Agility: drive, passion, intensity- do you have it?

[wildo]

Just some thoughts I've had recently about where I am with agility, where I want to be, and how I am going to get there. The USDAA championships were really eye opening to me and the experience has inspired me to send this email to my training facility:

I've been training at your facility since the start of the year now, about 9 months worth. I've found great success with <Instructor 1> progressing through Beginner I, Beginner II, and am now enjoying classes in Novice/Open with <Instructor 2>. My dog is doing very well at trials with Q's in all but one of her runs so far as well as many first place finishes in her competitive level (CPE). She enjoys agility and is very good at it.

But I'm not satisfied. After attending the Cynosport World Games USDAA agility championships- I saw literally hundreds of dogs that loved the game so much that they would literally watch other dogs run and creep ever closer to the agility ring, whining, practically begging their owners to let them go out and run the course as well. The dogs weren't good at agility because they had fantastic trainers like <Instructor 1> or <Instructor 2>, but because they had an undying, intense love of the game. For those dogs, the reward wasn't a tug at the end of the run- for those dogs, the reward was the run itself. This is foundational to a dog competing at an elite level. Susan Garrett claims on her blog that the three crucial keys to agility greatness are "foundations, foundations, foundations."

I want to move past being a "pet owner who enjoys agility" to a "pet owner who aspires to compete at a very high level" and I would love to see <your training facility> embrace people like me by creating an "advanced foundations" class. To me, this class would include:

• Structured drills for a strong recall (example: Susan Garrett's restrained recall games)
• Structured drills for impulse control (example: Susan Garrett's crate games)
• Structured drills for body awareness (example: FitPaws balls, stepping stones, wobble boards, teeter boards, perch work, etc)
• Structured drills for movement cues (example: Greg Derrett's shadow handling games)
• Structured drills for jump techniques (example: Susan Salo's jump grids)

In other words- we all love the fun stuff like running long Standard courses or tricky, technical jumpers courses- but that stuff simply happens from experience. The more you do agility, the more you will run those courses. It just happens. What doesn't "just happen" is for a dog to have a drive, passion, or intensity to do agility at top speeds because agility has been built to be so rewarding.

There are countless world-class competitors/trainers out there with countless hours of video material and countless pages of written material and most all of them speak to the importance of teaching, building, and maintaining drive and passion for the sport. I would love to see <your training facility> jump on board with their perspective and create such a class to accomplish this; I know I would most certainly sign up. Please consider this.

Quite honestly- I've begun to question what I am getting out of class. A lot- that's for sure, but is it in the direction I need? My dog does not have the foundations skills that are required at top level competition. Why am I going to class and "being ok" with crappy contact performances, or less than all out sprints between obstacles? What am I teaching my dog besides "it's ok to be sloppy and slow when in the ring"? To be fair, I'm learning a ton in class- mostly handler techniques. And my dog is learning confidence and skill in reading my motions. That's not my point...

My point is- why should we be OK with "just a pet owner looking to do some regional competitions?" I don't think we should! Or at least- not if we don't want to be. It doesn't matter if you never actually get to national or world level competition. It doesn't matter if you never make the world's team. It doesn't freakin' matter if you don't have a dog as agile as a Border Collie! What matters is that you don't limit yourself to be "just average." I refuse to be just average at agility. I think I am ready for a change in the way I train. I think it's time for a plan... Stay tuned.

[wildo]

One little infuriating story from Cynosport. I'm sitting in the stadium seats watching people run. This young lady (21-23ish) who was competing there asked me if we were competing. "No," I respond, "we're just observing and having a good time." She asks me if we do agility which I tell her we do. "How tall is your dog," she asked me. Pimg's kind of a tall girl at 25" but there's nothing I can do about that. I love her just the same, and she certainly doesn't give two hoots about her height. "Oh........" the girl responds to Pimg's height. "So..... I assume this is your first agility dog?" I answer her with a fond "Yep!" To this, and I will never forget, she responds with a rather infuriating "yeah.... that's what I figured," as she looks down at her compact little Border Collie.

You know- we really don't all need to have Border Collies. They are super cool dogs, crazy agile, shut down under correction, are startled by loud noises... opps. I mean- yeah they're really cool dogs. I enjoy training my dog. I enjoy the challenge of agility. What I don't need is a Border Collie to do it...

This is motivation.

[AgileGSD]

Your post made me both smile and sympathize.

I stopped going to agility classes at our local training club because of the issues you mentioned and more. I think of the training there as the "Git-R-Done Method of Agility". Members do title, some to high levels although few to really high levels. The focus of the classes is to get the dogs on equipment, get the handlers doing sequences and then courses. They offer 2-4 Intros a year, which fill quickly so everyone in every Intro class has to be able to go on to Agility 1, no matter what. Contact behavior is glossed over and never really consistently worked on or mentioned in any class. Teeter work progresses quickly and many dogs end up with confidence issues on it. People go to class and are permitted to stay in class with dogs who won't come back when they are called. These dogs for whatever reason seem to enjoy rushing up to Belgians and pouncing on them and I have battled leash reactivity after these classes in two of my dogs. Then people are pushed through the levels, even if their dog doesn't perform all the obstacles or doesn't perform them well. So you have a dog in the highest level "competition class" who is so afraid of the teeter they run away when asked to do it. Very frustrating.

