Daisy Peel: Recent Episodes
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I want to talk about a game most of you already play: It’s Your Choice. Closed fist, treat inside. Dog pulls toward it, hand stays shut. Dog backs off, hand opens.
(If you want to skip to a video of me demonstrating how I train my conditioned reinforcers (markers) and conditioned punishers (no reward markers), jump to the video below, from my puppy blog with my current puppy, Alice!)
Simple, right? Here’s the part that gets glossed over or not mentioned at all, and it’s arguably the most important lesson that the It’s Your Choice procedure is all about: the moment your hand closes on that cookie is absolutely a punishment event. You’re taking away something the dog wanted and expected.
It’s called ‘negative punishment’.
And if that closure happens with zero warning; no cue, no sound, nothing, which is how we’ve been taught to play the game, typically, then your dog experiences it as a sudden contradiction of what they THOUGHT was about to happen.
We tend to think of this as a fairly benign game that we play with our puppies, but closing that fist is far from a neutral event. I’ll go one farther, and say I think it’s not FAIR. This is definitely a change in my thinking from when I started out as a dog trainer. But, as I’ve continued to strive to be clearer in my communication, fairer to my dogs, and more interested in welfare and developing resilience in my dogs, my thinking has changed.
This blog post is me explaining HOW and WHY my thinking has changed, with the hope that you too can benefit from these insights when it comes to your own journey as a dog trainer.
Why I think “fair” is the right word hereFair doesn’t mean easy. It doesn’t mean we never say no. It means the dog gets to KNOW the rules of the game before we enforce them.
Think about it from your dog’s side: if you got in trouble for breaking a rule you were never told existed, you wouldn’t just be frustrated — you’d feel like the ground shifted under you. That’s what an unsignalled punishment does. The dog had every reason to expect the treat. Then, without warning, they didn’t get it. No signal, no way to see it coming, no way to understand what changed.
Now compare that to a game where a consistent sound or word, a.k.a. a no-reward marker – tells the dog “that’s not it” a half-second before the hand closes. Same outcome but different experience.
The dog isn’t just reacting to a surprise anymore. They’re getting information they can actually use.
This isn’t just a feeling. It’s backed by real researchDecades of learning theory research1 point the same direction: signaled consequences, even negative ones, are less distressing than unsignalled ones, because a reliable signal also tells the animal when they’re safe.
Take the signal away, and you take away the safety along with it; the whole game becomes less predictable, and more “anything could happen at any moment.”
There’s a parallel body of work on what happens when an expected reward doesn’t show up. Psychologists call it frustrative nonreward2. The finding that matters most for us: it’s not the missing reward itself that’s the problem, it’s the gap between what the animal expected and what actually happened. An unsignalled hand-close maximizes that gap. A marker narrows it.
What this actually looks like in practice – AliceLike I said, I’ve been playing ‘It’s Your Choice’ type games for literally decades with my puppies, and it’s only been recently that my thinking has changed regarding the signalment of conditioned reinforcers (verbal markers) as well as conditioned punishers (no reward verbal markers). Because of that desire to constantly up my game with my communication with my dogs, I built it into how I’m raising my current puppy, Alice, from the start.
Right alongside “yes” and “good”, my two reward markers, I taught her a no-reward marker just as deliberately. Not as an afterthought, not as a tone-of-voice thing, but as its own clear cue with its own clear meaning. She learned it in It’s Your Choice. She learned it in place/bed training. Same consistency, same clarity, every single time.
The results have been nothing short of astonishing to watch. Alice knows what my NRM means. Not because I raised my voice. Not because I got quiet or disappointed or did any of the emotional signaling so many of us default to when we want a dog to know they got it wrong. Just a word, delivered the same way every time, that tells her “not that”, and she adjusts, without any drama on either end of the leash.
That’s the whole point. She’s not guessing what my silence or my face means. She knows.
The bigger problem with NOT using a No Reward Marker: what “no response” starts to meanHere’s the part that should really worry competitors. If you never use an NRM, your dog doesn’t just miss out on clarity in the moment; they start drawing their own conclusions about silence itself.
Think about what “neutral” has to mean for duration behaviors to work at all. A start line stay. A table. A weave entry hold. In every one of these, your dog has to sit in a stretch of “nothing is happening yet” and trust that nothing happening is fine. They have to know that that silence isn’t a verdict and just means “keep doing what you’re doing”.
If the only information your dog ever gets is reward or nothing, “nothing” becomes overloaded.
It starts to mean two completely different things at once: sometimes it means “keep going, you’re fine,” and sometimes it means “that was wrong.” The dog has no way to tell those apart. So don’t be surprised if you start seeing creeping, checking in, breaking stays early, or a dog who can’t hold still without constant reassurance… Your dog’s not being disobedient, they’re trying to solve a problem you never gave them the tools to solve.
An NRM fixes this by taking “wrong” out of the neutral zone entirely. Silence goes back to meaning what it should: keep doing what you’re doing.
Now, duration is just duration, not a dog anxiously scanning you for a verdict every half second.
What this doesn’t meanI’m not saying every unsignalled moment is a welfare crisis, and I’m not saying frustration has no place in training. Inciting and then managing frustration is how impulse control gets built. What I AM saying is: if you’re already marking the right choice, mark the wrong one too. That’s not softness. That’s just finishing a sentence you already started.
The takeawayFair training tells the dog what’s coming — the good and the not-so-good. If you want your dog to trust the process, they need to be able to predict it.
If this got you thinking about your own training, share it with someone else who needs to hear it or who you’d like to discuss it with! Forward them this blog post, or point them to www.daisypeel.com/start to get started.
P.S. If you’re intrigued and want some more resources to look at to dig deeper in to topics like this, here’s some further reading for you:
- MacDonald, L. (1973). The Relative Aversiveness of Signalled versus Unsignalled Shock-Punishment. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Free full text (direct test of signaled vs. unsignalled punishment)
- Badia, P., Harsh, J., Coker, C., & Abbott, B. (1976). Choice and the Dependability of Stimuli that Predict Shock and Safety. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Free full text (predictability reduces stress)
- Badia, P., & Culbertson, S. (1972). The Relative Aversiveness of Signalled vs Unsignalled Escapable and Inescapable Shock. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Free full text (animals consistently prefer a signaled version of an aversive event)
- Fernando, A., Urcelay, G., Mar, A., Dickinson, A., & Robbins, T. (2014). Safety Signals as Instrumental Reinforcers During Free-Operant Avoidance. Learning & Memory. Free full text (shows how a safety signal itself becomes something animals will work FOR)
- Bertoglio et al. (2024). Frustrative Nonreward: Behavior, Circuits, Neurochemistry, and Disorders. Journal of Neuroscience. Free full text(covers the “expected reward doesn’t show up” side — the mechanism behind the It’s Your Choice example)
Quick note: the first four studies were done with shock/avoidance paradigms, not withheld treats. They’re the foundational research on predictability and aversive events in general, not agility-specific. The frustrative nonreward review is the one that maps most directly onto what happens when a dog expects a reward and doesn’t get it.
The post The Missing Half Of “It’s Your Choice” appeared first on Daisy Peel.
There’s a bunch of stuff going on in our lives right now, and every time I sit down to document another training session, I wonder if it’s worth it — it can feel like a lot of the same stuff over and over again. But that’s what good dog training actually is.
Good dog training is doing the same thing over and over with the same enthusiasm you had the first time, and the 100,000th time, with small bits of progress along the way.
That’s the whole idea behind Alice in Wonderland – the real-time record of raising and training my puppy Alice from day one. And one thing I keep coming back to with her is that you can’t work on everything at once. There have to be priorities.
In the very beginning, there’s not a ton of time for tricks and flashy stuff, because all the bandwidth goes toward socialization, recalls, food manners, house manners, potty training. Once some of that becomes automatic, I don’t stop working on it; I keep it going in the background. But, I get to start folding in new behaviors on top of it, the ones I’ll actually be using for agility and obedience down the road. Right now that’s backing up, heelwork, and positions, all stacked on top of everything that came before.
