Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

It has been a week since Jefferson and I took a private lesson with Stuart Mah.  And, it was the first week of not having any tasty cookies AT ALL in the field during our classes or practices.  Stuart had recommended quite a laundry list of do’s and don’ts to incorporate into our training.  Some of his suggestions include:  staying exceptionally close to Jefferson during front/rear crosses so he will not have the opportunity to make up his own course; work up from 5 seconds of praise to 15 seconds at the end of the run and before dolling out cookies; teach him to jump up on me at the end of our runs; and absolutely no cookies in the field or in my pockets during classes and practices – reward at the completion of our run and OUTSIDE of the ring.  Oh, yeah…last but not least, no corrections during our runs while at a trial.  If Jefferson takes an off-course, I am supposed to go with the flow and make up my own course. 

So far, so good…well, not so good actually!  I have gotten Jefferson to “shut down” during class and practice by not feeding him treats inside the ring.  Normally, tasty cookies line my pockets during our runs and I will deliver the treats quite frequently.   Jefferson is such the chow-hound:  he really looks forward to earning his agility cookies each time we go to the field.  Apparently, my over-treating was a bigger problem than I had suspected because without treats in my pockets, his agility behavior quickly erodes.  This is much like his behavior during the last few trials at our field.  As I reflect about the differences in our everyday practice/class and trial routines, I have determined that the method and frequency in which I deliver the cookies to Jefferson differs.  During my practices and classes, I am now keeping all treats outside the ring; making Jefferson successfully run a sequence of obstacles; praising him for at least 5 seconds; and exiting the field prior to delivering the cookies.  In essence, what I am working on is transferring the value from the cookies to me and running agility.  Here is an explanative blog post by dog agility trainer Susan Garrett that contains great training information about using effective triggers and the transferring of value:  http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2012/03/building-effective-triggers-into-your-dog-training/

I am amazed at how fast Jefferson has caught on to this new routine (and new triggers) and am encouraged by our progress.  I am looking forward to incorporating the latest techniques and becoming a better dog trainer.

We have an upcoming AKC trial this weekend so I will be able to put this new training “to the test’ so to speak.  I am not setting lofty, pressure-filled goals for this trial either – like “Q”ing every run and moving out of Novice and Open.  Rather, I want to stick to the plan that Stuart helped design.  And, of course, remember to have fun!

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a good, consistent agility team.

“Training positively is getting into your dog’s head and knowing what he needs to be joyfully connected to you so that you can bring out the best he has to give.” – Susan Garrett

The Third Time's a Charm - Starters Gamblers Title!

Jefferson and I earned our 3^rd “Q” in Starters Gamblers at this weekend’s LCDA Trial.  It was our Starters Gamblers Title and a long time in the making – one year to be exact.  I was so proud of my pup that I actually cried tears of joy (and relief) when I saw the “Q” pop up on the computer screen.    We got the gamble –  again, not our problem since we excel at distance work – but I was not sure that we had accumulated enough points in the opening.  Our start was great and Jefferson was running fast.  We had a beautiful running dogwalk (the 5 point obstacle:  1, 2, 3, 5 with a 30 second opening) and I had planned to run him back over the dogwalk but Jefferson had his own plan.  So, I went with his plan and got him to take the tire and tunnel – in between his standing around and peering at me with “that” look I have began to dread.  Luckily, we had enough points in the opening.  When the buzzer sounded, I ran him to the closing and we had a great gamble.   I am so proud of our run!

Here’s the video:

“That” look was our theme for this weekend’s trial.  It is so very frustrating to know that your dog has demonstrated excellent agility skills and can perform all the obstacles without fault during practice; yet, during the trial – especially at our home and practice field – shuts down and will not run the courses with me.  We practice 4-5 times during the week, some structured classes in which we almost always accurately perform the skill sets, and other times on our own.  We have not missed our 12 weave pole performance during our practices in months; yet, we only weaved one time during a trial in our last 2 shows.  Exasperating to say the least.  To be honest, I have contemplated quitting the sport and retiring back to my life as a couch potato and casual, weekend runner and beer drinker.  But, once you have been bitten by the agility bug, it is hard to imagine your life without agility in it.  There is no greater feeling than to run a course in synch with your canine partner.  So, we will persevere and keep working through this minor set-back.

