Video in the basics of treiball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFpH_WLC4qs&sns=em

Drift knows jumps mean RUN

John and Lola learning jump means RUN!

Dizzy learning Jumps mean RUN!

Jessie cornering

our Sunday training field

Good article on why dogs jump up by Kay Laurence of Learning about Dogs

http://kaylaurence.wordpress.com/2011/11/05/approval-seeking-or-attention-seeking/

Good trick challenge video from a Learning about dogs course. Why not give it a go?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=22p9svPQ_Jk

Brilliant Video - Will Young - Come On

Shimmer SD to Dogs Session 1

Shimmer SD to Dogs Session 1

Some footage of Shimmer from the Real life setup training this morning.

Good American Website info

http://www.positivedogs.com/faqs.html

Khuma weaving and Learning to CHILLAX!

Dizzy at 10 months

This is a clip of her first time on a tilted plank, finding her 2 on 2 off position before being released to a toy. Her concentration is improving all the time as she gets older and she really RAN to her toy in this session which was great.  She is definitely hound of some kind crossed with her terrier mum.

thanks to Lucy for Filming, Bless Dizzy Dora!



Beginning Distance Sits and Downs- video on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=Rd2HSOhOss0

Teaching a Dog To Accept the Gentle Leader

A fabulous link from Lucy to Jean Donaldson teaching a dog to accept the Gentle Leader. Same method can be applied for Gencon / Halti / Muzzle as required.

Emma

http://youtu.be/1wakterNyUg

Watch "5 calmingsignals2people" on YouTube

Good video introducing calming signals in real life situations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=v9OO_FzXAss

The scoop - how to teach it.

Video from our training weekend at Diamond Dogs where Mike is demonstrating the beginnings of scoop training. A useful tool to have in your agility toolbox.

Video from Friday evening agility....

After only 12 weeks in clss (most less than that due to holiday etc) this is what our Fun Dog's and Handlers achieved on a short course. Pretty brilliant!!!

All of our Fun Dog Classes  have been going really well with all of the dogs coming on in leaps and bounds. We are moving to weekend training as the evenings are drawing in and have a new term starting on October 2nd.  

We are also running workshops on Weaves, Puppy foundations and Introductions to Agility on September 4th and 18th. Check classes page of website for more details.

Watch "The BEST and FASTEST way to teach STAY" on YouTube

Direct link to the excellent Kikopup stay video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=Vk4PPcE1CqY

"How to Train a Dog- dog training clicker" on YouTube

This is a link to Kikopup's page on You Tube. She is a great positive trainer in America who posts lots of videos on different aspects of training.

EXCELLENT VIDEOS on teaching a sit wait and recalls as well as fun tricks.

Http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=Bs_M9Fzc94U

Agility Club Show

Well despite some strange goings on at home we attended part of the agility club show this weekend.

Only managed to do one run on Sat on a lovely jumping course and unfortunately missed a weave entry. We have been working on horrid angles and this one was straight and fast and after a tunnel long jump combination. Ooops!!

On the Sunday I again was somewhat away with the fairies. I had three runs all on really lovely courses.

First on the Sunday was a Grade 3 Agility course which I had not walked. Well we were clear in it, good contacts and a nice dog walk with no creeping which I was dead pleased with. We ended up 7th in this class.

Then a Grade 3 jumping course which was a real speed circuit with a twiddle around a box in the middle with lots of oppertunity for loosing time around the turns. We went clear in this with nice turns and I had to blooming well run!

Then ran A lovely 3-5 jumping class which was judged by Barry James, a really lovely course which I managed to mess up! Poor dog!

We then went back to base having asjed the Southdowns girls to pick up my Rossette if we had one for the jumping class. They called me around 3pm to say I had better come back to collect the rossette myslef as I was still in 1st place! Thanks to this well timed phone call I then returned to Ardingly for my lovely trophy and rossette.


The Southdowns girls also did really well over the weekend which is brilliant.

Turns around the Wing - Jake Practice Session

Foundation Pre-Agility Video

I finally remembered to film some of the puppies today doing some cavaletti work.
Tom's first time on 6 poles, Flint and drift have met the cavaletti previously.

Interesting to watch their action improve.

The idea is to have control over all 4 limbs! 

Proof Positive

http://www.auf-den-hund-gekommen.net/-/Proof_Positive.html

This is link to a great site with loads of training videos using positive reinforcement.

