Through… Wait… Flip!

Mechanics

  1. Dog is sent through and handler calls wait.
  2. Handler turns towards the dog using positional pressure to halt the dog’s momentum.
  3. Handler marks wait and reinforces with a flip toss.

The key here is to use the handler’s shoulder direction and positional pressure to make the wait much more likely to happen. This spinning motion also helps to make this skill look interesting from a Team Movement standpoint.

Application

This video shows early work with a dog that doesn’t have a solid wait. Notice that the bad behavior, the leaping at the disc is not acknowledged whatsoever. The mark is happening on the performance of the Through or on 4 feet on the floor. The resultant Wait is being marked and reinforced by the toss.

Once the dog is waiting, repeat the skill 3-5 times before moving on to live speed. This repetition of the skill with the Wait will increase the dog’s conceptual understanding of the sequence taking it from all linked together like “Through-n-Flip” to “Through then Flip” — two discreet behaviors in succession. Once the dog understands that the handler provides more opportunity after the wait he will start to focus on the handler’s cues will try to performing them correctly to make next happen more efficiently. Building sequences becomes much easier for both dog and handler.

Attention is Key

Attention as a default behavior in the presence of the disc greatly enhances a dog’s ability to be patient and wait for the bite cue, the toss or the cue to move or flip. If the dog can’t stop himself from leaping like Hops in the video here, more Attention and eye contact with cookies and toys is a good solution.

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