Jumping Skills

I am no jumping expert, but I am a student of jumping.  By that I mean, I want my dogs to have good form and understand their job so I seek out knowledge in those areas.

Tangle is a great jumper.  I have been told my many that he is "gifted" or a natural.  But, what does that mean?  I am not really sure, but when contrasting him to Hoot, I didn't really have to teach him anything at all.  He takes off from his rear, he has an even arc over the bar, he turns over the bar, he judges distances between jumps very nicely, it is effortless and he doesn't knock a whole lot of bars.  He has always been that way.

In contrast, Hoot has been different.  She is not a bad jumper at all, in fact she is a fairly good jumper by that definition.  But, I have had to take moments and help her slow down, use her head and figure out what I need her to do. 

With Tangle I used purely Linda Mecklenburg's Developing Jumping Skills.  He jumped 4" bars but never anything higher until I was ready to move him up to full height.  Then I followed DJS's methodology.  Do I think this was the secret to Tangle's talent?  No, not really.  It is a great method, don't get me wrong, but I strongly believe that I was working with a natural jumper.

With Hoot I decided to do things a bit different.  Why?  The best answer I can give you is that I wanted to see if some other method worked.  I loved DJS and found nothing wrong with it.  The only thing that I thought I wanted to improve upon is giving the dog, from early on, the skills to judge take off distances from bars at speed.



I took Hoot through Silvia Trkman's Foundation Class.  In that class you gradually raise the bars as the dog ages.  The dog never really has to jump from it's rear until the bars are close to withers height.  In the beginning Hoot knocked a lot of bars--a lot!  So I started her on some DJS one jump work at 12".  I know, I know, I wasn't staying with the methodology, LM is probably reading this and silently berating me, but that is OK.  When we slowed things down, she had to think and got rewarded for not hitting the PVC, engaging as much rear as possible and turning on take off, she suddenly began to really understand what I needed her to do.  She also got valuable experience on the mechanics of what she needed to do.

Each time I raised the bars I did this.  She has had her moments when screaming around the course has become more important than anything else.  But, again, we slowed things down, worked together and it became clear again what I needed her to do.

So, now she is at 18" and almost 15 months.  Tangle was already jumping full height by now.  I am about to embark on going through the whole DJS book with her at 20/22" inches.  Her jump training won't be done, but this will be her most in-depth lesson to date.

She already understands all the foundation handling, she understands it is her job to keep bars up, so at this point I want to focus on turning, scoping out where the bar is and how she needs to take off.

Stay tuned, it will be a while before we know if my experiment worked. :)

What are your foundation "go to" resources?

I sat down at my desk this morning and had to laugh.  The desk is full of DVDs, books, and printed papers.   All of these materials are about something "foundation".  This happens every time I train a new puppy.  There is no room for my day job materials.

None of this reference material is new, it all has coffee stains on it, and pages bent over/marked.  The DVDs have been burned so that I can watch them/reference them on my Galaxy Note as I have 3 minutes to burn.

So you ask, what are my foundation "go to" resources?

• Developing Jumping Skills, Linda Mecklenburg - it isn't just about jumping.
• Foundations Fun!, Silvia Trkman
• Running Contacts that Make you Smile, Silvia Trkman
• A ton of material on building drive/impulse control, Tracy Sklenar
• Many articles from OneMindDogs relating to teaching dogs/puppies

Each puppy, something else gets added to the list.

Tip, Tangle, Hoot and Split

Why do I keep referencing them?  As my brother once said to me "because I slept last night", referring to the fact that his memory was bad (I am sure mine is better).  But really, because each time I read/watch/refer to them I pick up something new.  Probably because I have grown wiser as a trainer, but also this puppy is different from the last.  I train them all a little differently.

 Some may worry that I am combining too many opinions, or too many 'systems'.  I am not worried at all.  The puppies understand motion (all of these handling materials are based on motion) and as long as I am consistent in my cues and my puppy understands them, isn't it all good?

When practices just suck...

For various reasons, some of which I have yet to understand, I have had several sessions with the dogs lately that have just sucked. 

I wasn't on top of my game, the dogs responded and weren't on top of their game and it just sucked all the fun out of agility.

Nobody talks about this topic too much.  Probably because it is painful to think about and you don't want to admit that sometimes you just suck!

The remedy?  Some of this intensionally and some was just great timing.

