Here comes your second homework!
1. multi-wraps with handler in different positions: set a bar at your current cik&cap height and have a dog do multiple wraps around the wing. Change your position so that you're sometimes on take-off side, sometimes on landing side of the jump. Reward by reaching in with a toy to reward close to the wing. Multi-wraps should always be your first exercise when you put the bars on the next height and you should keep working on them on each height, it's great collection jumping exercise, I actually do some before every training, within our warm-up.
2. cik&cap sequencing: we'll mask this training for different handler positions and moves into a little sequence and include a tunnel for extra fun 🙂 Start with cap on one, try cik with handler on a landing side on 3, a shoulder pull from 4 to 5, cap with a front cross on 5, tunnel again and then push for another cik on 7. Reward in the direction of where I set number 8. Break it down in little parts first.
3. 2on2off vs. running: time to address contacts! Send a video of whatever you've got till now if you are already working on it. If you haven't done anything about it yet, those two videos show first step of 2on2off (at 3:13 of this video) - stopping in the position on a box/upside down drawer:
and running (at 1:30 of this video - I hope it's fine I used your video Gitte 🙂 ) - running over a long carpet:
If you haven't decided yet, you can work on both, using a box or up-side-down drawer for 2on2off and a carpet or a wide, thin plank for running contacts - and then see what you like better.
Right I need help!! I increased the height on the jumps today, after you said we should be able to for cik and cap. Not by much, my jumps have a support bar which he’s been jumping so I just added a jump bar just above it. DISASTER!!! Ok not entirely, Buzz actually had some really nice turns and a couple of good multi wraps, but on the whole it was a disaster. He knocked the jump bar off about 80% of the time, a couple was when he hit the upright with his shoulder so I’m just ignoring those, like you said hoping that will go away! Problem is I don’t see how I’m going to be able to keep putting the bar up coz he’s just not bothering to jump it most of the time. Either not really trying or he’s not understanding he needs to jump and turn. Or he flat out doesn’t care! When he’s jumping extended he’ll go to properly jump it, it’s just wrapping tight he’s not doing it.
I’ve included in the video all the attempts he made over two sessions today so you can see how often he’s knocking the bar and see if you notice something I’m not thats making him do it. I’m trying to ignore the times he hits it, just reset him, and when he does get it right I have a real good play of tug with him (I’ve edited it all out so you don’t have to watch it). I’m at a loss of what else I could do. I’m going to try at home with just his food and see if he can think a bit more when he’s not so focused on a toy and try to build it from there I think. But any ideas from anyone would be much appreciated!
I’ve also included some of the tunnel exercises at the end from class 1 as I thought it best to just stop with the jumps and let him have some fun with the tunnel alone, and I havn’t got any video up yet of that so nows a good time I think!
Cool, no problems with the tunnel exercise. Really tight on cik&cap too, but yes, knocking many bars… As I said, I think he doesn’t see it as a jump yet, he just a kind of steps over… As he is that tight on that height, you can also try putting the bar even somewhat higher and maybe hang something over it, as I mentioned in my other comment. Something with strong flashy colours usually work best to get his attention.
Thanks Silvia, feel a bit better knowing Bi was similiar! Will definately try what you suggest, his jumping style improved heaps once I started doing grid work with him a while ago, before that he was just throwing himself over the jump from wherever and landing wherever! Now his strides are better, his takeoff and landing are better and he looks really nice going over the jumps! Will find some interesting things to put on the jumps and will put the height up a bit more too.
I hope it helps him too! Bi was always brilliant on any jumping exercise… But put it in a real course and everything was flying around… I stopped for every bar, but she has such a happy attitude towards everything that she didn’t mind at all 🙂 It’s only the strange looking things on bars that got her attention 🙂
Do you ever use grids to work on striding? How do you feel about them. Thank you!
Here are my wraps and sequence. So sorry it’s blurred, will have my camera checked. How can I get him to run faster between jumps. Am I using my cue hand correctly or should it be the other one.
Wow, that’s very very tight!!! Ready for the next height! I think his speed is pretty good, but definitely play lots of sends to one cik/cap games -- the goal is he runs as fast to the jump as he does after that for the ball. It also teaches them that cik/cap is actually a send and gives you better obstacle focus, so exercise 1 of lesson 1 is definitely the exercise you want to do often.
Great job with the sequence too. I use a normal hand for running in between obstacles and then for showing the jump they’re wrapping, I change to the opposite hand (see the video to see when exactly I change it) as that’s my normal hand after the wrap. So it’s right for 1, left for 3, right for 5 and left for 7.
Sorry, no videos yet. Blast isn’t feeling well so he is resting. But I did make my students do the exercise and it was a lot of fun to watch.
I hope Blast is feeling better soon!
