[Tracy Sklenar]

Wheeee! Great fun to see these in a bigger space! And now we look at timing because he is reading everything perfectly 🙂

Now that the bars are coming up – the timing of the next cue will start at the finish of the previous commitment: that will start to mean when he is lifting off or in the air of the previous jump, or just exiting a wrap wing, or just before he exits the tunnel.

So looking at this session from a timing perspective:

First rep – you turned and said tunnel when he was halfway between 1 and 2 (he ticked the bar). You can start the cues of jump-tunnel as he is in the air over 1 so he already sees it when he lands from 1.

2nd rep:
When he landed from 1 at :09, you moved straight forward and told him to jump so he jumped 2 in extension. The blind started at takeoff to 2 (ticked the bar).
Timing of the shoulder turn and tunnel was better timed there!

3rd rep – At :18 you didn’t give a verbal for jump 2, your arm was high and blocked connection, you started to rotate… so he didn’t take 2.

4th and 5th reps – MUCH better connection at :21 and :27, and lower arm, so you were able to support 2 AND start the FC on time (it was finished before takeoff of 2 at :22 and :28) – SUPER!

The cue for the line jump-tunnel at :23 was late (at liftoff for 3) bar down. Still a little late at :29 (ticked bar).

So that cue is really about naming a line (jump-tunnel) which provides super early info. And as he is getting organized with all of this speed, you don’t need to be as exciting with the verbals, you can turn down the excitement a little for now and make the cues more conversational.

6th rep – throwback – I really liked your commitment cues (connection, verbal) for 1-2 at :43 and that gave you great position and timing for the throwback at :44!

So why was he looking at you and dropped the bar at :46? You were walking backwards the whole time 🙂 Upper body and rotation said collect… motion said extend. He was like “WHICH IS IT, HUMAN?” LOL! I believe it was Linda Mecklenburg who said “Backwards motion is still forward motion to the dog” and she is soooo right!
You stopped backing up sooner and added the wrap verbal at :53… but you were still backing up and he ticked the bar.
So as soon as you start the throw back cues, you need to hold position (if you are already on the takeoff side of the jump) and if you are still moving to the jump, you need to decelerate and not go past the takeoff side – you were backing up to the landing side which gives conflicting information.

Last sequence:
Nice blind on the landing side of 3! That allowed you to cue the turn on 4 and also good timing on the wrap cue (as he was landing from 4, you were decelerating to start the cues). Nice wrap!!
He ticked the bar on 6 – you were yelling go go go and so he was looking straight then he realized it was actually a gentle left turn and adjusted just before takeoff. It is more of a straight line if you had turned him left on 5, so a ‘jump tunnel’ cue would have probably been more appropriate for the right turn wrap to the tunnel here. And a little less excitement in the verbals too… there is soooo much happening that he has to organize that we don’t need to start urging him on 🙂 When he is more experienced, we can add back all of the loudness 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
The zig zag grid is going well! Try to add more of your motion – either moving alongside with more speed, or leading out more and using the moving target (giant toy on a rope) as you walk forward. Also be super careful of that red jump, looks metal 🙂 Try to get whoever owns it to assign it to the scrap heap LOL!! And it is plastic, that is definitely safer.

>>Two questions. How often do you show this to them compared to the other jump grids

Once every couple of weeks? In all reality, we don’t want to jump them more than a couple of times a week at this stage and with so many other things to do, this grid can rotate through every couple of weeks or so.

>>and do you keep the number of jumps always at 2 with this grid?>>

Nope! Depending on the individual, we go to 3 jumps and then when they are fully adult, we go up to 5 jumps (and for some adult dogs, we go up to 5 jumps at full height!) And we add backside approaches. But that is not a priority for now 🙂

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>. Is there a way you remember to keep start lines at the forefront when you get in the moment of training something else?>>

I walk sequences A LOT so I always, always walk the start line procedure: line up the dog, lead out, connect, praise, release. That helps me keep the mechanics crisp (not mushy :)) when I am thinking about other things.

