Agility Training Talk Thread

[J...]

I actually really enjoyed the open runs, will definitely enter them more often! They're not that scary!! ;) Very pleased with his improvement.

I think I may need to build more value for jumps though - any suggestions? He will sometimes run past them.

Nice run!

I found the same thing - the idea of doing Open was scary, especially the first time I entered JDO I walked into a Master's ring by mistake. Now that was really scary! But I love Open, especially jumping as it gives Darcy to have a hit out on some nice open courses.

As for building value - I had a bit of this with Zee starting. I started her off standing really close to a jump and clicking and rewarding with an absolute favourite food reward every time she took the jump. Built up from that by moving away gradually so she'd take the jump regardless of where I was. I've also used her absolute favourite toy (soccer ball), set up a jump and kicked or thrown the ball for her every time she's taken the jump. Once again moving away from the jump in all directions until she's got it nailed, then I've added a second one. Make sure you balance it with plenty of groundwork and following your body - a dog who takes all jumps in their path is great except when it's the wrong path ;) ;)

[huski]

Here's his ADO run, so pleased with it, we couldn't even manage basic novice agility courses without shutting down last year, he had improved for the last two trials of the year and has obviously carried it through to this year.

Great work guys ;)

[RubyStar]

Was a great run, Amy!!! Hope you don't mind the filming from so low down, I was too lazy to stand up :p

He really did nail that distance challenge, go Kyzer!!!

I had a go at JDO last night (our second trial) and had a ball! I really like the flow of the Open courses I've seen so far, so I think I will keep entering them too as a bit of fun as it takes the pressure off as I don't imagine getting a pass in that any time soon I was proud of what we achieved though, she got the weaves on her 2nd try (I was expecting it to take longer as she hasn't done a lot of weaving as part of a course before) and the distance challenge went to poo poo (which was expected, haven't actually trained any of that!) but we had a hoot and she tried so hard! Oh and any "speed" we might have had for weaving in training, disappears in a trial I mean she's not fast anyway, but that was an agonisingly slow weave last night But I'm not out to be competitive with others (if I was I wouldn't be trialling a couple of Labs), I'm just out ther to conquer it with my girls and only really care what we do as a team ;)

[pie]

Nice dogwalk

Have you built value doing Linda M's one jump work???

Also remember to cue your jumps...it might be just something as simple as that?

Do you mean verbally? I don't tell him to take jumps verbally but try to direct him to them with my hand/arm, maybe I'm not being clear or not turning soon enough so he goes too wide around them, will play around at training with some clearer cues.

I haven't really done any LM stuff with Kyzer, I am doing it with Trixie though, have been shown some collection/recall to heel exercises by SH and have the new LM book, might have a look through and see if there are exercises in there that may help, good idea.

Nice run!

I found the same thing - the idea of doing Open was scary, especially the first time I entered JDO I walked into a Master's ring by mistake. Now that was really scary! But I love Open, especially jumping as it gives Darcy to have a hit out on some nice open courses. :p

As for building value - I had a bit of this with Zee starting. I started her off standing really close to a jump and clicking and rewarding with an absolute favourite food reward every time she took the jump. Built up from that by moving away gradually so she'd take the jump regardless of where I was. I've also used her absolute favourite toy (soccer ball), set up a jump and kicked or thrown the ball for her every time she's taken the jump. Once again moving away from the jump in all directions until she's got it nailed, then I've added a second one. Make sure you balance it with plenty of groundwork and following your body - a dog who takes all jumps in their path is great except when it's the wrong path

Yes I liked Open, the jumping was good because it was spread out I had no option but to trust him to do a fair bit of it at a distance because I couldn't catch up and he coped really well, I think I babysit him too much in trials sometimes I was always scared of open because all the top handlers do it too and I get nervous about them watching, but I think I'm over that now

I know the dogs you mean, the ones who are blissfully taking jump after jump while their handler has gone the other direction ;) He knows what I want if there is one jump and I have food/ball, just doesn't translate to courses sometimes, maybe just need to do more of it.

Great work guys

Thanks :D

[sheena]

Was a great run, Amy!!! Hope you don't mind the filming from so low down, I was too lazy to stand up

He really did nail that distance challenge, go Kyzer!!!

