Here comes your new homework:
1. straight line as a serpentine: now that you mastered straight lines too, it's time to show the dog they can come in different forms 🙂 Let's try angling the jumps as you can see in a video, still working on extension vs. collection. Keep angling the jumps all the way to a serpentine. You should still throw in some wraps to keep them attentive to possible collection cues.
Showing the angling in 4 steps, but try to go even more gradually and make it a serpentine in 6 or 7 steps:
2. sequencing
With long-strided dogs, 10 will be hard - so you can simply take the other entry instead.
3. let's check how far you have got with weave entries: send in your "top 5" - choose the 5 hardest entries your dog found, the 5 you are most proud of.
Hi!
Ta teden sem vadila ravne linije in out, bom naslednji teden malce pohitela (ko bo out še malo boljši) z vajo iz 5.lekcije… Več treningov s katerimi sem bila zelo zadovoljna niso posneti, zdi se mi da se stvari premikajo. Vadila sem tudi pošiljanje na cik/cap iz prve lekcije in sem lahko že ene dva metra nazaj in se kar hitro lahko začnem premikat proč 🙂
Z Barbaro sva se zmenile, da bova skupaj trenirale handling class, tako da mi rezerviraj mesto 😉 LP!
Yeap, definitely lots of progress! Just make sure you put a tunnel exit more in a straight line once you start angling those jumps. Keep working on outs, it’s a hard one for her when you move parallel as it requires good commitment. So add parallel movement gradually enough for her to mostly be successful. She pushes out well, it’s just taking the jump that is still hard for her. But definitely getting there! 🙂
Hi Silvia. This video with the slalom, we are working on distractions, for me is dificult to do crosses in front of her… I have to try…
Acqua is doing many times circles around me, how can I correct that behavior?
We are now with the serpentine almost in straight line, Acqua some times is not taken the middle jump, I think is because mymovements, are they too late? or am I too forward? It´s dificult the correct timing 😉
Great entries! For front crosses after weaves, you just need to run more, you often still stand still after you send: try to stay in movement all the time. To make serpentines easier, try to put the tunnel entrances closer so that she comes to the first jump from more angle and can run it more like a straight line. That will allow you to run closer to the jumps and that will make it easier to cue that middle jump. The circling often happens when the dog is getting tired or frustrated, so try to give her a break before that happens. If it still happens, immediately tell her to lie down or stop it another way as it’s self-reinforcing and can get worse.
Hi Silvia:
Here is our Lesson #4 in 3 parts.
For the sequence I only had one tunnel to use so I used a jump instead. It changed the line abit and I didn’t have the speed of sending to a tunnel….I used “right” but my verbal was late and I know I can get a tighter turn to #8. I have been doing cik & cap work at 24 inches now.
We have worked hard at our serpentines. We can now do a straight line in both directions! I did find that I needed to add a jump cue “over” once the line was straight. I want to make sure I am consistent with my handling and motion. I think as we get more experience I will probably only need the “over” for the middle jump to come in towards me or to push out away. Right now I think Bender needs more cues….and I need to be more ahead….
We started 2 x 2 weaves. We are at 6 poles now. I am using a hybrid approach -combining come channel stuff as well. I have been trying to work on Bender’s footwork so these weaves are slightly open. I know I need to add the next 6 which will help with his timing. But I thought you might be interested to see some of our entries.
We have now moved on to threadles and pushes!
Shona and Bender
Great job with the sequence! The warps are perfect, right could be tighter yes. The serpentines are going great too, you can try running even closer to the jumps, it’s easier to get a really perfectly tight line that way AND to cue all the jumps. You can help him some more with hands if needed (the hand going up for pushing and down+somewhat back for pulling), but yes, you definitely want to be ahead and running as at 0:30 try and not as at 0:54 try as you can’t get it really tight when pulling him over the jump from behind. Great entries and independence with distractions!!! Always fun to watch Bender, he is sure really well trained, great job!
As always, thanks Silvia for your feedback. Do you think that I should raise the height to 26″ for the wraps or keep at 24″? Bender just turned 16 months today. I have no plans to compete with him until February. Of course that is assuming that his contacts are where I would like them to be…:)
Thanks for the advice on the serpentines. Wow, it is difficult to balance my speed and motion and also ensuring that Bender takes the middle jump. I will definitely try staying closer to the jumps myself and try more hand cues. The weaves have been very fun to train and I have enjoyed trying all kinds of entries with him. I am not anticipating any porblems with adding the 6 poles.
Thank you so much for the compliments on Bender’s training. He is a such a fun dog to train and so willing to please all the time.
Shona and Bender
Considering his age and your plans, I wouldn’t be too much in a hurry with raising the bars to full height. I usually raise them to full height about a month, max. two before starting to trial. By February, he will definitely be more than ready!
Ok, Here we go with a bit of lesson 4.
We are so far behind… but I dont want to push him more..he is enjoying his agility and I want to keep this like that..
In this video I left a few bad moves for you to see (mine and his…). I keep trying to say the commands on time (very difficult as he is really fast…) I try to do as you recommended us..starting saying the next command when he lands from the jump:
1- I am again late Vs He doesnt lisen to me till he is on the next jump (he loves running…;)
2- When he is successful he thinks he knows what to do and he doesnt lisen anymore…! Solution- I drop some collection cues and verbals in the next repetition but he realizes them too late…
3- Serpentines are going well but he prefers the outs…who knows why…!!!
