Clean Run Magazine - October 2008 - 20

Trainer’s Forum By Brenna Fender For the last couple of years I’ve noticed a lot of dogs crashing into the tire at trials. Now I’ve started having the same problem with my latest agility dog. Why are so many dogs having difficulty with the tire? I thought I built a good foundation for the obstacle, but maybe I’m wrong. What should I do to retrain the tire? Anne Andrle Tire crashes are among the scariest accidents to witness in the agility world and the problem has many facets. The first is the irrefutable fact that the version of the tire used in the U.S. is really the only obstacle on course that a dog cannot escape from, if he so chooses, once he has left the ground and is attempting to negotiate it. All jumps break apart if hit by the dog, a dog may jump off any contact obstacle of his own volition, and a dog may choose stop weaving and leave the poles. While a dog may occasionally get stuck in the fabric of the closed chute, an alert handler can quickly help the dog out of trouble, and rarely have we witnessed injury-causing chute accidents. Another factor in tire crashes that we are all susceptible to is handler error. Novices all the way up to international-caliber handlers sometimes cue the dog that he is going straight after the tire, only to indicate at the last second that the dog must turn after the Anne is a bronze medalist and 2008 IFCS/USDAA World Team Member with her Border Collie, Ski. She instructs all levels of agility and teaches seminars throughout New England. She can be reached at www.xtremeagility. com or anne@xtremeagility.com. tire. Some dogs attempt to respond to their handler’s late information by trying to turn inside the tire when their trajectory was already taking them straight, which results in a crash. Since no one is perfect, this form of tire crash will never go away, particularly since dogs in this sport are going faster and committing earlier to the obstacle. Additionally, from the dog’s perspective, how the dog visually perceives the tire can play a major role in crashes. The tire is usually mounted in a large frame, which may extend out quite a bit in front of the actual tire opening. Many dogs choose their takeoff point based on the frame, instead of the tire, resulting in the highest point of their jump happening before entering the tire opening. Then the dogs are descending into the opening, hitting the tire on the way through or straddling it. Ideally, the dog should be trained to judge his takeoff point by where the tire itself is. By mounting Sherry Kluever I think one problem with the tire is the inconsistency of the base and frame designs our dogs see. They can all be quite different, from big, wide, metal bases and frames to ones made of narrow PVC pipe. A lot of dogs focus on the base or frame when they decide their takeoff point. This creates a big problem for these dogs. In addition, the shape of the tire itself is a challenge. Since it’s arced, the actual height of the opening varies. If the dog doesn’t jump exactly in the middle of the tire, the dog must jump up to 4" higher than the set jump height to get through the tire. As far as retraining goes, I do have a couple suggestions. My Border Collie, Ransom, has had a few horrific tire accidents. I did go back and retrain her. I taught her to add an additional stride with a verbal command. Sherry, a full-time agility instructor, was a 2003 AKC World Team Member, a two-time ESPN Great Outdoor Games Gold Medalist, a three-time Grand Prix Finalist, an AKC Nationals Finalist, and a Steeplechase Finalist. Visit Sherry’s website: http://SherryKluever.com. To train this, I put her in a sit-stay and led out to the tire (I had it low to begin with). On release, I gave her the verbal command (I use Easy) and stopped her as close to the tire as possible with a reward (cookie or toy), and clicked the forced added stride. Then I had her do the tire jump to end the exercise. I repeated this a few times, then faded the toy/cookie, but still marked the behavior with a click. In addition to this, I have promised myself that I won’t do a front cross before or after the tire jump because I identified that she had a problem with taking down the tire under those circumstances. I will also not drive past the tire at full speed any longer. With my younger BC, I trained the tire differently from the beginning. I taught the tire jump without any base or frame at all. I just held it so the dog would learn to focus on the tire itself and not a base or frame. I’ve also had a few students retrain this way and it’s worked pretty well. I do have to add that, in my opinion, the tire is a dangerous obstacle and should either be changed to a displaceable version or eliminated altogether. Many, many dogs have been injured by the tire, including my own. The initial fall may not look like it produces any injury, but somewhere down the road, the wear and tear will appear. In the meantime, until the organizations are willing to make the change to help our dogs, I hope I have given you a couple ideas to help with your training and handling of the tire. Brenna Fender is a freelance writer with an undergraduate degree in mass communications and a masters degree in elementary education. She lives with her husband, two young children, a Vizsla, a Whippet, and a cat. The dogs are collectively titled in agility, obedience, conformation, hunting, rally, and lure coursing. The cat, husband, and children are lacking in this regard. Contact Brenna at BrennaFender@gmail.com. 20 Clean Run | October 08

http://www.xtremeagility.com http://www.xtremeagility.com http://SherryKluever.com

Clean Run Magazine - October 2008

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