Socialisation - thinking inside the box

Wow how lucky am I.

Chic is turning out to be just what I wanted. She is stunningly beautiful, very cheeky and keen to learn. 

Initially I wondered if she was 'legally blonde' as sometimes she doesn't seem to take things in. Then I applied one of my own tips about training regarding timing. There are times when it's easier to learn i.e. with no distractions such as being hungry, some dogs learn in 30 seconds and other take 30 seconds to warm up to the idea and some times girls just want to have fun. I have enjoyed taking time to really know Chic and work out how and when she wants to learn and boy, when she's in the mood she would work forever if I let her. However, if its not on her agenda for that day then we just have to have a growing up day.

One of the first games I play with my puppies is getting in a cardboard box. From that game there is getting on a cardboard box, cutting an entrance and then finding a way into a higher box etc etc. I had collected many sizes of boxes for the fun of these games and with Xmas on the way I was sure to get more.
Chic took one look at the first box and did a perfect roll over but in no way was she interested in getting in it. The roll over was cute so that has stayed and the box was put away until today. This is the first time since that day that I have asked her to get in a box and I am glad I waited.

Training Chic to get in a box

Having eight dogs means you have to plan your time carefully, so armed with the knowledge that Chic can learn things easily at the right time means I can take my time and teach her things when she is ready and not waste time if she's not.

Talking of ready, another game I love is the 'ready' game. This is where I have an active game of tug and then go totally still whilst saying the word ready. Usually my pups have dropped the very dead toy and as soon as they do that I say go and make the toy exciting. Chic's version was when then toy went dead she would fly at my upper arm to bite me. Although this was hilarious it also hurt so I tried to temper down the way I said the word and ask for a bit of control. I also left that game alone for a while. When I came back to it this is her new version.

Chics version of the ready game

One of the key things with young puppies is socialisation. Coming from a busy home with people coming and going visiting pups, other dogs and cats Chic had a great start in this department. Once at our home we had Christmas and New Year so lots of visitors, different people and noises, our own dogs of various sizes, other dogs staying in the house and my customers and their dogs to meet. She has done well and taken it in her stride but she has a spooky side. This is strikingly more noticeable when she is tired  

or needing the toilet.

Again it is a question of timing with her and I know not to try to introduce her to anything in those circumstances. In fact I left her first puppy class early as she had been confident and bold and then went a bit quiet. Reading the signs I excused her. She is now able to stay all evening without any worry. 

Rhyme as a puppy was concerned about a lot of things and I took him to a lot of different places and he met lots of different people. I encouraged people to give him treats so they were not scary. I think he did benefit from that and now when he 'spook barks' I can often see a reason why and it's usually something out of place - a non-agility person at a show for example or a dog in a yellow 'give me space' coat. Chic 'spook barks' if something has changed in her world - the first time we put a tunnel out in our field this year you would have thought we'd unleashed a fearless puppy eating beast. Luckily we have the space for me just to walk past it and ignore it and so she did too. I don't think it would be of help to her if I tried to entice her near it at that time. Given the choice to run was good for her and her curiosity got the better of her five minutes later. 

I will not be able to introduce her to every scenario that she may encounter and wonder if sometimes people are encouraged to do too much when they are still small and tire easily. As I mentioned, she behaves quite differently when tired so I will leave some things until she is older to ensure I'm not asking too much too soon from her. The main thing for me is that she trusts me and that she will then be willing to work in any place at any time. 

To ease her into being able to cope with change I put her food bowl down in a few different places, move her toy box and leave toys in unusual places round the field to surprise her with. When I remember I also get her to walk over different surfaces e.g matting, over hula hoops on the ground etc. The key for her is building her confidence and our relationship by introducing strange things in a familiar environment first. I'm lucky to have the space and facilities at home and I am happy she will develop into a confident dog out and about at shows this year too where I'll let her play some of her favourite games so if you see me carrying a cardboard box ..........

Just one more glimpse into her loveable and quirky character

Chic invents her own game

Getting Together

A big change is about to happen at The Old Potting Shed.

We have fenced off an area to the right of the field to create a new and separate
agility field. Mainly this has been done with the thought of keeping our own dogs off of it when they are up the field. 

