O.k., time for your first homework!
1. find a way to make your dog run as fast as he can, tape him from the side and study his striding in slow motion or even frame by frame: how far apart his hind feet are, how far forward hind feet reach over front feet, how long and high the stride is, how his back looks like and where his head is: many people think you want low head for running contacts, but in fact, you want the head look exactly the same as when running full speed in the fields 🙂
2. have a dog run over the plank, tape him from the side and compare it with the video above - tape it at the height you're currently at. If you're just starting, restrain the dog before your plank, carpet or whatever you're using, throw a toy and release. Slowly bring the dog further away from the plank to really have them come to the plank with full speed. Mark anything that looks like running in the fields from the first video, jackpot when feet are hitting at the end of a plank/carpet (where the contact will be), but reward anything that is running. Don't forget to click it or at least mark it with your voice! I prefer clicking, but you can also first use a voice and start clicking later, when you know your dog's stride better and can predict it better.
This is a good check-up for those who are already running their dogs on a raised plank and a good stride-study that will help you see and mark the correct striding better for those just starting. Once you see your dog is running nicely, with an even stride, hind feet separation and hind feet reaching further from front feet, you can put a brick or something under one end of the plank and have them run over slightly raised plank - I'll tell you when you're ready based on the videos you'll send.
And yes, we're for now throwing a toy in advance, letting the dog chase it, in order to get full speed. So yes, the dog is rewarded every time with a ball - so make sure that you really make the best tries even more special, use excitement in your voice, a play of tug on his favourite toy or food if that's his real preference - in short: make a party about the really good ones and don't worry about not so good ones - just throw that ball again! 🙂
3. to make it easier for the dog to understand what you're clicking for on that plank, we'll be teaching some tricks that are important to help them understand how to use their feet and that you might be clicking them for using them. The two things you will try this time is cavaletti work - walking the dog over drawers or boxes on the floor - and teaching the dog to step with front feet on an object and clicking for any movements of hind feet: the final goal is a full circle in both directions, but first click even for just a weight shift and then go from there.
Post a video with all 3 assignments, first two in slow motion please!!! - But PLEASE cut out all the parts where I can't see the dog: because seeing just the plank, and that is slow motion, is absolutely no fun - and you can't imagine how many planks in slow motion I saw by now!
Also, read all the comments and see as many videos as possible, you can learn A LOT through videos and comments of others, that's why we do it in a class form in a first place!
Two pictures showing what I mean by hind feet reach: hind feet must land further ahead from where front feet were:
Two pictures showing what I mean by hind feet separation: hind feet must be hitting two different spots as far apart as possible (vs. staying parallel, hitting the same spot).
To take the explanation of hind feet separation and reach forward even further, here is a discussion we had with a first class on it, this is my comment to those two videos:
Experimenting with a full low dogwalk
Experimenting with throwing his toy
My comment: he doesn’t run fast enough – That’s my answer to 90% of problems with running contacts, so you will probably hear that a lot in next few months
Any BC, running full speed, is deep down the contact if doing two strides on a dog-walk ramp, period. Even my PyrShep who is 37cm (14.5″) does the down ramp in two hits and I even know a Papillon that is trying to, despite we would prefer him to do 3 hits
Meaning that if a BC does 2 hits and is too high, he is not running enough. That’s some general info for everybody, I’m just using your videos to discuss this topic as they show some very nice tries and some “not running enough” tries.
On most tries, you can see his hind feet come just shortly more forward from where the front feet where. Normally, when the dog runs full speed, hind feet will land significantly further ahead from where front feet were – just like you can see in “experimenting with the toy” video at 1:16, 2:16 and 2:27 tries for example – those were very nice!!!
The faster the dog is moving, the further ahead from front feet hind feet will be landing and as a consequence, you will have MUCH bigger length covered as if hind feet hit where front feet were – meaning that if Bi’s front feet are above the contact, her first hind foot will be in the middle of the contact and the second one will be right at it’s bottom. - While if the dog’s hind feet only come to where front feet were, he is missing the contact in this situation - instead of getting a perfect one
That’s exactly why I always get suspicious when I hear people saying their dog is hitting with 4 feet. With a BC size dog, running full speed with good hind feet separation, it’s pretty much impossible to fit all 4 feet in. 3 is possible, but if they can fit all 4 feet in that small area, they don’t cover enough of an area and when they will be higher, all 4 feet will be out of the contact. Bi on the other hand is a typical example of the dog covering LOTS of an area, meaning that even if her front feet are landing in the middle of the down ramp (yeah, she desperately wants to do it in one hit), the second hind foot will be in the contact, as you can see in this video:
Complicated? Don't worry, it gets easier when you start to see the dog's stride 🙂
Hi Silvia,
Well, I did try a few times on the lower height with not very good results. We’ve been at the RDW training for several months now ping ponging around getting up to full height and then going back to retrain from the ground up because something broke down in the progress.
