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!
Greetings to all!
Seems good that I choose to post my video when you all just had a discussion on not giving up on your dog. For my older dog (that larger black and slow-moving thing in this video), I lost track of the number of so-called agility “instructors” who told me that if I want to do agility I should start again with another dog. Since they were not able to instead give advice on how to deal with my dog’s specific problems, I got the chance to learn how to deal with these myself and found some people who really knew dogs (via net and books but better than nothing!). This was also how I first came across Silvia’s site -- tricks for confidence and yes it worked. And so I learnt to deal with extreme fear and aggression problems, and now my dog is competing at intermediate level agility and is way ahead of the dogs of those who told me to forget him. I am very happy I own a challenging dog (frustrating as that can be) because I want to learn. My previous dog (obedience dog) was a dream to train, got great results, and taught me about nothing about dogs. Anyway, on to this course!
Here is Sen’s (daughter of the dog instructors love to hate ;D) first video compilation. I have included our work for most things, but we are at the very beginning stages of just about everything. There is nothing here on stays as to date she refuses to learn that. Please post your critical comments!
Playing/Running: I am really working on running and motivation with both my dogs. As you can see Sen (small dog) is better than the other. I made a mistake with my other dog on teaching things precise. While this has produced a dog that rarely makes course faults, we are almost always over time (and so when you have your special class for slow dogs we are in). Here in Finland the course time is the same for dogs of all sizes, which puts small dogs at a slight disadvantage. I try to get them to run me down in order to get a food reward. Toys work for Sen too and I am spending lots of time trying to encourage that as my other dog has no toy buzz.
One question is that I use the same word for “run fast” as I do for my release from starts and contacts. Is this OK??? After all you want running from the start and contacts, yes?
Cik/cak (this is vas/oik for us): she is at a very basic stage (see pole exercise) and only just starting to understand the words. I know that I am leading her too much with the jump wraps, but this is the first time we tried that and only for the purpose of this video. I think she needs to understand the queues better first??? I taught cik/cak to my other dog with the cik/cak video. Problem is I find that in trial conditions I cannot remember/manage to use it right. His turns are good as a result of learning it and just reading my body language, but I can’t seem to call the right thing at the right time and so cannot get the send advantage. For me this does not seem to get better with time (I have been doing for several months). Any advice? I am in general poorly coordinated and it seemed to take me ages (like more than 2 years) to even get around a course ok. Another question about cik/cak -- when you train your sends around the back of jumps, how do you do that in order to avoid confusion with cik/cak?
These were not restrained sends as she is not a big fan of that (being held) yet. In the tunnel exercise we try it a few times. I also do not want her to jump for a while yet (her leg is ok but still lacks equal muscle to the unbroken one -- when that is equal she can begin with low jumps)
2 on/off: she knows the word/command for it (legs). I do not intend to use these contacts as I want to teach running. I use it as handstand training. It is more advanced now than in this video but I did not have time to retape. Only thing I want is to teach her to back into this position. At the moment she jumps on the object and then goes into the position.
Weaves: this was the first time she did this and so I just ran down the line. I used food because when I used toys she focused on the toy and ignored the channel entirely. About the channel itself -- I have 10 poles which I suppose is not a big deal at this stage? (12 means I have to use uneven ground at some stage in the line -- would this be bad for future rythem?). Also, should I treat mistakes as I do in this video -- just ignore it and keep running but then not reward? If I stop to correct is that teaching her that stoppind means she should stop too? And, is this channel width ok and should I leave it like that until fully satisfied with all entry types? or is it still a bit wide for this size of dog?
Tunnel: as per instructions I think except I don’t restrain every time yet
I am unfortunately travelling for my work for all of July (without dog -- even worse!) so it will be a while before our next post. I will be following everyone’s postings though.
