[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
She looked really good here, I am happy she is back to training! And your mechanics are cleaner and so I see such nice teamwork here <3

On the one step send video, I really liked your connection to her as she was in the tunnel, and the timing of the send looked good on the first couple!
When you add the wing before the tunnel... hustle over to the exit to be able to recreate that same timing that you had - you got a little but of a zig zag at the end because were not quite as early with the connection and sending.

2nd video:
Good attention to mechanics here! There were plenty of lovely moments and her commitment is really looking fabulous! She had a couple of questions but we can sort it out easily:

It was hard to see her tunnel exits because of the camera angle, but I do see a little zig zag line from her like we saw at the end of the first video. To smooth it out, I think you can connect more so she sees the connection sooner (while she is in the tunnel) - and you can start the send to the wing sooner too, just before she exits the tunnel. That will involve more hustle to get there sooner, but I think Chata will like that 🙂

When FCing the middle wing like at 1:35, you don't need to send to the first wing, you can keep moving so the send is for the 2nd wing - that will clarify it for her too and she won't come in and grab the toy.

You were smoother with that at 2:25 and it looked great!

She is a good girl to keep you honest about Go versus wrap cues 🙂

2:53 was a disconnect so she came in to grab the toy so good job just getting cookies to her to keep her from getting angry 🙂 You were clearer with the connection on the next rep.

Also.... watching her come in like that... do right and bite sound the same and potentially a source of her confusion there? I think that is the issue! They sound pretty much the same in word/tone/delivery and when connection is not perfect to help her know what you want, she comes in to the toy. No worries though... change the delivery-style of right from RIGHT to riiiight? and it won't be an issue. That way you will have BITE! and riiiiight? and they will sound wildly different.

One other little detail: When you are starting with a send to the wraps, like the left wraps like at 4:15, be more connected as you step in and set it up so she can see it better. When you are two hurried and not connected enough, she just follows you and doesn't go to the wing - the connection and one more step should do the trick, like you did at 4:20

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hello!
I feel the pain about the contacts… sigh. LOL!

>.Love the class concept and forced myself to rewalk the sequence and look at my video when something went wrong!! Click for me lol!!! I do this at trials, I should do it at practice too 😊!>>

Perfect, I am glad you forced yourself to figure out what happened before trying things again – i tis very helpful to get closer to being able to nail it in the first run 🙂

>>Overall I was very pleased with her!

I agree, she looked great! And that start line… HOORAY!

>>This is her full height. Still not much experience at this height, so we had some bars. I believe most bars may have been with a question for her!>>

I think the bars were timing issues – early or late – where she was like “wait, what do you want?” 🙂 See below 🙂

Seq 1: On the first rep, you turned too soon at 2 and she was watching you and pulled the bar trying to sort the Go tunnel verbal with the turned body. You nailed it on the 2nd rep! And she was great about letting you layer too, that will come in very handy in the future 🙂

Seq 2: Super! Nice timing with all the things and even after the 2 big layering moments in sequence 1, she still was great on the right turn here. You held up a bit after cueing the tunnel exit – the next challenge would be to se if you can cu ethe tunnel exit and then keep moving up the next line, trusting that she will turn and exit facing the correct line.

Sequence 3: Great job driving her to the tunnel then switching all the info (during the WOO) to the turn on the tunnel exit – she nailed it.
At :08, as she was approaching 4, you were facing forward and said GO GO (or a really loud JUMP JUMP that sounded like GO ) so she went straight and then pulled the bar trying to adjust when she saw you turn.

On the 2nd run, you were a little later on the turn info for the tunnel exit but great adjustment on the turn at 4: you were MUCH more team chill with better turn cues on 4-5 at :30, so she nailed it there. The ending was great!
The perfect run would be 1-3 from the first run, then 4-end from the second run 🙂

Seq 4:
Opening loop:
1st run – she had a bar at 5 at :07 – a bit of rushing maybe? a bit of disconnect? Young dog stuff.. and she sorted it out nicely so it was not an issue later.
2nd run – a little disconnect after the #2 tunnel so she had a zig zag 3-4 but was great on the bar at 5!

