Training Talk Thread

[murve]

our trial training night, we do one on, so there is at least 3-4 instructors, we work with up & coming trialers &help the ones in the higher classes :)

playing the Focus game is good for Agility, my daughter is doing it with one of pups for Agility, he coming along really well, :) while I work with our furkids

[murve]

Sorry I dont want to tread on toes here but I don't think people realize what an incredibly difficult thing weaving between dogs is. That is PhD stuff for dogs and it is usually taught in beginner class I don't know of any experienced trialler with high achieving dogs who does this with a youngster.

I dont think you are stepping on any toes, well not mine anyway :laugh: yes I do agree we do weaving in the beginners class, we do have 2 experience trialers that do it :D

As far as I am concerd any input is good input every dog works different so its a case of finding what works :) Trial & Error as they say

[RubyStar]

Weaving through dogs in beginner class was traumatic for me and my boisterous Lab pup. Many tears shed at club training, let me tell you!!

[jrm88]

Pa def put the yellow bandana on :) I certaintly dont think every dog wearing it is aggressive!

I almost put one on Leo so he would learn not to try greet every dog that came near him but he improved out of sight before I did :)

I'll have my new puppy at club on Sunday so feel free to come say hello :)

[Sayreovi]

Mmm I was considering joining Croydon for the agility, but not if you have to do those exercises I don't agree with a few of them.....if you already trial what sort of testing is required?

[jrm88]

Tollers owned, I started at croydon with an already somewhat trained dog. If you go into basic two, the exercises you have to do to pass to do agility include:

Heeling/weaving

Sit stay one minute

Down stay two minutes

Stand stay 30 seconds

Stand for examination

Distance signals (3 change of position I think?)

Recall

Food refusal

Sooooo if your dog can do those exercises you would be fine :) You can also ask for an assessment by an instructor and they can say if they think you can go straight to agility :)

It really is a fantastic club for the most part and I'm very happy to be there :)

[Sayreovi]

Thanks for that JRM88, she can do all that but would prefer to go straight into agility so would probably ask for an assessment :)

[Guest Panzer Attack!]

Definitely agree with it being a great club, we went to a different club when Scooter was younger and I just didn't gel with it at all. We never went back after orientation! The instructors are all lovely and approachable and it is a really well run club with a lot of different fun things to do.

OOOOOH NEW PUPPY FRIEND FOR LEO! Is it another Poodle? :D

Sharon, i replied to your FB message, hopefully we can come over this week and do some training! xx

RS - naww, I feel your pain, Tucker would be woeful at any kind of restrained greeting, he was put on earth to LOVE, baby!

[jrm88]

Yep if she can do that just ask for an assessment, they are very good! :)

Agility is great, it's taught in modules. Each module is four weeks and the instructors trust you know your dog and how they work best :)

[jrm88]

Haha yes pa! His name is archer and he is a white std boy who I'm going to show/do obed/do agility with :p have high hopes for this one lol!!

[JulesP]

Just thought I would point out that 'rolling the dog over' is not an exercise. The exercise is to check the belly. It is part of teaching the dog to be comfortable for vet checks. I've never had to roll my dogs, they are already laying on the mat and a bit of a tickle on the belly has them paws up. You also give them a nice relaxation massage first prior to the vet checking.

Yes the tests aren't easy and I always hated them.

If you have passes in obedience or agility you usually just get to go straight through to the trial class or agility.

There is no paddock bashing. Instructors have strict guidelines for how long you can be heeling the dogs for. Plus there is simply no time to be doing heaps of heeling as there is so much other stuff to get through.

I have been a member of the club for 20 years btw and an instructor for 5 years.

[megan_]

Hi Jules,

Is there a head instructor or someone to talk about joining agility without passing the list posted? Neither of my dogs know stand or heel and I really have no interest in teaching them. My boy hasn't triallec yet but does proper weaves even under distraction, knows 2o2o, I've done foundation at action dogs and k9. I'm just not ready to trial yet myself. My girl also trains and has an excellent recall, stays with me, has great stays even with other dogs going nuts etc. She wouldn't pass a stand for exam though!

Edited July 10, 2012 by megan_

[huski]

PA I agree with what everyone else has said. I find the meet and greet part horrifying! My dog is not interested in other dogs (doesn't dislike them, but also doesn't like them. She just ignores them 99% of the time) and while she would have no problem with a dog approaching her she is uninterested and wouldn't actually 'greet' them. I would also have to put on your back on a command, as this isn't a position I have conditioned for when my dog is on and working.

I wouldn't have done weaving through other dogs with even my level 2 class, that's something a lot of dogs would struggle with in a class environment and trained in methods they generally use in classes. I'd be happy for people to be able to get their dog to do a brief heel past another dog at a beginner level! LOL actually, I would have been happy enough to see beginners get their dogs lined up to heel without being distracted by another dog. It's not how I would run a class, but often as an instructor you are stuck with the format the club wants the class run in.

