So... Here is the plan. As agility is easier to show as to explain, you'll be getting your homeworks in video form. You'll always get some new assignments, but you need to keep practicing the old ones too - we'll be checking back on those here and there, so don't forget to keep working on those!
1. restrained send to cik/cap - the purpose of this exercise is to play a nice chasing game, while teaching great sends, distance work and commitment - see how early I can start running in the other direction when sending Le to the jump.
Things to pay attention to:
- height: If you only did cik&cap on other objects so far, start with a jump now, but without the bar for first 3 sessions: and then put the bar VERY low - max. 5cm (2 inches) for smaller dogs, 10cm (4 inches) for BC size and bigger. You can then add some height every 5 sessions: 3cm up for small dogs, 5cm for bigger dogs - SLOWER with young dogs! If you already did cik&cap with more height, do this exercise on your normal height, send a video and I will tell you if it's o.k. or you need to make it lower.
- distance: Start the dog very close to the jump first and then further&further every next try to slowly add distance. If the dog turns back to you (as Le does once in my video) or waits for you, start closer again and add distance more gradually.
- angle: Note from which angle I bring Le to the jump and in which direction I run away to reward. The purpose is to teach them to jump close to the wing, NOT in the middle of the bar! That's why I always do this approach FIRST and do lots of it before trying any straight approaches.
- speed: You can't expect much speed with multi-warps, but you definitely want it now. Restrain the dog, wait for a good pull, let him go and run away for them to chase you&the toy. Make sure the dog is rewarded when still moving - don't stop and reward: run and reward! 🙂
2. If the first part goes well, you can also do some figure 8s + chase it game: it's the same game, only that you use two jumps now and run from one to another, sometimes still rewarding the first wrap, sometimes 4th, sometimes 2nd, sometimes 5th, sometimes 3rd... Note the angle of the jumps and the distance between them: you want BIG distance to get good speed - something like 10m. Again, you want the jumps under this angle to make sure the dog is jumping close to the wing, not in the middle of the bar. DON'T do figure 8s on one jump, it teaches the dog to jump in the middle!
3. restrained send to a tunnel (obstacle discrimination!) + come to hand vs. go game
Restrain the dog very close to the tunnel, as he is pulling towards it, say "tunnel, tunnel" to them: pulling in the direction of that thing is what you want when you say "tunnel" - and then let them go. Slowly add distance. Later on, you can add more obstacles (jumps&contact) close to the tunnel to make the discrimination harder: only say "tunnel" when the dog is pulling in the right direction, you can feel it if you hold him. You do the same with jumps: call cik&cap and release to the jump that is first the only thing around and then add tunnels closer&closer. The goal is teaching obstacle discrimination AND actively pulling towards obstacles you call (as opposed to hanging with you, waiting to take them all the way to each obstacle).
To train even more things at the time, when the dog is out of the tunnel, either call to hand and when he is at your side, either do a front cross or a shoulder pull (see the video) and reward for closeness - OR say your magic "run FAST" word and throw a toy ahead when the dog is catching up with you - meaning that you're moving in both situations, do NOT stand still when you send!
4. independent weaves
If you haven't started weaves yet, set 12 poles in two rows (left row must always be 60cm/24inches closer to you when you stand in front of the channel in order to teach them correct entries), at least 1m apart, restrain the dog at least 3m before the channel, throw the toy through and release. As the dog is running to his toy, sometimes just stand back, sometimes run after him, on both sides, sometimes far, sometimes close, sometimes run and stop, sometimes run and turn etc. The purpose is to teach the dog to ignore your body language when in the weaves and complete the task. Slowly switch to a static toy 4m after the channel, bringing the two rows closer&closer as you practise independent performance (I'm using bowls with treats with Le as she isn't too excited about dead toys... - but I quickly switched to a toy, thrown after she is out then to get more speed). See the video for some ideas on what to do when the dog is in channel. If the dog already knows the weaves, send the video of how independent it is. If it's not, go back to the channel.
Have fun!
