[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Buccleigh looks really good here! Fast and feisty!!!! I like the angle of the send to 1, that set a sweet line for both of you (remind me to make that how-to-slingshot video when I get home – currently stuck in Toronto and thankful I am NOT traveling with a dog in this chaos!)

He did not commit to 5 here at :07 (and barked at you as feedback haha) – timing was good but the cue delivery was not clear enough. Great job staying in motion, then sorting it out on the next runs. And you nailed it on the next 2 runs (no barking from him LOL!) – the difference was in your position relative to 4 and 5, and your connection. On the first run, you were too far laterally away from 4 and 5, and you indicated forward to the landing side of 5 so it was not as connected or clear for him. On runs 2 and 3, you got closer to 4 and indicated to the takeoff side of 5 with a bit more connection – perfect both times! Yay! So definitely consider that position as being super important on the sends. Your timing was good throughout, you left after the send perfectly – and your connection was great! And the continuing after an error was helpful to him – he stayed fast, happy and focused.

For Keltie on Seq 4:
Keltie will help us strategize small dog handling (which is very different than large dog handling!). One thing about small dog handling is that we need to show acceleration, but the smalls have a lot of strides to take – so if we send and leave, we end up too far ahead and decelerating. That begins the vicious cycle of you decelerating so the dog decelerates so you decel so she decels…. LOL! I think that was happening here a bit. When I run my smalls, I drive into lines more so I can show acceleration while not getting too far ahead. In this case, that would mean leading out less, running into the tunnel more and driving closer to the ‘curve of the course’ so you don’t decelerate from being too far ahead.

(Side note: I find that running small dogs strategically like this is much harder than running big dogs, where I can point and leave. Small dog handling is more yardage for my legs & lungs and more strategy for my brain. So if feels hard, it is because it is hard :))

So back to Keltie:
At 2-3-4, you were a little too far ahead so you were decelerated so she decelerated. Then on 4-5, you closed your shoulder forward and 5 was really far away, so she had a big question. On the second run, you had more acceleration so she was going faster, but the turn from 4 to 5 was to abrupt and she got mad. In that moment, just keep going (like you did with Buccleigh) as if nothing happened, so she can keep moving. That will ultimately be more reinforcing and fun than you going back to give her a cookie (because we really don’t want to reward stopping on course).
You had a strong combo of acceleration and open shoulder/connection at :59 and 1:33 there and she got it! I think the distance from 4 to 5 was hard for her, so you can totally reward that and also you can tight up the distances to help her out, then spread them out gradually.

Holy wow your wrap on the first run was fabulous! You nailed it. Her turn was GREAT and she was fast and happy after that, because she had clear info AND got to chase your line 🙂 On the 2nd run, you decelerated and waited while she was in the tunnel, so she decelerated, so you decelerated to send, so she decelerated… she did commit to 9 (and drove the ending line) but not as well as on the first run. So you can run in to the tunnel then run back out to get just the right balance of acceleration and position. You did more of that on the last run and she did really well! Yay! I am impressed with her independence on the wrap!!

Let me know what you think, especially the small dog handling strategy ideas 🙂 Great job here!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello from the Toronto airport!

Good job on this course, both in making it fit and in running it!

Opening line:

Wrapping to the inside on 3 (instead of slice to the outside) might have been a product of the fence making the slice impossible – ideally we would slice to the a-frame but we also don’t want to smoosh the dog there 🙂
With the wrap in mind, you can be on landing side of 1-2 and do a little push to 3, I think that will be smoother then the FC on the landing of 2 in the opening here which made him consider the jump next to the frame.

The line across the back looked great – fast and great connection! It looks like you just needed one more step towards the jump after the frame (looks like he ran past a jump) to set him on that line before giddy upping to the RDW. You were much clearer with just one more step at 1:32 and he got it nicely!!!

Your timing of the pass pass pass cue was perfect when he was on the dog walk. His understanding didn’t quite get him all the way there and we certainly do NOT want you to have to outrun him to get him there (part of the joys of the RDW LOL!), so it is a good training game – you can angle the backside jump a tiny bit so the backside is easier for him to see, to help him both go straight through the down contact and find the backside. A bit of back chaining from the down ramp will help build the skill (I am happy with the handling – the only other handling would be to have you drive deeper into the gap from the RDW exit to the backside entry, and that puts you too far behind for the next line. So… verbal cue training off the RDW it is! Carrie said to go in and support him -she is not wrong, but also I would like to build up more independence so you don’t have to. The backside off a RDW is not a super high priority right now, though. The tunnel discrimination is a higher priority. I love the reward energy when you convinced him to do it, though! YAY!!!