>>I also feel we have fallen behind with the times we’ve had to lay off for a bit. I’m at that point where the old peer pressure is trying to kick in.>>

>> A training friend is bringing out their pup (~ same age) at the fall shows >>

Yes, that is totally relatable… definitely hide all of those people on social media (because it will give you a completely inaccurate portrayal of reality that will completely MESS with you head!) I hide the social media of every.single.littermate of any of my dogs between the ages of 15 months and 2.5 years 🙂 And I hide the social media of friends/acquaintances who have similar age ranges and are pushing their dogs too early. Even though intellectually I know I am on the right path, social media MESSES with our brains.

And if these are folks you see in person or train with? Well, smile and wish them the best, and remind yourself that you are not only on the best path for YOUR dog (large fast adolescent male) but also that ALL of the science supports NOT rushing the dogs into the ring. Every.single.bit of science says to wait til the dogs are closer to being finished with adolescent brain development. And every sports vet wants us to wait as well – they cannot understand why people put puppies into the ring. Nothing good comes of starting too early (those dogs end up with frustration issues, stress, and burnout issues). Everything good comes from waiting. I don’t see a reason to put a dog in the ring for real until they are about 2 years old, if they seem mature enough. And even then, they all start at a lower jump height.

We know sooooo much more now so we are doing sooooo much better with these young dogs! People who start their dogs early either don’t know, or are choosing to ignore it.

And if anyone asks you why you are waiting and not rushing into the ring? No need for a long explanation – just say “it is against medical advice”. That is succinct and also it is true 🙂

>>and the things I still need to train seem to be getting bigger.

The things to train to get to Masters level? Yes, that is a long list. But to start young dog course stuff? That is a much shorter list. Maybe look at your list and prioritize: what does he need for Novice Jumping? That and Speedstakes are the first classes to enter. Prioritize those skills. Then prioritize the other skills based on the order he will need to see them in competition. That will ease the burden of trying to train all of the things. For example, Contraband started doing NFC runs at a lower height in Speedstakes and Gamblers at about 2 years old, long before his contacts or weaves or independent backsides were trained up 🙂

>> I’m in Leslie’s jumping class >>

Yay! Leslie is fabulous!!!

The first set of serps here looked fabulous – the initial angles of the jumps were perfect to get the serpiness started, And the gradually increased angles were easy for him. Yay! You will probably need more tunnel bags, that tunnel is moving a lot and we don’t want him to slip or jam a toe or anything.

On the second sequence, you just needed to be chill n the tunnel send at :18 LOL! Let him lock onto the tunnel before you move away 🙂

Looking at the timing of the verbals on this sequence:
At :24, before he entered the tunnel, you should be saying left because the left applies to the tunnel exit (not the jump). Then when he exits the tunnel, you should be saying ‘right’ because he is turning right on the jump.

The timing was better on the last 2 reps (3rd sequence) and he totally read the flat angles of the jumps brilliantly!

One other note here – are those jumps metal uprights with metal cups? If you need to use those, only use them on the straightest possible lines. If he slips or you cue late and he hits the metal wing or cup, he will get hurt, which we want to avoid. You have reached the stage where you need to be insanely picky about equipment for your young, fast dog 🙂

Great job!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I agree, she did SUPER well here!!!!

One thing to be sure of with her for now – check the distances between the jumps and don’t work her on anything shorter than 21 foot distances (that is 8 big-ish strides for my short legs LOL!!) The distances were a little tight here, so she didn’t quite have enough room to make adjustments if you were late or on a not-quite-clear line (more below). So the longer distances will really help prepare her for more course work, especially as the jump heights begin to increase 🙂

The other thing that becomes super important now is that with all of the handling here (BC, throwback, FC), you position should always be moving towards jump 3 (parallel motion/verbal/connection support jump 2 so you don’t need to go anywhere near it :))

Looking at the specifics:

You started with the BCs. She reads them really well! I think maybe you were a little surprised by her speed and commitment on that first rep. so you were a little in her way at :05, plus she was surprised by the short distance, so the 3 bar came down.

On the next rep at :10, you got off the line faster and she was prepared for the shorter distance so no problem with the bar. You can start the BC sooner (when she lands from 1) to make that even easier.

Plus with her speed, lead out more on the BCs so you are almost at 3 by the time she lands from 1, so you can do the BC at that moment and be way ahead on the line.

She definitely has a nice long stay, as evidenced at :23 when you were able to lead out 4 miles down the road, rotate, make a phone call, order a pizza, look at her… she didn’t move a muscle til you released. YAY!! Note that even though you were very close to 3, she had no trouble finding 2 on her line. Yay Caper! And that set up a really nice collection on 3. You stepped back towards the center of the tunnel as she was jumping so she was a little wide at :28 but your connection was lovely so she came to the correct side.