Very nice! Great pushes, great multi-wraps, great speed on exercise 1, but yes, she doesn’t know the cue well enough yet to have much obstacle focus so far… For cik&cap, I would probably give up on having two different cues, go with one instead and focus on saying it in time 🙂
But very good obstacle focus on tunnel exercise, very cool! -- Extra cool for such a small dog who has many more strides before the tunnel as a bigger dog would have! The weaves are going well too, you can put them somewhat closer first and then start with entries, they will make more sense then. For now, you can keep working with 10, despite I don’t see why you couldn’t put two more in the direction of a camcorder and bowl even more in that direction? It looks flat enough… It’s good how you react to mistakes yes: I keep going and don’t reward for popping out, but do call back and try again for wrong entries as if you keep going, by the end of the poles, it’s hard for them to know what went wrong.
Thanks! And about these questions, what should I do?
-- I use the same word for “run fast” as I do for my release from starts and contacts. Is this OK??? After all you want running from the start and contacts, yes?
Another question about cik/cak -- when you train your sends around the back of jumps, how do you do that in order to avoid confusion with cik/cak?
I suppose I should change cik/cak to one word. I notice in this video I say the wrong one and she still follows the direction of my body. My dog that knows the individual directions also choses the direction matching my position. But if I do this will it be limiting my handling options later? Maybe I should get more RAM
I have different words for a release and run fast as if there is a turn right after the start or see-saw, I don’t want to use my run full out word. Maybe with shorter striding dogs, it’s o.k., but you definitely don’t want to have the same word for a dog like Bi because onec she opens up… Hm.
At the beginning, I only practice cik&cap until they know it’s always over the bar. Only then, I start with “back/out/around” -- we’ll get there within this class.
Having them know the directions well help when first introducing rear crosses and later on if you end a lot behind the dog or on a wrong place. However, it’s VERY rarely my dogs need to do it on a verbal only on a real course and with a short strided dog, that should happen even less, so one word should be o.k.
hi Nicole, There’s something about being able to hear Eva pant that makes me fall in love with her. We have a dog like that up where I keep my horse and I just love her. She’s around 8 years old and always says hi so nice and is just the perfect barn dog. My horse loves her too.
You had this question about weaves and I was going to post this question as well. This really applies to when the dogs get in to the straight line poles, but how does the dog distinguish when they have made mistake and popped out of the poles and when they should just keep going. From watching a bunch of the videos this question comes to me as well as we teach difficult entries and make them commit despite out behavior. To my mind it becomes tricky for the dog when the behaviors of the person are so similar as to staying in the poles and proofing the poles. I’m finding it hard to make this clear…… My older dogs were fairly committed in the poles and I rarely had problems with them popping out but as I train a new dog it’s becomes confusing to me. Ack--I’m talking nonsense because Nicole’s quote above asks exactly my question.
Nancy
Yes.
This was not a problem with my other dog because I taught one pole at a time (you can already practice entries with just 2 or 3 poles, and can correct them straight away without the dog continuing down the line). I don’t know what is the best method, but I want to try the channel thing this time, even though I was happy with shaping pole-by-pole and the results. I think you probably need to say something for the missed entry?
I mean mark the wrong entry as Silvia suggests, and then ignore other types of mistakes and not reward
I actually mark both, wrong entry and popping out, but with wrong entry, I call back and with popping out, I run to the other side and try again from there. Never had a confusion, weaves are for me still the easiest obstacle to train to perfection, never had an issue with any do, so I never understood what the whole fuss around weaves is about.
BUT then, I keep the number of mistakes to minimum. I on purpose included two unedited sessions of Le so you can see for how high successful rate I’m going for. I make it easy enough that mistakes are very very rare (I think none in winter session, two in spring session?) -- especially at the beginning when she doesn’t know well yet what it is all about.
I like channel so much because it allows you to work on the important things (entries and exits -- the rest is easy) without having a dog to actually weave AND teaches the right style -- staying as close to the middle as possible. I think shaping pole by pole doesn’t necessarily give you this style, have seen many dogs jumping out much more as necessary -- and it first require some slowing down and that’s never our idea of fun 🙂
Hi Silvia, Doucette learned weave poles with channel method, she had great results in trainings, but in competition, she’s forgetting all, miss poles, is so slow, she’s very sensitive and she’s more concentrated on environnment when she’s in the weave poles. i had problems in the past with Adagio too, so i think it’s really because of my attitude? at home weave poles are fast and perfect, and she has big fun to do them. in competition it’s such a nightmare for her! if you want i can show you a video about our last competition.