As lady-luck would have it, we had a private lesson with dog agility great and IFCS World Agility Championships team member, Stuart Mah on Monday after this weekend’s trial.  It was our good fortune that he had witnessed Jefferson’s shut-downs and trial behavior.  Stuart had us re-enact the trial atmosphere and trigger the same shut-down as we have experienced in recent trials at our home field.  Although the shut-down during the lesson was not as dramatic; nonetheless, Stuart gave us expert advice and a plan to implement to get past this roadblock to our progress.  More than that, he gave us hope that we can run a course together as a team.  It may take us a bit longer to move up the ranks like our peers, but it can be done with patience and revising my training methods.  His encouragement and belief in our skills appeared to me at the right time.

As the old saying goes, things happen for a reason.  I believe that all circumstances in our lives serve a purpose to teach us something.  You just have to be willing to look for the lesson and be open and trust the process.  I am excited about the possibilities of Team J-Dawg and look forward to future clean runs. 

"Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this.  For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward."
~Henry Ford

Fun is Good!

This past weekend, Jefferson and I traveled to Columbia, SC for the AKC trial at the horse center.  Being the first day of my spring break, I was both excited and relaxed for our runs.    I had entered us in all four events:  Standard, Jumpers with Weaves, FAST and Time to Beat.  A few major revelations that came to me while I was running Jefferson.  First off, we had a great run in Standard – even though we didn’t “Q.”  He was fast, focused and having a blast while he was running.  Really, our only missteps were those darn weave poles; albeit, we seem to mess up six weaves more than the twelve in USDAA!  But, I tried to re-start him twice and failed to give him a clear set-up for an entry so he did not get them.  It was my fault but rather than shut down, we kept going and finished off beautifully.  I was very proud of myself for front crossing him after the teeter.  While I walked the course without a front cross, I spoke with an agility newbie at her first trial about the best strategy to handle the course.  I told her that the front cross was best after the teeter but I would not do it because I was “afraid” that Jefferson would not “get it.”  What exactly was I “afraid” of?  Not “Q’ing”?  Looking stupid?  Falling face-down in the dirt?  It was then that I decided to handle the course in the best way and face my “fear” head on, even if it included the dreaded front cross at the teeter.  Well, guess what…nothing catastrophic happened.  In fact, we looked good! 

Jumpers with weaves was next and I seem to have some mental block for running JWW or any kind of strictly jumping course.  Ugh.  I (or we) enjoy the challenge of the contacts in Standard.  I was worried, rightfully so, about our running start – jump to weaves.  We had trouble getting those weaves.  I tried to restart him a few times without much success so I chose to continue on the course.  We did have a good pinwheel before J-Dawg darted off from the last few jumps.  Oh, well…he was running fast and having a good time.  More importantly, not shutting down despite our mistakes.  Yay!

Next, we ran Open FAST.  I really enjoy the gambler style courses like this because the handler gets to make up his or her own course in order to collect points.  In this case, we needed 55 points.  So, I made a flowing route on the right side of the course knowing how much Jefferson likes to run fast.  I was not even worried about us getting the joker – only a jump and tunnel taken either direction so it was pretty easy for our team.  I sat him down for our running start when I headed to the right and he headed to the left of the field.  Oh, crap!  I did not even pay attention to the points of the obstacles on that side except for the weave poles being 9 points.  So, I ran after him and had no choice but to modify my plan.  Got him through the weaves (12 of them) but he did pop out.  Next, I tried to re-direct him to the 10 point obstacle – tunnel and jump combo.  I knew that we had little time left for the joker so I better get him back over to the opposite side of the field!  The A-frame looked good so I got him on there and sent him to the joker.   He had a beautiful joker but the buzzer went off in the middle of the first obstacle so we didn’t get those points, the tunnel and jump points, or the 20 points for getting the joker.  But, a bigger victory was had by our team – I got him back on track in the middle of a run and got him to complete the obstacles that I chose.  Yay!  This was our nemesis at our last trial so I was thrilled that we finished strong!   Maybe Jefferson is learning to forgive me for my mess-ups!

