[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Good for you for breaking it down!!! It really helps him understand the skills!

>> The weave section is the hardest. When it was broken down he’s been successful (when he was fresh and had only worked the tunnel through weaves section)

You are in good company, it was wicked hard for almost everyone because it has to be so independent! I have added a weave skill game to help improve it, you will see it on Monday 🙂

>> I also don’t trust him to do the backside after the dw (he runs around the jump if I’m moving) so that complicates things too.

Check out sequence 2 from this week’s live classes – it address that very thing to teach the dog to take the jump on a backside so you can move away as early as possible.

1-2 line – would he find 1 if you set him on a straight line, facing 2? Less handling for you!

Dang, he is fast and found his lines so well on the 5-6-7 line! And good job maintaining teeter criteria – that helped him remember his DW criteria too!

The send to the backside after the DW was AWESOME!!! You helped him get the jump there but that was correct for now, until you get a chance to practice the default “take the jump on the backside” game. And, even with helping, you got the turn to the correct end of the tunnel.

When he is on the way to the #12 tunnel – definitely layer all of those pesky jumps in your way to meet him at the a-frame exit. You can basically just use your verbals, a tiny bit of connection, and layer the 11 and 19 jumps to get to 15 :)We will be working more on layering soon! You layered the 19 jump on the 2nd time through there and it was great, he got the frame AND the threadle – NICE!!!!

The new weave game getting posted on Monday will help that entry 🙂

He was really good on the ending line! Because he continues to pick up speed and has a ginormous stride, I think you can totally start your decel and wrap verbal as he is lifting off for the jump before the wrap – that way, when he lands, he will see the cue already happening and have more time to adjust . Then, once you begin to rotate, turn and head to the next jump because that will help him drive back around even more.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Yay Moose! He looks so good!

On the wraps at the beginning of the first video:

Because of his stride length and jump height, I think to get the good wraps going he needs you to start the decel & verbal as he is lifting off for the middle jump here (jump 2) – you did this perfectly at :59! Yay! And then trust him (I know, trusting an adolescent boy dog is not so easy) and finish the FC rotation before he takes off – on the reps here, you waiting til he landed to finish it when ideally you would already be driving up the next line. He will be tighter on the wraps if you finish the turn and drive out of there.

Seq 1
It was hard to see why he dropped the first bar, he might have been set up too close? He read the line nicely, but you were too quiet LOL! You can support the motion with more verbals, to help strengthen the verbals.

seq 2 looked great! Your MOOSE! right before the tunnel was all he needed to turn and you did a great job of turning too. Remember to trust him here too! You started the turn then waited… start it and keep moving 🙂

The “left-right-sorry” just cracked me up LOL!

2nd video, sequence 3:
Also really strong! Great timing on the ‘right’ and the shoulder turn before he went into the tunnel. He slowed down in the pinwheel, probably because you decelerated and turned with him. I think you can get more speed and maintain the great turn by sending him to 5 (the middle jump) then running and using verbals. That will show acceleration to get him to go straighter out of the tunnel (you can also yell the GO sooner – use it at the same timing as you said the right verbal here, about 8 feet from the tunnel entry, and say it a few more times to support the line).
On the 2nd rep, your “Moose right” and shoulder turn was great again! you had a bit more motion through the pinwheel and you accelerated more to the ending, so he was definitely faster and straighter out of the tunnel. You can send and leave even sooner, and use more big loud verbals for the go go go to the tunnel and last jump.

Seq 4:
Good opening! Use more go verbals 🙂 on the 1-2-3 line to get even more speed. I couldn’t see his whole turn at 4, but I think it can be tighter: you started the ‘easy around’ verbal and shoulder turn when he landed but I think that you can do it at the same timing as the wrap: start it as he is lifting off for jump 3 here, so he sees it happening when he lands and has more room to adjust and make the tight turn.
You nailed that timing on the wrap at 1:18! I couldn’t see what he did but you had a big YES and the timing was great, so I imagine he was great too! As with the beginning sequences: turn and go, trust him, run for you life LOL! But be connected like you were here, it looked great.

On the 2nd rep, you started the easy timing for 4 when he landed but decelerated too much – the firmness of the verbal and the decel caught too much of his attention (MOM WANTS ME NOW! Good boy :)) You were smoother there (less of an urgent verbal and softer decel) on the last rep and he was great. YAY!

