What If...

I always have trouble deciding what course to set up.  Sometimes the multiple things that I need to practice aren't always easy to all get on one course.

This is the course I set up this morning.  First I ran the white circles.  My objective was to work tunnel discriminations, fast approaches to teeters, a rear cross to the dog walk, and fast lines to the AF.

The course wasn't too bad.  The largest handling challenge 7-8-9, just because of the change of leads for the dog.  The largest challenge for the dog was the line to the teeter.  My dogs have been flying off lately and this truly challenged them.  It allowed me also to continue my speed while they had to stay.

Being a lazy course builder I always like to get multiple uses out of a course.  Here are all the possible ways you can change sections of the course (take the black number instead of the while).  It changes the challenge and the cue combinations.

For instance, 13 through 21 (with the black 20), how would you get there?  Or do you have backside distance skills?  If you have a 2o2o AF, not too bad.  If you have a running AF you have to cut the line 14-15-16, does your dog have an independent teeter?

I love a challenge while still having to RUN!

Rubberizing Contacts - Part I

I have been saving my pennies for a while now with the goal of getting at least my dog walk and A-frame rubberized.  I looked into all sorts of rubbers and solutions, including having someone do it for me.

Well, in the interest of money, I decided to do the rubberizing (yep, it is really a word) myself.

My current contacts are steel with wood and sand coating (no slates).  The steel is still in great shape but I did want to get the decking replaced with something that wouldn't rot. 

After much research, google didn't produce much, actually looking at equipment was the best information, I found that most people put on an Aluminum Composite board (DiBond, Alumicore, e-Panel).  The board is used in the "real world" by sign makers so that was the best source.  If you buy it from the sign maker I found they marked it up 100%, so I finally tracked down a wholesaler who would sell it to my business. (http://denver.lairdplastics.com/product/brands/dibond)

We found, as advertised, that the Dibond does cut with common wood-working tools.  We got a metal cutting blade for the jig saw, but other than that no other "special" equipment was used to make the cuts.

guide for cutting length of the board

guide and setup for cutting smaller boards

We marked our cuts with the chalk, secured a 2x4x8 as a guide onto the decking, and the cuts went very smoothly.  Just to be extra safe I sanded the cut edges with emery cloth to be sure that there was no metal shards left on the material.

The composite board comes with a protective plastic layer.  You will need to peel this off, at least on the side that you will be applying the rubber.

Next we drilled holes for the rivets.  You can apply the rivets on top of the rubber, but we choose to put them on before the rubber.  I think this is the easiest since it would be hard to keep track of the holes or cleanly drill holes after the rubber is applied.

Drilling holes






The last part of this particular board was to mix and apply the rubber.  I ordered my rubber from Circle S Agility.   Gary provided the entire kit of rubber, binder, gloves, great instructions, etc.. that I needed. 

Deposits in the Agility Bank

I was on a trip back east with my son recently and had a chance to catch up on a fair amount of agility reading--Clean run, reviewing foundation articles, and a few small books.

One of the books that made an impression on me was "Click and Play Agility", by Angelica Sneinker.  She had a lot of really good information in there in general, but one concept hit home.  Now, I don't remember if it was something very specific that was said, or just one of those concepts that rang other bells in my head. Or if it was a combo of all the things that I read on the trip.

 It was the concept of 50% of your trials should be training trials.  That is, you are true to your criteria (startlines, contacts, dropped bars) and don't let things slide.  You take the opportunity to proof what you train (huge lateral motion away from the weaves).  You make "deposits" into the agility bank and a solid foundation.

I have been practicing this concept for a couple of weeks now.  I was at a trial this past weekend where I did just this all weekend.  Let me tell you, it actually feels great to walk a course, plan ahead exactly where you are going to test your training and do just that.  It feels even better when your dog holds up his/her end of the deal :)  But if they don't you are perfectly prepared to handle it well. 

Startlines - At the trial I worked several start lines.  1) put my dog into a sit-stay, started running away and then released  2)  sit-stay, walk out and then walk back and reward (only with praise in the ring)  3) stand-stay, lead out a fair distance, turn around, smile and talk to my dog, then release.  You never know when all of these skills come in handy and one thing I have learned in agility is you want to be confident that you have the skill when you need it.  This is by far the most challenging skill for Tip and Split (startline stays).  I didn't push either one to the point where I KNEW they would fail, I just took it to the edge.  Tangle, who has a solid stay, got tested much more.

Weaves - I sent to the weaves, I charged full speed (that is, I didn't collect even though my dog had too), moved away laterally, and rear crossed weaves.

Dogwalk - All my dogs have a 2o2o contact performance.  I ran past the end while they stayed, I let them get ahead and arrived late (testing Independence).

It is amazing the pride that you feel as your dog begins to show you that your training has held up!  The one item that was a challenge for all three dogs was a dogwalk with a tunnel as the next obstacle.  Of course they can resist the tunnel in the backyard, but not at the trail.  All three dogs broke once and I had the opportunity to take them back and train the criteria (NADAC).  The next dogwalk and then tunnel, all three stayed!  Good dogs.

