Agility #5 & #6

Week #5 coincided with AgileDogs USDAA trial.  I was photographer for the event, and Kathy was running her dogs.  But still, there was class.  I arrived early with Thor to let him run in the fenced pond area.  I let him run a second time just before class.  Thor loves to run with the other dogs.  One of my friends commented that he "runs circles around every other dog."  He certainly is fast, and his favorite thing is to run while another dog chases him.  No dog can catch him!

Class went well.  Because Kathy had to leave to run her dogs, class went longer than usual, and my friend Barb filled in to teach.  I love Barb's style, but it is very different from Kathy's.  I think some of the other handler's had a hard time adapting.  Barb spends a lot of time talking and explaining satisfying my desire for full understanding of the reasons behind the methods.  Kathy does more skill practice.  Both are important and it can be challenging for instructors to find the right balance.  Anyhoo, because the class went long, my legs gave out so I put Thor away.  We'd had a good class.

Week #6, Thor had just been neutered five days before so he stayed home and I audited. Kathy was out of town on a judging assignment so Barb was our instructor.  Barb, who rightly emphasizes independent obstacle performance, introduced the class to the concept of shaping.  Allowing the dog to CHOOSE to perform an obstacle while the handler stands by without giving direction develops problem-solving skills (in the dog) and a dog who fully understands the obstacle.  It requires patience and good observation skills on the part of the handler and can be very hard when first attempted.  I've done lots of this with Thor using both a tunnel and the tire.  As a result, he is very good at finding all angles of entry. 

I brought my camera to take pictures while watching and listening.  Deb's sheltie, Lucy, LOVES tunnels.  She was happy to run back and forth through a straight tunnel ignoring the treats that Deb tossed!  Repeating the tunnel was reward enough for Lucy!  And she already understood the concept of offering behaviors.  Linda's shepherd, Vasso, had a harder time.  Although only 11 months old, he has a history of formal obedience and wears a nylon choke collar.  So Vasso has been exposed to corrections for making incorrect choices.  This is a dog who will have trouble offering behaviors because he is afraid of  the consequences of making a mistake.  Vasso, who had been doing tunnels when directed, was unable to initiate tunnel behavior on his own.  Barb directed Linda to click/treat for looking at the tunnel, looking in the tunnel, putting head in tunnel, stepping one foot into tunnel.  Vasso is a smart dog and made really good progress.  But to Linda it must have felt like big steps backwards.  She was frustrated and close to tears despite Barb (and me) insisting that Vasso had made great strides forward.  Bean went next.  I know nothing of Bean's history but he is five years old and new to agility.  He reacted to the exercise similarly to the way Vasso had.  Both did a great job for dogs just being introduced to shaping.  Bean's handler was fine with it, Vasso's was not.  It made me very sad to realize that Vasso's early training had been with outdated methods.

I ended up with two photos that I like.  First, a picture of Roo (Barb's dog) happily demonstrating his "Go To Mat" behavior.  Second, a picture of Vasso peaking out of a tunnel and looking very worried.  These two photos illustrate the results of different training methods.  Roo, who has known only scientific, modern, positive training, and Vasso, who has done traditional obedience training in a choke collar.  As if I needed any more convincing...

                                                           

Agility Class #4

As we started class, Kathy informed us that a friend of hers might be coming to watch.  Okay, that's something Thor and I can handle!  BUT, as it turned out, he brought his little dog with him!  Not only did he bring a dog, but instead of just watching, he brought his dog out into the ring.  While I was working Thor on bottom behavior (2 on-2 off) on a plank, this man and his dog came up very close behind Thor.  I said, "Would you please move back just a bit?  My dog isn't always reliable."  Dog and man didn't move.  Luckily, Kathy was paying attention.  She came over and explained that Thor is very distractible and needed more space to be able to focus on his task.  At that point, dog and man moved back just a bit.  I realized then that visitors to classes need to be prepped in advance as to appropriate spectator behavior.  I don't think visitors should bring their dog.  I think they should be limited to a spectator area outside the ring.  Watch and learn, not get in the way!  The purpose of visiting a class should be to assess whether or not it's something you might like to do with your own dog.  To see if an instructor and his/her methods fit with the way you want to train.  No reason to disrupt the class!

Agility Class #3

Interestingly, a new dog once again joined our class.  This was able to happen because the handler has previously trained another dog and had already started this one.  But it certainly is disruptive!  The handler, who I know from trials, is someone who does not supervise her dogs closely and does not put their best interests first.  I say this because she chooses to set up her dogs very close to the agility rings at a trial and then complains when her dogs bark!  Several people have spoken to her about this and at the last trial she finally parked further away.  So maybe she is learning.

At the beginning of class, I was sitting on the sidelines doing attention work with Thor.  The A-frame was set near the spectator area and could, of course, been taken from either side.  If I were choosing to do it, I'd have sent my dog so he was moving away from other dogs.  But this handler chose to put her dog over the A-frame coming right at Thor.  At the bottom, her dog was not 3 feet from us.  Naturally, the dogs reacted.  I just kept feeding Thor and got his attention back quickly.  Throughout the first half of class, I was trying to move around enough to keep Thor away from the oblivious handler.  That's really hard for me these days with my impaired mobility.