One other observation – you had great connection and low arms throughout both videos: GREAT job!! He really thrives with the connection, keep it up!

Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Glad he did well with the lotus ball! Try to tie it to a leash or another toy, so he can chase it and grab at it like a toy.
And only use the tug toy in a situation where he is highly likely to engage (see above)

[Tracy Sklenar]

Glad he did well with the lotus ball! Try to tie it to a leash or another toy, so he can chase it and grab at it like a toy.
And only use the tug toy in a situation where he is highly likely to engage (see above)

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I think the confusion might be coming from different behaviors needing different reinforcement strategies:

>>So, I’m trying not to have food on me or in my hands, am I confused, wasn’t I supposed to stop doing this? Can I not pre-place a reward?>>

On sequencing, we wanted to have more engagement overall, with a toy or a moving lotus ball tied to something. That will bring more speed, better understanding of skills, more focus, better able to build independent skills, distance/sends, less stopping for reward: more action, which is what sequencing is all about. The move to that was prompted by you using a lot of tossed cookies, or dropping the lotus ball, and not engaging. Engagement is a big piece of sequencing.

That’s different from the mountain climber teeter, for example, where the food CAN be placed on the target and should not be delivered from you hand, so he doesn’t look at you. I don’t often place a reward in sequencing when the dog is driving into handling (like the blind) because we can get it with the connected cue.

Each game or skill might have a slightly different style and type of reinforcement, so that might be the source of confusion? But all games should have reinforcement happening as soon as you have the behavior for now, rather than outside the area.

>> I went out with just a toy (after doing some high value teeter work) the other night and he would not work at all, he kept going back to the teeter.

My guess is that it was too close to the teeter to ask for toy play, in physical location and in time. Because the teeter has a pretty strong association with high value food, toy play should be in a spot where the teeter is not visible. And you can also use a moving lotus ball as a toy, tied to another toy to throw or drag so he can chase it and you can engage more.

>>I try a toy and he won’t work,

Try the toy at the time of day when he is most likely to engage and in a spot not associated with food. In other moments and if the behavior calls for it, use the lotus ball on a toy.

>>I try pre-placing and it’s not motivating enough. I can’t have food or toy in my hands cause he looks at me . . . I have put the lotus ball on a leash, but he still looks at me, but will chase it.>>

I think you give up too easily 🙂 and go back to your comfort zone reinforcement, which is static food delivery. Reinforcement will build the behaviors we want but won’t create them immediately. Consistency in placement and type of reinforcement will build the behavior such as looking at the line. So before each session, define how to reward and do that consistently. The inconsistencies are why he looks at you.

So for sequencing where we want him to read a blind cross, the reinforcement for that would be a moving toy or lotus ball on a toy, that he chases as you exit the blind.
Adjust the reinforcement for the skill you’re working on – it will almost never be static food placement for moving behaviors 🙂
Let me know if that makes more sense.

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>.We either run up or down hill in my yard, thinking about taking this on the road.>>

It is always good to take this on the road! Perfect!!

A bunch of thoughts for you on this one:

>> He really struggled come to my hand so will review hand touched. I back chained and that seemed to help.

Yes, we can help him see the blind crosses better but bear in mind – this is a cued behavior, so we need to make your cue clearer. If you cue it clearly, he will do it perfectly and naturally. I think the #1 thing here is to remember that the side change of the blinds are not cued by a hand touch, or coming to your hand a tall – they are cued by the change in connection (eye contact on your new side rather than trying to connect with your hand). Using the hand blocks connection, making it much harder for thedog to read the blind – he is not reading the correct tunnel entry til he sees your motion to it and hears you call him – the increased connection will help him do it very easily! For example, at 1:33 you tried it with the hand cue and he was really confused! It is all about the eyes 🙂

You can see more about the connection here:

Connection Reminders

To add more connection, that means you should keep your hand back and out of the way and look at him, rather than try to have him come to your hand (dogs really don’t read it as a hand cue, especially not small dogs). So as you start the blind, put the new dog-side arm (right arm in this case) behind you and look at his eyes. as you keep moving forward.

Placing the box of food there taught him the sequence… but doesn’t help the handling though because it doesn’t teach YOU to be clear for him and ultimately will result in more reps and more errors. So when the food box was gone, at 3:36 you were still not clear with the connection so he hopped around behind you – he got it but it does not help you handle better when there is no food box on the line.