I had a go at JDO last night (our second trial) and had a ball! I really like the flow of the Open courses I've seen so far, so I think I will keep entering them too as a bit of fun as it takes the pressure off as I don't imagine getting a pass in that any time soon I was proud of what we achieved though, she got the weaves on her 2nd try (I was expecting it to take longer as she hasn't done a lot of weaving as part of a course before) and the distance challenge went to poo poo (which was expected, haven't actually trained any of that!) but we had a hoot and she tried so hard! Oh and any "speed" we might have had for weaving in training, disappears in a trial I mean she's not fast anyway, but that was an agonisingly slow weave last night ;) :p But I'm not out to be competitive with others (if I was I wouldn't be trialling a couple of Labs), I'm just out ther to conquer it with my girls and only really care what we do as a team

I have been entering the Open courses with Bindi ever since we started trialing a year ago. I find them good practice & because I am not expecting miracles ("Q's"), it takes the pressure off & we have a lot of fun especially with the distance challenges. Having said that, we did manage a Q in JDO & a couple of other clear rounds, but just over time We also enter the RQH events for the same reason. Also I find, if these events are first up, then it helps to take the pepper out of her in readiness for the important runs....only problem is, when they clash & being in Novice Agility, this happens quite often. Novice Agility just about always seems to be first cab off the ranks & is probably the main reason why we are still struggling to get our 3rd Q. But that was last year...this year will be different

[DeltaCharlie]

I love that we can get into discussions like this, it is always interesting to hear the different experiences of people.

A dog that is driving through the weave poles will have their head down and forward and I'm not seeing that in most of these videos. That is not restricted to working breeds, that is any breed of dog.

Hmmm, not sure I agree with that Bec. I can think of a few spectacular weavers, running at warp speed who are very upright in body & weave with their heads high.

Don't be fooled into thinking that just because a dog weaves really fast it is actually weaving as fast as possible. All I can say is, can you imagine how fast all those dogs would weave if they had their heads down???? Scary to think.

Think about the science of it all. I did a lot of biomechanics study at uni where we broke down the very essence of movements for elite sportspeople and also looked at movements within the animal kingdom. Think about greyhounds- have you ever seen a greyhound race with its head upright? What do you do if you want to let your horse really run? You give him his head. One of the first things we look at to determine whether a child (athlete or regular) is running correctly is how they carry their head- is it upright or forward? Or look at it from the opposite perspective- how does a halti work? It stops the dog from being able to lower its head and therefore removing alot of the power and forward momentum. I remember being told by show people when I first got into obedience with Cody that if you control the head, you control the dog. Its the same thing... the further forward the head is, the more power being thrown into the forward momentum.

Don't get me wrong though, if my dog weaved that fast I don't think I would bother fixing it

Look, I'm basing alot of mine on what I am seeing of people's dogs learning the 2x2 method. Even AD's CK to me is not driving through those poles, his head is upright and he appears to me to be too calculated about the whole thing. Yes he can weave and yes it is reliable, but it is not how I would want my dogs to weave.

Agree - he is not a finished product and it is more a product of the dog than it is of the method. What you see there is a world apart from what he was prior to starting with the 2 x 2's. It is not how I would want my dogs weaving either, but it is far closer than what I did have. I guess seeing the change is why I'm an advocate for 2 x 2's - if I am closer to the poles I get even less.

I can certainly sympathise with you there Charlie would have to be one of the worst weavers but I was so excited that I finally got him to a point where he could do 12 poles that I stopped there. Doing weaves with him has always been a source of great frustration (which is why I ended up sending him to Camp Vickie to learn) that Im not going to push my luck and try and get them how I want them.

I agree with what everyone is saying in regards to teaching the method correctly. I guess I have only really seen people teach it incorrectly and I just don't like what I am seeing in the end performance. Dogs walking through the poles etc. BUT, I think that 2x2 is a great way to teach entries and all the dogs taught using this method seem to have an awesome understanding of their entries which is why I have dabbled in it with Delta, who could already weave.

[caffy]

Nice dogwalk

Have you built value doing Linda M's one jump work???

