Denise often referenced how important warm up time is before taking a dog into a competition ring. The type of warm up needed to get the dog mentally engaged needs to be appropriate for the dog, the handler, and the type of activity. Here are some of the notes I made throughout the weekend and how it’s relevant to what I’m doing with Griffin
Warm up to get your dog in the best state possible: Dogs need different types of warm ups based off of what they will be doing and the dog’s personality and training history. This is something that I’ve been working on with Griffin for the past few months. We’ve been struggling with different types of activities to change his arousal level. I need more excitement before we do agility and I need more calmness before most competition obedience exercises.
Warm up as a cue: On Monday’s “Problem Solving” day, several teams were working on their warm up routine. Part of this was to help them find the best options for their dog, but the other part was to develop this routine as cue for “now be attentive and we will be doing obedience.” For a few months I’d been using a handler-disengaged-informal-stay for calm activities. I may be changing parts of this, or at least be trying other variations. And for agility we just need a lot of experimenting to figure out what will work.
Warm up to focus on teamwork: Denise made a great point that those few minutes before you go in the ring really aren’t about training. It’s too late to do really do any training at that point, and often the handlers only get really stressed and stress their dogs. The warm up isn’t about behaviors, but about getting the dog ready to perform and be thinking about working together with the handler. Silly games where the dog is interacting with the handler and focusing on the handler are a much better option than extended heelwork or many other behaviors. I’m not sure how this is going to impact what we do…with Griffin I do a lot of behaviors while we’re waiting and getting ready. His behaviors are fairly strong and he is attentive while responding to those cues. We’ll be playing with some of the games Denise had teams doing and see how that feels.
Plan for delays: Sometimes teams need to go in the ring sooner than expected, other times there are delays. If there’s a plan, and a plan that’s been practiced, a team will be better prepared to succeed even with the changes. We’ll need to be working with others on replicating this. It’s hard to surprise myself with “hurry into the ring now.” From other instructors I have heard the great idea to roll a dice or pull a card out of a hat to tell you how long to wait or when to go in, but it’s not the same as having a practice judge.
Thanks Megan N for the Griffin pictures!
Warm up changes: As a team changes over time, a warm up needs to be modified. And early on, a team needs to make changes to help maximize the benefit of the warm up time. One recommendation Denise gave was to keep a record of what you do. This is something I’ve done with my dogs and especially when I trial so infrequently, it helps me remember what we did and allows me to make changes. With the added stress of those days, you may intend to remember modifications later, but it often doesn’t happen! I’ve already seen some big changes with what Griffin needs as he’s grown up and as we get more experience working in different types of environments.