Shara Slorstad, Master Dog Trainer
Dog Gone Good Training 2009
“Clicker Training” or “Marker Training” are terms used for a method of training animals that involves a small box usually made out of plastic with a metal piece inside. When this metal piece is compressed and released it makes a short “click” sound. The idea behind clicker training is that it marks a specific behavior you are seeking from the dog.
Clicker training was first used by Marian Kruse and Keller Breland who taught wild-caught pigeons to bowl while participating in military research. Since then the clicker was used on several different species of animals. Clicker training is quite often used to train dolphins in zoos and as well as in the military. Clicker training isn’t a new trend among animal trainers, though is a fairly new training tool recognized by most professional dog trainers.
Clicker Training is a form of what’s called “operant conditioning”; the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior.
It is important to understand where your training tools come from and how they’re meant to be used before using them. You wouldn’t (or at least, you shouldn’t) put a prong collar or choke chain on a dog without having any understanding of where it originated and how it works, and the clicker is no different. To get the most out of each training tool you will put into your “training tool box” you need to have a full understanding of how to use them. Anyone can pick up a clicker and start using it, but if you don’t understand how it works you will not go very far with training your dog!
The clicker is a marker; when the dog performs and act you are looking for, you “mark” that behavior with a click of the clicker. The understanding is that this mark is far better timed than a verbal “good boy”. Personally, I don’t think this is entirely correct. Human reactions aren’t perfect and even I’ve marked off cue or by accident at times. My “YES!” or “Good boy!” has been far better ‘fine-tuned’ over the years than the short times I’ve used a clicker. However, if practiced properly and used often the clicker can also be fine-tuned with your reactions. So it is possible to create a better timed response with the clicker than with a verbal praise, it just takes a lot of time and practice on your part. It isn’t automatically a better solution in training like some trainers may want you to believe, but in time it can help your dog to understand difficult tasks you may ask of him; as long as you have learned the skills needed to use the clicker properly!
Think of the clicker like a “camera”. The instant the dog performs the act you’re looking for you “click” to capture that exact behavior. Of course, a dog won’t automatically understand what this means, so how do you teach him? Simple; just like anything you teach your dog; repetition, repetition, repetition! Every time you click it should also be paired with a verbal praise (“YES!” or “GOOD BOY!”) as well as a small treat. This treat should be soft and small enough that it takes little to no time for the dog to eat it. If the treat is too big or crunchy it takes time for the dog to eat it and thus distracting him from what you are teaching him.
Some trainers suggest when you start clicker training you do what is called “loading the clicker”. Without any command given you click and reward with a treat several times in a row until the dog associates the click with a treat reward. Personally I don’t like this method. I think it is pointless and a waste of time. When you first started training your dog, before you decided to give your hand at clicker training, did you sit down on the floor and praise your dog repeatedly for doing nothing at all? Of course not! You’ve only been praising him for good behaviors, and he figured it out on his own didn’t he? Dogs aren’t stupid in the least, and I believe if you use this same method to teach him what the clicker is he’ll pick it up on his own soon enough. You’re not entirely changing your training routine, after all, you’re just adding in another device.
Which brings me to my third fault in your standard clicker training manual; the clicker is another piece of equipment in your hands. You’ve already got a leash and a bag of treats (plus you need to break those treats into smaller pieces most likely), and now you’ve got this little plastic box you have to be on the ready to “click” at any moment! My advice is this; train without a leash when possible, and break up your treats before you start training and place them in a small container next to you (if possible on a table so it is in easy reach for you but not your dog). You could also invest in a trainers “tool belt” or a “bait pouch”, or even a good old fashioned “fanny pack”. These are things you strap at your waste that can hold treats for easier access and to keep your hands free.
