[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! This went really well!

All of the handling in all of the combos looked super strong: connected and clear (there was one moment where you were in her way a little and disconnected as you moved at 1:24 so she dropped the bar, but the rest was fabulous so we will ignore the one blooper. I don’t think she had any questions about where to go on any of them, she followed the cues pretty perfectly!!

One thing to consider with the verbals:

Normally it is fine to name a line “go tunnel” when she has to take a jump or two on the way to the tunnel if it is a straight line… but in this case try to use a jump verbal for two reasons:
– because it is a little turn to the tunnel, so the jump verbal will support that
– because you said tunnel for both obstacles here and we want to be able to strengthen the verbals so you don’t have to rely on handling as much.

You did add a bit of “go” verbal before the jump cue on combo 2 but you also used it for the tunnel 🙂 So try to just use the jump or tunnel verbal to help build up those verbals.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Welcome!!!

Thank you for the update!!

>> Question on handling games 1: I just simply post turned toward the jump and said jump and both boys got it nicely without the reverse spin. Why the reverse spin? I noticed with Elecktra it seemed pulled her off the line a bit.

I used the reverse spin so that the dogs would see rotation on approach to the wing for both exits – that way they didn’t learn to predict that it would be the tunnel because I rotated, versus the jump if I didn’t rotate. I wanted to show rotation on both so they would have to pay attention to the other cues (connection and verbals) when they exited the wing wraps 🙂

>>Funny watching both boys: Watson I had to say the obstacle name before he rounded the barrel if he was going to have time to take the jump or tunnel. Levy if I said the obstacle name he would immediately turn around and go to the tunnel or jump without taking the barrel 1st. Levy I feel is processing the verbal quite literally. Watson I feel is depending on motion and handling.>>

That is a really interesting observation!!! Yes, it is normal that they would process really differently and it makes sense. I mean, we humans all process things differently from each other so it makes sense for the dogs too LOL!

I have experienced the same thing you are noticing: my pointy dogs are very very verbal and pretty quick to process verbals even when running, so I don’t need to be as early. And it sounds like because Levy is young, he is being very literal and doing exactly what you asked in the very instant you asked it LOL! So you can start the verbal later.

Watson is doing what I have seen in my terriers and with Voodoo: processing verbals is not naturally as strong, so I need to be earlier so they can process it better (and I also needed to start with less motion with all the non-pointy dogs LOL!)

I don’t know why sighthounds and sighthound mixes are great at processing verbals over motion, but I am happy that it happens LOL!!!

>>Watson and I crashed and burned around obstacle 5 we weren’t quite able to get the last couple and I didn’t want him to know so we had a toy party instead. I will video next session once it dries out here again.>>

Yes, either get video or let me know what happened – I bet he nails it in the next session 🙂

>>I will try the combos with Levy later. I think he needs one more session on handling games 1. I would like him driving to the barrel on a long send before I try the mini sequences.>>

Yes, with his speed, you definitely want to be able to send miles away to the barrel 🙂

Keep me posted! Sounds like the boys are doing really well!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Nice work on these videos!!

Looking at the first video – either all the coffee is playing tricks on my brain or this was in slow motion LOL!

That made it a little hard to hear the difference in the verbals (even when I sped it up) but in a way, that is good: it takes out my brain’s understanding of the word, and locks into the other elements like volume, pitch, rhythm etc. And they were a little similar, hard to tell apart – you were saying them twice and then letting go, and they sounded identical in pitch and rhythm for most of the video. Interesting! When it went back to really speed for the last 30 seconds, I could hear the word but definitely I think you can make them sound even more different.

I like to think of Tunnel verbals as ALL CAPS 🙂 so there is change in volume and intensity TUNNELTUNNELTUNNELTUNNELTUNNELTUNNEL versus the jump verbal, which I deliver more conversationally and with fewer reps: juuuump? juuuump? That will help him differentiate when handling is not available to help (you are layering, or too far behind, etc).

