We're starting with real sequences today, you'll get a new sequence every time and we'll always be running them in parts, starting with a small part and then adding more&more obstacles, just as you can see in the video - reward where I rewarded and then start from 1 again, meaning that you'll always be doing the whole sequence only on a 4th try or so. Whole sequences will be pretty long, to get the flow, but do NOT run a whole sequence again and again - you can run little parts several times, but the whole sequence only once or twice. Always run it without the dog first and only when you really know it, try with the dog. After every try, PLAY, give a dog a break to rehearse the next sequence on your own and only then try again.
Don't keep running the same sequence for 2 weeks!!! You can either think of another sequence on your own or keep working on multi-wraps and sends (from lesson 1 and 2). Also, don't forget to keep working on weaves and contacts, we'll get back to that later!
And Bi on the same sequence to show how things should look like on a low and then higher height:
1. introducing straight lines: after all the cik&cap work, it's time to introduce some straight lines and extension jumping too. Set a straight line of 2 or 3 jumps between two tunnels (or simply use one if you don't have two), start with some cik/cap to tunnel, cik/cap to tunnel, then straight over the first jump to cik/cap on a second jump back to tunnel, then two straight jumps to cik/cap on a third one, cik/cap again on a next jump etc. - just think of something, putting more and more straight jumps in between one and another cik/cap. See a video and again another example here:
2. sequencing: start with cik on 1, run in for a front cross between 2 and 3, ask for cap on 2 from the landing side, RUN for cik on 5 (extension jumping on 4), another cap on 6 and finishing with cik on 8, rewarding in the direction of 9.
3. bang the see-saw game: if you did the "closing drawers and doors" trick, then you're all ready for this new game. If you don't have a see-saw, you can use a small plank with something underneath so that it moves when the dog pushes it with front legs. If you have a see-saw, either lower it almost to the ground or support it so that one end is 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 inches) off the ground and have them push it down with front feet - you can then raise it somewhat more off the ground. Do not promote 4 feet, 2 feet is better to teach them to push. Jackpot for most powerful pushes and eventually stop rewarding the gentle touches. Reward away from the see-saw, you want a push&go (I'm not doing very good job on that in the video, I forgot to bring better treats for that - a toy would actually be even better). ONLY work on this part (step 1 and 2) for next 2 weeks (no 4 feet yet!) - I included next steps in the video just to give you an idea what's the plan 🙂
I'll be answering your comments till Friday 29th. Then I'm leaving for EO and have the camp after that, so we'll be on break till 15th August so that everybody can catch up AND you can practice cik&cap some more. We're introducing straight lines too today, but if you only started with cik&cap when the class started, you still need to do quite some work on that anyway - especially exercises 1 of lesson 1 and 2! You can also keep adding height... So, plenty of work for everybody! The second week of this lesson will be from 15-21st August, with no video commenting in between. I like those breaks as they take some pressure off and I can always see a huge progress after the break!
Ciao!
evo končno moje videe!
Koridor sem začela spet s širokim, ker po moje še ni razumela točno za kaj se gre. Malo sem eksperimentirala in se na koncu odločila za metanje žogice, zdaj končno gre 🙂
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parkurčki: imamo še nekaj problemov s fokaliziranjem na ovire. Problem je tudi pošiljanje v tunel ko sem jaz na zunanji strani (in tunel je bil blizu ograje tako da nisem mogla stopit naprej) ampak sem sigurna da z vajo bo boljše. Cik&cap-e vadim tudi še posebaj s shapingom (na začetku sem malo goljufala in sedaj plačujem to… 🙁 ):
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pa še cone:
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upam, da se filmčki vidijo…
Lp, Maša
Great job with contacts!!! Your clicking is very good and her running is very nice. Just stabilize that plank better, it’s not good for their joints to run on such a bouncy plank. The rest… -- Looks like Croatian Sheepdog 🙂 Absolutely no problems with tightness, but quite some problems with obstacle focus… Her head is turned into you all the time, even in weaves…
I would try to still do tons of sends to wraps and tunnel (lesson 1) -- for now without rear crosses yet, that’s somewhat too advanced, try to always send to the tunnel with you on inside side for now. Straight line between the two tunnels (lesson 3 and 4) is very good for her too, you can throw in some wraps, but often just run it straight and do lots of ball throwing straight ahead. -- Or maybe, it’s actually even easier to start with a circle of jumps instead so that you have shorter path as she does. First run with her and then slowly more&more towards the middle of the circle, to let her see that she can take the jumps even if you’re not right there.