Speaking of the food box…

>>I am using a box with his lotus ball and treats that we can run to when time to treat, nothing on me anymore.

Why? I ask because we are training, and this method of reinforcement is incredibly delayed, making things unpredictable and losing the opportunity to reward in the moment, when reinforcement is most effective. I do teach this as a skill, and there is a specific verbal marker attached – but it is definitely NOT a lifestyle for training and so it should be done sometimes but not all the time. It is also a problem in terms of motivation – some dogs slow down because all of the value is outside of the sequence, speeding up at the end because that is where they think reward is coming. Some dogs go fast, but they get frantic or just get on big lines because the obstacles are the reinforcement (which is not a good thing LOL!)

Also, the food box is not interactive at all, and I remember you recently saying this:

June 30th:
>>Okay, I’m about to hit you with a few videos but first I want to say when I watch these videos back I seriously cried (I know, there’s no crying in agility, just cowboy up and fix it). Why do I not play with him more when I’m training? We have a super great relationship and we play a ton, plus I’m trying to get him more engaged with a tug outside or when we train. >>

I think you are focusing too much on getting the sequence done here, and not on the play, the high rate of success (paired with being in the moment) and getting the handling mechanics correct. So while yes, sometimes we do leave the reward outside the sequence and run with nothing in our hands or pockets, that is a super small percentage of the time, especially with young dogs learning a new skill. If you are trying to teach skills or master mechanics without reinforcement available instantly, you will find it very difficult to teach the skill and get speed. In short – bring the rewards with you,and bring TOYS!!!

The connection shoud smooth it all out! Try it and let me know how it goes!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

He is doing great with his teeter!!! I love his confidence! Leave the tip of the teeter at this same spot, for now.
On the first 2 reps, the reward was not on the target so he was looking at you too much – it was much better when you placed the food on the target. Because of his small size, raise the target so he doesn’t have to look down as far – hat pull his weight to his front end too much. Ideally the target height would be right at the end of the board or just a sliver below it. He is also getting the idea of backing up onto the board – staying closer helps for sure. He is still lifting his head a lot, so do you have something lower to sit on, so you are closer to the ground to help keep his head lower?

Nice work!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

oops, just remembered that I was going to remind you to help him off the top of the teeter board – he was doing some nutty things getting off of it, and we don’t want him to break himself LOL!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Lots of great working here – and lots of moments where he really understood the cues with a lot of independence, which is SUPER exciting!!! YAY!! You had strong connection just about every step of the way, which really helps. (14 is supposed to be a backside but you had the front side so I went with it LOL!)

On the video:

Lovely opening! Great connection, timely verbals and handling!
Threadle opening – he can probably take the jump without the verbals as long as you move past

Nice job driving him up the line 3-4-5 to get great position at 6 – the left verbal plus position meant he never looked at the off course tunnel.
You were a little too far ahead for the RC so you ended up standing still, with no place to move to til he passed you. You can set it from a little further back, closer to the 6 jump, so you can turn and move forward to 7. Or…. do a blind cross in there, I think you had it

Good verbal before the 8 tunnel but then you turned your shoulders away too soon and he did not take 9 because the next cue at :14 was “over” so he took the jump you were facing (good boy). You can keep going there, he was correct and you had the blind

Rep 2: good opening here too, I think you showed the threadle even better 1-2-3! I still think you can get the BC 6-7 🙂 You can use your strong go tunnel verbals to send him to 3-4-5and you can run across the center of the ring, layering the 10 jump to be miles ahead and have time for a cup of coffee before the blind 🙂

MUCH better support of 9 at :40! When you see him on his way to it, you can connect less (I know, how often do I ask people to connect less?!?! HA!) and run for the BC 10-11. The motion will cue the line and you’ll get the BC even sooner if you don’t have to watch over your left shoulder at all.

At :43, as he was approaching 11, you said “go” and “go over” plus your running line was forward – that all indicated heading to the #1 jump, so he did – the disconnection there caused the bar down. Look at the difference at :59 with your lateral motion and clear push verbals! Excellent adjustment and he nailed it. You got it again nicely at 1:32, but be careful of mixing in the Go verbal too much – on that rep, you said “go push” which can be confusing because they mean 2 different things 🙂

The correct entry to the orange tunnel is ever-so-slightly offset from the line, so the go verbals sent him to the far end of it at 1:05. An ‘out’ cue and some convergence towards it should make it work there.