Well, I have the same problem with slow in competition. I think its nothing to do with weave teaching method and more about lack of confidence in the dog in the overall setting. My dog has normally a very fast weave (like nearly 2 secs) and dog walk, but in competitions these are painfully slow. On the dog walk you can even see him start to use the view to survey the environment and count up things to worry about.
I think it shows in those obstacles because the dog needs to think about them for a longer time, giving them a chance to get distracted. For my dog I think it comes from poor socialisation and low confidence. I would like to know how to get rid of it, because training does not help (he’s fine at any other place other than competitions) but I notice as his ability to enjoy competition environments gets better these problems are getting better.
But, in my videos I notice that I am also micro-managing then entry because I know the dog is already distracted. Next one I will just send boldly regardless of his state of mind and see what happens..
I agree with Nicole, for soft&sensitive dogs, it’s easier when they can relieve their stress with running and just run fast. On obstacles they need to slow down (weaves and contacts IF trained with a stop), they have more time to think about scary things around them. AND, once the handler starts not not trust their weaves and gets nervous before, it only makes things even worse, it’s like a circle. So the two things you need to address are
1. your attitude: try to not care -- I know it’s hard as dogs know us too well to be able to mask things… So another thing it helps is to at home work on great distance in weaves and then try to handle them from a big distance (running 5m or more lateral to the weaving dog) in competition too -- the further you are, the less pressure you are putting on a dog. The common mistake is handlers trust their dogs at home, but then try to help in competition, but in fact, they are just crowding the dog, putting on the pressure and making the dog pop out -- especially easily done with soft dogs.
2. dog’s attitude in trials: try to make it really fun for the dog, forget about everything else and make that to be your only goal. Make competitions really really special by bringing special treats, special toys etc. Also, think of a clear routine so that the dog knows all the time what will happen next. Usually, it helps if you don’t ask the dog to stay in a scary enviroment for longer as absolutely necessary, that’s why I never have Bu hanging with me at trials, but always keep her in a car when not running or walking her. Our routine is I come get her, warm her up away from the crowds, bring her to the ring in a very last minute, keep her very busy with tricks that promote action (spinning, jumping, barking), run a course and run directly back to a car for some extra good stuff. You will never see me talk to another person when I have Bu out and all my focus is on her, with side vision checking out for Belgian Shepherds to avoid meeting any (she was attacked by Malinois twice and is afraid of all Belgians). If there are some dogs or people who she likes around, I’ll take her to them to say hi, telling her “see, you know everybody around here”.
Also, away from agility ring, try to teach the dog to stress up vs. stress down meaning: try to put the dog in a situation that is somewhat stressful to her, but not too much -- like bathing, grooming, clipping nails… -- depends on a dog. After you are finished, try to provoke the dog to express their frustration with anger and activity rather than hiding in a corner -- a wild game of tug is perfect. We mastered this game to perfection with Lo: she hated grooming, so I had her attack my shoes after each session for a wild game of tug to put her stress into action. It worked GREAT for agility: the more scared she was, the faster, with more anger and power she ran. I’m working in the same direction with Bu and it’s definitely helping A LOT, it’s just much harder to get the angry attitude out of my sweet BC as it is to get it out of little furry devils. Should work with Dou! Some schutzhund work for Valerie&Dou! 🙂
Thanks for this, Silvia. The first part I have done with Cash and you are right…spot on! I like the idea of getting him to stress up. So, in essence are you trying to tick them off/ get them mad? I’ll have to figure something out. He’s not a toy dog….my super serious and worried Shetlie. But I like the concept.
Sad, Bu is afraid of Belgians…but understandable when you’ve had such bad experiences with a specific breed.