>>We did have a don’t wanna moment on the wrap on last sequence lol! Not a surprise since it’s quite rusty and well she always liked to give lots of feedback with those anyway😂 given the chance! No mom you must always run!! No slowing is allowed!>>

Actually…. it was a handling error, she was correct and not having a don’t wanna moment 🙂

At :11, you started the verbal and decel on time but you were not connected (which is why she was barking) and then you stopped moving/rotated too soon so she never committed) She was still behind you by about a step when you rotated

Similar thing happened at :40 – you started on time but you were not connected back to her (you were looking forward, which causes her to lose the line info) then stepping into the rotation too soon so she had big questions.

Compare it to :56 when you worked that piece from the tunnel – look at where you were looking there 🙂 You were much more connected, so while she wanted to bark, she stopped and looked at hte line. And you rotated later, when she was past you – great turn! And it was even better at 1:05 🙂

So for the wraps – the connection is very critical, and being sure she is past you and looking at the jump (and relatively close to the jump) is also critical 🙂

When you do get a chance to run it again, lock into the connection like you did here on the last 2 reps and I bet she is perfect 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Changtse is totally looking comfortable on the planks! Yay! We can’t go higher right now, but we can add other elements to keep things spicy 🙂

She did well with the entries to the plank on the first video – the goal is to see if she can coordinate her balance and hind end to get on from different angles of approach: mission accomplished! We didn’t exactly give her specifically *where* to get on it so she sometimes got on from the side, but that is fine for now 🙂

Turning on the plank is going well too! Having to do it slooooowly is so much harder because she cannot rely on momentum! She did well even if it was really difficult (especially turning away from you!) So keep asking for the turning away. You can also ask for position changes – ask her to move from a stand to a sit on the board. Or a stand to a down, or down to sit, etc – that is pretty challenging and great for balance and body awareness! A lure is fine to help her get started with these.

For the straight running off the plank on the 3rd video – she looks confident here too so now you can move more too – walking and the build to jogging back and forth. I think for now, stick with food rewards. She loves the ball a WHOLE LOT 🙂 and and that is causing her to not be so thoughtful as she goes off the board to get it, and she splats herself into the ground a bit 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! It is so fun to meet Whistle, he is really cool and did a great job here 🙂 You have such a fun dog family! And I loved the cheering from the crowd at the end of the video 🙂

>.Didn’t see Sequence 2 on my notes for some reason 🤪>>

HA! I thought it was me… I thought I kept missing it haha

Looking at the video:

>I see him with little questions on those tunnel exits and I definitely want to get rid of that.>>

I noticed the same thing – and also on the tunnel sends (where he looks at you over the bar before the tunnels) and here & there on the jumps. It did happen when you were late, yes… but it also happened when you were on time with both verbal and physical cues. So, some dogs are naturally line focused, some are more handler focused naturally… he is definitely a bit more handler focused.

I think we can use training & reinforcement strategies to get him to look ahead more and not ask the questions he was asking (which will also help commitment, which allows you to also cue sooner).

He was getting a thrown reward at the end of each sequnce here, whch is great – you can also throw rewards out on the lines and I would especially emphasize thrown rewards at the end of a tunnel almost every time so he turns on the rockets to accelerate to tunnels (rather than check with you :))

Sequence 1 went well! He looked at you at :05 over 2 on the go, and also on the 2nd sequence (aka sequence 3 :)) over 2 at :25 when you said tunnel sooner – so you can help him by driving to the tunnel more and definitely throw lots and lots of rewards to the exit of the tunnel each time so he doesn’t check in before going to the tunnel.
I think that delay in tunnel commitment causes a delay in your being able to cue the turn and leave, so getting more tunnel commitment will get your next cues to be easier too!

On seq 3, no problem at all turning right on the tunnel exit, yay!
He jumped a little long on 4 at :28, you can be turning sooner there and driving forward less: as soon as he exits the tunnel, you can be starting the left verbal and beginning your shoudler turn. he was no thead checking there, he was a litle wide because you were moving forward too much and for too long.
He looked at you on the way to the last jump at :32, so you can leave a placed reward out ahead, or throw it sooner. He does not seem to head check when you are a few strides ahead of him like the end of the other sequences, I am mainly seeing it when you are only a little ahead or parallel to him.

