18 jumps / 1 set of weaves

[Phebe*DD]

We had a guest instructor at the beginning of our pre-novice class yesterday. Donna, our regular instructor, had to finish ringing up a walk-in customers, so Kim Terrill got us started on our first run of the day.

She had us do what looked to be a very simple series of three jumps and a tunnel, then the same set of jumps in reverse order and end with the tunnel again. One of our classmates said, "What about the weaves?" Kim's answer, "There are 18 jumps on a course and only one set of weaves." will stick with me for a long time. I feel like I'm such a weak handler and need so much work on the all the 'in between stuff'.

I've really been struggling with keeping Phebe's focus on course. She's stinking fast and if you're even a fraction of a second late in telling her what to do next, she does whatever she wants. It doesn't occur to her to slow down or wait for a command. She is not very handler focused. When my timing is perfect, her runs are beautiful. We're going to do some obedience work to try to correct this. We have our first private lesson on Monday.

 

[corbinam]

Very interesting! I've never thought of that.

I also recently heard a similar comment from Janet Rahn at our seminar.

She did an exercise where she set one jump at a low height, and then had the owner sit right in front the side pole (facing the other side pole) and put the dog in front of the jump. The owner wasn't allowed to move at all, or give any commands (no "over" or indicating with your head or finger) but the intent was to get the dog to go over the jump.

I don't think a single dog got it right away. Many dogs tried different tricks, Bentley even tried to duck under the bar as he tried to puzzle out what was "right".

Of course, once the dogs figured it out, they loved it as they just went over and got a treat.

Janet then made the comment that it goes to show that jumps aren't rewarded as often as they should be. So same concept as "18 jumps 1 weave" comment.

 

[Ania]

She did an exercise where she set one jump at a low height, and then had the owner sit right in front the side pole (facing the other side pole) and put the dog in front of the jump. The owner wasn't allowed to move at all, or give any commands (no "over" or indicating with your head or finger) but the intent was to get the dog to go over the jump.

.

That's exactly how we train most of our obstacles (tire, jumps, tunnels, chute etc) (weaves and contacts are trained differently) - we shape the dog and put value into the obstacle itself, with no help from the handlers at all, no verbal cues and absolutely no movement. I love it - it makes the dog think.

I also recently got a hold of Susan Salo's dvd's. I HIGHLY recommend them, no matter what handing system you are using. Susan explains that just because a dog CAN jump, does not mean they know how to safely. She comes from an equestrian backround and something she said on her first DVD really stuck with me - she said that if we were actually 'riding' the dogs, we would be training them extremely differently and making sure that the dog know exactly how to jump, land, where to take off etc. because if it didn't it would affect us and the dog if it fell etc. It is amazing the exercises she has the dogs do and what a difference! I HIGHLY recommend these dvds to everyone because just like this instructor said " it's 18 jumps and 1 weave". If you think about it, most agility games are mostly jumps. Makes you think.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

My 'trainer' had emailed me, since I had questions and stuff... before I was going to sign up...
She wrote: "You will hear me say in training a hundred times over; You see a jump you take a jump, 80% of agility are the jumps...."
That's the one I signed up with, I love her style already! Sounds to me that is sound advice by what your experiences are...

I can't WAIIIIITTT to start, and I keep on thinking what if Toffee hates agility!? lol

 

[corbinam]

I also recently got a hold of Susan Salo's dvd's. I HIGHLY recommend them, no matter what handing system you are using. Susan explains that just because a dog CAN jump, does not mean they know how to safely. She comes from an equestrian backround and something she said on her first DVD really stuck with me - she said that if we were actually 'riding' the dogs, we would be training them extremely differently and making sure that the dog know exactly how to jump, land, where to take off etc. because if it didn't it would affect us and the dog if it fell etc. It is amazing the exercises she has the dogs do and what a difference! I HIGHLY recommend these dvds to everyone because just like this instructor said " it's 18 jumps and 1 weave". If you think about it, most agility games are mostly jumps. Makes you think.

Our club offers a Salo Jumping Class--we haven't signed up for it yet because we're trying to save a little money, but I think when Lexi gets old enough she may have to take it. Her jumping doesn't seem as fluid as Bentley's (of course, she doesn't jump her full height, and is normally just playing around).

 

[Caro]

Last session our instructor focused on just jumps too. Mainly because we place such high value on contacts that the jumps become just something in between contacts for the dogs.

Watch out with trying to get phebe to focus on you too much. I've slowed Tully right down because I worked on her watching me more - now I see I should have worked more on me adapting to her style rather than getting her to adapt to me. She has gotten pretty slow because she is sticking close or watching me - even when I give early instructions she tries to keep me in sight. And it doesnt necessarily mean accuracy because she will often skip jumps now. For her speed is fun and going slower means she gets a bit complacent.

 

[Silaria]

We also use a method to encourage the dog to offer the behavior, it's very effective. Specifically, we use Linda Mecklenburg's methodology.

When you stop to think about though, it is very true - the majority of the course is jumps but we spend the majority of our time training, and heavily rewarding, contacts and weaves. Like jumps, tunnels also get ignored as far as rewards go.

During training classes, I'm trying to remember to reward him after particularly tricky sequences - like where he needs to take a jump and turn to another jump when he lands vs taking a tunnel or other obstacle that may be in front of/near the jump he's currently taking.

At least Edan LOVES to jump so it doesn't take much encouragement.

 

[k9kreationz]

I had to laugh, because this reminds me of golf. Most people want to work on their driver, cuz they have the most issues with them. But when it comes down to it, you may hit it 18 times at the most. Whereas, you tend to putt a lot more, but people don't want to work on that, "cuz it's boring".

Trust me, I so know this. 1. I play golf and 2. I am so tired of flatwork, but alas, I know it's needed.

My classmate (what would you call them? friends? LOL) wants to start AKC, but I don't think Koji is ready. I don't even know the last time we saw a table. Much less a chute (although I'm training at home now). We are working more on contacts, but still. It's mostly jumps and flatwork.

So true what she said, so true. Maybe I should check out the video someone mentioned. I could use it.