I’ve come up with three faults so far in the regular clicker training way, and you’re probably wondering why in an article about how to clicker train it sounds like I’m trying to steer you away from it. The thing is this; when I first entered my dog Coal into an obedience class when he was a puppy I was told I had to use the clicker. The problem was, I didn’t sign up for a clicker training class, I signed up for an obedience class. I found fault after fault in the things they were teaching me, and the only reply I received was “either use the clicker like we tell you or leave the class”. Eventually they let me stay in the class and use a verbal cue (“YES”) instead of a clicker, because I’m just that stubborn and could probably sell ice to an Eskimo. The point is that these trainers and this obedience class turned me off from clicker training for a very long time because no one was willing to even try and give me answers to my questions. There are so many training methods out there and not one of them is right for every dog and not one of them is wrong for every dog. One of the fun parts about dog training is figuring out which method fits you and your dog, and how to form that method to fit your dog even better.
I don’t use clickers in formal obedience training (the five basic commands; sit, down, stay, heel and come), though you can feel free to. I feel that most of the formal obedience commands are a fluid motion that you don’t need to, and it probably is best if you don’t, mark an exact behavior. The only two obedience commands where this does not apply is sit and down. Stay is a command that lasts for longer than a split second so when do you click? At the beginning of the action? The middle, or the end? I find it’s best not to click at all during stay as it is supposed to be a seamless act. Same rules apply to the heel and automatic sit and the recall.
Instead I use the clicker for difficult tasks that can either be easily broken down or that are short. For example; targeting. Targeting is when you teach your dog to “touch” (usually with his nose) an object (usually it starts with your hand). Targeting is one short act that can sometimes be difficult for a dog to first understand what you are asking of him. Using the clicker can help teach your dog exactly what you’re looking for from his behavior. When you first teach a dog to hand target you place a piece of food in your hand you wish for him to touch and hold it out in front of him (well within his reach). When the dog goes to take the food from your hand you click the instant his nose touches your hand. After several repeats of this action you can try removing the food away from the target hand and click when the dog touches his nose to your hand then reward with a treat and verbal/physical praise. Eventually the dog learns the object isn’t to take the food from your hand but rather touch his nose to your hand. The clicker acted like a “camera”; snapping an exact picture of what you were asking from your dog. Keep in mind, some dogs are very “paws on” and will try to hit your hand with their paws instead of their nose. When this happens use a neutral tone of “nooo” or “ah ah!” without a click and ask for the behavior again, this time without paws. If the dog touches your hand without his paws a click and extra reward is given for doing it right this time!
The same rules apply to all other behaviors you may be training for using the clicker.
The great thing about the clicker is that it’s a lot easier to wean your dog off than treats. I personally don’t like using treats in training when possible, though I understand their place in the dog training world and use them when I feel it’s necessary. Once you feel your dog is understanding the command (you get the “light bulb over the head look” and your dog is excited to train and offering the behavior 90% or more of the time) you can simply remove the clicker from your training and just use a verbal cue and treats/physical reward. If you find once the clicker was removed from training that your dog isn’t doing as well throw it back into the mix for a while; he needs that extra help for a bit longer.
You may wish to eventually wean your dog off treats and expect him to respond to the command with the appropriate behavior without needing a treat reward. With some dogs this is more difficult than others. Some dogs are extremely food motivated while others are very happy with just pleasing their owners. Weaning off treats is much harder than weaning off the clicker (as with the clicker very little to no “weaning” is actually involved). You shouldn’t wean your dog off treats until you are 100% sure he understands the command given. Once your dog has a full understanding you can start by rewarding lightly on the treats and heavily on the praise. When rewarding with praise use an excited tone and a good rub down or short game with the dog, and when rewarding with treats use a “YES” or “Good boy!” with the treat. You want your physical and verbal praise to be a better reward than the treat. You also want to be treating only about half the time, and in sporadic intervals. This means you may reward with treats 3 times in a row followed by a couple without, and then once with treats and several without, etc. Keep spacing it out so that over time there is less and less treat reward and more and more verbal/physical reward until you aren’t using treats at all. Once your dog is weaned off treats, you can occasionally give a treat as a reward just as a “jackpot” reward or to remind your dog that you’re very pleased with his behavior and sometimes treats still DO happen. This way he may be always working for a treat but he never knows when he’s going to get it (so he should perform the behavior just in case!).
