Game On! Dog Training

Teaching Tai a running dog walk has been an adventure on many levels.  It’s been fun, exhilarating, frustrating and challenging!  I’m using Silvia Trkman’s method and fortunately have been able to participate in her on-line running contact classes.  I entered into this project with the idea that – at the very least — all the plank work  would lead to a solid foundation for the running A-frame and add speed to a stopped dog walk if I decided to go that way.  But… that was before the addiction set in.

It has not been an easy journey for me or my long-legged boy.  Well…I’ve largely been successful at keeping his frustration to a minimum.   But he’s not the one who…after each 5-7 minute training session… often spends another 30 or more minutes analyzing the video, posting video, waiting for a response from Silvia, watching other videos, and thinking about how to proceed next.  Hmmm… I did use the word “addiction”.

So, what is the behavior?  It’s not just…get feet in the yellow.  It’s finish your stride low on the board.  If the dog understands this and is truly running – in double suspension gallop- even a long-strided dog like Tai will get 2 rear feet or 2 front feet or combination in the contact zone.    Here are two pictures showing the compression and extension of a double stride gallop on the flat.

So what have been our biggest challenges?  1.  The biggest challenge of all  is training the eye to see what is actually happening.  To know what should be rewarded, jackpotted or not rewarded at all.  It’s easy to see when the video is slowed down to 1/10th normal speed.  Not at all easy to spot in the moment.  I imagine it’s easier for some people than others.   But spotting the correct behavior in the RDW was a real challenge for me – especially for a time when I had to discern the difference between front feet and rear feet hits.  Yikes!

2. Along the way, finding plank set-ups that would accommodate Tai’s stride length.  Ultimately, going to a low full dogwalk was the answer.

3.  The mechanics of throwing a toy reasonably far and true to path :-).

3.Solving the mystery of the “overreaching” problem we encountered once on the full and low dogwalk.  The picture shows him working hard to land with rear feet on the ground, rather than on the board.  A mystery solved, after much frustration on both our parts, by simply raising the height of the dog walk.

4. Knowing what to do, when Tai wasn’t “getting it”.   Being loose enough and strict enough in criteria.
5. Having faith 🙂

Ok…enough of words, you must be thinking…let’s see it!  So, below is a short movie I put together to celebrate where we are in our journey.  Still a work in progress – turns off the dogwalk, discriminations, new dogwalks and finishing the two on- two off behavior are ahead of us, but I’m feeling very confident that we’re definitely on track and will ultimately be successful. Yippee!

As one of my fellow on-line students wrote…”Running contact training is a great method for teaching the handler to deal with frustration but I will definitely be using this method with my next dog too because running contact heaven is worth spending some time in running contact hell “.  Amen.

Hair, hair everywhere.  When I got a SMOOTH coat border collie, I mistakenly thought there would be less hair than on a rough coat.  WRONG.  Hair grows under my chairs and around Tai’s crates.  It’s on my clothes and on my couch.  It’s everywhere.  Not just hair…but dirt that comes in on paws – from our sandy backyard soil or the muddy hole we step in on our walks, or the hole that must be dug.  Sigh…I’m learning to like sweeping my floors – not with that old noisy vacuum cleaner … but with a good old-fashioned broom.  I find it relaxing, actually…the arc of the handle, the soft swish of the bristles, the challenge of catching that soft sheltie undercoat hair that flies ahead of the broom and the satisfaction of seeing all that hair and dirt gathered up and ready for the trash.  Even knowing there will be more tomorrow.

But I also love burying my face in the hair of my dogs…so soft; to dig my fingers in behind the ears and neck as I massage and feel their pleasure as they lean into my hand.  To stroke their flanks…firm underneath but so soft to the touch.   To pat their hairy heads and feel them lean against me.  I guess dog hair isn’t so bad after all.

Now, of holes.   I set up a challenging international style jumpers course for Breeze today and we nailed it first time out.  Then we took a little break and ran it again with a little different handling and it felt even better.  Next?  Tai man’s turn to came out to play….to work the course in pieces.  This course had it all…push-thrus, threadles, send dog and run hard to position, double fronts, serpentines, rear crosses, wraps, push out of weave poles.   How did it go?  Well, let’s just say I was laughing a lot, amazed at his skills some of the time and only a little dismayed to find we have some “holes”.  Well, that is kind of harsh, I guess.   Let’s just say our near term training plan got some additions today.

Now, it wasn’t just Tai, either.  One of the nice things about working with a young dog like Tai, is how he can teach me.  Out of position?  He’ll tell me.  Late arm change?  He will tell me.  No forgiveness makes for a better handler.  The really good news is that I was able to get to all the positions with Tai that I made with Breeze.  Just needed to use a bit more distance…ok and maybe run a little faster.

So, tomorrow, we’ll be sweeping hair and filling holes.  Not a bad plan.

This past month has been busy, fun filled and full of learning.   At one end of the month 20 month old Tai and I stepped into the ring together for the 1st time.   I took a deep breath… not knowing quite what to expect, not sure that his skills would hold up under the excitement of trialing and still getting in the groove with our teamwork.   At the other end of the month, I stepped to the line with 7 yr old Breeze at the USDAA Nationals in Louisville, KY, full of confidence in his skills and our teamwork.  Preparing for every run, I took a deep breath to get centered, to focus and to stay in the moment.  Both dogs gave it their all every time and ribbons or not …I was full of pride in their efforts and glad to see their excitement on the start line and joy on their faces as we celebrated our runs.  Here is a video of 2 runs book-ending the past month.  Both dogs having a great time.

Now it’s time for another kind of  deep breath, time to reflect on our recent journey and time to make a plan for the weeks ahead.  For both dogs…number one priority is to get back to our normal conditioning routine.  Over the past week they have spent way too much time in a crate!  Time to get hiking the hills around home, chasing chipmunks and enjoying the fall weather.

Time to get out the jump grids and re-balance those skills.  And for Tai, time to keep building his jumping skills (and my handling skills) for the challenges ahead.  Watching the runs of the top 22″ and 26″ at the Nationals, I saw dogs  jumping with fluidity and grace, with just the right amount of power in their turns and just the right number of strides between jumps and who could manage to solve all the puzzles the judges put before them.  And there were plenty of challenges for handlers and dogs … tight lines that required extreme slices, 180 degree turns, speed lines with changes in spacing between jumps, threadles and serpentines.

Time to *finish* training Tai’s contacts and proofing weaves before the snow falls!  Well, at least make as much progress as possible.  My running contact journey is a whole ‘nother blog post.  Those top dogs at Nationals had great contacts to start…with some pushing the limits with running dog walks, teeters and A-frames. Great weave entries and independence in the poles.

Time to find matches to proof all those skills and be able to reward in a trial like environment.  Time to continue working on Tai’s motion sensitivity, a daily effort.

Enough of sitting at this computer…time to get outside and start training.  I think someone is waiting!

Tai’s first “official” agility run happened this past weekend at a small, one ring show. For most of us, our young dogs are coming to shows since puppy hood.  I love that moment when the dog walks in the ring, leash is taken off and handler steps away to release them.  I get to play too?  The wonder of it all!

And for the handler…there are those moments of questioning…what’s going to actually happen out there?  Will the dog stay focused?  Lose his head?  Get distracted?  Will all the training stick or will you wonder whose dog that is running the course with you.

So, here is the play-by-play for Tai and me.  I entered him in  jumpers only since contacts aren’t quite ready for showtime; I also entered him at 20 inches.  He measured a flat 21″ that day so 20″ is his official jump height but I plan to move him up to 24″ at the next show.  I had him all warmed up before the walk-through since he was the second dog in the ring.  The course was novice but did require 2 changes of sides – I had planned one rear cross and one front cross but wondered – with only 6 weave poles – if I would have time to get into position for the front, plan B was to do a rear cross.  The ring conditions were a little mucky – was hoping we would both stay on our feet.  As for the start line, the judge was favoring starts with tunnels all weekend, so no lead out was required.

Getting to the ring was a little dicey as Tai gets over-stimulated watching other dogs run.  But we hung back a bit and walked to the ring while the first dog was running.  I took my time and was patient – asking for a loose leash as we walked in despite the urging of the gate steward to hurry to the line.   Really?   There were 8 dogs in the class and this was novice!

I sat Tai in front of the tunnel, took off his leash, he looked up at me, then focused on the tunnel and off we went!  18.1 seconds later we finished – both crosses executed reasonably well, nice clean lines, except where he slipped in the mud.  To say I was happy with the run, would be an understatement.  It was a great beginning!  On the other hand, it felt really normal…the kind of run we would have in the backyard…although he’s only done that many obstacles 1 or 2 times before.

The next day, he ran again in JWW.  He seemed to know the drill already and it was a little harder to get the loose leash on the way in the ring.  The course was nice and he did well (although I was slightly late on both my crosses) until I dug in and accelerated on the closing line, then my baby dog got distracted by my motion and knocked the 2nd to last bar.  We’ve added that to our training list.

Home again now and back to training our running contacts (and stop on teeter)….much more to do before we make our debut in standard!  Happy training!

Tai is 19 months old now.  Handsome, athletic, sweet, smart and still a little nutty.  Watching him grow up and immersed in training this young dog, I’ve been thinking a lot about “balance” .   It first occurred to me as I watched video of Tai jumping at a Susan Salo workshop last month.  With his bigger size and smooth coat – compared to my hairy little shelties — it’s easier to see the power and control required to stay balanced throughout the jumping exercises.

But “balance” has many more meanings and here are some that resonate with me:

Balance: a means of judging or deciding  what to work on today; this week; this month to build his skills in all aspects of life and sport.    Or how about the balance of “perfection” vs “better than average”  when judging what to reward in the thick of training.  That instantaneous decision that says “acknowledge that”  – stop and reward — when you see a brilliant turn, nose touch, start line, response to handling  – balancing the urge to go on with the longer term goal of building a skilled and confident partner.  Or… after a few days of training,  deciding that today should NOT be a training day but the priority should be a long hike in the woods and fields.

Balance: a counterbalancing weight, force, or influence  Balancing the pressure of training and travel vs the release of  down time – long walks, hiking, swimming and hanging out.  A few weeks ago, Tai spent 3 days at the Susan Salo seminar.  Beyond the restrictions of life on the road and the physical and mental demands of the jumping,  the mental work to hold it together around the stimulation of other dogs was a challenge for him.  We ended the week at our camp – hiking, swimming and hanging out.  A good balance.

Balance: physical equilibrium; the ability to retain one’s balance – I watch in awe the athleticism of this dog as he negotiates his way through more and more complicated sequences.  This physical ability didn’t come all at once to this leggy lad.  I’m glad that I was in no hurry with his early training; that I matched his physical (and mental) maturity with appropriate challenges – I’m liking the results.