Lastly, we were in Time to Beat.  In retrospect, this was probably the biggest eye-opening event of the day and it occurred to me during the walk-through.  In this event, there are Novice and Excellent handlers alike competing and running the course trying to earn the fast time, a.k.a. Time to Beat.   At first I was intimidated by the competition - national team competitors such as Dudley Fontaine – were out there with little ole me (Novice handler with a little over a year trial experience) walking this course!   But, as each of us walked the course, the agility handling stars were walking the course pretty much the same as me.   More importantly, I noticed their demeanor was calm, relaxed and centered.  They were even joking among themselves and talking about other topics rather than the course at hand.  It was at that moment that I realized how important being calm and relaxed is in being a successful handler.  They had a quiet confidence that almost made me want to run the course for them!  Rather than being worried about my run, I was actually the most relaxed when running Time to Beat.  The hardest part for us was the start – with a running start for jumps 1 and 2 – it was quite difficult for our Novice Team.  We were very successful on the opening line but did not complete the weaves.  I went on and then made-up my own course to complete.  J-Dawg did not know any different.  But, I feel like I learned my biggest lesson from this run. 

Have fun.  Face your fear.  Enjoy your dog.

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing."

-Dale Carnegie

Agility Handling for "GR8NESS"

What a week!  The University of Kentucky Wildcats Men's basketball team won the NCAA National Championship on Monday.  It was the 8^th National Title (Gr8ness!) for the Big Blue Nation – and as a Kentuckian – I was (and am) so proud of my team and state…sans the couch burning.

As I watched the television coverage and award ceremony, I reflected upon our year and a half journey in competing in dog agility.  While we may never compete in the USDAA Nationals (not too many Cocker Spaniels can run faster than border collies and shelties!), I intend to learn as many handling strategies used by the agility "greats" such as Linda Mecklenburg and Daisy Peel so that Team J-Dawg can master running more advanced agility courses.

During one recent class, I learned a very useful handling technique – the reverse flow pivot (RFP).  This is a great tool for me to have in my arsenal as we begin to face more challenging courses that require obstacle discrimination and other complex moves.  While at first the reverse flow pivot seemed quite awkward, I learned how to better handle this move.  In a reverse flow pivot, the handler turns into the dog and toward the last obstacle taken like a front cross, but once the dog changes direction, the handler then pivots back and picks up the dog on the same side and redirects the dog toward the correct obstacle; hence, the name – reverse flow pivot (RFP).  We used this handling technique to help the dog discriminate between an A-frame and a tunnel, getting the dog to take the tunnel.  Below is an example I gleaned while “Googling."  I really loved this diagram!   The handler would use the RPF to redirect the dog's path from the A-Frame to jump #6.

Here's the link for more information:

http://www.prodoggroomingsupplies.com/dog-forums/showthread.php?t=44528

In another instance, we used the reverse flow pivot to run a line of threadles.  Team J-Dawg had more success with handling the threadle – only because we have practiced that move before I knew the fancy name for it (RFP)!  Since Jefferson is an obstacle-focused dog, I have learned to strategically use his name whenever I want him to become handler focused and check-in with me for directions.  So, whenever I pivot into him during this handling move, I say his name so I can re-direct him.  Through trial-and-error, this seems to work like a charm.

Another handling technique to which I have learned to pay attention is to be more aware of my motion as I run a course.  I have been reading Linda Mecklenburg’s book Developing Handling Skills for Awesome Agility Teams and she has a very detailed explanation of the handler cues that a dog reads while running a course.

  According to Mecklenburg (and from my limited experience in agility!), motion is the primary cue because it is the “natural” cue, i.e. the cue the dog responds to without excess training.   This explains why when I am running full throttle toward the tunnel and give Jefferson the verbal command “go teeter” he takes the tunnel ;-)  He was reading my motion cue and NOT my verbal cue.  Obviously, verbal commands are much lower on the hierarchy.  So, my job as the other half of Team J-Dawg, is to capitalize on the “natural” cues that Jefferson reads.  I have been working on being more cognizant of my motion, the direction my feet are facing, and my shoulders. He reads the subtlety of all these “natural” cues.

Overall, it seems that I have quite a bit of work left before the upcoming weeks’ trials!  I feel very positive about our progress – or should I say “my” progress in becoming a more attuned handler.  Being a great dog agility team is definitely about the journey and what we learn along the way.

"Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals."
-Dorothy Height