Do you want to improve your course times for two and more seconds? Do you want to make handling and timing easier for you? Do you want to improve your dogs obstacle focus, distance skills, sends and independent performance? Do you want to take lots of stress off your dogs joints? Do you want to make turns more fun for your dog? Then you need to teach cik&cap.
Sounds fancy, but it is just another trick. This video offers step by step instructions how to teach it, real life examples, detailed course analysis on where, when and why to use it and some more tricks on how to improve your dogs performance.
Download option: the file is 676Mb, estimated download time on 1.024 Mbps line is 1,5-2 hours. Click on the button below to pay and download the video.
DVD option (additional 8€ for shipping)
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And an article I wrote for Agility Zone magazine on Cik&Cap:
As you probably figured out by now: I love training dogs! And I love it even more when I have a new, not-yet-tested idea. It's funny, because I actually really hate having new phone, computer or car, I hate getting used to new things and reading instructions is what makes me annoyed and nervous in like a second. People that know me always laugh at me to be able to test and develop new methods for years, they know patience, persistence and not giving up are my strongest points - until they see me reading instructions. Give me instructions to follow and I'm giving up in the next second. Give me the dog with the problem and I will solve it. Might take me years, but I will.
I love new challenges and I love that every next dog brings me some new ones: Aiken taught me how to motivate hard-to-motivate dogs, Lo taught me how to deal with fears and phobias, Bu taught me how to work with autistic dog with special needs and La... Hm... She showed me how easy it is with problem-free dog (if we don't see hyperactivity and total lack of self-control as a problem, of course 🙂 ). As I needed a problem to solve, something to improve anyway, I came up with that idea of cik&cap turns. She already won World Championships with 6s of advantage before that, so no, we didn't need it. But we loved it and with every next dog, every next student and every next course that I run, I love it even more, I see even more advantage in it and even more positive side-effects.
Cik&cap turns are born as a trick, that's where the name comes from: cik-cak/zig-zag was how I called figure 8 between my legs trick. And then simply generalized it for sending the dog to wrap other objects, eventually jump wings and then eventually jump wings with a bar inbetween - low first, and then higher&higher. Very easy, elegant way to cut off 2 to 5s off your course times, depending on how good or not your dog is naturally turning and how long or not he is jumping when jumping in extension. Yeah, most people think I gain most with running contacts, but as there are maximum two occasions to do running contacts per course (none in jumpers), that's not really true. You can gain the most on turns.
And it's not just about the turns. At the same time you are training for perfect turns, you are training sends, distance skills, independence, commitment and obstacle focus and you're making turns and agility as such way more fun for the dog. Especially if you're just starting, beginnings can be somewhat frustrating for both the dog and the handler as they both have so much more to learn - but knowing cik&cap makes it more fun for both, it allows the dog to run and have fun right from the start and gives the handler more time to think about where and how to cross etc. Handling and timing definitely gets MUCH easier with cik&cap, it allows you to get perfect turns even when you don't happen to be on a perfect spot at the perfect moment. And probably most importantly: as it allows the dog to know all the time where he is going next, so that he has time to adjust his speed and prepare for the turn, it takes lots of stress off your dog's joints. It always hurts me to see dogs landing in wrong direction, having to absorb all the momentum to stop and turn and then speed up again, sometimes even falling on their shoulders... NOT good! Cik&cap allows your dog to always land with front paws turned in the right direction, so the momentum from the landing is used for speeding up again.
So yes, cik&cap is definitely The trick that you want to teach to every agility dog. Have fun!
Last call for 
I click “buy now” for the cik video and nothing happens. I clicked the download version. I tried the dvd purchase and nothing happened there either. I have a Mac, would this be a problem? Myrna
I see you managed to get it then:).
Hi, I ordered my dvd on December 3 and I was just wondering if I will receive it before Chrismas? Thanks! Pamela
Hm, yes, you should actually already have it… Might be it’s taking somewhat longer because of all the Christmas mail… Let me know if you don’t get it within next few days.
Thanks for the reply, I can’t wait for it to come, as soon as it gets here I’ll let you know. Must be because of Christmas! Happy Holidays, Pamela
So sad didn’t receive my dvd for Christmas but something must have gone wrong because my friend ordered hers on Dec 13 and it came yesterday and I ordered 10 days before her. Do you have a tracking number? Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and all your pups! Pamela
No tracking number sorry as it’s sent by normal “priority” mail… But yes, this is getting really strange, I’ll send you another one Monday. Do you also want a download link, so you can watch it already now?
