[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I think the two tunnels back to back made her day

I figured she would enjoy that LOL!

>>Well, the humidity is good for one thing lol. There is no choice but a one and done

This is the perfect time of year for a one-and-done session LOL!! Too hot and humid for much more 🙂 And it was great that you had an audience! So Fun!!!

>>It’s also so hard for my brain to spit out my verbals at high speed! I snuck a peak at next week and saw we would be working on this

Yes indeed – most folks rehearse incorrectly and then when you are running your speeding sportscar, the verbals go all haywire because we are running for our lives LOL! The proper walk through rehearsal will make a big difference. It is the part of CAMP that people have a Love/Hate relationship with hahahaha

I think this run went well!

Your BC 2-3 was a bit late because you didn’t quite lead out far enough – and ended up starting the blind as she was taking off for the jump so she dropped the bar. So, in a perfect world, lead out to or past 2 before releasing her. But since you might not have a super long lead out at the trial, you can also work this opening as a rear cross which might be more realistic to what you will be doing in coming weeks.

That rear would also allow you t send to the 1st tunnel, which would also get you further ahead to do the BC after it sooner.

The middle of he course looked great!

>>The things I noted while running it, the German turn- I got the backside. My setup Was an obvious line to the backside, so no surprise there.

Do you mean she took the #1 jump again after the backside? That is what seemed to happen ,it was hard to see being far from the camera and she goes sooo fast LOL! What happened there at :18 was that as you did the German turn, you were moving parallel to the bar of the jump when you did the blind so you ended up on her line – which is why she took the line to 1. To get the tighter turn, try to run directly to the exit wing (no parallel line to the bar a all) and if you can’t get around it quickly enough and still think she might pick up the wrong line – you can delay the blind as you push through the exit very close to the exit wing. You can keep connection on your right side til you are past the wing, then do the blind. That will get a tighter turn to the weaves there.

The ending looked great too! VERY nice turn on the jump after the weaves, she read that beautifully and got rewarded with 2 tunnels in a row 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Sounds like she needs to work with the more rigid poles, as they might ‘bounce’ her out when she can’t move them. That might be why she struggles at trials. The ideal would be some type of holder for the poles where they remain solidly upright.

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I’ve never thought about it terms of the number of jumps in a session. I tend to think about the time and how the dog is working. I also try to be aware of how many weaves and contacts I ask for. I will have to keep this in mind when planning my sessions!

I used to only focus on the amount of time, until the canine ortho vets and sports vets asked me to count the # of jumps – each jump is an impact on the body – and it was really eye-opening.

>>Do you apply this idea even when using very low jumps (like 4 or 8 inches)?

Yes – I might do a bit more at a lower height, but I also think of it in terms of how any turns and type of turns. The wraps are really challenging for the dogs, and so are slices (like backside slices in particular).

>>This might be the most valuable thing I’ve gotten out of CAMP so far…

Do you have access to a sports vet that can see Nox regularly? I get amazing insights from the vets who work on my dogs and it helps me plan my training.

>>Somewhat related question… Nox can jump 12″ in preferred, select, and skilled (NADAC). How do you decide if you want your dog to jump their full height or do the lower height classes?

I always start my dogs at the lower height in their trial careers. it is better for their brains (easier jumping because the environment is so much harder) and also allows them more time to develop athletically. Then, when they are physically mature, mentally mature, and have successful trial experiences, I might move them to full height – meaning, jumping above their shoulder height. I will only do that if that is easy for them! There are plenty of titles that can be earned at any height, so I try to see what works best for the dog. Right now, they are all jumping below their shoulder height, partially because the big dogs can jump 20″ as their regular height (they are both about 21″ tall). And the smaller girls are both jumping 12″ – one is 15″ on th nose and that measures her into 12″ for UKI (based on her drive for agility at the moment, I would have her at 12 anyway to make it more fun), and the other is 15.5 but had a luxating patella repaired, so I might never bring her up to 16″ to protect her bionic knee and the other knee.

Because there are so many titling and national-level opportunities in agility in different venues, I choose to jump a little lower in order to have a longer career. If I had international goals for the dog, I would work up to jumping the international height – that is very hard on the body and the dog needs to be conditioned to a high level and have the structure to support it all. I have been there with a dog and he had all the right elements for a international-level career. My other dogs who had the skills and speed did not have the structure to ‘hold up’ so I didn’t pursue it with them. My Contraband has the brain & body to do it (the younger girls do not have the structure), but I am not sure I want to have him work that hard – and jump that high for my own competitive desires 🙂

>>We have done very little trialing so far (still trying to get those contacts and work on her BIG feelings about all the things), so it would be easy for me to do either at this point. I will jump her at 12″ in NADAC because does not change anything about the titling system or champs. I’m not sure what the benefits are in AKC and UKI really.

