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I am going to share this video too – so much of what I was trying to explain can be seen in here. Like the throwing the toy for over-rotation (0:53), and the teasing with the toy before sending (1:35). Vinnie LOVES his ball and would chase it. He wanted to tug, but only when the ball was stationary.
I just wanted to share in case it was helpful.
I’m so glad you are feeling better and I get to see Yumbi videos again!!!
Hit its on the board – these are looking very lovely and I’m glad you sent me these. It changed my feedback for what we will do for the box.
Jump Commitment – you are excellent at giving her the bare minimum help needed to problem solve and figure it out. I feel like it might take a little longer for dogs to troubleshoot – but when they have that lightbulb moment it is smooth sailing. She made so many decisions ON HER OWN which is how I know she is learning and building the value for HER deciding to take that jump when she has the choice not to. I can’t wait as you build up more distance.
Box Work – I went back and watched against the July video and so much faster already. But we need a few more things. Comparing the box position of the hit it wall against the box, I want to take that gutter and turn it on its side so it will be 3 deep and 1 gutter tall. Why Shelly? Look at the width of her back legs on the slant board – she doesn’t have that narrow whippet stance – she has them spread out for a little more power. She’s not able to get that same spread on the box right now. I also believe that might be impacting the rotation and why we don’t see her landing back to center off the box.
I am going to assume that when she gets the ball off the slant board it looks perfect and she lands pretty much centered off that. If that isn’t the case – we need to change course – but I am going with the assumption it was beautiful at that stage.
So my hope is to give her more room to get that push off the box and execute the rotation off back to center lane. I also want you to throw that toy a little more towards the camera person – so a slight over-rotation off the box. You don’t have to do it all the time, just every now and then.
Next time with your setup – tease her with that ball/toy you are throwing. Make her try and chase it but you won’t give it to her, grab her collar and bounce or roll it in front of her (also sometimes nice to have someone else hold her if that’s okay with Yumbi). While you are acting like a fool, the box loader casually and no big deal loads the ball. Sounds like you don’t ever need to make a big deal about getting that ball off the box – we are not worried about her being a spitter. Make the time between the teasing, the lining up to go, and the release very fast and quick. So you get fast and quick for the box. Quick does not mean sloppy – because this is all very planned. I often use a bean bag on the grass to mark where I need to stand cause I’m all over the place LOL.
Hello!!
Prim – who said she has to tug all the way back to the box for the next recall? Tell them that sounds like a tired dog to have to run full speed to you, tug, and then tug all the way back to repeat. If I am doing repeatable recalls, I will do multiple dogs so the owner runs with their tug and leash. Once the dog hits the tug, you play, and then leash up the dog. The dog can carry their toy back, or just eat treats walking back to the box. This motion back is also a great distraction for the other dog that is now recalling. I know there are several houses of logic for the automatic lineup. Skidz will actually send their dogs down (versus the handler going down, handing off the dog, and then walking back) and boy does that save a LOT of time at practices. So if you have a large team – that might be beneficial. I also hear on the other side that if the dogs are doing anything less than 100% down the jumps it’s patterning slowness… I don’t know how much I buy into that – I think dogs are smarter than we give them credit for and they know the difference between setting up to hit the box versus setting up to do a recall.
So to break that bad habit of her leaving you before you tell her she can go lineup (cause that is annoying) I would not start walking back to the box until she is leashed up. Or you can start to add in some proofing of walking back to the box. Maybe take 2 steps while tugging towards the box, have her out, and then cue the tug again. She doesn’t get to go send herself back to the box until you have her collar and say Ready, Set, Go lineup (or whatever you want). My personal preference with mine is to do a recall, we play tug, and then we out and you eat cookies walking with me back up to the box (just as easy on leash or loose). Because if you can imagine I just did a warm-up in a tournament and I need to walk back to jump 8 cause the slat popped out I need my dog to hang with me, not think they are doing another run. So it might look like we are walking back to the box – but we aren’t. So add some spiciness/unpredictability. Sometimes you tug again after walking to the box, sometimes you do a random mini recall when you only made it halfway to the box loader. Sounds like she is a smart cookie and picks up patterns quickly.
Paisley – sounds like she is a foodie (me too Paisley!) so use that to your advantage. You know what a foodie loves? Their food bowl. I bet if you had that up in your hand (same hand/visual like a tug) she would blast like the word was ending and that was her last meal. I will also have some of my foodies make a special bucket that means all the amazing treats of hotdogs, rotisserie chicken, meatballs, etc. And I hope you are using these high value treats and breaking them into many tiny bites so it feels like a lot!! The food bowl can be hard around other dogs because ALL dogs know what it means and they might try to visit your bowl, so a special Halloween trick or treat bucket might be perfect. I will often pre-load a few treats into my bowl before the release too. I circle the treats around, tease my dog telling them they better go fast so they can hurry up and get back to this bucket of treats. See if that helps give her a target and redirects that focus. I am of the mindset that your dog should only be rewarded with what they find rewarding – so substitute tug for food in all the exercises except the retrieve. If you have any questions on those modifications please let me know!
6 minutes of time well spent!!
She has some very serious rear control. There were a few where she slammed her rear onto that mat and I was so impressed! I’m glad you took it down to the ground to ensure she has a solid understand of it. You lure so little – she 100% knows what the job is – and I can’t wait for you to see the results when she needs minimal props and keeps her tight turn because the box turn is just a foot target!
