Unusual tips for beginners

[seashel]

I am a beginner so here's my take:

#1 Agility is hard - yes that first paragraph was word for word what I thought. Actually I was disappointed when Epic had learned how to do the obstacles because I thought that was it - then I found the real learning process hadn't started! I'm certainly finding it the most difficult of all the performance discplines I've done and it is easy to get disheartened. But I'm trying to be positive and to think of it as a challenge. Where's the point in doing something if it is so easy it never stretches your/the dog's abilities or if sucess is almost inevitable?

# 2 Trends - we kind of discussed this on my handling system thread and I've come to think that I'm going to look at as many different ideas as I can and use the bits that seem to suit us best. Time will tell whether this is the right thing but it's what I do with obedience and training in general.

#3 Speed - Seriously - people use shock collars in agility training!
So far we haven't had a clear round which is a little demoralising at times but a lot of you and others have told me Epic is quick so I'm taking comfort from this and hoping the accuracy will come with more experience.

# 4 Dreaming - At least I'm OK on this one - I guess sitting at work with glazed eyes picturing running a perfect round is not exactly spending my time productivly!!

# 5 Socialisation - I didn't stint on it but I have a dog who is fearful and reactive around other dogs, particuarly bouncy excited dogs running around. Agility has helped enormously with Epic's confidence but it is and has been a long hard road and I can't ever take my concentration off as I always have to monitor the situation for hazards which is quite draining. I can't help but feel sorry for Epic that he misses out on so much because of his issues.

I will look forward to reading the links.

The last tip I think I will print out and put it up somewhere. The best tip of all. I used to be a bundle of nerves when competing but love agility so much that so far anyway I can't wait to run round the course. We have had no training for 3 weeks and I'm having withdrawl symptoms!!

 

[k9kreationz]

#1 Agility is hard - yes that first paragraph was word for word what I thought. Actually I was disappointed when Epic had learned how to do the obstacles because I thought that was it - then I found the real learning process hadn't started! I'm certainly finding it the most difficult of all the performance discplines I've done and it is easy to get disheartened. But I'm trying to be positive and to think of it as a challenge. Where's the point in doing something if it is so easy it never stretches your/the dog's abilities or if sucess is almost inevitable?

We have had no training for 3 weeks and I'm having withdrawl symptoms!!

Y'know what's funny? I always equate agility to golf and I think it's exactly what you said about Epic learning the obstacles. And don't worry, most likely something will fall apart somewhere.

I tell people, in golf, you learn how to hit the woods and the irons. You learn how to putt and how to chip. You think you're done? Far from it. Now you start learning how to be consistent so you know how far you hit with every different club. You got that down? Now you start working on shaping your shots. Aiming. Having them land where you want them to. Got that figured out? Now keep doing it, consistently. What? You can't hit your woods right now? Oh, you fixed that, but now your putting is off? Got that fixed. But what? Your chipping is off? LOL.

I had always hoped to "master" every thing in agility, one by one. But as I did, I learned it's just like golf. Got this figured out, but that is falling apart? Retrain that, but now it's something else? LOL. When does it all come together....consistently? What? Never?

But like golf, you never master it all. You're constantly working on something or making things better, tweaking, say jumping, so it's tighter, etc. I truly believe golf humbled me when it comes to sports. And because of golf, I don't ever get upset or think twice about when things fall apart with agility. I just say to myself, "this is like playing golf. there are times it will all come together and be perfect, but it won't ever happen all the time".

I wonder....how many people who do agility have played golf and feel that it's one in the same.

Keep dreaming. Keep running. Keep socializing (btw, never did that with Koji and look at him now, haha).

 

[Sealtainn]

Y'know what's funny?... And don't worry, most likely something will fall apart somewhere.

yep... did you see all those "top" teams at Cynosports this past weekend in GP Finals?

Lots of things went wrong, not just the teeter that faulted team after team.
Granted for some it may have been their first time in the Finals, but you'd expect any team qualifying for the finals would have everything together.
Not so.
22" championship in particular was in some ways disappointing given the anticipation of a series of very competitive runs, but instead it was mistake after mistake, and usually the same mistakes team after team on a course that didn't appear to be that challenging [those aren't just my word, this was said by the commentators].

As Bob Bailey is often cited for saying, (dog) training is simple, but not easy.

 

[EJHUNTL]

I
I wonder....how many people who do agility have played golf and feel that it's one in the same.

Keep dreaming. Keep running. Keep socializing (btw, never did that with Koji and look at him now, haha).

LOL - my husband LOVES golf. I'm not in the least athletic/competitive and far as I was concerned golf is just a good walk ruined, but I did agree to give it an honest try for him. I joined a ladies league, had a lesson a week followed by 9 holes for 10 weeks one summer. The following spring we did a one week golf vacation with good friends, again daily lesson for an hour followed by 18 holes ( sometimes 36 for the guys)… then we played some local courses for the rest of that summer… at the end of all of that I learned that I like to drive the cart and golf is still a good walk ruined. I retired the clubs. Honestly I don't get it - it's expensive and not half as much fun as a hike in the woods or a walk on the beach with a good camera which I can do for free.

Somehow I don't think I'll be doing agility - I couldn't handle the stress of competition.

