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Ten tips to help keep you on track
1. Use Positive methods - Your dog should never have to be worried about being corrected on the agility course. Concentrate on getting and rewarding the behavior you WANT, and simply ignore unwanted behaviour. KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 2. Teach your dog to enjoy food, toys AND game playing as a reward. In general, use food rewards when you want your dog to STOP, a thrown toy when you want him to move away from you or ahead of you, and game playing when you want him to focus back on you. KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 3. When teaching anything new, introduce it in small increments and find ways to help your dog succeed. KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 4. Keep your criteria absolutely clear. Have a picture in your mind of how the behavior should look, and don't reward for anything less. Rewarding a performance that is almost right will only confuse your dog. Imagine your first mathematics lessons. If the question was What is 2+2 ? , and you answered 3, how much would you have learned if the teacher had responded Close enough! ? KEEP IT HONEST! KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 5. Keep your training sessions short! If working in a group of 6-8 dogs, 1 hour is plenty of time. When working alone, 5 or 10 minutes is usually enough. Always stop when the dog still wants MORE! KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 6. Train each obstacle until your dog is confident, fast, and focused in his performance of that obstacle. Never be afraid to back up a step or two in your training if your dog is having trouble. KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 7. If your dog is not feeling well, is lame or for any other reason doesn't want to play the game, either fix the problem before training or don't train at that time. KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 8. If your dog takes an obstacle without being directed to do so, help him complete it safely, but don't reward him. Rewards are for correctly doing the obstacles you ask him to do. Resolve to be more careful about keeping your attention on him so this doesn't happen again. KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 9. When you begin to chain obstacles together in sequences, keep the sequences very simple, and choose obstacles your dog likes best. You want him to have fun and be successful so that he will enjoy sequencing. KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! 10. Last, but certainly not least, the MOST important concept of agility training: KEEP AGILITY FUN !!! Article extracted from http://www.angelfire.com/biz/gooddogs/concepts.html |
