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 look 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 - you can tape it at an angle 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. You don't need to overdo the distance, especially if you have long plank/carpet, as finding the plank could be problematic or the dog before you add some more height on it. Mark anything that looks like running in the fields from the first video, jackpot when feet are close to the end of a plank/carpet. 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.
As we already discussed in comments before, 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 the best 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 also in slow motion please! 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.
Also, read through the comments and see the videos in introduction page, you can learn a lot through videos and comments of others. Once you see your dog is running nicely, with an even stride, hind feet separation and hind feet reaching further from front feet (see discussion and video on that we had in comments!), you can put a brick or something under one end of the plank and have them run over slightly elevated plank - I'll tell you when you're ready based on the videos you'll send.
Left front foot just left the ground, hind feet reaching forward - this is what I mean by hind feet reaching over where the front feet were.
And this is what I mean by hind feet separation: hind feet hitting two different spots as far apart as possible (vs. staying parallel, hitting the same spot).
I promise NOT to post such a long video next time… but I could not figure out how to do slow motion, (I think my imovie is too old to have it) and so I had to pull out freeze frames individually…
Anyway… here it is… and I have questions or concerns:
1) I wonder if our yard is too small to get fast enough running? I can’t imagine her running in our little yard in the city the way she runs in the park…
2) How big a problem is it that the cement is not level and the (down) end of the board is up a little? (I had to put newspaper under it to keep it from rocking)
3) You can see that we have a long way to go to learn how it can be as exciting to chase toys in the back yard as it is in the park—HELP?
4) Is she even close to the right striding on the plank??? Even when she lands in the contact zone, she still seems to make a leap off the end--what do I do about that?
5) I am afraid if I start to click when she hits deep in the contact zone that she will stop and turn toward me like she does in the umbrella cavalettis…
6) I won’t be able to get to the chance until some time next month to work in the wide open back yard in the country where I probably will be able to get more speed on the board… is everything I am doing here in the city on the board in our little backyard wasted time???
(the youtube code looks weird--I hope it works)
now maybe?
Or maybe I should even go back further than a flat board… to using a carpet?
When we started this training the first time I didn’t know about using carpet…
Sylvia, Thanks for putting up the new rear-leg-separation pictures!!
After looking at those, I watched Stella’s running in the park section of our video again and what I see is: she does strike the ground separately her hind legs apart, but then -- as she moves forward to her next stride it looks like a leap because the two back legs come together… and this is what I see at the end of the board, those two back legs together and here it is full speed in the park, but on the board it looks like a launch off the end… Does she just have a leaping stride?
Here is a cool link on gait that I found very useful: http://www.oricomtech.com/projects/leg-run.htm
(It’s a robot animation website)
when dogs are in a full tilt running all out in a double suspension gallop all four feet are off the ground twice, once at full extension and once at full compression, the full extension beat looks a lot like a leap because all four feet are off the ground extended all the way out. In a single suspension gallop all four feet are off the ground only once, and the legs are all under the dog which doesn’t look like a leap. I think we are all used to seeing dogs in a single suspension gallop and Silvia is suggesting we train our dogs in a double suspension gallop.
thanks Dawn—that link is great!
She is somewhat leapy in the park yes -- sometimes they run like this when they’re fooling around, having fun. The best would be to tape her chasing squirrels or something…
If you think it would be easier to get the speed on carpet, then you definitely want to try that!!!
1. How much room is there after the plank?
2. It’s not ideal. I would prefer to raise the plank enough to get rid of rocking.
3. Would she chase a ball to get a treat?
4. I think she is actually mostly not leaping. It’s just that she might start to at one point when you do it on normal dog-walk and she adds more speed…
5. Teach her the concept. Maybe through restrained sends? Excite her with a toy or food bowl, put it outside her reach while holding her on a harness, then click her for putting pressure on a harness and release to the reward on the floor. Go for more&more of a pull on a harness to get faster&faster starts, maybe also race her to a toy/food to get better overall speed.
6. I think you can actually do a lot in your yard, but do focus on games like the one above more as on hitting the contact 🙂
this is the space we have before the board:
this is the space after the board, perhaps about four lengths of Stella, whereas in front of the board we have two and a half lengths of Stella…
Good news! We had great success today running across the board to chase sticks and then playing tug with the stick when the running was good!!! She has all these wonderful toys--frisbees, kongs on ropes, all kinds of balls, tennis balls, squeaky balls, balls on ropes, balls inside socks--she will go crazy for in the park, but I guess in the back yard sticks are what excite her to play. She is very funny about context. So, we will need to make a good stick collection, good for throwing.
