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Hi!
>>We had some difficulty with stuff
. So I’m posting some troubles we had.>>I watched all 3 videos woking for the trouble… I didn’t see any trouble LOL! Hashing out timing and toy placement and how long to look at the landing spot before moving? Sure! But you made great adjustments and she was VERY successful.
She was so funny in the first video – PUMPED UP to do the game and trying to start without you LOL!!!
It took her a moment to realize that it was over the bump THEN to the barrel but then she was great on the right turns.
2nd video: yay for stays! This is a good choice to start the stays because it is easy to stay connected as you back away. She did a great job! And the countermotion went well too! Good job throwing n some stay rewards too.
3rd video – left turns: stays are looking good here too! And she did really well with the left turns as well. The difference in her left and right tuns are barely noticeable in these sessions.
And you win the stay challenge on these sessions – all sorts of stays, and you released or rewarded before she broke ANY of them. Yay! That is the road to getting very happy stays 🙂
>>So I found I had to keep my eyes on her landing spot/commitment to the barrel longer on her weaker turn side/left. Does that mean I need to go away slower or just keep my eyes and arm supporting her commitment longer as I go away?>>
Both! Go slower, and stay connected to the landing spot longer, to really support her there. It will get easier as she grows up.
>>Tug-sit-treat-wait went pretty well. Although I still need to reward her Stay often so far. But I don’t mind, she likes it.>>
Yes, it is all about a flow and teamwork. And I think it looked really smooth! And yes, keep rewarding a lot of stays – I like to keep rewarding stays until the dog is 10 or 11 years old LOL!
Great job here! Let me know what you think and stay cool!!!
TracyHi!
He did well figuring out the countermotion!
Yes, he needed you to get closer and help him out – the toy was REALLY EXCITING plus not having seen it for a bit put big question marks over his head. You can also do a warm up of facing the wing and sending forward once or twice, then sending sideways… then working up to sending backwards. That can get it jumpstarted faster 🙂
The race track looked great at the end! Try not to say “yes” or “yay” for each one, because it causes him to look at you (the markers are paired with reward :)) So you can use your soft turn verbals and save the reward marker for the end.
I am loving his toy play here!!!!
Teeter is looking great! The cookies on the target AND you being there with him at the top to help him turn around both seemed to really help support confidence! You can add a wing wrap before the teeter now, to add more speed! Continue to have the cookies at the top (if they bounce off, maybe use a tiny bit of cream cheese to help glue them on LOL!) and also stay with him at the top for now, so he can feel confident turning around at that height.
Great job here!
TracyGood morning!
>>So it turns out the secret to agility is… CONNECTION!

Yes! So easy… NOT!! It is the hardest thing in dog agility. Especially with smaller dogs – harder to see because they are lower to the ground!I think you did a great job here with the connection (looking downwards is the key) and also making adjustments for when there was a little break in connection. And also a great job staying in flow if something went wrong!
Warm up – because threadles are almost always done in motion (except for the occasional threadle lead out), try to always be moving as you train them even if the movement is slowed down and subtle. So for the slices, be walking forward towards the jump. And for the wraps, you can add more movement of the shoulders and feet away from the jump and hand motion back to it.
On the threadle slices, try to run towards the threadle jump more and try not to pull away from it. When you ran towards it? She got it every time. When you pulled your line away from it? She would come in but not see the line to go back out, which required you to push back to the jump and puts you a little out of position for the next line.
The places where you were pulling a bit too far away were at 1:07, 1:28, 1:52 for example.
He rest of sequence 1 looked great!
Seq 2: You can do more pull of your shoulders on the wrap in flow and if you review it, review with motion and flow 🙂 When you are moving forward trying to get her on your hands, the rest of the body looks like a threadle slice. So the shoulder turn away from the jump will help!
Nice adjustment on the 7-8 line: At 3:19 you did not wait until she cued you that she was seeing the line to 8, so she did not take the jump. On the next rep, you watched her til she cued you, and you both nailed it. Fabulous!!
