Building flexibility

Looking for exercises and techniques to build both flexibility and tighter turning ability.

Thanks!

Silvia Trkman's Cik & Cap training is great for teaching tight turns. It's very easy, step by step and teaches the dogs to find turning tightly to be very motivating.

Lots of off leash running, swimming, etc is always a good idea for general fitness and flexibility. For flexibility specifically, as well as balance - tricks are the best! Off the top of my head: handstand, lifting both side legs at the same time, spinning both directions, dancing on hind legs, weaving between legs (forwards and backwards), circling an object quickly in both directions (first step to Cik & Cap), putting all feet into increasing smaller and smaller boxes/bowls, getting into and laying down in smaller and smaller boxes.

I'm specifically looking for increasing Sloans ability to tight turn. I don't presume she'll ever be a border collie but her ability to tight turn over or even right after a jump is really lacking.

She's constantly swimming, can sit pretty/beg on a fit paws peanut, spins right and left, weaves between my legs, dances on hind legs, and a few other tricks.

She needs to learn to handstand and is learning as of today to wrap around a traffic cone which will hopefully help but I'm curious if there are other exercises to add in.

This!! I've been working on it with Zuma, she still extends over jumps in a trial setting (cuz she's as high as a kite) but doing well during training sessions. We wrap everything, there are baby pine trees behind the clinic and every lunch break we go out there and wrap pine trees, signs, cigarette extinguishers, everything.

I need to do more wrap work with Steve. We did it when he was young, but haven't in a long time and he can't turn tightly in agility to save his life.

I'm wondering if some core work wouldn't help with tighter turns as those muscles along the trunk and flanks would be stronger? Sitting up ("beg" or "sit pretty" on the haunches), for example.

If you can put those looooong stretches dogs do on a cue (both the play bow style and the opposite where their rear legs are stretched out behind) that would probably help with flexibility across the back and truck as well.

Ditto the cik & cap - I've been watching an acquaintance work through it on her blog and the progress with her dog is fabulous. It's definitely on the list of skills I need to be training the puppies.

Oooo what's the blog?

Does she understand collected jumping? I did a ton of "recall to heal" work with Lucy using Linda Mecklenburg's exercises. It's the standard training method used where we take classes, and the dogs have good results.

Is her issue lack of ability to turn or lack of motivation to turn?