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10 Golden Rules

My training is best known for fast, happy and healthy dogs, tight turns and of course,  running contacts and tricks.

1. develop a firm and trusting relationships with your dog

2. properly condition your dog: my dogs’ minimum is 2 hours of off leash running in the woods per day + one all-day-long hike in the mountains per month

3. teach your dog tricks – as many as you can think of: tricks teach you how to teach, they teach your dog how to learn and they also teach the dog that learning is fun, that you’re fun. Side effect is total awareness of his body, tricks teach a dog how to use his body. Rear end and overall body awareness, balance, strength, power, flexibility and agility that my dogs excel in so much are all the side-effects of all the tricks they’ve learned. "Too much tricks" doesn't exist. If you don’t have any ideas, you can get some from our tricks videos.

4. teach your dog obedience. It’s very easy to motivate a dog for those 30s on agility course. It’s much harder to motivate your dog for long minutes of just heeling. If you want to learn about motivation, obedience is a way to go. If you can make those long minutes of heeling fun to a dog, then making agility fun for your dog should be a piece of cake.

5. boost your dog’s confidence – only confident dog will dare to run at his maximal speed. Make sure your dog knows he is World Champion before you let him do his first jump.

6. don’t be afraid to do things your way. Books, videos and seminars are helpful, but no one knows your dog better as you do, especially after teaching him those 100 tricks and playing and walking with him every day, so… Trust your intuition and do what YOU think is best for your dog. Avoid those that think there is just one best way. Wary those who want to make you believe you need particular breed/method/handling tool/video in order to succeed. Were you told too that you MUST have a lead-out in order to win? Well, I won at least 90% of my runs with La for years. And she doesn’t stay.

7. if something goes wrong, always remember it’s your fault, caused either by your training or handling. That’s a good news since it gives you a power to fix it yourself too. Things would be much harder if it was dog’s fault. Luckily, they, unlike people, come without mistakes.

8. never forget that results don’t count. Because of the speed of my dogs, I can have a very ugly run and still win. And I might go off-course sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of the run wasn’t perfect. Who would care about that off course then anyway? I always say that every good dog goes off-course sometimes – that’s not the case only if handler is perfect too. But I don’t know any of those, so…

9. dogs work best when they work for themselves. Don’t ask them for a favour to work with you. Make them ask you for a favour to work with them.

10. you want agility training tips? If you follow the advise from above, agility gets so easy that you don’t need those. Just go out and have fun with your dog!

photo by Maja Rokavec


163 Comments

  1. Anonymous January 17, 2012 at 09:37 Log in to Reply

    Thanks

    Not sure why just yet -- I think its just inexperience mostly. She never knocks at home, but at our club she knocks on turns. There she seems to just run like mad (;) -- not really a bad thing!) and not really think about what she is doing, where at home there is more concentration. I suspect this is the point -- when I train there alone she does not knock bars. When there are others she knocks bars?? So one of us is influenced by audience.

    I’m not to worried as I think it will pass with more experience. She jumps fine style-wise -- take off is in the right spot, top of jump arc is over bar etc and I’m cueing on time -- she just does not jump high enough -- right into the bar. The bars there are less visible than mine (thin metal bars as apposed to thin plastic ones), that could be part of it.

    The jump training is like this -- some randon utube examples:

    Gee! Distance Grid 082909

    05-01-10 (3) Puppy Seven -- S. Salo -- Iowa -- Day 3

    • LoLaBu January 17, 2012 at 19:58 Log in to Reply

      When they knock on turns, it’s mostly because of a late info. If she is running faster, she needs an information sooner too, so maybe you are late afterall? Try to be very very early and see what happens.

  2. Anonymous February 2, 2012 at 04:40 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia!

    I didn’t know where to post this so I chose here, hope that’s okay.
    I hear all your different commands in your videos and it got me thinking, what languages do you speak? Obviously I know English, anything else? My recognition of other languages is terrible, but I thought you spoke Slovenian (is that what it’s called?) too? Just wondered. Thanks!

    • LoLaBu February 2, 2012 at 18:43 Log in to Reply

      Yes, most of my commands are in Slovenian, it’s my mother language. I also speak English and some French and understand a little bit of Italian and German.

  3. Amy February 14, 2012 at 13:58 Log in to Reply

    Silvia! -- Thank you SO much for all your help over the past year or so!!! My dogs are all so much happier and certainly Spur now has running contacts that are perfect and I am forever grateful!!! Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

    • LoLaBu February 14, 2012 at 18:27 Log in to Reply

      Oh, that was too cute and funny! Roscoe rocks! 🙂 Happy Valentine’s Day!

  4. Anonymous February 25, 2012 at 05:33 Log in to Reply

    Hey Silvia,

    How are you? I had a quick question and I’d appreciate your opinion.