Seq 3
On the threadle slice on jump 4 at 3:58, you were far from the jump, and decelerated a lot, so she came in but did not know about going back out. Compare to 4:58 – your motion was better and more directly to the jump, so she got it. Yay!She ended up on the off course jump at the end instead of the tunnel – you might have been a little late turning and you had a bit of convergence there that might have pushed her out, plus she might have been fatigued (it is a lot of sequencing!). You can totally reset her with a cookie in that spot, because it is entirely possible the cues were not super clear there.
On the threadle wrap 8-9-10, turning the shoulders away fr the line will help here too, along with deceleration. You were getting her attention on your hands but the hand cues were opposite of the motion cues (which more forward moving and relatively quick). The more you decelerate on those wraps cues, the more she will realize the wrap is coming and put the collection in before takeoff.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
I really liked her focus and engagement here!!>>Her ability to stick with it I felt was a hundred times better! >>
YES! But… you also need to change your mindset and stop fixing things that go wrong. That will stack frustration back into sequencing and will override any of. The other work… so if something goes wrong like she doesn’t take the backside bar or she doesn’t take the jump on a switch? Keep going to the next part as if she took it and then fix it later. All of the stops to fix tell the dog “you were wrong” when the reality is that the handling cues are at fault.
Lovely transition to the start line here!
Now as you step out of the line up position, you can pause for a second… then throw the treat. Then it can start turning into mixing in pausing for a second, then cue the first jump! We are on our way to a stay, step by step!
1-2-3 looked good. I was not sure what you wanted at 4 – it was definitely an over-helping moment 😂😆 For the threadle slice, you can be more laterally away from 2-3 and then you are in a better position to get the threadle slice there. You were rally close to 3 so she collected when you asked… but the next jump was not nearby so she was confused.
The backside slice at 4 – she is still learning backsides, so you need to help cue the bar by opening up your shoulders (like a serp, left arm extended all the way back) and shift your connection to landing. At :30, you had closed shoulders and looking at her. At :34, you opened your shoulders and looked at her. At :36, you stood still and got it… but that is not the cue she was having trouble with.
So rather than fix by standing still (note her barking came up!) – keep going after the first miss, reward somewhere else on the line – then fix it in flow if you know what went wrong. If you don’t know, look at the video before the next rep and either add connection to the landing spot, or angle the jump to face her a bit more so the bar is more visible.
Definitely do not swing her around and try again on that one jump if something goes wrong (twice…) – I know she got a cookie, but is that cookie actually a good reinforcement in that moment? This is a dog that needs to move move move, and the cookie there was stationary, then she was brought in a controlled way (cookie on nose) back to the start line. Sometimes a cookie is just a behavior and not an actual reinforcement – I don’t really think that is enough of a reinforcement to override the frustration of 3 reps on that one jump and then stopping. And then you not being clear on the start at :50, stopping her, collar grab, re-start… those little details make for big frustration so avoid doing that. She took the jump at 1 even with an unclear cue – good girl! RUN!
Your handling was clearer on the 2nd run – definitely better motion towards the threadle at 4 (more lateral distance will help there too). And she got the 5 backside bar – your used a cross arm which rotated your shoulders to landing better. Yay! Keep moving though, try not to build stopping into any of these cues so she understands it with motion.
The stopping made 6 a little hairy but you kept moving and she got it. Super!!
Your switch cues were late at 1:13 (she was gathering for takeoff to her left, then you pushed in hard so she spun and didn’t take the jump… do not fix! Pretend she took it and run to the jump then the tunnel.
So yes – she totally stuck with it and you had a lot of really beautiful moments! But we don’t want to rely on the blossoming resilience and go back to the habit of the stop-and-fix several times in each run – keep going! Even if it is a wild ride, she will prefer it because there is running and no moment of telling her she was incorrect. I know that it not the intention when you stop, but that is how dogs read it (“Mom, I did exactly what your body asked me to do, why are we stopping and doing it again?”
Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning!
I am glad the walk through was comfortable enough that you could nail the run here! And the spacing looked good to me!
>I decided (for now anyway) to just go with his name for soft tunnel exit turns, knowing that it means turns toward me. It’s letting me focus on the other verbals and my timing and gets the job done. I’m comfortable with that decision and prioritizing of training, for now anyway.>>
This is great! With so many cues, prioritizing and noting what is needed (and when) is super important!! And based on this video, he really doesn’t need left/right on the tunnel exit – he turned beautifully with his name as the cue.
