Bella's first trial
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| That's GREAT!
I can hardly wait to see the tapes (if any) and to hear about your trial! |
| great! and the agility buddy sounds like a great idea |
The easiest way to teach the table (sometimes harder to retrain  ), but especially if you're primarily planning on doing USDAA, is teach an automatic down. There is no "table-down". The command "table" simply means: "run to table and drop into a down in the direction of travel" And the easiest way to teach it is with a clicker. I start by luring a sphinx down (cookie in hand between front legs of dog as they jump on the table) and then fade the lure until they're dropping in anticipation. In the beginning I may work on it for a couple of minutes several times a day. They get so heavily rewarded for the table that it can become somewhat of a magnet for them for a while.
Table issues can be reaaaaalllllly frustrating. Two things contribute: 1) it takes a lot of impulse control to stop & drop when you're running fast and having fun (which is why the table needs to be made part of that fast & fun) and 2) if you split it up into two commands "table-position" they'll run to the table and then some dogs some times with thing the second command is optional 
Also there can be a variety of stress related issues. Good contacts is HUGE. That's wonderful! What method do you use? Weaves always take time - it's the hardest thing for the dogs to learn. That's the last piece of the obstacle performance package I'm still focusing on with Sybil right now to get her ready to trial. And even then it takes time in trials with a green dog because in the all the excitement it is the hardest behavior to hold together, but with experience it becomes easier for them. Love your attitude. Keep us posted. Very excited for you!! 
Kristine |
| Kristine is right about the "table" being an automatic command to get into the appropriate position. In our case it is a "sit" because Harry HATES to sit. But we made the mistake of doing it in two parts and he would never give me the second command of sit or down. Clicker training has saved our life in agility. I swear by it. He loves treats more than he used to now BUT he will also work for praise.
Have fun at your trial and let us know what happens. |
| Wow, thanks for the tips on the table! Bella has been trained with clicker training so I think we will start that right away. You're absolutely right, she goes right to the table, but the second command she definitely views as optional!
As far as contact obstacles, we worked with those obstacles intitially with practicing 2 on/2 off with the "touch" command. If I forget the touch command in the heat of the run, she misses the contact. Also, she knows "easy" as slow down. She never misses contacts on the teeter or dog walk, but will bail off the a-frame if I don't use "easy" and then "touch". Weaves....ah, well....she knows how to weave and sometimes does it perfectly. But getting her to go into weaves in the progress of the course seems to be the issue. When we just do weave practice, she's right on. But they seem to bore her when it's coming out of a tunnel or off the A-frame. Once again, I think I should use her name and "easy" coming out of the previous obstacle to focus her on the weaves. I'm really excited about her first trial. I know that mostly if she makes mistakes it's because I've misled her and she learns way better than I do. And like I said, if it's a disaster, it's ok, it's a learning experience for both of us and we'll still have fun. She LOVES agility! And the bonding we have doing it together is worth all the lessons, practice, premiums and even my broken elbow from last season. She tickles me to no end when she finishes a set and looks at me like " I did good, mom!" |
| WOW! She has a solid dogwalk contact??!! That was always my nemesis since it's so easy for them to stride right over it.
[Will she, won't she? <Belle> ]
Mine would usually hit the A-frame contact just by striding through. Mad got many teeter calls for her very enthusiastic "interpretation" of the teeter 
Consider using an 'easy' as she goes up the A-frame to remind her she has to collect herself going down. If they don't get their weight onto their rear and they're fast and enthusiastic, which it sounds like she is (what fun!!), they tend to gather too much speed going down and with all their weight on their forehand it's easier for them to bail. Weave entries. Just keep at it. Sybil understands how to collect herself for the entry. She somehow just knows. Her mom, Mad, who's motto was "brakes are for sissies" never really got the concept of collecting herself. Since you have an easy command, a verbal reminder may help, but you have to give it early enough that she'll know. Do you have your own weavepoles to practice on and do you use guidewires? I taught Mad using the channel method but I didn't use wires with her. With Sybil, her instructor insisted and though I'm not 100% sure, I think that's why she understands entries much better than previous dogs. The channel method is fabulous for speed and rythm, but some dogs don't get that it isn't just run full out all the time, so she may need a visual reminder in pratice in addition to the verbal. Of course, if you use wires you have to fade them which is why I wasn't that keen on them to begin with, but I've decided that they're worth the bother. With really keen dogs it can be an issue no matter how you taught them, but she'll get there. Like I said, I really love your attitude about the game. I'm sure you'll have a blast. Let us know how it goes
Kristine |
| Another tip for channel weaves (if you have them) is you can reinforce entrances (without the wires) by just opening the first pole a little bit so it is easier for them to see. Then slide it back in.