You moved into the FC on the next reps – you released when you were halfway between 2 and 3, which is also a great release spot for the BC reps.

SUPER timing of starting the FC (when she landed from 1) so it was finished before takeoff of 2. Yay! That is the timing for the BCs as well.

She jumped a little straight over 2 at :38 because of your position – when you released, you were moving on the straight line, more towards 2 than towards 3 (as if you were going to cue the end of the tunnel with the yellow tunnel bags). So the FC was on that line towards 2 and the yellow end of the tunnel which is why she jumped that direction. Good girl! She didn’t quite have the room to adjust the line, so the bar of 3 came down.

You had the same line and position but timing was a little late on the next rep at :47 (she was taking off for 2) so she went wide there too – but she was prepared for the shorter distance so kept the bar up.

Great job here! I am doing a big happy dance that we are arriving at the point in training where we are working on handler timing and position – that means baby girl dog is growing up and showing us really strong skills!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
He is doing really well here on both videos! Yes, he started out a little bit thoughtful but
it is fine that the dogs are thoughtful about the teeter in the early stages! The obstacle is weird and it does wiggle and move!

He was definitely getting happier and happier to run up the board here! To help him drive to the end more and not wait for you, you can place the reward at the end of the board so when he arrives there, he can eat it 🙂
The way to do that is to either slather a little bit of cream cheese at the very end of the board before you send him up it. or duct tape a target juts past the end and put a piece of chicken on it (I have use duct tape to attach a big spoon). The reward already placed at the end of the board will allow you to send him ahead of you while you move past the board or move away laterally before you go back to get him and help him turn around.

He had no concerns about finding the straight entry, so you can add more angles to his approach.

And as he gets more and more confident, you can start to add a bit of teeter movement by lowering the supporting device. You will definitely want the reward to already be at the end of the board for that! And you will want to add tip in the tiniest possible increments – less than half an inch at a time. If the device doesn’t work in tiny increments, you can use a towel or something to reduce the amount of space between the teeter and the device support bar.

Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Super nice run here!!!!

Really nice choice of line 1-2-3-4, it is the fastest line for sure! He read the backside at 2 reallywell. Try not to rotate your feet to him over 2, stay connected but keep moving so he can have more room to land so so you are further ahead.
SUPER nice blind from the exit of 4 to the 5 jump at :13!

He needs more turn info at 5 (:15) – you were moving forward and facing forward as he took off there, so he took off in extension and landed wide. So as you finish the BC, immediately start to decelerate so he sees it as he is exiting the tunnel. Then, as he is passing you, I recommend a spin in this particular situation: that FC-BC combo will give him early tight turn info and get you turned to face the next line sooner than a send.
That will set you up to be able to use your left verbal before he goes into the tunnel, which makes the timing for 7 jump even earlier too (it was hard to get him turned to 7 here because the wide turn at 5 set up late turn info on 6 too).

I like the line choice 7-8-9 ! The BC on 7 was late which made the switch on 8 late so he slipped as he landed. It might be easier to keep him on your right and serp 7 and send to 8 with a little decel. That can help you take off for 9 even sooner and gives him the turn info for 8 sooner too – plus you don’t have to worry about the timing and connection of a blind and then a switch 🙂

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Nice work on this video!!!
Course 1:
Super nice opening! A little more connection needed at :16 from the tunnel exit to the weaves (she almost ended up on the wrong side of you) but the rest was almost perfect!
Lovely independent weaves but it looks like she picked up the off course after them? A little rotation will help if needed there and you have plenty of time to do it and get the next line.

Super nice opening of course 2 from :34 to :51 – great job setting up the layering, and great job getting the tunnel exit to flip her away to the line behind the tunnel. She was flying!

>.Anyway – the backside at 13– I don’t think
I could get there to handle so tried a couple of times tonight to handle with layering 12 and going in to handle 13. I was late both times.>>

That is probably the trickiest part of both courses! Now that she is layering so nicely, you can work on adding this more technical thing. When she is approaching the takeoff of 12, you can give a turn cue (her name or a right verbal) and then when you have her head, do the threadle. Plus, you can also do some decel even at that big distance, that will help her come to the threadle as well. You were accelerating til she landed from 12 and then trying to get the threadle, but it was too late – she had already made the decision to stay on the straight line – so the earlier cues (before takeoff for 12) will really help).