When you came through there again at 1:42, he did go out and get the tunnel entry based on your shoulder position ( you were facing it better) – so add a ‘get out’ verbal to it to tell him that even sooner for a smoother line to it.

Niiiiice blind at the very end! Drive through like there is one more obstacle so you don’t pull up and celebrate too early (he knocked the bar on the last jump. He totally looks at you there on the go on moment, so you can throw the reward sooner and also drop your shoulders forward to help propel him ahead. If he still wants to look at you, you can have a placed toy out ahead and ‘race’ him to it, to help him look ahead.

Full run at the end – really nice!!!!
Nice threadle opening, you are both getting more confident each time you do it. Remember to stay connected while you leave at 1:53, you disconnected and took off so he hit the wing there.

The rest of the opening looked really good, the blind to the push looked great – you turned your shoulders sooner on the push but your connection and verbal were both good, so he got it really independently. YAY! Nice job across the back line too – the convergence to the last tunnel made it even smoother and you got that blind easily again. Super!!! He was even stickier on that last line, in terms of looking at you (MOM! MOM! MOM! Boys and their mommas haha) so I think as placed toy out ahead or a Manners Minder will help him look forward on these long ending lines.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
He seems to think this game is THE MOST AWESOME (because Dice currently speaks in ALL CAPS haha!) Easy peasy: make it slam, get the MM to dispense cookies. Perfect! This looks great. Onwards to the teeter version of the game, starting with a bit of making it slam (the teeter should only move a tiny bit) then try the backing up onto it!

Great job 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>we tried wraps and things went south.

It was not too far south! I like to see the bloopers so we can sort them out. I think it was just some ‘young dog stuff’, which is pretty normal 🙂 plus some handling things to smooth out.

At the beginning, at :05 you turned too soon on your right verbal so when he landed from the jump after the tunnel, you were already turned and that pulled him off the middle jump. When he lands from the jump after the tunnel, you should be still facing the middle jump like you did at :11 and the reps after that. Yay!
It is hard to tell why he was going past the jump after the pinwheel on the right turns – might guess is that is was a combination of the jump being a little too tight on the line from the pinwheel plus Dice was GOING FAST and sometimes GOING FAST (yes, all caps with baby dogs haha) overrides finding the jump 🙂 That is a good moment to revisit the lazy game to be like “Dude, find the jump don’t run past it” 🙂 when you are both going fast. He did much better finding it at :54 with the wrap, you really helped by turning more.

>>We got the wrong end of the tunnel a couple of times, (when I watched it back, it looks like I’m turning and sending him right into the wrong end 😕 and I was really trying not to).

Yes, you are correct, that is what was happening – you were pulling away and like a good boy, he was coming with you 🙂 When you drove to it more directly like at 1:07 – perfect! That will get easier when he has more experience with the tunnel sending at high speed.

>>Then we kept having issues with the jump coming out of the tunnel when we were going counterclockwise. I’m not sure what I was doing wrong there.

Yes, totally see that! It is hard to know for certain but my best guess is that we are seeing a side preference here: he wants to be on your left, in order to turn to his right – turning left at high speed is harder! It is also possible that he was going from shade to light and that was hard? But he didn’t have a problem with that on the right turns. When my strong lefty dogs were Dice’s age, I have the same questions: they would cut behind me to get to their easier side for harder challenges. So – on this setup, do all the hard, high speed handling on your left so he turns right and can get comfy. And, for when he is on the right side – warm up with the Lazy Game and then add more speed, gradually, breaking down the hard stuff into easier sections on his harder side. It will balance out as he matures, and then both sides will be perfect!

>>Also, I’m noticing as I start adding any speed with any of the exercises, he’s getting more vocal and if he has enough room, he races ahead of me and cuts in front of me and barks and jumps.

The vocal might be any number of reasons, but the cutting you off might be a frustration/arousal behavior when he doesn’t know what to do. As an adolescent, he doesn’t have a lot internal management systems in place yet 🙂 so for now dial back some of the speed and throw the rewards out of the line a LOT! And set yourself up (cheat if you need to!) to be ahead, so you can show the line and give him a TON of connection, that helps too. I promise it will be easier as he matures 🙂

>> Do you think my motion is just more exciting to him than any value that the obstacles have at this point?