Mid course – that line from the RDW to the tunnel discrimination is tricky indeed! I have found that the info starts at 10 (the backside jump after the RDW is 9). As he is lifting for/in the air at 10, give a directional (like left) or an attention cue (FEVER STEVEN ROBERT MICHAEL!) so he approaches 11 turning to his left… and before he lifts for 11, go the tunnel threadle cue. You gave him the in in at the right time, lifting for 11… but because there was no turn info before it, he didn’t process the turn in time. Adding the shoulder rotation will help too but as you hustle up the line, the turn cue before it will really help.

Good job rewarding the in when he skipped the 11 jump, good boy! It is a bit of a Goldilocks moment – the first run was too much running (and also at 3:11) the 2nd was not enough running so he came off the line: that is why the verbals will help so much! And that ‘left’ verbal can come with a brake arm that also turns into the threadle arm right after it!

The weave entry was a bit of a threadle entry, you were way behind, and I think the pool is right there, yes? It was very hard. I do have (theoretically) a specific verbal for those threadle weave entries, so that is something to consider but it is also a low priority. Since the weaves were right in front of DISTRACTION #1 and you had both sprinted the line down the dog walk a bunch of times (impressive!!) you can soften the weave entry to make it easier for him there, in the face of the distraction. You were a good dog trainer to try weaving the other way!!! And he got it 🙂 And, if going in the pool is an option – you can get him to weave then cue the pool 🙂

Great job here!! He did really well and I liked his speed and commitment a lot!! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! It is great to see you both again, it has been too long!!! I am sorry to hear your Achilles is still being a pain, which probably has caused your hamstring on the other side to be angry. You can skip the big courses for now and we can go back to them later in the summer!

It is REALLY fun to see how much Keiko has developed seen I have watched her run. Baby girl is growing up! YESSS!
First run on sequence 1 was almost perfect, she is developing a lot of forward drive, tons of speed, and she let you layer! She looked at you a little on the exit of the #3 tunnel, so as she is heading into the tunnel, give her GO cues and start pumping your arms to accelerate to the last jump. You got quiet so she thought perhaps it was a turn cue. On the 2nd rep you totally added more of the GO cues and you ‘cut the corner’ with the layering sooner, so you were able to present the body language to the last jump sooner too – nailed it! And the layering is a good thing and a topic will be looking at a lot this summer because it is so fashionable now in course design that we need tons of layering skills.

Sequence 2 also looked really good! One thing to consider is releasing her with a directional (like GOGO TUNNEL for this specific line) rather than a normal release cue. When setting up a layer, the normal release cue will require you to run more to set the line otherwise she will curl into you a little like she did here (and running more puts you in a bad position) – so releasing on GO can get the forward motion without you needing to run run run as well 🙂

On the turn on the exit – the “Keiko here” was the tiniest bit later she was already in the tunnel – ideally it is 3 or 4 feet before she enters the tunnel. It looks like she turned just fine, as a product of your position & motion even with the verbal a little late. I think the issue of timing is where to breathe: we are all used to taking a breath while the dog is sending to the tunnel, which makes the turn cues late. So cue the go tunnel as she is over 2, then breathe when she lands, then start the turn verbals before she goes in.
Using obstacle names is great on lines like this, when we handlers are in the picture and when the obstacles are distinct (like jump and tire). I like your choice to use the big GO ON cues for a big line of 3 jumps in a row or something similar. 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think and onwards to sequences 3 and 4!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Kris saved you and Christine a lot of course building LOL!

About repeating the words too much… I think you are fine 🙂 Agility has evolved into a NOISY sport 🙂 So many words! And that is fine, because it helps the dog and allows us to keep moving. The key is that the dog understands the differences in the words so more on that below:

Seq 1: really nice! Loud, long verbals and great connection! Just be sure that you don’t decelerate on the last jump even as you throw throw the toy – the toy helps us in training (but might teach them to ignore decel because the throw launches them past the decel) and at a trial with no toy, she might ask questions and drop the last bar. Yes, there was a little head check but it might be that you yelled the cue (more on that below) and decelerated and turned a little… so she was checking on the decel to see what you wanted. So, stay in full on acceleration mode there 🙂

Seq 2:
Another good one! Now that you mention it… yes whoa and go sound alike 🙂 But no worries, deliver them differently and she will differentiate. Go can be loud and long and a bit higher in pitch like you had it here. And whoa can be longer and a little less loud: whooaaaa. You had it sharp and loud – she was not confused here but it is possible that the decel was helping her too. So try changing the verbal delivery so you can keep moving up the next line.

