angled jumps are a hard visual! So I think she was sorting it out really nicely – on the next session, use the moving target with the angled jump and see how she does! Nice work on this one!
TracyGood morning!
The deceleration cues are hard and they do feel a bit awkward! But it gets easier as both you and Hola get more comfy with it.
The GO reps all looked great!
Looking at the decel – on the very first decel rep, she was expecting the thrown reward like the Go rep.She had 2 main questions about the decel :
On some of the decels, you also rotated towards her which looked at the RC cue (looking at your feet, you can see your feet pointing to the RC side of the jump, like at :19, :33, 1:11, 1:54) so she slowed down to see which it was.I the 2nd half of the video, you were exaggerating the decel a bit which is great! On the reps where you stopped moving, she also stopped moving. But then when you kept moving as you were decelerating, she was great – such as 1:03 and 1:34.
The most perfect reps were at :23 and the last rep. So keep moving forward for longer in that decel mode, and when she is about a foot from the jump, then you can rotate through the FC.
Looking at the lap turns: Vanilla Cupcake Grahams?
Yum! It sounds delish LOL!
>>Oh boy…that was a big mistake, sweet cupcake cookies was all she could think about.
If that happens, you can dial things back to a less stimulating food reward, e en in the middle of a session.
>>Thinking about our past few weeks’ training she has seemed a little less excited about some of the toys in general and I’ve tried to switch them out more. I could use some help on how to work through this kind of engagement (or lack thereof) when it becomes difficult. I felt like I put too much pressure on her to play.>>
She is coming out of a season and so it is useful to do sessions where it is all food only, or all toys only. And keep things short and fun! And break things down so there is no perceived pressure or difficulty – remember the 2 failure rule 🙂
>>I think I need to keep sessions super short because she seems to fade out quickly. She starts out strong and expends so much energy in the first part of anything, chasing toy, etc. I do let her run around before we start and relax some in between. She usually ends up with tongue hanging out the side of her mouth as far as it can go! It’s been very hot here, too. >>
With the heat and the running around before the session… she does not have much energy left for h the session especially if she is running around with the toy beforehand. So the easiest answer is to not let her use uptake energy before the session 🙂 You need the brain and muscle energy for the training session, so there is no need to let her use it up running around.
And when using toys in the heat, set a timer for 2 minutes, total. And when the timer goes off? Session over! These videos are edited to about 2.5 minutes which means the sessions were longer… which is too much for now especially in the heat. And you can see her biggest questions come after the 2 minute mark. So, 2 minutes total, full session, no editing needed 🙂
And try not to do too many repetitive things in a row, like the rocking horses or race tracks – that feels like drilling to the dog and gets pretty repetitive, so you can do maybe 2 in a row then be done. You will see a big increase in her physical and mental stamina that way.
Looking at the lap turn video – she started off really well and then as things got more complex and it was harder for you to show connection, she struggled a bit. So in those moments when she slowed down (like after 1:54) you can show more connection and do shorter reps (refusals are almost always connection questions from the dog). And the connection getting harder to see plus the little sequences getting longer towards the end of the session (when she was hotter and more tired) also contributed to her slowing down: she started off fast and tight on the turns! So that is where the 2 minute timer will really help – you get done what you can do in 2 minutes, then leave the rest for another day 🙂 These games are not intended to be built up in one session, they are better if you do multiple sessions.
>>When we’re done training and come back inside she’ll sleep for a few hours. >>
That usually indicates that it was either really hot or really hard or both… so as the heat comes up, dial back the length and intensity of the sessions and you will see even faster progress!
Nice work! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
It sounds like it went well for both dogs! Yay! And yes, Georgie’s stay looked great on the previous video – just a little bit of baby vulture, dropping her head LOL!!!
And also yes – BCs bring with them a lot of “momma beats me” drama LOL!!! But that is just the way they show their intensity to work 🙂
Tracy
Good morning!
So great to see him back in action! He seems really happy too! Great sessions here on the video!
He definitely liked the smiley face game and his commitment looked GREAT! I think you were trying to get yourself to the wing then do the FC – but that made you late on the rotation so he was a little wide. You can totally connect on the tunnel exit and as he is passing you, you can send him the rest of the way to the wing and rotate away so that he can collect at the wing.
He did a great job finding the jump on the Wind In Your Hair game! You can throw the toy even sooner: as soon as he looks at the jump, throw it 🙂 You were waiting til he was between the uprights, which was fine when you were close but then when he had t drive ahead of you if you were not ahead of him, he was not as sure. So you can totally throw early or have Jamie throw it LOL!
My only other suggestion is that as soon as he exits the wrap, you can stop saying your wrap cue 🙂 You kept it going as he was on the way to the jump LOL! You can now add more motion and the big loud GO verbal too! This setup builds into multiple games, so you can start putting those in too. When the GO is feeling good, you can add in the rear crosses.
Great job here! See you in class tonight!
TracyGood morning!
This went really well – she seemed to have no trouble shifting her leads to zig and zag through the wings. Easy peasy!
Your timing was really good on two wings. Then she turned on even more speed when you went to 3 wings – so you can definitely start the cue for the 2nd gap between wing 2 and 3 sooner but also – you can make it more obvious to her that you want that gap by stepping to it even more (almost stepping towards her). That will help push her into that gap. That was what you started to do on the last rep and it worked nicely!
>Maybe we’ll try 4….
You can totally try for 4! And last night I posted the part 2 of this game, where you can add bars to this to add more challenge for her (4 wings will challenge your timing, adding bars will challenge her lead changes 🙂 ) Great job!
TracyIt is hard to tell because he was either scrunched up with his feet too far under him or his back feet stretched too far out behind him LOL! But he does seem to have a nice long neck (speaks to shoulder angulation) and nice length, which means power and turning! Yay!
Hi!
This session went really well too!
Looking at the rear crosses – at the beginning, you were a little too early 🙂 by turning your feet to the next line before he was really past you (like at :07). He had to run across your feet to get the front of the bar, which he did – but that would make it hard to cue a backside.
You adjusted that though, and kept your feet running forward to the center of the bar for longer til he was passing you ad looking at the front, like at :37 and then all of the reps in the 2nd part of the session. Nice!!He was really strong with the GO reps too, with just one question when he went past the jump at :23.
I think 2 things happened there:
He was just looking for the placed reward from the previous reps, and at :19 when he exited the tunnel, you were tucked into to where the wing and bar meet, so the pressure was part of what pushed him off the line (I don’t think you were too far ahead).Compare to next rep where you were further away laterally and he was not looking for the placed toy 🙂 And same with the Go reps after that. Really nice! And the post turns also looked good – he had no trouble with that at all.
Great job!
TracyHi! This is going super well!!
Really nice verbal difference between the GO and the ‘right’ – it totally got his attention and made the turn much easier. Yo can cue the tunnel as soon as he takes off for the jump – you were cuing it after landing so he as waiting a bit.
And when you go back to the “go”, throw the reward sooner – he was starting to look at you because he realized that there was a potential tunnel option now LOL!!The next step is to move the start wing “around the clock”. It is was a 1 o’clock here, you can more it to 12 o’clock, 11 o’clock, etc… so that he is eventually starting on the other side of the tunnel with you and has to go all the way past the tunnel to find the jump for layering.
Great job!
Tracy
