Agility training

Sekah

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Crates are just a big convenience as far as I'm concerned. I love that I can send Cohen to her crate while I go walk a course. I don't even bother closing the door while I walk or when other dogs run since her stay in the crate is so solid.

A few times Cohen has caught sight of her crate at the end of a line of obstacles and gone straight for it and crated herself, despite there being more to the course. :) I try to move the crate out of the way these days.
 

JacksonsMom

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It makes total sense, it was just not something I ever experienced. But I do remember in our first class, standing outside of the fence when one dog was running, but after like 3 classes, the trainer decided we and the dogs were all fine to be leashed in there, and never had any problems. 2nd trainer was the most professional I had, and she competed with her BCs, and has a well known training club around here, and she never asked us to crate dogs either. Current class is during the day and there is only 3 dogs (2 little, 1 aussie) and they're all fine together.

It's funny though, I'm not really in the 'dog world' per say like some are, since I don't really do any competing, and such, so when I went to the Barn Hunt trial a few weeks back, it was funny to me to see everyone's dogs in crates in the back of their trucks and cars. Jackson, being my only dog, and my traveling companion like almost everywhere I go is just so used to... being with me. I could never leave him in a crate in my car LOL and I know it's not cruel by any means, it's just not what he nor I are used to. The most I do is leave him in my car if I run into the post office, or Chipotle or Walgreens or something hahaha.

I know I would have no issue training him to be in a crate if I had to, it's just not something I ever cared to train. In our family, dogs are only crated for a short time as pups, and have just always been left loose. So it's just kind of foreign to me. LOL
 

BostonBanker

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One of the main reasons I stuck with the trainer I've used for seven years or so is that ALL dogs who aren't working need to be either crated or ex-penned. The other classes I've been to, the dogs are all on leash and leashes are dropped or removed when the dog runs - everyone kind of stands in line. I was constantly defending Meg against dogs running up to her.

Now, I wouldn't do anything but crate when I'm not working. Gusto in particular needs to be kept 100% engaged. If he's out of his crate, I'm actively training or playing or amping him up. I can't watch anything else, or walk the course or discuss things that way. And he (and I!) can only stay "up" for a few minutes at a time. If I let him hang on the end of the leash and stare or sniff or anything, I can't get him back quickly. So he never just "hangs out" when we are in an agility setting.

However, the one thing our trainer doesn't require is that the dogs be quiet. I'm dropping classes for the winter once we are inside, because one of the other instructor's dogs SCREAMS non-stop in the crate when other dogs are running. It's a small, low ceiling area, and the noise has me practically jumping out of my skin. I've considered bringing headphones to put on between my runs, but I don't think it would drown it out.
 

Flyinsbt

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I prefer to crate my dogs when they're not working at class because I want them to have that down time. Let them rest, and process. When my dog is out with me, I want to be able to give them my full attention, so they learn that the time with me in that environment isn't just time to hang out and look for snacks, it's time to focus and work together.
 

CaliTerp07

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We went to a USDAA trial yesterday and it was a disaster (snooker to start--terrible, terrible first class for my dog, followed by pairs, the other awful class!). Set us up for a day of disaster in a new location (horse barn!) with amazing smells all over the place.

BUT!!!

It was so worth driving 90 minutes to get there, because THE JUDGE WAS SUPER NICE AND MEASURED MY 9 YEAR OLD 16 1/4" DOG AT 15 7/8"!!!!!

He was measuring her, and I said I was hoping I would get her under 16". He says, "Yeah, that's not going to happen, what height did you sign up for today?" I told him we were 16 performance, because my dog was 9 years old and I didn't see a need to jump higher.

"Oh, she's nine?"
"Yeah, she's my old lady."
"Hrm, looks like she's 15 7/8"

AHHHHHHHHHHH! I can keep playing USDAA with my little girl now, because she can jump 12" in future trials, yay!!!
 