Heavily food motivated dogs may be harder to wean, and I warn that they may always need extra “jackpot” treat rewards to keep them motivated. This is no fault of their own or in your training. Some dogs personalities work this way as well as their genetics and/or breed. You have to make your training method fit your dog, not the other way around!
What is the E-Collar?
The E-collar (also known as "electric collar", "remote trainer", or the old school version; "shock collar") is a remote training device to help teach dogs off leash control. It is used quite often by advanced trainers, personal protection trainers, or by the common pet owner when dealing with a specifically difficult dog. It can be used as a training tool much in the same way as any other training collar (like a prong collar or choke chain). It can be used during the learned phase of training when corrections are introduced, it can be used when you first begin off leash work, or it can be used to proof a dog that you may be unsure of whether or not they are 100% off leash.
How Does the E-Collar Work?
The e-collar has two parts to it; a remote control used by the owner and the collar that is fitted around the dogs neck which administers stimulation. Stimulation (also known as "stim" or "stem") can be administered in a variety of degrees and with or without a sound. The more expensive, yet more reliable and effective brands of e-collars such as Dogtra, Tri-Tronics or Innotek have a large variety of stim than those of a cheaper and less reliable brand. Variety of stim in e-collars is a good thing! Every dog is different as far as personality, temperament, and pain threshold goes. Some dogs are what is called "soft" and a very light correction is needed (some of these very soft dogs will drop just at a firm "NO"!), while other dogs which are called "hard" will need a harder correction and more discipline. A wide variety range in stim is good because it can be better tailored for either a soft, hard or any dog in between!
When the correction stim is determined for the individual dog and the button is pressed it sends stimulation through the collar which the dog feels. These collars used to be called “shock collars” because the early designs really were much like a shock to the dog. They came with one stim only and it was very high! When most people try the lowest setting on their e-collar on themselves they can’t feel a thing. In fact you may need to turn it up several levels before you feel anything and even then it’s not what I would call a shock. More like an uncomfortable tingling sensation.
Conditioning the Dog not to be “Collar Smart”
Now that you have an understanding of how the collar works and you have purchased your e-collar you will need to condition the dog so he does not learn that the stim is coming specifically from the collar. Where e-collar training fails is quite often when the trainer has not properly conditioned the dog to the collar and the dog becomes “collar smart”. This means that the dog has learned the stim is coming from the collar itself. If this happens to your dog you will never have the ultimate goal in dog training accomplished; your dog listening off leash with complete control. You will always need to use the e-collar because if your dog is collar smart he will simply refuse commands while the collar is not on him!
There are a couple of ways to do this. One is that you always put the collar on at least an hour in advance before training. Make sure it is fitted as you would during training (no matter how uncomfortable it may look while your dog is snoozing!). The idea behind this method is that the dog will have forgotten all about the collar being on before he goes out for training. The problem I’ve found with this method of conditioning is that I don’t always plan my training that far in advance and I am not always around that far in advance before my training to put the collar on the dog.
The other method of conditioning the dog to the collar is what I call the “Ed Frawley Method”, as he is the first trainer I’ve heard using it. What you do is throughout the day (or during your available hours) you periodically switch the collar on the dog. You want to switch between his regular collar, to his e-collar, to his training collar (if he has one). You can even put two or more on at once! Never switch them in the same order and always keep the dog guessing. You don’t want to switch the collars right before training or anything exciting (such as a walk or car ride). The trick to this is that you want to teach the dog that what collar is on him has no significance. That you’re just a weird human who likes to change his ensemble every so often!
If you really want to cover your tracks you can use the “Ed Frawley Method” as well as put the collar on at least an hour before training! It is entirely up to you.
Either way, you will need to do this for several weeks before you even begin training. So while you’re conditioning your dog, start doing your homework on the e-collar and e-collar training methods!
How Do You Determine The Correct Level of Stim?
To determine the correct level of stim for your individual dog you will need to test it. Remember; every dog is different and you will need to go through this procedure with every new dog you use the e-collar with!
