AG325: Do I Turn or Do I Go Now: Cue Clarity for Jumps & Tunnels
Course Details
Are you looking to take your agility performance to the next level? Would you like to maximize your course performance while making handling easier for both you and your dog? This class is for you!
Focusing on teaching a stronger understanding of when to turn tightly, make a soft turn, or go straight on jumps and tunnels is the most efficient way to step up your agility performance. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do!
We will be approaching teaching these tight, soft, and go cues from three different perspectives:
Verbal training
Concise handling cues
Clear jumping mechanics/clear body movement through tunnels
We will be focusing on building each of these concepts from the ground up on both jumps and tunnels! Each concept will be built separately, then throughout class, combined to attain the clearest possible cues for each type of jumping effort and tunnels exit.
By the end of class, we will be proofing the skills against each other as well as fully integrating each of your cues into short sequences.
This class is appropriate for all levels, whether you have been running sequences/courses for while, are just beginning, or anywhere in between. All lectures and skills be tailored to fit any range of experience and baseline understanding of the concepts.
Bronagh Daly is a Certified Control Unleashed Instructor, Certified Family Dog Mediator, Certified One Mind Dogs Instructor, and a graduate of the Aggression in Dogs Master Course. She does not believe in one-size-fits all...(Click here for full bio and to view her upcoming classes)
Verbal and handling discrimination on the flat – jump & tunnel
Soft/tight/go either/or on the flat
Tight turn verbal proofing
Soft turn jumping exercise 1
Week Three
Verbal and handling proofing with motion on the flat
Verbals on a jump
Verbals on a tunnel
Handling cues on a jump
Handling cues on a tunnel
Tight turn verbal proofing on a jump
Soft turn jumping exercise 2
Week Four
Either/or on jumps
Either/or on tunnels
Verbal and handling proofing on single jump and tunnel
Tight turn proofing with motion
Soft turn jumping exercise 3
Tight turn exercise
Week Five
Verbal and handling proofing with opposing motion on jump and tunnel
Mini sequences
Either/or mini sequences
Week Six
Proofing in mini sequences
Jump vs. tunnel verbals and handling discrimination
Mini sequences – more challenging
Review of jump mechanics work
Prerequisites and Equipment
This class is appropriate for all levels. Anyone who wants to strengthen their dogs understanding and their handling of soft, tight, and go cues on jumps and tunnels is welcome! Some experience with jumps and tunnels is helpful, but other than that, there are no specific requirements.
All exercise exercises can be tailored to your space constraints, so no space constraints! We will be using up to three jumps and two tunnels, but you will be able to make do with one tunnel and two jumps. The most important part is that you have access to good footing for when we start to add some speed to our cues!
To make sure that we get the most out of our verbals, we are going to proof each of them at each step before advancing on. We are going to do this with handling cues as well for each type of jumping effort and exit on the tunnels.
Okay, back to this lecture specifically…
We are going to work proofing our tight turn on a jump verbal in two stages: in-hand reinforcer and on-the-ground reinforcer.
IN HAND:
We are going to start our proofing with a reinforcer in your hand. The reinforcer should be very obvious, so either a toy, a food toy, or a food bowl. We want your dog to be very aware that the reinforcer is in your hand!
Begin very close to the wing or cone. Your dog should be being held in one hand and your reinforcer should be in the other hand. You can hold your dog by the collar, harness, or even a very light leash that will not get caught on the wing or cone.
Your hand would be reinforcer should be raised and held close to the wing or cone, but with enough space for your dog to easily pass by it.
Start saying your tight turn verbal, but do not release your dog until they are looking and trying to move in the direction of the wing or cone instead of the reinforcer.
If you think your dog will have feelings about being held back, begin so close to the wing or cone that they cannot make an incorrect choice.
Keep repeating your verbal until your dog has passed around the cone or wing at least 2 to 3 times. When they have, cue them to get the reinforcer out of your hand.
When they are doing this easily in both directions, take a step back and repeat.
Continue to work this, adding a step every so often, until you are able to get at least 5 to 8 feet back.
Keep all of these session short and successful!
ON GROUND:
Now we are basically going to repeat the same exercise as above, except we are going to Have the reinforcer readily available on the ground.
Unlike the first exercise, we are going to start with your dog close to the wing or cone and your reinforcer at a right angle from the cone and at least five feet back.
Begin by holding your dog right in front of the wing or a cone. Again, do not let go of your dog at the start until they are looking and or moving to the wing or cone.
Keep repeating your verbal until your dog has gone around the wing or cone at least 2 to 3 times. When they have, cue them to run to their reinforcer that is on the ground.
When that is easy for your dog to do in both directions, take a step back and repeat. Continue over several reps or sessions to move further and further back until you are about 5 to 8 feet away and your dog can perform this exercise just as easily as when they were up close
The second stage of this exercise is to move your dog further back while moving your reinforcer closer to the wing or cone. Just as you did with moving your dog back, move the reinforcer slowly over several repetitions or sessions.
Throughout both of these, again, I’m going to repeat myself, but go slowly!! Much better to build success without error than have lots of errors that we have to undo
ADDITIONAL ADD ON:
If your dog is finding both of these to be very easy, try mixing in only asking them to start to wrap the wing or cone with your verbal and then immediately cue them to go to their reinforcer. This will make it so that they’re not always expecting to wrap the wing or cone every time and in turn must engage their listening skills even more!
Here is an example of the final step of the previous exercise and this additional exercise mix in:
Instructor: Bronagh Daly
