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Hi!
The pop out looked great, super connected and timely!!! She needed you to take one more step to the 6 jump before peeling away, but the rest was pretty perfect 🥰About the contacts – I think she knows it is *something* about stopping when the RT is there but I don’t think she knows it is a 2o2o (as you can see when she was stopping progressively further and further up the board). A target for the 2o2o might be more helpful, to create the behavior chain of 2o2o then release forward. The target can be as small as a piece of duct tape on the floor, which also makes it easy to fade 🙂
The RT can still be out there to reward, but a target might clarify things better. Then you can progressively move yourself further and further back- but rather than stand still when you are behind, work on staying in motion and running past her so she doesn’t get into the habit of curling back to you, because she will also see you run past the end. Let me know if that makes sense!Tracy
Good morning!
>>I had ups and downs with staying positive. I know that every run counts with Mookie because he is getting older. >>
It is hard when they age for sure – but the runs count towards the bigger picture of your life with him, not towards titles or anything 🙂 If you think about a clock ticking on titles, you will add anxiety so you want to redirect your brain away from that.
>>I have learned that if I keep a low banter with him saying come come come instead of “COME” he actually follows me better.
I learned that if he hears me repeating commands in a lower tone we move as one>>That is great insight!!! And it probably leads to earlier info too!
>>We were the only ones in the 24 inch height to Q in both runs and did it with insanely fast times both runs. It felt magical. I know this won’t happen every day every run but it felt so good that it could happen >>
Yes! That is totally the joy of agility 🙂 It is hard to get those clear round with fast dogs but it is so magical when we do!

>>we nailed every course easily because he has a balance of obstacle and handler focus. Once he is on a line and I let him go he is gone like the wind and is wonderful. Yes, we have tons of stuff to work on to move up to the nastier AKC courses but for now what a joy >>Yay! That is so fun! And it is challenging to run 2 very different dogs but you are doing a great job figuring them out and helping them!

>> Thank you again for doing this mental mangement section. I will try to stay true as I can. I can still be disappointed easily but have a plan with Mookie to try now.>>The mental game is definitely up and down – no one is positive all the time 🙂 The key is to keep practicing it as a skill in your toolbox. Over time, it will be easier and easier, like flexing a muscle!
Tracy
Good morning!
The raised plank is looking good! The clicks were all hind end, but they tended to be the 3rd foot and so you can wait for foot #4 🙂 You can take the clicker out of it because she looks at you more and more even when you click the 3rd or 4th back foot. Rather than click, you can mark the behavior with get it and toss the treat. That should get less looking at you. And a Manners Minder on one side would also help her stop looking at you – she can go towards it in one direction and get a treat in the other direction.
When she is looking at you less, the next steps are to add more of your motion going back and forth, and the banana line game that is posted in the last week.
The box is going well too, and same suggestions for it as with the plank – no more clicker (so she stops looking at you) and use the ‘get it for foot #4 in the box. And the Manners Minder will help too! I think a lower lip to the box will help too as you add more of your motion so she can get her feet in faster.
The blinds are going really well! She was looking at you a bit on the exit of the blind and the wraps, because you were not quite finished with them and showing the new connection. To get the new connection sooner, you can start the blinds sooner – as she is halfway between the tunnel and the wing, you can be start the rotation into the blind so the blind is finished before she arrives at the wing. Keep your motion directly towards it so the motion supports the commitment.
On the wrap after it, two things will help her maintain commitment: using your dog side leg to step to the wing, and look at the ‘landing spot’ as you move away (rather than at her or ahead of her). When you took the big step o the wing, she committed nicely! Her only questions came when your dog side leg did not step to the wing to cue the send.
>now she is not keen to play with a tug toy. She is looking for her ball and pretty much stops playing with me while she hunts around for it. >>
I am glad the teeter is going well! But yes, we would like her to play with the toy. You might want to start any training with the tug toy early in the session before any ball play, and with a high value tug. And, you can try doing the weaves and the teeter for high value toys instead of the ball. Ball-obsession can tend to override other things, which can make it harder to train other things without the ball. Other options include toys that have a ball on them, she might like that too!>>Hoke’s chiropractor is finally back from vacation and we see her tomorrow. She knows him better than anyone.>>
Fingers crossed that he feels better ASAP!!! I am glad he is already improved!!Nice work here, let me know what ui think!
Tracy
Hi!
He was on fire here!Nice layering to get 3! Great verbals and parallel path line supported 3 really well!!!