You can start by placing your dog on leash (attached to a regular buckle collar, not the e-collar) with the e-collar right above that. Keep in mind; you need to know how to properly fit the e-collar on your dog first! It should be snug behind his ears and under his chin. You need the contact prongs to be touching his skin, so if you have a long haired dog you may need to shave a patch of fur off where the prongs will touch. If the prongs are not making contact the collar will be ineffective.
Do not start obedience work with your dog yet. You want him to be not focused on you but rather sitting or standing next to you doing his own thing. Make sure the collar is on and charged properly. Set the collar on the very lowest settings. Some collars have options for stim settings on the collar itself as well as the remote. If yours is like this make sure it is on the lowest setting on both.
Give the dog stim. The reaction you are looking for is very subtle, so watch closely. Most common reactions are a twitch of the ear or head, blink of the eye, or the dog may sniff at the ground. If your dog gives no reaction turn the stim level up one notch and try again. If the dog yelps, screams, jumps in the air or has any other reaction that seems severe to you this means you have the stim level set too high and will need to turn it back down a notch. You will want to start training on the lowest setting that your dog gives a mild reaction to!
Unfortunately, some collars do not have a wide enough variety in stim levels and you may find no reaction when setting “3” but a severe reaction when set on level “4”. If this is the case with your dog, your collar does not work for him. You will need one that has a more variety in settings. I hope you got a money-back or exchange warranty on it!
Linkin's Plan:
Linkin's plan is what I'm currently working on with him in his e-collar training. Each step in training I will post another portion of the above article that will relate to Linkin's progress in the e-collar training.
Linkin is an extremely Leash Dependent dog. This means that he works excellent on leash but the second that leash is unattached he does not listen well at all. This is especially true for his recall. The reason for this started before I even got him. Any dog that is given the chance to run loose and not return when called will be 3 times more likely to not come when called the next time it happens. This is why it is so important to start training early and to never give your dog the chance to escape (as well as for safety reasons).
As a last resort, I will be using the e-collar on him to try to teach him his recall. I say it is a last resort because I have literally tried every other method I've come across that didn't involve the e-collar.
For the next few weeks, this is what I will be doing with Linkin in regards to the e-collar:
- Conditioning; I will be using the "Ed Frawley Method" to condition him to the collar.
- Meanwhile, during regular obedience sessions he will be on a long line either in our yard (which is not fenced) or at Sowchea Schooled in their fenced area. For the first week of this training he will only be wearing either a choke chain or prong collar.
- After this first week of regular training on a long line he will be wearing the e-collar (not turned on) as well as a choke chain or prong collar.
- After two weeks of training on the "dead" e-collar and "live" training collar, as well as doing collar conditioning I will begin training with the e-collar on and use the training collar as the "dead collar". I will be switching between training collars and buckle collars and switch training between a dead and live e-collar.
The reason for all the variety in collars is because I want no chance of him becoming collar smart as I know with Linkin it could happen extremely easily.
There you have it. Stay tuned for a new update in the next few weeks!
One very important part of obedience training is you have to understand both sides of praise and correction and you have to be well aware of the balance between them. Corrections need to be firm but fair, and they should never override praise. Praise and correction is how we communicate to our dogs when they’ve done something correct or wrong.
Praise
Praise should always be given according to what your dog has accomplished. If you’ve been working hard on an exercise and you feel your dog finally had it “click” then a “jackpot” of praise should be given. If it is something routine then an equal amount of praise should be given. Praise is extremely important because it teaches the dog he’s done something write and eliminates any stress that may have built up during training.
