Agility Training Talk Thread

[Elise+Hudson]

My dog is not very toy motivated, is there any good resources for training a dog to tug? When we are training he won't even chase a toy, so sounds like I need to change this.

Thanks for the suggestions! This is my first ever pup, so I'm eager to learn with him, without ruining him.

[pie]

E&H Does he play with toys at home?

Aww I'm sure you won't 'ruin' him it is harder with the first one because there is such a learning curve, but you'll get there

[Elise+Hudson]

Nope I have a really hard time getting him to play with any toys even at home. He usually is just so excited to see me all he wants to do is essentailly play with me, getting pats and spinning circles at my feet. :p

[Kavik]

I'm sure you won't ruin him, he is very pretty :D

It is not essential that they play with toys, but it is very helpful. You can just use food if that is what your dog likes. At the moment mine loves a thrown toy, but will only tug reliably in the yard. I am working on building up his tugging around distractions in the yard (and getting him to bring it back more willingly ) before taking it on the road. At training and trials I have been using food and a thrown toy so far.

Here are some suggestions on how to get your dog interested in toys:

http://www.clickerdogs.com/createamotivatingtoy.htm

You can also fill some tug toys with food to start with (Clean Run has some), good to choose exciting toys to start with (furry ones are often a hit), or you could shape a tug with a clicker (for fun I am trying this with one of my older dogs, not sure how this works in the long run though for using it as a reward)

[megan_]

Also, it helps to get someone who knows how to play tug to show you how to do it with your dog. I know that tug seems obvious - but the subtle differences can have a huge impact. I thought Fergus didn't like the tug, then Erny played a game of tug with him and he loooooved it. She didn't shove it near his face, kept it away from him and gave it a few flicks.

[Vickie]

I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me find links to, or give some ideas on foundation/basic agility training with puppies?

Here are some ideas Elise

I do this each day with Fly. She is learning that keeping her back feet on the board is a good thing. She is also learning a release word and rear end awareness.

Trim is learning to send to a pole, turn around it and accelerate out of her turns

Trim sending and turning

[Vickie]

Here are some suggestions on how to get your dog interested in toys:

http://www.clickerdogs.com/createamotivatingtoy.htm

While i think this is hilarious & somewhat true, there are CLEARLY aspects of this video that you would not ( and coukd not) attempt with a dog who was not interested in tug yet.

[Kavik]

True, I like the video for showing me how to be more fun (and have more fun) while playing tug, as I can tend to get self conscious about it. And the 'Mine, mine!' keeping it away helps when he decides to drop it or lose interest.

Edited November 23, 2011 by Kavik

[pie]

I see people talking about RQH, I managed to work out via Google that it means Regional Qualifying Heat, and that it seems to be in NSW only, but I still don't know what that actually means Can someone please satisfy my curiosity :D

[Kavik]

After shaping Zoe to tug with a clicker I got her to tug today without using a clicker or food at all! This will be an interesting experiement to see how far we can get with it. Obviously she is not tugging as keenly as Kaos and it has been taught quite differently (she is 12 yrs old! and never taught to tug before) but she is actively reaching to get it without me having to move it much and pulling back on the tug enthusiastically, still drops it when I let go, but will sometimes bring it closer or to me (I have a reasonable shaped retrieve with her on various objects).

[RubyStar]

I do this each day with Fly. She is learning that keeping her back feet on the board is a good thing. She is also learning a release word and rear end awareness.

Just watched your video, Vickie. I plan on doing this with Pippa and going back and doing it with Millie. Did you entirely shape the behaviour? Or how did you do it? Looking for ideas on how to start them both on it.

[DeltaCharlie]

The RQH is something that NSW does each year and it is similar to ADAA's Medallion Stakes. There are 12 rounds in agility and 12 rounds in jumping held all over the state. Unlike ADAA, you cannot gain a quallie card for the run even if you go clear.

The top 40 dogs receive points that go towards a cumulative total. 1st place in each round gets 40pts, 2nd place 39pts, etc. If there are not 40 clear rounds then after all the clear rounds are given their points it moves to the fastest dog with 1 fault, second fastest with 1 fault etc. (So if there are 10 dogs who go clear, 30pts will be awarded to the fastest dog with a fault).

At the end of the 12 rounds the 40 dogs with the highest accumulative scores in each are invited to run off in a jumping dog of the year final (for the 12 jumping rounds) or the agility dog of the year final (12 agility rounds) at the Festival of Agility in Sept.

Does that make it any clearer?

[pie]

Yes Thanks DC, now I get it

[Vickie]

Just watched your video, Vickie. I plan on doing this with Pippa and going back and doing it with Millie. Did you entirely shape the behaviour? Or how did you do it? Looking for ideas on how to start them both on it.

TBH I don't do much shaping for agility anymore RS. I just lured her every day for a few days & then she started offering it by herself.

[ness]

Vickie I couldn't get the link of Trim to work - says its listed as private. Fly is doing really well though .

[caffy]

I do this each day with Fly. She is learning that keeping her back feet on the board is a good thing. She is also learning a release word and rear end awareness.

Just watched your video, Vickie. I plan on doing this with Pippa and going back and doing it with Millie. Did you entirely shape the behaviour? Or how did you do it? Looking for ideas on how to start them both on it.

RS..I used an inflatable disc to get a rear foot target. Started the dog close to it and waited for a rear foot movement...anything at all and clicked...we went quickly from there to moving backwards and hitting the inflatable disc with a rear foot. That progressed to increasing the distance from the their rear feet to the disc and I clicked only for the rear feet moving back and hitting the disc. Snazz tends to want to run back and put his front feet on and step into a 2 on/2off but I only rewarded the stepping back and hitting with rear feet if that makes sense.

[RubyStar]

Thanks caffy, that does make sense! Except for one part - is there any reason why you insisted he walk backwards and offer it that way once he knew it, opposed to running to it front on and then moving forward into the 2o/2o?

After you have the dog offering back feet on the object, how would you then transfer that knowledge to them running say a plank on the ground and moving into the 2o/2o?

[Kavik]

Just watched your video, Vickie. I plan on doing this with Pippa and going back and doing it with Millie. Did you entirely shape the behaviour? Or how did you do it? Looking for ideas on how to start them both on it.

TBH I don't do much shaping for agility anymore RS. I just lured her every day for a few days & then she started offering it by herself.

Why don't you do much shaping anymore?

[caffy]

Thanks caffy, that does make sense! Except for one part - is there any reason why you insisted he walk backwards and offer it that way once he knew it, opposed to running to it front on and then moving forward into the 2o/2o?

After you have the dog offering back feet on the object, how would you then transfer that knowledge to them running say a plank on the ground and moving into the 2o/2o?

I insisted on walking back because I was working on rear end only.

With a plank or the actual gear, I just ask for Snazz to back up...I don't worry about 2on/2off . Hopefully I have done enough front end work and self control (release cues) separately too.

Well aparently I have...in the weekend trial we had an AF in the distance challenge and his release word from the AF is "OK". I ran on an said "OUT" to send him to the next jump and I looked back to see him happily sticking his AF. Not sure if "OKOUT" is a word but it go him moving ;)

[RubyStar]

Ta, I'll have a play with it. I never taught a proper contact behaviour with my girls. Ruby's is pretty much non-existent (thanks to her dogwalk phobias, I decided a contact was the least of my worries while I was actually trying to build her confidence up enough to get her over the damn thing! Throwing an isqueak helped but abolished any chance of a contact). Millie knows to stop somewhere on the end. If I keep running and turn around and look at her, she plonks her bum on the down plank at whichever point it is that I turn and look at her! She knows her A-Frame contact and I can keep running and she sticks that (well, in training, haven't yet tested it in a trial!) but the dogwalk contact needs some serious work! So I'll have a play around with her and Pippa (not concerned about Ruby at this point, we may not play in agility much anymore anyway).