Exactly! But it’s definitely harder to make them mad with some of the dogs… Would he tug one of those tug toys with food in? Bu’s favourite toy is the one with fleece handle and a very soft pocket when you can put food in. It’s easily destroyable, but she finds those much more fun as other toys like this that are usually from harder material. You can also shape him to tug on any toy and then try to do some of that before every dinner or anything else that makes him excited -- he end liking it.
Yeah, it was always the same dog, but she generalized it to all other Belgians… She actually only likes BCs anyway, she doesn’t quite get other dogs… She is somewhat strange 🙂
Ok, I’ll try that. The only thing he will latch onto is a Tug-It as it is mesh and food squishes out of it. Do I try to provoke him while he is clamped down on it? How do I do that without him thinking he is in trouble?
Try and see… First, try it without stressing him first, just to see how to provoke the reaction you want. With Lo, I could provoke it by pushing her back and growling, but that would scare Bu, so with Bu, I usually ask her to bark at me for her toy and with every bark, I pretend as I’m terribly afraid of her, then give up on my toy and have her have it, but then pretend to try to steal it from her, but keep jumping back as if I’m really afraid. I at first don’t touch her at all, only when I see she is really into it, I’ll touch her some too.
Alright. I tried playing with the Tug-It. Not so good. Apparently he had to work too hard to get the food out so it wasn’t worth fighting for. He wasn’t really into it. HOWEVER…today is a holiday here with lots of fireworks and that is stressful for him. I wanted to give him a stress reliever so I got out the hose for him to play with. It drives him crazy and he tries attacking the water spray…barking mad. Is THAT what I’m looking for? If so, how can I work with it.
I’ll also try what you do with Bu…maybe using a pig ear or something like that.
Yeap, barking mad sounds great! Would he react the same to a spray bottle? That would help a lot as you could take it to competitions and rev him up before the start.
I’m still using the hose…haven’t found a powerful enough spray bottle. Might try a water gun. But, I wanted to ask…am I trying to use it as a reward for tricks or other behaviors or am I trying to use it more so as an outlet for the stressful situations?
Kristin
Oh, yes, water gun is a great idea! I would use it on special occasions, to excite him before going into the ring and to reward after the run. You can also use it in training here and there, for very special achievements 🙂
Thanks Sylvia--This is quite helpful. I love your mental toughness and confidence. It’s amazing all the different things we learn as we teach our dogs new tricks.
Nancy
we’re back home 🙂 thank you very much, i’ll try to apply this with Doucette in trials and ask weave poles with distance. i’m sure in competition i’m too closer to the weave poles, especially when she’s missing and when we do again. i want to help, but it’s worse.
Hi, I had to come back and re-read this again. It is soooo helpful. Today at the agility seminar, Maia and I had a working spot in the morning session. She did great until the very end -- where she just shut down completely: ears down, arched back, timid and all she wanted was to get out of there and back in her crate. She did not respond to yous, EVEN spat out treats!! (and she’s a sheltie -- a food hound) The instructor had me ‘work’ through it and ‘not let her shape me into giving into Maia’ -- well it did not work to well. We got her to take a jump and called it quits for the time being. When it was our turn again, she would not get out of her crate. So I remembered what you wrote here and I took her toy out and with her in her crate started to tease her with it knowing she could not get at it and then I would blow in her face -- which always gets her really really mad at me. That got her mood up, but only for a very short time -- she still would not work with me after that. So I am guessing that I need to work on stressing her up at home much more like you said so I can use it in situations like this?! 🙂 But it did work for a short time -- it was amazing how she just got mad and took her mind off whatever it was that was stressing her out (until I took her out of the kennel of course)
Thank you for this great idea, I would have NEVER thought of it and everyone around here just makes you ‘work through’ it and not ‘let the dog win’ (I never agreed with this approach, it never sat well with me)
