Your last homework already! Two more weeks left to catch up and then with October 3rd, this class is finished. If you want to keep working on Foundation stuff in a class form, you can join October Foundation class (that is repeat of this class) for a reduced price. If you want to take things further, you're welcome to continue in Handling class that will start 31st of October, I'll open the registration soon. In Handling class, I'll be posting two different exercises for two different levels: the whole course for more experienced teams and shorter sections that will still be focusing on training to some degree for beginners.
1. sequence
Let's check your stays. I usually train them away from agility until they are 100% with toys flying, dogs running around, me moving etc. - and then just use them here and there also in agility: probably only for about 10% of sequences we run, to make sure I'm not given too many opportunities to ruin them 🙂 In this sequence, you need a stay. Position your dog at the good angle to be on a good line for 2nd jump, go to your position and start. Choose how you want to handle it.
2. front, rear and blind crosses: as there were some questions on the crosses, I included a video with different crosses on the same sequence. Normally, I first do front crosses only (as I only do collection sequences) + blind crosses on tunnels, then add rear crosses on flat and at tunnels, then blind crosses and then rear crosses on jumps. So try rear cross on a tunnel and on flat first and if that goes well, try it on a jump: see the video - just ignore the double tunnel, use a single tunnel of course, I just used whatever I already had in a set up. If you want (I'm not forcing anybody, I'm just including those as some participants were asking about them), you can try it with blind crosses too. Normally, I will choose the cross based on a situation: for collection, I will use a front cross OR, if I can't get there in time, rear cross at the jump. For extension, I will choose blind cross OR, if I can't get there, rear cross on flat. At trials, I do the most front crosses, then blinds and maybe one rear cross every 5 runs... Yeah, not big fan. But of course, it's important the dogs know rear cross too as sometimes it is the only option!
You could of course run those sequences with front crosses only, I showed it with rear and blind crosses only as by now, I think we mastered the front crosses already, so we can try some rears and blinds (if you want).
3. send in your contacts, see-saw, weaves and multi-wraps (on your current height) work again to check how it's going and to give you some suggestions on how to proceed after the class is finished.
Hope to see you in Handling Class!
And here is Silvia’s run with Bu: Also amazing!
Thank you so much for posting these!!! I love watching Silvia run with her dogs. I just cannot believe how fast La is! Beautiful runs!
What a smooth run!! Hugs to Bu 🙂 🙂
Thanks for posting! I missed this run.
Thanks for posting these. Wow awesome, Silvia you rock! please keep posting more, any one that gets info.
The same person that posted the other videos posted these today:
La from Oct. 8: httpv://www.youtube.com/user/cacyBC23#p/u/13/O-OXDjGxF2I
Bu from Oct. 8: httpv://www.youtube.com/user/cacyBC23#p/u/13/-T_Toy9ueOI
Oops, that did not work:
httpv://www.youtube.com/user/cacyBC23#p/u/13/O-OXDjGxF2I
httpv://www.youtube.com/user/cacyBC23#p/u/13/-T_Toy9ueOI
No thanks!! 😀 I will try if these links work Ania:
Thank you all for posting the videos. It gives me goosebumps to watch such awesome runs. And how exciting to see Silvia executing basically all the moves she has been teaching us in Foundations. Does anyone besides me wonder how she knows exactly where she is on the course at the speed she runs it?
Absolutely. I can only put together a short sequence. I can’t imagine memorizing 21 obstacles, walking it, and then running it perfect.
I saw lots of runs on the live feed where the handlers could have used some AF classes!
Nancy
Very good observation, all those courses where just a combination of serpentines, wraps, outs and threadles and actually very easy for us as that’s the first thing my dogs learn. Unfortunately, I did get lost though, on the easiest part of agility individual large course and that cost us another World Championship title… But “almost” is almost just as good, I guess it doesn’t happen every day to be so close to winning WC with two dogs, so I’m sure very very happy about our runs 🙂
And here is Silvia again with La. Very nice round!
What a wonderful run!!! Congratulations Silvia and La!!! What a wonderful achievement for them both.
Way to go Silvia and La. I’m so happy and impressed at her enthusiasm at 10 years old. To be on the podium with a dog that is 9--even better. Luka is my Saales’ niece! I was rooting like mad for these older dogs and to see them both on the podium is amazing. Keep going strong little La.
Nancy
Thanks, Jonina 🙂 for sharing us this great moment 🙂
Silvia and La you both for sure had lots of FUN 🙂 WOW!!!!
Awsome!!!!