Praise can be given in several different forms, and the type of praise you give your dog will completely depend on what your dog enjoys and responds to the most. Some dogs are more food motivated for others, and in that case a food reward can be given. Some dogs are more prey (toy) driven and so a toy can be used for food. While others are perfectly content with just physical and verbal praise. Regardless of what type of reward your dog prefers, I can’t stress enough how important verbal and physical praise are. Your dog must be willing to work for this type of praise regardless of what his favorite is because you will not always have a handful of treats in your pocket or his favorite ball handy when praise is required! I prefer to train my dogs for formal obedience using only verbal and physical praise. I use other things such as treats and toys for things such as tricks and Dog Agility. The reason I do this is because I’ve had dogs that were strictly treat trained and they would go nuts for treats; they would offer every trick they know before getting the right one, never truly listening to the command given. I prefer to have a dog listen for obedience regardless of what reward I have in my hand. I’ve found they tend to focus better on what you’re asking of them this way. That being said, some dogs will not respond to verbal and physical praise like they do for treats and toys, and therefore it is necessary to use these types of praise to teach the dog properly.
If you’re using a food reward you will want to use an appropriate degree of reward. Some rewards are too high and this will cause the above mentioned behavior where the dog offers every trick they know before getting the right one; never truly listening to the command given. If you’re using something like jerky and your dog is acting this way during training, you will want to lower the degree of reward to something that doesn’t get him as excited. I suggest using his kibble to start. This, however, may be too low, and you’ll have to raise it to something like pieces of bread or a lower value treat.
The same applies to toys. You may notice that some toys your dog prefers over others. This is usually the case with toys you don’t leave lying about the house for your dog to play with as he pleases. If you have specific toys that are supervise only (it may be something you don’t want the dog chewing up or something that could be dangerous if the dog chews up such as stuffed toys or tug ropes); these toys will be something your dog values more than those that are always within his reach.
When using treats or toys, you want to eventually wean the dog off them. This is why I said it’s important to also use verbal and physical praise along with either treats or toys. When you start training with these types of rewards you’ll be giving a reward every time your dog gives it right. Also, when starting a new exercise you will focus solely on praise and encouragement and will be giving zero corrections. This is during what is called the “learning phase”. It’s important to understand the difference between encouragement and praise. Encouragement is given to encourage the dog to perform the task that is asked of him. This may be using a happier tone of voice, patting your leg while teaching heel, or using a lure such as a treat or toy to show the dog where to move his body. Praise is given as excitement, petting, a treat or a short game of tug or fetch with a toy after the dog has successfully completed the task asked of him.
Back to how to wean your dog off treats or toys; when you begin you will be using this reward after every successful completion of a command. A “jackpot” should be used when your dog completes a task more than what you expected of him. A “jackpot” is several treats at once, more excitement than your usual praise, and/or a longer game with the toy. As you continue on your training and your dog is becoming more and more successful you will slowly start giving this reward every other time your dog completes a task successfully and during the times you do not give a treat or toy reward you will be using only verbal and physical praise. You will do this very slowly over a period of time. By the time you start weaning your dog off of treats and toys you will probably be introducing corrections into the training as well.
Eventually you will be treating every 3rd time, 4th, 5th and so on until you are no longer giving treats or toys. You can occasionally use treats or toys as a “jackpot” and also to keep your dog guessing; so he will never know when he is getting his favorite reward.
I would also like to touch base on degrees of praise. I mentioned that you may need to use a high value or low value treat, but this also applies to toys and praise in regard to what your dogs personality is. For example, my young dog Linkin gets excited very easily and if given too much praise he will start doing “zoomies” (does uncontrollable laps around the house) and it takes a while to get him focused back into training. This means that the degree of praise I use for him is substantially lower than what I would give my Lab Coal, as he requires more praise and encouragement or he will become bored with the task very quickly. The only way to know what degree of praise to use on your dog is to work with him and watch how he reacts. You want him to be obviously pleased with himself; you do not want him to become distracted from the exercise or bored with the exercise.
Corrections
Just like praise, there are several different forms of corrections and degrees in which to use them. Corrections shouldn’t be introduced into training until you are 100% sure your dog understands the command you are giving him and is simply ignoring it or choosing not to comply. This is also referred to as when a dog does not “mind” the trainer.
