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Training the Versatile Dog by Mary Jo Lavin, Agility Editor
Versatility, n., the ability to do many things well. How do you find the time, patience, energy and focus to train a dog in multiple venues? I asked ten active competitors for their views. Do they have enough time to train as well or as often as they might like? Are there pitfalls to this kind of training? What are the challenges? What are the benefits?
The competitors I queried have trained, competed, and excelled at obedience, rally, herding, tracking, breed, water, earth dog, Frisbee, field, and Big Air (dock dogs) as well as agility. Most of them train and compete in two or three seasonally. Here in New England, we are at the mercy of weather conditions. For some, this allows them to take part in more options because they are only able to participate in them for part of each year. Training can be limited in the winter if it must take place outdoors. For others, substantial heat in the summer prohibits outdoor training and showing. If not limited by the weather, most trainers try to balance activities throughout the course of their week. If they are getting ready for a competition, they might try to spend more time in the weeks prior to it fine-tuning and polishing their skills.
Without a competition focus, some try to work on the weakest activity. Some have regular training schedules to keep such as classes or training they attend weekly. Others who train more independently might develop a more personalized pattern scheduled around work or family activities. One agility competitor recently told me that she put spotlights in her backyard to practice weave poles with her young dog late in the evening. They all try to make the most of their time, finances and energy.
How do they keep track of their training plans? In many cases, trainers admitted that they develop a plan for a skill, season, or year but often do not write it down. If they actually write a plan out, many lapse into forgetfulness and don’t continue recordkeeping. Some admit that they depend on their instructor to spotlight
skills or trends to work on. If they are on their own for a training session, they might bring an old course plan to set up and review. Several do keep journals of plans, sessions, and skills that are in the works. In these cases, they have tried to detail what exercise they are working, how they are advancing, where each session has left off and what to pick up next time.
Accomplishments such as legs and titles were handled in much the same way. Some trainers keep them listed on index cards (i.e. which dog, what class, what leg, date, club, judge). Others use their trusty computers in the same way. Still others depend on the organization (AKC, ASCA, USDAA, etc.) to keep track, and they sim- ply look up the info on line.
I was curious about how the dogs (and trainers) keep each activity fresh and interesting. Most agreed that by varying the practice—sometimes obedience, sometimes herding—and keeping the sessions short and fun with- out drilling, dogs were motivated to participate at the level the trainers wanted. There are rare occurrences of confusion, sometimes relating to practicing at the same location for several sports. Some trainers prefer to use different collars and leashes to cue dogs as to what training will take place. Many use verbal cues that are strictly used in each training setting. For example, some use directionals in herding only. Some use “stay” to mean the handler will come back (as in a formal obedi- ence stay) while “wait” means the dog will be released or asked for something further. When the cue is meant to ask for something specific (“heel” means a particular position on the left side of the handler), trainers do not use it for any other signal. If they want the dog to be
May/June 2005 The Australian Shepherd Journal 39