The elusive Novice Jumpers title

[k9kreationz]

Ah yes, the curse of the velcro dog!

Do you know it well? Is there a way to break the curse? Honestly, right now, I'm glad he's focusing and is in tune to my movements, it'll just make me a better handler. I already see where my agility partner makes mistakes, but her dog doesn't seem to notice. But then again, her dog will take obstacles to the side, because he likes to flick. Koji doesn't, unless I do. That makes me happy. She may have distance, but I have a dog who won't flick (even though he tries to trip me at times) and who typically won't take an obstacle off course, unless I mess up big time.

We all have our strengths right? Granted, mine makes me run a LOT, but distance will come. Hopefully, he'll remember my cues. Give me 10 years, maybe I can figure this out.

 

[corbinam]

Do you know it well? Is there a way to break the curse?

I think there are ways to break the curse...but it requires a lot more time than I have. We have been trialing for over a year now, and still find "Outs" very difficult.

I think some dogs are predisposed either "Snooker" (ie velcro) dogs or "Gamblers" dogs. Of course as you get better and better your dog gets good at both, but we've always excelled at snooker and struggled with gambles. (And in case your venue is different, snooker is a game where your dog has to basically follow your cues, and staying by your side is a huge help, and gamblers involves going out to a series of obstacles and the handler has to stay behind a certain line).

The best thing to do is to work courses or exercises that emphasize obstacle focus (jumps in a row, tunnels in a row, etc...). It also helps to teach independent obstacle completion. We struggled with that so much on contacts. We found that Bentley worked almost 100% on our motion. So when we stopped, he stopped. We're now (as you've seen in the blog) back to square 1 with contacts, teaching him to complete the contact regardless of where I am or what I'm doing.

Of course you're right, the good side is that he rarely goes out and takes a random jump as I've seen many other dogs do.

The things you learn!

 

[k9kreationz]

"Out"? What's that? I'm starting to work on it more, but obviously need a lot more work. And for our training, we use Derrett, so "I stop, you stop" is actually what we learned. It's hard, cuz I haven't quite learned the art of "slowing down". lol. So when I stop, he stops, then gets frustrated and barks at me.

I'll be trying my first "Gamblers" (in NADAC its Chances) at the end of May. We'll see. Koji knows "go" for the most part and he's getting "out" but now we're working out "out object". Sigh. So much to work on! lol. Obviously, I will excel at Snookers. yay!

Sounds like Bentley and Koji are much alike. We got the up side of the contacts, now we're working on the down sides. He's been iffy on jumping them and not. So who knows. Again, so much to work on!

 

[Justicemom]

I think some dogs are predisposed either "Snooker" (ie velcro) dogs or "Gamblers" dogs. Of course as you get better and better your dog gets good at both, but we've always excelled at snooker and struggled with gambles. (And in case your venue is different, snooker is a game where your dog has to basically follow your cues, and staying by your side is a huge help, and gamblers involves going out to a series of obstacles and the handler has to stay behind a certain line).

The best thing to do is to work courses or exercises that emphasize obstacle focus (jumps in a row, tunnels in a row, etc...). It also helps to teach independent obstacle completion. We struggled with that so much on contacts. We found that Bentley worked almost 100% on our motion. So when we stopped, he stopped. We're now (as you've seen in the blog) back to square 1 with contacts, teaching him to complete the contact regardless of where I am or what I'm doing.

Of course you're right, the good side is that he rarely goes out and takes a random jump as I've seen many other dogs do.

The things you learn!

You know it is so funny you say that. I have an AKC/USDAA judge in my agility class, he told me last week I had a Gamblers dog and a Snooker dog. I didn't understand what he meant. He told me Ember never makes a move without being told and Diva does her own thing if I don't cue her fast enough, she doesn't need babysitting nor doesn't mind being away from me. It is their personality shining though. I find it really hard to switch back and forth between them. In a way Ember is easy to run. She doesn't surprise me. Diva is hard to run right now ,makes me work and frustrates me. She doesn't always read or care what my motion/body or voice is telling her. But she is really fun. I know when we come together as a team we'll be great. I always wished I had a dog like Diva. I said last week she is a case of be careful what you wish for.

 

[Silaria]

Edan was a velcro dog; still is to a lesser extent. The more his confidence grew, the less he stuck right with me BUT he is still very in tune with my movements so its every easy to pull him off an obstacle if I'm not careful.

The obstacle I've had the biggest issue with this is the weave poles. What I've been doing is slowly putting more and more distance between me and him on the poles. Once he got that he was supposed to finish the poles even when I wasn't RIGHT beside him, but still running with him, we started working on me getting ahead of him to get a front cross in. We are still working on this but its improved. The next step will be for me to only run 10 of the 12 poles and encouraging him to finish them before following. We've been using a special jerky treat that he only sees with the weave poles.

It boils down to (1) him understanding what his job is - to finish 12 weave poles in this case, and (2) confidence that I'm going to tell him what I want him to do next. Its a slow process but its getting there.

 

[Phebe*DD]

Phebe is definitely a Gamblers dog. She is pretty certain that she can do it all on her own and I'm just there to slow her down. Of course, her version of completing some obstacles leaves a lot to be desired, and my handling skills are very, very novice.. That's why we've been taking some private lessons in addition to our group class.

We've improved a lot in the last month, and most of it has to do with spending a lot of time on foundation skills. We've gone back to 2o2o on the contacts. It gives me a chance to catch up with her. I think we may change to a running contact on the A in the next few weeks.

Whoever said that is seems like every you solve one problem in agility you find another to work on is right!

 

[k9kreationz]

You know it is so funny you say that. I have an AKC/USDAA judge in my agility class, he told me last week I had a Gamblers dog and a Snooker dog.

The girl in my class has that same issue. One is a total speed demon with distance. The other has no distance but is so consistent, she Q'd 9 out of 10 last trial. Of course, the woman in the class says it's not as rewarding for those Q's and not as fun. Versus her speed demon she has to work hard with.

But yeah, I see her struggling to remember how to handle them, cuz she'll forget. Not sure how you guys do that. One dog is more than enough for me.

(side funny note: the other week, she threw her bait pouch at her Gamblers dog, um, smacked the dog in the face. Oops. Wrong dog. That dog doesn't catch it nor care. lol. As I said, she forgets)

 

[Sharon]

Novice Agility

I am lucky with both my dogs. Both have the same attitude with the training.Shadow is my send dog and Sting is learing it also. He definetley is not a velcro dog. He will work away from me. He is learning out and it is still a work in progress.I think the week Sting will be with Erin will hopefully get him out of Novice quick and into Open. Open here we call Pergatory. I have entered a few more trials with just Sting.

 

[Silaria]

The girl in my class has that same issue. One is a total speed demon with distance. The other has no distance but is so consistent, she Q'd 9 out of 10 last trial. Of course, the woman in the class says it's not as rewarding for those Q's and not as fun. Versus her speed demon she has to work hard with.

I guess this would fall into the category of "to each their own". Personally, I'd rather have the accurate dog over the speed demon. At least with the accurate dog I have a better shot at getting the Q, even if its not 1st place, than the speed demon who either gets away from me or plows through obstacles because it's not paying attention to its job.

 

[Sharon]

Novice Agility

I prefer my speed demons.Knowing all my hard work has finally paid off is a great feeling. I have been blessed with 2 great dogs.Shadow has done it all. He has been overseas to compete and all over the East Coast and won beaten some of the best shelties in agility. He has Qualified for the USDAA Nationals and the AKC Nationals 5 times and competed in one as a green dog and was 8th all around and has qualified to try out for the world team.To me that is my pay off.