Agility training

DJEtzel

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Ah I forgot how much I loved agility classes in the summertime! It's still in the 90's when class starts and definitely feels much hotter when you factor in the humidity.

I need some ideas on how to keep Harleigh cool after (& before really!) she runs. Our agility instructor provides 3 industrial fans that I stick her in front of as soon as she is done. I also offer her plenty of water to drink.

I also thought about bringing a separate thing of water (and a rag) to wet/cool her down with. Good idea or no?

I'm open to other ideas as well! We are just beginning our summer and I know it's gonna be a very long and very hot one.

Keeping her wet is a great idea. At CPE nationals over the weekend, they had two kiddie pools and hoses out for people to keep dogs wet and cool. There were also a ton of people with lightweight reflective/cool coats that seemed like they worked great!
 

Kootenay

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I can actually join in this thread now! Onyx and I started agility classes at the end of April, and we're both really enjoying it :D I'm a total agility newbie. We went through one 6 week long beginner class (except we missed the first class), and are 2 weeks into the next set.

Just doing recreational classes because that is what was offered at this time, but I do hope that we can maybe trial eventually, someday.

Because it was a recreational class, we were taught lured weaves instead of 2x2s. I was planning on getting the 2x2 info and teaching that on our own time, but she picked up the lured weaves SO fast that I didn't in the end. I'm not sure if this will come back to haunt me?

I took some video of where her weaves are at today (go ahead and laugh at my "weave poles"...I'll put something better together someday!). Still pretty new to it, but she seems to be getting the idea of what it's all about. This was the first time I tried placing the toy at the end for her to grab, instead of throwing it (my instructor recommended trying this at the last class), so she is still sometimes looking to me at the end before realizing the toy is sitting in front of her. Anything anyone sees that I should/could be doing differently, please say, I'm completely new to this.

Oh and turn the volume down, my voice saying the same thing each time is super irritating...

[YOUTUBE]kNFm1dzwUOg[/YOUTUBE]
 

Laurelin

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I lured Summer's weaves. Well lured and clicked.... it was kind of hybrid luring and shaping. I'd lure then let her shape to find the third pole. I kid you not when I say we spent well over a year trying channels and 2x2s. We are 1 month now since we started luring (my first weave luring session was 5/14/2014). And she is pretty reliable at home and doing them in class and at the last trial too.

So I say go with what works. I'm not worried about it biting us in the butt. She's 10 so not expecting to get super far trialing. If they're not the kind of weaves other people would like then oh well.

Once she got the concept down with a lot of help from me she has been getting more and more independent and faster. This last week she's really started driving to them too. Tonight I could send her from quite a ways away to go to them. Only messed up once in our whole session too!
 

Laurelin

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As far as cooling goes, a couple friends (one with shelties and one with labs) use ruffwear cooling coats.

It's in the 90s here too. I keep Summer wet and we have a cooling pad plus fans. I am ordering a ruffwear coat too. For Mia though.
 

BostonBanker

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Because it was a recreational class, we were taught lured weaves instead of 2x2s. I was planning on getting the 2x2 info and teaching that on our own time, but she picked up the lured weaves SO fast that I didn't in the end. I'm not sure if this will come back to haunt me?
I think her weaves look spectacular for how long she's been at it! Believe it or not (;)) plenty of dogs had fast, reliable, independent weaves before 2x2 was invented, and plenty still learn them other ways. I have seen spectacular poles trained using 2x2 - and trained using gates, and using wires, and using luring, and using channels, and using weave-a-matics.

Meg's were trained by shaping/luring with a heavy lean towards luring. Gusto's were pretty much exclusively shaped. Meg's weaves were incredibly reliable in a trial setting, and plenty fast enough for our goals. Gusto's dealing with some stress issues right now, so I'm not ready to judge how happy I am with his poles in a trial setting, but I don't think it has a thing to do with how they were trained.

