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RC II lesson 2

Great job so far everybody! But again, please see as many videos of others as possible and read my comments to others too - the more you read and the more videos you watch, the easier it will be to understand what you're going for and see it in real speed too.

Anyway, here is your new list:

1. gradually make that plank/set-up higher&higher, still jackpotting the best hits, but make a criteria for a jackpot somewhat more strict and at this point also stop clicking misses and almost-misses, even if the dog is striding equally. Jackpot really good hits only. It's no problem if the dog still gets the toy on every try, just take it immediately when he comes back. When it's good, praise and tug and when it's especially good, be especially excited and play especially enthusiastically 🙂 And yes, dogs are smart enough to know the difference.

2. as the dog is probably already searching for the plank better, slowly start throwing sooner&sooner. Don't rush it, but you eventually want to throw that soon that the dog is technically running to a static toy. But again, you don't want to get there sooner as in 3 weeks as it's only then that we'll start using a static toy - you do want to throw it for those 3 weeks more! It's better to throw somewhat longer if necessary - usually not an issue with BCs, but with my PyrShep puppy, I needed to throw VERY long to keep the speed and forward focus - if any of that gets weaker when you start throwing sooner, go back to whatever gives you back the speed and forward focus, we can deal with the rest later!

3. as you are still throwing a toy, your movement and position probably won't affect the dog's performance - but just to be sure, do try to run with the dog here and there, just to check if that's correct. If it does affect your dog's performance, add movement gradually, by first walking slowly along, then walking faster, running slowly etc. You don't need to do it on every try, especially not if it doesn't affect the performance, but do try it here and there.

4. another difficulty we can slowly start introducing now is changing starting position of your dog. If you use a low DW, you can use different approaches instead. Don't use the best spot all the time anymore, but vary it a little bit. If it makes their hits too bad, go back to the good starting position. But bad hit here and there is good, that's how they learn the difference between what gets rewarded and what doesn't.

5. new trick: shape a dog to go with all 4 feet in a box that is ideally as long as he is. Then gradually use smaller&smaller objects, your goal is the dog is standing with 4 feet in a small bowl. Good for balance and rear legs awareness! Also, teach backing up with you standing still, by throwing a reward for them first for one step back, then two and then add more&more distance. Great for rear legs awareness and coordination!


724 Comments

  1. LisaS September 29, 2011 at 05:03 Log in to Reply

    Silvia,

    I’m using one plank for the up (it’s a teacup dog walk plank so it’s only 8 ft long) and using the 12 foot long planks side by side for the down ramp. She seems to me to be moving faster on the rubberized contacts.

    Thank you for the feedback! lisa

    • LoLaBu September 29, 2011 at 14:32 Log in to Reply

      Cool, just fix those planks better, they’re too bouncy. Don’t click for high hits as in the beginning of the video anymore and jackpot the low hits you’re getting at the end. You can also soon switch to a single down ramp and if that goes well, raise the table some more. Nice backing up too, especially up those stairs, very cool!

  2. Barbro Ekenberg September 29, 2011 at 06:03 Log in to Reply

    Hi again, I have now been doing a couple more sessions on the low dw. After the first good session it has all been disasters. I have been looking and looking to see why it is so bad and finally I can see one big difference from our first session. She has cut at least one step from the first session. She must be running faster but the last step is with not so separated hindlegs and very often she is flying the last step. Feel desperate, what should I do?

    • LoLaBu September 29, 2011 at 14:42 Log in to Reply

      Well, the throws are still WAY too late, try throwing as soon as she hits the up ramp OR even sooner considering this is the goal of this lesson. If that still doesn’t help, try changing her starting point, maybe start her right in front or even in the middle and see if you can find a way to make her less leapy. Because yes, she is definitely leapy… She is not just overstriding, she is leaping, so we need to do something about it. If nothing of the above helps (throwing earlier and changing her starting point), we’ll need to go back to the last successful set up.

      • Barbro Ekenberg September 29, 2011 at 14:51 Log in to Reply

        Thank you. I will try with tthrowing earlier and different starting positions. How many times should I try if it not going better before going back to the plank?

        • LoLaBu September 29, 2011 at 21:05 Log in to Reply

          I think I would do one more session and if you can’t find a way to stop the leaping in one session, go back to the plank.

          • Barbro Ekenberg October 1, 2011 at 16:23 Log in to Reply

            Hi, this makes me crazy! I will not torturing you with any film today. I tried to start her on different positions on the dw. She is not leaping then, but hardly running the fastest she can eather. So I do not know if that is a good idea? Then I also made a session on the plank, which was almost perfect. How many sessions on the plank should I do before going back to the dw? I have been very careful with my throwing, but if I am to early she is loosing a little speed.