Also remember to cue your jumps...it might be just something as simple as that?

Do you mean verbally? I don't tell him to take jumps verbally but try to direct him to them with my hand/arm, maybe I'm not being clear or not turning soon enough so he goes too wide around them, will play around at training with some clearer cues.

I haven't really done any LM stuff with Kyzer, I am doing it with Trixie though, have been shown some collection/recall to heel exercises by SH and have the new LM book, might have a look through and see if there are exercises in there that may help, good idea.

Linda's first book shows the progressions of the 1 jump work...this is the beginning

[DeltaCharlie]

Just re-watched those 2 videos that Vickie posted, I couldn't watch them properly earlier as youtube is playing up for me and I could only watch a sec then wait for it to buffer, watch another second then wait etc. Very hard to get a true viewing of the dogs like that.

Wings is gorgeous BUT he has very quick footwork, he is not actually driving his momentum through the weave poles.

The other dog (60 weaves) is actually carrying his head forward like you would want, it isn't being held upright.

[pie]

Linda's first book shows the progressions of the 1 jump work...this is the beginning

Great, another book for me to buy

Oh this is the thing people were talking about from the seminar the other week? Thanks for the link, will do some of that.

[Vickie]

Trim is such a funny girl! I did a really Funny/bad thing on saturday night at our trial.

I was busy with committee stuff & by the time I got to walk ADM, it was just about to start. I managed to talk the judge into letting me walk it quickly. It was a very twisty course so hard to get in my head.

Anyway I remembered it but trim got further ahead at one point than I had planned for so I wasn't where I needed to be to make a turn. I could have turned her either way over one jump, but since I wasn't there to handle it, I just basically followed her & waited to see which way she went before doing the rest of the course.

Lol, should have seen the backward deathstare she gave me while doing that jump! It was like "hellllloooo, some direction would be GREAT! right about now"

she is so funny, I always know when I do crap handling, she always gives me "the look"

[The Spotted Devil]

That's very funny

I couldn't do that with Zig - if I send him off course I have to look like I know what I'm doing - not easy!!!

[piper]

Trim is such a funny girl! I did a really Funny/bad thing on saturday night at our trial.

she is so funny, I always know when I do crap handling, she always gives me "the look"

LOL. Piper wouldn't have cared. She always preferred finding her own courses anyway!! ;) I sill remember Ann Croft saying "Ok that WAS the dog's fault" as she had turned the tunnel entrance so it was not visible, then blocked the tunnel with her legs and I was running in the opposite direction. Piper did the previous jump, hunted for the tunnel, pushed Ann out of the way, did the tunnel then proceeded to find me.

[RubyStar]

I tried uploading my novice jumping round from the weekend where Ruby got her 2nd Q, but it wouldn't work :D I need to convert it first. That will come later!

But I was able to upload the open jumping one, so for the pure entertainment of others, I present to you our first attempt at open jumping so you can all have a giggle :D

What I have taken away as a positive on this though is, she is putting effort into it and having a ball! I need to work on weaves as part of a course as she is rarely nailing them first go (and we need to work on speed for weaves, too), and sending her to obstacles for the distance stuff. Main thing though is we had an absolute ball out there, which is what it's all about!

[Tassie]

Trim is such a funny girl! I did a really Funny/bad thing on saturday night at our trial.

I was busy with committee stuff & by the time I got to walk ADM, it was just about to start. I managed to talk the judge into letting me walk it quickly. It was a very twisty course so hard to get in my head.

Anyway I remembered it but trim got further ahead at one point than I had planned for so I wasn't where I needed to be to make a turn. I could have turned her either way over one jump, but since I wasn't there to handle it, I just basically followed her & waited to see which way she went before doing the rest of the course.

Lol, should have seen the backward deathstare she gave me while doing that jump! It was like "hellllloooo, some direction would be GREAT! right about now"

she is so funny, I always know when I do crap handling, she always gives me "the look"

Vicki - I get the look, but when Kirra gets really frustrated with my crap handling, she bites me - one judge said ... "hmmm well that probably did asist the dog - made her feel better anyway" :D

[Agility Dogs]

Trim is such a funny girl! I did a really Funny/bad thing on saturday night at our trial.