Our club's USDAA trial is this weekend. As is traditional, it looks like it is going to POUR tomorrow, although the weather looks great for Sat/Sun. Not too hot and sunny. Meg's just running one class a day, because I was worried it was going to be a really small trial and I would have to juggle two dogs in the same class/height. Gusto's running all the PIII classes, plus his first steeplechase. He had one of the best runs he's ever had at practice on Tuesday night - fast, accurate, so far out ahead of me that I didn't think I would be able to handle him, but he was reading me incredibly well and ran totally clean. Just...heaven. And then the next run he was staring into space and and stopping in tunnels. Hopefully the perfect Gusto will make an appearance for at least a run or two this weekend. And we have a videographer there, so I can buy videos after I see how it goes!
 

Beanie

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I think her weaves look spectacular for how long she's been at it! Believe it or not (;)) plenty of dogs had fast, reliable, independent weaves before 2x2 was invented, and plenty still learn them other ways. I have seen spectacular poles trained using 2x2 - and trained using gates, and using wires, and using luring, and using channels, and using weave-a-matics.
+1! Auggie was trained with weave-a-matics and my friend always liked to comment how funny it was that Auggie's weave poles were his best and fastest obstacle on the entire course. Payton had an altered 2x2 method where I did a lot of shaping with a clicker; Georgie did pretty straight 2x2. Payton's weaves are faster than Georgie's; Georgie is a little better about hitting her entries but she's also going slower which helps.


Speaking of Payton and weaves, we have two more days of Steak n Weaves before I'm out of steak and he's been doing super awesome. A little less awesome when we're high on the arc on the "wrong" side but amazing even really high on the arc on the "right" side. This evening I sent him from pole 6 down to the entry and he nailed it beautifully.
SO DON'T TELL ME YOU CAN'T WEAVE PAYTON.
Hopefully this will successfully give the weaves more value and make sure his understanding is solid, then we can rule that out and move forward.

I want to re-train his a-frame to a running a-frame using Rachel Sanders' box method... I just haven't gotten down to the nitty-gritty yet. So much still to teach him. But he really is a good boy and he tries very very hard to be good. I'm cautiously looking forward to Sunday, it will be fun to have a whole day, just me and Payton. Lots of hours in the car driving up and back but a full 8 hours just workin' with my baby dog. I hope some good comes of it and I don't spend the ~3 hours driving back home crying...
 

MandyPug

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Regionals this weekend! Our club is hosting so lots of stuff to do other than just running the pug! On the bright side it's nice to be sleeping in my own bed.
 

Sekah

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Holy crap, Onyx really is the best dog. Those weaves look amazing. And I can't believe that you did it via luring.



Good luck with running the Pug this weekend! I can't wait to see how you do.
 

Laurelin

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I was trying to take video of Summer's weaves but uh.... technical difficulties. My camera battery ran out. Then my phone ran out of space. The little video I did get was aimed so all you could see was me and Summer was cut out of it.

So yeah....maybe next time. :eek:
 

Sekah

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I can't remember if I posted this video to this thread. Here's Cohen weaving! Yay weaves!

[YOUTUBE]zvSImFss_Wc[/YOUTUBE]

My instructor attended the Ontario Regionals East competition last weekend and I'm going to Ontario West next weekend, so I was picking her brain about what she saw. She warned us of some pretty tricky weave entries and tried to challenge us in class. I'm soooooooooo pleased with Cohen's entries. Even taking a jump and doing a 180 she's able to find her entry every time. When she's fresh and well rested she's hella speedy too. We still suffer from the 10th pole popout issues and I kind of have to babysit the end of the object, but I really, really love the weaves. It's such a cool obstacle.
 

Kootenay

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I think her weaves look spectacular for how long she's been at it! Believe it or not (;)) plenty of dogs had fast, reliable, independent weaves before 2x2 was invented, and plenty still learn them other ways. I have seen spectacular poles trained using 2x2 - and trained using gates, and using wires, and using luring, and using channels, and using weave-a-matics.