            • LoLaBu October 1, 2011 at 21:32 Log in to Reply

              It’s normal she can’t full speed if you start her on a DW. -- But that’s still better as leaping… You could try a couple of sessions on a plank, then putting a plank on DW under some less angle, start her from a little before the plank starts and then further back until she runs full DW again, then raise the plank to the DW angle and then remove it. -- Just an idea how to make a transfer from the plank to a DW “softer” and hopefully avoid the leaping… Let me know if you need a video of this set up, I used it with Le, so I can find it in some of her videos.

              • Barbro Ekenberg October 2, 2011 at 08:55 Log in to Reply

                Yes I love to see the setup to make sure that I understand it right. Thank you!

                • LoLaBu October 2, 2011 at 23:14 Log in to Reply

                  At 1:07 of this video -- just that you would use a lower DW with a lower plank:

                  Le, 6.5 months

  3. Vendula September 29, 2011 at 13:55 Log in to Reply

    Silvia,

    here is our work from yesterday.
    Is it good to reward also the front feet touches?

    CBB means could be better and FF touch with front feet.
    Looking forward to your comment.

    Vendula

    280911

    • LoLaBu September 29, 2011 at 20:56 Log in to Reply

      Huh, I would appreciate a wider camera angle, I’m not all that interested in contact area as I am in how she moves over the plank, so I need to see the whole plank. What I can see though is that the plank is moving too much, you need to fix it better. Maybe you can actually raise it some (for 10cm maybe) as it will be easier to fix it better then even on uneven ground.

    • Vendula September 29, 2011 at 21:18 Log in to Reply

      Okay 🙂 Thanks for the comment.

  4. Pamela-Cooper September 29, 2011 at 18:15 Log in to Reply

    Hi, first plank work since last week -- we’ve been doing some hiking and sheepherding in the meantime! Not sure what he’s supposed to be doing with the plank table plank for footwork. He was trying to figure it out, is he supposed to land on the table or jump over it and go from board to board. Since I didn’t know and he was offering some wonky footwork I decided to just do some 17″ single plank work to get some better hits and to wait until I knew what he should be doing on the other set up. He had a couple nice lower hits on the single plank.

    Cooper plank table plank

    • LoLaBu September 29, 2011 at 22:35 Log in to Reply

      It’s not ideal if he is jumping the table no, maybe you can put the planks on something else so that they don’t create an edge with a table. Or start with just one plank on it?

  5. Pamela-Cooper September 30, 2011 at 01:24 Log in to Reply

    Can I just make my dog walk really low or do you not want him running the whole thing yet? I can make the whole thing as low as I want. Thanks, Pamela

    • LoLaBu September 30, 2011 at 14:47 Log in to Reply

      Sure, we can try that too, just put it really low.

      • Anne Andrle September 30, 2011 at 19:00 Log in to Reply

        Hi to you both… Yes, I finally came to the unpopular realization that I needed to make the edges of the planks ‘flush’ with the table.. so the ramps have to be propped up separately, not using the convenient table 🙁 Really a hassle, but definitely safer for the dog (no toe jamming, less weird striding on their part to avoid the edges). BUT -- a pain finding lots of stuff to stack under the ramps so that they don’t move!! Thrill did some of that same stuff… The things we do to train our dogs, LOL! 🙂

  6. Dinah and Bronagh September 30, 2011 at 01:50 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia, we are FINALLY back from our travels… poor neglected Stella!
    When we got back to the DW n our yard, I gave her one session at the height where we left off and I was so proud of her, she was so confident and faster and beautiful on the contacts!!! (She had been consistently good before we left and I probably stayed too long at that height, but was afraid to jinx the great running) So yesterday I dared to raise the height another 6 inches… she was so fabulous and fast again on the first session but it was late in the day and I didn’t video. I didn’t video the second session either which was in the rain, but also great. As you predicted, she lost nothing with the break from training. In fact maybe she was better.

