A Solid Foundation

Putting foundation training in perspective - turns out it really is worth the effort!

My dogs continually amaze me. Just the other night I took Billie out to do some training for only the second week in a row at club and was amazed and more than a little stoked at how well she did.

Now, Billie is a 20 month old Aussie who tears around the yard like a maniac at top speed chasing (or being chased by) my other two dogs much of the time, uses walls as a pushing off point by leaping against them, jumps over and onto everything she can reach with no thought for her own safety and generally does things at a million miles an hour.

This same dog was able to work off lead in a relatively strange area (she has only been on the club grounds a few times previously and not recently) with multiple other dogs running, barking, jumping very close by (there were three or four other classes going on around us at various distances). She never left me once. She focussed on me. She played tug with me. She offered behaviours on and around the equipment. She maintained a high level of enthusiasm and confidence throughout.

I was surprised (interpretation: drop dead amazed).

It pointed out to me yet again how often we underestimate our dogs, and how easy it is to focus on the things they CAN'T do over the things they CAN. It also confirmed to me that I have chosen the right path to do so much focus on foundation work, and that the positive style of training I am using now is the right one for me.

I am very grateful to have gained all the training knowledge I have, particularly from attending the seminars with Greg & Laura Derrett and Lynda Orton-Hill and of course everything Susan Garrett has published. (I am eagerly anticipating Susan's workshops here in November as well as her 5 Minute Formula Recall internet course that we have signed up for). I have learned so, so much in the last couple of years. I am beginning to feel now that I have the knowledge to not only give my dogs a good foundation, but also that I am explanding my ability to apply that knowledge to many different scenarios.

For example looking at Billie's training session on Fri night. We probably did about 20 mins of 'training' total. I'd say at least 15 mins of that involved playing with toys and/or crate games (so it was really broken up into multiple very short sessions). I don't know how I ever trained a dog without crate games. My often hyperative and easily distracted Billie was able to do multiple perfect sit stays in an environment with a huge number of distractions. How long would it have taken me to train that without crate games? Not only can she hold a sit stay she is focussed on me and poised for action so when I do release her she comes right away at full speed. She can also drive ahead of me in a straight line with confidence (in fact, she went so fast once when she leapt into the crate she practically bounced off the back wall before she could turn around!)

Because I have tried very hard not to use corrections when training, I have a dog who is confident to try things and therefore learns very quickly. After seeing a tyre for the first time, it took her a total of about 5 seconds to work out she needed to go through it. Head through hoop, stand on hoop rim, walk through hoop - oh, hey, that worked! Well, I can do that again easy! And now I can do it more quickly, and do it as a jump!

The ability to fail and recover - how much more quickly we can progress. Second night working on a table - we simply spent a lot of time building value for the table, tugging in the table, playing sit-tug on the table, rewarding her for offering different positions on the table. Very quickly I was able to progress that to me walking around the table in both directions, me starting to walk/jog away from the table, and so on. I never used a stay/wait command. She made the CHOICE to stay there. When she did jump off once she quickly worked out that she could start earning treats again by hopping back up again with no cue from me.

We also started 2x2 training, and she was able to quickly hit entries from both left and right with fantasyic speed/drive, and then displaying the same returning to me with the toy.

To say I was thrilled with this training session is an understatement! I have a dog who is fast, responsive, happy, confident and focussed, exhibits the ability to make intelligent choices, recover from failures and exhibits SELF-control. I'd say that's about everything you want for an excellent agility dog.

Can Billie sequence four obstacles in a row? Not yet. But she has the foundations of many behaviours associated with negotiating those four obstacles correctly - she will be able to hold a start line stay while I lead out, she will be able to break from that stay on command to take those obstacles at full speed, she will focus on my cues of where to go next or alternatively have the ability to drive ahead of me in a straight line. And if she does fail she will have the confidence to re-attempt until she gets it right.