Dog agility courses, The Christmas tree

this was a great fun course for Christmas. If you have an amazing imagination it looks a little like a Christmas tree with a star on the top and oddly weaves and a tunnel at the side

It ran fairly nicely with a few challenges, mainly which line to take 14-18. Some teams did great with the handler on the takeoff side of 15 and flicking over 17, others did great on the landing side or 15 if they were able to get a little infront of their dogs

Also which way do you turn the dog over 6? and which way do you bring them round to 21?

Here is the lovely Fly demonstrating this course (not I always film at the end of the day and as soon as I bring out the camera the mistakes happen, but keeping a positive attitude means its still fun for your dog)

October 2016 Dog agility course at Old Mill

This was quite a fun little course that provided quite a few eye rolls from people when walking it but lots of smiles when running

The first challenge is sending to the backside of the tunnel for 3, if a dog hasnt seen this before then they can become quite confused. It takes about 5 min to train for this sending the dog to the tunnel on your right hand from 5 and then moving a step clockwise round the mouth of the tunnel till they will send from 2.

Getting to 4 only caused problems for a few dogs who read the motion of their handlers as a signal to take 7 but a slight pause in running, a close command or a serp arm all fixed that issue.
Left hand 5 and send to 6, front, blind or rear cross at 7 to turn left to 8
9 left a few options depending on the dog and the handler
The simplest approach was to keep the dog on the right hand, push round 9 and 360 keep turning with the dog on the right hand - or more advanced ass pass there

Or with the dog on the right hand stay on the landing side of 9, push the dog round the jump and serp them in then push out to 10

Or get to the takeoff side of 9, send the dog right over 9 and pick up on right hand

For 11 depending on the spacing just make sure and get a nice line so the dog is straight onto the A frame

12 to the tunnel depends on the dogs verbal commands, some dogs when they heard 'tunnel' ignored everything else almost tripping the handler to get into the wrong side of the tunnel because that had caught their eye, in that case running out as if you were heading to 7 and only turning towards the tunnel once you were past the wrong side was the safest - but better to teach a 'out tunnel'
Right turn over 14 gave best line

On left hand for 15 to 18 - extra bonus points to layer off course 9
Similar issues to 19 as from 13
and send to 20


I didnt record anyone doing this this week but if you give it a go I would love to see your videos

Agility course end Sept 2015

A surprisingly fun little course here. Adjust the spacings as needed and the weave is a 6 pole.

A few challenges here.
Where to be between 2 and 3 so they are not drawn to 11 or 14. How to turn over 6? Whats the best way to turn over 8? How to get to 18??

But actually it ran much better than it walked. The pentagon in the middle also made for some good slalom and threadle practise

DABAD - Stress in agility

This post is part of the DABAD, please check out the other amazing blogs here https://dogagilityblogevents.wordpress.com/stress/ 

I know there will be some positive amazing articles on this subject.

For me the timing is just perfect to cover a bit of the darker side of stress in agility

A couple of weekends ago I was at my first Agility show of the weekend

(Ben did amazing BTW, 3 wins in the weekend to take us up to grade 6! Something I never thought would happen)

And we had a lovely day chatting to friends and cheering on their successes too

But
There were also a few people who made the day slightly less enjoyable.

I am sure the majority of them are lovely in their normal life, and in training. But come to a show and they feel stress, pressure to be perfect when surrounded by so many peers

So there was the lady who dragged her dog over to another to say 'hello' and then when her dog showed its teeth to the other dog the lady actually smacked her dog in the face.
The stress to have the 'perfect dog' affects many people, everyone wants that dog you can take anywhere and it just happily and calmly acts in the perfect manner in every situation.
We are not perfect and neither are our dogs, they have the right to not want to be friends with every dog and showing teeth and even growling are not naughty behaviours they are comunications.

There was the mild mannered lady who has got herself a much more drivey breed than she has had in the past and from being lovely and gentle with her other dogs she has felt the stress from the breed experts on that breed to be 'hard' on the dog to keep him under control so she was ringside yanking and yelling at her dog. Very sad considering how gentle and lovely she is with her other dogs.

And there is the stress on the course. I am sure in training people dont drag their dogs too and from the obstacles on their hind legs, yet at a show people feel the stress that they are surrounded by far too many strange dogs and worry their dog might react or run off to play

When things go wrong in training I am sure most of us just go back and calmly try it again or train some more for that level of difficulty, we dont scruff our dogs and force them to the point where they went wrong.

