[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I think she did pretty well with the rolling thing here! She seemed engaged and happy to keep going with it. Be careful about how she dismounts: when she is chasing the cookie, the roller board moves unpredictably and she sometimes splays her front or rear a bit getting off it. We don’t want to have any weird physical sensations attached, so you can change how you reinforce her: try delivering it to her while she is on it, then use your feet to stop the rolling, then toss a cookie to get her off it.

I also like to use toys more than food with these things, because the toys will generally increase arousal – which reduces concerns about movement. So you can add in throwing the ball between each rep, just being sure that she can dismount safely from whatever she is working on.

As for next steps? The introductions to noise and movement should be super gradual, almost not noticed by the pups, until they are post-adolescence. During adolescence, they might suddenly get concerned by something that was perfectly fine 5 minutes ago and that is pretty much how the adolescent canine brain works LOL! So I take all of this supe slowly til the dogs are about 18 months old or so, then I finish up the teeter – it is amazingly easy when they are not adolescents anymore LOL!!! I know that most agility programs want everything trained so the dogs can start trialing at 15 or 18 months old, but the science of canine brain development tells us otherwise. So, keep going with these little fun shaping games, use lots of play, and give her more time – then it will be very easy to put it all together 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Great job here:
Really great connection on the walk throughs! It was easy to ‘see’ where he was. For example looking at the 5-6-7 line: at :09, I could see that the threadle cues were on time as he was arriving at 5, as compared to :32 where you started the BC as he was taking off for 5, which would be late. To do the threadle, you can run around the back of the tunnel like you did. The BC would work a lot better if you sent him to the 3-4 line and layer it, so you are way ahead for the BC. And by keeping your arm locked back and not very high, he could see the connection clearly.

Both runs went really well: you were connected and running great lines, as you had rehearsed. Super!!!!!
The run with the threadle worked really well! I can definitely see the work you have put it training the skill – it looked smooth and in this case, I liked it better than the BC 🙂 And the BC was a little late as you mentioned, but he went wide there (looking at the rewards) and that got you some extra time to get it done.

>. Buccleigh was hesitant to go from 6-7 on both runs and I am not quite sure why. On the second run he definitely looks towards the reward. In general, I am wondering if he is a little hesitant because I am asking for the start line stay. I don’t think he is confident with it yet and I think he might be a bit worried about making a mistake.>>

I definitely saw it there, especially after the BC, and also at 1-2-3 and also 8-9-10. It might have been the stay, but I think it was getting further from where the reward was planted. Note how as he moved towards where the reward was planted, he go faster 🙂 So you can carry rewards with you, and mix those in when he is moving away from where the reward was planted. And if you are asking for a newer skill like a stay, don’t also ask for him to ignore a reward that is placed outside the ring: the brain won’t have enough bandwidth for both 🙂 So if you are working stays and handling? Carry the reward. Eventually when the stays are super confident, you can add in not carrying the reward.

Running without the reward in your hand or pocket is a skill, similar to training weave poles. The dogs need to know these skills to be able to compete successfully, but you don’t need to use the skill all the time and also, you don’t need to work that skill when you are also working something else that is challenging.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

These are hard for sure – high speed for the dogs and tons of technical handling for the humans 🙂

Something super important to remember is to reward her immediately when something happens out there:
– if all things go well? Reward in the moment or keep going. That is the easy part 🙂
– if something goes wrong? Either reward in the moment, or keep going as if it didn’t happen 🙂 that is much harder for us humans who like it to be correct, but it is much better for the dogs if we either just keep going to reward as if it was correct (because, from the perspective of the dog’s response, it was correct LOL!)

For example: at 1-2-3 at the beginning of the video (you cued a tunnel instead of the #2 jump and she was correct… but didn’t get rewarded. It was handler error, so a definite reward moment. If something goes wrong and you can fix it in the moment, keep going as if all was correct. If something goes wrong and you are not sure why, assume it was handler error 🙂 and then reward immediately.

>>Stay was not good today. Going to have to get serious(on my part) and take time to reward that stay! She is pushing it again. Not wanting to down, ugh.