The longer I've been around dog training, the more obvious it becomes that the really outstanding dogs are rarely trained in traditional group classes (for obedience or agility). The traditional group classes tend to be set up in a way that forces everyone to move along at a similar pace and that pace tend to encourage the glossing over the most important for the most rewarding (the the humans) stuff. In agility, the most rewarding thing for the humans is getting their dog on equipment and running courses. The hard stuff tends to be the least rewarding and the most difficult to teach in a class setting - solid contact behaviors, solid weaves, solid start line, consistent enthusiasm, confidence and speed on all equipment. Not to mention perhaps the most important thing of all - teaching your dog to run with you!

Added issues with classes is the lack of quality instructors. Some people are great at agility but not so great at teaching but because they have lotsa titles, they end up being instructors. Some people are good at teaching (humans and dogs) but not so good at competing for whatever reason but they often don't get asked to teach. When you get the combination of both - people who are extremely accomplished and good teachers, they often get burned out because they are asked to teach so much. And of course for many places, it's all about getting a willing person to instruct because they are desperate. So what if the person have trialed for 2 years in the same level and never Q'd and their poor dog hates the game - they will take 2 classes a week! In that case, getting anything changed or added is hopeless because the training directors are constantly struggling to even maintain what is already in place.

All that said, I have been going to classes at a private training facility recently. The classes are not formatted traditionally and the dogs so far seem appropriate and controllable. The instructor is pretty accomplished, has dogs who do love the game and pushes foundations in the puppy class plus building drive and enthusiasm in the dog while developing your skills in all classes. I've been pretty happy with it so far but I'm still a fan of training my dogs in my backyard

[AgileGSD]

As for your story...

USDAA is very dominated by BCs in the upper heights for sure. Especially at the level of competition you attended. So the attitude, while infuriating is fairly common. I wish there were more GSDs out there kicking butt in agility but...there's just not. I believe they are capable or at least some are. Mine was and so was her mother but my inexperience held her back. Perhaps with owners who don't think they "require a firm hand" and with training dedicated to bringing out their drive and enthusiasm for the sport, more could be.

I will never forget when a big name AKC/USDAA judge shook her head at my GSD puppy's littermates (at her breeder's set up at the USDAA Regionals) and said "When is she going to get serious about agility?". I asked what she meant and she said "She has two new GSD puppies. People who are serious about agility get Border Collies". This person also readily admitted to designing courses which were "BC friendly" (and meaning not friendly to larger dogs). This isn't just her either, there is a lot of that attitude out there. I can't tell you how many people I have known over the years who started out with X breed and when they got into agility got BCs. Which I don't have a problem with, if you like BCs. I love BCs and did before I got into agility. But too often, this is done because people think they need a BC to do well in agility. And often these people don't realize their dog could be much more with a different approach to training.

Case in point, I know someone who has trained two different non-traditional breeds in agility. Both have at best, done so-so. Both had stress related issues, were slow and not having fun. So what does this person do? Examine their approach to training? Stop screaming at their dog in the ring? Learn about building drive? Nope. They go and get a BC, which will likely also end up with stress related issues in the ring, be slow and not have fun.

“You can’t buy good agility dog. But you can train it. Of course, you can’t win WC with a Samoyed. But if winning WC is your goal, you probably won’t win it anyway." Silvia Trkman

[wildo]

Originally Posted by AgileGSD

Your post made me both smile and sympathize.

Thanks! That tells me I'm on the right track!

Originally Posted by AgileGSD

The instructor is pretty accomplished, has dogs who do love the game and pushes foundations in the puppy class plus building drive and enthusiasm in the dog while developing your skills in all classes.

The bolded statement is huge for me. I can't even emphasize that enough. I've been watching weekly updates of SG training her new pup Swagger (PuppyPeaks) and I keep thinking to myself- "Man, when I get my next puppy- THAT'S how I'm going to do it."

I mentioned that to a GSD owner/trainer at Cynosport and they quickly responded that there is no reason I can't start with Pimg. I've always had the mindset that foundations need to be trained as a pup- certainly not as an adult. I think it's finally hit me that my thinking is all wrong. I can do the foundations skills SG (and plenty of other people) are doing, and I don't need to start with a puppy. I'm ready to jump in with "real" foundation training... I just wish my training facility was onboard with me. Who knows, maybe they will be.

[wildo]

Originally Posted by AgileGSD

“You can’t buy good agility dog. But you can train it. Of course, you can’t win WC with a Samoyed. But if winning WC is your goal, you probably won’t win it anyway." Silvia Trkman

Wow... what a quote!

[AgileGSD]

I don't think Pimg is too old for foundations. That stuff is easier to do with puppies but certainly important for any dog.

Originally Posted by wildo

Wow... what a quote!