Lower heights make it all easier, so the bigger feelings are easier to control 🙂 I believe UKI counts all the points together regardless of jump height so it is all the same in terms of titles and levels. AKC has different titles for the different heights, but it is all still a lot of fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

I think this is looking really good! It is interesting to see what looks comfy in the muscle memory and what you have to think about – that toy across the body is definitely something you are thinking about, because of the slight delay: you do then blind and *then* the toy comes across the body. The FCs look more comfy than the BCs. – the FCs actually look GREAT – the camera angel shows really strong connection.

So the next steps are to keep – gradually – adding speed. The speed is where things can come off the rails – see if you can work up to running and getting the mechanics to be as good as they are when you were walking/slow jogging here! As the toy comes across the body and you open up the connection, you can also use a trigger phrase like: “show the dog” (show the dog the toy) or anything that helps your “find” Sprite with connection and keep the dog-she arm open.

Great job here!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>videos I can see a lot of the time I’m still deceling and stop just before or just as he does. I’ll keep working on that. At home I feel like I’m better about it.

I find that it is very easy to decel at the same rhythm as the dog on stopped contacts, so I had to plan how many steps I would take before stopping – something like 4 more steps then stop after I see the dog stop – it gave me something else to do besides match the dog’s rhythm LOL! I think you were probably planning your reinforcement and wanting to see what he was doing, so you were slowing down with him. I also do a ton of moving releases, meaning I never actually stop – I keep moving the whole time and either release or throw the reward back to the dog.

>>So we’re working on being able to sit on cue or offer a sit (Premack) when he’s in a higher arousal state and really wants something – like to go out on the agility field, or when we play with the hose to get me to start spraying it again. Any other ideas on that part?

I like the ‘offer me a sit’ game when the dog wants something! It is very helpful for working through the higher arousal. And, it is pretty normal to see arousal shifting at this stage PLUS he is an adolescent, so the various parts of the brain are not necessarily talking to each other LOL! With that in mind, I also don’t always ask for a sit – I often cue a ‘stay’ at the start which allows the dogs to pick a position. I say stay then move away ,they can go what they like 🙂 The “rule” is that they can pick any position, but there is no movement forward at all (no foot movement). That allows the dogs to have more agency over the moment and the arousal, and more success – and there is never a moment where the dog & I get into any ‘that is wrong’ conversations. It has been magically helpful! One dog will choose a stand, one dog chooses a sit, one dog will choose a sit or down. They all hold position really well and there are no stay issues.

The serps are looking good! One jump and two jumps reps all looked good, and he was just fine with the added motion. He did well on the tunnel-jump setup too – true, it was not exactly the same setup but there were still serpy lines on it and it looks like he had no questions! You can set the serp line so he wants to exit straight from the tunnel and has to come in and serp the jump after it – that is probably the hardest challenge when you are moving up the line. If he does well with you being in true serp position (moving between the uprights across the bar), you can add a bit of challenge by being a little ahead so you are past serp position – the challenge is to see if he can still come in and get the serp jump 🙂

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This is an interesting session!
She is pretty good with setting up her entries and weaving when she is on your right, because wrapping pole 1 requires collection.

When she is on your left, though… she just tries to go fast and hopes for the best 🙂 She doesn’t want to collect. Part of it is that she can push the poles out of the way very easily, so she doesn’t have to collect (and she pushed the wing out of the way too). Do the poles at trials move like that, or are they solid? Either way, training her on solid poles will help because she will learn to collect and not push. I think solid channels will be the best best if you have access to them, because they will not move 🙂 2x2s or weave-o-matics all move, so she pushes them out of the way.

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>. “At. :39 you did 2 blind crosses on the jumps before the tunnel. I don’t think you need those, you can just run up the line dog on right after the FC and push her to the tunnel.” So here’s what I was thinking after the first blind. “Oh *****, I wasn’t supposed to do that, did I really get the front in? now I’m on the wrong side. I’m not supposed to stop. Tracy said do not stop. Blind! Tunnel!” I didn’t stop! lol!>>

Perfect! The plan is always to keep going and make it seem like you wanted it that way LOL!!!! Excellent LOL!!! Great job thinking on your feet 🙂

>>But, the question I have is, is it oK to go in a little past the tunnel while she is learning and work my way out or should I be making sure the threadle skill is stronger before I attempt the layering.>>

Yes to both! You can train the threadley stuff more without the layering, and you can reduce the challenge on the layering by going a little past the tunnel for now as she is learning it.

