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Good morning!
He is doing really well with his switches!!! Your timing got earlier, which really helps: he can be hearing and seeing the switch cues when he is still at least a stride from takeoff.
He was able to find the jump after the switch really nicely. When you do the switch to the tunnel, he was finding the tunnel but it was a little delayed because you were running the same line as to the jump as you got around the switch jump. When switching over the jump to the tunnel, you can set it up as a layering moment so you can stay on the landing side of the switch jump the whole time, which sets up a great turn to the tunnel and gives you amazing position for whatever is after the tunnel exit.>> this is a good demo of what happens when I don’t plan my words!!!!>>
Ha! So many words – I do mini walk throughs before each sequence so I can spit out the correct words LOL!!
When you added the left turn on the jump then to the tunnel:
the switch verbal will work, and supporting it with handling will work nicely too. I think the switch verbal will work best if you are not driving in and instead setting up a layer on the tunnel. If you are doing more of a traditional rear cross on the jump (which is what you were doing here in terms of line of motion), then a left verbal works really well too.The “jump” verbal was confusing to him at first because jump implies a gentle turn towards you, never away – so you had to override it with body language. The physical cues TOTALLY helped and using the switch or left verbals (depending on where you want to be on the line) will seal the deal 🙂
He was doing well on the tunnel exit switches too! Your timing of beginning the verbal and using a little convergence into the line was great (before he entered the tunnel). He was looking at you when he exited – I think more upper body handling will help, using your hand cues to turn him away. He didn’t see upper body so he was waiting for your feet to turn. You can begin the upper body cues at the same time as the verbal (before he gets into the tunnel) and then finish the ‘swoosh away’ motion as he is exiting.
>.we both had fun and I think we made some huge progress with our verbals in this class, >>
I am glad you had fun and agree that you and Sly made tremendous verbals progress!!!! These jump-tunnel discrims are popping up everywhere at all levels, so I think you will be really prepared for whatever you see on course!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyHi!
This is the other side of the set point: also looking good! The first rep was really strong – I think you had the perfect line up spot at :20, nice and close, so he powered in and was nicely centered over the bar/bump and between the jumps. Yay!!
He was further from jump 1 on the other reps – he did use his hind end, but he had to ‘reach’ more so he was not as centered and landed closer to the bar and bump. I think the toy was further away on this session which helped, so having the toy further past jump 2 like here and setting him up closer to jump 1 will be perfect 🙂
Great job! Enjoy your weekend!
TracyGood morning!
This setup is definitely getting the power and organization we are going for! Watch it in slow motion – very cool!!! He is pushing form his rear into the first jump then doing a power stride to get the 2nd jump. Super!
He was touching the 2nd bump a little – my guess is that the toy was a little too close to jump 2 when he started so it was not quite far enough away when he was between 1 and 2. The was causing him to shorten up a bit. And also, it looks like you released and ran – I think we will get the best results when you split the difference: lead out more so the toy is 10 feet past the first jump when you release him, and when you release try to walk forward instead of run.
Nice work!!
TracyHi!
He did REALLY well with his tunnel sending here! He is a fast learner 🙂 After you showed it to him in the previous videos, he found the tunnel beautifully here. Yay! And he also did well with his wraps. So the only thing to add here is holding him for longer so he can hear the verbals before you let go – and definitely add in the mini sequences and Advanced level, he looks ready 🙂Great job!
TracyGood morning! Nice work on these, he is so cute!!!
First video: the wraps look good! Try to hold him for a few seconds while he hears the verbal, then let go of him. That will help him process the verbal before you both start to move.
He had a little trouble finding the tunnel on these with just the verbal – you can step to it more directly to help support his line as you teach him the concept that he can drive to the tunnel even when there is a wing there 🙂
One more suggestion – he didn’t seem to love it when you moved him around by his collar, so you can line him up with a cookie at your side, then take his collar to hold him as you start the verbals. This can also help him learn to love his line ups!
Nice work :)
Tracy
Good morning!
Hooray for the sun being out! Finally!!The stay looked good on this video – maybe she was struggling with a stay in front of the MM? She was definitely a good girl here with the stay!!! You can try getting her to stay a few inches closer to the first jump so she powers right over it and doesn’t put her front feet down again in front of it.
