Agility training

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Remmy

We are heading for a our second trial this year on the 4th and 5th of May. It is an outdoor trial so hoping for better weather than we have had the past few days. My sister will also have her dog, Mikey and we will be camping in our RV at the site of the trial.

I am taking Kris, my four month old Doberman pup with me just for the exposure and I can't leave her at home.
 

Finkie_Mom

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YAY! Kimma got her NA title today! We are officially out of Novice. Now we get to hang out in Open for forever LOL. The ONLY thing that got us (and since it was Novice it didn't count against us or anything) was the dang weaves. UGH. She even stuck the entry but then stopped and sniffed!!!!!! BLAH. Next trial isn't for a month so we can work it. Our Open JWW run was actually really awesome except for the weaves (of course), and the fact that I misjudged a front cross (she was faster than I anticipated) and that made her take a random jump and drop a bar. But she was good and happy and fast out there today, and that's really the best <3
 

Beanie

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Holy ballsy puppy Batman. I got out my mini a-frame to work on 2o2o with Payton. I have to disconnect the chains to get it to lay flat like a plank so I put P in a down-stay near the cookie jar thinking he would stay put. I had the a-frame out and it was low, but still probably three feet, while I was unhooking the chains.

And suddenly there is the Bad Baby Bro breaking his stay and climbing up the a-frame like he'd totally done this before.

I had a minor freak out because the dog is on the a-frame and he's not supposed to be and also a minor freak out because the dog is ON THE A-FRAME GET HIM A COOKIE.

Of course running to grab him a cookie was a bad idea because then he was like "=D =D THIS GETS ME A COOKIE LET'S DO IT AGAIN." fffffffffff.


Finally did get my a-frame dropped flat and we played on it. He is fine to do a 2o2o if I'm in front of him but if I am next to him he thinks we are doing some kind of heeling game and if I try to move to move in front of him (to reward him from multiple positions while he stays) he tries to pivot with me. Uh. I'm hoping that will stop as he figures out more what I'm asking for?
 

CaliTerp07

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I found a ton of agility equipment on Craigslist, about 2 hours from me, for a fantastic price.

I do not have a vehicle that can carry 12 foot boards. I am *this* close to renting a moving truck to drive up to the Pennsylvania state line and back to get the stuff. My husband would probably divorce me for being insane though...

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/grd/3729410447.html

Waaaaaaaah....I want a dog walk!
 

MericoX

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i found a ton of agility equipment on craigslist, about 2 hours from me, for a fantastic price.

I do not have a vehicle that can carry 12 foot boards. I am *this* close to renting a moving truck to drive up to the pennsylvania state line and back to get the stuff. My husband would probably divorce me for being insane though...

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/grd/3729410447.html

waaaaaaaah....i want a dog walk!
do et!!
 

Laurelin

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Such an exhausting weekend. I'm tired and sore and totally sunburnt but I learned a TON and met a bunch of people from the other clubs. It was awesome! I've volunteered before but never for the entire trial, just a few hour blocks. I worked pretty much the whole thing and got to do all sorts of jobs instead of just replacing bars. The judge was super nice and informative about the venue, especially since most of us are new to it. It's also amazing now that I've been training there a year how many people and dogs I know. Our club did well and a lot of new dogs trialed for the first time and did great.

The girls did better than I expected camping out in their crates and settled nicely. They got quite a bit of time out too.

Also, the judge had a longhaired whippet. That was pretty awesome.
 

BostonBanker

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Yay! Glad you had a good weekend. I'm sure they were incredibly grateful for the help.

I had a slightly bizarre weekend with my dogs at the AKC trial. Gusto was actually about what I had expected, or maybe even better. Both of his standard runs were a little disjointed, with a few "Look I'm on the table! Why are you over at that jump?" moments and the like, but he never once really 'left' me, or got sniffy or stressed. He Q'd both days in jumpers, and today's jumpers run really had me grinning. For the first time outside of practice, I really got the feeling that we were running the course together, instead of me getting him to the obstacles one at a time. He was seeing the lines and reading my cues beautifully. Just a little glimpse of all the fun we are going to have as he gets more and more experience :D

Meg was a raving lunatic, and I spent more time laughing at her this weekend than anything else. She adores this venue. It is really nice artificial turf, and nice ring, great equipment. She gets in there and is beside herself with glee. My nine-year old grey faced agility champion, who has not NQ'd in about a year, came out for her first run practically vibrating. That double-leg bunny run as fast as she could, growling with each stride, butt tucked under her. I actually kept her on course for about half the course before she bolted past a tunnel and over the dogwalk to the finish, where she continued on and jumped the exit gate. She got cookies and cuddles and kisses and told she was a genius, because she is Meg and there are no rules for Meg.

