[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Hope you had a great vacation!

>.I do several fast “walk” throughs, but I only post one of them. 🙂

Aha! You can definitely post more of those, because those are the most important ones! In general, your goal would be to be able to go faster than she needs while maintaining all the connections, lines, timing and verbals. It is hard! And sweaty!

And if you are able to use an iphone or ipad, you can do a side-by-side or overlay in iMovie and see how the walk matches the run(s).

One thing I notice in both walk throughs is that the planning seems to have more to do with your position and not her position – you are handling when you get in range of the jump but in the places where she is ahead of you, things might go wrong. So always plan where she is on course – that will be a big help in terms of timing the cues.

>>I feel like things go really well on the shorter sequences (for the most part), but when we try to do the big courses, things fall apart.>>

I think on the smaller sequences, it is easier to be ahead so also easier to be in range of the jumps for handling and not parallel to or behind her. On the bigger courses, being aware of where she is as being more important than where you are becomes more critical.

>> I think that a lot of it has to do with me getting behind in sections, often due to having to support her line all the way up to a lot obstacles since her commitment point is so close to the next thing>>
>. Plus, all the bars come down in a scary way if I’m too far ahead.>>

This is useful info for planning – you can plan to get up closer to obstacles (especially tunnels) which can also help you NOT get so far ahead!

Looking at the walk through for jumping 1:
I think the handling in general can be bigger (more exaggerations of the connections and arm movements, such as the arms for the flip away 7-8) and definitely faster with more transitions into deceleration to cue turns. The pace of the transitions becomes critical for turn cues.

Also – be louder! to really get the walk through feeling like it is a real run, use your verbals loud enough and realistically enough that your neighbors think you are nuts 🙂 That will also help rehearse the connection and timing, because you will be directing the verbals to the dog!

Looking at the runs:
The opening looked good – you be earlier on the BC 3-4 on the first run, more like on the 3rd run at 2:04.
You were getting further and further from the 5-6 line, which is what caused the bar down at 2:09 (too far away and not connected enough)

Really good thinking on your feet to cue the jump and keep going at 9 1:09! The lap turn worked nicely on the re-start and also on the full run at 2:15.

Yes, at 10-11 you left too early at 1:12 and at 1:30, but you can be more specific about what happened because that will help you correct it for the next run: you sent with a high arm as you turned away and did not connect until you saw her look at the jump. Remember to do a low arm and eye contact on sends, and keep moving forward until you see her look at 11. That is basically what you did at 2:18 – connection, lower arm, and you didn’t turn to 12 til after you saw her locked onto 11. Knowing specifically what happened and then re-walking it will help the 2nd run go even better.

The 12-13-14 section – it looked like you were having to think about it as you did it so things get a little delayed on the first run (1:30-1:36)
At 2;21, you needed more deceleration into it to tell her how tight the turn was – she got the turn away but thought it was more of a slice based on your motion, so she dropped the bar trying to adjust. Remember to connect to get her into the tunnel at 15 (2:26) On the last run you did not get the blind before the tunnel, which made things tricky for sure! That is definitely a section to walk at high speed to practice transitions and timing.

Looking at the backside at 16 – at 1:40 you were positionally in a good place, it was a connection issue (looking forward with high arm got front side). Compare that to the much better connection at 2:32 that got the backside. YAY!

Ending went well – you did have to go all the way up to the weave entry lie you were doing in the walk through, so that is something good to have in your plan during the walk through. That weave entry is a good one to isolate too so she can get it more independently – that soft side entry is one of the hardest entries for sure!!

Also be careful of using “go” like in “go jump go jump” on turns or when there is not a lot of extension, because it dilutes the ‘go’ element of the verbal.