Try to throw a ball early enough that she sees it when her head is turned ahead: so before she takes the jump you are rewarding. It would also be good to teach her the concept of running to a static toy, would help with weaves too as for now, she keeps watching you all the time. The easier would be to first have a helper to show her the toy and then later on just stand there to take it away if she decides to get it without finishing the channel first. I think she should get that fast, it’s very unusual they go out and around the channel to get the ball that is straight ahead in such a wide open channel anyway.
Basically, all the problems originate in one single problem (obstacle focus) -- so the good news is that once you get through that one, everything will be easy 🙂
Hvala!!!
Most: naj probam -- z dodatno desko -- delat cel most ali je še prezgodaj?
Slalom: nimam možnosti imet pomočnika ker treniram zgodaj zjutraj… ampak sem ga delala tako malo, da po moje če bom metala žogice vedno naprej bo že razumela (?) Do sedaj je bil problem, da ga sploh ni delala (kot si vidla), ko ji bo dokončno jasno da mora jit do konca bom lahko metala žogico tudi prej. Zdaj čakam da naredi celega.
Ok, bom 1000 ponovila 1. lekcijo 🙂 in preskoke v krogu!
Problem je vročina ker ne moram dosti trenirat in delat dosti ponovitev…
Tudi glede na to (da ne morem dosti trenirat) sem se mislila zdaj bolj koncentrirat na most in morda kasneje (jeseni) na slalom. Še vedno mi ni jasno kako tebi uspe ga naučit v dveh tednih….
Lp
Gradually move her further back the DW and then you can start the whole DW yes. As it’s going that well, my major focus would actually be obstacle focus. No hurry with the weaves, but it’s very weird she doesn’t get it, I think my dogs see it as a plank work: run straight ahead no matter what -- she doesn’t seem to make the connection though. Hopefully she starts looking ahead in anticipation of the toy, but as she is not a BC, I wouldn’t count on it too much 🙂
Saj, tisti prvi video o parkurčkih je ves en blooper…. antitalent s temi igračkami!! 😀
Ok, here’s our last video. I’m leaving in 3 days and will be back on sept.4th. We will be 1 lesson behind when I come back… 🙁
Here it’s very hot again, 40°+. It’s been a little cooler during the first half of august, but now it’s very very bad again. So we didn’t have a good time training. Thank goodness I’m going to The Netherlands… the only sad thing is that I won’t be able to take my dogs with me. 🙁
In this video there’s sequence #1 (I realized I’m sometimes late with verbal cues…), the second session of the see saw, and another try for sequence #2 (maybe it’s better than the first try but still far from being perfect). Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to try it in our church garden because we had already trained for a while and with this temperature I preferred to stop. I hope that when I come back the weather will be cooler.
Have fun!
Laura & Shape
Your jumps in a straight line are somewhat too close as they don’t allow not even one step in between (she is bouncing them) and then it’s VERY hard to get the timing right for cik/cap. Try to put them at least 5m apart, maybe rather 6 at first. Great teeter and very tight on the sequence! But you’re still not precuing your front crosses: with good cik&cap, it’s not THAT important, she is turning really nicely anyway, but it’s still nice to support the verbal cues with body language. Did you see Carol’s video -- that’s what I mean by precuing front crosses. try it without the dog first.
Thanks, I watched Carol’s video now. I will pay more attention to that. I think that it will be easier in a bigger space.
