[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Live class sequences:

Seq 1:
He had a little trouble finding the line at first, so you’ll want to revisit this a lot without the DW there so he is really confident finding the line on that first rep. He was fine after that, but he saw where the jump was LOL!

The RC on 5 is a good thing to use! At :28 it was late starting, so you can begin the arm cues and the verbals when he over jump 4, so he lands seeing the cues (remember the WOO!) These cues started just before takeoff so he didn’t have time to adjust. Coming back down the line looked good!

Seq 2: Almost running into the tunnel means you went in too deep to the dog walk, so it was better when you handled with more distance.

Seq 3, putting 2 of them together: this looked good too! I would turn him to the right on the far jump at 1:35 rather than left, because the left wrap puts him in collection and makes the next line harder to find with more turning

Adding the weaves might have been a bit too much. He was fine here on the reps you put in, but sounds like he had lots of questions – he has done a lot this week and if he was stressing, you will want to leave it alone for a bit rather than work it more (more work generally means more stress, not more success LOL!!)

Standard course 1 walk through:
The opening looked good – I don’t think you need to help him over the bar on the 3 and 4 backsides, you can connect but keep moving through

Jump 1 at ;39, he turned left because you stepped backwards instead of forward like you did when you walked it. If that happens – keep going! That might happen at a trial and you won’t be able to re-start.

Helping him with the bar at 3 made the line and connection to cue the 4 backside late at :50 (you were still running into the gap which presents the front and you didn’t connect back to him with your arm back, so he was convinced it was the front. When the physical and verbal cues don’t match, the dogs will take the physical cues, generally.

The rest of the handling went really well! On the 16 tunnel, tell him to corre corre before he even enters it, so he blasts out into the layering even sooner 🙂 Then you can try to get in a little closer to 17 to show it to him, but the rest of the plan went really well!

He had a lot of questions on the contacts for sure!

>>I don’t think Grizzly likes the AF at this site since it it not rubberized. At home or trials I have not seen these many errors.>>

That might be it – he hits it pretty hard and it might be uncomfortable in terms of hardness and grip.

The angle of exit on the RDW is actually taken from an AKC map – they are seeing this a lot of regular AKC standard, so I figured it would be good to work on. You can start by making the jump angle less severe, moving it closer to the straight line exit, then as he gets confidence and understanding, you can move it more and more to the difficult angle and reward the good fast hits (when he got it, he slowed down a lot to get it).

Course 2 walk through:
The walk through is looking good, and that is translating to most of the handling looking good too!

Since he is doing into the 5-6-7 layering on the running a-frame, you can probably layer 18 on the way to 8 🙂 Layering and distance is a massive trend nowadays!

I think you wanted the threadle wrap at 16 at :25 but it looked like a threadle slice handling in the walk through.
I am glad you practiced the turn to the dog walk, because he agreed that the cue looked like a threadle slice cue at :40. The speed of handling it and the step back to the jump with your left arm & leg at :41 before he had a chance to turn was what cued the slice. The threadle wraps are a slower handling move than the slices, because you need to turn him and then you can move away (also don’t say left LOL!!)

MUCH better at :59, you turned his head before you moved forward, and it was all clearer. Try not to run backwards too much as that can also accidentally show the slice line.

Showing him the threadle exit of the DW was good too – don’t say yes until he has finished the behavior because the big praise means reward, which pulled him off the line when you wanted the jump.

The hard turns off contacts are a good training area for him!

At 1:58 off the teeter, it was hard to hear the verbals – I think you said “break right” and he went straight. You can use your right as the release to see if that helps It was hard to hear the cues at 2:21, he was still straight. So you can take a travel plank and work the angled exits on just a plank! That can be an easy fun way to break it down so he is successful 🙂

The layering lines all looked great here! Fast and confident!!!!

Looking at the threadle wrap before the dog walk:
At 2:34, you reverted to the fast throwback threadle slice on the jump before the DW rather than the slower clearer move you did on the warm up, so he turned left. The repeat at 2:41 was much clearer, so be sure to add that clearer, slower move into the walk throughs too. It is hard to run like mad then have to slow down to cue the turn, but these types of turns definitely are slow motion in how we cue them, especially as the dogs are learning them.

