Dealing with Ring Stress in Dog Agility for Bullseye Performance

One of the most common problems I see with all dogs in general and certainly many who compete in dog sports is the lack of skills to deal with stress and the lack of ability in people to recognize and understand their dog’s reaction to stress. I am not sure if they have ever thought about what it is like for their dogs going from a practice with familiar dogs and familiar faces and zero traffic to a dog agility trial. I [More...]

Dog Agility Contact Obstacle Criteria for Bullseye Performance: Part2; The Teeter

Teeter Criteria: The ultimate goal is to have my dogs get on the teeter straight on always, no matter what the course might dictate as the actual approach; drive to the very end as hard and fast as they can without hesitation into a crouch as they go past the pivot, until the teeter hits the ground, then release straight forward once on the ground. No leaving before it hits. No sideways motion.  In the case of the teeter I may choose [More...]

Dog Agility Contact Obstacle Criteria for Bullseye Performance: Part 1; Common Ground

One simple rule that applies to the performance of all obstacles for all of my dogs is that it is my dog’s job to recognize and perform any obstacle that I have placed in their path, according to how they have been trained to do so, from the instant their focus is placed on the obstacle until they have completed it.  I can and do assume that my dogs are fully intelligent enough to look ahead; recognize and perform all obstacles and [More...]