>>2) be “less controlling” of his decisions but still adhering to the two failure rule.>>

I think you were inadvertently holding him til he looked at the correct obstacle on a lot of reps 🙂 So one way to limit that is to close your eyes 🙂 When you start the verbal, close your eyes and say the verbal 4 or 5 times, then simply let go. Open your eyes when you let go LOL! so you can see where to reward. That will give a better indication of what he is responding too! And it will be extremely challenging 🙂

The 2nd video was in slow motion too – like an art movie. Ha! A good challenge is to get your verbals to sound even more different, even in slow motion!

He did really well especially finding the jump past the tunnel. You can use reset rewards for ‘almost’ moments like at 1:08 when he was heading to the right spot but lost a little confidence that he was correct because you were rotated. You can also throw the reward sooner, when he is on the way to the jump before he gets there, to affirm the good decision! Note how he looked at you on the next rep and then finished his line to the tunnel when you stepped to it.

The rest looked really strong!! You can definitely change the start angle on the barrel now!

Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!!

>>wow miracles do happen.. I did videos again.

YAY!!! Hopefully you are finding it easy to just throw the videos online, no big editing needed. The videos look really good!

>>It was hard to get the whole set up. I need to find a way to get it from above but for now this is what I got…. I tried to get the part where the handling takes place.>>

It was good! We don’t need to see the tunnel exit or jump landing right now, we can assume he exits or lands LOL!

> I did video my first tries and I see some of my errors. Gibbs did awesome.

Yes – you both rocked it!!

>> First video I used said tunnel before the wing (LOL) and did not even give my verbal for jump on the first try at the jump.

No worries, you were very clear and consistent on the rest.

>> Am I using too much body movement since we are suppose to be working on verbals?

The handling games are both physical and verbal cues, so you were good with your handling (more below on that).

>>And on position 2 and 3 I start out in the right position but looking at videos I move out of the position after the first try.

I thought you did well!

>> And am I suppose to be moving more on position 2 and less movement on position 3?

Nope, you were good, you can move on all 3 positions. The starting points vary to challenge him to chase you or drive ahead of you.

Looking at the 3 videos:
As you mentioned, you used a variety of positions relative to the wing: starting really near it (video 3), starting far from it and closer to the obstacles (video 2), and starting in the middle (video 1). Gibbs seemed to have zero questions about any of it: “Easiest game ever” was his thought bubble LOL!

The only thing that was hard to see on the video was if you were trying the disconnection element at all (couldn’t see your face LOL!) So I would definitely try that – starting in position 1, walking, big verbals but not really looking at him or connecting to him. He will either think it is a little harder, or just as easy as the rest of it LOL!

>>Will give this another try tomorrow and the get Combo number 2 a try so I can move on to Week 2>>

For the next session, definitely try the disconnection. The only other suggestion would be to try position 2 where you are way ahead and running hard in between the 2 obstacles: can he find the correct obstacle based on connection and verbal, even when the motion looks the same and he can see both options?
And yes, he is definitely ready for the Combos challenge of game 2 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Good job making the serp jump a little easier for her!
When she was not going to it (first rep & :39), you had too much shoulder pull which was pulling her away from it. On the other reps where she ran past it, it was more of a serp question so angling it to help her see the bar was really smart!! That way you can keep moving forward past the landing side, like you did at 1:14.

The tunnel sending was good, keep adding more distance and motion so that you can get massive layering!

When you added handling between the jump and tunnel:
The FC was good connection on the exit and you moved towards the jump, so she found it (:52). When you did the BC, it was a little late with verbal and connection so she was not sure where to be.
The BC started as she was taking off at 1:02 as you tried to connect after landing (more eye contact will definitely help her find the correct side) you were moving backwards to the tunnel (instead of forwards to the jump), so she had to choose motion or verbal because she couldn’t really see the connection – she looked at you and chose motion, good girl, that is fine and rewardable because she is not necessarily wrong there!

So starting the blind sooner is the key:
as she comes around the start wing and looks at the first jump, start the blind so you are connected and running towards the jump before she lands 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

I agree, she did really well here!!!

She should be on the same side on all approaches (left side on this setup) so the first couple of reps where she was on your right were not quite the same challenge. But when you moved the wing, you kept her on your left for all reps and that was great! She had a harder time leaving you to move away to the tunnel, so you added a little bit of handling help. That was perfect! In the next couple of sessions, try to fade the handling help and see if she can do it with just one step of help, and then eventually only verbals.

