[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>We really struggled and not much went well.

Plenty went well! There were lots of moments where things were really strong, to compare to the oopsie moments. And even the heat, Sprite was moving really well!

Looking at the videos:

On big lead out to the throw back, she is reading the lines 1-2-3 REALLY well. Great stay, great line reading, great commitment. YES!

The main thing to look at is, yes, the connection on the exits 🙂

In a nutshell – when you didn’t connect and tried to show the line with the shoulder closed forward and dog-side arm at your side, she had to kind of guess (like at :14 and :23). But when you remembered to use the reward-across-the-body approach to get the dog-side arm back? Perfect! (more on that below)

So plan that in advance – any time you have to handle a cross exit, or a lead out push – have the reward-across-the-body approach ready as part of the handling.

FFCs – you started off moving a bit too soon
then when you were stationary, shaking your hand helped her a lot (NOT taking the front of the jump is a relatively new concept, same when you changed sides and did the threadle too) But you got it and then the sequence at 1:06 looked great!

On the throwbacks – I think you were making it harder by adding the spin on the exit when it should be a FC exit to throwback with the left and pick up on the left.

The footwork is not the most important element, it is more about where you look and move your hand – as you step back, look at the desired landing spot and point your hand back to it (on the opposite wing). It is easier to use the hand closer to the jump. You were using the opposite arm and an upper body rotation which is fine too (that’s more in the OMD style).

You were good with the indication at 1:26 but then tried to get the spin/blind so fast she reacted and tried to back jump (there is no blind needed there, pick her up on your left for a clearer line). Tat might be why she kept back jumping if you got a lot of that? Even when we do want the spins, you don’t need to be that quick, you can move away on the throw back arm then do the blind element further up the line (and do the arm-across-the-body approach to connection here too because it is a cross exit).

Speaking of the arm-across-the-body approach… at
2:22 – you had a disconnection after the spin by trying to use the dog-side arm & closed shoulder. Compare it to the arm across the body approach at 2:40 – great connection! Same at 2:52!!! Try to have that as part of the cue every time you did a cross exit, it looked great.

2nd video – good transition into the wrap turns!!! The exits are crosses so… use that arm across the body approach 🙂 At :09 you didn’t use it, and your arm moves forward, connection breaks, she ends up on the other line. Note the difference at :19 when you used the arm across the body approach – lovely connection 🙂 At :31 – nice too!

I think the rear crosses needed more motion – the diagonal line pressure is a big part of the cue, and she was not getting that here at :42 and :51 because you were relatively stationary. Move forward towards the center of the bar more (start her further back if needed) and then you can show her the diagonal – cutting in behind her is not as important as the diagonal line pressure.

Overall, this was a useful session because it really got some work done showing her what the FFC and forced threadle were all about, and got some great work in on building up more muscle memory on the connections! Keep working those, try to practice the arm-across-the-body approach every single time. Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! SO MUCH good stuff here – you are really driving her, and that helps – I was sweating just watching you LOL!

Round 1: The line after the DW looked great! She was beginning to get some serious acceleration away from you. On the next part of the sequence, you can stay with her on the teeter exit so she can accelerate past you. The way you handled it was great (getting ahead to set the line) but that doesn’t let her drive ahead of you because you are in send & go mode.

One note: Be careful with the go word – at :15 you send her into the tunnel with a big go go go go, but then do a tight blind on the exit so there was no go LOL!

Next section: At 1:12 and 1:33 she had really good acceleration when you did NOT lead out, she had to drive ahead of you from the start – 1st rep was good, 2nd rep was GREAT. You can reward the tunnel exit there rather than the frame (you were ahead again on the frame ).

Holy cow she was fast at the end of round 2. WOW!

Round 3, running it all – this looked great! From a handling perspective, you were sending and leaving which is great for the handling but doesn’t get her ahead of you (she was chasing you for most of it, which is good but doesn’t isolate the driving ahead skill). So you can modify the handling choices here to deliberately get closer to lines so she then drives away ahead of you (like after the teeter) or you can hang out on the wrap exits on purpose for an extra heartbeat or two, so she can catch up to you then pass you. That is the next step to all of this: the catch-up-then-pass you moments.

She was also incredibly fast at the end here, I had to check that the video was in real time and not fast forward LOL!

Very nice!!! So on the future course work, look at the handling from 2 perspectives: where can you send her and leave to get ahead, so she is in speedy chase-the-handler mode? And, where can you go in closer to the line than you normally would, so you can reward her for passing you?

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
The sits are going well – she is responding with a slight delay (because it is HARD) so maybe do this without the agility obstacles around. By moving towards the agility obstacles, she has to decide to sit or take the obstacle, and we don’t need for her to have to think about that yet LOL! The next step now is to let her get fully settled in the sit while you continue to move 2 or 3 more steps… then reward (rather than rotate towards her immediately to reward). You will probably have to move slowly to get this started, then you can add more and more motion.

>>Do you have thougth about Changtse’s wowrking on Mountain Climbers at this point, should she be doing some pre something first?>>

She seemed very confident on the planks and wobble boards, if I remember correctly. So as long as the teeter is very secure and will not move at all, you can do the beginning steps of mountain climbers where you place a reward at the end of the teeter, then move with her up the board. She will let you know how she feels about it, which will tell you how quickly (or not :)) you can move forward with the game.

Nice work! Stay cool!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Lots of good work here! I think the main theme to get him to work at more and more distance will be more acceleration on the line, and to keep your arm lower and look at him a lot more. Here are some details:

Video 1 – looks really good! He did well at the bigger distance too, I think his only question was looking at the ring crew distraction at :17, but then he was perfect.

Video 2, sequence 2: this had some really good information about what he needs to see! On the beginning reps, you had more acceleration so he stayed on the line better. So definitely run more and use the verbals, pointing less and decelerating less. This is really important on the 5-6-7-8 line, because at :51 and 1:44, you were decelerated and pointing forward, so he came off the line. Try to accelerate more and also – don’t point forward to the next jump as much, as this is what was pulling him off the line. Pointing forward & looking forward turned the line of your shoulders away from 7 here, so he was following your line correctly.

If you can keep your arms down and look at him more (while running of course :)), that will show the line better because it turns your shoulders to the line more. The same holds true for when you are starting from the tunnel – at 1:56 you decelerated so he turned on the exit. I know it is entirely counterintuitive to get him to send away more by keeping your dog-side arm lower, but it works like a charm! And for some dogs that don’t love working that far away, the outside arm cue can really help support them on the line.

He had a definite moving ring crew distraction at 1:08! That is something to keep showing him – he might be locking onto her because she often has the reward? But either way, the more he gets used to ignoring the people in the ring, the easier trials will be 🙂

The only other question he had was at 1:43 where you had the backside by accident on ump 5, when you pushed in too early. The rep at :49 was a more patient cue to let him get past you then rear cross.

Seq 3 –
The beginning of this seq was all about getting him to take the 3rd jump. At :16, you had a better line of shoulders to get him to take it. The reps where he missed it were when you were pointing forward, which is what was pulling him off the line. So looking at him more directly for now, with a lower arm that is not ahead of you will totally help.

Having the dog walk line closer helped too, so you can leave it in position 1 til he understands to stay out on his line no matter what 🙂 And LOTS of thrown reward for the jump furthest from you will totally help!

The switch on the tunnel exit worked well – bearing in mind there will be a dog walk in your way so you might not be able to do the switch, you can add in the RC on tunnel entry to challenge him to find the jump after it as you move away up the next line.

Next sequence: Finding the jump past the tunnel entry went really well – your motion really supported his line (try not to run into the tunnel LOL!)! And he was able to balance it and find the tunnel instead really nicely.

