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, I have a question about jumps. Since I raised the jumps, Azja knocks them off very often. I have jumps made of PCV and the bars are knocked very easily and she doesn\’t mind it. I plan to buy jumps made of wood. Should it help? I don\’t know what to do, because I try not to reward her when she knocks those bars. And I can\’t practice a lot, because she knocks the bars very often 🙁 Here is a short movie.
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and I have a video in slow motion:
Read my replies to Camilla and Charlotte, they have/had the same problem. You can raise the bars some and work on one jump. For collection-extension exercise on a video, you need to put a tunnel more in straight line, so that you can send and leave her more, she knocks a bar as you end too much behind and she is looking back at you, not knowing where to go.
Hi Silvia and class mates,
Here’s our work on the extension and collection exercise. I included and tried to note on the video all the mistakes -- only way to improve!
One problem I have is his slow starts and also tendency to pull off a jump when I lift my off hand or on the verbal wrap cue.
We are now using 12″ after the last exercise when he was wrapping wide on 14″ but I am a bit concern about affecting his striding and jump style (by staying on low jumps for too long) when he has to jump his competition height (it looks like he may be a 600.. dog!). What do you think?
Also re: weaves. he is on 8 straight weaves (still waiting for my channel weaves!) but he seems to be lsow on the first 3 then speeds up. What should I do? I mark him for correct 2-3 .
He sure knows “go” well and really adds speed when you say it! Great obstacle focus too, but huh, you’re so late with your cik&cap cues that I have no idea how he can still add a stride! I think he is reading it from body language mostly and I think that’s also why he is adding a stride in the last extension exercise -- he is actually expecting you to say cap in the last moment again as you end so far behind him and he reads it as deceleration and a collection exercise. To avoid that and have him to really understands the tow, you definitely need to say your cik&cap much sooner, especially as the jumps will get higher&higher and take off point further and further back. If he tends to pull off then, you just need to work through it, never reward it and insist he takes the jump. Lots of sending to one jump with this cue should help with it too. To use the opposite hand, you should for now be closer to the jump to support it more. But once he understands cik/cap better and knows it always means to take the jump, this problem will go away too. But again, you need to say it as soon as his front feet hit the ground after the jump before cik/cap jump.
You can also start raising a bar some, but make sure to redo the wide turns. For weaves, I think your clicking in the middle is really confusing and if you’re marking at 2-3 for his slowness in first three, then it’s logical he thinks he needs to do it slow. I would stop clicking weaves, but mark speeding up with excitement in the voice.
Thanks Silvia! I did not realise that I was so late with my Cik/Cap cues -- can’t wait to train tomorrow!
As of today, he is on 12 straight weaves & yes, I will stop marking his slowness!!!
Great! Happy training!
Hi Silvia and classmates, here is our first video for homework lesson 4. We only did straight line to serpentine yet. I had some difficulties with the position of the obstacls and the verbals “cik” & “cap”. Fine did well I think. Is her jumping style o.k.? We never did straight lines before and I didn`t train jumping as such; should we do this in future? Are there any things you would advise us to do? Normally I can run faster than in this video, but I was so proud of Fine and it was so amazing to look at her jumping over the obstacls that I had to slow down for watching her.
WOW, Birgit! That was so much fun to watch & so inspirational! I can’t believe how fast Fine is & how tuned in she is to your handling…amazing!! GREAT job!!!
Thank you, Kathy. I saw Elsa`s wraps!!!!!!!Yeap!!!!!!!! What I loved the most on your video was your very smooth handling and the flexibility of Elsa.
I love it! Fast and Fun.
Thank you. Same to you!!! We copied the perspective of the camera from your video -- because it was too amazing to see your little dog running towards the camera….so we tried it too -- and it`s funny.
That sure was fast! For that speed, you sure need to say your cik&cap earlier! 🙂 As her obstacle focus and pulling forward is amazing, you can throw in some more wraps, to practice your timing. She really sees the lines well. For now, she doesn’t stretch over the jumps much, but I think it will come with more experience and a little bit more height, when it becomes more of a jump for her. Still, I would keep this height for a while to make her completely comfortable with the jumps -- and then add 5cm.