Just as a side note to all of this, I once took a seminar from Carry Jones who said that she proofs the weaves in all sorts of ways, however in competition if it is a tough entry, she always helps her dog get the entry.  This made sense at the time, but now I am not sure that I agree.  If the dog knows that you are always helping under difficult situations, isn't that training the dog that you will always help?  Don't you want your dog to be independent no matter what?  That way, when you really need the skill you can depend on it being there?

As another side note to this topic, I worked this idea in class last night.  I found that I needed the work, not the dogs.  There were certain things that I didn't have a solid skill or muscle memory to depend on when working these skills.  One in particular was leaving the dog in the weaves and recalling laterally over an odd angle jump.  Not hard to learn, but I had to think too much about it.  My point being, proofing builds skills in the dog and YOU! 

Just do it!  Put deposits into the agility bank, you WILL need to make a withdrawl later when it really counts!

All-In-One Course Setup

After our recent trials I have collected several things that have made it on the training list.  It seems, particularly in USDAA that the course designs are changing and beginning to include some new elements.  USDAA has announced that this was going to happen, but in general regardless of the venue we tend to see trends in course design.

This setup came about in a very organic way.  I just set up "work stations" to practice a particular skill or obstacle.  As I have practiced this week this design kept growing on me because it was so versatile.

I have setup several numbered exercises, but there are so much more to be discovered.

Skills this design has allowed us to freshen up:

• Sending to backsides of tunnels (turns out of tunnels)
• Discriminations
• Tunnel / Weave - short collection distances, rear crosses, opposite ends of the tunnel, front crosses, and if you move the tunnels out a little you can do blind crosses out of the weaves, "not" the tunnel after the weaves
• Off set line of jumps. Irregular distances between jumps (scoping skills for the dog)
• Serps with obstacles other than jumps.  For example, dogwalk-jump-weaves, backside of tunnel-jump-dogwalk**
• AFrame in a fast line, backside of tunnel-Aframe
• Triple-turns, and at the end of a fast line, or alone 
• Very fast long lines of jumps
• Turns across the broad jump
• Slight angles onto contacts and manged (safety) dog walk entrances
• Send to weaves from the opposite end of the dog walk through the tunnel (yes, I saw this (actually AFrame) on a USDAA Starters course with Tangle)

I am sure there is so much more that I have not seen!  I think that this setup will be around for a couple of weeks since I have not explored all of the possibilities yet.

**I have seen several courses setup lately that have less than friendly contact entrances (several on novice courses).  In general I try to assist the dog by managing/shaping their entrance.  However sometimes either you don't see the bad entrance or it happens accidentally so I train my dogs to straighten themselves before entering a contact.  Post from Amanda Shyne seminar

Nothing in Life is Free

NILIF is a phrase my dogs know well. Me being the bad dog owner that I am I don't practice it 100 percent of the time, but enough. It is Tangle's turn this week to work for ALL of his food (not that working sucks for a Border Collie really).

I admit, I am not the most exciting handler right now. I am moving at a snail's pace and planning courses or exercises that don't require me to move much. Chasing me on course is one of Tangle's favorites. But, my lack of ability is no reason to blow me off for sure! We were on course this morning and Tangle decided that most of the rest of life was randomly more interesting. It wasn't a stress reaction, it was that I was boring. Usually, I think that I am way more entertaining for him, at least my neighbors tell me I am (crazy dog lady).

So, today his meals were fed by hand. Interesting, we worked the teeter and the dog walk a little since he hasn't really been on either obstacle for a month of so. I was AMAZED at how fast both obstacles were once he figured out he got handfuls of a meal while in the yellow zone.

Tonight we had a high school soccer game, Tangle got to do tricks for most of the game, and greet small children for food. He did an awesome job focusing on me instead of the running kids kicking soccer balls. This was mostly "Train to Maintain", but it went along with the theme of the week!

What fun getting to spectate!!

Yesterday Split's biggest admirer Rachel came over to run him for me. I asked her to run him in an upcoming trial for me so she is trying to get her Border Collie shoes on! Rachel normally runs a Lab/Catahola mix Evie. Evie is a medium speed, steady, love her mama kind of dog. So, for Rachel to run Split takes some adjustment. It was awesome, she is getting the hang of it very quickly. She needs to retire so she can get a Border Collie :)

It was so fun for me to not only help her figure it out, but also to watch my dog run. Spectating was great. Split is fast and graceful and I don't get to see that when I run him. I absolutely loved just watching. I gained an appreciation for the work that Split puts into the job and learned a thing or two along the way. Thanks Rachel!! I would highly recommend this to everyone.

This morning I worked Tangle and Split. We worked on Nancy Gyes' Alphabet drill "a", discrimination's, and independent obstacles. I was super pleased with how both dogs did. In the jumping drill we focused on 270's and coming through the gap. Both dogs did a great job with forward send and come through the gap (270's are old hat to both).

