Agility Foundations - Introducing Jumps

With your dog waiting on the other side of a jump, with jump height at lowest (for small dogs just remove the jump bar all together), step over the jump yourself, facing your dog call them over the jump to you. You can reach your hand with a treat all the way over the jump to lure them over to you if needed. If your dog is big be sure to move back far enough for them to land.

Repeat the above exercise but this time set your dog on a slight angle, and you match the angle so you are still calling them straight to you, but now they are taking the jump at an angle.

Shaping Exercise for more independent jumping

Place out a thing to shape your dog to go out and around. I like using a jump wing, but if you don’t have a jump wing or jump standard you can use, you can also use things like a bar stool, a tall kitchen trash bin, etc (you want something taller than your dog’s head, that is easy to move around).

• Have treats in both your hands, can put your hands at your sides or on your lap. Ignore any attempts they make to nudge or bother your hands.

• Look out past the wing in the direct you want them to go.

• The moment they make ANY move away from you towards the wing, mark and reward, place reward on the other side of the wing so they need to go around the wing to get the treat. (be sure you are sitting close enough to wing that there is no space to go between you and the wing).

• Again, wait for them to make ANY move away from you towards the wing, again rewarding on the other side of the wing.

• Once they are starting to get the idea start to wait to mark and reward when they have taken a couple steps away from you, gradually working to marking and rewarding when they have gone around the wing.

• Add a verbal cue.

• Once the dog is readily offering going around the wing, move yourself a bit further away creating a gap between you and the wing.

CALLING TO YOUR SIDE OVER A JUMP:

•  Leave your dog on a stay on the other side of the jump.

• This time instead of facing your dog, face a quarter turn away from them

• Call them over the jump to come land between you and the jump, facing the direction you are.

• Be sure to stand slightly to the side so they have room to land behind your body rather than landing into you, as they get more experience you can tighten that space up.

• Stand NO CLOSER to the jump than the jump is high, so if you have a 16inch jump you need to be at minimum 16 inches away from the landing side of the jump, obviously also stand no closer than the width of your dog’s body so they have room to come between you and the jump.

• Reward them when they reach your side

Running with your dog and playing over jumps

Tug is the best game for this as it keeps the flow the nicest. However if your dog won’t tug you can toss a ball after the jump or throw a food stuffed toy. Take it slow and it’s ok if it takes a few tries, it is harder for the dogs once we start moving too and until now we have been standing still when they jump. Be sure to practice both sides of your body!

As the dog gets the idea you can start raising those jumps up a bit higher (provided they are an adult dog! Puppies need to stay at a low jump bar until their growth plates are closed!). You can also add in that start line stay release to the jump and come get the toy.

Sends over a jump.

It is important from the start to work on creating some nice independent jumping. The last thing you want is a dog you have to escort to and over every single jump! This will dramatically increase the amount of running you have to do, and will limit a lot of the handling you can do if you have to be with your dog every step of the way.

So let’s build some more independence!

• Start with your dog only one step away from the jump.

• Lean forward as you signal the jump with the hand closest to the jump and dog.

• When the dog moves forward with your lean and hand, toss a treat or toy forward over the jump, toss the treat with your opposite (outside- furthest away from the dog) hand so they don’t see it coming from the signal hand, but rather it just appears out ahead of them.

• Be sure to practice both sides of the jump.

• If the dog doesn’t send or misses the jump, don’t “save” that jump but tossing the treat anyway. We don’t want the treat being the thing that sends them over the jump, we want the treat to be a reward for sending ahead. So instead just start over and repeat one more time, if they still miss it, then start over again, only this time be a little bit closer to the jump.

*we fix problems or mistakes by setting up a more solvable exercise, not by band aids on the attempt, which can then become crutches our dog needs to be able to complete the exercise. Be patient with your foundation training and build it up brick by brick so it is solid!

Building to 2 jumps

Our goal with adding a second jump is for our dog to take both jumps at the same speed and for us to support that with how we move. When we want the dog to continue on forward after the first jump, they need to see your body moving towards the next jump, you don’t have to move fast, but you do want to move. When the dog takes the second jump reward by throwing a toy (or food stuffed toy) to them in front of where they land. Do not feed them from your hands, this will create too much handler focus and we want them to learn to drive ahead when cued to keep jumping with multiple jumps.

always practice equally on both sides!

A great way to introduce 2 jumps is using back chaining. We begin with the video above, where we start with the second jump, showing our dog that is where the reward will be. Then next we do as the video below where we add in the first jump, tossing the reward over the second jump as the dog does the first jump.