Thanks so much!! YES a link to download would be great, what a lovely Christmas present. Enjoy your day, Pamela
It’s here!! It’s here!! Just received the dvd today! I’m so excited thank you so very much for the links so I could watch for Christmas. And now getting the dvd is like Christmas all over again. Best wishes for a wonderful New Year, Pamela
Great, it sure was about time! And now: happy training!
I ordered three DVD’s (Cik & Cap, Heeling and Tricks) on Dec 13, haven’t received them yet. Can you tell me if they have been sent yet. I realize with the holidays the mail might take a couple of extra days, but I figured they would be here by now. Happy New Year … sorry to hear about Lo. Thanks in advance, Mark.
Hi Mark,
Your DVDs were sent on 14th December and should arrive already, but we have had lots of reports on delays in December, especially when sending to US, so I think they’re coming, just later as one would wish for… Let me know if you want download links meantime, so that you can watch it right away.
Hi Silvia, Well it’s now Jan 11th and still nothing has arrived in the mail. It has been a month, the holiday delays must all be over now, but nothing has made it to my address. I’m thinking that the package is lost or delivered to the wrong address. Is it possible that the order did not get sent out? I would appreciate it if you could send out a new package … hopefully I will get it in a few days. Please let me know. Thanks, Mark.
Yeah, I don’t know what all those delays are about, but people are actually getting DVDs that were sent on 7th December NOW -- much later as those who ordered in January! Very strange. I can send you another package, it might indeed arrive faster as the first one, but I think the first one is coming too.
OK, well lets give it some more time and see if the package shows up. Hopefully it will eventually get here. Thanks, Mark.
Guess what arrived today? I guess I just needed to be a little more patient. Thanks for re-assuring me it would arrive, I was beginning to wonder. Thanks. Mark.
So happy to hear that!!! And SOOO sorry you had to wait so long! I hope you like the videos!
I just love this!
I started training my dog Leevi cik&cap about 2 months ago and he’s doing allright. His turns are definitely not perfect but it is soooo much easier to handle him on turns. Before I trained cik&cap, he used to jump long and as if that wasn’t enough, if I asked him to come back, he would ALLWAYS jump the same jump back, without exeptions. It was becouse of me: when I first taught him to jump over a simple obstacle I used to ask him to jump it back and forth (I only had one jump and not alot of space and basicly I was just stupid…).
We had so much fun the first time we used it in agility-class. Nobody knew what cik&cap was so their faces were priceless when I started saying cikcikcik!!! in the middle of a cource :D. I still don’t think they understand what it is, they allways laugh at me when I say capcapcap! but I don’t mind :).
Anyway I have a few questions about the vid. First of all how did you teach your dogs to let go? They are so play-motivated but they let go so nicely when you tell them to… I have tried having treats while playing and offering one while saying let go. It kanda works but he wont tug after letting go because he notices I have treats. Also, in the first sessions with Le you were using food as reward but then played too. Is this something you have tought your dogs or something they just do naturally cause if Leevi knows I have treats, even just kibble he wont tug with me :S. I would like to be able to train with him using treats and then move to tugging to keep him excited, just like in the vid…
Sounds great! And yes, it helps a lot if you can use both either toys or treats and can switch between the two. The most important thing is that you never let the dog choose -- if he refuses a toy/food, don’t give him a treat/toy as by that, you’re rewarding him to refuse a toy/food. For now, try playing before and after a session with treat rewards. Then try to switch between playing and treating more&more. Then you can teach “give” by offering a treat or, for now, a better toy. You can do all this process while teaching some fun tricks, that’s the easiest way.
I would like to ask if this dvd is recommended for puppies too?
Sure, I start cik&cap with puppies already, that’s actually the first thing they learn about agility. It’s much easier to get perfect turns if you start the dog that way as if you introduce it later in life (it’s still possible, but much trickier!). Of course, I only add height much later in the process, but you can work on all other aspects (tightness, different angles and speeds on approach, different handler positions etc.) very early -- it makes everything else (obstacle focus, distance skills, commitment, sends…) easy!