Agility

Committee and General meetings are held on the 1st Wednesday of the month at Club House at Castle Hill Show ground.

Meeting will commence at 7.30pm.
All are invited to attend the General Meetings as the Club greatly welcomes members' input.

NEWS & NOTICES

The 2010 ANKC Trial Calendar is now available - see Whats On. Please note dates may change without notice.

CLUB COMPETITIONS

The Club Competition is held on the Last Thursday of each month. For new members to Blue and Red class,
the competitions provide good pre-trialling practice or just the chance to run a course.

Members entering the Club Competition are reminded
to write their name and dog's name clearly on the run sheets provided.

Remember, we are all running dogs and therefore all members are required to help with
equipment assemblage, timing and scribing to make the competitions run smoothly.

Click here for current Club Jumping and Club Agility point scores.

INSTRUCTORS ROSTER

July - Dec 2010 Instructors Roster now available.

A copy of the Club Constitution is available on request.

Members are forgetting to wear their badges during training.
Badges must be worn at all times while participating in club events.
If you have lost your badge, please apply for a new one.

The Agility Club is often asked to participate in demonstrations at various events throughout the year.
It is a great way to get your dog ready for the trial ring in a less pressured, more fun atmosphere.
You will need the Club 'uniform' of blue club shirt and white trousers. Blue shirts may be bought from the club shop.
Check out the What's On page to see when our next demo is. If you are in blue class or higher and
would like to participate please give your name to Gillian or at the counter.

Please note that the Secretary's hut will close at 9.00pm.
Please make certain you have completed any administrative work before then.

All class members should be reminded that we are now listing all class promotions in Agility News.
If you are promoted be sure to add your name to the list in the Promotions Folder on the counter each Thursday night

If you have gained a Title throughout the year please ensure you have notified your committee to ensure you receive your medallion. See forms

Tips for new members

We sincerely hope you will enjoy your membership of our Club and set out the following information and advice to assist you in learning not only what we do, but also how we do it.

The Ground Manager will run through the WELCOME leaflet with you and explain any points you may not fully understand. Please pay particular attention to items i) and ii) in the General Guidelines section and we ask you to thoroughly read and comply with the Club’s Ground Rules on the back page.

The basic approach to training dogs in agility is to praise and reward the desire behaviour and ignore undesired or incorrect behaviour. This is called Positive Training. Reprimanding or punishing incorrect behaviour is NOT required.
At a beginner level the dogs must be encouraged to remember and repeat good behaviour and incorrect behaviour should not be rewarded and therefore forgotten. Reprimands are counter productive because the cause the dog to reminder bad behaviour.

General Guidelines for Reward Based Training.

At an early stage, the only way for a dog to learn what is expected is to reward it when it performs successfully. The bigger the reward the quicker the dogs will learn and be motivated to continue. Praise should be often and the food reward should be worth while enough for the dog to want to try it again.

Make sure you know what you are rewarding. If a dog does 5 obstacles nicely and then is asked to sit at the end, are they being rewarded for the sit or the sequence? If a dog is having trouble with an obstacle , the reward should come straight after that obstacle , not after completing a sequence.. If a dog is not motivated at all it should be rewarded after every obstacle.

Remember that Agility is a very new and exciting environment for some dogs and be mindful that space if often required to prevent scuffles or fights. As well as learning something new, some dogs have never seen so many other dogs in one area before. Watch dogs body language, give dogs space and time to get use to each other, keep food in sealed containers and be careful of ‘revving’ dogs up with toys too close to another dog.

Handlers should try not to rush their dogs too much initially.
While speed is desired by most, it is something that should come naturally with confidence in obstacles and knowing what the handler wants. Rushing early can create dogs that are mostly out of control.

For dogs that are on lead, be very careful not to accidentally reprimand them by jerking their collar as they go over an obstacle. It is often difficult to predict which direction or how fast a dog on lead is going to go. Handlers should work at getting dogs to focus on their signals, thus controlling the dog rather than letting the dog control their path.

Always use the hand closest to the dog to signal.
Using the other hand means the handlers body is facing the dog, giving it no information about which direction should be taken. The arm not signalling should be kept away to avoid confusing the dog.

Getting caught behind the jump.Handlers should start to the side of a jump before commencing a sequence or start at an angle. Often a handler starting behind a jump with the dog will pull the dog off the jumps when they run around it.

Dogs must be handled equally on both sides other wise they develop a preference for working on one side, usually the left, a habit that is very hard to break later. This applies to all obstacles especially the weave poles.

Dogs running off/zooming due to failure to give a command to turn. Any where the dog cannot see the next obstacle as obvious, the handler needs to give a command to let the dog know that a change of direction is required.

Never push a dog beyond its current limit. If a dog is not happy doing 2 jumps in a row, there is little point in asking it to do 8. Better to work at getting a happy enthusiastic performance over one or two and progressing a jump at a time.

Never allow behaviour to continue that will need to be corrected later.

Example: If a dog spends its 1st 3 months jumping off contact zones, it is likely that this will continue to some extent throughout its career, without extensive retraining. Contact performance should be taught at the very beginning and only successful performances be rewarded.

Example: If you don’t want your dog to bark during Agility, you should never let it start!. The same applies for jumping on or biting the handler. When these behaviours occur, the fun should stop and the dog will soon get the message that this is not part of the game. Another successful tactic is the distract the dog by asking for an incompatible behaviour when unwanted behaviour occurs.

Never practice a mistake.

If you are having trouble with a sequence, stop after the 2nd failed attempt, put your dog away and workout what the problem is without your dog, either by asking for help or practising your body language or timing.

Control Training.

Learn how to teach your dog basic obedience and control work NOW 

Don’t wait until you start in beginners class.

Basic obedience is an essential part of agility and probably the most important part.

The more confident your dog becomes in negotiating the obstacles and the more excited it gets, the more control you need between obstacles. The three basic requirements for the dog to learn are to COME” to SIT and STAY. Not so important but a very definite bonus is to LIE DOWN. 

DOGS DONOT SPEAK ENGLISH so to communicate with them, to covey to them what it is you are trying to teach them, we use BODY LANGUAGE ie Hand movements and signals. We’ll show you how to use your hands and how and when to reward your dogs behaviour with food treats.

Practice these movements in two 2 minute sessions each day initially with the food treat in your hand where applicable and subsequently, when you dog is responding correctly and regularly, using the treat as a reward for obeying the hand signal without the food in it.

It is very important to concentrate on giving the hand signal clearly and correctly, as it is that, that the dog is responding to. Voice the command word at the same time encouragingly so that the dog can hear it and associate the particular sound, but donot expect the dog to respond to the sound without giving the signal at the same time. That will happen over time with repetition at your training sessions.

Off lead work.

Your class instructor will be encouraging you to work your dog off lead as soon as possible. Initially this may be done negotiating one obstacle at a time. There is good reason for this. In Agility the lead is only used to guide and reassure your dog how to negotiate a new obstacle. As soon as the dog experiences the ease and fun of success in negotiating the obstacle the lead comes off. You, the handle, then have to work much harder to communicate with and instruct your dog what to do and where to go next as you cannot physically pull it around. In turn you dog, looking for its reward, pay attention to you, where your going and what your telling it to do. All Agility training is geared towards you acquiring the skills to control your dog having fun off lead.