Agility training

[katielou]

http://youtu.be/twHPZqIW1LI

Abe's weaves are coming along..


Here is Abe at the end of the night very tired with his cheering squad.


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n8KQV2l2YF4

[Raegan]

Has anyone used Susan Salo's jump training DVDs? For an adult dog who is competing at a novice level and running excellent level courses in practice, but has no formal jump training, you would start with the puppy DVD or the foundation DVD? Or something else entirely?

[Shai]

Originally Posted by Raegan

Has anyone used Susan Salo's jump training DVDs? For an adult dog who is competing at a novice level and running excellent level courses in practice, but has no formal jump training, you would start with the puppy DVD or the foundation DVD? Or something else entirely?

I personally prefer to start with Linda Mecklenburg's foundation jump training and then use Susan Salo's stuff to further explain the job and expectations. But that may vary based on the specific problems you are having and your handling style.

There's no need to bother with the Salo puppy DVD with an adult dog IMO (I have both) since the main difference is they are using jump bumps and keeping things on a small scale for tiny growing bodies and blank spongey puppy brains

[Beanie]

Originally Posted by Raegan

Has anyone used Susan Salo's jump training DVDs? For an adult dog who is competing at a novice level and running excellent level courses in practice, but has no formal jump training, you would start with the puppy DVD or the foundation DVD? Or something else entirely?

From what I have heard the puppy DVD is pretty much the same as the foundation DVD just using jump bumps (low jumps) instead of adjustable height jumps. I do not own the puppy DVD because based on those comments from other people I decided not to buy it and just proceeded with the foundation stuff with baby Payton with the jumps basically at 4"... he was far bigger than being able to safely step over that by the time we started.
For an adult dog I would just get the foundation DVD.

[Raegan]

Originally Posted by Shai

I personally prefer to start with Linda Mecklenburg's foundation jump training and then use Susan Salo's stuff to further explain the job and expectations. But that may vary based on the specific problems you are having and your handling style.

There's no need to bother with the Salo puppy DVD with an adult dog IMO (I have both) since the main difference is they are using jump bumps and keeping things on a small scale for tiny growing bodies and blank spongey puppy brains

Great answer, because that's what I was leaning towards doing

We're not having actual problems, but I feel Marsh is getting sloppy and could just be doing better. I'm also an awful handler, which doesn't help. I've read Linda's handling book and it's on my list to buy. I'll add the jumping book, too, but I really want a DVD because I'm a very visual learner.

Edit: @#$%, Clean Run has Developing Jumping Skills for Kindle.

[Shai]

Originally Posted by Raegan

Great answer, because that's what I was leaning towards doing

We're not having actual problems, but I feel Marsh is getting sloppy and could just be doing better. I'm also an awful handler, which doesn't help. I've read Linda's handling book and it's on my list to buy. I'll add the jumping book, too, but I really want a DVD because I'm a very visual learner.

Edit: @#$%, Clean Run has Developing Jumping Skills for Kindle.

Most of what's in the foundation jumping book is also in the handling book, so it may be somewhat redundant to buy both. Best bang for your buck is the Handling book + the DVD if you learn better that way. Working through Handling Skills to get your own body under control and to help your dog understand what your body is saying should give you the same skill set as the foundation jumping book plus additional information.

If you get the book first and have issues visualizing an exercise as you work through it, feel free to ask and I'd be glad to help where I can.

[Finkie_Mom]

Just a quick video from class tonight... She saved me after the chute LOL. Her weaves are STILL slower than they used to be, but we're working on them at home a bit (I don't want to overdo it), and I'm hoping that she will continue to get her speed back. I may ask if the courses next week don't overlap if I can just do some quick weave work (the ones today did with the weaves so that would have been a no-go). Her wraps are also iffy (she had a REALLY bad one on the other course, but DH was busy shooting stills of that one versus video so I didn't get to really go over what I/she did wrong), so that's something else we will work on a bit at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCqlmPh0KbQ

[Laurelin]

I had about my least graceful agility moment ever tonight. Too bad I didn't have it on film, I have a feeling it would have been amusing.

On the bright side, the dogs are doing great. We 'graduated' and we did a mini course. Loads of fun. Both my dogs were great except they both popped out of the tunnel. Of all the equipment, we struggle with the tunnel.

We have a fun run saturday and I AM going to make it. They have a good photographer coming so hopefully I can get a few nice shots of them.

[Beanie]

Came home from work tonight needing to take one of the dogs to training class with me as my demo dog. I intended to take Payton, because whenever I take Auggie people FREAK OUT going "oh my puppy will NEVER be that good" and I'm like "HE'S SEVEN, PEOPLE, SEVEN." Payton then decided to try and get into a fight with Auggie over their food bowls so I was mad at Payton and didn't want to take him.
I took him anyway, and I had to get there early to turn the heat up so the building would warm up, so I got out the tunnel and the tire jump and we played some. Then I decided to get the teeter out. He had never seen the teeter before.

I'm glad I took Payton after all. I really needed to take him. I love this little dog. I keep seeing glimpses of the future agility dog he will be and it thrills me. I cannot wait for the spring to sign him up for Trkman's foundations class.

[SaraB]

Go Kimma go!!

Yay for mini-courses with the paps! Very cool.

I can't wait to see how Payton does, he's going to be great.

Well... Zuma and I have had some great learning experiences the last couple weeks with agility. I've been taking her to a group class taught by my mentor once a week because she's started to get extremely spastic when watching other dogs run at trials during our warm ups. It was bad enough that I was having issues keeping her focused on me before and during our runs. So back to mat work, crate games and LAT.

I'm really, really glad to get her working around other dogs again (other than my trainer's BC). She works at a completely different level and it's difficult to train her to keep her brain when she's not working at that level. However, there are risks that come with it. A couple weeks ago during our first run of the class, she stumbled when she flew over the dog walk and ended up with a nasty zinger for a minute or two. Once she had walked that off, I put her in a 2o2o at the bottom of the dogwalk to continue the sequence. The next obstacle was a chute, she ended up running into the hard edge (even though it's padded, it's still unforgiving). That was all self-destruct Zuma I could take for the evening so we just worked on LAT and controlled "with me's" or the rest of the class.

Wednesday of this week, we attended a Karen Holik "Squares" seminar (NOT BOXES! lol). I signed her up because I know we struggle with this. I adore Karen and learned so much and hopefully some tweaks to our current training style will get Zuma and I more connected. It was rather discouraging though only being able to do 3 jumps out of the 11 jumps sequence, but hopefully one day we will be better.

One major thing that I'm learning from this experience is that EVERY dog has their own problems when it comes to agility. From an outsider perspective, I have the upper hand in the sport because Zuma is fast and in every way your ideal agility candidate. However, I wish people would see the amount of hard work that goes into controlling and channeling that drive. While it may take most dogs 3-4 passes at a drill to get the correct lines, we are still struggling several sessions later or we may not even get to do the entire drill. She does have her strengths, I will not deny that. However, she has her weaknesses like every other dog, they are just different. Basically, if I hear "Well you have it easy, your dog has drive" or something along those lines one more time, I may just freak out a bit.

Zinga is doing really well with her foundation stuff. I am sooo excited to see what she has to offer. Also, she's a screamer and it makes me laugh.