This along with a bit of pressure from a few people has also helped me consider my agility training in a more serious way. Up until now since we've moved up here I have done agility training mostly as one to one's with clients gained by word of mouth.

It has been great and I have some lovely clients who have accomplished
what they wanted to this year.

Something was missing though. For years I had been a club trainer or a guest trainer working with groups.


In regular groups there is a different dynamic that feeds off that competitiveness within us. We discuss this effect on our Sports Psychology Seminars. As the group develops a camaraderie grows and each person becomes involved in the others in the groups journey. This feeds the group and pulls it forward at a different rate than is possible in one to one's or one off training sessions.

In turn this added energy drives me to gain the best I can from each of them and ultimately me. We all have ownership and responsibility, even emotional involvement that makes every little success a shared success and therefore more rewarding.

I run a couple of groups that came about by accident which I really enjoy and those people enrich each others training so it is only a small step to develop this further.

My one to one's are still special and I will ensure I keep times available for them too. One to one's bring forward a different strength within my coaching skills and I am so proud of all of my students who have developed into very confident handlers who enjoy competing and are getting the best out of their partnership with their dogs.

The adverts are out now and a couple of groups are already full and I'm looking forward to a great "off" season with loads to work on getting ready for the new season next year.

I like to think of names for things and am known for my corny suggestions. As our house is called The Old Potting Shed I am thinking my group should be called TOPS or is that a bit presumptuous?

Unplanned Learning

September is nearly here and summer nearly over.

This year started so well with Rhyme kicking off the year with brilliant performances in champ and Pikachu surprising me by winning her first out door competition.

Elsewhere in my agility world we had great Agility Team GB tryouts, training days and EO's we'e got the AWC still to come in October in The Czech Republic.

The EO Junior event in Luxembourg was every bit as good as Mark had lead me to believe and these youngsters were so inspiring.

Sadly all that inspiration as been lost for me and my dogs. 

Rhyme is not agility sound and Pikachu has delighted in exploring what fun she can have looking for treats in and around score tents and then laughing at my attempts to catch her.

Rhyme's unfitness is not likely to be life threatening but his X-rays may throw up something that may be life changing. I love agility and think that learning it and competing at it should be available to all but also appreciate that it is a physical sport. There is much to strive towards and so many aspects to improve on within your partnership with your dog not to mention your own physical and mental skills. Never a dull moment and always things to plan to do.

The only stopping factor for me is if my want to achieve could damage my dog. 

To an untrained eye Rhyme was fine but his movement was wrong. My various professional helpers sorted his presenting problem in his shoulders.

Next it was to be gently back to agility. Straight line low jumps were fine but on a low jump with a slight turn I heard him "humph" and knew that wasn't right. Further observations showed he wasn't engaging his rear legs just pulling himself over the jump with all his front end. A quick visit to our McTimoney Chiropractor identified heat in his shoulders again and she wasn't happy about his left hip. Is that his problem? I have him booked in for X-rays tomorrow as a starting point.

My hope is that there is nothing on the X-ray that suggests doing agility could cause him harm. 

Yes I may have missed a season and several competitions I was working towards but if he has something that we can work on then I have a whole winter  and a lot of help to learn what we need to do to get and keep him fit for next year.

If it's something that may mean a slip or sudden jolt might make him worse then its no agility for him. 

Then the learning will be finding another hobby for an active 7 year old collie. 

So the optimist in me has plans and won't allow any feeling of pessimism to get the better of me. Well maybe a little tear or two .......

I had also plans of getting a puppy this year but feel that whatever happens with Rhyme will take up any spare time I have. Too often we hear the phrase from people that they have too many dogs and know that although they give all to the dogs they have there is only a certain amount of hours in a day no matter how much love you have to give. I hope to have enough strength to not fall into that trap although know that sometimes puppies come along that can't be said no to ;) 

On that topic Pikachu has motivated me to change a few things. I've organised a monthly group training session with a top instructor in our field to train her with others around. A step in helping her understand that whatever distractions are around doing agility with me is the best thing.

We didn't get Pikachu as an agility dog yet she grew into a shape that would suit it and loves activity. Believe it or not at home she wants to be wherever I am and will walk round our field just tugging, she gets out of her bed and grabs her tuggy, a shoe or my even my trouser leg. She has no issues with playing. She wants to work and learn equally for a toy or a treat and can tug with a treat in my hand.

