Agility training

[BostonBanker]

Oh bummer, ours is in MA. Maybe we'll run into you guys some day.

We pretty much live at All Dog's in Manchester for winter trials. I generally do some of the Greenfield MA trials during the summer; with baby dog this year, I'm less certain what our plan will be, but perhaps we will see you at some point!

[BostonBanker]

Gusto is so awesome your doing such a great job with him.

Thank you I have moments of such extreme doubt with him sometimes, but I've been so blessed to have such amazing dogs, and so, so lucky to have had the right people on my side to help me with them. Sometimes I just look at them and grin and wonder what I did to deserve them!

It's hard to remember he's such a baby when he has moments of pure genius - poor guy sets the bar so high for himself! Being able to walk out of our first trial with no Qs but a huge sense of "he is right where he needs to be" was a big thing for me. Silly little blips (like me forgetting how to run Snooker after 6 years of it being my favorite class ) will happen and are fine. The pieces are nearly all there - just time to fit them together!

[Aleron]

Originally Posted by BostonBanker

It's hard to remember he's such a baby when he has moments of pure genius - poor guy sets the bar so high for himself! Being able to walk out of our first trial with no Qs but a huge sense of "he is right where he needs to be" was a big thing for me. Silly little blips (like me forgetting how to run Snooker after 6 years of it being my favorite class ) will happen and are fine. The pieces are nearly all there - just time to fit them together!

Focusing on foundations, no matter what your exact route is definitely makes for some awesome agility dogs! I can't wait to see Gusto in another year or so

[DenoLo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wKcSfmOviA

Not sure if I posted it on this forum before, but this was our snooker run from our first trial. It certainly wasn't pretty but we got a Q and a first place lol.

In our next in February I'd really love to see her go faster, but I know that's just a confidence thing. She's very speedy in class, so it threw me a bit that we were going so slow. It was also a VERY long day for her as we had to be there at 7 am, so I think going home in between check-in and our run will help a bit.

[DJEtzel]

Originally Posted by DenoLo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wKcSfmOviA

Not sure if I posted it on this forum before, but this was our snooker run from our first trial. It certainly wasn't pretty but we got a Q and a first place lol.

In our next in February I'd really love to see her go faster, but I know that's just a confidence thing. She's very speedy in class, so it threw me a bit that we were going so slow. It was also a VERY long day for her as we had to be there at 7 am, so I think going home in between check-in and our run will help a bit.

Cute!

This is the video of Frag's snooker run last saturday... It was great until I hestitated and he dropped a bar at 24 points. /facepalm. Still got a ribbon, but no Q.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed...51238299222705

[Laurelin]

Just got back from working at the first ever USDAA trial in the state. Woohoo!

I worked half then got the girls and worked with them half the time. We didn't enter anything but we worked on toy drive and tugging, playing ball, recalls, and just overall behaving at a trial. They did perfect. Summer got carried around quite a bit (made her day). Mia didn't bark nonstop the entire time, lol. both my girls have decided to be friendly with some of the big dogs now, which is awesome.

I was kind of wishing that I had signed both mine up for the gamblers and jumpers courses. They were pretty easy and I think we would have had a decent shot at doing a passing job at it. A lot of people were very new dogs to the sport.

I did get some weird questions/comments about my dogs though. I am gathering that papillons aren't so common in agility here which is odd, every trial I went to in Texas had quite a few. And they're such a common agility breed. I had so many people come up going 'Oh, y'all aren't agility dogs, are you?' :/ I also got to talking to some people I know about dogs and mentioned wanting another sheltie eventually and was told 'Then you'd have to really get serious about agility'. Maybe I read too much into it. lol

I measured Summer and she's shorter than I thought she was.

[BostonBanker]

I had so many people come up going 'Oh, y'all aren't agility dogs, are you?' :/ I also got to talking to some people I know about dogs and mentioned wanting another sheltie eventually and was told 'Then you'd have to really get serious about agility'. Maybe I read too much into it. lol

That's hysterical! Two of my absolute favorite agility people, both of whom have been on World teams, have pap puppies right now. I can't wait to see them running in a couple of years - they are seriously going to be the fastest craziest little dogs on the planet! We don't have a ton of paps around here, but there are a few. I admit, the more I start thinking about my future, the more I kind of think maybe I'll want one for my little dog.

Don't take the comments to heart - I have friends that run Cavaliers and are incredibly competitive, and I know they get the "when are you going to get a real agility dog?" comments frequently. Just go blow them out of the water with your girls

And yay for USDAA! I am always amazed that some regions don't have as many venue choices as we have in the north east. I really do love USDAA best of all.

[Shai]

Originally Posted by Laurelin

Just got back from working at the first ever USDAA trial in the state. Woohoo!

I worked half then got the girls and worked with them half the time. We didn't enter anything but we worked on toy drive and tugging, playing ball, recalls, and just overall behaving at a trial. They did perfect. Summer got carried around quite a bit (made her day). Mia didn't bark nonstop the entire time, lol. both my girls have decided to be friendly with some of the big dogs now, which is awesome.

I was kind of wishing that I had signed both mine up for the gamblers and jumpers courses. They were pretty easy and I think we would have had a decent shot at doing a passing job at it. A lot of people were very new dogs to the sport.

I did get some weird questions/comments about my dogs though. I am gathering that papillons aren't so common in agility here which is odd, every trial I went to in Texas had quite a few. And they're such a common agility breed. I had so many people come up going 'Oh, y'all aren't agility dogs, are you?' :/ I also got to talking to some people I know about dogs and mentioned wanting another sheltie eventually and was told 'Then you'd have to really get serious about agility'. Maybe I read too much into it. lol

I measured Summer and she's shorter than I thought she was.

Glad they (and you!) had fun Gamblers/FAST/Fullhouse type courses (depending on venue) are used a lot to introduce new dogs You can pretty much do whatever your baby dog needs and just relax...it's great!

YAY AGILITY

The Papillon rarity thing cracks me up. You really need to move up here...small dog jump heights are a Papillonfest here half the time. They're everywhere! And then you can meet and play with PyrSheps and Mudi too

[BostonBanker]

Drat, I can't watch Facebook videos because I refuse to update Flash. DenoLo, your dog is insanely cute! That looked great for her first trial!

[DenoLo]

Originally Posted by Laurelin

Just got back from working at the first ever USDAA trial in the state. Woohoo!

I worked half then got the girls and worked with them half the time. We didn't enter anything but we worked on toy drive and tugging, playing ball, recalls, and just overall behaving at a trial. They did perfect. Summer got carried around quite a bit (made her day). Mia didn't bark nonstop the entire time, lol. both my girls have decided to be friendly with some of the big dogs now, which is awesome.

I was kind of wishing that I had signed both mine up for the gamblers and jumpers courses. They were pretty easy and I think we would have had a decent shot at doing a passing job at it. A lot of people were very new dogs to the sport.

I did get some weird questions/comments about my dogs though. I am gathering that papillons aren't so common in agility here which is odd, every trial I went to in Texas had quite a few. And they're such a common agility breed. I had so many people come up going 'Oh, y'all aren't agility dogs, are you?' :/ I also got to talking to some people I know about dogs and mentioned wanting another sheltie eventually and was told 'Then you'd have to really get serious about agility'. Maybe I read too much into it. lol

I measured Summer and she's shorter than I thought she was.

Lol I had a pretty similar experience at our first trial. When we first got there, somebody said to us in a really condescending tone "Oh you must just be here to observe"