Tonight Annie and I started an advanced handling class with Elizabeth Armstrong.
First we worked on having the dog jump "into you", in efforts to teach collection. Annie does this pretty well.
Then we did a course that was laid out already and found some issues.
Ideas:V start: When there are 3 jumps in a row and you only want your dog to do 2 -set them on a V start -they will not see the 3rd jump, as they arc around back to you.
Line: Look at quickest vs easiest. In this case there were 2 jumps 180 to each other then a tunnel back to the left of the landing side of jump 1. You could wrap your dog to the left around jump 2 (quickest) vs post turn around jump 2. I tended to want to handle it as a post turn but in reality it was easier to do a wrap.
270: Annie needs work on these -she doesn't want to go deep enough in the pocket to do these well. I need to offer her support through them. Perhaps try a go on so she keeps deep, keep my arm stretched out firmly.
DIVAS Class
Katie and Diva did the foundations.
They worked on restrained recall. Elizabeth held the dog...Katie walked away, and then called her to hand.
Loose leash walking
Touch: Teach them to touch a target.
Boxwork: Feet on the box: Showed us how to shape a behavior. Only work for a few minutes at a time. If the dog is "not getting" it it is OK to encourage (not lure) by putting the dog in a position that will encourage the behavior you're looking for eg in a corner so harder to get away from the box.
Katie and Diva did great - it helped they already had touched on everything.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Obedience Class 2
Tonight Annie seemed a little brighter. She is still not retrieving over jumps like she does at home.
We worked round robin style...practiced one obstacle if they were successful, moved on. Don't keep on hammering at the same thing when they do well. Annie's recalls were awesome tonight as were her stays. Her heeling (with string) was pretty decent too.
We worked round robin style...practiced one obstacle if they were successful, moved on. Don't keep on hammering at the same thing when they do well. Annie's recalls were awesome tonight as were her stays. Her heeling (with string) was pretty decent too.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Back to Obedience
Annie and I have resumed our obedience class. I'm not sure Annie is too happy about being back at Cathy's-she sulked most of the time we were there. Oh well, she'll get over it.
Tonights exercies: Practised throwing. We learned how to hold and throw the dumbbell (hold it by the ends not the middle).
Recall/Drop: If they're not dropping, go closer, walk toward them.
Annie's retrieves and long jump were less than stellar.
Her stays were OK (she broke when she saw me again).
Tonights exercies: Practised throwing. We learned how to hold and throw the dumbbell (hold it by the ends not the middle).
Recall/Drop: If they're not dropping, go closer, walk toward them.
Annie's retrieves and long jump were less than stellar.
Her stays were OK (she broke when she saw me again).
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Silvia Trkman seminar
Wow I had an eye opener last Saturday- I attended Silvia Trkman's foundation seminar at Best Friends Agility. I have always wondered how you add speed once you've got a dog working...now I realize the speed comes first. I took some notes and here is what I captured:
Silvia's puppy class graduates most know the following to graduate:Heeling, forward and back figure 8, backwards, recall from other puppies and much more!
Focus on SPEED
She started off the seminar by showing us an exercise you can do while out walking with your dog. She called it the recall/run. Basically play with your dog-teach your dog that you are fun too! Coming too you is not always a bad thing. Practice recall and run...attach a name when dog is running fast-go go go, even when playing. Play wrapping trees on walks -practice sends and wraps. Train to run to toy/weaves put toy down have dog run between 2 trees.
Don't punish dog for running full speed-even if it's not paying attention. Turn it around into a game..say go go go...add direction.
Teaching Obstacles: Restrain your dog to build up enthusiasm. Restrain say tunnel, tunnel, tunnel and release when do really wants to go to tunnel. Throw toy when dog exits tunnel or do come come come or do both...come come come...throw toy. Use 2 toys sometimes..so dog gives you one throw the other in the other direction. This doesn't discourage the dog from coming back to you with the toy.
For dogs that don't like to play with toys. Some like to chase grass-no pressure to pick it up. Play with water. Transfer treat value-throw ball-treat. Condition the dog that if they get the ball they get treat.
Sending around object
Send dog around object (cone, pole, jump standard) but keep dogs turn as close as possible. Dog should do 270 around the object. Helps teach collection. Can use to teach a command for collecting on landing side of jump. Use with tunnel to teach crosses ...have cones about 10 feet away from entrance/exit of tunnel set up in u-shape.
Agility is not about the jump -it is about the turns. With good turns you will be able to take the shortest path.
270 Exercise. Start with food close, wrap dog in 270 treat dog as it exits the wrap. Then as you add distance use reward with toy to build speed. When you have one wrap mastered, do from cone to cone. And finally add a word.
Tricks for Body Awareness: Name each paw. Lift 1, lift 2, lift 3, lift 4 etc. Box games-walk in box one paw at a time. Then make box smaller. Walon on a box to teach 2 on 2 off, front paws and back paws. Teach dog to place feet on object then move rear feet around.
