20 Time Part II

Hello everyone

In this week’s blogpost I will be further discussing what I will be using for my 20 time presentation that I will be giving at the end of the semester.

In part one I began to discuss what I had accomplished with this project and even though it did not seem like a major accomplishment to some, I felt like I had done lots.  In the past months that I have been working on this project I have learned so much more about agility than before.  This project required me to do more and more research on agility and read articles and watch videos that would help improve my training techniques.  This project forced me to learn more and dive deeper into the hobby that I love doing.  My project has made me think deeper about the training and the classes that I attended for agility and this has made me not only a better handler, but a better trainer too.

As you can see, this project has not only helped others out in the world, but it has also helped me grow and improve all while doing something that I love.  Even after this project is complete, I plan on continuing to make videos and have my YouTube channel grow.  I want to be able to help people around the world as they work towards a hobby that I have grown to love.  Overall, from the way this project has affected me, I can tell that this project has been a success in more ways than one.

Happy Training!

Hayley

20 Time Presentation: Part 1

Hello everyone,

For this week’s blogpost, I am going to be discussing the beginnings of what I will be discussing for my 20 Time presentation/Ted talk presentation.  In my presentation I am going to be discussing my purpose for this project and all that I have accomplished or learned.  

To begin, my project goal was to create and upload videos to a YouTube channel that help people learn how to train their dog for agility.  I wanted to do this project because I feel like there aren’t many free online training resources for people like me who have a passion for training.  Even though I don’t know everything there is to know about agility training, I have been learning for the past 2 years and I wanted to be able to share my knowledge with others.  Throughout my time completing this 20 Time project I have learned more agility and become better at my personal training skills.  I have gone to more trials, met other experienced agility trainers, and expanded my knowledge in the dog training world.  Even though I have so much more to learn, I have greatly enjoyed being able to make videos based on what I do know.  

So far, it can be hard to measure my direct accomplishments other than just looking at my YouTube channel.  Over the course of the past months, I have worked on making good videos and I have tried to upload them regularly in order to make my channel a good resource for other trainers.  I have about 10 subscribers and although that doesn’t seem like many, I am happy that I could provide something that 10 people in this world find interesting or entertaining.  To me, this is an accomplishment and I hope to have my channel grow and to be able to reach out to others over time.

Happy training!

Hayley

Pinwheels and 180s Practice

Hello everyone!

This week I decided to work on a sequence that includes 180°s and pinwheels.  I wanted to do a sequence with variety and with some things that I will most likely see in my agility trial this Saturday.  

With AKC courses, 180°s and pinwheels are VERY common to see, so if you will be competing in these venues, it will be necessary to be good at these skills and gain the important experience before you compete.  For myself, I love 180°s because they can be handled in a variety of ways they tend to be easy for the dogs to follow and a fun part of the course to run with them.  On the other hand, pinwheels are not my favorite thing because I tend to see a reduction in speed from my dogs; however, I want to work on them to hopefully increase their speed and perform better at shows.

A 180° is set up most commonly with 2 jumps but other obstacles can be involved.  The jumps are lined up next to each other so that the dog jumps in a 180° fashion around the jumps.  (see in picture below for setup)

A pinwheel is set up the way it sounds and it is also most commonly done with 3 jumps, but it can have other equipment incorporated in.  (see in picture below for setup)

Both of these are very important to practice and important to incorporate into your foundation work when training your dog.  However, these exercises are still important to practice even once you are competing.  Remember, even the best of trainers and handlers never stop working on their foundations, they just build on them.

Happy training!

Hayley

source: http://dogstar-agility.com/dogstar/event/jump-skills-night-patterns-with-janet-gauntt/

Jump Grids

Hello everyone!

In this week’s video I decided to work on some jump grids with Strider, Goliath, and my new(er) dog, Maverick.  Jump grids are simply a straight line of jumps with a target at the end that you send your dog down.  They are handy for many reasons and feel free to incorporate any type of jump including single, double, and triple.  Jump grids help agility dogs gain strength and they make the dog focus on how they collect or extend when taking the jump.  Dogs must think about where they are placing their feet which helps them in many ways when running a course.  

For beginners setup, start with 3-4 jumps and line them up in a straight line.  The distance between the jumps should get increasingly larger as you go down the line.  I like to set up a target with a treat at the end of the jumps in order to get the dog to drive down the jumps as fast as possible.  Once your dog understands the concept, feel free to add more jumps.  

When I am working with Strider on his jump grids, I like to place some bars at 16”, some at 20”, and some at 24”.  This forces him to think about how high the jump is and what he needs to do with his body in order to make it over the jump.

Be advised that if your dog is continually knocking over the bars, you may have to lower them until the dog understands the concept.  Remember not to punish your dog for knocking bars, it just takes time for them to learn.  Also remember that jump grids are great for a dog with any level of skill.  As you’ll see in the video, with a beginner dog like Maverick, jump grids are handy because they create that drive in a dog to race down the line, all while teaching them to control their feet and focus on how they are jumping.

Happy jumping!

Hayley

Goliath

Maverick

Strider