Nice work!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Yes, very low frustration tolerance!!

I think that a key would be to use an immediate reset marker where she comes back to get a cookie to try again – that can really help reduce frustration while building up a calmer response when things are not perfect.

>>I’ll have to break out some really yummy treats for the lazy tunnel game… Would I play that game separately from the discrimination game so the tunnel is just by itself? If so, I might add the Manners Minder back in so she doesn’t have to work for the cookie by getting it out of the toy. I think she prefers that.>>

Try it separately from the discrimination work, to pump up the value of the tunnel. You can use the MM but fade it quickly from the tunnel exit because the MM might be too much of a cue – want the tunnel to be the cue 🙂 You can just throw big visible treat chunks rather than a lotus ball, I figure she will like that 🙂

If getting the food out of the lotus ball is not a good feeling for her, then definitely take it out – she ran off after a lotus ball reward early in the video here. Big chunks of treats for the win! Yes, there might be fewer reps but that is fine because I would prefer several high value reps over tons of medium value reps.

Looking at the video – she was doing well when she was on your left and even finding the independent line to the tunnel! If possible, shorten up the tunnel so it is easier for her to run through when you want it, and easier to see past it when yo uare on the other side trying to show her the jump.

She had a harder time on the other side, when passing the tunnel to see the jump. Maybe it is the visual of the tunnel is so big that i twas hard to process the jump cue? Or maybe her brain was already challenged enough from the other side 🙂 and this side needs it own separate day for training LOL! You can help with more motion, and you can also reward more approximations of going near the jump, even if it is the other side – the criteria can be “anything that is near the jump and not the tunnel” 🙂

And definitely add a reset marker/cookie. After about 1:30, she was frustrated and had a bunch of failures, and got barky then took off. The reset marker/cookies will really help this while buying you a moment to think of an adjustment to make, and will also help get rid of the moments when she is facing you and barking.

So when you cue a rep – if she has a question and you are not planning to throw a reinforcement, call her back immediately, give a cookie at your side and line up again (helping her more, if she needs it). The reset marker and cookie should be very consistent, happen every time, no change in demeanor from the humans 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning, thanks for this – it is a GREAT example of an AKC jump-tunnel discrim!!!!

>>After reading your feedback from today, I’m thinking I was too pointy & lost connection!>>

Yes, too pointy with too much motion and that off course tunnel was 10000% on her line. I suggest for her a “brake” arm (small use of opposite arm) to get collection and a ‘left’ verbal. And we have backside versus tunnel exercises coming up that will help that!

Let me know if you need a brake arm video 🙂

>>I’m noticing that I lack the eye contact connection that I see you have in your videos. I am relying on my hand/arm to direct her, but there is really no connection there.>>

The eye contact is what turns our shoulders/chest to the line and also the eye contact allows the dogs to see our shoulders/chest… so it can be super clarifying for dogs in terms of where to go. The low arm which is back towards her will help open up that connection.

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>(BTW, we got kudos on his sends and my layering today in class!!!!)>>

Yay! So fun!!!!

And yes, the wind was nuts yesterday!!

The main tweak I have for you on these is to throw the rewards and not having him come back to you for all the rewards. By having him come to you, he goes a little too much into handler focus so you have to handle more. To create more distance and not have to run as hard, you can throw the rewards and he will happily drive the lines without you.

First video:

He did really well with the first handling exercises! All 3 positions of the wing looked great!

>>Sorry I didn’t properly figure out the width of the view we needed, but you can hear me and see him execute. >>

Ha! No worries, we see all the important parts and I can see your shadows during the line up 🙂

Be sure to delay any praise til after he has really committed to the obstacle – when you say “YES!” he looks at you, and that pulls him off the line when he is working at a distance (like at 1:57). You can replace “yes” with “get it” and throw the reward, so he doesn’t look at you and instead looks at his line 🙂 You got closer to the tunnel on the next rep but I don’t think he needed you to get closer – he just needs to know to finish the tunnel because the reward will be thrown and not handed to him from you 🙂

The second video is also looking good! On the first couple of reps, he needed one more step or two for the jump past the tunnel (like you did at :40, that was strong) when he was successful and only one step to the tunnel. You were really good with supporting the line whenever he got the extra step or two. It was good to go past the tunnel entry to help him find the jump on the other side. Now on the next session, we want to fade that a little bit and work towards you sending him all the way past the tunnel without you needing to also go past the tunnel. The key to that will be throwing the ball 🙂 You will have fewer reps because it takes longer to get he ball back, but the quality of the reps will be super high and get more distance even quicker.

