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!
This class program is very extensive and after discussing it with 1st class students, I decided to give you some more time for last three lessons: first three you'll get every 2 weeks and last three every 3 weeks and we'll also make a 2-week break somewhere in between to let you catch up. As always, taking things slowly is always better and takes you to the goal faster as rushing things up, that's why I'm giving you more time for your homeworks.
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 stanchion now, but without the bar first: 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 stanchion, NOT in the middle of the bar! That's why I always do this side approach FIRST and do lots of it before trying any straight approaches. Check the angle again as it's not the best angle to see and many people do it coming to the jump facing it and then running parallel to it away and then the dogs are back-jumping the jump. You want to come to the jump from the side (nearing the stanchion/wing first) and then run away perpendicular to it.
- 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 (side approach again!) and the distance between them: you want BIG distance to get good speed - something like 10m/33'. Again, you want the jumps under this angle to make sure the dog is jumping close to the stanchion, 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 for you 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!
To make it even more challenging and train three things at the time 🙂 you can also add more tunnels and jumps around, like this:
Try to change it some every time, like bringing the other tunnel closer, or curving it sometimes, or using a jump instead, and also try running by it (to the other entry maybe) while calling to hand so that the dog needs to stay with you even when you’re actually moving towards the tunnel/jump and similar.
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 a 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. With puppies, you can start the channel work, but only play with it max. twice a week, to not progress too fast as you don't want to close it to the point that requires real weaving before the dog is fully grown. But you can do a lot of work on independence and entries without doing any real weaving.
Have fun!
Hi Silvia
I am excited to be here and looking forward to all the fun and learning we get to do!
Will you teach us more of the basics of your cik/cap work in this foundation class? This is a new concept for me and I was hoping this would be one of the lessons we get to do? Eg which side is cik and which is cap? How to name the task -- I guess you used shaping? Is there a video that we could watch that helps explain the basic? The first steps? Or is the beginning of the first lesson the beginning of the cik/cap work -- what were the very first steps before this video -- your dog already knows this task very well -- mine does not yet know it -- but I guess I first have read your written instructions and to try it out and then come back and ask questions!
Gabi, cik&cap beginnings were a topic of pre-beginning homework that I copied from a Puppy Class, didn’t you see that? Here is a copy: cik&cap: find a table leg, dog-food container, traffic cone or similar and shape the dog to go around it – first just a step, then two or three circles, both directions (you can reward both right from the start if you are getting it – if not, start with just one, but then on one session, don’t reward that direction anymore but wait for the other). Name it as soon as you get fluent circling.
Just try and let me know if you have additional questions! Or maybe someone from Puppy Class can find their first steps and post it? I use cik for left wrap and cap for right, but it’s not very important which cues you choose, as long as you get the tightness! 🙂
Thank you Silvia, I will start working on this, including lesson one, this weekend -- already behind but that is ok, I might be slower than your other students but I will continue to work in my own time!
No problem! Teaching it well is more important as teaching it fast! 🙂 And most students that posted already did some of it already before, some are even repeating this class, so… Don’t worry, everybody need to find their own pace!
Don’t worry, Gabi, I’ll be behind with you. Our weather is driving me crazy. If I could ever practice RC more than once or twice a week I’m sure we’d be on WT with Silvia already. 🙂 Pascal had a really good video of beginning steps of cik/cak with Garlic, I wonder if he could post it?
Pascal, can you find that video for Gabi?
Silvia,
Here’s the current state of Echo’s Cik Cap with minimal speed. I’d like to know what you think of her landings. She doesn’t land very close to the standard and jumps more toward the middle of the jump than I’d realized. She lands with her feet and head turned nicely and THEN does a nice wrap, but should I be asking for/expecting more? If so, how do I go back and fix this?
To me, she looks tight enough to the right, even on a higher jump, and yet wider as wanted to the left, even on a lower jump -- or is it just camera angle? I would do some left&right spinning and stretching to a cookie on her hip -- always doing more repetitions for left as right. On jumps, keep the bar low, keep helping with a toy and mark and JP the best ones.
It’s the camera angle -- she lands about the same distance from the jump in either direction. On spins, she’s more fluent to the left and maybe a TAD more flexible to the left. I’ll do a camera visual from the standard side so that you can see exactly what she’s doing. She’s been jumping at 12 inches for months, with an increase to 14/16 inches starting about 3 weeks ago. (The 18 inches was a mistake -- it should have been 16 inches.)