Meg's were trained by shaping/luring with a heavy lean towards luring. Gusto's were pretty much exclusively shaped. Meg's weaves were incredibly reliable in a trial setting, and plenty fast enough for our goals. Gusto's dealing with some stress issues right now, so I'm not ready to judge how happy I am with his poles in a trial setting, but I don't think it has a thing to do with how they were trained.
That's good to hear! I was kind of feeling like, if what we're doing is working, we might as well stick with it, so that's what I think we'll do.

Holy crap, Onyx really is the best dog. Those weaves look amazing. And I can't believe that you did it via luring.
Thank you! Means a lot, since Cohen also seems like the best dog ;) I did fade the lure pretty quick. She caught on so fast it surprised me too, a lot faster than any of the other dogs in the class. She really seems to love agility a lot, it will be fun to see where we can go with this!

Although classes are 2 1/2 hrs drive (one way), so I don't know how long we'll be able to keep going, it's a lot of gas money and time.

What are everyone's favourite online agility classes?
 

yv0nne

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You guys and your agility training. So jealous. I haven't done agility since June 2nd. Dying a little on the inside.
Online courses-
Silvia Trkman is pretty obvious place to start
I am taking the impulse control class through Fenzi right now& adore it. They do have foundations classes. About the same cost as a Trkman course.

Then there are some trainers like Jess Martin, Justine Davenport, etc.. who are all pretty good& offer online courses!
 

MandyPug

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That's good to hear! I was kind of feeling like, if what we're doing is working, we might as well stick with it, so that's what I think we'll do.



Thank you! Means a lot, since Cohen also seems like the best dog ;) I did fade the lure pretty quick. She caught on so fast it surprised me too, a lot faster than any of the other dogs in the class. She really seems to love agility a lot, it will be fun to see where we can go with this!

Although classes are 2 1/2 hrs drive (one way), so I don't know how long we'll be able to keep going, it's a lot of gas money and time.

What are everyone's favourite online agility classes?
Where are you located if you don't mind me asking?
 

BostonBanker

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I've spent the last 24 hours mulling agility life over in my head.

Our trial this weekend was eye opening. Meg, of course, was a star. She is so sound and happy still, it makes my heart sing. People stop to pet her when she's walking around and comment on how much they love to watch her run, and how they've been watching her for years, and it makes me all happy weepy. She only ran one class a day, but added two more PIII standard Qs and another PIII jumpers Q to her resume.

Gusto was heartbreaking. His skill set is there. His obstacle skills and handling skills are good. He ran two of his three PIII standard courses completely clean; the third was during a torrential downpour, and was clean until he got to the table, where he downed for 3 seconds and then said that it was stupid to lay in the rain. I missed some serious non-equipment related foundation stuff with him though, because it was never taught to me, and we are really feeling it now. He simply doesn't know how to perform with the pressure of a trial, and is slow and worried and shut down. He was over time in both of those clean runs. He is not a dog for whom speed should be an issue.

He got his cookies and his walk and then went back in his crate while I had a bit of a meltdown. I am very lucky to have good friends in the agility world who know how to offer support.

We are taking a break from agility for a few weeks while I get my head around things. I have two private lessons set up already in July, with two different trainers who I hope will help me decide what, if anything I should have as a game plan. Or he may just be a dog who isn't going to be an agility dog. I'm trying to make myself okay with that.

I'm mad at myself for not knowing more sooner. I'm upset that with all the work I have put into this, I missed such huge things. This is why agility people scream to the skies at everyone who "just wants to do agility for fun so any trainer will do!", because there is so so much more to it than just teaching obstacles and handling.

I bought videos for a few of the classes, so I will have those probably tomorrow.
 

Shai

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"Agility"? What is this "agility" thing you all speak of? I seem to remember something about PVC and yellow paint being important but it's been so long that it's getting kind of hazy.......

*agility withdraw*

Haven't ran my own dog in competition since um...March? February? Ack.

