Flyball - swimmer's turn - don't have a box

[Tiffseagles]

Hey,

I can't take flyball classes until I get a car or some sort of transportation. In the mean time, I want to get started on some of the stuff that the dogs will need to know/learn. I started working on a swimmer's turn yesterday (using the couch) and will probably be getting a board with some carpet for the dogs to target instead once I look up the dimensions and get supplies together. Below are videos of his first day (yesterday) but the angle is not great.

My question is - Based on the videos, what do you think I should be working on as far as form goes? I know issues might becomes more apparent once I start using something that resembles a box more and I will post videos once I have that put together which may take a couple of weeks.

Day #1 Swimmer's Turn Part I - YouTube

Getting tired here so we took a break.
Day #1 Swimmer's Turn Part II - YouTube

Picked up later in the day.
Day #1 Swimmer's Turn Part III - YouTube

[FG167]

Actually, I think it looks excellent! You've done a wonderful job! Look up Liesje on here, she made herself, and us, a pushboard from materials at the hardware store and it's awesome! Cheap as well

[Liesje]

I agree with Falon, you have a good foundation going! Most dogs take weeks to even realize they have body parts past their shoulder let alone offer a nice quick turn like that. Don't worry about it not being a box. We all work with what we've got. I've seen people work turns off any number of things. My favorite is actually working turns off the bottom few feet of the agility/SchH a-frame. I had to make boards since my dogs are big and I don't have any walls or furniture I could use without getting destroyed or injured but your setup looks fine to me. Even if the dog is jumping high I think that is better because it really drills in that they cannot slide into the box. One of my dogs still uses props for his turns at home because if I take them away, as he builds speed and drive he starts cheating the turn and sliding low into the box. At home I always have a 8-12" prop set one foot in front of my board to force the jump on/off.

Here is my "plan" for a relatively easy/cheap push board. I would use a rubberized surface rather than carpet. My dog ripped off both his stop pads sliding on carpet. I like the traction of a thick rubber type surface (I actually buy cheap door mats and glue, tack, and tape them on with the rubber bottom up).
http://www.dutchbingo.net/personal/H...%20flyball.pdf

Even if you just keep doing what you are now your dog will be way ahead. You want that turn to be a "muscle memory" motion. We haven't been working it all that much, usually twice a week (in addition to flyball training once a week) and I typically do 5 quick reps to a set and ten or so sets.

Here is Pan showing the board described in that link, doing a typical training session at home (some of the reps/sets are cut out for the sake of the video editing).

Pan Flyball Turns 1 16 12 - YouTube

Pan Flyball Turns 1 16 12 - YouTube

Hopefully Debbie sees this, she has way more experience than me and some great videos of her dog learning on a push board.

[Tiffseagles]

Thank you!

[Cassidy's Mom]

That's a nice high turn! If he'll push off a vertical surface you can actually use a wall - there are lots of youtube videos about flyball wall work.

Look at Lies's link, there are several of my videos on there from working on Halo's turn with the push board that belongs to the club I was taking classes with. They had two and let me take that one home to practice on. Note the use of "props" - those in front help get the dog high up on the board, the one on the side helps tighten the turn by increasing the rotation the dog needs to do by controlling where they land as they push off the board.

A cone can control how the dog approaches the board - with a right turner like your dog and Halo, you want them slightly off to the left as they approach or they won't be able to get all four feet on the board, and then later, on the box. Halo was doing a great swimmers turn until I added the ball, and then she'd run up, put her front feet on the board and pluck the ball off. Fail! Moving her approach slightly off center by putting the cone in the middle, helped fix that. I also played around with the prop on the right side. At first I had it just past the edge of the board, but I gradually scooted it closer in, so she had to rotate more off the turn.

[Liesje]

Pan had that problem as well, add the ball and he wants to slide in and snatch it off the board. This is not just in flyball, but the more speed and drive he puts into something the sloppier the technique gets so I will probably always be using props at home and at training too so he's always setup for success. Nikon doesn't seem to need them as much but he's also not as fast. Pan now has this new thing where his first turn on the real box at training is always a disaster, he forgets his body exists past his shoulder and he ends up running in so fast and hard that he does a handstand-flip on the box. He's done that on his first run at the last few practices! Then he seems to have the feel of it after that.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Yikes, hope Pan doesn't injure himself!

[Tiffseagles]

Thanks for all of the info! I will check out the videos too.

We are stopping for now until I can be shown what to practice in person, so that I do not teach the wrong thing. I have never trained this before, so it is a new experience for me. Hopefully that's soon, but I have been delayed in getting transportation by at least two weeks.

[FG167]

Originally Posted by Cassidy's Mom

A cone can control how the dog approaches the board - with a right turner like your dog and Halo, you want them slightly off to the left as they approach or they won't be able to get all four feet on the board, and then later, on the box. Halo was doing a great swimmers turn until I added the ball, and then she'd run up, put her front feet on the board and pluck the ball off. Fail! Moving her approach slightly off center by putting the cone in the middle, helped fix that. I also played around with the prop on the right side. At first I had it just past the edge of the board, but I gradually scooted it closer in, so she had to rotate more off the turn.

Kastle uses a cone, he turns to the left so I place the cone more to the right...

Kastle Flyball 1-4-12 - YouTube

Kastle Flyball 1-4-12 - YouTube

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by Cassidy's Mom

Yikes, hope Pan doesn't injure himself!

Honestly this is how I feel any time he's not in a crate!