The runs here looked great! 1-2-3-4-5 was perfect – it looks like you were watching his head as he turned to the threadle and moved away to 6 as soon as he looked at the bar. Click/treat for both of you!
Great job getting the backside at 6 and then the 7-8-9-10 line. Super!!!
I liked your line on the FC at 6-7 best on the last run (:43) because you were right on his line to set the turn (which is the correct thing to do) and then off his line heading to 7 when he needed the line 🙂 At :14 and :23, you were more on a line that was across the center of the bar, which set a wider turn there.
>>see him commit to the tunnel, look to the tunnel bag to see him exit and then I said be sure not to go to a loose connection like Tracey did the first time. And what did I do!?!? Change to: look to tunnel bag to see exit and stay strongly connected! Mission accomplished!>>
Yay! I am glad to leave in my bloopers because I think errors are just as helpful as good handling moments LOL!!
For the big layering lines like that, it is partially a matter of exposing the dogs to it, so they really trust the verbals. And part of it is figuring out which handling supports it. Big YES to the connection! Just be sure to not open up your shoulders so much that it starts to look threadley. You can use dog-side arm to support the line (and prevent shoulders from opening up) and sometimes the outside arm is effective too!
Great job on this!!
Tracy
Wow, he is doing a great job here! It is noisy and exciting enough that one of my dogs just leapt up and starting barking at the computer LOL!! I am so glad to see this 🙂
We are working to develop more patterns that can go ringside and into the ring, and also combining them with arousal games.
Keep me posted on how he does with these – we are always looking for feedback from the dogs and their handlers 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Looking at the 2 videos –
Yes, the first video was mainly a baby dog saying “what the heck is this insanity?!?!” Hahahaha! He basically just needed to learn that such a thing as a jump *behind* a tunnel would even exist. He was doing pretty well when you had one or two jumps into it, but adding more than that in this session was too much. Going back to just the 2 jumps at the end was very smart and very successful.And I think you did an admirable job of staying in motion when something went wrong and finding a way to reward as if it was exactly what you wanted the sequence to be 🙂 The goal is to avoid frustration and I think you accomplished that!
Big WOW on the 2nd video!! He was almost flawless and fast fast FAST! Love it! A little bit of training, a little bit of latent learning… he looked great! I thought your handling was very clear, but I also thought your handling was clear on the other video 🙂 and it was just a matter of teaching him the skill. Breaking it down and throwing the reward really helped him.
You might have opened up too much to get him into the tunnel, you were using a bit of a threadle position on the upper body. You can probably just turn your shoulders and say tunnel, and he should get it. The threadle position might have contributed to why he did not take the jump after the tunnel (too much handler focus). But also, I think you had more connection on the previous rep through there as he exited the tunnel (:25) and your arm was high and blocking your face at :55 so he had a question there.
But more important than connection on the layering: try to say your verbals before he enters the tunnel, and stay in motion. On a smaller sequence like this, you an run all the way to the tunnel so you are running to get to the next line when he exits.
Great job here!!! Let me know what you think!
TracyOMG! I didn’t see it, thank you for sharing it! Adorable! And she graduates with honors – you’ve done a great job with the games in the live classes and in the forum!!!!! Can I share this to my Facebook page? She is so cute!!
Tracy
Good morning!
These look great! She seemed to REALLY like the high energy and the running! Sending thanks to your husband for being a holder!
This type of recall transfers nicely to agility too, where you will be running hard and she can be driving this fast to chase your line (over obstacles, of course :))
>>The camera angle wasn’t great to see the retrieve back but it was the fastest she’s ever done.>
That is so awesome!!!!! It is a happy by-product of the energy of the recall! It will translate to driving back to you after a turn on the agility course.
You can take this game to any places she might find distracting! It is a great way to get her to focus solely on the line with you and let all other distractions fade away 🙂
Great job!
TracyGood morning!
This went really well with Zane!
The outside arm helps him a lot. He also reads the line t that hidden jump better when you stay on a forward line like on rep 1, at :24 and :48 -keep going on that parallel line and don’t curl away to the tunnel until you see him looking past the tunnel for the jump (he can’t really see it there, it is hidden, but that is what we are seeing on course a lot. The dogs just need to trust that there is *something* out there LOL!!)
