Elena & Indie, Miniature Schnauzer, 7 months old

Start with small tunnel, but I don’t like it folded because the running surface becomes funny/uneven that way. Use the shortest one on the field and first you can just play around the entry and throw treats inside. When she is happy to go in to take the treat, you can try throwing further and further and see if you can send her in and run to the other side to call her out without her turning. If not, have an assistant hold her on one end and call her through.

And yes, it sounds like Eric could benefit from the classes as well. While he is on a break from real agility, do LP stuff with him. After a while you can also try a little bit of shaping – why not? 🙂 No pressure, very easy things. Just as much as he is capable. It is not that we can’t do without, but dogs can learn to offer things at any age. And it is great for so many things…

No worries, it is not mandatory to post every day. 🙂 I hope you feel better soon!
Overall she did well, but the more active you were, the more troubles she had focusing on the jump. I would like to avoid double checking and jumping on you as much as possible, so try first just walking + verbal cue, without waving your hands. (after some initial shaping, so she knows it is about the cone). Gradually walk faster and faster and start running along. You can gradually add a hand gesture as well, but don’t just wave, keep it up for a while after you point to the cone.

Haha cool! The beginning was like little cartoon. 😀 But it is always like that if you don’t have an assistant. It would be easier if you first got her to run deeper in the tunnel after each treat, but you managed anyhow. 🙂 You can just play like this again next time – perhaps through a different tunnel and if she seems confident running through, add a wrap – first the wrap than the tunnel.

Two jumps also ok, next time bigger distance between the two. 🙂 You can also try restraining her, throwing the ball and releasing her straight after, when she is still focused on the moving ball.

She is funny 🙂 And there is no hurry, you can take more time just doing shaping in the beginning and throwing the treats further and further inside, because she is still not perfectly comfortable going in that big black hole. 🙂 By doing more shaping, you can avoid having to use your hand to point exactly where you want her to go. I want her to find the tunnel as well as she can find the cone now. And try not to reward from the hand – ever. Because when you are running she has the tendency to look at you/jump at you and we want to let her know that all the good stuff come when you look ahead and take the obstacles no matter where your handler is at the moment. 🙂

Yes, you don’t have to throw giant pieces the whole training. But for speedy, running, forward focus exercises you could easily. She is a pup, so she doesn’t need tons of repetitions. If she gets up to 5 big pieces she won’t get fat nor choke. 😉

“Also, i was thinking about the cone and cik/cap exercises. Up to now i am letting her choose what wrap she will do and tell cik/cap accordingly. i believe is a bit early to discriminate, but maybe i should start telling the command earlier? i am a bit stuck there :/”
For now she is always turning towards you. So based on whether she is on your left or right you can tell which turn she is going to offer, even if she does it on her own. So you can send her off with a cue or say it when you see she is on her way already… She needs to slowly learn to react to your cue so yes, be aware of the direction and say them. In the beginning while she is already at it and later on in advance. Because she will be more confident about the exercise and offer it more independently. Try to avoid pointing anything with your hands. Because you will just make her rely on it, but it is a distraction at the same time, you don’t want the dog looking at you most of the time (when you do want that, you ask for it). You want her to have good focus on obstacles. Otherwise you will make her only as fast as you can run, because she will just follow your hands. For directions and rewards.