She was a little leapy over the 2nd jump, but that is something that the MM does with dogs (I have a video somewhere of one of my youngsters leaping straight up in the air in front of the MM LOL!!!). To help her, you can move the MM about 10 feet further away so she can jump the 2nd jump then stride to the MM. And you can trigger the MM as soon as you release her, so she focuses on it directly.
One other thing will help her look at the line – when you lead out, stand right next to the MM. You were lateral and in different positions, so she was trying to figure out if it was a turn cue or if she should go straight (good girl for watching where you were placing yourself on the lead out!!!)
The other option is to use a toy instead of the MM – but that might make the stay harder? So if that is the case, you can work the stay in front of the toy away from the jumps with the moving target pre-game 🙂
Great job! Fingers crossed for more good weather!!
TracyHi!
The proofing game looks great too! Nice job making the verbals sound very different in pitch and energy, it really helped her. She was a great with the wraps and the check, and also found the tunnel easily without a lot of handling helped needed. Super! The only thing to add here is holding her harness while you say the verbal 2 or 3 times, then let go and don’t move (but keep saying the verbal 🙂 This will challenge her to do the wrap or tunnel on a verbal alone! If it is hard, you can help with handling of course 🙂 But she seems to be a very verbal dog so we can try it with just verbals.
The smiley face game also looked great, and I think she really liked getting to go fast 🙂
At 1:29 – there was no connection so she ended up on the wrong side of you. The video edit makes it hard to see what happened before that, by usually this happens when you were looking st her on your left side, then you disconnect to point to the wing – so the dog reads it like the beginning of a blind and changes sides (good girl). Always reward these things, because it is a handler error 99.9999% of the time, even if you don’t feel it in the moment (the video always shows it as handler error :))
Nice adjustment at 1:32 to get great connection!
There was a handler disconnection error at 1:40 as well – on t he way to the tunnel, your shoulder closed forward, your left arm pointed ahead to the tunnel, and your feet turned towards the other end of the tunnel (play 1:39 – 1:41 in slow motion and you will see why she thought she should blind cross to the other end, she was correct :)) Good job rewarding it! It was one of those moments where you could probably see her, but you were not connected so she was correct.
To smooth out that line to the tunnel – point your fingers back to her nose when she is behind you, look at her eyes, and say tunnel tunnel tunnel right to her (while you run directly to the tunnel). It gets easier as the pups grow up but for now the youngsters all require exaggerated cues 🙂
>>I am going nuts now
In a good way, hopefully! She looks GREAT! She reminds me of my dog Contraband at this age (the blue merle in the demo videos) – thoughtful and balanced in these early trainings, and he has grown up to be wicked fast while retaining the thoughtfulness and accuracy. Mitre is on her way to that: fun times ahead for sure!!!!!
Great job :)
Tracy
Good morning!
Ms. Mitre looked fabulous here!!
One thing I have seen with sport mixes in the past is that they can get frustrated or chase the momma or jump up at the momma… she was PERFECT here and found the jump EASILY. YES! We totally want her to lock onto the line like this. That includes when you had the toy dangling in your dog-side hand, super visible: she had to choose the jump or grab for the toy, and she chose the jump beautifully. YAY!
So…. Now you get to add more speed. You can jog, then build to running. And you can change your position, like we did a little bit of in the live class: start close to the wing so she drives ahead (you can totally place the toy out ahead on the line so you don’t have to throw it) or you can start near the jump, so she is behind you and finds the jump. She looks great here!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Think my dog needs a better handler………
Not true! He loves da momma! Figuring out handling for young dogs is HARD and we make tons of mistakes. No worries – you two will come together as a team and it will be GREAT!
T
Welcome back! Hope you had a great time!!!!!
On the first video:
Getting the backside that close to the tunnel was hard at first!! This was a really good work session for her – nice coaching from Jamie too!
A little more connection on the push will get it – pointing to takeoff without looking at her actually closes your shoulders forward so she was pulling to the threadle side.