I will not go into complete, full detail about all the different types of corrections but will rather give brief descriptions. Leerburg® Video and Kennel has an excellent article titled The Theory of Corrections in Dog Training written by Ed Frawley that I highly suggest reading. It is a PDF file, so you will need Adobe to open it:
This article goes into much more detail about corrections and is a good read! In fact, I highly suggest reading through most of the free Ebooks Leerburg® has on their website: http://leerburg.com
Just like how you have different tools for praise (treats, toys, physical and praise) there are different tools used in corrections. These tools are your voice (verbal), and a variety of training collars available. See the section titled “Tools of the Trade” in this booklet to view more detail about some of these collars.
Your voice is the most important tool you have in dog training. It can be used for both praise and a correction! Your dog should have an understanding of “NO” by this point, and if he doesn’t it’s time he learns! Just like in teaching any command, the “NO” correction is taught through repetition. It should be used as a firm tone of voice, not angry or frustrated. You may need to practice to find the right tone. Also, different tones may be called for different circumstances. Believe it or not, “NO” can also be used for encouragement! The tone you use in this case is extremely important. Rather than a firm “NO” you will instead use a more calm, and encouraging tone of “noooo”. You are telling your dog “no, that’s not how you do it, try again” rather than telling him “NO you’ve done something wrong”.
When your dog disobeys a command (that you are 100% sure he knows at this point in training) you want to use a firm “NO” which may or may not be followed by a physical correction using a training collar. It’s important that I differentiate at this point, when I use the term “physical correction” I am in no way condoning that you ever hit your dog. A physical correction should always be given with a training tool such as a choke chain or prong collar and you must first understand how this tool works and how to give a correction on it!
When giving a verbal correction followed by a physical correction you will want to give some time between each to give your dog the chance to make the right choice. You want him to learn that it’s better to “beat the correction” by complying after you’ve given a verbal correction and before you give a physical one. This time between verbal and physical correction should be about 1 - 2 seconds. Watch your dog closely, as he may begin to comply, or you may see “the wheels turning” and you want to give him the chance to comply before giving the physical correction.
The correction you give must be firm but fair, I cannot stress this enough! It must fit the crime!
Also, it’s important you understand that some corrections can add drive while others can take it away. Drive is basically how worked up your dog may get. When doing a moving exercise such as heel you want some amount of drive (though not too much) and while doing a stationary exercise such as down stay you don't want your dog to have any drive. One firm correction will lower drive while several softer corrections will add drive. You may wonder why anyone would want to add drive to a dog, but this is usually used in sports such as Schutzhund and Personal Protection work, and will most likely not be needed for obedience training your pet dog.
When you give a correction you will have to gauge it and watch your dogs reaction to know what type of further correction may be needed. For some soft dogs a verbal correction will do the trick (a firm NO can send some soft dogs cowering on their bellies!) while for a harder dog a firm physical correction may be needed. A good example of how to do this is when you do any type of training with an e-collar (aka: “Remote Trainer”, or “Electric Collar”). All e-collars, from the top end TriTronics and Dogtra to the low end kind you can buy in a bulk store have different settings. Of course, the higher you go in quality the more variety in stimulation settings you can get. Let’s just say that the average e-collar as a setting of 1-10 (though some go up into the hundreds). 1 being the lowest setting you have on the collar it can’t even be felt by most humans and 10 being the highest and it feels like an incredibly uncomfortable shock. When you first start e-collar training you need to test the collar on your dog to see what their lowest level is. You would start at 1 and if no reaction is given from the dog you move up to 2 and so forth. The reaction you’ll see from your dog may vary but is usually seen as an ear twitch, blinking or the dog may sniff at the ground. If the dog jumps and/or yelps it is obviously too high.
This is the same sort of method you will use to gauge corrections with any collar you use, not just an e-collar. You start out light and gradually move up until you get the desired reaction. Once again, if the dog is yelping or jumping you have given a correction that is too hard! I can’t stress enough that every dog is different and that the amount of correction you give one dog may not be the same for another. This is why it’s important to test how hard of a correction to give with every dog you train!
