Agility Training Talk Thread

[canine fun sports]

Did a bit more training today working on a pinwheel after doing a few grids from susan salo's foundation jumping video.

I am finding he is starting to cut out on the jump and run over to me towards the inside of the pinwheel. I think this is because he is coming over for treats etc. He loves to play tug, but won't run towards the toy and pick it up, so can't use that as a target. He loves the table and will run towards the table if I ask, but also can't use this all the time or he will constantly be on the table!

Think I need to get some more basics under our belt.. hard when I can only go with this trainer - I am so lucky to have someone within 300km doing some agility! Maybe I will have to go book/dvd shopping!

You need to develop a way to reward your dog away from you. There are several althernatives.

1. Teach the dog to go and fetch their tug toy

2. Use a target - dog has to run to target and touch, then gets his treat (preferable through the treat out to him otherwise the dog will still be interested in coming back to you because that is where the primary reinforcer comes from.

3. Use food in a container - he will run to the container, then you have to go over and open it for him. You should then let the dog eat a limited amount from the container, do not take it out and give it from your hand. Soft pouches work well for this.

4. My preferred method is to teach my dog to retrieve a toy

You should always reward the dog where you want the behaviour to happen. So if you are rewarding distance work, you should be rewarding away from you.

Cheers,

[DeltaCharlie]

Delta would only ever work for food when I was doing all her foundation work so I had a treat pouch with a tug attached. That way I could throw it, strategically place it, wave it around like a tug to recall her if need be, or just use it as treat storage. Whenever she saw her treat pouch she would run over and lie down in front of it, waiting for it to be opened and then she was allowed to shove her nose in to get the treats out (I used to just put in enough for that drill, then restock it). That way the reward was well and truly coming from the pouch so she never came into me as I wasn't good for anything except opening said pouch :laugh:

I also used a manners minder (remote controlled treat dispenser) for training her weaves as it beeps when releasing a treat so acted like a clicker and took me completely out of the picture, but they aren't cheap.

Sounds like he could also benefit from some "dead toy" work. We always teach our puppies that a toy is just as much fun when just lying there as it is when it is moving (live). That can be done away from the equipment, just build a lot of value into sending him to his tug (not thrown, just lying there) and then have big games with him. If he really won't send at first then you could throw it the first few times, but wait till it has been lying there for a few seconds before you release him to get it. Or you could try racing him to the toy, if you get there first do a little happy dance with the toy but don't let him have it. Just hold him and throw it again, then race him to it. Before long he will start racing to it so that he can get there before you :)

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

My dog likes food better than tug, though she does quite like tug when we're doing agility for warm up. There's a tug called a "tuggit" a furry velcro pouch with a handle - that you can load with food, and throw that where you want your dog to be rewarded ie on the landing side of the jump, not with you.

I have a black seat belt frisbee from a $2 cheapie shop, that some dog chewed the corners off, and I stuff goodos or processed cheese into the corners of that and chuck it on the landing side of the jump. That gives me time to get over there and treat in position. Seems to work fairly well until she decides to run off with it, so I might have to tie a light long line to it, so I can stop that.

Edited July 10, 2012 by Mrs Rusty Bucket

[Vickie]

Did a bit more training today working on a pinwheel after doing a few grids from susan salo's foundation jumping video.

I am finding he is starting to cut out on the jump and run over to me towards the inside of the pinwheel. I think this is because he is coming over for treats etc. He loves to play tug, but won't run towards the toy and pick it up, so can't use that as a target.

Unlike many others, I very rarely use targets of any kind in agility & pretty much all rewards are delivered by me from my hands, including for distance work

Are you sure you're not just asking for too much at this point? I would consider cutting in on a pinwheel can happen for a few reasons. How much value does he have for taking one jump? two jumps? Are you looking at Hudson rather than focussing on the line you want him to take? Are you overrotating after the first jump? Are you starting him square or at an angle on the first jump? How far away from the jumps are you running? Are you moving constantly or standing still in the middle?

Hopefully the above will give you some ideas...it may not be about distance at all, after all you can run a pinwheel with no distance...

[Elise+Hudson]

Thanks Vicki, I think we have been a little too far ahead of ourselves, have come right back to basics again doing a few small jumping excersizes and he has been driving towards the end of the mini grids which was great this afternoon.

Today also started training weaves in the 2 by 2 method. On lead starting to clicker train for hudson going forward through the gap :) He is a smart boy. Going to take things slowly - He has 5 months before he is even old enough to trial, so we have plenty of time to work on things. I just want to try and do this right from the start, but being my first attempt at agility it's proving much more difficult than I had imagined.

You guys can probably expect a lot of questions I am sorry!

[Vickie]

I just want to try and do this right from the start, but being my first attempt at agility it's proving much more difficult than I had imagined.

You guys can probably expect a lot of questions I am sorry!

Don't be too hard on yourself, it is difficult, especially with limited help available.

The best advice I can give is to train all the little steps with as much motivation from Hudson as you can get. Keep it fun all the time. Don't be afraid to practice things he is already good at as you will both benefit from enjoying these things together.

My pups are about the same age as Hudson. The only thing I am really asking from them is that they enjoy what we are doing. The rest will come and lately they are proving to me that all the fun games that we have played have been really worthwhile.

Edited July 10, 2012 by Vickie

[Elise+Hudson]

Yeah he loves practising contacts and the table/wobble board, so we did a lot of that the other day in between some jumping grids. :) He was having a great time which was great. it is so much fun watching him process and understand things.. like with our weave training.

