Dog agility training, Old Mill Dogs Jan 2017 training

Here is a little of the fun we have been having in January - starring 3 of our dogs, Molly, Tilly and Fly

The course shown in the video is here

We have been working on wing wraps all month so after a deceptively easy start it gets a bit twisty

As ever there are many ways to run this - one change that flowed very nicely was a front cross after 16 to avoid the off course jump, turning the dog right over 17 which gave a nice flow into 18

If you do run this feel free to share

If you are interested in training your agility dog I totally recommend the control unleashed book, click the image below to check it out on Amazon 

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

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 :)

Myths about positive trainers #2 Treat training makes dogs fat

Reeeealy??

Fat is caused by consuming more energy than you burn

Its as simple as that.

So yes if you give your dogs lots of treats and dont reduce their meals or exercise them more then your dog will gain weight.

But many pet owners give their dog some kind of treat, I know lots of people who will give their dog a dentistick or boneo or something in the evening to keep them occupied. This is WAY more than my dogs get for training, I give my dogs lots of treats when training that is true - but - they are tiny treats. For example something the size of a cocktail sausage gives my dogs up to about 25 treats or I use tiny slivers of dried liver 1/2 the size of my pinky nail.

Mental exercise uses energy as well - so learning things IS exercise

Also if you train your dog to walk nicely with you or be happy in different situations then you are able to take them more places and walk them for longer walks so they are less likely to get overweight.

Myth busted - overfeeding/under exercising dogs makes them fat

Dog training 101 - The quadrants

In the last post I discussed Reinforcements and Punishments, today we are going to learn
the four quadrants of operant conditioning.

For this we need to define positive and negative

Positive - something is ADDED
Negative - something is REMOVED

So this leads us to the four quadrants

Positive reinforcement - Something is ADDED to makes the dogs behaviour MORE likely to happen
Positive punishment - Something is ADDED to make the dogs behaviour LESS likely to happen
Negative reinforcement - something is REMOVED to make the dogs behaviour MORE likely to happen
Negative punishment - Something is REMOVED to make the dogs behaviour LESS likely to happen

So what does that really mean?

Positive reinforcement
If the dog does something we like we give them something they like - for example when the dog sits nicely we give them a treat and that makes them more likely to want to do that again.

Positive punishment
For example when a dog moves out of the heel position a jerk on a prong collar makes them less likely to want to move out of heel position again

Negative reinforcement
When a dog starts to recal back to you you the e-collar stops zapping the dog so he is more likely to want to recal to you

Negative punishment
When a dog jumps all over you for attention when you come into the house so you ignore them while they are bouncing - he is less likely to want to jump over you for attention in the future.

One other thing to consider
Reinforcing behaviours makes dogs not only repeat the behaviour you reinforced but it also makes them more confident to try new things and use their brains to problem solve so actually helps make your dog smarter, more confident and happier

Punishing makes a dog not only less likely to repeat the behaviour you punished but also makes them less confident to try new things, less likely to try and use their brians to solve problems and can actually make them less smart, less confident and less happy

Of course in the real world punishments happen but when your dog presents you with a training challenge it is always best to try and fix it using as much positive reinforcement  as possible, a limited use of negative punishment where needed and to try and avoid positive punishment and negative reward

Dog training 101 - reinforcements and punishments

I did something like this a little while ago but things drop off the bottom of blogger so I though I would update it.
For the next few weeks I am going to post some articles on basic dog training. The good news is dog training is actually dead easy, there is no special woo-woo to learn, no mystical energy you need and you dont have to have been raised by a pack of wolves in Mongolia to know how to train dogs.
Just a couple of really simple scientific facts to learn.

Dogs (and all other animals including us) learn by doing something and the consequences dictate whether they are more likely to do it again in the future.