Hi Sylvia and Classmates,
I think I forgot to put in an introduction in this class so here it is with our lesson 1 video. My name is Diane and my pup’s name is Bean – she will be two years old later this month. We have had a wonderful time with the Puppy Tricks class (and now working on getting a graduation video put together) and really looking forward to this class!!
It is so much fun watching everyone’s videos and learning along together. Thanks in advance for the help and suggestions from Sylvia and classmates! We are looking forward to learning a lot!
We are getting a late start on our Lesson 1 – but here is where we are now.
1. restrained send to cik/cap: We have practiced so far only with cones. This is our first session with wing jumps, so I did it without jump bars. We will work in our next sessions on more distance. When should I add bars?
2. Haven’t tried figure 8 between jumps yet.
3. restrained send to a tunnel (obstacle discrimination!) + come to hand vs. go game: We started with tunnel and some front crosses and shoulder pulls. No other obstacles yet. Forgot to send her ahead of me sometimes – oops. Next time. Am I dong the front crosses right?
4. independent weaves: Bean can manage straight-on entries, but we need to work on all the approaches – not sure the best way to do this. Should I be throwing her ball closer to the end of the weaves?
Thanks!
Diane and Bean
My apologies, Silvia, for putting a “y” in your name 🙂
Diane
Oh, no problem! 🙂
Very nice!!! Your front crosses are beautiful and I really like how tight she is on shoulder pulls! Very nice and tight cik&caps too, let’s try some figure 8s next and if that goes just well, you can add very low bars. Your throwing for weaves is good -- but no more easy entries! I would use somewhat (3 or 4 inches) open channel and really focus on entries and independent that time. You can still use normal weaves in classes and trials if she is trailing already, but I would definitely focus on entries and exits now and would prefer to do so on open channel to not do too much of weaving as such. Have fun!
Thanks, Silvia. We’ll move on to some figure 8s and see how that goes. For weave entries and exits, I will open channel to 3-4 inches -- and work incrementally on more difficult entrances and exits. Is it ok to use 6 poles or do you recommend practice with 12? What do you do if she misses the entry or pops out before the last pole? Just no reward and try again easier?
Thanks!
I prefer 12 as I can then work on “stay in no matter what” at the same time too. I mark the mistakes with indifferent “ups” and try again somewhat easier. You should go for 80% successful rate (90% when just starting, but at your stage you can afford some more).
Let’s see….we are working on motivation, so getting Tibby excited. Seems to be working ok. Except that my neighbors have been setting off fireworks ALL day long for the last week. During the day and during the night. Just when I get Tibby excited to play, they will set some more off. She isn’t scared, but they make her nervous and she wants to go inside. Tonight she did pretty well and would play with me even with the fireworks going off, but she was subdued.
I need to work a lot on my handling. I walk around and try to figure out how to direct Tibby. Probably I do more practicing by myself than with Tibby!
And it is so HOT here. Bleh. We have been doing cik/cap inside, but there isn’t a lot of room to run around.
Did you try to use zoomies to your advantage, to call, run and have her run with you? That would be great, to use that speed and joy for running for agility. If she doesn’t like restraining, you don’t need to do it. However, one thing you need to pay attention to is to keep her at the same side. The goal of the tunnel exercise is to practise front crosses and shoulder pulls: see my reply to Eva with Darwin. Also on wraps, always do a front cross and then run away, but have her run after you on the same side as you take off, watching her all the time. For now, you just take off and then after a while check back with her where she is… You need to know all the time where she is and keep her on the same side all the time other than when doing a front cross. I know it can be hard, but do check the videos, for example from Alicia, Diane etc. and then practise it on your own, without Tibby, but all the time imagining where she is and how she is reacting to one or another move.
Yes I’ve tried running with her when she is zooming. Sometimes we just play and that is her favorite way to play. But how do I channel that into doing the excersises? She wants to run around away from me not with me.
I have watched almost every video, but I don’t think I understand what I am seeing. And yes I am practicing by myself, but I must not be getting it.
At 3:33 that was my attempt at a shoulder pull.