The one where she was confused as you added more distance, I wonder if you had gone further in the turning “lane” (closer to that white trash can). So standing between the silver fan and the wooden platform in the video, and maybe halfway between the white trash can and the black mat. It would look more like she was trotting away from you with her head away, she targeted the mat, looked at you expectedly, and then got called back to basically your feet. Hopefully that makes a little more sense than the first two times I tried to describe this poorly. As the dog is approaching the box and then returning, we are always behind them which gives them the agency to do it on their own (which she is nailing) and then the urgency to get that snap back turn. You will continue to add distance and urgency/motion so you are on a great track!!
For the rest of the exercises in future Units – ignore where it has it on the ground. I want you to keep it on your platform like you had. I have a new theory I am noodling around with, and I feel the rest of the exercises will benefit with a small elevation (like your platform, or a Cato, or a slant board).
That was super nice 🙂 I agree!
That was a great setup and execution.
I have not yet attached a picture yet – so let me know if this does not come through. I wanted to also show you the visual of coming down the runback lane side (you can see I’m over as far as I can without running on the slicker gym floor myself) and the tug is in my left hand. I usually do a pivot circle to the inside lane by the time I’m back that far – my dog would never touch the gym floor the way I catch her… but this looked wild like she might go sailing around. I figured you were catching Know Me differently so I could see with where the camera was setup, but I wanted to show you what you will be getting into soon 🙂
The PVC cavaletti is about 2″ wider than the box so it can be tucked closer to it as your dog progresses. In the beginning it’s pulled out a little. You can use 1″ or 1.25″ pipe. Pro Tip – try to find those corner fittings first because your store might only have them in one size and then buy the pipe to fit.
One long pipe – 30″ long.
Four short pipes – 8″-9″ longI don’t glue anything, or put end caps on them. Just enough to get by and get the job done!
Excellent coordination even from here. I giggle at how he’s like, oh yeah, I do have back legs. I had a whippet with a heeling pivot once and I adored how he would slam into my leg to get into position.
If there were any exercises you were uncomfortable about – then do hold off. I usually get “very serious” about combining these pieces of the jumping around 8-9 months and the slant board around 9-10 months. I personally teach things a little slower, more thoughtful to start. And THEN once fluency is there I ask for more speed. The idea being if they are confident about the criteria I am asking for, when I ask for more they can turn it on because they don’t have to ask questions. So it’s usually a slow startup month and then they are even older and more mature when I want them to have a lot more control over their bodies.
For retraining when they are older – I would be worried about that in regards to striding and even more so for a smaller dog. But for all the foundations it should just be 1 jump for now, and nothing with a ton of speed at that age.
Let me know if there was anything specific you wanted to ask or if that didn’t directly answer your question.
You agility people with your 8,495 words LOL. But you know what – makes your dogs smart with that extended vocabulary!
I will NEVER say there are too many videos!! I live for video reviews. Well done with this setup. Can’t you just imagine a little slant board with the ball velcroed… then move up to the box… add a few more jumps… dog on the other side or in his lane. It’s going to come together very quickly so I hope you are ready!!
One thing that you can work on since Know Me is perfect. When we run back in Flyball, we typically run in a circular pattern (looking at the box – starting up the runup right side, then cut over once the dog ahead of us is back, and return on the runback left side). We will often reward with a tug using our left shoulder/arm because there is more mat on the inside of the lanes versus pushing the dog out onto a potentially slick gym or concrete floor. Also less risk of you accidentally hitting the dog that is running up the center lane into the pass. And there are days I’m having too much physical pain in my knees and feet that I can’t “jog” but I do still walk fast up one side and back the other and show my back so it appears like I’m running.
So you can start to show Know Me your back as he is returning. You can do this on the flat to start and work up to this exact exercise. Can’t you imagine his brain exploding if after he got his ball he saw your back leaving him – he’s going to BOOK IT! So that’s another element of “carry that ball even when you feel like your world is spiraling”.
But if you were to do a recall on the flat or over jumps, go ahead and dangle that tug in your left hand so it starts to feel more natural to you.
You have done a truly amazing job putting all the pieces together!! I’m so proud.
That first one to the left is the tightness that we are looking for. And that last one to the right was his tightest righty. Your timing on the calling to get that SNAP back is perfect. Watching in slow motion – all of his mechanics are great. He is on the correct lead, he’s pushing from his rear. I honestly think he’s only going wide because he’s getting to the point where he’s slipping off the Cato when he pushes super hard to go ultra tight, and he’s not an idiot. So he dumps off to the side a little bit. All the other work I have seen you do on the agility side with wraps and tight turning makes me not worry because I know that he’s very agile. Once we get to add the smallest angle to his slant board, he will have that angle to PUSH off – but he’s still got a bit of growing before we add that kind of impact (but boy am I excited to see it!!!!)
She is a terrific switcher! Now you need to add in a consistent cue. I think you said “Get It” for half of them which would be a fine, natural cue. This would be what you said as she carries the ball past the finish line and then you want her to out the ball and strike the tug.
Also – Unit 1 was the largest. It’s all easier after this point 🙂
Do not picture me and Julie side by side in the kitchen stirring matching jugs of Kool-aid…. That would be WAY off LOL … oh, Alise can you pass me the sugar??
I’m so excited to have you in the course and if you have any questions as you catch up please don’t hesitate to post. Tip – when you are going through the mat work exercises, you can keep it elevated on a Cato board (versus putting it on the ground). I’m trying something new and I’m liking the results.
See you in the Flyball lanes soon 🙂
I am so in love with Soozie! How much more perfect can she get?! She has a strong understanding of this game already and I really enjoyed seeing her muscles TENSE on the ready. She was ready and preparing her body to launch forward. She’s great at engaging for food or the toy. Can’t wait to see as you start to add some distance or motion to the game. Well done!