The other backside option there is the push to the other side. The timing would be the same (before liftoff for 12) and you could converge towards her and even use the outside arm. She has really good backside push skills, so I bet that would work!

Great job here! Have fun in Perry!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>.Seq. 1 I needed to review tunnel turn cues with Mookie.

He might need them a lot earlier than the other boys! My Voodoo and Hot Sauce need them to start almost 10 feet before they go into the tunnel.

>> I needed to really work to bring Buddy’s arousal level up before we tried anything. He got the verbal cues for the tunnel turns and nailed the course on his second try. Alonso was full of it and had to really watch his head. He got the verbal cues for the tunnel turns 🙂>>

Perfect!!

>>Seq. 2 Mookie was really up today and needed to be settled before he ran again. He becomes very jealous and whines when the puppy is running 🙂 Once settled he nailed this course with bars up.>>

The other option is to let him be up… and run him in that state 🙂 It will simulate what he is like at a trial and give you a really good rehearsal of running him!

>> Buddy struggled with attention because the building was crowded with strange people and dogs. But once engaged he did well. Alonso could do seq 1 but fell apart with this seq with the tunnel turns. His teeneage brain came in just one run later 🙂>>

Yes, environment definitely changes arousal and engagement. I am glad both boys were able to work! And Alonso, as a teenager, probably just got mentally tired.

>>Seq 3 If I was perfect Mookie was perfect 🙂 Buddy nailed this seq first try but the building had emptied out of all the people 🙂 Alonso was wild when he came out to play for the 3rd seq but he settled and nailed it. These were hard sequences for us. I will be re-visiting these in the Fall when Camp is over 🙂>>

They are hard! But it sounds like they went pretty well 🙂

>>It has been a good learning experience for me running 3 very different dogs on the same courses 🙂

Oh heck yes! It is SO HARD to run different dogs back-to-back, but it is great to practice to prepare for trials!!!

>>I still have one more set of exercises to go through. I will be able to watch the Zoom live on Tues Aug 8th which I learn so much from 🙂

It was great having you there in the zoom room 🙂 Those zoom sequences will be great for Mookie, but you might not be in a perfect position when he is in the ‘yellow’ zone, but you will need to start your cues when he is there even if you are not.

>>And on happy note. I ran Alonso in AKC T2B and he was fabulous. I posted the run on my FB page. I had some bobbles, not him and I kept going and he really nailed the lines was so perfect and did get weaves which he loves. We used remote reinforcement which we had been practicing for agiltiy league and he was a happy boy knowing his tug was waiting for him. We played tug games afterwards for a long while.>>

What a great update! That sounds like a really wonderful way to get Alonso into the trial environment – so fun, and so successful YAY!!!!!!

Thanks for the updates, I am glad the boys are doing so well!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Yikes, you have had CRAZY heat down there!!! I can see on the video that even though it is in the shade, she feels the heat, She worked beautifully!!!
Bummer about school starting again LOL!!! Although I think Annalise enjoys it 🙂

Prytania was pretty darned perfect here! SUPER!!! ! You and she nailed everything 🙂 Yay! So the next step is to let her be more independent on the tunnel threadles, turning herself into the tunnel and not waiting for you to use your arm to flip her into it.

For example, look at the rep from :24 – :28. You were not too far ahead and you kept moving towards the entry you wanted, but that plus the verbal were basically the only ‘help’ you gave her. And she drove ahead of you and turned herself away to the correct entry with very minimal help from you. SUPER!!! So you can keep going like that (the last rep was similar too) so she builds up to understanding that the cue is permission to go find the tunnel entry without you, and she doesn’t need to wait til you give an additional cue.

Great job here! Stay cool!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>.We were really struggling with the left turn on the wing.>>

This is a really informative session and really shows the reasoning behind the 2 failure rule for us humans (1 failure, re-assess to make sure the cues and the session setup are clear. 2 failures, stop what is happening and make it all clearer and easier so there are no more failure). If what is happening is unclear, stop the session for a moment and watch the video in slow motion, that almost always tells us what is happening 🙂

Plus, in sequencing, reward everything because the videos aways show that errors are rooted in handler error – either in the cues or the session setup, or both LOL! I just assume that errors on course are handler errors, even if I don’t see or feel it in the moment – then the video always tells me that yes indeed, I messed up LOL!!