CaliTerp07

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I love it! Do you not need two more measurements though? Or was that her last one?
It was her last one, and he said since he's the only one who is a CMJ he's the only one who counts :D

Awww Cali, that's awesome!!
I was dancing around the whole barn. It made waking up at 4:45 and trialing in the pouring rain worth it!
 

Laurelin

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My friend had her 12 year old dog measured and the judge did their darndest to make him measure at the lower cutoff. That stuff is nice imo. Too bad my old dog doesn't have a shorter height to measure into. :/

Anyways, should I take Summer to class this week or skip it? She's on pain meds and antibiotics. Appetite is down but other than that seems normal and active. I'm leaning towards skipping but not 100% sure.
 

CaliTerp07

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My friend had her 12 year old dog measured and the judge did their darndest to make him measure at the lower cutoff. That stuff is nice imo. Too bad my old dog doesn't have a shorter height to measure into. :/

Anyways, should I take Summer to class this week or skip it? She's on pain meds and antibiotics. Appetite is down but other than that seems normal and active. I'm leaning towards skipping but not 100% sure.
Yeah, really. My dog is 9, she's still in novice, we're not going to be taking awards away from anyone at this point! I just want my dog to play as long as she can.

My instructor will let you "double up" the next week if you skip a class. Is that an option? I can take the level below me and my level the same week to make up the missed class.
 

Finkie_Mom

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YAY! Kimma got her AX with a first place today :D

She's the first Finnish Spitz female to achieve that title and only the fourth Finnish Spitz ever. I think she's also the youngest (still researching that) and got there in the shortest amount of time (we've only been trialing for a year).

AHHHEEEEE!!! Love my babydog <3

And now, we take a break for a couple of months so that she can maybe de-stress and work on other things. All of our NQs lately have been over times/she stresses and refuses something. Super frustrating, especially because we will be over by like a second, or she will just refuse one jump/one tunnel entry. So break time it is! We will go on hikes, maybe try for more Rally stuff, and just have fun for a bit :)

(Oh, and in the Standard ring today she was so not stressed at all - she ran happily and pretty fast - a marked difference from our JWW today where she was over time by a total of 5 seconds and trotted the entire thing)
 

AdrianneIsabel

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YAY! Kimma got her AX with a first place today :D

She's the first Finnish Spitz female to achieve that title and only the fourth Finnish Spitz ever. I think she's also the youngest (still researching that) and got there in the shortest amount of time (we've only been trialing for a year).

AHHHEEEEE!!! Love my babydog <3

And now, we take a break for a couple of months so that she can maybe de-stress and work on other things. All of our NQs lately have been over times/she stresses and refuses something. Super frustrating, especially because we will be over by like a second, or she will just refuse one jump/one tunnel entry. So break time it is! We will go on hikes, maybe try for more Rally stuff, and just have fun for a bit :)

(Oh, and in the Standard ring today she was so not stressed at all - she ran happily and pretty fast - a marked difference from our JWW today where she was over time by a total of 5 seconds and trotted the entire thing)
Congrats!! That's an awesome accomplishment!
 

Beanie

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YAY! Kimma got her AX with a first place today :D

She's the first Finnish Spitz female to achieve that title and only the fourth Finnish Spitz ever. I think she's also the youngest (still researching that) and got there in the shortest amount of time (we've only been trialing for a year).
That is so cool! Congrats!!
 

yv0nne

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Congratulations to Kimma :D So awesome!

I don't know what to do with Penny. Some days are great, most days are terrible. She doesn't love agility ..so I'm really torn between making her do it& ending up with both of us angry or just pulling her from training and keep doing hikes and stuff with her instead of forcing her into agility. I don't know. It's been a super roller coaster ride for 13months and she just doesn't love it.
 

SaraB

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Congratulations to Kimma :D So awesome!