 

[corbinam]

I enjoyed the article and really enjoyed everyone's responses.

I think that agility is hard. Or maybe I should say this--being great at agility is hard. I guess it all depends on your goals, expectations and competitiveness. Teaching dogs obstacle performance isn't hard--it can be time consuming, but if you stay with it you can do it.

But what if what you taught didn't work? Or isn't fast enough to be competitive? Is fine tuning and adjusting and re-teaching easy? It isn't for me!

I have two dogs that's have exceeded my wildest dreams in agility (Bentley with and ADCH, Lexi close to one--and having played with the big boys at Cynosport), but going farther than that is incredibly difficult, in my opinion.

(And for the record, I'm athletic and grew up playing sports).

 

[corbinam]

My husband summed it up for me, when I asked him the question. He said "agility is like any hobby. It's harder the better you want to be."

 

[SheltieChe]

I have read it with mixed feelings and there are few parts where I do not agree with author at all.
Tip 1. Agility is harder than it looks- yes!.... but if there are lots of frustration and tears, boy you are not doing it right Since I started to live by principle ¨Play is work and work is play¨ and centered my dogs training on having relationship with my dog i.e. I am not a teacher and my dog is not a student who is stubborn, willful, did not listen, took off course etc.... I provide information and dog gives me feedback...things got far less frustrating...
Tip 2. Must have been my luck but ALL my teachers on line and locally were about me and my dog. Sure they charge $$ for their time and expertise as they should. But I have never felt I was told ¨you must do...¨ And I am one of those students who always needs to know ¨Why?¨
Tip 3. Two different things. Agility is about speed and learning skill at slow speed DOES NOT transfer. Teaching dog at low arousal and slow speed results in ¨but my dog does it so well at home¨ syndrome
As for using corrections, grrrrr I think author is missing the boat. What I am going to correct my dog for????
Look at this tape. Che is obviously reading motion from my bottom half and does not care about upper part My MOTION DOES support that tunnel! So it is a training issue and I have to teach him to recognize that my hand cue and turn means something else is coming...
Che turns wider that I want on those next two jumps... well my motion DOES NOT support them so if I add verbal cue to the obstacle he will get better information and be able to adjust his stride better... again whose problem is this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZfSLqb87dg
Someone made comment about my run at last local class that I am overworking my dogs by asking them to repeat parts of sequences couple more times... I know where this person is coming from, he has slow dog with low motivation so repeating something over is probably demotivating for him. What I do not get is why that person does not ¨see¨my dogs... they run just as fast, have same bushy tails and bright eyes playing with Da mama on the third run as they did on their first... and I would not run more than 3 times any sequence not because my dogs get demotivated but because monkeys are smart and learn patterns all too well so I can not be sure if it is my handling that improved
As for socialization I feel that it means different things to different people and each puppy needs their own variety of socialization so telling ¨puppy must... 5 days a week...¨ is not something I like.

 

[FutureMACH]

I don't mind someone saying agility is hard. It's a sport. It's about timing and communication and position in space and cues that people don't even see unless they know the sport well.

I'm going through puppy class with my third agility dog, and watching my instructor try to explain a front cross... and then demonstrate and re-demonstrate and explain in a different way... it's not easy. Sure I do it automatically, but I'm not new.

If my boyfriend comes along to a trial and there's someone running a dog and does a handling move that works brilliantly and everyone around us says, "NICE!" almost in unison, he doesn't know what it was or why it was awesome. He just sees something that looks like it was really easy because it worked great.

Those smooth "effortless" runs have a lot of effort behind them. Years of effort.

 

[SheltieChe]

I'm probably not going to do agility ( not competitive in the least and extreme introvert ) but I really enjoyed this article. She didn't have to tell me agility is hard - it looks darned near impossible to me I liked how she stressed that it's about having fun and the importance of early socialization.

I was trying to teach Hanna to roll over today, a little trick I had my other dogs doing in less than 5 minutes. No way, she would follow that treat to her back side, twisting and leaning on that one hip and as soon as there was hint of maybe flipping she would sit or scoot back - not even liver could tempt her to roll over. That's nothing compared to the challenge of agility.

I was positively drooling over the photo of that little bi-blue puppy - that has to be the cutest sheltie puppy I have ever seen!

I am not competitive either, have no previous experience of playing any sports and it took me while to figure out WHY do we compete. But I like to run with my dogs , we like training and we like learning. I compete at CPE which is most fun venue in my unbiased opinion Would suggest keep your options open, I know how it feels firsthand

 

[SheltieChe]

My husband summed it up for me, when I asked him the question. He said "agility is like any hobby. It's harder the better you want to be."

I don´t know about harder though. I can tell for sure that few of people who got Golds and Silvers at Cynosport have few things in common
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUOn-x8-Rh8#t=111
Here is what Daisy writes
¨Bob Bailey has a lot of “-isms”, nice little sayings that stick in the mind and illustrate his points succinctly. But, in this Chicken Camp, one of his -isms REALLY stuck with me, and it is this:
“…Advanced Training…is simply the precise application of the fundamentals¨

and for golf lovers... well this is not about golf but it does indicate where is difference between those that are good at agility and those that are great at it
http://www.golf.com/video/david-feherty-swings-key-component