Agility training

Shai

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I could probably handle Mira on most courses without a startline stay if I had to, but not without making handling sacrifices I'd much rather not. There are good reasons most of the very top teams have the ability to lead out in some fashion or another. Not that I am counting us among that company!

I like my leadouts when the course calls for them :) I very very rarely start with her...My starting position tells her where we are going right off the bat and unless the first obstacle is a 180° tunnel, where I am away from her and where I am facing adds value.

But then I turn around and run the same course with Webster on the same day and use little/no leadout lol. Whatever works for the dog at hand.
 

Laurelin

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It makes a big difference that my dogs are so little. Mia is fast but she's tiny. Anyways I definitely like having a startline with summer. But not pushing so hard for one works better with Mia. I agree. Different dogs.
 

SaraB

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Count me in on one of those that very rarely starts with my dog. With Zuma, I'm going to take whatever chance I can to get ahead of her. There has been a course or two in the past where starting with her was the best option, so we adapted to that.

Zinga does a lot of restrained starts right now just because she's a baby dog that is just learning agility. She finds them fun and so do I. However, that doesn't mean I'm not teaching a start line stay either (her's is actually excellent, thanks to Crate Games!!), because I'm sure I'll have to utilize it a lot when she starts to trial.
 

Aleron

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Awww! He's almost looking smooth now!

Congrats on the Qs.
His coat changes quite a bit throughout the year. He gets darker, lighter, more scruffy, less scruffy. Never really know what he'll look like in a few months!

Thanks! He's a good boy. Very wild and I have to stop trying to run him like Whim but he sure does have a good time. I'll have to try to get some of his runs up on Youtube.
 

Laurelin

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too funny about his coat. He just wants to please everyone. :) He's too cute.

So last week I was all 'Yeah agility! Yeah trial in June!' What do they say? Two steps forward, one step back? Today was definitely the 'one step back'.

I am actually pretty sure Mia's not feeling well. We're back home and she just trotted in and curled up and went to sleep. Very not like her. She wasn't putting on the guns like usual. Not slow just not... Mia speed. It was subtle because I was the only one that noticed, but I definitely noticed. Very distracted all day.

Of course we had one really obnoxious thing happen. some lady with a white pit bull pulled up. No flipping idea who she was. No one in our group had seen her. She let her dog loose in the off leash field. It's free use for students but it backs up to the agility rings. Most people are smart about the use. A terv was running around in there earlier. But she ran that dog right along the fence line and the dog started fence fighting. Yes, ideally Mia should work through a fence fighting strange pit bull running up and down about 10 feet away from where we were working but it was just too much. And the lady didn't seem to get it either! Very frustrating.

Anyways, Mia improved towards the end of class.

Summer actually did superbly. That dog is getting fearless. She is SO good and wanting to please me.
 
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Yesterday me and 2 friends packed up our dogs and drove 8 hours total to go for 2 hours of shared private lessons. Our indoor training facility is really small and this winter has been really long, so we wanted to have a chance to run our dogs in a big arena. It was soooo much fun!

I have to start traveling more often because handling at speed is completely different, lol! I feel like we have more untapped speed as well which will come out once we get our communication down pat and she's confident about where I'm sending her. Also, in this vid, the sequences where she's a bit slower is because she got obsessed with the ceiling for some reason, the weirdo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqUMlCgZl2k
 

Laurelin

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So I'm having some concerns with Summer. She was panting heavily today. It was hot but not that hot (around 80 F but bright sunny and humid). So it's going to get much hotter outside in the upcoming months. All of our practice is outdoors. She is a very loud panter but I don't really recall that being a problem until these last couple years.

She ran engaged but slow. I could not get her to take water at all. And she barked the entire class, so I am sure that doesn't help that she was essentially going for the entire hour and a half in the heat. The other dogs would lie down between turns and would take water. Some of the other dogs had slowed down a bit by the end of class too. I'm just worried about the panting. Summer was running really nicely at first.

Any advice? I think I am going to take her to the vet to get checked out just in case. And get a crate fan. And then work with her outside to try to settle in the crate. I wish we had an indoor practice facility but if I need to just skip the hotter days, I will. It's kind of baffling though because I don't remember that being a problem before.

ETA: It was also 27 F on Monday so I am wondering if it could be partially the sudden temperature change and she's just not used to it yet?
 

