Bend Work

Today's conditioning work consisted of a bend work grid. We only got through the basics of it before I was freezing my southern ass off and before I ran out of dog food. There isn't too much to say about this grid training session tonight. We have had mistakes on this particular grid before but it was when Monster was a puppy. I rushed through it a little bit because it's 30 degrees here which is pretty cold for our area. I am sure there are things I could have done better which is why I left this grid set up for us to repeat tomorrow or this weekend. 

General set up of bend work grid

In Susan's puppy bend work grid (at least the DVD) she used started with only one half of the grid set up. She used jump wings on all 3 jumps and I believe they were spaced closer together than the one we did tonight. When beginning this particular grid, Susan suggested starting with the middle triangle first. We skipped past that part because daylight was going and it was getting cold! I don't think I saw any negative effects that could have been prevented by working the triangle first. I THINK. I may change my feelings tomorrow ;)

Here is a real life view of the puppy version with wings.

We didn't get a chance to move on to the tougher progression but I am hoping we can get there next time. That's really all I've got to say on this post for now!

Progression of bend work grid that I found online (it's in the book too)

First Jump Grids

Monster did his first jump grids today. Monster has previously been 100% successful when I had him do Susan Salo's jump grids until today. Today, he added strides in between jumps that should have only had a bounce. 

Our Session:
We started with the set point grid. The set point grid is the beginning of jump grid training. It teaches/shows/reminds the dog where the ideal takeoff point is. It is a staple. We started there with a few reps as a reminder. I am sharing a few photos with no additional information on how to train these grids. I want to share the importance of jump grids but I also want to respect Susan and her hard work. This book is awesome! No offense to Susan but her DVD's can be pretty dry and boring to watch. They are definitely informative but not the most exciting to watch. This book has EVERYTHING you could want to know about jump grids and dogs! I am only sharing grids that I have seen in multiple areas of the internet.

Set Point Grid (there are several variations- please don't try this without reading or watching)

The next grid we worked on was the ladder grid. The general idea with this grid is to have 5 jumps spaced equally (spacing is according to size of the dog) apart and to start the dog fairly close to the first jump so not to allow a running start. The dog is to bounce each jump, not putting any strides in between jumps. You can increase and decrease the jump spacing to compress and extend the dog's stride. I like this grid for that reason and also because it's good for teaching young or inexperienced dogs to start reading lines. I only had the spacing in my yard for 4 jumps. I used a food target and started with sending Monster to the target. I only released him from his stay when I saw that he was looking ahead at the jumps and the target and NOT at me. He executed this grid flawlessly as usual even when I increased the spacing to the max distance. 

Then, I increased the challenge by turning this grid into a slice. Still, I only could use 4 jumps. THIS is where I saw the problem. I started with the slice going from left to right. We had no issues. BUT, when we did the slice from right to left, he started adding in a stride towards the last 2 jumps. I wondered if it might be the flood lights that I had turned on when the sun started disappearing but he wasn't consistently doing it. I'll try again at a different time of day to see for sure but it was validation for me that grids are important. Some people don't like Susan's grids, or just don't train them. I think they feel like it's boring and easy but I've seen enough dogs knocking bars to know that grids are of importance when it comes to foundation. 

That's all I've got for now! Stay tuned for more updates!

Update on Consistency

Unfortunately, Monster and I haven't had much time to start our re-conditioning program yet. It makes me sad but my schedule at work is beginning to stabilize which will make it easier for me to plan conditioning days. Also, Monster and Punch broke into my dog food supply Friday evening and there was vomiting, IV catheters, SQ fluids, moping, and lots of water drinking. Then came the poop. SO MUCH POOP. I must have had a week's worth of dog poop in the 12 hours following the dog food break in. My boyfriend was, of course, clueless as to what had occurred and he only knew that Punch wasn't feeling well when he was crying at the door and just standing outside whining. I digress...

I HAVE had time, though, to discover a few more tools to help me up my agility game. I don't need fancy handling at the moment. What I need is consistency as I stated before. I need to know and understand my dog so that I can anticipate where I can go and where I need to be on course as well as where I need to train more skills for myself and my dog. 

 And that brings me to a course that I've signed up for. It's called a course but really I'd say it's more like a handbook to better timing on course. There isn't much feedback but general tips on how to approach these sequences to understand your dog better. There is a forum to discuss the course with other students and you have access to it for up to a year. Estimated time of completion is 4 months. Though, knowing myself, it will likely take longer. There are options for both small and large spaces. Small spaces typically have approximately 4 jumps and a tunnel and large spaces 7 jumps and a tunnel. The course is with Kathy Keats' online instruction service The Agility Coach. The course is discounted at the moment for $69 CAD (approximately $56 US dollars). I am not sure when or if the price will go back to what it was.

Normal pricing for this course is $129 CAD. This photo was taken from the course page.

Here is the description of the course directly from the website:

SECRETS OF PERFECT TIMING!

Great timing is one of the key ingredients to being a great handler and a great teammate for your dog. Yet no one has fully explained the elements of timing until now. It’s not as simple as ‘run faster’ or ‘turn sooner’ or you would have fixed your timing already!

Join the hundreds of handlers that have!

This course will help you…
…build trust between you and your dog
…know when your dog is going to perform an obstacle
…react quicker
…be more clear with your cues
…get to handling positions more quickly
…anticipate what your dog is going to do
…and much more!

I'll see what I can do to post some video of our conditioning program when it starts! I'll try to check in later!

WOW! Long Hiatus...

Where do I even begin? We have taken a long hiatus from agility, training, sports, etc. I got a little depressed that we couldn't compete or go to any classes, seminars, or run thru because of money. I wish money didn't dictate what I can and cannot do with my dogs but it just so happens that I enjoy a sport that requires money to compete and I do enjoy the competition :) The last trial we went to was Carolina Piedmont Agility in September. I loved being at a long, bigger trial than LCDA. We did some international style classes just to see how we could handle it and we had some brilliant moments but we also had some fails. Overall, I was really happy with how we did as a team. 

This break from agility has helped me reflect on where I really need to work on MY agility game. We don't get a lot of opportunities to trial so, if I want to qualify with Monster and feel good about our performance as a team, I need to really get more consistent with my handling and performance in practice and trials. I have been listening a lot lately to the Bad Dog Agility podcast (Bad Dog Agility podcast page) and it's helped me sort through my thoughts about my agility training and handling. 

The big trend right now is OMD (One Mind Dog) Handling system and training international style courses. Well, that's helpful if you have National or World Team Dreams but the courses we run on currently in the U.S. are not difficult enough, in my opinion, to apply a lot of these handling maneuvers. I doubt I will find many backsides in our Advanced Standard courses ;) There is certainly use for these "fancy" moves but, on average, we don't see much of them in U.S. courses at the moment. 

I was able to attend a Stuart Mah seminar right before our hiatus and he made a valid point. He discussed OMD and other international style handling trends and made the argument that while these systems are good handling systems they are not new nor are they going to work every time. It's important to have other tools in your toolbox in case you get behind your dog. This is where strong verbals come in handy. People used to say that verbals were not really acknowledged by the dog and were only for lazy or inured handlers. What about when you're in gamblers? Verbals can really help you out in a jam and it's important to keep your verbal tools sharp as well. 

While I think OMD style handling is cool and fun to watch on applicable courses it's not a tool I need at the moment. Hopefully, we will get to a point where it becomes a valuable but we need to go back to basics first. 

I need to start practicing some basic sequences and perform front crosses, rear crosses, pivots, serpentines, threadles, etc. and watch video to see if I am even consistent with my cues for my own dog. We don't get much feedback training by ourselves so I have to get used to giving myself feedback. That's number 3 on our list to come back. 

Number 1 on my list for our comeback is to get Monster conditioned physically again. I have formed a loose plan and hopefully I follow it better than the last one. Monster got in good shape the last time but I wasn't very consistent about tracking his progression and as a rehab tech I really should be better about that. My plan is to start with a series of exercises on a simple level and progress their difficulty as needed. We will do some planks for core, squats for rear end, land treadmill for endurance and for isolating rear and front limbs, and balance using FitPaws peanuts. We will also use Susan Salo's jump grids to remember how to jump, work on jumping skills, and strengthen him. Her new jump grid workbook is awesome! I love being able to reference her grids from her DVD's and I have seen grids that I never saw before in this book.

Susan Salo Jumping Grid Workbook

Step 2 on my comeback list is to try to get myself back in shape as well. To learn to manage my time better too. I have cancelled our cable in an effort to save money and I hope that will help me financially and from a time management standpoint. We will see how this new plan works! 

Last bit of news to share is that business finally seems to be picking up at the rehab practice and I am glad about that. I know there are more animals that need us and I am glad they are finding us at last! I will also be teaching a foundation agility class for my trainer in the next couple of weeks. She is opening a new training business and has asked me to teach a once weekly class. I am also hoping that helps me financially! I will have to come up with a course syllabus for my students and I'm sure I will post about that too!

Apologies if this post has been slightly rambling but it's hard to share MONTHS of updates into one blog post :)