The Trials and Tribulations of training Detour instalment II part II

'Starting’ off on the right foot

In the meantime I was having an issue with Detours startlines. His waits at home and in the park were really great, but were weak in his classes. I know now that the stress of working with some of the dogs in the class were seriously affecting this and knew this was the cause at the time but hoped we could work through it.



Detour holding position in the face of temptation



I had spent a long time proofing his waits so felt quite frustrated that it didnt look like I had even taught him one when we were in class.We had played the 123 game, crate games, dealing with distractions/ motion. It seemed that he could deal with the self control side of it but not the nerves.

One training class his waits were non existent. I took him into the park the next day. His waits were terrible! Intresting as the prior park visit they had been great. It seems that the stress that caused him to break at training had transferred into stress in the actual behaviour, regardless now of location. Fantastic news as it meant I could fix them!



I worked on building distance from BabyD slowly. Firstly I worked on self control in holding position so he could understand the behaviour without dealing with his personal issues of me leaving him alone. I also at this point decided to work on his sit instead of stand as I thought it may make him feel less ‘exposed’ and with me not having to be so picky with foot movement meant I could reward more. So, with D in a sit I would try to tease and cajole him out of position, could he hold it with me bringing food to his nose, how about a toy almost in his mouth… once we had this in the can we built his distance up, slowly his confidence returned and he was once again holding a startline beautifully. I still think under great stress he won’t be ok hold position for me to lead out, and for now I simply won’t ask him to.

Waiting for his release while 'evil' Mommy holds food on his nose

An Alternative Route Part II

So I haven't written in detail on training Detour for quite a while. I thought it was time for an update. There are four sections to it and I have decided to post a section every few days so as not to bore anyone. Here we go.

Detour Herding the pack

The Trials and Tribulations of training Detour instalment II

How emotional is training your dog for agility? For me, it is a very emotional time. We have fears, hopes, highs and lows. With Detour I can honestly say I have rarely felt low with him, always taking away a positive from training sessions or at least trying to find a way to turn a poor session into a step forwards.

A raw deal
In my previous article I mentioned working Detour through the stress he experienced with barking, lunging dogs. I was happy to work through this, as I know that he will have to deal with that behaviour at competitions. I hoped that he would realise that regardless of the other dogs behaviour, he was safe and could stay focused on his work.

Unfortunately a few bad experiences caused me to rethink. The first time one of these ‘high’ dogs managed to get free, it ran over and nipped Detours face. Instead of making a fuss which would have reinforced any fear or aggressive response I encouraged Detour into a game of tug. I knew he hadn’t been hurt and by distracting him it helped him deal with a scary situation. We had a few more similar occurrences and dealt with them well.

Then, I had a ‘bad Mom’ moment one week at training. The ‘high’ dog involved in most of the instances managed to break out of its collar during D starting a sequence, knocking into D who just flattened it nipped him while he was on the floor. After this, I couldn’t get D to do any agility or even play with me, he was just too nervous. I popped him back in the car and waited till it was just myself at the venue. I took Hoax out of the car and worked her for a short time. I knew D would get a little high and jealous. I got him back out and did about two minutes just tug games and a few tunnels then put him back in the car while he was still excited. I wanted his last agility experience to be positive.

On the way home I felt very low. I can’t blame the other dogs owners as they do all they can to keep the dog on a lead and protect the other dogs. However, I know how easy it is to knock a dogs confidence or create an aggressive dog, and felt terrible. I had knowingly put my puppy in that situation, and instead of teaching him that barking was not a response to be feared, was actually proving the opposite. I decided from that point that I would not work him in classes that contain dogs that are liable to physically hurt him, it isn’t fair on any dog to deal with that and I still haven’t completely lost my guilt in not protecting him more at the start of his career. Once a plan had been formulated I felt a million times better. Our next trip to agility was fast, fun and built more confidence in D than I thought possible in such a short few minutes. What a dude :)

Prestbury Park happy and sad

Prestbury Park is a lovely show, beautiful venue, well organised and pretty close to home. I was determined to handle Hoaxey properly and for once did so. She worked really well coming 2nd in pairs with Carol & Mali and winning both her individual classes 1-7 jumping and 4-7 Agility. Couldnt have asked more of her that day.

Sadly though this season, esp last few shows I have lost my groove with Boo. Admittedly on the run up to the semis with Hoax I havent done any training sessions with him bar the odd grid but it still makes me sad. I try to run him like I always have but forget things. He doesnt turn like Hoaxey and simply doesnt 'do' steering from behind which Miss H does so nicely. I used to do bizarre things on course with Boo like layering a set of weaves and seesaw so that he knew where to go, I quite simply dont see those anymore and forget that I pretty much need to front cross everything to get a good turn. Boo's greatness comes in the independant stuff he can do- when I forget that it all falls apart.

The good news is I can get him back into training now and hopefully remember and refresh in my mind and responses how Mr Boo runs, although how I am going to find time to keep running my household, raising our toddler, caring for five dogs and trying to train three for agility including one baby dog I have no idea... ideas on a postcard please or even better... lifestyle remote control so I can pause everything right now and go off and train my dogs... :)

Olympia Semis :(

Hoaxeys Olympia semi didn’t start until 11.30am with the morning warm up so we took a leisurely drive to Stoneleigh feeling a bit nervous but excited!


With all the best medium dogs in the country strolling around including the current world champion I felt proud to belong to that group regardless of whether we qualified or not. I really wanted to show what Hoax can do though.

Warm up first and it was a nice fast course with a few little traps, Hoaxey did a neat, quick run with trained contacts. I should have remembered that it is fatal to do well in the warm up! This was also the first time she had seen walls and wishing wells and she didn’t even blink!

The semi course as below was flowing and fast with a few tempting traps. The dogs were all timed and the commentator would announce their times as they reached the seesaw so the crowd knew if they were on for the top ten. Natasha and Dizzy ran sixteenth and had reached the seesaw in just over fifteen seconds!

I set little Hoaxey up on the start line and stopped and looked back at her over the well. Her chin dropped onto the floor as per her startline routine I waited for a few seconds, looked at those blue eyes and released, she streaked off the startline and I could tell she was on form, tight wrap into the first pipe tunnel. I scooped her across my feet and watched her flying straight into the weaves, tight wing wrap at number eight and collect after the tunnel, she went sprinting past me towards the seesaw and I could hear the commentator “this is a very fast little dog… reaching the seesaw in about sixteen seconds…” now all I had to do was drive the line and pull into the tunnel. Hoax forte was tunnel pulls, something we have practised a lot. I gave Hoax her verbal “steady” on the jump before and started to pull her, I could feel her start to pull with me and I relaxed and started my cross to the AFrame… suddenly she picked up on my slight movement and all too quickly she had flicked back and picked up the wrong tunnel entrance. That was it, the end of Olympia dreams for this year and my fault completely.

However, I couldn’t have been more proud of my merlie. She held her own against the best dogs in the country (and world). The speed of the best mediums is incredibly fast now. To give you an idea, the winner was Natasha and she ran the course in 28.? seconds. With 20 obstacles on the course including three contacts and a set of weaves that’s quite impressive, the next two dogs ran at just over 29 seconds.

I went home feeling gutted but fabulous too, I am really feeling like me and Hoaxey are getting connected now and regardless of our blip, still am amazed how far she has come this year.

Nerves

Just two days left before Hoaxeys Olympia semi final and I am quite looking forward to it. I am a tiny bit nervous but not anything really. When I ran Boos semis I would get nervous weeks before, I dealt with my nerves just fine but they were sure there.

I think it was a bit of an expectation thing. I knew Boo was good enough to qualify and that if I could keep it together he probaby would (and did). With Hoaxey she could do anything, sometimes she forgets her weave entries, or even her final position (which she does know)! Sometimes we simply aren't on the same wavelength. I really don't expect to qualify. I am so proud to be there and will give it my best shot but I know if we meet the wrong course or if my attention slips for even a second we will be out of it.

The medium dogs attending are all very good dogs, who knows who will end up qualifying and who just won't make it- I am sure you could pick out the consistent winners who we all expect to make it and surely deserve to.

Guessing my next post will let you all know!

BFN and good luck to everyone at semi finals this weekend xxx