| GENERAL GUIDELINES - Things I have learnt from Instructing 1. Punishing/reprimanding for failure. At a beginner level, it is unfair to punish a dog in agility. The dog does not know enough at this stage to be doing the wrong thing. 2. Insufficient rewards or praise. At an early stage, the only way for a dog to learn what is expected is to reward it when it performs successfully. The bigger the reward, the quicker the dogs will learn and be motivated to continue. Praise should be often and food rewards should be worthwhile enough for the dog to want to try to earn it again. 3. Make sure you know what you are rewarding. If a dog does 5 obstacles nicely and it is the asked for a sit at the end, are they being rewarded for the sit or for the sequence? If a dog is having trouble with an obstacle, the reward should come straight away after that obstacle, not after completing a sequence. If a dog is not motivated at all, it should be rewarded after every obstacle. 4. Remember that agility is a very new & exciting environment for some dogs and be mindful that space is often required to prevent scuffles/fights. As well as learning something new, some dogs have never seen so many other dogs in one area before. Watch dogs body language, give dogs space and time to get used to each other, keep food in sealed containers and be careful of “revving” dogs up with toys, too close to another dog. 5. Handlers should not try to rush their dogs too much initially. While speed is desired by most, it is something that should come naturally with confidence in obstacles and knowing what the handler wants. Rushing early can create dogs that are mostly out of control. 6. For dogs that are on lead, be very careful not to accidentally reprimand them by jerking their collar as they go over an obstacle. It is often difficult to predict which direction or how fast a dog on lead is going to go. Handlers should work of getting dogs to focus on their signals, thus controlling the dog rather than letting the dog control their path. 7. Always use the hand closest to the dog to signal. Using the other hand, means the handler’s body is facing the dog, giving it no information about which direction should be taken. The arm not signaling should be kept away to avoid confusing the dog. 8. Getting caught behind the jump. Handlers should start to the side of a jumps before commencing a sequence or start at an angle. Often a handler starting behind a jump with the dog will pull the dog off the jumps when they run around it. 9. Dogs must be handled equally on both sides otherwise they develop a preference for working on one side, usually the left, a habit that is very hard to break later. This applies to all obstacles, especially the weave poles. 10. Dogs running off/zooming due to failure to give a command to turn. Anywhere the dog cannot see the next obstacle as obvious, the handler needs to give a command to let the dog know that a change of direction is required. 11. Never push a dog beyond its current limit. If a dog is not happy doing 2 jumps in a row, there is little point asking it to do 8. Better to work at getting a happy enthusiastic performance over one or two and progressing a jump at a time. 12. Never allow behaviour to continue that will need to correct later. Example 1 – If a dog spends its 1st 3 months jumping off contact zones, it is likely that this will continue to some extent throughout its career, without extensive retraining. Contact performance should be taught at the very beginning & only successful performances should be rewarded. Example 2 – If you don’t want your dog to bark during agility, you should never let it start! The same applies for jumping on or biting the handler. When these behaviours occur, the fun should stop & the dog will soon get the message that this is not part of the game. Another successful tactic is to ask for an incompatible behaviour when unwanted behaviours occur. 13. Never practicing a mistake. If you are having trouble with a sequence, stop after the 2nd failed attempt, put your dog away and work out what the problem is without your dog, either by asking for help or practicing your body language or timing. |