Lina and Aike, pumi, 7 month, Lithuania

Overall nice! But she needs a few more steps before you can run fast next to her. Your running distracts her, so she is only looking at you and of course that means even if she hits the target it is a pure coincidence. But she was very good at the end where you were not right next to her.
So I would start just like you did, to have her focus on target and than just move more and more to the side, so she is going from a full turn on the target to less and less of a turn until it is almost a straight line. I would reward with food throws not from the hand, so she is less focused on you and you can move more freely (changing your position while she is running after her treat). If she misses, just stop and have her offer it to you again. So she has to focus on the target and not get carried away in “oh we are just running and having fun” world. 🙂

Haha, crazy little pumi. 🙂 I suggest you practise starts calmly, and just keep coming back to reward her, and than start the sequence by throwing the treat in the opposite direction to get a head start and without ruining the stay. If you keep starting like this, you will have no stays in a month. 😉 She is way too anxious and on edge. Which is fine, but she has to learn to control herself.
You are in no hurry with the bars, I would train without and use less jumps with bigger distances. A big issue with Pumis is how effectively they move. If you have a lot of jumps and make her “jump” already, you are encouraging her to move “in the air” not flat on the ground.
Try just two jumps in a straight line with no bars. Throw food in the opposite direction and run away, have her chase a toy you drag behind or throw the toy forward. In any case try to get full sprint over the two jumps.
You can also use some wraps to start with. Wrap + straight tunnel or wrap + straight line. Also practise on sends to wraps from more and more distance.
And yes, just playing sessions in hall are also good thing for her in that moment!

Board with target(s) – I usually have it just on one side. But in the very first stage, you can keep it on both sides too, to save you some time. 🙂 But are you using a normal DW plank? Make sure she doesn’t start to avoid the end because of an edge. It happens sometimes. If you have some thiner plank there instead of a regular DW plank use that one instead.

Good job you two. 🙂 I like her target work. Yes, she makes a mistake now and than, but that is normal part of a training process. She has to learn the difference between what brings her the reward and what doesn’t. Sometimes she doesn’t focus on the target at all, but that is usually when you are really far sideways or in front of her (and that is the most difficult, because if you are in front she is looking at you not the target). So for now I would avoid those extreme positions. But the rest is fine. Just make sure you don’t accidentally reward when she runs over without touching. It is hard to see that, but it is very important not to reward that. So with target just go on like this. 🙂 The more work you do “on the ground” the easier it will be once you put the target on DW. 🙂

Back up – in general I think it is good to start mixing things up, but keep practising backing up alone as well and focus on getting her to back up straight. Because after just a few steps she is no longer straight but backs up in a curve. I would reward sooner, before that happens and also practise with the target behind her, very gradually increasing the distance so she focuses on staying straight.
You can still mix it with other stuff she knows well. Just reward before the exercise goes wrong – so in case of back up; when she is still straight. It is normal for the dog that is shaped a lot to just offer things even if they are not what you asked for. So asking for specific things and only rewarding what you asked for is a neccessary step in training.

Cik/cap – yes, she wasn’t really eager to do anything. In that situation for sure you can’t wait for “you start I follow”. Sometimes I will just quit but make sure the dog can’t have fun in its own. Or I would start playing (running away) and if a dog “wakes up” I would try the exercise again. But a simpler version – for example just starting from a restrain right in front of the pole and sending her into a wrap while at the same time almost luring her around with the toy you hold in the other hand. Getting her in the mood was kind of what you did, but instead of running away initially you were provoking her, which normally doesn’t work in a long run. I want the desire to work to always come from the dog itself, because if they need animation to start working, they will freely choose how much and what kind of animation they want/need in each situation so in the end you can end up on your knees, begging for attention. 😉

Leg lifting – I wouldn’t have her stand on the balance pillow with one leg up, especially since she can only do it with one leg. Muscles are working hard keeping the balance, and you don’t want only one side of the body to work hard. But I would teach her to lift legs, just not yet to hold them up for so long and on balance equipment. So yes, teach her to lift all 4 legs. Front will be easier and it won’t necessarily help her understand the hind as well, because that behaviour with the right leg is really fixed already and she might not remember to offer the left as well. I would probably take a narrow object that fits only one leg at the time, put her on the right side of the object and get her to step on with just hind left. Depending on how big the object is and how you place it, you can also teach both legs on the same side up on the object.

I think you are in no hurry to run “sequences” especially not in a small place with short distances and not the best surface. Carpet is good for slow exercises, but when the dog is running full speed it is slippery, so she will learn it is best not to. When I first started to have seminars in Brazil, many people were training on carpets and I have noticed their dogs developed much different running style. + she is still young, so no need for real agility.
What I would do in that little hall is just U tunnel + chase the toy and play. Same with wrap. You can also do some straight lines with obstacles, but make sure distances are as big as they can be. (so rather less obstacles and bigger distances)

Shaping – yes, it is always very interesting to observe how they learn. I had something different in mind with the box, but never mind. You were quick enough to capture all little actions with the left leg and she figured it out. 🙂 That also means that she got pretty good at shaping, to be able to connect involuntary leg actions with your clicks. So well done, now just continue this way to get it just like the right leg lift is. 🙂

Hmm, I am not too happy with these sessions, because to me it feels like she is getting slower and looses attention quicker. I think you need to train a little bit less now. Shaping sessions at home are ok, but outside really short sessions of mostly playing and running, with just 1-3 repetitions of some agility element (wrap or target). So come to the field, do some running and when you feel she is in the best possible mood, ask for a wrap/target, play again, ask for another wrap,… You can even mix the two – sometimes run on one end of the field and do the wrap, while sometimes ask for a target on the other end. Keep things unpredictable.
And overall let her feel a bit bored. Like it is a privilege to run and play with you. I don’t want to build on an attitude that is “so-so”, because it can quickly become worse when the training becomes longer and more complicated. Inside the hall use only food for little straight sequences. Throw in one direction, run in the opposite through the jumps, throw on the other end, run in the opposite…. When you started with food throws she started with nice attitude, but than gradually slowed down at the 180 turn. I wouldn’t do any turns next time, and no multi wraps for now.
When you are playing, watch out that you are not too strong. That playing around 0.35 on the 4th video was too dominant… She never got a chance to control the game. If you feel she is not very active in tugging, do more chasing. When tugging always make sure you keep tension in the toy, but don’t “throw” her around all the time.

If you are only having a very short session with Šnipe, this hysterical barking can be good even, making her a bit jealous, and “turning her on” for her round. But I wouldn’t let her bark like this for too long. So for longer breaks I would take her in the car. You also have to consider how much this behaviour bothers you. If it does, it makes no sense to allow it.

Yes cool! I want to see Pumi asking for action, not the other way around. 😀 This setup is great, each time you can throw further ahead when she comes out of the tunnel so when she takes a treat she is already in a hurry to get back to you and you have some advantage, to really pull for as much speed as possible. I would do exactly the same next time. And one training after that you can put one cone in the middle on the other side of the columns and start with a wrap, than into the U tunnel and straight line…