Month: November 2018

Voting closes tonight to choose the 2018-20 Agility Committee, and we’ll soon have a brand new committee to run our sport. Before they go, I thought I’d take a moment to thank the outgoing AC for all their hard work. I’m especially grateful for the following changes to our sport that have been made over the last two years:

1. The Club Trainers Subcommitee – I think this is an awesome initiative to help support and grow our clubs. I’m looking forward to seeing what the subcommittee achieves over the next couple of years. 
2. Taking AC meetings on the road – It’s a super idea to make the agility committee more accessible to people around the country. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the Christchurch meeting, but maybe next time! I hope the incoming committee keeps this up.
3. Consultation on Starters and AD classes – Personally, I think our agility graduation system needs some revision. The survey revealed that I’m in the minority there, but oh well. I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to discuss graduation and have our views heard.
4. Funding the Ian Gray history project – Many of you will have seen the discussion about this on Facebook. What you may not realise is that Dogs NZ and our AC have each contributed $500 to this project. Ian was the “founding father” of agility in NZ, and it was thanks to his efforts that agility became a Dogs NZ recognised sport in 1987. I can’t wait to see the finished project!
5. Requiring voters to be members of an agility club – Prior to this change, any Dogs NZ member could register for the agility voting roll. This opened our elections up to interference from outside our community. I’m not aware of anything untoward happening (hopefully most people have better things to do than meddle in our elections!) but I’m glad to see this loophole removed. It also sends a message that people who compete in agility and want to have their voices heard should belong to an agility club. Personally I think this should be a requirement to compete at all!

Thank you to all the outgoing AC – Carl, Sallie, Bevan, Diana, Chris, Steve, Wayne and Joanne – for your hard work. Thanks also to the other volunteers who keep our sport running – particularly Pete (website), Cam (permanent numbers) and the heights review-subcommittee.

What was your favourite decision made by our outgoing Agility Committee?

AD and ADX Advanced trials are the agility equivalent of sex. A lot of new competitors have questions about them, but they’re usually fobbed off with “don’t worry about it now, you’ll understand when you’re older”.

If you’re new, all you probably know about them is that you’ve been told not to enter them, but the online entries system keeps trying to sneak an AD entry onto your bill. Today I’m going to attempt to explain what they are and how we finished up with them.

Continue reading “What are AD and ADX Advanced Trials?”

Yesterday I went to Cromwell with the 2019 NZDAC committee for a tour of our venue. The southern South Island has had a huge amount of rain over the last month, and the good news is that the grounds at the racecourse have held up to it very well and it was nice and dry underfoot!

I stayed the night with my friends Flip and Gaz in Arrowtown and went to the Queenstown club’s ribbon trial today. It was a long day but we were fortunate enough to stay dry all day, and it was great to see the newer Queenstown competitors have a go. Rik and I did weren’t quite on form today but we did have the odd moment of brilliance – I was very impressed with her send to a backside in Jumpers B from a long way back!

What did you and your agility dog get up to this weekend? What was your favourite moment?

Almost every agility run begins with a lead-out. This a chance for the handler to move into position to handle the first few obstacles while the dog waits patiently for her turn. Or that’s how it’s supposed to go, anyway …

Breaking or creeping during lead-outs is one of the most common bad habits in agility dogs. My last dog Spring was one of the guilty. I had a lot of trouble getting a decent stay out of her in the first place. Within months of her agility debut the rot had set in – she started crawling along on her belly while I was walking away. Once I turned around to see her lying on the wrong side of the first jump, which she had crawled right up to and then underneath!

Why Do Dogs Break?

There are three common reasons why dogs break:

Continue reading “Sit, Stay, Walk Away”

So you’ve been training for a few months and you’ve decided to have a go at your first ribbon trial … but which classes are you actually supposed to enter?

Agility and Jumpers Classes

We have two types of agility competition in New Zealand. “Jumpers” courses only contain tunnels and jumping obstacles, including the tyre and long jump. “Agility” courses which also include the weaves and contact obstacles – dogwalk, Aframe, crossover, and seesaw. At most shows there will be a mix of agility and jumpers classes offered.

Continue reading “What to Enter at Your First Ribbon Trial”

Today my club had our annual working bee to clean all the winter mud off our equipment and fix the stuff we’ve broken. This year we had the added challenge of converting all of our jumps to the new heights.

We still have a lot of the older metal style hurdles, although we are gradually replacing them. This weekend two club members and a supportive husband removed over 500 metal lugs from these jumps!

We have fitted plastic stick-on lugs to some of our hurdles, although we will need to finish this job off at training next week. One complication that we hadn’t anticipated is that many of our jump poles are a wee bit too long for our hurdles now – the plastic backing of the cups reduces the span of the hurdle slightly and the poles are an extremely snug fit.

Has your club modified your hurdles yet? Did you encounter any unexpected challenges?

Most people don’t want to learn too much about the science of training when they take a beginners agility class – they just want to run around and have fun with the obstacles. A good instructor will distil their knowledge down into easy training “recipes” to teach each skill – easy steps for you to follow which will get your dog performing the obstacles without hurting your brain too much.

As with cooking though, recipes will only get you so far. If you want to progress, eventually you will need to understand the basic concepts of dog training. One of these fundamental ideas is “operant conditioning” – the use of reinforcement and punishment to change the dog’s behaviour.

Continue reading “Training Basics: Reinforcement and Punishment”

EDIT: This post is now out of date. Please refer to the 2023 version.

Navigating the paperwork to enter your first agility show can be a bit confusing for an agility newbie. Today I’ll explain what you need to do before you’re ready to make your debut.

Requirements to Enter a Ribbon Trial

A ribbon trial is a small agility show, usually held on one day. The entry fees are cheaper than at championship events, and there are no cash or sponsor’s prizes – just a ribbon and a clear round certificate. They are intended to encourage newcomers into the sport, and often more experienced people will use them as a training opportunity. You can enter a ribbon trial on the day of the show, but you will need to:

• Make sure your dog is at least 18 months old on the day of the show
• Have your dog measured – I will cover measuring in a future post
• Optional: Obtain a permanent number from the Agility Committee website. This is not compulsory for ribbon trials.

Continue reading “Agility Competition Paperwork (2018 version)”

This weekend my club hosted a jumpers champ show in Timaru. I kept myself pretty busy helping all weekend, and was also show manager on Saturday. The show went very smoothly and it was lovely to see some of our newer members doing well in the ring, as well as sharing the load of running the show.

Rik and I have been working on her commitment to wraps over the last couple of weeks, and I was pleased with our progress in the ring – no refusals and one beautiful wrap on Saturday where she drove confidently to the jump. We also pulled off a 2nd place in the last Jumpers B of the weekend.

Did you go to an agility show this weekend? What was your favourite moment with your dog?

At many shows, the club will provide a bucket for you to put your lead and toys/food in when you go into the ring. This bucket will be waiting for you on the finish line.

Most dogs rapidly learn that the bucket is a source of wonderful goodies and they will make a beeline for it at the end of the run. Sometimes they are a bit too keen and don’t wait until they are actually finished before they charge off bucketward – it is very frustrating to get all the way around to the end and have your dog go round the last jump!

I’ve had two dogs that were very keen on their buckets, but I’ve never had a dog leave the course early to get its toy. I think the way I train at home has a lot to do with this.

Continue reading “Tips for Bucket-Driving Dogs”