Annette Paterakis’ article “What Separates Mentally Strong Riders From the Rest of the Pack: Ten Habits You Should Adopt Now” is currently making its way through the dog agility world, and for good reason—the article lists 10 striking characteristics of “mentally strong riders” that separate them from everyone else. Annette is a former equestrian competitor
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It depends. For 2018, the answer is somewhere between 1 and 4,547 points. For the Invitational, the top 5 dogs plus the top preferred height dog in each breed are invited to compete, with rankings based on a points system. If you run 30 seconds under course time, you will gain 30 points. In additional,
You are running a sequence when your dog makes a mistake. What now? First, you need to know if your handling was correct. A training partner can help by giving you immediate feedback on your timing and position. If you don’t have a training partner, you should videotape your training session so you can review
“Wait until your dog is committed to the obstacle before you move.” “Your dog needs better commitment.” Commitment is a huge buzzword in dog agility but what exactly does it mean? Imagine that you’re invited to a 4th of July cookout and you must RSVP to attend. You confirm by email, buy some groceries to
You know you need a good reinforcer. And you know that playing with toys has great benefits specific to the sport of dog agility. For most handlers, toys are easier to throw, carry, and manage on course than food. Tugging is a complex skill made up of several different parts, and just like training weaves
Handlers rarely spend enough time and energy training the table. I know that many competitors, like Esteban, believe the table no longer has any relevance to the sport of agility. But for now the table is a legal obstacle in many organizations (yes, even in the FCI) and with a little work, we can turn
I spent a decade in confusion when it came to agility world teams. Seminars and classrooms were full of “former world team members”.As I gained experience I came to realize that there were multiple international events and multiple teams from the USA. But it took several more years of living and breathing the sport before
When does your agility run start? My run starts when my dog is next in line to run. I cue her to tug when the dog in front of us is halfway done, and I enter the ring as instructed by the gate steward, crossing through a magical barrier that separates the agility ring from
In the past month, I’ve had several emails asking which skills I teach to a young dog first. When you have a new dog or puppy, trainers want to get everything right from the start and this causes a lot of stress. Most trainers focus on behaviors like recalls, or sits and downs. But there’s