I took Split and Tangle to a frisbee competition yesterday.  For me, frisbee isn't about winning, getting high points, it is really about relaxing with my dogs, but working as a team.  I suck at frisbee, I only know how to throw one way.  I never "practice" it, it is just something that, on occasion we do together.  I could probably think of it as one of those team building exercises.  But the key is I can relax, smile and laugh with my dogs always.

Mary, Tangle, and Split

Competition was fun and crazy.  First time ever that Tangle actually darted out on the field to help a dog catch the Frisbee.  Tangle never looses his head in an environment like that, but yesterday I saw a lack of control several times (this is a good thing for this dog).  Split did awesome, he takes Frisbee very seriously.  Actually Split digs anything he does.  He is the best example on the planet of being "in the moment" and enjoying the work.  An inspiration really (which is why rehabing this dog was so worth it).

This morning I went back to foundation and basics with all three dogs.  We did Linda Mechlenberg's one jump work right from the beginning.  Jumps at 8", 12", 16" etc...It was a good exercise.  High rate of reward for the dogs, easy, reminding them not to hit the bar, and helping keep the muscle's toned in their back legs.  And my CnT and throwing treats skills were good enough to make the dogs happy.

Then we did some tunnel and jump work.  Take the tunnel, don't take it, do the backside, threadles, etc... 

My reward...a sequence that we just sucked at two days ago was flawless this morning. 

Most of the time I do a fairly good job keeping things in perspective, not getting too serious about the goals at hand, but sometimes, obviously I suck at it.

We all just needed some time where we  just played, laughed, and let off steam.

Equipment Safety!

There has been a ton of talk recently about metal jumps and their safety.  Several blogs have popped up recently about this topic.

Daisy Peel on Equipment Safety, http://www.daisypeel.com/podcasts/session8/

Linda Mecklenburg on Equipment Safety Concerns, http://www.awesomepaws.us/?p=2153

Steve Schwarz of AgilityNerd, Banning Metal Jumps, http://agilitynerd.com/blog/agility/equipment/ban-metal-jumps.html?seemore=y


I would encourage you to read/listen to these statements.  They all make excellent and strong points why we need to evolve and improve equipment safety! 

Make up your own mind!  If you believe that this is an issue I encourage you to get involved in your local community to bring about the changes that will keep our dogs safe!

This is a picture of a dog just last week that was seriously injured on a metal jump.  The dogs eye was cut and was WAY to close for comfort to the actual eye.  She could have lost her sight had it been any closer. If the jump had only one cup (none above the bar), this dog would have been safe!

How many times do we have to cringe when a dog gets hurt on equipment before we do something about the safety?

Working on Timing

Split and I continue our practice to get us operating more like a team and my timing back to what Split needs it to be. Timing is absolutely the hardest thing about agility. In the evolution of the team, you both get more confident. As the dog's confidence grows they tend to get faster, which throws off your timing. The cycle begins again. It seems that this is an element that constantly needs to be refined. I find that depending on how forgiving the dog is in terms of your timing, the job is harder the less forgiving.

Split is very sensitive to my motion. I want it that way really. BUT, it tends to make my timing more critical and the need to have my cues more clear and intentional as well.

This course is a great course to stay calm on!

I started this course with a leadout and my location between 3 & 4, but closer to 4 to clarify the line for him. He read the 1-2-3 sequence perfect every time. Next I did a serpentine recall over 4 to 5. My timing and body position were really important here. His commitment to #4 was rather late and I could not leave as early as I wanted, even if I gave him the "jump" command. I found that the serpentine recall as describe by APHS was not the way to go. I actually had to keep my chest facing the jump if I wanted to be farther away, or if I did a serpentine recall I had to be closer to the jump. His late commitment on #4 changed how I was going to cue 5 to 6. I underestimated the number of cues it would take to get him to turn. I stayed stationary, used my outside arm, waited for him to turn and then I took a couple of steps backward between 5 & 6 to cue 6, catch him and cue the weaves.

Split kept popping on pole 5. I think it was the typical weaving into nowhere problem. Once we did get the weaves I did a landing side FC on #8 and sent to the tunnel. Once he was committed to the tunnel I booked it as fast as I could to #10, giving him a cue to turn into me (outside arm) and set the line to #11. This, he read really nicely!

Things that I noted with Split.