    What is your view on getting another dog? Like I know you have more than one dog 🙂 but I mean, like when you have one dog in agility and your fairly new (like a year or two experience in agility) in your opinion is it good to get another dog? Like do you think it would help some people not to over work their dogs, or do you think it’s better to focus on one dog when your pretty new?
    Just wondered 🙂

    Thanks!

    • LoLaBu February 25, 2012 at 22:20 Log in to Reply

      Well, I think it should actually be a personal decision, based on how much time you have etc., but I sometimes recommend a 2nd dog yes, especially when the handler is more motivated as a dog and is putting too much pressure on him and yes, maybe working too much. A 2nd dog often takes a pressure off the 1st dog and helps with his motivation and that makes a handler happier too 🙂 And of course, being able to switch between two dogs and assure enough breaks to keep it short and intense is a great consequence of having two dogs too!

      • Anonymous February 26, 2012 at 01:37 Log in to Reply

        Thank you so much Silvia, this helps a lot.

        Do you think a dog who is used to getting all the attention would be hurt or jealous of another dog, or do you think that the having a sibling would just make her happy or just the less pressure would make them happy? Just wondered, like a dog who has grown up having you all to itself?

        • LoLaBu February 26, 2012 at 17:03 Log in to Reply

          Well, you definitely need to make sure that the 1st dog gets at least that much if not more attention when a new dog comes! If you make sure to give the 1st dog lots of attention, most dogs will enjoy company. From my dogs, only La would prefer to be my only dog (and she never was: I always had at least 3 other dogs at the time!).

          • Anonymous February 28, 2012 at 14:14 Log in to Reply

            I see now, thank you! As you could have guessed I am considering getting a puppy in the near future, so this helped a lot. Thanks so much!

  5. Maria Alice February 26, 2012 at 19:05 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia, I recently heard (or better read, on a forum) somebody saying that:
    -- once you had a Mudi puppy that you rehomed because he wasn’t good enough.
    -- he once was in a hotel (I guess at word championship or european open, not specified) next to your room and heard you clicking the whole night long to teach tricks to your dogs.
    And so he said that he didn’t like your training because of that, because you were too obsessed with having competitive dogs and with teaching your dogs a lot of tricks… I guess it’s not true, is it???

    • LoLaBu February 26, 2012 at 20:57 Log in to Reply

      Yeah, there are always lots of rumours out there… I’ve never heard of those two though 🙂 I never gave away ANY dog. I admit I was very frustrated with Bu when she was a puppy -- but I still didn’t even consider re-homing and I’m sure glad I didn’t!!! No dog is bad enough for me, I LOVE challenges!!! So no, I never had (or will have 🙂 ) a Mudi. Maybe he had mistaken me with a friend of mine who has a Mudi, many people think she is me because she has similar hair? But well, that’s Polona and she still has her Mudi and ran on WC several times with her 🙂

      And well, I normally sleep 10 hours a night, so no fear I’m clicking whole nights 🙂 I don’t think I ever did any trick training the evening before WC (not 100% though) and I never stayed in a hotel for EO or any other trial but WC (100%). And I guess that if somebody thinks teaching tricks is bad, he must be Italian 🙂 Once he will set the best time on WC with the dog aged over 10 years, I might be happy to discuss that with him, but till then, I’m pretty sure tricks are great conditioning exercise that keeps the dogs happy, healthy and injury free. How many dogs over 10 years are competing in Italy may I ask? I don’t think many huh, probably not because of too many tricks 🙂 -- You’re welcome to pass that on.

      • Maria Alice February 27, 2012 at 17:35 Log in to Reply

        Thanks for clarifying, and sorry for bothering you with that. So I guess I can suppose those rumours were invented by somebody too envious of you, it’s pretty sad that many people has to speak badly of somebody that is having more succes then them instead of thinking “hey, s/he is good, let’s see way s/he is and what can I learn from his/her training way”.
        However: yes, the person that reported these rumours is Italian, but no, he wasn’t saying that teaching tricks is bad (ok, my fault, I reported badly :-)), he actually said he agreed with you on the advantages of tricks training, just he said you were doing it too much, training for the whole night, as somebody told him you did, wich I guess is a thought one would need to agree with -- IF it was true you did so 🙂 I have to say yes, Italians don’t use to like tricks too much, but it’s getting better and better, we keep having more and more people teaching tricks and understanding their advantages, and stages and seminars on it, so not too bad afterall I suppose 🙂
        And completly off topic: wasn’t it Bu’s birthday some weeks ago?

