• 09Mar

  Recording Your Runs

  Dog Agility Competing 2 Comments

  Every Q you get heads somewhere, but where? And if you do different organizations and trials how do you keep it all straight? A record book can help you keep it all straight. You can use a notebook, or an actual record book such as we carry! The record book holds all your dogs’ important information (shots records, emergency numbers, etc.) as well as pages for runs, trials and titles! Plus there are sheets for Agility Club information and agility friends. It’s in a three ring binder for easier access, and has all the major venues inside (AKC, USDAA, NADAC, UKC, and CPE) - and many of the less common ones are available on request.  Have everything you need for your trial available in one book! It’s the little black book of Agility! …except it’s red.

  When you’ve completed a title, the agency knows and will send you notification, but it’s much more fun to keep track yourself.  That way you can tell yourself, and your dog that “Hey, sweetie, if we Q today, you’re a Mach! let’s go.”  Maybe your dog doesn’t care… but maybe he does!

  Tags: dog products

• 08Mar

  Understanding Scoring

  Dog Agility Competing No Comments

  Many people have difficulty understanding their scoring, especially beginners to the sport. I’m going to go over the information here in an attempt to help everyone learn what their scoring actually tells them. This is an example from one of Ruger’s runs.

  Distance: 177 yards SCT: 67 seconds Excellent A Pref 20 inch Judge: Kurt Matushek
  Place Name Time TFlts RFlts WCFlts TblFlts E/F Score
  Ruger/L.Freed 60.21 0 1 0 0 2 Elim

  The Distance is the total yards the dog must run. This is measured by the judge prior to running the course. You will see the judge out there with a measuring wheel, checking the yardage.

  The SCT:67 seconds means that the course should be completed within 67 seconds. SCT = Standard Course Time.

  The rest of the information tells me that I was running in Excellent A Preferred at 20″ and my judge was Kurt Matushek.

  The second part of the scoring is where people often are clueless. So I’ll explain what it means. The top row is labelled with the headers: Place, Name, Time, TFlts, RFlts, WCFlts, TblFlts, E/F, and Score. Directly below these headers will be the information pertaining to your run. Place is if you ran a qualifying run and got a ribbon placement. You would have 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th under Place. Obviously in this example Ruger did not Place. Name is self explanatory, the dogs name/owner name. Time is the amount of time it took your dog to run the course. TFlts =Time Faults, this indicates the amount of time you went over the SCT. RFlts = Refusal Faults, this will show any/every time you had a refusal on course. WCFlts = Wrong Course Faults, will show any/every time your dog went off course. TblFlts = Table Faults, which indicates any fault occuring at the table. E/F = Error/Fault indicates any errors or faults other than the previously listed ones. Things like dropped bars and missed contacts are indicated under the E/F heading. Score, will show if you were Elim (Eliminated) or if you Qualified (Q).
  I hope this helps to understand the scoring a little bit. And I hope that all of you have better runs than the one Ruger ran on this day!!

  ~ Thanks to Linda Freed at http://agilityteamair.wordpress.com/ for the above entry~

  Tags: agility beginners, agility competing

• 05Mar

  Hip Dysplastic Agility?

  Dog Training (General) No Comments

  According to EN-US Karen Machin, DVM PhD, hip dysplasia doesn’t mean you can’t partake in agility, if your vet says its’ all right for your dog.  It does mean you need to keep your dog in the best shape possible, and it certainly means you need to be careful, but that does not mean you can’t get out there and run a course! Given that so many of the agility ‘breeds’ (Border Collies, Shelties, Labs) have a predisposition to the malady, it’s probably a good thing they can!

  Some things to keep in mind if your agility buddy has hip problems:

  • Take it a little bit easy.  Compete in preferred classes when available, so your dog can have all the fun and none of the strain that can come with jumping too high (or scrabbling high a-frames).
  • Keep your training sessions short.  All dogs learn best with short training sessions, but dogs with dysplasia should especially not have very long practice times!  Have several short sessions instead of one long one.
  • Talk to your vet.  See if a glucosamine or chondotrin supplement can help your dog!
  • Exercise.  Get a lot of non-agility exercise, too, to help strengthen your dogs’ overall health as well as the affected joint.  Consider water training, since water work takes the strain off the joints and puts it in the muscles!
  • Contact Obstacles   It may be worth your while to consider rubber coating your obstacles to make it easier for your dog to grip the surface, thus making the climb and descent easier on all their joints, not just their hips. 

  Tags: dog safety & health

• 04Mar

  Lovin’ the Loose Leash

  Dog Training (General) No Comments
  

  Come oooooon!!!

  Agility dogs are often high drive and high energy and rarin’ to go! They want their leashes off and they want to be running over that course. But often, you want them on their leash and walking beside you, not at the end of their leash (end of your rope!) and hauling you along.

  While the micro-millimeter heel isn’t necessary, loose leash walking is. Every dog should be able to walk on a loose leash.  You don’t want to risk your dog injuring their windpipe, or straining your shoulder or back from walking a hauling dog. Train your dog to walk with you, not walk for you by setting your heels in. As he’s at the end of the rope, leaning into it, spin around with no warning and go the other way. Yes, this will pull him with you quite hard. That is the point. Chances are, he’ll run to the end of the leash in that direction. That’s okay. Turn around again and walk the other way. This might take a few repetitions, but your dog doesn’t like being hauled, so he’ll stick a little bit closer to you to avoid it, and keep a closer eye on you. Praise him effusively when he walks beside you, or loose-leashed. Tell her she’s the greatest dog ever and isn’t it nice to have your collar not pulling? And look! treats! Pretty soon the dog will clue in and offer the behavior of their own accord, and you’ll have a much better time walking.

  Some dogs have conditioned themselves to not care about the pull of their collar.  These dogs may benefit from a head halter or harness for retraining.  Remember to reward the behavior you want! Make it worth their while to walk beside you in a mannerly fashion with a loose leash.  Dogs will do what rewards them, and pulling rewards them with sights and smells and other dogs and sometimes food!  Walking beside you has to be worth it to them. Once it is, it’ll be worth it to you to walk them more often!  a dog on a loose leash is a pleasure to walk.

  Tags: dog training

• 03Mar

  Getting it Right

  Dog Agility Training, Dog Training (General) 2 Comments

  Q. How should I correct my Labrador Retriever, Blaze? When he gets something right I give him a treat or throw his toy, but what do I do if he gets it wrong? If he breaks a wait, jumps off a contact or misses a weave entry, I don’t want to yell at him or hit him.

  A. I’m so glad to hear that! You should never use physical punishment. Mistakes are inevitable and an important part of the learning process. They’ll happen even though you try to make it easy for Blaze to get things right. Mistakes also occur because our performance criteria change in different environments. A paw-perfect dog in training will Continue reading »

  Tags: agility training, dog training

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