International Agility WOOT!

Posted on March 7, 2013 by ffluffy

Very cool Dog Agility Blog Event on Internationalization !!

The technology available to agility competitors has increased the ability to do agility at a different level. Videos of competitors from around the world have inspired interest in worldwide agility skills. International course design is cropping up in AKC and USDAA in the form of threadles, backsides and other global sequences. USDAA has added a Master Challenge course that has many international course features which can be found in DAM Team courses as well.

My favorite course map website has international courses from the judges overseas at http://pompilio.wordpress.com/ I like to print out courses and set them up to work on the challenging pieces as well as re-number and try new sequences from the same course. My students enjoy the options and I try to embed shorter/less complicated sequences that people with young dogs can do within the harder course so that there are level appropriate sections for everyone.

Here is a course we are going to run tonight that was designed by Harald Schjelderup. He is going to be a judge at the FCI World Championships.

There are multiple options to try within this course, and I am sure I will come up with more tonight!

This is a link to a previous blog post regarding a Harald Schjelderup international jumpers course with different options to try https://ffluffy.com/2013/02/15/harald-schjelderup-agility-course/

Cardboard and Girl Scout Cookies VS Fun Agility Courses and a Bottle of Wine

Posted on February 19, 2013 by ffluffy

A woman who meant well offered me cardboard to “keep me warm” the last night I was camping at the agility trial. I was dirty and dressed in my awesome striped PJ’s pants and mismatched top. I thanked her gratefully and suggested she leave it by the dumpster for the next person who might need it. I also learned that Grasshopper Cookies ($2 at walmart) taste as good as or better than Girl Scout Thin Mints ($4 from your local girl scout). I know this sounds too good to be true but we did a genuine taste test around the campfire. It might have been the beers, but I swear the Grasshoppers won out. And you can buy them year round!!! Woot!

To top the weekend off I scored an AMAZING bottle of wine from some good friends, got to run a really cool dog (sorry about the ankle) and watched a cool MACH Run! More WOOT!

Check out these two courses by Dan Butcher from this weekend. Some neat challenges that kept people on their feet and caught a few of us off guard! My best advice to the worry warts: #wootyurlife It’s the only option when the doubt flies in, just kick it out with some heartfelt woot and even if you don’t Q you can still feel AWESOME!!! LOL!

Can’t wait for next weekend; I’m running for margaritas!!!!

Harald Schjelderup Agility Course

Posted on February 15, 2013 by ffluffy

We tried an interesting course last night by Harald Schjelderup, an international judge from NORWAY. This course is from last year at Drobak. Thanx to all of you who came out!

This is a photo with some ideas and then a summary follows.

There are a few options for handling starting with the beginning #4 – #7. Either do a serpentine, where you really have to work the send to #5 OR try 3 front crosses which means you really have to hustle your butt!

It helps the dog to know they are going to the weaves if you send and start to move away from the tunnel as they enter. Saw a lot of wide turns there. Staying with the dog on the left out of the tunnel and rear crossing the weaves might tighten the turn up even more. You can assess how well you showed the dog they were going to the weaves by how wide the turn out of the tunnel was. The wider the turn, the less info your dog had about where to go next.

A lot of dogs missed #10 due to the handlers setting a bad line out of the weaves and/or not handling #10 (don’t take it for granted).

Set up the turn at #12 so that the dog knows they are taking the correct tunnel entry (almost handle as if you were going to the chute). I tried 3 options here, handling to the #13 tunnel, handling to the off course tunnel and handling to the chute. It helped clarify how to show the dog where they are going next.

As the dog enters the chute they really need to know they are not in extension and that they should turn and look for you to get #15. Again I tried handling the off course option to the tunnel so that my dog could recognize when I was running vs decelerating at the chute entrance.

Making plans and wooting it up! #wootyurlife

Posted on February 13, 2013 by ffluffy

Blogility 1^st entry since ffluffy.com went offline a few years ago

Plans/Goals/Objectives. Gotta have them. They are scary to make, sometimes even scarier to follow through with. Something that helps me is writing them down, and sharing them with other people, and making a calendar that includes the goals and how to reach the goal in a timely fashion. Back in my bike racing days we called this type of planning “peaking”, where you plan out a few big races, and train for them. We spent hours riding slow miles, building a “base” before we did sprints and faster training. I hated it. BUT I learned that going slow can lead to going fast. In agility this would equate to training small pieces and working on the processes and dog training that leads to the whole. I have to constantly remind myself that the parts are as important as the whole! Luckily I have found that I do enjoy working on tricks and other behaviors that help me and my dogs build a better relationship. I enjoy finding a small handling sequence with a certain focus and trying it many different ways. Here is an example of a small handling sequence (thanx to LeapsNBounds) that you can try many different ways.

I am working on turns with Ho. He needs as much information about where we are going next as possible and then we still might have a big turn…LOL. I ❤ you Ho! For making me an honest handler! And for being cute as hell, and loving me no matter what.