Yes, probably! Totally normal. Plus, he gets caught up in the arousal (this is normal for adolescent brains) and perhaps the cue is not clear enough. So for now, don’t try to add a ton of speed, as we let him mature and experience tons of reward for driving lines.

>>He does the same thing to Zane in the yard. He runs faster than Zane and cuts him off. Zane hates it, and I can’t say I am a fan either. I’m not quite to the point of cussing him out like Zane does though. Lol>>

Ha! Cussing won’t help LOL! But it sounds like a very similar behavior that he is rehearsing, so he is good at it – and it requires very little thought on his part, so it pops out when he is stimulated and doesn’t know what else to do. So, ideally, we don’t let him rehearse it (I am sure Zane would be fine with this too :)) Is there a way to give him a different way to play? When my dogs are adolescents and do things like that (body slamming, cutting off other dogs, etc), they are only allowed to play and run if they carry a toy in their mouth (that keeps them less stimulated and they don’t do the arousal behaviors). So maybe give him a toy to run around with and see if that helps? Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Lots of great work on these!!! You mentioned your verbals coming earlier – yes, you can use them earlier and repeat them more. That will come with practice – you have really locked in your connection for most of these runs, and that is more important. So now that connection is more locked in, try to use your verbals early and often 🙂 I am overall really happy with your timing and the runs went really well!!!

Std 2 redo
Great connection throughout here! And it was a really strong run!
As you mentioned, the hardest part were those 360 wraps. The thing that is hard for him is that if you block the wing and try to turn yourself to the front side to get him to take it, he doesn’t really see what you want. So, your position can move over to where the wing meets the bar so he can see the entire wing. Then, to cue it – this might make you laugh – help him less LOL!! You were trying to turn your shoulders and that caused some confusion. Instead, just hang out on the landing side showing the wing and stay connected, maybe a little step with your foot or small push with your hand – and as he passes you, you can look at the landing spot but then move forward and let him finish the job. This video shows the position of tucking into the spot where the wing and the bar meet (ignore the outside hand there, Grady doesn’t need that 🙂 )

He might have left the teeter a little early her, but he sure made up for it with that WOWZA weave entry! Only spot I think you can be earlier here was the FC on the jump after the weaves at :43 – as he is exiting the weaves, rotate sooner so he can turn before takeoff .He has such great weaves that I bet you can be moving laterally to that jump while he weaves, so you are there sooner for the FC. The rest looked fabulous: great send to the jump before the DW and to the tunnel after it – that set up a gorgeous ending line: great blind, great push, great FC to the end. YAY!! Super!!!

Standard 1, first attempt:

Very nice opening!!! My only suggestion is to release one step later, so that you are past the exit wing of 1 and your motion will naturally set the line. You released just past the entry wing of 1, so he had trouble reading the line to 2.

Nice blind on 3 to get the teeter!

Great job with the line across the back and layering to get ahead of him for the DW exit. You can be telling him to walk it even sooner so he locks right on it before he exits the tunnel.

Nice timing of the push cue off the RDW! And he got it really well, allowing you to leave pretty early. And great job getting his attention for the tunnel discrimination – you got the turn with verbals and upper body and some lateral motion, without having to slow down – that allowed you to show the line to the 13 jump after the tunnel and get the a-frame, being ahead of him when he exited the frame at 1:02. YAY!!!

The only real challenge here was the threadle after the a-frame. The threadle is an excellent choice there. I think he needs more upper body clarity to find the line on it: at 1:03, you were running forward on the right line, with him on your left , and he knew to come in but not to go back out. This is a place where an outside arm threadle cue will help – as you run forward on that line, you can use your right arm as the come in cue and also as the go back out cue, if he need sa little arm flick to help him go back out.
At 1:37 you tried to pull away more with more shoulder turn, but that showed the off course jump – your line at 1:03 was correct and so the upper body will clarify that for him.

The BC on the bottom of the frame to the push to the backside totally worked especially because he OWNS that weave entry 🙂 And it is did not put you behind at all for the ending line, that went really well too! Since you were ahead of him on the a-frame the very first time through, I bet you can easily get the BC there any time you want it in this scenario.

2nd run – You released further past 1 which made he whole opening even better than the first run, including the BC to the teeter being sooner so you could be further ahead. And you also nailed the line to the backside off the dog walk, and I think on this run you left even sooner when you saw him committing to the backside!