The stay questions from her might be an indication that the rate of reinforcement/rate of success on course is too low, and that changes her arousal state so she cannot do the down or stay, because of the higher state of arousal/potential frustration. Increasing the rate of reinforcement should bring her stay right back 🙂 because it centers her arousal into an optimal state and reduces frustration levels.

The 2nd rep of seq 1 was better per the numbered sequence 🙂 You can step forward to the tunnel after the wing wrap at :18 – you stepped sideways which widens the turn. Stay super close to the wing and take a step or two directly to the tunnel and it will be perfect (and you will still have plenty of time t get to your position for the next section)

On the BC at 6-7: The timing of starting it at :23 was really good! But finishing it was late (she didn’t see the new connection til :24) and with a youngster the finishing of it is the critical element. It is definitely a “wings in” moment, where you bring your arms in tight to your side so you can make a very quick connection shift. This is especially important with small dogs – you might even need to dip your shoulder down a bit to open up the connection sooner. And, talk to her while you are doing it: either a name call, or repeat the jump verbal with urgency, or both 🙂
The layering looked awesome!

Seq 3: She didn’t get the layering in the beginning, partially because of the verbals, partially because of the physical cue. (also, 2 should be the other side of the jump, which would make it easier to find the layered line) At :33, your arm was very high which turns your shoulders and feet to the tunnel, and you were saying “go!”… both of which can indicate the tunnel.
This is another spot to immediately reward (or keep going) because she was entirely correct.

You had a slightly lower arm and more parallel line motion at :40, so she found the layered line. Yay!

In the next rep, at 1:02, the cues were a little unclear and she missed #3 but you just kept going: perfect!

In this situation, less arm and more eye contact as she lands from 2 will set the line, and using a ‘jump’ verbal can totally help. if Go could means either, the Jump verbal can make all the difference. Then once she finds the line to the jump, you can add the Go go go verbals.

>>Not sure why I decided to blind so early>>

Yes, you did a blind at :43 at 4 then another one on the flat at :44 then another one 5-6 at :45. That’s a lotta blinds LOL! It was smoother when you kept her on your left at 1:03, and she was really good about staying on your line through the box! I think calling her name will tighten it up a tiny bit (which is all we need there) and doing the BC earlier will help too – when she is passing the tunnel entry and looking at 5 at 1:05, you can start it. It was a stride or two late, so she had to fix the line on landing.

The rest looked really strong, especially the RC on 9 to get the layered line at the end! At 1:13, you did one of the “RC without really RCing” moves which is great! She had to think about it (normal young dog processing) so when you went ot the GO verbal while she was over the bar at 9, she dropped the bar – for now, one more heartbeat of delay with the verbals will help her. It is a fine line with the baby dogs, right? But it all smooths out with experience 🙂

Seq 4:
1 should be on the other side to set up a serpy opening 🙂

On the right turn RC at 4, you basically did the same handling at 1:23 as you did at 1:13 from the previous sequence, and she was really good about organizing her jumping! Nice!!! And you said “go” over the bar too and she didn’t drop it. Super!

She took the 9 jump instead of the tunnel in the layering section: I think the 5 jump there needs a directional, for now – kind of a ‘head’s up!’ cue that we are changing the line. It can be her name, then the tunnel verbal. She was definitely processing the tunnel verbal there at 1:26 (dropped the bar at 5). As she matures and gets experience, the obstacle name will be all you need.

She had trouble with the threadle after it (she had it then you said ‘yay!’ so she came back for the cookie lol!) – you can either keep going to the next part of the sequence when that happens, or you can use reset cookies when you want to try it again. Not rewarding anything gets her barking and jumping up, which clouds the processing and changes the arousal level. She got it when you slowed down to show it to her, which is perfect, but you can totally use reset cookies for each rep as you work out the handling cues.

Nice work on these! Lots of good info from Promise about what she needs to see! Let me know what you think! And fingers & toes all crossed for a dry weekend 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Yeah, things got up-ended in the most unfair way. This world really sucks sometimes 🙁 I’ve been thinking of you!!!!

