Agility skill inventory

Yes, I know, I have been writing a bunch about Tangle lately...

We went over to the agility field early today to work out 'the boys'. I wanted to have a few moments to work on the fundamentals of Split running AFrame (we have a trial today) and Tangle's basics. With Split, I got out the box on the ground and did some target work with that. Then we did some AFrame work, cleaned his performance right up!

Tangle:
Let me say that most of the behaviors that I am working on are not the final behavior. I am in the mode of building tools that I will use later to put the end behavior together (hopefully, very quickly).

Teeter work - Tangle was more excited to get on the teeter today. Quicker to get on and get back on if he moved off the contact. The things that I am trying to remember: bring him around or send onto the teeter, reward at the end quickly with a party, feed low, release with 'ok' and I move after he does. The teeter right now is just being used to get use to motion and perhaps a little of the end contact behavior. It is about 6 inches off the ground. The command right now is "slam".

Table - The table is completely flat. We are working on tugging on the table. We do the ready-set-go game, race to the table, once he is completely on, I begin madly playing tug with him. If he comes off the table the game stops until he is back on. There is no command to this behavior. I am going to use this later on to introducing tugging at the bottom of contacts. I want him to be very comfortable with tugging on equipment (and perhaps chairs in my house etc). Also, this game will lead to his table performance.

Flat Work - We are just working on the six presentations of LM's flatwork. Tangle is awesome at them since most of it is natural behavior.

Flat Work with a hoop - I introduced this today. Tangle did awesome coming through the hoop to all the presentations. The one thing that I noticed was he does not have an understanding of 'stay' when the hoop is present. When I put my hand out in prep for the RTH he would come, not when I released him. I went back to see if that was the case "on the flat", and it is not. The hoop made some kind of a difference to him. Fun!! We worked on the stay command in the presents of the hoop.

I have been working for the last month on 'stays' with and without motion, walking, running etc. He does great with those. Just proof that you have to really "proof" your behaviors.

Three dog training

Well, Tangle is getting to the age where he gets to take part in the daily ritual of training. I am excited and overwhelmed at the same time. I had developed a nice routine with the 'black and whites' and now I need a new routine!

This morning I jogged over to the agility field. The job actually starts our training for the morning. All three dogs were on their best behavior since yesterday they all got sent home (during the job) for not listening. Believe me, the older two knew EXACTLY what was going on.

First thing I learned, Tangle can't be in the middle while jogging. Has nothing to do with size or age and everything to do with the fact that he is a brat! He runs along holding on to Split's ear. Split is too kind to do anything about it.

I started this morning's drills with jump grids, Tangle in a kennel, Split on the table and Tip got to go first. I am maintaining the jump grids that I pounded so hard in August to get Tip's rear stronger. Tip did an excellent job, so much so, I raised the bars to 22" for her. She did great.

Next was Split. Split really does hate jump grids and it is hard to make them exciting. Can't really use a toy since he will solely focus on the toy and not the job. He stuck with me today and was a happy camper through the drills. He always does a great job because he is a powerful pup and he wants to please.

(Split and Tip's stay on the table while the other is working is getting better too)

Next we worked on jump skills and the broad jump. Probably inspired by Mary-Ellen Barry's article in Clean Run and that I got to use my new broad jumps.

Both dogs did great, although in the beginning they wanted to cut the corners. Didn't take much to convince them that was not going to work for me. The red and pink paths were the hardest, you have to have your timing down well when you cue them to 'switch'. I decided that turning on the flat before the jump was the best course of action.

Tangle's training this morning was continued work on Mary Ellen Barry's method of proofing contact end behavior on the flat. I am using this for startlines and a good understanding of releases. We started with rear crosses on this exercise today.

Next we worked on increasing speed when driving to 'dead' toys. He was doing much better today then two days ago. Probably helped that we went nuts in the living room last night doing this :)

Then we worked on our recalls to heal on the flat. He really has not had any problems understanding any of the recalls. We are just trying to perfect the heal position from all of these positions.

For the love of the dogs

Just remembering this morning why I do all of this crazy dog training :) It is for the love of the dogs. Truely amazing creatures who really want nothing than more to play with me. One wants to please more than the others, but they ALL want to play with me.

Aren't I blessed!

Visualize the team you want to be

This has been lifted from Susan Garretts blog, but I wanted to put it somewhere for safe keeping so I can play with these words and form my own vision of the Tangle/Mary team.

