Agility training

So, pretty much I started making agility FUN& took out my anxiety of needing perfection. Instead of focusing on handling/ complex courses, take your dogs favorite obstacles (Penn's are tunnels& A-frames) and build a course where they can zoom over/ through those frequently. So, I have access to 4 tunnels consistently so I've started building tunnel courses with just a few random jumps in them. I get her zooming through then toss a reward often. It looks crazy but her speed is really starting to pick up from it. It looks like tunnel, tunnel, jump, tunnel, reward. I vary my reward rate. Sometimes I ask for 1 obstacle then reward& sometimes 10.

Also, I've stopped making up an actual course& am just winging it because my issues were getting cranky when we went off-course. Not having a course means it's impossible to mess up the order!

Next, this helped THE MOST and you don't need equipment for it. I started building my motivators into things that could come into the ring with me. Penn is a funny dog ..she's easily motivated for 10 seconds then needs a new motivator. It became so that I was using 100 toys for one training session (okay ..a slight exaggeration but still) and that's insane. I had tugs, balls, stuffies, food (at least 3 kinds), frisbees, etc.

I ditched all that for building my own motivators. I made the ball a motivation by having her run after the ball to bring it back ..the faster she went to get it& brought it back, the higher value treat she got. She will now chase a ball like crazy because she knows she gets a good reward for bringing it back. This is huge if your dog isn't super toy driven. It works off the food drive but they learn to associate chasing& retrieving the ball with food!
We also built spinning in as a fun factor. If your dog has a trick they love, use it! Penn gets spun before AND after a reward so that the spinning can be used in place of a reward. So, we finish a sequence. I ask for a spin, reward& ask for another spin. Same with hand touches& weaving through my legs. We started with adding in absolutely no equipment, just building those us up high, high in value& then using them in conjunction with the equipment. She's learned equipment must fun ..you spin, take a piece of gear, spin again, get a reward& get more spinning! It's been a slow process but in the month since we've seen Jess Martin, we've improved about 70%.

Sorry for the novel ..hope some of it can apply to your situation. Shutting down around gear/ on course sucks. It's my biggest fear for Penn never making it to a trial. We're getting there but somedays I feel like just saying screw it& getting my herder NOW instead of in 2+ years. I just try to remember every mistake I make with Penn, I can prevent with my next dog. And every bit of training tips I learn now, I'll have for my next dog. Still ..some days.

That's Kimma issue, too. Shutting down. It stinks. It's the reason why we're taking a break. Those tips are great, yv0nne! I think I've gotten away from things like rewarding often enough during classes/training. Something I need to start doing before we try trialing again.

We are signed up for privates with a new instructor (I think we need a new set of eyes, plus my old instructor doesn't have time for new privates) this week. I'm going to split the hour between Kimma and Jari (YAY Jari will be in class!!!). Hoping it will work out for us. The instructor we are going to start with is at the place I teach (so it's familiar to Kimma) and she sort of "specializes" in helping with motivation/stress issues. I can't wait

Glad you guys had fun. Was that CPE Level 1?

I think the biggest thing is like yvonne said... take the expectation for perfection out of it and just make the intent to go out and play with your dogs. Since Mia is so sensitive, your anxiety about what's about to happen (or not happen) is probably rubbing off on her, which of course makes your anxiety worse and an infinite loop starts.



Don't fall into the trap of thinking it takes a herding dog to be successful and definitely don't fall into the trap of thinking just getting another dog will be the key. It's easy for me to say sitting here having nothing BUT herding dogs, but I have so many agility friends who have been wildly successful with non-herding breeds, I just don't buy that it takes a herding dog to be successful. And I sure as hell don't buy that the solution is to just get another dog and my heart aches when people feel that way, because of course that was a suggestion people gave me with Auggie.
"You just need another dog."
"You should get another dog."
That one is broken - you should replace him.
Upgrade to a newer model.

I didn't WANT another dog. I wanted AUGGIE. He is my dog and even though run after run resulted in wasted money, no Qs, frustration and tears, he was the dog I wanted.
And now that I HAVE another dog, it's not any easier. Payton just brings an entirely different group of problems to the table, problems I don't even have firm plans on working through because he is not Auggie. Payton was not the solution to Auggie's problems, and he certainly was no Agility Jesus who saved me from all frustration and disappointment.
Also while it may look like I'm having fun because I'm laughing at my crazy baby dog, I really want to sell him to the circus for $10, except he won't do anything so even the circus doesn't want him. Appearances can be deceiving (and that is certainly the idea when I'm in the ring with P. LOLOLOL LOOK HOW MUCH FUN WE ARE HAVING YAAAAAY I HATE THIS DOG WHOOOOO PAYTON SUCKS ALL RIGHT YEAH)

For me, my anxiety& expectation that Penn would run away lead to the result I was expecting. Since I changed my attitude (and my off-leash focus expectations) I've had a total 180 in Penn's focus off lead.

Pisses me off when people tell somebody you need a border collie or a sheltie to be successful in agility...

To be honest, the only people I've ever heard actually say such things are, to be frank, not very successful in agility themselves. Maybe on a very local level but mostly they just have delusions of grandeur and a very narrow view of the world. And are nearly useless as trainers, especially for training any dog that doesn't fit their miniscule area of expertise.

Just walk away. Not worth your time.

And really they are such a tiny minority that they are easy to avoid. Or laugh at. Whichever you prefer.

