Social Distancing ~ Lesson Plan #5 ~ The Exploding Pinwheel

I haven’t written to this topic in several days. I mindful that some of the training objectives I’ve shared with you in our “Social Distancing” series take at least several days, and sometimes months, to master. Anyone who is doing the homework might take a moment to regale me with your adventures in dog training. I would be delighted to hear from you.

Index to Social Distancing Training Objectives published on this blog

Social Distancing ~ Lesson Plan #1 ~ Working your dog at a lateral distance
https://wp.me/pmSZZ-1vR

https://wp.me/pmSZZ-1vRSocial Distancing ~ Lesson Plan #2 ~ The Dead Away Send
https://wp.me/pmSZZ-1w0

Social Distancing ~ Lesson Plan #3 ~ The Back Pass
https://wp.me/pmSZZ-1w6

Social Distancing ~ Lesson Plan #4 ~ Named Obstacle Discrimination:
https://wp.me/pmSZZ-1wc

Invitation to Join the Garden League

If training is not enough for you, and you need the adrenaline rush of competition, then the NDAL Garden League might be quite a lot of fun for you. You are cordially invited to join us in weekly play!

The document: Garden League Rules and Stipulations contains our initial attempt to define how on ongoing virtual competition might work (including how to pay for the registration and weekly reporting). Some of our methodologies will have to be learned as we go along.

We will publish the weekly courses on the NDAL blog. You can read it here (this one contains both of the first two weeks): Garden League ~ Week of April 19, 2020.

I’ll look forward to hearing back from you.

Regards,
Bud Houston
NDAL Secretary

 

The Exploding Pinwheel

I learned this conditioning bit many years ago from Patty Hatfield-Mah. The idea is to teach the dog to understand the pinwheel and take ownership of this common jump configuration.

We begin with the jumps in the pinwheel pushed very close together as in this illustration. The handler can draw the dog through the entire performance while remaining in one quadrant.

Note that the jumps should be set very low as there is scarcely 6’ of transition between the jumps.

Before we move on from this step, we should be fairly certain that the dog has taken ownership of the pinwheel and will bop around the four jumps without a hint of luring or showing on the part of the handler.

As in any obstacle conditioning program, the handler’s keen use of a marker combined with praise and reward are essential to the dog’s learning. Any failure should be met with a neutral response from the handler. We want a keen dog emboldened by never being corrected or treated harshly. We allow the dog room to worry through the problem and discover that thing that earns the praise and reward.

We gradually and patiently explode the pinwheel, advancing each jump from center in rational incremental steps, each of which we hold until the dog demonstrates a keenness and understanding of his job in the pinwheel before advancing to the next step.

The handler should be able to work entirely from one quadrant of the pinwheel. But this doesn’t mean that the handler should stand like a stump in the woods. We teach that a handler should face and move in the direction the dog should face and move.

A good handler would move in a robust manner that compliments the dog’s path in the pinwheel (and anywhere else on course). The teaching of the pinwheel in this manner is not about good handling, it’s about good training. When you combine good handling habit with good training discipline, good things happen in the dog’s career in agility.

One Picture is Worth …

I’m going to share with you below a number of YouTube videos I’ve published over the years that illustrate (in sometimes painful granularity) the training steps to teach the dog to “own the pinwheel”.

Note that we’re teaching the dog to work independently and to have powerful obstacle focus for a simple jump.

Cedar’s Intro to the exploding pinwheel:

Pips Introduction to the Exploding Pinwheel:

PipExplodingPinwheelDay3

PipExplodingPinwheelDay4

PipExplodingPinwheelDay6

PipExplodingPinwheelDay7

PipExplodingPinwheelEndgame

Pip’s Exploding pinwheel

Advanced Topics:

Cedar entering pinwheel from Tandem position:

Katniss & Phoenix tandem & layered:

Prim double pinwheel

Phoenix with teeter/downfield layered work:

Playful Pinwheels ~ Thinking Outside the Box

[The exercises below were published about a dozen years ago. So… when I said what I did “yesterday”… it was yesterday a long time ago. Once your dog “owns” the pinwheel you will always view this interesting configuration of jumps as an opportunity to be playful.]

While it’s true that I practice an “own the pinwheel” kind of training with my dogs, when push comes to shove I will reserve moving badly for some class that absolutely demands it. Think Gamblers, for example. In routine course work however I will endeavor to move in a way that inspires the dog and ensures that he is well directed.

I’ve written a great deal about pinwheels over the years. There’s something about a pinwheel that inspires the handler to move like an old musty stump in the middle of a swamp. Moving badly is good training… but it is not good handling.

