Equipment Creations

Ya know, it seems like I spend at least one day every month working on agility equipment.  I am either maintaining something, or creating something new.

USDAA is beginning to move toward 5 foot wide jumps and the "majority" must have wings.  So I decided that I needed to 'up' my inventory of jumps with wings.  They do change the way that you can move around the course, some times blocking your path.  Certainly they make it easier for dogs to jump the backside of the jump (if they are a jump hugger).

I had a set of stand alone wings made with lattice that I bought years ago.  They are great, but irritate me slightly when I have to keep picking them up from the wind.  So, last month (told you I work on equipment once a month) I made a wing design that attaches/detaches from the jump itself.  It has a little bit of material on it.  Again, irritating because the wind takes it down.

So, here is my new design.  I can adapt my existing jumps to have these wings which is super nice on the pocket book.  I wanted to make something that might be a tad bit more wind proof--today was a great test.  All wing jumps are down EXCEPT these :).  Also, since I don't glue my jumps they still break away if the dog collides with them.  They are 9 inches wide which I know is a little skinny, but I wanted to keep the weight down, have it wide enough it helps my dogs take back sides, but narrow enough that they aren't tempted to go through the wing.  They can easily be widened if I decide to go in that direction.

Wing PVC Jump

The other item on my agenda was a wall jump.  I was setting up some courses that required a wall jump and on rare occasion we do see one on course.   It also occurred to me that Tangle has not seen one so I should probably get him familiar with the obstacle.  My other two dogs decided to jump on the top and then down the other side the first time they saw it.  Definitely a fault :)

Well, I really didn't want to spend too much time constructing something so I decided this design would work for familiarization purposes for the dogs.

Ghetto Wall Jump

The 'wall' is made of Styrofoam, maybe 4 inches thick.  The wall itself is 22" high and the displaceable brick is 4 inches high.  It is held up by sandwiching it between two of my existing jumps.  Later I might cut this down so that the total height will be 22, but for the moment I needed 26 inches.

The line of hearts at the top of the wall are the displaceable bricks.

Puppy Cannons and Apologies to the Queen!!

First, apologies to the "Queen"

We had a USDAA trial this past weekend.  The Master's judge was Dave Hanson.  Let me just say, he had fabulous courses!!  I ran all three dogs, but had it spread out enough it wasn't too bad or too crazy.

Tip (the Queen of my household), I owe you my deepest apologies!  I am sorry.  I posted on FB how well Tangle did, and completely overlooked your stellar performance.  Tip Q'ed in team, 1st in Performance Grand Prix and 1st in Performance Steeplechase.  My little almost 9 year old was amazing, fast and happy!  I was very thrilled and I love running her dearly (even if she is the hardest of dogs to run).  Sadly, I have no video of her winning runs :(

This is Tip's Standard run, fly off teeter and all!  (note the puppy cannons).


OK, on to Puppy Cannons!  And, this does relate to this past weekend.

As I said, Dave had some wonderful courses.  We saw several variations of puppy cannons on the courses which were huge challenges.  For those who are deprived enough to not know what a puppy cannon is--a pipe tunnel or straight tunnel, which when taken in full extension tends to have a multiplier affect on the dog's speed.  We saw cannon to the weaves, cannon tight turn to a jump, cannon to discrimination jumps, cannon to jump to AFrame, cannon tight turn teeter, etc..

So, I designed a course this morning that was designed to practice some puppy cannon maneuvers, mostly cannon to the weaves and cannon to backsides of jumps.  A little inspiration was throw in from Lori Michael's recent post of an international course she (designed??) and practiced.

In the design I used liberal, but standard distances.  This kept the speeds and fun as high as possible.

We will be doing this course I think for a couple of days.  The weave entries proved very hard to get at speed.  Also, I was really pushing the dogs.  I wanted to see how much motion I could keep (so I could get to the next place before them).  A challenge for us all!!

I earned my breakfast, this course kept us running!!

Variety is the spice of life!

This post is a part of the Dog Agility Blog Event on Internationalization.

I am really looking forward to having an opportunity to run some more courses with an "International" flare. USDAA is promoting it's Master Challenge course and AKC is creating an Excellent C class that I understand will have more international challenges.

 This topic takes me to the core of why I do agility. There is always something for me to learn. That is who I am, I am a life long learner. Change is good for me, it keeps me on my toes and it keeps me learning. Bring it on!!

