Demonstration Videos
In this section I have put a number of videos taken at trials that illustrate the various disciplines that make up a working trial. It is not complete yet, but as I get more videos, I will add them!
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Agility JumpsHere are Jane and Katy showing how to do the jumps in the agility section for Companion Dog in this case. These jumps are also required in TD1 and TD2, although they are longer and higher!
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The A FrameAgain Jane and Katy are demonstrating the A Frame. Its not as hard as it looks! Katie needs to be sent over the A Frame, with 1 command, after which she needs to wait until being called to heel. Its important to train this carefully to ensure that the dog does not have a bad experience. In TD1 and TD2, it gets a little steeper!
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Article SearchKatie does an excellent article search for us. In this exercise the dog has to find an article hidden in a marked piece of rough ground. The handler sends the dog in to the ground with the intention of finding the article. The article is fairly small, say matchbox size, that has been scented by the handler for 1 minute. The handler is not allowed to enter the area. Katie does this really well and found it well with in the time limit. This is also easier to train than you think, as most dogs do this naturally and get to love this exercise! The area gets a little bigger in the higher stakes and you need to retrieve up to 4 articles, in a longer time. This becomes quite an easy exercise for the dogs at the higher level.
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TrackingThis forms part of the Nosework Section, along with the area search, and the Quartering Search in TD3. Here Bobby shows how its done, and it is clear that the dog is really enjoying himself! In this clip Tyler takes a corner really well. This was a TD3 track, so is very advanced and which was laid 3 hours before. This is a discipline that really does take a lot of time and effort on the part of the handler, but it is hugely rewarding to have your dog follow a track where you have no idea of the direction! This is where you learn to read your dogs body language and your dog gets to repay some of that faith that the handler has in him! Trust your dog, there is no other way! There are various articles along the way, which need to be found by the tracking team.
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Send Away, with RedirectionThis is an advanced exercise and is only done with redirection in TD3. In the lower stakes, the handler needs to send the dog in a direction indicated by the judge. Generally there is some form of natural marker that is used. The distance is about 20 m in Companion dog and increases to 50 m by TD3. Once the dog has got where it needs to go, a wait command is given. In the lower stakes, a recall is required after the send away, but in TD3, the dog needs to be redirected to another point about 20m away, either to the left, or to the right - At the judges discretion.
This is a tough exercise for the younger dogs to learn, and takes some time! |