Trained skills of the most brilliant agility dog your mind can visualize
1.) A rock solid, confident but excited start line.
2) Runs in “squirrel speed” around the course
3) Ability to drive lines. She locks her head on a line and doesn’t look up until the run is over (ie doesn’t have an unbalanced value for the handler over the obstacles)
4) Comes off any obstacle when prompted by her handler’s body cues (ie doesn’t have an unbalanced value for the obstacles over the handler)
5) Amazing tight turns.
6) Lightning responses to her handler’s cues: front cross, rear cross, threadle arms, post turns, accelerations and deceleration cues.
7) Full independent obstacle understanding (does not relay on the handler’s speed or body position for her ability to complete any obstacle at full speed).

You can get to the whole article here, http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2010/02/defining-agility-brilliance/

The followup thought to these is of course, what is my training plan for getting there?

Progression of Back!

I decided weeks ago that I was going to teach Tangle to back up the stairs. Don't really know why, could be the whole hind end awareness thing, or maybe just fun to have another stupid pet trick!

I started with teaching him "back". Which was on the floor and just walk backwards. He caught onto that in about 15 minutes. Mostly the behavior was shaped with just a little bit of luring (pressure to start going back). He now has a better back than any of my other BCs.

Tonight I decided to work a little bit on the stairs. Mostly because he kept offering me back in response to everything :). At first he would not back up into the stairs. Probably actually a smart move on his part. Again, I mostly shaped it, but I did apply the "back" command as well.

So, as you watch the video you can see that he knows it involves the hind end. He just doesn't quite know how to put all the motions together to make it happen. He was rewarded anytime it involved the hind end.

Give us one more session and perhaps a little more growth in those legs to actually get up the stairs and he will have this down!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdVkMiaFp7Y

Trial this weekend

We did a NADAC trial this weekend. Tip earned her lifetime points, only one Q away from her points in Weavers for V-NATCH. Split earned his weavers title. Proud of both of my dogs, but Split did excellent. He had some really awesome runs this weekend. Really proud of his work and our team work. He didn't Q a lot, because I choose to train his runs. He didn't get called for contacts by the judge, but it wasn't what I wanted to see in a trial so I trained. We have been working on running contacts!

Tangle did a great job at the trial as well. Got to meet a ton of dogs, we did a lot of trick work 10 feet from the ring. He was totally focused and with me the whole time. Funny, the most distracting environment for him right now are his two pack mates running around the agility field. Working at trails, soccer fields, in parks he has down cold! Love this pup!!!

We worked this morning with his playmate Soleil. Both dogs did great! I will just comment on Tangle's work. We worked a little on teeter work, restrained recalls on the teeter, cone work, FC, and RC. He is working with my motion really well. At this point he doesn't try to herd which is great. I am sure that I will have that issue at some point :)

And so the fun begins!

This morning I took Split and Tangle for a long walk. Split has had a strained muscle and we are trying to work it out with walks, message, and chiro. Things seem much better today. Then I came home and went for a 1.5 mile run with Tip which she completely enjoyed! She loves being the ONLY dog getting attention.

This evening I took Tangle and Split over to the agility field for a workout. This is when the fun began. It has totally clicked that great things happen at the agility field and Tangle was completely over stimulated!! So, I get to figure out how to get BC #3 in focus and ready to work. Tip and Split both took something slightly different. With Tip it took 10 minutes of fetch, with Split it took mental work.

After I figured out that I was going to have to get Tangle focused first, I started with simple games that he knows really well. Touch, lay down, and the bang game. This seemed to get his head in the game a little better (not completely). Then I began with the startline work again.

Startline proofing--on advice from friends from my last round, I need to make the game look as much like a startline as possible. That is, when I lead out, start running as fast as possible and then release. I was just kind of trotting because I was trying to set him up for success.

So, today, I lead out maybe 3 feet. "On your mark, get set (I started running), go". I release maybe 1.5 seconds after I started running. He did great. Anytime he broke the stay, I walked back, put him back in the original spot and did the game again. The next time I didn't lead out as far, nor wait as long to release. Trying to keep him successful. Once he broke so bad that the game stopped for 2 minutes or so.

We have also been playing the bang game. I have the teeter set for 6 inches off the ground. Tangle hopes on, stays on and get a treat. I work this from both sides, by my side, sending him. He is awesome. Each day we do this he seems to enjoy it more and more.

We ended with a little bit of circle work. He is a natural at this. Runs by my side, recognizes front crosses, post turns, he is just doing awesome.