[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! These went really well! A couple of subtle details for you, but overall the runs were lovely.

>>I definitely needed to run more aggressively in the opening as there were questions from Wish.>>

Yes! One thing I noticed was that you were reducing your speed to stay parallel to both of them on their first runs, but you can totally move faster with a bigger stride to get ahead. Staying parallel can work in certain spots but getting ahead will work REALLY nicely on courses in general 🙂

Looking at Wish’s videos:
On the opening lead out: You released from the landing side of 2, pretty close to the bar.

You can be closer to 3 there and not as close to 2 – that will get you further ahead for 4 and smooth out that question there she had on the first run. When you did it again on the 3rd video, you moved away from 2 sooner and faster, but she still caught up to you at liftoff for 3 (:12 of video 3) – being closer to 3 at the start will keep you further ahead all the way through there.

She has a little question on the 2 jumps after the dog walk on both runs – you went into the gap between the dog walk and the backside to cue the backside then turned forward (which is a little disconnected), so she looked at you and was not sure where to go next. Being further across the line to the backside (further away from the dog walk, laterally) will help you show that line from ahead and smooth out that little question.

You can use targets on the contacts in the course work to help remind her to hit and hold her straight position on end as you move past them.

Nice job getting the backside after the frame, and nice line to 11 on both runs!! You went a little too far across the bar at 12 on the FC on the first run and alllll the way across the bar to the exit wing on the 2nd run, so she jumped wide there (:09 on video 2 and :35 on video 3). When you were really far across it, she ha a question about where to go at :35 because your position didn’t show the tunnel after the FC.
I don’t think she needs you to be between the uprights to help her commit, she seems to have really nice independent commitment! You can send to the wing and stay where the wing and bar meet for the FC to set up a tighter line for her.

Great job getting the ending line! That is hard and you were very smooth there.
On the 2nd run, she was definitely looking at her friends and fans, which made it harder for sure! Great job rewarding her!!! You were late on the name call (she as all the way in the tunnel) and then you got quiet, so she did look at you when she exited but you were quiet and moving on a parallel line, so she took the jump in front of her (good girl, you were correct to continue on). Remember to call her before she goes in then keep calling her so she knows where to go at the exit.

Charm’s runs:
This is a great camera angle on the first video! You can see how close you are to jump 2 and she catches up to you in a heartbeat, then is ahead of you at 3 (:10) and looking at the tunnel. Getting ahead by being closer to 3 and using verbals there will totally smooth out that question.

You were one step further ahead on the 2nd rep (2nd video) and it was already smoother! Being closer to 3 will make it easy peasy (and use a jump verbal too, so she can hear the difference and not just rely on the physical cues).

Backside after the DW – move on a parallel line to her path, with you going towards where the wing and bar meet, so she can get motion support along with the connection and verbal.

She can also benefit from a target on the a-frame so she can stop and hold it while you move to the backside

>>I struggled with her from the A frame to the tunnel. I did a short clip of trying to clean that up at the end of the run. I’m thinking I was on her line?>>

I think it was mainly an experience thing, teaching her that YES, she can run past 2 tunnel entries that are right there and it is not a tunnel discrimination moment (pass one end and go in the other). It is a REALLY hard skill!

On the first run, you maybe moved in towards 11 at :51 a tiny bit, which read as pressure on the line to the tunnel, perhaps? It was very subtle. On the 2nd run, you pulled away more so she almost didn’t take 11.
On the last video, you were definitely not on her line and had good shoulder position, and she didn’t really look at the tunnel. So I think it is more of the experience thing: she needed to see that just because the tunnel is right there, doesn’t mean that she should go to it – so hard!!! 🤯🤯

On the FC at 12, stay closer to the entry wing and don’t come all the way across the bar (same as with Wish) at :56 to really set that turn to the tunnel.

Good ending line! I really liked the layering on the way to the teeter – that worked beautifully! Try to call her before she goes in to the last tunnel rather than saying tunnel as she went in – this is mainly to practice the timing for Wish, because it looks like Charm is more likely to turn towards you on the tunnel exit.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Which probably makes it not as challenging. :p Should I put a jump out there instead of a tunnel and layer that?>>

I think it was *just enough* challenging for him – he had a high rate of success but you also had to work your timing and connection. For example, at :31 you were late telling him to go to the jump and you were turning your shoulders towards the tunnel, so he did not take the jump.