Not only does each dog have a different temperament and pain threshold, but each training tool you use to give corrections has a different degree as well. E-collars are nice in the sense that they can have such a wide variety and they give you the freedom of off leash training while still giving you the control to give corrections. A choke chain may be effective for a soft dog while a harder dog may require a prong collar. Of course, the degree of how hard the correction is for either collar depends on how you enforce it. Also, a prong collar can be more effective than a choke chain while you use a lower amount of force with it than you would with a choke chain! Personally I prefer prong collars for this reason, as well as because they are safer to use on a dog if you know you will be using a training collar for a long period of time. Studies in Germany have shown that long term use of choke chains on dogs (this means every day for years if not the dog’s whole life) can actually cause permanent damage to the trachea. The prong collar does not do this because it provides even pressure around the whole circumference of the dogs neck. The choke chain applies pressure in one single spot (where the chain loops through the O-ring).
Do not get worried yet though! If I suggest you use a choke chain on your dog there is a reason for it and I would never do anything to put your dog in harms way. However, that being said, you should be aware of the risks and if you plan on using the collar long term you must inform me first!
A leash correction given using a training collar should always be very quick and always fair to the dog. If you are using either a choke chain or a prong collar you must never pull the leash and hold it tight! The duration of the correction should be no more than 1/2 a second! Too many times I see owners pulling their dogs around on a training collar while their dog chokes at the end. The owner always tells me the dog is “stupid” and should know better than to pull, however if you look closely you’ll notice it’s the owner doing the pulling, not the other way around! When doing any type of leash work your dog should always be given slack in the leash. This is to prevent this from happening and also because a dog can not learn without making mistakes! If the dog ventures too far ahead (forging) or too far behind (lagging) while doing a heel you can give a quick correction and encourage them to go back into the correct position rather than holding the dog in that position. If you hold the dog in the position he will never learn how far he can go ahead, behind and to the side and how far he can’t!
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The snow is gone, the ground is dry, the grass is coming, it's time to get out the Agility equipment!!
Every spring when I get the equipment out of the RV Shelter I shake my head at the amount of grime, dust, and crud that has accumulated on it all, as well as the fact that I seem to be losing more equipment than I gain each year. Every summer's "Equipment Touch Up" list seems to get longer and longer. This year I have the following to do:
- Sand and repaint the Dog-Walk
- build supports on the planks of the Dog-Walk (since mine is not regulation size; the planks are too long and the walk is too tall so the planks tend to bounce if the dog is going too fast)
- Get new "saddle bags" for the tunnel (since money is tight, this means that yet again, I will be using milk jugs filled with water or sand)
- Fix the weave poles so they stop falling over when Coal the "Tank" barrels through them (although sometimes it's unavoidable, like you'll see in the video I've posted)
- Fix my one spread jump support, as the spread jump sat outside all winter and one of the legs fell apart when grass grew over it in the fall (this is why it was outside all winter)
- Fix the teeter... this has only been roughly looked at, but by the looks of things the support frame needs to be screwed together (it wobbles) and the plank will most likely have to be replaced.
- Fix the A-Frame... this has not been looked at in about 6 years and it's been leaning against the house the entire time. Dad says it just needs new hinges, but I have a feeling it's guna need a hell of a lot more than that.
- Replace the Tire's hoop, as we originally made it way too big and it's beginning to sag and look absolutely ridiculous.
Paint is peeling on all of the jumps as well, but they can wait for another year or two before they're redone I think.
So, in total, the equipment that is actually usable (though some still needs some work here and there), is as follows:
- 3 Standard Jumps
- 1 Tunnel (though it has two large holes in it and will likely blow away if I don't get some saddle bags for it)
- 1 Dog-Walk (though needs the above mentioned work)
- 1 Tire (though needs the above mentioned work)
- 1 set of 6 weave poles (though needs the above mentioned work)
Not to mention, the equipment I'm still missing and need to build or purchase (i.e.: Pause Table, Chute, another set of 6 weaves and it would be nice to have more than three standard jumps, maybe a couple winged jumps and/or double bar jumps).
But that sure as heck didn't stop me from setting up a course and giving it the first couple runs of the year!!
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