I’m a weanie about increasing jump heights, so I have the same question as Melanie -- when do you know to go to the next height and how fast do you increase the height? (Echo’s full jump height will be 26 inches.)
You can certainly play with it some more, lower the bars some and see what gives you the best turns, either running away or helping with a toy or running to the tunnel etc. Still, some dogs can’t wrap as much as some other -- La for example can’t really wrap, but knows to add a stride and throw her hips in one direction, so she will land close and in the right direction, but more in the middle of a bar as my BCs. But it still works great! I think Echo’s turns are as well really nice whenever she adds a stride and is only too wide when she doesn’t… As for the height, I think she is well over a year old already? She can do 18″ then yes.
Hello Silvia, here we go again!!! Very excited for class to start today! We have actually taken a little break from the topics in this class, but I’ve had a jumping question building during that time. As you know, we’ve been working to get Grit to add that extra “set up” stride before jumping for her collection, and that seems better, however, if I don’t start her almost exactly parallel to the jump, but start to work more “around the clock”, that set up stride goes away and we see the early take off/landing that we were seeing before. I’ve attached a video that shows a little of what I’m talking about. Any ideas for exercises that would help her? Or just go back to the drills in this lesson and not worry about the other scenarios right now?
Melanie, for now mostly use a starting spot that gives you the best take off. Mark and JP it. Add other approaches as you add height as I think she is better with more height? Also, this time around, you can try leaving even earlier, but try to run away from the jump, not parallel, that will allow you to leave earlier.
Is it appropriate to start adding height now? She will be 11 months on Friday… The jump in the video was at 12″. She has done 14″ once, I think, for some multiwraps, but that is it…
I would keep it lower for sequences and let her take off point alone for now there, but you could maybe raise it some for one jump sends and see if it helps with her take off.
Hi Silvia!
Question about cik/cap. I tried to name it and failed. I practiced without my dog, with my dog, I just can’t seem to get that one worked out in my head, so I call it “wrap” both ways. So far that doesn’t seem to be a problem as I am fast enough to be in position most of the time. Should I go back and try to name it properly or is that really that big a deal? I know that means I have to use some hand signal to show direction, but is that so bad?
Also, Spur is a shy tugger, so I haven’t worked on that too much and instead rely on tossing the ball. How important is tugging for these exercises? What makes him go fastest of ALL is a straight tunnel to tossed ball. His most favorite game, so can I use that for some of the cik/cap work? I know he doesn’t see me when he is in the tunnel but I can have him chase me to the tunnel then toss the ball after his cik/cap work?
I haven’t done much lately with his restrain on the harness. Just too busy with work and trials, but he is getting more comfortable wearing it, which was an issue with many of the harnesses we tried. He is definitely more comfortable with me grabbing the harness than his collar, no question, so that’s good!!! 😀
Sure, you can use just one word and help with body language for direction. You don’t need tugging for that exercise at all, you can just throw a ball as he is catching up or even send to tunnel first if he likes that! If he still doesn’t like a restrain enough to use it, you can just start with a trick instead, like a spin or bark and then send.
OK, I just tried a restrain session with his chuck-it at a location that is his favorite. He simply will not chose to pull, so shaping/capturing it seems daunting? And by the time I feel a tiny pull, the ball has long ago landed and isn’t as appealing as he has to search to find it. The only time he will REALLY pull and has no worries about it is if I let him help me bring my horses in from the far pasture, but that won’t be happening for months until it dries out. So, I feel a little like I am cheating, BUT, I am able to pull back on him and then release and he goes. I’m going to just try that as that’s pretty much what I am doing at trials now (of course, without the harness) and it has held up OK. It may take time (lots of time, as things go with Spur, everything takes a long time), but I do think I can get a conditioned response to grabbing his harness as he is becoming better about me holding him for his starts at trials. It may not be crazy fast at first, or as intense as we want at first, but he is a good worker and likes to work and I think it will improve as we go on and he gets more used to it! Certainly, his drive out to jumps has GREATLY improved from his RDW work. 😀 I’ll let you decide once I submit my first homework and you can see what you think, but unless you tell me otherwise, that’s my plan.
Sure, just go with whatever works for him! As I said before, a restrain is not an absolute must, there are other good ways to start them too! And rewarding for reacting on your pull is actually a great start already!
