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 In this section: On Agilitynet:                  
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Advanced Skills TrainingBy Jane Simmons-Moake
Contents include:-
Best Features: There were lots of diagrams to use and exercise set ups. Nice little section about training at home without equipment, which has some good tips and exercises. There is a short Q & A problem section in the back, but this doesn’t really cover all of the most common problems we see cropping up in British Agility – maybe these things aren’t such an issue in the states? I did particularly like the game of ‘weave ball’ although different toys may be a better idea if your dog is an obsessive compulsive schizophrenic when it comes to balls, as I soon found out. I have used this method before when using the channel weaves but it never transferred well once the wire guides had gone. However, with a bit of inventiveness and an extra person to chuck the toy or drop the treat, it is now a favourite game – when I can cope with the noise Ed creates when we play it. Could be improved: To really follow this book religiously, you need to have bought books one and two as there are many references to previously taught skills and exercises. It would be better as one book rather than three separate issues (although I am sure there is more profit in having people buy all three – or am I just being cynical?) There is an awful lot of blatant self-promotion at the back but I suppose that’s part of the benefit of having a book published, and the Americanisms take a little getting used to. The only other thing that niggled me was the lack of assistance with contacts. Many handlers have difficulty getting the balance right between reliable contacts and fast contacts and some new ideas on this would have been more than welcome. One more thing, next time you write a book Jane, could we have an index? Format: Very Good – not too much jargon. A good quality (robust, thank God) hardback cover and nice quality pictures and paper. Colour pictures would have been a nice touch for the money! Overall Rating: I have given this a 7/10 because there are some lovely and new (to me anyway) ideas in it and if it helps us at all this year, I may even upgrade it to an 8! Time will tell. Price: $25.95 – What is that in real money? I have guessed at about £16.00. All three books in the series will be available from FlashPaws as well as most other large US bookstore chains including on-line booksellers. The price per book from FlashPaws is $25.95 plus $14 shipping for Global Priority Mail to Great Britain (4-6 days delivery time). There is an $8 discount if you buy all three books at the same time. Airmail shipping of the 3-book series to Great Britain is $19. Value for Money: Depends how you value advice, If it’s £15-16 then I think this is quite a lot considering you really ought to have the other two books to make the most of it. However, it is useful. It would be interesting to see the results of a true ‘Simmons-Moake’ devotee trained using the methods in the series.
You can order Excelling at Dog Agility direct through
FlashPaws Productions website. FlashPaws,
Jane’s unique background combines over 20 years of competitive dog training success in a wide variety of dog sports with M.S and Ed.S degrees in Instructional Technology – the study of designing training programs that really work. As a result, Jane’s books and videos have long been considered by many to be the ‘bible’ of serious agility enthusiasts.
Rachel now also teaches beginners twice a week and she still writes for Agility Eye. Hubby Alan loves Edd to bits and is long suffering as he is not really interested in agility (deranged!) despite Rachel's attempt to get him involved. They are planning to move to France in a year or so that she can have lots more dogs, run kennels and teach agility. She is shadowing Lois Harris who has been her trainer for her entire agility time. Still very much a 'youngster' in agility terms, Rachel is very keen to learn as much as possible before venturing into life en Francais!
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Description:
Advanced techniques for the dog and handler who are already competing to hone skills such as
sendaways, obstacle discrimination, weave entries and working at a distance. The book
illustrates how to isolate and train many of the highest-level skills necessary to successfully
compete at the most advanced levels. It describes how to strengthen and maintain existing
skills for attaining fast and reliable performances. 
About
Book 3
About
the Author
About
The Reviewer