1) His commitment point to #3 tunnel was much shorter than his commitment point to #9. I am sure that clarity played a role.
2) Outside hand is still very effective with Split. He gives me relative collection quickly and adjusts his path.
3) His startline confidence is coming back.

Fun little course and easy to set up!

Discriminations

We had fun this week designing this course. Again, we started with discussion and exercises from Developing Handling Skills and organically developed this course.

We ended up running several variations, but here are a couple that were most notable.

(First course) These days I am running these with Tip since Split is injured. The first discrimination (AFrame, Tunnel, or jump) was actually a little challenging. Your timing and your cues have to be very precise. We practiced getting all three and studying the differences in how to cue them. My next challenge on this course since Tip has a running AFrame was to get ahead so that I could use lateral motion cueing 5-6. If you are behind, your forward motion cues the off course pin wheel. Very hard to cue the AFrame and then get the heck out of there to be ahead. Fun challenge for sure!!

(second course) This course introduced layering (yes, it is in DHS). Not too hard to get with Tip from the table. I could be ahead cue extension and use forward motion (and stay in the inside of the serp). The hard part was 15-16-17. These compressed and elongated pin wheels are getting popular with the judges, they are harder to cue and harder to get tight turns. I used a send to 16, and backward motion to the tunnel to bring her over 17 (I try not to do classic post turns). She fancied the DW, but was a good girl and followed my motion.

Love to know how people handle these...

What is between Foundation and your first agility trial?

Yes, I know, back to back blogs! I wanted to do a separate blog on this since it is such an important topic to me and it marks the beginning of my quest.

From the moment I got Tangle I suddenly became aware of a HUGE GAPPING HOLE in resources on a certain agility topic!!!

There are tons of foundation books, DVDs, classes etc... out there to teach a puppy basic skills that will be needed to get through life and be a half decent agility dog. I have tons of help teaching my puppy how to nose touch, tug, self control, rear end awareness, crate games, basic cone work etc...

There are tons of resources (DVDs, books, websites) out there to help me analyze a course, teach a particular obstacle (or all of them), enter a trial, handling strategies, etc...

So, what I wonder or ask, is there something in between going around one cone and running your first sequence? I don't think that my pup will just spontaneously know how to do jump, jump, rear cross, jump, jump without something leading up to that ,will he?

OK, I do know the answer to that question, and I do know how to teach some of it, but how did I learn? Trail & error, asking people, taking a class/seminar. Most of us train alone the great majority of the time, so resources in learning are critical.

I want awesome resources and examples. I don't want Tangle to be a "half decent" agility dog, I want him to be an amazing agility dog. I am bias, a "how to" agility book that takes me from a nose touch to running a whole course in 12 chapters isn't going to cut it.

To be fair, I will say there are several books out there (at least for APHS) that help you develop some of those skills, but they are only in book form. That is awesome if I am not a visual learner (ops, I am).

I am looking for visual resources and great examples of cone work with motion, one/two jump work with motion, small sequences with cones, APHS jump drills on video.

Know of any?


(disclaimer: I don't want to use YouTube as my visual resource, if I don't know much how do I know that this example of backyard training is a good one?)

Agility skill inventory

Yes, I know, I have been writing a bunch about Tangle lately...

We went over to the agility field early today to work out 'the boys'. I wanted to have a few moments to work on the fundamentals of Split running AFrame (we have a trial today) and Tangle's basics. With Split, I got out the box on the ground and did some target work with that. Then we did some AFrame work, cleaned his performance right up!

Tangle:
Let me say that most of the behaviors that I am working on are not the final behavior. I am in the mode of building tools that I will use later to put the end behavior together (hopefully, very quickly).

Teeter work - Tangle was more excited to get on the teeter today. Quicker to get on and get back on if he moved off the contact. The things that I am trying to remember: bring him around or send onto the teeter, reward at the end quickly with a party, feed low, release with 'ok' and I move after he does. The teeter right now is just being used to get use to motion and perhaps a little of the end contact behavior. It is about 6 inches off the ground. The command right now is "slam".

Table - The table is completely flat. We are working on tugging on the table. We do the ready-set-go game, race to the table, once he is completely on, I begin madly playing tug with him. If he comes off the table the game stops until he is back on. There is no command to this behavior. I am going to use this later on to introducing tugging at the bottom of contacts. I want him to be very comfortable with tugging on equipment (and perhaps chairs in my house etc). Also, this game will lead to his table performance.