She did really well on the video! She was very happy to do the layering!!! Yes, the FC was the hardest part – to get her back out on the line, that would require either stepping in like you did, or a “get out” type of cue because a ‘go’ would indicate a straight line… which is the tunnel. For now, though, reward the big lines more so she gets really confident driving away – the golden rule of layering practice is all rewards should be as far from the handler as possible so keep throwing the reward on the line.

Sounds like Buccleigh’s session went well. Keep me posted about how things turn out today!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

This did go well!! And the supportive giggling of friends when things awry is heartwarming LOL!

On the opening – you can get further ahead if you send to the tunnel after 3 and layer 2, rather than run to the tunnel and then get inside 2 and run alongside the DW.

The teeter to weaves line is tricky!!

If you decel at all while she is on the teeter, you will show a bit of acceleration on the next line… which is what happened when she went off course at :18. So to override the acceleration, you can use a brake arm (outside arm) to get the collection. Ideally, you keep moving the whole time so she sees no acceleration into the off course line. You did give her a right verbal… but the motion overrode it.

Also, the weave cue (‘get ‘em’) is a forward cue which accelerates the dogs… so don’t use it til you know she is facing the correct line otherwise you will get acceleration to the off course 🙂

You had less acceleration and more of her name at :46, but then as you said “get em” at :46 you also said get out AND you put up your outside arm… and she flipped away to the tunnel (correctly, good girl :))

She almost did the same at 1:09 but you saved it by clapping LOL!! And she still missed the entry. She got the entry on the next rep but dropped the bar before it.

This trouble spot is a weave entry question more than a handling question. The question is that you were trying to over-help the entry and that outside arm is a powerful tool to urn the dogs away, especially when you push into her line. So – just run to pole 2 and don’t push in, to see if she understands the entry. The convergence is not going to be that useful because the judges are often putting tunnels or jumps near the weave entry like you see here, and convergence to help the entry gets the off course. The independent entry work with the wires will help (or the wing) – and you can definitely use the wires or wings to help transfer the understanding to the bigger courses too.

>>Only other thing I saw was I needed more go verbals on the end line.>>

Yes – you can give her an exit cue before she enters the last tunnel (like Go Frame) so she exits straight, looking for the frame. You got quiet so she curled into you. And after you finish the FC, hoy can send to the tunnel with the cue a lot sooner – before she is taking off for the jump before the tunnel, you can be cuing the tunnel.

And yes- more go go go for the last line, especially running into the wall – stay super connected and keep yelling it As she gets ahead, you can’t connect to her eyes but you can connect to her tail, which will read the same way to her 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

I am glad the heat wave broke! I woke up to a lovely 60 degrees here… so nice but sadly no agility equipment around to go play on.

First course:

He had a little trouble with the turn on the #1 tunnel – he was expecting to blast to the poles even though your left verbal seemed timely and your motion was definitely pulling away, Since it is the start of the course, I bet you could lead out further, either to a stationary spot on the landing side of 2 or even on the takeoff side of 2 (either way, you’ll still be able to get the layering nicely and also the layering down the line to the DW exit too.

Speaking of the layering and the RDW – you layering the #2 jump to get to the dog walk exit, but I think that converging pressure actually pushed him to the backside line on the jump after the DW (he lot his footing there at the exit too) – I bet you can layer the pink jump too, running between the pink jump and the teeter and he will have a sweet line to the 6 jump and you will be in great position very easily.

He jumped a little long on the jump after the teeter on both runs (longer on the 2nd run than the 1st run) – I don’t think he was scoping the tunnel, I think that when you decelerated as he stopped then accelerated on the release, he correctly made an extension decision. I think he will let you keep moving while he is dong the teeter, so try to stay in motion so he doesn’t see any transition into acceleration there – that plus your verbals and running line will keep him turning even better. The other option is a brake arm which can override the acceleration for spots where acceleration into a tight turn is the only option.

Yes – the weaves the first time were hard for him. I don’t think you were wrong to hold your position and cue the weaves as that is something we are seeing on course and often there is a dog walk in your way … it is a really hard entry and everyone is struggling with it here and in the live seminars I’ve taught recently (which might be why it is here again in this course LOL!!) On the 2nd rep, you had a little outside arm magic that helped a whole lot! So if you sees these on course – use that outside arm magic! And keep training him to look for the entry even without it

The rest looked lovely because you kept moving, trusted your connection and verbals, and did all the layering 🙂 The big trend I am seeing is that course Iines for the dog are easy and lovely… if we can layer , if they commit independently, and have some verbals to toss out 🙂 This course will get poopy very fast if you can’t layer LOL!

