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Verbal Cue (Top! | Rebound! | Stall!)

The verbal cue Top tells the dog to leap straight off of the obstacle. Rebound tells the dog to flip off of the obstacle and Stall tells the dog to jump up and wait on the obstacle. The verbal cue should happen before any action takes place.

Directional Cue (Target!)

Once the dog knows what they’re supposed to do, we’re going to tell them where it is going to happen. This directional cue will draw their attention to the place where the reinforcement is going to happen. Cuing direction like this is a targeting behavior. The dog will target an area, expecting reinforcement, based upon this directional cue.

Toss (or Take)

By this point in time, the dog knows what kind of vault we’re looking to perform and where we are going to perform it. Now all that’s left to do is to put it in the appropriate place, at the appropriate time. No small task, but much easier if the dog already knows where they are supposed to go and how to get there.

Rhythm

The verbal cue, Top!, is followed by the directional cue, Target! , which is followed by the Toss!. This happens in a rhythm. Top…two…Three… This rhythm is an important part of the vaulting skill. We need to present consistent timing so we can hook up as a team. Creating a rhythm or a cadence makes everything predictable:

A Linear Vault

1. What are we doing? Top!
2. Where are we doing it? Target!
3. Toss! Let me at it!

Top…Target…Toss!

Reverse Vault

1. What are we doing? Rebound!
2. Where are we doing it? Target!
3. Toss! Let me at it!

Top… Target… Toss!

Stall

1. What are we doing? Stall!
2. Where are we doing it? Target!
3. Feed! Let me at it!

Top…Target…Toss!

Once this rhythm is standard and understood dog and handler should be able to feel the hook up on vaults and set up moves and develop a successful rhythm.

Reward Placement

Reward Placement is huge in this skill. The dog is going to go where the reward happens. Ideally the reward in the area of the directional cue or on that cued path.

In the video you can see the difference in Ella’s performance of these behaviors based upon where the cookie was initially placed. In fact, we’re going to use a high cookie placement to hold the dog on stalls and a tossed cookie to create the leaping off part of the vaults and stalls during this drill. As Sue starts to get a better handle on Reward Placement, her and Ella start to improve.

Manufacturing the Approach

We can use Reward Placement to set the approach to the ball. Sue does a great job of that throughout this video. We can mark all kinds of behavior and place the reward where we want them to start their vaulting approach. It’s really efficient and takes a lot of pressure off of the session.

Isolation of Concepts

The vaulting behavior and this ball drill are built upon many concepts, any of which may be weak or overdeveloped and give the dog and/or handler problems. Any of these concepts can be isolated with a positive marker and reinforced to improve performance:

1. Attention
2. Targeting
3. Commitment
4. Collection
5. Front Feet On Obstacle
6. Rear Feet on Obstacle
7. Targeting
8. Leaping Off
9. Catching

In the video, Ella was getting stuck on the Top cue, essentially rocking back and stalling on her way to the ball. As sue starts to mark Ella getting Off, she starts to sail on by the Stall.

Sue and Ella also had some issues with Ella just performing the Stall and expecting cookies. She was not following the directional cue because the reinforcement frequently happened outside the cued direction. Notice on the Rebound section of the video that Ella doesn’t really follow the cookie very well. That can be fixed by marking the moment they look at the cookie during the skill and reinforcing it in that spot.

The ball is a great place to work on these small, hard to pin down details. It’s easier to pay attention to the details from this perspective than in a live vault.

Disc Dog Training timing Vaults and Overs