Interacting with Scary Objects
Adj to dogs speed and comfort zone. Use a lid with socks under it, teach closing doors and drawers, push skateboard, push teeter. Use tricks in warmup to get dog focused. To teach teeter push down prop one end of the teeter.
Train stay separately from equipment. For dogs that lack moticvation, play on startline and go -minimize lead-outs. Train Contactts. Train weaves. Train Turns. Then once all solid put them together.
Weaves: Start with 12 channel weaves set very wide apart. Once doing 12 poles, do all angels for start, starting with one side, then do other side.
Call-to-Hand: From restrained recall, call to hand. Drop hand (slap leg). Blind cross is a good test of call to hand. Use a command (Silvias boo boo boo...don't take what you see, come to hand, and wait for release).
Train "around": Go around other side of jump.Useful when a dog needs to jump from away side of jump. Tic, Tac collection cues. Lefts and rights.
Try to work in front of dog as much as possible to encourage speed for faster runs.
Well...that's the general gist of what I learned..now I have to read up to fill in the pieces!
Silvia's puppy class graduates most know the following to graduate:Heeling, forward and back figure 8, backwards, recall from other puppies and much more!
Focus on SPEED
She started off the seminar by showing us an exercise you can do while out walking with your dog. She called it the recall/run. Basically play with your dog-teach your dog that you are fun too! Coming too you is not always a bad thing. Practice recall and run...attach a name when dog is running fast-go go go, even when playing. Play wrapping trees on walks -practice sends and wraps. Train to run to toy/weaves put toy down have dog run between 2 trees.
Don't punish dog for running full speed-even if it's not paying attention. Turn it around into a game..say go go go...add direction.
Teaching Obstacles: Restrain your dog to build up enthusiasm. Restrain say tunnel, tunnel, tunnel and release when do really wants to go to tunnel. Throw toy when dog exits tunnel or do come come come or do both...come come come...throw toy. Use 2 toys sometimes..so dog gives you one throw the other in the other direction. This doesn't discourage the dog from coming back to you with the toy.
For dogs that don't like to play with toys. Some like to chase grass-no pressure to pick it up. Play with water. Transfer treat value-throw ball-treat. Condition the dog that if they get the ball they get treat.
Sending around object
Send dog around object (cone, pole, jump standard) but keep dogs turn as close as possible. Dog should do 270 around the object. Helps teach collection. Can use to teach a command for collecting on landing side of jump. Use with tunnel to teach crosses ...have cones about 10 feet away from entrance/exit of tunnel set up in u-shape.
Agility is not about the jump -it is about the turns. With good turns you will be able to take the shortest path.
270 Exercise. Start with food close, wrap dog in 270 treat dog as it exits the wrap. Then as you add distance use reward with toy to build speed. When you have one wrap mastered, do from cone to cone. And finally add a word.
Tricks for Body Awareness: Name each paw. Lift 1, lift 2, lift 3, lift 4 etc. Box games-walk in box one paw at a time. Then make box smaller. Walon on a box to teach 2 on 2 off, front paws and back paws. Teach dog to place feet on object then move rear feet around.
Interacting with Scary Objects
Adj to dogs speed and comfort zone. Use a lid with socks under it, teach closing doors and drawers, push skateboard, push teeter. Use tricks in warmup to get dog focused. To teach teeter push down prop one end of the teeter.
Train stay separately from equipment. For dogs that lack moticvation, play on startline and go -minimize lead-outs. Train Contactts. Train weaves. Train Turns. Then once all solid put them together.
Weaves: Start with 12 channel weaves set very wide apart. Once doing 12 poles, do all angels for start, starting with one side, then do other side.
Call-to-Hand: From restrained recall, call to hand. Drop hand (slap leg). Blind cross is a good test of call to hand. Use a command (Silvias boo boo boo...don't take what you see, come to hand, and wait for release).
Train "around": Go around other side of jump.Useful when a dog needs to jump from away side of jump. Tic, Tac collection cues. Lefts and rights.
Try to work in front of dog as much as possible to encourage speed for faster runs.
Well...that's the general gist of what I learned..now I have to read up to fill in the pieces!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Class 11/17
Annie is still in heat so Selena had to step in again. She got to enjoy a sunny fresh morning.
Today we worked on jumping skills. It was interesting to see what different problems the dogs/handlers had.
Pam showed us a couple of areas to be aware of what the dog was seeing and sure enough the fast dogs were seeing that path. The slower ones followed their handlers.
Tips: When doing a 180 turn keep the dog interested with vocalization
a)prevents loosing dog to another jump staring it in the face
b) keeps dog motivated
Today we worked on jumping skills. It was interesting to see what different problems the dogs/handlers had.
Pam showed us a couple of areas to be aware of what the dog was seeing and sure enough the fast dogs were seeing that path. The slower ones followed their handlers.