Hi Classmate !
Thanks Silvia for the idea to use wrap or bark tricks before send to obstacle : because I’m also working on restrain and it isn’t already a game for Garlic.
I just find some solutions to fix this pb. First I remark that keeping the harness is the first pb. She isn’t used to keep harness. Now I decide to put harness for a long time and out of context of learning. Second idea is : I add a small 30cm string on harness to hold her rather than directly hold the harness : so Garlic feels really better. Third idea is to threw 2 or 3 or 5 treats simultaneous on floor before release.
Those are sure great ideas! I also use a harness with a very long handle as that keeps the hands far enough. But of course, you can start with sends without a restrain, bark is a great way to start too! 🙂
I’ve been trying to use collar pulls for restrained sends but this makes most of my dogs sit. They don’t like to pull. However, if I push back on their chest that really cranks them up. They try play biting and get very excited so can I use that instead? It’s what I use at the start line with my oldest dog who doesn’t have a start line stay. It cranks him up and I get more speed right off the start.
Sure, just use that! Many dogs don’t like being held and prefer a harness, that’s why I was suggesting that, but if they like a push like that, just use it!
Pascal! YES, I definitely had to have Spur wear his harness outside of agility to get used to the feel of it, he’s so sensitive to things. I sure think that restrained starts are something worth working towards and will keep at it with Spur. 😀 Food on the floor isn’t enough for him, he just doesn’t want to pull. BUT I have been putting the harness on for all our walks and any time I think he wants to CHARGE off, like as we head out the door or if he sees the crows or birds he likes to chase, or he sees his dog friends we meet on our walks, I reach down and get a hold of it then I pull back just a LITTLE and release with “YES!!!”. Mine does have a loop I can grab gently!! So far, it looks like this is working for us. He is already totally fine about wearing it and running around with it, so that was step one!!!! 😀
We have snow on the ground right now, so we will be starting out doing the exercises on rubber matting in my studio, which is made for dog sports but my dog, Lil tends to slip when she turns tightly with speed on this surface. I can definitely do the weave pole and tunnel GO GO GO games, but I’m concerned about the tight turns and slipping. One thought I had was to buy a few sticky yoga mats and have Lil only turn tightly on the matting but I don’t want to give her a false sense of security there (and thus make her really slip when off the yoga mats) sooooo I’m wondering it is OK (or if there is any benefiit) to do Cik & Cap on a slightly slippery surface. I assume Lil will slow down a little in order not to slip during the turn, since she is not reckless (most of the time)
It’s certainly not ideal as a slippery surface prevents them to really dig in… Depending on what kind of a snow you’ve got, outside might actually be better? And working on the rest inside?
Oooh, fun lesson. I think I need to add puppy Tat to this class :-). She is a slow/methodical worker. I definitely need to learn to bring her drive out because I KNOW it’s there!
What do you do if your dog doesn’t go in the tunnel? Sometimes she’ll go, other times she’ll just stand there. She’s better on one side than the other. I try to get her to pull on her collar but if I apply pressure she often sits instead.
Did you try a really short and straight tunnel? Maybe she would like that better? And you could then reward a lot and make tunnels real fun? If not, try some shaping for interaction with tunnel, again with lots of rewarding to make her really love it. I just love when dogs drive to tunnel well, it makes sends, obstacle focus and distance work so much easier! Very useful for RC too, so definitely worth spending some time and treats/playing on it!
Ok, I’ll do that. Short and straight with lots of rewards for any interaction. I was probably asking too much too soon.
Yes, it’s no hurry, once she is totally crazy about short and straight, long and curved will be easy! 🙂
This is so exciting. Pippa is going to absolutely love it!!!! 🙂
Question about the restrained sends. I was saving some of this to be a surprise for our puppy tricks graduation video (still coming — some day) but looks like I need some help now. We have had to spend over half of our training time this past year on teaching Pippa to tolerate restraint of any kind. She panicked if anybody picked her up off the ground. So I spent hours and hours of time just touching her, then holding her, then picking her up, then holding feet, etc., etc.
I am very happy to say that the first “trick” in our puppy video is a picture of me holding Pippa high off the ground with no reactivity at all. 🙂 AND we can cut her nails now! But of course, she doesn’t pull against restraint either! If you hold collar or harness she jumps up to be held. If you push on her chest, she backs up. The best result I’ve had is pulling very gently on the hair on her neck .
