TEACH (the foundations)
TRAIN (with consistency)
TRUST YOUR DOG
Let’s Focus on Friday is back!
After a few years hiatus, Pets Behave in Niceville, Florida is happy to again be offering Let’s Focus On Friday! For this workshop, we will focus on jumping using the Susan Solo jumping grid workbook as our guide.
Susan Salo Jumping Grid Workshop
Presented by Lisa Graham
Friday, September 27, 2024
6:00pm-9:00pm
Drills of some sort are a constant part of any athletic endeavor to maintain the reliability and precision of the skill sets required by the sport. In agility, jumping skills are no different than contact and weave skills – we must set aside time for the dogs to practice the skills separately from course and sequence work.
Practicing grid work gives your dog an opportunity to focus on his jumping skills so he can develop understanding and confidence, and ultimately speed. It also aids in the development and maintenance of the muscles and strength necessary for successful jumping.
For this workshop, the grids presented are intended to give you a means of isolating the various aspects of jumping mechanics and allow time for your dog to practice jumping skills. Lisa will set up and demonstrate several foundation jump grids that you will be able to set up and practice at home. We will video your dog’s session so that we can point out what to look for and when and how to troubleshoot any issues.
Working spots are for dogs who understand basic jumping skills. Working spot dogs should also have focus forward to you and to be able to find a treat in a bowl or target placed next to you. Start line stays are not required, but your dog will need to allow someone to hold his collar while you get into position at the end of the jump grid next to the treat/target.
Special introductory pricing for this first event!
$65/dog
$25/audit
Contact Pets Behave at info@petsbehavedogtraining.com if you would like to attend. We will send a registration form via email and then your payment will secure your spot. Contact Lisa Graham if you have any questions about the content of the workshop.
Weekend Workshops at YOUR location!
Workshop Segments work well with 4-6 participants for a 4-hour block.
Two segments can be combined for a full day workshop.
Agility Foundation Skills Workshop and Lecture
A good, solid base of foundation skills is invaluable for every agility Team. Through several years of teaching and coaching students of various skill levels, I realized that Linda Mecklenburg’s observations in agility’s early days were still viable today. In this workshop segment, you will be shown how to use the 4 natural cues (motion, shoulders, positioning, eye contact) and the two learned cues (arms and verbals) to maneuver your dog easily and seamlessly through just about every level of agility course. Each participating Team will work through a simple drill that will help clarify how the cues “work”. You will also learn many basic concepts and skills that every agility team needs to successfully complete an agility course. Many of these skills can and will allow for “demo dogs” to show what they look like when completed correctly. Bring your notebook and a chair and we will talk about lots of great foundation skills to help shape your dog’s skills and build drive to ultimately create a happy and successful agility partner.
Foundation Drills
In this workshop segment, Teams are encouraged to apply the 4 natural cues (Foundation Skills) as they run short and seemingly easy sequences. Verbals and arm motion is discouraged so that each handler can utilize the natural cues that the dogs innately understand. Very likely you will discover that when these cues are applied correctly, calling the dog’s name or yelling “come!” several times during a run will be things of the past.
Specific Drills for Specific Skills
Short, 8-10 obstacle drills help each team really work through specific skills. We will set up a small course using one tunnel and several jumps and then create several drills that will allow each team to try different handling options for common sequences. Will you try a front cross, rear cross or blind cross? Are rear crosses your go-to moves? Maybe it’s time to give blind crosses a try. Are you confident that your dog will take that obstacle over there if you layer a jump in between? There are no definitive right or wrong answers – each team can try different options to see what works best. This basic set up has 20+ options to handle the short sequences. Workshop participants can choose which options they would like to try: front cross, moving front cross, blind cross, landing side blind crosses, ketchker turns … some you might use all the time, some you can try for the first time. This is one of my favorite group of drills.
