Last night we attended the Competition Class at our dog training club for the first time. Unlike the Non-Competing Class, we could run a whole course in this class.
Yesterday I learned a couple of things. One of them is that I need to keep the position of my hands higher so that Cinnamon's head remains up. Cinnamon watches my movements more closely than I thought she did. So, if my hands are down, her head gets down too. The second thing is that I need to run faster. As Cinnamon hasn't learned to run ahead of me and do things she has to do following my verbal commands, I need to run ahead of her to guide her through and around obstacles. But, yesterday I ran out of breath after only two consecutive runs. My lack of regular exercise was evident.
There is also an issue that I need to deal with. Cinnamon is not enthusiastic about entering tunnels. Especially at a curved tunnel, if I take a course inside the curve, Cinnamon often misses the entry. If I run outside the tunnel, she enters it more reliably. However, in order to shorten the time, I don't want to run a longer distance along the outside of the tunnel. I would appreciate it if anyone would suggest anything to deal with this problem.
I wish I had some suggestions for you with the tunnel, but I've never done agility so I'm clueless. I'm glad you're learning and having fun. :)
ReplyDeletehello cookie and cinnamons mama its dennis the vizsla dog hay i wil see if my mama has enny sugjestchuns for yoo as i am pretty shoor i yoozd to be afrayd of the tunnels too!!! ok bye
ReplyDeleteHave you learned front and rear crosses? If so, maybe you need to take the tunnel on the outside, and then as soon as she enters, you do a rear cross and cut across the inside of the curve, picking her up at the exit.
-Dennis's mom
We have the same problems. Momma lets her hand drop and then I am not sure where we are going.
ReplyDeleteShe can't run as fast as me, but if she isn't ahead I tend to just locate the A-frame and head for it.
Keep trying!
Kisses,
Dexter
I was thinking along the lines of what Dennis said. Have her set up so that you're on the far side of the tunnel, but once she's in cross over to the other side. Once she gets good, slowly wean her off of it. That's the only thing I can think of, I'm sure there is someone more experienced that could help!
ReplyDeleteI'm clueless (and useless!) about agility too so I'm afraid we don't have any suggestions but what Dennis suggsted sounds good!
ReplyDeleteI also follow my human's hand a lot - although we do dancing which is different, she finds that if she holds her hand just slightly in the wrong position, it can confuse me (eg, make me think she is asking for a Twist instead of a Back Up) and then I miss my cue - so she has also been working on holding her hands better and checking her own body language. She finds it REALLY useful to video us during training sessions (just for ourselves to watch) and then watch them over and over - she can see all the places where she moved her hands wrong, dropped them down, etc, and I got the wrong cue...so it's her fault, not mine! Hee! hee! So perhaps you could also get your human to video yourselves practising agility in your garden at home so she can see better what she is doing. There are a lot of things humans don't realise they are doing until they watch themselves on video! :-)
Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane
I am impressed, but not at all qualified to offer advice :)
ReplyDeleteHi Cinnamon, we worked on the curved tunnel in agility class last night. This is what we did. I sent Dennis into the tunnel, and while he was in there, I cut across the inside curve, and positioned myself so that I was now standing sideways on the outside curve of the exit, several feet away. Standing sideways and looking towards Dennis as he exited, I turned toward the next obstacle, and we continued our run.
ReplyDeleteThe different kinds of crosses (front, rear, and lead out pivots) are very hard for me to learn, but when I get them right, they make a world of difference. There are just so many variables, and so many choices to make depending on the layout of each course. Dennis and I are lucky to have a very patient agility instructor!
Hello boys and girls, long time no woofs! We are so totally clueless here and can't see your pics properly so we won't even try.
ReplyDeleteWe just came by to say hi and thanks for coming to the wedding.....very brave of Cookie to wear a dress too, hehe, did he do it for a dare? Hope he got extra treats for that!
Slobbers xx
We are big fans!
ReplyDeleteBut we don't have any tips, sorry!
Kisses
Rufus and Indie
Hey you two, it's Jasmine! I tagged you for a fun picture challenge. Check out my blog for the details.
ReplyDeletehttp://jasgoatjargon.blogspot.com
Both? Why didn't I think about that!! You are one smart cookie (and cinnamon). ;)
ReplyDeleteJasmine
Hi
ReplyDeleteNice run Cinnamon! Jazz could do the course but not at a fast enough pace! Dixie on the other hand will not jump let alone go into a tunnel so I'm sorry we have no useful advice for you. Keep up the good work.
J&D
I use targets for most obstacles. Tunnel needs a lot training and if its possible I would train the tunnel alone.
ReplyDeleteOur tunnel training is following: You need paperplate or something else to be target. First you give couple of treat to the dog from the plate on the ground. (Steeling is allowed, never deny dog of taking treat) Then move the target inside the tunnel start and be ready to run end of the tunnel with another treat to give for her. You can use assistance to blog the dogs way (so she can't come out of the tunnel after the treat so she needs to go through it). This reinforces entering tunnel (even to the blind corners). When you have the target after tunnel it reinforces the whole tunnel.
If the dog keeps stealing treat you need helper to hide the treat from her, but never say no about it. And allways give treat from hand after the target. When this goes well you can start differend kind of lines, crosses etc.
This is how I have done with Lenni and Ressu ( & Vekku)
Pst... your hand is too high on the tunnel in the last video and you leave her behind your back. You need to be more focused on that you point in midlle of the "hole" and your not too much front of the dog.
ReplyDelete