Harry LOVES the weaves. But we discovered something at a trial recently: weaves are hard to do coming out of a tunnel. The first course we did he was fine on the weaves but the second two courses had weaves after the tunnel. Harry who was fine at the beginning of the run got stressed after the tunnel then collected himself at the end. I asked my trainer about it at my next class and she said they have trouble with it coming "blind" out of the tunnel. So I set up a little game with him as follows: Two sets of weave poles parallel to each other and a tunnel at one end in a c formation. The dog weaves enters tunnel and weaves again upon exiting tunnel. I know it is a little hard to visualize. Anyway he really struggled at first to complete those weaves upon exiting the tunnel but after a while he got used to it. I broke it down with a little backchaining. Unfortunately we were still working with our old poles so I wasn't able to run the exercise as many times as I would have liked. |
| We have weaves at home, only 6, and they are not channel weaves. I have guide wires but have never used them. Bella weaves great in weave practice, and is even getting off sides weaves now. It's just going into the weave after another obstacle that seems to be the challenge right now. I need to find a way to re-direct her focus, then, as long I pace her correctly, she weaves. She's not fast on weaves, but she's fast on every other obstacle.
I have no idea why she is good on contacts on the teeter and dog walk....she just is. Like I said, the only contact she bails off of is the a-frame, and I will try using "easy" earlier as suggested, seems like a good idea. We only have a couple classes before her trial to practice some of this stuff. I have a little equipment at home, jumps, weaves, tire and will have a table this weekend of some sort. Kristine, I love your pictures! Bella is not in as much coat as Sybil, but enough I need to clip her hair up so she sees the obstacles clearly. As I've stated before, I don't expect miracles or even Q's, we're just going out for the experience and the fun. I'll know more about what she (and I..) need work in after the first trial. We have to start somewhere! She never ceases to amaze me when I challenge her...she likes the challenges and gets bored with the easy stuff. At class, she used to get bored with the jump sets, leave them and head to the contact obstacle sets instead! Did I mention that my agility buddy is also her first instructor? She used to just laugh at Bella and say..."Mary, start her on the A-frame since that's where she wants to be!" She loves Bella and took her through fun runs when my elbow was too broken for me to run her. Sorry, I forgot to log in... |
| Well, I gotta tell you, it was a total learning experience! You think you have a dog that is doing pretty well in class and fun runs, but the trial is another thing entirely We went in with pretty low expectations, but it soon became apparent I had to lower them much more!
First class, P1 Standard....she got the entrance and the first jump, bailed on the teeter, was supposed to do another jump, then tire, but saw the a frame, (her favorite) and decided to do that instead, after which my little social butterfly thought it would be nice to visit the people on the sidelines.... Next class, P1 Jumpers. My hope was to get her over the first three jumps, actually got to 5 before she decided to go to the photogragher and pose for him...off course, of course 
Day two, P1 Gamblers. It was early and cool...did I mention the day before it was over 85 degrees with NO shade? Anyway, amazingly we did the first 25 seconds and completed all our points, she had no faults and hit all her contact, I was thrilled.  She completely blew off the joker, but, hey, I was happy
Last class, P1 standard again...its back up to over 80 degrees, I know she's not in the right frame of doggie mind, not focusing. Put her at the start line, she spyed my niece on the other side of the field, ran around the start and off the field to visit again
All in all we had a great time, learned a lot, I learned the value of a well done front cross, and she made lots of new friends. Back to class! |
| Oh, sounds like fun.
Quite the happy girl - you did a fabulous job socializing!
I can't wait until we get to have such fun in public!  |
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