Her jumpers run was only mildly more tame. I cued her to wrap a jump far too soon (Gusto timing, rather than Meg) and called her off it, at which point she spun around, play bowed at me, play bowed at the jump, and then continued on. She is the best dog ever, and I get all teary eyed at her joy. This is a dog who started life with so much fear and worry, and teaching her to play and be brave and joyful was actual work. She is making up for lost time, and taking me at my word that, once she had her ADCH, she never had to do anything she didn't want to again. All three of her crazy fool runs were heartwarming for me - a real celebration of what Meg has accomplished. She did pull it together enough for a slightly more controlled, clean jumpers run this afternoon. Maybe when she's 15 she'll come out like that earlier in the weekend - but secretly, I kind of hope not :p
 

Finkie_Mom

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I've never worked a full day, either. I bet they loved having you help, Laurelin! The one time I did help out for my own club, I did ring crew for one course, leash runner for another, and finally score runner. I'm too scared to do timer/scribe/important things yet LOL. And I was EXHAUSTED just doing those three courses!

Awwww yay for Gusto and Meg!!! Sounds like a fantastic weekend :D

Kimma and I Q'd in Open JWW with a second place! I was shocked we Q'd and even MORE shocked that we placed LOL. We were SO CLOSE to getting another Q in Standard, but stupid me put in a front cross where Kimma was definitely going to fast for one, and I kind of tripped her up resulting in a refusal. Then her weaves were icky so she got another refusal. So if it weren't for me getting in her way with the jumps, we would have Q'd. Weaves are just totally a problem though and now we have a whole month to figure it out.
 

Laurelin

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I've never worked a full day, either. I bet they loved having you help, Laurelin! The one time I did help out for my own club, I did ring crew for one course, leash runner for another, and finally score runner. I'm too scared to do timer/scribe/important things yet LOL. And I was EXHAUSTED just doing those three courses!
I got to scribe for a few courses- standard and jumpers. I watched them scribe some of gamblers and snookers- that's a lot more complicated. And I timed gamblers, that's interesting. Ring crew of course setting bars up. And I did the gate too. Yesterday kind of sucked because they were switching rings after each game and we kept having to haul the tunnels and everything over there. Also my arms just BARELY manage to make it across the USDAA jump span.

I am SORE. lol
 

SaraB

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YAY! Kimma got her NA title today! We are officially out of Novice. 3
Wooohoooo!!! Congratulations!!!

Holy ballsy puppy Batman. I got out my mini a-frame to work on 2o2o with Payton. I have to disconnect the chains to get it to lay flat like a plank so I put P in a down-stay near the cookie jar thinking he would stay put. I had the a-frame out and it was low, but still probably three feet, while I was unhooking the chains.

I'm hoping that will stop as he figures out more what I'm asking for?
Ugh, Zinga pulled that s*** on me the other day too! She actually DROVE over the top (we've done quite a bit of lowered a-frame work), and nailed her 2o2o position, so I played with it a bit at that height. Ultimately I wasn't entirely happy with her driving into position, so we are back on lowered again.

As far as him pivoting, I would try placing the treat on the ground so that it's consistently in the same place and he'll learn that pivoting gets him nothing. If he's grabbing the treat from your hand, pivoting will essentially be rewarding as he's closer to the source of the reward. If that makes sense.

Yay! Glad you had a good weekend. I'm sure they were incredibly grateful for the help.

I had a slightly bizarre weekend with my dogs at the AKC trial. Gusto was actually about what I had expected, or maybe even better. Both of his standard runs were a little disjointed, with a few "Look I'm on the table! Why are you over at that jump?" moments and the like, but he never once really 'left' me, or got sniffy or stressed. He Q'd both days in jumpers, and today's jumpers run really had me grinning. For the first time outside of practice, I really got the feeling that we were running the course together, instead of me getting him to the obstacles one at a time. He was seeing the lines and reading my cues beautifully. Just a little glimpse of all the fun we are going to have as he gets more and more experience :D

Meg was a raving lunatic, and I spent more time laughing at her this weekend than anything else. She adores this venue. It is really nice artificial turf, and nice ring, great equipment. She gets in there and is beside herself with glee. My nine-year old grey faced agility champion, who has not NQ'd in about a year, came out for her first run practically vibrating. That double-leg bunny run as fast as she could, growling with each stride, butt tucked under her. I actually kept her on course for about half the course before she bolted past a tunnel and over the dogwalk to the finish, where she continued on and jumped the exit gate. She got cookies and cuddles and kisses and told she was a genius, because she is Meg and there are no rules for Meg.
Yay Gusto!! What a great debut for his first AKC trial. Yay for Meg too!! What a great weekend.

Kimma and I Q'd in Open JWW with a second place! I was shocked we Q'd and even MORE shocked that we placed LOL. We were SO CLOSE to getting another Q in Standard, but stupid me put in a front cross where Kimma was definitely going to fast for one, and I kind of tripped her up resulting in a refusal. Then her weaves were icky so she got another refusal. So if it weren't for me getting in her way with the jumps, we would have Q'd. Weaves are just totally a problem though and now we have a whole month to figure it out.
Congrats again! What a super weekend!
 