And the arm send sent her to the tunnel.So split the difference: don’t use your arm much at all for the backside, but look at her eyes more. And your path can be towards the edge of the wing to keep your shoulders open and show the backside without any accidental tunnels (don’t pull away from the line by turning your shoulder). You had a little more connection and no arm pointing at 1:51 and that totally helped! A soft connection is likely all that is needed – an intense connection will probably send her to the tunnel (like at 2:40, which is good because you were cuing the tunnel).
Towards the end she had figured out the puzzle 🙂 so you moving the start jump to the 2nd position showed us that she does need more of that softer connection for the backside. It is a totally Goldilocks moment:
– too much connection, very intense? Tunnel!
– not enough connection, shoulder turning? Threadle side.
– just right connection, soft connection and a soft arm? Backside!And of course she will get better and better as she gets exposed to more of these puzzles. They are wicked hard and she is doing great!!!!!

The 2 backside circle wraps on the bonus looked great – you were really pushing to see how early you could leave, and she was super excellent about maintaining commitment to the circle wrap without grabbing the tasty tunnel right there 🙂 Nice layering to the tunnel even when you were behind the jump! SUPER!!!!Great job!!
TracyGood morning!
>>When I watched the Smiley Face enlarged on YT I noticed that I’m using a pointy arm and finger throughout the exercise. Looks like I to get rid of that? >>
You don’t need to worry about arms or finger position as long as you are connected. You will develop a handling style with her as you do more of these. Did I ever show you the Magnet Finger video? It will help explain the hand/arm/finger 🙂 I will go find it.
>It’s been so long since I’ve done anything agility related it’s all new to me again and felt uncomfortable to do a numbered exercise. >
That is normal! It will come roaring back. And personally, it feels uncomfortable to me every time I get a new puppy started on these LOL!

>>I had to walk the course about 3 or 4 times and try to remember the verbal cues to use, LOL! This is probably also a good brain exercise for me.>>Good for you! I try to convince people to walk through it to get the verbals going – these walk throughs really help!!
Mission accomplished: these looked great and connected. She was fast and seemed to have no questions about where to go. One thing you do earlier are the spins: if you start the FC sooner (as she is passing you and then trust her and go to the blind cross element immediately you will be re-connected before she exits the wing so she will see the line sooner. I think your best spin was at 1:18! You started nice and early and by the time she was passing you, you were rotating and by the time she exited the wing, you were done and on the new side. Yay! The only thing to add there is to reach your hand back to her nose and look at her eyes, rather than have your hand at your side (which makes it harder for her to see the new side).
Everything else looked lovely, and I particularly loved how different all of your verbals sounded!!!! That really helps her! If you wanted to revisit this, you can spread the wings out even more for more running 🙂
>>Also tried tunnel/wing discrimination a couple of times but it didn’t go all that well. I guess that one just needs a ton of reps before she gets it.>>
Feel free to help her with physical cues on those if she is having a lot of questions. The discrimination is not just about the verbals 🙂
>>Wish I didn’t have to lug the tunnel out every time to practice, though. I miss my training partner (Cathy) back up in VA.>>
We miss you up here too!!!! And yes, it is a pain to lug out the tunnel. Have you seen those tunnel movers?
>>I plan to do the set point tomorrow with jump 2″ higher and the WIYH with me starting super close to the wing. None of those will take many reps, we had lots of exercise today.
Perfect!
>>Then probably early next week the new tunnel exit exercise from Week 2 and maybe more tunnel/wing discrimination practice.
Sounds good!
>>Should I keep practicing Left and Right with Minny Pinny or the jump standard? I still need to go thru MaxPup 1 and see what I missed and should to catch up on if/when we have time. >>
You can hold off on the Minny Pinny for now, it comes back in MaxPup 2 soon and then you can refresh it 🙂
Great job! Have a good weekend!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Well, except now when I get Dreamer out and Cas knows he’s missing some fun, he’ll bark and yap. >[
Can you give him a stuffed kong or something when you take them out? It will make it more happy-making for him 🙂
>>
So I definitely like recommendations about how to make picking him up more comfortable. >>At Home, you can sit on floor and have him jump into you lap and arms, then get a cookie, then put him down and throw a cookie. You can work up to him jumping into you lap or arms as you sit on the couch or stand (eventually).