You are definitely getting better about the ‘keep going’ if there is an error, and she reminds you when you don’t – at 2:55 you stopped when you didn’t get up the line enough for the left turn out of the tunnel. And then she took off (frustration). So keep trying to stay in motion, no matter what, even if fancy dance moves are involved 🙂 My mantra is “Get on a line, any line, and go” 🙂

Course 2:
I think this is a great course for planning more about her position and cueing based on where she is!
An example of planning for your position, not hers:
At :18 in the walk through, you started the threadle for 9 when you were near the jump. When you did it in flow at 1:13 she was ahead of you there so didn’t get the info til after she had landed from 8 and had locked onto 9. At 2:05, you started the threadle cue when you were near the wing… but she was already over 8 and on the way to the wrong side of 9.
At 2:16 you pulled away more but that pulled her off the line.
At 4:27 you were ahead because of the bobble at 7 🙂

Looking at the 14 jump, we can approach it from a similar perspective (the line might be better as a threadle slice, but a threadle wrap also works, and the timing considerations are the same):

She would need to know no later than landing of 13 that she needs to come in for the threadle wrap. That means you are starting the cues while she is over 13, regardless of where you are. At :33 on the walk through, you started the cues when you were close to the 14 jump (the cue looked like a threadle slice) – based on where you were looking, she would be next to you there but in reality, she would be ahead of you since you were not tha far ahead on the weave exit. So you would need to be looking at her jumping 13 and beginning those cues, even if you were not near 14.
A 1:34, 2:38, and 4:43 you were parallel to her at 13 which is fine – and that is when the cues needed to start. You were moving forward til you got more in range of 14, which is why things went sideways there.

Thinking about the exit of 16 to the other side of 17 – at :42 on the walk through you you started the threadle cue when you were closer to the 17 jump… but the invisible Nox had already made a decision to take the front of 17. The timing of the cues there would be as soon as she lands from 16.
On the runs – at 1:45 and 2:47, you were close to 16 when she landed from it, that is when/where you should be starting the threadle wrap (or backside push cues, which you used later in the session). Moving forward more was what was putting her directly on the front of 17. Also, remember that on threadle wraps you need to pull your shoulders away, rather than just use your hands. Getting the backside at 17 as a push to the backside worked too! Same timing rules apply – as soon as she lands from 16, the cues for 17 start even if you are not near 17. Yes, you can plan to send to 16 more and leave sooner to get t a better position, but all connection should be directed back to her, so as soon as she lands, you are starting the next cues.

Let me know if that makes sense! I think that change in your planning will make a massive difference on course!

>>do you have a recommendation of what I should focus on based on the skills we need to work on?>>

– Package 4, jumpers and standard

tackle these if possible, there are a lot of good planning opportunities! And prioritize jumping over standard because there are no stopping points in jumpers 🙂 So you will really have tolock into the timing based on where she is.

>>(There wasn’t a live for package 4, right?)

Correct, the next live is on August 8th – those are fun ones to do based on timing relative to her position, not yours, because the sequences are designed to put us behind the dogs and not comfortably ahead.

-Package 5, everything (Is there supposed to be anything on the overview page for 5?)

Try the RYG for Package 5, those are also good for planning timing and send-and-go. There is an overview posted – try refreshing the page? It should be visible.

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
These are looking good! I think the 2 main take-aways are:

– you can use more rotation so you can get ahead up the lines and get tighter turns, rather than doing post turns
– keep going if there is an error. No stopping allowed 🙂 Even if you have to make up a line to get her on and then run then reward for real – keep going 🙂

Here are some specifics:

Good camera angle to see the tunnel exit! She was turning towards you on the tunnel exits a lot, so you can be showing her the converging pressure and hand cues and verbals right before she enters, so she is turning away even before she exits.

5 was on the backside on this sequence 🙂
Running it on the front side, you would need to start decelerating and then turning as she was landing from 4, so she could collect for 5 (which will also incidentally get you further ahead up the next line).
You started the turn cues as she was jumping 5 at :21 an d:48 so she was wide, which meant you could not leave for the next line til she got back on the line to the tunnel, which delayed you getting past the tunnel exit for the 7 backside.

Push to the backside at :24 – there was a little too much push there, it looked like a ‘get out’ to her. Using the outside arm, your feet should also be moving forward to the backside jump. You turned your feet to the left, so she correctly turned to her left. But you were connected and helped her and kept going – YES!!!! Super!

MUCH clearer push cue at :52 – you had a more subtle outside arm (just looked like BIG connection) and your motion was more forward so she knew where to go. Smooth and nice!!!

Last tunnel entry:
at :28 you faced forward as she entered and said whoa while she was in the tunnel so she exited wide, not sure where to be. You can do a spin (so she can see the rotation) and say the verbal, all before she goes in – compare to :55 where you were half rotated and you got the verbal out before she entered the tunnel, so the turn was already much better. Nice!!!