We are all human and we feel the stress, but your agility run is not important, your dog is
Try and grow a thicker skin, if something goes wrong in the ring just laugh and run on and finish on a positive - then train later where you went wrong.

If you are stressed in the line and not sure how your dog will react as the people around you to give a little space, blow a few runs if need be just practising calmly walking up to the start line. Or even do some fun shows where you can have toys or food with you to reward your dog for the behaviour you want.

If you are stressed that your dog wont like other dogs then give them space at shows and get some good behavioural advice of positive ways to help your dog.

Stop stressing about the win, stop stressing about what other people think, take it as a day out with your dog, enjoy your dog and find the positives in what they are doing, nothing else is important

And here is my brag, my tired fab boy with his haul after his first show.

Long thin agility course Week 1 June 2015

This weeks long thin agility course
As ever adjust spacings for safety and flow.
This weeks course was mainly to be a fast flowing course without too many challenges. With the spacings in our yard it was best to turn the dogs right over 7 to give them a nice line to the see-saw. 14 - 17 depended on the speed of the dog/handlers.

Long thin agility course 14/05/2015

Another long thin course for you all

Adjust the spacings to suit and for safety - this is just an idea of the layout. It was also a 6 pole weave.

The main challenge was making the A-frame very close to jump 5/15 to test all the dogs who adore it.
Actually most dogs managed this trap very well - when their handlers told them in time where they were going



























I havent got round to filming people running this one yet (If you run it and film it then please send me the link and I can include you here :) I would love to see it) But here is one of the girls enjoying a post agility zoomie

Old Mill dogs

Thought I would share with you all my lovely pupils who have been training with us at Old Mill Dogs
The agility classes and at the end the lovely puppies making a start on agility equipment (note - they only do equipment suitable to their age and breed, there are plenty of exercises you can do with a puppy before you start agility with them)
Most of these dogs have been training with us for 6 months or less and they are doing amazing :)

Mias first agility show

Forgot I haddnt shared this here yet
Many of you have followed Mias story, starting off with her being scared of about everything, hating all other dogs and trying to run off whenever offlead.
Well Im not saying she is 'fixed' but the other weekend she did something I never thought
She competed at a fun agility show in a public park with dogs all around her!!
First run I was even brave enough to let her off the lead

Dog Agility Blog Day - Improving agility organisations

Its that time again!! My 2nd DABD
Please look HERE to see the other fantastic blogs posting on this theme

Improving agility organisations

Im in Scotland so really the only agility organisation I can compete with is the Kennel Club

Like all good positive trainers here I would like to look at the positives of this organisation first

They let me run with Ben :)  Some organisations you can only compete with pedigree breeds, I am so glad that in the UK we can run our scruffy mutts. (Cue gratuitous shot of me wee man jumping)

I also want to mention the great work people do running a show, I could never be a judge standing in the ring all day!! And the rest of the team giving up their time to be grumped at by the people queuing
I dont actually go to shows very often at all but the last one I was also very surprised at the great number of classes for my medium dog - and not only that they were graded classes (graded means you are only competing against dogs at the same level as you - combined you can be competing against top level dogs!)
and there were also a very generous amount of rosettes (often medium and small dogs only get an award for 1st place)
(Cue another gratuitous shot of Ben with his loot from the weekend)

5 places in 8 runs :) on some amazingly tricky courses!

As for the things that could be improved
Change
Now dont get me wrong, I am not against change
But it seems after sitting on its fingers forever there seems to be quite alot of changes coming in all at once

The weaves changed to larger spacings - which I am loving to be honest, think its a great idea

and now the contact equipment is changing. Since year dot it has been wooden contacts with a sanded finish for grip, now suddenly we can have wooden contacts and rubberised coating or aluminium contacts with the rubberised coating, and the rubber can be in a skin or granules

It dosent sound a huge problem - and at the moment it isnt - but the problem is what these changes are doing to the little clubs. Many clubs havent even been able to afford to change to the new weave spacing yet and with the new contacts costing much more than the old wooden ones and reports of them not even lasting the winter many clubs just cant make the change (or just wont - we just got ourselves a whole set of equipment and rubber.aluminium contacts was not on the cards due to the price)
(cue shot of our fabby new agility training ground and equipment)

http://pamduthie.wix.com/old-mill-dogs

Now show schedules have to tell us what type of contacts there will be at the show. So far Ben has run on rubber contacts with no problem - but I did notice the difference when we came to move an A-frame later in the day - they weigh a tonne!! We havent met aluminium contacts yet but I am hearing people say for larger dogs they do flex a bit more which is putting some dogs off.
I am not against change, but consider the small clubs before implementing more changes - please!!

