Agility training

MandyPug

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No doubt!

My second set of 6 poles arrived today so I have a full 12. Yeah, no problems. She was fast and didn't miss poles. Her problem recently has been that once she starts going fast, she's so long that she'll miss one and do every other. But the fact that she did these fine makes me wonder if the spacing is off on other poles we've seen. These ones are "standard" 24" spacing, but I know some clubs still have old equipment so maybe they have narrower spacing....
Even if they have old equipment with old spacing they're not allowed to use it in trials. The switch was long enough ago that they aren't approved even on a grandfathered basis anymore.

Sometimes it's just the day, perhaps a little stiffness? Nothing to cause pain but enough that the bending isn't as easy for her that particular time. Same as us, occasionally we are a little less bendy than usual for no particular reason. Also she IS still a rather green dog if i'm thinking correctly, the proper timing will come and become more consistent. She's a large dog, while sighthounds ARE bendy, she's still big and it takes a bit for all dogs to get their rhythm consistently.
 

MandyPug

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Izzie is entered in Regionals, this will be her third year attending :)

Entries aren't closed yet but already has some tough competition in her division! Gotta defend her podium spot from last year!!!
 

krissy

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Sometimes it's just the day, perhaps a little stiffness? Nothing to cause pain but enough that the bending isn't as easy for her that particular time. Same as us, occasionally we are a little less bendy than usual for no particular reason. Also she IS still a rather green dog if i'm thinking correctly, the proper timing will come and become more consistent. She's a large dog, while sighthounds ARE bendy, she's still big and it takes a bit for all dogs to get their rhythm consistently.
Who knows. She's been doing great on her weave poles here at home, it's just in class and trials. I wonder if the sand footing has something to do with it. Her weaves were pretty darn good today at our trial though.

Got our first Gamble Q on a tough (I thought) Starters course. And silly dog NQ'd herself on the last obstacle in an otherwise beautiful Steeplechase. :) Oh, and I got 5 for profanity in Standard when the cheeky bugger decided that, instead of calling off the tunnel that she blew by the table for, she would take the tunnel anyway, and I yelled (very lightheartedly) "Oh, you little ****!" (which was met with a huge roar of laughter from the other competitors).

[YOUTUBE]yYK_kr2P_2I[/YOUTUBE]

Oh yeah, and fun fact... you only need TWO Q's in the games classes... which means I've been running Kili in Starter Jumpers for no good reason for the past 4 months. ha ha. Oops!
 

Laurelin

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So we did a TDAA ring rental with some friends.

He did good.

TERRIFIED of the teeter. Ugh terrified. Of course there has to be ONE thing he hates. lol We need a game plan for this.

Everything else though? Weaves, chute, etc was great.

He runs so fast and hits the TDAA tunnels so hard that he kept removing the tunnel bags simply from running through them. And he also took down the ring gate by charging through it. Yeah... I'm not so sure if TDAA will be his thing. I always said he would probably demolish the course and he definitely did. He's more than small enough to run though within their height measurements.
 

Laurelin

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11 years old and still rocking it! I love this dog so much. <3

Standard- NQ
[youtube]GsxQz8ocOYs[/youtube]

I actually realized on re-watch that she thought I was picking her up at the pink tunnel so was trying to 'ready' herself for it. Also the shrieking when we are around the teeter is Hank. :p

Full house- 3rd and Q
[youtube]uhEMxuWS7yU[/youtube]

We had so much fun.
 

Beanie

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Last night I sent a long-ish e-mail to a trainer who is overseas briefly explaining Payton. I read about this guy in Clean Run and started investigating and the more I found about him, the more I was positive if anyone can help us, it's him. I wasn't sure if he would do it, but I asked.

This morning I woke up to a wonderful response where he is so kind, so encouraging, and best of all, says yes, he is pretty sure he can help us.

I feel positive about Payton's future in agility for the first time in weeks. Pretty sure I am about to spend so much money, but better to spend money and fix it than to just keep setting money on fire at trials.

So so so excited.
 

BostonBanker

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This morning I woke up to a wonderful response where he is so kind, so encouraging, and best of all, says yes, he is pretty sure he can help us.
I am so happy for you! It will certainly be money well spent if it helps. Also totally nosy and wanting to know who it is, but that is certainly up to you to share or not. I'm just glad to hear you have a plan in sight that is making things look brighter.

