Hi, group.
I will try to make a post without unintentionally hurting someone's feelings or putting people on the defensive... here's to hoping!!
As I go through emails and posts and people's "emotions" about a barrel or a hoop or whatever it might be..........
The biggest "issue" that I find is that NADAC is not "obstacle" focused. We have always been about focusing on the teamwork between dog and handler and not necessarily about the physical performances of "obstacles". A barrel or a hoop just becomes "natural" to us because that type of "obstacle" cannot just "be performed"... a dog is not going to just naturally "go" to a hoop or barrel.... they will "need" information from the handler on "how" to do those obstacles...... and that is "forever".... you can't just "teach" it one week and then use unclear handling the next week and just expect them to "do" them.... if the handling is weak, then the dog will not just give you a "freebie"... if you stop giving clear body language, then the dog doesn't even consider going to the hoop or around the barrel.
Jean posted a video showing my weave training methods and is doing great after 6 lessons!! Then because of the discussions on the list, she replaced her "C" shaped tunnel with a barrel just to see how her young dog would react.......... a perfect video! Jean handles beautiful and he "performs" it great......... then Jean kinda expects him to just go around it on his own and he turns in front of it and follows her body language to perfection......... Jean did not indicate a path around the barrel and he follows the path that she does draw perfectly! Of course Jean laughs and goes on with it, as she "feels" how well he follows her......
I am preparing some video of Busi........ and how interesting!!! I placed her in front of a couple jumps with a "C" shaped tunnel at the end and no issue.......... from the head cam, she stares at that tunnel and I can make all kinds of "incorrect" body language and she flies to that tunnel with ease............ but then I put a barrel at the end and she will still go right to the barrel because of my body language and her "focus" has a "side" look to it as she always has me and my body language in view..... with the tunnel, as long as I verbally say "go tunnel" I could do hand stands and she is going to that tunnel! But I can verbally say "go around" and she commits to the barrel, but she also will turn off that barrel with the smallest of "new" information from my body language.......... so with the barrel she stays committed to the "path" being indicated and with the tunnel she is committed to the "obstacle".
And that is what upsets so many people when they come to seminars and such.... if they are going to be very successful with EGC or hoops or barrels, they must handle with "perfection" or the courses are next to impossible. EGC is all about "path" and the ability for a handler to clearly communicate "where" they are to go and has nothing to do with "what obstacles" are to be performed......... and people either hate it or love it........
NADAC and it's courses have always been about "path" and not about "obstacles" but we have failed some of our "ideal" tests since it is so easy to teach "obstacle focus" on a course of pure obstacles and the dog is allowed to zig-zag between obstacles and still get to an obstacle and perform it.... and then hoops added a much higher degree of "handler" into the picture... because the dogs didn't just "go do them".... they were easy for a dog to perform as long as the "handler" was giving clear information to "where" they wanted their dog to go and not "point and shoot" towards an obstacle. When people point and shoot at a barrel or hoop, then the dogs go on the "path" of "where" the handler pointed........... and that doesn't always include a pathway to a hoop or a pathway around a barrel.
I do understand how difficult it is for people to promote NADAC when people do not understand the difference between "obstacle focused" courses and "pathway focused" courses. For so many handlers, doing pathwork is just "natural"..... they just naturally see "where" they want their dogs to go, but for some it is more difficult... and they see "what obstacle" they want their dog to do....
When we talk about a "C" shaped tunnel the "obstacle" forces a path for the dog and with a barrel, the handler "creates" a pathway for the dogs........ or not.... but the test for "teamwork" between the dog and handler is highly tested. The dog will run on the pathway "created" by the handler instead of having the tunnel forcing the pathway for the dog.
I have had emails saying that some people don't want to do NADAC because it is "too different" from the other venues.......... and I do agree..... if people want to do agility within NADAC that is the same as other venues, then they are going to be very disappointed and will eventually leave. But if they grasp the "flow between dog and handler" that is not created by obstacles, but is created by the information from the handler and the dog's ability to respond to that information to run the "pathway" that puts obstacles in the dog's pathway for the dog to perform.... they will then enjoy NADAC ...the pathway puts the obstacles in front of the dog.... and if a dog is willing to follow a path put before them by a handler, then performing the obstacle is the lessor of the challenge!
