Agility training

Aleron

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Wow, he's becoming such a nice little dog. Those wraps are wonderful.
Thanks! He's soooo much fun, always very enthusiastic :) We've been working hard on the wraps, as that's a big part of Silvia Trkman's Foundation class.

I love Savvy like a ridiculous amount.
I wish you were close enough to meet him. I think you'd love him even more since you like hyper dogs so well :)


Yay a clip of baby-agility. :p


Oh and yeah... the teeter bail was baddd.
Yay!!!! Looking really good! You're going to be so happy you went with teaching the foundations slowly like this, it really makes such a huge difference. The teeter thing, she didn't seem upset by it at least. Not an uncommon problem with tiny dogs at all.
 

Laurelin

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I wish you were close enough to meet him. I think you'd love him even more since you like hyper dogs so well :)
Well, if you're ever headed to any shows in TX, OK, or anywhere around here let me know. I'd love to meet more pyr sheps. There's just not very many around here.

Yay!!!! Looking really good! You're going to be so happy you went with teaching the foundations slowly like this, it really makes such a huge difference. The teeter thing, she didn't seem upset by it at least. Not an uncommon problem with tiny dogs at all.
Thanks! Yeah she didn't seem upset at all by flying off the end of the teeter but she gave me a heart attack almost.

I think I will like doing the foundations slowly. Every now and then I get frustrated because by this point at my old clubs we were running full courses and I see people talking about running more than we do. We only have run 4-6 obstacles in a row yet max. And most things are still 1-2 obstacles. But we're doing lots of work on wrapping jumps, driving forward, crosses, etc. I think it'll be worth it. The advanced students at this place are so much more impressive than the ones at my last place (heck Summer and I were in the highest class at the last place lol).
 

BostonBanker

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Gusto video at last! This was from his first IPO trial (new USDAA Intro trial). Of course watching the videos I'm now less impressed than I was at the time ;), but I'm really quite happy with him. This is such a hard environment for him to work in, with all the dirt and dropped treats and bird poop in the corners.

My goal to use less verbal cues with him seems to be a work in progress. Apparently I just can't shut up!

First run of the day - Standard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOst3nysq14&feature=youtu.be

His teeter, which I've been fixated on for months, was a fail, because there was a squished piece of cheese or something on the tip point that he had to check out. Good boy for finishing his 2o2o though! I obviously got a bit to obsessed with babysitting the weave entry, and I'm gradually realizing that what I get stressed, he leaves to sniff. I'm beginning to think that is the cause of more of his distraction issues than not. He stresses so differently than Meg, I don't think I was reading it well. I also (despite telling myself 100x over not to) praised him in the middle of the poles, which pulls him out. My error, so we kept going and took the NQ. I was very happy he went ahead of me and sought out that last jump! I don't reward jumps enough, and have been working on it lately. Having him drive to one is a big deal for us.

Snooker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nJb_tMHWic&feature=youtu.be

His first ever Q :D. The two jumps in the middle he both took going to opposite way from my plan; the first was again an issue with my not sending him directly at it, and him not being prone to seek out jumps. The second I think he just got distracted by the judge. Rear crosses on tunnels have again been a big training point for us lately, so I was very pleased it went so nicely.

2 weeks to go until his first "real" trial!
 

Flyinsbt

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We're at a seminar with Barb Davis this weekend, it's awesome, I love Barb Davis seminars! The working dogs for this are a bunch of young dogs, so we're doing pretty baby dog stuff, which I usually avoid, but we're getting good information.

1st 2 exercises of the day were mostly on discrimination, which we need a lot of work on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2gi5TlN06E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf7NmsRU_7E

and then a couple on rear crosses, which we do know, but need to get better at, because I'm going to need a lot more of those with Pirate than I ever did with my girls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP91XGVoESo

this last one was our best of the day, I was so pleased!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR44QPi6syk

I taught the "switch" cue a couple hours before this, because Barb likes a verbal cue on the rear cross. She uses "right" and "left", but Pi's directional cues, I've used for wraps, and I wanted his cue for a simple turn to be different. So, easier to just teach a "turn away from me" cue. Considering that was his first time using it on course, I'd say he picked it up pretty quick!

I can't wait to see what we get to do tomorrow!
 

Flyinsbt

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Today we worked on something Barb calls a "one armed front cross", blind crosses, back sides of jumps, and finished with a course that involved taking a tunnel from the back side. Really pleased with how Pi did! My video cam ran out of batteries during the blind cross exercise, but a friend was kind enough to video us with her, much better, camera, so here we are with the last 2 exercises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DMpxq4f1WI
Pirate really rocked them, especially the back side of jumps exercise! I was running out of oomph, unfortunately, but he did great.
 
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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

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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 ;)
 
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Beanie

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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.
 
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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 :D

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. :lol-sign:
 

Shai

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

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. :lol-sign:
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

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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

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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. :p

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

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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

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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. :rofl1:

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.
 

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