Here is our video. Not sure if I’m doing the multiwraps correctly & where I should be standing. If you could see all the video footage on this exercise you would laugh, I’m sure. I kept forgetting which way I was wrapping Elsa & said cik when it should have been cap… 🙂 I’m seriously thinking of using one verbal cue now that I see how quickly you have to remember left & right!
I included the fig. 8 here—the bars are set at 6″. Is this a good height for now or should I move them up?
And the sequence…whoa, I think I watched your video 15 times before I understood what I should be doing 🙂 And I still don’t know if I got it right. 🙂 By the time I shot this footage, I had made so many handling mistakes that I think it affected Elsa’s tunnel sends…poor girl 🙂 She was driving to the tunnel at the beginning but is slower here & sometimes refusing…
Looking forward to your comments.
Thanks!
Great job Kathy and Elsa! Tight cik!
Thanks Kristin! I went back & watched your sequence video as Silvia suggested. It was a big help to see how you didn’t let DaVinci know that you goofed in the sequence & how he was happy & full of drive regardless. A big lesson for me!!! Thanks!
You & DaVinci are a great team!!
Great job with multi-wraps, you can add some height now. You are doing it right, you can vary your position some. If you see the jump bar as a line, the side the dog is taking off is a take off side and the side she is landing is a landing side 🙂 Very nice, fast and tight figure 8s too. Her obstacle focus is very good as long as you move some to support her line, but when you’re completely static, she often stops and checks back with you too. Try to move some when you send. You can move the bar up a little now.
When working on sequences, always try to run without the dog for at least 5 times (like Camilla is showing at the end of her video) first, before trying it with the dog -- and rehears your verbal cues while doing so too. And you will probably still forget it sometimes when running with the dog 🙂 -- no big deal, just do whatever is in front of you and reward. It’s important to not stop and look lost and forget about the dog as it’s teaching the dog a wrong thing. In the video, she is so much in handler focus already that she doesn’t see the obstacles at all, that’s also why she is somewhat wide (and doesn’t take tunnels). It’s not as important to not get lost as how you react to getting lost -- see Kristin’s video. So you can post those tries too, to work on responding right 🙂
Thanks Silvia! I feel a whole lot of pressure has been taken off now that I can reward & have fun even though I get lost in the sequence. 🙂 Don’t know why I didn’t get this before—but I won’t forget it now! I hope I didn’t do too much damage to Elsa’s drive by stopping & looking lost…
And I’ll try running the sequence without Elsa first…and hey, my neighbors already think I’m crazy so this will really convince them! 🙂
Thanks again!
Yeap, it’s important to always remember that agility is not about getting from one number to another… It’s about lines, speed, communication, fun. You can practise all that on whatever sequence you end up running 🙂 And no worries, you can’t do any real damage in one or two sessions. Dogs are very patient with us 🙂
Hi Silvia,
I know we need lots more work on multi-wraps. We started the morning working on those today and we’ll continue working on them, but for fun for both Matilda and for me, we also worked on the jumps and tunnel sequence.
Liza
Try to mix in some multi-wraps in sequences too, on jumps where she goes too wide… Like on 3 or the last wrap. Other are pretty tight and you’re really good at telling your cues in time! But why not FC 1 to 2?
Hi,
Here’s our sequence work – a little bit sloppy on the turns especially the Cik – I must remember to pause & not move backwards as that creates a wider turn! Some bad habits are hard to break………!
Have to work on the multi wraps -- they are not Harley’s favourite at the moment -- I am trying to create more value in it by returning to basic -- low bar,etc
Yeap, he was way tighter on one jump exercises… One reason is definitely that you’re very late with giving him your verbal cues… But still, I think you need to start a sequence with some multi wraps, then send to a tunnel, do a couple of multi-wraps again etc. When he gets tighter, lower the number of multi wraps and make it look more like a sequence. But he needs to see first it’s the same exercise, I think he doesn’t see it that way yet. It’s true that moving back doesn’t help, but I think that’s not the major reason for it. Please tape some multi-wraps, maybe we can help you make it more fun for him.
Thanks. Will drill back & concentrate on the wrapping……….!
HELP! Things are not getting better, it’s the opposite, we are somehow regressing. He is shutting down more! He refuses to play, he refuses to do cikcap, he even refuses to poop.
So I left when he left, but it only took a few times for him to figure out that when he stops, the training session stops. This backfired on me, because he would rather NOT do it, so it is actually getting him what he wants. There are some deeper behavior issues here. He frequently disengages. He is happy by himself. I am at my wits end.
Have you had him checked out by a vet? Sometimes in our classes when a dog is reluctant to engage no matter what the handler tries it’s because they are in pain somewhere.
