Jo Sermon:
HOW TO TRAIN FOR SPEED



 I have found that the so-called *drive* to do agility can without doubt be built and the only limitation that I see is physical. Dogs I'll agree come with instincts - but none of them come with the instinct to do agility. You need to teach them how and the end result is simply the product of a combination of the dog's physical ability and the handler's training ability.

Teach a dog, right from the start to go AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.

 

There are very few fit and healthy dogs
that don't enjoy speed, but

 If you teach them that
Agility = speed
then eventually agility will
become it's own reward  and
Your dog will have FUN!!!

 



Winnie
Photo: Gro Andresen

When I first began teaching my young Beardie, Jester, he was not particularly interested. There were BC's there who couldn't take their eyes off the action, Jester was eyeing up a likely hug from a possible friend.................now at age 5, it is very hard to get him to take his eyes off the equipment and although he will briefly acknowledge his friends, what he wants is to play the agility game!
 

With regard to "difficult" breeds,
lots of people will tell you that it's
not possible to train a cat..........
It is, you simply (!) need to find the
appropriate motivation and develop
the relevant training skills.
 


I agree that many of the dogs which are classed as high-drive can often be *easier* to motivate - in many cases you don't have to do much motivational training at all. But don't write the other breeds off and if you are a fan of a dog that isn't easy to motivate to do Agility, DON'T believe people who tell you *well those dogs are like that*. I did with my first Beardie and *SO* wish that I had known then what I know now.

Buzzy was a great dog - very fast on the flat, but bored WITLESS in agility. Poor dog, he missed out on a lot of fun. If only I could just go back and do it properly.....................

 

How:

Try setting up a 4 jumps in a straight line.

Add a start and finish line.

Time the dog over 10 goes.

If her times go something like 4 at 3 secs, 5 at 4 secs and 1 at 5 secs.
The next time reward only those that are 4 secs or better.

Use a toy preferably, either to tug or chase. If she's outside the
time, just say "oh dear, too slow" and go back to the start line.

Her times will very quickly ALL be 4 secs or better and so
now you up the stakes just a little and reward only those at
3.5 secs or better and so on and so on until you get no
improvement - you'll have reached her optimum performance

Fihish    _________________________


                                                      

Start________________________
 

                                                                                    
At the end of the day, what you reward is what you get. Cheerleading, or encouragement can all be perceived as reward and if you reward a dog for going slowly, what you'll get is a dog that goes slowly.....................either that or they learn to ignore the racket :-)
 

What you reward, is what you get:


When teaching I reward 100% every successful attempt. When I am sure that the dog knows what is required, I'll begin to up the criterion for reward. If you want speed, then that is a criterion like any other. A word of warning though, dogs have a VERY good sense of time and can normally "time their arrival" to within 0.5 of a sec, so be accurate here otherwise you'll simply confuse the dog.
Jo Sermon and Beardies from Surrey in the UK
 

See also: TRAIN FOR SPEED

 

Solveig Trippestad

www.solveigtr.com