On Path to Q

On Path to a Q
Whatcom Agility Team

Course Analysis
Path management
Confidence

http://www.slideshare.net/StefanElvstad/on-path-to-q

Copyright © 2012, Stefan Elvstad

On Path to a Q
Class room discussion and exercises
Exercises will use only ground level obstacles
Hoops (“Non-obstacle”)
Gates (to help guiding the dog)
Tunnels (motivator, and to work on discrimination/options)

Hoops, tunnels and gates are great for training
handling because:


On Path to a Q
No obstacle performance – the performance cannot be faulted
Common problem, dog followed path, but faulted the obstacle. Or,
dog missed a tunnel/DW discrimination, but did a rare perfect
2o2o. Should I reward?
Most dogs love tunnels.
Can use tunnels as magnets to help or to challenge
Gates can be used to make the right choice more obvious
Ground level obstacles are gentle on the dogs' joints and muscles
The dogs can run fast with no airtime – handler must think quickly
At least 75% of my training uses hoops and tunnels only. Remaining
25% is split between obstacle performance training and course
handling that must account for extended/collected jumps.


Course Analysis
Design the desired path for your dog
Tradeoffs: Speed / Accuracy
Physical limitations (dog/handler)
Environment (e.g. slippery grass)

Path factors
Approach and Departure angles
Rest of course
“Traps”
Favored obstacle types (“tunnel suck”)


Blue or Red?
Depends on preferences
Me and My dogs: Blue or Bust
Most dogs and Handlers: Go for Q
Pitfalls:
Soft dogs get discouraged by failure
Dogs may get discouraged if held back

Your gut feel tells you


Course Analysis (w/ map)
Draw the dogs path on map – Step 1
Straight line through jumps 1 (collection) – 3 (extension) times the jump
height on BOTH sides of jump
Path from tunnel/chute exits continue the direction of travel in the
tunnel, but length of that distance depends on speed and experience.
Draw that exit line on the map
If lines of two consecutive obstacles cross or if their ends create an
impossible turn, either change to a more collected performance or
adjust the angles (pencils are good!)


Course Analysis (w/ map)
Draw the dogs path on map – Step 2
Connect the obstacle crossing lines following a smooth turn, no
tighter than the dog can perform at planned striding
Make sure that the lines connect without a kink


Course Analysis (w/map)
Draw the dog's path on map – Step 3
Identify opportunities to reduce number of lead changes (e.g. #4 -
#6, #9 - #10)
Adjust obstacle crossing lines where needed to reduce lead
changes. Remember – the dog's path is always a straight path in
the air. May need to extend path on landing side or change to
more collected performance.
Don't overdo it – some dogs can do extremely tight and frequent
lead changes at high speed. If yours can, take the advantage.
Experienced dogs will adjust their trajectory based on knowledge of
where they go next. Let them know in advance and plan for some
collection.


Course Analysis (w/o map)
Analyze at walk through:
Go to each obstacle and step or visualize the obstacle crossing line
Look for the next obstacle and visualize its crossing line
Turn around 180° as if you were to walk in the opposite direction of
the crossing line, and visualize a connection line to the crossing
line of the preceding obstacle
Memorize the segment and continue to the next obstacle

Lots of on paper practice helps lots
With experience, the individual steps can be
combined to one.


Course Analysis
Identify Challenges
If the crossing line gets close to (or past) the commitment point for
an off course obstacle on the path ahead, the dog will (should)
take the off course obstacle. The dog path for that segment must
be altered.
If there are challenges along the path you know will be difficult to
handle using the tools you have, identify ways to alter the path.
Though this is a handling, rather than path design issue, if you
can't change the handling in a way that resolves the problem,
change the path.


Course Analysis Exercise
Design the path for YOUR dog on the course in
handout 1.
Be prepared to discuss your design in terms of
trade off choices, collection/extension strategy,
challenges on the course that influenced the
design.
Don't expect your design to be the same as the
others'. Every dog is different and You know your
dog best.