I don't know what to do with Penny. Some days are great, most days are terrible. She doesn't love agility ..so I'm really torn between making her do it& ending up with both of us angry or just pulling her from training and keep doing hikes and stuff with her instead of forcing her into agility. I don't know. It's been a super roller coaster ride for 13months and she just doesn't love it.
Time to take a break. :)

Zinga's love for agility started to dwindle out last spring. She was into it kind of, but not nearly as much as I wanted her to be. So we took a break. We practiced all the flat work stuff like start line stays, recalls to my side, front and rear crosses on the flat, but stayed off of equipment for several months. I just recently started her again, and she LOVES it. I really think I was just putting too much pressure on her. I really wanted her to be awesome and impress all of the local agility community so they would love koolies as much as I did, and by doing so, accidentally made it about me rather than her.

So we spent a lot of time learning about each other, learning to play, learning to motivate, learning to keep focus in distracting environments away from agility before putting that pressure back on. So, so happy I did that.
 

SaraB

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It was so worth driving 90 minutes to get there, because THE JUDGE WAS SUPER NICE AND MEASURED MY 9 YEAR OLD 16 1/4" DOG AT 15 7/8"!!!!!

He was measuring her, and I said I was hoping I would get her under 16". He says, "Yeah, that's not going to happen, what height did you sign up for today?" I told him we were 16 performance, because my dog was 9 years old and I didn't see a need to jump higher.

"Oh, she's nine?"
"Yeah, she's my old lady."
"Hrm, looks like she's 15 7/8"

AHHHHHHHHHHH! I can keep playing USDAA with my little girl now, because she can jump 12" in future trials, yay!!!
What a sweet judge!!! Very awesome. :D
 

SaraB

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YAY! Kimma got her AX with a first place today :D

She's the first Finnish Spitz female to achieve that title and only the fourth Finnish Spitz ever. I think she's also the youngest (still researching that) and got there in the shortest amount of time (we've only been trialing for a year).

AHHHEEEEE!!! Love my babydog <3

And now, we take a break for a couple of months so that she can maybe de-stress and work on other things. All of our NQs lately have been over times/she stresses and refuses something. Super frustrating, especially because we will be over by like a second, or she will just refuse one jump/one tunnel entry. So break time it is! We will go on hikes, maybe try for more Rally stuff, and just have fun for a bit :)

(Oh, and in the Standard ring today she was so not stressed at all - she ran happily and pretty fast - a marked difference from our JWW today where she was over time by a total of 5 seconds and trotted the entire thing)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

(obligatory lowercase)
 

Laurelin

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Mia is off and on about agility. Summer just plain loves it and she'd drill agility till she ran out of steam (she is older after all). With Mia I can't drill her at all. I treat her WAY more. I stopped weaves completely for months to get her back happy. Weather seems to be a big deal- the heat is no good for her.

Everything is happyhappyhappy and we give cookies any time she is having fun. I ignore her mistakes and we just keep on running. No working on startline stays because she stresses. We just drop her and run. She's been very happy the last month with these changes.
 

Beanie

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Sometimes it's good to take a break. I always have an off-season with my dogs (happens to be my running training season so it works out well.) Usually in the winter. I don't like to enter trials because weather is so touchy around here and I hate to enter and not get to go because of an ice storm or something, so we take the winter off and usually work on stuff that isn't sequences (excepting jump work which I guess is technically a sequence of jumps.) Go back to foundations stuff, which I think everybody can always benefit from going back to foundations! I already know what I'm working on with Payton after our last trial of the year this weekend and it's all foundations stuff, jump work, turns. Really nothing but jumps and tunnels for the majority of it.

I think too it's good to take a break and re-evaluate where the dog is at. Auggie took more than one break and every time we came back to it, I was terrified he was going to be like "nope" and I'd want to cry because my dog didn't like agility - but every time we came back to it, he came back with enthusiasm and it renewed my faith that we could keep playing.

It's tough because we can't just ask them if they want to keep playing... agility would be a lot easier if we could just have logical, rational conversations with our dogs...
 

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