Agility training

[Laurelin]

Originally Posted by Shai

Can't tell you how much I would love to see Kim zoom around an agility course again. Wild eyes, wind in her ears. Would give just about anything for that. And she's not even old...

Live it up.

I definitely plan on it. I know for a while I was just stressing all the time about Mia's soundness and then Summer's age. Right now we're just having fun. They love it so we'll keep going.

[Sekah]

Originally Posted by Laurelin

It is very interesting to me that this school doesn't call obstacles at all. Everything is just telling dogs to go out ahead or turn in to you (I'm sure it will get more complicated further in to it). My last trainer taught every obstacle by name.

Yeah, at my school we run quiet, and I much, much prefer it. There's something so simple and exciting seeing a team run a course in almost silence, cuing off each other's movements and not much else. Once the dog knows the actual names of the obstacles, I don't see much use calling each one out. If the jump is in front of the dog, he or she will probably take that jump regardless of whether you name it or not.

[Laurelin]

It's just a very different handling system than I'm used to. I really like it though and it seems to work very well. This place didn't even ever name obstacles when the dogs were learning them. I was watching the advanced class (same time as ours) and they use the same idea of simply directing the dog to the obstacle in front of it, telling the dog when to wrap around tight, that kind of thing.

[AdrianneIsabel]

I strive for quieter handling, with B I mostly say here and go, with Sloan I often tell her what she needs to go to.

Backups contacts are back to a creeping disaster again. This started in the last run of class last night and its continuing this morning. I'm heart broken. I guess we'll take a break and hit it again next week on the plank again.

[BostonBanker]

Yeah, apparently the person that sent me the DVD didn't finalize it or something - I had a friend look at it to try and get it working since I'm not good with that sort of thing. I'm really bummed. I'm not sure if it is salvageable or not, but it is definitely outside my realm of knowledge.

I'm trying really hard with Gusto to be a quiet handler. I've never yelled each piece of equipment, but I use a lot of verbal stuff with Meg. There are handlers I adore who are nearly silent on course. I figure since I likely won't have any spare breath when running Gusto, it may help

[CaliTerp07]

I call Lucy's name, but that's about the extent of it, and it's because she's SO drivey I have to call her off stuff to get some turns. Other than that, there's not much coming out of my mouth. I realized early on that I was just going to screw up the names of obstacles anyway, and since words are such a secondary cue, there was no point to it.

[SaraB]

I use verbals, but not to the extent of obstacle names unless it's for a discrimination. Mostly I use name, go and wait (for contacts).

[Shai]

I really don't think there's a wrong way to go as long as the dog fully understands what's going on and the handler is consistent. My handling is all motion-based because that's what's intuitive to me...with verbals to supplement (calling off line, head-check if the dog gets really obstacle focused in an intricate part of the course, etc.). I'll also use contact names and tunnel depending on the course...if it's not in the dog's path until it's the obvious choice then I won't bother, but if we have a 2-3 obstacle line and they can see the obstacle I'll call it so they know they take the line to it and don't have to check in with me.

With Webster I will call more obstacles than with the girls because he's so handler focused that he needs the reminder sometimes

There are two other dogs I run sometimes. Both regularly put up the fastest time of any dog any height even at big trials...if they run clean. They and incredibly well trained and talented...but trained very differently. One handles close or far and has a very extensive and fluent vocabulary. Down side is that if you say the wrong word she will either go find what you DID say or, if it's a word she doesn't know, she'll spin to bark at you for being a fool . The other dog runs almost entirely silently except for a release off the start. No contact names, nothing. He's also extremely obstacle focused so it makes life interesting...if he gets really caught up in what he's doing he can fling off course fairly easily. This is complicated by being the fastest ground speed dog I've ever personally see...he's one who even as he lifts off for a jump is already reaching for the ground on the other side so he can accelerate.

There are a lot of "big namers" in both camps. On the quiet side you have Linda Meckenburg, Daisy Peel, etc. On the verbal cue-heavy side you have Stuart Mah, Jean Simons-Moake, etc. And a broad range between.

Course those are all still, at their core, motion or at least position-based handling methods. I've only seen one person stand & direct in the last year or two, and let's just say they switched back to primarily motion with verbals to augment...

Seems like the biggest problem with calling out obstacles, for most people, is the timing. They tend to call the obstacle after the dog is already committed or is actual on the obstacle. Even if they think they are early, they usually aren't, at least from what I usually see.

I dunno...just thinking out loud I guess.

[SaraB]

Originally Posted by Shai

Seems like the biggest problem with calling out obstacles, for most people, is the timing. They tend to call the obstacle after the dog is already committed or is actual on the obstacle. Even if they think they are early, they usually aren't, at least from what I usually see.

This. I do call out to set a line as well, typically 2-3 obstacles ahead. Pretty sure if I called out the majority of obstacles for Zuma, my head would explode.

[BostonBanker]

Oh, I certainly don't think there is a thing wrong with using more verbal cues. I just know that when I watch people run and think "that's how I want to run", it is usually the quiet handlers.

Gusto was so spectacular at class tonight I'm still beaming. I've been really stressing over his teeter. It still isn't quite at full height (22" instead of 26"), but he was *running* to the end and clinging to the edge of the board on the way down, rather than tipping it before running to the end. The magic trick? Chicken McNuggets. Whatever it takes!

His weaves were also amazing - it was the first time I was really trusting him to get the entry - putting him in a tunnel, telling him "weave" and then leaving him alone to see what he did. Not only did he hit every single entry, but he only had one missed pole, where he was going so flipping fast he couldn't collect for pole 2.

I love my dog so, so much. I want to get that teeter up to full height and really nail down rear crosses so I feel comfortable sending out an entry for December!