Agility Training Talk Thread

[J...]

Bumping this up.

Brief update on my instructing situation. I backed away a lot and sticking with agility instructing only. I do help in the public side if needed but I'm not the first person to put my hand up. Some of my students have been great in stepping up into instructing roles for our foundation class which has really helped. We have some great new members who are also taking some of the workload here and there and are keen to learn.

Now we just need to ease off on our trial workload and calm the expectations from the rest of the agility community when it comes to running trials and things would be much easier

Edited November 2, 2016 by Jess.

[Tassie]

That sounds like a much happier situation, Jess. And positive all round. Nice to see some students feeling confident enough to step up to instructing .. and foundation being appreciated.

[J...]

Interesting question posed to me which I thought I'd ask here.

What would you call excessive training or overworking a dog/s in a club training session? Time? Fitness of the dog? Response of the dog? It also runs into unsafe working i.e. around young dogs and jump heights.

How would you define it in a club setting?

How would you deal with it if it's an ongoing issue? The main concern is for the health and welfare of the dog, but also the implications for fellow students.

[The Spotted Devil]

Interesting question posed to me which I thought I'd ask here.

What would you call excessive training or overworking a dog/s in a club training session? Time? Fitness of the dog? Response of the dog? It also runs into unsafe working i.e. around young dogs and jump heights.

How would you define it in a club setting?

How would you deal with it if it's an ongoing issue? The main concern is for the health and welfare of the dog, but also the implications for fellow students.

I think time is the easiest one. Using a stop watch really helps. Pair people up if it's one jump work. Give them one thing to work on. 2 minutes work time each. Dog in crate whilst the other dog works. When you add in instructions then it's very easy to fill an hour and come away with 4-5 pieces of homework. The other thing is partner people up and they have to either write training notes for each other or help throw toys etc. But I'm a hard @r$e lol

Edited November 10, 2016 by The Spotted Devil

[Kavik]

Interesting question posed to me which I thought I'd ask here.

What would you call excessive training or overworking a dog/s in a club training session? Time? Fitness of the dog? Response of the dog? It also runs into unsafe working i.e. around young dogs and jump heights.

How would you define it in a club setting?

How would you deal with it if it's an ongoing issue? The main concern is for the health and welfare of the dog, but also the implications for fellow students.

I go with dog's response in regards to overworking. This depends on the individual dog, their fitness, level of drive, how easily distracted they are/how easy or hard they are to keep attention and working. I go with a less is more approach with my dog, who is very easily distracted and easily overexcited so keeping him at a good level of arousal and attention for training is difficult, so we keep it short.

If it is an ongoing issue I approach students. Mostly this is seen with dogs who appear quite flat and leave while training.

[J...]

Interesting question posed to me which I thought I'd ask here.

What would you call excessive training or overworking a dog/s in a club training session? Time? Fitness of the dog? Response of the dog? It also runs into unsafe working i.e. around young dogs and jump heights.

How would you define it in a club setting?

How would you deal with it if it's an ongoing issue? The main concern is for the health and welfare of the dog, but also the implications for fellow students.

I think time is the easiest one. Using a stop watch really helps. Pair people up if it's one jump work. Give them one thing to work on. 2 minutes work time each. Dog in crate whilst the other dog works. When you add in instructions then it's very easy to fill an hour and come away with 4-5 pieces of homework. The other thing is partner people up and they have to either write training notes for each other or help throw toys etc. But I'm a hard @r$e lol

We do more structured stuff in our Foundation but our Advanced group is everything from Foundation graduates through to JDM level dogs. I tried structured exercises but our turn-up is so hit and miss, so I've learnt to be a lot more relaxed

I think you're right though - time is probably the factor. Makes it hard when you have people who are only there to use the equipment, not participate in the class.

Edited November 10, 2016 by Jess.

[J...]

I go with dog's response in regards to overworking. This depends on the individual dog, their fitness, level of drive, how easily distracted they are/how easy or hard they are to keep attention and working. I go with a less is more approach with my dog, who is very easily distracted and easily overexcited so keeping him at a good level of arousal and attention for training is difficult, so we keep it short.

If it is an ongoing issue I approach students. Mostly this is seen with dogs who appear quite flat and leave while training.

Most of our dogs are quite high drive which is great - as we've really focussed on building that into the curriculum. Most would work themselves beyond tired if asked, so it is something I'm very conscious of and everyone has been really good with it without ever having to consider overworking being an issue.

It's just not an issue I've ever struck in a club setting.

[Tassie]

It's hard when it's an all in one class situation. We have Foundation .. one hour class, broken into a variety of tasks. Then Skills Training .. where we do have people at different levels, and trial people can jump in if they find gaps to plug, Sequences and Patters (likewise can have 'remedials', but the trial training group is separate. We usually set up a course or partial course, but sometimes, choose one depending on what triallers have found they need to work on.

We're trying to encourage what TSD is talking about .. individual responsibility, spotting for each other, record keeping .. yes I'm bad at that.