I actually wanted to throw in some more wraps but wasn`t able to say it in time because I am not sure enough with cik & cap yet. I will train it without Fine, just running the lines and saying cik or cap for the right thing in the right time. Thank you for the tip with the jumps. We`ll do it just this way.
Don’t worry if you mix it up sometimes. It’s actually more important to say it in time as to say the right thing 🙂
Fine is soo cute while her great serpentine 🙂
Gabi, I couldn`t find where you come. Where do you come from? Yes, Fine is very cute, but I´m slow in thinking and so we have to train that now.
Hi Birgit, we are from Klagenfurt( south of Austria) so we are the
Shortest-Long-Distance-Class-Students 🙂
YESSS my Handling is ……?? I´m really not the fastest Handler but with the cik&cap it´s amacing how easy you can “dance” with dog ( if I say it in time) and that´s what I love on Silvia´s method to make all this difficult things EASY.
and hey, you are very fast .. for me!
super Birgit! Es war eine Freude das Video anzuschauen. Fine ist so freudig und so schnell und sie reagiert so super auf dein Handling. Ganz toll gemacht!
Wirklich ganz toll, Birgit!!!! Super Perspektive!!
Okay, so silly me went out and did this without watching the video and I forgot to add turns into the straight line training! Oh well, I will do better next time! Here is what we did so far 🙂
Yeap, you definitely want to throw in some wraps for her as her obstacle focus is very good already, while wraps still need some work. But hey, almost there with the serpentine!
Hi Silvia! Hi classmates!
Here is our half homework from lesson 4. We are very busy since RC class started and during the weekend we are in the mountains, go swimming or just do nothing.
We did a lot of 8s with big distance and that helped a lot!!! The 2nd sequence was just FUN 🙂
With the serpentines we are only at the 2nd step. when he comes from a different form like step 3 with speed he is to wide at the wraps. We need more practice. I also mixed cik&cap but my smart boy did know what I ment.
the TOP 5 of entries will come soon --
Thanks for watching and looking forward to your comments
Gabi& Bono
Great!!! That sequence sure looks great: great obstacle focus and pulling nicely forward to the tunnel AND nice and tight wraps! And yes, the wraps in straight lines improved A LOT too: some are perfect already and some still need some work, but definitely lots of progress since last video! What a good boy!
Thanks so much 🙂
Hi Silvia,
Here is our video of the sequence for lesson 4. We had a bit of trouble with first one tunnel & then the other but I think we worked through it ok. And I’ve been trying to cue cik&cap earlier but maybe I need to say it even sooner? Some of these run throughs have the bars set at 12″ and some at 14″. She hasn’t had too much trouble adjusting to the higher bars. We did a lot of mutli-wraps & sends at 14″ before trying the sequence which sure does help her! It’s our morning routine now as I have one jump here at the house where we can practice anytime--& Elsa loves it! How do you know when to raise the bars again? And what is the final height that I should be aiming for?
Thanks!
Hey Kathy, I would like to be able to work with the shoulders just as you can. Nice pulls on 4 and 6. And so cool but fast………..
Thanks, Birgit! I think I sort of fell into using my shoulders because I can’t run very fast with my old, creaky knees! 🙂
Oh, I have no idea what her final height will be… You need to measure her at the shoulders and then check with the rules of organisation you plan to compete at: or just ask here, I’m sure we have people here who will know it. I only know for FCI… She would be jumping 65cm (a little bit bellow 26 inches) here -- but definitely lower in US. I think you can soon raise the bars some (raise it for your one jump exercises and then after few sessions there, you can also raise it for sequences), her wraps are just beautiful! You make everything look so easy -- no problems with the sequence at all! And you actually started only when this class started? I’m really impressed! I also love how flexible Elsa is, she really wraps the jumps perfectly -- when you’re in time of course 🙂 -- you could say it even sooner yes, she will need it sooner for higher bars! Great job!