    I finally got the video set up for her third session and I think MOST of her runs were good, but I don’t know why why why she gave me so many leaps. The ground was spongey from so much flooding… Perhaps it was because the ground was so weird and mushy--the lawn was actually floating in places--and because of that it was hard for me to run and I was moving a little weirdly… So that could have effected her…. I also tried starting in different places in this session--both of us--and sometimes I was not running with her at all and I also was changing up the timing on throwing the soccer ball…. SO MAYBE all that changing threw her off??? I don’t know. What do YOU think about how she looks???

    anyway, its good to be back in class!!! -- Dinah

    Stella's RC training continued after hiatus and new height

    • LoLaBu September 30, 2011 at 14:59 Log in to Reply

      Welcome back! But yes, that was too many new things to add at once… I think it’s better when you run with her. Also, try throwing sooner now as we eventually need to get rid of throwing. Earlier throws will give more realistic picture on how she is running now, but yes, it looks o.k. on this video, not too many leaps.

      • Dinah and Bronagh September 30, 2011 at 16:01 Log in to Reply

        Silvia, I have a confession: I am kind of doing a mixed bag on her RC rewards… maybe you can help me figure out a plan on how to eventually fade both soccer ball and treats???
        right now She chases the ball (which I have kept up because you remember we had that awful time with loss of confidence and speed, so the ball keeps the excitement and speed) and then I reward the good runs with a verbal marker “Yes” “good girl!” and food… when she gives me a deep fast fabulous run I try to mark it with lots of excitement in my voice and also jackpot with food…
        What she does is chase the ball off the DW, maybe run to touch it with her nose and then come to me for food and party…
        Help? I am making reward mistakes? What should I be doing? She still is more interested in food rewards than playing rewards… when we left off in the summer she was just beginning to like the tug and play. But also part of my problem is I am not a good DW distance thrower of tug toys and anyway, the soccerball in this instance is better for getting her speed…

        sorry to have this problem… thanks, Dinah
        thanks, Dinah

        • LoLaBu September 30, 2011 at 19:46 Log in to Reply

          It’s no problem to reward with food after chasing the ball. It’s actually good as it makes it easier to make a difference between jackpotting and not. But still throw a ball sooner and sooner so that in the next lesson, you can do a step to a toy, throw after tunnel/jump after the DW.

          • Dinah and Bronagh September 30, 2011 at 21:45 Log in to Reply

            this session below was taped this morning already before i read your comments… I’m posting it anyway now because I think it shows that she is settling in well to the new height… in the evening I will try a short session of throwing the soccer ball much earlier… I think what you want is for me to work toward a static ball at the start of her running--just as she starts the ball should have stopped?

            and then tonight we have to head back to the city for a week : (

            stella's rc training 9-30-11

  7. ana September 30, 2011 at 03:41 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia, after a break we are back to running contacts, Acqua is doing the same, she is trying with diferents strides on the down plank but she is not being able to hit deep in the contact. I think her speed and hind legs are good good, what should I do? maybe should I put another plank on the down plank? that plank how does it work? today we were runing from a cik/cap and after de DW it was nothing…
    Earlier I tried from the middle of the horizontal plank and down plank but Acqua was not separatins her hind legs and she was looking at me…

    Acqua Running Contacs, sep 29 2011

    Thank you

    • LoLaBu September 30, 2011 at 15:16 Log in to Reply

      What is very confusing to me is that she sometimes goes for 4 strides -- and is then of course too high. But she mostly does 5 -- and is still equally high! It looks like her last stride is shorter and in the close ups I see she is turning back to you in anticipation of a toy, so that could be a reason. You would need 5 fully extended strides with forward focus. What happens when you throw in advance? Or work with a stationary toy? The reasoning behind additional plank is to lower an angle in case you can’t lower the DW, so it doesn’t make sense in your case. In case a thrown toy won’t help, I would lower the DW some.

  8. Kristin September 30, 2011 at 05:31 Log in to Reply

    Hi, Silvia.
    Yesterday I started getting some new speed with Da Vinci. Tonight I filmed for you. What do you think? I tried using a toy a couple days ago…it didn’t go well as he was looking at me. I can try again if you think I should.

    • LoLaBu September 30, 2011 at 15:36 Log in to Reply

      Yeap, definitely getting faster! It’s still not his final speed, but it will come with more confidence. Running hard together with him might help too. Food after a tunnel would be another idea. He kept looking at you when you tried with a static toy? Or a toy thrown in advance?

      • Kristin September 30, 2011 at 17:59 Log in to Reply

        I’m finding that if the jackpot (toy or “good” food) is ON me, he figures it out and looks to me instead of focusing ahead.

        • Kristin September 30, 2011 at 18:02 Log in to Reply

          sorry. I didn’t answer your question. He hasn’t had much interest in a static toy. If the toy is on me, he’s looking at me.

