[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The handling is going really well, she has very few questions at this point and I didn’t see any frustration behavior at all.
First rep, very nice! Connected and smooth so she got it. Arm back with some connection as you move forward: perfect!

Second rep – it was all good til she landed from the jump after the tunnel where you were pushing into her line and rotated too soon so she stopped . To get that wing, continue moving forward as you decelerate don’t rotate til she is at the wing for now. You were trying to push into her line and rotate, which was a little confusing to her. You got closer to the wing on the next rep and at 1:10 which helped, but moving forward for longer and letting her see the wing will help more and she will drive past you so you don’t need to get up to the wing. Think of it as having the bar there: when you were pushing into the wing, you were putting yourself on what would be her takeoff spot, getting in the way a bit. So, moving forward to the outer edge of the wing is going to help her see the line to the wing s she can charge past you. That is more of what you were doing on the wing on the other side, after the tunnel: more motion and less rotation, but with lovely connection, so she got it.
The line back down to the tunnel looked great each time 🙂 So CONNECTED! She had no questions here.

The plank work is looking good – position changes are going to encourage “tight” sits and downs where she has to bring her feet in and use her core, all of which is great for strengthening and balance.

And it makes sense that the largest RDW mat was helpful – it makes the criteria easier for a youngster who is just now learning where all of her feet are LOL!!

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

OK, you are definitely upping the ante on your video intro photos! SNORT! Now ice ice baby will be running through my head for the next 10 or 20 years LOL

The extra room gave you both more room to flow, and added speed – but in a good way, because this session is looking really good!

Looking at Ronan’s behavior: he is turning out to be a REALLY great turning dog and he has lovely commitment: play the section from :21 – :24 in slow motion and you will see that he is committed turning beautifully even when Mike is already finished and heading the other way. Super! And all this with a tunnel straight ahead. Yay! Same thing going to the left at :31 – :34. Nice! And again at :45. I don’t see a side preference, meaning he is turning REALLY well in both directions.

I think he has a little trouble gripping the sand for these turns, so you can try wetting the sand or maybe taking him to some grass surfaces? Here in VA we have plenty of well water so hosing stuff is easy, not sure if CA has different water rules? I would like to give him more bar height for this, but we need to make sure he won’t slip in the sand.

Looking at Mike’s behavior: also very strong! Lower arms, super connected, nice early timing on the wrap cues, and you seemed to trust him a lot by rotating and leaving so that you were already facing the next direction. I think you were facing the middle jump just fine on all them except on the last run, you rotated on the middle jump so Ronan started to collect on it. With your connection and lower arms, you don’t need to face it all that much because he is seeing the line so nicely 🙂

Great job here! I think you can move into the straight-lines-4-ways to play with the different cues in a different context that is also going to get more speed 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>> So, if she’s not following the handling and I can’t help with a placed toy then what do I use? I’m sure I could have been more timely, but if kept moving she was just paralleling the outside line and not coming through the gap.

Keep moving… but use the cross-body connection and do it at a walk for now – that should be all she needs 🙂 I think if the connection is not clear, then she is likely to stay on the parallel line. But if the connection is clearer, she will come right in. Slowing down the motion (but not fully stopping or decelerating) will also help her process it all – ideally you are moving in one steady motion the whole time.

>>Also, I’m trying not to jus5 keep going if we aren’t getting it. What, then, is the split?

You can move through the rep, reward whatever happens (dogs are such good mirrors of our handling that I just assume that they were right in situations like this). Then, on the next rep – connect more, really exaggerate it. If you think you were fully connected, then you can slow the motion down.

The other thing to do is put the camera on an angle that shows us what she sees after the blind. So instead of facing the sequence, you can have it facing the blind cross line so you can see your connection after the blind. That might give us the best view (literally haha) of what she is seeing and why she is responding the way she is. And if you cannot get the line you want after 2 reps – watch the video in slow motion to see what she is seeing.

>>Also, which verbal if any are you using? Really it’s a threadle, no?

I was using left and right on the wings, the soft turn verbals. If you think about the 3 wings as 3 separate jumps, it is not really a threadle, more of a bypass of the middle jump. Plus, the dog should look for a bar after a threadle slice verbal so I tend to only use the threadle slice verbals when bars are present.