Tips: When doing a 180 turn keep the dog interested with vocalization
a)prevents loosing dog to another jump staring it in the face
b) keeps dog motivated
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
11/03/09
Class was back outside-a beautiful sunny day (finally!).
We worked parts of a course. First exercise was a tire to jump straight line, turn 90 degrees over a jump to a tunnel parked right behind the dog walk. Big discrimination exercise, out over a jump to teeter.
Annie did the dog walk the first time around. I rear-crossed late in front of the previous jump which pulled her back and basically left me behind her and the dog walk right in front of her. Pam suggested I cross after the jump since there was loads of space. I tried that and was easily able to get Annie in the tunnel (though she still WANTED to go up the dog-walk). I crossed in front of the teeter but used the wrong hand to signal her. Gotta remember DOG SIDE HAND.
Next we tried the same exercise with a lead out for the first 2 jumps. I didn't like that as much as I found I had to hurry a lot more to get to the tunnel/dogwalk. This time I got Annie in the tunnel but she head out of it saw the A-frame and over she went. Lesson: Remember to cue her when she is in the tunnel and reinforce it on her exit.
Next we did a teeter, tunnel jump a-frame sequence. On this we had to do a rear-cross between the jump and the A-frame. Lesson here: When doing a rear-cross you can't get ahead of your dog. On this sequence you had to hold back while the dog was doing the tunnel cue the jump then a-frame and then switch as the dog committed to the a-frame. If you were waiting at the jump after the dog was in the tunnel you were ahead of the dog which makes crossing behind awkward.
Annie worked well today.
We worked parts of a course. First exercise was a tire to jump straight line, turn 90 degrees over a jump to a tunnel parked right behind the dog walk. Big discrimination exercise, out over a jump to teeter.
Annie did the dog walk the first time around. I rear-crossed late in front of the previous jump which pulled her back and basically left me behind her and the dog walk right in front of her. Pam suggested I cross after the jump since there was loads of space. I tried that and was easily able to get Annie in the tunnel (though she still WANTED to go up the dog-walk). I crossed in front of the teeter but used the wrong hand to signal her. Gotta remember DOG SIDE HAND.
Next we tried the same exercise with a lead out for the first 2 jumps. I didn't like that as much as I found I had to hurry a lot more to get to the tunnel/dogwalk. This time I got Annie in the tunnel but she head out of it saw the A-frame and over she went. Lesson: Remember to cue her when she is in the tunnel and reinforce it on her exit.
Next we did a teeter, tunnel jump a-frame sequence. On this we had to do a rear-cross between the jump and the A-frame. Lesson here: When doing a rear-cross you can't get ahead of your dog. On this sequence you had to hold back while the dog was doing the tunnel cue the jump then a-frame and then switch as the dog committed to the a-frame. If you were waiting at the jump after the dog was in the tunnel you were ahead of the dog which makes crossing behind awkward.
Annie worked well today.
Class 10/27/09
Today we were inside yet again...and Elizabeth taught us. We worked on distance which was great as Annie and I need to get some distance on our team.
We first worked three jumps like a pinwheel. I had to step in to get Annie deep into the pinwheel. We then worked on a jump, back to tunnel send to jump combination. Annie worked well through that. Then we added a flip back out to another jump and send to A-frame. I had to step in for the flip but Annie happily layered the tunnel/A-frame.
We then worked a jump tunnel jump weave pattern. Send dog over jump -tunnel is staring them in the face so that wasn't hard. The hard part was the tunnel exit-the dogs really wanted to go back over the jump..I had to call Annie through it several times. I think perhaps in a competition I'd have done better to be at the exit and start running past the jump/effectively blocking it and then sending to jump and weaves. Annie missed her weave entrance the first time. I restarted her over the jump and she got it and had no issue with me not being right beside her. Yeah!
Next Elizabeth showed us how to incorporate a chair to teach out. I think I'll do this. You teach the dog to go out around the chair(or some object). You keep moving it further away. Once this is accomplished you put it by a jump so it become an "out, jump" .
We first worked three jumps like a pinwheel. I had to step in to get Annie deep into the pinwheel. We then worked on a jump, back to tunnel send to jump combination. Annie worked well through that. Then we added a flip back out to another jump and send to A-frame. I had to step in for the flip but Annie happily layered the tunnel/A-frame.
We then worked a jump tunnel jump weave pattern. Send dog over jump -tunnel is staring them in the face so that wasn't hard. The hard part was the tunnel exit-the dogs really wanted to go back over the jump..I had to call Annie through it several times. I think perhaps in a competition I'd have done better to be at the exit and start running past the jump/effectively blocking it and then sending to jump and weaves. Annie missed her weave entrance the first time. I restarted her over the jump and she got it and had no issue with me not being right beside her. Yeah!
Next Elizabeth showed us how to incorporate a chair to teach out. I think I'll do this. You teach the dog to go out around the chair(or some object). You keep moving it further away. Once this is accomplished you put it by a jump so it become an "out, jump" .
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