There is lots there to encourage me that she can learn to be a great agility dog.

The current challenge is that she has somehow decided that when I release her from the start line at a show she needs to check out behind the score tent or run off somewhere else on the course. This in turn is teaching me not to want to compete with her.

There are a few day to day routines that I would have done differently with Pikachu had we got her with agility in mind. I am not sure I can change her understanding of what is fun. Whether I ever get round to competing with her again I don't know.

I mentioned one reason I would not do competitive agility would be if it was potentially harmful to a dog, the other would be if my dog didn't enjoy the competition environment. Pikachu is displaying to me that somehow I am putting pressure on her at a show and that makes it more fun to run off than to run with me. 

I will put a lot of training into her this winter and see what happens next year. I have had loads of help and support from small dog handlers some of whom have had similar problems and overcome them. There are training in the ring shows close by in the winter that will help too.

I have learnt that I have a stubborn streak too so will not give up lightly and whatever we do I will learn lots about the best way to get the best out of Pikachu even if it just ends up being the best she can be on our field.

Timing is Everything

Wow the season has definitely started here in the Laker household.

After a couple of back to back seminars my own Sports Psychology skills have certainly been revised.

Our own dogs have started the season looking amazing. Even though Crufts didn't go to plan the boys looked very fit. (Searched 'looking fit' on google and thought yes this will do 😉)

Mark and I both have young dogs at the same time which is something we haven't done before. Plus with one in a different height there is loads of learning to do.

On top of that I started judging last year and have had a couple of judging appointments this year already. 

I know the rules and keep abreast of any changes for myself as a competitor. It is a different ball game for me to focus on these rules whilst watching 100's of dogs for a whole day.

Becoming a judge involves a couple of days training to earn your certificate. With quite a few others attending there is no way to practice or test the mental stamina that is required.

And then there is the things that you couldn't anticipate happening and how to deal with them. 

Lastly there is nothing to prepare you for the slating that you will receive on social media if you do happen to make a mistake.

Luckily I had two appointments back to back and was able to experience a more normal judging day with good decisions this weekend. That has strengthened my resolve to become a good judge.

I have spoken to a senior, experienced, long standing judge about my decision at Wyre to restart the class due to a timing issue and allow the first few competitors to re-run from scratch. Once I explained the situation she totally agreed with my decision. 

Whether the decision was right or not matters a lot to me - I would not deliberately do anything to give any competitors an unfair advantage.

To be fair in the grand scheme of life if the decision had been wrong bleating about it on Facebook is not the way forward. Any judges walking the course could have easily approached me about the timing gates BEFORE the class had started or somebody could have recorded it in the incident book for future learning.

An Honest Mistake

I would rather it hadn't happened but I am trying my best and learning with every appointment. The worst that happened was one person qualified for an event that their first run might not have. (I say might not as they only had 5 faults the first run and a dog with 5 faults did qualify anyway) 

What a lovely bonus for them to have a second chance after doing a near perfect round with one jump down on the first attempt. 

What a bonus for a few people to have another go at the course. Who can begrudge a few G1-3 handlers having another chance? 

Hats off to the ring party who dealt with it all so well too.

Those capable of qualifying will no doubt have other qualifiers this season and if not I do apologise as I would have to your faces had you spoken directly to me.

This weekend we had the opposite where a lovely lady and her happy dog did a beautiful clear only to find out the timing didn't work. On her re-run the dog had the first pole down. She was disappointed as anyone would be. We're hoping her bad luck with that will turn around for good luck next week in a qualifier she's going to. Meanwhile they did another beautiful run in a later class gaining a high place and I'm confident we'll see more of that partnership.

My forte in judging is my course design. I love setting a course that will assess a dog's key skills and the handlers understanding of the dogs path to get the fastest route.

Wyre was a real challenge as the rings are quite a bit smaller. I spent hours setting up our own equipment in our field, moving it around and running various dogs around it or parts of it to get it right.

I needed a course that met the new distances, all the other KC rules and was of course safe. 

On top of that minimum movement of equipment to keep the different classes running through smoothly. 

Ring party, show organisers and least of all competitors do not really want to be at a show past 6:00pm at the latest. 

