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Patron’s Choice: Shaping the Leaping Catch | Freestyle and the Leaping Catch

Shaping a Leaping Catch can, and should be a full time job. Always throw with the intent to deliver the leaping catch unless working something specific that requires a specific approach, speed or distance that is incompatible with a leaping catch. Out throws are glory, not afterthoughts.

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Responses

    1. Great job at the beginning… Just need a bit more height on the toss and some good reinforcement.

      Less is More

      Your flip session should have ended with a flip to a throw immediately after your first dog catch. I think it was 18 seconds in or so… That was the lesson. “Woo hoo! Great job!…”

      I can’t stress this enough for you Jeff. Less is more. Perfect Practice. There is nothing wrong with halting a session 20 seconds in.

      You have really done a great job of dialing back the amount of work you’re doing, at least that is what the video shows, but your still kind of plodding along. That’s a lot of flips at one time with no other kind of reinforcement. You can see it @57 seconds… he’s tired. Look at his tongue, that and the idea that the flips are just going to keep coming, and coming… I think that’s why he’s checking out.

      The only way you can get away with flipping a dog repetitively and successfully is if they really like flips. Border collies are notorious for getting bored in working situations like that. Brodie doesn’t particularly love flipping, so forcing it on him is going to be a problem.

      Bite and Chase

      Great job reinforcing on you with the bite after the dog catch. Really nice stuff there, Jeff! You could mix in a roller or a toss in there as reinforcement as well to keep Brodie all fired up as you ask him to work hard and let you catch him.

      Disc As Cookie

      @1:56 you reinforced the bow with the flip. How big a difference in his approach was there? He looked serious and aggressive.

      What did he get out of it? Uproarious play? A bite? A roller? Some reinforcement there would have been great. And the next attempt as well. He did his job. He bowed, flipped well and let you catch him… how was he reinforced? What was his reinforcement?

      The third one as well. Great job, not much reinforcement after. A quick bite… a roller, here and there for good effort and performance and to establish or maintain the flow of the training session is what is going to take you and Brodie to the next level.

      Hooking Things Up

      From 2:20 through 3:22 you were trying to link a couple of things together. The approach and the flip. You were pretty creative with trying to manipulate Brodie, which may or may not get you where you want to go.

      Something you might want to try is to call a wait on his way in, mark the wait and reinforce the wait with a Flip. This way, you are working out of a successful trick, like @1:56.

      Through… Wait… Flip! is coming and is the key to hooking things up like that flip on the approach…

      Distance Flips

      Good stuff. That ought to be a riot! Remember to reinforce the catch with things Brodie likes… Bites, Rollers, chase… praise… and general exciting disc play.

      Wrap Up

      Great job, Jeff! The blowing off of the middle discs will go away when you start to

      1. ask for less repetitions
      2. quit while Brodie is high and/or successful
      3. reinforce his efforts well.
  1. Ok so Brick and I have been working the flip. Not too frequently but enough that he knows the concept. I started working on touching him while he is in the air. Should my next move be to step further into him to get him comfortable with my close proximity before I attempt a full on catch from the flip? Thanks!

    -LT, Eko, & Brick

    1. Sure thing, Lindsay. I think that would be a nice way to proceed. You need to desensitize him to your presence and to the touch.

      So you can work on impacting his flight more and also getting in his space and moving around a bit.

      lol… about your careful flipping… 😉

      peace

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