If you’ve ever felt behind with your own dog – like everyone else is out there teaching contacts and weave poles and you’re still working on a solid recall – I want you to hear this: you’re not behind.
You’re just at the stage where the foundation work is the priority, and that’s exactly where it should be. Nobody starts a puppy or a green dog by doing everything at once. You pick what matters most right now, you get it solid enough that it doesn’t need your full attention anymore, and then you add the next thing.
That’s it. That’s the whole system.I’ll also mention — as of today, Alice isn’t getting her usual walk. She ran down the stairs last night, ended up on the landing between two flights, squeaking and holding up a back leg. Fine this morning, then packed the leg again after getting up, so she’s on crate rest for a couple of days. Great for all of us. (That’s sarcasm.)
There’s so much content already in the Alice in Wonderland — Puppy Development Blog waiting for you to check it out. Members have full access, and if you’re not a member, grab the free 3-week preview here:
Alice is growing fast! Check out what’s in the puppy blog so far, there’s a TON, and I’m adding new stuff every day! And, feel free to pass along this email if somebody you know has a puppy and could benefit from watching!
The post You can’t teach everything all at once; how to decide what’s NEXT appeared first on Daisy Peel.
If you don’t have a helper for restrained recalls, here’s how I do it solo! I’m using a Biothane long line — no handle, slippery, nothing for it to snag on — and threading it through the leg of my dog walk. The dog walk’s sturdy, so I know it’s not moving. Toy in one hand, line in the other, and before I walk off I make sure Alice is lined up so the tension pulls straight back, not twisting her in the harness.
Check out the video of this training:
I build a little tension, a little frustration, then release right as I say “Alice, come.” Short recall, but a good rep. I do equal numbers left and right. It’s not a big distance recall, but it’s a solid alternative when you’re on your own — just make sure your setup is safe: nothing for the line to catch on, nothing that’ll tip over, and you’re not going to get tangled in it yourself.
Alice’s also decided grabbing my leg on the way in is fun. Cute now, not going to stay cute on a 60-pound dog — that’s going on the list of things to eliminate before it becomes a real problem. But, not yet, because I still think it’s cute
The other option in this one is a food-toss recall, using the tunnel as a barrier for a little game of chase. I scatter a handful of treats, she goes for them, and I get to the other side before she finishes. This one has a short shelf life — the second she figures out she can just go over the tunnel instead of around it, the barrier stops working. You can already see it happening by the end: she starts giving up on the treats early because chasing me is more interesting, which is your sign the exercise is about done.
Both are good tools when you’re training alone — just know the food-toss game is going to expire fast once your dog gets wise to it.
Both are good tools when you’re training alone — just know the food-toss game is going to expire fast once your dog gets wise to it.
There’s so much content already in the Alice in Wonderland — Puppy Development Blog that it’s way more than I could put in emails. Members have full access, and if you’re not a member, grab the free 3-week preview here:
Alice is growing fast! Check out what’s in the puppy blog so far, there’s a TON, and I’m adding new stuff every day! And, feel free to pass along this email if somebody you know has a puppy and could benefit from watching!
The post How to Nail Restrained Recalls With Your Puppy (Even If You’re Training Solo) appeared first on Daisy Peel.
If somebody’s definition of “reinforcement-based” excludes anyone who also uses corrections, that’s a strawman – they’re distorting what balanced trainers actually do to keep you in their marketing sphere. That’s not curiosity and they’re not describing training. They’re drawing a line in the sand so they can stand on their self-appointed high ground.
And, if somebody’s version of “curious” only extends to trainers who already agree with them, that’s not curiosity. That’s a marketing echo chamber with better branding.
The best modern dog trainers don’t need that line in the sand; they already know reinforcement-based training is the obvious BASELINE, not the whole system. Consequences, applied thoughtfully and fairly, are part of how a dog learns to trust the process, not the opposite of it. Any trainer still pretending otherwise hasn’t caught up. And any trainer still deciding who counts as a great trainer based on which tools someone uses isn’t asking questions. They’re just gatekeeping.
Staying curious isn’t easy. It means risking the wrath of a tribe that isn’t always ready – or interested – in growth. A lot of people would rather have the comfort and security of belonging to a tribe than do the sometimes difficult work of actually becoming a better dog trainer, and I don’t blame or judge them for that – it’s human nature. We all do it in one sphere of our lives or another.
But, as with fitness, nutrition, dog training, you name it – REAL growth, REAL curiosity, often means looking inward and questioning not just the beliefs of the tribe, but your OWN beliefs, as well as your OWN reactions to things that SHOULD invoke curiosity.
The post When “Stay Curious” actually means “stick with me” appeared first on Daisy Peel.
Tool Habituation: Why I Put a Prong Collar on Alice Before I Ever Plan to Use OneThis one’s about a topic that tends to make people twitchy: prong collars, tools, and aversives.
Here’s the thing. “Aversives as a last resort” sounds responsible, but it’s actually unfair to the dog. If you’re ever going to use a tool — and if that tool has any aversive quality to it — the dog deserves to know how it works and how to avoid or escape it before it’s ever actually used on them. Not in the moment you need it. Before.
This is a piece of Michael Ellis’s philosophy (I’m reviewing and enjoying a lot of his content as a member of his online platform) that I didn’t know or think to apply with any of my previous dogs, and it applies to way more than prong and e-collars. Crates, flat collars, leashes — any equipment at all.
Tool habituation just means: put it on the puppy, let them wear it, go about your life. Nothing attached, nothing turned on. It’s just another collar for now. The goal is for it to just be “background noise” by the time you want to start using it.
I didn’t do this with Dude or Savi and they turned out fine. But there’s no good reason not to do it this way, so that’s what I’m doing with Alice.
What’s Next: Head Halters and a MuzzleEventually I’ll do the same thing with a head halter and a muzzle. The muzzle is the one I’m most careful about — I may never actually need one with Alice, but if I ever do, I don’t want her first experience with it to be layered on top of an already stressful moment.
The head halter, on the other hand, I’ll almost certainly use — it’s my go-to with Dude, Savi, and Vida at competitions since it’s allowed across all the agility organizations.
The Prong Collar’s Bad RapPersonally, I think a prong collar is the “nicer” option of the two for the dog — nothing’s on the dog’s face. But between the way it looks and how misunderstood its use is, I think it gets a bad rap and isn’t allowed on site at agility (or most) competitions.
There’s so much content already in the Alice in Wonderland — Puppy Development Blog that it’s way more than I could put in emails. Members have full access, and if you’re not a member, grab the free 3-week preview here:
Alice is growing fast! Check out what’s in the puppy blog so far, there’s a TON, and I’m adding new stuff every day! And, feel free to pass along this email if somebody you know has a puppy and could benefit from watching!
Yours,
Daisy
HereToHelp@DaisyPeel.com
The post Why I Put a Prong Collar on My Puppy Before I Ever Plan to Use One appeared first on Daisy Peel.
I want to talk about something that trips a lot of puppy owners up: socialization. It’s high on my mind as I work on socialization with Alice, and of course, you can see a TON of content on her training as well as my thoughts on how to raise up a solid puppy of any breed, by checking out the Alice In Wonderland Puppy Development Blog, which I’ve been updating nearly every day since Alice came home!
What IS socialization?You can read my thoughts below, OR, check out this video of me talking about what socialization is!
Join the FREE 3-week Preview of Daisy's Puppy Blog! The form can be filled in the actual website url. Skip → Play Pause Backward 10s Play Pause Forward 10s Unmute Mute / Closed-Captions Off Closed-Captions On Settings Playback Accessibility Announcements Keyboard Animations Captions Enter PiP Exit PiP Enter Fullscreen Exit Fullscreen Join The FREE Preview of the Alice In Wonderland Puppy Blog today! The mental image most people have is a dog park full of wiggly puppies and a dozen hands reaching in to pet them. That’s not what good early socialization looks like — and the difference actually matters a lot.
