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I shared a video in Unit 3 for Frankie who was also doing an agility send and the dog was turning away. It sounds like you are doing something a little different and the dog is turning into you, but you are also using the hand furthest from the mat?
I don’t have any issue in the hand that cues! Flyball is very flexible and I am a strong believer that the two sports can lean heavily on each other for the foundations! The most important area to focus on is that you are getting a teardrop shape in your matwork. Ideally I want the dog to come in from the center (or a little off center further from you) and then landing off the mat towards the center. It might look a little more like the shape of the letter U in the beginning as they gain confidence with where to put the rear feed but the goal is to have them execute a teardrop shape turn. It also depends on the dogs structure and build as well, for if they have the agility to execute a turn that tightly.
For your question on if the hand matters – here is a video that in the beginning shows some of my mechanics in how I “point” to the ball and would often have the toy in the opposite hand. But honestly if you did what you described and had hands reversed, that toy would be placed already in the hand closest to the box to encourage nice head placement coming off (or to have the ability to throw it quickly). So yeah, I think you are fine as long as that turn is shaping up!
**FloJo wasn’t a traditional Flyball train – so there is a lot of creativity with props in there you can ignore.
Backing Up on the Flat – Nice cookie magnet here – keep her head at normal height versus pulling her head down (it makes her back arch up and I would rather see her keep a flat spine for the backing up). Nice slow and individual steps and she looks like she is easily going back in a straight line! For adding the Cato, what if you just had it flat on the ground. I might even have her back over some brooms/PVC pipes on the ground. Just to practice going over something super small and feeling confident about it.
Mat Work – Woohoo – I out loud said “NICE JOB”. She had that ghost moment but you brought her back easily with a fun reward. If you want – you can keep the target mat elevated on the Cato board. I want to see a little more push and extension from her, and I’m not sure I’m seeing much benefit these days of going to the ground just to then elevate it up onto the slant board.
RSO Tug Distance – great job once again engaging her through the ghost times. She’s a looker for sure. I wonder if she will be one that will benefit more from being out a little earlier for her turns so she can watch and calculate everyone and everything, normalize it, and then she can focus entirely on one thing.
Two Tug Distance – It is interesting to see how powerful motion is for her. I feel like if you got to the “3 rep and done” again at home or practice I would toss in a recall or some sort of spicy recall that turns into a toss the toy ahead of her. She really lights up with the motion of the toy and I would utilize that to keep her into the games. She is A+ from the carry and the switching! Taking the time on these exercises is going to make the pattern come together so quickly!!
I really love seeing the two sports build on each other!! Amazing job being creative and combining the two tug game with his running contact. I didn’t see any releases until you cued ting.
His mat work is looking really nice – he’s leveling out and clearly understands getting his back feet up. I wish I had more footage of his dad because everything about his movements look like a spitting image of Homestar. His dad was a 3 in – 3 out with striding (with his lucky leg) and I can see Know Me doing the same because of the way he really shifts his weight going into the mat work. You can start adding a step away now and then. It might cause him to get a little sloppier, so I wouldn’t do it all the time. Just a slight bend in the knees as he’s going up to commit and you look like you are racing away from him and toss the cookie. Just one step is fine for now. The counter motion will help proof his commitment to targeting – as in the future it would be a dog in the other lane but we need him to keep moving forward and hit his box.
Ah yes – for the social butterfly use that reward for the social aspects. Don’t make it all work no play. Do the work, and then PLAY/visit.
The one at 2:39 where it took me forever to say YES was more because I was trying to find her. She flanked me unexpectedly and thankfully I didn’t trip on her. But if I had a dog that was spitting before I cued the “YES” then I 100% would do that intentionally.
Troubleshooting:
I would either be still and silent and let them connect the dots going back for the tug to try again and then reward heavily with the dog’s own successful decision.
I would more than likely on the next rep have them bring the tug back with me running away, play tug with that toy they brought me, and then quickly say YES and switch to another toy. It’s just a reminder for the retrieve/carry.Once you are getting consistent carries you can start to YES sooner (imagine around 20′ past the finish line is where you would ideally have them spit and driving into their tug/treat).
That’s not lazy… that’s efficient LOL! Very nice top line into the bow – it looked textbook perfect.
For the ball retrieves – I might even limit it to 2 great reps – and then switch to something she thinks is insanely fun (which when Huzzah was a puppy meant “okay we are done now and you CAN go say hi to other people and other dogs”). I’m not sure how much of a social butterfly she is, or is she saying the environment is a little stressful and she’s worried and it’s a better idea to just wander off instead of risking doing something wrong? If it is more the later – I might do some sideline things like a simple “watch me” and get the cookie. Make it a mission that for the next 3 months, your training building and the sounds of Flyball means great things.
