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Post

Cik&Cap makes things easy!

04 Sep 2011
6 Comments
articles, my philosophy

Article I wrote for Agility Zone magazine on Cik&Cap:

As you probably figured out by now: I love training dogs! And I love it even more when I have a new, not-yet-tested idea. It's funny, because I actually really hate having new phone, computer or car, I hate getting used to new things and reading instructions is what makes me annoyed and nervous in like a second. People that know me always laugh at me to be able to test and develop new methods for years, they know patience, persistence and not giving up are my strongest points - until they see me reading instructions. Give me instructions to follow and I'm giving up in the next second. Give me the dog with the problem and I will solve it. Might take me years, but I will.

I love new challenges and I love that every next dog brings me some new ones: Aiken taught me how to motivate hard-to-motivate dogs, Lo taught me how to deal with fears and phobias, Bu taught me how to work with autistic dog with special needs and La... Hm... She showed me how easy it is with problem-free dog (if we don't see hyperactivity and total lack of self-control as a problem, of course 🙂 ). As I needed a problem to solve, something to improve anyway, I came up with that idea of cik&cap turns. She already won World Championships with 6s of advantage before that, so no, we didn't need it. But we loved it and with every next dog, every next student and every next course that I run, I love it even more, I see even more advantage in it and even more positive side-effects.

Cik&cap turns are born as a trick, that's where the name comes from: cik-cak/zig-zag was how I called figure 8 between my legs trick. And then simply generalized it for sending the dog to wrap other objects, eventually jump wings and then eventually jump wings with a bar inbetween - low first, and then higher&higher. Very easy, elegant way to cut off 2 to 5s off your course times, depending on how good or not your dog is naturally turning and how long or not he is jumping when jumping in extension. Yeah, most people think I gain most with running contacts, but as there are maximum two occasions to do running contacts per course (none in jumpers), that's not really true. You can gain the most on turns.

And it's not just about the turns. At the same time you are training for perfect turns, you are training sends, distance skills, independence, commitment and obstacle focus and you're making turns and agility as such way more fun for the dog. Especially if you're just starting, beginnings can be somewhat frustrating for both the dog and the handler as they both have so much more to learn - but knowing cik&cap makes it more fun for both, it allows the dog to run and have fun right from the start and gives the handler more time to think about where and how to cross etc. Handling and timing definitely gets MUCH easier with cik&cap, it allows you to get perfect turns even when you don't happen to be on a perfect spot at the perfect moment. And probably most importantly: as it allows the dog to know all the time where he is going next, so that he has time to adjust his speed and prepare for the turn, it takes lots of stress off your dog's joints. It always hurts me to see dogs landing in wrong direction, having to absorb all the momentum to stop and turn and then speed up again, sometimes even falling on their shoulders... NOT good! Cik&cap allows your dog to always land with front paws turned in the right direction, so the momentum from the landing is used for speeding up again.

So yes, cik&cap is definitely The trick that you want to teach to every agility dog. Have fun!


More coming soon... For now, just a list of previous articles:

Agility is easy!

Busting some myths on dog training

Heeling, my favourite trick

Be generous with your rewards!

Large vs. Small/Medium

BC vs. PyrShep

How it all began...

A question of enthusiasm

Let's play!

World Championships 2010

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6 Comments

  1. Cindy September 4, 2011 at 17:25 Log in to Reply

    Silvia -- Thanks so much! It never occurred to me to look under Our Training to find these cool articles 🙁 Thanks for alerting us and organizing them… I’m looking forward to lots of reading 🙂 Cindy & Cosi

  2. Jonina September 4, 2011 at 21:33 Log in to Reply

    Great article!! Thank you so much that you came up with this great idea of Cik and Cap! (And all the other great ideas!! ) We really LOOOOOOVVVEEE it !!!! 😀

  3. Justine September 5, 2011 at 08:38 Log in to Reply

    It’s amazing for me to read your article today ^_^
    because I was on agility seminar all this past weekend and I was talking exactly as you in your article. And I felt as if I looked like an illuminated or an alien for the other people :- P

  4. Barbara and Tani September 5, 2011 at 09:09 Log in to Reply

    Great article! I hope part II of “Busting myths on dog training” will follow soon 🙂

    • LoLaBu September 5, 2011 at 14:25 Log in to Reply

      Coming, coming…

  5. BestMudi September 8, 2011 at 12:33 Log in to Reply

    Hi, let me share my experience -- cik&cap has learnt me how to understand better my dog and how to train and handle him better, not only teaching tricks. I absolutely agree that cik&cap is the biggest weapon for great agility runs exactly from all those reasons Silvia mentioned. I think that´s the most cool agility training thing ever.
    Thank you, Silvia, for sharing your minds!
    Barbara&mudis

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sialaSilvia Trkman is known for bringing every dog, from her first dog on, to the very top of the sport. Her dogs are known for great speed, tight turns, running contacts and long and injury-free careers. Silvia is in agility since 1992 and is
– 3x World Champion (with two different dogs)
– 5x European Open winner, with 4 different dogs (Lo, La, Bu, Le)!!!
– National Championships podium and World Team member with every dog she’s ever had
– National Champion for 22-times (with 5 different dogs of 3 different breeds)

– World Team member for 19-times (mostly with at least two dogs at the time – sometimes four 🙂 )

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