Your feet are already mostly pointed towards 10-11 as she entered the 9 tunnel there, so you can complete the rotation and run forward to 10-11, rather than do the post turn and turn back towards 8-9the tunnel and the post turn.

Seq 2 – nice opening! Same suggestion about showing her the turn-away cue from the tunnel exit starting before she goes in, so she doesn’t turn towards you then have to turn away to get it after she exits

She had a little trouble seeing the push at 6 on this sequence: You had a late push verbal at :11 (she was halfway between the jumps and already looking at the front side) plus physical cues did not really show backside. That all needs to start when she is over the bar at 5. When something like that happens, keep going, carry on til the end even if you have to do some fancy dancing – no stopping – because it is frustrating to the dogs when they read us correctly and then we stop. Even if she gets a treat, the dogs still know the difference and you will see frustration behaviors creep in.

You can also see the frustration behavior when you stopped at :31 after the 3 tunnel to fix the bar that was down at 1 – yes, she got a cookie but it was still frustrating for her (listen to her vocalizations there, and watch her looking around). Sometimes the cookie is not an actual reinforcement and the dogs still get frustrated.

Looking back at :24, the bar came down because she was sideways and looking at you when you sent her to it, the send was to the center of the bar, and you didn’t really turn til after she took off. So…. bar down. You can see your body language change as soon as you noticed the bar down, basically game over. But handler error produced the bar down so stopping like that will produce frustration. I am aware that a LOT of people stop for bars like that but it is very frustrating for dogs and doesn’t really help them keep bars up.

So bearing in mind she did the best she could with the info and release point, you can keep going to a true reward stopping point (like after the backside), reward her for real (“Good girl!!” then throw the reward), fix the bar, then start over. And if you are not sure why the bar came down, you can watch the video before the next rep 🙂

Remember to have motion support your verbals, especially on the layering – at :53, you were moving forward then did a decel as she landing from 4, so the decel plus the positional cue of you behind the tunnel pulled her (correctly) off 5. She did not get any reward there and is now officially BIG MAD (barking at you). And she started to get more tentative after that, head checking a lot, dropping a bar going wide. She continued to commit to the obstacles (yay!) but in a trial environment where she is more stimulated, I bet getting back on lines would be a lot harder for her.

Even the ghost kicked a rail while you were looking at the course LOL!!

So – keep moving, always reward for real, don’t stop even if you think it is her error (because the video will reveal that 99% of the time is it OUR error :))

Seq 3:

I know it is a hard habit to break, but here is another friendly neighborhood reminder to KEEP GOING LOL!!! When you stop, you get the rehearsal of the 2 things I am pretty sure you don’t want:
– more frustration/arousal
– more facing you and barking at you

At 1:30, she looked at you as she exited the tunnel. You said “jump” which is a mild collection cue towards you on jump 4, then you changed to switch so she started to turn left but the physical cues did not really support it, so she ended up turning to her right. No biggie, you can send her out to the layering from there!

By stopping, you had about 5 seconds of barking at you. The cues were clearer at 1:43 and 2;12 but mainly, staying in motion even if there is a bobble is better for the overall flow of the sequence and arousal level of you both 🙂 If there is truly no way to keep going, then you can throw the reward like it is the end and praise her.

On the 7-8 line, to get a good turn and get back up the line, you can start to decel as she landing from 7, then do a spin so that she gets a stronger collection cue and you are already facing 9-10 before she even takes off for 8 🙂 The post turn there at 1:51 and 2:20 has you facing 8 as she takes off, which produces a wider turn and also puts you behind for getting back down the line.

At the very end, your switch verbal was timely (2:23) but your physical cues said right turn, so that overrode the verbal. Great job staying in motion there! You were connected, you changed plans, and kept going – perfect!! More of that for sure! It gave you rehearsal of what you DO want on course: connected team work 🙂 The physical cue needed a bit more rear cross pressure into the line and maybe some hands cues – the verbal doesn’t quite override the physical cues at the moment.

Nice work here! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Great job here! It is a long course, so I can totally understand why it ended up being too hot to run the whole thing at the end of the session.

I loved your “oh f*ck” verbal in the beginning LOL!!!! I can relate 🙂 The trick there is to recognize that moment and go to plan B (rear cross in this case) so you can keep things rolling, rather than stick to plan A and end up with a bobble.