Course 2 – the opening looked great because you went all in on the layering! And he has independent tunnel sends, weaves, and RDW. That is the trend of the future so I am doing a happy dance that Enzo has these in place already.

>>Except Enzo was sure the course went #8 then teeter. It took a bit to convince him otherwise. >>

Yes, that teeter is conveniently paced to foster technical handling after the RDW 🙂 Basically, if you handle from the takeoff side of the jump 9, then you need to be fully rotated and connected before ehe takes off for 8 (jump after DW.) At :28 the rotation started as he was taking off, so you were finishing it and backing up, so he took the DW (I think it was Linda Mecklenburg who said that backwards motion still counts as forward motion to the dog 🙂 ) Even on the resets, there was bit of backwards motion (even one step) rather than forward across the bar, so he had some questions.

You got him to come in at 1:38, but the cue was a still a little late and he had hearts in his eyes for the teeter for sure there too. Your FC on the last run was the earliest at 2:25, but it can be even sooner to get the best line. The acceleration off the RDW allows you to begin the rotation for the FC basically as soon as he gets off the DW.

So to get it really smoothly, the options are:

– earlier front cross so you are finished and moving away before he takes off for 8 (with big connection back to him so he reads the line and not just motion).

– replace the FC with a BC because you can finish it faster and move away a whole lot sooner – it still requires the same connection as the FC exit. I understand you are not likely to choose this one LOL!

– stay on landing side of 9: send to 8 and serp to 9 then a BC, like a German turn. You will be pretty far ahead and that should also take the teeter out of the picture. And I think it will also tight the exit of the 9 jump, because the FC and the BC both would need a turn cue to tighten up the exit and a German would not.

>>I wanted to handle #12 as an “IN”. I thought I could get there and I thought it would be safer than a backside in the face of the tunnel entry. FAIL! Turns out the “PUSH” backside worked just fine.

I agree that in theory and on paper, a threadle to the slice backside looks good! But getting the turn on 11 to set up the threadle slice backside is soooo hard and will ultimately slow the dogs down. The lead change to pick up 11 basically negates the option of the slice on 12. The push circle looked good! You can start your push cue sooner, before he takes off for the 11 jump, so he lands looking for the backside wing. You said Enzo Push as he was landing, so he didn’t hear the push cue til a stride after landing so he had a look at the tunnel.

Flipping him away to the tunnel and layering to the end looks great! So much fabulous obstacle independence!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Eek! I hope it is on video, it is probably pretty funny 🙂

You can use a different cue. If the dog-side hand is the line up cue, try using the other hand behind your back to cue it (show the reward with that hand to help him out). And feet together versus feet apart will help – many dogs that have the middle line up position have a similar question at first but they very quickly figure out the feet together means to go behind, and feet apart is the middle line up 🙂

Let me know how it goes!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Course 2 looks really good!!!! Much better motion, verbals, etc. And the new ending was good – he found the tunnel entry better when you trusted your verbals and moved into the tunnel rather than hang back where he thought you wanted the jump.

There are a couple of spots that I think he can use his hind end better , he doesn’t always gather it underneath him. This is a not a handling thing, it is more of a coordination thing – are you doing any plyometric exercises with him? I have some that I will post soon – he is having some trouble on the backside circle with his to get his rear end under him when he has a lot os speed coming into the line, so he swings his butt out wide. That is also probably why his a-frames look different each time too.

Course 1 (2nd on the video) also looks good, lots of independent layering!! Yay!

>>sill over handling WP

Yes, over-helping. You can fade yourself out by moving on a parallel line to the entry, but moving more and more laterally away rather than towards the entry. And you can leave the wing on it to help him as you show him that you will not be there to help.

He had a little trouble with the ending line, hitting the first bar after the tunnel – I think it wa sa combination of the speed and you pulling away, with the corre corre to support the straight line happening over the bar. Try to give that verbal before the tunnel, again when he exits, and a few more times as you pull away to support his straight line even when you are layering.

>>I am going to start working on refining verbals in the coming weeks …

Perfect! The walk through work that we are starting in package 3 will help that too. I notice that you get into a rhythm with your verbals, saying things in the same pitch and rhythm (twice each 🙂 ) such as corre corre, tunnel tunnel, frame frame, etc. There are a couple that sound different (like seesaw and iz which is stretched out a bit) but I think you are matching your verbals to the rhythm of your running. Ideally, the verbals sound a lot more different so in the walk through planning – pay close attention to making them sound different. It is important because at 20 or 24 inches, he has limited time to make adjustments and different pitch and rhythm to the words will help him process it all faster.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

The left side thing might be the a lot of dog training is done on the handler’s left, a spillover from the obedience days even for those of us that never did obedience LOL!!