Socialization isn’t about exposure to as much as possible.
It’s about the quality of each experience. For Alice, who’s still building confidence, the formula is simple: novel environment, short duration, steady stream of really good treats. That’s the whole thing. Every outing ends before the Alice runs out of steam — or before I run out of treats, whichever comes first.
Here’s the part people get wrong: there’s a real difference between a puppy encountering the world and a puppy being asked to interact with it. A planter, a statue, a flag flapping around — predictable, no big deal, Alice can investigate on her own time. People and dogs are a different category entirely. They move unpredictably. They approach. Making a puppy manage a stranger’s approach — human or canine — before she’s ready isn’t socialization, it’s pressure. And pressure at the wrong time teaches the wrong lesson.
Right now my only goal is building a dog who thinks the world is a place where good things happen. Direct interaction comes later, once that foundation is solid.
Environment matters too — a lot. A vet clinic during off-hours, when it’s quiet and predictable, is a completely different experience than the same clinic at 9am on a Monday. Scouting ahead and knowing what I’m walking into before Alice is even out of the car makes or breaks the outing. And if we get somewhere and it’s more than Alice can handle that day? Standing by the car and feeding cookies in the parking lot isn’t a consolation prize — that is the session.
I’m aiming for two or three short outings a week. As familiar spots become easy for Alice, I save those for the end of an outing and use the fresh, early part of the trip for something new and a little harder. Leave every environment on a good note, while there are still treats left and before she’s had a chance to worry about anything.
If you’re already a member: this same low-pressure, environment-first framework runs through the foundations content — worth a rewatch as you’re planning your own pup’s early outings.
If you’re following the free preview: this is exactly the kind of real, in-the-weeds documentation you get for three weeks — not just the wins, but the actual thinking behind each decision.
There’s so much content already in the Alice in Wonderland — Puppy Development Blog that it’s way more than I could put in emails. Members have full access, and if you’re not a member, grab the free 3-week preview here:
Alice is growing fast! Check out what’s in the puppy blog so far, there’s a TON, and I’m adding new stuff every day! And, feel free to pass along this email if somebody you know has a puppy and could benefit from watching!
Yours,
Daisy
HereToHelp@DaisyPeel.com
The post Puppy Socialization: What Most Owners Get Wrong appeared first on Daisy Peel.
These posts lag waaaay behind what’s actually in the Alice In Wonderland Puppy Development Blog, but I thought I’d keep you updated! Here goes:
Monday afternoon (6-15) and Tuesday morning (6-16) were packed — here’s what we got up to.
After the morning chaos of June 15th, I took Alice downstairs to the basement for the first time. When the dogs are up in the kitchen it sounds like a thundering herd overhead, so she was a little distracted — but not too much. That’s actually a good diagnostic. Vida took a LONG time to be okay with that overhead noise when we were training downstairs, so I was happy to see Alice take it mostly in stride.
Then we headed out — her first real outing. I took her to a local coffee shop that has a quiet little patio where we could just sit and enjoy a cold coffee in the shade. I positioned myself facing the door so I could see when somebody was about to come by or come out, and made sure that any new person entering the environment meant cookies for Alice. Once she was comfortable she let me know by chewing on the picnic bench and the umbrella stand. So. It was a good outing. No video on that one, but that’s the kind of session I want early on — quiet, low pressure, positive associations, and no agenda beyond just being somewhere new together.
George and I wrapped up the evening just hanging out in the backyard — good weather, good company, a puppy burning off steam.
Then June 16th AM: we got into some real work. Blender habituation, Dremel habituation, and — finally — actual crate games. I’ll be real: up until now it’s been mostly me shoveling her into the crate and relying on puppy compliance and the foundation her breeder built. Which works for a minute, but it was time to do it properly. We also got a kitchen session in covering name recognition and some toy play, and I continue to be thrilled at how focused she is with the other dogs milling around. It means a lot less management for now — though I’m not taking that for granted.
All the videos from June 15th-16th are collected in a YouTube playlist so you can watch in order or jump around – click HERE to check them out.
The videos and full write-up for this day, as well as every day between June 16th and TODAY, are in the Alice in Wonderland — Puppy Development Blog. Members have full access, and if you’re not a member, grab the free 3-week preview here:
Alice is growing fast! Check out what’s in the puppy blog so far, there’s a TON, and I’m adding new stuff every day! And, feel free to pass along this email if somebody you know has a puppy and could benefit from watching!
Yours,
Daisy
HereToHelp@DaisyPeel.com
The post Alice in Wonderland Puppy Development Update: First Outing, Crate Games, and Habituation Training Videos appeared first on Daisy Peel.
Alice’s first weekend with me happened to also be a trial weekend — I packed up all the dogs and headed to the UKI Midwest Cup. My results were nothing to write home about (I was still running on fumes from my bodybuilding competition less than a week prior, honestly), but for Alice it was a big deal. Hotel stay, long drive, busy trial environment — a lot of new all at once.
Because she’s so new to the world — and to me — I kept it simple. She only went inside the trial building twice the whole weekend. Both times, we just found a chair, sat down, ate some food, and watched the world go by. That’s it. No introductions, no “socializing,” no agenda. I just wanted to see how she’d take it, and I wanted her first experience of that environment to be a calm one.
We had a great shady parking spot, and in between I ran some short sessions out at the car — working on ‘yes’ and ‘good,’ a little clicker work, some nose touches to hand. Short, positive, and low pressure.
This is what early exposure actually looks like when you do it right. Not pushing, not flooding, not trying to tick boxes. Just letting her absorb the world at a pace that sets her up to succeed.
The video and full write-up from the weekend are in the Alice in Wonderland — Puppy Development Blog. Members have full access, and if you’re not a member, grab the free 3-month preview here:
Alice is growing fast! Check out what’s in the puppy blog so far, there’s a TON, and I’m adding new stuff every day! And, feel free to pass along this email if somebody you know has a puppy and could benefit from watching!
Yours,
Daisy
HereToHelp@DaisyPeel.com
The post Alice’s First UKI Agility Trial Weekend: Calm Puppy Exposure and Early Training Tips appeared first on Daisy Peel.
A few days ago I introduced you to Alice. Today I want to talk a little about what her training is actually going to look like — because it’s pretty different from what I’ve done before.
If you’ve been through Performance Puppy ABCs over at the Agility Challenge, you know that course puts a strong emphasis on teaching behaviors. And it’s a good course! But my thinking has evolved a lot since then, and with Alice I’m taking a different approach from the start.
These days, I’m much less interested in rushing to behaviors, and much more interested in building what I think of as the TOOLS — the foundation that behaviors will eventually be built on. Things like:
- Verbal markers — conditioned reinforcers and punishers (good, yes, search, get it, strike…). Different markers for different situations, different reinforcers. Getting these solid early makes everything else easier later.
- Play, motivation, and engagement — developing a genuine desire to work with me, not just a dog that performs when food is present.
- Equipment habituation — harness, crate, ex pen, leash, place bed. And later, any other tools I might want to use. She’ll wear them long before they ever mean anything, so they’re just a normal part of life.
- Behavioral baselines — figuring out her thresholds, her food drive, her play drive, and how all of that shifts in different environments. This is what actually informs a training plan.
- Recalls, potty training, life skills.
- And what I’ll loosely call “socialization” — though that word doesn’t really capture what I mean. My goal isn’t a super social dog. My goal is a dog that’s neutral to other people and dogs, and can stay focused on her work regardless of the environment.
It’s a slower build on the surface, but it sets up everything that comes after so much better. I’m excited to show you what this looks like in practice with Alice.
It’s all going up in the Alice in Wonderland — Puppy Development Blog. If you’re already a member, you’ve got access to the whole thing.
If you’re NOT a member, I’ve set up a free 3-month preview so you can follow along for a while, by clicking HERE.