On the 2nd run – you had a much earlier departure from the 3 tunnel for the blind at :40! Yay! That is an important element – how far can you send her to the tunnel so you can get that blind easily. In your walk throughs, give yourself a point you do not want to go past as you send, so you can guarantee getting to the blind. Often, less of a lead out helps because you can propel her past you and then you are in a great position for whatever is next.

She had a little trouble with the weave entry – I think you were trying to do it on a pure verbal but it was not as obvious of a line, so she needed more handling:

Your feet pushed into her line too much at :17 so she almost pushed off the line.
At :45, she needed a bit of a threadle to come to the correct line when you were on the other side, so she had questions there too. So definitely add handling to make sure you are setting the line to the poles.

STUNNING weave independence at :20!!! And :49!!! WOWZA!

At :23 – you handled 8 like it was written on the map – but it was set on more of an angle, as a threadle or backside line (not quite straight) so she needed more info there.
She found the line at :52 (I think you were further away and more connected) and the push to 9 worked well 🙂

Interesting handling choice to threadle her in to get the tunnel entry at :55. It would be fun to compare the difference between that threadle and sending her from the backside approach to the 10 entry. Either way, you were in a good spot for 11.

2nd half:
Super nice layering on the 11-12-13 line!!!!
She did not get it on the next rep. What was the difference?
You had BIG connection on the exit of the 10 tunnel at 1:02 that you maintained all the way til 1:05 where you saw her lock onto the tunnel.
On the 2nd rep through there – not as much connection on the tunnel exit, she hadn’t yet looked at 11 when you dropped your arm and turned your head forward so at 1:37 she looked at you and came of the line.
The re-start at 1:47 had a lot of connection on the release to 11, like on the first rep – so be sure to get the big connection to lock her onto the lines!

After the 13 tunnel –
You called her at 14 but your motion was towards the tunnel and not towards 15 – the you were late sending her to 15 at 1:09 and 1:55 so she was wide there. You can run more directly to 15 and she will find the line more smoothly.

I think the way the 15-16-17 line was built you would need to be further from 15-16 and more ahead so she can bypass 15 on the way to 17 – that 15 jump was very close!

On he 2nd rep there, the spin certainly took the off course out of the picture but then wrapping to the left was a bit slower (wrapping here will be slower than the slice) with a harder tunnel entry at 18.
The switch to the right at 1:59 was gorgeous! Tight, fast, great line, and you were in an even better position for the ending line! Super!!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>He still won’t really play with toys outside of home or the barn, places he’s familiar with, and I don’t really push it. But I do try to play a little and I hope he’ll be more comfortable with play in all sorts of places eventually.>>

It will come! Keep doing what you were doing with your no-pressure, all-fun approach. And being able to use toy play in training is priceless, even if he ends up being a super foodie in other locations.

>>I haven’t done much training ’cause I tend to sit and worry when one of my dogs isn’t at full health, so I’ve just been waiting around for Dreamer’s tail to heal.>>

This is relatable! I am glad to hear he is getting the stitches out soon and will be back in action!!!

>>Though now I’m having another stupid physical thing of my own that’s flaring up, so I kept things short with Kaz.>>

Ugh! Feel better soon!!!!!!

>And I was out of cream cheese so I used butter for the teeter. LOL he loves butter!>>

I admit to never have thought of butter as a reward – but also, everyone loves butter! LOL!!! I wonder if the fat content is same or higher than cheese or cream cheese? And I wonder if you can take some ‘boring’ treats and mix them with a little melted butter to get the butter effect? Or maybe just some toast? Now I am hungry LOL!

The mountain climbers looked great – he definitely was into the butter!!! And that helped him be super confident driving up the board on both videos! And he mostly did the wrap wing before the teeter – that was probably the hardest part!! Since he was so happy here, I think you can move the chair that is supporting it out by less than an inch, so there is the tiniest bit of tip of the board. Almost so little tip that he doesn’t notice it! And do one rep with super high value reinforcement (might be a dab of butter!). Just be sure to no do so much butter that his pancreas gets angry about it all 🙂

The wing wrapping looked great too – he basically had to leave the highest value food reinforcement ever in order to get it… good boy!!!! And he maintained it even with you cheering and moving away. Super!!!! So I think we can get creative with some butter use and see if that helps as you start to go to more distracting situations!