Have fun 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

This went really well – it is probably the hardest commitment game we’ve done so far! Bummer about the camera – did he have any questions on the reps that didn’t make it to the video? He was just about perfect with his commitment here, even with the blinds at the end. YAY!!! It will be easier for you t get past him when there is a bar, because that will give you bit of hang time LOL! On just a wing, you had to move pretty quickly and he was fine with it.

His only question was on the very first one on the very first rep, even though it was to his easier side (the right turn). It might have been that he needed to get the hang of the game. Also, his question might have been because you were stationary at the wing then moved forward fast. So two ideas on that:
– you can move closer to the tunnel so you are in motion when he exits
– you can go to that stationary position and then drop the reward behind you as you move forward.

Both of those (moving into it and being stationary) are things he will see on course, so we can show him both 🙂

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi again!

I am glad you are enjoying CAMP 🙂

>>It’s sometimes hard to prioritize what to work on first!

Yep, I feel that pain! I prioritize based on hat my dogs will need to see in the ring soonest: so connection and timing and commitment on lines, crosses, sends, etc are top priorities. Backsides/threadles/etc are much lower priorities for my younger dogs.

On the jumpers course:
You ran this course really well! There are only two spots that can be smoothed out:

The opening provides a great layering opportunity to get you right up to the jump/tunnel discrimination. Yo can get closer to the first tunnel and then send her into the big line 3-4-5 so you can basically meet her at the jump tunnel discrimination – that makes it much easier to be on time.

The other spot was the wrap, as you noted: it was a connection issue, mostly, and a little bit of a commitment issue.

The main thing that was causing her to have a question was that you were rotating forward in your send to the wrap, closing your shoulder and pointing ahead of her – that breaks connection and breaks the commitment cue, so young dogs often do not commit in that moment.

>>I also saw that my decel right before the jump was a big problem.

It was not the decel itself, it was the pointing forward while she was a bit behind you. That changes the line of you shoulders, so ideally you would look back to her and let your arm stay back as you send her forward – a small arm cue can follow her nose as she passes you, but the connection is key here. I know it sounds totally counterintuitive but it works really well 🙂

>>Do you expect your veteran dogs to take a jump even if you stop like that, or do you expect them turn back and look at you like Nox?

I have a TTFJ rule (Take The F&$%ing Jump): if my handling gets the dg within 6 feet or so of a jump, I want the dog to take the jump. And veteran dogs will totally take it, even if my handling is disconnected. And I teach the younger dogs to take it by doing one jump games where I show disconnected handling on one jump and reward them for taking the jump – but in course running, try to be fully connected as much as I can.

>>In other words, is this a training commitment issue that I need to work on, or is this just bad handling?

In this context… it is more like disconnected handing and a young dog won’t cover for you 🙂 So if it happens once… ramp up the connection and help her out. If it happens twice – look at the video to see where you arm is relative to her position 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I went back to my training facility this weekend and found out that the course had been numbered wrong, lol. The owner of the place was nice enough to set it for me, and someone else numbered it.

Maybe they came up with a better sequence LOL!

>>Goals for tomorrow night (when I go to the facility again):
Standard course 1: try correct opening, pull to the tunnel, jump after a-frame, try correct closing
Standard course 2: run it once (no fixing unless it’s a complete mess), choose 2-3 pieces to work on, run it one more time
Jumpers course 1: (starting at #7 tunnel) try blind and German on 10-12 section, try a throwback after the weaves, run it 1 time all together
Jumpers course 2: I don’t know yet!
This should give us plenty to work on with only running 4 full courses. >>

That is probably way too much for one night 🙂 I tend to count the approximate number of jumps per session… running a full course 3 times is about 60 jumps, which is a whole lot. Planning to work on 4 courses will put you somewhere over 100 jumps, which will be too fatiguing for you both 🙂 Try to walk the courses and sequences so you only need to run her once, because you have rehearsed it all so well 🙂 No need to try to run and work all 4 of them.

>> really need to work on planning my sessions better and not just looking at success as a full perfect run.

This is true! Agility is not about perfect – agility is about rehearsing the pieces so you can try to put them all together.

>>I think writing down the specific things ahead of time will help. I always get to the facility to train my dogs (Nox plus a friend’s dogs) a couple hours before the class I teach.

Also, check out the new ESC sequences that focus on the walk through… the walk through skills will get you closer to the perfect run goals more than any other skill will!

Onwards to the video!

Tracy

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