Puppy training is the most fun training, and I’m excited to start a puppy off a bit differently than I have in the past. Don’t miss out on following along!
Yours,
Daisy
HereToHelp@DaisyPeel.com
The post Alice’s Puppy Training Plan: Building Foundations with Markers, Engagement, Neutral Socialization, and Life Skills appeared first on Daisy Peel.
Things have been super crazy around here, even busier than usual! In the midst of all of the crazy (bodybuilding show, ESPN agility event, life on the farm), a few weeks ago, I flew out to California to pick up…a puppy! And no, it’s not a border collie! This is how it went:
Saturday: bodybuilding competition
Sunday: agility for tv competition
Monday: drive home
Tuesday: fly to CA to pick up this super cool little creature
Wednesday:back to Ohio
Yep, she’s a Malinois. I love training dogs and working with clients and their dogs, but to be honest, I rarely really ‘connect’ with somebody else’s dog right away, beyond a surface level “let’s do some stuff together”. I’d been toying with the idea of a Malinois at some point in the next decade, but then in the past couple of months, multiple times, I got to work/play with three different Mals, all girls, and I swear every single one looked at me like they were taking measure of me and saying “I see you” in a way I just can’t say I’ve experienced with somebody else’s dog ever, really. Each experience only lasted a few moments, but really stuck with me. That feeling of “I see you” usually doesn’t exist between a dog and me until we’ve been together a while, sometimes a long while.
So, when I happened to catch Michael Ellis’s Instagram video of this girl saying she was available, I reached out. And a week later, there I was, picking her up. Right away, she was taking measure of me to see if I will measure up. It’s a really cool feeling and I’m super excited about this adventure
Her name is Alice, and I’m documenting her entire puppy training journey over at The Agility Challenge in the Alice in Wonderland — Puppy Development Blog. If you’re already a member, you’ve got access to the whole thing.
If you’re NOT a member, I’ve set up a free 3-month preview so you can follow along for a while, by clicking HERE.
Puppy training is the most fun training, and I’m excited to start a puppy off a bit differently than I have in the past. Don’t miss out on following along!
Yours,
Daisy
HereToHelp@DaisyPeel.com
The post How Daisy Got a Belgian Malinois Puppy: Alice’s Training Journey on The Agility Challenge appeared first on Daisy Peel.
This week’s tip is more good news for those of you who are training mostly alone – according to Daniel Coyle, author of The Little Book of Talent – which serves as the source material for all these tips – training solo is the way to go. He says that practicing solo is the best way to:
- Seek out the sweet spot at the edge of your ability
- Develop discipline because it doesn’t depend on others.
He cites a classic study of musicians, where world class performers were compared to top amateurs. The researchers found that the two groups were similar in every practice variable except one: The world class performers spent FIVE TIMES as many hours practicing alone.
Of course, dog training is for many of us a social activity, and that’s GREAT! Training with friends has many benefits as well – emotional support, camaraderie, another set of eyes on you and your dog to tell you what’s happening when you blink (because otherwise you’re watching your dog intently of course!). But, don’t for one moment think that if most of your training is done alone, you’re missing out or falling behind. The vast majority of my own training is done alone; it’s very rare that I have a training partner other than my dogs. While I prefer having others around when it comes time to work on tough courses or sequences (soft skills), I much prefer to work on my own when it comes to training, particularly the hard skills. I’m more focused, less distracted, and can be more flexible with the direction I go in a given training session, in order to stay at that sweet spot at the edge of my and my dog’s abilities. Certainly, training alone requires discipline! But, once you make it a habit (because remember, training for a few minutes each day is much better than training for an hour once a week!), once that discipline is a habit, training alone can be very productive.
For dog training, you’re not likely to be bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, unless you’re working on your sprints so you can keep up with your dog! But, the training we do can be mentally taxing, for sure.
Holding ourselves accountable to stay sharp, to stay focused, and to stay in the sweet spot at the edge of our abilities when we’re alone is important – it’s not what happens in class each week, during that one or two hour period of time! It’s what happens when you’re at home, in your back yard, or your basement, by yourself, with your dog, working on the things you’ve set out to work on, with purpose!
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As dog trainers, I think we’re probably a step ahead of many in other pursuits with this one. If you’re going out to practice with your dog to do ‘drills’, you’ll likely find that your dog gets disinterested pretty quickly. Most of us work hard to figure out how to weave training in to games we play with our dogs, so that our dogs don’t really know the difference between play and training! I know I do. Training is play is training.
The term ‘drill’ evokes a sense of drudgery and meaninglessness. It’s mechanical, repetitive, and boring – as the saying goes, drill and kill. Games, on the other hand, are just the opposite! They mean fun, connectedness, and passion – all the things we want with our dogs on and off the agility course! And because of that, skills improve faster when they’re looked at through the lens of games, rather than just drills.
In The Little Book of Talent, Daniel Coyle gives us some examples of world-class performers who engaged in small, addictive games to improve their skills.
- Young golfer Rory McIlroy chipping golf balls in to the family dryer
- Warren Buffett as a child going door to door selling chewing gum and trying to figure out which flavor sold best
- Keith Richards in the early days of The Rolling Stones trying to decode a riff on an old blues record
What these examples have in common is that they have a juicy, addictive sense of involvement, fun, and excitement.
As a dog trainer and handler, you’re not only a student (of the game, of your instructor, etc.), but you’re also a coach for your dog. And, good coaches, whether it’s to your dog or to your own agility students, share a knack for transforming the most mundane activities – especially the mundane activities – into games.
The governing principle is this: if it can be counted, it can be turned into a game. Working on sit stays can be boring if you let it. But, count the number of times you and your dog do a perfect sit stay and give yourself a point for each perfect sit stay, and it becomes a game. Track your progress, and see how many points you score over a week (of 5 minute a day training!). The next week, try to score more!
ADDENDUM FOR THIS WEEK:
Despite being able to look at a long list of accomplishments that clearly illustrate a level of skill, I’m not ashamed to say that I chronically feel a lack self-confidence these days. It just goes to show that regardless of what level of competition or skill you’re at, it’s still possible to feel not good enough, to doubt yourself and your skill. This is not something I say in an effort to garner compliments; really, no amount of complimenting changes that little voice inside my head that IS self-doubt. The only person who can really quiet that voice, or at least learn to ignore it when the evidence says it’s lying, is ME – and it’s the same with ALL of those of us who struggle with confidence!
I used to be pretty confident, arrogant even, about my skills. What changed? A lot of it in my case has to do with adopting the principles of purposeful practice, as well as the changing level of difficulty of the courses I love to run, and the increased amount of training required. As has been mentioned in previous Talent Tips, engaging in purposeful practice can be downright uncomfortable. Growth can be uncomfortable. And over the past few years, certainly, I have engaged in a LOT of growth, taking a different direction with my own training, learning to adapt and improve to meet the changing challenges of international courses as THEY constantly change.
Some of this is also a matter of framing, and over the past few years I’ve slowly but surely come around to viewing this discomfort and lack of absolute self-confidence as something else. After all, we can be at a competition and experience a range of physical sensations that we might describe as nerves, being anxious, being scared, terrified, etc., OR, we might describe those same physical sensations as being ready, aroused, aware, and up on our toes. Similarly, not being completely and totally confident in an outcome or in our abilities doesn’t need to mean that we should doubt our abilities, or ourselves.
If you’re interested in the sports psychology side of things and want to dig deeper, one of my favorite Sports Psychology audio courses, called The Pscyhology of Performance, is a great audio program to check out (you can find it HERE). In one section, the author asks an athlete to focus on her competitive performance with these questions:
- Do you know what the job is?
- Can you DO the job?
- WILL you do the job?
The athlete was going in to a game where she really wanted a certain level of performance to prove herself to the coach of the opposing team, who used to be HER coach, and she was also distracted by the presence of that coach on the opposite side of the court. But in the moment, during the game, or the run, those questions are really all that matter, especially the last one! So, these are the types of questions that I remind myself of at a competition if I feel like I’m getting distracted by mental chatter, instead of focusing on being fully in the present moment.
