Agility training

[Aleron]

Wow go Zuma! Really nice JWW run and losing her brain in standard...well it happens LOL She's going to be totally awesome by this time next year, not that she isn't already pretty cool

[BostonBanker]

Another interesting point she brought up is that those dogs that thrive on being right do not do well with running contacts. The reason behind this is because those dogs tend to slow down and lose motivation if they are wrong. So, for every non-rewarded time, they are slowing down just a hair. Yes they will have beautiful running contacts during training then, however when they are high at trials, the contacts tend to fall apart. This is why they need to be trained when the dog is flat out running (Trkman) and that slowing down from lack of motivation ruins it. Zuma couldn't ever learn RC because of this. She and I both need absolute black and white criteria otherwise our motivation suffers. Yes, I may train RC on a dog in the future if they arn't as soft as Zuma, but it's not the right method for her.

Much better phrased than I have ever been able to put it! That's Meg in a nutshell. She's gotten better as she's aged, but when I was first training her, if she missed something *once* (weave entry, whatever) I had to do a couple reps of stupid easy stuff like "down" with big rewards. If she was wrong twice in a row, even with no marker or anything, she would quit. I have no doubt a lot of trainers could make it work even with a Meg, but it may take a better trainer than I!

Gusto could totally handle that aspect of it just fine. He's always right, I'm always stupid. Just ask him

[Aleron]

Here is a short RC session with Savvy from last night. I did a few sessions with him yesterday, he's been a bit inconsistent. I took one block away and he got much worse. So I put it back and stabilized it better. That seemed to do the trick because he's doing much better now.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150966547655850

[SaraB]

Originally Posted by Aleron

Here is a short RC session with Savvy from last night. I did a few sessions with him yesterday, he's been a bit inconsistent. I took one block away and he got much worse. So I put it back and stabilized it better. That seemed to do the trick because he's doing much better now.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150966547655850

Looks good! Have you started training a running A-frame with him yet? There's a few trainers here that are starting new dogs on running contacts and I've been watching their a-frame training. One is doing the whole yippy-skippy thing, so they are going back down to a flat a-frame. The other is leaping.

[Aleron]

Originally Posted by SaraB

Looks good! Have you started training a running A-frame with him yet? There's a few trainers here that are starting new dogs on running contacts and I've been watching their a-frame training. One is doing the whole yippy-skippy thing, so they are going back down to a flat a-frame. The other is leaping.

Thanks! He really loves it

No a-frame. Well we occasionally do a low a-frame in our foundation class but not very often. I'm using ST's method and she doesn't train the a-frame until the DW is finished. And even then she doesn't do much a-frame training and says you basically will get the a-frame "free".

[Shai]

Panzi -- I think you mentioned regretting missing the Garrett contact webinar thing -- in case you didn't know enrollment is open again today.

[Panzerotti]

Originally Posted by Shai

Panzi -- I think you mentioned regretting missing the Garrett contact webinar thing -- in case you didn't know enrollment is open again today.

Ha, I know!!! Of course I just signed up for 2 other online agility courses. Unfortunately I really can't justify spending over $1000 on agility courses over the span of 2 days. (Or can I.......)

I have Susan Garrett's Foundation Notes though, which outline her 2o2o contact method with pretty decent detail. It still drives me slightly insane though, knowing I'm missing out on this course, ugh!

Here is Pan looking totally cute working the first stage of nose touches on the contact trainer.

[Shai]

Oh I know I'm sitting here going "well...what if I--- no...okay...what if I---" but just can't justify it

[Finkie_Mom]

So today was our Show and Go. And it went horribly. Kimma was SO stressed. She held her startline stay very well, but just sort of walked everything. Whining. I felt so bad. So we did what we could. She did the teeter (which is weird because she used to be terrified of it), and did some super slow weaves, and of course jumps and tunnels and the table. But she was so stressed that she wouldn't take the walk or frame at first? SO NOT LIKE HER. Now about 12 hours later she's finally acting like her normal self - she slept ALL DAY after her run.

I think I tried too much too soon after moving (she's been stressed a lot since the move 2 weeks ago today - crate anxiety is back and worse than ever, drooling, not eating, etc.).

Poor dog. I feel like I've failed her

I hope she's OK for our first competition class tomorrow..... Maybe she doesn't like agility as much as I think she does.....

[Panzerotti]

Originally Posted by Finkie_Mom

I think I tried too much too soon after moving (she's been stressed a lot since the move 2 weeks ago today - crate anxiety is back and worse than ever, drooling, not eating, etc.).

Poor dog. I feel like I've failed her

I hope she's OK for our first competition class tomorrow..... Maybe she doesn't like agility as much as I think she does.....

Don't feel too bad. If you train in a dog sport at one point (or more!) you will feel like you've ruined and/or failed your dog. I've been there. Luckily for us dogs forgive and move on very easily.

It sounds like maybe a combination of stress from life in general with your move plus higher expectations in agility recently. I seem to recall you moving up in class difficulty recently, I think? Maybe try scaling things down for a bit, lowering expectations, just keeping things light and fun.

I would try going to class tomorrow, but be prepared to not follow along with the class agenda. If you have to, go back to very short easy sequences with high value rewards. It's definitely not worth it to run long sequences with her in a bad state of mind....you don't want her to practice that behaviour.

From the videos you've posted, I think she really does enjoy agility. All dogs have bad days now and then. Did it recently get warm where you are? I know that I had a somewhat frustrating training session yesterday with Pan due to the sudden increase in temperature.