Switching gears - Handler challenged courses

I find that life has forced me to switch gears in terms of my training plan for the next three months or so. I was running Tangle last week and heard a loud pop, yep, partially ruptured a tendon in my foot. Big boot on my foot, no running and fairly limited movement for the next two weeks, then gradually over many, many weeks I get to add more movement.

It is not my style to sit around and wait for time to pass. I try to switch gears as quick as I can and find the activities that will fit in with my current limitations.

Here is my first handler challenged course. My physical limitations this week are 1) I can only take a couple of steps while handling to dog 2) I can't take them fast

I decided to work on the subtlety of cues. In this design I am showing the dog the difference between a forward send, a 180, and forward motion cues. Although I only diagrammed the dog on the right, I did work both sides.

This actually turned out to be a good exercise for Tangle. We have worked all of these configurations in the past, but as he has gained more speed and excitement for agility it proved to be a good reminder.

I can't imagine that I will heal quickly so I am guessing that I will be designing a series of these course in the coming month or two.

Running A-Frame - Tangle and Split

I have three dogs with running A-Frames! Tip is awesome, fast, and reliable. It was a gift from God, I don't think I really contributed to the success of that one. Split has had a 2o2o, running, 2o2o, running, etc. So, now he is leaping, but I am determined to make it reliable. Tangle's A-Frame was trained first with a running dog walk and then the skill transferred to the A-Frame. There is one thing nagging me about his performance however and that is his back feet. They hit, but I want them farther into the yellow.

So, I had a little time a couple of weeks ago to surf YouTube and see how people were training running A-Frames. I ran across a site (ops, don't have the link) where a gal and her BC had put together a really nice running A-Frame. The stride regulator was put on the yellow line. I have to confess that I had never thought of putting it down that low. All the conversations I had about where to place the stride regulators was up high so that they would extend their stride, there by putting them into the yellow.

Placing the stride regulators up high produced mixed results for me with both Split and Tangle. I actually think that it made Split leap a little bit more.

I have been playing with the regulators down low for a couple of weeks. I really think that they are getting the stride into the yellow a bit more and have shored up the reliability of the performance for Split.

We will see if they hold up through time and even more importantly, once they come off will I be left with a better A-Frame performance?

Tangle's First Fun Run

Video

I have to say, I was a little bit giddy during the day at the thought of getting to run Tangle on his very first fun run. It was kind of like a first date in a way. You know all the prepping (year long training), anticipation, and finally you get to go on the date.

I had no expectations going into the run. I just knew that what ever happened I would come out of the experience with work assignments. If he ran perfectly, I would take him to another fun run, but one with a little more energy. If he had all sorts of issues, I would analyze those and come up with a training plan to fill in the gaps that had been exposed.

In short, it was a great first date! We ran a 18 obstacle Jumpers With Weaves course. The courses wasn't a gimme. It had some advanced lines of motion. My plan for running him tonight was to support him as best I could. I wanted to run him conservatively, let him extend and just gain confidence. The course was a little difficult to run without too many sends and front crosses.

Tangle did a really great job. True to his nature, he was a little reserved with a the new experience. He hadn't been in this particular arena a lot, so it was a perfect place to dry run some skills. He had a marvelous start line, followed my line of motion beautifully. Beautiful balance between handler/obstacle focus. Hit his weaves every time (straight on entry). The spin after the tire was because I didn't want to front cross a tire with such a young dog and I kind of cued a rear cross, ops.

Really, really proud of my boy!

Next run I will pace him a little bit faster and see how he holds up!

Weaves in Sequences

Tangle graduated from 6 poles to 12. We have been working on building value for the entries and all 12 poles. Weaves are a hard thing, I don't want to do too much weaving with him, but you have to do some to build the value.

In order the build the value quickly, I brought out the big guns toy for him. The "ball"! I don't practice much with the ball since the reward is always being thrown away from me, but I don't mind in small doses. With most of his other toys, I can choose to either reward by my side or in the case of an independent obstacle I can reward away.

So, prior to today I just did the classic "around-the-clock" proofing of the 12 weaves. Today I decided to put them in short sequences to measure our progress. I have seen with my dogs that when you put the obstacle in a sequence it sometimes changes the picture. In the case of the weaves, it really changes the picture. The dog generally has to add scope to the weave performance as well. That is, look ahead to gage his jump, land and collection, but without starting it at a sit-stay which allows him a ton of time to see what is ahead.

I am not pushing Tangle in any of this. My goal is to set him up to be successful and build confidence. Challenging him will come later.