> I’ve been thinking for a while about how long I want to keep Kaladin at his regular 16in jump height. He is 16in tall and while he looks good at 16 and we’ve worked hard on his jump grids, I know 12 is easier for him, especially if the course is more technical. He is more confident at 12 and faster. I am also concerned about how long his back is and whether that is an issue at the higher height even if I can keep his core in great shape. (and yes, I’ve sent the same videos to his Chiropractor/rehab vet)>>

Thanks for the videos – I think he looked really strong at both heights, and possibly better at 12″ because he didn’t have to think about jumping at all – he could just go go go (and turn when asked :))

The more I watch agility, the less I like dogs jumping above their shoulders for any length of time. Sure, some dogs have a fine and dandy long career jumping high, but I think most dogs go faster, move better, and have longer careers jumping lower.

I think moving Kaladin to 12S is great – he will get to go fast fast fast! And it will be easy on his body. And you will have to run really fast, which is something you do well and enjoy.

At the moment, I am running 4 agility dogs, all of whom are jumping lower than their shoulder height: Voodoo is 20.5 inches tall and currently running in 16 Select because he is 9.5 years old. Contraband is 20.5″ tall and measures into 20″ class, so jumping just below his shoulders. Hot Sauce is 16″ tall and running in 12 select to protect her re-built patella – I simply have not seen a need to put her up to 16″. Maybe someday if I ever want to do international stuff? She also has a long back, like Kaladin, including an extra vetebrae. Elektra is 15″ tall which puts her into the 12 regular class for UKI! She is also super long and has a slightly inverted jumping style (head a little high, spine a little inverted – it is structural) so I am thrilled she gets to jump 12 then eventually 8 inches.

So I am on board 1000% with jumping lower! It is easier (especially on varied footing like wet grass or rubber mats) and safer. And if you ever wanted to put him back up to 16? That option is still available. He will do great in either height, so I think running him at 12 will allow him to go faster and think less about the jumping organization.

What did the chiro/rehab vet think?

BTW – his running contacts looked FABULOUS here!!!

Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! He did really well with the tunnel skills and the sequences here!

Looking at the switch aways at the beginning – give his turn cue sooner and repeat the verbal, he was surprised and read it when he exited, with you closer to the entry. Being closer to the tunnel exit totally helped his see and hear the cue!

Sequence 1 looked good! You can help him by starting his turn verbal sooner (right before he enters the tunnel) so he can be turning even before exits (1:07 and 1:43).

Do the FC to the 8 tunnel sooner at 1:10, you were facing forward so he went forward. You were much clearer at 1:45 and he found it easily 🙂

Seq 2:
On this one too, at 2:17 and 2:50 you can use your turn verbal sooner for the tunnel exit, he was looking towards you then turning – the timing gets very important when we put this cue into a sequence because he is relying on handling and can’t guess that we are doing the turn away 🙂 based on the warm ups LOL! The rest of the sequence looked great!

Seq 3 was also really strong! (You can do the turn verbal sooner here as well :))
One other suggestion: At 11-12, you can try it as a blind as soon as you seem him leaving 10 and looking towards 11. That will be sooner and clearer. The FC can work, but start it as soon as he is exiting 10 and looking at 11. At 3:24, you did it as a FC but it was a bit late (he was in the air already). 4:08 was earlier but I bet a blind would be easiest.

Tunnel magic warm ups looked good! And so did the sequence. The 3 jump is a threadle on that sequence, which should make it easier to get to the blind before the tunnel. But, you got the blind and he totally knew where to go! SUPER!!!

He has great skills on these tunnel exits – the main suggestion is to cue your ‘turn’ sooner on the switch away reps (start it before he even enters the tunnel, and keep saying it :)) so he exits turned like he was exiting on the tunnel magic reps rather than looking at you then turning.

Nice work! I will be back soon with the course videos!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Nice work on the pop outs!!

Pop out 1: very strong opening each time! He read the serpy line very nicely!
On the 3-4-5-6 line, I think keeping him on your left made the most sense and created a clear line (the 3rd rep). The FC on the 4 tunnel exit (and the BC there at :27) and the RC on 5 almost pulled him off 6 on the other reps. The dog-on-left line looked great!

