Agility training

Well I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who "isn't really running agility because they aren't training running contacts". You are all welcome to join my Fake Agility Association. Trials coming in 2014.

And don't get me wrong, I love watching people like Trkman run. I just know what I like in my dogs, and what we are both capable of. Gusto is slower in this video than at home, but he's a baby still. I can't wait to see him as his confidence grows.

I'll stick with regular agility Goofy people don't bother me. And different running/handling style just make the sport more fascinating.

Here's Mira & I with a NQx2 lol. Standard was clean except for a knocked panel when I called her name in the air...oops. Second fastest time in class of 40+ otherwise. JWW I just set a bad line and didn't give her info. Good Babydog. Two handler errors, but that's how it goes some days. With Mira there is no time for course correction, with Web there is. I think we both still had fun.

[YOUTUBE]HfTPQlPLj0k[/YOUTUBE]

Critique away Constructive criticism and mocking are both acceptable

You are horrible, she is horrible, you should quit and take up lure coursing. Or possibly table tennis.

She looks great! She looks like she has a really nice balance of obstacle focus and handler focus. You have incredibly pretty front crosses with her and I'm obscenely jealous. I also will not be happy until I see video of Webster.

Shai, yeah really don't like those nice tight lines your getting or the distance skills. Want to screw that up and make someone feel better? :rofl1:

BB, who gives a rats ass what anyone other than you thinks about how your dogs run?? What I see is a happy babydog that is giving you some really nice stuff and not in the class of 'messy' on any level.

And you know what???? all this Trkman stuff? after running today in a seminar learning all the new 'send and get the hell out of there'?? I am too OLD, too OUT OF SHAPE to run like these folks and it is KILLING me. I HURT.

Gusto and Mira look fantastic! Heck my dog is almost 9 and still just learning. Agility is all about the journey.

We had a good weaves session today. I need to borrow my dad's back yard more often.

I realized Summer just re-started agility last june. She's coming along very nicely.

I loooove watching you and Mira run! Very smooth team, you guys are totally in-sync with each other.

Pirate's first Open Standard Q, from last weekend.

[YOUTUBE]xEH3Tsg2H0c[/YOUTUBE]

I'm ecstatic about this, because the last time we Q'd in Standard was January 6th, 2012, when he finished his Novice title. :lol-sign:

Pirate looks awesome!!! Congrats on the Q!

Finally could see Pirate's run! My phone kept freezing it. He looks wonderful - congratulations!

Thanks guys I was serious about being okay with mocking though lol. Just do it openly and I don't care.

We're still learning as a team. We don't get to work much through the winter and it shows but she loves running on dirt so that was nice . I'm looking forward to many years of partnership with my baby cheese.

I know! I'm sorry. I really did try but at the bigger multi-ring trials everyone is running every which way and it's hard to grab someone. Finally got someone to video his standard run and the battery died while he was on the table...so only got the first 1/3 or so of the course. I promise to do better in the future...actually have a camera now (hurray for finding a nice refurb!) so hopefully I will remember to bring it along and pass it off to someone.

Yous a good (and sane, OMG the trend obsessions are annoying) momma.

OMG I am so proud of you two! I love that you've shared your whole journey, naughty runs and all, and it's coming together like this. I'm really impressed. Go Pi, go Sarah! I can't wait to see this in person, now.

New to the forum

Hi, I just joined the forum and (try) to do agility! This will probably be my favorite thread to visit. So I will give a little back ground on us.

Kyrah (doberman) and I have been doing agility for a couple yrs. She is my first agility dog and we had/have drive issues and always have handler issues. She just received her Novice titles in NJP and NAP at the end of last yr.

I started training my daughters (now pretty much mine; rat terrier) Dexter about 4 months ago. He has a ton of drive and is fast as lightning.

Regardless of how bad I suck I am having a blast! I love to watch agility videos and try to learn as much as I can from them.

WOOOO! Go Pi!!! You guys look SO GOOD!