With the numbers and mix we have, we don't really run into too many overtraining problems .. but we will limit the height if we're working on something that's going to be repetitive.

Our big problem is instructor power, or lack of.

[Bris_Aussie]

Hi,

I have been trying to enroll my pup in to a dog agility class since early this year. Been on the waiting list for one school for 10 months now.

Schools seem limited around the Brisbane metro area so Im looking in to other options. Has anyone trained their dog themselves without

any prior dog handling experience? Are there books on the subject that anyone could recommend, preferable authored by trainers themselves.

Are there trainers willing to offer personal classes on an on going basis for a fee?

Thanks

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Bris Aussie

Have you tried Cathy Slot at AgilityClick.com (Chuwar) for ideas and recommendations. I don't know if she runs beginner classes but she often offers seminars and stuff - there's one on with Susan Garrett today. And she sometimes gets other international instructors in as well.

For me I try to stick to one handling methodology or I get confused. Susan Garrett's stuff is based on Greg Derrett's stuff - There's DVDs for both. I would definitely get the first two Derrett DVDs just for how you signal the dog where you're going, and then I use Susan's H360 to modify all that. Susan's book Shaping Success, has a lot of games for agility foundation skills written in it. The DVDs and books are a wee bit cheaper than the online classes but less interactive.

There's an FB page you can join for more info and just following along for the freebie stuff

https://www.facebook.com/groups/H360FreeAgilityWorkshop/

If you don't like that methodology - there's another one called "one mind" which is all about using your whole body to signal your dog where to go next - personally I'm not going there because I am not that co-ordinated. My dog needs to be able to ignore my flailing flappy running and do what I say - maybe with an arm wave but not to worry about where my feet and shoulders are pointing.

There's plenty of people on H360 that are not in classes every week. Tho quite a few of us gather in small groups to try stuff out.

Greg Derrett also has an online class or series of them. Find his website and join the email list.

Look for agility foundation, crate games, itsyerchoice, PNU and handling360 or H360 on youtube. There's lots of stuff puppies should be learning now as foundation.

To do the online courses you do need good internet. At least 4 units of download. Mbps? And if you want to load videos for feedback - a lot of patience or 4Mbps up as well.

[DeltaCharlie]

Bumping this thread back to life.

 

What are your goals for 2017?

 

My life has changed dramatically in the last 12 months and I plan to really focus on what I want for my agility this year. I am living on my own and no longer have a full set of equipment to use, but I am lucky enough to have the freedom to set up what I want at club.

 

I am running Whip again and it had been a huge learning curve for me. He didn't have the same foundation work as my others and was taught to jump everything in extension. He had no comprehension of wrapping around an upright. We did the Silvia T foundation course last year and hr has improved heaps. Still a work in progress though and a priority for this year is to continue building on those skills.

 

Shock has a much higher level of skill than any of my other dogs. She is still in novice though so we never get to use any of it! Her seizures are still happening every 5-6weeks so they interfere with our trialling, but she loves her agility and I enjoy running her so we will continue training and trialling when we can

 

Boost has had a few runs in JD already but will start trialling properly in 2017. I am very happy with her weaves and contacts in training so it's time to put them to the test in a trial She is such a sensitive soul who needed time to grow up a bit so I've held back on her training. I feel she is ready now to step it up a bit and my aim is to get her to the same level as Shock this year. The foundations are there and now it's time to build on them.

 

Delta was retired late last year and Charlie only has an occasional run these days.

[Tassie]

My goals for 2017 are mainly in the areas of keeping the dogs fit and happy, continuing to try to improve my skills and Rory's, and having fun.  

 

Miss Kirra is retired, but al almost 15, still likes to have a little play when we're training - on low heights, since she doesn't see too well .. but she gets so happy it's worth doing little bits.

 

Had a scare with Rory last October, when he was not fully weight bearing on his left hind one day.   Both my vet and a rehab vet were of the opinion that he probably had a minor CCL tear, so we scheduled TTO surgery.   Had a few weeks wait because the vet was going to be away, so he was conservatively managed on anti inflammatories for that time.  My somewhat puzzled vet phoned me on surgery day to say that with Rory anaesthetized, there were no signs of cruciate ligament damage.  We decided to x ray anyway, given he's 8, to check the state of the joints.   The verdict was "beautiful knees", no signs of damage, and no signs of arthritic change in knees or hips.    (Thumbs up for conditioning and supplements.) Phew!      So I've been rehabbing him slowly over the summer break, and we're now ready to get back into some more serious training.   First trial down here is mid February, so that will give us an idea where we're at.

[J...]

Equipment Q - what kind of price do you put on second hand contact gear? 

 

I'm moving some club stuff on and while I don't want to give it away I also don't want it sitting around the shed for months either. Second hand sand coated full height dogwalk with training legs and a sand coated A-frame both in good condition.  We also have some old seesaws in varying heights - all sand coated as well.