If something bad happens they are less likely to do it again
If something good happens they are more likely to do it again

In dog training we call something that makes the behaviour less likely to happen in the future a PUNISHMENT

We call something that makes the behaviour more likely to happen in the future a REINFORCEMENT

Most people would consider the term 'punishment' to mean something harsh like hitting the dog, but it dosent have to be - look at the definition - it just means something that makes the dogs behaviour less likely to happen.
The dogs behaviour shows you if something is reinforcing or punishing, you may think a pat on the head is enough 'pay' for your dog to work for, it will be for some dogs, but if you are finding no increase in the behaviour you wanted then at that time for that dog in that situation the pat on the head just isnt reinforcing enough

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 Beginners homework week 3 - front crosses on the flat

This one is way easier to see than to explain!!
You start with your dog on the left hand side focusing on you
Then you rotate anticlockwise 180 degrees keeping your dogs attention by bringing in your right hand with a treat in it. Reward when you are facing the opposite direction with your dog on the opposite side from where you started
Repeat the other way

Keep practising the flat work as well and you can add the front cross into this to change the side your dog is on

Old Mill agility, Beginner homework week 2

Stays, recall to hand and post turn

Stays
For agility you can have a sit, down or stand stay. A stand is the least secure stay, its easier for the dog to move, but anything that works for you and your dog.
Personally I dont use a 'stay' command - it isnt needed. You ask your dog into the position then teach them that they stay in that position until they are asked to do something else.
Teaching that is actually really easy - get them in position, reward, reward, reward then release them from the position. Then same again with a slight gap between rewards. (I will make a video of this when it stops raining)
Build up difficulty slowly, if your dog moves dont get angry with them (anger can actually make them insecure and want to creep towards you) you just made it too difficult - so put them back in position and start again making it nice and easy.

Once your stay is nice you can work on sometimes releasing them to you at a distance. Face away from them and call over one shoulder - have a treat or toy in that hand and hopefully they will run to that side.
Then you can add in a post turn, when they are running to your hand turn so they wrap around your body then chuck the toy/treat as the reward.

Dont forget to keep up the circle work as well :) (I dont ask for much eh? :D )
make it all FUN (for both of you) and better to do a couple of 1 min training times rather than trying 1 10 min boring training time

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

Dog agility Blog Events - Internationalisation

This blog has been accepted to join the Dog agility blog events blog :) Which is a worldwide group of bloggers several times a year blogging on a set topic
As I am just joined I am a little late for the first of this years topics - but it is an interesting topic so I thought I would add my ramblings to it - Internationalisation

What does Internationalisation mean?
Its a term American agility people are using for the move towards more European type courses with more tricky handling situations like pushing dogs to the backside of the jump, threadles and oddly spelt handling moves (I will cover them in a later post)

So Im Scottish - is that relevant to me?
Actually it has proved very helpful to me - let me explain the UK system

Here in the UK we have 7 grades - levels for handlers and dogs

Progression up the grades is kinda a bit complicated but in simple terms grades 1-3 are where new/inexperienced dogs and handlers start out.
Courses tend to be fairly flowing with a few changes of sides some slaloms and a few little 'traps' like an enticing tunnel. You do get some nice twisty turny courses and some lovely flowing fast courses so the rocket dogs and the more careful dogs all get a chance to shine.
Here is Ben a few years ago showing some grade 1-3 courses

Then once you get to the higher grades things suddenly, backside of jumps, threadles, bypassing jumps, it all gets quite tricky
and ontop of that Ben suddenly got a giant burst of speed when we hit the higher grades.
So in the past I could walk a course saying to myself 'front cross here, post turn here' and have plenty time to do all these moves on the course, now I was walking a course with no idea HOW to handle it and when I got there with my dog I suddenly realised that he was way out infront of me so I didnt have time for the handling I would have used in the past.
I lost my confidence and didnt really go to a show in about a year

Then I found the agility blogs from America, people struggling with the same type of courses that I was having trouble with - I really advise anyone to have a look at all the other bloggers on the group (click the links at the top) the horrible spelling handling moves, different training exercises, ontop of that I found a great club to train with with a handler in the same situation as me, and I hired some great land for training myself.
and suddenly we are having great fun and going clear again.