TWO JUMP FIGURE 8’S

• improves your dog’s tight turning over a jump

• improves your dog’s skills taking jumps at an angle

• improves front cross collection skills & cues

As your dog get’s good at it, start spreading the jumps further apart as you stay in the same spot! If they can’t do it, don’t move from your spot, just move the jumps closer again, do it a few more times and then try moving them wider again (very subtly- like inches at a time.)

 Weave Poles!!

My preferred training method for weave poles in agility is a combination of the Chute Method and the 2 X 2 method.

I find focusing on using the chute method gives me the fastest weave poles as it focuses on getting the dog to maximum speed from the beginning. I also find the chute method creates that independent forward focus I want with weave poles. But I do find that the 2 X 2 method creates the best independent entries so I like to use it just a bit to get those independent entries.

I do NOT use guides on my weave poles. I do not like introducing anything I will later have to wean if at all possible.

Basic weave pole performance requirements:

• Most importantly the dog must enter the poles from the right side of the first pole. So their left shoulder should pass by on the right of the first pole.

• They cannot back weave (pop out and then go in the opposite direction back to the start).

• They cannot skip any poles.

• You cannot touch the poles.

• They need to be able to weave with you on either side of the poles.

Introducing the weave channel

Just like with the plank, I am going to start by back chaining my dog to run to the target from the other side of the last two poles.

So I show him his target, I hold him by the chest and when he looks forward I release him to run to the target. (again a great place for a treat dispenser, if you don’t have one you can use a small plastic container with a lid to hold the reward).

Notice the poles are nice and wide so it’s easy for him to run through. I add more poles on as he is getting the idea, a pole on each side of the chute at a time.

I start to add a little speed by helping him run back to the start with me right after seeing his treats get loaded, and quickly let him go at the start. Again, my timing is letting go of him when he looks forward. I want him only focused on the target, not me.

I keep adding poles until we get to the full set of twelve poles (six on each side of the chute) if I plan to compete with my dog. If I am just training for fun it is fine to stop at a total of 6 poles (3 on each side). But if you have goals to compete in agility it is far easier to train to 12 poles from the start and then drop back to 6 when you are ready to start trialing in Novice. Again I am now focusing on getting some speed so I keep the chute open nice and wide until my dog is running full speed through the poles and reliably staying in the chute the whole way through.

BUILDING SPEED

Once my dog will go all the way through the chute I will begin to work on building speed through the chute. I do this by throwing their reward as they finish the chute. You can see here, I have him sit waiting at the start of the chute. I have the chute open nice and wide so he doesn’t worry about the chute and sees no reason to go around. I go out half way down the line of poles and then as I release I toss his toy to the end of the chute. If you have a helper you can also have them toss for you.

I gradually move myself further and further back, so that I am eventually at the start with him.

My goal is to be able to run next to him, with the reward in my hand, tossing at the end and he stays focused forward expecting that reward. (remember if your dog doesn’t play with toys, use a toy that holds food, still throw it, then run with them to that food toy and open it up where it lands to reward them)

Once you can run with them from the start of the poles, start very subtly letting go of their collar sooner so that you start creating ever so slight angles to how they are approaching the start.

Plank Work - Contact Training Foundations

Target Training For Plank Work

 See the Trick Modules for more details on training a target touch!

For Plank work and contact training we want our dogs to understand the skill of looking for a target and independently running to it and touching it with a foot or nose. Focus on getting to where all you have to do is let go and your dog will go touch the target.

INTRODUCING A TARGET AT THE END OF YOUR PLANK

One of the things that I do differently with my contact training than what a lot of trainers do, instead of having the target at the bottom of the contact, I actually have it out away from the contact and teach the dog to wait to be released to the target. I find this creates the key elements that I want:

• My dogs from the beginning are focused forward when coming down the contact as they expect their reward ahead instead of expecting it to come from the handlers hands.

• It’s easier to fade the target, having it at the bottom of the contact or end of the plank makes it very visible while the dog is still performing the contact behavior, so you can see performance change when the target is suddenly not there, but when it is out ahead of the contact it becomes very easy to then have the target on the other side of another obstacle that then becomes the new target.

• Having the target away from the end I find my dogs drive quicker into the position, because again their focus is forward.

• By backchaining the exercise, the end of the board becomes the valuable spot the sets the game in motion.

• From the beginning you are building in that element of the dog holding itself on the board until they hear the release.

• I can transition to a running contact by releasing as they hit the end.

To begin this training I show my dog a reward placed 6 feet or so from the end of the contact, I then help my dog into position at the end of the board, hold their chest and give a release cue and send to the target for reward. Remote treat dispensers make great beginning targets! I repeat 5-6 times per session.

