Agility Peeps, question about running...

[YellowJakesMom]

When we were taking lessons every week I was confident and Jake would work away from me - now I'm not confident that I'm cueing him correctly, so I tend to try to stay right with him. Unfortunately (for now) he's super fast, so I literally am sprinting as fast as I can to come close to keeping up with him. Distance work is also on our list of things to work on this week, I need to gradually build it back in.

[Milesmom]

Well, I can't keep up with my dog, so I try to figure out ways where I don't have to. I am still such a novice at this. My instructor is now telling me that I need to trust my dog a little more, although I do still need to support certain obstacles. We are working on discrimination.

Linda, I really don't think we that started out in obedience are at a disadvantage at all. In fact, from what I've observed (with my newbie eyes) we are at an advantage. Sure, there are some habits or changes we have to work through but I still think the obedience foundation is very helpful. One of my agility classmates was frustrated one day, her dog was choosing her own course, and then when it was our turn, Miles did it correctly. It was a discrimination excersize. She kind of whined, "Miles just does whatever she wants!" Then she said, it must be a lab thing, he watches her all the time. I thought "OMG! If she only knew!" She has no idea how many years we have worked to get that and he still blows me off when he feels like it. Don't you wish attention was a lab thing? LOL!! In the beginner agility classes I took, I could see a big positive difference between the teams who had done more than just your basic obedience class or two before starting agility. Of course, these were beginner handlers too. My obed instructor is a big agility competitor, never see her in the obedience ring. Of course, she still does the drills with her dogs and works the obedience skills because she knows they are important. Agility is so fun, I think there is a temptation (for some) to rush through the obedience foundation to get to the fun stuff.

[Baloo317]

I think with regard to obedience first, there's almost a line that gets crossed where it goes from being helpful to problematic, you know? Peanut has a great obedience foundation, she has a wicked recall, great wait/stay, etc. but she has never competed in anything but rally obedience-wise and finds distance/solo agility work much easier than Baloo. I find she is much more likely to drive down a line assuming that she is to take the obstacles as they come in the absense of any other direction from me, whereas if he gets too far ahead of me he is much more likely to turn back and look for direction.

We're working on it and I'm sure it will get better, but it's not a confidence thing for him, I really feel that its a result of working so close to me for so long that he assumes if he's too far away he's wrong.

[kaytris]

I think that alot of agility classes skimp on the "foundation" (although that seems to be changing). Classes that start emphasizing shadow handling, obstacle discrimination, attention work and start line stays are much less exciting for a novice, but more useful, then classes that jump right into running sequences.

[debjen]

Our agility club recently started requiring either taking our focus class before the foundations class or being evaluated by the instructors before the foundation class as we were getting students with dogs who knew nothing..literally we had one show up after getting a rescue dog on Friday and started classes on Tuesday..and they are just too disruptive ...

All of my dogs start obedience and agility at the same time..as puppies I usually have a tunnel and wobble board sitting around and the obedience is learned on both sides and we work on some fun shaping exercises...

[3TailsWaggin]

Oh I am agreeing with you all in my previous statement. I said I see a lot of quirks with obedience dogs... but would rather see quirks than dogs with NO obedience training at all. Quirks, like being handled on the left only, can be worked on. It takes time to work with folks who have dogs that can't even come when called or sit/stay.

My class is very open... I have dogs that come to class having never done any training at all, and also folks in my class that are competing (none are at excellent/master level yet except me and Ruger... but a good handful are running in Open/Advanced). If a newbie team can't keep up I ask them to stay after and work with them one on one. Or I ask them to take a few private lessons so that they can get the basics and work on them at home. I also have some teams that will never get it but just want to have fun and I enjoy those folks too and I know they enjoy coming to the class and just having a good time with their dogs.

I'm sure I've lost some students who felt my classes weren't structured enough, but that's okay too. I myself have gone to more than one trainer. In fact I like to go to different trainers to see what they are doing and how they handle things too.

[brody]

I could NEVER run fast enough to keep up with sally - and the faster I run the faster she runs so that is OUT
I'm working to virtually be able to walk a course with her - it won't happen but it's my goal .. She has good 2o2o (especially on dog walk) so I have a small window to catch her if I need too .

Brody is motivated by me moving .. he likes me parallel to him so that's where I try to be - he has running contacts so I have no chance to catch up Brody runs fine no matter if I yak or am silent - use my arms or don't - he seems to follow my hips even more than my shoulders

Thea is the least trained of the gang in many ways - I never really thought about her much but I need to put some more distance work into her - she is FAST and tiny so I need to be able to send from way way out at times - but I also need time to work her

[2yellowlabs]

Linda - Both of your questions are really interesting. I do see that with Shamrock his OB work affects his agility sometimes. He is better when he is on my left but will work from my right when needed. Because he is almost 10 he has slowed down to where we can run together and make preferred time, and sometimes standard time, if we are lucky enough to get a course that flows for a big dog. Sometimes if I can just be a little ahead of him, we do really well. I do running contacts with him because his contacts are solid and it gives me an extra second or two. Recon though is another story. He is so fast that he has to learn to work away. The challenge has been that sometimes he will get to a tunnel or the table and look back as if asking "Are you sure this is what you want? I'm not next to you like in OB. Is that OK?" So OB has helped with focus and attention but I see that I must build his confidence that it is OK to take the obstacle that he is headed towards even if I am not next to him. And I try very hard to run silent using my voice only when needed for a call off or a re-focus. Mostly that has worked well with Shamrock. Not there 100% with Recon but if we are headed to a jump combo something else I try to only mention the something else as I expect him to take the jump without a verbal cue. I find that I am constantly learning what works and what does not, but a solid OB foundation has been a good thing with both pups.