Suggestions? I don’t want to undo any of that long training, but I DO want that fast start! 🙂
Oh, a restrain is certainly not an absolute must. There are no absolute musts at all -- it’s important to adjust to each dog and just go with what works for her. You can start her with a gentle hold, from your arms if she likes that or just tell her to do a trick like a spin or bark and send. If she has speedy starts from a stay, you could also use that o work on speedy starts from a stay away from it. No worries about the restrain!
what if the dog won’t tug?
Will she chase a ball? You can throw a ball as she catches up! If not, put the treats in a old sock, put it on a string and have her catch it and then treat as soon she does. OR, put a real food (like pig ear) on a string and have her catch it, let her chew on it some and then try again. I think she will sure love the new game!
My dog didn’t tug. I have a sheep skin pocket-tug wich I can put treats in. I have a ball that I can put treats in. I taught her to tug for treats. I use a rabbit skin on a string and finally she likes to tug with it!
I’ve been waiting for this class to start to ask this question…..RE: Cik & Cap.
My dog and I both know the words LEFT and RIGHT very well. I have been saying OVER RIGHT or OVER LEFT when sending Lil to a jump to indicate a turn is coming after the jump. But since buying your Cik & Cap DVD (and since signing up for this course), I’ve been trying to switch to LOOP and WRAP for Cik & Cap.
I’m not great with verbals in general but for some reason I am good about saying OVER LEFT and OVER RIGHT on course. ps--I use just LEFT or RIGHT for turns after tunnels or on the flat.
Do you think it would work for me to say “OVER RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT”, and OVER LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, to indicate Cik & Cap… instead of switching to LOOP and WRAP which I don’t think I’ll be able to say consistently plus my dog already knows OVER RIGHT and OVER LEFT so well.
Also because I have a small dog, there are a lot of circumstances on courses that I tend to want a moderate turn (not full extension but not extremely tight either). And I think I’d find myself confused about what to say “OVER LEFT” or “LOOP” in many situations. But if I just repeated OVER LEFT LEFT LEFT the correct number of times.. whatever that might be, it would help me define those “in-between” situations I often find myself in when walking a course.
Well, my major concern about using it that way is that there are many things to say 🙂 I do use more lefts/rights for more of left/right turns and more ciks&caps for harder collection coming up, but I have a hard time imagining saying over-left-left-left-left in time… AND I like to keep the extension vs. collection cues as different as possible. What if you would go for R-R-R for right wrap and LE-LE-LE for left wrap instead? That should be similar enough for you to remember and different enough for them to know the difference in time.
Would “R R R” sound like “Are-Are, Are”? and “LE LE LE” like “LEE LEE LEE” or “LEH LEH LEH ” or LA LA LA”? And how would you transition to the new word. I started by saying WRAP RIGHT and then I was going to start dropping the RIGHT and just say WRAP. In the case of RRR, and “Le Le Le” would you just switch entirely or transition by adding Right RRR at the beginning and then eventually drop the RIGHT etc. I am not sure why I find this so complex and difficult! It seems like a fairly simple concept.
I was thinking are-are and leh-leh, but it’s just an idea. You could use spin&swirl too, I’m just not a big fan of over + something and something similar to left&right sounds like a better idea to me. You could transition by saying the words she knows + a new one first.
The one other option (which just occurred to me) is that Lil knows SPIN and SWIRL (which means spin right or spin left. I could say: OVER SPIN and OVER SWIRL for Cik & Cap, because I also know very well what those words mean.
I wrote the comment above at the same time your wrote your suggestion of RRR and LE LE LE so I had not read it yet! 🙂
We still have snow in Sweden so I will have to wait with the training for a couple of weeks… It sucks. I will read, think, plan and watch your training until spring.
I named both cik&cap “back”. I tried to use different words but I couldn’t separate them 🙂 So I just renamed them 🙂
I have planned to use 2 on 2 off for my Schapendoes Kaia’s contacs. She knows it on the board in my living room but we haven’t practiced on the dog-walk yet. And she knows how to slam the see-saw which she realy loves 🙂
She will be 12 months on Friday this week. We have been working on the drive to tug and she looooves food so we have plenty of rewards now!
Sure, one word should do! I hope the spring comes soon to you, Kaia sure sounds ready to go! 🙂 I can’t imagine Schapendoes NOT liking food! 🙂