Agility (engelsk)

LAST_UPDATED2 Skrevet av Ellen Blakstad Christensen torsdag 22. september 2005 10:59

I usually compare agility to showjumping. What it is all about is to run as fast as possible with a minimum of faults through a course consisting of many different types of obstacles which the dog must force.

The same course is never used twice. Before the competition starts there will be an opportunity to go briefing, i.e. the handlers are allowed to walk the course (no dogs) in order to make themselves familiar with the order of the obstacles, and to train the techniques of leading to be applied during the competition.

When I got the first lundedog of my own, Odin av Åsen, in 1993, I had decided to train obedience with him. As I got acquainted with the dog environment, I more and more developed a taste for agility. No one in the local dog club trained agility, but together with another supporter of the sport I began to collect old agility obstacles. My husband Bjørnar fixed the obstacles we lacked. With that the training had started. This was great fun, and I went to my first agility competition with Odin in January 1995.

When we got Eisa as a puppy in 1995, we started social training early. Among other things she was on the dog training sessions. At an early stage we made her run through the tunnel and afterwards the chute. It is smart to put off active training with jump obstacles until the dog is about one year old. There is, however, the possibility to place the sticks very low in order that the dog might just get used to jumping. Gradually we trained a little weaving. This is an obstacle where it takes a long time to achieve perfection. We began to train on the dogwalk, while she was still a puppy, but here at least two persons must be present to help the dog through. These support persons must be available many consecutive times in order to make the dog feel really secure about the obstacle. When the dog masters this obstacle, it is time to begin with the see-saw. This may be a sinister obstacle to begin with, and it is important that, here too, at least two persons are present who help the dog getting over. To begin with you let the see-saw go down quietly holding on to the underside of it. It is important to repeat this obstacle many times in a quiet soothing way. The A-frame is also an obstacle which is a strain on the dog’s legs, so we should not train so much (a little, however), during the first year of the dog’s life.

Before the agility training, or at least parallel to it, you must also train simple obedience with the dog. What is most important is to have contact with the dog when you ask for it. Do some training at home to begin with. Make the dog look at you when you say its name and praise it all the time when it is looking at you. The first time the dog will probably give you a short glance of about a second. It is important too that the dog comes to you, and that it keeps close to you, when you demand it. The dogs are loose on an agility course, so it is important that you are in control of the dog.

Like most lundedogs Eisa is particularly interested in tubes and tunnels. She spontaneously loved the tube on the agility course, and in the first competitions we participated in, she was disqualified for taking the tube as obstacle no.1, even when this obstacle should be taken as no.11. (It is important that the obstacles are done in the right order). This was troublesome of course, when the point was to be focussed on the other obstacles instead. Eisa is a very determined lady, and it has proved difficult to make her renounce her own wishes.

Eisa is also very fond of using her nose, and she is quick to find all the titbits lost on the course. We had to struggle with this to begin with. She focussed too little on the obstacles; instead it was more interesting to search the course. Then I began to leave a titbit at the end of the obstacle or combination of obstacles which we had to train. The titbit I placed in a bowl or something else which was easy to catch sight of. Before I asked the dog to carry out the obstacles, I led her to the end of the obstacle and showed her the titbit left there. It did not take long time before this was great fun. Thus we had got a step further. Our first competition was in 1996 when Eisa was a little more than one year old.

When the dog masters all the obstacles it is important to proceed to go and train a little speed on the course. To begin with you just take a few obstacles at a time. Just use the method of leaving a titbit at the end of the last obstacle. Start with a few obstacles in a row. Do not forget to make things easy for the dog in order that it is fun at all times. It is important too that you do not train too long at a time.

Weaving was the obstacle where we were presented with most difficulties. It has taken a long time to make Eisa do this obstacle with both speed and precision. We have had most faults in connection with this obstacle. When in a competition I as a guide get too eager and stressed I push the dog to make faults. We still work much with this obstacle in order to increase speed even more. In general it is Eisa’s speed we endeavour to improve. We are constantly in a borderland regarding our time in the competitions. In each competition a standard time is given which is maximum for doing the course without being given time fault.

So we often train short distances with few obstacles – four or five. Eisa gets much cheering and also titbits after the accomplishment of the combinations.

As mentioned above, time is the biggest problem in our competitions. In order to be awarded a Cert you must be in the highest class (class 3) and be the best dog which is not a champion and has achieved 0 fault points. In Norway one of the Certs must be from a meeting arranged by the NKK. In agility two Certs are awarded in each class. In Drammen where we had the latest Cert, 12 dogs in this class were announced. I did not look at the races of the participants who started before me. I was intensely concentrated on the task before me. Warming up before the race I played with Eisa with an old sock with a titbit in it. It is not lawful to have titbits and playthings on the course, so I persuaded somebody to stand behind me and take the sock in order that Eisa did not see that I gave it up. Unfortunately she saw that it was handed over to somebody else, so the speed was not as high as I had wished for. However, she walked faultless just within the standard time, and then we only had to wait for the results. We ended up as no.6; however, we were dog no.2, who was awarded Cert. It was a very strange feeling to have attained at last the object of our desires after having worked on the matter for many years.

In the year 2003 we achieved very good results. As the only lundedog equipage (in the world I guess) we have obtained an agility championship NACH! We also succeeded in qualifying for the NM in Vikingeskipet and took part in the competitions in November. Unfortunately we have not (not now at any rate) got the speed necessary to rank with the best. However, it was still great fun. When we had done our course, the voice from the loudspeaker called out: “Attention please, this is a Norwegian lundedog.

A short summary regarding agility training:

• Do some training with reference to contact with the dog and calling in.
• Train each obstacle separately. It is very clever if an assistant is present, and it is often necessary with an assistant in connection with the dog walk, the see-saw, and even the A-frame.
• Start the training of combinations of obstacles on an even course.
• Do some training leading the dog on both sides. It is often necessary to be able to change side as regards the dog in the middle of a competition,
• Increase by degrees the difficulty of the combination of obstacles.
• Do some training making turns.

Do not forget to train at short terms. We all have a tendency to go on for a long time, when we think that it is fun. Suddenly the dog loses interest, and this means that we have been doing it for too long. It is important to stop the training of the day, when it is at its best.

It must be fun to do the training. We should not punish the dog during the training. It is better to try to divert the dog. Set up the training in such a way that there will be few possibilities of making faults.

Good luck!

Ellen Blakstad Christensen