Pop Out 2: You can use a threadle wrap on 3 (or lap turn) here – the slice on 3 creates a really hard line to the #4 tunnel, and the threadle wrap to the inside sets a reall nice line.
Based on how the tunnel is set here, I think 6 can also be a threadle wrap, but the threadle slice also sets up a pretty easy, fast line for him – the slice is probably faster on the 6 jump here because it is a smoother line to get into the tunnel than the slice exit of the #3 jump is, for ths pop out.

Pop Out 3 & 4 video:
this started out with a pop out 2 run and it looked good!
When you added the speed from the DW, you can see how much harder the slice is on 3 to set him up to find 4 easily. So I think on this one, the threadle wrap on 3 is great and possibly the threadle slice on 6 is faster for him.

On pop out 3 & 4 –
The threadle slice on 3 definitely sets the better line to 4! It looked good each time.
For 6 at 2:32 & 3:18, you were showing the line to the off course jump so he took it 🙂 You had better position at 3:47 and 4:19, which easily brought him through the gap! You can also do a FC to a BC in that gap to pull him throuh more easily – the FC will get the turn and get you moving off his line, and then you can do a BC on the flat to get him on your left side – it is like a spin, but a bit more spread out 🙂

Great job here! Onwards to the live video!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

On this course, the same theme holds true – keep moving towards the obstacles so your motion is the main cue and really supports each line.

You can see that being needed in the opening: As you move through the 2-3 line, you can closer to 2 as a serp to set the line to 3, and run more to 3. Do this with motion and eye contact as the main cues, using less arm pointing – pointing forward tends to turn your motion cues away from the line too soon. You can see that being closer really helped at 2:15, and you can be even closer – being an arms length away on serps works really nicely.

She had a little trouble knowing which jump after the tunnel #6 on the way to the weaves – If you want to layer on the way to the weaves, start your out cue (verbal and physical) before she enters the tunnel – the verbal can definitely come a little sooner for her there, plus the physical cues all told her to take the jump she took: if your shoulders were turned forward, she took the off course, If you got way ahead and turned your shoulders to the line, she took the correct jump 🙂

In the middle section:
The weaves – 15 looked good the first time! Super!!!! On the second run, you curled away from the backside at 2:32 so she took the front.

At :59 and 2:50 – you were curling the physical cue away from the line so she didn’t take the 17 jump, even with the verbal (same with jump 16 at 2:48). So that is definitely a spot to keep moving forward until you are extremely sure she is heading to the jump and will take it.

Getting the 19 tunnel on the closing line:
the first rep looked good at 1:05 with the blind! She needed more connection to turn away into the tunnel there. The rear crosses can work nicely there too, especially to get her turned to the weave entry, but you will need to turn to face your feet to the tunnel. When you kept your feet pointing forward past the entry, she was not sure if you wanted it or not.

On the closing line:
weaves to the end looked good the first time through there! On the last rep, you turned away from it so she didn’t take it. So keep moving forward on the line to get her on it 🙂
Your motion is more powerful than verbals, so definitely add more motion toward the lines to support all of the good verbal an connections 🙂
Great job on these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Looking at the 2 jumpers runs, you did a great job with the verbals and connections! One theme has emerged on both of these courses (and you can see it in the earlier courses too): Overall, you can move towards everything more, with your motion as primary cue (and with connection) until you see her looking at the jump and locking onto it. You were tending to move your feet off the line (which caused your sholders to turn as well) before she actually got onto the line, so even with he good verbals connection, she was not sure of where to be. So run forward to everything more, and most of these refusals will disappear 🙂

Course 1:

Opening – She is responding well to the threadle rotation here. You can use a wrap verbal on 3 to help get collection for the threadle, I think you were saying “left” but that doesn’t indicate enough collection.
then stay connected to indicate 4 and move towards it rather than point and turn your feet away. When you were closer to it and moved towards it, she got it really well 🙂 And also had good commitment to 5 when you moved to it.

The 7 jump was harder to get commitment to, because you were moving away from it so she was not sure where to be. So keep moving towards it, watching her head, until you see her lock onto it – then you can move away while maintaining connection.