For example, the outside arm and send cues were a little late at 1:04 and your line of motion got too curled away towards the tunnel. Compare to 1:10 when you emphasized the connection and line – gorgeous!
Adding the end log the sequence ooked great, Zane understood the context that when you decel and he is layering the tunnel, you will be cuing the tunnel.
He needed one more step of support at 1:55 (almost came off the jump!) when you looked ahead to the tunnel.And the bar at 2:00 was just a little break in connection and perhaps a little fatigue too.
Dice’s video is the Part 1 challenges that you had posted earlier, do you have the Part 2 for him?
My guess is that any issues here had nothing to do with the verbals 🙂 but more that the skill is really hard! Teaching young dogs to go past a tunnel to an obstacle they can’t really see is HARD! Looking forward to the video!
Great job with Zane!
TracyGood morning! This went really well!
He gives the best feedback about the handling on the first rep and then it looks like he learns the sequence by the 3rd rep, so the feedback is not as good from him LOL!!!So looking at the first reps in particular:
The cue for the hidden jump behind the tunnel needs more direct connection and maybe even the outside arm – the dog side arm will turn your shoulders to the tunnel which is why he thought it was that on the first rep. You got in closer on the next rep, so he saw it and the ball, then he totally understood 🙂
When adding the full sequence – run in closer to the tunnel entry so you are in motion the whole time on a parallel line to his, to support the layering at 3 (and give the verbals before he gets into the tunnel – hard to hear if you did them that early :)) On the first run 1-2-3, you were decelerated a bit and quiet, so he head checked instead of going directly to the jump (after that first rep, he was going to the jump nicely but we want to get it smoother on the first rep).
REALLY clear acceleration to the hidden ump at :59 and 1:19!! Love that! And I think the acceleration forward really makes it clear that he needs to go PAST the tunnel and not into the tunnel 🙂 The difference in your cues there for the tunnel at 2 versus the jump behind it at 7 was really obvious.
When he is finding the hidden jump easily, you can do the FC to the tunnel sooner – as soon as you see him locking onto the hidden jump, before takeoff, you can stop your parallel motion and start the FC.
>>In the last rep he was looking for his ball out of the last tunnel. So I brought him back into the sequence to finish it.>>
Ah! I bet he figured he had nailed it and was done LOL!! It is a good example of how quickly he learns the sequence 🙂
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
These are looking really strong! They are indeed hard 🙂 but you did a great job sorting them out.
Pop out 3:
You were sometimes getting the backside of 1m because you were on her line (so she was correct). When you gave her room to the front of the bar, she got it each time and also got it nicely in pop out 4 too!
Getting the rear cross on #4 jump was a bit like a Goldilocks moment: too little turn on the first couple of reps, too much turn at :25.
When you went back to the RC at the end, :59 was just right in terms of decel, connection, and turning to the bar. Super!!! That is exactly what she needs there. The other option is to stay on the landing side of 4 and then switch her away to the tunnel.The BC there (at :34) sure works to get there sooner, getting the front of 1 will make it even easier to get there for the blind!
She read the other lines really well!
Try not to stand up and decel into the push at 9 – drive to it then threadle to 10 (although it looks like you cued it as a backside, maybe the numbering was reversed)
At 1:07, you were converging in to 10, so to help with the line and bar there you can open up your shoulders like a serp (right arm back, shoulders to bar) and look at the landing spot.Doing the backside of 10 instead of the threadle side maybe getting the 11 tunnel a little harder! The acceleration to it (until you saw her see it and lock onto it) really helped – when you pulled up a bit too soon (1:11) she thought you wanted the jump.
Pop out 4
First run:
Nice threadle at 4! Nice backside and blind at 5!! Nice backside wrap at 6, especially because it is a slice line and you got her to collect and wrap!Just needed a bigger connection and more push to get the 7 backside. She got the switch, but you can do the switch sooner, she caught it over the bar – the switch you did at the end on the last rep was really nicely timed and included physical cues too!
You were a little further away on the 2nd rep from the threadle so it was not as smooth, then you were closer at that on the next reps so it looked great.