Compare that to the previous rep at :20 and the next rep – you told hmi a lot sooner about the jump and he was great!!

So while his tail is still healing, you can totally keep the tunnel ends curled down – and add challenge by moving the jump on the other side of it further away. You can also do the first set of sequences using a jump instead of a tunnel, with a barrier down the middle to help you build up to the dog walk being there.

Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Oh no! That really stinks! Poor guy. Poor you! We can totally skip tunnels for now!!!! And we don’t need the weaves either. We can change the sequences to make it all work.

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The pop out went really well!!!

>>I hadn’t planned the patience needed after the front cross between 2 and 3 – fixed it in the next rep.>>

I thought the first rep was really good and the 2dnd rep was great! One thing to tell yourself in walk throughs can be is to get right on his line. I felt the difference was not all about patience in terms of staying there longer, but you were on a better line and a little more connected, starting closer to the #2 jump, so he had a tighter turn.

>>Got in too far at jump 4 so the blind to the tunnel was close and wasn’t clear so Sly glances at the tunnel (felt it as it was happening so was able to hustle and still get it done – yeah! – practicing good self talk >>

Yeah! You stayed in the moment, saw what was happening, and got it done nicely! I think the big difference between the first rep there and the 2nd rep was that on the first rep, you did the blind, connected, glanced forward (which he might read as another blind) then peripherally saw his question and reconnected strongly. On the 2nd rep, you stay connected all the way through. Yay! That connection has to be clear because your lower body motion could indeed support the off course tunnel which is right there 🙂

>>Really working on process goals – plan each sequence and execute well as opposed to performance goals – gotta get them all done. For us “task oriented” folks – this is hard!!!!>>

Soooooo true!!!!!! We humans are wired to “do the thing” in terms of outcome goals and also wired for a negative bias… so positively viewing process goals takes active effort in the early stages it gets easier with practice.

>>Lots of mental stuff this past week….I’ll post in the other forum.

I will be heading there later this morning 🙂

>>Jim and the dogs and I are going on a REAL vacation!!! Headed to PEI and Nova Scotia in the motorhome on Thursday, going to be gone 10 or 12 days – a vacation with no specific plans >>

WHOA! That sounds wonderful, I am excited for you!!!!!! Enjoy every moment!!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Summer colds are the WORST! Hope you are feeling better!!!

On the Wingin’ it video: Every time you put up a video, he has gotten faster. WOW!!
Your connection on the sends from the tunnel was fantastic! His commitment was fantastic! Turns looked great, and you had the verbals going too! Just a big thumbs up for everything here. We will be building on this today!

On thing you can do is have the toy in your pocket so your hands are free (you were switching the toy from hand to hand) – that will make it even easier to connect and run at his speed.

His only question was about lining up to start – he was a bit frozen and then was very happy when you sent to the tunnel on one rep. You can try having him line up between your feet near a wing, and also work on behind the back starts so he gets the running start he wants, and you get the line up you want 🙂

Plank foundations – the set up was good with the slightly elevated plank! I don’t mind that he was getting on the side – we have a game of that coming later in the class to help them find the straight approach. I really liked his confidence! You can start to jog back and forth for even more excitement, or use a toy as the reward. The toy will add more excitement which will challenge his balance and coordination even more, but I think he was ready for that.

>>He also told me in no uncertain terms that he was done with this exercise at the end of the video. In hindsight I should have broken off after three or four reps to play with a toy since he much prefers toys to food>>

Yes, it was actually pretty funny LOL! But you listened to him and didn’t force the issue- yay! So next time, add more of your motion, use the toy more, and do maybe one minute total then be done.