He had questions after the tunnel, like at 1:32 and 2:04 – he was not sure about taking the jump after the tunnel. This is also a spot where you can keep your arm back and lower more, and give him more connection which will help point your shoulders to the line (and lots of thrown rewards so he gets paid to work away from you more :))

The full sequence is looking good with the invisible dog walk line in position 1 and you giving him lots of motion and more connection! He ended up in the tunnel (not the jump) at 3:07 because as you came down the line, you said CHUCK while you did a big shoulder turn then said over – the name and shoulder turn cued the tunnel, he was a good boy! The rep at 3:27 was much better without the name call and he found the line nicely! Keep focusing on connecting to him and not trying to use a high, forward arm to send. That should smooth it all out even more.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Buccleigh was definitely an enthusiastic partner here!! And we found something to look at more closely: rear crosses! See below.

On the 1st walk throughs at the beginning, you are walking the ‘bones’ of the course (all the handling) which is great! But, you can add in a lot more connection to where the dog would be (behind you on blinds, for example) and add those verbals in loud and clear as early as you can in the walk throughs.

For example, at :45 you were walking the rear cross where he is not yet at 2 and you are looking ahead to 3, which can be a source of his questions.

And you can add more connection to the exit of crosses: for example, at :57 you did the cross then looked ahead (he would still be behind you). Compare that to the great connection after the cross at 1:08!

One other thing that he and I both had questions about LOL was at jump 11 (can’t hear the verbals there). Your feet said slice and your shoulders said wrap, so at 1:14 he was not sure what to do on the run. If you wanted the slice, keep moving through to the center of the bar and cut behind him like a rear cross. If you want a wrap, turn your feet to the wrap wing and decelerate so he can change his line to the wrap. 1:14 on jump 11 – feet said slice upper body said wrap, it is hard to know what you wanted

>> I felt that I was going to have a hard time staying ahead from 4-5 although it seemed like I should be able to do this. So I obsessed over this in the walk through from 2:17-2:44. This was actually almost 4 min but I sped it up.>>

That was probably the lack of connection you were feeling (it was hard to see what was happening in the sped up part) . Also – rear crossing 3 means you are behind him so it is hard to get to the BC on the exit of 4, and that might also be why you (correctly) felt it would be hard to get there.

Lots of good pieces in the first run, and great job continuing to run when there was a blooper! I think the main thing to look at to answer his questions is how you cue rear crosses.

On the first run you pulled pretty far to the opposite side of 3 (to the right turn wing, away from the tunnel) to get the RC then didn’t get the BC 4-5. The RC at 5 didn’t work there because you pulled to the left turn wing (so he turned left) and then as he was lifting off, you tried to cut in behind him.

His questions on the opening reps at 3:27 and 3:35 opening versus at 2:48 were also about rear cross handling – you turned more and did more of a pull to the RC on the first run, and the other reps had less “pull” and more acceleration, so he went straight.

By 4:07 – he was freestyling and offering obstacles dogs will do that when we repeat a lot and they know it is not quite right but don’t know what you want.

Something similar was happening on the RC at 5 at 3:56 – he was anticipating the turn away and was thinking it was the tunnel. Based on what he did at 5:04 where he turned away from you on the barest hint of RC pressure, my guess is he was trying to figure out the line there and he know it was something about turning away.

So looking at the rear cross handling: think of it is “set, drive, cross” rather than “accelerate, pull, flick” which is what you were doing. The ‘set’ element of the rear cross is when you either decel at the previous jump to turn him to face the RC jump (like you can do at jump 2) or met him at the exit of the previous obstacle if not turning to the next obstacle is needed (like you can do on the tunnel exit of 4).

The ‘drive’ element is when, after setting the turn, you run forward towards the center of the bar of the RC jump (rather than turn your shoulders to the opposite wing). This cues the dog to do 2 things: to drive ahead to the RC jump AND to turn away when taking it. The ‘cross’ element happens when you see him pretty close to the jump, you can cut in behind him to seal the deal. And because of running towards the center of the bar (also known as the RC diagonal), you won’t be far behind him at all!

I think this will smooth out the 2-3-4 and 5-6 sections enormously! Plus, the ‘pull’ to the wing of a jump will only mean 1 thing (turn the way you are pulling towards) and not 2 things (turn the direction of the pull or potentially turn away for a rear cross).