However, I have to be honest, I don't want every course to be twisty, turny, I have to collect my dog to turn at every obstacle. Some of my favorite courses have been wide-open fast courses with very subtle challenges because of the speed. Sometimes you can't spot those challenges in the walk through and suddenly you have to manage the course real time. Love that! Love livin' on the edge.

 I also love the courses with an International flare. It appeals to the puzzle solver part of me. I walk the course, ponder all my options, wonder if there are better ways to handle something, look at the problem from all sides and finally make choices. I get to see if those choices created the desired outcome for my run (not always a Q for me).

So, for me, I need the sport to appeal to the problem solver in me and the speed daemon livin' on the edge part of me.

Tangle at Cynoport 2012

But these courses are not for everyone or every dog. I recognize that. I would hate to live in a place where the International courses were the only thing that is offered. I have talked to a couple of folks in Europe who wished they had more options. Their course favor the motivated, driven dog. The one that doesn't shut down when you ask it to make 100 tight turns. Not everyone wants to live with those kinds of dogs, nor is every dog built that way mentally/physically.

I want choices myself. I typically don't run my young dogs exclusively on tight, technical courses. I want them to learn to love to run and chase me. This is much easier to do on a wide open course. I have an older dog who lives for agility, and I try to not run her on too many tight courses. If I only had the choice of tight courses she would have to retire from the game (And I am not going to be the one to tell HER that).

There are also different forms of this sport that are every bit as challenging, involve team work and a thing of beauty. Have you every watched anyone handle a dog from a distance on an agility course. Either in NADAC or someone who is not able to run like the wind. The team work involved and the dog's command for the English language are very impressive. I like the adrenaline rush I get when I run, but I love to watch the teams who have mastered this type of work. Amazing!!

So, for me, bring it on!! Give me options and variety. Ask me and my dog to be versatile. Ask us to master the fast course and the technical course!

Way to say it Kathy Keats!!

I had 10 minutes free today and decided to pick up my copy of Clean Run.  The first page I turned to was the "Editorializing" section and an absolutely fabulous commentary by Kathy Keats on abuse of power.

Bravo Kathy for writing about a topic that needs to be "outed" in Agility.  Abuse of Power!!

I have to say this struck a real cord in me.  I have attended several seminars where the presenter was less than professional when it came to the ethics that Kathy talks about.  This presenter did not treat everyone with respect, not even close.  There was rudeness, bulling, and intimidation.  I am not a weak person so at some point I do fight back against the intimidation.  But I walk away from seminars vowing to never attend another seminar again.  They have an impact on people's lives, but is that really the impact that they wanted to have?  I think not since they earn a living giving seminars!

A quote from the article "The good coach will be concerned primarily with the well-being, safety, protection and future of individual performer.  There must be a balance between the development of performance and the social, emotional, intellectual, and physical needs of the individual" - Code of Ethics of the British Institute of Sports Coaches.

There are so many reasons for treating your students and seminar attendees well, and very, very few for treating them poorly.

1. It gets them to take another seminar/class from you if they feel like your words were valuable, and encouraging.
2. We ALL try to treat our dogs with respect, kindness and reward often.  Why then do teachers not treat their students like that?  Click N Treat works for all animals, even humans.
3. Good information is to be guarded?  No, if we all contribute to raising the level of competition and competence, doesn't that make the competitive environment more fun.  Isn't a fair race more fun to win then having an overwhelming advantage?
4. If students are allowed to question what you are saying it contributes to your depth of understanding of the topic as well.  You get something positive back.

People who abused their positions of power has got to be my #1 pet peeve.  I don't care if it is politics, teaching, parenting, or the work place, it is just wrong!


Way to go Kathy and as my mother would say "you can catch more bees with honey than vinegar".

Running as "One", confessions of a junky

I went to a  USDAA trial down in New Mexico this weekend with Tip and Tangle.  We were going down to pick up some more qualifications for Cynosport (Nationals).  Not sure if we will make the trek to Nationals, but always want the option for a good road trip (ok, maybe Tennessee isn't the ideal destination).

I was driving back to the motel after Friday's Team events telling my husband about the day.  He asked me how the day went, in which I replied it was "OK".  Just "OK", not awesome, not horrible.  Being the good "ASS" (Agility Support Spouse) that he is he asked me to go into detail about the day.  Why was it just "OK"?  Did you not get your Q's?  Did the dogs get hurt? Were they not wanting to run (I would know Tip is dead if she didn't want to run)?

Tip's team placed 1st in Team and Tangle's team got second (thanks to my awesome team mates).  Why then was the day just "OK"?  I should be thrilled with those results right?