Yeap, that was a good one!!! Now let’s try also a front cross and then just stick with those two moves, that’s all we need for now!
Hi Catalina,
Maybe when she does zoomies run around with her make funny noises or “gogo!” chase her, then run away and see if she’ll chase you, then throw a toy or treat. Just experiment, all you want is to be included in the game and running.
When you watch the videos, watch what the person does, don’t watch the dog at all, the front cross is like a dancestep. I hope this helps. I know it is very difficult trying to do all those new things and watch your dog at the same time 🙂
Would she run away from you into the tunnel? 🙂 Try to rehearse the moves as you watch the video. If you see a person has a dog on left side, take Tibby’s toy in your left hand, imagining it’s Tibby and put it from one hand to another as people change the dog from one side to another. Once you have it with a toy, go out and try with Tibby AND the toy, changing the toy as you did when watching videos and having Tibby follow the toy and change from one hand to another just as you are changing the toy.
Ok, I am at page 8 now with reading 😀 I hope I will have time to read the next pages this evening. I will post our last video -- for we go away for a week -- this evening, and I will imidiately try to catch up when we’re home again!
The video with Bu gave me goosebumps and your answer to Ingrid
makes me doubt again (Trust your dog and RUN! 😉 )
IF we will participate the Running Contact class also, because I’m not superfast and Jin will be.
BUT we first got to have a better camera (with slowmotion option!!!!) What camera do you have Silvia?
Don’t worry, you are always fast enough if you just decide so and run there vs. cry over not being fast enough 🙂 I have Sanyo Xacti and it has HD, but I never use it, you don’t need any fancy camera, I simply put a video in slow motion when editing it, in editing program.
Oh, forgot to comment the goosebumps… That was just me, playing safe, trying to get two clean runs together 🙂 -- With my BCs, I jog, as they have such a good commitment. With La, I RUN 🙂
And yes, without that bar, La would win her third World Championship title, again with 6 seconds of advantage (in the two runs together).
And if a course requires, I run even more 🙂
I think that was my 1st blind cross. That’s how I discovered the beauty of not circling my feet 🙂
I LOVE to watch you run. The second one is incredible!
Beautiful!
Thanks so much for posting these -- what incredible runs -- I am holding my breath watching. I love watching your runs!
Ok now I had even more goosebumps!!
It really motivates me to train and practise more!! When I am finished reading all the comments (I am at page 11 of the first lesson so I am realy not finished yet) I will immediately pack my bag and go to the field 😀
Yeap, lots of reading! Welcome back, I hope you had great time in Denmark!
Yes we had lots of fun!! The whole week I sat on my chair at the ring…. to watch and learn.
I saw some people doing running contacts: WOW! The whole crowd went WILD! 😀 😀 😀 (yep I had goosebumps again 😉 )
My other bc who I joined the Daniacup with is not as fast as the most other bc’s are so he is also doing the agility foundation class back stage( especially to work on ciks and caps! So for next year… Denmarkpeople here we come 😉 )
After the Daniacup we had a seminair here in Holland with Polona so Jin and I did do some homework in our holiday 😀 She immediately saw we did some cik & cap already 🙂 and now that I’m already bragging 😛 She really loved Jin, the way she is build and her drive. (Finally someone who is not “only” looking at her color 😉 ) I had a smile from ear to ear!
About your bragging 😛 Congratulations with winning the qualifications for Worldchampionships with Bu!!!
And ofcourse with La!!! I hope that when La will get too old, Le will take it over, I’m sure she will!! 😀
Yeap, running contacts are always a thrill to watch 🙂 And oh, just to make you happy: I don’t like Jin’s colour at all 🙂 -- but I still take her 🙂 Afterall, I hated merle colour too, but hey, good dog has no colour!
Whuahaha if you call that “jogging” then what am I doing? 😉
Thanks for sharing… I’ve seen it over and over again. Just too cool!!