Flat Work - We are just working on the six presentations of LM's flatwork. Tangle is awesome at them since most of it is natural behavior.

Flat Work with a hoop - I introduced this today. Tangle did awesome coming through the hoop to all the presentations. The one thing that I noticed was he does not have an understanding of 'stay' when the hoop is present. When I put my hand out in prep for the RTH he would come, not when I released him. I went back to see if that was the case "on the flat", and it is not. The hoop made some kind of a difference to him. Fun!! We worked on the stay command in the presents of the hoop.

I have been working for the last month on 'stays' with and without motion, walking, running etc. He does great with those. Just proof that you have to really "proof" your behaviors.

Three dog training

Well, Tangle is getting to the age where he gets to take part in the daily ritual of training. I am excited and overwhelmed at the same time. I had developed a nice routine with the 'black and whites' and now I need a new routine!

This morning I jogged over to the agility field. The job actually starts our training for the morning. All three dogs were on their best behavior since yesterday they all got sent home (during the job) for not listening. Believe me, the older two knew EXACTLY what was going on.

First thing I learned, Tangle can't be in the middle while jogging. Has nothing to do with size or age and everything to do with the fact that he is a brat! He runs along holding on to Split's ear. Split is too kind to do anything about it.

I started this morning's drills with jump grids, Tangle in a kennel, Split on the table and Tip got to go first. I am maintaining the jump grids that I pounded so hard in August to get Tip's rear stronger. Tip did an excellent job, so much so, I raised the bars to 22" for her. She did great.

Next was Split. Split really does hate jump grids and it is hard to make them exciting. Can't really use a toy since he will solely focus on the toy and not the job. He stuck with me today and was a happy camper through the drills. He always does a great job because he is a powerful pup and he wants to please.

(Split and Tip's stay on the table while the other is working is getting better too)

Next we worked on jump skills and the broad jump. Probably inspired by Mary-Ellen Barry's article in Clean Run and that I got to use my new broad jumps.

Both dogs did great, although in the beginning they wanted to cut the corners. Didn't take much to convince them that was not going to work for me. The red and pink paths were the hardest, you have to have your timing down well when you cue them to 'switch'. I decided that turning on the flat before the jump was the best course of action.

Tangle's training this morning was continued work on Mary Ellen Barry's method of proofing contact end behavior on the flat. I am using this for startlines and a good understanding of releases. We started with rear crosses on this exercise today.

Next we worked on increasing speed when driving to 'dead' toys. He was doing much better today then two days ago. Probably helped that we went nuts in the living room last night doing this :)

Then we worked on our recalls to heal on the flat. He really has not had any problems understanding any of the recalls. We are just trying to perfect the heal position from all of these positions.

Progress on the dropped bars?

We did a USDAA trial this weekend. Out of 9 runs Tip only dropped 1 bar and that was totally my fault. To me, that is a dramatic improvement over most of the trials this summer. Sure enough, when we don't drop bars we take 1st in everything we do!

I looked back on my last post about working the jumping skills. After those drills I dragged out my Linda Mechlenberg jumping skills book. I decided to start from the beginning of her advanced grids and work my way through all the skills again (urging from a friend).

Before this trial we had gotten through the three jumps in a row, the pin wheel sort of jump drill. These drills were really hard for Tip. I filmed each series and could tell at the beginning she was really working her muscles. Toward the end, her skills seemed more effortless. With each exercise I didn't move on until I saw that effortless performance. In general I would say that we worked them for several weeks a piece.

She nor Split are particularlly trilled with the exercises, but to their credit they both do what I ask of them.

Here is a link to Split doing the pin wheel grid. He showed little effort when doing these and had a nice jump style IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJFWbdrpXd0

It is always the simpliest thing...

I am a programmer and have come up with a saying that seems to be true more times than not. "It is always the hardest problems to find that end up being the one line fixes". Translated, the problems that are the hardest to diagnose, can be the quickest to fix.

I have been working on serpentines for way too long with both of my dogs. I am trying to teach them the Linda M. way of doing serps. Well, it was pointed out to me this week (thank you Lori) that I was saying 'come'. What does 'come' mean to my dogs? Come to me without taking any obsticles--not the serpentine performance I wanted.

Today I tried using the work 'jump' with Split. Hum...he took the jumps. Good Boy!