[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>It’s funny because I walked it the way you suggest for maple but it was suggested I do it the other way lol. >>

Ha! They owe you a beer. I told them all that they should serp LOL!

>>Shoulda just stuck to what I knew would work (the serp line). I cut off the video part where is say – “I’d never make her do that” lol.>>

Well, if your inner voice says you would never make her do it – then you can tell everyone to bug off and try it your way. And if it doesn’t work? Try the other way. But, it is entirely possible that you are the only one with the best answer to the question, so go with your gut!

>>My question – simpler handling for me often involves RC and I know that’s not always the right thing. How do I get more confidence staying ahead but still keeping things simple?>>

Good question!
A couple of ideas:

If you have to do a cross to set up the rear (like the blind to the rear) – then there is going to be a simpler way like a serp.

Or if you have to slow waaaay down toast up the rear? Do the blind pr front.

And ask yourself if you can get to the FC or BC *before* she takes off for the previous jump or exits the tunnel, if you hustle 🙂 If yes? DO IT! It not? Rear cross 🙂

Rear Crosses are a valid and underused handling tool!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>We seem to be having increased difficulty with a variety of skills at the moment. >>

Yes, that happens, no worries -the skills are getting harder, mechanics are changing (hers and yours), her hormones might be changing (but please keep her intact so she can Ramen or CB can make babies in a couple of years, OK?!?!), and she might also be feeling off if kennel cough is floating around.

Also, she has had some really super successful but high intensity things in her training world lately. It could also be that she needs some decompression and to complete the stress cycle to help return to baseline in terms of stress hormones (hello, HPA Axis!) So sleeping, hiking, sniffing, running…. All that jazz 🙂 No training for a few days, as that stimulates the HPA axis and we want it to chill out.

>>And my handling skills are definitely not ready for her!>>

Plus this! And if there are errors, reward her anyway for all the things, as you generally do. It takes a while to be able to clearly handle such fast baby dogs!! (Contraband is 3 and I am just now getting my act together on the really hard stuff LOL!!)

Big lines video: this is going really well! She has some questions that can be worked out with handling, I didn’t see anything adolescence-induced happening here. She was actually paying super close attention (that is the good new and bad news with wicked fast baby dogs LOL!!!)

At :09 she went to the tunnel behind you. In the category of “sighthounds see all the things” – you actually cued that with your position past the entry and turning your shoulders forward too soon. Good job rewarding her 🙂 The next rep was clearer, super nice- you held connection longer and were in a better position relative to the tunnel. So she could see it as a send to the tunnel (which is a good position to be in there so you don’t end up too far behind later in the sequence)

At :27 she did not take 1 and 2. You were way up the line and high arm blocking connection so she had a big and legit question. Reward her! Putting her closer to jump 1 helped but that assumes that it was her error and not your error 🙂 LOL!! So as you lead out, point your dog side arm down to her nose (you might need to dip your shoulder to to do this) and do your best to see her eyes (easier said than done!). Your arm at your shoulder height blocks the connection so she might only see your back or she might be asking questions and not see the line cue when there is no parallel motion to support it.

She read the throwback really nicely at :35 and then you didn’t ask for a turn on the exit of the tunnel, so you didn’t get one 🙂 Good reward 🙂 She BLASTS out of tunnels, which will serve you well on the bigger courses!

She got the line 1-2 at :44 but try to be more connected on the release – that will support the line better to get her to see it on the first rep, and also you can see the timing better so you can start the rotation when she is looking at 2, not when she is over 2.

You were cuing a turn on the tunnel exit at :49 and you got one – yay! She had a big question on 5 and went past it. It is a serp line in terms of lead changes for her, so yes- you need to wait longer as you told her during the party after it and also use your upper body to serp her in over 5.

Last rep was my favorite in terms of timing 2-3!!! And you had great timing of the turn cues before the 4 tunnel too Super!!

You ended up going too close to the 4 tunnel then went to your right side briefly as you tried to get between 5-6 – but the connection on your left was late (watch her ears stand straight up at 1:13 when she sees it LOL!!) but she was going too fast and found the line on the other side of you 🙂

So overall on the handling… try to watch the video in slow motion after each rep to see exactly what happened (I watch Muse’s videos at half speed). She is small and fast so half speed makes things easy to see that can’t be seen as well at full speed and are nearly impossible to see in real life in the moment 🙂 But, I would have it no other way! Love her speed and her drive on the lines and her ability to turn like a spaghetti noodle. ❤️🤩

Teeter games are going well! I liked the target position being closer to the teeter in the 2nd part of the video (she was a little too stretched when it was further away). With her speed, no need to add in releases to the tunnel or forward to a toy for now, you can see that is super high value and she was anticipating. So you can build up to running towards the tunnel, but for now keep all the releases as rewards thrown to her or behind her 🙂 Let’s make it a little boring for now haha because as soon as it all comes together it will be very fast and I want her to have sooooooo much value for holding position even in the face of extreme excitement 🙂

Great job here!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
I agree, she is doing really well!!

