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!
I have a weave poles channel question. How did you set up your poles with the first pole on the left for both ends? I just can’t work it out!? My one end always has the right hand pole first.
Sounds like you have 11 or 13 poles instead of 12 🙂
No definitely have 12 poles. They are on a base plate -- 3 plates with 4 poles on each. Two slide out and two are fixed. Now I’m really confused! 🙂
Hmm just drew myself a little picture -- I must have set my poles up wrong somehow. Will look at them when we go train later.
Try to take a picture and post it, will make it easier to help setting it right.
Thanks I got it right. I think when I repainted my base plates, the sliding poles were put back all wrong. But now I have proper entries both ends 🙂
This is another cik & cap session with Sammy on grounds with more space so hopefully our angle is better. At the start of one of my turns he jumps up and ‘hugs’ my leg (to put it politely!!). What do I do about this kind of behaviour -- he has been neutered! He seems to do it when he is excited.
My other question is the original video I took was 8 minutes long, so that means we played tug for 6 1/2 minutes and ‘worked’ for 1 1/2 minutes. Is this ok or should I shorten the tugging between turns?
LOL!!! 😀 Tibby hugs my leg when she is excited too and she’s a spayed GIRL!
Lol -- that makes me feel a bit better! 🙂
It is pretty cute! I mean, maybe not to you . . . but he just seems so overjoyed. 🙂
Oh yes, that sure looks good now! Fast and tight! Maybe a bit wider to the left as to the right though? That would mean you just need to practice left wraps some more. You can also add even more distance now and then try figure 8s on two wide spread wings. For jumping on your leg, I would immediately put hi in don, wait a bit that he calms down and then start again. Playing in between in perfectly o.k., I think that’s a good ratio of play vs. work.
Thanks Silvia!
I think I may have been practising more right than left so I’ll work on doing more lefts.
I tried figure 8’s yesterday and I think he was a bit wide -- probably need to work on getting more distance first.
Yes, maybe try more lefts first, on lower bars first, then add distance and then try figure 8s again -- it’s always better to do it really progressively as to rush things, it’s important to give them time to figure out how to jump that way.
Ag no what am I doing -- I can’t get the video link to work. Can’t for the life of me remember how did my first video (which I posted in the wrong page)! It’s perfectly loaded on YouTube.
I fixed your link, the problem is you included the feature=player_detailpage& part -- you need to only include watch?v= and video code, no edit/feature etc.
Thanks Silvia.
Hopefully I’ll get it right with the next post!
Dawn, there is a box to click “share” below your youtube video, click that and then another link below that will come up and it will already be highlighted and so you can copy that link, then add the v to the http once you put it in your comment. That’s what I do and I think that works well and seems easiest for me. It usually comes up with a . in the youtube part, like http:/youtu.be/………or something like that, but that’s the link that I use to post here and it always works.
Thanks Amy. I’ll look for that box and try it that way. It was so weird because my first video post was easy as pie and then I came to do the second one and couldn’t figure out what I’d done the first time! 🙂
Hi again!
so here’s 3 videos at once, just cause I tend to edit a whole bunch of them at the same time :). Firsta one was in a semi-new location. Terra had been there as a pup. This was the very warm place so he got hot fast but here are some highlight of the sessions. The very first part of the video he still had energy but to the end he got tired, should had ended the session there but there was about one minute more of video that I just wont show, too embarressing (bad trainer!!) his tongue is just hanging out and I’m all red too!
second vid is from thursday, we just had a quick session before Leevis agilityclass. in the end (not on the vid though) he actually got distracted by the trainer comming inside, witch got me surprised cause he usually isn’t that easily distracted. Maiby I need to keem my sessions even shorter, this was around 2 mins, so maiby 1 min at a time next time? In the middle I changed toy but it was probably a bad idea, he drived better to the throwable toy.
The last session is just in our tiny yard 🙂 And you can see we still have TOO MUCH SNOW :(. But I put up a showel in the snow to show how fast Terra can be when we wants to, not much room to run but he is very good practising in the yard.
Yes, I think you mostly want to use toys that you can throw too. But maybe keep his favourite toys for working in other environments. I think he is actually really fast also outside home, but seeing him play at home, I can certainly see the difference -- he is even faster and more enthusiastic at home, so do try to get that same attitude at training place too, using his favourite toy, his favourite way to play and throwing in some obstacles -- but mostly focusing on play and chasing as he is doing a great job on obstacles anyway. Hopefully you can soon train more at home and can then really focus on just the racing when at agility field.
What a good idea to just stick a shovel in the snow!! Where do you live? My snow is finally starting to melt!! Hopefully we’ll be outside in a couple more weeks.
I live in southern Finland, we still got loads of snow and some really cold days.. I’ve also put up some channel weaves in dads yard (since it is bigger, but even there I can only fit a 6 pole channel). I just bought some plastic poles and they hold up nice in the snow. He is doing great on those too allthough it is hard to do the proofing part when the channel is so short…
Bun Bun was not loving the harness quite so much yesterday. I’ll just keep experimenting with her. Also she is obsessed with the dogwalk, that’s why you see her keep running over to the camera. I had the ramps off and lying flat on the ground and all she could think about was trying to find a way to run that dogwalk!