The lazy game is going well and you’ve accomplished what we needed: will he find the jumps without needing you to help him every inch of the way 🙂 Yes! He did really well. The food finding was the hardest part! So now that he can do a couple in a row, you can use a toy. We will be building on this today so you don’t need to do more of this for food – it gets a lot more exciting, which he will like :)



Great job on these! See you later!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Sounds like the plank game and the lazy game are going really well!! We have new games coming tonight that add on to the lazy game 🙂

>>I did keep a bit of video of the help I had when I set the teeter up.>>

Your video needed a warning because I was drinking coffee and almost spit it out of my nose!!! HAHAHA!!! The cat has a lovely end position on the teeter but seems to think the game is too casual LOL!!!

Then I laughed even harder when the cat started sliding down the other direction. Cats are hilarious!!

Caper was more serious about the same here than the cat was LOL! I think she liked it better when you gave her treats for each step than when you held her collar – she is still not 10000% thrilled yet but she is wagging her tail, has a good posture, and is happy to keep trying! And yes, there is a bit of tentative body language at the very end of the board but she will sort it out. She will soon learn the joys of spray cheese 🙂

The teeter games are slow to percolate , so keep playing this and letting her go at whatever pace she wants to go. She will pick up speed on her own (just be ready for it so you are not left in the dust).

To give you a visual of the progression, here is a video I did for the Teach It people (the device that holds up the teeter). You can see that all 3 of the dogs were careful and not fast at the very beginning (:23 and after) but then over time they got confident and ended up with great teeters. I also use a lot of other games too, not just mountain climbers, but this is a good visual about letting the dogs build confidence.

Great job!!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

20 months old – what a perfect age for this! She is going to be able to put the pieces together really quickly.

The lazy game looked great – easy peasy! I think the hardest past was finding the treats LOL! But she TOTALLY had the idea of “just keep doing the jumps as mom moves around the line”. Yay! This including going out to find the middle jump AND setting up a collection to make a nice turn without you needing to do any fancy dance moves to get her to turn.

Since she is able to do all 3 jumps in a row, you can stepped them out a little bit more and use a toy as a reward. The toy is probably more stimulating, so that stimulation might make it more challenging (or might not make it challenging and she will continue to think it is easy LOL!!)

The games we add later today will also be the next step for this game.

Looking at the Wingin’ It video: I don’t have a ton of feedback or suggestions for this one because you and MiG completely nailed it! Clear connection? YES! Verbals for the wraps and soft turns and tunnel? YES! Sending clearly without having to run to the obstacles? YES! Great timing on the FCs? YES! Great exit line connection as you went from the FC to the tunnel? YES! Was MiG easily finding her commitments and turning when asked? YES!!! I didn’t see any questions from her other than one time at :58 when you started at a slightly different angle and she had t think a little harder for a moment to find the wing 🙂

So your feedback on this one is “FABULOUS” and a giant high 5 🙂

The next step on this is to add more speed: Spread out the wings so you are running more. You can send to the first wing then you are going to have hustle to the tunnel and the next wing to get the next send. Speed is what will make it harder: on the human side of things, can you still get all the connections and verbals and timing? On the dog side of things, can she still process your cues and commit and turn, even when things are going a lot faster? That will bring more arousal too, so we can see how she responds in higher arousal and help her (if she needs our help with that – so far she has not seemed to need our help with arousal questions).

Great job!!!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning and welcome back!!!

Oh wow, he was super confident here! You will have to be sure you block the teeter off when you aren’t using it so he does not go party on it without you LOL! After another couple of sessions, we will add a tiny bit of tip but for now, you can add in recalling him up the board (if he won’t stay because the teeter is too exciting, maybe do it as a restrained recall).

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The lazy game videos are both looking great! It looks like she thought it was really easy!!! We will be adding more handling starting later today, but this is a good game to keep revisiting, getting the jumps further and further apart – and you can continue to the advanced levels where you are doing lazy sends to the middle jump, and also doing 2 or 3 in a row before you toss the treat. Also, if she likes toys – you can do 2 or 3 in a row then toss a toy!

Winging’ It:
The one step sends looked great on the single wing, on both sides.

Adding the wing-tunnel-wing seemed easy for her too, especially because she seems to like tunnel a whole lot.

She had one question, at 1:23 – she didn’t go to the wing but curled towards you instead. That was because your arm got high and it was blocking your connection, so she was not sure where to be. Compare to the next rep at 1:33 where your arm was definitely lower and she could see your connection and eye contact better, so she went to the wing. This was the rep where the pivot lost her a tiny bit, but you can still see your arm position as she passes you. You can see the low arm and eye contact on the next rep at 1:48 very clearly too (and all of the successful reps).