I've been using forearm crutches in most areas of my life.  I don't yet use them with Thor because I really need two hands to control him.  But it means that I spend part of each class sitting on the ground!  I don't mind that, but would it be asking to much to expect others to steer clear of us?  Linda, who is training GSD Vasso, has the dog that interests Thor the most.  Yet Linda is very knowledgeable and very aware of her dog and their surroundings.  She has done a great job helping me by keeping her distance and asking from time to time if she is in a good place.  My friend who has a sheltie, Lucy, is less aware but since Thor has little interest in Lucy that has not been a problem.  But this new handler and dog... tough stuff.

About halfway through class, we were working on ramp bottom behavior.  Dogwalk planks were placed across a low table with a target at the end.  Thor raced to the end but was more interested in Kathy who was standing there than the food on the target.  When Kathy stepped in to point out and reposition the food treat, Thor leapt into her face to greet her.  This happened several times and I was unable to stop it.  I was afraid that Kathy was getting hurt.  So I left, put Thor in his crate in the car, and sat in the car to give myself a break.

When Kathy came out, I shared my frustration with trying to control Thor and my frustration with the new handler not keeping better distance between her dog and the others.  We talked for a few minutes, and I sent Kathy back to class but not before she suggested I bring Thor in after class to play with him alone.  Good idea. 

Alone in the building, Thor was a different dog.  I was able to send him into tunnels from all angles and work rear crosses with two jumps.  Kathy commented on Thor's distance skills!  So, we ended on a good/positive note, thanks to Kathy.  I think Thor needs more exercise prior to class...

Agility Class # 2

There was a new dog in class (he'd been getting neutered the week before).  Junior is a Brittany who took an extreme interest in Thor.  Thor was equally interested, and the two kept trying to get closer to each other.  I sat out several exercises in order to work on attention on the sidelines with Thor.  He responded well to this, and I will plan to do it again. 

After we rejoined the class, Junior managed to get away from his (two) handlers and came right to Thor.  Junior growled, Thor play bowed.  It was a little bit scary because of the growl.  After Junior was corraled, Kathy used the opportunity to explain why a dog should never be corrected for growling.  Corrections may remove the growling and you are left with a dog who gives no warning.  This can be a very dangerous dog.  This is something I understand well.  No doubt my Vada was punished for growling.  Her attacks (of other dogs) came with no indication of how she was feeling.  Eventually, Vada became a home dog and I no longer took her places because of her unpredictability.  She was much happier after that.

I told Junior's owners that I saw nothing really alarming in his behavior and that Kathy was right.  However, they decided not to return to class.  They emailed Kathy and explained that they had moved and it was simply too far to come.  I suspect they were surprised at how much difficulty they had controlling Junior and that that played at least some part in their decision.  Anyway, I'm glad they won't be back.

Circles

Thor and I went to Shatford Park, New Lebanon, New York this morning; many agility trials are held there.  This morning there was one other car but the park was empty of people and other dogs.  Perfect!  I let Thor out of the car, no leash.  He sniffed, peed, ran around.  I started clicking and treating any time he approached me.  Sometimes I called if he started roaming too far.  He always came back. 

After a while, he was tuned in enough to do some flat work.  Flat work is foundation work for agility.  No obstacles are used, but the dog learns to follow the handler's body language.  We worked in circles about 15 feet in diameter; Thor's circles were bigger.  I changed direction so he was on both sides but always on the outside.  Eventually, he will learn to slow down enough to be on the inside but not yet.  In my flat work book, the dog is working in heel position (both sides) right next to the handler.  Thor was not right next to me.  Since I cannot go faster than a walk, he is obviously much faster.  And I want distance in agility, so I allowed Thor to work about 15 feet away from me.  He remained focused at that distance and I was very happy.  I interrupted each set of circles with free run time to give Thor's brain a break.  Thor was off leash throughout.  We still need to do some leash work so he learns to walk nicely when leashed.  But that's not as much fun!

Agility!

Thor and I have been playing agility in the backyard for months.  On August 7, we attended a pre-novice agility seminar with Abbie Tamber.  I was so proud of Thor who showed off some good beginning skills!  I learned that he has good impulse control with food (something we had worked on) and very poor impulse control with toys (which we had NOT worked on). So we have been working with toys which has turned out to be much harder.  Thor will now sit in the presence of a toy, even if I wave it.  He will take it and release it on cue.  Hooray!  I was very pleased with how well Thor paid attention in the presence of other dogs/distractions.

Yesterday, we had our first formal agility class.  It was in the building so the other dogs were closer than they had been outside at the seminar.  This was hard for Thor who really wanted to play!  In his exuberance, he pulled me to the ground (but only once!).  He displayed his love of tunnels and exhibited a bit of zoominess but came back to me very quickly.  He had trouble walking straight through the ladder, probably because we have only played 101 Things to Do With a Ladder, where Thor is rewarded for anything he does; there is no criteria.  In class, we were asked to walk our dogs from one end to the other.  Hard!

After class, our instructor Kathy emailed me with this comment:  "You and Thorry did great yesterday, he is a LOT of dog but sooooo responsive to you - great job!!" 

I was delighted that Kathy read Thor so well!  She is a gifted instructor, and we are lucky to be in her class.

Birddog

Thor likes anything that flies.  Balls, birds, moths.  His favorite time of day, I think, is nighttime when my outdoor floodlight attracts all the moths.  Thor loves trying to catch them and is surprisingly successful!  The other night, he saw lightning for the first time.  It was so much fun to watch him leap in the air trying to catch it!