Anyways, I decided to put her back on the Full height dogwalk and things looked great. I was not throwing the ball, I just had a tunnel at the start and end.
I know you prefer several steps before getting to full height it was nice to see her confident on the plank VS both of us getting frustrated for weeks at a time on a mini dogwalk and never getting much progression.
What do you think I should do ?
http://s1117.photobucket.com/albums/k589/Agilitycourse/?action=view¤t=sept1.mp4
Well, that sure looks good! And you definitely don’t want to fix things that aren’t broken! 🙂 This definitely looks good enough to continue like that. I would do some more successful sessions like this and then start challenging her some more by practising different approaches (replacing the tunnel with a jump and moving it around some) and exits to prepare her for including the DW in real sequences.
Hi Silvia,
Derek is better from Kennel Cough. We were able to start our Carpet Work today. This video is at regular speed. You said this is OK because of the Doberman long legs. Just let me know if you need to see the video in slow motion and I will re post. Let me know what you think?
Cool, definitely much less leapy as on the plank! To get even more speed, try starting him by sending him around a cone or a pole or a wing and then race him towards his reward. I would also move a reward even further out for such a big dog. As he is a retrain, I would do at least 10, maybe 15 sessions (with about 15 repetitions each) on the carpet and only then try a plank again. Did you get a good plank by now?
Yes I got a 12 foot long by 12 inch wide plank. I just need to paint it. Would running him through a tunnel before the carpet work as well to get more speed?
Sure, let’s try that!
I can’t find my other video, so here is our newest……..
I have been working turns. He worries some and seems to go pretty slow, but that’s just how he is with new stuff. I don’t think he is much deeper on the flat. Some are, but those are more when he is slow and “worried”?
I added a few full runs doing curves and straights at the beginning. He seems fine with those and doing well. Although, today I noticed after two sessions doing turns he was VERY slow on the full DW. I think I should do some tunnel-DW-tunnel straight exits after working turns to get his speed back. He is so thoughtful and ALWAYS remembers his last training.
In fact, at the end of the video is some pivoting trick work. He was really kind of stuck going to the left (his right), so we worked on that more. Hah!! In the video you will see his preference is left!!! He’s a funny little guy and always remembers what we worked on last. He looks HUGE in the pivoting part!! He is only 14lbs.
Not really sure what to do with his turns. They don’t seem much deeper on the flat. A little, maybe. So, should I stay there for a while and try to get him deeper? I tried moving the stick, as you will see. That didn’t make much difference. I didn’t think you needed slow motion?
Thanks!!!! Amy and Little Spur
Hm, yeah, he is somewhat leapy around that pole, especially on last few tries… Does he do it also when send around the pole on grass? I would definitely stay on the floor somewhat longer and try to get better style… One idea, as we actually want front legs hits here, would also be to actually use a front feet target for a while, it might give you a better style to click. Another option, as he is doing so well on curves, would be to simply continue like that, making curves more&more extreme until you get to real turns. That might actually be the best option for him as it would allow you to keep the speed through the whole process.
Nice pivoting!
Yeah, I agree he sort of leaps/dives around the pole. Not sure I ever noticed it on a pole on the grass, but he might.
I did think about one of my hit-it plates for that. I’ll have to think about that. I don’t want him worrying and as you know some changes in training worry him. It might be best just to keep working on farther and farther curves as he seems to handle some turns we run into at trials just fine! 😀 In fact, twice we have had a 180 back turn to a tunnel, which we have NEVER trained, and he did it just fine!! 😀 I just like the idea of having it on cue. He doesn’t know directionals and I figured eventually he would learn “Left, left, left” and “right, right, right” after doing this work some.
I’ll let you know what I decide to do. Thanks!!!! Amy
Yes, sometimes the turns are the best when you don’t even train them 🙂 With Bu, I actually can’t train them much, she is worrier too and gets very slow in order to do it right if I do too many in a row, so I only turn her here and there. And with a small dog with shorter stride, it’s even less of an issue, so if you’re o.k. with his turns in trials, then I would in fact just leave it alone.