Then at 2;41 – a big YESSSS so he went straight – try not to praise, just give info (information is praise, in a way, and sets the dog up for more success)

He was having trouble finishing the wrap here without looking at the tunnel and keeping the bar up. So for now – don’t use a bar, use just one wing in the course, so he can get he coordination and turn and process all the verbals. Then when he s not looking at the tunnel and wrapping easily, you can put the bar back in at 16” to build the skill up to add jumping – then the bar can get higher and high over the course of several sessions.

He found the in in really nicely at 2:54 but then you ran away to 19, so he followed your motion and didn’t take the jump. Stay at the threadle for one moment longer, so he can make. The turn and find the bar. That means you can move but move parallel to the bar, not away from it, more like what you did at 3:13. He has a bit of trouble jumping that bar on the threadle – he was definitely tired here but I saw it in the warm up too. So you can practice these at high speed (like off the RDW) on a 16 inch bar to help him find the footwork and speed, then go to 18 then 20 and so on.

The handling on the end looked good!
He was VERY tired by the end of this – he has had a busy week, plus running in the heat and sand is hard, so I suggest several days off from agility so he can be fresh and ready to do more 🙂

Nice work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Her commitment on the ladders looks really good! She wants you to trust her more: you are helping her too much by waiting for her to finish coming around the wing before moving forward, so she is slowing down to let you get off her line 🙂 So as soon as she arrives at the wing, you can move forward and maintain your connection back to her.

At :14 on the FC, for example, you trust her to finish her commitment because you sent and left: note how at :15 she is finishing the wrap and you are several steps ahead. Compare it to :17 when she is finishing coming around the wing and you are still there on the ‘landing’ side. Ideally you would be past the wing by then. So as she passes you and turns her head to the wing, you can move forward behind her. That will also make the blind cross exits even easier .If she has any commitment questions, you can throw the reward back to her.

The double crosses are going better too! I think the last thing to work on with these is to keep your arms in tight to you (so they are not really visible to her) on the 2nd blind – make the 2nd blind all about eye contact, so she can read it even sooner.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

She looks great! The bars are 16 here, I think, and the jumping looks good! On the straight line after the tunnel, we are seeing a lot of 1-stride reps which is GREAT!

Yes, the timing of the BC is tricky. The first one was early as you mentioned so she read a fancy line (good girl!) The 2nd one was much better! – a little late but definitely on the right track.
Two ideas to get the blind tighter:
– keep your arms in tighter by bending your elbows and tucking your arms into your ribs. That will make your blind quicker showing the new connection sooner. If you start the blind on time but your arms are out too much, it slows down the new connection and widens the turn.

– to make connection after the blind, you can use the reward-across-the-body connection style to really open up the connection and get nice turns:

The lead out push looked great too. She will add a little more collection on those if you stay in position one stride longer (but her turn was fast and tight so I am not sure we need more collection).

>>I then tried to do a reverse spin to get her into the opposite side of the tunnel but she was reading it as a RC. When I watched the video I can see this but I was using my dig dig dig (left wrap verbal). >>

Yes, she was correct to read the rear cross at :41, the physical cue was a strong rear cross cue (you tried to get the spin after she landed from 3, which sealed the RC for her). If the verbal and the physical cues don’t match, she will have to choose and often young dogs choose the physical cues.

At :54 you did a better job of trying to get her to turn left and she was starting to… until you took a step to your left so she changed leads to the tunnel

When you were doing it as one jump, your feet and shoulders were facing the RC line a bit so she kept turning right (like at 1:18). When you faced the jump more fully at 1:25, she got the left turn. Then at 1:38, you were able to add the spin to that. When you put it back into the sequence at 1:55, you did turn to face the jump more fully so she was able to read the left turn, but watch your feet there: you were side stepping towards her which created a question, and she dropped the bar. 2:04 was much better in terms of showing the line, you would need to get off her line one step sooner (she was waiting a bit between 3 and the tunnel).