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In Daniel Coyle’s 18th Tip from The Little Book of Talent, he advises us to choose five minutes a day over an hour a week. Why is this? Well, he says that with deep practice, small daily practice “snacks” are more effective than once a week practice binges. This has to do with the way our brains grow – incrementally, a little each day, even as we sleep. Daily practice, even for 5 minutes, nourishes this process, while more occasional practice forces your brain to play catch-up. Music education pioneer Shinichi Suzuki says to “Practice on the days that you eat.”
How short can these daily training sessions or snacks be? Here’s an example from the book: Hans Jensen, a cello teacher at Northwestern University, provided an example when he taught a time-strapped medical student who desired to practice only two minutes a day. With the student, he worked systematically, breaking down a piece in to its component passages, tackling the toughest ones first. The student was able to learn a complex étude in just six weeks!! The key, as Jensen said, was total focus, and being ruthless about noticing and fixing every tiny mistake from the start.Even Jensen was shocked at how well it went.
This brings up an important point – being ruthless about noticing and fixing every tiny mistake from the start. I had a similar conversation with two different students on two separate occasions in the past few weeks, about noticing things. When asked if they had seen their dog do this or that on course, they reported no. They were running their dogs but basically unaware of what the dog was actually doing.
If you aren’t watching, if you aren’t seeing what your dog is doing in response to your cues, how will you know if your dog is doing what you’ve trained it to do, what you’ve cued it to do? If you don’t know, how will you know if you, or your dog made a mistake? The first step to being able to fix a mistake is to NOTICE that it happened! It’s almost more important than anything else – after all, if your handling isn’t great but you’re aware of the effects of your handling on your dog’s behavior, and you SEE it, you’re going to have much more information to work with than a handler who is lucky enough to have a dog who toes the line even when they’re not watching – we all know that most of us don’t get lucky enough to have that dog, and if we do, it rarely happens twice!
You’re much better off being aware, fully present and in the moment, and SEEING what your dog is doing, so that you can notice and fix mistakes you’re making with your handling, or, so that you can notice and fix mistakes you’ve made in your training. Note that nowhere in here am I putting this on the dog – the dog’s errors are either a result of OUR training, or OUR handling, so there’s no need to be ruthless to the dog – it is we who must hold ourselves to the highest standards for the sake of our dogs. After all, they are happiest when we are clear, concise, and communicative!
One of the other big advantages of daily 5-minute sessions over weekly binge sessions is that if you practice daily, even for a few minutes, it becomes a habit. The act of practicing, of making time to do it, and to do it well, can be thought of as a skill in itself, and it’s perhaps the most important skill of all! And with this, as with all things, you have to give it time, because remember, according to most research, establishing a new habit takes about thirty days.
So, with that in mind, do you have 5 minutes a day that you can set aside for focused, purposeful practice and training with your dog?
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This week’s Agility Challenge Talent Tip is…Embrace Struggle. Here’s an excerpt from Daniel Coyle’s Little Book of Talent:
At all of the talent hotbeds, from Moscow to Dallas to Brazil to New York, I saw the same facial expression: eyes narrow, jaw tight, nostrils flared, the face of someone intently reaching for something, falling short, and reaching again. This is not a coincidence. Deep practice has a telltale emotional flavor, a feeling that can be summed up in one word: struggle
~Daniel Coyle, The Little Book Of Talent
I’ve brought this up again and again, in podcast episodes, private lessons, workshops, online classes, Office Hours – you name it. Embracing struggle can itself be a struggle for me, and I know I’m not alone or unique in this, or it wouldn’t be written up in memes, motivational quotes telling me to embrace struggle, or the book that I reference in this mini-podcast episode each week. Even so, saying to embrace struggle, and knowing that embracing struggle is good is one thing – actually fully being able to be in that mindset is something entirely different, especially if it’s not a mindset that you were brought up with, or have ease getting on board with.
In his book, The Little Book Of Talent, Daniel Coyle points out what we all know – that most of us instinctively avoid struggle.
Struggle is uncomfortable.
It doesn’t feel good.
It feels like failure.
At any level in sport, but especially at the higher levels, and if you have an inexperienced teammate (I have two, currently!), or if you’re actively working to GET to a higher level in the sport, heading to a competition, running hard courses…it can really feel like a struggle, and then almost immediately, like failure. At the moment, I have two youngsters, both less than 3 years old, and we’re getting to the point where we have a lot of brilliance in our runs, but also, not so many CLEAR rounds. It’s just little stuff, sometimes just ONE little thing at this point, which, at the level we’re competing at, is pretty impressive for their age, but still, sometimes, it can feel like a struggle.
Many might ask why in the world would somebody continue to put themselves in the face of feeling frustrated, why would anybody want to struggle?
Well, when it comes to developing your talent, struggle isn’t an option – it’s a biological necessity.
As Coyle says, this might sound strange, but it’s the way evolution built us. The struggle and frustration you feel at the edges of your abilities – that uncomfortable burn of “almost, almost” – is the sensation of constructing new neural connections, a phenomenon that the UCLA psychologist Robert Bjork calls desirable difficulty. Your brain works just like your muscles – no pain, no gain.
Your brain works just like your muscles – no pain, no gain.
UCLA Psychologist Robert Bjork
I know this. I’ve heard this or read this 1,000 times. And yet, sometimes, I still feel uncomfortable struggling. I still battle the urge to back away from it and retreat to a more comfortable place. I’ve definitely gotten better with this, through what else…practice!
So, how do we GET comfortable with really embracing struggle? How do we GET to a point where we can stand tall, wade right in and rumble with struggle, and have the faith and confidence that not only will it result in growth, but that what we consider to be a struggle NOW will soon be within our comfort zone? Awareness and recognition of the benefits of struggling is key, but also, practicing struggle for the express purpose of improvement is also key. As dog trainers and handlers, we also have the added responsibility to make sure that we’re aware of how much struggle our dogs are engaged in while they’re learning.
Developing talent for us is not so dissimilar to developing talent for our dogs; as living, breathing creatures, they will need to undergo some struggle as well to form new neural connections. So, how do we ensure that while there may be some struggle required, it’s all part of a fun game, with a very motivating reward? As handlers, we may have some complex and maybe not even tangible motivators that keep us going despite struggle – but how can we set things up so that we develop our own talent AND the talents of our dogs? For me, from the time my dogs are puppies, I try to develop a sense of inquiry and a love for solving puzzles. Tasks may not be easy, but there is a lot of encouragement to persist, and high rates of reinforcement along the way for reaching clearly defined and well broken down goalposts, and big jackpots and genuine celebrations of success, particularly when I can tell that the task has been a struggle for the dog.
Take this recurring topic for the handling and training challenges, for example – sending to an obstacle. Moving away from the handler to take an obstacle that has been cued with only a verbal and an arm cue, while the handler moves away, can be VERY difficult for dogs psychologically. It seems like a simple thing to us, and it may be, physically speaking. But there can be a high degree of uncertainty associated with whether or not the dog should take the obstacle in question, in the dog’s mind. They too, can feel like something is a struggle, and this is an example of something that may feel challenging and uncomfortable to the dog. It’s also something that we may not recognize as challenging, and so we fail to recognize and reward it as such.
Embracing struggle can be a struggle in and of itself. It seems to come easier for some than for others. But, again, that’s the result of practicing embracing struggle, over and over again. So, if you’re feeling like you’re struggling, remember that you’re in exactly the right place for growth to occur, AND, make sure you keep some records, so that when you’re struggle has moved on to more advanced or different topics, you can look back, recall that what was once a struggle is no longer a struggle, and that while you may feel like you’re always struggling, you HAVE made progress!
