Incorporating training into my workout!

It is always a challenge to fit everything you need or want into your day. I really try hard not to compromise and blow off my workout. If I am not in good health I am not good to myself or anyone including my dogs.

Today the dogs and I took a jog in a local park that has a ton of undeveloped space. Double bonus the park is next to a bunch of soccer fields as well (more mileage and varying terrain).

We jogged probably 35 minutes or so. While I am running I threw the Frisbee for the dogs (not Tangle, he really just wants to chase the other dogs right now). Anyone who has a pack that plays fetch knows that one dog can be the hog of the toy. To combat this behavior I have trained my dogs that if I call a name before I throw the toy that is the dog who gets to fetch it. This is a really nice foundation impulse control game, especially for the dog who views it as her responsibility to ALWAYS get it (the dog that needs the control).

After we were done jogging, I needed to get in some wind sprint work. This aids me in agility since most of that is start/stop speed work for me. On the soccer field I put all three dogs into a down. I take off running, release the hounds, and they chase me. Again, really nice for recall, release work, impulse control and also gives the dogs some chase/speed work themselves. It is fun to note who catches you first. I did this 6 or 7 times. Tangle, the baby actually did awesome with this. Only broke once.

Now, I upped the anti. Again, all three dogs in a down, and I take off running. I only release one dog to chase me. Again, dog's name and then the release command. This KILLS the other dogs. Tangle, the baby of the pack had a little bit of trouble with this one. He broke twice before he got the hang of the game. I only did this 4 times to introduce the game. To up the anti next time I will increase the reps and which dog gets to play.

The last thing I did was just with Tangle. We ended the session with some flatwork (to him it looks like a controlled chase game). He is ready to add more motion to his flatwork and it gives me an opportunity to exercise my lateral movement muscles.

Lateral sends

My plan was to work on contacts this morning, but the contact had a think layer of ice on them (didn't want to teach the slide). So I worked the two older dogs on lateral sends. Turns out it was a good thing, we were a little rusty. OK, well, mostly me.

My secondary goal was to just get Split out on the agility field and happy to work. Yesterday they were firing off nail guns (BIG scary thing for him). He decided that he was done dealing with it, somehow escaped and ran home (about 1 mile). At least he ran home!

I set it up as a jump into a serpentine with a tunnel as bait behind the serpentine. I worked both directions of the Serp.

Split did read that I wanted him to turn, but boy was he wide! I had to work on first the deceleration cue into the Serp and then we worked on the lateral send. He really just needed reminding what the cues were. Also, I rewarded just about everything I could to make him happy to be there again. He did keep looking around, but powered through being scared (there was no nail gun going on).

I figured out that if I started very close to the beginning of the serp, I could show more lateral motion and Split's turn was much tighter. Something I learned this weekend at the Carrie Jones seminar. Makes sense when you think about it.

Tip, the more experienced, tighter turning dog decided the tunnel was the obstacle of choice, but only going left to right. I will have to film myself to see if my cues are not as strong in one direction vs. the other. So, to get Tip to follow the lateral motion I actually had to start further away from the second jump. Probably has something to do with the way she was trained :)

Today's work

Tangle and I did a boat load of work today. I didn't get to work out the others because a storm rolled in this afternoon :(

We took a ton of video while playing all these games. Since Tangle is a wee one I can't always see how well he is lined up with me. The video really helped. It also helped me spot where I was not releasing properly!

We played a ton of short games:

• start lines stays
• table games
• "round" the cone
• "8's" around the cones
• "feet" on the table
• FC, RC, pull and push

A lot of these games have releases in them. I am trying to release either in motion and completely still (ie, don't introduce a new motion when saying the release). For the most part I was fairly good with this, but I did notice that in the table game I was REALLY bad about releases and starting motion at the same time.

I was really pleased with his no motion flatwork, just the basic crosses. He was lined up well, and followed perfectly. I did notice that his rear crosses still need work (my coordination which I am sure he can then follow).