>> I felt like he was wide on the backside circle wrap but watching the video I’m not sure if it would have been better for him to collect a bit more before taking off so that he landed more towards the tunnel.>>
I think a bit of decel will definitely help him there and also on the turns at 4 and 5. You were not late, necessarily, with the crosses or send, but without decel he was jumping longer so made most of the turns on landing. So if you give him a little decel as he exits the previous jump, he will collect more on takeoff side and 2 other benefits will pop up: he will land facing the new direction more so he can accelerate faster to it. And, you will be quicker to get to the new direction so he can chase you even more!
>>And LOL – run slower! >>
I figured that would make you laugh LOL!!!! But yes, when you accelerate for real but there is no place to go, you end up getting too far ahead which makes things like the layering harder.
Great job here!
Tracy
Hi! Both of these looked great!
Wow! That first pop out looked pretty darned fabulous!!!! YAY!!!!!
The opening looked great! Great connection and timing!
She must have fallen in the tunnel or something, she was in there for a LOMG TIME but you were connected and still got a really nice turn on the next jump.
I think you did a timely cue for the turn on the exit of the tunnel (someone made a sound and she turned well haha!)!! And the BC was timely after it too 🙂
I do think most of you at FF made that line more complicated with the BC to the RC, when it is very easy to serp on your right 🙂
I love how she offered her “I AM READY, HOOOMAN” on the start line on the 2nd pop out! Yay! And good for you for not pushing your luck and asking for more 🙂
The opening looked great – nice wrap on 3, she barked because you can finish the FC and move away sooner 🙂 As you move away, shift your connection to the landing spot to help support commitment: you tried t move away into the FC sooner at 1:32 and she almost didn’t take jump because you were looking at her.
The tighter turn on the 2nd tunnel exit will make the last serp easier for sure. You did call her name before the tunnel at :53 but you can do it even sooner and also you can be moving laterally towards the next jump more, which can help cue the turn on the exit. You did the left verbal MUCH sooner on the 2nd rep which helped, but not quite enough – you might need a spin on that tight of a tunnel exit for now! You probably won’t need it forever but it will help in these early days 🙂
Great job here! And yes, definitely start to add people into the ring :)
TracyHi!
Nice work with the boys, it sounds like they were really successful! And it was very clever of you to layer th eroded off area LOL!!!And yes, revisit these in the fall – especially for Alonso, so you can keep figuring out his timing as he gets more and more experienced (and to keep your timing sharp with Mookie and Buddy :))
>>And are you planning any short courses for the Fall ?>>
Yes! And it will probably incorporate the mental prep stuff (and only be open for the mental prep group participants :)) Stay tuned!!
Great job all summer with your boys!!! And thank you for the updates!
TracyHi!
Looking at the zig zags:
The angle of the bars was good! But that made it harder (longer distance between the 2 jumps) and she had a few questions (head up on the first rep, added stride on the 2nd rep, pulling from the front of the 3rd rep, added strides on the last rep). So since she was changing what she did on each rep, that is her way of telling us it was really hard! And my guess is that the distance between the 2 jumps was a little too big to get a comfortable bounce in (she is a relatively small girlie!)
So to help her out, keep the angle the same but overlap the wings a bit so the distance between the 2 jumps is shorter. Ideally you will want the jumps to be about 4 feet apart on her line so she can comfortably bounce the distance.The lap turns and tandem turns went really well! The turns were definitely tighter! Great job not going past the wing!!
Small details on these:
On the lap turns, you will get an even better turn if your hand is towards her more and moving more slowly:
Rather than bend your elbow with your arm up high, bend over and lock your elbow, extending your hand to her, so just be she arrives at your hand, you can slowly move it back to turn her.On the tandem turns, because you are facing forward/moving forward – you sometimes were a bit sideways, so she was not sure if it was a lap or tandem turn (like at :33 when she didn’t take the wing). So for the tandems, keep your hands doing the same thing you had them doing here, but you can face the wing you want more, moving parallel to it then using the hand cues to turn her away (then your legs follow the turn away so they are the last thing to turn in the tandems :))
On the last big sequence at the end – she was fast and happy doing all of the various turns! Fun! It was great to see her responding to all sorts of different cues, at high speed! Yay!!!
Great job :)
TracyHi! All of these look terrific!
The forced front cross sequences looked great! She found the correct side of 2 and the 3 jump beautifully each time. When you added the throwback – it appears she had no questions and turned beautifully. Nice job getting the connection on the exit of the throw back because she turned really well and seemed to know exactly where to go next!