On the cik/cap, her big problem is the base getting in her way, you can see her doing little mincing steps to avoid it at times. I have the stick-in-the-ground poles and clip-on jump cups, but can only use them in my tiny back yard because they won’t go in the ground at the arena. I must have tested the one spot on the whole place that a nail would go into, turns out the rest is like concrete. What do you think, can I continue like this?
I tried doing tunnel-jump-tunnel-jump-throw with Byrdie and he likes that better and stops barking somewhat. You’ll see that start about halfway through his section. Sorry I forgot to move the camera to get the tunnel! The setup looks like: C —
Looking forward to your advice!
Bun Bun sure wants to do her DW! Her sends to a tunnel look good and she is really starting to like to chase that box too! For cik&cap, do you think it’s a base? To me, it looks like that a ground bar makes it look like a jump and she handles it as a jump instead of a wrap… I think already removing the ground bar could help, but if you do have one spot where you can use a stick in the ground, then certainly use that first!
Byrdie sure gave you some really nice and tight turns! BUT he is still often watching you so much that he simply turns with your body language, regardless of where the jump is. When he does take his eyes off of you, he is really tight (like 2:01), but mostly, it depends on when you turn (the try after)… Maybe you would actually need to go a step back, start him from very close, but expect him to focus forward and drive to the jump on his own, without your movement. That would make him more focused on his job and you would then slowly add your movement as a distraction.
Yup, I figured that out about Byrdie! I have much better video from today, I think (I hope), if I can ever get my computer and my camera to talk to one another. And wait until you see what a little tunnel bug Bun Bun is. 🙂
Thanks, Silvia!
Silvia, did you mean removing the ground bar altogether so she’s only wrapping the post, or putting it up in the jump cups?
I meant removing it all together -- if the post will still stand up then? -- Hm, maybe not?
No, it will. The bottom of it is shaped like H. I’ll try it.
So, I wasn’t clear. That bar is just lying on the ground. It’s not a connecting ground bar.
Oh yes, definitely take it away then. The bar on the ground is already a jump for such a tiny dog 🙂
Ok,
here is our latest video of tunnel work…I cannot figure out what I’m doing wrong -- it doesn’t feel right…Am I to close to the tunnel? Too close to the other hole -demanding from Kiss to take a tighter (too tight turn) when she comes running out?
I think I’m calling her soon enough when she is about to come out and long enough…or?
I left the sound on so you can hear, but you can also hear Saia barking her lungs off 🙂
So here it is.
The last part is a little blury, sorry about that but I think it’s still visible.
Here is the second movie we made that day, only cik and cak.
I consciously tried to take your advice and not to wait for her while she is taking the turn. We managed to add quite a lot of distance.
And over all I’m happy with this part.
Petra, wow very impressive!
Oh yes, now you really are running!!! 🙂 And so is she! 🙂 You can try figure 8s and very low bars next. And always try to move the jump cup so that she can’t crash into it… And well, her tightness on come to hand was getting better and better through the video, so I think she just needs more practice. Maybe do front crosses mostly for now as you can cue collection (by turning into her) and staying close better with those. However, when you do a front cross, do a 180 degree change of a direction so that you are sending at the same tunnel entry she just came from, so that she needs to try harder and turn more. The shoulder pulls, you cold first try after a send to a wrap -- maybe that will give her less speed and help her succeed -- and then it’s easier to proceed to a tunnel.
Thank you Gabi ;), Kiss is my little agility monster 🙂
The ground is thawing! Our first day of channel weaves! Our classmates have inspired us to give it a go and we had FUN!
Kelly, wow you sure had fun!! Makes me smile 🙂
Holy smokes, Kelly, she sure has some power! 😀 What a fun girl she is!!!! I can’t wait to meet her some day!!!
Oh, she sure got the idea right away! And liked it too! 🙂 Just continue like that, adding difficulties gradually enough for her to mostly be successful, but allowing mistakes here and there to let her learn the difference. Looks like Gussy wants to join too! 🙂
Hi Silvia and Classmates !
Today, some tries with a tunnel at home …
Sometime I am bending too much, but how to stay standup ? …
Cool, she is doing better&better with a restrain. To avoid bending down -- RUN! You can’t bend down when you run! On front crosses, try to change your direction for 180 degrees, so that you’re going back to the tunnel then. When you circle all the way around, it doesn’t make any sense to do it…
Back to your video ( I forgot to review it ), now I understand what to do after tunnel exit with calling hand, shoulder pull, and front cross in combination !
Thanks Silvia !
Oi, the arms! LOL!! I tried a few wraps with Spur using my dog side arm. He totally reads that as a rear. Of course, I am probably not far enough away, yet as he doesn’t always drive to the jump and does pull off on occasion. I will try with a tunnel to jump to tunnel to get more distance and speed and see how that goes, but my initial test showed that he reads my off side arm for the wraps better for whatever reason. It’s probably how I have done it for a while, so it’s what he is used to. It probably doesn’t really make much difference so long as he reads it right and I am consistent? Or does it?
Exactly -- no need to fix things that aren’t broken! But as I said in reply to Louise -- I like a normal hand for sends as an opposite arm would pull them to me too early.