        • LoLaBu February 27, 2012 at 20:52 Log in to Reply

          Great! That’s certainly a progress! When I used to compete and have seminars in Italy, I was the only one ever taking the dogs for more that 5min walk and nobody did any warming up etc. if I didn’t explicitly tell them to. I also noticed many had a hord of retired dogs of 7 years… And yes, Bu just turned 6 🙂

  6. Anonymous March 7, 2012 at 09:02 Log in to Reply

    When you start collecting threats and gossip you know you are on to something good! I read yesterday on some spam from Greg Derrett a snide comment that teaching his version of foundations is more effective than sticking a dogs four feet into a plastic bowl. Do you think he could mean us there? 🙂 I really hate how people feel this need to criticise others in an effort to try and make themselves look good 🙁 Seems he thinks we do tricks and nothing else (like stays etc)
    -- Bigi and Sen (with their feet in bowls)

    • LoLaBu March 7, 2012 at 10:24 Log in to Reply

      Oh, that’s funny! Of course, teaching tricks is indeed pretty silly, but I love silly and those little silly things make agility so easy for my dogs that I have plenty of time for silly things and don’t need worry at all about serious and real stuff -- my dogs know it all already 🙂

      • Maria Alice March 7, 2012 at 14:46 Log in to Reply

        I find it even more funny that some people sticks with speaking over and over an opinion instead of watching at the facts: you have had lots of great results with your dogs, also on important competitions, so I think it shouldn’t be so difficult to guess that those silly tricks maybe have their own utility.
        By the way, it’s a lot you don’t make a new tricks video! I’m courious to see if Le is as psycho as La is when it comes to learning 🙂

        • LoLaBu March 7, 2012 at 18:45 Log in to Reply

          Yes, I think that until somebody else wins so many runs on WCs I did, I can only laugh at things like this and sincerely don’t care at all 🙂 And huh, with al the videos I have to do for DVDs and classes, there is not much time left. But no, Le is not a psycho as La. I mean, she is very fast in agility, but she has much more systematical and calmer approach to learning and is not as hyper in normal life either.

          • Maria Alice March 7, 2012 at 19:52 Log in to Reply

            That’s very philosophical approach! Yes, let them speak and enjoy your laughs, laughing is good for health! 🙂
            And hey, maybe you need to find a video editor if so busy! I’m ready to learn video editing in exchange of the beautiful place where you live 🙂 One more thing: I’ve noticed that all your dogs of the same breed come from different breeders, is there a particular reason because you changed breeders? For exemple after great results you had with La I would have expected Le would have been another de Loubajac.

            • LoLaBu March 7, 2012 at 20:16 Log in to Reply

              Oh yes, I would do anything for another dog like La -- but she is pretty unique 🙂 I still love Loubajac dogs a lot, I just didn’t like the look of one male Catherine was using a lot at that time (too much coat and too long muzzle) and liked Le’s parents a lot. Knowing both parents and her breeder well for many years was an extra bonus. As for my BCs, Bi has the most similar pedigree to Bu that I was able to get 🙂 as I really like how those dogs move.

              • Maria Alice March 7, 2012 at 21:04 Log in to Reply

                Ok, thanks! But about Bu, did her breeder knew she was autistic before selling her? Or did you tell him later, and did he say if it could be genetics or what? It has interested me a lot knowing of Bu as I have never heard of autistic dogs before, so I was wondering how much it was related to breeding/growing up the litter (and sorry-I know, too many questions-I must be really unbearable, but I’m just too passionate about everything on dogs…)

                • LoLaBu March 7, 2012 at 21:27 Log in to Reply

                  Well, I certainly saw it right away (I didn’t know to which degree and why she is strange, but she was certainly strange) -- and all other puppy buyers noticed it too as nobody wanted her -- that’s how I got her. I took her because I really like how this line moves.

  7. Sayward Kemp March 20, 2012 at 01:15 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia!

    Well as I am just making my dogs’ dinner I just thought of something. What do you feed your dogs? I thought I read that you fed them “plain-old kibble” 🙂 but I just wondered if that was correct? Also do you use any supplements/bones/special foods? Like I know some trainers/friends who feed their dogs like pro-biotic and supplements, then there are some who feed raw meat, then there are the ones who feed kibble&veggies. SO my question is, what do you use? Your dogs look so healthy&happy all the time, so I’m guessing you get this question a lot 🙂
    Thank you!

    • LoLaBu March 20, 2012 at 13:13 Log in to Reply

      Yes, I only give them kibble, no supplements. I just rather spend time playing with them over preparing food… -- Not my favourite!

      • Sayward Kemp March 20, 2012 at 14:10 Log in to Reply

        Haha okay thanks!

  8. Toni-Marie March 22, 2012 at 01:19 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia…just wondered if you’d mind taking a look at this video of me competing with Wren a couple of months ago….our 4th show. I’m quite new to agility and she is one of two dogs that I am training. She does great considering me but I feel she could go a lot quicker than she is here. She’s not the easiest to motivate using a toy (Had to clicker train her to fetch a ball as a pup because she was showing no signs of getting into it on her own accord). She prefers it if I pick grass and toss it at her…but I can’t use that for distance work obviously and it makes her want to stick to me like a velcro dog…doesn’t throw very far LOL…and can’t be used as a dead toy either. I was quite late queing her on the hurdle after the weave I know…my bad….any tips for getting her to drive forward a little more?..been trying to up her motivation for toys….Also been doing some shorter blastier sequences now I have somewhere else to train…the last club seemed to focus on long complicated sequences that were too hard for me nevermind the dogs…don’t think that helped…

    Thanks in advance

    Toni-Marie Hudson & Wren dog Vegas 21-Jan-2012 Jumping 2

    • LoLaBu March 22, 2012 at 12:29 Log in to Reply

      Yeah, she is certainly loosing lots of time watching you and also starts to jump funny and too high when watching you. So try to plan your handling so that you can be in front of her, try to do your front crosses earlier and definitely work on her sends -- cik&cap training is great for that. I would also definitely recommend Ready-Steady-GO! DVD.

      • Toni-Marie March 22, 2012 at 17:20 Log in to Reply

        Thanks, I’ll take a look at the DVD. These are the first dogs I did agility with so are pretty much guinea pigs that I am making all my mistakes on:( There was also a lot of foundation stuff we never got the opportunity to get down at the club where we trained….it was always complicated sequences designed to set us up to fail…or thats how it felt.
        My other girl is more forward driven..perhaps because she is much more toy motivated…but she has a jumping confidence/perception issue. She can jump full height say if she wasn’t actually meant to take the jump and was perhaps looking at me rather than focusing on the jump..and she stutters (Measures) more on straights (Even on small and medium height) than when doing twisty courses where she is much better……she managed a straight at last training with no stuttering and even jumped a higher jump at the end with no stuttering…but then was measuring a lower jump again later after the weaves….

  9. Emily March 22, 2012 at 20:03 Log in to Reply

    Hi Silvia,
    I think this may be a bit off topic, it’s not about agility, but I didn’t know how else to share it… but I have just seen this video: (hope it works right)

    I thought it was quite sad to see the dog getting scared. And then I remembered something you wrote ages ago, about the little boy who was scared of his mum when he had mud on his clothes… and also how you can never get mad at your dogs because they are too cute and funny! I agree. So I thought of something, it’s only an idea… but how about a law that one can own a dog -- only if they make a visit to LoLaBu land to learn about a carefree, happy training philosophy? Hehe 😀 well , one can dream hey? I know everyone has a different personality but think the girl in the video would benefit from that law, for both her and the dogs’s sake. Everyone commenting on the video doesn’t seem bothered about the shouting but I knew if I posted it here, someone will disagree with them.
    Thanks for this website, it’s great 🙂

    • LoLaBu March 23, 2012 at 21:53 Log in to Reply

      That is sad yes…

  10. Toni-Marie April 2, 2012 at 01:11 Log in to Reply

    One of my girls has a problem with jumping full height. I generally train her on medium and she can measure and take off early for those too but not all the time…I’m not currently competing with her where she would have to jump full height and not sure I’ll ever be able to.
    I got some footage of her jumping one full height jump just so that people could see. Her jumping style isn’t all that great…back legs tucked underneath and all that. She has back end awareness..does walking handstands, raises back legs and all that stuff….

    Just thought I’d let you take a look to see what you think…you can see some slight measuring here in some of the jumps. I can get more footage if required.

    • LoLaBu April 2, 2012 at 12:17 Log in to Reply

      I’m afraid that’s quite a complex problem… You should try many different set ups, heights, jumping drills etc. to see if you can get a better style in some situations and then practice lots of it until she figures out it’s easier to jump that way.


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articles beyond foundations bi bu busting the myths camps EO foundations hiking la le my philosophy my videos photos puppies! puppy class running contacts students' videos ta To trials tricks world championships xtreme xtreme foundations
sialaSilvia Trkman is known for bringing every dog, from her first dog on, to the very top of the sport. Her dogs are known for great speed, tight turns, running contacts and long and injury-free careers. Silvia is in agility since 1992 and is
– 3x World Champion (with two different dogs)
– 5x European Open winner, with 4 different dogs (Lo, La, Bu, Le)!!!
– National Championships podium and World Team member with every dog she’s ever had
– National Champion for 22-times (with 5 different dogs of 3 different breeds)

– World Team member for 19-times (mostly with at least two dogs at the time – sometimes four 🙂 )

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