This is the major differentiator between other methods and
the hardest / longest to train. I had decided that I wanted a completely ‘hands
free’ method (both to encourage independence and avoid shoulder pressure), so
everything would be shaped.
The Stop broke down into 7 distinct exercises:
Nose
touches (NT)
Rear
end awareness
2O2O
as a discrete exercise (away from contacts)
The
Happy zone
Fading
a NT
Looking
ahead / next obstacle
vii.Fading
reward / varying reinforcement
I will cover each of these in more depth over the next few weeks
Training a quick and consistent contact is the goal of most
agility handlers. Today the strategies employed can be summed up as 2O2O, 4 on
the floor or running. Each strategy has its advantages and disadvantages. This
series of articles describe and summarise my method for training the former
while critiquing the method and comparing against the latter.
Introduction
Agility training methods are constantly evolving. As more
scientific methods (based on understanding of dog behaviours) are introduced,
contacts have become quicker and more consistent.
Like most people starting with a new dog, my objective was
to study the latest methods and work with a strategy which would offer highest
consistency and speed, coupled with resources available. The latter was an important
part of decision making. Factors such as equipment time, weather, time to train
and ground conditions through the year, all play a part in what can be
achieved.
Taking all the above in consideration I decided on a shaped
2O2O method with an objective of a <1.8 second (independent) dog walk. To
achieve this I also set myself a goal of 16 months from beginning to 1st
competition, coupled with that it would need constant refinement.
Methodology
From now on I will use the Dog Walk (DW) as the example,
although AF & SS remain relatively similar with minor adjustments.
There were 4 basic parts to training the DW:
Entry
Running
the planks to 90% completion
The
stop (or contact)
Alighting
The next articles will describe the sequential steps in #3
as this was taught at a foundation level. #2 was introduced at 8 months, #1 at 9
months and #4 at 14 months.
The last month has been very relaxed Agility wise. After the busy month of August, Jude's injury in the GB team qualifiers meant no training prep work for the FCI agility WC this weekend (good luck to all my team mates).
We spent a fantastic week in Jersey having a holiday and doing some judging. Thanks to everyone in Jersey for making our stay so welcome, we didn't want to come home!
So after an easy month, we ventured 'up north' last weekend to do the shows in Middlesborough. The Saturday was an absolute scorcher, a beautiful day to start JD's G4 career.
My plan for 2011 had been to win out of G3 by end of August (achieved) and then work through G4, concentrating on Jumping ready for show season next year. Well plan didn't quite work and we won our first G4 Agility. Now I am very pleased and proud with this, the course was not simple (see above) and our contacts and FX's were spot on, but it does change our winter plan.
Theoretically it changes nothing with JD (he can't age faster and there is no shop to 'buy' experience) but competition wise, there is going to be more pressure as the courses will be harder. We struggled at the weekend in the combined 4 - 7 and at G5 we will have more combined courses with the upper levels. To compete in G5+ we need to have better turns in tighter (jump) configurations.
So my winter training plan just incorporated a few more things!
What promised to be a long weekend of Agility with lots of runs turned into zero!
We quit this (Sunday) morning and went home, defeated by the weather and poor drainage of venue. Feel so sorry for Wyre club, they worked so hard to put on and run the Champ W/E.
But we felt that the conditions were not fair to our dogs, both being muddy all day and slippy ground conditions.
August is arguably the busiest show month in the UK with extended events such as KC Festival and DIN. Our month started at Scunthorpe weekend, always a relaxed show in a nice showground.
Jaidi
Based on previous week (see earlier post) we had high confidence of a CR with Jaidi (at Scunthorpe show). Although this didn’t happen, we had ~75% success with weaves, so had a real confidence that we had overcome our primary training issue.
Therefore I used the training time between that show and the 10 day marathon of competition that is International Agility Festival and DIN to start Grid program using method proposed by Mecklenburg. Our goal was to reduce ‘poles down’ when jumping in extension, the objective of the training was that Jaidi makes ‘better’ jumping decisions actually on the course.
As I had done so much extension work at foundation level, I knew I would have to return to more ‘collection’ work after first season of competition, but after just one week I was pleasantly surprised at the results.
We had our first CR at Festival, then after a run of 6 consecutive Agility rounds with 1 pole down, 2 further rounds with no poles down (other ‘novice’ type faults) we won G3 Agility. What a great way to finish 10 days Agility, particularly 1 month ago I wasn’t sure if we would ever get the weaves correct in the ring!
Now we have a ‘free’ month before he can compete in G4, so time to build for 2012 as I will have some time off competition in winter months (I don’t like the early starts and cold days).
Jude
Additionally I was able to run Jude at Scunthorpe and she had a nice clear and won the jumping. First rounds at Festival were not great as our timing was out leading to eliminations. However over the weekend we found our competition feet and won a class.
At DIN Jude was a star again, finishing 2nd in the Classic qualifiers (behind World Champ Dizzy Wise) so a very creditable performance over 4 rounds. In the Champ qualifers we went one better and finished 1st overall (for the 3rd time this year in Champ). Unfortunately 5F meant no place (in the final). However it was won by Denise Wilkinson and Jexie for the 3rd time making her an Agility Champion, which is a great story for all that know them.
After a week of training weaves without a toy, this week we had success at Derby show of 5 / 6 weaves. Additionally the success was in both 6 & 12 poles (as indicated a couple weeks ago, 6 was a real issue). Talking to a few people whose dogs are at a similar stage it appears they experience a similar issue with dogs not recognising 6 pole weave configuration.
During the week I had done some training at our local park, where I had never done any training before. So in essence, like a show, it was a neutral venue. Jaidi’s weaves were just like competition, skipping #2. So we worked through and had a couple of successful attempts (too hot to do any more). Then at training the following night, had +50% success rate in the course.
I must admit I was surprised just how quick the turnaround had come, considering a week ago we had to avoid the weaves in the course!
This means I can now work on some other training aspects, with priority being grid work.
So we left the show this weekend looking forward to next weekend.
