[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

[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

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