Seq 4 – he did well here too! He was some head checking on the jumps, so this is a good type of sequence to throw more rewards on the lines – early and often – to get him looking ahead even more 🙂
On the wrap turn: your left verbal at 9 (1:00) was very well-timed! You can decelerate sooner (start the decel no later than landing of 8, because it is decel and keep moving forward a bit) and trust his commitment, then rotate before he takes off
to cue the turn sooner and tighten it. He was in the air over 9 at 1:01 and you were facing forward, so he had a bit of a wider landing than what I think he can do. Ideally, as he is jumping, you would be turned already and heading to 10 🙂

>>Should I do some ‘go on’ exercises and try these again ?>>

I think you can try these again but make the thrown rewards appear on the line early and often – especially for tunnels 🙂 That can happen on the straight lines as well as on the turns, so he basically learns to look forward all the time 🙂
Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This is the perfect place to post the videos 🙂 You are off to a great start here!

We can really look at the details here – fun!!

On the 1-2 line, I have a bit of obsessing for you to consider, to get faster & smoother lines 🙂

On the first rep at :29, she jumps straight over 1 to 2, no questions, no added strides.
On the 2nd and 3rd reps, at :56 and 1:26 – note how she jumps 1 towards you then has to zip back out to get 2.

Ideally, we want that straight line 1-2 on all 3 reps. She curled into you on reps 2 and 3 for 2 reasons:
– your position when you released was much more lateral, especially on rep 3
-you released with a ‘hup’ before switching to go.

Now, on the first rep, you released with a hup but your position also cued the straight line so she had no questions. But when you moved over, the hup + position cued a turn. So to get rid of the extra turn, you can either release with a Go Go Go cue, or *not* be lateral on the release… or both 🙂 The line 1-2 is the same on all 3 reps, so your lead out position can be the same too.

I think it will be good to help smooth our her questions, because you’ll see your course times get even faster and she will get on her lines sooner. Yay!

Looking at the tunnel exits:
Seq 1 – looked great! So fast! She definitely likes her go lines!
Super!!!

Seq 2, both reps :

>> I really need to pay attention to my rights and lefts. I was telling her “rriigghhtt” when I wanted a “leefftt.” >>

Oops, that is something we have all done. The timing and delivery of the right verbal made the cue very different sounding & looking from the first rep of GO, so she read it to mean turn – which supports the point that it is not just about the word, but also about the delivery! So yes, use the left, but also keep going with making it sound different because that was really helpful.

You were lateral and not moving a whole lot here, with a position on landing side of 4 depending on which turn you wanted. So no I think we can add more motion to the whole thing, so you are moving into it more like you would be on a full course. You can tweak your setup a little to do this: move the white jump that was the original #4 to be closer to the edge of the field (keep it really low so she only has to hop over it a little, if there is not a lot of landing room. Then, the green jump can move over a tiny bit while also staying on the left turn line – that might give you more room to add the pinwheel jump as well.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! She is looking really terrific!

Seq 1 looked good! Did she tick or drop bar 4? You can throw sooner or have the reward placed there if throwing while she is jumping causes a question.

Seq 2 – The reason I left Hot Sauce’s off courses in the demo video was that I figured many of you would get the same off course here 🙂

>> But I’m sure I screwed up the handling and didn’t help her out. >>

I think it is more of a dog training thing than a handling thing here, same with my Hot Sauce 🙂 She is a very forward dog, which is great, but we need to train the tunnel exits so we don’t need to light fireworks or put up blockades to get the turns LOL!

She was *definitely* more pumped up on the start line here! I think the verbal right was in the WOO of the tunnel exit, but the physical cue was not – she did not see you turn and leave before she went in at :27. The timing of the physical and verbal cues at :49 were much more ideal! But… she didn’t read them 🙂 You added a bit of rotation at 1:11… nope, still off course (I feel your pain LOL! ) At 1:26, you backed up and called her and she did turn! Yay! But I want her to process the cues the way you delivered them at :49, that was spot on!

So, we can train more tunnel exit stuff: first, take out the off course jump, that visual might be too stimulating. You can run the GO sequence and throw the reward, then run the right turn sequence and have her come to you for the reward. When she can do that without the off course jump there, you can add back a wing as a distraction – and work the turns again. You can also place the toy on the right turn line to help reward the correct exits.