I was busy with committee stuff & by the time I got to walk ADM, it was just about to start. I managed to talk the judge into letting me walk it quickly. It was a very twisty course so hard to get in my head.

Anyway I remembered it but trim got further ahead at one point than I had planned for so I wasn't where I needed to be to make a turn. I could have turned her either way over one jump, but since I wasn't there to handle it, I just basically followed her & waited to see which way she went before doing the rest of the course.

Lol, should have seen the backward deathstare she gave me while doing that jump! It was like "hellllloooo, some direction would be GREAT! right about now"

she is so funny, I always know when I do crap handling, she always gives me "the look"

:D Vicki - I get the look, but when Kirra gets really frustrated with my crap handling, she bites me - one judge said ... "hmmm well that probably did asist the dog - made her feel better anyway" ;)

Yep - I get it too. Xena barks at me something terrible when I am late or not clear.

CK just stops as if to say - 'well make up your mind'.

I have a nasty feeling that Wikki might be a 'biter'. Better improve!!

[pie]

I tried uploading my novice jumping round from the weekend where Ruby got her 2nd Q, but it wouldn't work I need to convert it first. That will come later!

But I was able to upload the open jumping one, so for the pure entertainment of others, I present to you our first attempt at open jumping so you can all have a giggle ;)

Oops sorry, why did one work but not the other? :D I've never uploaded MTS files directly to youtube, I put them through Windows Movie Maker Live to put titles on them and it uploads to Youtube, so easy.

No agility training for Trixie for a few weeks I think, sprained toes I'm itching to get to 12 straight weavers too, dammit!

Edited February 2, 2011 by amypie

[Agility Dogs]

I tried uploading my novice jumping round from the weekend where Ruby got her 2nd Q, but it wouldn't work I need to convert it first. That will come later!

But I was able to upload the open jumping one, so for the pure entertainment of others, I present to you our first attempt at open jumping so you can all have a giggle ;)

What I have taken away as a positive on this though is, she is putting effort into it and having a ball! I need to work on weaves as part of a course as she is rarely nailing them first go (and we need to work on speed for weaves, too), and sending her to obstacles for the distance stuff. Main thing though is we had an absolute ball out there, which is what it's all about! :D

Both of you are having fun. She is running really enthusiastically - very cool.

[RubyStar]

I tried uploading my novice jumping round from the weekend where Ruby got her 2nd Q, but it wouldn't work I need to convert it first. That will come later!

But I was able to upload the open jumping one, so for the pure entertainment of others, I present to you our first attempt at open jumping so you can all have a giggle ;)

Oops sorry, why did one work but not the other? :D I've never uploaded MTS files directly to youtube, I put them through Windows Movie Maker Live to put titles on them and it uploads to Youtube, so easy.

No agility training for Trixie for a few weeks I think, sprained toes I'm itching to get to 12 straight weavers too, dammit!

It did work, but I couldn't open them in WMM to chop down the JD one (needed to as the first 30 secs were grass - thanks Rusky :p ) I didn't need to chop the JDO one so uploaded directly to youtube. I think I need to convert the file you gave me so WMM will open it, then I can chop and upload!

[RubyStar]

I tried uploading my novice jumping round from the weekend where Ruby got her 2nd Q, but it wouldn't work I need to convert it first. That will come later!

But I was able to upload the open jumping one, so for the pure entertainment of others, I present to you our first attempt at open jumping so you can all have a giggle

What I have taken away as a positive on this though is, she is putting effort into it and having a ball! I need to work on weaves as part of a course as she is rarely nailing them first go (and we need to work on speed for weaves, too), and sending her to obstacles for the distance stuff. Main thing though is we had an absolute ball out there, which is what it's all about! :D

Both of you are having fun. She is running really enthusiastically - very cool.

I really appreciate the compliment on the run when there isn't anything complimentary to say about my handling skills :(

I am really loving how enthusiastic she is being, but I can't run her too much or the enthusiasm wears off. This was her 2nd run so I was chuffed she was still "up" ;)

[ness]

You can chop and edit once its uploaded to youtube RS.