He had a question on the tunnel discrimination here at :28 – comparing this one to the first video, you were quieter on the first video and turned sooner, so he had no questions. On this one, your verbals were more energetic and your running line was more forward, with the turning coming later (he was almost landing from 11), so he thought it was the other end of the tunnel. The quieter verbals and earlier turn was definitely the good choice for him.

Great job getting the BC after the frame! You did the BC on the exit of the backside before the weaves but you were a little in his way – the RC you did in the first run was perfect for him, because he is so good at that entry (dogs who do not understand the entry like he does would require the BC there so the handler can help with the entry, but all he needs is the send the weaves 🙂 )

On the ending line here – you did the RC to get the left turn – I think a tiny bit more deceleration can tighten it up a bit? But I it to compare it to the timing of the right turn wrap you did on the first run – that right turn FC wrap was faster 🙂 I think that line makes sense to him, so he could power through it and not have to collect as much as he did for the rear cross wrap.

>>Went to the training facility at 9:30pm to build the jumpers course. We ended at about 10:45 and had to rebuild what was set up. No time for jumpers course >>

OMG that is heroic!!!!! Starting to build at 9:30 is impressive 🙂

Run 1: The threadle opening 1-2-3 worked really well! This threadle made sense to him and may not need the opposite arm, while the threadle after the a-frame on the standard course might need the opposite arm because it is a harder line.

At :14 you did a FC 6-7. You started it a little late (he was already lifting off) so for the FC, you can start it as soon as he exits the 5 tunnel. also, you are GREAT with BCs (and they are a thousand times easier than fronts when you are running fast) – so you can try a BC here instead (starting when he exits 5) because you can finish it sooner without the FC rotation.

Speaking of great blinds – you got that blind 10-11 at :22! Yay! He was FLYING there, so you can send to 9 and when you see him heading there, run without connection (I know, I know, normally I would say to use connection haha) and then as you pass 10, look over your right shoulder. You took a moment to look over your left shoulder and that made the blind a little late.

Great job on the push at 12!!

Now, speaking of connection: on the 13-14 line at :27, you took off without connection and without a verbal cue, so he came off the line and ran past the jump (great job just continuing there). That section requires a little connection (just a head turn) and a GO verbal.

At :33 he had a GREAT turn on the exit of the last tunnel, which is particularly impressive considering how well he also goes straight after tunnels when asked!!

He had one question on the last jump – freeze the video at :36 when he has landed from the 2nd to last jump. When you wanted him to drive ahead, you used a high arm and looked forward which broke connection and turned your shoulders the the #2 jump, so he looked at you (and delivered some verbal feedback :)) So, to get him to drive to the last jump, keep your dog side arm back and lower, and look at him (not ahead at the jump) – say your verbal directly to his eyes as you move forward. It sounds entirely counterintuitive, but it works really well by turning your shoulders to the jump you want.

On the 2nd run – another nice opening!
The FC 6-7 was a little late here too, starting when he was in the air, and I think he dropped the bar on 6 too at :16.

Another good blind 10-11 (you can totally practice running without connection in that moment, because you are ahead and he chases you line :)) and you had a better connection and motion, getting the 14 backside this time. Nice!

He had another great turn on the last tunnel, and you used more of a send to it to get further down the line for the last jump. Nice!!!! And, more importantly, freeze this video at :39 when he has landed from the 2nd to last jump: your arm is lower, you are looking at him, which points your shoulders MUCH more to the last jump and he got it 🙂 YAY!!! Excellent adjustment!!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>I find that I have become terrible at the mechanics of them and while I see what your suggesting, I’ve been finding it difficult to get my mechanics and timing down. Thus why I wish I had a better verbal understanding with him so my me hanics were not so important.>>

Totally relatable!!!! His verbal understanding is coming along nicely. When I was hashing out the rear cross lines with my young dogs, I put a leash on the ground next to the diagonal, so all had to do was stay connected and run next to the leash – it really helped pattern me 🙂 while the dogs got good into to support the verbals.

Teeter tours are great – sounds like Angie’s voice LOL! His mountain climbing looks great – he drove to the end no matter what you did there – run past, cross, sharp decel, etc. Behold the power of squeeze cheese LOL!!!! Good boy. And he was realy driving on the last couple, nice weight shift at the top! My only suggestion is to use a target that is out past the end of the boardso his little front feet go right to the edge of the board – as you know, the closer to the end of the board they get, the faster it drops 🙂 I am sure there are fancy target attachments you can buy – but I also used duct tape and a spoon that was slightly bent so that he didn’t really have to bend down lower than the edge of the board to get it.