The serp work is going well, and she is doing a really good job sorting our her striding!! In terms of timing, you can show her the serp arm sooner: as she exits the tunnel, so that she is getting the info for the next jump to come in and go back out.

So when she ran past the jump after the tunnel at :41 and dropped the bar on the next rep, it was because the serp info happened a bit late: remember to call her before she enters the tunnel, and have the serp arm up as she exits so she knows the next line.

When you change directions (like going towards the tunnel or being on the other side of the jumps) be sure to change the angle of the jumps. If you don’t change them

The blinds and spins are good well! The super good news is that she is moving fast and her commitment looks good! So now you need to do everything sooner 🙂 You were tending to start the cross as she arrived at the wing, which made it late (and she ended up looking at your toy a lot, because she was not sure what was next).

For example, at :22, the BC started as she was almost all the way around the wing, so she went to the toy afterwards. And at :26 and 1:06 you did a spin – and as she was exiting the wing, all she could see was your back so she went to your right side first then back to you left side. The rep at :35 was sooner (you started before she got to the wing) and it was much smoother 🙂 That rep had the best timing!
You were trying for earlier timing t :56 (yay!) but disconnected a little too soon and she didn’t go around the wing.

So to work the timing, be super connected at the tunnel exit as you move up the line, so as she exits you can start to decelerate and do the verbal, then as she is looking at the wing, you can start the spin or the blind. You can still be ahead of her (don’t go to the exit of the tunnel to meet her LOL!) but the info can come sooner. She is ready for that for sure!

Looking at the mat video:

>>Here is Liz’s mat work. Hoke’s looked very much like this. And I was clicking him for the trot across, too,>

I think what you were clicking and what she thought you were clicking were two different things. It looks like she thinks it is get on the mat and look at you (based on what her head was doing and the placement of reward from your hand) so even though you were trying to click back feet, she was offering looking at you on the mat.

So, a couple of ideas:
A bigger mat will totally help! This mat is too small for her length, and you should also elevate it so she steps up and you can see the 1-2-3-4 pattern very clearly (to click the last footstep of the rear feet, , #4 :)) I start my dogs with the 1-2-3-4 game (front feet are 1 and 2, back feet are 3 and 4, I mark for foot 4 and toss a treat.

You can see it here with 1-year-old Ramen:

The treat tossing is critical, to keep the dogs from looking at us. So no more rewards from your hands, all tossed rewards for now.

On the last part of the video, the “into the box” was GREAT! You should be standing still for now, and counting to 4 (for each foot) and don’t click til you get to 4. No 4? No click. LOL!!!!

The mat section with the food was better than with the toy – with the food tosses, she was working across the mat more. Your clicks were not as consistent, usually for foot 3, sometimes 4, sometimes 2. When the toy came out, it turned into “on the mat and look at the momma” so we don’t want that LOL!!

So for now, stick with the food rewards for into the box and over the plank thing (it is a Cato Plank) that my puppy is doing. When you get consistently into the 1-2-3-4 pattern, you would then put a nice big mat into the box and on top of the plank to bring the behavior to the mat.

Nice job with Lizzie here! And fingers cross for Hoke, hopefully he is just sore or has a soft tissue tweak. Dr. Leslie is THE BEST so I know you are in good hands. Keep me posted!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I am glad you got a break in the weather! Really good session here!

You were connected really well all the way through and that was terrific!

She was VERY fast on the first few reps, making it harder to control the line. I imagine this is what her trial speed is 🙂 So you can warm up her brain with some pattern games and then no matter what: keep moving 🙂 The faster she goes, the more you want to keep moving.

On the first rep – when you stand still and only do verbals, she basically just zooms away, so the lack of info is frustrating to her. Compare to the 2nd rep where you had more movement and then the later reps (like for example starting at 1:50, 2:25 – 2:33 also on the last rep) – you were in motion and connected and she did a beautiful job finding lines. Super! So keep moving, all the time.