Great job here 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

You and Baxter looked great in the live class!! It is so cool to be able to train the dogs like that – big thank you to Zoom! LOL!!!!

Looking at the bang game –
Happily, he is confident with this game and very comfortable jumping on and riding it down. Even starting without you LOL!!!

I agree about the defaulting to the sit – his initial position is great and I believe he moves into the sit because he is looking up at you. Your instinct to stay a bit bent over and release him fast was correct! But to preserve your back and build on this behavior, you can also more of a targeting behavior: I like the smalls to do a front foot target to a long thin target attached to the end of the board (where your current food holder is attached). I use a strip of duct tape (or during covid I used leftover masks LOL!)

The dog can either do a touch-and-hold with the front feet, or you can teach him to scratch at it with his front feet. Here are some visuals to add on:

When he has the foot targeting going, you can add it to the bang game. And, you can do immediate release, as well as you moving forward past it (I do all of that on the plank first before going to the teeter).

Mountain climbers are also going really well!!! There is some tip to the board and he is feeling really confident about it. He is moving fast enough that hissed is beginning to move the wing under the teeter (watch the wing under the teeter rather than watching him on the video) – time to get something more solid so there is no risk of the wing falling out from under the plank while he is running up it. There are some solid adjustable saw horses and step ladders out there that might do the trick!

He seemed very happy to let you move forward, away laterally, etc – YAY!!! I love the confidence!!!! And he likes the action of it, because he is driving up the board with a lot of passion for a for reward (and food is good but has never been a great reward for him LOL!!)

>>I had to call him away a couple of times because he looks forward to running up it and get that treat at the end. >>

You might have to either carry him around while you get ready, or lure him with a treat in your hand so he doesn’t start without you 🙂

So before going further with this, get something more stable under the teeter so there are not accidents 🙂

Then you can start to add more tip. All of these games come together eventually into the ‘finished product’ teeter performance.

>>When do I add a cue? And any good cue words?>

You can add the teeter word now. I personally use a teeter word and a target word. I agree about all the “T” words. What about ‘slide’ or ‘slam’ or ‘seesaw’? Or ‘hit it’ maybe?

>>You’ll also see a cameo appearance by my Eli, 1 month shy of 14 years old. He’s physically very well but is in the clutches of canine dementia and is declining.>>

Awwwww Eli!! What a good boy <3 There are some meds now that can help with the cognitive decline for our oldsters!!!

>>Lastly, I left yesterday for a two week vacation to ALASKA (woohoo so excited!!) so wont be doing any training obviously.>>

WOW!!!! I am sure you will enjoy every moment!!!

>>t are there any plans for moving onwards with these MaxPup dogs? >>

Yes – I think a ‘transition to trials’ for our teenage dogs will be on tap, probably late September. I will keep you posted!!

Enjoy your trip!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Awesome! So for the next session, do the pattern game from this lesson between every rep:

Resilience Game: Predictability Part 2 (Patterns)

So it would be tunnel – wing – toy – toss a treat, she engages, toss a treat, she engages, toss a treat, she engages – tunnel -wing -toy and so on 🙂

The purpose is to help her modulate her arousal in between reps. From what I could see, her arousal got a little past optimal, so she had a zoomie. If we can begin teaching her how to regulate herself (and teaching us how to help her :)) then she won’t have zoomies 🙂
Zoomies are not a choice and they are usually not a fun thing for the dog – they are just an arousal response from the amygdala (and puppies are driven by their amygdala LOL!!)

Let me know if that makes sense! Definitely get it on video 🙂 I will get you hooked up with the webinars 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Caper was fabulous in the live class (and so were you, and so was the cat LOL!!!!!) Big thanks to Brad for his course building and video’ing help!!! I am glad she is getting back to normal. Does the vet think a spay might be helpful?

>>Will you be posting the recordings from the last live session into the forum?>>

The recordings are all posted here:

Links and Setup Info

She has such strong commitment to the wing that she needs the smaller lap turn cue to be what I call “louder” in the environment (a bigger, more salient picture compared to the wing). The way to do that is to extend your arm to her more, so your magic cookie hand is at her nose level – you were already a bit bent over, so feel free to bend over more.

