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A+ for calling off his playmate as well – that was very nice!! And your enthusiasm to encourage him back towards you more than makes up for the running. Great job!
It’s so nice that you have a strong training background – it makes you an excellent and receptive student!! Which will translate into an amazing Flyball trainer!!
Mat work – Looking lovely – she beat you to the mat one time and looked at you like…. when will you say yes?? She’s ready to start adding the turn. If you wanted to keep her on the Cato board for the turn (honestly until she goes to the box) I am fine with that.I’m starting to prefer that actually.
Tugging – you can tell she’s either building up endurance or it was that teething pain. She came out really strong and then lost some steam. Her switch game looks terrific!!
Yay for the lead foot – keep an eye on it. As you train the turn I would still do both sides since she is so young. We don’t want her to be a year and have done a billion reps to one side and be off balanced.
For straight on the mat I loved that he was almost pouncing on it to target it. You will see in Unit 4 sometimes the dog will throw themselves onto the mat.
For the turning one – I don’t mind the pole idea – I thought that was smart to utilize something he already knew to teach a new skill. You faded quickly and he understood. I noticed that the last two reps he did amazing with you being one step closer. So I would start the next turn session closer to the mat, and then you take 1 shuffle step back to the treat and train each time he is successful.
The end goal for this mat is to be the box face. So the course that Know Me would take would be similar to start at treat/train – go to the mat – back to the treat/train. Looks like a teardrop. You could turn the treat/train around backwards to have him be setup to come straighter to the mat and you are placed between. So he would technically be on the inside of you (so for the right turns he was doing here we would have you stand on the opposite side (sending with your right hand). If you stayed where you were I would expect him to turn left into you). Hopefully that doesn’t conflict with his agility training. Let me know if that doesn’t make sense.
That retrieve of one tug to the other tug is already really natural looking. Yes I agree to start putting it on a cue because when you turn that back and start adding movement away you will likely start to see some early spitting.
You use “YES” to mark his pickup, so you might have to pick a different word like trade, strike, etc. I use YES as a marker word when I’m training and also for marking the switch of whatever is in the mouth for whatever is in my hand. Sometimes it is trading the ball for food, tug for tug, ball for tug, etc.
100% you can use the manners minders for this exercise!! I think that’s a great idea if you dog has a strong foundation understanding that the moment they did a thing, it made the treats fall out. The continuous motion forward isn’t a huge focus, as we will shape it into a turn. Focus is mainly on committing to the mat and getting all 4 feet on it consistently.
A+ plan to proof what he already knows at mat time – and then progress him at the next practice. I can’t wait to hear how he does!
Good thing you had some distractions or I don’t think he would ever take his adoring eyes off you. I think he’s ready for a little more of a challenge – perhaps the backyard or front yard? You can also do this in a Flyball practice utilizing a circle of people (give them a heads up about his danger bopping LOL) and he gets to say hi to 1-2 people but then you scream HERE and take off running in the other direction (similar to the Unit 2 version of this one).
Tell Isaiah WASSUP LOL. He was cracking me up – he gets an A+!! Stitch looked really comfortable coming through and pausing for you to put your hands on him. You can start tossing the reset cookie a little closer behind your leg so it will start to look more like a leg wrap. It also builds more reinforcement for being near you and hanging out with you.
HOLY COW HE IS DOING AMAZING!!! It looked like you had more time between each rep and he was terrific. He didn’t even have someone at the box clapping or calling and he still did great going past Flitwick. The one he did look…. I can’t say I blame him – Flit was basically in his lane (not the 12′ apart that they would be in real Flyball). His box turn is only getting faster and faster.
I want you to graduate to 2 jumps down, 2 jumps back (let me know if you have any questions after watching that exercise video). Keep the ball on the Velcro for a little longer (you could easily transition to the box at practice with a Velcro ball if that is an option). I want him to experience the speed + striding differences that will come with that distance as a separate exercise than the loaded ball. If that goes amazing, then we will start loading the ball on his next session and he’s going to catch just fine – I don’t see him having many issues. I’m so proud of you both – he’s looking terrific!!