>>But, for now is it the wrap verbal or a right and left? I’m thinking wrap as they need to come through the gap.>>

They dog come through the gap, eventually, but I keep the wrap verbals fo when they need to come through the gap *right now* 🙂 and right at the end of the wing – in this case, the wrap verbal here should get the dog coming back to the tunnel. On a bar, the double crosses would produce soft turns so I like the left and right verbals for this one.

Let me know what you think and how your next session goes!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Oh no! I am sorry the teach it fell out from under him! Poor Levy!!! Yes, it was smart of you to change the picture entirely after that and take a different approach. His slam game is looking good – using this setup, you can also pretend it is a flyball box 🙂 and have him hit it (from any direction, at this point) and then race off for the toy. He will recognize that and like it a whole lot 🙂 You can also prop the teeter between tables of Klimbs, to get him running back and forth across it (eventually adding movement and sound).

He is definitely looking good on the lower dog walk. One thing to add before moving forward with the dog walk – while it is low, ask him to jump on in the middle of it, then ask him to jump off. He needs to learn balance and how to jump off, in case he loses his balance or something happens. Knowing how to safely dismount will build a whole lot of confidence 🙂 And yes, you can start the running dog walk training now if you like 🙂

The verbal game is going well. As soon as he understand the framework of it, he did really well with you sitting! Now you can fade out the pointing – you can use your line up so he is facing the obstacles and not you, so he can move forward to whichever one you say without looking at you first or needing an arm cue.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Lots of great work on both of these runs. You were really driving her, which resulted in a ton of great lines and far fewer head checked. YAY! You don’t need to edit out any chaos 🙂 It helps me see what is happening so we can figure out how to de-chaos the situation LOL!

On the jumping course: This went really well!!! The opening looked super nice! The threadle lead out worked beautifully to get 1-2-3.

To get the blinds: connect less. I know, I bet you have NOT heard that one from me before hahaha 🙂 When you are watching her, it slows down the running a bit – so in certain situations, you don’t have to watch her and you can just disconnect and run. 5-6-7 is somewhat like that (you can watch less and run to it, and then I bet you get it pretty easily :)) and 9-10-11 is DEFINITELY like that 🙂 As soon as you see her committing to 9 (looking at it and driving towards it) you can use your jump verbals but stop connecting and run down the line to the blind. You watched her for a little too long at :34 which make you late for the BC.

Good job getting the backside at 14! For a smoother exit line to the tunnel, keep running forward like you did, but stay closer to the exit wing of 14 so she lines herself up on the tight line to the 15 tunnel. You stayed in motion perfect, but you were moving laterally so she was a little wide.

On the ending line, yes, you can call your left verbal sooner to get a tighter turn on the last tunnel exit. You were AWESOME about staying in motion and going directly to the blind here! You connected only a little and got to the blind really well at the end.

Standard course:
Good job moving over to show the wing on the opening of the standard course at :14! She came in to 3 really well because of your strong position. Super nice send-and-go on 4 to get ahead of her on the next line! The cues were early and fast, so she seemed to keep her eyes on her line the whole time, especially driving to the tunnel. Nice backside wrap after the teeter!

It is this weave entry that was the reason why I put the weave entry game into week 2 🙂 Almost every dog here in CAMP missed it the first time. Check out the training game in Package 2 – your handling was fine, it is a dog training moment. You shaped the one more on the 2nd and 3rd reps, but she still didn’t get it, so I think the training game will really help her.

She got it nicely on the 2nd approach on the line from the teeter, but we would like her to get it the very first time LOL!

When she did get into the weaves: great job starting your blind while she was still weaving! That set up a really nice 2nd blind followed by the send-and-go before the dog walk. You can decelerate into that send and go more, don’t run as much to the jump: as you finish blind #2, decel, turn on your wrap verbal, and send her. She will be tighter on that jump to the DW, and you will be further ahead (which is always a good good thing :))

On the last tunnel (after the DW) – you called her when she was in it, so move up the timing of the verbal to before she goes in (about 6 feet before) to get a better turn on the exit. Her tunnel commitment is looking strong here, so you can add the exit verbals in for sure.