And 🙂 that’s true, she’s bouncing them! How could I not see it before!! Silvia, I think this hot weather is killing me!! 🙂
It’s better for us to stop here and train again when it’s cooler…
We’re taking a break this week too, it’s too hot even in the evening/morning…
You mean there, in Slovenia?
Yeap, we are having 36 degrees week again… Not so good for agility!
Hi
Here is our lesson 3 video. This work was quite a challenge for us, as Sen has not done any agility training prior to this course. This meant she did not have any idea that it is about following me from obstacle to obstacle, and doing more than one thing in a row etc. So I started first with building her ability to run over a straight line of jumps. This took some time (most of this lesson time), but was worth it. In the end we added some small sequences that were very vaguely based on the main sequence of this lesson. The slow ones in the videos are me over-training! I very often keep going longer than I should.
I spent most of this lesson time on the straight line and on the cik/cak training to get her to seek the jump. This is now going well (might not be the best examples in the video) and she definately has the idea. Still it is a little early to run long sequences with her. She did a very nice training night on a set of jumps with wings too -- this was quite a suprise as it was the first time I had asked her to work at that location and with that equipment -- pity there was no video.
Silvia, you mentioned in the last video that I should move my weave poles closer. At the moment they are just a little under twice the width of the dog. If they are closer she will need to start to weave. The entries are not going so good -- they are fine on easy approaches but not on more distant ones at angle. Shouldn’t I get the entries better first? As I have been away so much I have not had time to work with weaving so much.
Nicole;
I am glad you are talking about training simple skills like going forward over jumps. I thought I was the only one, my dog had never jumped a jump forward and never more than 1! I have had to train other simple skills too.
But it looks like you are really getting good progress!
I love how tiny Sen is and how energetic she is, maybe because you are so happy! I also love the way you play with her after short sequences and reinforce her often.
Pam
Thanks Pam
Yes the course content is a bit above our heads, but there is no point to try to push for sequences etc if the basics are not there. I just hope to learn good teaching skills from this work. My dog is young (9 months, which is not so young but she had a badly broken leg as a puppy that took ages to heal, so I never could train her much until she was around 6 months old).
Basics like turns, speed and motivation are the most important thing to practice. I have learnt from my mistakes with my first agility dog -- no point having a dog that runs nice-looking clever sequences if they are never fast enough to make course times! Its best to get small things right. The rest will come together when its ready to.
Hi Nicole!
I agree totaly with you:
“…no point having a dog that runs nice-looking clever sequences if they are never fast enough to make course times! Its best to get small things right. The rest will come together when its ready to.”
!!!
Bye
Yes, the longish sequence I gave was just to picture how I introduce straight lines, it was not meant to run it as it was numbered -- it was just to give you an idea. Once the dog knows figure 8 (sends to wraps) and sends to tunnels, it’s actually very easy to slip in a straight forward jump between one send to a tunnel and another send to a wrap or between the two sends to wraps. And then you just slowly build from there to make them see jumps better. I actually never do just straight lines, I just slip them in between one and another wrap.
Cool, very nice speed and forward focus in straight lines! And very tight on cik&cap! But even though she is so small, I would prefer to use normal distances between the obstacles as that’s what she will be seeing in real life -- so about 5m. That will allow you to run even more and give you even more speed. Weave entries make more sense to the dog once the channel is closer together so I only go to more difficult ones once the channel is only as wide as the dog -- I don’t work on all the entries already at very wide channel, but add difficulties as I’m closing it, working on two things at the same time.
Hi again
I had a tunnel question I forgot to ask. How do you turn them sharp out of a tunnel? Are you using left/right (not cik/cak) or something else?
Nicole
Hi Nicole. I quote Silvia’s answer to the same question on page 9:
“Yes, I use left&right for turns out of tunnels.” 😉
Thanks -- I don’t have time to read all posts, just every now and then
🙂 I know it’s hard to read all the posts…
Left&right and I help with a toy first: sending them to the other entry and waiting at the exit, saying left/right and almost sticking my hand in so that they can see it soon and turn in a tunnel already. Then I send less and less and stand further and further away from an exit + add more&more movement from my part as it makes turning harder. So as always: make it easy first and then add difficulties as you get some understanding.