Another way to handle the spin would be to move to the wing like you did, but when she lands from 2 you can already be rotated and then handle 3 as more of a throwback and less of a post turn then spin.

>>Would you not handle it this way or do I just need to train it more? >>>>

Good question! I would handle it the other way for most dogs (including Dora) because the slice is so strong 2-3. And if the dog can turn and find a tunnel entry without losing too much speed? That will end up being faster because of the slice line 2-3. The turning 2-3, and then 3 to find the line to 4 will often negate the better line 3-4 for most dogs (such as dogs that have to slow down to find the tunnel).

Dora is great at turning and great at finding tunnels, so I bet turning right at 3 will be faster. If you have time, do it both ways and we will time it!

Great job here; I am so excited with how well she is running these!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>>Now that I think about it, my feet are pointing the wrong way for a threadle (which is why all of them felt like throwbacks – because they are). I knew something was off when I was doing it (and I just figured it out).

Yes, those were all forced front crosses – they were good ones! The is reading them well, including the throw backs. So it was a good session! And I use the threadle verbal for these as well, because it is the same behavior for the dog. To turn it into threadle handling, turn so your stomach is facing the wing and feet facing the ext line.

One adjustment I suggest is that you change her start position based on what you want her to do at 2 – if it is the backside, line her up on a slice at 1 so she is facing the backside line. You had her facing straight which added a turn on 1 and shows the line later.

>>She was a little twitchy at the start when I’d move my arm, so a good reminder for both of us to pause. >>

Her start lines are looking better for sure! During the pause before your release, put your hand in position for a solid couple of seconds before the release. You were stationary then released *then* put your hand in. This is one of the few cues where the hand is the most important part of it, so have your hand fully in position, count to 2, then release will help her find the line very reliably as things get more complex.

For example, at :49 and :53, you are stationary with no hand cue and visible between the uprights when you released her, so it could have easily been the front side there. She was fully in FFC mode by then so she got it, but the hand cue in position came after the release when ideally it is low and visible past the wing for a couple of seconds before the release. The same will hold true when you turn around for the threadle 🙂

The positions at :49 and :53 looked almost identical to the position at :58 and 1:05, which turned out to be the LOP when you released her. So on the one too – present the full picture of the cue (strike a pose!), count to 2 – then release.

She will need to be convinced not to move when you put your hand in position (which might be why you are not putting it into position) so you can do LOTS of putting your hand in position slowly and throwing a reward to her for NOT moving.

Great job here! Since the weather is good, drag out the tunnel and add more moving and sequencing to this 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

He was such a good boy with his lead outs! And your rewards were great! So were your connections in the handling – click/treat for you too! 🙂

All of this looked really strong so my feedback is boring 🙂
The blinds looked good on 2 jumps and looked even better on 3 (the timing is easier when you have more space to turn early). His commitment is developing nicely, so you can start the blind as soon as he lands from 1. You were closest to that at 1:15 and he read it perfectly!

You can do the FC sooner too – at 1:35 you were starting it when he was approaching 2, so try to start it as soon as he lands from 1.

It was hard to see from the camera angle but you might be moving too straight past 2 and not towards 3 enough on the FC and BCs – he is landing straight then turning, even with the good timing, which generally means you were not close enough to 3. So, on the BCs and FCs, be moving towards 3 (or on the FC, go stand right at 3) and that will help with the line.

The lead out push is going well too, this will be much easier and smoother and faster than the FC for him! He only had one blooper here (the only blooper on the video!) and I think it was because you were moving too much through the lead out push at 2:09 so he didn’t quite connect it to the jump. You were great at 2:19, when you stood still, made connection, then released him so he nailed it. Yay!

Great job! Let e know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

The seq 1 walk through looked good! My only handling suggestion is that since he is a small dog, you can get closer to 4 (the jump after the wrap) to help him have a good line to it, especially because it is wingless.

He dropped the bar at 2 on the first run, and ticked it on the 2nd run – there was no real handling reason that I could see (you can try connecting more, that is always a good thing LOL!) but he was jumping from his front not his rear, which usually means he is sore or tired or both. He has done a lot of jumping lately, so be sure to not over-do it.