And with that in mind:
Try not to turn towards her to get her to come in to take a jump, keep turning your shoulders away. When you rotate towards her, yes, she might take the jump but then you are standing still and facing the wrong way, which is not helpful with such a fast dog 🙂

One hand in pocket a lot for example at 1:46 started like that but then at 1:50 you started moving more and using both hands and it was GREAT!!
Same at 2:25 – 2:33
And also on the last rep – you were in motion and connected and she did a beautiful job finding lines.

2 other things to consider:
It was great to have the treats with you, but try to secure them so you don’t run with one hand in your pocket -that inhibited your motion a lot.

And on the Fc at 1:52 and 2:33 and 3:04, connect with your eyes as you continue to move, pointing your arm back to her, rather than stopping and pointing down. She had trouble reading the FC because it was really the only spot where she needed more connection.

Nice job working through the circle wrap at the end! You started with a backjump at 1:57.
Compare to 2:05 where you kept moving forward and she was great!

You did a full 360 degree turn there on the next rep which worked but puts you behind on the line, but the blind cross you did at 3:08 was definitely the winner – really nice!!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
The first pop out went well! No need to tighten it if it goes well – too tight is usually just slower.

You can add a bit of decel into the FC (as she is exiting the tunnel start slowing down) so she can collect sooner and so you can FC sooner. The middle section looked really good – fast and connected!
On the 9-10 line at :18, you rotated almost like you were about to do a front cross, so she jumped straight towards you. But then – surprise! LOL! – you rotated again and tried to get 10. She landed really wide and had to fix it on the flat. The 9-10 line is a serp relatively close to the 9 jump, with your feet pointing to 10 the whole time 🙂 Your connection was great so I am sure a serp will work there. Everyone made it harder than it needed to be LOL!

I will compare the first and second runs of the next pop out to each other 🙂 because based on how you named the videos and what you described above, I am not sure which one was first. And I think 2 of the videos were the same?

Your opening 1-2-3-4-5-6 looked best when you did *not* praise her. Praising her makes her look at you like, “what’s next, MOM!!” LOL!! So, just keep giving info and save the praise for the end 🙂

The switch cue can start when she is out of the tunnel to tighten up that turn. Then be sure to call her before she goes into the 6 tunnel so you have a nice tight exit.

The blind to the RC 7-8 (:18-:21 on the first rep video) works but it is a lot of handling and side changes when you can do it all dog on right as a serpentine 🙂 Just don’t get too close to the 7 jump for the serp and it should work nicely!

On the second run, you were definitely over-helping her so the blind at 7 was late (:19) – then you didn’t get the connection to get 8, so she had a really wonky angle and ended up on the front side. So the lesson learned is: do the simplest handling and don’t over-help. Tighter is generally not faster!

By simplest handling – if you find yourself doing 2 crosses basically on one jump (like the BC to the RC here) then you can just replace it as a serp which is easier for you both and also faster 🙂

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This course was intended to reflect a rapidly emerging trend of the “handle a hard thing in all the corners of the course” design approach. So let’s look at what worked on the second run first, then go back to the first run where things were harder.

The opening looked good on both runs. You had a spin on the second run at 3 – not sure he needed it and you can probably get the same line by moving away sooner (as he lands from 2, cue 3 and get outta there).

On the lovely 2nd run, you were basically doing a series of parallel lines to his line to support the handling challenge in each corner as well as a parallel line to support the layering.

What I mean by that is at 2:24, you started cuing the line to the 5 backside while Enzo was at about pole 7. You can see the connection and parallel line turn on like a spotlight there! And then you ran that parallel line supporting the backside with a lot of connection (and a tiny bit of pressure towards it, but not much) until you saw him commit top the backside. It was lovely!

Compare that to the first run where you gave the verbal backside cue at :29 and turned away from the line, pulling him to the FC.

I think by being more lateral the whole time you can get the backside 5 and the FC at 6 you did on the first run. But the RC on 8 before the frame on the 2nd run used a super strong skill (switch!) and he nailed it. The switch on the 2nd run was also better timed – the right verbal on the first run was late (over 8) so he landed wide. When he is on your left on the DW, you can use your jump verbal before he exits so the right verbal can start as soon as he is exiting.

After the frame, on the 2nd run, you used that parallel line to support the backside at 10 (2:35) – super nice!!! That set you up really nicely to get the slip backside to a German at 11, which based on the way this is set, is the best option (better than a threadle slice or a threadle wrap in this case). That German allowed you to show the one to 12 with parallel line motion, which set him up to go to 13 on the other side of the DW perfectly, then there was more parallel line motion to get the 14 backside from 3 miles away 😁 That set up a really gorgeous ending which basically took you across 3 corners of the course LOL!!