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Once, I posed the following question on FaceBook, to generate conversation (and boy that was a success!) – here’s what I posed:
What is the point of the weave poles in a Master’s level course, if the approach and entry is just going to be a straight on, easy approach, and if the handler can just move alongside the weave poles with their dog, just like in Novice? Have the dogs not already proven their proficiency at just completing that obstacle at the lower levels? At the Master’s level, should it not pose some sort of training or handling challenge/skill beyond just ‘proficiency’
Not that every Master’s course should have 20 obstacles and 20 challenges (although, why not?), but how do we grow as handlers and trainers if we’re not consistently presented with creative challenges on course? Why not just omit the weaves, for example, or the table, if our dogs have already proven their proficiency ‘just doing’ those obstacles, and if they cannot be used to introduce more handling and training challenge at the Master’s level?
There was plenty of discussion, ranging from “why yes, I’d like more courses where the number of challenges is equal to the number of obstacles” to “no thanks, things are plenty challenging as it is” to “get off my lawn with your dangerous ideas, you’re suggesting some things that feel threatening to me”.
But HERE, in the Agility Challenge, one of the overall guiding principles is that CHALLENGE is something to be embraced, sought after, chased after…and that when you master one challenge, it’s only a stepping stone to the NEXT challenge, so that we become resilient to failure, viewing it not as a lack of self worth or value, but merely a signal that we’ve learned something or that we have something yet to learn.
Challenge is something I have had trouble with myself, which is part of why I keep hammering away at it – in order to be my best self for my dog, on and off the agility course, I have to seek out challenges to overcome. I have to be comfortable with failure. I have to be a lifelong learner, and I WANT to be a lifelong learner!
This week’s Talent Tip goes right along with this thinking – Daniel Coyle opens up this tip by saying:
In our busy lives, it’s sometimes tempting to regard merely practicing as a success. We complete the appointed hour and sigh victoriously – mission accomplished! But the real goal isn’t practice; it’s progress. As John Wooden put it, ‘Never mistake mere activity for accomplishment.’
Daniel Coyle
How do we go about making sure that we don’t fall in to the trap of mistaking mere activity for accomplishment? Coyle suggests setting a daily SAP: smallest achievable perfection. Pick a single chunk that you can perfect. Not just improve, not just “work on” – but get it 100 percent consistently correct. Maybe your dog’s position at the end of a contact. Maybe your dog’s sit stay at the start line. Maybe a good, clean, solid nose touch to the hand. The point is to take the time to aim at a small, defined target, and then put ALL your effort in to hitting that target.
You and your dog aren’t going to be transformed in a single day, much less a single training session. We’re built to improve, little by little, connection by connection, rep by rep. So, break things down in to chunks, and then, try to perfect those chunks…one chunk at a time.
Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens — and when it happens, it lasts.
Coach John Wooden
Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of SuccessThe post Agility Challenge Tip #16 – Each day, try to build one perfect chunk appeared first on Daisy Peel.
We’ve heard it said in so many ways:
- Take it a little bit at a time
- Break it down in to bite size chunks
- One step at a time
- Be a splitter, not a lumper
This advice, to break things down, works, because it reflects the way our brains learn. Every skill is built out of smaller pieces, or chunks. And yes, chunks and chunking are actually terms used by scientists who research how we learn!
Chunks are to skill what letters of the alphabet are to language.
Daniel Coyle
Alone, a letter is nearly useless, but when we use letters to make words, and words to make sentences, and sentences to make paragraphs, we can create something complex and beautiful. Our dog training and handling skills are no different. A great agility run is merely a creation made up of tiny skills, which then make up larger skills, and so on and so forth.
To start the process of chunking, first, engrave the blueprint of the skill on your mind.Take a look back to Tip #2, from earlier this year. Then, ask yourself:
- What is the smallest single element of this skill that I can master?
- What other chunks link to that chunk?
Practice one chunk by itself until you’ve mastered it. Then, connect more chunks, one by one, just the same way you’d combine letters to form a word. Then, combine those chunks to make even bigger chunks, and so on. One example of chunking would be course walking – in a course of 20 or so obstacles, there will likely be at least 4-5 large ‘chunks’. Instead of trying to memorize a whole course, work on memorizing one 4-5 obstacle chunk. And then, another. And then a third, and a fourth and a fifth, if necessary. Instead of having to manage one BIG 20 obstacle chunk, you now only have to manage 4-5 chunks of 4-5 obstacles each.
Another example of chunking would be, let’s say, seesaw training. Break down all of the elements of the seesaw: the movement, the height, the noise, the stationary position at the end that you want. Work on each of those chunks separately, and then put those chunks together for one larger chunk that you’ll call your “seesaw behavior.”
With chunking, you don’t even necessarily have to work on chunks in the order that they’ll ultimately be combined into larger chunks. You can memorize the last part of a course first, or the middle part. You can memorize the most difficult part of a course first, and then work your way out to other parts of the course. You can work on the elements of seesaw training entirely independent of one another, on obstacles that don’t even look like a seesaw, and still teach your dog the elements or chunks of behavior that are required to eventually perform a seesaw. When you’re chunking, and thinking about breaking things down, you’re thinking about those pieces more, instead of just working on autopilot, and, thinking is good for learning – autopilot isn’t.
As Daniel Coyle says in The Little Book of Talent – “No matter what skill you set out to learn, the pattern is always the same: See the whole thing. Break it down to its simplest elements. Put it back together. Repeat.”
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Teaching your FOOD motivated dog to LOVE toys – it’s easier than you think!Never again be limited by the belief ‘but my dog isn’t toy motivated’!
If your dog is FOOD motivated, you are actually AHEAD OF THE GAME when it comes to teaching your dog how to meaningfully interact with you with a training toy!
Check out this webinar replay from Daisy Peel!Watch the video, listen to the audio, OR download the transcript!Would you rather LISTEN to this webinar?Listen to the audio version or download so you can listen on the go!
Download the PDF TranscriptSometimes reading is better than watching or listening! Want a PDF Transcript of this webinar? click below to download it!
Webinar-4-Toy-Play-and-Teaching-A-Retrieve-With-FoodDownloadWant more great content like this? Click HERE to join The Agility Challenge!
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Your agility training time can be precious – at the end of a long day, or maybe at the beginning, it can be a few minutes alone, with your dogs, where you can enjoy losing yourself in the process of learning and playing with your dog. So…when you head out to train, take off your watch, and try your best to avoid measuring your training time in terms of minutes or hours, and instead, measure your training in terms of how many high-quality reaches and repetitions you and your dog make together. Rather than minutes spent, how many new connections did you form in your brain? How many new connections did you help your dog form in his or her brain?
Instead of saying, “I’m going to practice weave poles for 10 minutes,” tell yourself, “I’m going to do five really difficult weave entry approaches with my dog.” Instead of planning on spending a half an hour working through a course with your dog, plan to make 10 or 20 good, sharp handling decisions in a row on a given sequence with your dog. Your goal should be to get to the sweet spot that was mentioned in last week’s newsletter as quickly as possible, and measure your progress by reaches and reps from within that sweet spot, even if it’s only for a few minutes.
Of course, this can be difficult, particularly if you’re working to fit your training in to an already busy schedule. Most of us can’t afford to get lost in the training process for hours on end, and frankly our dogs probably would get bored anyway. So, sure, set a timer or keep your eye on the clock if you’ve got to be finished with your training by a particular time, so that you can move on with your day and on to other things. But, within a training session, rather than counting your progress by minutes spent on a task, count your progress in terms of high quality, mindful, attentive repetitions and attempts, where you’re working in that zone called the sweet spot!
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In Daniel Coyle’s Little Book of Talent, we’re now moving in to the second category of tips – improving skills. He writes that those in the ‘talent hotbeds’ he visited had a different relationship with practicing than people elsewhere. Rather than viewing practice as necessary drudgery, like eating your vegetables, something necessary for competition, for people in talent hotbeds practice was the game, the center of their world, and the focus of their daily lives. Now, of course, for most of us, agility is not the focus of our daily lives, but I do think that for many of us, and sometimes myself included, we view training as something that just gets us somewhere, rather than the main focus.
