1Week One

Introduction

Well The puppy course is finally here. It is 36 weeks long and will run until Christmas including a summer break.
We have 10 dogs aged between 10 and 12 months.
2 Terv's
6 Border Collies
2 Collie crosses

Handled by 4 men and 6 women

All these people have competed or are competing with other dogs in Agility,
so they are all keen to do well with their new puppies and understand the
discipline required when starting to train a new dog. 

The Trainers are Lynne Ward, Olive Gardner and myself, John Ward
Lynne and I both run Senior dogs and Olive has been in agility for many years.

Training at CATS consists of a set of controlled exercises on jumps, to teach the dogs to go straight, turn right and turn left when commanded - as well as another important and often overlooked command the "wait" which will help produce a controlled start to the agility round.
A different piece of equipment will be introduced each week until eventually all the items of an agility course are covered.   Off lead work will commence as soon as we are sure the dogs will return to the owners when called and not interfere with other dogs in the class. It is very difficult to teach agility with your dog on a lead because the lead can very easily become tangled in the equipment. This is why we stress at the beginning of this article that your dog must be taught basic obedience.
If you are using these methods to train your own dog and find you have a problem them please feel free to E-mail us and we will try to help you.   

Well that's the end of the Intro, let's get started. catsagility@btinternet.com

Training week 1

Objective

w To teach the dog to sit and wait at the start.
w To recall the dog over at least one, but hopefully more jumps.
w Introduce the pipe tunnel
w Teach the dog the position you want it to take up on the contact point of the dog walk.

One jump was set up for each handler in two lines of five going up the venue.The height of the jump has been set at 10 inches and will not be increased for some weeks. The dog walk and the pipe tunnel were placed between them to form a barrier.

Sit stay and recall the first jump

Each handler was asked to place their dog in the sit position approximately a lead length away from the jump.
Keeping the dog in the sit position,  place the end of the lead onto the jump pole and walk around the jump to the other side.  If the dog breaks the sit at any time it is important to go back and put the dog back in the required position. Once on the other side of the jump and facing the dog, bend down and pick up the lead - at the same time telling the dog to sit. Again if the dog breaks the sit go back and start again from the beginning. Do not be in a rush to do your first jump. You should now be standing facing your dog with the lead in your hand and the jump in between.  When you are sure the stay is steady, recall your dog over the jump and praise it for doing the exercise correctly.  Do not let your dog anticipate the recall because this will only lead to problems later on.   Repeat this exercise and practising leaving your dog from the left and right.  Try to discipline yourself and do not let the dog get away with breaking the stay and doing the jump when it wants to. When you are confident your dog will stay, complete the exercise off the lead. Then do the same exercise over two jumps making the dog sit and stay between each jump.

Sit stay and recall more than one jump

To recall over two jumps place the jumps about 3 paces apart. Put your dog in the sit as above  (off lead of course) and walk around two jumps, keep commanding the dog to wait until you are standing facing the dog with two jumps between you and the dog. Stand as close as you can to the second jump so you can stretch your arms  out over the jump pole towards the dog. Recall the dog over the first jump,  and, as the dog comes towards you move backwards calling the dog as you go.  When the dog has jumped the second pole praise and place into the sit. At this stage do not let your dog run off and interfere with any other dog. At no time during training do you let your dog run round out of control it will only cause problems later. If at any time your dog breaks the stay go back and begin again. When you are confident at 2 jumps move to three and then four. If you encounter problem on two or three jumps that you were not getting over one, go back one step until confidence is restored.  Please do not  move to the next step until you can do the first step properly. Try not to keep correcting problems encountered on more than one jump go back to the beginning and start again one step at a time.

The pipe tunnel first steps     

Start with the pipe tunnel as short as possible and position the dog close to the entrance. The trainer holds the dog while the handler moves to the end and calls the dog through. It's important that the trainer does not let the dog turn round in the tunnel and come out the wrong end!   Collect the dog two or three paces away from the tunnel praise the dog and repeat in opposite direction. If you encounter problems place the dog on a lead and put the lead through the tunnel when you are in position  gently tug the lead while encouraging the dog through. Most dogs like the pipe tunnel so any problems will soon disappear. The next step is for the trainer to move away and let the handler sit their dog at the tunnel entrance and call the dog through.       

The first touch point

It is important to have an idea in your mind of the position you want your dog to take up on the contact.  With this in mind we started to teach the down contact on the dog walk.  My own preference is for the dog to stop with its two front paws on the ground and the rear paws on the contact.  To teach this, handlers were asked to decide which command they would use for this and then to gently lift their dogs and place them on the contact in the desired position.  All opted for the two paws on the floor and two on the contact, with differing commands of "on it", "there", etc.  This exercise was repeated several times, with the dogs on the left and right hand side of their handlers.   The handlers all used a release word to move the dogs off the contact, i.e. "okay", "go on".  The next stage is to lift the dogs onto the down plank slightly above the contact.  The dogs are then led down the plank, with the handlers giving their "contact command" as the dog reaches the desired position.  

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