And also, when you are on the ground, gentle reaching towards him, then cookie. And do it in slow movements, he doesn’t love fast movements towards him.>>On to training! I thought I’d see what he’d do over a couple of jumps like in the live, and he is just silly! I don’t have jump bumps so I just used bars on the ground>>
He is doing just fine 🙂 can you get some pool noodles for him to go over?
Also, a few things will help:
Have the MM a lot further away, at least 15 feet away, with you crouching by it. The MM being close with you standing (especially when you were facing him at the end) was what was producing the leapy form. Having it further, with you lower, will help him stride instead of leap.And, it was great that your hubby held him! Yay! Just ask him to keep the front feets 2 or 3 inches from the first bar – as he got further away, it was harder for Cas to find the form.
The barrel wraps look good and it is nice to see him transferring the concept to the great outdoors!!! Start him a little closer for now, just about an arm’s length away so it is really obvious for now.
And keep your feet together so he doesn’t try to line up between your feet LOL!
I think one or 2 more little sessions outdoors will be great then you can move into the other games as well.Great job here!
TracyHi!
>>Sometimes I can keep his tunnel commitment true to the tunnel, while giving him additional verbals, but I feel like if I start actively changing positions when he’s that far away, that I may pull him off. I’ll have to try it and of course, we’ll have to work to building up to that. Do you have any tips or easy ways to help train this skill?>>
I bet he is better at it than you realize! You don’t want to be too early… so place a leash or a light line on the ground 6 feet in front of the tunnel entry. Cue the tunnel very strongly from the previous obstacle, with a lot of connection. When his front feet hit that leash, switch to the exit verbal and start moving away. And, throw the reward to the exit line at the end of the tunnel. See how he does and keep me posted! When we are too early or disconnected, we see the dogs pulling off so I have found the leash on the ground to help me to be on time but not too early 🙂
Let me know how he does!
TracyHi!
>>Yes, that’s our huge challenge now, timing of cues. It’s a balance between commitment to the first thing before I can cue the 2nd thing, 3rd thing, etc.
Yes, he is in that transitional phase where you can start to push the timing and see what he will do 🙂 As you try to time things sooner and go to your next position sooner, add in more looking at the landing spots behind you for countermotion stuff – I have found the really helps the youngsters. And also early throws of the toy to help solidify the response to cues as you do them sooner and sooner.
This is a particularly hard sequence for timing and also for processing – lots of trained skills that have to override your physical position…. I freakin’ loved it! Yay!! Great first run. And the other two runs were super strong too!!!
Which brings up something to consider with the timing: since it is basically impossible to be perfect in timing all the things, you can prioritize the timing of the important, need-to-know cues and don’t worry as much about the less important cues where your physical location and/or motion will make them obvious.
For example:
The super important cues set up the layering and the turning away:
Push to 2 (:14, :51, 1:45)
Flip to tunnel 2-3 (:15, :52, 1:46)
Flip on tunnel exit (:23, 1:00, 1:54)I thought these were all well-timed here! Nice and early, and he responded really well!! No questions!
Lowest priorities: the left on the tunnel exit at 3, and the in in on 4 (both super obvious from your position) and also the backside at the end (I think you were using the same verbal for the backside push and the backside slice, but maybe I misheard? I think you have 2 different verbals?) The verbals wee a little late on these but he totally knew where to go, thanks to strong position and motion.
Medium priorities that require some verbal timing and attention to motion: the check check on 4 (:20) which is the wrap exit after the threadle, you can add in a little decel on the threadle in this context and switch to the wrap verbal sooner, so he gets a little tighter turn). The other medium priority spot was the left on jump 7 – it is hard to spit out the verbal on time in a tight space, but he was ready it really well! One earlier step into the line to cue the left turn as you are doing the switch will make it perfect.
Great job! Let me know if prioritizing makes sense, so hopefully you don’t feel that you are being too crazy. I thought you were very effective here on this rapid-fire sequence!!!
Tracy
