My agility group puts on a mini trial on the last Tuesday
evening of every month.
http://www.trainingtroop.rocky-dog.com/
Tonight it was Steeplechase, Masters Team Relay, and Masters
Standard.

Friday did great on the Steeplechase, popped a pole in the Team
Relay (his partner ran clean), and took a very fast Q in the
Standard.

Rocky had an off-course in Steeplechase, ran clean in Team Relay
(his partner had a refusal, though), and ran 17 seconds under
time for his last Masters Standard leg (I *really* babysat him
through the contacts and the timer told me that I added at least
10 seconds doing this - but Rocky's a fast dog, not Friday-fast,
but fast enough to make up lots of time).

Anyway, 8 year old Rocky finally has his MAD.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

In article ,
Rocky wrote:

Anyway, 8 year old Rocky finally has his MAD.


Woohoooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

Major congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-)

-- Vicki

In rec.pets.dogs.activities Rocky wrote:

Anyway, 8 year old Rocky finally has his MAD.

That is so awsome. I was thinking, entirely without the notion of a pun,
that it was rocky going for a while. I'm thrilled for you.

--
Diane Blackman
There is no moral victory in proclaiming to abhor violence
while preaching with violent words.
http://dog-play.com/ http://dogplayshops.com/

I'm grateful for being able to take him cross-country to the
Canadian agility nationals in 2002 and I'm happy to be having
fun with a dog who is having fun.

Hi ya' Matt. I often think about you and Rocky, since I "knew" you 5+
years ago, and I now have an agility friend who has a Dal with
epilepsy. They have lots of challenges, but having fun isn't one of
them. They also are doing what they love (even if it isn't always what
the judge thinks they should be doing ;-)

Anyway, I'm thrilled for you both, too. Congrats to Rocky on his MAD!!!

Shammie got her AXJ last week-end - not quite in the same category as a
MAD, but I'm proud of my old girl, too!

And not to hi-jack Rocky's thread, but do I understand correctly that
Friday is one of those ballistically fast agility dogs? I am struggling
with handling Gris-Gris - she's faster than blue blazes, and also
pretty durn responsive, but that's only if I can think and act fast
enough to tell her where she's going before she's already gotten there.
Shammie is average speed and so I have time to *think* while we run,
but runs with Gris-Gris are often such a blur that I need to watch the
tape to see what I *should* have done... Any advice on developing the
mental quickness it takes to handle dogs like these??

I've been thinking that it's as though I need something like an agility
video game to develop faster reaction time... kinda like the game where
you try to click the bouncing ball or the changing background color
(both of which I've lost, if anyone still has links to either.)

I've never had a use for gaming before, but I'm wondering if I might
want to make an exception during the dog days of summer this year.
Suggestions for games that demand quick reactions appreciated. And/or
any other tips or advice as well (or even just commiserations, as
Gris-Gris's by FAR the more talented dog, but her Q's are few and far
between, no fault of her own!!)

Susan Fraser, owned and trained by the AuH2Ok9s:
SheBop, Shammie, and Gris-Gris

"Susan Fraser" said in
rec.pets.dogs.activities:

And not to hi-jack Rocky's thread, but do I understand
correctly that Friday is one of those ballistically fast
agility dogs?

Friday is extremely fast, though I save the term "ballistic" for
dogs like a friend's BC, Ellie, 28 pounds of furry fury - fast
and controllable only when everything aligns, especially the
handler's timing - which has to be perfect. I've had the
pleasure of handling Ellie - once Qing her in a jumpers round.
I think that we did so well (20s with a standard course time of
48s) because I didn't know that I was going to run her so hadn't
walked (and overthunk) the course - I did get to watch the two
dogs ahead of us run.

I am struggling with handling Gris-Gris -
she's faster than blue blazes, and also pretty durn
responsive, but that's only if I can think and act fast
enough to tell her where she's going before she's already
gotten there.

I do a lot of rear crosses with Friday. After I got him from
rescue, it took a while to build up his confidence so that he'd
work reliably ahead of me; I've gotten used to driving him ahead
(not that I can keep up with him, anyway) and, since it works
well, I stick with it to a certain degree.

For us, rear crosses have the advantage of pushing him to commit
to an obstacle early - he's very responsive to me and it's easy
to pull him off with front-crosses (in those rare situations I
can get ahead of him). FWIW, I'm talking about clumsy Matt
front-crosses - if I get too much handler focus on Friday, it
pisses him off. I'm working on it.

