Need a laugh?

You must read this - totally hilarious.

DOGS Don't Understand Basic Concepts like moving

Why (smart) practice makes perfect

Why (smart) practice makes perfect interesting article showing in golf that people learn better if they mix up putting with long drive work.

I think this is really true in agility. Ideally when working a sequence I like to:

1) Run the whole course, not stopping if things go wrong but taking note of them.

2) Break down those pieces I had issues with and work each one.

3) Run the whole course again (and hopefully get it right!).

4) Put that dog away, get dog number #2, repeat steps 1-3. Alternatively go work on a different skill (maybe some weave entry or contact work) for a little bit.

5) Repeat whole course with the original dog after the break.

I think that taking that break and coming back to it Very useful for getting a skill. It's one of the reasons why I now do a lot more repeating of courses is classes - because I really think it helps the students lock in those skills.

I do think that we often work on something till we get it "right" and then stop. I think it's very helpful to circle back around to something that you are working on, and alternate a different skills - I also think dogs learn better when we do this too - rather than just working weave entries, take a break, do a little contact work, come back to weave entries, maybe a jumping skill, etc...

What are your thoughts on it? Anyone else notice a gain in training by mixing it up?

Stress - more reasons to work to avoid it

Brain Is a Co-Conspirator in a Vicious Stress Loop

So we all know stress is bad, but it's interesting the effects of chronic stress on rats - they lose behavioral flexibility and fall back to instead "fell back on familiar routines and rote responses, like compulsively pressing a bar for food pellets they had no intention of eating".

""Behaviors become habitual faster in stressed animals than in the controls, and worse, the stressed animals can’t shift back to goal-directed behaviors when that would be the better approach,” Dr. Sousa said. “I call this a vicious circle.”

Clearly you can see the cost of stress when trying to teach a new behavior.

But I also wonder if we don't use that in proofing - mildly stress the animal, and reward those habituated responses.

Choking - how to work under pressure

So most agility people know what it is like to go to the line a bit tight and stressed.  Whether it's that first run your life, or the ig one at nationals, it's easy to get stressed and not preform at your best.

A new book, Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To - addresses this and suggest several ways to improve your performance under pressure.

Q and A with the Author here

Podcast of interview with the author

One of the things I found interesting that I need to add to my classes is to put a little pressure on my advanced students to get them used to it.  And I need to find ways for me to do the same thing to myself!
Videotaping, have everyone in the class watching the student (announce it, explain why, and have them all pay some focused attention to each other), announce that we are working on getting it right the first time, impose fault limits on a class -all I think would work.  I do think I would need to make sure the course wasn't too technical if I did this.  Watch out advanced students!

Dogs have bigger brains than cats

Dogs have bigger brains than cats because they are more sociable, research finds

I knew it!

Link: Two articles on Canine Weight

For those of you using a low cal dog food:

Wide Variation in Calorie Content Among 'Low Calorie' Pet Foods

And on the health front:

Cutting Fat and Calories Can Lower Cancer Risk in Dogs and People