Swimmer's turn

[k9mania]

What are your suggestions for teaching the swimmer's turn on the box? More and more flyball dogs are being seen for problems because of repeated hitting of the box straight on. When I learned from my team, they did not know what a swimmer's turn was. We have at least 3 dogs with problems related to either improper box work or lack of conditioning.:(

[herdingdogs]

Many years ago we did not know about a swimmers turn either. Luckily none of our dogs developed any health issues because of their not-so-great box work.

Today we use a variety of things to help teach them a better turn on the box. We initially start them off with a board on the ground teaching them to hop on and off it. Then we slowly raise the board until it's the angle of the box. Sometimes we put a cone in front of it to get the dogs to 'turn'. Sometimes we put a board or something in front of the box to get the dog to jump up on the box. It really depends on the dog. We just keep working with a variety of things til we find what will work best for that dog. There are some dogs however who just never seem to get a really good swimmers turn no matter what we have tried. If we fuss with it too much they just shut down. As long as they are getting some kind of turn on the box (maybe 3 feet instead of all 4) and not a bad turn at the box (i.e. slamming into the box or hitting it straight on) we let the dog do what is most comfortable and successful for them.

Linda

[Mari]

We have a one hole practice box. Any suggestions other than what you have said to get our dogs to do some type of turn on a one hole box?

[Shara]

I would phsically drill a new hole and take the mechanisim out and move it over, its hard to do swimmers turn on a center aligned hole from what I read.

[hotchilli]

I can get my girl (staffy)to do perfect swimmers turns when she is training on her own but she will not do it in competition, if I keep trying will she eventually do the swimmers turn in comps.

[k9mania]

We have a one hole practice box. Any suggestions other than what you have said to get our dogs to do some type of turn on a one hole box?


YOu will have to get another box because the mechanism is only setup to release the ball from that hole unless someone you know can adapt it. But remember it must release the ball at a certain speed to pass inspection during competitions.

[k9mania]

I can get my girl (staffy)to do perfect swimmers turns when she is training on her own but she will not do it in competition, if I keep trying will she eventually do the swimmers turn in comps.

How long has your dog been doing flyball? It is like any other skill you need to proof it under circumstances similar to competition (i.e. against other dogs) in practice against other dogs you may have to put a cone or a jump in front however you taught it so that it knows. If it continually jumps in competition without doing the swimmers turn it is being rewarded for not by getting to do it again. Did you use props to teach the swimmer's turn?