There are two things I've trained Friday on which have helped in
trials. "Go-go-go-go": "Keep running in a straight line until I
stop saying go or I say something else." Fast weave entries: I
set up curved tunnels or a jump 10' from the weave entries so
that Friday has to really think quick about his entrance.

OK, three things: Lead-outs. I'm not big on them. With poor
Matt timing, it's way too easy for a start-from-standstill
handler to send a running-at-full-tilt Friday to the wrong
obstacle. Last Nationals, though, I ran behind Terry Smorch
and Remy. Talk about exemplars of good timing.

I know my limitations, which is why I've trained Friday to both
lateral and linear distance. And why I do rear crosses - IMO,
they signal turns very early.

Shammie is average speed and so I have time
to *think* while we run, but runs with Gris-Gris are often
such a blur that I need to watch the tape to see what I
*should* have done... Any advice on developing the mental
quickness it takes to handle dogs like these??

First, get rid of the "thinking" part. Running a really fast
dog is a Zen thing, heh. I don't have time to think on course -
we're either less than a second ahead or behind those speedy
BCs, or we have a million faults.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

"Susan Fraser" said in
rec.pets.dogs.activities:

Anyway, I'm thrilled for you both, too. Congrats to Rocky
on his MAD!!!

Thanks, Susan!

I posted my comments to your agility comments on rpd.activities

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Really great! You've really hung in there for Rocky.

FurPaw
--
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
Isaac Asimov, _Foundation_

To reply, unleash the dog

In article , wrote:
Zen - it's what agility is all about

I'm not sure I'd describe it as "Zen," but one of my
favorite comments along these lines was Julianne Moore's
description of how she played a really, really, really bad
actress in "Boogie Nights." She said that she simply
thought about every word she said, and it made her stiff and
unnatural.

I guess one metric for whether or not you're good at
something is how hard you have to think about it - the
difference between people who move their lips when they read
and people who don't, for example, or the process of
learning to read music.

Which isn't to say that having everything come together in
one of those rare, special moments isn't a religious
experience.

I'm someone who tends to blab away to her dogs, but in
general in mushing dogs are trained that the only time they
get talked to is when the musher wants something different
(change of direction, faster, slower, etc.). I'm starting a
couple of new leaders (same dogs, moved around) and I find
that verbal encouragement does help dogs that aren't sure
about continuing what they're doing. Plus, I think by now
my dogs are pretty used to me being a motor mouth and are
probably surprised when I clam up.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"Rocky" wrote in message
...

Anyway, 8 year old Rocky finally has his MAD.


Congrats, Matt. It must be an extra special monument to your agility career.
I know for a while it was looking, well, rocky, and that you must cherish
every run regardless if it ends up in a Q, a placement or a title.

Christy

"Susan Fraser" wrote in message
oups.com...

I do a lot of rears with Gris-Gris (GreeGree), too, although pretty
much all my instructors have been big front cross people.

The key to front crossing, which should be pretty obvious but at many times
isn't, is that you must be ahead of your dog. That means you either have to
be running faster than your dog, which is near impossible unless you have 1)
a tiny or slow dog, or b) you have to have a handler path that allows you to
run a shorter distance as well as a dog trained to work well away from you.
If you don't have a or b, you are better off working rear crosses most of
the time. And frankly, front crosses aren't always the best move, even if
you can get there - for example, I ran a jumpers course recently where the
dogs exited a tunnel and turned 90 degrees to teh left, took two wing jumps
and turned 90 degrees to the right. Many, many folks were front crossing in
between the two jumps, because the dog was in the tunnel long enough to
allow it. However, a lot of dogs missed the first jump entirely as they were
focused on their handler's pirouettes and not the obstacle. The wing
obstructed the dog's view of the handler and the shorter path to see their
handler was to cut in and miss the jump. When I stayed near the tunnel exit,
I was able to work the jump, send my dog to the next jump and rear cross.
Both options were valid but the rear cross allowed much more room for
handler error!


The other big influence around here is Flash Paws (Jane Simmons-Moake)
but they do thing at odds with my basic instruction - like hanging back
and giving directionals and especially "pushing" a dog laterally - I
was taught to *always* stay on the inside of the arc.

I am trying to figure out what you mean by pushing laterally - you mean
sending/turning a dog away from you? This is a huge asset if you have a fast
dog, because it allows you to move in that shorter handler path that I
mentioned above in b. Hanging back and giving directionals is also useful
but it does require really fast thinking and can be disastrous if your
timing isn't perfect. However adapting some of those methods and using them
in your own way might be worth trying.