Ideally, you stop working before she shuts down… If you’re too late, I would stop right away -- it’s not she is winning anything as it’s not like she doesn’t want to work -- she just can’t, because she is stressed… The important thing Lo and Bu taught me is to respect their fears. They learned to trust me, knowing I know about their fears, I respect it and won’t ask them more as they can do. So I would only try again after a break, when I think she is ready. Then, try to make her mad before she shuts down. But yes, you need to first “train” getting mad at you at home and then use it when necessary, but preferably not when she is already very stressed. I “train” them to “recover” from mildly-stressful situations at home and then try to make them mad before entering the situation that can be scary when using it as a preparation for agility run. -- I guess things look less scary when you’re mad 🙂
OK. Here is our homework for Week 1 -- First Session. I can already see some of my mistakes but look forward to hear other comments from you, Silvia. I know I need to run faster but my knee is messed up right now so I’m going as fast as I can:-) Synergy has only done cik/cap on cones so this is her first time with jumps. I also can see that I need to take this game somewhere besides my backyard so I can get more distance/speed. On weaves, she is just starting channel as she is only 13 months old. This is the first time I have tried any strange movement and she did well with it. On the tunnel, I have to restrain more/build more drive and start closer to the tunnel. Any other suggestions? Thanks,Marla
Cool! Very nice independance in weaves! Just don’t forget the entries either! The last time my dogs see a straight entry is on a 2nd session, all other repetitions are done with more&more angle -- why practise simple things, right? 🙂 And yes, work on some more drive for the tunnel and tightness of cik&caps… I think she didn’t transfer the behaviour well from a cone, so try without a bar first and do some multi-warps around the stantion and then try exercise 1 and 2 again, first with no bar and if that goes well, add a bar after a couple of sessions.
OK. I will go work on that now. Do you want us to film every session we do or just every few sessions? Also, I have a question about the cik/cap and then running the other way. How will the dog differentiate later when we are doing a rear cross that they should take the far stantion and not the close one? I am just wondering about how this exercise might affect rear cross. OK. Now I am off to practice multi-wraps with no bar and then exercises 1 and 2 if that goes well. Also, will work on tougher entries in weaves and more drive to tunnel.
See you later!
Marla
Oh, no, please don’t send every session 🙂 -- Just here&there to check if things are going in the right direction!
That’s a good question on rear crosses, I had to think twice how my dogs know the difference. I think the difference is that on sends to wraps, I’m not moving much with them to the obstacle -- as I would for RC. They guess I’m not doing RC if I’m pretty much static and 10m away from the jump… For RC, I would move with them closer to the obstacle and only slow down when waiting for them to commit. Of course, I often move in with them for wraps too, but if I’m right at the jump, I will cue a wrap with front and opposite hand -- and rear with normal hand and the direction of running.
Here is session 2 with Play.
I am trying to keep my hands quieter with the toy as he gets a little too high and often misses the toy and latches onto my arm or hand. We are working through this though.
I added in Play’s first session with the long jump and last are his turns and wraps.
Next session I will attempt the wraps/turns with 2 jumps (figure 8’s)
Val and Play
Very nice, tight and fast! 🙂
wow super 🙂
WoW a lot of things to read! I think I don’t have enough time to read all what is said here… I hope I will forget nothing important.
So right now, I’ve made some videos and I just need time to prepare them and download them.
But what I’ve seen… Dinamit work better if we are at the agility club. She is better motivated (really crazy, barking a lot) and very better concentrated. I think because, at the club, she as to wait her turn and the environment : with other excited dogs, she is very frustrated to wait her turn. So she is very crazy, but concentrated when she can have her turn.
At home she is slower and not as concentrated, but she very love doing cik and cap exercices. I think cik and cap is her favorite. ^_^.
This week and the weekend I will be very busy, so I hope I can post the videos at the begining of next week with more explaination.
Yeap, it’s harder to get the same excitement at home… Try starting with a wild game of tug, make her bark or something. Try to read as much as you can, especially when there is a long discussion -- there is LOTS of very important information there. I tried bolding the important things, but noticed everything so far was very important, so… Hm… happy reading, I guess 🙂
^_^ Maybe I will printed all, to read it quietly when I should wait my turn in the competition of this weekend … lol
Hi,
Here’s my first training video -- lots of mistakes! Hope the upload works!