We executed the runs well enough to place high. The courses were awesome, fast and technically difficult. Judge was funny. The club was friendly. What more could you want to feel great right?

I remember having these moments in music.  I would walk out on stage and start to performance.  Yes, I got through all the notes perfectly, but I didn't "feel" the performance.  We get the applause at the end, but you didn't feel that you earned them.

I realized what really THRILLS me about agility and what makes my day.  When I can walk away from the day knowing that we ran as a "team".   We, as a team, "felt" the run deeply and ran with that effortless, fluid motion.  That is a GREAT day for me. 

 When I have the kind of runs with my dogs where we run as "one", I walk away from a day of agility loving the sport.  This is not something that you can see on film and it isn't something you can describe.  It just "is"!  It is that fine dance that you have from the moment you hit the start line.  You look back and your dog is just waiting for that moment when you release him.  From the moment you release him it is like synchronized swimming.  You both execute your part of the run in tandem.  You don't "think" about the cues, there are no worries about off courses, there is just the feeling of fluidity of motion between you and your dog.  It leaves you in a state of pure joy regardless of the outcome.

The pure joy of being together

These runs don't have to be placements, nor do they have to be perfect, they just have to "be".  Although it is not her original idea, Daisy Peel wrote an article on the moment of "Unconsciously skilled". 

These runs don't come every trial for me, but when they do the "high" from the experience is enough to carry you through to the next perfect run.  I am a junky of the unconsciously skilled run!

PS, to give credit where credit is due.  Tip did have one of these runs on Sunday and Tangle on Saturday.   So, was the trial a success?  It was!

Make it a game!

Trying to be true to the new year and my goal to lighten up a little while training.

The dogs and I went over to the park to run and stretch.  After that we did a bit of proofing contact behavior with the travel plank.

The dogs did surprisingly well.  I was surprised and please with Tip.  She is my queen that has lots of moments of brilliance which is sometimes peppered with no impulse control.  I love her to death and most of the time I don't mind that she is constantly testing the rules (I have put the frustrating days behind us).

Tangle did great.  Broke a couple of times, but that is ok.  Gives us an opportunity to clarify the behavior.  I am trying really hard to keep his dog walk contact solid.

Poor Split has been retrained one too many times and not by a person who knew how to retrain behaviors (it was me).  To compound his problem, he was initially taught a 4 on, which when I think about it now the criteria is next to impossible to communicate to the dog.  Then I tried to retrain the behavior to a 2o2o.  So, now I am thrilled when Split gives me either!

In this particular video I was only working with a medium value toy.  After this, I brought out the tennis ball (over the top value) to make the game even harder.  I didn't incorporate too much motion into this for 2 reasons.  1 - I have a strained muscle and was hoping to get it healed, 2 - that is the hardest for the dogs and I wanted to keep a high rate of reinforcement today and just renew their love for the end of the board.


Next session we will put in more motion, forward and lateral.  I will begin to reinforce the dog maintaining the forward line.

Running AFrames!

I will start with a quote that I stole from anne stocum's blog and will probably put on a t-shirt at some point!

"running contact heaven is worth spending some time in running contact hell"

Specifically her post on running contact training

I thought she did a really great job describing some of the feelings that you go through while training running contacts :)

This blog entry has been in the making for quiet some time.  It is a hard one to write.  Why?  Because I am almost always somewhere between heaven and hell on this topic.  My thoughts and what I am learning is constantly evolving on this topic.  What I know for sure this morning, is not what I will know for sure this afternoon.

What I do know for sure (almost always)

1. Training running contacts is more of an art than a science
2. What works for one dog does not always work for the other
3. You have to be diligent and committed to not let the frustration affect your relationship with your dog
4. Explore what EVERYONE has to say about teaching running contacts.  You may need the nugget of advice later on.
5. Have a running contacts support group.  This process can make you Bipolar.

Why the journey?  I love having a reliable running contact.  For me, it adds better flow to running the course.  For the dog, I know they love it more than a stop.  I will admit, also it is about the challenge of learning how to train this!

This is our latest footage on the running AF.  Fairly typical, one thing goes great, other aspects need work.  Tangle had a fairly consistent day.  Split was technically in the yellow, however he was hitting much higher than usual.  My goal is to have them hit between the first and second slate in the yellow.



From this point, I am slowly introducing handling around the AF and trying to get both dogs to have a consistently deep stride.

But today, we will work on other skills that are packed with fun for both the dogs and I.  Again, it is the commitment to maintaining a strong and happy relationship with my dogs.