You got the slice at 6 (:45) – compare this physical cue (right arm pointing to the center of the bar, feet pointing to the center of the bar) to the physical cue there at :12 where there was more decel after the blind, much less right hand pointing to the bar, the left hand is getting involved, and most importantly: your feet are rotating to 7.
Great job staying connected there and getting the sequence clean! That is a really important skill! Never give-up!
You got the slice at 1:16 – too much motion and right arm indicating the bar, even with you trying to turn your feet. Couldn’t save it that time, she was too quick 🙂
You moved away from that wrap sooner at 1:43 so she got it.
So I think the most important element to get it consistently is to decelerate after the blind so she sees the motion change and foot rotation happening a lot sooner (as she is landing from 6), which will get the wrap turn really nicely!
Great job here!! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This looks pretty darn awesome and my only suggestions are handling suggestions.
Welcome to the world of handling Super Fast Super Responsive Super Sponge! Very fun!!I think it will take some time in the saddle to get used to the speed 🙂 And it will get easier with timing when he is jumping more (see below :))
One big suggestion that will help timing:
You don’t need to send to the jump after the tunnel, or be close to it to help him get it – just be connected, be moving, use your jump verbal. You can be pretty far laterally away from is, Sir SBSP understands how to stay on that line with you needing a send step or being very close to it.You did a send move at :06 there, which delayed you and the FC at :07 was a little late because of it.
You did a lot less send on the next rep and the BC at :15 was timely 🙂 Plus, BCs are better in this context than the FCs (and easier!)
After the FC or BC – do a decel so you can send and go, rather than do a post turn and round the line with him. That will get even more collection on 5! My guess is there is not a lot of time for a big decel and send, so you might have an easier time with a throwback after a FC (so you don’t have to finish the rotation) – or after the BC, decel into a spin. Both the throwback and the spin will get you feet facing the next line sooner than a post turn.
Other side: at :34 you were helping too much at 3 and too close to that line, and he smoked you to the BC at :35 – you were on the line to the backside so that is where he went (good boy!)
You were a little further and definitely earlier at :43 so it worked out better
You got the FC in there too at the end (you have QUICK FEET, man, wow!!!). But to make it work, being more lateral from 3 and 4 will be soooo much easier to get either the FC or the BC.
So overall, it is just a matter of using a bit more distance and supporting with motion/connection/verbals and getting the feel of how early the FC and BC need to be. SB is looking fabulous and is responding correctly to ALL the things 🙂
OK so question about jumping: what are you working on in terms of jump height, currently? We can start to build in bringing the heights up – recommend doing it on grass first, so he has better grip while trying to organize the jumping at speed.
Great job here! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
These circle wraps are hard! Good Job figuring it all out!
On the first rep of each side, you were moving a bit too fast (so the countermotion was abrupt and looking at her cute face (and not at the landing spot :))
You sorted it out by shifting your connection to that ‘landing’ spot at :17. Yay! You were a little late with it at :27 but got it – – it was great to see the impact that connection shift makes on her!After that, it was clear sailing on the right side, with the 2 and 3 wings. Looked great!!
When you changed side, being closer to the camera showed us that you were using the dog side arm for a longer time than you were on the other side. So you can shift from left hand to right hand as you shift connection – left hand shows the wing, right hand shows the landing (along with your eyes 👀 )
On both sides, a small detail – try to decelerate as you send past you to the wing, and lean forward a tiny bit – that way your first step will be forward to the next wing. On these, you were stepping back or two the side as your first step after the wing, which can be inefficient on a full course 🙂
One last detail, especially on these hard games: if something goes wrong, find a way to keep going to the next wing, or do a front cross on the flat back to the tunnel. The reason is that stopping and NOT rewarding is punishing to the dog, particularly with a new behavior and if the error was handler error – and you will see stress behavior which we don’t want, of course. So on the first rep, you were too abrupt with the motion forward and looking at her instead of landing, so she did’t get it – you stopped and moved away, and note how suddenly she froze up and got interested in the wing (:06). That is a stress response, so it is better to just keep running or do what you did on some of the other reps, which was to help her out and reward (like at 1:18).
Great job here! How are the pups doing? How is Mazi feeling?
Tracy