Well that is very good to hear!! Spur can be very much like your Bu, I think. A worrier and after he was SO slow on his DW after working turns I set up a straight tunnel-DW-tunnel and ran him as fast as I could and he was great!!! Thank goodness!!
I will keep working curves because as you can see in that video (the first rep he is very high on curves. Much deeper now than ever on straight exits, but very high on curves. I think he just needs time and experience. He’s a good boy!!!
Hi Silvia, today we had a DW session, I didn`t video tape but I`m Worried because most of the tries where like 3, 8, 10, do you think is a good pattern or should I do something diferent to change that? Acqua is still having some high hits and some misses, do you think she is leaping?
We did some A-frames, And Acqua is the same too high, I lower the A-frame a little, what should I do? Today Acqua turns to 18 months and I hope to go to a trial soon but I think we have a lot of work to do first
Thank you
Yes, I think that’s good enough, she is not leaping in those tries at all. Deeper would be even better, but that’s good enough, jackpot the lowest hits and give her more time to get even more confidence and get deeper. When you say she is too high on A-frame, does it mean she is high, but in the contact or not at all in the contact? And is this with one or two hits on down ramp?
Acqua is almost in the line on the contact or not at all in the contact, and only with one hit on down ramp and two hits on up ramp.
Can you somehow get two hits? Did you try it with no rewarding, just running from A-frame to a wrap to A-frame and a wrap etc., stopping and rewarding only for two hits?
yes, I tried but Acqua most of the times does one hit…
Try with less distance or not completely straight approach, that should give you two.
Hi again,
I have now been working on my throwing skills, but unfortunatly I have not been able to make the film in slowmotion (should take a course in that to as I´m new in Adobe premiere :)). I hope you can see something any way. First part she is sent via un tunnel which she loves and the next part she is stared from about 5 m from the plank. That gives less hits, but I experimenting with different startingpoints. On the film I can see that I’m also in different positions. What do you think and what is next step?
SORRY I’m not able to convert the file right for youtube. I have to come back tonight
O.k.! Waiting! A tip for getting slow motion in Adobe Premiere: once you insert the clip into the sequence, right click the clip, choose speed/duration and then set to 20% or so.
Ok here comes a new try. Really hope it will work
Well, she is very leapy in the first video, but then starts to run better -- if it’s because of another starting point: keep it 🙂 I woud also shorten the plank to DW length to start working on striding and then raise it some if that goes well and you get performance as in the second video for example -- other than last three tries -- make sure you do a big difference between the good ones and those leapy ones!
Hi thanks for your answer. The films are not coming in the right order from what i Wrote above. The best runs are from a tunnel. I had a couple of other films which I wasnt able to send which was better hits also coming from a tunnel. The plank is now 4 meters. Should I shorten it to 3,8 m?
Yes, I think it would be good to shorten it to DW ramp length before you raise it.
Hi Silvia, Zap on grass:
Zap on the plank. Had some computer trouble. It dumped some of my videos. When I redid them I split them in case of more computer problems.
Zap on full DW. Had wanted to follow this video with single DW with toy at the end, but Zap had torn a pad and I haven’t been able to work her this week:(
She is better when there’s a stationary toy at the end or after the tunnel/jump.
Leaving for a show tomorrow morning. Will return next Tuesday.
For the future, do you want the full DW in the video? Would you prefer I only post with the dog in slow motion or do you want both regular speed and slow motion? Do you prefer a certain angle for videoing the DW?
What do you suggest for Zap? thank you
I think it’s timing of the throw that causes trouble. She is running really well the whole length until the last stride and then she looks back at you or slows down and leaps with hind feet together, anticipating the toy from you even when you’re not throwing it. Did you do any throwing in advance at beginning steps? Looks to me like you should still be doing it, then SLOWLY going to stationary toy and then SLOWLY going to a toy thrown after the tunnel/jump, but she should NEVER expect it at the contact as such as that messes with her striding that is beautiful all the way up to that last stride where she mostly leaps instead of runs -- with an exception of 0.46, that one was great as you’re running ahead and she is running instead of checking back with you. So let’s try throwing a toy as soon as she hits the horizontal plank or rather even sooner as that -- definitely not later!
I only need slow motion and side angle is the best, your videos are really well taped.
Hi Sylvia,
Thank you for your comments.