I know! It's from her article on how she picks an agility dog: Steps to find a good agility dog

[JakodaCD OA]

ahhh willy, your problem is, you are training with the wrong trainers

When I started agility back in oh, probably 98 or so,,there was a VARIETY of breeds, one of my friends had an AKITA who became the no1 akita in the country...Sure there were alot of bc's, aussies and shelties, but they didn't individually "dominate" the agility scene..Back then, you saw ALOT of gsd's, labs, a few beagles, ONE I will never forget, a 'few' small breeds.

Now the borders, aussies, shelties dominate the agility scene and I am seeing TONS of papillons (my sister having two of them)..You see very few GSD's, but that doesn't mean there aren't some really GREAT ones out there. Look at Simmons-Moake,,he's on his second or third gsd I beleive and cleans up a course

The border collies to beat are the ones who mess up you just can't beat the time of a border when they have a clean run.

I think what you need to do, is find a trainer who is competing at the higher levels no matter the breed they have.

You are livin in the wrong area Here I find, the majority of trainers that are competing higher up, are starting dogs (and retraining) with basic foundation skills,
I few I can name off, that were just at the USDAA ch's are Mary mersereu, (she runs mostly cattle dogs/mixes at the moment),,,Judy Reilly, (borders & gsd),,Monique Plinck, borders & pyrs,,,Terri Cesarek, borders,,these girls all are high level competitors , trainers, and they have constant foundation classes going on..SOLID foundation..

I think what you need to do, is find those top competitors in your area and go with it, Also, if you see seminars TAKE THEM, they are INVALUABLE...

My sister was kind of stuck in the rutt you are with her paps, she has been going to Monique now for a couple years, the change has been amazing,,one pap is a CATCH 2,,and ready to MACH, the other is in Ex levels..she said she's never worked so hard in her life , but the payoff has been great..

Ok done rambling

[MaggieRoseLee]

USDAA is really dominated by BC's. Speed is key. ALL the venues tend to lean towards this, more exciting, more competitive. Fact of the matter is what a BC was bred for is why they may do so well (many many have issues too, so just getting a BC doesn't assure a top dog by any means).

Because AKC is about 'all breeds' (and even now allows mixed breeds) there is a bit better mix. That said, the BC's still do tend to do the best when they qualify, just can't beat their speed with a bigger dog. BUT because the AKC keeps track of each BREED and there are specialties and invitationals and breed national trials .... whatever breed you have can rise to the top (specially if it's like at the GSD Nationals when only GSD's can enter! ).

I love the group classes because for me I also love to watch and learn from other dogs/handers. I also love other people that are in agility and like meeting with them each week. Some of these people I've known for over 12 years and see them at trials and seminars and classes and....

But I am also at a level that I don't pay my hard earned $$$ just to go to any classes. I have tried out all the ones available around me and now travel over an hour to get the to best facility and instructor that fits my needs. It's hard, especially when moving around from place to place to mesh in my past training and experiences with a new location.

But I look at the instructor. I look at what they do with THEIR dogs. And then I try to listen, learn and do it their way to start blending it in with mine. That way they can give REAL help from their background and experience with their dogs.

A huge issue for me is I have to shut up. Really . Cause I tend to always have a reason I am doing it 'my' way. And I then tend to argue it too much when I just need to SHUT UP. Cause if I was running it perfectly, the instructor wouldn't have said anything. And the reason I'm there and PAYING her is for her recommendations and suggestions. If I like her method and the way she runs her dogs, and it's clearly working for her. Then when I am on a course/sequence and having problems I need to listen and learn and modify my handling to TEACH my dog what is trying to be taught.

For me, I need an instructor who is trialing at the top levels (BTW, my instructor was at the USDAA Nationals Wildo attended with her Mudi's and BC's) because when she suggests something, she's not pulling it out of her ears.... it's because she thinks it would work for ME and I need to listen, learn it, and teach it to my dog. Not ARGUE (did I mention that's an issue for me?) and keep explaining why I am doing it the other (wrong?) way!

Class should be challenging. We SHOULD be making mistakes! Because that shows the chinks in our training the need to be filled and improved on. If I run a sequence clean, then I SHOULD add distance, or more crosses, or more of a lead out or....... cause that way both my dog and I will be learning and progressing.

If I had an instructor that didn't go to any trials, didn't care/know about speed, training contacts, weave pole entries, sequencing, startline stays, blah blah blah then I would start talking to other people at the dog trials I attend that DO have have great dogs and are doing well and ask where are they training!!!!!!

So, for me, I need to find the best instructors I can afford and a distance I can afford to drive (over an hour currently) and then I need to LISTEN tO THEM!

I also agree with JakodaCD that taking advantage of all the seminars and clinics that are available is a huge help! I've been all over to weekend seminars (hotels and everything!) but it's well worth it if it's with a good instructor. Heck, Susan Garrett has TONS of clinics up at her place...ROAD TRIP!

Are you on the cleanrun yahoo list? There's a gsdagility list and others (more email ) and I'm sure others in your area that will list clinics and seminars.

[Samba]

It s difficult to find excellent instruction!