Northof49 Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 I bit the bullett and took a look at her You Tube video. It will be interesting to see if it holds up in competition. That's where you prove it and prove that it does not breakdown in compeition after a period of time. Was not impressed to see that Swagger was jumping full height - if he is jumping that at 1 year of age you can be sure he's been jumping it for a while. My dogs are not introduced to a full height jump or anything until they are a minimum of 14 months old - all ground work and maybe a 10 inch bar, or just a bar on he ground. I don't start weave poles until they are that age as well. Starting dogs in competition at 18 months, they aren't even fully developed yet. My dogs don't see competiton until they are 2.5 years old and they retire at 13 - 14 years old still having a great time and still being physically able to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 LM's reply to this insanity: http://www.awesomepaws.us/?p=1876 And Daisy says "ditto". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 Rave beat me to it, I was just coming to post the same. Gets a big thumbs up from me. (and for those that don't know, LM is a "big hat" in agility, too) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandog Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 There are many things that I feel SG has contributed to with training - Crate Games was one I appreciated, and I found the 2x2 weave method applied well to my dog - but I lost respect for her when I begin to hear about her major attitude problem, coupled with her recommending sport dog breeders that border on puppy-mill territory. As for paying $5000 for this class? I guess if they have the money and want to waste it... go ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmbc Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 What kind of things did you work on in that class? I noticed a while back that she had a recallers class and was curious about it because Quinn has been the most challenging dog I've ever tried to put a really reliable recall on. All my other dogs just grew into fantastic recalls with some basic obedience training along with lots of rewards and repetition. Quinn is going on 7, we've done multiple "refresher courses" over the years, and I am still not entirely confident of his recall. So that class sounded very interesting to me, especially since I loved her book Shaping Success and also loved her 2x2 method (missing out on any secret or new details didn't cause problems for me). I find it a shame that Susan is no longer interested in publishing books or DVD's and instead is going this on-line, expensive (in the case of the running contacts course, amazingly , wildly expensive) route. Obviously, this approach must be very profitable to her and just as obviously it is her prerogative to choose how she shares information. I guess I will just look elsewhere for training inspiration and ideas. Sorry, just now getting back to this. the course has 31 games -- a new one each day that builds on the previous days. It helps with great recalls and much more. My little rescue that I could not get a down on around stock . She now has a great down. She was a soft dog, but her confidence has increased tremendously. She does have us do crate games, which I actually love and my dogs are learning lots of self control. we have learned various shaping games that have made me a better trainer. there are games that help with heeling, fast and solid sits and downs and of course recalls. had a guy come out last week to do work and he left the gate open, didn't know it. I let the dogs out and they took off after a deer into the timber. I was panicked, but when I called they came flying back. Anyway, do agree that 5k is ridiculous, but recallers was worth the few hundred bucks I paid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted February 2, 2012 Report Share Posted February 2, 2012 LM's reply to this insanity: http://www.awesomepaws.us/?p=1876 And Daisy says "ditto". Quote from this blog entry . . . "Handlers that choose that path in my opinion will be doing so solely in the interests of winning, which is not how I define “success”. I hope that being successful in agility continues to be defined by the magical connection and awareness of each other on course that can only be achieved through taking time to grow together as teammates, not by how many ribbons are won." Wow. I actually share a point of view in common with a big shot. Whoda thunk it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 Quote from this blog entry . . . "Handlers that choose that path in my opinion will be doing so solely in the interests of winning, which is not how I define “success”. I hope that being successful in agility continues to be defined by the magical connection and awareness of each other on course that can only be achieved through taking time to grow together as teammates, not by how many ribbons are won." Wow. I actually share a point of view in common with a big shot. Whoda thunk it? A friend of mine who always gets her serious agility dogs to the top grade has always said that she enjoys the climb up the ranks, seeing gradual improvement. Once she gets to the top of the ladder it doesn't hold the same appeal. Even if she had dogs that were eligible for the World Champs she wouldn't put her dogs under that pressure in expectation or travel, and that rules out other overseas competitions like the EO. She and her husband have had several accidental farm dogs (line now finished)and recently thanked me for persuading her to look at rescue dogs again. That's where their last 3 came from. People would pay her to train them but she doesn't think she's very good at it (she is)so she sticks to helping people for free at her club. People would pay for puppies she bred, but all her dogs are neutered. She's far from well off but she has her priorities right and is still successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 A friend of mine who always gets her serious agility dogs to the top grade has always said that she enjoys the climb up the ranks, seeing gradual improvement. I tend to think I would feel the same way. Not that I've gotten "there" yet in dog sports. But in other areas of life, I've found that after working hard for something, sometimes (not always), being there isn't half as satisfying as working to get there was! I think that's part of why I enjoy working with dogs with issues. It is hardly ever easy, and I guess I like it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northof49 Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 A friend of mine who always gets her serious agility dogs to the top grade has always said that she enjoys the climb up the ranks, seeing gradual improvement. Once she gets to the top of the ladder it doesn't hold the same appeal. Even if she had dogs that were eligible for the World Champs she wouldn't put her dogs under that pressure in expectation or travel, and that rules out other overseas competitions like the EO. The pressure and expectation put on a dog to go to a world event lies solely with the owner. My best friend took her dog to the WAO in 2011, and another very good friend of mine did as well. They just trained their dogs like always - took exercises given to them to prepare them for the courses they were going to have to run and that was all. The dogs were great travellers,have flown lots and it never bothers them. Of course, if the dogs hated flying, they wouldn't have even considered it. Going to a world event overseas will be as stressful on the dog as the owner makes