Yes, I did throw the toy in the beginning steps but obviously missed something. At the show Zap was leaping high from the down ramp. I was in a class that I was able to repeat the DW. I repeated it 4 times, marking the leaps. Her last 2 DW’s she was deeper but still not what I wanted. I was running each time.
Question: when you say, “she should never expect the toy at the contact” are you referring to when it is thrown?
I took more video this morning and tried to throw when she was on the up ramp. I also noted if I throw low her DW seems better.
Should I continue working the full DW making sure to throw early? Should I only be working the DW? Nothing after, like a tunnel? I’ve been putting her in a tunnel or over a jump to start the DW.
Thank you for any suggestions.
Tricks video soon.
That sure looks much better! What I didn’t like on a first video was that it looked like she is stopping and checking back with you to see if you will throw a toy or not instead of focusing forward in anticipation of the toy. So yes, to me it looked like you usually throw it after you see the contact is done. So for now, I would throw it in advance or leave it static well in front to sort out that striding, she is trying out different things and does some funny adjustments, so I think she needs some more experience on whole DW, but just the DW for now (with a jump or tunnel before to give her speed). Once she finds good striding, I would go to a static toy, positioned after a jump or a tunnel after DW and later on switch to throwing a toy after that tunnel or jump.
Hi Silvia,
Zap on the DW. First session is with a thrown toy. Second session is with a couple stationary, and some thrown. Wanted to see if there would be a difference in her running. All were started with a tunnel.
It appears to me I rewarded a couple I shouldn’t have:(
Your suggestions are much appreciated.
Sorry about the double video. Here is the correct one:
Last three were nice, without the funny adjustments, so try to work on that same set up for a while to have many things to jackpot and then slowly add more variables (moving the jump before the DW, adding an exit jump etc.). But first priority is to et more hits like that.
Hi Silvia, Spec on the double wide ramp. (about 2 feet wide) on Aug 28
Sept 1:
I had a session where a lot of the throws were bad, off to the side, and Spec came off the side of the ramp. I did not post that video. It appears I have a hard time of moving, throwing straight, and clicking/marking with a yes all at the same time. So the second session I tried a stationary toy about 20 feet off the end of the ramp. Sometimes I would restrain him, and other times I would send him into a tunnel about 22 ft before the table/ramp. The tunnel seemed to get the best results. I have some questions:
1. What should be the position of the dog to start? (sitting, restrained, standing, down, into a tunnel etc.)
2. What should be the position and movement of the handler? (stationary, moving, run with, run after, run before etc.)
3. What are we specifically looking for when doing the tricks?
Sorry for all the questions but I haven’t been able to post for a few days.
Thank you
Great! Love it! Some are leaps (well, only those where you throw too late 🙂 ), but some are really perfect, that’s a great learning situation! And what a nice variety of hits and what a nice hind feet separation! He is even giving you hind feet on a plank first already on this set up -- as in 6 of the second video. That hit was really perfect and that’s most likely the striding he will have on DW, so definitely jackpot those!
If you have a tunnel, the best is to start them with a send to a tunnel as that gives you good starting speed and a possibility to stand on a good spot to throw and watch the striding. Choose the position you find the easiest to throw and see. I’m static in 90% of the plank training -- we’ll do some running here and there in next lesson to be sure it’s not disturbing to them, but you don’t want to run for now, but instead focus on his striding. With tricks, we’re looking for deliberate and controlled use of hind legs. We want them to understand hind legs well so that they will find it easier to get what we’re clicking on that plank.
Hope that helps some. Great job so far!
Hi Silvia,
Spec on the double wide ramp again. It appears to me he is running well and hitting the contact area with his front feet. With his stride length his rear feet are landing off the ramp. Isn’t rear feet hitting in contact zone preferred? These were all started with a send to a tunnel. I tried to vary my position each time.
When should one change to a single ramp?
Suggestions?
Thanks
Tricks video soon.
Great, he is running really well, but yes, this set up is only giving you front feet hits as he always starts with front feet hitting the down ramp first. I think his final performance will be 4 stride DW, meaning that he needs to hit down ramp with rear feet first, then land with front feet just above the contact and put hind feet in. The easiest to get this striding is on a low DW, so I would try to go to low DW soon. To not make it look too different all of the sudden, I would go to single plank first and use one as a up ramp and one as a down ramp on a table and if that goes well switch to low DW for the next step.