The see-saw game of today morning:
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Try to experiment with her position some to get front feet only for now and shape it towards more&more of a push.
Oh dear, Grace & I are not doing well at all! We seem to be getting worse each practice … My complete inexperience is very evident. Grace seems to be bashing through everything -- jumps, weaves…
She is either pulling the rail with her back leg or just completely running through the jump. It seems to be the times she collects nicely and turns really well that she knocks the jump.
I was originally rewarding her regardless (bc without frequent rewards she shuts down a bit bc she’s a perfectionist) but in the last session i stopped rewarding her when she ran through the jumps and this caused her to lose enthusiasm and slow down a lot. I’m so glad class is back so i can get some help 🙂
This sequence vid is nearly 2 wks old. I did another session last night but my memory card wouldn’t work. Her caps were much better on jump #2 but she was probably bashing through the jumps even worse -- Think we both got a bit frustrated and didn’t know what to do
She enjoys the straight line..
We have worked very hard on 2x2 but the result is a bit tragic…
Thank you 🙂
Hi Cam!
Grace is doing great! She looks very motivated to me!
Are you tugging with your jumper?? very impressive that you can play tug with anything for motivation!
Just a quick one for jump bars..
I think Side poles needs to push much farther down, so they will stay on the ground much tighter. It usually only the bar fall down when dog hit.
if ground is too hard, maybe keep a hammer in your car as we are doing the same 🙂
Bar also needs to push down to the side way too.
Using pegs for 2x2 channel can stay on the ground nicely! 🙂
Yes, Gracie needs sturdier equipment 🙂 she is so enthusiastic!!
Thanks Emi! She’s tugging with an old towel -- Oh my, she loves it. If she tugs really hard she hears a ripping sound and that gets her so excited.
Niah’s homework looks awesome! His turns are so good -- he certainly doesn’t bash thru the jumps!
Poor guy, give him our love -- i hope her recovers quickly
I think we need to meet up for a training sess soon (when N has recovered) 🙂
I am Sooooo jealous of your house! I can’t wait to have a yard -- setting up equip on my own at the park is proving v hard work 🙂
Can you fix those weaves better? And jumps too, actually, she sometimes moves the stanchion… But she is often touching the bar too yes. Maybe try with higher jumps as at that height, she doesn’t feel the need to really jump it I think. Work on one jump again then and reward every time she keeps it up and don’t reward when she doesn’t, to make her see it’s important. You can also hang something unusual on a bar to get her attention. Also, make sure your verbal cues are in time. In the collection-extension exercise, you’re only in time with cik/cap when you send her to the first wrap -- I think all other cik&caps are too late. If she turns back to you if you say it earlier, just work through it -- say it again standing wherever you are and wait for her to go and take it. Support it with body language too, decelerate sooner instead of running all the way up and then turning all of the sudden. The same thing caused big turns on 2 in a cik&cap sequence: you run very far on the other side of the jump and that of course cues extension. You need to start deceleration before she approaches the jump, show it with a right hand already and then turn your feet -- if you’re still on the approach side -- if you’re already on the landing side, you can face her completely.
Thanks Silvia -- I’m glad you don’t think i’m totally a lost cause!