[jrm88]

Have just started weave training with Leo doing the 2x2 method and I'm so happy with his progress :) he is doing his entries well and the two sets of poles are *almost* in a straight line :)

I'm amazed at how fast/well he has picked it up! :)

[Elise+Hudson]

That's great jrm! I am excited to see him thinking about it. We are still working on increasing out angle of entry to the single set of 2 poles, but he is doing well so far. Baby steps and making it fun. :D

[Sayreovi]

Bit of a brag. We had a club comp today and Jovi came first in both agility and jumping. We did get a fault in agility as I pulled her off a jump so it was a refusal, but the jumping we went clear :)

Very happy with her performance as we had our first proper comp next week so it was a good experience in a trial like environment :)

[Vickie]

Great work!

[poocow]

That's awesome TO!!!!

I just started training with Flynn this week, he picks up things pretty quickly so I'm pretty impressed. I just need to work on my handling skills having not done any agility for at least 3 years now!

[piper]

Well I have just done Jazz's first trial entries. She was measured last night so I finally have her height card. Now to hope I am over my shoulder surgery enough by the trial date to actually be able to run her well. She has been ready for jumping for ages now but I needed to get her measured and then decided not to bother entering until after my surgery.

When I had her at training last night for measuring there was a ,asters level jumping course up and I thought I would give it a go with her and aside from leaving me in pain I was thrilled with how she ran it, especially given she was getting very limited signals (fortunately it was a mainly right handed course and it was my left shoulder operated on). She has also not had a lot of exposure to tyres, spreads and broad jumps and did a nice lead out with a tyre at the start and completed the course clear. Wasn't timed but she was running quite fast and smooth so I imagine she would have been ok. I very rarely put her over full courses so most of the trial people had no idea what she could do and we got a few very positive comments at the end of the run. Hopefully she will hold it together just as well at her first trial although I think I jinxed myself on Facebook last night - I said she is a clean jumper and responsive to handling so without a doubt she will now knock bars and take an out of order!!

[Vickie]

That's exciting Piper

Good luck, hope there will be video

[piper]

That's exciting Piper

Good luck, hope there will be video

I hope there wont be. I am quite sure it will be spectacular - she will ace it or be spectacularly bad. LOL.

I'm not sure how she will go with the environment, she hasn't been to many agility trials and also does not often have dogs running near her so I have to hope she will cope with that too. Although I think the grounds we are at are not as bad as others for distance between rings. Oh and then there will be MY nerves to contend with, I think it has been about 6 years since I last entered an agility trial.

[ness]

Sure she will be fine Piper and I might drop down with the video camera if I have nothing better that weekend .

[Sayreovi]

Has one tired little Toller at the moment!

Had Jovi's first trial today, she went exceptionally well on some fairly hard courses for Novice dogs. There were a fair few hardish parts like a curved tunnel after a jump but the dog had to take the entry that wasn't directly facing the jump. Unfortunately for us, I didn't handle it correctly (as I could have pulled her off) and she went in the incorrect entry......the same little test appeared in a later run and as she had already done it one way apparantly that was still the way to do it! :p

Had another one where weavers were right next to a dog walk, and contacts are still a very high reward item for her (working on it :p) so she went straight for the dog walk, spun around and did her 2o2o behaviour I released her and didn't set her up correctly so she did it again, even the judge had a chuckle and mentioned how she loves her contacts! We got the weavers after that and she ran the rest of the course correctly.....oops bad handler

I am very proud of her first trial, she had fun and her fastest run ended up being her last as she had a bit of a tug of the lead walking into the ring and I was trying to rev her up so I think I might need to get one of those tuggy leads if she is willing to tug at a trial :D

Edited July 21, 2012 by tollersowned

[sheena]

Has one tired little Toller at the moment!

Had Jovi's first trial today, she went exceptionally well on some fairly hard courses for Novice dogs. There were a fair few hardish parts like a curved tunnel after a jump but the dog had to take the entry that wasn't directly facing the jump. Unfortunately for us, I didn't handle it correctly (as I could have pulled her off) and she went in the incorrect entry......the same little test appeared in a later run and as she had already done it one way apparantly that was still the way to do it! :p

Had another one where weavers were right next to a dog walk, and contacts are still a very high reward item for her (working on it :p) so she went straight for the dog walk, spun around and did her 2o2o behaviour I released her and didn't set her up correctly so she did it again, even the judge had a chuckle and mentioned how she loves her contacts! We got the weavers after that and she ran the rest of the course correctly.....oops bad handler

I am very proud of her first trial, she had fun and her fastest run ended up being her last as she had a bit of a tug of the lead walking into the ring and I was trying to rev her up so I think I might need to get one of those tuggy leads if she is willing to tug at a trial :D

Sounds like you both had a wow of a time. Don't you just love it when they do the wrong obstacle & then stand there in a 2o2o position with their tail wagging waiting for the praise. :)

[Sayreovi]

We both had fun and that was my aim, she is nearly two so has heaps of time to think about passes/titles later and I want her to really enjoy being there.

She looked very pleased with herself that's for sure! She was looking at me like "look what I am doing right mum!!"

[melinda10786]

Thought I should finally pop in here, I've been doing agility now for 12 months with my now 2 year old cocker spaniel, Monte :) We absolutely love it, and whilst we haven't started competing yet, I'm more keen on making sure he really enjoys himself.. A couple of times I've wondered if he's going to fall off the dog walk his tail is wagging so hard and fast :) We've done two demos for our club and he has certainly done me very proud, and there is nothing funnier than hearing people commenting on how funny it is watching Monte's ears flap as he goes over jumps :laugh:

There's one thing that we're stuggling with a big at the moment and that's the cloth tunnel. He will run into it and then turn around and come back out.. We've tried holding the end open during training and that works, but once we put it down, its a no go! Does any one have any hints on how to get him to keep running straight through? As I run alongside it, I keep calling his name so he knows where I am, but that just makes him come back out through the front. Thanks in advance!