Susan Salo Jump Grids
The jump grids in this Workshop come from the Susan Salo Jumping Grid Workbook and are intended to give you and your dog a means of isolating the various aspects of jumping mechanics. The grids offered will allow your dog to focus on his jumping skills so he can develop understanding and confidence, and ultimately speed. The grids also aid in the development and maintenance of the muscles and core strength necessary for successful jumping. Most are simple enough that you can easily set them up in your back yard/training area and incorporate them perhaps daily.
Course Work
For this workshop segment, we will break into segments a full, challenging course. Participants can walk/run the sequences and suggestions will be made on an individual basis to help each team maneuver through the course to the best of their abilities. After each team has mastered the short sequences, they will have the opportunity to “put it all together”. This is a fun way to take the mystery out of those courses that might otherwise seem too difficult to tackle.
Walking Courses and Building a Plan
For this workshop, a course map will be presented everyone. We will talk about how to read course maps, how to find common sequences, how to look for different handling options and then how to plan for your 8 minutes to walk the course. We will then go to the field and walk/run like you would at a trial and each run will be videoed. After everyone runs the course, we will review each video, discuss problems and suggest ways to do it better. And then? We will head back to the field and everyone will have an opportunity to make any handling adjustments and run the course again.
This Workshop is designed to help you improve your skills at reading and understanding course maps so that you can make the most of the short time you have to walk the course and finalize your handling options.
Weaves
Yes! Your dog CAN perform the weaves quickly, reliably and with distractions! The theme of this workshop segment is to continue the discovery of how our motion and position can affect our dog’s performance. Be ready to help your dog deal with distractions and some difficult entries. This workshop is for dogs who are proficient in the weaves but would like more speed, distance, consistency and confidence.
Contacts
For this workshop segment, we will concentrate on how to help your dog with smooth, safe approaches to and exits from the contact equipment. Just how independent are your dog’s contacts? Can you handle from a distance – even just a little? To help break down each dog’s skill set, we will video the dogwalk, a-frame and teeter and look for ways in improve consistency. In addition to suggestions for a more reliable performance, we will work on common sequences, including turn back to tunnels, managing turns off the equipment and building confidence in all contact performances.
Distractions
While we can’t totally recreate a trial environment on the training field, we CAN try to recreate many of the distractions that our dogs face at a trial and in the ring. Ring crew, leash runner and noisy dogs outside the ring all qualify as distractions our dogs need to accept and ignore at every trial. For this workshop segment, we will add as many distractions as your dog can handle. We will start slowly and as your dog accepts the challenge and is rewarded for ignoring anything pesky, we will add more as the session progresses. Our goal is to give your dog just enough that might at first catch his attention but not so much that he is unable to work through it.
Distance Handling
Our dogs are faster than we are. Fact. So, with our limited 2-legged anatomy, how do we allow our dogs to run as fast as they possibly can? Distance handling to the rescue. Learn how to show your dog the path you want them to take even if it’s 10-20 feet away from you. We will talk about the foundation skills that you will need for your dog to have the confidence to work away from you and successfully complete the obstacles. We will work through several drills where you will have the option to stay behind a line and send your dog over jumps, to tunnels and other obstacles. Keep in mind that developing distance skills is a process, but this Workshop will help you decide where you might want some distance skills as well as where it makes sense for your dog to work closely too.
Obedience for Agility
Are you sure your dog understands all of your commands – even for the most basic of behaviors? Lisa’s Obedience “With a Twist” workshop segment will engage both you and your dog through many exercises that you will not likely find in most obedience classes. The exercises presented will test you and your dog’s skills to perform with multiple distractions in a fun environment. While many of the skills are obedience related, they are designed to help the agility team on course and beyond!
Sport Dog
No matter what your goals are for your competition-bound young dog (6 months+), this workshop segment is for you. We will work on crate games and crate manners; toy interaction, tugging and retrieving; balance work and conditioning; learning tricks and how to shape behavior using a clicker; socialization with a trial environment in mind; and most importantly, teaching your dog to focus on you and ignore all distractions. Goals for this class are for you to learn the skills that will help your young dog be a “go anywhere, do anything dog.”