Jumping, and playing with multiples

Our new backyard jump standard arrived today, and it was received with much success.  This is the second time in her life that Jackie has seen a jump standard, and she seems to really love jumping.  Gunner is a pro jumper, in the past I've seen him jump up and touch the top of a nine-foot fence, and he is expert at hopping over and onto a myriad of things.

I'm experimenting with having all three dogs together while we play.  While one dog plays the other two are reinforced for being on their place platform.  It's interesting training multiples, and I've found a group name works best for group commands and releases.  "Dogs break!" is the group release, and "Dogs down!" or "Dogs go to your place!" has been working well.  

For now I'm having to use a very high rate of reinforcement to keep Gunner from hopping up and joining in, especially while Jackie and I are doing the fun agility stuff that Gunner loves.  Jackie and Rosco are happy to be couch potatoes and lie on their cot while watching Gunner play.

In consideration of a fantasy that includes showing the BCs in Rally Pairs, Gunner and Jackie have been practicing walking beside me in heel position, and today we started playing "Dogs sit!" and "Dogs down!" and "Dogs stand!" in unison.  The group sit and down are fairly good, and the group stand still needs some polishing. Jackie needs to learn "Stand!" on her own since her stand needs to progress to being as automatic as Gunner's.

Gunner saying "Pick me! Pick me" while Jackie and Rosco are happy to relax

Gunner jumping ~16 inches, I raised the standard bar for just a couple jumps to see how it would look in a video:

Jackie jumping ~8 inches, this is only her second time seeing a jump:

Pearls:

• Backyard jumping is a favorite with the Border collies (no jumping for Rosco as he has a history of degenerative disc disease)
• Tag-team with the threesome is going well: I play with one pup for a few moments while the other two relax on their cot, then tag in the next competitor to come play while the other takes their place on the cot
• Videotaping is simple with the Joby tripod
• Jackie seems to love jumping, and I'm happy with the backyard jump standard from Midlee pet supplies

For ease of use and flexibility in different environments I'm pretty happy with this Joby GorillaPod tripod I ordered for capturing videos.