Hm, that sounds to me like he needs a vet check up too… Was the change sudden or gradual? Is it like this only outside, in heat, or the same indoors, with air conditioning? Does he still like to do SOMETHING? His favourite trick or a tunnel maybe? And he doesn’t play when asked to do something first or not at all?
I am sure he is healthy. He just doesn’t want to do it. It seems to me that he is either on or off. It is not the heat either, because he will go for a bike ride or run and looks like he is having a great time. Usually when he shuts down he wants to do something else like outside it’s sniffing and running and inside it’s getting treats. He offered tricks like getting in heel postion and paws on an object (the jump pole). I try to play with him a lot, but he is not motivated by toys at all, he grew up play deprived as a puppy. I am working much harder than him, always trying to make him play with me. Sometimes he just goes into a down and stay, and he waits.
I thought of a couple more things to explain this problem. He does like to play tug, but he doesn’t play for very long. My old dog would tug until I would say I had enough.
Could I get him to play for food? I don’t really like to do anything extrem, but maybe he just won’t get food anymore until he plays when I want to play.
I understand you frustration 🙂 My dog is not a high drive dog and she is very independent. I have to work very, very hard to get her to work with me. Even now most of our play sessions are Tibby standing around and me waiting for her to want to do something. Or then she will leave and nothing will get her back to playing/training with me. She too will do tricks rather than play at agility.
One thing that has work is mixing toys and treats. Sometimes I will reward with a treat and some times with a toy. She isn’t always food motivated so this makes it even more complicated! 🙂 She would go without eating for a long time if she doesn’t want to work.
I also try not to demand or put pressure on her to do things. I try to just let her decide if she wants to. This has been very hard! Most of the time she doesn’t want to! But little by little I think we are doing better and she is choosing to work with me. 🙂
Hang in there! 🙂
yeap, we’re in the same boat, Catalina. We should have some sort of support group 🙂
ha! Yeah we should! 🙂
You do have a support group….!!!! Here are we…just telling you not to give up!!!
Yeah, it’s hard with dogs who think sniffing around is even better as doing something with their handler… My Samoyed was a lot like this. What saved us was finding something he really liked: that is chasing mice in the ground and birds in the sky… He was a passionate hunter. So we had an agreement he needs to stay with me for two jumps and then we go hunting. And then three, four… If he left, he was caught and tied to the fence until his next turn. If he stayed, we went to the field nearby. It was a long and frustrating process, great training on patience. The major breakthrough happened when he started to see agility as all about running. After that, he was always in, he LOVED to run.
Thank you for the encouragement. We just had a bad day and I think I had a panic atack 🙂 I’m an idiot, it’s not my dog, it’s me. I need to remember shaping! I never thought he could do all those tricks, but we got most of them. I need to break it up into smaller steps for him and stop before he quits. I also get too serious when I am concentrating, maybe he finds that intimidating.
Today I used a tug rope and small pieces of fish, which is like doggie crackcocaine!!! Oh, he got really excited and started barking at me and wagging his tail! I shaped him picking up the rope and bringing it and he started throwing it around. Next session I will see if he will tug it. Working on tugging on command. I would have liked to capture the barking, but that wasn’t the objective today.
I will try to make him do something before our run too, so that the running will be a big reward for working. I haven’t figured out a way yet to incorporate the bicycle, but sure would like to try. Need a big field for that.
Sounds good! I think there will still be up and downs in your training, but be patient, try to be innovative with rewards (different toys and treats), keep sessions short and intense and progress at his rate, don’t push for more as he is ready for -- he is just not a BC (I also don’t think he is more than half of an Aussie, he looks to have some Nordic breeds look and attitude 🙂 ), but I’m sure you can do it, he definitely has brilliant moments and I’m sure there will be more&more of those! You just need to be patient…
he’s a strange bird 🙂 I don’t think he’s a dog at all, never mind what breed, he is some creature to test me 🙂
Cool, I love how she is taking the jumps and tunnel on her own! And she can collect really well when avoiding landing on the cat! Very interesting method 🙂 And she sure looks really happy now! -- Especially in that living room session! Maybe you could keep one jump indoor all the time and work on one jump things indoor (multi-wraps and sends -- those are even more important for her), in very short, but frequent sessions? She is still a little bit confused what this game is all about, but she is sure liking it more&more. Do you still see that instructor you mentioned that you found? Could you maybe ask her to show you a front cross? It’s really easy when somebody takes you through it. If jumps with bars make more sense to her, you can use a bar, but very low, not what you’re using at the beginning -- that looks pretty much like full height already. It’s too much for her age and agility experience. But hey, she sure does seem to be having fun now!!! Great job!
Thanks! I’m not sure where the words went to in my last post? Anyway, I wanted to ask what should I do when Tibby skips a pole in the weaves? I want to keep everything fun for Tibby, so she will keep playing with me. Do I just ignore it and have her try again?
I’m doing RC with Tibby -- it looks like more fun and Tibby needs it to be fun. 🙂 It’s a little hard when we can’t go outside- there isn’t a lot of room in the garage, but it’s better than not being able to practice at all.
We have lessons about every 2 weeks with our instructor. She has been having me do front crosses since out first lesson, but I forget to do them -- I get so excited when Tibby decides to work with me.
The bars on the jumps….well, when I have the bars lower Tibby knocks them down. She puts her head down, knocks them over with her head and then walks through. When they are higher she doesn’t do that. When we do cik/cap I just put the bars on the ground, so I don’t have to argue with Tibby about it. I think I’ll just keep the bars down for now -- I was just experimenting in those first 2 sessions.
Thanks watching our video 🙂
Yes, you can just ignore the unsuccessful tries and only reward when she stays in the whole channel. RC is definitely more fun, but somewhat tricky with dogs who have different speeds and won’t run full speed after the ball every time… But well, you can still try and introduce a stop later if necessary. Interesting bar problem 🙂 You can keep it down for now yes and then very slowly add height, maybe she will leave them up if they are very low 🙂 Front crosses get easier with time, so just keep practising, you can practise it on walks too, in slow motion 🙂
I love that cat! I think he wants to be trained!
So obvious that it trusts your dog explicitly & wants his tummy rubbed!
The cat is too funny! 🙂
Well done!! I love when Tibby looked at the food and then decided to go through the tunnel instead 🙂 I gasped when she ran over the cat, but cat didn’t care at all! Very cool
ha ha yeah Catty is a pretty laid back cat. She doesn’t care if Tibby runs over her, but she hates it when Tibby pulls her tail!! They chase around almost every night -- Tibby play bowing and Catty chasing after her 🙂
I don’t even notice Catty any more when we are training, because she is ALWAYS in the way or trying to get in the way!! 😛
Hi Silvia,
here is our try on the sequence. It was much fun. The multi-wraps coming up soon. Looking forward to your comment.
https://www.lolabuland.com/long-distance-classes/agility-foundations/foundation-2/comment-page-4/#comments
Great! Fast and tight! Also, very good reaction to forgetting the sequence!!! As I said, it’s no problem if you get lost, as long as the dog doesn’t know anything about it, can still run full speed wherever you are taking her -- and gets a reward for it! So that was definitely my favourite part of your video, thanks for including it , so that others can see too. Also, this is about as long as the session can be -- no more than 1min of running per session! Time to put the bars to 5cm!
Thank you Silvia for this comment. I´m really happy and more relaxed now. We will put the bars up a little bit.
That was the most important thing I learned on my first seminar with you -- never stop running for handler-mistakes. With Clara I always stopped and showed her my confusion on course, so that she got more and more uncertain about my cueing.
Wow! Fast!
Thank you Kristin. I watched your video -- very, very nice and fast!!
Way to go! You look like a fun trainer I love the laughing with your dog! Fun Fun Fun!
Sehr schoen!
Well you fooled me -- i couldn’t even tell where you got lost 🙂
Hello mates and Silvia, here is our homework lesson 2 so far…I have just realized that Darwin is 10 times better than me…I dont show him enought where to go…and I am still without knowing how to make a FC or a Pull shoulder… 🙁
Wow, you two are both doing GREAT! Darwin is really great, very fast and very tight, with very good understanding already. His multi wraps are great and hey, you’re handling the sequence like a pro! 🙂 What you do at 0:20 for example is called a front cross, so yes, you can do it 🙂 Very good response to getting lost too! 🙂
Thank you Silvia, we are enjoying a lot and when I come back home he is waiting for me with his ball in the mouth….is so funny!!! 🙂
Yeah, Eva! You both look great!!! Vesta came by to see what’s up 🙂
Way to go--Darwin is really moving!
Thank you Nancy I think that Darwin has a natural talent for Agility..He is showing me how to do it rather than the oposite…such a shame he doesnt have a more knowleadge handeler…
Jennifer are you thinking about the puppy you were talking about…? I think that if you get a new puppy the pressure with Buddy will be off…! I am not saying that you have to quite..I am still trying to convince Vesta that the tunnel is funnier than the rabits in the field…but I think that in that way you can do it slowly with him and he wont feel the pressure on either…A little bit like Silvia did with Bu and Bi…I REPITE IT IS NOT GIVING UP IT IS GIVING A BUDDY A BREAK…
Yes, I’ve been thinking about getting a new puppy and am looking at breeders; more complicated than I thought. It definitely would take pressure off my little problem child.
Awesome! Definitely like a pro 🙂 So cute, Darwin is having such a good time