Brain Training with One Jump
Verbal Proofing with 1 Jump
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Winter is finally upon us, and for many folks that means your home Agility set ups are packed away and safely tarped. But now, what to do with your Border Collie puppy who thinks ice skating Agility would be the best? Or maybe you’ve got big goals for your experienced dog, and this winter is a great opportunity to fill in some foundation gaps! If you’re in this pickle, you’ve come to the right place!
You see, I’m in both scenarios: one big dog with big dreams and plans, and one small monkey who wants to work for her dinner. And, just like many of us, I’m limited by space and equipment. What to do? On the heels of my last blog post (Say What?!) I figured I’d work on proofing my verbals by playing some brain games with one jump. Here’s the setup:
Place reward (food or toy) next to the wing on the front side of the jump (for this example let’s just say its the left wing).
Set dog up on your right and ask dog to take jump and wrap left using minimal motion.
When successful, repeat step 1 & 2, this time set dog up on your left and ask them to take jump and wrap left (effectively rear crossing the dog).
Repeat steps 1&2, with dog on left, this time sending dog to the backside so that they wrap the backside to their right.
Repeat steps 1&2, this time with dog on right and send to the backside of the right wing (effectively a backside slice or German turn).
Repeat 1 - 6 with toy in front of right wing and dog set up on opposite side.
To help make all of this extra clear, I’ve added a video of Rue-nut trying this out for the first time. The video shows steps 1 - 4, we didn’t make it to the backside slice in this training session.
Now, why do I like this training and what is it teaching our dogs? First and foremost, Rue has to work with a toy on the ground. This presents a great impulse control challenge, where she has to think, then make the choice to leave the toy, run past it, do the desired task and then get rewarded. This is a huge skill for our agility dogs! For one thing, life is so much easier if I can drop a toy on the line to reward my dog. It also helps if I’m in a training situation and someone else is going to reward my dog for me. I need my dog to leave the toy (and person holding it) alone, and continue to work with me until cued for the reward. This will also help with impulse control in general; everything from start lines to contacts. We are basically teaching the dog that they can’t just take the thing they see, and that the fastest way to get the thing they want, is to do the skill as asked. If your dog isn’t toy motivated, don’t worry! You can swap food for your toy and do the same exercise, but it would help to use a manners minder so they aren’t self rewarding. Don’t have a jump at home? Again, no worries. You can change this exercise out to wrap a cone, trash can, or stool and still get the same impulse control benefits.
I also love this exercise because it requires Rue to listen to the cues and think about what is being asked of her. The goal here is not to pattern the same behavior a thousand times. As soon as she is successful and confident I ask for a new behavior.
Troubleshooting and Tips
If you watch the video with sound on, you’ll notice I’m using a clicker. Full disclosure, this is my first time clicker training jumps like this, so only time (and Rue) will tell if it pays off in the long run. But the idea behind it is that it allows me to mark subtle things like looking to the backside, committing to the right line etc. rather than waiting for the dog to complete the full behavior before marking and rewarding. I also envision the clicker could be helpful down the line when we start sequencing, again being able to mark her completing a difficult skill on a jump while finishing the sequence and then getting the reward.
I also love this video because you get to see Rue work through something: the rear cross. This is obviously the first time she has ever had to do a rear cross, and if you know me, you’ll applaud me for starting this with my 11 month old puppy instead of waiting until they are 2 (*cough cough* Fin). But let’s break down the setup and how I help her through it. When she does step 1, the front side wrap to the left, you see we have a good bit of distance. This is a skill that she should know pretty well, and so I felt confident taking a step back. When we change things up for step 3, the rear cross, I am now no longer between her and the toy. Oh boy! That toy just got a whole lot more inviting! Look how she immediately goes into stalk mode; it’s all she can do not to pounce on the toy. This is good! This type of impulse control is exactly what I wanted to work. So how do I help. Well I grab her collar. We’ve conditioned this, and it is not negative for her. I like holding the collar in this situation because the direction that she pulls against it helps me to tell if she is committed to the jump, or if she is staring at her toy. From where I’m standing, it can be tricky to tell. I also immediately walk her closer to the jump. The closer I get to the jump, the easier it is for her to make the right choice and take the jump vs. taking the toy. I release her and she hesitates. For her, this means she is still confused about the right answer, so I take one step towards the jump to give her a bigger visual cue. She runs towards the toy, realizes I haven’t cued to toy, and takes the jump instead. GOOD GIRL!!!! That was huge and great work, so I praise her verbally. BUT it’s not enough to get the click and the toy. I was asking her to turn left, so only a jump on her left lead will get her the whole enchilada, but I am definitely not frustrated with that attempt. So we set up and try again. This time you see she understands that she has to leave the toy and take the jump. HUGE PROGRESS! Now we’re just getting into the finer details of which way to turn over the jump. She also offers the jump on the correct lead on her own when I bring her back to setup! This is great! Now let’s see if we can put it all together. On the next setup she does! She thinks super hard, head checks the toy, then makes the right choice. And we have a freaking party!
I used the video of Rue, because I thought it would be most helpful for you all to see how to work a dog through this exercise who has never done anything like it before. But that doesn’t mean this exercise is only for puppies! You can use this exercise to proof your verbals or positional cues with your experienced dog, and you can up the ante by adding distance, handler motion, and more distractions.
I’d love to hear how your training goes! And feel free to drop a comment if you run into any challenges!