So definitely keep the arm low and pointed back to her as she exits the tunnel and make a bit of eye contact – and she will continue to find the wing brilliantly 🙂 You can start adding more distance between the wing and tunnel, and add the advanced sequences!

Question: what are you wrap verbals? You can add in your wrap verbals to the wing when you send to it, and also add in the tunnel verbal. Verbals also help the connection because the goal is to say them to her as you are both moving, so you need to be connected to do that 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Basically, it is same as doing auditing in terms of logging in. For working, you would them turn the camera on (pointed at your working area) and mic on for your turn. If you are using a laptop to watch and then a mobile device to stream your turn , you can have them both in the class (we would turn off the sound of one so there is no feedback).

I have you set up for the July 6 and August 2 classes but not tomorrow – let me know if I messed it up!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

This is a great question:

>> Also, I like “dig dig dig” for the wrap. I heard others have 2 words for wraps, one for left and one for right. What is your opinion on that?>>

Since there is so much distance in agility nowadays and since the dogs are fast (and I am slow LOL!) then yes – I do have separate verbals for wrap-to-the-left and wrap-to-the-right and my dogs are happy about it because they don’t have to rely on my footspeed. Both of those are front-side verbals (and they are noises: tststs for left wrap, and choochoochoo for right wrap). That is separate from digdigdig which is for the backside circle wrap only.

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Would we ever start adding in our other marker words for this? Like our treats from hand or toy from hand markers? >>

Do you mean in the situation where you gt back to the rewards, pick up the toy, and say the marker to grab the toy? You might not need to (that ends up being a LOT of markers) because the remote reinforcement marker is what marks the behavior in the ring. But, if she might take the toy really hard and accidentally bite your hand then yes – you can ‘cue’ how she should take the toy with a toy-grab marker.

Let me know if that makes sense!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
She did really well here!! Good girl!
There might not have been enough room between the couch and the wing on the first rep plus you moved your shoulder early, so she thought it was the jump bump and not the threadle. But then you were more stationary, she remembered what to do, and it went really well!

Great job adding your verbal too! Try not to move your shoulder at all til after she gets to the MM for the reward, so you don’t accidentally build in a second arm cue to take the jump.

She is ready to see the serp and threadle in the same session – you might need to turn the jump to give yourself more room, or take it outside :)

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hmm, that is odd, I must have deleted my reply by accident! Oops!!!

>>So at this point, don’t do threadle and serp in same session, but what about same day? Or concentrate on threadle and review serp now and then?>

The advanced level will tell you how to do both in the same session 🙂 It is perfectly fine to do that as long as the mechanics and verbals are clear.

>>I’m also doing more barrel work. Today we tried three barrels…just sending simple front crosses. At this point is that ok? Three? >>

Absolutely! You can make up your own patterns, work the mechanics, then try them with her.

>>For the tight turns, when do I add the verbal? I mean in the training progression and also graphically in the rep? >>

You can add them when you are quite sure she will go to the barrel on cue, so you can probably add them now. And start saying the verbal just before you start the send to the barrel.

About the barking:

It sounds like you had kind of a ‘perfect storm’ happening with the dumbbell exercises
– she has had a lot of training in the last few days (not a lot of bandwidth left in her)
– you added a new game to an existing game so it was new and weird and probably confusing
– you did it at a time of day when the environment was different (low light)
– you did it at a time of day when her circadian cycle was priming for sleep, not learning

So, it sounds like she was frustrated due to all of those. Based on what I have seen I n the videos, any barking at you or nipping has been frustration so be careful of what you ask her to do (small pieces, lots of reward) and when you ask her to do it (time of day does play a role!)

>>So she barks because she’s excited? She doesn’t know what I want? I’m late starting a rep or a game? >>

All of the above? Lack of clarity, not enough reinforcement – it is all the arousal and frustration. Especially the nipping at hands and face! So be sure to really keep a high rate of reinforcement and live by the 2 failure rule: if she has 2 errors in the session, you have made it too hard and need to make it easier. And if she starts to bar or nip and you don’t know why, it is fine to do something else like just throw a toy or scatter some treats in the grass for her to sniff, to bring the arousal down.