What happened here is the cues were late for the left turn in particular so she didn’t consistently get it correctly, and the middle wing position being relatively close made it muddy as to whether it was on the line or not (when doing pinwheels, you have sometimes used the left/right verbals to indicate the middle jump). So there was a bit of lateness and a bit of inconsistency in the verbal, and you ended up with a 54% rate of success (yes, I am a dork and did the math here LOL!!) which contributes to more failure and frustration.

For the timing, the left turn cue and brake arm and connection (which are definitely clear cues for a tight turn like that) would need to start at about where the tunnel exit is, at least 15 feet away. By starting her so close to the wing, she sometimes was able to process it, sometimes not – and sometimes you were connected and had the brake arm, and sometimes not. It went best when you started with a RC like at 1:25, because that was a super clear turn cue. But on most of the other reps, you did not come in from the RC line s you can see it was late info and she was offering other behavior, including turning to the right at :56 – “I know I am getting it wrong mom, but I don’t know what you want, maybe this?!?!” Good girlie!

So, keep that 2 failure rule in mind in every session – and just because I call it a ‘failure’ doesn’t mean you need to withhold the reinforcement. In handling, ‘failure’ just means the dog went somewhere that I did not plan for or expect 🙂 so it is my failure and I reward the dog 🙂 Withholding reinforcement assumes 2 things:
1) that my cue was correct in a way that the dog could respond and do what I wanted them to do
2) that the dog was incorrect.

But after watching all of the videos over the year (slow motion is a godsend!) it turns out that with handling errors when something unexpected happens, the opposite has occurred:
1) My cue was incorrect (poor timing, poor position, unclear, wrong cue, all of the above haha)
2) the dog responded exactly right according to the info they saw in the moment they had to make a decision

(I left some awesome bloopers in my CAMP demo videos from the live class last night if you want to see them LOL!! The dog was 1000% correct according to the info he was seeing LOL!)

Anyhoo – I have made it a habit to either keep going if there is an error, or reward the dog if I stop. Then after the reward (or during tugging) I will assess what happened, reset, try again. If it still goes wrong, either in the next rep or later in the session? There is the red light of 2 failures so I need to reward, stop things and really re-assess (or watch the video). That keeps the dog happy, fast, and not frustrated while I get my ducks in a row 🙂

She was reading the tunnel threadle element SUPER well! Your cues were timely, clear, connected. Yay! There was one blooper at about :25 where you said a big YAY!! then moved the toy and stepped back before she was in the tunnel, so she came to you. And you gave her the toy, which was GREAT because the YAY marker is something we have all trained by accident LOL!!! so she was correct to come to you. And you didn’t say the early YAY on any other reps. Perfect!

The zig zags looked great! Two next steps for you on this one:
– with the wings set up like they were here, go to the moving target of the hollee roller being dragged on the ground (a long toy as the handle so you don’t have to bend over).
– If she is fine with that, you can tighten up the angles more. The goal is to eventually get them totally flat but there is no rush to get there.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Nice pattern game to get started, especially if he has been barking in the car! If the barking in the car is unavoidable (I can hear it on the CAMP videos, he is really working himself up) then you will need to take extra time before his turns so that he can decompress a bit.

>. also the not keeping a pause between release verbal and movement is what led to problems with Roulez and stays.>>

yes – be hypervigilant! On this session, you were releasing with the verbal and hand cue simultaneously at 2:05 and 2:15.

The serp stuff is going nicely, he is looking really good over the jumps and on those lines! Yay! We need to change course on the stay behavior. There is definitely too much failure and he is showing a lot of frustration behavior (pottying at :56, downs, offering behavior, moving forward, barking, sniffing, etc). We don’t want to build that into being in front of the first jump, so 2 suggestions:

– For now, no more stays on the flat in front of a jump. Instead, get a small platform like a Cato board, and work the stay behavior on that. It provides a clear boundary (‘stay on this thing’) so you can get the stays in front of something exciting like a jump to a very happy place, with lots of success. Then it is easy enough to fade out the Cato board.

