# Favourite Foundation Skills in Theory & Practice



## Schutzhundgirl (Oct 26, 2006)

I would like to hear from everyone out there about what their favourite foundation skills resources are (books, dvds) for starting dogs in competitive agility. My first dog, currently competing in the masters level of AAC agility, did not have much of a foundation. Now I am starting a new dog, and realize how important a good foundation is. 

1. What foundation skills do you think are the most important?
2. What "non-equipment" work to you teach (i.e., directional cues, targeting, hind end awareness, etc)?
3. Favourite books, dvds? 

Also, there are some skills we teach that end up being not that useful after all, and then as we progress in our training, we sometimes think, "I wish I would have taken the time to teach _this_"

Would love to hear from those of you who perhaps spent a lot of time teaching certain things that ended up not being very useful after all, or some things you thought maybe were not that important that you wish you would've taken the time to teach.


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## LuvWorkingGSDs (Aug 24, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: SchutzhundGirlI would like to hear from everyone out there about what their favourite foundation skills resources are (books, dvds) for starting dogs in competitive agility. My first dog, currently competing in the masters level of AAC agility, did not have much of a foundation. Now I am starting a new dog, and realize how important a good foundation is.


The best resource I have found is a good instructor. I knew from the start that I wanted to compete in agility with my dog. I read various training books and took pre-agility classes in my area, but it wasn't until about a year ago when I found an awesome instructor that we made any real progress. Reading about it or watching it on a DVD is one thing, but having someone show you in person, tailoring it to your dog and pointing out what you as a handler need to do differently is just so much more useful to me.

Of course I think a lot of the things I did to prep my dog helped, but I didn't really begin to lay a strong foundation in agility until working with the right teacher.



> Originally Posted By: SchutzhundGirl1. What foundation skills do you think are the most important?


Shadow handling (aka handling on the flat) If you can't get your dog to follow and understand your cues without obstacles around, how on earth are you going to do it in the presence of lots of fun jumps and of course the infamous dog vacuum-sucking-tunnels!!!












> Originally Posted By: SchutzhundGirl2. What "non-equipment" work to you teach (i.e., directional cues, targeting, hind end awareness, etc)?


I did a lot of work with shaping different tricks to get my dog to understand how to use her body. (ala Sylvia Trkman) I also work ladders, have done wobble boards in the past and now do a lot of work with a flex ball. In retraining my dog's weaves with the Susan Garrett 2x2 method concurrently with increased flex ball work I have really seen the body awareness work become useful.

I just recently proofed my dog's directionals, so the jury is still out on how useful they will be! 



> Originally Posted By: SchutzhundGirl3. Favourite books, dvds?


Favorite book: Shaping Success
Favorite dvd: 2x2 weaves

(and I don't even use the Greg Derrett handling system!







)

I also have the Success with One Jump and Great Dog, Shame about the Handler dvds, but haven't gotten much out of them. I obtained them when I realized I wasn't going anywhere with my local instructors and decided to try and 'do it myself'. That of course didn't go so well for me and I didn't get a whole lot out of these dvds. That's just my experience though.


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## mygsds (Jan 7, 2007)

Hey Dianne - first congrats on Blaze's great showing at Ontario Regionals. That was a great aggregate score!! Good luck at Nationals.

So tell us about your new dog?

Like you I am training a young dog for the first time and the first I have done foundation work on. I agree with the other answer that shadow handling is critical. I started with a lot of that and the good thing is you can do it without equipment. Kahlua is super fast and my handling is even more important with a fast young dog than it was with Killian. One thing I did not do enough of was recalls - found out they are critical and I thought Kahlua had a good one until we started to trial - then her excitement blew the recall out the window and I had to go back and rework them.

Also start line stays. I did so many of these when she was a puppy that she has an excellent "Wait" anywhere except in the agility ring recently. The knowledge is there but her impulse control is lacking. If you can get into a class that you can work on that it would be helpful. I did not have a class that I could do it and I am paying for ity.

I also did a lot of targeting when she was a baby, used the stairs etc. to teach her then gradually moved it to the obstacles. Again something you don't need equipment for.

At the same time I taught her directionals when I played ball. I would throw the ball and give her a Go command to go away from me straight or a get out to go laterally. Still do that and now we are starting to compete I am finding it helps. I also taught her left and right and I am now using those on the course.
Hind end awareness is important as it tail awareness if they have a long one like my girl does. Those are easy to teach with a 12" board on the ground then progress to one end on block then both ends on blocks so you have ramps and low dog walks. If they fall off they are only a foot max from the ground.

I also agree that a good instructor that can teach you to handle is critical. It is easier to teach the dog to perform obstacles than it is to teach someone to handle that dog so handling classes are great to find. I lucked out with an instructor here who teaches that way. 

DVDs? Lets see, I have Susan Garrets Success with One Jump. Got some good ideas from it. Also have Start Line Stays and Impulse Control which has some good ideas but not that well presented.

I have heard that Susan's Weaves DVD is good if you have the 2 poles.


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## Schutzhundgirl (Oct 26, 2006)

Thanks a lot, great responses so far. My "new" dog is actually my 6 yr old GSD that got started in agility quite late, and then it was off and on for a couple of years. He too did not have a proper foundation (partially ignorance on my part), but he is still "green" enough that I think foundation skills would be really beneficial for him. So far I'm quite lucky with him, as he doesn't "hate" anything yet.... he is game to try everything (Blaze hated the teeter for a while, still hates the weaves, and will avoid the table like the plague). 

Thanks Pat for the congrats... I really had no idea going in that we were capable of a 2nd place finish... the really sad part of it all is that I made a critical handling error in the first gamble on Saturday that caused him to fault before completing the final gamble... he went on to complete the gamble with no hesitation, but of course we did not get the 35 points... had I not made that error, we actually would have finished in 1st place! The good thing is that Blaze does not care about that, so lesson learned!


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## mygsds (Jan 7, 2007)

Well Killian was 7 when we started agility and I did a lot of shadow handling with him too. It was quicker teaching him the obstacles and he could pretty well read my mind by then and know what I meant even if I didn't express it the right way )
Getting that bond and teamwork is critical I think and Kahlua and I do not have that fully developed yet - but I see glimmers at times.

That's a shame about the gamble (( but getting 2nd place at Regionals is a great achievement and shows our GSDs can do it!!

I saw Blaze run last year as you guys were ahead of us in the same group - he looks really good and hey no table in Masters )

Pat


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## oranges81 (May 9, 2008)

With my eldest dog (who's very green and only 3) I didn't do focus work in class. All her Ob is trained by me, never took her to class. So we had to work at her focus during a class setting.
Sandy (my puppy) I took her through Focus work and OB classes before even setting foot in an agility class. I think it helped alot with her impulse control and starting line waits. 

I don't have any books or dvd's just two really good instructors.


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## mygsds (Jan 7, 2007)

I didn;t take Kahlua to puppy classes either and I wish I had. We did one session when she was almost a year old which helped a bit but I think doing an earlier obedience type class would have helped her impulse control too.

Next time I'll do it differently.
Pat


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