I've been in a weird place with my guys. Gusto had a couple of really good runs after some good lessons and a seminar earlier this spring, then in one day of a trial pretty much threw me back into "I give up" mode. He got halfway through a course nicely and cleanly and happily, and just froze and shut down suddenly. I tried to just keep moving and get a few more obstacles so he could have a happy run out of the ring, and he could barely move. He finally walked out of the ring behind me looking like he would rather be anywhere else.

I still have no idea what was going on, although I suspect it was as much me as it was him. It was AKC, a venue I don't love and don't do often, so I didn't have a group of people around me that I knew and liked. So maybe I was stressing and not myself. Or maybe he doesn't like the footing in that site, or maybe he's just a weirdo. Whatever. We are done with that site, and probably done with AKC. Kind of a bummer, because it is a twice-a-year trial 20 minutes from my house, and those are 2 of the 3 trials in a year that don't require an overnight trip for me. But what Gusto wants, Gusto gets.

Luckily I was already entered the following weekend in USDAA or I'm not sure I would have gotten myself back in the ring after that. It was an outdoor trial, the weather was very cool, and it was a wonderful, familiar crowd of people I like. Gusto ran better and better each run, culminating in a snooker Super Q at the end of the weekend.

We are mid-trial right now, hanging out at the hotel. Indoors, site he likes, and he's doing pretty well. Not as fast as I'd like in a perfect world, and being weird about the teeter which usually isn't his thing, but he had clean runs in jumpers and snooker today, and came fairly close to getting a really tough gamble.

We'll see. We keep trucking along, and things are gradually getting better. It's nice for me when people who only see him run every 8 weeks or so at a trial can give me good feedback on the changes they see.
 

Laurelin

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Hank KILLED agility class today. Omg. I am getting so excited about how all the little pieces we've been working on are starting to come together. Long ways to go to first real trial still but dang.

He even did 6 weaves closed in a sequence! First time ever outside our yard. And on both hands.

I feel like he's some sort of weird agility prodigy. He's just so good at it.
 

Beanie

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Getting all of Payton's agility records together to send to our new trainer...
Oh my God. I knew, of course I knew, but collecting them all together at once is overwhelming. I keep having to take a break because I can't handle it anymore. I would literally just be sitting here crying if I didn't believe my trainer that we can fix this. because holy failure Batman... so much failure. It hurts.

Next I have to put together video. Ugh. Something tells me that is going to be worse.
 

Laurelin

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Because this thread needs to be revived.

How's agility/training treating everyone?

We've been practicing and doing private lessons sometimes and fun runs. Hank and I have done some additional drop in classes and we even got filmed at an agility demo at a horse racetrack event. He did great and it was insane there.

Our first trial experience was.... LOL. It was a few months ago. He was distracted baby boy dog. So we're regrouping and working on distractions. He's been doing a lot better. We are working on weaning off the toy.

Next steps is a TDAA trial next weekend where we'll just do tunnelers (Summer may do more) and maybe a standard. I don't really want to do TDAA with him because of the speed and tight courses thing but right now I just want to work on focus in the ring and they're the only real option. October we are doing a UKC fun run and maybe their trial depending on how the fun run goes. I'm joining both the UKC and AKC clubs. UKC club because I get to practice on their field whenever I want if I help at their trials and pay a yearly fee. And AKC because they have members only fun runs. Then in November we may do a NADAC trial. Usually they have fun runs but they don't this year. After that I'm not sure... depends on how things go.

Here was a warmup run a few weeks ago:

[YOUTUBE]wSedZ7dG5EE[/YOUTUBE]

It's been ridiculously hot here still.



POST NOW PEOPLES. ;)
 

Laurelin

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At our drop in last week we did a full course of 18 obstacles with only two flubs- went under the tire (which was way different than what we're used to) and he did a 2 on/2 off on the table a few times before deciding he should down. :p

We've also gotten through his teeter fear completely and he has 12 weaves very consistently now.
 

Samsonyte!

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At our drop in last week we did a full course of 18 obstacles with only two flubs- went under the tire (which was way different than what we're used to) and he did a 2 on/2 off on the table a few times before deciding he should down. :p

We've also gotten through his teeter fear completely and he has 12 weaves very consistently now.
What did you do with Hank to get over his teeter fear? Both of my dogs are fearful of the teeter and I'm always looking for new ways to help them get over it :)
 

Dogdragoness

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My dog will be a year on the 11th ... I am looking at training places ... I have marked down some shows coming up ... this is actually happening! I am soon going to start showing again!!! OMG :eek::yikes:
 

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We've also gotten through his teeter fear completely and he has 12 weaves very consistently now.
Nice job! Did you feel that the online class helped with the teeter issues, or was it mostly just stuff you were working on with your regular trainer?

