What skills do you include in foundation skills?
Of course basic obedience should be taught and very much understood. I teach my friends to place their dogs on wobble boards, ladders, low raised planks, slippery surfaces, etc etc etc. Anything that will build a dog's confidence no matter what it is walking on. These exercises also help teach body awareness, which is crucial before you place any dog, puppy or not, on full size equipment. I also encourage them to teach their dogs tricks to get a feel for how fast their dog learns, what it responds best to, etc. Then I teach them to train their dogs to spin both left and right. If they place a verbal command to it just for an additional trick they can, but it is the body movement/arm signal that I place most importance on. Soon we turn the spin command into the tandem turns. Also, I encourage them to start working on startline stays. Leaving the dog a great a mount of distance away, and call and run as fast as they can, treating and playing like crazy when the dog does reach the handler. Holding the dog back can help to encourage speed as well. I also teach them to train their dogs to target. I recommend to both a lid and hand. A lid isn't necessary unless they want to teach 2o2o, but I still find it a good trick to teach. But, I do really insist they have the hand target. There might be more, but I do not know the names to it. I just do it because I've seen it done, have done it with my own dogs, and it works.
When do you introduce obstacles and how do you train the obstacles?
I introduce the obstacles when the dogs are ready for them. Whey they are confident on the raised planks, wobble boards, etc. If I had an adjustable dog walk, it would be very gradually raised while the handler teaches the pupy to run across. My a-frame lowers, and we just teach confidence on that buy just running. (Contact behavior will be explained later.) With the teeter, I'd prefer to just be able to place a very large table with padding underneath so it only tips just the tiniest bit, and increase the amount it tips, but for now all I have is my on hands and I lower it myself(not on the high end, but the low end so the dog doesn't learn to watch for me to lower and it still feels the tipping and shifts its weight). Also, I teach the dog to tip it itself. Jump up and use its front paws to bang it. I think some people call it the "bang game".
Jumps:the puppies, depending on each individual and size, I may have the bar completely on the ground, or it might be set to 4". I just do recalls back and forth over the jumps, me holding hte puppy or dog, handler calling. If it is a puppy, the jump is not raised. If it is a dog, the jump is gradually raised. We will go back later to look at jumping behavior and correct anything if needed, as well as teach collected jumping.
Tunnels: tunnels are the first things I teach. They are fast, fun, and a great booster of confidence. I simply shorten the tunnel. I hold hte puppy at one end while the handler calls them through, giving tons of cookies and praise when they get it right. Soon, this is just turned into the handler sending through and rewarding when it comes out. We lengthen the tunnel, and eventually add very small angles of turns, only gradually increasing turns. (Most dogs fly through this, but I have experienced one that needed the very very gradual change in the turn in the tunnel)
What contact behaviors do you teach and when?
If they wanted 2o2o, that would have been taught entirely different then the a-frame. I will teach them to target to a lid, and then place the lid on the bottom of stairs, etc. Anything that is a bit raised off the ground and I can use. I find most dogs after this is well enough trained when they see the lid, it clicks in their minds and no additional gradual change is needed once you put the lid at the bottom of the a-frame. I simply have the a-frame lowered, and have the dog jump up on it from the side and immediately target. Soon then I do the entire a-frame or any other contact
I let them choose the behaviors they want to teach. If they want to do running, they can. If they want 2o2o, they can. HEck, if they want to pray and point, they can! I'm there to give them advice, not force anything on them.
When do you start sequencing?
I start sequencing when the dog knows individual obstacles fully. Usually simply start with tunnel and jump. ONLY two obstacles at a time at first. I will have them run though the tunnel, then place a jump in front of the tunnel, and have them do that. When they are confident with that, I will place yet another jump in front of the tunnel and have them do that sequence. This is all in a straight line. Eventually I add small curves, but nothing to make an actual turn yet. It keeps building from there.
What is backchaining, why is backchaining used?
Backchaining is exactly what I described up there when teaching sequencing. I teach it to teach sequencing and to address problem areas with dogs that already understand sequencing. If my dog is having a hard time with something, I back chain to get where I need to be at again.
When do you run the dogs on full courses or half courses?
What body language do you teach the students and when?
I try my best to teach turns and handling before ever putting it into any course. I break it down the best I can and know how(again, remember, I don't even know the names of some of the things I already know how to do just from running in agility and the top levels). Hand targeting comes not play here for front crosses. And I teach "go's" by throwing toys over a jump to eventually turn into rear crosses. I also put the tandem turns the dog knows on ground into use with just one jump, then two. Then longer sequences.
What is RVP, LOP, FC, RC, Threadles, V-sets?
I dont know, but I'd be willing to bet if you didn't use the abbreviations, that I'd have more of an idea. And even if I didn't for a few, I bet big money that I've still come across it in handling my own dogs in courses in teh years I've been competing. I might not have the training of the names of the handling, but I do know how to handle my dogs pretty darn well considering my lack of qualified instruction.. now, this is jsut biased..but heck, I think I handle pretty well without that consideration. I'm certainly not a handler that just barely stumbles through a course.
What are the rules of crosses?
Again, can't say I know any strict set of rules, but I bet I use them every time I run a course successively with my own dogs in competition. For me,the rules are 1)Don't get in the dog's way(ie: DON'T do a front cross, DIRECTLY in front of the jump, practically preventing the dog to not be able to jump) and 2)Don't run into the dog!
Have you competed any where other than CPE? And were you successful and to what level?
I have competed in USDAA, NADAC, CPE, and UKC. I no longer compete in USDAA(probably never will). In NADAC my own dog has titles up to the Elite level. She's got her Open Jumpers, Elite Regular, and one leg away from Elite Chances I think. She's also in Open Touch n Go and Open Tunnelers. Her only problem is that NADAC is too hard on time. She's not a border collie, she's a cocker spaniel. (Reason being why she doesn't have her Elite jumpers, tunnelers, and touch n go titles.)
Marq is just a baby in the agility world. He will be starting his trailing this year, though last year I did have him out about three times for just fun and trial experience.
As for my other dogs, with them my biggest success has been just getting them to run full courses and over come many of their issues. And honestly, most of the time my very small successes with these guys and their behavioral problems is 100 times more rewarding than any capital letters you can place before a name.