Now please go and check out the other blogs and support the work everyone is doing

Old Mill dog agility homework week #4 between your legs

I couldnt make a video any better than this one for this exercise.
This is a fun easy trick to help you line your dog up at the start of an agility run. Sometimes dogs get a little unhappy if you pull and push them into position and a heel position or infront of you position to line the dogs up without pushing them although is better isnt easy to always see what the dog is seeing from where you leave them.
This trick is about teaching your dog to go round between your legs and then sit/down/stand (whatever you use at the start line)
It means they are looking in the exact same way as you are so you can line them up perfectly

Take your time building up to stepping away from the dog, make it a very fun and rewarding position to be in and your dog will love their start lines.

Remember to pop over to our website for dog agility training in Paisley, Renfrewshire and the surrounding areas

Old Mill agility, Beginner homework week 1

Beginner classes started this week at Old Mill Agility. A great bunch of dogs (and owners) I think we are going to have some real speedy guys here :)
Week 1 homework is beginnings of circle/flat work
This starts out just as loose lead walking, rewarding your dog for walking nicely at either side of you and not pulling ahead. The challenge here is to try and not use the lead to pull the dog back to position or punish the dog (yuck) but to reward often enough so your dog enjoys staying in position.
Once they are doing this nicely then try it off lead (or you can start off lead if you are in a safe place) Then add walking in circles (easier outside circles (dog on the outside of the circle) ) figure 8's and then jogging and running with your dog.
I think this exercise is really important for an agility dog, it gets them used to focusing on you and where you are going, it is also great fun and you can practise at the park on walks without equipment - so its free

Although a bit cold the weather has been totally lovely for our first classes - and the brand new jumps look quite stunning

Old Mill Dogs

Last year I posted that I had had to stop teaching at the agility club I had helped set up and had been teaching at for 2 years.
I was very sad to leave and determined to do something as I had loved my teaching so much.

Well a bit of hard work and some really great friends and family and we have just started up a new project

Old Mill Dogs

This is a very exciting new project, not only will we be continuing with the agility training but my partner in crime has some exciting different skills so we are adding dog walking and other dog training - gundog training, obedience, tricks

And to top it all our brand new training ground is totaly secure

Here is my friends dog Blue, he was so excited when we put the jumps in the ground that he sat in the middle and wouldnt move

Classes are starting TOMORROW (gulp) but we will be starting several more beginners agility classes over the spring and summer so contact me or pop over to the website for details

Dog Agility - Ketschker

One of the big things I have learnt from international handling dog agility blogs in the past year is the Ketschker
Yup thats the funny spelling one I mention in the last post
It has different names from different handlers - I think I will stick with 'Ass pass' as yelling 'ASS' to handlers running training courses just appeals way way to much (Oh I will be teaching again soon - more about that later too)
So what is this manover?
Technically it is a front cross followed by a blind cross
What?? Why?? Eh!!
Yup sounds odd - and if you follow it you will see it ends up with you on the exact same side of your dog as you started up!
What it is used for mainly (I have seen other uses) is a tight jump wrap where you would normaly have used a post turn
Here is a great video I found showing exactly what it is

I have had limited space to train my dogs lately so I came up with a simple little two jump exercise to combine two tricky handling moves all in one go. A Ass pass followed by a push to the backside of the jump

Totaly forgot to video so I will get that later but here is the start of the course

 Here is the start - keep repeating it in a loop and hopefully it should become fairly fluid. Ass pass over jump 1 and wrap over jump 2 doing a post turn.

