What in the World is the Difference Between "Round Round!" and "Loop Loop?"

 Pearls:

• "Round round!" indicates to the dog to collect her stride and turn tightly around the obstacle toward the handler.
• "Loop loop!" indicates to the dog to collect her stride and turn tightly around the obstacle away from the handler.
• For weaves, proof to the point where you can point directly at the first weave entry from anywhere and the dog independently adjusts to correctly enter the weave poles.
• Gradually increase my speed ahead of Jackie so she weaves faster.
• A foundation exercise for weave entries: Begin with just two poles and click and throw the lotus ball reward to reinforce each correct entry.
• For proofing weave entries, use four poles and start with the first two entry poles at an easier angle.

Jackie playing "Round round!" and "Loop loop!" around barrels, and clicker training foundation weave skills up to 12 weave poles within a series:

Barrel Wraps and Tunnels

 Pearls:

• Mind where your body and feet are pointing. Point your body in the direction your dog should go.
• If you run in a certain direction, your dog will likely run in that same direction. This works for you but can also work against you.
• "Round, round, round!" cues the dog to collect their stride for a tight turn toward me around a barrel.
• "Loop, loop, loop!' cues the dog to collect their stride for a tight turn away from me around a barrel.
• Give Jackie lots of positive feedback. Tell her she's a good girl! Tell her "Yes!" when she gets it!

Jackie playing hoops, barrel wraps, and tunnels:

Treiball

Jackie and I began treibball this week. Also known as urban herding, the goal of treibbal is for the handler and dog to work as a team. The dog plays at a distance around a set of balls to push them into a gaol one by one. In competition, the dog is timed. Distance, time, and the number of balls are some of the variables in the game.

Jackie's learning how to nose touch a ball very low on the ball and with the nose only. Foundational skills include nose touching my hand, transferred to nose touching a sticky note in my hand, transferred to nose touching a sticky note on an object.  

We're playing foundation "Go to your place!" that will also be used for treibball. Tossing a food lure underneath the ball reinforces Jackie for keeping her nose low and using only her head to push the ball -- as opposed to using her paws, mouth, or other body parts.

Pearls:

• Treibball is a fun sport not just for herding breeds
• "Go to your place!" and "Push!" are foundation behaviors that will be used in playing treibball.
• The National Association of Treibball Enthusiasts, or NATE, promotes treibball as a fun, safe, and challenging sport for all dogs that endorses dog-friendly training that supports the best qualities of the human-dog relationship.

Jackie playing foundation ball nose touch:

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Discriminations

 Today Jackie and I played tunnel versus contact discriminations.

Pearls:

• When teaching "Out, Tunnel!" for tunnel discrimination, point out toward the line of the dog's travel and maintain your arm up indicating where to go until the dog's entire body including their tail are inside the tunnel. Only after your dog has committed their whole body into the tunnel should you turn your body to keep running.
• When cueing "In, Feet!" for contact discrimination, turn your body early to remind the dog to turn in to take the contact.
• As always, keep moving smoothly and indicating your dog's line of travel as if using a laser pointer along their path. 

Jackie playing tunnel versus contact discriminations:

NADAC VT Agility Trial at Cowtown Dog Sports

Jackie and I played in the NADAC VT agility trial at Cowtown Dog Sports this weekend, for our second time out at novice. 

Jackie playing in the NADAC VT trial: