Re: Agility Training and competition

In Reply to: Re: Agility Training and competition
Posted by:  Leslie Hemsing
Posted on:  September 28, 2001 at 18:55:33

: : I have a questions concerning the use of belly bands for training purposes in agility. I have a male dog who I use a belly band to prevent him from marking inside when we are visiting and they stated they can be used when starting to train male dogs on agility, can they be used in practice run throughs or on a novice dog on-lead so he will not mark the ring or equipment and hindering other competitors dogs?
: : I ask because I have a friend whose male dog always seems to either mark the entry into the agility ring or a piece of equipment when she is doing a practice run through when it is allowed at trials and it upsets all the rest of the competitors because even though she cleans up after him the other dogs still want to stop and delay at the spot where he marked and I would like to avoid this if I possibly can by working with my male dog using his belly band until he learns not to be marking the course and keeping the rest of the competitors happy.

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: Dear Lisa,

: Oh, that pesky agility equipment -- it's just asking to be marked, isn't it?! I suggest you contact the JRTCA office and ask for the names of the folks on the Agility Sub-committee. These folks are responsible for setting the rules and regulations for JRTCA agility and should be able to tell you if the belly band is acceptable. (Brenda McGowan is in mourning after the loss of her husband 3 weeks ago so please refrain from contacting her.)

: Leslie

: **Heather -- any suggestions to help Lisa keep her terrier from marking in the agility ring?

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Hi Lisa,
If I were judging a show and someone came into familiarization with a belly band, I would ask them to remove it. What if it got caught on something and he was injured? I should definitely NOT be allowed in competition. To me, this is a training tool, and just as I am not allowed to have my clicker or my treats in the ring, belly bands and other training tools should not be allowed. I would guess that the interpretation of this rule would be up to the judge (as belly bands are not specifically addressed in the JRTCA agility rules), and competitors should remember the rule that is always printed in each trial premium, "The judge's decision is final."

Additionally, there is no place in competition for a dog that marks so severely and the owner knows it enough that they would consider a belly band in competition. It is not fair to bring a dog in the ring that one is so certain will mark, and to create more distraction for other dogs. That dog and his handler need to go back to training, as this is a serious training issue. There are thousands of intact dogs competing in agility, and serious neutered markers too, for whom this is not a problem. If the dog is trained and focused on the task, it won't have time to stop and mark. It will be too busy playing this great game with his mom!

Honestly, most equipment seen at terrier trials and agility events is probably from someone's back yard, someone who is kind enough to loan or rent it for use at an event. Chances are, it's been peed on before. That's another aspect of the training issue; it's ALL been peed on before, and if your dog can't get past that, you need to work with it more. It is possible to have the focus on a JRT to complete a course without marking; I've seen it and done it far too many times to count, 12 runs this past weekend. Accidents do happen, but if it's a regular thing, I would suggest discontinuing competitions, more training and slowly moving back to competition by attending show-n-gos after much more; this sounds like what this dog needs, both for the marking issue and to train to the point where they can run off-lead, as the sport was originally intended when it was brought to the US.

Good luck!
Heather