She did REALLY well when you shook your hand a bit (ok, a lot haha). And she also did well when you called her. So looking at the very last rep for example, you were calling her, your hand was lower than at other points in the session, and you were shaking the hand. So she was able to respond! Yay! And once you got her locked onto your hand, the rest was great!

So definitely keep going with what you did there. 3 small tweaks to make it easier:

– call her before she goes into the tunnel (you were calling urgently which was great, but it was after she was in the tunnel) and of course keep calling her 🙂 We will be switching it to a threadle wrap verbal soon, but for now the name call is good

– when she starts coming towards you when you call her, shift your connect down to your hand so that she sees you looking at it (and yes, keep shaking it LOL!). That will draw her right in.

– move the wings further from the tunnel, 18-20 feet at least. You can use your tunnel sends to get her into the tunnel so you can be in position for the lap turn when she exits. The extra room will give her more time to process the cue and find your hand before locking onto the wing.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I haven’t done as much practice as I would have liked, hot, hot, hot, but it cooled down a bit the last couple of days,>>

Yes, the last few days have been better here too – I am hoping that we are done with the high heat! (I am an optimist LOL!!!)

>>Thanks for the tip about the pattern games. It’s amazing how something so simple can be so effective. I>>

Yes – they are VERY cool!! And it really helps my dogs be relaxed but also super focused in new places.

>>I still don’t have a class to go to, BUT, I got into a Dudley Shumate one day seminar for young dogs at the end of September, >>

Super!!! Dudley is a blast, I think you will really enjoy the seminar!!! And fingers crossed that Estelle can get you in after the heat goes away. Georgie is definitely ready to take her skills on the road!

The video looks great – I notice she I flowing through the sequences very well and is vocalizing less!!!

Good job getting the verbals in before she got into the tunnel on most of the reps! She finds the soft turns to the left/right very natural, so those looked good! Be sure to also show her the handling to match the verbal – when you say the verbal before she goes into the tunnel, you can also peel away to the left/right wing so the verbal and physical cue support each other.

The Go is a little less natural for her, so the more you let her see your acceleration on the straight line, the better she did! Great job getting the toy thrown out ahead to help her keep driving straight

>>Rear crosses tricky, of course. >>

Yes! RCs on tunnels are especially tricky!!!

On the first one to the right, you didn’t show the info til after she was in the tunnel. You were earlier at 1:17 and 1:35 (she saw the RC pressure and you cutting behind her before she went in) and read them well!

At 1:26, you didn’t quite point your feet or motion to the tunnel, so she went in but came out (she was not sure if you wanted it or not – nice said tunnel but feet/motion did not :))

The next rep (1:35) had motion to the tunnel and she did great!

The left turn RCs were harder for you 🙂 so remember to move forward to the tunnel so that she gets the commitment cue, and at the same time you will be putting pressure on her line – think of it as running to the center of the tunnel entry as she is passing you 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Thanks for the compilation!!!!

First of all – he is looking fabulous! Fast, focused, doing ALL GOOD BOY THINGS. And that allows you to get some awesome handling in – lots of blinds, aggressive handling, etc.

>> I think that open jumpers is just a particularly awkward class to be in. It’s not really a level we train at. Although there is one USDAA run here. I do feel like my handling in practice and in trials doesn’t look the same and contributed.>>

Yeah, Open is awkward. And it was so funny to hear the difference between AKC and UKI (music blaring LOL!!)

Anyway – yes, I see what you mean by the big lines and extra tunnels. There is a common theme: he is going fast, you are not ahead like you might be in training, it is a relatively soft turn… and the verbal cue does not override the physical cue. The verbal (like the left-poles at :24) was in conjunction with you driving forward for longer than needed, so the physical cue said “go straight!”. Similar things happened at 1:24 and 2:40. Part of that is lack of practice at high speed on big courses (he is still early in his career and this speed is niiiiiice!!) and also I think in those moments, he needs bigger “louder” physical cues.

Those bigger physical cues can be brake arms (opposite arm coming up to get the soft turns) or even a spin. Both of those can really be salient and helpful. Do you have a trial this weekend?

And, I owe ya, this gives me much better ideas for next week’s live class (I was having a little trouble coming up with anything good and fun :)) Stay tuned for sequences that will simulate this in a smaller area!

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Have fun at B&D!! It is only 7 hours away, I wish I could have come!!