Seq 2 walk through also went well! Your connection looked good on the opening and push to the backside. Yo can use a little more connection on the 4-5-6 line (like at 1:56), keeping your arm back to him – remember he is behind you at this point so you will want to cue the backside with connection and your arm back.
Seq 2 runs – on the first run he was slower than expected, I think, so you got to the backside sooner and then lost connection (arm moved forward) so he ended up on the front side. The second run was good too, but the little disconnect at 6 got the front side (3:05).

You got him a little more pumped up and then the full run at 3:38 was really good! That is where I would have ended the session: he was fast, happy, clean. And your connections were in all the right spots! You tried it again at 4:34 but you had an error by being late/disconnected on the rotation at 6 and tried it again after that and he told you pretty clearly he was done. You got him to keep going, but he pulled bars. So be aware of the “that was great, let’s NOT do it again” theme so that you can end on the big successes and not try again.

>>I am pretty sure a spin is not the same as a postturn which is what I did)

A spin is a front cross on the jump, then a blind cross on the flat as you move away – so you would be turning towards him on the jump rather than turning away (like the post turn). A spin is very effective there and definitely easier for the handler 🙂

Nice work!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I suggested the frisbee (instead of the lotus ball :)) because it will probably get her wanting to go go go way out on a line …. which is exactly what we want here LOL!!!! Keep me posted!
T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

This skill is looking good! She is coming to the correct side of the wing really well, and just needs a tiny bit of hand motion to help her turn away to the wing. That is perfectly fine, you can keep giving her a low hand movement to turn her away. Keeping your cookie hand low will keep her from looking up as you turn her away. And as you turn her away, keep your feet forward – try not to step to the jump at all.

I think she is ready for you to add a wing before it, so you are both moving a bit faster 🙂

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Looking at course 1:

The walk through looked good! Most of the handling plan and execution looks good. 2 details to consider:

I think the only handling improvement I would suggest is at 2 – you don’t need to turn and face the jump as much. You can be rotated and moving towards 3, so she passes you on that wrap.

And a handling choice question: On the threadle to the blind at 15-16, the blind for a heartbeat shows motion to the off course jump. So be SUPER early with it so she clearly sees your connection before takeoff and doesn’t go off course, or do a front cross which shows no motion towards the off course jump.

Everything else looked good in terms of plan… but as I mentioned above, the next step is to be able to run that plan at Nox speed. That way you can feel how fast everything has to be, and also focus on the timing of the cue delivery.

The opening looked good on the first run and even better on the 2nd run!
You had a question in the video about which verbal to use, I was not sure if it was the verbal at 1:28 for jump 8 (should be threadle verbal ) and you did a greta job getting there, btw! Unless you meant 10? That would be more connection and an out cue to get her on the line. I think you said Go on the 2nd run and moved to it more and she did well!

2nd walk through after the break:

Good connection, good plan – verbals too quiet because you are not moving fast 🙂

2nd run – very nice! Much clearer on 9-10. Yo can give her more connection on. The exit of 12 to get the tight line to the weaves.

You are correct, you would need to fade away from the weaves to get your plan done with the 14-15-16 line. The other option would be to send to 15 and stay on the other side of 16 to get the ending line. It is doable that way too!

You found out that the blind presents the off course after 15 (other folks found this out too) because as you are blinding, the shoulders and feet turn to the off course. Now, if you are perfect in your execution and really early, the blind works well! If you are a little late? Off course! So the FC is a great plan and she read it immediately when you did it.

At the very end, she turned right at 3:51 instead of left because she needed to see more rear cross pressure to get the left turn – your line was towards the right turn wing.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
This is going really well, and the runs were really quite strong!!!

>>Even before I reviewed the videos after running the sequences, I think I did a better job of being very thorough with the walk through since I knew you’d be watching, lol.

Ha! That’s so funny!

Looking at the video – in your walk throughs, your handling choices and plans are strong, and they are clear in the walk through. I know exactly what you want the dog to do. You were working your connections and had them mostly all in place (a little challenging here and there but no glaring big connection issues at all – the connection was there in the walk through and there in the runs).

So to help get you into that first run best run mode where the first run truly is the best one… the things to add in the walk through are more consideration of timing, and more running speed from you 🙂 I think that is where the bloopers came from – you were jogging in the walk through but that was an entirely different speed than the actual run (Nox is FAST FAST FAST 🙂 ). Your 2nd or 3rd run was great, because you had the rhythm and speed for that run after doing it once or twice already,

So after deciding the handing and connection, think about the WOO timing – where does she need to see the cues start, where will she be on course? Remember that it will be no later than exit of the previous obstacle. And be sure to be connected to the invisible dog in that spot 🙂

Then when all of that is decided: run it as fast as you think she will go, or faster. This is exhausting LOL!! But totally worth it. You will get the feel of what is going to happen and execute your plan a few times at top speed – and you’ll be totally ready to run her. The goal is to be able to run it faster in the walk through than she will need to see it in the run.

So looking at the runs, here are some examples of where focus on timing and the faster walk throughs will help you nail it in the run.

On the first sequence – yes, the one big step into the layering at top speed and with with big loud verbals!) will really help you get her directly onto the layering lines. That connection and timing at speed is not easy so definitely practice going into it at a run.

Seq 2: Your plan is really good! The spots to get more speed in the walk through are the 3-4 FC and the FC at 9.

The off course tunnel on the FC 3-4 at 2:02 was a combo of being late (you finished it as she was landing) and also you were backing up – and backwards motion is same as forward motion so she took the tunnel. Running through it will help you eliminate the moving backwards and focusing on the timing will help you be much earlier.

Looking at the walk through, you are rehearsing it late. At 1:35 and 2:41, for example, you are starting the FC and connecting with an invisible dog that is over the bar. That mirrors what you did at 2:01 and 3:04. The FC should start when she lands from 2, so connect to your invisible dog there then begin the FC so it is finished before takeoff to 3.

The FC at 9 was just a matter of getting the line at speed.
The error at 3:14 of pushing her to the tunnel after the FC on 9 is a speed-in-walk-through error. So that is a spot to add more running in the walk through for sure.

3rd run looked really good!

Seq 3:
As you noted in the video, your arm didn’t want to stay back on the 5-6 section LOL! Your shoulder was too closed forward in the walk through at 5-6 as you run past the tunnel which mirrors the handling at 4:09 so she had questions there. So as you run through there, you can practice making the strong connection back to her to get her past the tunnel. As she gets more experienced running past tunnels in this context, the easier it will be 🙂 Everything else looked great!

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Welcome back from vacation, I hope you had a blast!
Close Enough Farm looks so lovely! I have heard great things about it and the people up there are really nice and tons of fun. She seemed to have a great time running there!

And WOW your speedstakes run at Level Up is GORGEOUS!!!!!! So connected and smooth, and so FAST!

>>Our first run was really nice until I decided I couldn’t make my blind (watching the video, I totally could have!), and then it got messy from there.>>

I don’t see that run here, so that means we can focus only on the brilliant run 🙂

>>She runs a lot slower at LUDS than on grass and at Quicksilver.

My dogs also struggle on the LU turf. So I run them with their feet wrapped like in Flyball, that seems to help! And I am careful about what I enter – only good judges (Rosanne is a good judge 🙂 ) and I don’t enter the very twisty courses there.

Onwards to the videos!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I tried the set point again at 16″ height but the space was 6′. I thought this looked more comfortable for her than the 5′ spacing?

Yes, I liked the 6 foot spacing! On the set point reps, she was sitting at an awkward distance away from the first jump: to close to take a stride to step in, and too far to just push off her rear. So she was doing a little extra front foot lift and I think that was changing the jumping. Is try moving her stay position to about 8-12″ inches from the first jump, so she can power off her rear and into the set point.