it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecretBC Posted February 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I case anyone missed it, Susan addressed the hoopla on her blog: http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2012/02/did-i-make-a-difference/ The comments alone are an interesting read. SG certainly has her worshipers, that is for sure. I found this rationalization of Susan's irritating: The first criteria I had when designing this program was that it had to provide MASSIVE value to those individuals who placed their trust in me So the only way you can measure value is with money? That's BS. I bet the "value" of such a course would be immeasurable to numerous people who could never fathom spending that kind of cash on a training course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northof49 Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I case anyone missed it, Susan addressed the hoopla on her blog: http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2012/02/did-i-make-a-difference/ The comments alone are an interesting read. SG certainly has her worshipers, that is for sure. I found this rationalization of Susan's irritating: So the only way you can measure value is with money? That's BS. I bet the "value" of such a course would be immeasurable to numerous people who could never fathom spending that kind of cash on a training course. So why not offer to the select five at $500.00. The fact remains she has not proven that this will be 100% successful in competition - she should be proving the training method before offering it, and the place to prove it is the ring over an extended period of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 The dogs were great travellers,have flown lots and it never bothers them. Of course, if the dogs hated flying, they wouldn't have even considered it. Going to a world event overseas will be as stressful on the dog as the owner makes it. Our dogs don't need to fly or travel huge distances so aren't used to it. A long journey across Europe with all the health regulations to comply with is inevitably pretty stressful on everyone concerned. There is always the worry that the paperwork may not be in order and they wouldn't be allowed back into the country. (Rules being relaxed a bit though.) And there are genuine health concerns too. On the whole we've been reasonably free of some of the parasites and diseases common on the mainland and the introduction of the Pet Passport has been detrimental in that we're seeing things we never saw before, starting in the SE round the Channel ports and creeping up the country. Taking any dog abroad is a risk to everyone. I wouldn't consider it for an Agility competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 According to her blog, she has been trialling with these for years on all her dogs. However, I've seen her run and can't recall thinking "omg! look at those running contacts!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 So why not offer to the select five at $500.00. The fact remains she has not proven that this will be 100% successful in competition - she should be proving the training method before offering it, and the place to prove it is the ring over an extended period of time. +1 I fully agree, watching her puppy perform in her facility does not provide any clues as to how her method will hold up. Personally if I was going to spend a lot of money on training a specific skill I would want to go to someone who had proven that technique in competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I bit the bullett and took a look at her You Tube video. It will be interesting to see if it holds up in competition. That's where you prove it and prove that it does not breakdown in compeition after a period of time. Was not impressed to see that Swagger was jumping full height - if he is jumping that at 1 year of age you can be sure he's been jumping it for a while. Who's willing to bet that dog will get broken? Not just the jump height, but everything else on what doesn't look like a very forgiving surface to me. What's the injury rate of her dogs? Seems to me that she's had to pull dogs out of big events, although I don't know why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northof49 Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 According to her blog, she has been trialling with these for years on all her dogs. However, I've seen her run and can't recall thinking "omg! look at those running contacts!" I agree - I haven't seen her either, and Feature misses contacts, particularly the Aframe - I have seen her miss it be a couple of feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Cressa Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I thought she said she did a mix of running and holding contacts? Would be curious to see how her students are faring also. Ive only ever seen her at nationals competing but to be honest wasn't paying to much attention to her run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northof49 Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I thought she said she did a mix of running and holding contacts? Would be curious to see how her students are faring also. Ive only ever seen her at nationals competing but to be honest wasn't paying to much attention to her run. You will only see her running at the Nationals here in Canada. The only other one she goes to really is Adrian Royackers Canada Cup as it has money prizes. Other than that she doesn't support AAC at all, which makes me really pissed that AAC continues to allow her to represent it at the IFCS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I thought she said she did a mix of running and holding contacts? She wasn't using RCs here - And just to prove that she's as fallible as the rest of us, whatever her publicity machine would like us to believe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_98x6df2Ak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northof49 Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 She wasn't using RCs here - Not thos times, but she has said that she had re-trained Encore and Feature for a running contact as well as a stopped and she tells them which one she wants them to do once they are on the contact equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TalismanFarm7 Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Dear Doggers, When I wondered why Ms. Garrett would consider a dumptruck a distraction, Ms. SecretBC replied: "Some dogs would stress at the noise it makes (like my dog), some dogs might try to reactively chase it. To have a dog that will work/play through distractions that they find scary or exciting, and to focus on you, is harder than you'd think." Well, er . . . . If they see/hear them. I have had sheepdogs run into two foot thick trees while working. Fulltilt. I have had them knock me flat. Everyone has heard of the dog that ran under a Perfectly Visible SUV while chasing a ball. Border Collies have a ferocious focus. When one focuses on a toy/treat/ball/tug/running child/treat heaven itself isn't able to distract them. As doubtless Ms. Garrett knows. So why this brag about an invisible dumptruck? Donald McCaig Sorry...jumping in on this thread, but Mr McCaig you indeed did make me smile!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Sorry, just now getting back to this. the course has 31 games -- a new one each day that builds on the previous days. It helps with great recalls and much more. Thanks for the great explanation. Sounds like a really good class. I would love to be as confident of Quinn's recall as I have all my other dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.