This is our first play with our new tunnel…
I had pegged the tunnel down but it didn’t last 2 seconds bc the ground is so wet… Looks like i’ll have to make some sand bags
We are on holidays at my parents’ farm so we’re taking advantage of all the space. I hope my mum doesn’t miss her tea towel -- Grace is in LOVE with it!
Very brave to be training under the rain…! It makes me feel guilty…If rains no training…and Here is raining most of the time…! 🙁
Anyway, very nice you two but I have the feeling you are going to get in trouble for the tea towel thing….:)!!!
Hi eva!! Yes, we are the same as you at the moment 10-15 degrees and raining nonstop. It has rained so hard the last 2 days we’ve barely been able to go outside. This clip was when it was relatively ‘clear’! Grace went for a swim in the dam straight after this so I certainly didn’t have to feel guilty for getting her wet when it is cold
Yes, i think you’re right about the tea towel. It is all ripped so i can’t exactly return it either! Lucky my mum is so in love with her granddog 🙂
excellent ce chiot 🙂 🙂
Go, Grace!!! She always make smile 🙂 and a little jealous 🙂
ahhh, I am dreaming of cold rain right now…
Ha! I’m dreaming of sunshine!!! I used to live in the australian desert (alice springs) and it was 40degrees celsius+ everyday during summer!!
When i first started training 2x2 recently i wld take G to the park w all the equip, and just like buddy, she had v little interest in working w me. I was devastated!
Grace’s focus has improved so much during training since i set the 3 minute rule. I try to keep all sessions 3 min and under -- now she gets really excited rather than wanting to wander off to smell yummy things. It has been v liberating reading silvia’s post about not having to end on a good note. Now that we don’t have to end the session ‘perfectly’ i think there is a lot less pressure for both of us 🙂
VERY good job, Camilla, as always. I love to watch you two.
I don’t agree with the 40°C+ though… 🙂 I’d rather work in the rain! Maybe you could come to Sicily and I could go to your house, just for a couple of months! 🙂
Very useful comment; I better ALWAYS use the 3 min rule as well.
Yes, the short sessions and not waiting for him to give attention works very well for us. I will try again in the park today, only taking one pole, expecting only one cik.
Oooo…I love the idea of a 3 minute rule. How many times per day do you do this?
I’m jealous too! You and Grace are such a great team. I love to watch your videos. You always make me smile
Looks like a great place to train, even with the rain! Perfect front crosses and shoulder pulls are nice too, but she could probably be even tighter on those. But she sure loves her tunnel and wow, what a speed! Very cool!
Thanks everyone!! Well yes, Grace is definitely very happy with her new present!! It is an amazing place to train here -- there is a big grassy lawn and even a huge sand arena full of horse jumps. When i do cik/cap w grace all the horses come up to the fence to watch. They seem to think it is hilarious watching a little dog doing their job! Pity i live 3 hrs away
I’ll practice our shoulder pulls a bit more. I think they were wide bc she was planning to take the tunnel again (then realised the entrance had moved).
Do i want her right next to my body w shoulder pulls? I think she spots the object and goes wide to get the best approach. is this something i should work on or is this a good thing?
You don’t need to go back to the tunnel after a shoulder pull: you can just reward her for coming close and staying there, you can even do some 360 degrees pulls to promote tightness. When you call to hand, you do want her to come all the way to the hand without trying to spot obstacles 🙂 Spotting obstacles is a good thing when you want obstacle focus (as we want with sends to tunnel and jumps), BUT when calling her to hand, you want handler focus: no shopping for obstacles, just come straight in and stay there until not send back into obstacle focus.
This was a very helpful comment for me!!!!! 😀
Is anyone else having trouble seeing some of the videos previously posted in the comments? I went back through the pages to look at the videos again & some of the ones that I could see a couple of days ago are now just black space with no links… 🙁
On the previous 3 pages I can’t see videos from Sinead, Kathy (the other one :)), Kristin, Georges, or Silvia’s video of the Ketshker turn. I watched most of these as they were posted but can’t see them now. Wondering if it’s my computer or if other people are having the same trouble…
I can see them. Maybe reboot your computer?!