The threadle openings were also really strong – she didn’t seem to drive in quite as fast to them, but that could be because you were facing her which does ask for more collection.
So now on all 3 of these: you can try to start moving sooner. Rather than wait til she is at the edge of the backside wing, you can move as she is getting to the commitment plane for the backside. The theoretical backside commitment plane is on the 45 degree angle between the wing of the jump and the foot of the jump on the approach side (so a little less than a foot away from the edge of the wing) – and when she gets to that line, you can move through the next part of the cue. Let’s see if she will let you leave earlier!
>>At 1:09 is the balance rep – not sure if I was still too far away but I did see her put in an extra stride for the turn.<< Yes - she definitely turned before takeoff but still jumped a little straight over 2 on that rep. So you can be closer to the jump and move to 3 even sooner: as soon as she lands from 1, stay connected with your upper body rotated towards her, but start moving to 3 and see if that helps tighten her line there. Great job here! Let me know what you think! Tracy
Hi! He did really well here!
No worries that he couldn’t quite do the left turn, especially away from you. He was really strong moving back and forth and turning right, even with the board wiggling a bit (it might need more stabilization as he starts moving faster).You can add more speed with him going back and forth, but don’t put him in a stay for now – he sometimes breaks the stay and then if he turns around or you re-start, that is when he fell off. So, you can have him on the ground, put a cookie on one end of the board and bring him with you to hop on the other end of the board, so he can move directly across it to the reward. And you can go as fast as he wants to, so you might end up running 🙂
Nice work here!
TracyHi!
Sorry to hear about more hot weather coming! Ewwwww!!!These sequences went well! And he gave good feedback about what is most effective!
>>apparently I can turn too early when sending to a tunnel. I thought he was looking at the tunnel but he turned off it when I did.>>
Yes – the parallel path is very helpful to him. You pulled off it on the first rep, but you stayed parallel to his path longer so he committed better at :16.
Watching him set up the layering, 2 ideas for you to be able to ge the layering without getting too far ahead and past the jump you want to layer:
– To set up layering, you can get in closer to the jump at the start of the line so you an accelerate for longer on the parallel line to set the line without getting too far ahead.– And… don’t run as fast 🙂 You can show acceleration by dropping your shoulders and pumping arms, but not running that fast 🙂 That will help you not get too fat ahead in smaller spaces when he has a lot of yardage but you don’t.
1A – really good timing of starting all the cues! This is a spot where you can stay closer to 4 and let him finish the wrap, so you don’t end up going past the jump you want to layer.
1B : This also looked good! The left cues were a bit late at 1:01, especially compared to the go tunnel cues for the previous sequence. You can start the left cues (physical and verbal cues) as soon as he exits the wrap which will get you further ahead for the next line too.
Seq 2: On that opening line, a turn cue for the exit of the tunnel (probably just a name call) will help set up the threadle. Call him when he is a few feet away from entering then he will exit turned and ready for the threadle rather than looking at the backside line (and you won’t need to pull your line away from the jump to get him to come into the threadle side).
After the 3 jump, you can play with locking into the timing and doing all of the cues sooner 🙂 so as he exits the 3 threadle, you can be starting the backside cue for 4, which will allow you to start the wrap cues for 5 as soon as he lands from 4, and the wrap cues for 7 as soon as he exits 6 🙂 You were tending to start those cues when he was past the halfway point between the jumps, and ideally he is already seeing/hearing the cues. He turned well, but I bet you can get more explosiveness out of the turns because he can prepare for it sooner, ad because you are driving to the next line sooner :) Great job! Let me know what you think and stay cool!
Tracy
Hi!
This is a really good insight into your mental state over the weekend!
>>Is it because it mattered more? Because I knew for us to be competitive at all that I had to lay it all out there?>>
Maybe you should run to win All.The.Time. As long as you don’t get caught up in whether you win or lose (because you will experience both), running to win can really sharpen your mental state! Running to Q can make us tentative…
>>How do I funnel that focus into our “routine” runs? In the past, I’ve mainly looked at competition as a “test” of our training. Q’s were great, QQ’s were awesome but not the end all be all. That’s not to say that I wouldnt be disappointed to not Q but overall, I would take joy and satisfaction in the things we did well. >>
So maybe change the outlook now… it is not a test. It is a competition, let’s give the crowd something to cheer about! And yes, sometimes we crash and burn but running to win is where you can develop that extra edge 🙂
>>After I started getting close to our MACH (#19) and repeatedly would Q once but not the QQ, I did start feeling frustration. The harder I tried to grasp, etc….I got to the point where I just wanted to get it over with so I could focus on USDAA and UKI. I’ve decided to enter whatever trial I want to regardless of event or if we have completed our MACH.>>
This is because running to Q is BLEH! It makes us tense, and tentative. Running to go as fast as possible because it is the only way to potentially win? That might be what makes you laser-focused! Yes, no one wins all the time and sometimes the crash and burns are pretty impressive 🙂 But they are always those laser-focused runs!