In my online training platform, The Agility Challenge, I bring up the topic of deep or purposeful practice, again and again. This concept comes up here as well, and that’s because it works. Deep, purposeful practice is practice that is designed to get you to reach. It’s the kind of practice where you stretch yourself slightly beyond your current ability, and where you spend time in the zone of difficulty called the sweet spot. Deep purposeful practice embraces the power of repetition, so that actions and behaviors become fast and automatic. It requires the development of a practice space that enables you and your dog to reach and repeat, stay engaged, and improve skills over time.
In the previous 12 tips, the main focus was getting ready. The next several tips will be about action: strategies and techniques to direct you and your dog toward deep practice and away from the unproductive swamp of ‘shallow practice’.
The unproductive swamp of ‘shallow practice’When we talk about finding the sweet spot, what do we mean? Well, the sweet spot is that place, right on the edge of your ability, where you and your dog learn best, and fastest. How do you find this sweet spot?
If you’re in your comfort zone, you feel a sense of ease, and effortlessness. You’re working, but you’re not reaching, and you’re not struggling. In the comfort zone, you’re going to have a success rate of around 80% with the tasks you’re trying to accomplish. Note that even in your comfort zone, there’s not an expectation of 100% success!
However, if you’re in the sweet spot, you’re going to feel some frustration, some difficulty, and you’re going to be alert to errors. You’re fully engaged in a struggle, as though you’re stretching for a nearly unreachable goal, just brushing it with your fingertips, and then reaching again. Your success rate will be 50-80% if you’re operating in the sweet spot.
On the other side of the sweet spot is the survival zone. In the survival zone, you’re going to feel confused, and desperate. You’re overfaced, and overmatched, feeling a sense of scrambling, thrashing around, and guessing. If you guess right, it’s mostly luck. Your success rate in this zone is less than 50%. This is NOT a fun place to be!
Everybody’s sweet spot is different, and your own sweet spot is going to change over time as you and your dog’s skills evolve. You may need to get creative to find just where your sweet spot is! Coyle discusses how some golfers work on their swings under water, so that they are slowed down, and can sense and fix mistakes. Some musicians play songs backward so they can get a better sense of the relationship between notes. The way you find the sweet spot and work inside of that zone may look a lot different than running a course, or a sequence! Regardless of the method you choose to find this sweet spot, you want to seek out ways to stretch yourself. You want to play on the edges of your competence.
One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.
Albert Einstein
The key word in Albert Einstein’s quote is barely. Ask yourself: If you tried your absolute hardest, what could you almost do? Figure out the boundaries of you and your dogs’ current abilities, mark those boundaries, and then aim a little beyond those boundaries. THAT is your sweet spot!
The post Agility Challenge Tip #13 – Find The Sweet Spot appeared first on Daisy Peel.
So, you’d like to build your own PVC wing jumps, and you’d like them to look a little bit fancier than the standard rectangular or square design? Several years ago, I built an entire set of PVC wing jumps – I wanted them to look like European style wing jumps. I made one for each country I’ve been to in the course of my dog agility travels, which was more than enough for a complete set! Over the years I’ve seen many others adopt my design and build some gorgeous wing jumps. If you’d like to build your own, here’s how!
FITTINGSI got all of my fittings at flexpvc.com:
WING DESIGNEach wing requires the following:PVC Wing Design* 27″ Upright * 25″ Angled Wing Piece * 17″ Wing Bottom Piece * 8″ Outside Wing Edge * 8″ Feet (x2) * 4″ Top Piece
And requires the following fittings:* 1 x PVC Wye * 1 x 45-degree Elbow * 1 x 90-degree Elbow * 1 x 4-way PVC Connector * 1 x inside cap for the top * 2 x outside caps for the feet
All the pieces are 1.25″ in diameter/size
CONSTRUCTIONGet Some PVC, Fittings, and Jump Cup Strips:I suggest you make a spreadsheet so you can calculate how many fittings you’ll need, and how much PVC you’ll need. Each piece of PVC I got was 10′, so I wanted to figure out how to use as much of a 10′ piece as possible with as little waste as possible, even if it meant mixing and matching what pieces I cut out of each 10′ length. Again, spreadsheets are your friend here. Once I realized I could dye the fittings as well as the pipe, and that there were colored jump cup strips…I went a little crazy. But it’s fun!
You’re also going to want to figure out what colors of jumps you want, fittings you want, and jump cup strips you want. Yep, you can get jump cup strips in colors to, CHECK IT OUT.
Clip and Go Jump Cup StripsYou’ll also need a way to attach the jump cup strips to your wings. I used these handy little fasteners:
Xmas tree fasteners for attaching jump cup stripsYou’re going to want to clean the writing off the PVC. Acetone (a nasty solvent that you should take the necessary precautions with) works best, along with some steel wool. Use clean steel wool or you’ll end up just getting ink all over a clean piece of PVC. Make sure you do this in a well ventilated area and don’t let the acetone get on anything other than the PVC!
CUT YOUR PVC BEFORE CLEANINGMeasure and cut the PVC – it’s much much easier to clean small pieces of PVC than long ones. AND, you may find you don’t care to clean it at all – if there’s writing on a foot piece, just rotate that piece so the writing faces the ground. If there’s writing on an upright piece and you’re going to put a jump cup strip there anyway, just rotate it so the strip covers the writing.
ASSEMBLE THE WINGSBe ready to work quickly here as PVC cement bonds FAST. Carefully swab a bit of PVC cement (another nasty chemical) on the inside of one fitting at a time, and fit the pipe in to the PVC the way you want it to sit. Be careful – PVC Cement will start to lift the dye out of the PVC you just so carefully stained, so you don’t want drips!
Keep working til you’ve got your jump all assembled:
PVC Wings – painted and waiting to be filledBefore you drill the holes to push the fasteners through your jump cup strips and in to the uprights, make sure that a jump bar of your chosen diameter sits at the right height! Then, drill and fasten your jump cup strips in.
Completed wings waiting to be filledFILL THE WINGSI wanted something pretty, and paintable to fill my wings with.
I settled on a PVC mesh material. It’s a screen mesh, and comes in different colors and widths. Perfect! I ordered it HERE.
I figured that with mesh in these colors, along with some spray paint (that sticks to PVC!), I’d be set for my flag/country jumps. I used a piece of cardboard as a template, and cut out the wing shapes. Once I cut out the wing shapes, I used a lighter to burn the edges just slightly, to keep them from fraying.
Paint whatever design you want on your pieces of mesh fabric. After the paint dries, put grommets in at each corner, and drilled holes in the PVC strategically so you can thread a zip tie through and attach the wings. Each wing has four grommets in it, and for each grommet, a hole was drilled in to the PVC fitting so a zip tie could hold the wing mesh in place – with the exception of the zip tie that is underneath the bottom of the jump cup strip (look at Colombia below, you’ll see what I mean).
Below are some images of the jumps I made. I hope you enjoy them, and that you can come up with your own creative ideas! All in all, the costs were a little tricky to track, but I’m pretty sure that each jump cost me less than $50 all told. I like to putter, so the distraction the building of them has provided me has been well worth it. They’re sturdy enough that they don’t tip over as easily as my other jumps, BUT, if the dogs hit them they WILL fall away, which is an important plus in my mind.
Have you built wing jumps using this design? Send me photos of your wing jumps to include on this page!