– For now, if you want to do something that might require a stay, you can finagle things to get you to position without a stay on the flat. This can be a wing wrap before it, or someone holding him, or a cookie toss. But take the stay out so you can work the platform approach.

Then we will meld the platform with the sequencing, to get the happy stays in front of the jumps on the start line! That will help get even more of the lovely work he was able to do on the jumps here, without the conflict on the start lines. Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

He did really well on the straight line games! You saw his questions on the first couple of reps and made excellent adjustments to help him:
The sit at the start totally helps him so he knows exactly when you are starting, and getting you ahead to show the line REALLY helped him. When you started him on an angle at :37 and :46, you were ahead enough to show the line for both the straight line and the backside. Yay!!! You can add the tunnel in before it to see if he can find the line from the tunnel exit.

On the go lines – having toy in opposite hand worked best (try not to switch hands) because he got direct his focus to the jumps more, and not have to divide his focus between the toy moving in your hand and the jump in front of him.

>>He only did it this once, though. I tried again later the other direction and nope, he was done, so I didn’t push it. I think he’s gonna be a speedy little guy!>>

I agree, he is SPEEDY!! YAY!! And doing a session only in one direction is fine! It is hard mental and physical work for the pups.

For outdoors –
yes, it is a lot harder and his first foray into the outdoor ring can be resilience walks and pattern games (on leash). If he can offer engagement during a pattern game? Cool! Maybe try a tunnel with a high value food reward, or just throw his favorite ball or something. But no need to try agility stuff until after he can engage with the pattern game. He did go through the tunnels here, but when he was leaving to check things out, it was a sign that he was not ready to play. And for now – because the environment is challenging, the food reward value can go sky high! And when the environment becomes less challenging, the toy play will come roaring back 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

yes, you can take a serp break then come back and try it with more open angles on the jumps.

>>. I need to be careful about that “just one more time” thing, I sometimes have a hard time stopping, and since Georgie never looks like she wants to stop, I can see it would be easy to overdo.>>

I do 2 things to get myself to end a session:
– set a timer and when the timer goes off, I must stop.
– turn on a song and when the song ends, I must stop (songs are 2.5 – 3 minutes long :))

Have fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I haven’t posted much in here but the live Mental Management sessions have really been helpful and inspiring. Thanks for helping me realize that I was experiencing burnout. I have been working through this feeling of burnout and I thought putting it into words would help. But it feels like an embarrassing confession!>>

Thank you for your insightful, vulnerable, honest posts! And it is always great to see you in the live chats! You have nothing to be embarrassed about – you are in supportive company and we have all, at some point, felt exactly the same way. I had significant agility burnout after the covid lockdown and when one of my dog passed away. I am just now beginning to come out of it, a year later. And that is fine, because I recognized it and gave myself some grace. Agility trials will be there when I am ready for them 🙂

>>I acknowledged and embraced that I was having a burnout episode and that I needed to take a step back and just let myself rest and recharge. It was a really yucky feeling to just not want to do anything but simultaneously feel like I SHOULD be doing something. So I gave myself permission to literally do nothing – and it helped! I had to do a lot of nothing though. Hahaha.>>

If it helps… the burnout is not just emotional or intellectual! It is a physical manifestation of too might stress and HPA Axis stimulation, without enough decompression or completing the stress cycle. We see this in dogs and itis 1000% true for us. So that yucky feeling? It is too much cortisol flowing through your bloodstream. And I totally relate to that feeling that you *should* be doing something… that is our inner critic lambasting us wile our wise advocate voice is telling us to rest and refresh. Tell that inner critic voice to bug off! LOL!

>>This is a confession that feels both embarrassing & full of hubris to admit, but I had been campaigning really hard to try & make it to the top 5 Bostons for invitationals with Frankie. That was my inspiration goal for the year.>>

Again, nothing to be embarrassed about, and no hubris at all! You set a goal, and you went for it! WOW!!! I am proud of you!!! And you were oh-so-close. High five to you and Frankie!!!!!!!

I also recognize that, as a member of Generation X, I was raised to work really hard, to keep my emotions to myself (work harder!), set high goals (WORK HARDER hahahaha) and if I am disappointed? Don’t share it, just work harder. LOL!! But if we are successful? Don’t feel pride it in, that might make other people feel badly. I mean…. turns out that is not the best approach for mental health. HA!!! And the more I bring this up to other people in that age range, themore we are all like… YEAH!!! What the heck?!?!?! Ha!!