          • LoLaBu September 30, 2011 at 20:16 Log in to Reply

            Yes, that’s normal, but what if you throw it in advance and then for a jackpot, simply tug with that same toy? Would that work?

            • Kristin October 1, 2011 at 00:49 Log in to Reply

              Throw it WHILE we are running over the top of the DW??? I’ll try.

              • LoLaBu October 1, 2011 at 15:17 Log in to Reply

                Sure. I throw it almost as soon as they hit the up ramp.

  9. Vendula September 30, 2011 at 14:29 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia,

    today´s session, wider camera angle, I raised the plank a little (10 or 15 cm).
    CBB means could be better, but I am very happy with this :))) what do you mean?
    Looking forward to your opinion,

    Vendula and Kiwi

    300911 1

    • LoLaBu September 30, 2011 at 16:45 Log in to Reply

      Yeap, looks great!!! A couple of sessions more like this and then you can raise it some more.

    • Alicia September 30, 2011 at 20:34 Log in to Reply

      Hi there Vendula, could i ask please what make and model of camera you are using and what program to edit, as i need to buy a new video camera because my edited videos are very blured but i see yours are quite clear even in slow mo. Great job with your RC so far. happy training. thank you Alicia

      • Vendula October 1, 2011 at 12:13 Log in to Reply

        Hello Alicia,

        I use Samsung HMX-H200. (http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/camera-camcorder/camcorder/hd-camcorders/HMX-H200BP/XEU)
        What is really great there is an user-friendly edition program into the camera so you can work with your videos wherever you are 🙂 It is called Intelli studio, you can see more here:
        http://www.samsungimaging.net/2010/05/27/tommy-tikyfaq-intelli-studio-friendly/
        As it is a full HD camera, you can do the full HD videos, but for these tasks I use the SD format -- it is good enough also in the slow motion.
        Hope it helped 🙂

        Enjoy the RC class,

        greetings from the Czech Republic

        Vendula

        • Alicia October 2, 2011 at 13:47 Log in to Reply

          Hi Vendula, Thank you so much. I am going to have a look at these sites and see whether it is availiable here for us.
          Happy training, greetings too from South Africa.

  10. Shona Michaud September 30, 2011 at 15:52 Log in to Reply

    OK…I’m back from vacation! I of course am a bit behind on the homework 🙂 but I’ll try to catch up.
    When I left I was still running Nevis on wide board on ground. So on return I did a couple of reminder sessions(which I couldn’t tape due to rain and getting dark early!) and he seemed to remember what to do. Then I raised to 1/2 size cinder block and he ran that just like flat board. Since Have raised to full cinder block for a few sessions. Here is video of the last session I did. He also had an awesome session at Anne’s but I had forgotten my camera for filming, I think my mind was still on vacation.
    I do think I need to go back to running him through tunnel instead of wrapping pole to give ME more time to get a good throw and give him good approach! Numberous missed boards in this taped session.

    Should I keep with this or start raising some more? I have noticed that if he drives too deep onto board that he will miss contact.

    • Shona Michaud September 30, 2011 at 16:08 Log in to Reply

      • Shona Michaud September 30, 2011 at 16:13 Log in to Reply

        Watched again and realised I miss spoke; he does ok when he drives deeper on board. I really do have vacation brain lingering…as you can see I couldn’t even get the video to load at first! Again.

    • LoLaBu September 30, 2011 at 19:43 Log in to Reply

      Great! You can raise it some more yes. If it goes well, you can also try a single plank (if this is a double one?) as in the next step, you’ll need an up ramp already. Keep selecting for nice deep hits and already start to vary your position and try throwing sooner&sooner. If you want to start with a wrap, you should always do a front cross after so that he wraps it all the way and has a nice, straight approach to the plank then.

      • Shona Michaud September 30, 2011 at 21:33 Log in to Reply

        Thanks, I saw your comment about the wrapping with front cross and I actually started that with my lasest session. So just to clarify set up I’ll raise it more for couple sessions and start including some change of handler position and dog position…if all goes well keep at same height but with single plank. (so dog would jump up onto single plank or do you mean switch to single plank and add upramp, which would probably require a table? )

        • LoLaBu October 1, 2011 at 11:08 Log in to Reply

          Exactly. But yes, maybe jumping directly on a single plank is not the best idea, it’s better you already include a table then or even use an up ramp too.


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sialaSilvia Trkman is known for bringing every dog, from her first dog on, to the very top of the sport. Her dogs are known for great speed, tight turns, running contacts and long and injury-free careers. Silvia is in agility since 1992 and is
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