Let me know what you think about shifting into run to win focus! No one else needs to know LOL!
>>Competing in USDAA this past weekend was a good reset for me- We do have lots of skills. We are a good team. I think it will help me when we compete in Akc in a couple of weeks (if Roulez doesn’t come in season)>>
Heck yeah! You kicked booty in a deep, talented field of fast dogs!!! Run AKC like it is USDAA!
>>And let me tell you the crowd screaming and clapping was a rush for both me and Roulez!!!>>
I bet! Sooooo fun!!!!!!!
>>>I have been so fortunate over the years to have you as a mentor and instructor. Who knew that the 11 hour trip for the puppy seminar in the hot, dust filled barn 13 years ago would lead here?
Thank you again so much for all of your help!! Love you!>>Awwww thanks! Love ya back! And thank you for all the years of letting me learn from you and your dogs, and for trying different things even when I am sure they sounded crazy 🙂
Tracy
Hi! You can still get Power Patterns 2, the link is open for anyone who wants the recording. It is here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZxo-_A9KdGCSWq7SHvqKAc_N5suI64pCs3UxLdcFet2HCtQ/viewformIt sounds like he did great this weekend, being a good boy around the ring! Bummer about the corneal abrasion – be careful running with that! Feel better soon 🙂
TracyHi!
The heat sounds miserable!!! Bleh!!! I think the bloopers on the sequences here were probably because you were a little rusty. Most of it looked really great! The bars were her asking valid questions (and being a little rusty too, perhaps :))Seq 1: She did well on the opening! On the threadle wrap, she needs a bit of a “look at me” before jump 4 at :09 so she is expecting the turn cues for the threadle wrap. You started the threadle wrap cue as she was lifting off and she was surprised, so dropped the bar.
After the threadle wrap (and this comes into play again in the 3rd sequence) – when you rotated and turned your back on the 5 jump and did a blind exit at :17, she went to the tunnel perfectly with a nice tight turn. When you did a post turn and faced the jump, she stayed wider (correctly) at :25, :35 and :50, and took the layer jump. That is rewardable because she is correct 🙂 That post turn is what you would do to send her on the line to the jump, so the ‘spin’ exit works a lot better there.
Seq 2: She had a little question on the turn away at the tunnel exit:
She needs to see you on the exit of 3 so the physical cue supports the verbal to turn to 4 (like at :31) And take your time with those cues – if your movements were too high, she didn’t see them. But when you slowed down and she saw your hands, she got it nicely (:48, for example).
The bar down on 4 at 1:31 was a moment of her not being sure which jump you meant – you were saying jump but turning so she was not sure if it was straight or not. She went straight but was questioning if she was correct.The Backside at 6 worked well with extra connection on the send. You had your arm above your head on the first rep and also at 1:16 so she went to the front, plus you pulled away before she committed to going to the backside wing. That is a rusty moment – you almost never have your arm above your head LOL!!!
After the backside, the bar at 7 came down a couple of times (at :59 and 1:36). That looked like it was because of was lack of decel , so she didn’t collect and tried to adjust in the air. So, you can add more decel as she exits 6, which means sending from further away, which actually is helpful so you have an easier time getting the BC 8-9 🙂
Seq 3:
At the beginning, you were a bit too decelerated into 4 at :06, so she did not go past you to the jump. The more you moved towards 4, the better she committed – just be sure to let her be past you before you cross behind her (sometimes you were trying to cut behind her before she was past you and before she looked at the jump). Your rep at 1:13 was perfect!For the layering, I think that was a bit of rusty too – your Out arm was very high at :11 and :35 , so she had a question. When you arm was lower, she got it really well! My rule of thumb on those opposite arms get out cues is to look at the dog’s eyes and point my arm to the obstacle I want the dog to get out to, so my arm is pretty low (never above shoulder height).
If you are floating around on Facebook – my cover photo is me giving a get out cue to Contraband. He is on my right side and my left arm is showing the get out, so you can see how lot it is and he is looking where it is pointing.