I admit that is can be somewhat shocking to Gen X me when people from the Millenial or Gen Z age groups can share their emotions so freely and be so openly vulnerable. Definitely something to be learned from that!!!

>> I am SO proud that we ended up as #7 (yay!) but it is hard not to be disappointed that I went as hard as I could and didn’t reach the goal. My trialing partners have made it every year for the last 3 years, and I am at the same number of trials that they attend, but we are not as consistent.>>

I am proud of you too! finishing as #7 in a competitive breed is impressive. Not quite in the top 5, but is this your first year trying for it? If so, that makes it even more impressive. Your trialing partners have more experienced with this goal, so finishing so high up as you get started with it is very impressive.

It is also an exhausting process, and I figure it contributed to that feeling of burnout. It is a year-long, high intensity process!

>> That being blurted out, I do understand that me & Frankie are on our own special journey and I have so much gratitude that she chooses to play with me in a trial setting every time. The ribbons are not the important part it, is the joy we both experience when we run happy & connected. She has so much courage & spirit to work through her stress to run with me.>>

YES!!!! And what you did (that others probably did not do) is to make her happiness and comfort level into your priority. That is a HUGE win and a big piece of why she was able to finish in the top 7. And you can take those strategies and learnings into the ring for any trial and for any high stakes goals!

>>I’ve done a lot of thinking and having such a high-stakes goal took a toll on my enjoyment and was very stressful. It didn’t allow me to celebrate the really “celebrate-able” moments that we did have, because in order to reach that goal, I needed “more” so it shadowed our accomplishments.>>

This is really an insightful self-reflection. It is hard to balance the high-stakes goals with shining a light on the celebration moments, even if they don’t take us closer to the goal. It is OK to simultaneously feel the disappointment with not getting into the top 5 while celebrating all of her success in the ring too. And I think verbalizing it REALLY helps:
“damn, finished 7, soooooo close, that is great but also disappointing. I am sooooo proud of how well she ran all year!”

We humans can feel and process both of those emotions, they are both valid.

>> It is going to be a challenge trialing with my training & trialing partners who do have that goal, and not give in to “going for it” but I don’t want to campaign like that again. >>

You can support them but you can also not want that for yourself. You can go for it in other ways!

>>But, I don’t want to not have big goals either. I want to keep growing & improving. Instead, I want to concentrate on doing well at AKC Nationals and at our Boston Terrier Nationals this year.>>

Those are SUPER fun goals! They are outcome goals which give you a platform to develop those process goals and performance goals.

>> I am also excited to be working with Bazinga again and I want to concentrate on giving her the best foundation, supporting her resilience & confidence and having a smart debut plan when she is ready.>>>

Yes! Bazinga is sooooo talented, exciting times are ahead for sure! I am glad she is feeling better because those were a rough couple of months! Her health challenges were stressful, and that might have been a contributing factor to your feelings of burnout.

>> She is doing better & is healing! We are still working on balancing her biome and are transitioning her to a new food with the hope that we can back off her reflux medication. It is challenging to train with a special diet. I have learned that you can cut canned dog food into tiny pieces and freeze them to use for training!>>

Yay! And also, since she loves toys, you can train with a lot of toys too!

>>What were my accomplishments for this year?
Changing my timing to big dog timing like you suggested!
Changing my start-line routine!
1. I dropped the start-line stays that caused her to shut down & switched to slingshot releases that support her better & keep her engaged.
2. I started letting her walk into the ring on her own 4 legs instead of carrying her in & putting her down at the start jump.>>

LOVE these!!!

>>3. I’m now carrying my leash during our runs which took the leash-runner anxiety out of the picture for her.>>

BRILLIANT! What a simple solution to a complex issue!! Thanks, AKC, for allowing that!

>>>4. Instead of waiting until the last second to take her leash off at the start jump, I have been taking it off right away as we come in the ring (I make sure the dog leaving the ring is under control & leashed first) and if she is connected with me, we do some of our hand touch & spin games! This is so new & she LOVED it!>>

Awww this makes me happy to hear!!!