Sequence 3: we can definitely looked at making your verbals sound different! This is a good sequence for bringing that to light – go and whoa were a little similar here, and so was the verbal for jump 4 (it sounded like you also said whoa for the jump but on the 2nd rep I think it was “right”) Body cues were strong here, so it is a good opportunity to play with verbals: Long loud GOOOO GOOOO TUNNNEL TUNNNNNELLLL and a lower pitch, longer but still loud whooooaaaaaa and the right can be even softer because it is a softer turn: riiiight riiiiight. I say my left and rights like a question (riiiight? Riiiiight?) because it sounds wildly different from the other verbals and it helps the dogs. When we are in position to use great physical cues, the verbals are less important. But when we are behind the dogs, or wanting to stay in motion to get to the next spot? The sound differences will really help the dogs process verbals as we haul butt across the course 🙂

Seq 4 – this is a spot where the change in delivery style of the left verbal will really help! With that dang jump in the middle of the course, you had to run forward towards 4. You started the LEFT verbal right on time, but it was loud and short… so Charm jumped a little long on 4 because you were running forward to get around the jump in your way 🙂 So changing the way you say left: “Leeehft” and repeating it pretty quietly will help her set up the turn while you run forward. Then you can get loud with your verbals again like you did for the 5-6-7 line 🙂
You can start the digdig wrap verbal and physical cues sooner too – as she is in the air over 8, start decelerating and saying the verbals so then she can process it sooner and collect on takeoff. You started it after you saw her land from 8, so she heard it and she approached takeoff – so it was too late for her to adjust til she landed. This was really the only spot that you were late, your other timings looked really good!!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi Nelci! Great to see you an Grizzly here 🙂 
Thank you for the verbals list! And I also like to release on a directional in a lot of situations, because it is SO helpful to the dog!

You two are looking really really strong here, so we can get into tiny details to apply to the big courses 🙂

Sequence 1: Connection looks great! Two things to consider with all these good verbals are:
– making them sound distinctly different in terms of energy, volume, length and pitch, not just words. That way the dogs can process it better because the added details give the dog more info. With that in mind, the tunnel tunnel corre corre sound a bit the same, so we need to make sure the other verbals in the other sequences sound very different, especially turn cues.
– support the verbals with the physical cues. For this first rep, you were saying corre corre but decelerating as he approached the last jump, so he dropped the bar. Yes, placing the reward out ahead totally helps! But it only helps him, not you 🙂 so be sure that when you are giving these forward cues to go go go, to match that by dropping your shoulders forward as you run and accelerate to help support the verbals. On the sequences that ended with the corre corre, you had the toy placed ahead so he got it but you were rehearsing decelerating over the bar – we don’t want you to rehearse decelerating on an ending line, and we don’t want him to rehearse ignoring decel when he sees something fun ahead (like a tunnel replacing the toy :)) so be sure to race him to the toy on those ending lines and don’t decel 🙂

Sequence 2: both reps looked good! Your tunnel turn cues did sound different – in fact, the cue and the hand signal might have been more than he needed – the verbal and the decel and the brake arm caused him to turn a lot out of the tunnel and then he hesitated and looked at us at :35, because the decel and arm slowed you down from showing the next line. Because of his size, it should be pretty easy to turn him out of the tunnel – so I bet you would get the perfect turn on the first run by just using your verbal and turning and running the new direction. He was perfect on the 2nd rep but I think that might be because he figured out the sequence LOL!

Seq 3: He follows your shoulders really well on all of these, so now we can push for more speed 🙂 Using less turn cue in the tunnel exit at 3, you can be turning as he exits to show him 4… then send to 5 and (still using your verbals) – accelerate and run to the tunnel. Let him find the line more independently, which will also produce more speed and better turns than when you turn with him. You can add a blind cross on the exit of the 7 tunnel to get to 8 if you want more incentive to send and go on the pinwheel 🙂
On the right verbals, you can elongate them so they sound very different than corre corre, tunnel and the tunnel turn verbal. And, they can be softer in volume, with the forward cues like corre and tunnel being louder 🙂

On the rep when he went straight, I think 2 things were happening:
When you were giving the tunnel brake cue, you were still moving forward as he entered. Then when he exited, you were still moving forward a bit (more lateral, so it was forward on a parallel line) . Those forward cues, plus the toy past the off course jump, caused him to think he was supposed to go straight 🙂 Compare to that the 3rd rep where you had more decel before the tunnel and you were definitely more turned when he exited, so he turned.

One more reason to make the tunnel brake more of a verbal only with no arm or decel: the arm is causing you to rotate towards him and then if you add decel… you get left in the dust 🙂 Then you have to run hard, which shows him acceleration places you don’t want. So, as he is over 2, cue the tunnel. Then when he lands and is about 6 or 8 feet from the tunnel, say the turn cue and turn and run to 4, so he sees/hears all of that before he enters. You will get a great turn AND be ahead of him 🙂

Sequence 4: I love to watch walk through practices! 2 suggestions on your walk through:
– after walking it… be sure to run it with all the cues and verbals and connections. That will give you a better feel for the sequence at his speed.
– on your way cues at 9, you walked it with your outside arm coming up but without decelerating into that or rotating. So when you run it, it is possible that he might see you slam on the brakes and come to a halt, rather than collect.