Path Management
Point-to-point (p2p) navigation
Traditional approach in most “systems”
Dog is cued by the (usually close) presence of handler
Dog and handler paths frequently crisscross (FC,RC,BC) each other
Dog follows handlers close direction at the obstacles
e.g. Derrett “FC as close to the obstacle as possible”
Dog shifted between two modes: obstacle vs handler focus
Handler “permits” dog to perform the obstacle
Handler does most of the “thinking” for both team members


Path Management
(p2p cont)
Change of direction cued by crosses
Dog (almost) always on the lead towards the handler
Turns toward handler cued by actions that otherwise would increase the
distance between dog and handler
Handler strives to be on the inside of every turn
Except for RCs, handler blocks the path and obstacle during cross


Path Management
“There is a dog path.
There is a handler path.
The two never cross”

Jeff Lyons, May 2011


Path Management
Path Management Handling
Handler cues the dog's path between obstacles
Handler path ≠ Dog path
Crosses do not cue turns
Build on the dog's extraordinary understanding of body language
Take advantage of the physical characteristics of the dog
Take advantage of the mental characteristics of the dog
Requires strong connection between handler and dog
Handler really not the right term


Path Management
Primary “tools”
Personal space
Dog works to respect your “bubble”
You move the dog's bubble
The bubble is elastic – it expands and contracts

Peripheral vision
When dog turns his head to see you, the dog turns
To prevent unwanted turn, cue the dog to not look for you


Path Management
The bubbles are connected with an elastic
Slow down and the dog will bend towards you (& slow down)
Speed up, and the dog is willing to turn away
The speed itself isn't very important, just how it changes

Your upper body controls direction
Dog's instinct is to move in the direction your torso points
Use arm to expand the picture
Use the arm that most clearly describes the turn the dog should
make


Path Management
Dogs are like cars
You steer them with your upper body
You control speed with your feet
Stop the car, then turn the wheel. What happens?

Verbals useful, but:
Dog's reaction time longer – requires processing
Loud verbals seem more difficult to understand
Because they require processing, they can be distracting
common: command that distracts dog ==> dropped bar
Verbals most valuable when handler is outside dog's field of vision


Path Management
Dogs notice very subtle cues
Weight shift may be enough to cue a turn

Dog must THINK more
Should enter ring in a calm state of mindArousal increases blood
flow (and thus oxygen) to muscles and the motor control parts of
the brain at the expense of the parts of the brain used for
“reasoning”. It has been shown that dogs get tunnel vision,
reduced hearing and disconnect from handlers when aroused.


Path Management
Exercise 1: Speed Circle
Warm up, boost confidence


Path Management
Exercise 2: Parallel Turn


Path Management
Exercise 3 – Work outside the box


Path Management
Exercises
Remember objective is to try, train and enjoy. Learning
and reinforcing the relationship with your dog is
much more important than “succeeding” to run the
entire course as designed!
Plan your dog's and your own path following courses.
Minimize your crosses (all can be done w/o any cross)
See how short a path you can make for yourself
This is a competition! Handlers with a happy dog WIN


Confidence
The confident dog
Comfortable working more independently without micro management
Achieves greater speed
Succeeds with difficult sequences
Has more Fun
Is a strong Team-Mate
Gets more ribbons and fancy letters to put behind his name

How get there?


Confidence Boosters
Convince the dog he succeeded when he tried
Even if something went wrong, let him feel that it was OK
If it went well, Let him truly feel it!

Create Success
Do simple courses and exercises you know he can do well
Try difficult things (and celebrate success) but have a backup plan if
it doesn't work
Do your part the very best you can

Make all interactions with you fun for the dog
You must have fun too – they recognize pretending


Confidence Reducers
Inconsistent cues
Fixing errors – if it breaks flow
Micro managing the dog
Displaying disappointment
Chastising the dog
Failing to create successes


Breaking confidence and cues
Two major issues that are very common:
Destroying decel cue by asking dog to push ahead
while handler slows down
Common at finish line in training – handler slows down but throws
toy or calls “go on!” to tell dog to run to the finish
Common at gamble line in trials when handler ran out of room to
advance at gamble line

Training the same course too many times
Patterning can be used to advantage, but more commonly allows
inconsistent handling that inadvertently links unintended cue to
behavior


Exercise - Plan handling


On Path to Q

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