NADAC has always focused on the "20 feet between the obstacles" and not the "one inch" over a jump or through a hoop, or the distance inside a tunnel or over a contact. The dog must learn how to correctly perform each obstacle and then it becomes all about making the pathway perfect between those obstacles!
We could go back and put in "obstacles" to make NADAC more appealing to those that want "obstacle based" agility.......... but we are very happy with our current format and that we are a "pathway based" agility......
Watching the videos with Busi's headcam confirms that "she" gets it! With the hoops and barrels she wants "pathway" information, but with the tunnel, she doesn't need me nearly as much.... and she switches back and forth with ease! When I first got her, she was totally "obstacle" focused.... to an extreme that I had not met in 20 years! Of course, being "obstacle" focused did not include any yellow during contact performance or the correct end of a tunnel, or a full set of weave poles!! I never fixed any of her "obstacle" issues......... and they all left as she gained "pathway" focus, which can't happen without a desire to accept information from the handler!
I don't believe that any venue is perfect and all venues are different........ but the biggest difference is that "obstacle based" training doesn't work so well in a "pathway based" set of courses....... and that makes many people very angry and emotional if they don't have the necessary "pathway" skills.......
For those that do "pathway" based training, they do have a tendency to feel "what is the big deal, just let them know where to go.......... a hoop is easy .... a barrel is easy"... but they aren't easy if a dog is purely obstacle focused...... they are next to impossible to "perform" because there isn't any "obstacle performance"... there are "pathway" skills and if the team hasn't worked on pathway skills then hoops and barrels are incredibly difficult to "perform".
So we need to accept that NADAC is different. We aren't going to change what we do and people will come (our new registrations are higher than they have been in five years!) and people with leave. That is not unique to NADAC, it happens in every venue, and always has and always will. People want to have fun with their dogs and they will select what creates that fun!
If handlers are extremely obstacle focused, they will get frustrated with NADAC and leave. If handlers are pathway focused, they will love NADAC and stay with it. And many, many handlers can do both and excel at multiple venues and love them all!
But it is tough to talk apples and oranges and that they MUST taste the same. They don't... and people will always prefer one over the other, and enjoy that they are very distinct and many people can enjoy both....... but they must be willing to accept that they are different and that is okay......
If you want to embrace NADAC, then work on those pathway skills!
It is like the recent topic of speeding up the slower dog... and how to do the barrel faster......... and what I was trying to say in my response is that it isn't about doing the "barrel" faster, but to build the enthusiasm for the dog to hear and respond to the handler's voice and not just to an obstacle or a toy. Build up that "response" between dog and it dramatically lessens the time issues on course!
If a team is and only wants to be obstacle focused then they will be or will become very frustrated with NADAC, because NADAC is not about obstacle focus, it is about doing everything it can to test that teamwork between dog and handler. I have always loved Amanda's signoff which says "Teamwork............ without it, it is just obstacles" and that kinda says it all!!!
I guess what I am trying to say is that I DO understand the frustration that people express with the "changes" with NADAC and that a barrel is "stupid" for many... and that others love the concept because it tests their teamwork and pathways skills to an even higher degree...
Will NADAC return to being an "obstacle" focused venue, no. We will do everything we can so that people can cross venue without total failure. But there will be "some" issues with the pathway obstacles such as a hoop or barrel on a team that is purely obstacle focused. But even those issues are not impossible for those that want to compete within NADAC and just work a little bit harder for those obstacles and love the rest of them! No different than a NADAC team learning to perform a teeter, tire or other "obstacles" if they want to multi-venue.... each venue has their own set of skills needed and a team must be willing to teach themselves and their dogs those skills to truly enjoy that venue!
Just play agility and HAVE FUN with your choices!!
Sharon