>>This has really improved her confidence and she is so much happier in the ring. We lost some ground initially because I had to get our new timing down but we seem to have a groove going now. She is happy & that makes me happy & we do so much better when we are both happy!>>

This is a bigger victory, and a longer-lasting accomplishment, than qualifying for any event. This is HUGE!!!!

>> We do have to rely on rear crosses for those super popular AKC starts that force a side change on jump 3, but that seems to work ok for us.>>

That is fine – RCs are winning tools!

>>One of the last stress-blocks (or mental illness!) that I am working through that is interfering with me actually doing training is separating the dogs to take each one out to train. I have such a block about that!>>
In general, I have always had a hard time separating the dogs to take each one to practice. They love it so much & even giving them a stuffed kong doesn’t compare to getting to go out & play agility. Bazinga started throwing crate tantrums when she was not feeling well and that added to my anxiety about crating her to go train Frankie. I have been working hard to reward her in the crate & increase that duration and she is doing so much better. I am feeling better about it now but I feel like I need a better plan for the future.>>

This is hard for sure! And it can be paralyzing… when there is no happy plan to train them both, then sometimes neither of them gets trained. Totally relate! I do alternating sessions – everyone comes to the field (I often put them in their car crates and bring the car to the edge of the field, even though it is next to my house LOL!!!!) I make sure the car is shaded and then each dog gets a turn. Yes, there is some complaining from inside the car 🙂 But they all get a turn, they know the routine, and we all end happy (and sweaty :)) I am sure you can figure out some type of training rotation for the girls so they can take turns. There are people out there who have their dogs trained to stay on stations or beds or tables while the others train… I am not one of those people LOL! Crates for the win! Plus I don’t mind a little complaining – each dog has something to chew so they are not freaking out.

>> I just had to get it all out! ☺

I have always found it helpful to get it out in supportive company, because then people chime in with “yeah! Me too!” and then it all feels so much more normal and fine!!

Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>> chaos coordinator>>

Hmmm, I think I am going to use this phrase as my new household title. Thanks!!! It belongs on a t-shirt LOL!!

>.. I ended up not being where I wanted to be quite a few times resulting in screams 😂>>

Totally relatable but it is very cool that he was running hard enough to make you fear for your life!!!

>>He was working hard here and my reinforcement was lacking.>>

Yes, he was great! Hard course, zillion degree temps, he worked hard. When he peed it was a legit “I gotta pee” – almost 10 seconds worth LOL! You might need to build potty breaks into the sequence work LOL!

I thought you did a good job rewarding him – I wish more people would reward after a blooper! You also did a great job of keeping him moving when you were carrying on. But if you want to reward more… feel free LOL! He won’t argue with more friz tosses.

On the video – take note of the convergence that caused him to take the backside of 2 (more on that later).

Since he now has a lovely happy start stay so you can do a big lead out – you can lead out to threadle position (across the bar at 2, on the opposite wing on the takeoff side) and don’t move, so he can easily get the threadle on 2 when you release the stay, open th earm, and give the verbal. On the first rep and 2nd rep, you were pretty far then moved towards the jump, so that overrode the threadle verbal and he took the backside.

Position at :58 was the truest threadle position, so you can lead out to that. Motion will not override the verbal if you are standing still in position!

>>That layer was much harder than I anticipated>>

Yes, it is a hard layer! You can set the layering from closer to the tunnel exit by moving to the tunnel exit on a parallel line to his so when he exitsyu are moving forward to the jump, sending him. There is no rush to get down the line there, if he gets on the line you have plenty of time to do the next part 🙂
What was happening was you were getting ahead and decleerating right next to the weaves, which have a ton of value so he ended up in the weaves.

More serp needed to 7 before you flipped him away on the first run – it was beautiful at 4:00!!!! You can use a switch verbal before he enters the 6 tunnel to help him know how tight of a turn it was

It would be nice to layer and get the 13 backside while layering! When you ran along the line without the layering, he needed more of the convergence and push like you did at 2:11.

To get it as a layer, think back to the convergence you did on 1-2 at the very beginning and accidentally got the backside! You can do that here on the 13 jump, being laterally away and converging into his line (outside arm would help too here). You can start by doing it from a distance then eventually moving up to layering to get it.

He almost got the threadle wrap on 13 with the layering at the end!!! So close! it is probably easier to do it with a tunnel as the layered obstacle and not the weaves – because layering tunnels can often be a little easier for most dogs.

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

[Author]

Posts