Thanks, Silvia! I don’t have a wicket for measuring exactly but I think Elsa is right around 18″ at the withers. I guess I need to find out if she is over or under 18″--I think this may be the cutoff point for jump heights. Can anyone advise on where to find the most current jump height info for US agility venues? Thanks.
Before this class, I had taken some agility lessons with Elsa but not much handling or sequences. And when we started this class she thought coming in & grabbing my pant leg instead of taking a jump was what agility was all about 🙂 So we have learned SO MUCH in this class! THANK YOU!!!
She sure looks great now!!!
Hello Silvia,
I have a question about teaching Maia to come to the hand. Should I do more of Lesson 1 exercises where I send her to a tunnel or even over a jump and have her come to my hand? I tried that today, and a few times she blind crossed me even though my hand was clearly out (plus she did it at the trial yesterday too once) Sorry no video because my battery died 🙁
Thank you!
Exactly. You can actually first do it on flat, no obstacles around. Then you do it after a send to jump/tunnel and then you add more obstacles around, sending her to one or two, then calling her to hand and by passing other obstacles -- first at good distance, then closer&closer. Together with hand out, you can also open your shoulders A LITTLE towards her: a kind of lowering and pulling the shoulder back some to make it easier for her to see it.
Here is a link with some of the jumps heights per organization.
http://www.affordableagility.com/misc/heights.htm
I would really like to do USDAA with Tibby, but she is 16.53 inches and so she would have to jump 22 inches. That is really high!
Sorry that reply was supposed to go for Kathy 🙂
Catalina--Thanks for the link!
Here’s our efforts for #3 sequence and beginning #4. She is still knocking bars but tonight she knocked lots of bars at the start of the session and very few towards the end 🙂 We definitely weren’t ready to do the entire sequence tonight so just broke it down into little bits. Because of our bar prob I’m focused on whether the bars are still up and forgetting what i’m doing w my handling.
My friend is letting me use her place every monday night. She has about 10 tunnels so lots of fun! She has a dog walk and an Aframe so i was all excited about training my RC there but turns out her dog walk planks are only 2.5m (instead of 3.5) and the Aframe has slats on the ‘up’ side of it. Ive been thinking of just training running AF in this RC class and leaving the DW until the dec class. Would it still be possible to train running AF with the slats or will they get in the way when G is running?
Keeping more bars up is definitely good news! Keep working on one jump exercises though, you can even put the bar somewhat higher for those. And remember to challenge her with your movement! Watching her for bars really makes handling harder, I think all the problems with second sequence (not taking 2 and then not taking 4 were connected to the fact you were watching her too much and didn’t run enough. If you’re static, it’s normal that pulls her in, you need to run to support her line. However, when you are moving or you’re on the landing side already (as in 6 of 2nd sequence and 2 of 1st sequence), her wraps get wider, so definitely spend soem extra time on those little parts, rewarding the best ones and redoing the widest ones. The other, “sending wraps” were all great, it’s just those two that looked too wide for Grace, as we know she can do it tighter. Earlier front cross on 2 should help too.
And well, our A-frames and DWs all have slats, so I don’t think this is a problem at all. Starting with an A-frame and only doing DW later could be, though -- well, maybe not really a problem, but taking you twice as much time as normally, I don’ t even train A-frame (you get it for free after running DW) -- and you want different, higher hits for A-frame as for DW… So… How about finding a plank of appropriate length and then using it on a DW to lengthen it? That might work, the length of the first two planks is not so important.
Thanks Silvia, yeah i have a lot of trouble w our cik/cap when i am on the landing side. She seems to just take a flying leap towards me and forgets about c/c. How do i adjust this? Do i send her static first w me on landing side and build up to movement -- throwing her reward so that she completes the circle away from me?