I love how you didn’t over-connect on the line after the tunnel and just ran for the blind. YAY! You can give the push verbal a little sooner and then when she lands from the push jump at 2:12, decel and send as soon as her feets hit the ground to tighten her turn on the next jump at 2:13. And give your left verbal as soon as her feet touchdown from that push jump. You can leave the post turn sooner that way, or consider doing a spin instead to be able to drive to the ending line way ahead of her.

Great job here! Let me know what you think!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

For Arram:
Tugging and engagement looked great. What a fun little guy! For now, you can over- emphasize the line to the tunnel and wing as you add them together, with a lot of connection (arm back, your eyes on his cute little eyes) and probably a little more motion to the tunnel and wing (less send, for now).

Because he is so new to all of this, you can structure your sessions differently so things don’t fall apart. Start the session with something really easy, for just a couple of reps. Then, in the early/middle part of the session: add one slightly harder challenge. Do one or two reps… then go back to the easy stuff for the rest of the session. That easy-hard-easy bell curve approach to a session will get the harder stuff in a little earlier, when he is ‘fresher’ and then you can pump the rate of success up again if needed with the easier stuff towards the end.

I am so glad to hear that Lanna did well at the MEB seminar! MEB is indeed brilliant 🙂 So fun!!!!!! Yay! I am really glad the games you taught her helped – that is a challenging environment and the dogs need a lot of tools to be successful 🙂

She looked really strong in the barn videos! You were super connected, which helps. And it appears that you were carrying some type of magical reinforcement because she was on fire AND came driving back to the reward the instant you told her that she could have it LOL! Good girl 🙂

On the first video:
The opening sections looked really good – you were connected, talking to her, low arms, and hustling. She loved it!
At :32, you got in for a RC but I think you could have either sent her more to the yellow jump after the tunnel, and gotten the blind, or decelerated sooner and set the RC earlier. Part of the way to get her to send to the yellow jump sooner is to praise her less in tunnel exits – she was hearing praise as she exited the tunnel at :28 so didn’t have commitment info. Over jumps, she can still see the physical cues and get the line, but on a tunnel, I think the energetic go go go will help her find that jump so you can blind 🙂 She did well with the RC but the blind will be really energizing for her and also puts you ahead if there is crazy stuff ahead on course.

At :59 you worked the in in on the threadle jump – good timing of starting it, she came in off the line nicely -try not to stand still as that drew her off the line too much and you couldn’t get her back to it. Keep moving towards the wing of the threadle jump, so the converging motion pushes her back to it (yes, the verbal and upper body will need to override the convergence to get her to NOT take the front, that is the joy of threadles LOL!!!) You moved into it more strongly on the next rep, so try to fade out the decel and just move into that line like you did at 1:15 here 🙂

2nd video:
Wow, she read the backside instead of the tunnel beautifully on the first run!!

She had a little threadle question here too: she seems to have a strong understanding of the ‘come in’ element but not entirely sure of the ‘go back out’ as a default behavior without you needing to handle it.
You can isolate the threadle and walk through it without stopping or change in motion, showing her the converging motion so she puts herself back out to the jump without you needing to handle it at all. The in in cue means “come in – go out” so that you can build up to running through it. And you can place or toss a reward out on the landing line, so you can move away as soon as you see her head turn to the bar.
At 1:07, you were much closer to that but yo are handling the 2nd part with decel and arm cues – we can help her do it all by herself 🙂

The weave video started off brilliantly, I liked your additions of the RCs on the soft side entries!

Then things got too hard, and you were definitely a little in the too-much-failure mode. Good job breaking it down, though, and ending on big success! For the next session, you can start on a slightly easier variation of where things got really hard, then try the hard stuff again (start on 4 poles, then build back up to 6)

For Haydn, we can help with that bend back! Working on open poles will help (open channels, open 2x2s) and you can place the reinforcement (or a target) right where you want him to make that bending back (just past the base between poles 2 and 3) That way he can get a whole lot of success on that bending back, while you can gather gradually move the reward further down the poles. For example, I just started Contraband’s weave training by putting a Manners Minder right in the poles, at pole 3, and moved it down the line of channels. Since I think Haydn is super food driven, you can use an open lotus ball as a target and then plop the food into it when he makes that bend back. That can help him build understanding with you needing to physically help : )

And I am glad Pip got to play – I hope you have a big birthday celebration planned for him <3

