Reactive dog training notes - week 1

Reactive dog class - week 1

Think about energy

Do watch me at least 10 times
- have 3 seconds to respond

Cup hands under chin and gently rub back along chin, one side and the other

Circles on sides, very slowly

Lavender oil

Visitors - do not let visitors look directly in the eyes

Hand touch - use to divert attention away from something that's bothering them

Peanut butter on lid- have Sam touch lid., also smear some on hand and do touches
Bring lid on walks and when dog comes toward, direct attention to lid

Exercise is important, especially for high energy dogs

Emergency U turn - Don't want dog ever to face another dog. Put yourself between other dog.

Homework:

If positives or negatives try to find out what triggered it.
Dog should turn it's head to watch wherever you are in house
Take treats on walk and practice avoidance. Last recourse is to shield dog on side of trail.

Sent from my iPhone

First legs in Open JWW and Open Standard

Taking a well deserved rest.

Samurai looks a little worn out right now, but it's well deserved.

He had his first outing in Open agility this weekend and we're very proud of how he did.

His runs weren't clean, but he held his focus through all of his runs and even made his weave poles the first time through twice.

He got one Q in Jumpers and one in Standard. Most of all, I'm so pleased that he was able to maintain his composure the whole weekend.

We've been working very hard on reactive dog training and the work is starting to pay off.

If you are out there with a dog that you think might not make it in agility, don't give up hope. Believe in yourself and your dog. Be honest about where you need help and work hard to find the right answers.

Look for help to people who are creative thinkers, who have the ability to see through to the real issues and can help you break down what you need to do into a granular training process.

Once you have a plan, remember that working toward improvement doesn't simply mean working harder. For many dogs, especially those with "issues", it's often is better to work smarter.

As for Sam and I, we're not out of the woods, but maybe at least, we finding a start.

An Example of Great Agility Footwork

Sideways running and fluid, continuous motion make this run a winner.

Adrien and Panic of cycleofmenace make a return to View from 4 Inch for the second time in a week. This time it's this very fluid, connected run. It's has some fantastic examples of sideways running, which helps prevent stalls in the action and helps keep this wonderful, young handler ahead of her dog.

As an added plus, there's a blended front cross, jump to weaves, near the start of this video. Nice to see an example of this move on something besides jumps.

You can see this team ace another beautiful BFC on my earlier post here.

Green Beans with Toasted Garlic

It's really MUCH more delicious than it sounds.

Eating healthier is part of the quest of running better to run better with our dogs.

Once in a (very) great while, I like to capture for the record one of the dishes I've tried that's both heathy and tastes really good.

This is a recipe I found in the July issue of Cooking Light Magazine -- in general, a highly recommended source if you like to cook from a fresh, interesting perspective.

This particular recipe features height-of-summer, fresh-picked green beans shot through with skillet-toasted garlic. Before you make the "eeww" face, consider that toasting brings out the sweetness of garlic and tones down the tang.

The result will really surprise you. Suggest you stick with very fresh, raw garlic, not the kind in a jar. The slices hold up to toasting better and fresher is just, well, sweeter!

Without further adieu, here is the recipe for your end of summer dining pleasure.

Green Beans with Toasted Garlic

1 pound green beans

2 teaspoons butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1. Bring large saucepan of water to a boil. Add beans, cook 5 minutes. Rinse with cold water. Drain.

2 Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter and oil; swirl until butter melts. Add garlic; saute' 30 seconds. Remove garlic; set aside. Add beans; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes, tossing frequently. Top with garlic. Yield: 4 servings. (serving size about 1 cup)

Calories: 67, Fat 3.2 g, Protein 2.3 g, Carb 9.2 g, Fiber, 4 g, Chol 5 mg, Iron 1.3 mg, Sodium 169 mg, Calc 49 mg.

Blended Front Cross Practice Suggestion

Above is a great example of what a blended cross looks like thanks to Adrien and Panic @ YouTube cycleofmenace.

Tonight went back to the drawing board feeling a little bit more educated (but only a little), on the subject of blended front crosses.

Discovered Mary Ellen Barry left another Easter egg in this month's (August 2011) Clean Run. Exercises 7,8,9 & 19 contain suggestions for blended front crosses. No real explanation is provided, but it seems understandable enough once you've already gotten the basic idea.

Samurai seems to be catching the idea of some of these newer techniques pretty well recently, and is picking up some speed and confidence with them. One thing I noticed is that once you start on this route, it really emphasizes the need to keep moving throughout the exercise. It also ups the amount of responsibility for keeping motions tight, fast and accurate.

If you let up and start relaxing too much, it all falls apart very quickly. Need to stay "in the game" every step of the way or it just will not work.

As a mental refresher, I posted this neat clip from competitors Adrian and Panic of YouTube channel cycleofmenace above. This is a very clean example and shot from an angle where you can see the parts of the maneuver very well.

Thanks, Adrian, for posting this! Happy experimenting to everyone else out there who is trying out these new handling options!

Shaun Remembers Being Young

Time was when Shaun spent his beach days waiting for a stick to be thrown into the breaking waves, barking insistently until at the target of his quest floated within reach.

Greedily, he'd snatch it out and parade with his prize down the shoreline.

These days, he can't hear the waves crash and the sticks lay idly on the shore.

Even so, the memory of it all still can make him smile.

Blended Front Cross Example - Video

Two examples of the blended front cross contributed by Wendy and Cheetah.

A few weeks ago, I came across the mention of the blended front cross technique mentioned in the June Backyard Dogs article of Clean Run.

I posted on this blog examples that I thought might be blended FCs, but turned out not to be. The move Daisy Peel is seen doing at the end of the video on this page, turns out to be a Ketschker.

Thankfully, reader Wendy of the Team Cheetah blog was nice enough to help clear things up with a video of her performing two blended front crosses at a trial. She originally posted links to the video in a comment, but based on the interest generated by this post, I thought it might be helpful to give the clip a little more visibility for people who are looking for a visual example.

The thing that's really nice about this clip is that Wendy shows the technique at both actual speed and a slowed down version so that the viewer can really follow the sequence of events.

She has also annotated the video with some notes to supply additional clarification. Thanks Wendy, for taking the time to put this together. If you are reading this, please thank Wendy by clicking over to take a look a her blog, where it appears Cheetah has earned her MACH2.

Big congratulations, Cheetah!

As for Samurai and I, I think we're beginning to get the hang of some of this stuff, at least in practice. Sam pulled off a very nice Ketschker off a startline last weekend, and I was thrilled. It's just the most fun thing in the world to see something you've come to grasp in theory actually come to life on a course. Brings back all the reasons we all started in this sport to begin with.

I would love to see some other great videos of some of the "newer" handling maneuvers that are coming out lately. If you have a post or a video about your efforts or successes in training these, please leave me a comment!

Thanks!

Dana Pike Contacts and Weaves Seminars + Private Lessons @ TCKC, Oct. 29-30, 2011

Prevent lost Qs. Build your foundation for success!

Download forms here.

Filling fast!! Do you lose Qs due to blown contacts and pokey weaves? Do you suffer from pop outs, bad entries and "sightseeing"? Do you wish you could save course time and entry fees by losing fewer Qs to obstacle faults and slow performance?

Or, do you hope to get your new dog on the right track and "train right the first time"?

Then, you won't want to miss the half-dayContacts and Weaves seminars that Dana Pike will be hosting at Town & Country Kennel Club in Bloomington, Illinois, Oct. 29-30.

Two half-day seminars will be on Saturday. The morning seminar will focus on contacts, and the afternoon seminar will focus on weaves.

Dana will evaluate the performance and goals of each working team, and will demonstrate some new and proven techniques to build a stronger foundation, improve reliability and build speed.

Once again, we will be hosting a Halloween costume contest during lunchtime at the seminar, so be sure to bring your dog's cutest disguise!

On Sunday, Dana is offering Private Lessons. We've kept the cost very reasonable for today's tighter budgets. Private lessons are nearly filled, so if you are interested in those, get your registration form in today. If you are not a TCKC club member, please email me ahead of time to check if there are openings if you are interested in a private lesson.

Taylor weaving: Solid, consistent weaves helped him maintain a very high Q rate throughout his career.

Fees for private lessons will be paid directly to Dana on the day of your lesson. Payment for the seminars must accompany your registration form to reserve your spot. Registrations close Oct. 9.

There are separate forms for the seminar and private lessons. Download them at www.tckc.org. Click on the blue buttons.

A pasta lunch from Avanti's will be served at the seminar. If you are interested, please check the box provided and include your lunch fee with your seminar check.

Bloomington is located in the middle of Illinois in easy driving distance from St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis and Quad Cities. The seminar will be held in a new, fully matted climate-controlled building. Equipment is well maintained and there is plenty of parking and grassy areas.

One other request. I would greatly appreciate it if you could forward news of this seminar to your training clubs and agility friends. Thanks much, and hope to see you at the seminar!

Seminar with Ketschker turn

Lots of examples to think about.

Basically, a Ketschker turn is defined as front cross followed by a blind. It is a stationery turn, so no motion is indicated at the point of the turn.

Here is some video taken at a European seminars of various teams and assorted breeds of dog executing the turn on a course that appears to have been designed to include lots of opportunities for Ketschkers.

What do you think? Is this something we should be teaching more of in the U.S? Are you seeing more opportunities for European style turns showing up in your local trials?

If you have video of yourself or others teaching these turns, I would love to see them. Email me or post the link in the comments section below. Thanks!

Dawn Weaver and Dancer - Off to a Great Start!

A great example of keeping the fun in training.

Watching talented people work with their dogs is a wonderful way of gaining a vision of what great training really looks like. Here we see a video posted by Great Britain's Dawn Weaver of her new Papillon, Dancer, on her first outing with jumps and weaves.

From this little clip, you get a glimpse of some of the foundation steps that must have set the stage for this moment to fall into place -- seemingly so easily.

You see the target, and you see that Dawn has already built an amazing relationship with this little Pap. She has already taught her important lessons on attention,how to seek rewards, motion cues and how to both focus on her handler and work independently.

Most of all, you can see how much fun both Dawn and her puppy are having in this little episode. The little girl is learning lots, but she is obviously gleeful as she bounds toward each new lesson.

I'm sure little Dancer thinks all of this is just a very fun game. She doesn't seem troubled by worries of failure or about making mistakes. What a great way to build a winning attitude and the confidence to take great goals in stride.

It's a lesson for all of us to keep fun in the forefront and happy surprises at every turn.

Looking South