Playing with Tangle on the table

Foundation - the real story

I attended a Carrie Jones Seminar this weekend. The first day was at the Master's level and the second day was Foundation. I want to focus on the Foundation topic since that is what is of interest to me this morning.

With the other two dogs I never had an opportunity to attend a foundation seminar. Mostly because they weren't offered or they were not available to the masses (I didn't belong to agility clubs). So, lately I have attended two foundation seminars. The first seminar was Tracy Sklenar and the focus was a lot of "Say Yes" training stuff. Fabulous information and Tracy was amazingly entertaining! The second was Carrie Jones and covered the basics of sit, stay, down, tricks and the FC, RC, push and pull basics. Again, good information, just really just the basics or beginning of foundation work.

Now, I have attended novice seminars and your dog is expected to already be sequencing obstacles and have contacts (not perfect however). So, to me it begs the question "Isn't there something in between these stages?", "Isn't that prior to 10 obstacle sequences stage REALLY important?". Too me, that is foundation work as well. You begin to get a fair amount of movement into play, combinations of skills are expected (stay, jump, read my motion). What is the best way to bring those together?

I would love to attend a seminar on how you begin to pull some of these skills together. Great, I have done some flat work, one jump work, cone work. Yes, I can read some books, blogs, and web sites, but this stuff just doesn't seem to be out there. I have to piece it together. Am I missing something?

I know that the one dog I did train with the foundation skills was not able to go from "one jump" work to "sequences" automatically. We had to build up to it. Who is going to be first in line to provide the resources on putting it all together?

20 degrees and still training

This morning, mostly because I had a long list of choirs AND it was 20 degrees we stayed inside to train. Tip worked on sit stays and provided the distraction while I worked Tangle. Let me just say, she needs work :)



We started off with the 'round' command with Tangle. I have a traffic cone in the middle of the floor, and he is suppose to go around the cone. We just worked this with food and little motion. He demonstrated that he was ready for more!



Tangle and I worked on the 'feet' command. His criteria is to put his back feet on a plank and his front feet off the plank (the 2o2o position). He then waits for the release and should move forward upon my release. He was brilliant! Because he clearly understood the command we moved to the next stage which is having me in different positions. I worked the right side and left side. Right side was stellar and the left was a little week. I need to remember to work that side a little more for all things, he is clearly a little weaker on that side.



We ended the training session going back to the 'round' game. This time I started him in the 'side' position, gave the command, and then rewarded with tug. After the first time it took him a little bit to get his head back into the game (over stimulated) and remember what he was suppose to do. Once he got it however, the tug really caused him to pick up his speed going around the cone to come back and play.

Subscribe Via Email

There is a new link on the page, "Subscribe Via Email". Not that I don't want people visiting the site, but it is a nice feature for those of us that like "push" technologies. I never remember to visit the blogs that I am following. I love them dearly, but life just gets too busy. If something shows up in my email box, it is now in my cue to read!

An Audience

Most mornings I am over at the agility field (and new house) to work out the dogs. These days I have an audience to watch over my practices. It was the General Contractor, now it is the Framers and perhaps next it will be the Plumber. They are a friendly audience, even when things don't go right, they are appreciative and impressed. The framer even asked the other day if his work bothered the dogs. I, of course love their work because it gives my dogs more distractions to work through :)

This morning we worked on contacts. Split did an AKC trial this weekend and his teeter was less than impressive (from a trainers perspective). It was spectacular in that there was a lot of air to be had! His teeter this morning was flawless. Front crosses, running full speed past, rear crosses, throwing the toy, he stayed through it all. That is what I love about Split. He does come back into compliance very easily.

Next we worked a short little sequence that I happened upon when rearranging the field. I was trying to work the A-Frame with Split, but really turned into a jump grid exercise. The distance between 3 and 4 was a problem for the dogs. Both dogs dropped the bar a number of times while figuring out how to go from extension to collection with the rear cross.

Set it up so that it is a bounce jump for the dog.