In th emiddle section from 1:07 – 1:27, you had a lot of that moving towards the jumps to get the commitment and watching to be sure she committed, and it looked really great! Yay!!!

Just a little more connection needed on exit of 13 at 1:28 – your motion was towards the tunnel and she could not see which line to be on, so that is a spot for direct eye contact with your arm back to let her know you want her on your left.

You asked about where to be for the weave entry here:
You can either do a blind 14-15 and send to 16, or you can keep her on your right and do a rear cross on the flat. It is a hard entry for sure, and more of a trained skill than a handled skill.
You can then handle the weave exit on your right, layernig the 15/7 jump, so you can meet her at 18 to get the backside push or a threadle wrap on the inside wing. which puts you closer to 19-20.

Then stay connected on the exit of 18 at 2:04 so she knows which side to be on: basically, make direct eye contact on the exit of every cross so she has clear info about which side to be on. And for the ending line (2:27) drive forward as close to 19 as possible, might even need an ‘out’ there to find the 20 tunnel. It is pretty far away and she will need the motion support to find it.

Great job here! Onwards to course 2!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I am so glad you had fun and found so much to work on! I hope his gastro issues are all cleared up now.

The reps on the video looked good!

I think his success with finding the first jump of the layering surprised you on that first rep 🙂 The praise pulled him off the line, which is good to know when you want himto keep going 🙂

On the 2nd rep – at :23 when he is beginning the layering, you have time to keep moving parallel to his line (on the other side of the tunnel) and still easily get back to the front cross. Standing still and sending caused him to ask questions about if he should collect or keep going, which is why the bar came down.

The blind worked really well too, on the 3rd rep at :38! On the BC here and the FC on the previous rep, I think ou went a little too far past the line (too much between the uprights of 4 so he was a little wide on the landing line. You can head more towards the entry wing of 6, which should show him the line really well.

The ending section of 7-8-9-10 looked great! Super!!!

>>QUESTION: Are you going to have any other classes in the coming months that are appropriate for open level dogs?>>

Yes – mini classes 🙂 These will be short-form handling classes and skills classes that will take us through the winter. The first one will be posted next week and will start in October 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>So if I raise it and she jumps wrong, I just go back lower again?

I think we can raise the bars slowly in tiny increments to maintain her form. For example:
Do another session like you did here. Then, on the next session after it, start with the same height for a rep or two as a warm up. Then put the bar up by 2 inches, do a couple of reps with the same toy placement – then end the session with a rep or two on the lower height.

If she looks good in real life and on the video, do the same session one more time. Still good? The session after it can start at the higher height for a couple of reps, then the bar goes up 2 inches, then back down to end the session. So we will be very gradually raising the bar, but she won’t have to think about it too much and can easily maintain form.

>>My arm was high on the send from the tunnel with her on my left again but I did push out my leg. I think she’s weaker on my weaker side. Baby dog stuff that needs practice.

Yes – She is definitely more comfy turning to her left ! Those reps looked good! I think your mechanics when she needed to turn to her right were good here – and she was asking question about how to organize herself, didn’t quite know how… and didn’t take the jump. When you did the big send on the 2nd jump, you were a little later and that worked well! And when you did the send from the exit of the tunnel at :58, you were closer to the jump as well, and it helped her.

One other thing you can do is change the reinforcement placement for the right turn sends: throw it to landing side as she is heading to the jump and before he takes it. That will help build up the confidence to get her to organize that jumping effort independently.

For the left turn sends, you can keep rewarding from you, as you a did here. She is very confident on those and finds it easy to turn.

>>Regarding toy…she doesn’t really chase me /toy. I did try it tonight. I guess the chasing feels like she’s focusing on me instead of driving ahead when I throw it.

That is OK for this game, because tight turns are handler-focus games. And also by chasing you, she will tighten her turns because the decel and sending predicts that Da Momma is going to turn and run the other direction, which gives her an idea of where to go after the turn. So you can turn, run, and throw the toy. On the left turns. Eventually you can do that on the right turns too, but for now you can throw the toy to the landing side of the right turns.