Very cool! With cik&caps, he goes somewhat more in the middle of the bar as one would expect, but then lands really nicely, close to the wing, with front paws in the right direction, so maybe that’s his solution to how to land on the right spot -- not a bad idea at all! 🙂 For the tunnel, you could try to get even more drive -- restraining more and closer to the tunnel and then having him chase you when he is out. Don’t forget to name it differently when you want him to come to hand vs. just run: I say dogs’ name for coming to hand and my “run fast” word for running full speed forward. Great job with the tricks too!
Thanks. What should I do to train him to jump closer to the upright? He has been doing the circle exercises around a cone -- perhaps more of those? I don’t have winged jumps but have ordered them -- they should arrive before end July (I hope!)
Oh, you don’t really need wings! As I said before, I only say “a wing” because that’s the only English expression most non-English speaking people know for a thing that holds a jump bar!!! 🙂 -- But it doesn’t matter at all how it looks like, wing or no wings, doesn’t make ANY difference for the dog! Too big wings are actually bad for cik&cap work and without is perfectly good!
And I would let it be, the way he jumps, he definitely lands nicely very close to the wing/no wing 🙂
Hi Silvia.
I teached my dad’s Sheltie to weave by 2x2 method in 16 days.
In the first sessions you are shaping the dogs to go through the poles. Therefore you are not in motion. But When the dog can is seeking the pole you are going to be in motion.
I have video taped the training sessions with my dad’s Sheltie. You can se the videos here:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my_videos?sf=added&sa=0&pi=1
It is the videos named Zissi slalom or 2x2.
I was limited of time because i only had the dog with me in 16 days when my parents was on holiday. Therefore i didn’t train so much on difficult entries. But she has a really nice weaving. My dad train her in agility, and i am competing with her. She has only had one fail ind the weaves and has never had problems with entries.
Sure, I had no doubts you can get great weaves with 2x2 too! It’s really not about the method, it’s about how you apply it. As I said: I saw some brilliant weaves by dogs, trained by 2x2, channel, V and yes, even luring! 🙂 And I saw some terrible ones when trained with 2x2, channel, V and luring 🙂 There is no magic method, it’s all about what you do with it!
Hi Silvia,
A beginners’ question about weaves:
Karmen has done a couple of times the weaves with the channel method (50-60 cm) with almost no mistake. We were running together, no independance but in both sides and both hands.
Should we pass for any step before following your video or can we go straight for it?
Thank you
Céline
Hm, I don’t really understand the question… At this age, you don’t want to do much about weaves once the channel gets more narrow, but you can work on independance and some entries already now.
Sorry for not expressing clearly myself.
Anyway, I got your answer: we can start wide weaves WITH independance and different entries already.
That was my question !
Thanks
Yeap, you should start it on a first lesson already! 🙂
Hi Silvia,
I have been thinking about why Buddy doesn’t find it rewarding to do the exercises or obstacles. That led me to figuring out what exactly he DOES find rewarding. I came to the conclusion that the most rewarding thing for him is running next to my mountainbike. We do this off leash on a trail and he rarely leaves my side except for taking a quick pee. Even when I stop to take a break, he waits and watches for me to get on the bike again. He also doesn’t seem to get tired or bored, he goes into fully committed working mode.
It is the most fun we have together.
So my question is, how do I transfer this to Agility training?
I also realized that motivation to work/play with me needs to be my priority now.
Well, one thing you could do is to send him around every appropriate tree when mountainbiking! And then having him chase you on the bike! Obviously, he likes to run so once he realizes it’s about running, he will like it more. So just make it as much about the running as possible. Do one cik and then run around with him for a while. And then one more and then you’re done for that session… Keep it short, intense and all about the running.
Yes, thanks, he loves just running with me.
I have been racing with him on the bike, like doing sprints, then saying “gogogo!!’ If I send him to trees he’ll look for squirrels.