Then all you have to do is slowly rotate jump 2 anticlockwise until you are pushing your dog over the back of jump 2

2 tricky manovers in a simple 2 jump course :) You can make it easier or more tricky by moving the jumps closer or further appart also see if you can send your dog away and over the jumps with you being less close every repitition, or try running to the next jump when your dog has commited to the first  - and remember to work on the other side as well

Beginners agility training

Sadly I had to step down as Phoenix Flyers beginners trainer.
I have totaly loved working with all my beginners and they have come along great this summer
Here is a video of one of my beginners running their first full course on one of my last training times with them

Cola, I am very proud of how far they have come
and  a photo from my Tuesday night class - great group of dogs

But as one door closes :) although I am sad to be leaving these guys it has very much given me a boot up the backside to get an exciting new project underway. May take a little while to get off the ground but - watch this space

Dog agility contact re-training

Here is stage two in retraining my dogs the 4 on the floor contacts

I am training them to run to the mat and lie down on it, hopefully facing in the direction they were traveling and not curving back to me. I think that bit will be difficult but I will keep working on it.
At the moment Ben seems to often have a nice striding pattern down the contact running all the way down with good seperation between his back paws - so that looks good for a possible running contact eventually
Mia I will have to work on more, she is going down the contact but the last step her back paws are together and she is jumping onto the contact mat - but still getting her contacts

Agility training contest

First time I have done anything like this - so I am a little nervous and excited
Please be gentle with me
This compatition is to raise money for Phoenix Flyers Dog agility club (a non profit training club) and Dogs Trust.
And the prize is your choice of breed of a small simple felted dog as seen in my 'value' range in my shop

Entries are open to Club members, Beginners and worldwide and are £1 per dog
You can join at any time while the contest is open (Up till Midnight 31st July 2012)
Either enter in person or paypal pamduthie@hotmail.com leaving a message with the name of your dog

Submit your compleated entry at any time during the month - either as a video response to my video

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEu4rggisLM

 Or to be filmed at training :) or post a link to your video as a response to this blog post.

The compatition is agility flat/circle work exercises. There are lots of training tutorials for this on youtube - check out

 

You get points for each level and the dog with the most points by the end of the month wins

Level 1

Walking with dog on left                           1 point

Walking with dog on right                         1 point

Level 2

Walking anticlockwise - dog on outside    1 point

Walking clockwise - dog on outside         1 point

Walking anticlockwise - dog on inside      2 points

Walking anticlockwise - dog on inside      2 points

Level 3

Running with dog on left                          1 point

Running with dog on right                        1 point

Running Clockwise dog outside               2 points

Running anticlockwise Dog outside          2 points

Running clockwise dog inside                  3 points

Running anticlockwise dog inside             3 points

Level 4

Walking front cross LHS to RHS             3 points

Walking front cross RHS to LHS             3 points

Level 5

Running front cross LHS to RHS             4 points

Running front cross RHS to LHS             4 points

Total of 34 available points - and my decision is final :)

Good luck, I cant wait to see how everyone gets on

Retraining the contact

When I started agility with Ben it was just a fun class - and he very quickly learnt to jump off the contact equipment.
Going to classes we were taught a 4 on the floor contact - this means the dog runs to the end of the contact and lies down on the floor. It works really well, except that I didnt have my own equipment to practise at home so only having a go every now and again in class ment Ben never really 'got it'
I did build my own 'inside agility contacts' which in my tiny sitting room wasnt ideal - but actually worked quite nicely

But again as I didnt have access to real equipment very often I didnt really manage to transfer the skill from the inside small plank of wood to actual equipment - also of course the most he saw contact equipment was at a show where I had to keep running if he jumped a contact - so things were getting worse

But now I have access to a field and equipment when ever I want it - so I have decided to attempt to train these bloomin contacts - and - gulp - to also record it so everyone can see my mistakes!!

So the cunning plan!
From 'Control unleased' (if you dont have this book and own a dog you really should get it!!) I have already taught my pair to run to and lie down on a mat

So I figured this is a good start - thats all a 4 on the floor is!!

BUT a problem with the mat - and many people also have with 4 on the floor - is that the dogs curve back towards you - when we really want them facing forwards

So for the past few days I have been working on teaching them to go to the mat but keep facing in the direction they were going in by clicking early - way before they lie down and before they even turn back to me - then chucking the treat overhead so they are expecting a reward infront of them.
Then once they are anticipating this and facing forward more waiting with the click till they lie down again

I also did a brand new thing (for me) rewarding with the ball launcher too - this is new for the dogs too so they did really well realising what I wanted from them

Every which way?? Agility training

Training today I thought I would share a little tip. I hope the images show up OK.
Often when people set up a course to train on they think about the way they would like to run it, train it that way then do something else.