>>I tried the lead out blind and she took the jumps

Look at her on the opening of the bigger sequence! Yay! She looked very confident and found that opening line really nicely. She was taking nice long strides too, so you can start to inch those bars up as well and see how it goes!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>Yes, I am learning that he can be very precise. Means I kind of need to get and keep my shit together even on crazy fast, long technical courses. 🤞

You will be fine, because you will have more cues instead of just pure decal-only. And as he gets more seasoned, the verbals will begin to override the physical cues (that is the good news of not having to be precise, and also the bad news of spitting out the right verbal cue haha)

>>Got a hypothetical question. Say someone and their hypothetical dog do a USDAA or UKI show and are running in a class not declared FEO or NFC. If the hypothetical dog breaks their start line and the hypothetical handler wants to treat it the way they would at home or class and cheerfully reset him and either run with him or re-attempt the lead out. What would the judge do?>>

On the UKI side of things, I am 99% sure fixing the stay and leading out again cheerfully would be considered “repeat and move on”. That would mean the judge calls an “E” but allows you to continue. If you try to repeat something again, you will be asked to leave because your can only do one RMO per course.

I cannot remember the USDAA rule, so I will ask the experts aka Facebook hahahah

>>Asking for a friend. 🤣

Ha! Planning, planning 🙂 I will let you know what Facebook tells me 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I will break this up into several posts…>>

I will work through them all today, but it won’t be until later today/this evening when I can get to all of them.

Good job on these sequences! And it is great that you continue to practice the walk throughs, because those will really make that first run at a trial so much better. In all of the walk throughs, keep adding more speed, more verbals, and more direct connection.

ESC 1:
I think your first run did not match your walk through, and so the run didn’t go as well! You walked the threadle 2-3 but the first 2 runs had a FC 2-3 followed by a wrap – those were late and he had to jockey in behind you to get it. I think the threadle on rep 3 worked really well! Leading out to the FC more will help smooth it out, as will more very direct connection to his eyes (and your hand staying back) when you finish the FC.

On the first run at :47 – your voice said over for the layered line, but the body said tunnel so he went into the tunnel. The next reps had much better cues to the jump – more connection and motion for sure.

On the FC 6-7 you can start it even sooner, as soon as he is leaving 5 and looking towards 6. It was a little late, starting as he was lifting off, so he had a little trouble with the bar.

Seq 2:
yes, starting on the other side of 1 might’ve made the layering easier bu he got it nicely! The sequence looked really good!

One small detail: On the 2nd rep, you lead out more and had a little too much decel at the tunnel entry at :52 so he thought about the tunnel in stead of the jump line, for a moment. He had the same small zig-zag moment on the 3rd run because of the decel near the tunnel entry. The best line was the first one, where you led out less and drove the line, he was straight and fast to 2.

Seq 3:
He was not sure which side of 2 to take, based on the cues – they were the same at 1:19 (he took the front side) and 1:36 where he threadled. So for the threadle, you can release with the threadle cue so he knows immediately which side of 2 to be on.
The rest looked strong here too! You can start the RC on 9 after the tunnel sooner to get a smoother line – it looked more like you forgot where to be for a moment LOL! so keep running through to get the RC into the layering.

Great job here! I will be back later for the rest of the videos.
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

The opening line went well, especially on the 2nd rep where you kept moving and you were super connected! That was super nice!

About that 5 jump (threadle before the DW): you asked about how to be in the right place to handle it, and you were in the right place! It is a threadle wrap (she should turn right), so she will eventually be able to do it when you are nearer to the dog walk, or not near the jump, and while you are in high motion. Right now, her threadle wrap skills are not yet overriding all the forward motion. Breaking it down from the 3 jump so you can lead out a bit will help, then gradually add back more and more motion.

The 9-10-11 line (layering to the weave entry) is getting to be a popular course design trend. On the first rep through there, I think you over-helped by converging towards her at the entry and that confused her – you don’t need to rear cross the entry, you can blind cross the exit and that will be less yardage for you and easier for her too! You kept her on your left at 3:40, but then be sure to run at the 12 tunnel if you are rear crossing it as the stopping and sending doesn’t show her the line

At 3:48 you did the FC on the entry but you were a little in the way – she got it on the next rep but you would want to use more distance todo the layering so that the cross is finished before she even exits the tunnel.