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! These are looking really good!!!

>>Not sure why that bar keeps coming down. >>

We did see some bars on these and also that one darned bar kept coming down! I will notate why I think some of them were coming down – but sometimes it was just that there was a lot of visual processing happening so he had to multi-task and lost a bit of jumping mechanics, and on that same bar that kept coming down: it is kind of a hard turn, and all it is the end – and on the first couple of reps you tossed the slowed down, praised, and tossed the ball right as he was jumping it… so he dropped it. Then during the other runs, any time it looked like you were turning for home and dropped your arm as if throwing the toy – he dropped the bar. So to help protect those end-of-run bars, be sure to run til after he lands from the last jump, then throw the reward.

Looking at the sequences, I grouped them together:

Seq 1:

It took me a minute to realize 1 was a wing and not a jump, I as trying to figure out why he wasn’t jumping LOL!!!!
Since you were deciding wrap versus slice on 6: If 7 was a jump, a slice to the right on 6 would be better for the ending line – even on the wing, the slice is the faster line.

Looking at the BC timing – very nice timing 2-3 on first rep! Definitely early on 2nd rep as you mentioned. Your window to start it is when he lands from 1 and looks at 2. You seemed to do this at :44 and it looked great!

>>I think I tried to go for a little more of a slice on that last #6, but saw it was going to be a wrap and just went with it. I wish I had tried again for that slice though!

The slice is definitely the better line – you would just need to keep him on your left and serp 5 to get it.

For the wrap, you can do the BC sooner 5-6 by seeing him look at 5 after exiting 4, that start it. You were a little late at :09 and :49 (he was over the bar of 5 when you started), which made the wrap cues late.

Step 2, seq 1: fabulous!! He never seemed to look at the added jump. You had great BC timing, fab send to the wrap n 4, and a lovely serp 5-6-7. YAY!

Step 3, eq 1: accidental off course on backside of 2 possibly as a remnant of the reps of sequence 2 which I think you did before you went to step 3 here. No worries! You can line him up on an angle to get it. The rest was great – he never seemed to look at the tunnel or the added jump.
He missed 6 at 1:14: you were connected but your whole body turned away from the 6 jump. Keep moving towards it until he cue you to leave for 7: Look for him to look at the bar and take a step to it, as your cue to leave for 7.

Seq 2 –
Nice backsides!! WOWZA! The contact was just a little too close 🙂 but the rest looked great!

This is where we saw that pesky bar drop at :13 and :51 because of praise/decel/ball drop as he was lifting off. That seemed to set the tone for the rest of it, anytime you disconnected or moved an arm on that jump, he thought it was ball time LOL!

Step 2, seq 2:
He took the bar at 2 on the first rep but sorted it out on the 2nd rep – I think he just needed a refresher on the jumping form as you get way ahead. Good bo for sorting it out!
One more step was needed at 4 – wait til you see front feet up before you leave. We will be talking about how the dogs will cue us to go to the next spot, and facing the send line til he lifts his front feet will probably be his cue to you on sends 🙂

At :15 there was a bar down on 6, probably because of how you turned your shoulders and he thought you tossed the ball.

Step 3 seq 2 : this is where I think the processing of the added obstacles made things harder for him – he didn’t go off course, but he had a harder time with jumping mechanics! The visual distractions can definitely cause that, so he just needs more experience and exposure to these challenges.

And, you can help with massive connection – you had a disconntection at :12 then a big arm drop at :14, for example, and both bar came down.

Seq 3 – he is doing such a great job of NOT looking at the off course obstacles!!!
There was a bar down at 2 on blind not he first rep. It was a good blind! So I think out was a processing question from him, how to process the added obstacles and jumping forward as you were moving fast. The FC on next rep worked better for sure! And more processing questions on 4 (:09) and 2nd to last bar. Sure, you can be ultra connected and extra sure to not drop your arm – that will help! – but also just letting him see this type of cause with the obstacles nearby will help him process his jumping form with the visual distractions nearby too.

Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

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