>>And I can see where those will definitely require me to forget my years of trialing with my girlie (now retired) where I used those arms just like that…….>>

Yes, course design has evolved so we need to use our arms differently, plus young dogs need extra supersized connection early in their careers (and later on, arm use won’t matter as much :))

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Caught myself on tape saying “nope” a few times and using “yes” instead of “get it”. No cookies for me>>

You can let a ‘nope’ slip in now and then as long as she still gets reset cookies. That way “nope” means “come here, line up for the cookie, try again” rather than “you are wrong”.

And I think we all throw in “YES!” instead of get it when things go really well LOL!

Good job with the wing in the first position – the verbal on the wing helped her too, which is great because it helped her know where to look sooner.

Position 2 – You mentioned something about a late response to the tunnel cue and yes, the late response to the tunnel cue on rep 1 (and on rep 1 & 2 of position 3) were both processing delays and show us how hard this game was LOL! She needed to run AND process the verbal really fast… and sometimes only processed it after she took the closer obstacle. But then she got it right and did really well!! I can totally relate to “hearing” something *after* I had made a decision when I am also trying to move fast LOL!

On the other side (dog on right, passing the tunnel to find the jump) she did well too – she was being thoughtful and you were helping with a little handling support too. And yes, when your handling says one thing and verbals say the opposite, and she guesses incorrectly – you can reward her with a reset reward. That also helps the dogs handle us and not get frustrated when we mess up, because we humans mess up LOL!!

>> I want to revist this direction and try the other direction too. Which do you recommend as next step, revisit this direction or change directions ?>>

I would wait a day (latent learning) and maybe do handling challenges – then come back to this direction and see if latent learning kicked in. That way the other direction will be easy because it is more about the concept than the actual sequence.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Lots of good stuff here 🙂

>>The last few days we worked on Project Unpairing. For the most part, I did better in isolating the verbal release and movement.>>

Yes, the unpairing looked a lot better and the release was more distinct for sure. Plus he got lots of rewards for staying even after you got into serp position. Perfect!

The wing wraps on the actual wings look good, he seemed to have no trouble making the concept transfer. Super!!! You can delay the ‘get it’ and showing the reward til he is fully around the wing, because he pushes the wing sometimes on his rush to get the toy when you tell him he can have it.

On the serps section:

He was reading the serps really well when released. Yay! He was having a little trouble getting back on the toy after the food rewards – right now I think food might be overbalancing the toy play. So you can use the toy a whole lot more to replace the food rewards. So on the serps, a toy can be thrown back to reward the stay, and you can also reward the serp with a toy. That will keep more engagement too because he won’t take a few seconds to find the treat and the sniff around for more.

When you looked at the landing and your hand, he was great with the serps – two little bloopers at 3:36 and 4:15 where you kept looking at him instead of shifting the connection to your hand & the landing spot under it, The release should look more like what you did at 5:13, that was great!

At 5:38 you went to wing wraps as part of the serp session, and I think he needs things to be more distinct as in “we are doing the serp game now” then take a break then come back later for “and now we wrap the wing”. That will help him shift gears.

And when you do the wraps, be sure to let him see the whole wing – you are tending to block the line to it by standing where he needs to be,. then trying to get him to cut in front of you. And example is at 5:59 and he was confused because he didn’t see the wing, especially with the motion pressure of you moving forward. On the wing wraps, you should be on the other side of the wing so he can see the whole thing 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I was saying his left and right verbals. I’m just like the Seinfeld Close Talker only a Low Talker. I also say them several times before I release him but I think you’re saying to say them the entire time he is in motion?>>

Yes – keep saying them because there is a left r right turn the entire time. And say them like you would on course, don’t be the Close Talker LOL! You need to be more like George or Kramer.

