Backyard agility video

[Devi]

I noticed someone saying they'd like to see more agility videos, so I decided to post this recent one here too.

 

This is my Chaos dog playing agility in the backyard of a junior handler friend of mine. It's his first time running sequences. We aren't really ready for that but Shimmer's courses looked like so much fun that I gave in and let fun get in the way of training progress. I'll also note that a lot of our mistakes came from the obstacles being too close together in the small space. He's a CU dog so I was proud of him for having no issues with a dog he'd never met before and being focused in a new location. Learning agility is the easy part for him-- dealing with everything else is the challenge.

 

Warning: Shamefully obnoxious music. You may want to mute or turn the volume down before you hit 'play.'

 

http://vimeo.com/2055533

[Root Beer]

Ha! The music was annoying, but it fit the presentation nicely, so I didn't really notice until about 3/4 of the way through.

 

Fantastic job! Did you really free shape those weaves?

 

And how did you teach that flip Chaos was doing?

[airbear]

That was great! I love his weaves - very nice work. And Chaos is one handsome dog - you guys all looked great!

[Devi]

Fantastic job! Did you really free shape those weaves?

 

And how did you teach that flip Chaos was doing?

 

The weaves: Yes and no. Before I knew the extent of his reactivity I took him to an agility class with a style that was very... up-and-over? They taught the weaves by luring through with a stick. So we did that a few times in class and he had a basic idea of the motions before we started shaping them at home. The weaving pops up anytime he gets frustrated with me and there is a line of objects near. He will offer weaving flyball jumps if they're placed in a horizontal line. He hits the entry and everything! I shaped the weaves before I shaped going through those PVC hoops you see in the video. He really didn't understand why I wasn't clicking him for weaving the hoop as if it was two weave poles. I mean, come on. That behavior takes effort! And it was SO much more complicated than what I wanted-- simply running through the hoop.

 

The flip: He came with a water obsession. Since he doesn't like to fetch I quickly learned how to make a substitute "ball game" with the water hose. He doesn't even get wet or swallow any anymore. If I spray it really far away he'll run to it like it was a fetch toy of some sort, but I cut the water off before he gets to it. He also did a lot of wild, dangerous jumps for the spraying water if the person spraying it wasn't careful. So after learning how to spray it so that he'd never leave the ground, I then figured out how to spray the hose in the same position that one would throw a frisbee to get a dog to flip safely.* He must have been a sweet frisbee dog in a past life or something because he picked it up really fast. So it's just a target above and behind his head-- I haven't put it on command or anything.

 

(However, I'm not really sure it's safe. I've been reading lately that it's bad for them to land on their front paws like Chaos does in the video. Before that I'd always heard it was all good as long as they didn't land awkwardly on their back feet.)

[Devi]

That was great! I love his weaves - very nice work. And Chaos is one handsome dog - you guys all looked great!

 

Thank you!! I think he'll be a fast weaver when he gets to twelve poles!

 

He can be handsome! Here's one of him looking like a dork though:

 

 

But most of the time he is just precious. (I shaped "put your head down" too.

It's one of his favorite things to offer when he wants me to pick up the water hose.)