Dawn Weaver Seminar

Tangle and I did a half day seminar with Dawn Weaver. For those of you who aren't familiar, she is one of the top handlers over in the UK.

The seminar we took was Intermediate/Advanced Handling. Dawn has developed her handling methods based on what her dogs have responded to over the years. It does include motion, and verbals. Since European agility is a win based system. That is, you must win to progress, their focus for training and running is much different from ours. They train the dogs to drive and be obstacle focused. In the absence of a cue, Dawn wants her dog to continue to drive through the course and their line. She focuses on cuing in a fashion that never leaves the dog second guessing (therefor slowing down). Not a bad goal really. They never reward their dogs "on them", that is they always reward in a way that promotes drive like throwing the toy.

Dawn is very firm about positive training. She believes that dogs are basically honest and don't try to do the wrong thing. If they took a wrong course in a trial, it is because you cued it. You better figure out what you did to cue it.

Rather than focusing on exclusively jumping, we spent quite a bit of time working on handling and trying in a short session to understand how she handles her dogs. When Dawn handles she has the concept of the accelerator arm and the break hand. The accelerator arm is the arm closest to the dog and must support the dogs path and obstacles. The break hand (arm extended out with a flat hand) tells the dog that they must collect (probably a turn is coming up). She also uses the outside arm much like Greg Derrett would do as a cue for the dog to come into you. The middle jump on a serp (or snake as she calls it) is a great example of this.

Anyway, we enjoyed our time, I took away a few ideas, but I wouldn't say that the seminar was stellar. I was wanting more feedback on jumping and speed specifically.

A couple of tid bits that we took away. Hopefully they make sense out of context:

• Every front cross should be proceeded with the break hand


• You must run (draw with your path) the line that you want the dog to take


• Always be even (parallel) with the dog when layering, otherwise they will come into you


• Reward away from you--throw the toy


• Inside arm should never drop until the dog clears the bar (otherwise the bar will come down)


• Always reward after a rear cross with a baby dog

The season slows down

Three or four years ago I use to take off from about October through December from agility. Then gradually trials were scheduled and it become too tempting to resist and I would schedule a trial or two (probably more).

This year I have decided for the pups sake that I needed to get back to the "time of rest". Let their bodies recover from agility, and restore my mind. So from now until the end of the year we will slow down our practice, trials and agility what not. We are not taking a break completely from the exercise, brain work and fun, after all I do own Border Collies. We will just change what we are doing. We will take time to enjoy each others company in different ways.

So, we are taking walks, stretching, jogging, swimming (at an indoor pool), and learning new tricks. Tip and Split will have the time almost completely off from agility. Tangle will get to do a couple of one day seminars, a class or two and perhaps a trial. He doesn't take to the slower schedule like the older dogs do yet.

Patience = Faith

Sometimes you just know that something is right or will just come to be. And, sometimes you need to remind yourself that you know this.

I keep relearning that I must have faith in my son. He has developed into an awesome person-a leader that is smart, wise, gentle, fair, and just all around compasionate person. I know this about him. But, he is just a teenager and when I fall back to my parent roll I have to remind myself that he does conduct his life in a manner that is more exemplory than many adults I know. I keep coming back to having faith in him.

Tangle is another "old soul" that I have faith in. From the day I got Tangle I knew him and knew he was an old soul. He is a wise and thinking dog! He is already leading my pack, but from the sidelines.




When Tangle was really young it was amazing to me how he just "got" foundation and agility. Geez, maybe it is because my teaching methods and knowledge are so much better this time around? Yes, there is some of that, but the other significant part of the equation is Tangle and his innate abilities.

Tangle had his AKC debut this past weekend. He went 4 for 4. Q'ed in everything. That was not our goal at all. These Q's weren't the novice Q's that I have had with my other novice dogs. With my other dogs the runs were ugly, but somehow we stayed on course, the judge looked the other way on a contact, and somehow we crossed the finish line in time, spins and all. Tangle's Q's were well earned. My old soul went to the startline, did his job, was my perfect team mate! I am very proud of my 16 month old boy!

Now, should his run be faster? That is where "Patience = Faith". I know that he will gain the speed. I know that he will develop explosive starts. But I also know that patience will pay off on this one. He is learning to do his job in the ring well. It is only then that you can do something fast AND accurate.

Course this week!

I set up a course today that was based on a USDAA Grand Prix course. I had to tweak it a little due to course size and I still don't have my chute completed sadly.

I choose this course for two reasons, 1) it allowed good speed from the dogs 2) there was a spot with speed and then a tight turn.

I am trying to run Tangle on courses that allow for nice speed. He is a large strided dog and I am trying to build his experience base to open up and run. He has to either bouce jump if there is a short distance or take a shorten stride. A shorter strided dog can just take a full stride.

With Split, now that he has hit a new level of confidence he needs work on watching me for turns.

In general the course ran really nicely. Fast with a few handling challenges. The same challenge was present with both Split and Tangle. The most challenging sequence was 7-8-9-10. The speed starts at #5. You and the dog are racing through the course, the last thing the dog sees before going into the #7 tunnel is full extension cues (ie, you running your ars off), and then you need to ask for collection at #8.

I tried three different handling strategies with this sequence. When the dog came out of the tunnel, I called the dog's name and used my outside hand to cue the turn, decelerated to get the collection and a turn. Then I set the line to #9 and the teeter. This worked fairly well. The next strategy I tried was getting ahead of the dog but cutting the line almost hugging the weaves, FC on the landing side of #8 and then set the line to the teeter. The bar came down with Tangle. Finally I cut the line on the inside of the weaves, decelerated, got the dog turned on #8 and was ahead to show the line to the teeter. This was the most successful, but I have to say I am not sure that I would be brave enough to try this in a trial.