>>When does the course end, please? I can never seem to find stuff – in life in general and here.

We have one last set of games posted next Wednesday (Aug 9) then 2 weeks after that til the last posting day in the Forum (Aug 23rd :))

Have fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

OUCH! Sorry to hear that. Thanks for letting me know! For the tandems, you can make it more of a shoulder pull-send so you don’t need as much arm movement! And the lap turns are less important, we use them for concept work but don’t see them a lot on course nowadays…

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Nice work here – we got good info about what she reads and what she needs help with:

>Same issues not wanting to turn to the tunnel when she can see the next jump. This was inconsistent and I wasnt quite sure what I was doing different or whether she was just picking random.>>

Nope, not random! When you are rotating to help her and past the tunnel entry? She commits. But if you are not past the tunnel entry, or running forwards – she stays out on a parallel line to you and either takes the jump or runs past the tunnel entry.

So that is a dog training element, not a handling element: we don’t want you to have to run backwards or be rotated to get her to commit (because you can’t get where you need to be if you have to run backwards or rotate), so rather than trying the sequence, you can work on being able to move forwards:

– you can repeat the cue (tunnel tunnel tunnel) and give her a serp arm to help her, and just walk forward to start – then reward her for taking the tunnel without you having to rotate your feet or run backwards. Then when she is successful, you can add more and more speed to go from walking forward, to jogging forward, to running forward.

The same goes for the backside at jump 5:
Part of the goal of these drills is to see how early you can send her and leave for the next line to get the backside at 7 – on the first time at 5, you helped her with rotating and cuing the backside at :23 but then you were too far behind to get the backside at 7. But when you tried to leave 5 sooner and NOT rotate at :43… she didn’t take the 5 jump, she ran past it like she ran past the tunnel entry earlier in the sequence (but you were in a great position to get 7!).
So you can make a similar training plan of walking while you cue and leave, and then throw a reward to the landing side of 5. Then build up to jogging and running over the course of several sessions.

>>if I solve this in terms of what she needs or is thinking then magic will happen.
>> Think need to look at providing more clarity on this especially when I am close (not close by many standards) apart from verbal.

I think if you can keep moving forward and not rotate or move backwards to manage the turns, then yes- magic! And you will be in a better position to add clarity, like you were at :46.

>>Many of mistakes- misses jumps etc I ignored and kept her in motion.>>

Yes – keep moving but keep moving on the sequence (or any sequence, even if you make something up) then reward her – if you are trying to swing her back around to try again, things become unclear about what you want and she gets frustrated. That causes more errors of getting on random lines or going past stuff, or biting:

This happened at :30 when you said oops and tried to do it again, she ended up getting on a big line. Also, I was not really clear what you wanted from 1:16 to 1:36, and neither was she so even though you kept moving, she got frustrated and came in to bite you at 1:36 . So if there is an error, keep going with the sequence and fix the error later. And if the error makes the actual sequence impossible, you can just carry on, finding a big line like it was the sequence 🙂 then reward. This does involve a lot of thinking on your feet in the moment, but that is a great skill on course!

Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Yay! Have fun! Fingers crossed for good weather!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This is a good brain dump! Really great insights!!!!

>>Listened to Monday’s Zoom on my drive to AK9C for a 4 hour workshop with Daisy Peel – definitely a potentially stressful situation…have never worked with Daisy, want her to like my dog, want to be able to keep my brain together, afraid we might be overfaced with the subject matter, concerned that because I don’t have a BC or a Sheltie….. there were probably a couple of others. >>

Glad you can listen while driving! And yes, I agree, that can be a stressful situation!

>>The agility training was great….didn’t hurt to relieve my “stress” that on the first sequence there was a big loop of 3 jumps to a tunnel where you layered a set of poles and Sly did it like he’d been doing it his whole life!! Thank you CAMP!! And I got a compliment on a fairly tricky blind 🙂 Certainly helped me “start” at a good place.>>

Yessssss!!!!! Hooray!!!!

>> I just smiled and walked away from a conversation that went into the “she said she was going to set a timer and she’s not doing that” by saying I’d had too much coffee and needed to go pee.>>

Click treat for you! It can really ruin your mindset to get caught up in those conversations. And that whole thing timer thing can be brought up directly to the instructor. But is there such as thing as too much coffee (yes, turns out there is such a thing as too much coffee haha!)