I am proud of Tangle, he did a really great job. This video isn't just the best of all the performances with him, it is all of them. Notice, he didn't miss a single entry, even when my handling was less than desirable :)

What Makes a Champion

I read this article yesterday What Makes a Champion?. I really like the point of the article. I am a competitive person, more with myself than with other people. I always expect the most and best out of myself and when I don't meet my expectations I have to pick myself back up from disappointment.

For me agility is doubly hard since I have lofty expectations for myself and for my dog. I do know that ultimately how the dog performs comes back to "me" and my training ability.

For me I loved the fact that the people that ultimately succeed are those that don't give up! I don't give up! Sometimes I should, ya know when you point out to yourself what is the point of accomplishing that anyway? For instance, pursuing something at work when it was just driven by politics and you can't influence that process. Spend your energy elsewhere!

But in agility, I don't give up! Frequently, I pause, feel like I have given up, but then develop a plan and get back on the horse. I heard something recently (from Mary Ellen Barry) that I just loved "Realize that failure *is* part of the process.", "The more times you do something, the more you will fail at it (Daisy Peel)". I am now a believer that failure is a part of the process, I have to get better at that and learn to embrace it's lessons quicker.

The other thing that spoke to me about this article was the triangle of: persistence, timing, and talent! Two out of the three have to be true to succeed. This applys to agility as well. In my previous post, ya know the one that I was commenting on Timing. So true! The hard part is that timing isn't a constant in most fields. That is, once you have it down you are good. Timing is changing and evolving, very true in agility! So really, to me, the talent is adaptation of timing to be more precise.

On another note, Tangle and I had an amazing practice this morning! I decided not to bring the camera out, but I really wish that I had. We worked on several things, proofing 12 poles, contacts in sequences, jumping. He was just amazing with his ability to stick with the game! Enjoy it tremendously. I am very commit ed to keeping practices short, but when you are on a roll, it is really hard!

Working on Timing

Split and I continue our practice to get us operating more like a team and my timing back to what Split needs it to be. Timing is absolutely the hardest thing about agility. In the evolution of the team, you both get more confident. As the dog's confidence grows they tend to get faster, which throws off your timing. The cycle begins again. It seems that this is an element that constantly needs to be refined. I find that depending on how forgiving the dog is in terms of your timing, the job is harder the less forgiving.

Split is very sensitive to my motion. I want it that way really. BUT, it tends to make my timing more critical and the need to have my cues more clear and intentional as well.

This course is a great course to stay calm on!

I started this course with a leadout and my location between 3 & 4, but closer to 4 to clarify the line for him. He read the 1-2-3 sequence perfect every time. Next I did a serpentine recall over 4 to 5. My timing and body position were really important here. His commitment to #4 was rather late and I could not leave as early as I wanted, even if I gave him the "jump" command. I found that the serpentine recall as describe by APHS was not the way to go. I actually had to keep my chest facing the jump if I wanted to be farther away, or if I did a serpentine recall I had to be closer to the jump. His late commitment on #4 changed how I was going to cue 5 to 6. I underestimated the number of cues it would take to get him to turn. I stayed stationary, used my outside arm, waited for him to turn and then I took a couple of steps backward between 5 & 6 to cue 6, catch him and cue the weaves.

Split kept popping on pole 5. I think it was the typical weaving into nowhere problem. Once we did get the weaves I did a landing side FC on #8 and sent to the tunnel. Once he was committed to the tunnel I booked it as fast as I could to #10, giving him a cue to turn into me (outside arm) and set the line to #11. This, he read really nicely!

Things that I noted with Split.

1) His commitment point to #3 tunnel was much shorter than his commitment point to #9. I am sure that clarity played a role.
2) Outside hand is still very effective with Split. He gives me relative collection quickly and adjusts his path.
3) His startline confidence is coming back.

Fun little course and easy to set up!

Proofing Tangle's Weaves

Tangle is now a year old! Happy Birthday Tangle!

I trained Tangle on 2x2 weave method, but followed Mary Ellen Barry's article from Clean Run vs Susan Garrett's method. I first worked Tangle on the 2x2 at about 10 months. I just did 2 poles and worked strickly on entrances. I didn't really want him weaving that young. The reason I decided to work entrances that young was to capitalize on the young puppy learning. I have noticed that with all my dogs, what they learn first is what they do the best. So, with Tangle in his first year I did a lot of introductions, but really no perfecting of skills.

We picked up weaving again at almost a year and progressed through to 12 weaves. I never worked weaves more than every 3 days or so and 5-6 repetitions.

This morning we decided to work a little bit on weave proofing. We haven't really worked on this yet with obstacles. He started out a little less confident, but by the end I was really pleased with how his confidence built.

I am really pleased with his footwork and entries. I see no hesitation at all. He did an excellent job of transitioning from the weave to the jump as well.

I will continue to work this type of proofing, probably throwing 12 weaves in the mix once a week or so.