On the closing line – she is really getting the idea of all this tunnel-under-the-dog-walk layering stuff! Yay!! You can turn her to her left on 16, that is a better line and will actually require less handling from you – by wrapping to the right, you have to step in to 17 to get the line, which puts you a little behind on the 18 backside.

Then on the 18 jump (2:29, for example) – keep moving through – no need for a switch to send her ahead. The cue started after she landed and you stopped moving, so she was confused. Keep moving forward and either keep her on your right or blind to your left.

The circle wrap at the end looked good! And then try to run right at 19.
And with all of them, running right at the line will really help her – stopping to send forward confuses her when the motion stops and the arm points ahead of her (breaks connection).

The only other spot that was hard was after the stopped contacts and rewards – she would often take the ‘obvious’ line not the backside or threadle line. So be sure to give yourself a strong lead out and cue the line as part of the release, so she can get it immediately.

Nice work! I will be back for the jumping courses later on.

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Yes, this is a challenging one 🙂 The package 5 courses throw in just about all the skills from the summer LOL!

Opening through DW looked good! You can side change before or after the DW to get her on your right, so you don’t need to do the RC on the flat for the 6 jump, as that puts you behind for the weave entry.

Having her weave while you were moving to the other side of the DW was great! You can have a placed reward out past the end of the weaves to help her stay in as you add more distance – she had some successes but was popping out more after she learned the sequence, anticipating the next line. It is a great skill to work, because it puts you in great position for the 8 tunnel and 9 jump: the BC at the end of 8 was very effective!

The tunnel on the 11-12-13 is a hard discrimination. I suggest a get out cue after she commits to the 12 jump – use it to get her lead changed then cue the tunnel, before you try to add in the layering. You had a GO verbal happening but Go would keep her on the right lead, and a specific ‘get out’ cue would send her to the tunnel by moving her away from you and changing her lead. You can also remove the layered jump to work the skill, then add it back in when the discrimination is stronger in terms of the out cue as well as the tunnel versus jump verbals.

At the very end of the video, you ran right at it rather than sending forward to it… that was a big help to her!
Running right at the lines rather than decelerating or sending will help in other spots too, like at the 16 tunnel after the 2nd set of weaves: run at it! When you pointed forward and decelerated, she didn’t get enough motion or connection info so she had a lot of questions there.

You can also side change before or after weaves so that you can send to the 16 tunnel on your right to get the 17 jump like at 2:01 – the RC pulls her off the 17 jump, but getting her to commit to the 16 tunnel on your right easily helped her find 17. So you cam totally use your obstacle independence to change sides, so there are fewer rear crosses 🙂

Nice work! Onwards to course 2!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
He is doing better about ignoring the distractions!
He definitely has trouble with the other ring, so you can bring your pattern games to the fence line between rings as a mental warm up, on leash, to help him assess the environment and get the reinforcement going to ignore the other dogs/handlers 🙂 that will end up being a good pre-run warm up at trials, too!

When he did begin the sequence, he looked great on the 1-6 section! When you trust his focus more, you can do the blind 4-5 and the spin 5-6 (or a send) sooner. You were a little late here but you might have been watching to see what he would do, in terms of running the course or not. He was fast and accurate… until he had to run towards the other ring 🙂 Since he has trouble running towards the other ring and ignoring them, you can add in a cross or something that gets him chasing you away from the other ring to get rewards. For example, send to 6 then cross and run back towards 4 or 5 so he sees the other ring but doesn’t have to run past them yet.

Good job staying in motion even when he missed the jump at 2:33 & 3:19, because he was focused and stuck with you, instead of looking at the other ring. You needed to drive to it more (like at 3:57) and so that way he could see it AND ignore the other dogs 🙂

Nice work here! And it looks like your instructor was helping to keep him from running to the other ring (I call that “Air Traffic Control” haha) and that definitely helped him. Can you ask her to be out there for the first parts of the runs too?

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

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