Tess' First Agility Class

[Keegan's Mom]

This post is just state how much fun Tess had her first agility lesson. She learned the jump, walked through a ladder, started weave poles, and a low A-frame.

 

She loves it; however, I'm sure what she loves more - the activity or all the other dogs to lick.

 

We are starting this one out right and teaching her contacts from Day 1!!!! So we have her sitting on the bottom contact because that is what she took to best. So she figured out that when she sits on the frame that she gets a treat. Notice I say frame because I don't think she actually knows where to sit yet. She started sitting close to the top of the frame almost saying..."ok I'm sitting do I get my treat?".

 

She was too cute. My hubby will be taking over from here on out. But I will get to see her work at home.

 

Thanks for letting me share.

[Rave]

Dear Tess,

 

So glad you had fun last night, it's a good outlet for our mountain goat tendencies!

 

Mom says there's no good way to teach us babies how to do weave poles at this age. Any repetitive bending of our bodies is not good for us young dogs. Also she says an "open channel" that you just run through isn't teaching anything other than to run by straight poles (which I'm told is a no-no)....and if you do that for the next 6 months than you're creating bad habits. Best to wait until we're actually old enough to do this stuff for real!

 

About being confused as to where to stop on the aframe, my mom uses a target at the end that I bop with my nose. I love that target thing, it's taught me exactly where I need to run to and stop so I don't get confused.

 

hey get them to let you do the board that moves - that's WAY cool.

 

Your sis, Rave

[Keegan's Mom]

I was thinking the same thing about weave poles...that all that bending over couldn't be a good thing in teaching weave poles.

 

I plan to work on target training as well...Brian taught it to her in a socialization class...we just need to work it at home.

 

Tess says thanks for all the good advice Rave!!!! Tess also says that she cannot wait to see Rave and Ann again!!!!!

[Miztiki]

I'm glad you and Tess had such a good time! Had she ever been on (or through) that stuff before, or was it all totally new?

[Rave]

Not only is stressing the spine not good for her tender growing body, but a pup her age is not at her final height yet, so she can't even learn the footwork properly. If she learns to double-hop through now, that'll change when she's taller and can single-step though (see pic of Wick in my avatar ).

 

Is this a puppy agility class Tess is in?? I would definitely voice concern over this to your instructor before the next class. Any instructor worth their salt knows what you can and can't do with puppies. I hope she doesn't have Tess actually jumping over any height jump yet? Leave the bars on the ground to be safe.

[Keegan's Mom]

The bars on the ground and we won't move her up for a while.

 

Thanks for the info.

[laurie etc]

In our puppy classes we get pups used to fun stuff like little ladders on the ground, walking on different surfaces (planks painted with texture of contact equipment), the Buja (tippy) board, little tunnels, sitting and downing, restrained recalls, we start loose leash walking, the "off command", social skills around other people and dogs. We leave the real agility equipment out of the picture until the pup is older, more coordinated and "aware of his body". Even in our Intro to agility class we do not start weaving uprights- we teach an entrance with 2 poles, and introduce the channel weaves. We let the beginner dogs run over extemely low equipment on leash once they have demonstrated that they have enough "body awareness" not to fall off and get scared. They learn that the equipment is fun and that speed on contacts is good. We teach "driving to the target" as a seperate exercise, and the 2 on 2 off position with the nose touch. We start adding a restrained "down-side contact". Once the dog is driving down to the target and doing a 2 on 2 off, we let them progress farther up the contact until they are doing the whole obstacle - still very low. When they have it down, we add the full contact, and raise it to full height slowly. We do jump exercises to build body awareness, incorporating different handling moves, all with the jumps extremly low or bars on the ground.

In essence, it seems like slow progression, but it is building muscle memory and ability to control the body and learn to perform the "moves" with out stressing the growing pup's body. I don't like to start upright weaves til the pup is around a year old, and the growth plates have closed. We don't let dogs jump over elbow height prior to a year, and usually older (depends on growth plates and body type).

Just my take on it - different places teach differently, but just be careful that you don't get pushed into trying something with your pup that could be detrimental to her soundness or mental attitude later.

[Barb Scott]

The bars on the ground and we won't move her up for a while.

 

You might want to join the Clean Run (yahoo site) and check their archives. Linda Mecklinburg (top agility competitor with BCs) believes that bars on the ground (and ladder work) teach dogs to knock bars (or does not teach them to jump). She suggests waiting until the dog is old enough to safely jump and then to quickly move the bars up to full height. When you read her articles, she makes good sense.

Barb S

[Rave]

How would bars on the ground teach the dog to jump at all? I use the standard with no bar (well, there is a crosspiece on the bottom) to teach them go through uprights at all angles and find the "jump" and work on handling moves on the flat. When bars are on the ground, jumping is not what's being taught, so I'm not sure I'm following the theory here (and I've no time to go read the CR list).

[laurie etc]

I know Linda M- she is a great trainer - I've trained with her some. We all have different views. I don' think the ladders help for jumping either - they do help for teaching a pup to be aware of where all 4 of his legs are - not just the 2 that he can see... bars (actually larger PVC poles) on the ground are great for little pups to get the idea of going through the uprights. I use elbow height jumps on my young but still not mature dogs - I'd rather be safe than sorry. I teach jumping "style" with grids and various exercises as a whole seperate issue later when the dog is mentally and physically ready for that kind of repetitive pounding.

[Rave]

Right, ladders are for rear-end awareness, not really teaching jumping with that either (although rear-end awareness does support many aspects of agility). That's why I'm curious what's the supposed theory behind this claim being attributed to Linda M?

[laurie etc]

I don't know - some day I'll get on the CR archives and see if I can find out. I dropped my subscription - cost cutting.... I have a couple friends (partners and instructors with me) who travel out to Linda's on a regular basis to take lessons - maybe they know?? (They actually structured our puppy classes, so I would think that they would have gotten rid of the ladders if Linda had said that it was a "no-no" ). People also need to remember that "professional agility people" like Linda M have years of experince and can train a dog much more "efficiently" than your average back-yard trainer (I'm sure there are parallels in the herding world, as well).