Soon you can have Flitwick/helper sitting 5′ behind you when you release, and then run past and reward him behind that helper (so it simulates him taking a pass as the start dog – carry the ball past a dog). That helper doesn’t move for now, but if he sees this dog a lot now… when they start moving it will be less exciting!
Once again – another session with great information. Two more tweaks and I think you will have a higher success rate.
Measure out on your patio 10′ from the base of your hit it board. Place a bean bag or a piece of painters tape on that left side of the board (the non ball side). That is where I want Maverick’s front feet to be lined up each time you let him go.
I want a more consistent routine – it looked like when you threw something different at him he got really excited/rushed and lost his brain. If we can make the setup of flyball “normal” it will become a habit and more boring so he doesn’t get as high. So bring him up, place the ball, take him back, hands on him or have him stand where needed, line him up front feet 10′ from the board, say the same cadence (I think you say Ready Get It).
If you continue to get ball misses on the board – I want you try two things.
1 – tease with the ball a little bit before you put the ball on the board. You might have to hold his collar with one hand and bounce or shake the ball with the other. Talk about it, emphasis the important, and then drag him back to his position and let him go cleanly.
2- If it’s always consistently he misses on the last rep, I would take a cookie break after like 2-3 reps. Just walk around, handful of cookies here or there. Then walk back to the board and setup like you do normally for his first rep.Mat Platform – She’s getting a better understanding that it is the back feet that get the cookie. She was cute trying a few front foot Target tricks, but excellent job waiting her out and helping when needed. I might have you slide that blue mat so it matches the edge of your platform and then wraps and tucks under the other side. I just don’t want her to have an enthusiastic moment and expect the mat to support her, and then she trips going up the platform and is more cautious from them on.
Middle/Get Ready – Nice job on this. You could start adding in your hands on her to restrain her, toss a cookie 3-5′ in front of her, and then tell her GO to release to the cookie. This helps connect those next dots to come in the natural Flyball lineup, hands on, get set, GO.
Leads- The leg that is furthest out front (that second stride) is the leading leg. Here is what I got. She appears to be a leftie, was she turning left after she got the toy? I also have started training them to just turn both ways – so when you do your mat turn work in the next Unit, you can do both ways. It’s best to keep them balanced AND I couldn’t tell with my last dog which way she would turn so I just trained her to do both and then picked the way she decelerated better into the box. I didn’t want to get 4 months down the road and realize I picked the wrong direction.
Right,
Left (I thought it was going to start on a right but switched to Left),
Left,
strong left,
leftTwo Tug Game – if you know the one that she is going to wander off with – keep that one in your hands. It will always be in your possession (just like the tug she will get in the end of the Flyball runs). Then the focus is to make sure she can bring the other tug and keep it in her mouth until you cue her to switch to the preferred tug. Eventually that lesser tug is going to be a ball. And since she already LOVES that one tug, we need to make sure no matter what is down the lanes – she understands the concept of retrieving until you cue the out. Hopefully that helps but let me know if that doesn’t work.
Yay! I love a video that isn’t perfect because then I can give you some new tools and insights.
What I noticed was, when you took your time in the beginning and laid out more rules – he stayed calmer and focused. As you played more tug and turned him around quicker between reps he spiraled and lost a little bit of his brain. Next time try this again and take longer between each rep as you go (you can still play for a good time, I don’t want him flat and calm) because he needs to be able to balance getting a little high/excited, and then coming down into focus. Don’t be afraid to remind him the asks, sit, wait, jump, yes come play now!
When you point for the jump cue – use the hand that doesn’t have the toy. Let me know how it goes!!!
Know Me why are you so freaking CUTE!?! What an excellent control of the body though – no hopping, no slinging around like he’s Tokyo drifting onto that foam pad. Very excellent foundation behavior – love this and I know you won’t have trouble adding distance when he’s ready. I loved best when he picked his feet up high in anticipation of that mat.