P.S I think that we will stay behind in Fundations II, silvia how much will be and do you think that it is worthy for us? At the moment we are training the secuece lesson 4….video coming soon.
His multi-wraps sure are impressive! Your verbals are still somewhat late, you often say “go -- cik” instead for just cik/cap -- and the one time you’re in time, he is confused as he is not sure if it means turn right now or over the jump as he is used to you saying it so late. It’s really important you say it in time! Try to do some refreshing that it’s a send and you can say it very early on figure 8s with two jumps spread very far. Serpentines are sure going well, just make sure he doesn’t push out on his own: call him back to you if he chooses to go out on his own.
October Foundations might be a good idea as you’re both completely new to agility to make sure foundations are strong.
Thank you very much for your feedback Silvia.
Yes, I think that we will join the October fundations again + the tricks II in november as we are not in a hurry to go anywhere…
Just a question,( I am not sure if you answered before though…) When he does the things in his own because he thinks he knows what to do…Do I repeat the sequence or just i should ignore him?
Eva
Sounds like a good plan! When the dog is taking whatever he thinks is right, I call him back to hand and try again. If it’s too difficult, you can break it in parts and do some rewarding for listening in between 🙂
Hi Silvia,
Looks like we won’t be able to catch up in 2 weeks, but we will do my best or sign up for repeat one. Hmm I will do my best for next 2 weeks then.
here is our baby steps of training.
This week I did many repeat practice of lesson 1-3 to recover from 3 weeks no-training gaps.
Serpentine; I had a hard day with angled jump and curved tunnel, I couldn’t finish at all, (its not included here, but he kept skipping angled jumps) so I made everything easy on the next day.
Mostly my handling mistakes, but I thought he was doing good:)
The last part, when I casually practice run with him without collection cue.. he was much better.
See-Saw; Niah was much confident banging with mini-see saw this week so I tried with low elevation bang-2o2o again. (but from your comment on lesson6, looks like I skipped banging in higher elevation part..)
Silvia, I have a question;
I see Bi&Bu always waiting their turn in calm and relaxed on your video.
How did you train that?
I did crate training, but we don’t have crate all the time. I simply give them reward when they could watch other dog running in calm, but my both dogs gets very excited by tunnel sound…
Did Bi&Bu gets excited like my dogs when she was young?
Thank you
Emi&Niah
Looks good to me! He also seems to drive to a curved tunnel better now! Your collection cues are often late though and then he is wider as he can be, but I think he is starting to look for jumps really well now, so I’m actually surprised he was missing the middle jump… The second video, I can’t see, it’s private.
And yeah, my PyrSheps have hard time waiting for their turns too, but Bu and Bi never bark in excitement: they freeze in excitement 🙂 I didn’t really train it, they just automatically go in lie down and watch when another dog is doing agility and while Bi is very vocal in normal life, she never makes a sound on agility field. She used to bark when I did tricks or play with other dogs in normal life at first, but can now lie down and watch calmly too, I just needed to start with calmer tricks first and do some rewarding for it.
Thank you Silvia.
Yeah, He is improving a lot recently.
Since I have set up a curved tunnel in our backyard, he became very confident to a tunnel and loving it.
also focus and stay is getting better too as I can practice anytime now.
Pretty exciting to have access to equipment in my backyard!!
See Saw 2nd try;
Did you leash La and Le when they waiting for their turns, and just ignore barking? I don’t know if calmer tricks will works for my dogs but I will try with special reward today.
Niah is similar to Bi, very vocal in normal life, he loves sing a song when he chewing something;)
That’s sure a very happy and confident see-saw, what a great progress! He is going to be great! And yes, I need to put La and Le on leash, but they still bark, they are only calm when in a crate and can’t see me work with another dog -- well, Le is not that bad, she only barks for tunnels and dog-walk, but La is terrible, I never have her around when working with other dogs, it’s too loud. However, I never worked with her on that, we used to always train like that with all the dogs around barking in my club -- but with Bu and Bi, I started to appreciate to train without all the barking around. I think my neighbours appreciate it too 🙂
Hi Silvia, I´m starting in the slalom to move faster, to move all the time and to do front crosses, how do you see us?
And this video with serpentine work, Acqua is taking very good the middle jump, but is throwing some time that bar, the first part I didn´t realize that the camera wasn´t taking all the jumps, sorry. how do you see us? Do you think can we start with the outs?
thanks
Great weaves! Nice serpentines too, you can of course try the outs and threadles too! Middle jump is hard to clear as she jumps it under so much angle, but she will learn.
Here comes Toby’s Serpentine Training video, it took us 5 steps to get this result, so here’s final result.
weave entry and sequence videos will be up tmr, thanks a lot Silvia
That sure looks great!!! -- As tight as it gets, even with you behind! Did you try threadles and pushes too?
Silvia, I havent tried threadles and pushes yet. Gotta work on that in next couple of days 🙂
We are up to #6 in the sequence. Sorry about the 2nd 1/2 of the video I didn’t realize the sun was shining into the camera. I included it, because I thought Tibby looked faster on the last try.
I don’t seem to be able to remember to watch Tibby! I’m trying to remember.
Her speed definitely keeps improving! I loved to see you can now direct her zoomies into the tunnel, that sure was fast!!! The sequence went well too, but yes, you need to keep watching her, wait for her some on turns and then speed out of the turn together with her -- you loose her when you leave without her.
Some weave entries…
Cool, really great weaves!