I bet Im not the only one who at shows has this issue

You walk the course, you imagine where you want to be, you imagine where your dog will be. You work out all your turns perfectly in your head.
You get in the ring and your brain is putty and your excited dog is suddenly super-charged. All the plans go out the window - you are never in the places you thought you would be and you are racing to catch up.
That is why when I am training something I try and do it from as many directions and positions as I possibly can.
For example todays course was the one above. Bet you have looked at it and figured out where you should be, where your dog should be - right??
Here are three possibilities I worked on with this today






































Here is the first way I ran this.
I recall the dog from the weaves. Keep him on my right hand side.
I send him over jump 3, with no other direction from me the natural thing for the dog to do here is to curve to the left. Then a simple front cross here picks the dog up on the left hand to send him to jump 4
Then another simple front cross picks the dog up on your right hand side to send to the weave and then the final jump

This method may not be the shortest route for the dog but it has a few advantages.
With a fast long striding dog if the distance from 3 to 4 is tight this may be quicker than slowing him down to turn the other way
Also this way there it is always clear to the dog where you want him to go, this is the simplest way to handle because you are always curving your dog with you in the center point of the curve
This is natural for the dog





































The second run is very similar.
I start off exactly the same for jump 1 and the weave
But for jump 3 I flick the dog out to the right
This means I send him out to the jump but at the same time crossing behind the dog (rear cross) to direct him to turn.
I dont train left and right commands when Im running my dogs (cos I am rubbish at remembering my left and right) so with this one I cue the turn by bringing my left arm up as I am sending the dog on and stepping behind before he commits to the jump - this means he is already turning the right way before he lands.
It is important that the dog knows where he is going before he takes off else he may turn the wrong way, land heavily on his shoulder trying to change direction as he lands or even slip.






































This is the third run
This time I start on the other side of the weave. I keep the dog on my left had side tru the weave, push him out to jump 3 then its a simple post turn to jump 4 keeping the dog on the left hand side.
With this method is best if you can get in front of the dog slightly at the end of the weave, hanging back or a late signal and the dog may curve towards jump 4
To push the dog to jump 3 it can also be useful to indicate with your right arm as that turns your shoulder to face the jump even more than with your left arm.

So as you can see, three ways to do the same run - and there are loads more
You could even do the weaves with the dog on the left, front cross after the weaves and turn the dog left at jump 3 - or flick him right
Or a blind cross after the weave
Or or or
See lot of ways to do just one simple setup

and then of course you should do the mirror image

I know the writing on the images dosent show up - but it is more than covered in the descriptions here

Teaser 3

And here is the text that will be in the local papers

Club barking with joy after Glasgow Airport’s donation

A local dog agility club has received a cash injection of £2,500 from Glasgow Airport’s FlightPath Fund.

Phoenix Flyers Dog Agility Club, which was set up last year by airport security guard, Tony Gallacher, will use the funding to purchase the agility equipment needed to train the dogs.

Dog agility is a sport where a handler guides a dog over a course of jumps, tunnels, weaves and contact equipment. The airport has also provided the club with full use of land at the airport, near the picturesque Paisley Moss.

Tony said: “I launched the club last year with two members and we’re now up to 15. The club has proved really popular and to continue to grow we had to invest in some new equipment.

“The airport has really pulled out all the stops in their generosity to the club. Not only have they allowed the club free use of the land, which is in the perfect environment for dog training, they have donated a storage container for the dog agility equipment and £2,500 to help get the club started.”

John McConnell, Head of Commercial at Glasgow Airport, said: “We are only too happy to offer support to the Phoenix Dog Agility Club. I spent some time with Tony and the team and they do a fantastic job training the dogs. I wish the club every success for the future.”

Tony added: “Dog agility not only keeps you fit it improves the bond between dog and owner. It is a sport suitable for most breeds of dogs and we would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in joining the club.”

For more information check out www.phoenixagility.com

Picture info:

John McConnell joins Tony and the some of the club members for a spot of agility training.

Further info:

1. Tony has worked as a security guard at Glasgow Airport for the past 10 year
2. His dog was his bridsmaid at his wedding"

1. 
   

Teaser take 2 :)

This was our photoshoot to thank Glasgow Airport for their grant for our dog agility club