Comparing to the first run – at :53 you were trying to converge to the backside at 10 but didn’t get it in time so he read it as a rear cross on the front (and a toy cue LOL!) You were clearer at 1:28 but the line at 2:36 was the winner.

Also the first run, the threadle slice set you up to have to send back out to 12 the pull away, which almost pulled him off of 13 (he had to go back out to find it, which he did, good boy!!!)

So the takeaway here is the connected parallel lines – not need for big arm sends or big steps to the line. He reads the lines for backsides, layering, serping, etc brilliantly with connection and parallel lines with the info coming before he exits the previous obstacle (in the weaves, on the frame, before takeoff of the previous jump, before entering a tunnel).

Great job here!!! Let me know what you think! And if you still have video of the goat rodeo, post it up because I want to see if it was a parallel line issue!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! He definitely loves his serps! Yay!!!

Looking at the serps:

On videos 1 and 2, he needed you to look back at your hand and the landing spot as you moved past the serp jump (not at his cute face). When you were doing the serp and a little ahead of him – if you looked at him, that closed your shoulders forward which actually indicates layering so he did not take the jump (good boy!) As you move through and are ahead, shifting your connection from his eyes to your serp hand and the landing spot will rotate your shoulders more into serp position and he will come in every time 🙂

When he took the jump on the first 2 videos, it was when he was a little ahead of you (you didn’t lead out as much) so he didn’t need to read it as a serp.

On the 3rd video with 2 jumps – you got a little further ahead (yay!) and your shoulders were more open to the serp jump (also yay!) so he was able to correctly read the serp every time (SUPER yay!)

When training handling, it is really important to reward all bloopers because we have reached the point in training where his bloopers on jumps or sequences are created by handling errors. So, pay him for his effort and for his feedback! When he doesn’t get rewarded, he gets confused and frustrated (because he was responding to the cues correctly as best he could), which doesn’t help the handling and doesn’t help the stays. And on hard handling like this, keep the bars really low especially when he is starting right in front of the jump.

Speaking of stays…

>>but he can’t sit still even for a second lol. I don’t know what to do. I let the videos run so you could maybe come up with a plan for me?>>

Thanks for letting them run!! I think he is confused about what the release is. The release and the reconnection and the hand movement are basically simultaneous, so he is not sure if he should move on the connection? Or on the hand movement? Or when you get to the other side of the jump? It could be any of them because they are all happening at the same time. And then when he is toldhe is wrong (put back in the stay and no reward), you can see his confusion (offering the jump, moving more in the sit, etc).

And motion will always override verbals, so he is trying to figure out which part of the motion is the release.

So – really clarify what the release is. If it is the verbal only you need to have the connection and the serp hand already in place so that the release verbal happens a couple of seconds later. So on this game, you would start to move away with connection and with your hand out… and then after 2 or 3 steps, release him without moving your hand.

Because he has had too much failure with this already, you should take it away from the jumps and use a platform like a cato board. The platform helps define the boundaries for him (“stay on this thing while I move away”) and you can practice separating the release from the motion. then you can add it back to a jump, but still use the platform. And watch your videos after every couple of reps, to make sure you are not getting into the habit of releasing and moving all in the same heartbeat.

Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!!! These look great and I love how you broke things down and built them up, on both sides.

Moving blind cross video: Nice job back chaining this! You can lead out more so you are past 2 when you release. That will allow you to start the blind when she lands from 1 and looks at 2. She is reading the side change brilliantly so the further you lead out, the easier it is to time things correctly. You were passing 2 at 1:20 when you started do on right, an at 1:58 when she started on your left (tat was my favorite rep in terms of timing, you were done with the BC before she took off for 2).

Nice job rewarding all the stays and maintaining criteria – seems like she REALLY likes agility and when you walking into the lead out, she was solid in the stay. When you ran into the lead out, she leaned forward and her but came up – not quite a broken stay, but also too much movement for a sit stay. I think she was just getting into that sprinter’s stance to blast out of the starting blocks, she might not even realize she is doing it. So you can keep to walking or slow jogging for now so she stays more firmly in her position. And as you add more running into the lead outs, you can consider leaving her in a stand-stay. That way she can tense her muscles to be ready to go without leaving position, making it easier for you both to maintain criteria 🙂

The lead outs to the wrap on 3 looked great, she had no problem reading your position and lack of motion as a collection cue on both sides – and I think she never looked at the tasty tunnel behind her on the first side. SUPER!!! She was consistently brilliant 🙂 I love it! And since you were not running on the lead out, her stays were super solid.
You exited the throw back on a blind cross on each of these (indicate with right arm, exited with her on your left side) – you can totally work to exit it as a front cross (indicate the jump with your right arm, for example, and then pick her up on your right side).