To be honest, the only people I've ever heard actually say such things are, to be frank, not very successful in agility themselves. Maybe on a very local level but mostly they just have delusions of grandeur and a very narrow view of the world. And are nearly useless as trainers, especially for training any dog that doesn't fit their miniscule area of expertise.

Just walk away. Not worth your time.

And really they are such a tiny minority that they are easy to avoid. Or laugh at. Whichever you prefer.

I guarantee you're not the only person having motivation issues, Laur. It's tough because our expectations of our dogs are usually higher. I'm easier on Georgie than I am on Payton. I expect more out of Payton than I expect out of Georgie. My students have dogs who do things like Payton and I always have something positive to say about it. Payton doesn't always get the "here's something positive from that!" benefit. I KNOW I set the bar higher for him than other dogs. I take small comfort in watching a world team person run her novice dog and having similar troubles. See, THAT dog is having trouble too, and she competes at the world team level! Her dogs are great and she's a great trainer! And even that dog is struggling right now! She'll get it worked out and I know I'll get things worked out with Payton too.
But it doesn't make it any less frustrating in the moment. It doesn't make me lower the bar of my expectations in the moment. But it SHOULD. And when I'm being logical about it, it does bring my expectations back to earth and helps raise my bruised and damaged ego that can't stand not having a perfect dog and looking like a fool on the course while my dog acts like he's never ever ever seen weave poles before.

You need to cut both your dogs a break for being novice dogs and cut yourself a break for being a novice handler! Agility is not an easy game for people or dogs. There are so many factors involved and trialing is it's own factor. In Springfield I was crated next to people with a pointer mix, and they told me their dog is great in class and they've done a bunch of fun runs... but once they get to a trial, the dog ceases to listen to them and simply runs circles around the ring. "But he only does this at trials!" is a common refrain. Things change at a trial. It takes time and experience and often just finding the right combination to finally get the magic flowing.

Remember that everybody has their own troubles, even if you don't see them, and you don't have the full picture of anybody's story with their dog. My mom does this with Payton, she thinks he's just soooo much better than Georgie and acts like it just happened, but she doesn't see all the work I put into him. And so much of it is stuff that takes place away from equipment. Hours and hours of work and times I would just sit down and cry because my puppy was rotten and frustrating. Nobody sees that in the ring. We are not made up of our runs in the ring, we are made up of everything that happens outside the ring. My half-marathon isn't made up of waking up on the day of and going out there and running 13.1 miles - it's made up of the weeks and weeks and hours and hours of training that happen before that. Agility is a sport, and they are all the same. Nobody just shows up and is amazing without having had to work for it.

I think the biggest thing is like yvonne said... take the expectation for perfection out of it and just make the intent to go out and play with your dogs. Since Mia is so sensitive, your anxiety about what's about to happen (or not happen) is probably rubbing off on her, which of course makes your anxiety worse and an infinite loop starts.



Don't fall into the trap of thinking it takes a herding dog to be successful and definitely don't fall into the trap of thinking just getting another dog will be the key. It's easy for me to say sitting here having nothing BUT herding dogs, but I have so many agility friends who have been wildly successful with non-herding breeds, I just don't buy that it takes a herding dog to be successful. And I sure as hell don't buy that the solution is to just get another dog and my heart aches when people feel that way, because of course that was a suggestion people gave me with Auggie.
"You just need another dog."
"You should get another dog."
That one is broken - you should replace him.
Upgrade to a newer model.

I didn't WANT another dog. I wanted AUGGIE. He is my dog and even though run after run resulted in wasted money, no Qs, frustration and tears, he was the dog I wanted.
And now that I HAVE another dog, it's not any easier. Payton just brings an entirely different group of problems to the table, problems I don't even have firm plans on working through because he is not Auggie. Payton was not the solution to Auggie's problems, and he certainly was no Agility Jesus who saved me from all frustration and disappointment.
Also while it may look like I'm having fun because I'm laughing at my crazy baby dog, I really want to sell him to the circus for $10, except he won't do anything so even the circus doesn't want him. Appearances can be deceiving (and that is certainly the idea when I'm in the ring with P. LOLOLOL LOOK HOW MUCH FUN WE ARE HAVING YAAAAAY I HATE THIS DOG WHOOOOO PAYTON SUCKS ALL RIGHT YEAH)

I am pretty much quoting this to say ..I agree. SO MANY PEOPLE told me I could never do agility with my dog because she's not a herder. You know what I said? SCREW YOU ALL. I'm doing it now just for spite!!!

For me, my anxiety& expectation that Penn would run away lead to the result I was expecting. Since I changed my attitude (and my off-leash focus expectations) I've had a total 180 in Penn's focus off lead.

I was told gun dogs run away& don't come back, have no recall, no focus

then Kimma goes and Qs with a first place on that course to get her AX title

To be honest, the only people I've ever heard actually say such things are, to be frank, not very successful in agility themselves. Maybe on a very local level but mostly they just have delusions of grandeur and a very narrow view of the world. And are nearly useless as trainers, especially for training any dog that doesn't fit their miniscule area of expertise.

Just walk away. Not worth your time.

And really they are such a tiny minority that they are easy to avoid. Or laugh at. Whichever you prefer.

Hells yes

Unfortunately I've met national and international level competitors who have said such things. One such person said such thing to somebody on this board. And to somebody local who was (is?) supposedly her friend...
They are useless as trainers though, I agree with that. And also that they are not worth anybody's time. Oh, but if we only ever listened to the people who had worthwhile things to say.