Yes, I'm trying to do that too, as well as run more silently unless I
really have something to say. But this backfired last trial, had a
beautiful run going and called out "tunnel" after a line of jumps but
then before I could inhale to say "here" to change her line as she came
out she was already through the tunnel and sailing over the trap
straight out from it. I could've done a little cheerleading and danced
a jig in the time it would've taken Sham to get through that tunnel...
I am just having a hard time with such rapid-fire timing!

Were you still moving? One thing that took me a LONG time to learn,
especially after running a slower dog, was when not to move. I had the
mindset of, my dog is running fast so I have to race him! And that simply
doesn't work - he just goes faster and more willy nilly. It was only after I
learned how to watch his striding and predict where he would be landing that
I could figure where I needed to be and if I needed to stop moving. My one
extra step could push him over an off course jump. In the above scenario,
not just words but body movements could be used to get your dog's focus off
the jump, even before he exited the tunnel, long enough to direct him
correctly. It takes a long time to learn but one thing that helped was
having my trainer yell at the time I should be signalling so I could see how
late I was cueing.


Weaves are Gris-Gris' strong point. She dives for her entry just about
no matter where I am, or what the approach is, and seldom misses it.
That's one reason I bemoan making stupid timing errors that cost us
Q's, because SHE is really doing her part well, and it's ME who lets
her down with suck-y timing.

Join the club.

Funny you should say that - Elicia likes to really lead out, 2 or 3
jumps if she can, I usually go out 1 or 2, but our last run at
Mississippi Mavericks (now *there's* a club that deserves kudos - they
lost just about everything in the storm as did most of their members,
and they still got it together to have this trial!) the opening
sequence was a curve to the right, so I started on her left and ran
with her, crossing behind between 1 and 2, and I *loved* the response -
she knew exactly where she was going, and really turned on the
afterburners.

Well there you go, the rear cross worked in that scenario, while others
might have done a lead out pivot. I love and use long lead outs whenever I
can, because it often allows me to show Wylie where the first 3-4 obstacles
are right from the start. The drawback is moving from a stop to full tilt,
especially if there are off course traps nearby, in which case I have to
adjust my lead out so that I have room to run and direct correctly.


OK, lateral distance. Do you use directionals? Elicia says there are 3
that are relative to the handler: "Go" like we are using it, "come" or
"name" to turn toward you (like I should have done out of that tunnel)
and "out" to move lateral to the handler. The only time I use this is
flipping the dog, like off the dog walk into a tunnel opposite me, or
in a serpentine.

I always learned "out" was for a lateral movement without changing
direction, as in "get out to that further obstacle" usually accompanied by a
push out with the arm. The way you've described flipping a dog would be
"turn" or "left/right." "Turn" is to switch leads/turn away from the
handler, no matter what side you're on, so you would go "turn tunnel" off
the dog walk. I haven't seen anyone use "out" for that move.

But I'm seriously considering working more on it, so I
could use it to layer some. Do you layer?

Layering is often when the use of "out" comes into play, i.e. if you are on
the inside of two parallel jumps and you want the dog to take the further
away one ("out over,") or you have a jump in between you and a tunnel
entrance ("out tunnel.") But those don't involve a directional.


Then Elicia says there are 3 directionals NOT relative to the handler:
left, right, and "switch". I've never taught these and I'm not sure I
want to. Heck, if I am having a hard time just saying "come" to a dog
exiting a tunnel, I've got a big picture what would happen if I had to
decide to say left or right while looking back over my shoulder at a
dog exiting a U-shaped tunnel G

"Switch" I would assume is the same thing as "turn." I can't tell you how
strongly I suggest you give this a try! Left/right is harder, I admit, and
though I'm teaching it to my puppy and working on it with Wylie, I still
tend to use "turn" as I know that is correct whereas remembering my right
and left on the fly can be sketchy. But the command to turn away from the
handler is so valuable, especially with a fast dog!! It has saved my butt
many a time. The ability to get the dog to switch leads before taking a jump
can save time, keep bars up and avoid off courses.


And then there's linear distance, I assume you mean "go" never mind me
huffing along back here, which is fine if it's the end of a course. But
what do you do with a dog who has gone straight ahead and so is now way
ahead and the course turns but I'm not up there to signal it?

That's the directionals part - the turn/switch or right/left. Believe me, it
is such a thing of beauty to be two jumps behind your dog and signal the
turn and watch them smoothly take the jump - it is magical! I sometimes have
to kick myself to keep from stopping and watching the glory of it because in
another millisecond - whoops two jumps off course!

Christy