I can fix the weaves better -- i was doing that but bc i’m moving them and changing the angle so much i was trying to avoid it. When they are fixed she still hits them very hard. I think she thinks she has to leap from one to the other. When they gets close she doesn’t stride in between -- which i think is why when they are straight she doesn’t understand to add the additional ‘opening’ between them ie. weave -- she skips one
Good idea -- i’ll go back to one jump. How high do you think i should make it? Should i just do cik/cap or jumping straight ahead too? At the moment i think she thinks her job is to wrap around the wing and the top rail is just something that gets in her way (although she wasn’t knocking them so much when we first started). I did put them up a bit but she just ran through just as much. She’s a bit like that in general life -- when she’s very excited she loves bodyslamming me and her doggy friends. She bashes into me really hard and thinks it’s great fun! Although, i thought w all the rear end awareness she’d be a bit more careful. She did the most amazing jump over someone’s front fence the other day to greet a dog so i know she can jump! Crazy kid 🙂
Try something like 45cm-18″. Work with less speed first, standing at the jump, rewarding successful tries, redoing the knocked ones. Once you can see she understands top rail is important too, you can add more speed and forward jumping and go back to those sequences. The good thing is you can do one jump exercise every day in your garden 🙂 But yes, I think you two are doing really well, it’s just that one little piece of understanding about those bars is missing. And yes, verbals should be earlier, but that’s like a general problem everybody is struggling with 🙂
I know the feeling Camilla, Tuesday Jin and I practiced the straight lines with a cik/cap in between. She also gets really excited and knocks a lot of bars down 🙁
Tonight I will try to put the video in slow motion and see what I did wrong. On our dogschool we also have a Portuguese water dog ( Do I say that correctly?) and she is just like Grace when she gets excited! She bumps into you as a bulldog! 😉
Hi Silvia
Here is our video of August training.
All my collection cues are too slow!!
I’ve been always run without dog before run, but it is first time to do agility for me, so I do need more practice..
I practiced with straight tunnel to teach go-on and throw toy, as you can see both videos, he is not motivated to run curved tunnel sequence.
I focused to build tunnel more exciting and valuable last few weeks, also we did practice to chase me, come, stay, and go-on everyday at the park and he is getting better now but still not curved one.
Anything else I can improve this?
Weave; I have been wondering if I will teach him channel or 2x2 and I tried first few steps with both method for 2 weeks and I decided to train in 2x2 with him. He is only doing 2 poles in various angle at the moment.
Contact; I haven’t got video but 2o2off is getting better but only using flat plank or angled now!
I simply didn’t have carpet to do RC practice. but I do like to teach him RC for A-frame. Sorry for basic question, but Carpet running is the way to teach A-Frame RC too?
(I have got a carpet so when he recover, I will start then. sorry for taking awhile. it is very difficult to decide what is the best for both of us.)
See-saw; I don’t have access to see-saw as well. I will rent agility yard very soon to catch up
Poor Niah is at the Vet getting desex and hip x-ray tomorrow. He will need a good rest for awhile!
Good news is during our break, we found a house with big back yard!
We can do agility training in our backyard!:) We will be very busy for moving a house plus we won’t have internet connection for awhile..
So we will be late to post next lessons, but we are keep practicing 🙂
Thank you :):)
Emi&Niah
Looks great to me! 🙂 Buddy would be off to find those loud birds! 🙂
Congrats on your house!!
Oh no.. poor Niah I hope he will recover soon! 🙁 Give him a big hug!
So great to hear you have a new house with a big garden!!!Ofcourse like Silvia said, the house is not important, the garden and acces to fields and woods are! 😀
We will miss your video’s! have a great training during that time!
Congratulations on your house! I remember when we were searching for ours, sellers were always so surprised as I was asking about the garden only: how big, flat or not, with an access to fields or woods or not etc. -- who cares about the house 🙂
Anyway, keep working with a straight tunnel, curving it bit by bit. When working on extension/collection, try to reward something specific: either a wrap from your hand or extension by a thrown ahead toy, depending on what needs most most work. Maybe a tunnel? You should definitely try saying your cik&cap even earlier as it will be needed once the bars go up, but for this height, you’re actually mostly in time -- and he responds really nicely when you are 🙂
You can start running A-frame on a carpet yes, but you will soon need a real or improvized A-frame…
Fast recovery to Niah!
Thank you Jennifer, Jonina and Silvia.
That’s funny and interesting! For me, I am a interior designer and House has a HUGE impact and very important space for me, but this time I was actually looking at aerial view and size of the property to find a house rather than inside of house! Main reason was this house owner accept having 2 Border Collies with us for Rent! (I didn’t buy it)
It is VERY hard to find a rental house with BCs..