Lead out push video – these also went really well! The further ahead you get, the more you can open up your arm and shoulders back to the bar behind you – it will feel super serpy and a little exaggerated, but that is great because it really indicates the bar. If you are lined up with your shoulders perpendicular to the bar of 2 like they were here, she might jump a little straight over 2 (towards you) and rotating your shoulders to face the bar (center of chest points to center of bar) will help get her turning even more over jump 2.

You can see some of the tensing in her body language when she is thinking about the release here (when she was on your right in the 2nd half). It is a hard thing – did she break the stay or move out of the sit? No….. is there potential for more movement than we want? Yes for sure. So that is where the stand stay comes in – might be easier to NOT move while also being ready to release, and then there won’t be any frustration or confusion if she leans forward but doesn’t break the stay.

I think she is ready to see these at a higher height! Were these 10″ bars? You can definitely go up another 2 inches, then another 2 inches after that if she has no questions.

Great job!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!!

I am sorry to hear that the heat has just been outrageous this summer – seems hotter than ever!!! But I give credit to Annalise for running like a pro even though it must have been blazing hot!! And Prytania seemed happy to run in the heat too!

Annalise – I hear that school has started up again! Yay! You did a great job on these sequences, and you were connected beautifully on all of them. Super! A couple of ideas for you:

Seq 1 – this looked lovely! My oly suggestion is to angle her at jump 1 so she is facing the straight line to 2, rather than facing straight to 1 and having to turn to find 2. The straight line 1-2 is faster and easier! The rest was great and I am particularly excited about how well she drove ahead at the end!

Seq 2 – super nice blind here!! You can move even more towards 3 (staying connected like you did) and try to start the blind even sooner: when you see her land from 1 and look at 2, start the blind 🙂 That will challenge her commitment but I think she is ready for it.

Seq 3 – thi swas the throwback sequence.
I don’t think she was looking at the bumper too much, I think her question was more about countermotion. At :42, look at the landing spot as you do the throwback, not at her cute face – that will get commitment to the jump as you move forward. So look at her until she is almost arriving at you, then let her see you shift your connection to where you want her to go (landing spot) and use your right hand to point to the landing spot too. That should really help her commit with countermotion there.
The send to the tunnel threadle on the last rep worked beautifully too!

Video 2: Wow, the rear crosses went well!!! Nice!! You nailed it every time!! And when you asked for the “go on” at the very end, she read that perfectly too. You were both brilliant!!!

You can do the blind sooner on the landing of 3 – you don’t have to wait til she has exited the tunnel. When she exits the tunnel, she can see that you have already finished the blind and you are connected on your left side, which will help her not run past it like she did at :24 and :58 (the side change was late so she thought you wanted her to run past it)

>>Lots and lots of rewarding. I even cut out lots of the rewarding lol!!!>>

Good job rewarding her even if there was a blooper! No such thing as too much rewarding 🙂

Great job here! Stay cool!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! These went really well!!

I think the main thing is that when you drive aggressively and show her the lines, even on these smaller space sequences – things go great! When you are careful or not moving enough, there are bloopers.

On the first pop out:
You can accelerate more into the tunnel so when she exits, she sees you shifting from accelerate to decel sooner. On the first run, you had a bar down at 3 at :06 – too much decel before tunnel then you had to step forward to cue 3 (she came out looking at you) which made for a late FC at 3.

She turned really well coming out of the tunnel, so keep moving past jump 9 at :17 – you were over-helping by stopping to to bring her in, so she did not know where to go next.

On the 2nd run at 3 – you were more decelerated and that caused you to be too early on the wrap cues for 3 at :32. The transition from fast to slow when she exits the tunnel is the key element.
On them middle section, you are actually connected too much and not moving along the line enough – you were late turning at 5-6 (bar down) and then she never took the tunnel because you were not running towards it. You can totally drive those lines harder 🙂
You were better moving through the serp at 9 there but then stay connected with BIG eye contact at :45 so she knows where to be to find 10.