Examples from Control Unleashed and BAT therapy.

Well worth a browse.

Trouble shooting 2 x 2 Weaves

A video with some pointers from Susan Garrett on 2 x 2s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=hIjPYrNcR8s

Training with Lee and Dawn

I have been for some great lessons lately with some brilliant trainers.
Both have given me new ideas to try with others in class as well as ideas for my own dogs.

For me it is really important to me to keep up to date with the best training methods currently used and take ideas away I want to take forward. Equally it is important to  not practice the ideas you are not comfortable with.

I believe I can only offer quality lessons to others if I constantly strive to learn from the best and continue moving forward in training.

It looks like this is paying off with all participants in the Fun Dog Classes coming on in leaps and bounds (excuse the pun)!

Big pats on the back all round.

Dartford show

Well starting with the show.....

As most of you know I have been working hard on the correct warm up and focus prior to competing.

Today it paid off. I had a lovely focussed dog not over the top and ran a lovely grade 1-3 jumping round which we won. I think there were 168 dogs in the class.

Brilliant for me as we now move to into grade 3. This means jack moves up too and dizzy will start on grade 3 when she is older.

Our other 2 runs were close together after that. Unfortunately Jake knocked a spread jump on one the second jumping class (guess what we'll be working on this week). I made a mistake in the agility.

I have some private sessions for me coming up with some great trainers so know the areas I need to focus on. Always learning.....

Article on how dogs run.....

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110527080325.htm

Even the best can go wrong......

After watching the brilliance of Lee's weave video and seeing Susan Garrett at the WAO's it is refreshing to see how things can go wrong sometimes.

It shows how dedicated Susan is to her dogs that she does not let them know that a course has gone wrong (most of the time)!!

Well worth a watch........

Susan Garrett WAO Mistakes


Have a good week

Chicken video

If you want to leanr to clicker train this is apparently the way to learn it. On a chicken. Blooming amazing stuff.



Chicken video

Weaves and contacts workshop

Just a quick note to say what a lovely class we had.

All of the dogs progressed well just in this one session.

WELL DONE ALL

Great stuff

Counter surfing article

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1034

My Saved Places - Google Maps

Training Venue from June 2011


My Saved Places - Google Maps

Train like you mean it.....

We had fun training session in the field today.

Lucy and I met up to train the big boys and the young dogs.

Firstly the baby dogs - we ran in straight lines through 2 jump wings and a tiny tunnel. We used each other to help with rewarding and building drive.

Then it was onto the big boys. We started with the same long straight line. Teaching the boys to extend out where possible rather than put in a stride between jumps.

We then worked on tight turns using both the accelerator and braking arms to guide the dogs on the shortest line.

Following this we added a long jump and dog walk and we had ourselves a course of 12 obstacles.

Now both Lucy and I lack in confidence competing. We are now determined to give 100% at training to boost our confidence in competition. Both boys did our little course blindingly well with us exhausted at the end. Tiring but we expect 100% from our dogs so should give at least that back in return.

A lovely afternoon x

Mat outside

Warwick show

Bank holiday Monday meant a fun weekend trip to Warwick. Jake had 4 runs.....

Agility - lovely contacts, good turns, nice weave entry. 5f for refusal of the tunnel. Entirely my fault as I was rushing to get into position for a later turn. Bad handler!

Touch and go - lovely on all contacts and weaves. Jumping was good - 3rd place with 11.97. Winner 11.03. Lesson learned to do more extension grids. The winning dog took 3 strides off Jake on the back straight.

Jumping - lovely fast tight round. I took a moment to admire it and sent Jake over the wrong jump 2 from home!

Steeplechase - feisty, snakey course. Really nice run with us ending in 3rd. I made the same mistake as in an earlier run and did not send properly into a tunnel before heading off to a turn. Poor dog!

I did 2 runs with jack. We got a 2nd in the jumping round and a clear in touch and go.

A good day - I will try to push harder next time for that 1st place. Next time!!

Happy jumping

Watch "Toy Training" on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=eiMq0Oc3fW80

Lucy and khuma toy training. Great job!!

Balance - pre agility

Girls with Dizzy watching

In the sunny garden dizzy learning that watching is much better than joining in!

Solar Crufts 2011 International Agility - Daisy Peel

Blimey - that's how to win Crufts. Those running contacts must have taken a LOT of practice.