When she did get the turn at 1:28, you were (understandably) a little hesitant driving up the line 4-5 because you probably wanted to make sure she was actually turning 🙂

Her name as a cue instead of just the ‘right’ verbal has some power, and also slowing down your motion so she could really process it helped a lot on the opening of seq 3 at 1:57! The rest looked great 🙂 You can add in sending to 5 and leaving even sooner to get way ahead on the lines.

You don’t need to be as close o the line 3-4 when you moved towards 3 at 2:14, which made you late calling her and turning her from 4 to 5 – the shoulder turn started when she was lifting off for 4 so she slipped trying to turn to 5

EXCELLENT adjustment to the timing on your 2nd run here: you led out more so you were more lateral for 3 and 4, which set off a good a chain of events: being lateral and trusting her commitment to 3 got you past the jump in the middle, so you could start the turn cues sooner: as she was jumping 3, you were already turning 🙂 That better timing (definitely in the WOO!) plus your lateral position set up a rally great turn 4-5 at 2:41! It was also super nice at 3:03 – you were not as lateral on the 3-4 line but your timing was great and she nailed it. Adding a left verbal would be the next thing to consider, for when you are behind her 🙂

On the first run, the wrap cues for 9 can start earlier, her WOO starts at liftoff to 8! So she can be seeing you already decelerating and using the wrap verbal as she is lifting for 8, so she can make the adjustment to collection. At 2;21, it started when she landed which means she couldn’t process it til the next stride, so she was wide on the wrap

I am happy with the adjustment you made on the wrap on your 2nd run too – your verbal started at the opening of the WOO (liftoff of 8). that really helped and she definitely collected better!! I think you can start your decel at the same time as the verbal (not the rotation, just the decel) – you were still driving up to the wing of the wrap jump and that made the decel cues late, which contributed to her hitting the wing.

She got the wrap behavior nicely one the last rep, but your cues were a bit later there – the timing you had in the 2nd run will be much better for her to get it the first time out. You might be running to the wrap wing more than needed, meaning you can start your decel as she is lifting for 8 and trust her commitment to the line and the turn 🙂

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Wheeeee jumping in at 6 will definitely fine tune what she needs to see/hear in her WOO! Does she have the Nemo ball now?

On the landing of 1 at :20, she was waiting for more info (she had time to take a stride towards you. There has been a lot of discussion in the agility world about releases (American style versus European style): do we release with the traditional “break” (American), or do we release with info like “jump” or “go” (Euro style)? I think it depends on the dog AND the context. In this scenario, with minimal lead out and a fast dog… you can release with GO GO GO rather than “break” then the Go cues. As soon as you gave her the go, she went… but the break cue in the WOO of 1 caused her to turn on 1, adding strides and time and risking enraging her hahaha
The other option is to keep moving on the lead out and release while you are moving – stopping helps cue the turn towards you, so you can be walking the whole time and release while you are moving (or moving faster than walking, depending on how well she will maintain her stay). She didn’t do it on the 2nd or 3rd sequences, but the 1st run gives us the most ‘honest’ assessment before the dogs learn the line 🙂
The rest looked great!

>>Sequence 2 – Ran around the 2nd jump which is not like her but I think I just lost connection for a bit and now that she’s used to more of it, she doesn’t like less.>>

Yes, I had to watch that a few times… very interesting and really not like her!! I think in the moment as you closed your shoulders forward she read backside pressure? But then didn’t do the backside because you were saying tunnel. She almost didn’t take the tunnel but then she got in AND produced a fabulous turn! Nice job with the timing of the turn cues there.

Good for you for watching the video before trying it again 0 the 3rd sequence looked lovely 1-2-3 AND you nailed the turn cues again. Huzzah! Your praising caused her to be wide 4-5 as you mentioned, so ideally you would be turning sooner and using directionals there. The ending looked great!

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>But – I can fit the sequence in my yard!!!

This is great! The 10 foot tunnel is great to use here.

>>Jumping Kaladin at 12in so that he gets a break from 16.

Smart!

>>I trimmed out some extra frizzer play, but the whole video was 3.3 min even with that and all reps that we did are included.