Hmm…that’s weird. I rebooted & also updated FireFox but still no luck. 🙁 What browser are you using?
Explorer. Can you see other YouTube videos? My sister once had problems with not being able to watch YouTube suddenly. There’s a patch you can download.
Ok…I think it is a YouTube thing. Just tried the latest version of Explorer as well, updated Flash Player, & still can’t watch YouTube videos. Any idea where I can find the patch to download? Thanks!
Sorry for straying from agility training here…but I really want to watch everyone’s videos… 🙂
Jennifer—never mind the last question. I just Googled “patch for youtube” & clicked on 1st link (didn’t know it was a video link) but it started playing & voila! I can now see all the videos here. Never did download anything…computers are just plain WEIRD!
Thanks for your help!
Glad you found it! I had to go to class. My sister also did all those things with browser, flashplayer, changing settings, until my husband said it was a youtube glitch! Well, good thing you solved it! It is very weird…
Hi Silvia, I’ve been waiting for a breakthrough to post some weave pole entrances and exits. I’ve been having a lot of difficulty getting to more difficult entries. He’s 100% when the weaves are presented straight, but if I venture much off of that line he hits the 2nd or 3rd pole. I don’t see this as much of a problem and we will continue to push for harder entries while maintaining a high rate (ideally 9 of 10) of success and speed. I can do all sorts of crazy things to distract him when he’s in the poles so no worries on exits once he’s in. He’s so fast through them that I don’t have time to do much though which is pretty exciting.
I’m also finding that at 7.5 months Nero is at a really fragile stage physically and I can’t throw fast balls and such for him as he comes up lame. He goes for them so crazily that he wacks his toes against things and jams his shoulders. When I trained my Pyr Shep 10 years ago as a pup this was no problem as she was so agile and quick that I didn’t have to worry. So far I’m really happy with our cip/cap work and the tunnel work. I still have trouble with the front cross, but when I went to our fairgrounds agility field where there is more space I had much more success than in my smaller yard.
OK enough typing cause Nero is begging for some work,
Nancy
Yeap, entries are tricky, you need to make them more difficult very gradually. However, if he is lame after chasing balls, stop doing it right now and leave it for when he is older. Focus on other things, when you can reward from your hand. For later one, try to find some balls that roll well and are easy to be picked up when still rolling -- it’s physically much better for them as crashing into a stop to pick up already stopped ball. From that reason, I really like those big rubber balls -- you will see it in next Foundation video I’ll post. They don’t fly THAT good as a normal ball, but still good enough and can be used for both tugging and throwing and are easy to pick up as they’re big.
I’ll check for those balls. For now I’m using tug for most things. He’s got such a working brain that food isn’t super motivating so I just use that when teaching new things. We’re just back from a big mountain run and the little guy is cooked for the day.
Nancy
Here’s Swift’s video doing tunnel work 🙂
Well, the part before the tunnel is great -- really nice drive into the tunnel. The pulls are too wide, I think you will need to reward from your hand some to tighten that up. Warn her before you turn by calling her name, then circle for full 180 degrees (or actually, you can even do 360, just for a training!) on one spot, try to have her right at your side the whole time and reward by giving her a toy from your hand. When doing front crosses, do it as she comes from the tunnel all the way to your hand, then turn for 180 degrees in her direction and have her turn on a spot too. Check out some videos to see better what I’m talking about.
Yeah, she comes flying out looking for the ball. Maybe if I use treats for awhile? Or try tugging a little? I’ll keep working on it! Thanks!
Yeap, I would try tugging. Or even treats to start with yes, good idea.
I slipped in some practice today at agility class 🙂 It’s airconditioned but a bit cramped. This was our first session with 2 jumps. He likes to be very close, so some more work on sends there. I think we had a lot of mistakes, but I got him to play more! He is running out of the picture doing victory laps with my husbands old sock 🙂
Ahh…you gotta love Buddy’s sense of humor—running his victory laps with the sock 🙂 He looks so pleased with himself! Love his tail!
Good job!