Hi Silvia,
Spec on a single width ramp for the first time. To put it mildly I had a pretty frustrating first session. Spec just kept trying. Since he’d never been on a single width ramp I wanted to give him some work on it prior to going to an up ramp with the table. I moved the tunnel closer by a couple feet to see if that would help with rear foot placement. Reinforcement rate stunk. I tried everything I could think of to help him be right. Changed how he started, where he started, stationary toy vs thrown toy. In the second session I used x-pens to help him stay on the ramp. That was a better session. I thought I’d do another couple sessions on a single width ramp and slowly get rid of the x-pens before adding the up ramp. Do you think that’s a good idea? Suggestions?
The video is private, but yes, you can definitely use x-pens if that helps. Another way to help them is to introduce a single up ramp and keep a double down ramp for a while -- going up is easier, but it teaches them how to run on it so it makes going down easier too.
Sorry, It is corrected. Thank you.
It still says it’s private to me…
Drat. Thought I had changed it. Now it should be fixed?
I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Congratulations on the WC. How fantastic is that! Two dogs:)
I can see it now, I think he will get used to a single plank soon. You might want to use up ramp too to then switch to a real DW.
Gitta, 3 year-old rottweiler, not yet competing, first session, all repetitions included in order. Where do I go from here?
Huh… Get a long and wide carpet and run her over for at least 15 sessions to forget about all that leaping… Also, what is she running to on a the grass, she seems very leapy on the grass too??? -- And then even more on that plank, she is all air… Make sure to only use a moving toy with her, throw it far and use one that rolls well, to put her more in a chasing mode.
Hi Silvia:
Tai and I have finally made some progress so thought I would share. Last video I submitted, the DW was at 32″ height and I was aiming to STOP rewarding the overreaching he was doing and to JACKPOT any good rear leg hits. I was able to spot those overreaches MOST of the time; and the rear leg hits were being rewarded consistently. I still was occasionally rewarding the overreaches by mistake…usually I would know right away and just take the toy. Anyway, I was getting pretty frustrated (as was Tai, I think) because his rate of good hits was pretty low…only 1 in 3 or 1 in 4. So, I had this idea that raising the height might change his striding enough to help. So I raised the DW to 40″ (full height here is 48″) 2 days ago. In that first session, he was 75% correct. The second session didn’t go as well…there were some unusual distractions that may have interfered. But his session today was lovely with all the hits very good.
In this video, it’s also the first time with 2 tunnels at each end and the first time Tai has done the DW in both directions. You can see his speed and confidence growing throughout the video. I’m very pleased to see this progress and what seems to me to be good understanding! BTW, I need to work more on driving into the tunnel…up to now he was driving beautifully toward a jump. A couple of times, you can see him starting to look back a little for his toy as I mark the good hit, rather than finishing by driving into the tunnel. I guess he doesn’t see much sense in waiting to go through the tunnel before getting the toy :-). Any tips on that one?
I’ll look forward to seeing what you think.
Anne & Tai
Silvia:
I meant to add that we’ve also been practicing/perfecting all our rear end tricks everday too.
Annd & Tai
Hi Anne, Spur would hesitate sometimes before the tunnel. A couple times insisting and he then goes in. That issue pops up every once in a while, but after once insisting it goes away now. For me it was kind of like returning the ball. He gets a food jackpot and sometimes dropped the ball. I always insist he returns the ball. That issue hardly ever happens now, but it did during earlier stages.
Have fun, looks GREAT to me! Amy and Little Spur
Hi Amy and Spur,
What kind of dog is Spur? He is adorable!!!
Melanie Eli & Liberty
I think he is a papillon/Aussie mix. He came from a nasty puppy mill bust. I love him, and ,of course think he is the cutest thing!!! 😀
Thanks!!! Amy
GREAT!!! I like all the variety of hits he is showing!!! He is now only overeaching when he is too short with one hit and needs to add another shorter stride, but in those tries, he hits nicely with front feet in the middle, so it only shows he really understands his job now and is sure trying very hard! -- So it’s actually o.k. to reward those (just not jackpot). What a good boy! I think things should get really easy from now on 🙂
I think he will soon figure out he only gets that toy after the tunnel, just make sure you really always wait that he takes the tunnel/jump before getting the toy -- and I’m sure he will get it in no time.
Hi Silvia.
I’m so glad you agree! And I sincerely hope you are right that the rest will be easy!!! We’re taking a week off from the running dog walk as it’s being re-surfaced with rubber. I’m sure he’ll like that :-). I introduced the A-frame yesterday and it went very well. Went to nearly full height in one session…will continue today before the rain arrives and send video.
Great!!! -- Both the rubber surface and A-frame going well too!
Hello Silvia and classmates,
I have included videos of my Jack Russell, Eli and Liberty. These videos are from the last 3 days. This is not every rep they did but just some of the reps that I taped. I am getting better at seeing the correct placement of the feet for both dogs but I am still not perfect. As you can tell from the videos when their stride is not correct it is because I am a bad thrower 🙁 Late throws seem to be my biggest issue. I am working to become more consistent. I have difficulty with clicking and throwing at the right time while watching the dog run to see if their feet are correct. There have been times I am so caught up in watching my dogs that I forget to click or throw the toy! I have found that to be the difficult part so far but in the last week I have gotten much better.
I have started sending Eli and Liberty into a tunnel and then to the planks the past two days.
Liberty appears to still be leaping at the end of the plank on some of the reps. What do you think?
Here is a picture of Eli. He is a crazy man!
Thanks,
Melanie, Liberty and Eli
Nice to meet Eli too! I like crazy! 🙂 And yes, most problems are caused by too late throws… Try to throw as soon as you’re sure they will take the tunnel, before they even get on the plank! And yes, Liberty is still sometimes somewhat airy… But I think earlier throws would really help with that! Eli is running really nicely, low and efficiently -- BUT prolongs the last stride to avoid landing on a plank sometimes -- like 0:29, then next one is a real leap and then again some prolonging of the stride, like in 0:41 etc. -- something to be extra careful to not click! But there are enough good and even perfect (like 0:46 try) tries to continue like that, making big deal out of good ones and trying to not click prolonging of the stride.
Thank you for the feedback! I am still trying to be a better thrower:-)I am certain with time I will get better. I have a few questions if you have time to answer them. Is there an ideal area of where the two feet should be separated at the end of the plank? Should we be clicking for anywhere they hit the yellow with rear feet separated? From the other student videos it would appear that “jackpots” may not be the same for all dogs. Is this correct? Also, one of the things I am struggling with is how does the dog know that what he/she has just done is right or wrong if they still get to retrieve their toy? With my Eli, there is nothing more he loves than chasing squirrels or playing ball. If I don’t click and give him a treat, it really is not big deal to him since he got to get his ball. He has been clicker trained but that ball takes precedence over everything! While on the other hand, Liberty goes after her toy but will leave it as soon as she hears the click to get her reward. If no click for her then she wonders what in the world just happened!
Thanks
Melanie, Eli & Liberty
Yes, what to jackpot varies some on where you are right now -- that is, still working on just pure running and trying to get rid of airy and leapy tries -- or maybe overreaching as with some students. -- OR you already have 100% of running and can get more selective about feet placement. Ideal are two feet (even two front feet are actually perfectly o.k., the reason why I give more emphasis on hind feet is that those are harder for them to get) or even three feet nicely in.
If Liberty won’t keep running after the toy if she hears a click: work on it! Even if her real reward is food, insits she gets the ball first to get to food -- OR you will loose all the advantages of a ball. You can do that while doing tricks: click for the tricks, throw a ball and insists she gets it to get the treat. Once she gets it, it works great for RC training. It also works great if the dog loves tugging over chasing as you can jackpot with tugging then. If chasing is the most fun part, then it’s indeed harder to let them know about the best tries -- you can maybe throw additional, favorite ball for jackpots? But yes, with dogs like that, you do want to transition to a toy, thrown after, sooner as with those who like food or tugging over chasing. So if he runs to a static toy, you can start with a static toy after the jump (with bar on the ground) -- the jump is here only to mark where the toy is. And once he starts looking out for the jump and is pulling there nicely in anticipation of the toy, you can start throwing a toy after the nice hit, over the jump.
Thanks Silvia! That is exactly what I have been doing with Liberty. Before we even start plank work I have started tossing the Kong and she runs like crazy to get it and brings it back to me for a treat. As she is running away to get it, I have been clicking and then clicking again when she brings it back. She just started on Saturday looking at me waiting for the click on the plank. So we had a tiny set back but today she was back running across the plank retreiving her kong with much enthusiasm.:-)
I think Eli had a small break through today!! For the first time he came back to me and dropped his ball after he heard the click for good hits!!! I am so excited!
Great! Sounds like it should work afterall!