Wow you got this all done in 3.3 minutes even with friz play? Very nice 🙂 He looked great and his tug drive looks FABULOUS.

Mr. Kaladin looked great – he definitely anticipated the release because it looked like you were about to on the first moment, but then lovely commitment to his lines on the run.

>>Sequence 1 – In my mind I was moving to the right with my lower body earlier before the tunnel, but apparently not – however he knew where he was going>>

I agree – he seemed to have no questions. I think your acceleration and verbals made the lower body line less important and he did GREAT!

Seq 2:

>.Sequence 2 – Was so excited about his tight right turn out of the tunnel that I forgot my “go” for the last 2 jumps.

Yes! Totally agree that it was a great turn. You were caught in the moment LOL!!!! Well done on the timing of the right verbal, and I think he saw some decel too as you were preparing to turn. You can try to turn sooner and let him see you leave sooner, to challenge his commitment to the tunnel too!

Seq 3 – I think you decelerated too soon on the 1-2-3 line, so he started adding strides at 2. Then you ended up at 4 very early and had to wait. So this s good to know: you can move forward longer to keep him in extension, and still have a ton of time to get to the turn at 4

>>Turned my entire body off the 2nd tunnel too soon so he obligingly came with me.>>

I have a mixed opinion about this one: Yes, at 1:25 your lower body turned away, but I think the error was more due to breaking connection and looking forward You can see you were yelling the go tunnel cues to the tunnel rather than to him, so all he could see was your back at 1:25 🙂 At 1:57, you moved more to the tunnel and had a little more connection, and he totally nailed it.
BUT… I love the lower body “bye bye I am outta here” that you were going for at 1:25! What if you gave him more of a clear connection (left arm back, eye contact, verbal directly to him) while he was approaching and jump ing 6… and still try to peel away with the lower body? That can be a true “upper body is the present, lower body is the future” moment that I think he is ready for! That will allow you to commit him on a big line while still getting to positions much further up the course. Definitely try that when you revisit this, you can use it as a warm up for Seq 4 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
Great job on these! On the first run, this is a great blooper to work through because this happens to all of us at trials: you had great connection when he landed from 1 then you looked forward to the tunnel entry and pointed to it while he was still behind you. If you freeze the video at :10 when has landed from 2, you can see that the pointing forward has turned your shoulders to the camera and away from the tunnel entry – he can see that and was correct to follow that line. And, your feet were running towards the tunnel exit – he is very literal and correct here, good boy 🙂

Compare that to :11 on the 2nd video, where you led out more so your motion was MUCH clearer to the tunnel entry (yay!) and you held connection longer, so the whole thing looked really good!!

Sequence 3 went well too, you were definitely emphasizing the connection and line all way through.

A couple of ideas for you:

because he is very in tune to your connection and your shoulder position (yay!), try to keep your arm pointing to his nose at all times 🙂 an looking towards his eyes. So when he is behind you, your arm is back and your eyes are on his eyes… even when you tell him to go to the tunnel (rather than pointing forward to the tunnel). This will keep the connection and keep your shoulders pointing to the line, so he will stay on the line better. This will be very important when he is behind you and you are trying to send him past you. It is less important when you are way ahead and close to the line like you were on runs 2 and 3, but it is good to do there too just to be consistent.

You can also work this connection and line from not being far ahead, just maintaining connection and motion towards the tunnel entry til he has landed from 2 and locked onto the tunnel.

The other suggestion is that when you want a straight tunnel exit line at 3-4 here, you don’t need to say his name, because we don’t want him to consider turning to you. you can just say go go go or a jump verbal, in this situation. We can save his name for when you want him to turn, like on the other 3 sequences 🙂

Great job here! I am excited to see the rest of the sequences too!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

PS – I know that I talk a lot about doing these at low heights, but when you get to Carrie’s do these no lower than 16″ so we can really build up his commitment on lines!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! I am glad you got off yer bum and did this! He was VERY happy to be back 🙂 taking a bunch of weeks off is for the better, it was an intense winter/spring of training then trialing!