Here is a visual of the what I mean:

So isolate these 2 sections and just work the rear crosses, because I think that will make the rest of the course run beautifully!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi again!

On Kaladin’s run: Yes, totally great job with your connections! In fact, it was so clear that Could tell your invisible dog was turning to the right over 3 – I watched the video before I read your post 🙂 The left turn there would be faster, but your connection was gorgeous the way you walked it and ran it, so he executed it as you wanted. Yay! I totally think the rear cross would have worked for him, because he collects really well and the tree would not have been an issue. The BC would be riskier because it relies on your decel more there.

The rest looked lovely – the only spot I think he had a question was at the 7-8 backside moment at :17 in the walk through and :47 in the run. In both of those spots, you turned your shoulder forward for the backside push while he was behind you and during his run, he slowed down and had a question there. The shoulder turning forward might be blocking the wing, and also turning the line of your shoulder to the front side so he had to take a moment to sort it out. Try having your arm back as he lands from 7 so he can see the wing, then give a little swoosh forward with it to indicate the backside.

Min’s walk and run looked great too! I liked the BC 2-3 to set up the left turn to 4. And I think you were more connected on the way to 8, your arm was not as forward so she drove to it faster. On the exit, you turned your shoulder forward so she was not entirely sure which side to be on – keep your arm back there at the exit 🙂 The rest was fabulous!

Great job with both dogs!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Kaladin did really well here! I think that there is a subtle “release” of the threadle arm as you pass the wing which helps cue the turn away… but only when he is on your left. When he is on your right, you hold the threadle arm & verbal longer – which might be why he is a little stickier on that side and went behind you on that one rep. The subtle release is perfectly fine, so try doing it on the right side too and see if it helps! Let me know if you see what I mean – it is a subtle return of your hands to a natural position instead of the threadle position.

Min is doing well too! She is not ready for as much speed as Kaladin is ready for, and I also think you can totally help her with that little release of the threadle cue (a little motion back to the wing as your hands return to the natural position after the threading). That can help even when you are further ahead or moving faster 🙂

Great job! Onwards to sequences!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning ! He did a GREAT job here! I loved his striding and speed on the serp lines. And he was even kind enough to let his Papillon sibling have a turn LOL!!!

This was a really great session, almost perfectly connected, and he found the Ines really well. There were 2 oopsie moments, both handling-induced because baby dogs are very literal:

He ran past the last jump at :08 and :40 because your arm went forward to point to the jump, which turns the shoulder every so slightly past the jump. Young dogs will run past the jump when that happens. When you kept your serp arm in position and strong connection, he found the last jump each time. So, to eliminate the oopsies, maintain the connection of the eye contact after he lands from the serp jump and until you see him turn to the last jump. And, keep your set arm back and out in serp position until you see that turn to the last jump, then you can relax it to normal position again. The serp arm and connection cues the come in AND go out on the line, so holding it in place a bt longer will help him find the last line.

Great job here! Keep tightening up the line, he is doing great!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>it’s a whack a mole

This basically sums up training adolescent dogs LOL!!!

She looks like the got the first jump on every rep here. It was the 2nd rep that was harder. I think a couple of things were going on:
– she doesn’t love jumping into the pressure of getting really tight to you
– she was predicting what jump 3 was, so she was avoiding the pressure and heading directly to 3 🙂

You were compensating a bit by running in between the uprights or jump 2 more, but we do want her t find it all laterally for you. So to help her find that line, just do a bunch of straight line reps of 1-2, no crosses, dog on right or dog on left. Lead out maybe halfway between the 2 jumps. Start close to the jumps but just run alongside them, don’t get between the uprights, then throw the reward straight. Gradually get further and further away laterally, so you are on the better line to 3 (still rewarding for taking only 1-2). Then we will have you lead out further and further, still rewarding that straight line. That should build up the value and allow you to then get the blinds more easily.

And separately, keep working the serps and lead out pushes so she gets more value for jumping into pressure.