You asked how you were getting there – trust 9 and drive in to 10 with big eye contact 🙂 So far everyone who has submitted videos is totally over-helping at 9 🙂

seq 2:
nice cue to the 2 backside! You can move sooner and serp the line 2-3 so it is a smoother line to the tunnel.
The switch looked good on 5, I really like turning the dogs left there because it is a faster line. You can decel a little more to get it even tighter 🙂

Every thing else looked really good! You can converge more from 7 to 8 so she turns better over 7 (bar down there)

2nd sequence:
The entry to 4 on that side is nice but makes getting the 5 tunnel really hard – you can do a blind 3-4 and then either a threadle to 5 or another blind 🙂

Lovely job 6-7-8-9-10-11 (a little late on the 2nd rep turning your feet to 10, so the bar came down) and you
just needed an earlier step to the 12 backside on the first rep and also more running a parallel line to it. The second rep was much better, you were more aggressively showing her the 12 backside and and she got it really well. Yay!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Congrats on your success at the trial! That is really impressive! And I really like that TDAA allows food in the ring – I wish the other organizations would allow that too!!

Have you every considered teaching Lily a around-the-back start, so there is no line up or stay, only a fun start? It looks like this:

And I train it like this:

Both girls did really well here!!

For Rosie:
The opening line and the BC at the tunnel entry looked good.
For the exit of that #3 tunnel to 4. I don’t think the verbal was causing her questions. Part of it was position: you can make yourself more visible so she can see you relative to 4 when she exits. On the first 2 reps she slowed down a bit, and at 1:35 and 1:50 you got a little further away from the tunnel she saw you stepping back towards the tunnel towards the line you came from, so she read it like a rear cross.

You were more visible at :50 and 1:22 on the exit of the #9 tunnel (she had no questions and was speedy!)

At 2:06 you stayed close to the tunnel for the blind and you were more visible after the 3 tunnel and you stepped forward to 4, so she read it perfectly and was speedy 🙂

At 2:30 you were more visible after the #3 tunnel, but because you did the blind far from it then pushed back towards it, she read it like a rear cross. So the trick there is to stay close to the tunnel entry so there is no inadvertent rear cross pressure, and keep moving to 4.

Backside of 6 – yes, she finds the backside a lot more smoothly when you hold the cue til she is around the wing (like at :32 and 2:13 and 2:54) As you add more countermotion of moving forward to 7, you can shift your connection to the landing spot (look at it and point to it) which will help her commit when you are on the takeoff side of the jump. She did not commit at 2:14 and 2:55 because you were on the takeoff side and looking at her, instead of looking at the landing spot.

She had a couple of questions about the turn cue on 7 – this is where the rear cross pressure on her line would help! At :37 your line looked like a wrap towards you cue, then you tried to do the RC at the last minute – it was much smoother at 1:07 when you showed the RC pressure sooner.

For Lily:
More connection on the first blind 3-4. Look her right in the eyes more like :43 then get more visible so she can see the line to 4 9low arm, more eye contact)

You got some stress sniffing here on this first run – there were handling errors that caused questions, and she didn’t get rewarded until 1:20 Remember that even if there is an error, you can reward her or you can keep going – no need to fix all the things to finish the full run.

In general, more connection (looking directly at her) is key for her. For example, at 1:23, 2:00, 2:04, 2:40 when you tried to send her to 1 from far away, you were not connected so she went to the line your feet and shoulders were pointed too (she was correct). At 1:26 and 2:06 and 2:42 , you sent her from even further away but you were connected so she went to the jump. Similarly, when you did not connect for 7 at 1:42 and 2:22, she did not go to it. So make connection the very top priority and I bet you will see smoother runs.

This will be important no the start line too at trials – get super connected before the first jump cue, so she knows exactly where to go. That clarity should reduce stress!

When you connected after the BC on that rep, she went into the tunnel. When you connected to send to 4, she went perfectly. Same with the 6 backside! Yay! And you got the blind on the rep at 2:20!! The 3-4-5 and the 8-9-10-11 sections were super connected and she got them beautifully, every time.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

I am glad to hear it is also useful in AKC! I have found that all of these challenges have the same progression over the years:
They start in Europe… then they migrate over into UKI and ISC classes, then USDAA (although USDAA is not nearly as popular anymore) and Premier… and then into regular AKC classes as the judges figure out how to put them in while also staying within course design rules. So it is good to be ready for when we see them at every level!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Both girls did really well here!!!