I think you can add the tiniest bit of movement of the board now – super duper miniscule movement, to be sure that he loves loves loves this games.

Love The Slam might as well be re-titled as StrykR’s Dream Come True LOL! “All I need to do is smack that thing around to get the MM to trigger?!?!?! Best life ever!!” He was great, both on the grass and on the pavers, the noise and movement don’t seem to bother him at all. Perfect!!! You can definitely move into backing up onto the teeter board now (advanced level).

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>> You worked on some individual parts of the course to make sure the dogs had the skill before running the entire course. Can we do that with these courses before we do the first run for the video?

Yes! If you think there is a place that will be really hard, work that skill first. Be sure to not tire them out before running the full course. When Iset full courses to run, I might work the skills on the first day then run it on the 2nd day.

>>I am not sure my dogs have that skill so can I test that before we run the whole course or would you rather see the video of the entire course before we go back and fix things?

It depends on how successful I think the dog will be: 90% chance of success or better? Run the whole thing. Less than 90% chance? Break it down 🙂

>> It sounds like this might be OK since you are suggesting we try the dog walk before we run the course.>>

Yes, it is totally ok – I suggested showing them the DW because it will potentially involve trees in the way, and we don’t want the dogs to ask questions when they are 4 feet in the air!

>>The “stress” stopping is different. He starts out moving and then gets slower and then he stops usually in front of a jump. There is a strong correlation between stopping and a judge moving towards him. If I keep moving he just stands and watches me, sometimes he sniffs the bar or yawns. >>

Sounds like it is worry about the stranger moving towards him in that environment – yes, totally different than when there is handler error on course. You can isolate that concern and work on it behaviorally – pattern games with someone walking towards you, for example.

Have fun with the course!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

It is great to see you here 🙂 We can also look at some of the jumping questions you brought up last night, if you want! Agility jumping is so complicated and highly individualized.

>>She was hot, sorry for the gaps between reps.

It has been SO HOT!! This morning it was so hot and humid that the handles to my doors were soaking wet when I let the dogs out. But yet, they still run around with the ball like she did LOL!!

Seq 1 – very nice! She had good form, good focus on the lines and your cues were timely. Your connection was perfect, and low arms really showed the connection nicely 🙂

Following up on your question about talking over the bars… we will look at when you are talking and if there are any issues. You said Go as she was descending from 2 at :09 here – no problem, well-timed.
You said “tunnel!” over 2 at :44 – well-timed, no problem. (That TUNNEL! over a bar is hard for a lot of dogs and she did really well!

Super excellent job getting the turn on the tunnel exit in sequence 2 – nice timing of the physical and verbal cues for the right! And I love how you made it sound different: rrrright! She turned perfectly, never considered going straight. My only suggestion is to talk to her while she is in the tunnel so she knows where to drive to when she exits: you got quiet after the right cues and were pretty far away, so you can see her turn really well at 1:53 (and at 2:27 on seq 3) but bleed off speed til she sees you, then she goes fast again. If you call her (probably her name a couple of times) she won’t need to bleed off the speed to find you.

On the rest of sequence 3 – On the first time through, she did well with the turns on the pinwheel! You can play around with sending and leaving rather than turning with her there, to show more acceleration to the tunnel and then out of the tunnel too, since straight exits of tunnels are challenging for her – you were at the same pace throughout, so she exited the last tunnel moving a little to her right. An acceleration to match the GO verbals will help her rocket out straight.

You added a bit more send to the pinwheel and then took off for the ending line with more urgency of verbals and acceleration – yes! You can exaggerate that even more and say one more GO when she exits (or jump cue, whichever is more “forward” for her) – get loud and keep repeating it, paired with the ball thrown out ahead, and she will look more and more straight out of tunnels on that cue.

I didn’t see any of the early takeoffs you mentioned here, she did a good job with her jumping effort!!! It might be that you didn’t get miles ahead but this is a good setup for sorting that out. Do you have clips of the takeoff questions you mentioned? And you can also add getting more ahead on the ending of these sequences – send to that last tunnel more and accelerate more to get further ahead, but keeping the same connection and verbals you had here.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

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