Working these separately will build them up then we can put them back together pretty quickly.
Nice work! Enjoy the weekend!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The mat was a great choice here, and the whole session went well! It is a really hard skill so getting it perfectly without any handling help is really hard but he was pretty close to perfect!
Your verbals sounded different which also helps – the tunnel verbal was entirely different style of delivery than the mat verbal and that helps him discriminate. I think that he will be just fine when we do add handling to this on course. The hardest part was ignoring the toy in your hand LOL! So having the toy on your back or you can even stuff it in your arm pit will help him focus forward to the obstacles.

Tunnel entry & exit video:

>>After seeing the video of this I could see that what I was feeling on the inside (lack of confidence about my handling) indeed translated to what I was doing. I was late a few times and kind of uncertain in my motion as well. >>

Unless I am severely under-caffeinated, you didn’t have a lot of trouble here and he did well! Yes, you can run with a little more conviction, it kind of looked like you were not 1000% sure – but the session went really well, you got all the Ines and verbals, and he responded beautifully!

Go reps looked good at the beginning and end – there was a clear transition into acceleration and he did really well!
On the right verbals, you were definitely more decelerated and he read that too. Yay! You can let him see you peel away to the right turn wing sooner (before he enters) to really solidify it.

The left turn rears looked GREAT! These are really hard and he nailed it. On the right turn rear crosses, I was not sure if he was going to get the first one because you were more hesitant and he had just done 2 left turns… but Boom! Nailed it! That is impressive because the rear crosses on the tunnel are really hard. O the rears, it might feel more comfortable to stay by the wrap wing more til he finishes wrapping, then drive the RC – you got a little ahead and had to wait for him, then rear cross.

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Sounds good! Enjoy the weekend!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Yes, totally like this! It helped her set up for that first jump very differently. She did really well!!! Re-visit this every couple of days and keep flattening the angle of the jump. She is doing great but it is not an everyday type of grid.

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Sorry he got hurt but, I am definitely glad to see him back in action!

Video 1: The opening looked great, both times! And that teeter was worth an ice cream sundae!

On the Backside wrap at 3 and before the teeter at :27 & 1:44 – you can move past the wing sooner so he has more room on the landing side, you were staying there a bit too long so he was waiting for you to move about of the way.

Working the double blinds after the weaves:

1st blind at :38 was great! 2nd blind at :39 was late (he was landing ) but yo can save it by keeping your arms in tight to your ribs and making a quick re-connection.

You did a FC at :52, looked great. Timing of the next FC at :53 was late too (he was already in the air) but you caught him with connection and he got it. When you came back through there at 1:50, the timing was sooner on the FCs but he was sill wide there on the 2nd one. So you can try doing the BCs sooner (you will be past the jump on the 2nd blind, which is better position, because you don’t have to rotate. Another option is to leave him in the weaves and get to landing side of the jump, and serp it! You were SUPER close to that at 2:20

Dog walk was AMAZING and that set him in a new level of speed on the next line. Try the blind in that situation instead of the FC (1:00 and 2:00) because it will get you up the line faster and able to show him the backside sooner too. And, yo can use a little brake arm (left arm coming out to kind of be like WHOA DUDE! to help him tighten up the backside line after that massive speed buildup. It looks Ike you gave him a little brake arm at the end on the last rep, and it definitely helped him! You didn’t quite get your feet turned after it (maybe surprised that he read it so well LOL!) so he rear crossed the next jump, but good job getting him to threadle back in the ending line! Yay!

2nd video:

Nice opening! You can play with getting better position by standing on the landing side of 2, then sending to 3 and the tunnel – while layering 2. That can get you further ahead for the speedy RDW. That will help keep the bar up at 1:04 because you will be around the jumps and fully turned to the next line.

He had a little too much heat on the teeter on the first rep LOL! Make sure that you don’t stop with him 0 yo were moving past it nicely when he self-released, then helped with decel on the next rep. You can show him you moving past it, so he doesn’t rely on decel. You decelerated and rotated towards him a bit at 1:08 and he stopped nicely, so definitely keep working on his letting you keep moving and he hits & holds the position.