On the runs:
Yes, you can cue the left sooner for 4-5 – your connection is great, so as he is in the air over 3, you can begin the left cues of verbal, shoulder/motion turn, and a brake arm if you think he needs ones there. On. the second run, I think the little disconnect and you turned in the layering position,so he came off the line to 5. When you did the 3rd rep, you maintained your motion and connection through the line, so the layering went really well and you were way ahead! Nice!
We will keep working on layering skills this summer, because it is so useful to layer nowadays!

For the wrap, on the first run: the outside arm did come up as you walked it, and he didn’t collect – he tried to turn but feel as he was landing, which means the cue was late. O the 2nd run, I think a similar thing happened where you were working hard to get to the outside arm so there was not a lot of decel – he didn’t fall, but he did most of the turning after landing. So we can get him to collect before takeoff to get the best possible turn there and the key will more decel and less arm.

So as he is lifting off for and over 8, start your decel so as he lands, he is seeing decel and hearing the verbal wrap cue, then seeing the arm cue as he passes you and you start to rotate. That should help him get collection before takeoff because the cue will be sooner and he will get more decel, which is a powerful element.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! So much good work here! A huge percentage of it was really lovely! I have ideas to help get it a little smoother in spots and iron out the sections where he had questions:

On the first video, both runs were really lovely, he is finding his lines well and is FAST!!
Sequence 1: Nice job! He found the line easily. You can be earlier with your tunnel exit cue, telling him and go and over all before he enters.

Seq 2: Also really strong! And same small details as on the 2nd sequence – call his name before he goes in the tunnel, so he exits turned. He exited wide here and found you after he exited.

Seq 3: I liked the timing of the tunnel cue, he was in the WOO over 2 and you cued it. Perfect! You can all him before he enters the tunnel here too, to get the good turn on the exit. That sets up the whole next line: when he exits the tunnel, you can be turning and showing 4, as you continue to turn so you are turning and showing 5 before he takes off (he was a little long in his jumping over 4 and turned on landing, because you were facing straight when he was taking off (being on landing side caused you to have to face straight longer, so this is a good spot to get to takeoff side).
Then, the tunnel verbal was good timing to start, but you got quiet (only said it once) and turned and ran the other way, so he was totally correct to follow the physical cue there. In that moment, just keep going as if was correct so he doesn’t stop and ask questions 🙂 then reward him at the end.
The 2nd run was much clearer throughout! You turned sooner for the 4-5 line and definitely had stronger cues to the 7 tunnel. Nice!!! He read it with no problem.

Seq 4:

NIce opening line! As he lands from 3, start your check check cue and start turning your shoulders – you had a lot of forward motion and your over cue, so he went straight over 4 (the check check happened after he landed).
He turned nicely on the wrap at 9 – you can probably start the decel sooner (as he is jumping 8) and also give a lot more connection on the exit with your arm back and making eye contact as you run forward – he had a nice collection but then drifted wide on landing as he came around the wing, because all he could see was your back so he waited to see which jump was next.
A question about verbals… at 4-5 you used check check check an at 9 for the wrap, you also used checkcheckcheck. The same verbal for 2 different behaviors will ultimately cause him to go wide and wait for handling info. I recommend a different verbal for that soft turn 4-5 (such as ‘left’ or his name) and save the checkcheckcheck for the wraps.

Standard 2: this went well, you and Carol made good choices in how to fit it in and make it flow. And his weave entry – WOW!!
The whole opening looked great – to help get more speed and flow through the 360 wraps, try to send him to the wrap and then move forward (rather than turn with him) but look at the landing spot for now (and toss a reward past the landing spot). The more he gets used to you moving through like that, the more he will be able to power through them with commitment and speed.

As he is weaving, try to start the FC before he exits (it is good weave practice to reward him to be able to finish the weaves as you do a cross and leave). That will help you get the FC wrap on the next jump sooner & tighter – as he exits the weaves, start to decel and give your check check cue (the over cue sends him too long and makes the checkcheckcheck late). Then as he passes you and before he takes off, rotate and move the new direction.

Great job on the send and leave on the jump before the dog walk! On the ending line after the dog walk: his tunnel sends look great, so you can definitely use that BC instead of the FC on the next line: send to the tunnel and replace the FC you did with a BC like you did on the re-start. The FC rotation makes it hard to then turn him to the backside – the motion caused him to go straight. With a BC there instead, you will have time to finish it and move over to cue him to the backside.