You can see in the video below that I time my release to the target when he looks forward, I don’t tell him to look forward or say any target cues, I just wait. It is important for good contact training that you try not to build in any cues to help them so they can do this behavior even if you are not near the end of the board!

Once my dog will focus on the target I begin to start from a bit further back on the board. At this stage which I will move through quickly, I do not worry about a stop at the end. I want them staying on the board and going to the target without looking at me for this step of the game. I will add back the stop later (if I want a stop)

I keep working on getting more of the board and letting the dog offer loading onto the board. Again my focus at this step is simply that the dog finds getting on the board and walking across it to a target a fun behavior to offer. I do not yet have any end of board criteria, just that he walks across the board.

Practice both sides equally, again the idea is to shape the dog to offer walking on the board without us coaxing them to. Notice I am gradually moving myself further away from the board.

This is my goal for this stage of plank training, that my dog will walk the entire plank entering from either side and stay on the board focusing on the target at the end. You can see here I am: letting him watch me load the treat dispenser, if I did not have a treat dispenser I would use a small plastic container with a lid on it, I hold his shoulders as I load it, and then using a tossed treat I reset him to the far end of the board. I am sure to alternate which side of the plank I am standing on and where I am standing to make myself an unimportant cue in the process. I want him to know how to get on the plank and stay on the plank without my help before I move on.

 Coming soon!!!

  Start Line Stays & Explosive Releases

• Have dog sitting next to you (not in front facing you!)

• Have a toy in the hand closest to the dog, or if you need to have it in the other hand as you leave and then switch to the hand closest to the dog once you are in front of them.

• Still facing forward with your back to your dog, but looking over your shoulder at them, release them with whatever their release cue is and let them come catch you to play.

• If your dog doesn’t tug you can toss a ball forward once they get to you

• Or you can toss a toy that contains treats, once they reach the toy, go help them open it to get a treat.

• If your dog doesn’t like to play with you be sure to work on the Get Engaged Modules!

• If your dog breaks their stay do NOT scold them or correct them, just don’t give them the toy and repeat the exercise. If they break a second time, on the third try only move a step, come back give a treat for staying and then try taking two steps, come back and reward them. Be sure to visit the stellar stays Module if your dog struggles with staying.

Motivational Food toys for dogs that don’t play

Making Food Toys: You can use locking plastic containers small enough for your dog to carry. Be sure they are sturdy and hard to open so your dog doesn’t see it as a food puzzle to solve on their own! See the Get Engaged Modules for more ideas on how to make food toys and how to work on making them fun!

INTRODUCING A TUNNEL

When you introduce your dog to a tunnel:

• squish it up all the way closed

• have your dog stay on one side, as you go to the other side

• look at your dog through the tunnel

• if needed you can reach your hand through the tunnel with a treat or toy in it to help them come through

• once they get the idea gradually lengthen the tunnel as they gain confidence

• once the tunnel is longer than about half way make sure you start to brace the sides so it doesn’t roll when they go through

Figure 8’s with jumps to imprint your handling cues and to strengthen the dog’s understanding of jumps at all angles

• stand on one side of the jump, with no bar on, or bar on the ground

• send your dog over the jump at an angle to one side with the hand/arm closest to your dog

• help them come around the standard of the jump back to you

• when they get back to you reward

• turn back towards the jump and now send them over the jump around the other side of the jump

• make sure you switch hands/arm so that you are still sending them over the jump with the hand closest to them.

SERPENTINE FOUNDATIONS

• Start with dog sitting by the far standard of the jump, ideally just their nose is this side of the jump and their body is on the other side.

• Stand about 1 step away the other standard

• Face your feet towards that far standard

• point your chest towards your dog

• as you release drop your hand closest to the dog towards your bum as you draw them towards you

• as soon as they clear the standard to get to your side of the jump take the hand from near your bum to point at the jump

• when the dog passes through the standards, mark and give the reward back on your side of the jump so they have circled that jump standard

Repeat the exercise with your dog start on the other side of the jump.

The goal is that your dog is slicing across the jump, taking the jump between you and the jump, and landing on that sliced angle so it is easy to wrap back to you. Try to guide the dog using your shoulders while your feet stay pointing in the direction you want the dog to jump.

PULLS:

• stand facing your dog

• stand just past the jump, leaving a gap big enough for the dog to come through between you and the jump

• dog is waiting on the other side of the jump

• call the dog to you, and once they pass the jump flip them away from you and over the jump.

• they should be taking the jump from the back side- so the opposite side of the jump from where you had them waiting

• practice both sides, and you can add extra jumps by having them circle back to you once they get the idea.