I think we can still get a lot of out these sessions even if you don’t have a ton of room in your yard:
He gave you good send feedback for the send to the wing at 3:
:08 he did not take the wing, it was a connection break: look at him on the send cue as you deliver his right verbal like you did at :20, not ahead – looking ahead turns your shoulders to where he went, which was past the wing. The connection was very nice at :50!! It is SO counterintuitive to look at the dog and not at the obstacle on sends (especially when the dog is behind you) but as you can see at :50, it works GREAT to look at the dog because it turns your shoulders to the line.

One things about lead outs – at :48 – he was too close to 1, you connected, released, and ran simultaneously and he landed on 1. Try to have him a little further back and make a connection before you release. I have done the connect & release and run like mad as well… an with the same result of the bar down at one. I call that move the “Freak Out” so I remember myself that I am a founding member of Team Fake Chill, so I must be chill on the connection and release.

What did you say to him at :51 after he got to the wing? It sounded like “soda” but I believe I am hearing it wrong LOL!!! At 1:05 it sounded like “TOGA!” lol!

Yes, the tree layer is hard but we will be working on layering soon! Then the tree will be super useful. You can move the jump in closer to help him out and so you don’t need to layer the tree.
You had a lot of connection and motion to get him to the jump at the end – he was wide on the wing but that was only because you were trying to avoid death-by-tree 🙂

Great job!!!! I am looking forward to more 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
These went really well! Great job on your connections and verbals on all of these! We can really get into the nitty gritty about timing. I am glad the field guides helped 🙂

Seq 1 – I liked your adjustment of more connection and motion on rep 2 to get a sweeter line to the tunnel! The tunnel entry is ever-so-slightly offset so she does have to zag out to get it and the added motion totally helped. Very nice!!!

Seq 2 – I was going to say you nailed it the first time, but I liked your 2nd rep even better 🙂 The first time the verbals were well-timed before the tunnel and so was the physical cue. On the 2nd rep, both were really well-timed again and I think the difference was that when you turned and ran to 4, you ran with more quickness and conviction – very cool! And great connection on the 4-5 line.

If you wanted to play with either of these again, try with less lead out to see if you can make it more like the middle of a course 🙂

Seq 3:
This also went well! She did give a bit of verbal feedback on both runs – barking on the first one, muttering on the 2nd one LOL! Looking at the verbal feedback moment at :41 versus :55 – you were more lateral at :55 and I think that helped her read the turn 4-5 better. You can also send her to 5 and leave sooner and see how she does with that. You were very patient in that pinwheel and that helps her sort the jumping, so sending to 5 and leaving faster will give us info as to whether that patience is clearer to her than the send-and-go would be, in terms of turn and jumping skills.

Seq 4 – one thing you might find is that her line on a sequence or course will turn out to be slightly different than it looked on paper. I think that is the case on the 1-2-3-4 line here – with the tunnel exit being slightly offset from 3, she is turning left over 3 and then needs to turn to her right for 4. When you set them, walk them from her perspective so you can plan for any handling needs that might not show up on paper.
With the line here, you got a bit of zig zag 2-3-4, which ended up putting you too far ahead and pulled her off the layer. We will be working layering very soon (it is so important nowadays!) but you can also strategically set the line to the layering from further back – get closer to the #2 tunnel and the wings of 3-4, so she drives ahead of you and out to the 5 jump more easily.

On the 2nd rep, you mentioned that you felt like you had to wait too long to get commitment to 4 – that is the lead change you are seeing on the 2-3-4 line. I think she has the commitment skill, but in a lead change line needs to see the info sooner: as she is exiting the tunnel, you can be using motion closer to the 3-4 line and also start cuing an ‘out’ to get the lead change… all before takeoff to 3, If you can get her to land from 3 relatively straight to 4, then it will be much easier to commit her and leave at 4.

At 1:30, when you got way ahead – keeping your arm back to her so your shoulders stay open to the line and repeating a jump cue will help her commit from behind you. And when you repeated that section at 1:40, you stayed closer to the line which totally helped too!

I liked your timing of your verbal and decel on the wrap at 9 at the end here, right in the WOO! I think you can trust her commitment even more on that and rotate your lower body sooner too, and that will help tighten it up. I have found that using a lower arm on the send into it with the decel helps me be able to rotate sooner – the more extended forward or higher the arm, the harder it is to rotate. So you can play with adding a lower arm here too, your hand staying at about the level of your knees – which she might find useful too because it is less ‘forward’ and indicates more collection.