Meanwhile, we will go on a squirrel hunt with my camera—not sure how that will work out…
thank you!
Yes, it usually works that way… The cheaper the better 🙂 You could also try throwing smoked pig ears or similar.
Yeah, not ideal, but at least, you can work on finding ways to really make her RUN! That’s the most important part of it anyway.
Hello Silvia, here’s homework video on Crash. we did 1 and 3, i need to look for a carpet or thin plank for the 2nd homework, will get it done asap.
Oops, here’s the video
That’s a really fun Pug! Instead of the carpet/plank, you can for now use your puzzle mats I see in pivoting trick 🙂 But yes, do find a plank too, you will need it once we start adding height.
Yes he brings me a lot fun and he loves to work 🙂 do u think that 12ft plank is too long for him? I got planks aldry but I didn’t left them try it yet as I was not sure if they wanna run on it. I think I will give a try tmr to see if they are ok to run on it.
I don’t think crash ran full speed in the video, I will try to find another way to make him run full speed. 😉
Angela
No, that’s a good length. If you have three planks, you can put one next to another to make it wider and easier for them to run full speed over. Some extra width would be especially good for Toby.
Okie, i will try that with my boys tmr, hope that it’s not raining again in vancouver, we had too much rain already LOL
Keeping fingers crossed for good weather! 🙂
He is tooo cute 🙂
Hi everyone,
This is our lesson 1 video. We’ve been working on pivoting and since this was made last week, I am making headway with her spinning clockwise.
This was Maia’s first time in over a year doing calavetti work -- she messed up a few times, but overall she was catching on. I will definitely add this to our practices 🙂
With our running contacts, we are at the plank raised 25-30 cm. She is doing well, but for this lesson we went back to it flat. I also experimented with throwing the ball first THEN releasing her to it -- yah it did not go well -- I knew it would not. She does not run to stationary objects. She runs fastest if I release her and throw the ball almost simultanously. I am not sure if I will be able to get her to run fast to a stationary toy/food (even her dinner or extra yummy treats -- I’ve tried them all). I’ve tried restraining her (which she does NOT like), I’ve tried racing her to an object, and each time, I win 🙁 -- I’ve even tried racing her on my knees! -- So I am not sure if you have any other suggestions Silvia.
Oh I’ve noticed that she usually gets three strides on the plank. I am sure she should be able to do it in two though.
Nice! To get back nice footwork in cavaletti, walk her over slower or find lower ones. Running on the flat looks really nice and efficient (many Shelties don’t extend that well as she does) and from the tries on a plank, some were very good but then 8 to 11 hind feet are very close… Anything you did differently? When trying to get rid of the toy, one way is to throw it sooner&sooner (but you need to do it very gradually!), the other is to delay it and only throw after the contact -- in your case that second option will probably work better. For now, I wouldn’t go into it though, just continue like that, we’ll address that in next lesson, she needs more running after the ball first.
Here is Toby’s video
Im gonna work more on calavetti with him this week as you can see that i still put the ladder besides the wall, I hope that he can walk nicely through the ladder without wall’s help. without slow motion, i didnt even know that Toby ran like this LOL
Angela
Wow, he is big! That will be fun to see running full speed over dog-walk, but you definitely want to work on body awareness A LOT with him! Can’t wait to see plank training!
Silvia,
Yes Toby is a huge boy esp I’m a small person, so based on the comparison, he looks like much bigger
Ok I will work a lot body awareness with him. Except more perch training, what else I can do to build up his body awareness? I got 3 planks 12 ft long, and will take the video tmr to see how he is doing on plank. Thank you for the reply 🙂
Angela
You’ll be getting new tricks for body awareness every three weeks. By then, work on those two and any other trick you can think of where he needs to use his body in that or another way. Some exercises for balance on a big ball would be good too.
That sounds good. Im planning to get a balance disc to work on his body awareness. before i get the body awareness trick homework from you, i will keep doing perch training, box work, cavaletti etc.
Thanks a lot for the comment 🙂
oops… made mistake again on posting video
This is part of our third assignment, we haven´t done calveti work because I didn´t know what it was, I´ll start working on it tomorrow and post a video at the end of the week.
we worked on assignments 1 and 2 today but I don´t have the video ready yet. I will post it tomorrow.
About assignment three:
How does it look?
What do you think of the other rear end awareness tricks that Cora is learning, do you think they are worthwhile or should I stop?
What do you think that I should correct or make differently when working on the excersises?
Tank you,
Here is the video:
It looks good! Every trick is worthwhile :), keep up the good work!
Thank you very much.
Yesterday I was doing calveti work but I don´t really know at what distance should I put one pole from the other or how long should the boxes be?
