Agility training

[adojrts]

Pan awesome, you guys are really rock'n. You need to move down closer to the lakes, we've had almost no snow all winter

[Panzerotti]

So Pan and I have started our agility foundations class. I was really terrified because we train on our own, and the last time we took an obedience class she ended up biting me (hard!) out of frustration and would not engage with me at all. She doesn't like strangers and can be very reactive to both people and dogs around out apartment building.

But I knew that I had to start working her in new places and around distractions if I want to start trialing by the end of summer. So I signed us up for a foundations class so that I could proof known behaviours and she surprised me by being a very good girl!

Here's some vid of us tonight acting as the demo team for some exercises....easy behaviours, but I am beyond happy with her engagement and focus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsKlbM0KLfE

[Emily]

I really like the vid! I don't know nothin' but she looked good to me.

Will someone please explain circle work to me? LOL McDevitt talks about it all the time in CU and I feel totally out of the loop.

[MericoX]

I'm now in the process of teaching Kiba to default to stand on the table unless told to otherwise. She's pretty solid at doing a down or sit when told to, so this will be fun.

[Panzerotti]

Originally Posted by Emily

I really like the vid! I don't know nothin' but she looked good to me.

Will someone please explain circle work to me? LOL McDevitt talks about it all the time in CU and I feel totally out of the loop.

Thanks!

I stole an explanation of circle work from someone's blog....

"Greg teaches that he is looking for the dog to run at our side, neither forging, lagging or bouncing, nor pushing your line, nor shaping the size of your circle for you. The dog is never crossing in front (flanking a.k.a. "father flicking"), crossing behind (blind crossing), spinning away, or turning away from you (flicking). The dog is able to stay in position at your side, with acceleration and deceleration. The handler being particularly careful in deceleration that the dog does not swing wide & away from you as it slows (flanking), or moves ahead of you landing facing you, (major flanking), but instead remains at your side keeping the body aligned forward in the same direction as you are running. Run good, large circles with the dog on outside and dog on inside, in both directions and changing paces."

So it's basically rewarding the dog for being in the "reinforcement zone" aka heel position on either side of you. This work helps with handling in courses later on down the line.

[Snark]

Got my sister to come out and tape some stuff with her phone last weekend... Starting serpentines with Riley and focusing more on tug as a reward than food. Also working on his speed/enthusiasm in the weaves without popping out.

http://youtu.be/W-xJFnJZ_UM

[Aleron]

Panzer looks like she's doing great in foundation class!

Riley is coming along too! The only thing I would change is to throw the toy to reward forward motion, so he isn't looking to you for the reward on things like the serpentine.

[Snark]

Originally Posted by Aleron

Panzer looks like she's doing great in foundation class!

Riley is coming along too! The only thing I would change is to throw the toy to reward forward motion, so he isn't looking to you for the reward on things like the serpentine.

Thanks. I prefer throwing the toy but my trainer wanted more interaction with Riley (tugging/playing) since he's not always focused on me at class. Maybe I'll toss the toy if he beats me to the last jump and keep it if I get there first (using a lead out).

[nikkiluvsu15]

Ignoring her bolt in the first part, this was a tough sequence to do. We (more like I) messed up on the very last jump.. if I would have given just ONE more step she would have got it, but I pulled away. Anyways, why was it tough? My agility instructor told us after we completed it that it was the course for the England Agility National Championship. Wow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5cfU...1&feature=plcp

(personally I think she was just doing that to show us what we and our dogs are capable of... meaning she wants us to compete because Novice would be so easy for them. I'm still not sure if we're (I'm) ready though).

[Panzerotti]

Nice run! Just remember to RUN, lol!