On the 2nd run – the rotation on the backside wrap pushed him to a-frame, so we can keep working on you moving forward through there and not needing to turn your shoulders to feet to the jump. On the re-start, you turned left and it helped him! He dropped the bar on the circle wrap after the teeter, so we can definitely add games to help him out! I have some ideas that I can post when I get him tomorrow 🙂

Another great weave entry! And, you used more lateral distance and you turned a shade sooner before he exited, and gave the checkcheckcheck cue rather than over for the next jump, all of which helped set up a better line and another good send and go to the DW.

On the ending line, you were more prepared to get him to the backside after the FC and moved more laterally sooner but I still think the BC there will make your job a lot easier through there to get it the first time 🙂 The rest looked really good! (There was something one the ground there at the end as you noted, but he came back to focus very quickly).

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! Lots of great work here!

>> LOL I love the water idea! Though I don’t know if I could concentrate on the water bottle and the course at the same time. :).

It is fun! I will post some links to it later this week so people can noodle around with it – it is great fo helping to multi-task connection, arm position, and remembering the course 🙂

>>Yeah, I figure he will get faster as he gets older and has more confidence. :D.

Faster, yes, but also easier because he will be able to read cues sooner and understand the flow of the course, which helps us humans because we don’t need to be as perfect. Then it will be much easier to get the first run, best run theme solidly in place 🙂

On the standard course, looking at the 2 videos:
Opening:
That opening line to the teeter is a definite keep moving moment. On the first run, you helped a bit too long at 1-2, so he got ahead for 3 and ended up wrapping on the backside. Ideally, you can set him up on more of a slice at 1, so he is facing 2 – then you can lead out further. Once you have released him – upper body (arms, shoulders, eyes and mouth :)) handle the line and feets just keep moving to the exit wing of 4. That way you can get the 3 backside and slice the 4 jump to his left to exit facing the teeter .

Excellent adjustment on the 2nd run, to keep moving and you got much further across the line! YAY!! Very nice! The blind was actually early there, for that type of turn 🙂 On the backside blinds with the wrap exits (German turn), you will want to be passing the wing on the exit before you do the blind, to get the best turn. You will actually be doing the blind on the takeoff side of the jump, after running past the landing side. If you do it while you are still on landing side, he will think you want the weaves like he did here, because that is how the line was set.

The line across the back looked great! Wheeee! So fast! You can give the exit cues for the 7 tunnel sooner, so he exits straight to the DW (he had a little zigzag there and needed your help getting on the DW). You said walk it when he was already in, so you can try saying go go go and then walk it…. all before he enters 🙂 The go between 6 and 7 will help get the straight tunnel exit, then the walk it before he enters the tunnel should affirm the straight exit and tell him which obstacle to look for too. He was straighter on the 2nd run, but that is probably because he knew where the line was from the first run.

For the dog walk criteria – if we can get him to go do the end of the DW without you, you will have more flexibility to run to where you need to be and not slow down with him. If you originally trained with a target, you can totally put it back in here and teach him to run the DW more independently to help with the handling.

MIdcourse – that 10-11-12 line is a doozy, so much speed into a tunnel discrimination!

Remember to reward him after off courses if you are going to stop and restart – he is an honest little dude and when he goes off course, it is because you sent him there 🙂 After the backside at 9, try to run up the line with a low arm – by pointing sideways at the jump at :30, your shoulders and chest turned straight so he almost didn’t take it because he definitely reads shoulders and motion more than arms/hands. Then he went back out and got it, but the motion then stayed straight and you cued the tunnel while he was straight, so off he went. Good boy! Same thing happened on the second run – you tried to decel more to get him turn, but that pulled him off the jump so then when you put him back on it, he ended up going straight to the tunnel according to your motion and verbal (I think you were saying tunnel there).

>> I found 9-10-11-12 exceptionally difficult. He locked onto the wrong end of the tunnel so early I didn’t know how to cue the left end of the tunnel. After we ran the full course, I tried some decel, but he was already locked onto the right end. I can post that video too. He’s sooo far ahead of me I don’t know the best way to handle that.>>

The tunnel discrimination actually begins as he is jumping 10 – as you hustle up the line and he is jumping 10, you start to cue a turn on 11 – it can be decel, but ideally it is verbal only so you don’t get caught decelerating that far from the rest of the line. Then, after you see him approaching 11 and turning, you would then go to a tunnel discrimination cue. This can vary, of course, depending on each individual dog, but generally the most effective ones are when the handler turns her upper body to the dog, and shows the outside arm (threadle arm), and uses a distinct “other side of tunnel” cue – and definitely don’t say tunnel, because that means to stay on the line he is on. I use a separate word for the tunnel discrims and it really helps! Ideally, you would not turn your feet towards him on the threadle but you might find it useful to do so in the early stages of training it. It is a good sequence to isolate in your hard and work on!

His running a-frame looked good!