We've got (probably) just two trials left for the year here. Then it will be a long haul until February for our next trial. I have Gusto entered in a couple of Intro classes this weekend as an experiment. I love the idea of the classes (you can enter FEO and use toys in the ring and train in the ring), but I don't really have any toys that are rewarding enough for Gusto to be useful in that situation. I understand why treats aren't allowed, but holy crap is it frustrating. The one thing he does love is his lunge whip with a toy tied to the end. Hard to hide on the body, but my friend cut a whip down small enough that I can conceal it. I'm hoping I can whip it out mid course and completely blow his mind. He's made great improvement in the ring this year, but it hasn't kept pace with his improvement in training, and I think it is because rewarding him in the ring is so difficult. If this works, there are also lots of UKI trials, which always offer FEO. It would be a great help I think.

Meg of course continues to be the most perfect creature ever, even if she did get called on every single dogwalk contact at our last trial. If she wants to be insane and fast and wild and leap over her contacts...well, it makes me laugh. She finished off her Snooker Silver recently, and I'm still kind of thinking I want to get her silver in jumpers and standard if she stays as happy and sound as she has been.
 

Dogdragoness

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for us its the tunnels, sometimes he doesnt like them :( esp if they have a sharp turn in them, I hope I can get him over it, though the chute is awesome (according to him) and he loves it??? In what universe does that make sense???
 

BostonBanker

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Do you keep your tunnels very clean? In my experience, they are the most heavily marked piece of equipment in agility. It isn't an all-the-time thing, but if either one of my dogs is hesitant about a tunnel or tip-toeing slowly through it, I can pretty much promise you that some dog lifted its leg on the tunnel (or peed in it) recently.

Also known as "why I won't carry a tunnel by myself unless I know where it has been".
 

Laurelin

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What did you do with Hank to get over his teeter fear? Both of my dogs are fearful of the teeter and I'm always looking for new ways to help them get over it :)
Nice job! Did you feel that the online class helped with the teeter issues, or was it mostly just stuff you were working on with your regular trainer?
Kind of answering these both at the same time. I did take a Fenzi class about the teeter at gold level. It was really really good and helpful though hard for me to keep up with in spots because of my tiny yard and not owning a real teeter. But the first 3-4 weeks were what got us over the hump really. It's basically just tons and tons of games to empower your dog about noise, movement, and height. Once Hank had it 'click' he was 100% fine with everything even the full size teeter. I think it was week 2 when he just went "OH! THAT'S what the game is!?' and we never looked back. It gave me a lot of ideas for creativity to work with the individual elements of the teeter and how to look for empowerment vs the dog just getting through it.


I really hope we can start trialling soon. We just have to figure out his distraction issues. Right now the toy has become a bit of a crutch so he is ON when he knows I have the toy and totally blows me off when he knows I don't. Which is a new thing... Summer was easy peasy and basically always stayed with me. Hank finds everything so rewarding- dogs, people, etc. So I'm going to have to get creative. Right now we've backed off the agility training and piled on the engagement training.

I'm trying a TDAA trial on Friday and probably Sunday to see if I can just keep him in the ring. The teacup equipment isn't ideal but my goal is just keep focus in the ring. I don't care if we do anything other than that.
 

Laurelin

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Oh and I can't find ANY USDAA intro classes here or in neighboring states! It's so frustrating! That would be a nice option to have a bridge between training and trialling for us.
 

Dogdragoness

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Do you keep your tunnels very clean? In my experience, they are the most heavily marked piece of equipment in agility. It isn't an all-the-time thing, but if either one of my dogs is hesitant about a tunnel or tip-toeing slowly through it, I can pretty much promise you that some dog lifted its leg on the tunnel (or peed in it) recently.

Also known as "why I won't carry a tunnel by myself unless I know where it has been".
Ewww! I didnt even think about dogs peeing in there, gross! no wonder he doesnt want to go in there haha. They arent my tunnels, they were the ones at the training place, and there were intact males there, so maybe one of them peed in it.

because the next week he didnt have any issues at all with them. Aww ... now I feel bad for getting (inwardly) frustrated with him. :(
 

Laurelin

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How many time has he seen the tunnel? Sometimes it takes a few exposures for dogs to be ok with them especially curved tunnels.
 

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