Nice to see that you all could follow Silvia’s great runs! The Championships were really good fun again and we had quite some goosebump times! Seeing La beating all these young dogs, including border collies twice La’s size, that was certainly goosebump time. Bu’s contacts and short turns, amazing! But the nicest thing was maybe seeing Silvia and her dogs enjoy a walk in the small park. Always ready for a chat. You are a not only a great dog trainer, agility handler but also a great person, Silvia! Thanks for the classes, the chats, the pictures and the goosebumps! 😉
You said it very well Inge. Something that we’ve noticed here watching the videos over the past is how Silvia celebrates her victories and her ‘loses’ with her dogs -- you can see how happy she is with them and always pays attention to them post run, in contrast to many competitors that ignore their dogs. It makes me very proud to be a ‘student’ of hers 🙂 Wish I could have been there…
Thanks. I actually heard some not-nice comments about me leaving the ring immediately with my dogs, not watching other team members. It doesn’t mean I don’t wish them all the best -- but my dogs and what is best for them really comes first. Asking my scared little Bu to run in that hall is a big thing as such and it wouldn’t be fair to ask her any more as that. My leaving was not disrespectful to my team mates, it was respectful to my dogs.
Sounds like the right choice to me! At my humble level of competition I rarely watch others bc my dog needs me more…
We noticed it too, like the previous years, that you run out of the hall immediately with your dogs. For me, and my friends this is clearly a sign of the fact that you know your dogs and that you take their feelings into account! I hate it when people forget about their dogs after a great run! And I’m convinced that, even though you see a change in mentality over the years, that the largest part of the public still prefers the people that respect their dogs. In the end they are the real athletes!
Slovenian fan’s were waiting for their great star while the Americans and the French were already celebrating. It was a bit weird to see. But if you have half a brain cell you know that you are taking care of your dog first before putting yourself in the picture. At one time the French Pyrenean was lucky that somebody was taking care of her. She was desperatly looking for her handler who was being squeezed in a mass of people, all ignoring the poor dog, except the one person!
Every year I’m amazed by the fact that these dogs cope with the noise we make!! For sure there are dogs that only can cope with it while running, because they like the game that much, but they must be fearful when they finish their round and hell brakes loose!
I’m sure that most people understand why you run off and do not watch your team mates.
We were just wondering, what was Bu’s reward? It looked like a huge chunk of something. 😉
Yes, it’s a lot to ask from our dogs, so it’s sure important to make it as easy as possible for them. And oh, Bu always gets a smoked pig ear after the run, she loves those 🙂
Haha, This is a funny thread to me. Years ago I really noticed that my students were not interacting with their dogs after non-qualifying runs. The would snap on the leash and leave with no interaction. I made up some data sheets (based on 6 years of studying behavior in African Wild Dogs) and started collecting data while setting poles in the ring. I would time the interaction with dogs after qualifying and non-qualifying runs and handlers spent lots more time interacting with the dogs that had qualified than the dogs that didn’t. I collected this info for a while, but it was boring because from day one the difference was clear. If people really believed that 95% of agility is the handlers responsibility then I believed that you shouldn’t even see a difference. Kudos to you Silvia for showing people the world over that our dogs come first and deserve our attention regardless of the outcome.
Nancy and Nero and Aunt Saales
Thanks Inge, was nice meeting you and Keen in live too!!! And yes, we were very happy to prove once again that BCs are NOT unbeatable 🙂 La might be one of the smallest medium dogs out there -- but she sure has the biggest heart!
Whilst on the BC subject, could someone(s) please explain to me why people believe they are THE breed? I don’t know the breed by owning one, but it seems to me that any well-trained, classic dog-shaped dog that loves to run can do well in the right hands.
Are there any real facts that make BCs better? The fact that they dominate the sport is not proof -- of course they will dominate winnings if they are the dominant breed (statistics here). There are also many quite poorly performing ones too. I am actually really wanting to know why they are considered better if there really are reasons (training ease??; something mechanical and speed related??) you know, for one day when I might get a big dog. Silvia, you have yourself said that its hard to do anything without one in large class??? Why?
I should add that we are not posting again in this class as it is over and we have moved our focus to running contacts 2 course. Congratulations to everyone for the great progress you made!
Thanks to everyone -- it was a great class! Just the right thing for us to do! Of course we still have lots of work to do with this material -- especially from lessons 5+6. There is such a positive difference with Sen’s foundations when I compare to my other dog -- thanks to this course!
We plan do to handling class next year, after we have some basics under control, and have completed outstanding fun stuff from puppy class that got side-tracked as we focused more on this course. Probably in the summer or earlier if I can rent some indoor space.
Good luck to all, and many thanks to Silvia!
Nicole + Sen
Great, see you then then! 🙂
BCs definitely have structure and temperament that makes them great agility dogs. Additional bonus is that there are so many that you have plenty of choice. Other breeds that can do great in large class, such as Belgians, Portuguese and Spanish Water Dogs, Croatian Sheepdogs, Mudis and PyrSheps etc. don’t offer you so much to choose from + many of them don’t do agility, so it’s hard to know in advance how the dog will be jumping, wrapping etc. and so while there are definitely great dogs of those breeds out there, BC is a safer and easier choice as it’s not unlikely you can see the whole litter do agility.