I also challenge you to think of things she does at home that she LOVES. Is it a particular game? Do you act different at home versus at practice? Sometimes we aren’t as silly and ridiculous around our teammates and our dogs pick up on us being stiffer. If she has a favorite game – play that at practice after your two reps of working. Keep it spicy – so she doesn’t get bored.
Check up ahead of you in this thread where Frankie posted the Backing Up Stairs – perhaps just going back up one block would be enough (and prevent you from getting that sit). I tend to keep my hands lower as well so it looks less like a sit cue. Backing up on the flat itself is great.
I’m so glad you joined me online Pat! I didn’t know Soozie had a little bit of sport mix in her!! I’m already loving the videos I have seen. 100% you can take these exercises to team practice and work on them there too!
I didn’t think that was a terrible session at all. You took a lot of feedback and came up with a solution – so great job! I thought you had the creative idea of bringing in an object to target since the hand cue STRONGLY meant something else. No sense reinventing the wheel!
The only confusing part for her was when you cued ‘touch’ with the hand and she threw a paw twice and got rewarded twice and then you offered the target pad and cued the same “touch” and she did the same behavior, but didn’t get the expected reward. I bet if you put a tiny bit of pnut butter or food smear on the target pad then you will get more head/nose action. You can also hold it higher so it’s more in your favor or getting nose versus the paw. But I saw a lot of little nose punches and she’s a very quick study (hopefully she uses that smart brain for good and not evil LOL).
For Flyball, I like to use this nose touch similar to a collar grab. If I need to place a dog, I will cue my hand where I need them to stand or sit so they come into my hand and position themselves. Also is rewarding of coming into you, especially as things are being wild like the runback.
I don’t think you need much distance. These were perfect!! I actually like to see some variety in the recall length. Sometimes they are really short, sometimes they might be long. If you only did long recalls… they aren’t as exciting and the dogs lengthen their strides (versus these amazing quick steps of acceleration). Keep these up!
I loved her toy play as well – nice tug drive. How is she with another dog out? Focused??
YAY – getting that first video done is always the hardest!! I’m proud of you.
When Soozie gets to you, I would give her more treats than what she went to eat to reinforce being in your bubble/zone. Getting back to you fast to get the BIG present is the best. The goal is two fold.
1 – A dog that you don’t have to hold the entire time in the runback. Can look up at you, take in the environment, but has a history of getting lots of rewards near you and you can easily call off if she were to think about visiting a teammate or other side.
2- Super insane fast recall when she hears “Soozie HERE”
Great job Maverick on completing a box turn WITH loaded ball in a mat time environment. I know the loud calling and tug swinging you are talking about, and that’s hard for some seasoned dogs as well. So I don’t fault Mav, we will take that information that we might want to proof him with a little bit more arousal at practices.
Perhaps on a future practice turn, everyone can scream/cheer and charge the atmosphere with intensity so he is like WTH IS GOING ON but he can still easily accomplish the one jump to the box, or the head to head recall. That will also help him with managing arousal that you are worried about with other dogs too. The idea being, we bring his arousal up and make him a little high on purpose (in a controlled setup) and he learns to work through it, so when he does inevitably get high in the Flyball lanes it is more natural for him. Versus being the first time he is like WOWOWOWOW.I hope that makes sense – I love the quote “Practice in the state of arousal in which you want to compete”.
Looking forward to seeing him over 2 jumps to the box! I also was to see him racing to the box head to head from up close (10′ from the box) and from 15′ from the first jump. I think we have previously been having you be at 10′ from the jump – but he might do better from 15 since he’s larger and could use that extra stride.
And you can likely scrape the hit it board, do Velcro on the box a few times. Then start loading 50% of them for a turn. And then if he’s having no issues I would load them all. I tend to go back to velcro if they are distracted by the racing head to head (the idea being if we make one thing harder by adding a dog, let’s make one thing easier by adding the Velcro back).
Looking better! If I could be super picky I would have you stand in front of that red bag, still can do the hands on him like you did. He would be turning in front of you, instead of beside you. This would create a “tighter” on and off the mat, versus doing the wider arc. Here is a video that captures some of that early training and you can see the progression of what’s to come. Sometimes if I know WHY it’s a way, that makes more sense to me.
FloJo wasn’t a traditional Flyball train – so there is a lot of creativity with props in there you can ignore.But honestly Frankie…. if from your agility experience you feel like you can teach the turn with a specific setup from the agility world – I am going to encourage you because that feels more natural to you. I am never going to say one way is right or wrong, the sports lean on each other a lot.
This was an excellent adaptation for the backing up stairs – do you mind if I share this in the future!??
Where did you get those black blocks – or did you make them?
He reminds me a lot of his dad in the feet! You can even just do backing up on the flat to the 3 stairs. It’s not as important now from a fitness perspective of doing more stairs, more from a mental capacity of being brave, trying new things, and realizing that their feet exist in the back.