>>Should I keep up with the mini pinwheel? Open up the wings at all?

You can give it a rest til MaxPup 2 – no need to open up the wings.

>>Speaking of Da Verbals, I forget whether I should be using them on the serps and threadles.

For the serps right now, you can just use the stay release. And yes, add the threadle slice verbal to the threadles.

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I like everything I see here on the video!

The serps looked almost perfect – nice stay, nice angles, nice turning. yay! He only had one blooper (:36 when you changed sides) and I think the change of sides PLUS throwing the toy after he was in the sit PLUS you were not looking at your hand/landing spot – all of that was too much in terms of variable changes so he missed the jump til you called him to it. So each time you change a big variable (like going to a new side), start by making the other elements easier for now. You can add more motion now, moving a little faster across the jump! You were walking, so see if you can build it up to a slow jog. If that is too challenging for the stay, have someone hold him.

His decels looked great, I like how he is powering into the wrap! He is turning tight without losing speed in and out of the turn. Plus he seems to think that “boring” wraps/decel is SUPER FUN lol! Yay! We add to this game in MaxPup 2, so you can maybe revisit it once a week til then.

He did super well with the minny pinny!! Your attention to mechanics looked strong and he was bending really nicely!

Were you saying the verbals (left/right) on the minny pinny? I think maybe I heard you say left once? LOL! You can definitely add them, and repeat them as he is doing the minny pinny. There are 2 reasons to keep saying them:
– to name the turn on each bar and the exit
– to get him used to hearing things over the bars and not finding the to be distracting.

You can also turn and start walking the opposite direction sooner, to help build up even more countermotion on these soft turns.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Tis is definitely a hard game! I think he was relying on line of motion a lot, so we can make some adjustments to help him out for sure! Some ideas for you:

>> I want to figure out how to help him be more successful after he misses one>>

After he has an error, I recommend having him come to your side for a reset cookie so you can line him up for the next rep. What was happening after the errors was that was was barking at you a lot and staying in motion, or then you were having him do multi-wraps – so all of that was super arousing and maybe a bit frustrating for him, which was not conducive to helping him lock into the smaller details like verbals. The reset cookie will help him breath while also reducing frustration – and allowing you to line him up while also buying time to figure out what to do on the next rep 🙂 Those reset cookies are gold for keeping the umbrella rate of success high, which keeps the frustration level down when the skill is really hard.

The other tweak to try is to separate the jump and tunnel a bit so there is more like 6 -8 feet between them. And, rather than peel off to the side of one or the other, your handling path will take you between the two obstacles on every rep:
for example, if he starts on your left you can send to the wing then FC to cue the tunnel, or send to the wing and spin to start the cue to the jump – and your line of motion will be relatively the same for both. On the video, your handling path was sometimes blocking the jump or blocking the tunnel, so he didn’t know where to look.

That allows you to use connection and verbal to help him look for more than motion (because motion won’t hold the answers here LOL!)

And keep the connection nice and strong so when you are running fast and way ahead, he can use it to override the speed/arousal.

>>Nexus definitely struggles with the disconnect especially>>

The disconnection game will definitely work better if your line is between the two obstacles, and to start it you should be walking (running and disconnection together will be too hard at first). If he struggles with complete disconnection, you can do to ‘weak’ connection first, where he only sees maybe half of your cheek 🙂

One more suggestion – repeat your obstacle verbals. You were saying the jump verbal only once, but it will help him if you say it a few times to help him process (as long as you make it sound different than the tunnel cue :))

Nice work here! Let me know how he does!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
He definitely likes the layering to the tunnel here, no problem at all!
You can move the start wing further away so you have more room to cue the tunnel and peel away, to see if he will continue to the tunnel on his own (I think he will).

>>To get the backside I had to stay pretty close to the jump.>>

You did a really good job helping him out with the backsides, both with physical cues and makng the verbal sound really different. Yay! The next step would be to start moving yourself over, so the start wing is more in line with the exit wing of the backside, and you can be moving up the line towards the center of the bar of the jump, for both the tunnel cue and the backside cue. That will add more challenge to both, but a lot more independence as well which will make things easier on the big courses.

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

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