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This is one of my favorite tips from The Little Book of Talent, by author Daniel Coyle. I love it because it not only gives direction to a student looking for a teacher or coach, but it also gives direction to instructors and coaches looking to best instruct their students! As somebody who has been formally educated as an educator (remember, I was a high school chemistry teacher for several years before jumping off the deep end to instruct agility full time!), I firmly believe that teaching, just like anything else, is a skill that must be developed. While I don’t believe there’s any such thing as a ‘naturally talented teacher’, and that good teachers are those who have practiced good teaching skills, I also think there are a lot of instructors out there in our sport who have not paid as much attention as they could or should to the practice of actually teaching. So, here are five ways Coyle presents to pick a teacher or coach who will help you improve and grow your skills:
- Avoid someone who reminds you of a courteous waiter. This is the instructor who focuses his or her efforts on keeping you comfortable and happy, and on making things go smoothly with a minimum of effort. This is the instructor who covers a lot of material in a short period of time, smiles a lot, and says things like, “Don’t worry, no problem, we can take care of that later.” This is a good person to have as a waiter in a restaurant, but a terrible person to have as your teacher, coach, or mentor.
- Seek someone who scares you a little. In contrast to encounters with courteous waiters, encounters with great teachers/coaches/mentors tend to be filled with unfamiliar emotion: feelings of respect, admiration, and often, a shiver of fear. This is a goodsign. Look for somebody who:
- Watches you closely – he or she is interested in figuring you out. What you want, where you’re coming from, where your dog is coming from, and what motivates both of you.
- Is action oriented – she wont’ want to spend a lot of time chatting. Instead, she’ll want to jump in to a few activities right away, so she can get a feel for you and your dog, and vice versa.
- Is honest, sometimes unnervingly so – she will tell you the truth about your performance in clear language. This stings at first! But, you’ll come to see that it’s not personal – its the information you can use to get better.
- Seek someone who gives short, clear directions. Most great teachers/coaches/mentors don’t give long winded speeches. They don’t give sermons or lectures. They give short, unmistakably clear directions, and they guide you to a target.
- Seek someone who loves teaching fundamentals. Great teachers will often spend entire practice sessions on one seemingly small fundamental – for example, the single step required to move away laterally from your dog on course, or the footwork for a front cross, or a front/blind cross combination, etc. This might seem strange or tedious, but it shows that they understand the importance of the fundamentals that are at the core of your skills. The more advanced you are, the more crucial those fundamentals become!
- All things being equal, pick the older person. It’s tempting to go after the latest and greatest agility performer who is on the teaching circuit. However, for an instructor, or coach, or mentor, all other things being equal, pick the older person. As I mentioned earlier, teaching is a skill like any other; it takes time and perseverance to develop. Of course there are good teachers at any age, and of course it’s not true that every older instructor is a guaranteed genius. However, if you have the choice to go with somebody who has been in the sport longer, and who has been teaching longer (and who is probably older), all things being equal, go for that person over the newcomer.
This tip marks the last tip of our first category of tips – tips designed to help ignite and motivate. Tips 13-42 will be all about improving skills. Now that you have the information about how to practice, and what some of the elements of good practice and developing talent are, the next section will focus on finding the sweet spot for improvement, and then reaching for more. These first 12 tips were all about getting ready – the next several tips will be about action: simple strategies and techniques to direct you toward deep, deliberate practice, and nudge you away from “the unproductive swamp of shallow practice.”
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Check out this webinar replay from Daisy Peel!Watch the video, listen to the audio, OR download the transcript!Would you rather LISTEN to this webinar?Listen to the audio version or download so you can listen on the go!
Download the PDF TranscriptSometimes reading is better than watching or listening! Want a PDF Transcript of this webinar? click below to download it!
Webinar-3-Post-Turns-and-shoulder-pullsDownloadWant more great content like this? Click HERE to join The Agility Challenge!
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As part of my online platform The Agility Challenge, I offer Monthly Canine Conditioning Challenges, designed and presented by Kelly Daniel of Hybrid Dog Training (NZ ). Kelly has some cool and informative Challenges designed to help you get your dog going with Cavaletti, and recently, I made my own adjustable Canine Cavalettis out of some 3/4″ PVC I had laying around (It was actually a set of 3/4″ PVC I was using for weave poles!).
My Canine Cavaletti are 24″ wide, and the legs, which spin on the ends, are 3″, 4″, 5″, and 6″ – this way, I can change the height of the Cavaletti based on which legs are touching the ground. This is a quick and easy project – play around with it and make your own Canine Cavaletti, suitable for your dog’s height! If you’re not sure how high to make those Cavaletti for safety and fitness, reach out to Kelly Daniel of Hybrid Dog Training (NZ ) for more information!
Crafting Your Own Canine CavalettiMaterials Needed (depending on whether you make four cavaletti or up to ten): Four-Ten (4-10) PVC poles, each approximately 2 feet long. * Eight-Twenty (8-20) 5-way PVC connectors. * Four-Ten (4-10) sets of PVC “legs”* (each set includes eight PVC poles of varying lengths).
Step-by-Step Guide:1. Attach the PVC Legs: * Connect each 5-way PVC connector to PVC legs of four different lengths. These connectors will raise the cavaletti poles above the ground. * Make sure the legs on each end of the PVC pole are a mirror image of one another – they will be ‘handed’. * Create sets of connectors with legs that match. 2. Attach the PVC Connectors: * Attach the PVC connectors to the ends of the PVC poles. * Adjust the pieces so they fit together nicely at both ends.
Adjustable Heights:* By rotating the poles, you can change the height of your cavaletti. * Our poles are 3/4” in diameter, with legs measuring 3″, 4″, 5″, and 6″ long. * This gives us four different heights: approximately 2.75”, 3”, 3.25”, and 3.5” tall. * If you prefer taller poles, consider using longer legs.
Safety First: Consult with* Kelly Daniel of Hybrid Dog Training (NZ ) for guidance on setting the right height for your dog. * Remember that cavaletti poles should be set no higher than your dog’s hock height.
Get creative, have fun, and enjoy watching your pup conquer these adjustable Canine Cavaletti!
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Join us for this UKI Show At Agility Challenge Acres, in The Agility Challenge ARENA! Our arena is 71×155′ of artificial turf with no posts. Our building also has twenty 10’x10′ stalls available for crating. The stall area is insulated and heated in winter. We have plenty of outdoor space to walk and potty dogs, […]
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Join us for this UKI Show At Agility Challenge Acres, in The Agility Challenge ARENA! Our arena is 71×155′ of artificial turf with no posts. Our building also has twenty 10’x10′ stalls available for crating. The stall area is insulated and heated in winter. We have plenty of outdoor space to walk and potty dogs, […]
The post February 7-8 2023 UKI Competition appeared first on Daisy Peel.
Join us for this UKI Show At Agility Challenge Acres, in The Agility Challenge ARENA! Our arena is 71×155′ of artificial turf with no posts. Our building also has twenty 10’x10′ stalls available for crating. The stall area is insulated and heated in winter. We have plenty of outdoor space to walk and potty dogs, […]
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Lori Michaels will be judging this Unsanctioned ISC Cup, held at Agility Challenge Arena and sponsored by The Midwest International Agility Club! You can check out more details HERE and enter online.
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Join us in December for a day of handling instruction and feedback from superstar instructor Lori Michaels! See the image and flyer below for details. Registration is available at the bottom of this page – scroll down to register and pay!
The post December 16, 2022 Lori Michaels Handling Workshop appeared first on Daisy Peel.
Join us for the inaugural UKI Show At Agility Challenge Acres, in The Agility Challenge ARENA! Our arena is 71×155′ of artificial turf with no posts. Our building also has twenty 10’x10′ stalls available for crating. The stall area is insulated and heated in winter. We have plenty of outdoor space to walk and potty […]
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Learn how to play UKI Gamblers & Snooker in this half-day workshop at The Agility Challenge Arena in Troy, OH! Registrants (participants and auditors) will receive a coupon for a two FREE UKI Games runs at an Agility Challenge UKI show for 2023! Taught by Daisy Peel, 2pm-6pm
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Join Daisy for training days this Fall in preparation for the EOTT and US Open! In order to participate you must be planning on attending one of these two events, and your dog should be ready for Champ/Sr and A3 level courses. Limit 5 dogs per session.
The post European Open Tryouts and US Open Training Days – 2022 appeared first on Daisy Peel.