Pop Out 1:
Wish:
In smaller spaces or smaller distances, you can move closer to the obstacles to be able to get better turns and sends (sounds counterintuitive but works like a Charm :))

Rather than decel before she goes into the tunnel and wait for her (which causes her to turn and look at you on the exit) – run closer to the tunnel then run to 3, so she sees you transition into the turn cue for the wrap at 3. She saw you move forward then rotate at takeoff (:05) so she was a little wide.

The timing of your ‘whoa’ and movement away from the tunnel was really good and she turned really well on the exit at :14! You stayed too long in front of 9 so she jumped directly towards you – keep moving through that serp and trust her turns so that you can show the line to 10.

Charm seems a little more ‘forward’ on these lines, so you can rotate sooner for the turn on 3 (she collected really well there!) Also, you had really good timing of the tunnel ‘whoa’ at :14 and she also turned really well on the exit!

You were more out of the way on the landing of 9 for her than you were with Wish… but she needed you to move away sooner too. At :17 she is landing facing you, then had to turn back to find 10.

For both girls, as soon as you see them look at look at 9, stay connected, keep the verbals and serp arm going, but move into the gap towards 10 – that way they can make the turn before takeoff and not after landing.

Pop out 3:

Wish – Nice backside send to 2! And nice job leaving towards 3 when she was committing to the backside entry wing. Add in shifting your connection to look at the landing spot of the backside at 2 as you move away from it, to support commitment. Your line of motion and timing were all great, but you were looking at her cute face so she ran past it (just an inexperience thing).
When you re-sent her at :12, you hesitated there to get her to jump but your initial choice to run more was correct.

I like the choice to turn her to her left on 5 with the switch cue! Add more deceleration so that she can collect more. she knew to do the switch, but she didn’t know how tight the turn was so she was wide – that made the whoa cue late at :18

Holding still between the upright of 7 made the BC late but also – you if you are going to turn her to her left on 8, don’t need a BC there, you can do it as a serp dog-on-right and send to the wrap. Doing the BC then the RC on 8 made the turn wider, plus those wings out there on her line did indeed look like something to commit to LOL!
Also, you can BC on landing of 7 and wrap her to the inside (to her right) which sets up a better line to 9.

Charm had a really nice opening 1-2-3-4! You don’t need to shift connection to the landing spot of the 2 backside like you do with Wish.

You turned her to her right on 5 – the collection looked really good! But I bet turning to the left on 5 with decel will be the best, fastest line for her,

The whoa was a little late at :16 (she was in the tunnel) but she naturally turns really tight on tunnel exits! So you can go directly to the BC while she is in the tunnel (you did it at takeoff to 7 at :18) and then had to work really hard to get the switch. You can also try doing that all dog-on-right so you can send to 8 and run to 9, she read that line really well!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>This sums up a lot of my problems, lol. I can’t get too far ahead of her because she has such a short commitment point before an obstacle, and she knocks bars. >>

You can plan your approach to a course based on what you think you have today in terms of commitment and skills… and keep working on the things you want in the future (like more drive to the tunnels, for example).

>>BUT… if I don’t get ahead, I’m always behind, and things go so much smoother if I’m ahead (and I’m certainly never catching up to her, haha).>>

Rear crosses are a tool that most folks don’t train enough but are SUPER handy. At seminars and classes, I think courses are set up to get the handlers ahead all the time but in reality, we are not always able to be ahead so rear crosses are really useful.

>>. I watched the walk throughs before running, but I didn’t catch a couple of errors that I made in every walk through until I ran it for real and Nox told me I was wrong, haha.>>>

Good for you for watching them! And the dog does provide useful feedback about whether are plans were solid and well-executed or not 🙂

>>Well, you will see a hilarious attempt to do this that turned into an absolute train wreck! It took me way too long to realize stopping was just better that point. Watching it on video was painful, lol.>>

You can keep going for an obstacle or two then reward as if it was a correct finish, then reset from that spot and pick it up again.

Looking at the video:

Watching the fast walk throughs, the pace and most of the lines and connections seemed really strong! There were 3 spots I noted down as potentially being trouble spots:

The handling at 7 was totally clear about what was happening to turn her to the tunnel – either you would have to be waaay ahead or she would jumping it on a slice.

The threadle/wrap at 12-13 was another spot – you started it when you invisible dog had landed from 12 and was going straight (so the info is late), and the cues looked a little different each time which might make it unclear.

And as you mentioned, the connection on the way to 15 needed to be clearer and held for longer: on those challenging lead change tunnel commitment, her cue that she sees it is for her to look at the tunnel AND take a step towards it, so the connection has to be held for a pretty long time.