On the line the weaves – he definitely had trouble finding the line ahead of you there! You can accelerate more and keep your shoulders pointed t0 the line with more direct connection to him in the jumps before it, and add a little outside arm to help him stay on the line (rather than moving towards him, which cued the tunnel).

The FC on the jump after the weaves at :36 was a little late (he was already in the air) – and too early at 1:22 🙂 You rotated as soon as he exited, so adding a deceleration into it will get the commitment and the turn. You can decel and as soon as he is out of the weaves, then rotate as he is looking at the jump so you are fully finished with the FC before he takes off. That will both tighten the turn and help him keep the next bar up.

The next line through the a-frame with the layering looked GREAT!!! But I see a pattern: amazing extension speed after a running contact, and turning him is hard. You were rotated the instant his feet touched the ground after the frame at :42 (and he took a big wide line) and even more so at 1:30 – having you closer to him definitely helped get the turn here. But keep adding in getting the turn from a bigger and bigger distance so he can read it from anywhere.

The Go line looked good! So fast and he was looking ahead brilliantly! Throw the toy sooner or leave it placed there so he doesn’t collect on the last jump, but overall the long line was great.

One note on all of it – great job with your connection! You are connected all the way through on both courses, and he did really well because of that :)

Great job! Let e know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Ha! I thought you were moving slowly to be calm about it, but it was a footwear issue LOL!


On the zigzag grid: She is doing really well here, no real problem reading the line and organizing the zigzag on the 2nd jump, even as you moved it to a flatter line. Nice! Only one suggestion – yo can change her line up position to get the zigzag on the first jump too: This is a little different than other grids in that we want her to set up a bit more sideways. So, instead of facing the first jump straight on, she should be parallel to the wing so she steps in sideways to the first jump and not forward. That should get get the sideways jumping on the first bar and also challenge her to maintain that sideways jumping on the 2nd bar too (great for serps and backside slices).

Angled teeter entries: She probably was not too sure on the first rep because the long jump boards were a slightly weird visual, perhaps? But as you noted, she got confident very quickly. She is doing something interesting: she is leaping onto the board, landing at the top of the yellow, rather than running up the board. It might be the visual of the long jump? So you can reduce the visual by moving the boards in closer to the side of the teeter, so only a few inches ar sticking out. That can still give her the help with the entries while reducing the leaping on. She ran straight up on the last rep and that is more of what we want 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! These look really strong! And the work at 16” looked really good, I didn’t really notice a difference between her 14 and 16 inch efforts, both looked good! And yes, her stay looks great and that makes this all so much easier!

>> She was dropping the last bar. Not sure if the was chasing, fatigue or misjudging take off. Or, toy toy toss!

It was the toy toss : )At :54 and 1:24, you were throwing as she was organizing takeoff, so she was going for the toy. On the other reps, you threw later and she was lovely. I saw no issues with her jumping choices here! So either throw late or leave the toy placed on the line so throw timing is not an issue.

>> Connection! Connection! I know. The blind are still hard for me to rotate that far back.

She was reading the lines well and your timing of starting the blind was lovely! It is all about that connection as you mentioned… on this big blind with all the motion into it, try the toy-across-the-body approach as it opens up the connection and you won’t have to think about rotating back to her. Your blinds on the landing side of 4? Super! Really strong connection and she read them beautifully.

>>Plus, I wasn’t sure about the throwback front cross. I think I need less arm back?

Your arms on the collection cue looked good and she was collecting really well! To cue a better turn at 2, lead out more to jump 3, so you can release and you won’t really need to move forward to 2 (the motion forward was driving her long and the first element of the throwback was happening as she was over the bar at 2). So lead all the way out to 3, release, and as she is approaching 2: start the throw back by bringing your arm back. That timing plus your position/relative lack of motion will cue a nice turn at 2. And great job on the connections after the throwback, because she knew exactly where to be 🙂

Have fun with the FC drill and also try the lead out push, those will be useful 🙂
Great job here! Let me know how it goes tomorrow.
Tracy

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