Extreme Hoopers Practice

Last night, we went to the Quad Cities to play Extreme Hoopers.  Here's the first course we ran:

#7 to #8 is a very crucial section.  My plan was to go no further than 5 or 6 o'clock and send Belle and Dusty to #8.  It worked with Belle; it didn't work for Dusty--I just didn't show enough motion in the direction of #8 to let Dusty know he would be turning away from me upon exiting the circle.  David ran close to the circle to get Dusty to #8 and is able to sprint back to the other side of the circle and direct Dusty to #10 with an off-arm and a verbal.  Micky ran along the circle until she gets to about 5 o'clock.  At that point she moves laterally away from the circle and is able to signal the turn, send Dusty to #8 and run a relatively short line to be in place to handle #10.



Here's a rough course map of the second course we ran.

The hardest part of this course was getting the turn from #3 to #4.  The dog had to be in relative collection and prepared to turn as he entered the circle.

My first run with Belle demonstrates that it is possible to be too laid back in your handling.  The turn to #5 is not that difficult provided the dog sees the #5 hoop.  Since I didn't go beyond the circle on our first run, Belle doesn't even realize there is a hoop #5.  I stepped up my energy level for the second run and as a result, I went far enough beyond the circle for Belle to see #5 as an option.  David doesn't really go as far to the side as I do, but because he makes a bigger movement toward the left wall, Dusty easily picks up the cue to turn left toward #5. 

Lastly, David set up two tunnels and an outer arc of hoops, and we used the circle for handling practice.  With this variation, the handler stays in the circle and directs the dog in and out and to the two tunnels.  As an extra test of distance, there is the arc of hoops on the backside of the tunnel closest to the camera.  Notice how quietly and smoothly Dusty is moving during the final seconds of this exercise.

After watching the video of Micky and David running Dusty, I can see where there is plenty of room for me to put more energy into my handling.  Perhaps that's what's missing in my effort to achieve more speed with Belle.  We have a NADAC trial coming up this weekend, and I will do my best to break the DRI barrier of 1.00 with Belle.

Time for a Re-Think

A few nights ago, I was clipping articles from back issues of Clean Run, and I found an article by Allison Bryant entitled "Going with the Flow" (Feb., 2006).  The flow Allison is referring to is the ability to deal with missed obstacles and off-courses so that your dog doesn't realize a mistake was made. 

Many handlers have difficulty coping when "their dog makes a mistake."  I put quotes around those five words because 99.9% of the time, the handler is responsible for any mistakes that are made.  But what about when the dog jumps a contact zone?  Knocks a bar?  Has the zoomies?  Yep, even then--chances are mistakes are either the result of handling errors or training shortfalls.  Believe me, I know.  Running my Airedale was usually an exercise in futility, and I dismissed him as being impossible to work with.  However, in moments of rationality, away from agility equipment, I realized even back then that I was responsible for his mistakes.  If I had been a better trainer, Max would have run agility with more focus and we would have been a much better team.

When a mistake is made on course, many handlers will just bring the run to a grinding halt and go back to where the mistake was made.  Patti Mah likens it to being taken to the principal's office.  In my distance training with Belle, I usually break off the exercise, call her to me and play for a second or two and then restart in a logical spot.  In trials, I try to ignore any course mistakes and just keep going.  Another way to handle mistakes, one advocated by both Patti Mah and Allison Bryant, is to loop back to a logical spot on the course, taking  a few obstacles along the way to maintain a sense of course flow, and try again.  The goal being that your dog never realizes a mistake was made.

Last night, I went to the Quad Cities to play Extreme Hoopers.  I thought I was being pretty good in training to not make Belle feel like she was being taken to the principal's office when I messed up.  However, last night caused me to re-think that big time.  The first course ran pretty well, except that I wanted to try handling the circle with significantly more distance than was needed and got some rather unexpected results.  I included an approximation of my line in the course map below.  (As indicated by the red dashed lines, the handler is not allowed to go on the other side of either wing of the circle .)

The second course though was a real bear for us. 

I had abandoned my attempts at extreme distance before we changed courses, so I really was expecting this to go smoothly, with the two biggest challenges being the send from #6 to #7 and making sure Belle didn't take the off-course #11 when she exited #7.  NOT!  The problem for us turned out to be the turn to #4.  After entering the circle Belle turned right toward #9 or worse stopped in the circle unsure of what to do.  

I didn't know what to think since I felt my handling was indicating I wanted a turn away from me, but obviously Belle was not getting the message.  So either I was not doing a good job handling or there is a major gap in Belle's training in regard to what my turn cues mean.

Extreme Games Challenge

This summer, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Sharon Nelson, the founder of NADAC, when she came to the Quad Cities Dog Center in Davenport, IA.  On Friday, August 8th, Belle and I attended a three hour seminar that introduced us to Extreme Games.  On Saturday and Sunday, August 9th and 10th, the first ever Extreme Games Trial was held at the QCDC.

I dislike Hoopers as a class—I enter only when it is part of a package deal.  But when hoops and gates combine to form Extreme Hoopers, wowy, kazowy, what a blast!  Twenty gates are used to form a circle.  At four spots in the circle’s circumference, a hoop is inserted to allow the dogs to enter or leave the circle.  On the outside of the circle are two wings made of two gates and a hoop.  Gates are made of PVC lattice and are four feet wide and about 35” tall.  There is a short lead-in sequence to the circle composed of hoops, and a short ending sequence that is also composed of hoops.

The first time I saw a course map for the Extreme Hoopers, I knew I wanted to play, so I made six gates for my dogs.  After actually playing Extreme Hoopers, I can’t wait to play again.  (I considered making enough gates so I could play at home, but my field is just too windy.  I would have to stake the gates, and even then they wouldn't necessarily stay up.  The wind is the reason I don't usually bother setting up my winged jumps.) 

There are two other extreme games:  Extreme Tunnelers and Extreme Chances.   Only gates and tunnels are found in Extreme Tunnelers, and in Extreme Chances, there are gates, hoops, tunnels and a distance line.

Extreme Games are designed to test your handling ability and your dog’s ability to follow your handling.  These games are about speed and distance.  With no jumps, contacts or weave poles,  there are no obstacle performance criterion to worry about—no dropped bars, missed contacts, etc.  If you remember to not correct the off-courses and just keep going, your dog will learn to trust your handling more and more.  Remember, chances are pretty good it’s your fault when your dog takes the wrong obstacle.  If you quibble over off-courses or missed obstacles, your dog will come to doubt your handling or his ability to figure out where you want him to go. 

Scoring is based on time plus faults.  You can have two faults and still qualify and earn from 10 to 1 points.  (03/20/11:  Scoring is done differently, but the same principles apply.)  This means if a team makes a mistake, it is best to ignore it and keep moving forward.  Mistakes can’t be fixed; trying to fix them just uses up precious seconds that could make the difference between a run that garners all available 10 points and one that earns only 5 points or less.

These games are wonderful for training distance and improving your handling and timing.  They should improve your timing on "real" courses where your dog will have to contend with obstacle performance.  Additionally, your dog's speed on "real" courses should increase as he develops more confidence in your handling.

My advice, if you ever have the chance, be sure to give the Extreme Games a try.