SaraB

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Zuma and I had a pretty good day today at the AKC trial. Jumpers run was fabulous except it was a really tight weave entrance and she didn't collect up. Everything else was fantastic! Standard was weird, I don't really know how else to explain it. She blew by the dog walk (she's a dog walk suck) and blew by a jump (she normally takes extra jumps). I've watched the video a few times but other than a slight tweak in my shoulders, don't really know what I did. Oh well, weird dog is weird. She nailed her weaves though.

So no Q's for us today. Next weekend is USDAA so that'll be nice.

Here's the jumpers run:
[YOUTUBE]FOvBS6Ftozk[/YOUTUBE]

And standard:
[YOUTUBE]_552a0oy_4o[/YOUTUBE]
Oh ya, and Zuma is on TABLE BOOTCAMP this week. GAH.
 
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Beanie

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Aw man. They cancelled the fun run I was half-thinking of taking Payton too.

Which is probably good because I was half-thinking of taking Payton to it hahaha.

Their next fun run is in August. Maybe we'll be ready to go by then?
 

MandyPug

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Izzie and I had a great first regional prep class on Tuesday night. We were perfectly in sync and she read and trusted my cues without question. We ran a pretty tricky jumpers course and the judge who made it was there and filming our group running it for an article in clean run.

Five more weeks of prep class, two 1-day trials and then REGIONALS! Excitednervousomg.
 

Finkie_Mom

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Oh I just love Zuma... She looks really nice!!

I've been working weaves and I think they are getting better. Doing some work with a target at the end and that seems to be pretty motivating to her (more so than my throwing a bait bag/toy). I do one rep at a time, then other stuff, then come back and do another rep. Only 3 total at most. Here's a video of today at the place I teach at:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100151301068489

And here's her Open JWW Q from last weekend. Not the fastest or most smooth ever, but it got the job done LOL. And gave me more things to work on!
[YOUTUBE]QvXwasyxKoo[/YOUTUBE]
 

BostonBanker

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So, a question for those of you with smaller dogs (or who train with smaller dogs) - what do you do for a teeter?

Gusto's teeter has been reliable, but slower than I want (let's be honest, I want one of those crazy skidding fun teeters just because it looks cool). I wouldn't call it slow; just 'normal'. I had someone suggest changing him to a down on the teeter to see if it helps. His contacts are all 2 on/2 off now, although I accept that on the teeter he does a 4 on until it stops moving, then assumes the position. He's too light to go right into the final position without getting bounced around a bunch when the teeter rebounds. He's had a few times that he's had to basically do a handstand to pull it back down with his hind feet.

The idea, I guess, being that the rebound might be uncomfortable for him, and it may be less of an issue in a down. After our first outdoor trial yesterday, I think we've got bigger training fish to fry at the moment ;), but I'm putting it in the back of my mind to consider. Just looking for other thoughts.
 

Shai

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So, a question for those of you with smaller dogs (or who train with smaller dogs) - what do you do for a teeter?

Gusto's teeter has been reliable, but slower than I want (let's be honest, I want one of those crazy skidding fun teeters just because it looks cool). I wouldn't call it slow; just 'normal'. I had someone suggest changing him to a down on the teeter to see if it helps. His contacts are all 2 on/2 off now, although I accept that on the teeter he does a 4 on until it stops moving, then assumes the position. He's too light to go right into the final position without getting bounced around a bunch when the teeter rebounds. He's had a few times that he's had to basically do a handstand to pull it back down with his hind feet.

The idea, I guess, being that the rebound might be uncomfortable for him, and it may be less of an issue in a down. After our first outdoor trial yesterday, I think we've got bigger training fish to fry at the moment ;), but I'm putting it in the back of my mind to consider. Just looking for other thoughts.
Not exclusive to smaller dogs, but I've seen it work for them too -- one way people seem to get a lot of speed across the teeter is to train a really strong charging target behavior, then put the target "spot" on the end of the teeter. Not on the ground, but on the teeter itself. Then starting with a low teeter so the dog can better control the movement, they work on driving hard to that spot, progressively increasing the height.

That said I have not done this. The movement of the teeter doesn't bother Mira and she's big enough that it just slams right now with no additional acrobatics from her besides running across it. Just relaying what I've heard from people with smaller dogs and flashy teeter performances ;)
 

Laurelin

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I don't know if there's anything I can do to get the teeter down faster, lol. :p I've just been happy when my dogs don't fly off.

*sigh* My trainer let us know we have 2 more weeks of classes then she can't teach for a month and a half. I'm going to try to drop in with another class, I think. I really don't want to take that long of a break.
 

Shai

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I don't know if there's anything I can do to get the teeter down faster, lol. :p I've just been happy when my dogs don't fly off.

*sigh* My trainer let us know we have 2 more weeks of classes then she can't teach for a month and a half. I'm going to try to drop in with another class, I think. I really don't want to take that long of a break.
Haha well your dogs don't weigh much more than the sandbag test weights :p

Sorry to hear about the class break :(


Mira a.k.a. Lady Pantiesbottom came into season on time exactly to the day. Drat. I was really hoping for a bonus week or three or four. Means we finally got into two trials...and I have to pull from them both. Woe is me. And Mira. Very woe is Mira.
 

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