What if you bring one stick-in-the ground pole with you, set it somewhere and start a ride by sending him around it first? And then ride in big circles so that you can do two or three wraps more before going home?
Grace is exactly the same. She loves running with me when i’m on a bike or a horse. I taught her “gogogo” by racing her on the bike too. It made me realise that when i am on the ground i am obviously far too boring (too slow!), so i tried chasing games with her too which worked well. I also thought she realises that if she were to run off, i would be out of sight too quickly so she needs to stay with me more
Silvia,
When training difficult or new weave pole entries do you use all twelve poles or do you go to a lower number. Also I noticed that you pulled your dog out of the weaves when he missed his entry and started again. Did you do that from the start of his training? Thanks, I will post my lesson 1 this weekend. I love your philosophy, just run and play with your dog in training, we are having such fun!
See the discussion with Nicole… As you can see from the video, I train all the difficult and new entries already in the channel, so the dog is not really weaving, so I have no problem doing it on 12 poles (but as I wrote to Anna: I would have a problem teaching entries on closed 12 poles). By the time the channel is closed, my dogs see all possible entries and I simply include it in sequences and pretty much never train just the weaves again. But yes, of course, missed entries and popping out, I mark it and try again -- they can’t know what is right and what is wrong otherwise. But as I said, I keep the number of failures to minimum.
voila la première vidéo de Fly. je vais regarder les vidéos des autres participants que je n’ai pas encore vu 🙂 pour le moment je trouve que fly est trop fixé sur moi et pas encore assez sur l’obstacle. et elle n’est pas tres a l’aise quand je la retiens. on va continuer a s’entrainer 🙂
Exactly. You need more obstacle focus. It’s actually getting really good towards the end of a session, but still, would be good if you could play with it some every day, not just Wednesdays… You don’t even need a jump, find a tree or bring stick-in-the-ground pole in a park and practise there. I think it will also give you more tightness, I think she can wrap even better as that with some practise as she seems very flexible.
In the tunnel exercise, try to use less toy and more verbal and low hand when calling her to it or higher hand and another verbal when sending forward. You can practise that after sending around the tree/pole too, you don’t really need a tunnel for that part.
je me suis permise de vous traduire ce que Silvia vous à répondu… (aussi bien que j’ai pu, je m’excuse d’avance s’il y a des erreurs) Je laisse Sylvia dire si c’est correcte.
Exactement. Vous avez besoin qu’elle soit d’avantage fixée sur l’obstacle. Actuellement cela devient vraiment très bien, surtout à la fin de la session. Mais cela serait encore mieux si vous pouviez jouer avec (entrainer) ça un peu tous les jours, et pas seulement les mercredis … Vous n’avez même pas besoin d’un saut, trouvez un arbre ou un bâton au sol (un poteau ou un lampadaire) dans un parc et exercez vous ici. Je pense que cela vous donnera également plus d’étanchéité (je pense que Sylvia veut dire par la que ça lui apprendra à ce serrer au maximum avec le poteau), je pense qu’elle peut envelopper encore mieux que ça avec une certaine pratique, car elle semble très flexible.
Dans l’exercice du tunnel, essayez d’utiliser moins le jouet et plus de mots et avec une main basse lorsque vous l’appeler ici (vers vous) ou une main plus haute avec un autre mot lorsque vous l’envoyer en avant. Vous pouvez aussi l’entrainer après l’avoir envoyée autour d’un arbre ou d’un poteau, vous n’avez pas vraiment besoin d’un tunnel pour cette partie.
Merci beaucoup Justine. c’est très gentil de me traduire ce que dit Sylvia. j’avais compris le plus gros mais certains détails m’échappait. 🙂
ok je vais donc m’entrainer plus souvent. j’ai des piquets de slalom a planter dans le sol je vais en prendre un ou deux et voir ce que ça donne. merci encore 🙂
Yeap, that should work!
My dog thought all the dogs barking was VERY interesting! 🙂 What a nice place to do agility! Smart puppy too
Oh, yes, the barking must be very unusual thing to see for North America 🙂 Not so unusual for Europe 🙂