The conundrum is ever that the dog’s path is this big robust thing while the handler’s path is more diminutive and restrained. Even a slow handler can outrun a fast dog in a pinwheel. The real painful match is when a handler is working a dog of moderate speed and handler is so completely defined by the inner limits of the pinwheel that the dog gets no sense of excitement or electricity at all from the handler. Just between you and me and the wall, if your dog isn’t one of those ballistic self starting everything-at-top-speed kind of dogs, then handling him as if he were is an error.

Blind Cross as a Pinwheel Movement

The trick in a pinwheel is to find a way to move. That means more real estate. Frankly there’s only so much real estate inside the pinwheel. But if I think outside the box, there’s plenty of new real estate for handler movement. In this first playful attack on the pinwheel I have the handler step outside the box in the transition between jumps #4 and #5 using a Blind Cross to race the dog to the outside. The transition and the moment of the Blind Cross are indicated in this illustration by the red colored paths for dog and handler.

Tandem Turn as a Pinwheel Movement

Another important skill in a pinwheel is the Tandem Turn. The Tandem is a cross behind the dog on the dismount of an obstacle or on the flat.

To play with this the handler will approach jumps #2 and #3 with dog on right, crossing behind the dog into the Tandem on the landing side of jump #3. Note that if the handler intends a Tandem Turn then he should endeavor to arrive at the jump at the same instant of the dog. The Tandem tends to create a wide sweeping turn in the dog’s path and accelerates the dog’s movement. These are perfect attributes for a pinwheel. Though you might get into a bit of trouble with it if you have an Afghan Hound or a leggy Border Collie.

Using All of Our Pinwheel Tools

Both tools, the Blind Cross and the Tandem Turn can be applied to the same pinwheel. In this illustration the handler executes the Blind Cross in the transition from jump #3 to jump #4 and then promptly uses a Tandem Turn to step back into the box after jump #4. The Blind Cross is indicated by the red paths for dog and handler; the Tandem Turn is indicated by the green paths for dog and handler.

This is an interesting handling choice that requires a speed change. The handler begins with slow dog handling (forward and pulling) into the Blind Cross; and then abruptly transitions to fast dog handling (behind and pushing).

Note that in the conduct of the Tandem Turn the handler actually wants to arrive at the jump at the same instant as the dog. We might argue that a Front Cross would be better than a Blind Cross because the Blind Cross is a racing movement and might make the handler arrive at the jump prematurely. However this is really a “know thy dog” condition. If the dog slips forward of the handler prematurely out of a Front Cross then the handler is behind the dog at the turning jump and so a Blind Cross would have been a better choice of movement.

 

Pinwheel Bonus Exercise

Here’s one of the exercises I put up at camp yesterday. When I put up a pinwheel I’m mostly I’m interested in how a handler might be defined by the inside of the box where, with most dogs, there is not adequate real estate for robust movement. And so I teach a playful attack on the pinwheel which has the handler stepping out and stepping back in to accelerate the movement.

This exercise had the added twist in which I specified that the handler would stay on the opposite side of the red line while sending the dog on for the performance of the weave poles at a lateral distance.

This bit was an interesting study in pointing. The handler points more surely with his feet that he’ll ever point with his hands. And yet many (if not most) handlers will instinctively turn their toes perpendicular to the dog’s approach to the weave poles rather than parallel. Typically this will spoil the send if the dog requires the handler’s support at all.

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Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com. Visit our web store: www.dogagility.org/newstore. You’ll find in the web store The Book of Agility Games, a comprehensive reference to all manner of agility games played for competition and fun around the world.

Making a Small Difference

I woke up this morning determined to make some small difference as our country and the world suffers the ravages of the COVID19 pandemic.

I’ve heard it said before that if one person dies, it is a tragedy. But when a million die, it’s a statistic. I hate that idea and reject it down to my soul.

The horrible thing about this virus is the terrible end that it brings to people. A sick and dying person is surrounded by people in masks, and as they endure their last wrenching painful bit of life, they cannot be near the people they love, cannot feel their touch or hug or kiss. They die lonely and abandoned in a nightmarish world.

Compound this tragedy with an economy that has collapsed. We now have millions of people who suffer and despair because their jobs have gone away and there aren’t prospects for new jobs. People are going to starve.

Each year I have set aside a month of income from the National Dog Agility League for some terrible humanitarian disaster in the world. A couple years ago it was the flooding in Houston. Last year was the ravaging of Bermuda by hurricane Dorian.