>She also did the adjustable stride grid with jump 4 starting at 15′ away from jump 3 and I moved it out in one foot increments to 19′ and then back in. I noticed that the further out it got she didn’t seem to modify her take-off point but rather she took off from farther and farther away from jump 4.

She did a great job adjusting to the 2 stride here each time (that is what you were seeing her do when she was taking off further away: adding more extension 🙂 And that is good! Since 16″ is new, for now, don’t change the distance. Leave the 16″ jump in the same place for a full session. I think you can start by getting her to 1-stride if you put it at 12 feet away. Then if she one-strides, put it 14 feet away for the next session. if she still one strides (2 hits of the front feet), you can then try it at 15 feet.

>>Do you think she should be doing only one stride?

I think as an adult dog, yes, she will do one stride in extension at 15 and 18 feet. But as a 14 month old teenager? She is still powering up to it, so we have time and can help her sort it out. She might not be able to produce the powerful one strides til she is 18 months or 2 years old, and that is fine! As long as her form is good, we can let her body mature. My large dogs were the same way: 2 strides or 3 strides as teenagers 🙂 and then one stride as adults 🙂

Nice work here! Let me know how she does!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Here, this might give you ideas 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I think she is learning like a sponge! Amazing! Next on our list is the rear cross stuff – the live class starts to dig into that. Stay tuned!!!

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Hi!

>>I’m sticking with what’s in their online rules book which is much less restrictive. No one has fussed at me yet for what I’ve been doing.

Perfect! It sounds like everyone is very relaxed about it.

>>but thank goodness for the live classes I’m not too far behind to be able to catch up (hopefully – what’s our last posting date for this class?).>>

Because this summer has been hotter than usual, we are going to extend the class into September. I haven’t put an exact date on it yet, but probably some time around Sept 15 or so. I will get it sorted out soon, so people don’t feel time pressured while dealing with 100 degree heat.

Teeter angles: this is looking good! Theoretically he will only ever see a straight entry but he was doing a great job using his hind end to line up to straighten himself up (very useful for th DW too!) I think you can slide the broad jump boards in a little closer to the teeter, so he has less help lining up straight – he is ready for a bigger challenge.

sing the real 2020 is great because he is already working at that level. He generally looked great! He is a little forward at the end of the board, meaning his weight is a bit in his shoulders so he was getting a little bounce on the board and then came off it (thought bubble moment haha) when the MM was further away. I play the rebound game to help the dogs shift back into their rear end to hold the position more firmly:

Thank you for leaving the howling with the sirens in! That is a big distraction and he came back to focus very nicely after the sirens were past 🙂

Zig zags:
These are going well! Most of it was SUPER easy for him! On those easier angles, keep trying to get him to line up sitting parallel to the first wing other than facing the bar, so he jumps in sideways like he would do on a backside serp.
When he gets to the level of difficulty where you lose the bounce – try overlapping the wings more so the distance is shorter. They all lose the bounce for a moment when we get to that level (this is a HARD jumping skill) so the overlapped wings can help. If he still has questions, you can open the jumps up a tiny bit. The other thing you can add is a toy on the ground as a focal point, as well as a moving target reward (dragging the toy) to help him sort out his power on these zig zags 🙂

The lap and tandem turns went really well. I think on the first couple of reps, it took him a minute to realize he needed to look at your hands and not just drive to the wing! The big break through moment was the shakeyshakey hand at :29, which helped him realize to watch your hands and not just look for the wing. Then when you switched sides, he did REALLY nicely on those! For the first time, I think I see a side preference: I think he is a lefty! He wanted to turn left out of the tunnel when you needed to set the right turns at the beginning, and then the left turns on t he other wing were SUPER zippy and smooth. He is incredibly balanced so it is fun to guess if he is a lefty or righty 🙂 Today, he is a lefty LOL!

The other thing that will help is if you call him before he enters the tunnel so he knows to turn and look for you on the exit (you were using the verbals after he exited). So it can be a name call before entry, then switch to the threadle verbals for the lap and tandem turns.

The last 2 reps were really lovely, a super nice balance of left/right wing commitments and the threadley moments at 1:47 and 2:01. Yay!!!

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

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