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

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! Hope you are enjoying your camp vacation 🙂 And great shirt here in the videos 🙂

Seq 1 –

great connection and motion down the line 1-2-3! When she was in the tunnel… do the same thing you did down the line 1-2-3: run! You over-connected here and ended up bending over and decelerating (I call this the ‘helicopter mom’ move :)) You don’t need to connect quite as much – keep your arms low and your eyes towards her but run run run 🙂 You were much better staying in motion on the 2nd rep – and that connection can be even more ‘casual’ and softer so you don’t end up rotating back towards her. You want to be able to see her but you don’t need to stare deeply into her eyes on this type of line 🙂 as long as you keep your arms low like you had here.

2nd sequence:
at :17 and :26, I thought you delivered the info at the right time in the WOO – turn, verbals, etc. I think you can slow down the verbals to make them sound different: “MAE! riiiight riiiiight” for example but I don’t think that speed of the verbals were the issue. It might have been that she just got rewarded twice for going straight, and also when she exited the tunnel at :18, you were running that direction towards the off course (even though you were in a different position) when ideally you would be running forward towards the #4 jump. at :28, you were facing forward by moving sideways – which is also motion towards the off course (but again, I don’t think that is the cause – it is probably a combination of Maple needing more tunnel exit turn experience and the 2 rewards she just had there on sequence 1).

When you get back from your camp trip, try this sequence 1st and see if she turns immediately rather than going straight 🙂

3rd rep – the MAPLE come come come seemed to make a big difference for her – maybe COME versus right is something to remember! Come might be a stronger verbal at the moment,so you can can keep that one in the toolbox and we can also work to strengthen the right verbal. You decelerated and were not really moving when she exited, which helped but I don’t think it was the fix because she was already turning at :40. I think the verbal COME was the big helper for her! Good to know!

LOVE the notes!!! And we can add in a reminder to work on tunnel exits!

Seq 3…. well, there goes my theory that the COME verbal is key. Out the window, because she heard it and still went straight hahaha so it is a lack of understanding on how to turn on tunnel exits – a training skill we can work on. You gave her an “easy Maple come come come” on the next one and she get it, but probably because she remembered she was supposed to turn 🙂 You had so much easy on the next rep she almost didn’t go to the tunnel 🙂

So, let’s train her to turn more on the tunnel exits, without as much handling and verbal: take the off course jump out of the picture so she doesn’t have it as a distraction. Then, with just a jump and a tunnel, cue the turn without a lot of dramatic handling (just let her see and hear it well before she goes in, which is what you were doing here) – then run away calling her and reward heavily for turning. Then we can balance back to going straight sometimes and turning sometimes. She is like my Hot Sauce, who also loves to go straight after tunnels – wheeeee!

Seq 4:

nice opening and nice closing, each time!!
There are two spots where you can cue sooner to get the cues within the WOO and get better turns:

The first one is at 4-5 – at :49 (she got the info when she was lifting off for 4 so was wide) and also at 1:10 where you were earlier but still late (bar down) She got the “around” and physical cue one stride from take off which is too late fo a 24″ jumping dog. So, her WOO timing for that turn begins when she is in the air over 3 and carries through to landing of 3 and one more stride to 4: she should be hearing and seeing the cues as she is landing (and repeat/maintain them) from 3, so start them as she is over 3 when the WOO opens.

The other place to be sooner in the WOO is at the wrap at 9. At :57, she was one stride past landing when you started the wrap cues (bar down), so her takeoff decision had been made and she tried to adjust in the air. The cues at 1:18 was definitely sooner, you started over the bar of 8 so it was in progress when she landed and before she made a decision about 9 (but bar was down so we didn’t get a full picture of her response) So remember that her WOO is really earlier than you think and you can begin giving the cues as she is in the air for 8 and so she will see the decel starting and hear the verbal starting as she is landing.

Love the notes here too! It will really help us move forward in her training 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think and enjoy your vacation!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!

Awww I love the photo at the beginning!

>>Ronan has seen the plank before in the context of his running dog walk training so I didn’t anticipate any hesitation in him getting readily on it.