On the runs – they pretty much matched the walk through, which is really good! Yay!!!! We aren’t looking for perfection, we are looking for what is strongly rehearsed and what can be stronger.

There was a question from her at 3 on the first run (2:27) – you were moving on a bit of a serp line and not as much towards 4 so she took off slicing and then after the BC – you are looking back with your arm out, but this is different than connected and looking at her. It is a subtle disconnection where we are looking at our side next to us more than at the dog, which they struggle to read because the side info is not clear – so she hit the wing trying to sort out the next line
If you stop after she lands cleanly from 4 – reward like it was the end of the sequence. If you stop after a clean jumping effort and don’t reward for real… it is confusing and frustrating to the dog, and not paired with the effort you want to fix (the stopping is paired with the good effort they just did).
At 2:38 and 3:24, you dropped your shoulder back more and connected more, so she did not have the same question.

The 4-5-6-7 line looked strong!
She did have a question on the turn from 7-8: a bar at 2:43 and barking at you at 3:29 (she really doesn’t bark unless something is a question). On both of those, she was slicing and didn’t know about the turn away til after she had made a takeoff decision, so the turn away info needed o start as soon as you saw her headed to the backside after 6, and also a clearer cue like 2 hands to flip her away (kind of what you did at 9, which looked really good!!)

The 9-10-11-12 section looked really strong, and she did have a question about 12-13 on the runs at 2:53 and 3:38. You started the cues as rehearsed in the walk through, and they looked like forward sends (this is similar to what was happening at 7). So the clearer 2-handed flip away move would help her and also, it needs to start before liftoff to 12 so it is in progress when she lands and needs to make a decision. She got it at 4:19 but I think she had learned it by then 🙂

As you mentioned about the 14-15-16 line:
Yes remind yourself to connect and stay connected all the way through – did you see your invisible dog go into the tunnel – the exit of every cross requires extra connection to help the dog see the side change.
At 4:22 – you got her to change leads, that is her cue to you to move on, you just needed to be a step or two further ahead (she turned the wrong way) which means leaving the previous line sooner. At 4:50 – really good and you were a step further ahead than at 4:22, so she got it nicely too!

Course 2: this also went well, I think the hardest parts were the threadley sections. I think the theme of this one is that motion overrides verbals/crosses, if the dog has to choose one when the info is conflicting.

On the opening: Your line of motion can be closer to 3 on the opening blind. Even with really good timing of the BC, your line of motion was straight past 2 so she didn’t see the turn til after landing at 2 at 5:00 and 5:21.

Nice backside send at 5! Those are getting independent! Especially at 5:27! Wow!

The 8-9 line was challenging: The verbal happened at a good time at 5:10 but physical cue supported backside (shoulders closed forward as you moved along the line). I think you had your cross arm up there at 5:32 but then your shoulders turned forward again, so it read the same way to her. A big upper body rotation towards her will support that line.

Good job starting the threadle 13-14 based on her timing at 5:46 – that was good timing! The skill is still developing but will continue to get better as better.
At 6:12 you started the verbal cue on time but the physical cue was running forward, so she ran forward too. Motion will generally override verbals, if they don’t match 🙂

She had a question on the 16-17 line. At 5:56 – the in in verbal cue started when she was a stride or two past landing from 16 (a little late) but the physical cue (motion, shoulder) was all forward so she was not sure about turning away.
Note the difference at 6:19 when you pulled your shoulders away (you can see you face the camera for a moment) you just flipped her back too soon (she was not past the plane of the jump yet).

So as you plan your handling of threadles, make sure you work the big exaggerated physical cues to match the timing of the verbals, and you will see her responses getting earlier and faster.

>> I signed up for a working spot in the Jump Into Shape class you recommended. It was perfect timing for your suggestion since the registration started a few days later. I’m SUPER excited about that!! >>

That is awesome! I really like Leslie!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>y. My other thought– should I work the stay with the platform as we did at the beginning?

I think a platform can help you both! A low platform is best, just a couple of inches off the ground, and big enough so he can stand comfortably on it.

>>Would your self study stay class use the same method ,different, more?>>

That is more for adult dogs, so no need for that one at this point 🙂 Too much hard stuff in there for puppies 🙂

>.in the midst of watching the first episode of power patterns – looking forward to the second and finishing the first – for more pattern games and other info.>>

Some new patterns coming tonight to help the dogs learn to stand still 🙂

have fun this weekend!
Tracy

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