At 1.21 I didn’t actually intend for her to take the second jump. I wanted her to wrap inside them. Did my body language tell her to take the jump? What wld i have to do to get her to wrap inside? Now that she is getting more enthusiastic (more obstacle focus) i’m having a bit more trouble directing her. For example, now that she has her passsion for tunnels back -- the last 2 times i have started a session i have set her up for a cik/cap wrap and she has run straight past the jump to enjoy herself in the tunnel 🙂 How should i work with this? Do i need to practice ‘call to hand’? how would i start this?
I can see that my body language at 1.33 seems to be sending her much more towards the tunnel than the jump i wanted her to take
🙂 Thanks
Exactly. Start with multi-wraps with you on the landing side, then add speed by sending her to the tunnel first and meantime you position yourself on the landing side, saying cik and maybe even showing her a toy over the bar to help her succeed and then throwing a toy away from you. And once that goes well, you add your movement and still be in movement going to the landing side as she exits the tunnel.
To get her in between at 1:21, it would help to show cik with the opposite hand and then use the opposite hand together with some front and calling to hand to pull her in between. -- There is plenty of opportunities to practice this in lesson 5 🙂 See my reply to Ania on how t start with calling to hand -- well, we actually started already in lesson 1, with calling to had after the tunnel, only that you can do it with more obstacles around now to make it more difficult. For skipping obstacles to get to the tunnel, I always stop and redo, to make them see it’s important to first do whatever you show first. But yes, the 1.33 problem is caused by stopping too early -- you need to support her line somewhat longer there. With more experience, she should pull forward on just the verbal cue, but you should definitely make it easier for now, any sudden stopping pulls them in towards you, that’s normal.
Here is our lesson 4. I made the sequence first, and didn’t notice that the camera fell down after a while, just filming the sky (beautiful but not what I wanted). So, when I redid the sequence, she was obviously getting tired. And before you say it.. of course No 5 isn’t cik.. I understood that later on and did say it some times.. bad me! But learning!
For the slalom we have had most problem with straight entries when she comes with much speed (like after a straigth line with jumps). So I did some of those, and then I did some angled entries. But she (mostly) take angled entries well since I did almost only that. I could have done some more difficult ones though…
The serpentine had to wait, it was too humid for any more running. 🙂
Great! She searches for obstacles really well on her own and her wraps are beautiful now! No problems with the sequence at all, great job! She looks ready to raise the bars some. Entries look great too! -- Now if only we can get those contacts right too! 🙂
That is so nice to hear! I raised the bar about 5 cm yesterday, very exciting since I have had this low height since the cik&cap movie came..
Yeah, with those RC I am somewhat really stuck! She still hasn’t understood that she should touch the carpet (if you remember, I should shape her to touch a carpet). I have done around 10-15 sessions. I should probably tape it and send it to you under RC II. It didn’t feel like it made sense since I had no success, but perhaps that is the reason I should! 🙂
I’m not a big expert on paw targets, but just went through it in hope to teach Bi to turn left after DW better as she is great at right turns, but left is hard for her. What I did was to tape a piece of carpet down in my living room, clicked for touching, threw a treat (a toy makes her slip around too much) and then sat further&further away. She mastered it in 2 or 3 sessions and can do it perfectly even with full speed on flat, but of course has problems hitting it with the speed she is coming down the DW… So I’m really not too sure that it can work for straight exits…
Hi Sllvia,
Here is a short video of a straight line (and some cik and cap in between), I hope she stretches enough here. It looks like when I’m behind (when I send her over the jumps into the tunnel) she doesn’t stretch enough and when I call her to me ( when she comes out of the tunnel) she stretches more, am I right? Can you give me some examples how to train her to stretch more or is this the right thing to do? (just doing straight lines)
Thank you in advance
Yeap, that looks good, I think she will start to stretch more and more. Throwing a toy in advance helps and being in front sure helps too. When you’re behind and sending, it could be she is not completely sure you want extension, so for now, try to run and push as much as possible, it definitely promotes extension -- and when you end behind, just throw a toy!