I don't know much about lots of trends... I just do research, watch videos, and try to do what I think works best for me and my dog. I dunno. I would never criticize anyone for doing something that works for them (obviously within reason!). I think you guys look awesome, BB!

And Mira. OMG. Love. You should probably post all the videos all of the time, Shai.

So I'm officially in love with Kimma. If no other reason than she makes me laugh.

We had our 5th ever trial day, in novice standard and open jumpers. For standard she was HYPED. More so than I've seen her at a trial yet. Which is good as she's very weird in new places (and locations can remain "new" to her for a WHILE) and fortunately seems to have gotten over that in this commonly used trial site, but bad as she is FAST. So not anticipating that, she went right by me as I did a bit of a lead out for her (appropriate to what I figured she would do), and ZOOMED. Just a couple of times in a circle around me, but then she did come back and do perfect weaves (YAY!). Decided to zoom around the chute, do a good frame, some jumps, and zoom around a jump. At which point I decided to be done since we wouldn't Q anyway, but she left with a big grin on her face and was quite out of breath LOL.

Then came jumpers. I figured that she would be super hyped again, so I wanted to get a good lead out. Well she broke her start line stay and I put her back in to it. At which point her feelings were crushed, sensitive dog that she is. She gave me the saddest look ever as I walked away from her, but did hold her stay. Then she was super slow over a few jumps, refused a jump, then got back in to it and realized that this stuff is SUPER FUN. Took a wrong course since, hey, she remembered that THIS IS AWESOME AND SHE NEEDS TO JUMP ALL THE THINGS even if they aren't in her path, but then got it together for an great finish (including GOOD weaves!). Again, leaving with a huge grin on her face.

So in conclusion, Kimma is awesomely crazy. She gives everyone a laugh, including me, and she really is such a good girl when all is said and done. One day we will get out of novice standard, and then we shall be stuck in open-limbo until forever I'm sure

Thanks Finkie

Glad you guys had fun today!

By the way, I have no idea what your setup is like, but be very careful going to dog events and shows and such with the newborns in the house. Would be awful to bring something home...

Thanks for the compliments on Pi's run! Unfortunately, the videographer didn't get what happened next, which is that I jumped up and down, screaming, hugged the judge, and did a victory lap (well, a really short victory lap. All the jumping up and down screaming ran me out of wind). With everyone else whooping too. It was pretty funny. My friend ran in and tried to hand me a bar, but I didn't really take it with me, that was going too far.

Mr. P got to see the chute for the first time tonight, and at first was suspicious ("Why is she holding that fabric? It's making noise. What are you doing??") but very quickly got over it. He also got to see a plank flat on the ground and immediately ran up to it, across it without trying to step off, and paused at the end. I have used a portable contact trainer with him at home but mostly I bought it because it is rubberized so I could introduce him to how rubberized equipment feels, never to have him run across it; the only time he has seen a plank like that is when it was actually attached to the teeter.
That's my boy.

I actually now think this 30 Days to Phenomenal Stopped Contacts might be possible with him... he just did so well with seeing the plank and immediately translating what he was looking at, I think this could happen.

I also think for the first time that starting this dog in the fall isn't really that crazy of an idea.

We had an awesome night at class on Tuesday. Set up a JWW layout and ran 3 different masters courses and one we made up (each person picked 3 obstacles in sequence to make up a course) on it. Izzie nailed every one, even with our weave pole issues at the trial she didn't have a problem and was fast and awesome like I know her to be. Good pug.

Then we drew numbers and switched dogs and ran a simple course of jumps and tunnels. Izzie did amazing and ran for someone she doesn't know well at all, she wouldn't have done that a year ago even. I got to run a young sheltie who was pretty cool and fast. I've caught the sheltie bug for sure now!

Zinga has a full-height dog walk.

Recon and I had an awesome night of agility last night. Lots of two jump wraps/crosses that he nailed every time without spinning, and a few jump/post turn/weaves that he nailed the entrance to every time! He also tugged in class while other dogs were running for the first time and loved it!

Next week he meets the A frame.