BostonBanker

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She's crated between runs, I'm assuming from your crate fan comment. How about one of the cool gel pads for the bottom of her crate? You could also look into getting a bigger battery operated fan (I have a Ryobi one I adore) that you can set up further from her crate, and put frozen water bottles between the fan and crate so it is blowing colder air to her.

Can you get her wet? Even if there is nowhere to swim, a bucket of water and a rag lets you wet down the belly/chest/between the hind legs. Meg won't get into the wading pools at agility trials, so I do that with her when it is warm.
 

Flyinsbt

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So I'm having some concerns with Summer. She was panting heavily today. It was hot but not that hot (around 80 F but bright sunny and humid). So it's going to get much hotter outside in the upcoming months. All of our practice is outdoors. She is a very loud panter but I don't really recall that being a problem until these last couple years.

She ran engaged but slow. I could not get her to take water at all. And she barked the entire class, so I am sure that doesn't help that she was essentially going for the entire hour and a half in the heat. The other dogs would lie down between turns and would take water. Some of the other dogs had slowed down a bit by the end of class too. I'm just worried about the panting. Summer was running really nicely at first.

Any advice? I think I am going to take her to the vet to get checked out just in case. And get a crate fan. And then work with her outside to try to settle in the crate. I wish we had an indoor practice facility but if I need to just skip the hotter days, I will. It's kind of baffling though because I don't remember that being a problem before.

ETA: It was also 27 F on Monday so I am wondering if it could be partially the sudden temperature change and she's just not used to it yet?
Yes, get her checked, especially since this is new. It could just be the rapid temperature change, though.

To encourage water drinking, you could flavor it. I usually use Vertex, which is a supplement, and mix it in a little water when I want them to drink. Or you could use a little unsalted broth.

Drinking water would definitely help her.
 

Laurelin

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It's been happening the last couple of years at least (at least last year). I have a hard time knowing if I'm being a worry wart or not. I hope it is nothing serious. :( Nikki died of CHF, so that's always on my mind.
 
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DenoLo

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80, especially when it's humid out I think can be pretty heavy panting worthy? I know I would expect Lo to pant after a bit of running at 80. Can't hurt to get it checked out though, it'd probably be worth the peace of mind.
 

Laurelin

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I'd think so too but she was panting so much louder than the other dogs. :/ She's fine on cooler days though.
 

Flyinsbt

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We had a good trial today! Tess made her triumphant return to competition, after several months lay-off to recuperate from a hiking injury. (with a cheating trip to the Invitational in the middle of the lay-off, then back to no agility) We can all breathe a sigh of relief now, she should go back to being a mellow, easy to live with house dog. Rather than Destructo-Dog.

Here's her JWW run. A little more handler focus than I like, she's always tended to be overly handler focused, and I think me being over-cautious as she has been getting back into training has made her look at me more. She still got 4th place, so not so bad.

[YOUTUBE]H9eJS2aVu-Y[/YOUTUBE]

And Pirate, on the same course. He is amazing.

[YOUTUBE]rfcshKACLY4[/YOUTUBE]

I didn't see the last bar go down, so I was thinking we Q'd, until I saw the score sheets. But it was still a great run.
 

Flyinsbt

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Okay, I have to share this one for the hilarity.

[YOUTUBE]BEHlhDAO4RQ[/YOUTUBE]

Tess' Standard run the next day (Sunday). I think there might be a training hole. :rofl1:

At least her DW contact was perfect.
 

adojrts

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Lauren,
In regards to over heating and crates. Plastic and soft sided crates are bad for keeping a dog hot, especially if the dog has been wet down to cool off. The inside of the crate turns into a sauna. Crate fans will help but keeping a dog in an uncovered wire crate is best.

Take cotton balls, soak them in rubbing alcohol and wiping the pads of their feet also help to cool them down quickly. Cooling coats are good but be careful which ones you use, some will actually trap the heat and really are not cooling them down. Mesh coats, work best. Soaking a dog is cool water (not cold) and letting them dry naturally is excellent. Spray the inside of their mouth with cool water, homemade flavored ice cubes and water also works very well. When I bake liver, I was soak and wash the liver after baking to remove the slime. I keep this water and freeze it to use at trials to ensure my dogs drink or eat ice cubes.

Hope that helps.
 

PWCorgi

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My goal this weekend, Susan Salo Puppy Jumping in hand, is to build jump bumpers and stride regulators. Wish me luck.
 

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