Mental Strength & Preparation For Competition

Good Video on Mental Prep for competitions........

Not specific for agility but I don't think it needs to be.


I like the bit about linking a movement to a specific positive time
Also the annoying negative voice in your head changing to Donald Duck's voice - love it


Mental Strength & Preparation For Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Competition BJJ Hertfordshire Tel 07867511803

Link to Jake Jumping Round

Jale Jumping round WBSDS 22/4/11

Fastest time in Grades 1-3 but last pole down. I stopped running..........Do as I say not as I do!!!!

Jake Jumping WBSDS

Ian Dunbar Talk

15 min talk from Ian Dunbar on some basics of using positive reinforcement in training.



TED – Ian Dunbar

http://www.solveigtr.com/jo_sermon-hvordan-trene-fart-eng.htm

Aaah, sleepy dizzy

Clean Run: Articles Page

If you don't subscribe to Clean Run Magazine I would highly recommend it. Failing that this is a link to their articles page on the website. Explore away - my favourites so far are on the motivation page. Clean Run: Articles Enjoy! Emma

Puppy Class & Plating with Toy

It was our last Puppy class tonight. Will be a shame to not see the other puppo]ies every week but I'm sure we'll see them at Manor Farm and around and about. Maybe some will end up doing agility - Fingers crossed!!

Thanks to Annette for a fun 8 weeks training. http://www.hamblehounds.com/

On another note I was disappointed this morning as I could not get Dizzy settled enough to play while we were having our morning walk. She was stressed as I have been walking her with the boys most day and she was all alone. Poor baby. We'll keep working on it.....She did play at puppy class though so that was good. At home she is super confident and plays like a maniac so just need to generalise it now.

As she is hopefully going to do some agility when older it is really important to me that Dizzy leans to play with me and her toys!!   

 Bless her

Brill harnesses

Harnesses are good for use with lots of dogs for different reasons. I have got Dizzy a lovely padded harness from South West Agility Goods (The home of top quality affordable dog accessories). They are great as they have a handle on the back which makes handling the dog potentially less stressful than grabbing at the collar. Lovely!

Kind for K9

Online shop stocking all good dog bits in Romsey, HANTS.

Three dogs today

Quick pic of the three dogs today.

D-Force: Dog Day 1

D-Force: Dog Day 1: A great post on the clearly Defunkt thinking from Dominance theory......

Interval Training

At the Tollard show yesterday Jake came away with 1 1st place, and Jack with 3 clears out of 4 runs so it was a good day. Also brilliant results for Southdowns folk, Amanda especially with 2 2nd places with Storm.

The best part about the day was running Jack with enthusiasm, it has taken me a long time to get it back into him.

I think this is down to only doing interval training all winter - short bursts of really fast, really heavily rewarded sequences. I hoped was this would work as it does in people (according to James Cracknell anyway) - the best marathon runners often practice sprinting in order to improve their marathon times. You just get used to going at that speed. Excellent when a plan comes together.

I made errors running Jake by calling too soon on 2 of our runs therefore calling him off of the next obstacle. All of the turn work I have been doing on getting him more into my body language has paid off - now I just need to get used to it!

A great day out, shame we had to go home really!!

Dizzy Plays Tunnel

Dizzy Mat Training Continues.......

 

Training Day - Jake and Dizzy

I attended at 2 hour session with Lee Windeatt yesterday training Jake then a pre-agility session with Dizzy and Hannah Banks.

We leaned lots and want to thank Lee a lot. The small group we had were all lovely and hopefully we'll meet up more for training over the Summer.

We leaned different - faster - methods for snakes, front crosses and wing wraps with helpful points to remember them by - '£50 titbit hand' and and 'drink from the bottle' being the ones that stick in my head!

As as this we came away with tips for making the most of normal 'club' training.Why practice something you know you can get right 100% of the time?

Jakey was a good boy - I was okay!

Onto Dizzy's Training......

Here we were lucky again. Only 2 of us training so really good fun and time to chat at the end. The other dog was a BC who had been in an accident and had to have a leg removed. He was coping amazingly well and it was a pleasure to see him work.

Dizzy was good - loved the rocker and wobble boards - did some perch work and had a go on the wobble cushion. Her work ethic remained good even in a new environment which was lovely.

We had a good discussion of 'in the box' work and how it could be used to transfer to agility equipment - I have a video of Dizzy practicing this when she was little on my you tube site.

The cavaletti were a bit too big for her at the moment - we'll practice on ours at home as well as general ramp type work.

Hannah is lovely and I would really recommend her workshops to anyone. Her blog is titles agilitydogsfitness on blogger.

Emma x











 Mum and dad looked after the girls so they had a good time too.

Bold winning Tuffley Champ final - Lee Windeatt Agility

Bold winning Tuffley Champ final - Lee Windeatt Agility

Who is a Positive Reinforcement Trainer? | Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors

A good short post about the use of different parts of learning theory and it's application in training. Yes - we strive to generally use positive reinforcement in training, especially to build new behaviours. However, negative punishment is acceptable in some circumstances.

I strongly believe that positive punishment should only be used as a last resort by a qualified behaviourist and negative reinforcement is pretty difficult to achieve without damaging a relationship.


Who is a Positive Reinforcement Trainer? Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors

Crufts 2011 International Agility - Daisy Peel and Solar for USA

That's how to do it!!

Dizzy and Meg Meet up......

Today we went for a walk with the dogs and met up with Nicole the Many Tears fosterer with her Dogs and Meg (who was Dotty and is Dizzy's sister).

Video below of their little play session.

Interesting to watch them communicate!

Week 12-13 - Open / Closed Hand game and release to a toy

Open / Closed Hand game and Release to a toy

Also this week - working on confidence when out all alone, not jumping up when dinner is being prepared and crate training. Oh, and leaning to go through the dog flap!!

Dizzy 12 Weeks Perch Work

Another little training session for Miss Dizzy's tea today - this is the second go at front feet on the ice cream tub (ooops - I mean perch). She picks up on things dead quick as long as the reward rate is really high. You see in this she gets a little stressed - what I need to remember is that a little stress is okay and aids learning.

As well as doing agility related stuff we are working on puppy class homework - sits / downs / waits. All building the value of the release cue with big games and fun.



Dizzy Basics

Well, I attended Dizzy's first week of puppy class with Hamble Hounds on Tuesday and she did not disgrace me!! Lots of really nice sit / wait / down type stuff which was fun and was good seeing the other puppies too.

With my release cues I believe the best way forward (with agility in mind) is to have one word which means 'it's okay to get up and move now' and another which means ' Run like hell until I tell you to stop'. Mine are 'okay' and 'GO' respectively.

Yesterday evening's training for tea was Wobble board practice again and tonight was session one of putting a a verbal cue on a down. So far it had been a very visual curved hand on the floor. This progressed to a finger pointing down and subsequently the verbal cue. We will revisit this tomorrow and add in some stimulus control.

Jake was joining in too which was fun!

New groupos start tomorrow and are really booked up so hope everyone comes and has a good time - look forward to seeing you there.

Emma

Dizzy Wobble Board Session 3

See our you tube page for Videos of Dizzy on the Wobble board

Dizzy Dora - In the Box Session 1

Okay, time to start introducing new things for Dizzy to interact with. Over, under, through, wobbly things, you name it we are going to practice it.

Let's start with inside -

I like puppies!!!

Rear Cross Part 1 - Clicker Agility Training

This is a lovely rear cross exercise with only 1 jump. Thanks to Pam for posting.

Great Looking Tug Toys

This is a link to an external site - www.bungeedogs.com

They supply tuggies with elasticated handles which take a lot of strain off when playing with your dog.




Home

Building a Release Cue - The very beginning

Big Bang Theory - Positive Reinforcement

This is a link to a short clip on you-tube where they are attemptong to use Positive reinforcement (and a bit of negative reinforcement too) to train a human. Very funny!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA96Fba-WHk

Lee Gibson Training: A Fun Course Plan

A good exercise with any course plan is to look at it on paper and see how you think you would run it in real life.

This course is certainly not for beginner dogs, but the theories we practice remain the same. Where would you put a rear cross, or a front cross and why? Do you use a false turn to avoide the wrong end of the tunnel or run like blooming henry and put in a front cross?

All things to think about before even attempting to run even a section of the course.

If you are confident with the plan you will feed this on to your dog, remember set an exercise up to succeed. This will boost the confidence of you and your dog.






Lee Gibson Training: A Fun Course Plan: "This is a plan of the course I was using this week for my lessons. Some key tests/points: Send on to the tyre Wrong end tunnel Discriminat..."

Getting Un-Stuck While Shaping | Susan Garrett's Dog Training Blog

This is a link to Susan Garrett's Blog. This article is interesting - what to do when it goes wrong......

What is important to take away from this article is that preparation and planning are keys to success and when things go wrong it is not the Dog's fault.

To relate to agility -

Your dog enters the ring and consistantly goes straight to the A-Frame- Annoying eh?

Think back to your training - how many times have you rewarded the A-frame in comparison to Jumping? I'll bet you've worked lots on those contacts and maybe taken the jumping slightly for granted.

The next terms training should serve to redress the balance.

There are lots of other good articles too.




Getting Un-Stuck While Shaping Susan Garrett's Dog Training Blog

Dizzy Dora - 2nd Shaping to a Mat Session

Just a short clip of Dizzy doing some mat training to earn her lunch!

In a class situation this type of training is great for getting some focus while others are working.

She is a smart cookie!

More Reasons that Pre-Agility is a good Idea.....

There is an interesting article on Agilitynet by Hannah Banks, about pre-agility and balance .
All further reasons why pre-agility training is a great idea.

Great Reading List from Canine Coaching

Follow this link to an extensive list of really good recommended reading on all aspects of living with Dogs.

Living with Dogs - Canine Coaching

The First 2 Days.......

So far so good!! Dizzy Dora is settling in well. Spending the daytimes in her crate and exercise area with several play and toilet breaks. Last night she cried a lot though so I was on the sofa with her in her crate next to me. I'm pretty sure I was not this tired when the girls were tiny babies!

Today toilet training is going well. Training little bits is fun too - she can do lured positions for sit, down and stand and I started shaping her to a mat this evening in an attemo to mentally tire her out so we get some sleep tonight!!!

Video is below - the way she bounces on to the mat at the end is excellent!

Looking forward to Hamble Hounds and Quob this week. All going really well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMYdEUusaR8

Emma x

Puppy - Dizzy Dora

Well, we're getting a puppy! She is called Dora and is in a lovely foster home at the moment where she was born. Her mum is a small black and white terrier who was a stray in Ireland and dad is unknown. She is from Many Tears Rescue based in Wales.

We are picking her up on Friday and I'm spending money on bits and pieces like there is no tomorrow!

She is coming to a busy house so we will be doing lots to socialise her in the first couple of months. As I have always rehomed older dogs this is our first puppy so we will learn lots.  

5 Weeks

7 Weeks

Training Duration Article by Lucy

Article on Duration of behaviours from Lucy's Blog - Simple yet effective

One girl and her dog (and other random trivia): First post and it's about pigeons?! Sorta: "So I set up this blog a while back but never really got round to posting much on it. Now that I've got a bit of extra free time I thought I'..."

Collie Focus Day - Learning About Dogs

Well, a couple of weeks ago Lucy, Lisa and I went on the Focus and Rehabilitation day at Learning About Dogs. It was great and we got chance to do some practice with 'Sheep Balls' and Dash worked on a Treiball as the larger versions are called.

This training enables a dog to focus and work on their natural behaviours, essentially allowing a herding dog to herd. if these behaviours are practiced it is Kay's belief that a dogs stress levels are lowered and they are more able to cope with modern day living (cars / bikes etc). So far I have very much found this to be 100% correct.

Once focus is built within the game a cue can be added and used to counter condition in environments where you need your dog to remain focussed on something.

We will do some teaching sessions on this in the Summer for our dogs in a class tailored to this exercise.

Sheep Ball Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G4u3ApWTzg
Treiball Practice Video - http://cleverdogs.de/videos/

We also about tug games- We tug to play but to play safely there has to be rules. Play is a powerful teaching tool so we should be careful what we teach with it!

Kay Stocks some brilliant Tug Toys from Tug-e-nuff - http://www.tug-e-nuff.co.uk/

Can't reccommend any of the Learning About Dogs Courses highly enough!

If agility dog's could speak......

This is why we need to always be consistant with our training and competing........

Funny video but also a bit sad as the inconsistancies are always there for some poor dogs.

Christmas Pre-Agility Video!

Well, this is a short clip from the Xmas person weaving challenge which Lucy recorded in class. Not too embarassing!!

I keep forgetting to say thank you all again for my lovely Christmas Present, you can all borrow the DVD once I have watched it several more times! Thank you