Awesomeness

I had class with the girls last night and man were they on fire!  Even after spending the day at work with me, getting their nails done, Gracie getting her butt squeezed, and Gidget getting a VOM (veterinary orthopedic manipulation) treatment!  I think I've discovered the key to getting my girls pumped and focused.  Tricks! 

With Gidget I've always done some tricks before a run to get her warmed up, but I've found that doing a couple of her favorites at the start line really gets her going.  She's also more up for some direct play, that is playing just with me, no toys, after a few tricks which also gets her pumped up for her next run. 

With Gracie I've been focusing on focus.  We always to some mat work before her runs to get some good focus.  Her issue has been that she's really nervous at the start line.  After a few good tricks she could barely take her eyes off me and was ready to go!  One of the courses we did last night ended with the tire.  I looked back over my shoulder and watched her soar through it, what a sight!  I was certainly out of breath after every run last night, man I need to get exercising.  Now to hope these trick benefits will carry over to a trial.  Guess I'm gonna have to find time to take them to weird places and work on tricks and play.  Happy agility!

Collection

One of the Daisy Peel seminars this past week (not one I went to) talked a lot about collection.  Our instructor learned a lot from that seminar and brought it to our class last night.  Collection is where your dog pauses (a very very short pause when they're good at it) and looks to you for their next instruction.  Cuing this pause is very useful to get tighter turns and avoid off course obstacles.  The first course we practiced this on involved collection before the first jump in a 180 to avoid an off course jump straight ahead of that first jump.  Our dogs were on our right so we cued collection with our left hands, putting our left hand in the dogs path to stop them and give them a treat.  Then we cued the jump and continued on.  Stopping the dog forces them to pay more attention so that they take the shortest path to the next correct jump.  We did the same thing with a tunnel-jump-jump where there was a sharp left turn between the jumps, but this time we added a front cross as we cued the jump after collecting.  The last little course we did had three jumps set up in a row with a fourth jump next to the third jump in the line.  The jump to the side was the next jump in the course so we collected after the second jump at a spot that was good for a front cross and then pivoted (front crossed) to the jump to the side and continued on.  It was an interesting lesson, and one I look forward to learning more about.  Apparently the obvious cue can be faded out, or at least made less obvious as the dog learns how to collect.  Hopefully I'll have more to post on this topic soon!  Happy agility!

Failure

I was really excited to go to a Daisy Peel seminar on running contacts the other day.  I got a lot out of it, from uses of the Manners Minder (I ordered one that night) to how to see the proper gait of a dog running across the dog walk (still need some practice there).  One of my biggest take aways though was the importance of pushing your dog to fail.  Daisy (formerly a high school chemistry teacher) compared it to a class of students taking a test.  If every student gets 100% then the test was too easy, but if every student fails then it was too hard.  A teacher should want most (maybe all) of their students to pass, though not all with A's.  If all of the students got 100% then none of them had to work all that hard, and certainly didn't learn anything from taking the test.  The teacher doesn't learn where their students are lacking either which would allow them to improve and progress their teaching.

It's the same with dog training.  If your dog gets a skill right every time then they're not learning anything new, and you don't know what gaps there are in your dog's training.  For example, you practice weaves with your dog at home and they get it right every time.  Then you go to class to show off your dog's skill, but suddenly they're getting it wrong every time.  There's a gap in your training, in this case they don't know how to weave in a new location, or with different poles, or on mats instead of on grass or carpet.  Had the dog been pushed at home at least one of these differences could have been addressed and a better training session could be had at class.

Daisy suggested the 80/20 rule.  Your dog should succeed 80% of the time and fail the other 20%.  It's as easy as getting 4 successes in a row (4 out of 5 is 80%) and then changing something that might make the dog fail.  Get 4 nice weaves in a row then add a front cross, or a little distance, or move the poles to a different part of the yard.  You'll eventually have to get really creative to get your dog to fail!  Then you'll know that your dog really knows their job.

When a dog is just learning something, 80% success may even be too much.  If they're just starting to learn weaves, say by the 2x2 method, it's likely much more helpful to move from 1 set to 2 to 3 when the dog is only 60% successful than to dwell too long on one part of the process.

I am definitely going to keep this in mind when training with my dogs.  I already tried it at open weaves with the girls last night.  With Gidget, I decided I was only going to reward "fast" weaves.  We started with just the weaves by themselves both directions, she was nice and speedy so we added a jump at one end and a tunnel at the other, she was still successful and speedy.  On the next turn we added a tunnel between the jump and the weaves with either a post turn or front cross after the tunnel, still speedy and successful.  Time for a front cross after the weaves, first time successful, second time she popped out at the beginning.  Possibly because of the tunnel beforehand, or I was speeding up early to get ready for the cross, both things I know we need to work on.  Now if I keep track of what makes her fail, I'll know what I need to work on next time and will be better able to come up with ways to make her fail so we can learn even more!  This sounds like a good tactic to me!  Happy agility!

CAT

No, not a kitty cat!  Coursing Ability Test!  Gidget got her first leg towards the CA title on Sat.  We had to be there by 9:30 so the dogs could be inspected to make sure they aren't in heat or lame in any way.  Then it was quite a long wait for Gidget's turn.  Gotta remember to send in my registration forms right away next time, that's how they determine the running order.  We were at the end of page 3 out like 7 pages!  I feel bad for the people that had to wait for the last couple pages.  It was a lot cooler out than the weather man had said it would be, good for the dogs, not so great for the people.  So I didn't watch a lot of other dogs run, and the ones I did see had trouble finishing the course.  Those few were all hounds, a couple beagles and a fox hound.  Their noses took over and they forgot about the lure.  When our turn was finally close, we had to wait in line outside the gate to the big field.  Gidget waited nice and patiently, little sign of much excitement.  She showed a little more interest when we got up to the gate, intently watching the dog ahead of her.  Then the gate opened and she saw the lure.  She started hopping at the end of the leash, ready to go.  I got her to sit still, but she never took her eyes off the lure and she would have been gone (though not very far since the lure wasn't moving yet) had I let go.  You can see how excited she was to start running in the video.  There was no distraction for her from that lure!  I could tell she was slowing down a tad towards the end, but she wasn't going to quit.  The 600 yard sprint was rough on her.  She coughed some when she was done and kept hopping from one front paw to the other.  Gidget was back to herself though after a good drink of water, some walking around, and a light massage.  There were no lingering signs of stiffness or soreness later that day or the next day either.  I still would never have her run two days in a row though, that's just too much stress on her little body for one weekend.  It's too bad they only do this twice a year, it's the only club in the area that offers the CAT too!  Here's the video:

Thanks to a friend of a friend for doing the video for me!  I can't wait til Oct. to do this again!