Dogs and Agility are a part of my life now, pretty addictive!
Thank you for your advice Silvia.
Niah is recovering well.. Pretty funny having a dog with Elizabeth collar.. he is hitting his head every wall..Looks like a cat without whiskers!
Here is our progress so far. School just started and I am far away from my agility field now 🙁 I am having problems with Indie back jumping and not understanding that cik and cap mean to wrap the jump… Any suggestions on fixing this?
Here is her contacts as well. They aren’t the best, so any ideas and suggestions welcome! Thanks.
I think cik&cap simply needs some more practise: for now, she doesn’t understand it well enough that you could run away so early: we need somewhat better understanding& commitment first. Wraps as such are actually nice, it’s just the commitment that is still lacking. Figure 8 is going really well, no problems when you don’t disturb her with your movement -- so make sure you add your movement gradually enough that she is mostly successful.
Contacts could be faster yes, try working on speed going into the position at home, with an up side drawer or something similar: restrain her right in front of it first and have her jump directly in a position… -- and then add more and more distance. Only reward the fastest ones, redo the slowest ones. At first, reward a lot in a position by tugging: tugging in a position is good as it makes them shift the weight back and that would help with faster performance, her weight is too much in front. Later on, reward by a toy positioned well ahead so that she is rewarded from ahead (after the release), not from you. Once she is really fast on a drawer, try backchaining DW or low A-frame.
thanks so much, Silvia! So would you recommend me to keep working on cik&cap without sequences -- so I’ll be a little behind the class. It’s getting tougher since college just started like I said! And I will do that 2o2o work at home as well.
I wanted to ask you a question as well. I just visited a friend who trains with Jenn Crank (you might know her, she ran on WT with her shelties in maybe the same class as your La?). Jenn uses Linda Mecklenburg’s handling system, which is great. It made me think about cik&cap and body language, however. Cik&cap is essentially almost a purely verbal command, right? And you teach them to understand the verbal cue first and foremost with no body language. Later on, when they are running courses, since with *most* dogs, verbal cues aren’t usually as strong as body language, do you incorporate consistent body cues in with the cik&cap or do you rely on a strong verbal? I was thinking this could be why Indie is a bit confused with cik&cap, because she is a seasoned competitor and is used to relying more on my motion and body language rather than verbal. Let me know what you think, thanks Silvia!
No, you can actually run sequences too, you can help her with body language there anyway. But keep working on sends to improve her commitment. I teach cik&cap outside handling first to teach them the correct form of jumping and the importance of tightness -- it’s training, not handling. As soon as I have that, I start sequencing and always support cik&cap with body language too, of course! -- See the videos I posted. Also, if you read my replies to other participants, you’ll see precue, precue, precue, show with opposite hand, warn the dog about that FC, you’re not supporting your cik&cap with body cue etc. written like MILLION times 🙂 My handling is similar to Linda’s, only that verbals and the emphasis on commitment allows me to move even faster to wherever I need to go next (European courses are trickier as US courses).
Alright, thanks so much 🙂 Yes, but US courses are starting to look more and more like European courses, hence why I am starting to look outside the country for better handling techniques and training methods to keep that upper hand here in the US 🙂 Not many people here in Colorado at least have really trained for tricky courses, so I want to stay competitive and be ready for whatever comes next!
Is it okay to post videos of old sequences? Like I said, I am in college now and I never know when I can get down to the field, so I am running a bit behind!
I agree, I actually always try to train even trickier stuff as I expect in trials as then I can see “oh, that’s easy” to everything we get at trials 🙂 And yes, sure, no problem to post videos with some delay, post it whenever you can!
This is my first attempt at lines. I have been doing a lot of one jump wraps and the other sequence. I am working on earlier pre-cues. Thanks for your comments.
Yeap, very often way too late with cik&cap… You should say cik/cap for the next jump as soon as front feet hit the ground after the jump before. But great speed and obstacle focus, so when working on straight lines and eventually a serpentine, do some less of just straight forward lines and throw in some more wraps instead. And yes, call them earlier!!!