I am actually very pleased that neither dog took the dog walk. Right now that is heavily rewarded for Split since he has such a spetacular running DW last weekend (he should have a 2o2o).

Value of the blog

This morning I woke up reflecting on my weekend trial. I don't really focus on the exact run or the result too much, I tend to focus on what we did well and what we need to work on next. The results (Q's and placements) tend to come as a result of good training.

Also, I went back and read many of my blog entries regarding Split. I had written so many times about my challenges with him being a soft and velcro dog. He has been hard to train at times (because I didn't have the skills as a trainer that he needed). My frustrations are apparent in these blog entries! The height of those frustrations seemed like they came last winter. Then, came his injury and many, many months off for him.

Fast forward...I trialed with both Tip and Split this weekend. Split was a different dog! A very different dog! The amount of confidence that he displayed was on paralle with Tip's confidence (which is really saying something). Split ran every course this weekend with his head straight ahead, spotting his lines and driving to the obstacles like a mad man! He was a blazing fast, confident boy!

I am thankful that as a dog trainer I realized this change in behavior and rewarded profusely! I have been trying to follow the advice of Mary Ellen Barry and reward improvement! With Split's run, they weren't even close to perfect but it was HUGE movement in the right direction! Reward, Reward, Reward!!

I am really glad at this moment that I have taken the time to blog about my challenges with Split. It helps me appreciate this improvement! It helps me love the problem that I have now :)

So, back to my morning thoughts about the trial specifically...

What Split did great--driving through the course with independance, not requiring that I was right at this side, if I didn't cue it on time, he made a decision and stuck to it!

Now of course this change doesn't come without problems :) Split ran his dogwalk contact, he was so confident and fast that his lines were way less than perfect and he was a little slow (ok, a lot sometimes) to respond to some cues!

I will take this problem and be very happy with it!! I KNOW how to train this type of confident dog!!!

P.S. I strongly suspect that the time off for Split was the best trainer of all!

Tangle's First Trial

Wow, is it that time already?

When I first started training Tangle I had no intentions of having him in the ring so soon. I wanted to take my time training him and enjoy the ride. Funny thing is, I did take my time AND am enjoying the ride. Tangle was just so quick to pick up on his training and I think with the third dog I am a better trainer.

So, here he is, first trial! Our goals were simple, have fun and keep everything motivating! I didn't care about Q's, wrong courses, dropped bars, just make sure it was fun!

I signed Tangle up for all the runs, figuring I would only run him each day until his novice brain exploded. After all, first time in the ring you never know exactly when that is. Never did explode! Tangle was mentally in the game the whole weekend. I am still amazed. Actually, he came home and still wanted to play.

Tangle ran jumpers, standard, gamblers, snakes and ladders (game with tunnels, weaves, and contacts), and North American Challenge. He was not the fastest dog out there, but he knew his job for sure! He stayed at the start line, stayed on course, and kept all the bars up! Good boy! We had several sequences that we had never done before, but he handled them beautifully! He has never turned into a tunnel from a contact, he had never turned from a tunnel to a contact, and has never had to cross one end of a tunnel to take the opposite end.





So, what do we need to work on? He had several occasions where he didn't fully go into a 2o2o at the end of the dog walk, he leaped the AFrame once, and he was cautious always trying to do the right thing. I am not concerned about the contacts, he does know his job, we just need to proof a couple of other things in terms of contacts.

What I want most for Tangle is that he gets to the point where the game is so addictingly fun! That is what we will work on!

p.s. His stats for the weekend were 9 runs, 9 Q's, several firsts, and qualified in the Intern class for DOCNA Nationals next year in Denver.

Cynosport 2012 a.k.a. USDAA Nationals

Since my foot kept me from participating in this year's Nationals, I will begin to look forward to next year. USDAA Nationals will be in Denver next year! That will be awesome, right in my own backyard.

I am already starting to think, which dogs do I want to qualify, in what events, how will I achieve those goals etc...

Nationals will be in October, outdoors at Dick's Sporting Good's Park. Of course that time of year the weather comes to mind, after all it is Colorado! We have been known to have snow one day and be 70 degrees (21 c) the next day. This weekend, it was sunny and warm Friday, cold and snowing (nothing stuck to the ground) on Saturday, partly sunny but cool on Sunday. Today, Oct 10th, it was an almost perfect 60 degree sunny day!

I went back and looked at the last 10 years, what was the weather like on Oct. 10th, the starting day of Nationals.


For the most part, we didn't have any precipitation the week of October 10th. So, if history repeats itself, it could be fairly nice. We don't have a history of being hot this time of year, so the dogs and handlers should be pleased to run in the cooler temps.

If you plan on attending the Nationals next year, one thing is for sure. Bring layers. This time of year Colorado always has cool mornings and the temps can swing 30 to 40 degrees in a day.

Whenever I go to trials out of state I always try to search maps, and google for information about the surrounding area. I want to know where I can walk my dog off leash, eat where I can park in the shade, find near by stores, and stay in hotels that are nice, but dog friendly. Since I live in the area, I am thinking about blogging from time to time though out the year with helpful information for those who will be attending USDAA Nationals from out of state. Perhaps things like dog friendly places, dealing with the altitude, hikes with dogs, not sure what else. If you have suggestions, leave a comment!