Thank you, that’s nice of you to say that. I spend more time problem solving than training the actual excercises 🙂
I call him the “circus pony” when he puts his plumage up 🙂
Very cool, that’s a really nice speed and enthusiasm! I loved the tries when he barks at first the most. I think you need to teach him to bark on cue and then use it on a start line. He is very nice and tight on one jump, somewhat wider on figure 8s, but mostly because you push him out with your movement. Try to stay as much in the line with the two jumps as possible and spread the two jumps further apart so that it’s more of a send. For practising sends to tunnels, you need some less of them 🙂 You don’t need to rear cross tunnels for now, I only do that when sends are good enough that rear cross is not a problem anymore. But hey, he runs, he plays, he barks -- he definitely looks like he is having tons of fun! Great job!
Yeah, I was a bit all over the place 🙂 The other people were talking to me, and they were setting up a tunnel game. I just did it when others were taking a break. But I was happy that Buddy was playing and focussing on me 🙂
Silvia,
How do I teach him to bark?
Capturing. Try to think of a situation that makes him bark and say bark as you see him he will start to bark anyway and click and reward 🙂
Great job!! Loved seeing buddy looking so playful in his cik/cap clip 🙂 Funny guy. He reminded me of Grace -- she loves a good victory lap w a smelly sock!
You two are so cute! Great job, Jennifer!
Thanks, but no grass, bushes or squirrels indoors, it’s a different story outside.
Ha, I spent about $300 for toys and a sock works best 🙂 even better if worn on a dayhike before 🙂 I should probably put it on a string, so he can’t take off with it so much.
Wow! I loved watching Buddy so happy! And thanks for the idea! My other dog is also not that into toys but he always needs to steel my socks! I will try if he likes that for tugging with me!
I’m really pleased we actually got some reasonable play with a toy before and after doing agility: bit of a break through. I’ve tried to make the weave entrances harder and combined with cik and cap. the bit you can’t see is another 2 jumps and the tunnel. So over 2 jumps into tunnel and then out and over the other 2. the last 2 as you can see has the weaves mid way between them. hope these entrances are getting harder. There were 12 weaves but I just couldn’t get the video set up to get everything in.
Great Play!! It made me laugh out loud!! 🙂 very cute!
thanks, Ziva’s great fun to train and play with. she’s a bit of a sock stealer so couldn’t help but grin at Buddy ding a victory lap with your husbands socks:-)
Yeap, she sure looks very much into that play now! Those entries were already pretty difficult yes, keep up the good work and once you have all the entries covered, you can close the channel some to see if she can still do them, it’s somewhat harder then, but it goes fast then. The cik&caps on this height are not cik&caps though, she often doesn’t collect at all… So using the words on this height at this time will only make the words to not mean anything. So for now, I would stick with the cik&cap exercises and slowly be adding height there, not using it on other occasions when you can’t focus on tightness OR using them with no bar on, if you can trust her to be tight then. Happy playing!
ok will keep the cik and cap as a separate for now. Hadn’t noticed she wasn’t actually collecting before the jump, must remember to watch that more. thanks
Hi!
Here’s our first video. Will upload the rest of the lessons in the next few days. As you can see I never restrain her. She really hates it. There’s no way she’ll come close to me if she knows I’m going to grab her like that, not even if I just hold her collar. She’s always been that way, doesn’t like when she’s not in complete control of the situation. Of course she let’s me touch her otherwise, it’s just that she gets really suspicious when I do something like this, that she finds strange. I didn’t want her to lose motivation when we’re training agility so I never do it anymore. To me, it looks like she has good speed anyway. But do you think I should work on this outside the agility course? Do you think it would give her more speed?
What a great send and what a great commitment!!! And no, sure, don’t restrain her if she doesn’t like it. She sure has great speed and I just love her commitment. She is sometimes somewhat wide though, so make sure you make a difference between good ones and not so good ones.
Great to see our speedy little friend Nyx!!
Wow! Awesome commitment!
Great job!
oohh, so fast!! how cool!!!