>> But as I left the conversation, I talked to myself about did I get what I wanted/needed from the seminar so far and it was a yes….. metal note it’s not about the time you get it’s about the quality of the time!!!>>

Brilliant!!!!!!! And also, that can be a mantra: It is about QUALITY of time, not QUANTITY of time.

>> Great idea, didn’t work that well though as 3 other people, one of them the chatty friend came down and decided to crate in that area as well, actually all 3 of them chatters and friends. Can’t remember who Daisy was working with but they were discussing training basics – placement of reward, reward markers, consistency…… da, da, da, da . Just before Daisy starts talking with this person, I got into a conversation about really cute dog fabrics for making toys with “the chatter friend”….. and I just couldn’t figure out how to get out of it so I’m trying to hear what Daisy is saying and not offending the person who’s flipping through pictures of fabric on her phone..>>

Yes, this is a hard scenario and I recommend being very direct: Smile and say “Oh wait, we need to pause this, I really need to hear what Daisy is saying, this is stuff I need, I will be right back” – then walk away. Simple, honest, direct.

And if you feel like you have offended the person, then you can come back later at lunch or something and give a simple apology: “sorry that Iwas so direct, but I really needed that info and didn’t want to miss it”. If they are offended? well… not much you can do that that point. And it is important to stop worrying if you offended someone because you chose to participate in the event you were all there for.

> In our walk through I really focused on all the aspects of my handling for the rear, even visualized where I was when I saw Sly drive ahead, enter, make the 2nd turn and I fell in behind him – and we got it!!! Yeah!!!

Super!!!!!

>> But with the leadout – I did the same planning but as I was setting Sly up on line, my last words to Daisy were “this is a really hard one for us” and I lead out like I was walking on egg shells and of course Sly got up and wandered a bit – that’s his way of saying “who the hell is this person and what did you do with my Mama”. Daisy was great and said “you know it’s near the end of the day, he’s done so well, can you do this without a leadout?” and the answer was “Hell yeah” – Sly was slightly hesitant with his sit (another sign that he’s a little concerned”, but with only a couple of steps leadout he came off the line nicely and we worked the rest of the sequence and he was able to play and tug. Huge mental win for him!!!>>

That is great! Yes, you can recognize something in training as being hard, and then reframe it: I am going to attack it like it is easy (also known as fake it til ya make it, which does have some scientific support LOL!!!)

And also – seminars are designed to present challenges that we might fail on, and take home to train. Sounds like Daisy had some really good ones, like the weave/jump discriminations 🙂 So my mindset at seminars is: be prepared to fail and learn, but keep rewarding the dog 🙂

>> Going to take some time to digest and think about yesterday in the context of the home work for moving forward – what my 3 go to tools are/were and what ones will be most beneficial moving forward in situations like yesterday.>>

Yes! The Go-to tools that work now, as well as the ones that resonate but need practice, and the ones to revisit later -those are big homework to help really develop mental strategies! And those tools will evolve. It is only recently that I have been able to be direct with people. It is not easy but it really helps and it also turns out that people are generally NOT offended (even when I think I have offended everyone – that is my inner critic LOL!)

>>Thanks as always and I love the idea of a Mental Management Transition to Trials Class>>

I will keep you posted!

>count us in and if you are looking for ideas for some 4 week winter skills workshops let me know and I’ll send you the map of the sequence that had the poles surrounded by jumps that we don’t have the skills to do. Daisy’s answer was “this is one of the reasons that verbals are becoming so important” and she did give me some ideas of how she’d go about working on that particular sequence.>>

Sure! She is 100% correct about verbals… they are incredibly important as these discriminations creep into all levels/flavors of agility 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Thanks for the zoomies video! Looks like she got stimulated and needed to a bit of decompression 🙂 You can add in letting her run around with the toy reward after every rep or two… that will help her balance the arousal.

BTW – we have an arousal webinar coming up. Would it be possible to use this zoomie video in exchange for a free ticket to it? And if you want, I can give you one of the games we would play to help her not have zoomies when working in high arousal and we can do a before and after, if you will be able to get to play with a tunnel soon 🙂 Let me know either way!

>>The initial price was $1,250,000 and it is now lowered to $950,000

On sale! LOL! I wish 🙂 Gorgeous property!!!

Tracy

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