>> I really don’t know the best way to handle that

Since I am just getting to know him – have you trained a threadle cue (arm and verbal to bring him to the other side of the jump)? If so, we can use it there. That would be the best (and easiest :)) way to handle it, but it is a trained cue. If not, we can start training it and in the meantime, we can do crosses (like a double blind) to get it done. Also reward him in that section as you work it – he gets frustrated and barks at you, so we want to keep him at a high rate of reinforcement as you work out handling.

On the 2nd run – Doing it as a push to a blind is hard in this scenario but you stayed in motion and got there! I am sending you a big high five!!!! Throughout the summer, we will keep working on more backside independence so you can send and leave, rather than having to help him over the bar like at :50, which will smooth out the line to the weaves.

On that ending line – the flip to his left on 19 looked great! Then, you will get a better line if you keep him on your right. You added a FC, which is late no matter as you do it and pulled him off the ending line because the FC would have to start before you finished the RC flip, which is impossible in terms of physics LOL! So, you can RC and then run to the end with him on your right.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
Great job on this training session, I think you totally kept him happy and motivated!

The opening line looked really smooth! Doing a FC between 1-2 made it harder for you to get to the BC 2-3, so yo can try setting him up on more of a slice at 1 to then moving into 1-2 dog on left, which allows the BC to begin sooner with less rotation before it. Great job with the verbal on the turn before the teeter! He read it nicely 🙂

The speed line across the back was lovely, he seemed to enjoy that LOL! And you started the push to the backside after the DW a lot sooner here, and he was both able to hit the DW and get the push! Yay! He did look a little surprised, so it is probably an experience thing – the more he gets used to that type of line, the less he will look at you like you are crazy LOL!

He considered going to the off course tunnel at :30 – even though you were pulling away laterally and using some verbals, he read the motion as forward motion. It sounds like you said come as he was taking 10, but it didn’t seem to get his attention to override the motion, so yo had to keep pulling away and using a stronger verbal. Two things to try in these scenarios where it is an extension line to a tunnel discrimination: a direction as he exits 10, so he turns on 11 (it can be a collection verbal like a “left” cue if you have one, if not, we can train one pretty easily).That will set up the turn on 11 so as he approaches 11, you can rotate your upper body towards him for the threadle arm (rather than arm) to get the tunnel discrimination at 12. Pulling away from the line did get the 12 tunnel here but let you further from the line than you would want to be here.

Working that piece at the very end – he was more powerful going to the backside after the dog walk, more sure of himself – yay! But…. the RDW hit was higher. So if you trained with some type of prop or aid for the RDW like a mat, you can put it back in to help remind him to hit even when you are behind and cueing a turn.

At 1:44 you didn’t say anything over 10 and stayed straight up the line, with the tunnel discrimination cue starting at liftoff to 11… so he did not turn. When you were up at a 11 and able to decel, he got it nicely but you won’t always be up there is time to decel – he is flying! So, taking the timing all back one WOO – that directional at 10 to get attention on a turn at 11 will help, so then when he is approaching 11 he is turning and then it is easier to get the turn to the tunnel at 12.

Hooray for the threadle! He did a great job there, in the heat of the moment! Handling was really good – you kept moving up the straight line, no pulling away or rotating, and started the verbal while he was on the a-frame. You did a bit of an arm cue too, but you didn’t have time to do a big arm cue because you were hustling 🙂 And yes, the spin was because he probably picked up the praise in his left ear, but then he sorted out the weave entry nicely too!

Great commitment on the wrap jump on the ending line – great job starting your deceleration as he was lifting for 19, he totally read the line there! One thing to play with as he continues to mature and develop: you used a high, moving send arm to cue the wrap as you rotated at :50. He did well! It would be interesting to see if you use a low arm with less movement to see if he can collect and tighten that turn more – the arm would be about nose high to him (or a little higher, maybe waist level for you) and would indicate the takeoff spot rather than the landing spot. We can try to get the different collections then time then, to see which creates the faster line 🙂

You worked the wrap to his left at the end – I think that the exit line for the left wrap is really great but turn away to get the left wrap might not be faster than slicing into the wrap to his right? Do you know if he is lefty or righty? For example – with two of my dogs, that wrap to the right would be faster because they are righty and can power through it ever-so-slightly better than to the left. And for one of my dogs, he is a little better turning to his left, so that turn away to the left wrap would be very easy for him, and ultimately faster.
You can try both and time it! And you can also see if you can leave him in the poles to do a BC between 17-18 to get a sweeter line to the wrap to the left. At some point this summer, we will be timing all the options to truly know what it better.

He was so funny at the end of the full run – he didn’t want the toy til you engaged with it with him, and you were like “I’ll be there in a minute” LOL!