Today the NDAL has come to a complete stop which is a fair reflection of an economy that has come to a stop. Anyone with a shred of common sense is staying hunkered down and will rarely go out in the world… and wear masks and gloves when they do. At any rate, there is no mad money from the NDAL for charitable causes.

Therefore…

 

The Garden League

I propose a “Garden League”, an agility competition that anyone in the world can play so long as they have a small yard (garden) and a bit of agility equipment. We’ll play some fun games, and a new one every week.

And from this I hope to raise a bit of money. I intend to donate 20% of income from recording fees and dog registrations to Chef Jose Andres World Kitchen.

The first game has been published here: The Garden League

Collecting individual results is going to be a boatload of work. Maybe we’ll manage only three or four full teams (you’ll have to read the Rules and Stipulations to understand what constitutes a Team.

 

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Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com. Visit our web store: www.dogagility.org/newstore. You’ll find in the web store The Book of Agility Games, a comprehensive reference to all manner of agility games played for competition and fun around the world.

Social Distancing ~ Lesson Plan #4 ~ Named Obstacle Discrimination

This is a lesson plan that ideally requires an A-frame (or dogwalk) and a pipe tunnel. But, don’t you know, if you have a small space and not a lot of big agility equipment, the basics of the training can be satisfied with a box with the ends knocked out (as a substitute for the tunnel)… and a board on brick (as a substitute for a contact obstacle.

I published much of this lesson plan less than a year ago. But then… a year ago most people weren’t confined to home with the prospect of or the ambition for actually doing homework.

This is the Named Obstacle Discrimination. The basic idea is that you can teach a dog the names of the obstacles and subsequently rely on the “name” you use in your verbal conversation with your dog to designate what obstacle the dog should perform.

That’s the theory, anyhow.

 

Our training discussion for the next several days are based on the NDAL April 2020 Masters league course, in which we play a game called “the Box Game.”

The Box Game is the invention of USDAA judge, Brian McGunigle. Brian conceived this game for a USDAA Starter/Novice-only trial held by ARFF in Massachusetts in 1999. People said they had fun running the game. One of the club members later reported to Brian to say they had subsequently used it in class for training.

The course, you’ll note, is of my own design. It’s not a terribly easy game to design because on balance the handler should be able to solve the distance riddle working exclusively inside the box; and equally solve the distance riddle by never stepping inside the box. In either case the dog will earn 20 bonus points (without regard to performance faults).

The Box Game is scored Time, Plus Faults, Less Bonus.

I have already run this game with my boy Kory. His run went like this:

 

Teaching Named Obstacle Discrimination

I have tried here to arrange below recordings I have done while teaching the Named Obstacle Discrimination to my dogs. These should demonstrate the simple praise and reward methodology. I refrain, as much as possible from editing out small failures because, in real life, small failures are a part of the training adventure.

I’m hoping that you will appreciate pictures, and I will spare you the theory and lecture.

You know, I remember the first time I ever saw a tunnel under an A-frame. It was at the USDAA Nationals in Houston Texas in 1993 on a course designed by Kenneth Tatsch. My boy, Winston the Wonder Dog, took the wrong-course obstacle. <sigh>

I went home determined to solve the riddle of to the “obstacle discrimination”. And frankly, I studied and developed some very reliable handling solutions.

At the end of the day, turns out, it shouldn’t be a matter of handling at all. What if I were to actually teach my dog the names of the obstacles so I didn’t have to handle at all. Instead, I could just give my dog the information and trust in training.

Dog Training Riddle

Having arrived at the wild notion that we will teach the dog the names of the obstacles the dog trainer has to figure out the methodology.

First the Tunnel

We start with the tunnel with the handler blocking approach the A-frame. Give a strong “Tunnel” command and release the dog. Praise and reward, so long as the dog goes in the tunnel.

In very small incremental steps the handler begins each rep slightly farther from the tunnel. This takes the handler out of a blocking position. The training will rely on the very basic training principle; the dog get’s praised and rewarded when he gets it right. But when the dog gets it wrong the trainer very neutrally denies both praise and reward.

While the drawings above are nice and neat, I would be remiss not to share some of the painful beginnings of the dog training journey. It’s not all perfect and pretty, to be sure. Keep statistics. Over time the numbers will lift your spirits.

The following video comes from meal-time training.

This video is a bit of a training mix. It illustrates a dogged training approach to our Named obstacle discrimination journey.

Move on to the A-frame

After fairly mastering the tunnel, the same method needs to be applied to the A‑frame. Initially the handler positions the dog directly in front of the A-frame while taking a blocking position on the tunnel.