You can start with something like 50cm and then also try bigger and smaller distances too.
Here is Emily’s first Lesson Video. I took your advice Silvia and have been releasing her sooner after the toy toss, and she is getting deeper into the bottom of the board with her rear feet. She is pretty much 100% consistent when I have her on my left, all of her big strides with contact misses are when I have her on my right. I think I lack the coordination to restrain her with my left hand across my body as I throw since I am right handed so my timing in releasing her & my aim in throwing is all worse when she’s on that side. But she does quickly adjust to my awkwardness when she doesn’t get a click, so I think we’ll work it out.
Hope no one minds music in the video, if it’s not appropriate let me know, but I find it easier when going back and obsessing on my videos to have entertainment:-)
Looks great! And yeah, I know the problem with having the dog on the right when restraining 🙂 So to tell you the truth, I do this whole process with the dog on the left 🙂 I don’t think they get dependent on your position, they just get depended on a toy, but that’s o.k. for a start.
Where is she starting, I can’t see it from the video? Table? Floor, jumping on?
And sure, music is o.k. as long as YouTube doesn’t ban it and blocks the video! 🙂
I built a 12 foot long adjustable platform so I could start her far enough back to get her up to speed, when I tried a table she put in a third stride and seemed to struggle with finding a rhythm and it’s now too high for her to comfortably jump on. I’ll shoot the next video from further back so you can see it.
I’m relieved to hear I can do it all on my left, that will sure make things easier! Can I ask what you recommend for knowing when to increase height? So far I have been trying a new height each week and seeing if she changes anything…
Yes, that sounds better as a table, I like to use something longer too. Would be good to see the whole set yes. And yes, you can add some height every 5 or so sessions if things are going well.
Here’s a quick video from today’s session shot so you can see the whole set up…
Looks good! Did you try restraining her at the very end of a horizontal plank?
I’ve played around with starting her from all different places on the horizontal plank and this spot is the one that gives her the best hits. So I mostly start her here until I get a good number of good hits that I can reward, then I try from other spots, often she will adjust and still give a nice hit, if she doesn’t after a couple tries I move her back to this release spot.
I’ve noticed that on the plank she is digging in hard with both rear legs together as she tries to get up to running speed, she never did that when running on the ground and jumping onto the plank. So she isn’t really in a nice split rear leg stride until the last stride. I have a non-slip rubber on it, I wonder if I can find something she can get better grip on?
Yes, I noticed the same thing, that’s why I was thinking starting her further back would give you move even running. But then, it’s true there isn’t enough room for an extra stride. So let’s just leave it that way for now. I think rubber should give good grip, no better ideas…
I have to think that once she has a full dog walk to run that will work itself out? She has only been on the platform for a week so maybe as she gets used to it she will settle into a better starting stride. I’ll keep an eye on it as I raise her up.
Yes, I think so.
This is our first training section, I´m sorry but the video is too long with the slow motion part, next time I will cut some parts 😉
You can use some less of slow motion, this is almost too slow. But yes, the videos should be 5min or so. Are you starting her from the same spot in first session? She seems to take the last stride from the same spot almost all the time -- not a perfect one that you could jackpot… Did you do anything differently on 10 vs. 11? 10 is not too good, 11 is great. 4 from the tunnel is great too, but on 5 and 6, you can really see she runs better (more hind feet separation and not so much up in the air) on the ground as on the plank. On elevated plank, most tries are not too good, so I would first focus on getting the same running you get next to the plank in try 5 from the tunnel, on a plank or, actually, a carpet.
Yes, I was from the same spot in first session 🙁 On 10 I was running with her, and on 11 I was beside her, most of the times when I´m running with her she is not too good.
I will try with a carpet more times, I think It´is easier for me to watch her stride.
Today I will do the tricks homework
A hit for next time: when you see she is constantly hitting high, change the starting position so that she is constantly hitting low and you have something to jackpot 🙂
This is our training from today,
Iwas changing the star position, but it´s very dificult for me to watch were she is hitting, I just realize when I see the videos 🙂
I hope to learn over time
And when I run with her, She stars to jump, what should I do?
It does get easier to see yes. For now, a helper who could click for you and mark what to jackpot would be good -- that would give you an instant feedback and help you to see it better yourself. On this video, I don’t see any jumping when you run with her? If it’s truly an issue, just introduce your movement gradually (first walk, then jog etc.), but I don’t see this pattern in this video.
This is part 1 of our homework. And an experiment if I can get the video to show up! I can’t tell if Piper was running that much faster at flyball with a real restrained recall or if it was just the camera unable to focus moving with her. Will try to get the rest of it done by this weekend!