Lovely work! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

One thing you can do with her to get more excitement is to do tricks and chase-da-momma games before starting the sequences,so you can get her pumped up more. And, when running…. call her name a lot less 🙂 You are trying to get her pumped up by talking to her, but when you call her, she is not sure if she is supposed to go to the line or look at you. So try to run, and use obstacle names, directionals, and a little praise, but not her name unless you need her to turn or need her attention strongly on you.

Then, for the reward, rather than tossing so she stops, tie it to a leash or something longer so you can keep running and she can chase it. Does she like balls or frisbees?

One more idea to get her pumped up – I think dogs like variety versus doing the same sequence several times. So if she gets it right once on each side, move to the next one. That will keep things spicy! If there is something you want to change or do differently, you can go back to that sequence later.

Video 1 – on the FCs, you can start the decel and the timing for the wrap sooner (as she lands from the middle jump) so that you are rotating before she takes off for the wrap. rather than facing forward. She can turn on a dime, which is great! So you can cue it one step sooner by decelerating sooner, which should be perfect.

Video 2 – the blinds are looking good! I think at :17 is a pot where the name calls caused a blooper – you were calling her all the way through there and pulled her off the jump. Compare that to the first one, and also at :45, where you didn’t call her and it sounds like you said jump, and she was great! I think the obstacle names and jumps verbals are great for the lines, and the name calls are more useful for just the exit of the blind before you give the tunnel cue.

Video 3 – rear crosses are going well! Great job with your directionals here! And you consistently showed the left turn rear cross line. The right rear cross angle is harder, so you set it more clearly by decelerating at the pinwheel jump, letting her catch up and turn, then driving to the center of the bar of the RC jump. You were a tiny bit ahead on the line, which brings you to the outside of the RC jump, so the RCs were a little harder to show her.

Great job! Have fun practicing with your Viszla friend!

Tracy

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Tracy Sklenar.

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

The BCs aare going really well! On the right turns, she had an easy time with the line and commitment, and your timing on the blind was really good – look at :43m for example, where she was still a stride from takeoff and you had already completed the blind and you were on a great line to the tunnel. Yay!

She also found the line nicely to the right in the 2nd half of the sequence, she was pretty balanced here! Yes, I see what you mean about the human version of the side preference! You had a spin but you had a good line of motion to the end of the tunnel you wanted. On the next rep, watching it in slow motion, I think she was correct there too, to continue straight:
Timing of starting the blind was really good at 1:15. Connection was good (not as good as the other side, but good enough that she turned her head to you over the bar). As she was considering the turn, you turned your head forward again a 1:16 then closed your shoulder forward at 1:17 – so from her perspective behind you, it looked like a BC back to your right, so she changed her line back to the original end of the tunnel. Also, your line of motion was relatively straight to the center of the tunnel, even though you were trying to get her on your right – so that helped support the wrong line. She sees everything! Scrolling back to :43, your connection and line of motion were all towards the tunnel entry you wanted – so she definitely reads all the subtle cues 🙂

Your connection was much better at 1:32 and 1:46, but your line of motion was also to the center of the tunnel at 1:32 and almost to the wrong end of the tune at 1:46, so be sure that your motion takes you towards the tunnel entry you want. I think what is happening is that as you make connection, it is drawing your footwork sideways down the line to the tunnel – try to make that connection as you run forward to the tunnel entry like you did when she was on your line and when you did the spin 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

He most definitely liked the turkey! It was very high value!

Because it took almost two minutes to get his engagement, I think we can do more before that leash even comes off.

As he exited the house and before you took him over to jump 1, do tricks or chase games to help get his focus on you, while he is still on leash. That will help to get rid of that initial burst of disengagement. And, in that first moment where you take off the leash, reward him right away for not leaving before you do anything else. Then do a couple more tricks and chase games before starting the sequence.

Once he got rolling on the sequences, he was much more engaged because running + turkey = great fun for him LOL!! So to get more engagement right away, you can do a trick, then run a few steps, and then reward him. At the start, you were bending over him and being stationary, so I think if we get you standing up and moving so he can chase you and the turkey, you’ll find he gets more engaged, more quickly. For the engagement, you can feed him from your hand (because it is about being near you). For the sequences, he really liked the ball being thrown far away. He did well on the sequences- it is all easier to connect and run when we have engagement 🙂 And I think adding the lotus ball on a toy will help even more, because it has chasing AND being near you, both of which are great 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello and welcome, great to see you and the Golden Crew here!!!! Onwards to the WOO!!
Have fun 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi there!

Wow, I cannot believe it took that long! Crazy! I figured you got busy with a trial and didn’t post it. I have a similar issue when my videos are high resolution and I load them at home with my poopy internet connection.

Opening line: – I really loved how you handled the opening – tight fast lines without having to waste energy on running you didn’t need to do and also setting up a great position for 7-8-9! It was gorgeous on the 2nd run too!