That said doing some very very basic fundamentals with Lodin is a lot of fun. And I've been taking Da Webby with me to rotate off and he is *loving* playing the game even when it's just for practice and fun. Makes me happy to see him happy. May start taking Kim too since she's been so sound and just keep everything low for her and see how it goes. Good warmups and cooldowns for everyone of course.

But jeez I miss competing with my Cheese... heck I just miss my Cheese altogether.

I've spent the last 24 hours mulling agility life over in my head.

Our trial this weekend was eye opening. Meg, of course, was a star. She is so sound and happy still, it makes my heart sing. People stop to pet her when she's walking around and comment on how much they love to watch her run, and how they've been watching her for years, and it makes me all happy weepy. She only ran one class a day, but added two more PIII standard Qs and another PIII jumpers Q to her resume.

Gusto was heartbreaking. His skill set is there. His obstacle skills and handling skills are good. He ran two of his three PIII standard courses completely clean; the third was during a torrential downpour, and was clean until he got to the table, where he downed for 3 seconds and then said that it was stupid to lay in the rain. I missed some serious non-equipment related foundation stuff with him though, because it was never taught to me, and we are really feeling it now. He simply doesn't know how to perform with the pressure of a trial, and is slow and worried and shut down. He was over time in both of those clean runs. He is not a dog for whom speed should be an issue.

He got his cookies and his walk and then went back in his crate while I had a bit of a meltdown. I am very lucky to have good friends in the agility world who know how to offer support.

We are taking a break from agility for a few weeks while I get my head around things. I have two private lessons set up already in July, with two different trainers who I hope will help me decide what, if anything I should have as a game plan. Or he may just be a dog who isn't going to be an agility dog. I'm trying to make myself okay with that.

I'm mad at myself for not knowing more sooner. I'm upset that with all the work I have put into this, I missed such huge things. This is why agility people scream to the skies at everyone who "just wants to do agility for fun so any trainer will do!", because there is so so much more to it than just teaching obstacles and handling.

I bought videos for a few of the classes, so I will have those probably tomorrow.
I don't know if it's any consolation at all or if I've already told this story but that was Webby for a while. He wasn't over time but despite knowing his job he just didn't want to be there and during his Novice/Open/Excellent titling it felt like I was forcing him to do something he didn't want to do and desperately cheerleading him on. He was always under time but he never really ran. His favorite obstacle was the table because he didn't have to do anything. And any time the course looped around toward the exit he swung really wide hoping that maybe we could leave early.

After his Excellent titles I retired him. Basically decided that if he was that miserable it wasn't fair to keep running him and maybe he just wasn't cut out for competition. He was fine in practice but trials were just too much and he shut down.

After a year "off" (just practicing...running a course setups the first time through so I could get a feel for them before running the girls, that sort of thing...playing games and just goofing around) I entered him at our "home" trial just one day for kicks. And he was relaxed and happy and ran and bounces and earned a QQ and even placed and was way under time. And...he stayed that way and still loves it. I'm not sure what changed his mind...the break, the drive building/bridge work we did, watching the girls run all the time and not getting to do it himself, or just my shift in attitude but I never would have thought he'd have gotten as far as he did, place as often as he did, end up in a runoff for first place...

I do think in some ways second dogs are the hardest because our goals and expectations are higher for them even when we try not to let it affect us, but at the same time they are different from our first dogs and not always in the ways we expect. I know Gus is special to you and you will adore him whether he's your agility partner or hiking buddy or housepet, but there really is hope.
 

Oko

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That said doing some very very basic fundamentals with Lodin is a lot of fun. And I've been taking Da Webby with me to rotate off and he is *loving* playing the game even when it's just for practice and fun. Makes me happy to see him happy. May start taking Kim too since she's been so sound and just keep everything low for her and see how it goes. Good warmups and cooldowns for everyone of course.
What, get that boy on a full height teeter, stat. And weaving, good grief, Feist was weaving at 3 months old. Border collie newb. :rolleyes:
 

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