Those that thought I should have rebuilt the course and got everyone to re-walk it may not have appreciated that I simply did not have another planned G1-3 course ready to fit all the above criteria and it would add at least another hour  to the end of the day. 

As one of our friends likes to say - 300 million people didn't die. However if I was not such a determined person then my judging career could have.

Luckily for me this weekend at Agility Nuts Show my courses ran as I'd designed them and I received many compliments on my courses. I felt I kept my focus for over 90% of the time and am confident my contact calls were right. 

I had 2 scribes that were also judges that if I had any blips of confidence were there smiling and encouraging - thank you Natalie and Anne. 

We had a dog walking over the long jump that we looked in the book to clarify our decision on and I know that one for next time too.

I've still got 2 judges appointments to do this year and I'm looking forward to them.

How our dogs did will need to wait for another post now but I'm very happy to report Torro got 3rd in Veterans, Rhyme got a 2nd & a 3rd in G7, Devo got 3rd (when I was 2nd oh yes!!) and a 2nd (when I was 3rd normal business resumed), Moog got more and more experience and oh yes, Pikachu went clear and won the class.

She's smashed my targets for the year though so I now need to sit down and write some more or sit back and let the rest of the season drift about to see where it gets us ;)

Don't judge me

Well after a few years in agility as an instructor and competitor I have decided to add judging to my agility experiences.

Mark has always judged and I spent many years either scriming for him, helping manage the ring party, looking after kids and dogs, helping our club members etc etc.

We no longer run a club and Mark had less appointments for a couple of years and so I found myself at shows with some spare time.

Rhyme is now Grade 7 (did I mention has had his first champ class already) so at non champ shows I have less focus on running a dog.

I judged at Scunthorpe unknowing that I should have taken the practical judges exam having taken a rules & regs course many moons ago when it first came in. The powers that be let me know that if I wanted to judge again I should really take the new practical judges course too.

Luckily Jackie Gardener was running a weekend seminar at Worcester just up the road from where an old friend of ours lives. I decided to do the rules and regulations again too but as Mark has judged loads he didn't need to do that part. He is going to apply to be a champ judge once he has sorted out his records of which shows he has judged at to display his experience. If you know of a show he judged at please email me the show and date so we can find the schedule.

Mark dropped me off and went to our friends for the day. It was a great course. I was glad that I chose to do it. My own agility focus had been on understanding courses and picking up on trends early in order to help my students get the most out of their dogs at shows. Now the boot was on the other foot and I needed to think about how my courses can test the dog's training.

There are many things to consider. The main one is obviously safety. Another one is can I actually judge what I have set out for the number of dogs in the class. Having to run the length of the dog walk for a 30 dog class may be doable but if the class is over 100 that is not going to happen despite my fitness drive at the moment. 

I could go on but if you are wanting to know about these things from your own perspective then I would strongly advise going on a course even if you may not be wanting to judge.

I do already have 2 appointments lined up and am a reserve judge too. With hindsight being a reserve judge is going to be really challenging if I get called up. I may design a few courses just to be on the safe side

If you think you'd like to enter a class I am judging  -

Agility Nuts 2 April and Thames (schedule isn't out yet).


I have one other local appointment to be confirmed so quite happy with that for my first year of judging.

Having so much experience as a competitor and instructor one thing that I hope my courses will do is develop dogs with simple "tests' in my courses. Sometimes the level of complexity was too much for what I wanted my young dogs to have to cope with. 

On the other hand I don't think they had enough experience of some of the lesser used pieces of equipment in the beginning. Now at Champ they are having to deal with complex sequences along with suddenly having to cope with the wall, the well , cloth tunnel and tyre. As these are considered valid pieces of equipment I think it is important that they are used. 

When we first moved here I found the roundabout at Newark a challenge and potentially it was dangerous. Anyone attending Nottingham Show will know the now I mean. Now with practice it is a doddle even though I am on alert as I know other people may find it difficult and I need to watch them too. 

Other friends will have experienced this.

Likewise I think some of the obstacles need to be practiced much more than they currently are to ensure the dogs do know how to negotiate them properly. 

The more practiced they are the less likely an accident will happen.

With that thought in mind please try to get your club to put their tyre and/or cloth tunnel out to build your dog's understanding of them just in case they are in any of my courses ;)