To chop off a tick of time, on the ‘come’ for the 7-8 tunnel discrim moment, try to do it more as a “cometunnel” so he can go right back out to the tunnel, rather than check in with you before being sent back out when you did more of a “come…. tunnel” at :22. You sent him back sooner at :44, and I think you can send him even sooner and really trust his understanding to get it super fast and smooth.
On the 2nd rep at 1:34 and on the next rep at 2:23, he remembered that the ‘come’ predicted the tunnel, so he sent himself to the tunnel – that is what the line should look like, ideally, so you will want to give him the release to the tunnel nice and early to create that.

MIdcourse:
At :26, for the 10-11-12 line, I was going to say you were facing forward for too long, but that was where you forgot the course LOL!

As you went through there the 2nd time: Turn sooner for the turn at 9, so he can adjust before takeoff and keep the bar up – you called and turned while he was jumping. I think the better timing will be seeing him exit the tunnel, tell him to jump and turn your shoulders to 10 so he can adjust before takeoff.
If my memory is correct, Enzo has really good threadle understanding – so you don’t need to rotate towards him at :49 for 10-11. You can turn forward and keep moving, using the upper body and verbal.

On the 2nd and 3rd full runs in the middle here, you did a great job with your continued turning and earlier cues at 1:39, setting at really nice line 9-10-11!!!

To get a tighter line on the wrap at :13 at 1:45 – you were in great position, but he went wide because you faced the jump. Try facing him instead, so your feet are pointing more back to the tunnel- and see if he can commit with just a bit of a hand cue and maybe looking at landing, to get he best collection there. And, another thing that can help get better collection there is to drop your hand to the takeoff side of the bar and leave it there, with no motion to landing (left hand, in this case, because you are rotated). When the hand swung to landing at 2:33 and 2:58, he went wide even with you more rotated.

I liked the brake arm to get the soft turn 15-16 at :59! It was timely and he was collecting nicely! Keep the arm up as you continue through that turn, rather than release it an blast forward, because he tried to accelerate too and fell a bit. That will also help keep him in handler focus for the come tunnel 16-17. On the 2nd full run there, you added a bonus jump of doing 13 again, so he ended up on a different line. Bit then at 1:59 and 2:40 and 3:03, you did a great job holding the brake arm as you finished the turn on 15 and he was great there!

Then, when he commits to the tunnel 17, you can move up the line sooner to show the turn 18-19, and be more in the position for the wrap at the 20 backside.
Question – does he have a separate backside cue for a wrap or is push for both the wrap and the slice backside? If it is for both, adding another collection cue will help him know it is a wrap when you are behind him on a line, so he can jump super tight even as you move up the line.

On the last rep, your line/motion and timing of the cues on the closing line were really strong!!! You were moving up the line more to show the turn at 18, and as he was over 19, you were already cueing the backside at 20, so he had a great line to it. Well done with those timely cues!!

Great job here! How did the trial weekend go?

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! You probably didn’t do any balance reps because he was not just reading the MM as a threadle – he was like “WE GO TO MM!” on some of the reps LOL! So now that he is better with the Threadles, adding the balance reps will be great. Have fun with the full course!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

>> What, what? Get him faster?

Heck yes! And I figure he is going to go faster no matter what we do, so we will embrace it 🙂 He reminds me of my dog Export in a lot of ways, not just the fuzzy good looks 🙂 but also the speed and drive!

>>Lol he’s so fun.

Totally agree, he is a blast!!!

>>In reply… You said ..When you say his name on tight turns, is that for wraps. I use ‘check’ as a wrap cue. But I don’t always get the word out of my mouth. Lol. I use his name for like a hard turn towards me out of a tunnel or in a pinwheel or something.>>

One of the things we will focus on this summer is being able to get the right word out at the right time – this is best practiced by jogging through the sequence a few times without him, yelling the words 🙂

>>My instructor here in Utah also tells me I need need to stay in motion for him so that’s good to have more information about that. I try to but sometimes he’s so far ahead of me I feel like I need to slow down or almost stop in order to be where I need to be. So I definitely need to be aware of that.>>

We will look at that – it might be a strategy thing specific to medium and small dogs: we don’t always send and leave with them, because it might put us too far ahead. Sometimes we run the curve of the line for longer, so we can keep moving and stay ahead. Small/medium dog handling has some real differences from large dog handling!

>I do point too much. Sometimes my arms have minds of their own lol.

To teach my arms to behave, I ran with an open bottle of water in my hand for a while – that really helped me keep my arms from flinging around because I would spill water on my head LOL!

>>Thanks for the feedback! I will set this up again and make notes of your input. I am probably going to a friend’s house tomorrow who is also in this class and try the standard course.>>

I look forward to it! Have fun!
Tracy

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