This morning was Tangle's first introduction to no motion discrimination between the tunnel and the dog walk. At first, not surprising Tangle would take the DW no matter what the cue. Well, which obstacle is more highly rewarded? So, I set him right in front of the tunnel, said "tunnel" and rewarded with tug. Lights went on "ah, we are not working just the DW today". We then progressed very quickly through the process. I kept setting him back further so both obstacles were an option. Each time I didn't move and just called the obstacle name. He was BRILLIANT! Next I would send him over jump #1, and call an obstacle name. Again brilliance! The only thing that I need to work on is the speed of the dog walk. When I sent him and had minimal motion myself, he was slower. I will work on that, but to be honest it is really rare that you ever have a course that dictates that skill, the handler is always moving somewhere!

Split has a ton more experience for these discrimination's, but it never hurts to just backup, simply, and practice the basic skill. He did great.




The handicapped sequence for today was working on sending to a tunnel, taking a jump with me in a lateral position (closer to #4), and then an independent weave. I only worked this sequence with Tangle and he did stellar. I am always amazed at how well he does.

Misc agility stuff going on

Today I worked with all three dogs this morning and went to a fun run tonight. This gave me split agility focus disorder today. BTW, this is my first IPad post!

Thoughts #1 - the training of Tangle in the next five months
Tangle had an awesome training session this morning. He is really coming along, focusing on the task at hand and beginning to add speed (yeah, I am a speed junky). I introduced a plank today. I just want Tangle to run the plank, drive off the end and get his treat. My goal today was just to get him trotting the plank beside me. I want him to stay on the plank until the end and go to the food dispenser. In the end he did a fine job and I actually had a little more speed than I anticipated. I will try to post the video.

Second we worked on rear crosses. We are doing these with a jump upright since I have not thought of a suitable substitute. We made improvements, me on giving him the correct cues and he in turning away from me. We worked up to being about four feet from the jump.

Lastly we worked on cone work. We are doing figure eights with the cones and sends. Tangle had great speed today and was turning very tightly. We also worked with lateral sends and cones.

So, were are we going in the next five months. Well, here are misc thoughts that will be put in a timeline soon. I will probably start jump training when he is ten months. His growth plates should be mostly closed by then. Between now and ten months I will work on his dog walk contact to almost fun height. Just not a ton of repetition. We will work with LM presentation positions and small sequences that involve those. Weaves, not until ten months too!

Thoughts #2 - two older dogs
I have been working contacts with both dogs. They both have been fairly solid on the teeter at home. Split's DW has been excellent. It was time to up the training. Teeters at the fun run, about fifty percent. Splits DW seventy five percent. K, needs work again.Split on teeter

Where do we go from here...

As mentioned in my previous post, Tip blew most of her dog walk contacts. I spent 7 hours driving home after the trial thinking about it. Many ideas, no solutions yet.

I guess the first questions are:

• Does she really know what I am asking her to do?
• Is she just loosing her head in the heat of the moment?
• Are the consequences not severe enough (making her re-do the sequence and get the contact)?

My observations from this weekend are:

• The first couple of times when I repeated the sequence she got the contact perfectly on the second try. After that I would repeat up to three times and she would not get it. I would then walk her off the course.Perhaps that is reward enough (getting to do the sequence again) and reinforcing the bad behavior.
• On one run I tried slowing her down before the dog walk and told her that she needed to do her job. She still blew it.
• I tried to just place her back on the end of the walk and ask her to do the contact. She had NO idea what I wanted her to do. I don't ask her to do this in practice. I believe in repeating the sequence.

• Current ideas are:
• Go back to basics. Work with Tip on 'how to learn'
• Break the dog walk back down into running over and just doing to contact backchaining.
• Work on the walk in the backyard. When she blows it, put her in the house and bring out Split to work with.
• Go back to a running contact! I like the idea of a running contact, but I don't want to keep going back and forth. Reasons we left the running contact are for another day on this post.

So, today, just to experiment I worked with Tip in the backyard. I sent her over the dog walk a couple of times. I didn't really run hard, didn't through a toy, just kept it easy. Normally, she would get this NO PROBLEM. She blew it. Since I wanted to be successful a couple of times before I upped the stakes, I put her over again, she stayed (what would I have done if she didn't?).

Here was the drill: send her over, she gets it, I throw the ball (her most favorite toy on earth) at least 7 times. Do it again.

So, I did the drill. The first and second time still keeping it easy. She made it. The third time I threw the ball in front of her, but she stayed on the contact-yeah! Rewarded with a 7 round game of ball. Upped the stakes again, ran really fast, threw the ball in front of her, she blew it. OK! No emotion, take her to the house, put her in (BTW, she can still see through the door). I get Split and we have the BEST time of our lives. Playing ball, practicing rear crosses, etc.. Tip is going NUTS in the house. She can not stand to be left out. So, again I bring her out and repeat the cycle. I did this about 3 times, each time she stayed a little better. Hum...is this going to work, don't know.

Something I did realize in all of this:

1. I suck at marking the good behavior--I need to get better. Say 'yes' exactly when she hits her 2o2o.
2. She is not clear on her release word. Sometimes she releases when I say 'yes' sometimes she stays.

We will work on this tomorrow again. I have another trial this weekend so we will see if this has any impact at all.