I agree, he was very confident! And the angles/turning around are not traditionally taught in RDW training, so I like to install that understanding now before he gets a lot of speed across the plank.
He was very happy to trot back and forth over the plank with you stationary. And since the reward placement was already established, he had zero problems with you adding movement, and zero questions when you were tossing the treats off to the side too – he did a good job of coordinating himself to get back on. This is all so important for dog walk training!

When you convinced him to move more slowly, he was able to turn around and keep all 4 feet on – it is not so easy to slow down, he says LOL! Moving back and forth allowed him to use some momentum to make the turn, which is fine too – but definitely keep doing it with him having to slow down and stay on. The conditioning vets all say that we need to get the dogs to understand how to do these things without relying on their speed or momentum (my dogs agree with Ronan that slowing down is STUPID haha!)

Overall for the plank – this all went really well, so you can elevate the plank now using a couple of stable things to lift it a couple of inches – bricks, cinderblocks, cato boards/planks, anything stable. Then we repeat the process 🙂

>>How did Mom manage to toss a treat right on top of a pile of dog poo asked Ronan, LOL.

That is impressive! LOL!

The lazy game looks GREAT! Definite improvement here! The hardest part for him might be eating the cookie when he would probably prefer to be running LOL! He looks at you a little bit here but that is fine (and to be expected, somewhat) in these early stages. You can see by the end he was already looking ahead more. You can totally move that middle jump further away now to keep building this up, and add in the one-step sends from the live session too! At some point we will be adding more speed and toys too, but we can hold on that for now pending cooler weather and clearances 🙂

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! She is looking really strong here too. Because she is looking so good, one of the things we can do is really maximize her speed 🙂 That means – where can we smooth out questions and cue as much extension as possible? I think the pieces are in place for us to really dive into the tiny details. FUN!

With that in mind, on Seq 3, small details:

>> I usually use Em’s name for soft turns out of tunnels.

Your physical cue was good but try to get the name call to her before she enters. On the first run, you called when she exited and she adjusted after exiting. She didn’t adjust on the 2nd run, but she had also already seen the sequence 🙂

The turn 4-5 was great… then you can put her back into extension by sending to 5 and hustling away, rather than turning with her (which kept her in collection for longer than I think she needs to be). You moved away faster on the 2nd run, and she responded with more acceleration too. Yay!! You can play with how early you can send and leave, to see how she responds and how much extension you can get.

Seq 4 – she did well here too, after a little cheating on the start line LOL!

You don’t need her name on the exit of the #2 tunnel (if it means turn) – you can be using a GO verbal before the entry, and a jump verbal on that line to 3. And, since her name is a soft turn verbal on tunnels, you can totally use it as you turn her for 4, which is a soft left turn to 5.

I am very excited to see her level of commitment for the wrap turn at 8-9 at :53!!! You had relaly strong WOO timing there – she was over 8 (jump after the tunnel) and the verbal and decel were already starting. Your upper body maintained the cue all the way through her line while your lower body turned and left… and she maintained her commitment and did the wrap very independently. YAY!
She had a tiny hesitation coming around the wing at :54, not really super fast til she say the line to the 10 jump. You were doing a thigh tap, but it didn’t seem to help her drive to 10. Maybe call her name there, and see if she drives around harder? Don’t say jump, because she sees 3 different jumps at that point and none of them will be the correct one haha!!!

Skipping ahead to the 3rd run, which looked great too – you said something to her at 1:35 as she was wrapping independently (I can’t quite here what you said) and then went to the GO TUNNEL more quickly, and got better drive around the wing for sure! You can call her a few times, starting before liftoff (the WOO for that name call would be as she is gathering for takeoff for the jump, while she is over the jump, all the way through landing and when she comes around the wing, then you go to the GO TUNNEL verbal).

2nd run, looking at the 3-4-5 line: the decel as you cued 4 at 1:09 definitely got a better turn, but then you ended up in a stationary spot on the middle jump and the out was late so she read it as a 270 backside there – clever! We will definitely be working on layering this summer, but for now on this sequence – you can get it but strategically going closer to tunnel #2 and the 3 & 4 jumps, then send her away to 5 and 6 – that way she is a little ahead and her line is supported by motion throughout. And, the verbal out cue can happen as she is lifting off for 4, to help support her line to 5 independently.

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

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