Again, very gradually move back the starting position so that the tunnel is exposed as a wrong-course option. Be mindful that you only praise and reward successful tries.

Mixing and Random Alternating

Up to a point you concentrate on one obstacle or another. The repetition gives immediate reinforcement. But the dog might be cleverly extracting reward from her trainer. So, before too long you have to ask the question… do you know what it is I’m asking for.

This is a good time to begin keeping statistics on rate of success. You know that if you’re working around the 50% mark you should probably go back to a previous step for remediation. But if that number rises, you know you’re on the right track.

This exercise is a bit like throwing horse shoes. We introduce the approach to the A-frame/tunnel with a jump to establish movement. And then we ask the question… “do you know what I’m asking you to do?”

Increasing Distance

Don’t be too happy and content with simple tests of your training. What you really want to do when training Named Obstacle Discrimination is to test the skill from a fair distance. The whole point of the training was to have confidence in your dog’s understanding of which obstacle to take without the handler being in the middle of the picture micro-managing that performance.

What I would like to do here is stay behind the dotted line while my dog works forward. From a fair distance, I can ask the question… “do you know what I’m asking?”

This exercise has a couple prerequisite skills… notably, left and right.

While Cedar had a successful workout, demonstrated by the video, I am very aware that skills like this need constant reinforcement and refreshment.

Editor’s Note: There were several other recordings of this training series. To present them here would have dragged the story down a bit with the repetitive nature of dog training. That being said, look at these pictures and videos as an overview. It is worthwhile to note, however, that the entire training endeavor took less than three weeks with daily practice.

Proofing

This was an NDAL league play game back in August of 2015. It’s a distance gamble kind of game. The dog earns bonus points for working the dog at a distance. Obviously, this demands proofing of “Named Obstacle” discrimination.

My boy Kory had a pretty good showing. And I feel no embarrassment that I designed a game for league play that tests a skill that I take pains to teach my dogs.

In retrospect, I’m amazed that Kory could hear my commands with all the barking (my other dogs) in the background.

Plans for Tomorrow

The lesson plan for the April 60×90 Masters game suggest quite a few training . missions. I’ll try to demonstrate several of them before I put this game away and work on the next game. Although the National Dog Agility League has pretty much come to a complete stop…

I will continue to run the league courses.

The April 2020 National Dog Agility League games and courses have been published here:

 

https://wp.me/p2Pu8l-dj

If you have the capacity to put these courses up in your back yard, I would be delighted to include your dog’s results (and youtube video?) in the historical results.

 

Follow NDAL on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopDogAgilityPlayers/

Read the NDAL blog: https://topdogagilityplayers.wordpress.com/

 

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Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com. Visit our web store: www.dogagility.org/newstore. You’ll find in the web store The Book of Agility Games, a comprehensive reference to all manner of agility games played for competition and fun around the world.

Social Distancing ~ Lesson Plan #3 ~ The Back Pass

This is a lesson plan that requires not much space and no agility equipment, and yet will allow you to teach your dog a valuable skill.

This is the Back Pass.

Teaching the Back Pass

I have tried here to arrange below recordings I have done while teaching the Back Pass to my dogs. These should that demonstrate the simple praise and reward methodology. I refrain, as much as possible from editing out small failures because, in real life, small failures are a part of the training adventure.

I’m hoping that you will appreciate pictures, and I will spare you the theory and lecture.

 

CedarComeByIntro

 

CedarComeBContinued

 

Prim Back Pass:

 

PhoenixBackPass.wvm

 

Back Pass in Competition; squaring to the weave poles:

 

PhoenixNewMovementIntro

 

BackPass4backsidejump

 

Plans for Tomorrow

I’m going to write a lesson plan for the April 60×90 Masters game. It’s a “distance” game, which means that dogs with powerful independent performance skills will have advantage.

You should know that the National Dog Agility League has pretty much come to a complete stop… just like most of the civilized world. We are in the midst of a dreadful pandemic, a nasty and too deadly virus.

But “shelter in place” pretty much suits me. And I will continue to run the league courses.

The April 2020 National Dog Agility League games and courses have been published here:

https://wp.me/p2Pu8l-dj

 

Follow NDAL on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TopDogAgilityPlayers/

Read the NDAL blog:
https://topdogagilityplayers.wordpress.com/

BLOG1484 Home

Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston Houston.Bud@gmail.com. Visit our web store: www.dogagility.org/newstore. You’ll find in the web store The Book of Agility Games, a comprehensive reference to all manner of agility games played for competition and fun around the world.