Agility!

[Emily]

Ella had her first ever attempt at agility today and she loved it!!

It was a spontaneous decision to give it a go at dog club this morning as one of the agility trainers had set up a simple course for the few "agilitiers" at club today (most were off at a competition). I was chatting to a friend who had just had a go through the course and the instructor asked if we wanted to try. We started with the tunnel, pushed up really short so that it was only a couple of metres long and I went to the far end, stuck my head in the tunnel and called Ella. She flew through! Within a couple of minutes, we had the tunnel at full length and with a 90° angle in the middle and I was running her up to it! He said that the process we did in 5mins usually takes a couple of weeks!

A couple of minutes later we'd put a little course of a tunnel, two jumps, another tunnel and another jump together! We called it a day after that as we were both exhausted

It was sooooooo much fun that I think we might have to give it a go next year. I discussed doing a lower height than ANKC standard as I don't feel comfortable making Ella jump 600mm.

The beginner class starts with lots of shaping and "tricks" to help us start working the dog on both sides and at a distance. I can't wait

Two things to do before then:

1. Ella is due to go in and get her teeth done. I've decided to get her hips and elbows x-rayed when she's under the anesthetic. I've been thinking about doing it for a while but now that I'm thinking of trying something so athletic, I think it's important. It will either give me peace of mind or help me make plans and adjustments as needed.

2. Get her on my right! Ella never ever goes on my right - it's just not natural for either of us. When I say "heel" it means "be at my left side in heel position. I'm thinking I need a totally different cue for "be at my right side in the right heel position". Is that what others do when working on either side?

 

[Jelinga]

Sounds fun. Yes, I did have a word for walking on my right side, can't really remember now as it was years ago I did agility with my German Pointers, I think it was something like 'side'!

 

[Selina27]

How exciting for you Emily, it's great to have something to look forward and train for, and lovely for Ella to do something she loves. I'm sure all your obedience work will stand her good stead.
Good idea to get her checked out.
I'm no help with the right side cue I'm afraid.

 

[Charlie]

Glad you and Ella enjoyed agility. I used to take Charlie but he was faaaaarrrrrr too fast and I just couldn't keep up, frankly needed oxygen at the end of the course! Charlie was always sitting waiting for me - embarrassing!

As for a 'right' I use 'other side'if I want them on my 'left' as I hardly ever walk them on my left, also I use 'right' 'left' for directional work, I never trained a 'R or L' for walking.

Enjoy! x

 

[snowbunny]

I use “close” for walking on my right side, but when we’re running agility the dog obviously isn’t in that position. So it’s important to get her used to stuff happening on both sides, but walking at “right heel” isn’t really useful. My lot are all quite left-oriented because of their reinforcement history but it doesn’t get in the way of agility.

Tunnels are so much fun! The difficulty is keeping the dogs out of them

 

[snowbunny]

One game our trainer had us playing was popping the dog in a sit stay then walking a few paces in front. Look back over your shoulder and put that same hand out to the side, get into your running pose and then give your break cue (mine is Go). The dog should run to the side you’re looking over and then you bowl the reinforcer (food or toy) forwards so they run past you on that side. Work both sides. In time, you can work to a ping pong type thing (if you’re using food, obvs!) where, once the dog has had the food, they are looking for you and have to run the correct side again. It gets them used to reading your body language and going both sides

 

[Emily]

One game our trainer had us playing was popping the dog in a sit stay then walking a few paces in front. Look back over your shoulder and put that same hand out to the side, get into your running pose and then give your break cue (mine is Go). The dog should run to the side you’re looking over and then you bowl the reinforcer (food or toy) forwards so they run past you on that side. Work both sides. In time, you can work to a ping pong type thing (if you’re using food, obvs!) where, once the dog has had the food, they are looking for you and have to run the correct side again. It gets them used to reading your body language and going both sides

Ooh, I like this game - it sounds useful and fun

We'll give it a go... Not sure about this though:

get into your running pose

 

[snowbunny]

Start line stays are something that’s a really huge deal in agility. Because all the reinforcement is ahead, it’s easy for the dogs to lose any sort of control! W&S, who are really very steady normally, have really struggled with this.
So we play a couple of games. One is a simple cue discrimination game - you start as above, but chuck out different words. Reinforce in place a lot. A lot a lot. Think of matching law and how huge the reinforcement ahead is - running agility is AMAZING - so you have to at least match that with repetitions to stay in place.
Then, the second one is similar, but you put something she likes behind her (bowl of food, favourite toy etc). It has to be something of around the same sort of value as what’s in front, taking all the factors into account (the thing behind is “dead”, the thing you throw is “live” etc). Then you either release her to the thing behind (so have a clear cue for that) or to run to you. All still cue discrimination but it really helps with your start lines.

 

[Joy]

Ella sounds like a natural. I've had a few goes over the years at taster sessions but Molly has hated the tunnel, even when closed really short, and wouldn't entertain the idea of the A frame - the only thing she liked was the weave poles. So for Ella to take to it so well is brilliant.

 

[Atemas]

s that what others do when working on either side?

I use the word ‘side’ with Red. We learnt this at puppy training. The idea was to make the dog comfortable walking to heel on the left hand side or ‘side’ - walking to heel on the right hand side; then if you needed your dog to walk on the right hand side e.g along a narrow country road, they automatically do on cue. I have regularly used this since then and so Red will automatically come to heel either side of me on or off lead. I’d love to give agility a try as I think Red would love it. We had a few gentle taster sessions before she was one through the tunnel and over a low jump. She can now do weaves and wraps so I think she’d pick it up really quickly.

 

[Ashley]

I use a hand signal for what side Quinn needs to be on (finger pointed down) and left side I have a verbal to remind her because we started with agility before rally o, so it was the obedience side I struggled with more. Agility is fun! We are not great at the weave and the teeter, as the heavier the dog the bigger the slam down, so I should have gone much slower in that one. I think it’s a good idea to start low on all the jumps too. Have fun!