Edited July 10, 2012 by huski

[huski]

I also meant to add, to what standard are they 'marking' you? At the club I have instructed at, we'd say the dog had to do x y and z but only at a certain level of competency. The next class would require the dog to do x y and z but at a higher level of competency than the previous class. SO not how I would train my dog or others if I was running the show, but instructors would certainly mark easier if the dog was in a lower level.

[JulesP]

Hi Jules,

Is there a head instructor or someone to talk about joining agility without passing the list posted? Neither of my dogs know stand or heel and I really have no interest in teaching them. My boy hasn't triallec yet but does proper weaves even under distraction, knows 2o2o, I've done foundation at action dogs and k9. I'm just not ready to trial yet myself. My girl also trains and has an excellent recall, stays with me, has great stays even with other dogs going nuts etc. She wouldn't pass a stand for exam though!

You would ask at the office on a Sunday morning. Not sure how you would go though as they are pretty strict about letting people into classes past Basic.

PA I agree with what everyone else has said. I find the meet and greet part horrifying! My dog is not interested in other dogs (doesn't dislike them, but also doesn't like them. She just ignores them 99% of the time) and while she would have no problem with a dog approaching her she is uninterested and wouldn't actually 'greet' them. I would also have to put on your back on a command, as this isn't a position I have conditioned for when my dog is on and working.

I wouldn't have done weaving through other dogs with even my level 2 class, that's something a lot of dogs would struggle with in a class environment and trained in methods they generally use in classes. I'd be happy for people to be able to get their dog to do a brief heel past another dog at a beginner level! LOL actually, I would have been happy enough to see beginners get their dogs lined up to heel without being distracted by another dog. It's not how I would run a class, but often as an instructor you are stuck with the format the club wants the class run in.

The dog doesn't have to actually greet the other dogs. It just has to not be aggressive. I did all meet and greeting with my dog focused on me.

If you have decent focus then weaving is pretty easy. The dogs aren't supposed to be heeling basic 1 either, they are loose lead walking. My puppy class can usually manage some decent weaving.

[Guest Panzer Attack!]

Thanks Jules, you've really helped me :) Cos I've missed so many classes I tend to watch the other handlers and the one closest to me (and so the one I was watching) rolled her dog over, so I assumed I had to do it too Oops. It's the first time I had to do the exercise, I'll definitely be asking questions and paying much closer attention to the class as a whole next week!

I haven't trained good focus (Murve's given me some pointers which we're beginning to put into practice) so I'll make that my #1 priority, as it's going to be so useful for both obedience AND agility.

Thanks everyone else too for your detailed posts! :D You've all given me a lot to think about.

Oh! And huski - our instructor touched on marking at the end of last week's class. She said that what the dog does in class will be taken into consideration while assessing and I think you're allowed to make one big boo boo, but if your recall sucks then that's an auto-fail (unless you were doing it consistently in class or there's a loose dog or something). But she'll be going over it in more detail next week. I can kind of understand it cos it is a 12 week class, but a few of us are at a disadvantage (one girl only started last week and looked like she was going to vomit when she realised assessment was so soon LOL!)

[jrm88]

Also PA, if you want to do some focus work with big dogs around let me know, Leo has only eyes for me when we are training (most of the time!!), so would be good for scooter to gain more confidence around a big dog that shows no interest in him :)

[huski]

The dog doesn't have to actually greet the other dogs. It just has to not be aggressive. I did all meet and greeting with my dog focused on me.

So it's really more a test to see how your dog responds to be close to other dogs than actually greeting them?

If you have decent focus then weaving is pretty easy. The dogs aren't supposed to be heeling basic 1 either, they are loose lead walking. My puppy class can usually manage some decent weaving.

The vast majority of beginners don't have what I would call decent focus, but then again I've only instructed at the one club and it was quite old fashioned so I could be a bit behind the times. I don't really ever train my dogs in classes so I don't know if it's the standard or not, so of course it depends on how you train etc as to how good your focus is.

I haven't trained good focus (Murve's given me some pointers which we're beginning to put into practice) so I'll make that my #1 priority, as it's going to be so useful for both obedience AND agility.

IMHO focus is one of the most important thing to teach! It's the foundation for anything else you train. It's easy enough to train x y or z but if you don't have a dog capable good focus then you will struggle as soon as you introduce any level of distraction. Focus is the first thing I would ask for in any environment. If I couldn't get focus wherever I am training, training anything other than that would be IMO going too fast.

[JulesP]

Thanks Jules, you've really helped me :) Cos I've missed so many classes I tend to watch the other handlers and the one closest to me (and so the one I was watching) rolled her dog over, so I assumed I had to do it too Oops. It's the first time I had to do the exercise, I'll definitely be asking questions and paying much closer attention to the class as a whole next week!

No worries. Btw the mat stuff is tested by your instructor not the assessor :) So even less pressure.

[BC4ME]

PA I agree with what everyone else has said. I find the meet and greet part horrifying! My dog is not interested in other dogs (doesn't dislike them, but also doesn't like them.

Awww come on Bec Daisy couldn't resist playing with her boyfriend Styler :laugh: