Hoax's Agility Training
Well Hoax is my new Agility Dog. She is being trained with positive methods and I am
enjoying it so much.
My main influences with Hoax training so far are probably: My Hubby Nic, Susan Garrett,
Greg Derrett & Toni Dawkins, others have helped as well but these are the ones that
have really influenced me!
Strong Foundations:
My foundation work started as soon as she .jpg)
came home. I introduced the clicker and started with
basic cues. In her first few months Hoax learnt positions (sit & down), heelwork,
left/ rights, nose targets, sendaways and tons of play. Her food and toy drive are
fantastic which makes training pretty easy. She is happy with repetition and isn't afraid
to get things wrong now and again. Her confirmation is pretty good although some may
consider her a too small. She has a powerful rear end which I am trying to help her be
aware of with tricks like perch work (standing front feet on a box) and reversing etc. I
have also done 'shadow handling' where you teach them to run with you and respond to
changes of direction etc.
Jumping:
Hoaxs jumping work .jpg)
started at about eleven months. We began with
straight lines to a toy or recalled to me then tug reward. After going to a Susan Garrett
seminar where Susan Salos work was presented to me.
I was shown the 'Salo Spider' or V- Bounce. This is a setup
that helps guide the dog where to take off and guides them to power from their rear rather
than pulling over the jumps. My biggest issue with Hoax is she tends to rush through
things. Hoax tendency is that she rushes the grids and spider it creates a pull from her
front rather than her rear. Susan calls this the sewing machine as the dog is chopping up
and down rather than keeping smooth. This is not good for speed or for long term body
maintenance. Switching to food as a target instead of toys helped her think about her body
rather than food and is creating a better jump. During the jump you are looking for a low
head, curved back, balanced legs and follow up of rear legs on landing for collection onto
the next obstacle. The inset side shot photo is blurry I know but shows a nice form over
the jump. You can also see a short video of Boo and Hoax working the spider. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SNvWjEwjnY
I am quite pleased so far
and
will do this is little more but would like to use single bars with Hoax and not lose the
form. We have switched to spreads to stop her pulling and she is working them well. You
can see the improvement it is making with Boo. When he first came out for competition he
struggled with his style quite a bit. You can see in this shot his head is up and his back
is straight, neither of which are good at all for his times or his health!
I have also been working grids with hoax quite often. I want her to
be able to select when to bounce, when not to and how to bend through a turn. Susan showed
us how different grids can help with different issues. I started with a neat grid of four
jumps each with about seven foot in between each hurdle. She bounced these easily. I
watched for balance and rhythm and when I was happy I increased the gaps. A typical grid
for Hoax of 9', 11', 11' is a comfortable bounce for her. I work the grids at about
15" high only at the moment. The grids will get more difficult with me increasing
gaps so that she will have to add strides in some places and bounce others. I need her to
select when to compress and when to extend. I have also been working Susan Salos bend
grids for turning. The idea of this grid is for the dog to confidently take the fastest
line without adding extra strides. A dog should be able to bounce through a fan fairly
easily but most will add a stride extra on the second turn as they haven't been efficient
enough to bend the middle wing. The grid helps them learn about their legs and take off
etc without them needing to worry about height or handling.
As you can see on her diary page she ran her first trial recently, she saw grids in the
course and I am most pleased with her final line which she jumped really nicely, see her
here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PwOSPms39c
she is balanced and extending. If I am picky I would say she landed with her weight too
much on her front over the last jump but that is due to the toy distraction rather than
anything else I think.
UPDATE: Hoax has measured into medium so I know she will have no issue with the jumps.
I have however decided to work her, in training mostly at full height (24"). The
reason for this is that quite a few medium collies jump long and flat, giving them wide
turns and a harsh flat jump style. While this may make them faster than Hoax, I would
prefer Hoax to jump with more of an arc as I think this will be less impact on her.
Contacts:
I have decided to train Hoax with Susan Garretts nose target method. There
are many reasons why this method works but I opted to use it for the following reasons.
Firstly the foundation can be taught very young. I started nose targeting Hoax to my hand
at about 
eight
weeks. Once she had a strong press on my hand I brought in a clear plexiglas target. I
then had her nose touch this in different positions. I held it high, low under her nose
etc. I did all this before she even saw agility equipment. Secondly the target behaviour
at the base of the contact is reinforcing for the dog. they have a job to do which makes
it clear and concise for them. Thirdly it keeps their focus low and in front which helps
them focus on the final position instead of looking at you. This makes independency on
contacts very easy to train as you can train it all before you start using the equipment.
I have a travel plank I use for Hoax and before she even saw an A-Frame she could move
into target position, with me running past. Drive to target, with me standing behind or
ten feet out to the side. Drive to target, with me running laterally away.. anyway you get
the idea. It means by the time I begin completing sequences she will already have the
proofing understanding built in.
UPDATE: Hoax contact continue to improve. I have now faded the target
completely and she is still targeting the floor successfully. She isn't as quick over them
as I had hoped but I know that confidence + understanding = Speed, so I am hoping they
will get quicker!
Weaves Well it took me a long time to be happy with Boos weaves. He couldn't
really understand the entry and I think this was my failure with using V Weaves and
keeping weave one and two open for so long, as he always kept looking for the skew weave
in 
competition.
He is fab now but it took a long time and some weave guides to really perfect it. With
Hoax I have decided to use channel weaves. I know how to train these and can train my
independency whilst they are still wide. I started with very wide channels and worked
cross behinds, angles etc. I do this at each closure stage until the weaves are very
tightly together. I think I will teach V weaves as well, I may use this as a transitional
tool when switching to the straight line weaves.
UPDATE: Hoax is almost on straight lines now. I have practised angles at each closure
and been using weaves with guides on entrance only. She seems to love the weaves right
now!
Overview:
Play has played the biggest part in our agility career so far and always will. Any toy
will do, and Hoax would never turn down a play session. I have been teaching tug on
contacts and in her wait positions to help with weight shift and to be able .jpg)
to
reward for nose targeting with tug. My baby girl certainly has natural ability which will
be to my advantage in training, along with her happiness to redo things again and again.
She is agile in her home life so I am hoping that this reflects in agility. I am certainly
working to help her use it! She is quite quick but doesn't cover the ground like Boo can.
I guess this is partly coz she is so small. I know with Hoax everything will need to be
perfect for her to be competitive. I cannot rely on pure speed over the ground so I will
need to teach tight, fast turns and great contacts and weaves. I think she has the
potential to be good, I just need to try to fulfil it!
Relevant Agility Links:
Susan Garretts training school
in Canada
Susan Salo the Jump Queen
Thatcham DTC- Our Agility
school where Nic teaches
MAD Agility- Don Curtis'
puppy class is motivational and incredibly supportive
Greg Derretts- GT Agility