You might have notice that she was wide on 8, heading to the 5 jump. That jump needs a spin to tighten it up (rather than a post turn) – this is similar to the 5 jump on Seq 1, where the post turn sent her back into the layering. She doesn’t need a lot of spins but this is a great place for it plus it gets your feet turned and moving to the new line really early!
To be able to get the correct side of #12 at the end you can try to send to the RC on 10 from further away, so you can get ahead of her on the exit of 11. But the main thing is to make eye contact on the exit of the tunnel, which will help her push out to the correct side of 12.
Great job here! Fingers crossed for some cooler weather!
Tracy
Hi!
Looking at Rosie’s video – I agree, her lines and layering look great on the first run! You can go clsoer to the entry of the tunnnel #3 so that you don’t end up waiting for her at the exit, but the rest was pretty perfect!!!
>>On the second run, not sure why she turned in the opposite direction on the first jump.
It was subtle – you were moving to the center of the bar (which can indicate rear cross) at then stepped back on your right leg at :51, which looked like you were cutting across the rear cross line. Her question at 1:09 was similar – your right leg stepped back so she read it as a rear cross. At 1:35 and on the first rep, your right leg did not step behind her to the rear cross line so she wrapped to the right. She sees everything!
Her only other question was sometimes she did not go out to the layering jump – that was when you were looking forward. When you are more connected, she went out really well so remember to give her big eye contact to get her into the layering., more like on the first rep and at 2:07.
>>also liked it when she went out to the far jump after 5 even though this was not the right course.>>
Right! Even though you were saying ’tunnel’, she saw you running forward so she stayed on her line. Yay! You got the turn nicely on the last rep by calling her and turning instead of running forward.
Looking at Lily’s video:
She did really well on the lines when you were staying close with a lot of motion. As you mentioned, the sends were harder for sure!
>>I think because Rosie has more distance skills, I am expecting this from Lily and I am not giving her enough support.>>
Yes, she needed one or two more steps into the big sends. You can look down to her and watch her head: when she is definitely looking at the jump and within a couple of feet of it, then you can move to your next spot (and throw lots of rewards :)) She was definitely looking at it in a couple of places (like on jumps 5 and 8) but she was still 6 or 8 feet away, so she pulled off when you tried to move to the next line.
She also needed your leg to step forward into the turn away umps at 3 and 10, like at 1:02 and 1:20 she came off the line when you didn’t fully stet t the jump with your dog side leg
Throwing the rewards really helped! And so did running closer to the lines, so she had more motion and more support.
You can do a lot of one-step sends with 2 jumps: when she lands from the first jump, take one step to the second jump and as she starts to move to it, throw the reward. Start the 2 jumps close together then you can gradually move them further and further apart so she gets more and more distance built up with lots of reward 🙂
>>I’m starting a course with Lily today with Toni Osojnicki (you may know her; she is one of the top trainers at our training facility at Animal Inn). The course is called “The Power of the Send”. This should be good for Lily.>>
Wow! This sounds like a great class! Toni is wonderful!
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>we have been doing very well in trials with several QQs in both Masters and Premier.>>
Wow! That is awesome! Well done 🙂
Video 1 and 2: Great connection on these!!!!
One thing that makes a difference in her turns is if you can show her you transitioning from acceleration to deceleration. So at the beginning of the first rep, you can be moving fast towards the wrap jump at :02 then as she exits the tunnel, decelerate before you rotate. That way she can collect before takeoff. Without the decel here, she jumped long and turned after landing.
That is what you did on the 2nd run (decelerated sooner) and look at the difference in her collection before the jump! NICE!!
Good job getting the push to the backside at the end! Nice timing with the ‘whoa’ for the tunnel exit. You can be even closer to it and try not to rotate your feet towards her (:13) on the first video. You did get closer and kept your feet straighter on the 2nd video (:17) and she looked great!!
Videos 3 and 4: Also great connection here!!
Nice opening 1-2-3-4!!
On the first video, she knew there was a switch at 5 (:15) but she didn’t know how tight it was – so you can decelerate into it to tighten her line there. You had a little more decel on the 2nd run and she turned better, so definitely add in decel to all of your wraps.On the 6-7-8 line: remember to call her before she goes into the tunnel. And I think doing a BC to a wrap overcomplicated this line 🙂 The BC was a little late at :18 on the first video ant :16 on the 2nd video (she was taking off) which made the wrap late (:21) so she turned after landing.
You did the RC on the 2nd video to the slice line, which set up a really nice line! But you can simplify the handling and do that 6-7-8 section all dog on right as a serp, nothing fancy needed 🙂 and the timing is much easier.Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy