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Good session on the weaves, these are hard entries! Clicking that moment of ‘bend back’ in the entry was well-timed and seemed VERY useful for her. On your second session, you were really good about sending and leaving without standing still. Yay! She hit a sticking point at about 1:48, where the entry was just a little too hard for now. Good job seeing that and adjusting things to help her get success. I think you didn’t have the clicker in that session, so you can bring it back out to clarify the entry and bend back on that angle. So on the next session, tackle that entry but start with a rep or two of a slightly easier angle… then inch the start wing back out to the harder angle (and eventually, past it, but that might take a couple of sessions). You can also put the wing in on a full course when she has a hard entry like this.
Great job! Have fun!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Nice work on this course, she is doing really well! Some subtle details for you:

Nice blind to the tunnel!!! Both times!

On the send to 10 – your timing is good there, but the cue had a little too much propulsion and energy to it, so she was a little wide over 10. She was really driving (yay!) so you can send like you did but with a ‘softer’ arm send, meaning instead of a big swoosh forward, just drop your right hand down next to you leg so more of a decel cue. That will get more collection and tighten that line to 11 even more.

At the 13 wrap: the turn was good but I think you cue can still be earlier. At :13, she is halfway to the jump when yo start your decel/collection cues for the spin, so she didn’t have a lot of time & room to process it. And by driving forward a lot as you exited the line, she didn’t see a lot of connection so glanced up at you. You can start the decel as soon as she exits the tunnel (you don’t have to be at the wrap wing) so she can make a bigger collection on the takeoff side, and so you will have more time to be able to be fully rotated and connected before she lands from the wrap.

At :48 (and also at 1:01 even though you stopped) she read the cue correctly to go to the backside of 13 – as she exited, you were pushing in towards the takeoff spot (your line heading to the center of the bar) and rotated, so it read as a backside push. Note the difference at 1:07 where you moved to the wrap wing and decelerated – perfect! You decelerated earlier on this one too, which helped her. Because she reads the decel and rotation so well, you don’t need to pressure into the takeoff spot at all.

On the first run, even though you forgot your line for a heartbeat, the ending line worked well! She was really independent on the backside wrap and that is fabulous 🙂 To keep that last line even tighter, run more directly to the last jump (you were moving away from it a bit so she followed that line and was a little wide to the last jump).

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi again!

DEFINITE steam exiting ears for Kaladin on the first couple! And also when you changed sides. Independent entries are hard!! But after seeing it once or twice, he was then able to start driving in did well.
The really hard soft sided entries (dog on left) are definitely good ones to work on, like the angle you did at 1:15 and 1:24 – he had to really think about that! So don’t add speed to those angles yet. But I think with the other angles, you can add speed and RCs for him.

For Min – these are already looking much more independent! You did a great job of not over-helping. 🙂 You just sent and left. She had the same trouble on the same entry as Kaladin did, so definitely revisit that one with her and add more speed. And for her also, you can add more speed and the RCs on the other entries, it is just that challenging soft sided entry that is super hard.

Great job! Have fun a UKI this weekend!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Layering is definitely a trained skill, so these sessions got you off to a good start.

For Kaladin – he was totally getting the idea and got better and better on each rep! You can place the toy rather than try to throw it, to both be a visual aid for him and to manage where the frisbee goes (It had a mind of its own sometimes LOL!)
From the handling perspective, he might propel into the layering with more of a ‘forward’ cue like a go go go on the jump or two before the layering moment, plus you starting really pretty close to the first jump and then accelerating into the line – then you can use the jump cues once he is layering. And try a tiny bit more connection but not a lot – it is a fine balance – so he doesn’t see your back and cut into the tunnel, but also the slightly “closed” shoulder and high arm helps support the layer. I think on some reps, you were too forward-facing so he cut in because he thought it was a blind cross perhaps?

Min, being more experienced, was happy to layer here! When you did a bit too much pointing forward (:18), she followed the turn of your shoulders but when you sent her into it more clearly before turning your shoulders (:23) she was great.

With both dogs, you had some ‘out’ verbals mixed in which is helpful, so yo can say them sooner (as she is approaching the jump *before* she has to pass the tunnel) and repeat them. And for both, don’t get quiet at all – when you got quiet with Min at 1:05 she came off the line with the layer (and yelled at you LOL) but was perfect at 1:14.

So for both – – a slightly more connected send with a lower arm gets them into the layer, and loud, repeated verbals definitely help support the line once they are in it 🙂

Great job! Onwards to weave games!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
I think she was a bit tunnel happy here at first LOL! Then she got jump happy 🙂

You tried a couple of the things I would suggest – putting her on the side closer to the jump, standing, etc. I think standing helped a bit so for now, keep standing. I promise we will get you back in the chair soon LOL!!

The other thing that can help is if you move the jump a little further away from the tunnel for now, so it is less easy to take the tunnel when you want the jump (maybe 2 meters away?) The other thing to try is to have her line up between your feet, if possible – that way she is not trying to read handling based on which side she is on, she will have to listen to what you are saying because the handling won’t give her any real help. So, for now, try standing with her between your feet and moving the obstacles a bit further apart, and we can see how it goes!

Keep me posted :)
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Eek!!! The best sessions are always the ones where we forget to turn on the camera. Bummer!!!!!

His teeter game looked really good! The really lateral line of motion was definitely hard for him: not a lot of heading checking, but he was slowing down a little on the more severe angles. So you can split the difference on those, and move away on less severe angles for now.

I know the MM was out there, but was there a target on the ground too? If so, you can move it closer to the edge of the teeter: having it a little further away was drawing him a bit too far forward, which was lifting his head and changing the teeter speed. If there was no target out there, you can try a toy instead of the MM, that might keep his head lower.

The blind session looked good!! On the double blinds here, you are stopping a bit after the first one: try to keep running the whole way through, no stopping 🙂 you had more motion on the FC-BC, which he read really well and the continued motion got you further up the line. So do the same with the blind: start it and hustle to wing 3, but with the same timing of the connection changes that you did here – the motion will help draw him past that middle wing even more. You can keep your arms in tight (wings in!)so the connection changes will be even quicker as you run up the line.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!!

He is doing well here – brain games are so hard!!! He had a really high rate of success!!!

It might help him even more if you have him between your knees, facing the jump/tunnel to start, so he isn’t facing you 🙂 – he was moving in the correct direction but because he was facing you, he wasn’t sure if he had permission to turn away and take the obstacle.

And if he gets a little frantic, have him do a sit for a cookie to reset, then try again.

Well done!!!! Let me know how his next session goes. 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>She seemed fine afterwards.

Good! Let me know how the chiro visit went!

>> I had a suggestion to do grids from a friend. I don’t have any specific resources for that.>>

I generally do Susan Salo grids, but after the dog has a basic understanding, I move to a moving target. I will dig up some videos and add them here 🙂

>>Something I think that’s holding us back is that she doesn’t pass me (as pointed out by Shoshana Dos at a seminar), so it’s really hard to leave early. If I can get ahead, we’re extremely accurate, but I think most of our training to date has been her moving ahead on GO, or if I’m still and sending her, but as we run, she will pace me and look ate instead of moving past me to the next thing. I don’t know how to fix it, but I have to run her like a Havanese and she will mostly only go as fast as I do. It’s exhausting. Thoughts?>>

Oh yes that is a huge insight!!!! She needs to pass you on a send!!!! OK, let’s work on that. So for example, on sequence 4 of those first set of ESC sequences, we have the wrap on jump 9. Isolate that section, moving the wrap to just a wing (taking out the bar and other wing). Have a toy you can throw (or have someone else throw it for you). Start from tunnel 7, running in close to the tunnel: you’ll be parallel to her at jump 8. Decel, connect, send her ahead of you to wing 9, and then you turn and leave… while you throw the reward to the landing of 9.

That’s a good place to start getting her to accelerate ahead of you, then we can build up from there. 🙂
Let me know how it goes!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Awwww the puppy is great!!!!! What a good baby dog!!!

This was an interesting session. She was very successful but also you were helping by not letting go 🙂

I wonder if the obstacles are too far apart, actually, so that the obstacle you want is so far away she doesn’t consider it until you don’t let go and she turns her head?

So, move ’em closer and let’s she what she does 🙁

Also, some failure is fine, so let her go so she can make a choice and get feedback 🙂 a failure or two might be quite informative! But no more than 2.

The other thing to try is to have her between your knees rather than at your side – being at your side might have a positional meaning to her, and being between your knees might be more neutral.
Let me know how it goes 🙂
Tracy

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