Agility, How to slow down?

[Mutt]

Ok people, how do I slow my dog down, or get him to take my cues better. I have taken basic agility and now working at intermediate, spent alot of time practicing and Blaze is a natural, he loves it. None of the equipment has ever been a problem. My problem is trying to get him to slow down. Contact points get to be an issue as well as he get ahead of himself. He is getting better but he gets so excited when he gets on course. I would appreciate any input. The instuctors that I am working with are great and have worked with BC's before but they have never seen a dog this fast this early in the learning curve.

[MrSnappy]

If you do a search in this forum, this topic has been discussed many times already and lots of good feedback has been given.

 

However, I wouldn't ever slow a dog down - speed is a good element for agility. There is no reason to slow the dog down. Contacts should be taught as absolute stops if bouncing off them is an issue, and that is just a matter of time and lots of practice. A slow dog can also miss or avoid his contacts, so speed is not the issue.

 

RDM

[Tassie]

Hey Mutt - I'm there too. My dogs are waaay too much dog for this ageing handler! That said, what I'm being encouraged to do is

 

- really concentrate on having the dogs listen to me;

- really concentrate on where through a sequence I need to turn, and being very clear in my body language and/or verbals (yeah, right!);

- make sure I call the next obstacle/s in PLENTY of time (always assuming I can remember them!);

- train the dog to do various sequences - like serpentine, pin-wheel etc., so that you can call it and don't necessarily have to be there;

- as Melanie says, train the contacts thoroughly, probably as stops, with the dog waiting for a release word to continue;

- forget front crosses - it isn't going to happen!

 

In other words, don't slow the dog down, just try to get the handler thinking quicker and working smarter! Oh and it helps if your warm up routine includes a half-marathon for the dog - just kidding - sort of!

[Mutt]

Thanks for the help guy's. I quess the idea of slowing Blaze down isn't exctly what I ment though it's what i said, LOL. I think I'll use your advice and get the dog to stop on the contact points and try to get him to listen to me more rather than anticipating what's next. He loves agility and I am looking forward to competing with him. I just have to learn to keep up with him.

[bobh]

Hi,

You do not whant to slow your dog down!! If your BC is missing its contacts then you must go back to back chaining what ever you want for contacts. Ie 2on2off just work the bottoms of the contact equipment until your dog is performing its job.

If your dog is going off course your timing is most likly off. If you can have someone video you then you can see and hear if your timing is off.

My first agility dog a aussie is very fast . I did not build a strong foundation this lead to many issues. Now corrected THank DOG>. We are now at EX and EL. levals. However since Iam old ,fat and slow it took almost 3.5 years to get my timming down.

One more thing teach your dog to check in with you. Relax and have fun .

LOL bobh

[BigD]

I too have a very fast BC and I - as the handler - have asthma! So, I always tell folks that I need to learn to handle from a distance, blah..blah...blah.

 

Well, we had a Susan Garrett seminar and I told her that - she took one look at me and said "I could WALK this course with your dog."

 

And she did.

 

And to top it off, she didn't say ONE WORD to my dog!

 

When she was done, she said to me - do not train your dog to slow down, train him to go at your pace.

 

So, my goals now are to train Buddy to work WITH me, not with the equipment. And to work Buddy without screaming like a banshee on the field. TUNNEL TUNNELISAIDTUNNEL!!! I have a bit of a problem with that.

 

I'm super beginner in agility. Only been doing it a year. So, it's good that she caught me in time!

 

She totally changed my way of thinking about handling a super fast dog. If I know my footwork, my dog sticks and holds the contacts, and I pace myself - then we will have a fast and clean run. But to get that, I need to train him to work WITH me and not just blast into the equipment.

 

It's amazing to see someone handle your dog for the first time over a short course without saying a word to the dog at all. Unreal. That's why she makes the big bucks.

 

Denise

[CandH]

This post has been interesting to me because my dog is also very fast during agility. He's doing okay with contacts on the dogwalk and Aframe but the rest of the time he's full speed ahead.

 

Denise, what you said about Buddy "blasting through equipment" describes my dog Utah perfectly, and I think I too have shouted "TUNNEL TUNNELISAIDTUNNEL". Did you get any tips about how to get your dog working with you rather than blasting ahead? I sense that this is what I need to do, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

 

Thanks,

Heather

[Sparty]

Denise I can totally understand where you are ) lol we did our first NADAC touch and go 2 weeks ago there were 11 tunnels!!!!!! by the 13th obstacle i couldnt get the word TUNNEL out becuase of asthma *cough* (and general total unfitness) but we had fun, and I am considering changing the tunnel command to "IN"

 

 

Jen

[airbear]

Originally posted by Sparty:

...we did our first NADAC touch and go 2 weeks ago there were 11 tunnels!!!!!!

Isn't TNG the funnest? I used to think that Tunnelers was the funnest, but I think TNG is even better because it makes contacts fun! BTW, I don't say 'tunnel' in these courses, I just say 'go', or 'out' or 'come in' and point to the tunnel in question.

[Rave]

Tunnelers is a blast.... we have a few supersonic BC's around here and we all have a friendly competition as to who can get THE fastest time or who can stand in the middle and direct. there's really no skill involved in these classes, other than obstacle performance and a good "tight" command (wrap out of a tunnel), but they're fun.