Agility training

Laurelin

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Also, Mia's favorite thing to work on today was the table. I think it's because I had the clicker? I am not sure but she was like wheeeeee table!
 

Beanie

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My mom is struggling with Georgie. I see good stuff happening and she doesn't. It's challenging for me. This was always the hardest part for me as a trainer too. I see great things happening with my student's dogs and I tell them "That was great! See how this happened? He learned this! This is happening! It's HAPPENING!" and they just kind of smile weakly because they want perfection right away and it's not there yet. And they don't see that there are smaller steps first and GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING!

And she's being hard on Georgie because of it and it's not fair to Georgie because GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING HERE!!


She is having a Payton-is-not-Auggie moment except it's Georgie-is-not-Payton. And she also forgets that Payton and I are made up of hours of training time she doesn't see. 11pm training sessions. When I worked at the station I came home for lunch and trained my dog at lunch time. Hours and hours. It's not like I just woke up and decided to put Payton on the agility course and TA-DA look at these ribbons!! So much work has gone into it and I don't think she fully appreciates that.

She doesn't understand that Georgie has suddenly decided this game is super fun, and that's actually a very good thing. The teeter is amazing. The chute is awesome. These things that were scary have now become high value - this is a GOOD thing! Yes right now she's running over to the teeter when you want her to do that jump, and that is frustrating, but instead of taking the frustrating part of it - that her self-control isn't where it needs to be - take the part that means this thing that SCARED her now has HIGH VALUE.



As a result I'm trying to tone myself down with Payton. I wasn't happy with Payton's 12-poles so I decided to retrain them. Went back to six poles and drilled six poles for a couple days, then I added two poles on Sunday and we just did eight. Today we did ten. Wednesday we will be back to 12 and I'm confident he'll look great when we get back to 12. Today I sent him out over a jump, out to slice a jump, then back around and into the poles from the "wrong" side. He was beautiful and I decided to put in a rear cross on him in the poles too and it was so so wonderful. And I wanted to be like DID YOU SEE THAT LOOK AT THAT. And instead I just celebrated with Payton in the back of my yard where she couldn't really hear me.

Whomp whomp.

Also I looked up today and realized I had an audience. One of my neighbours is renting his house, but sometimes he and his dad come by to work on the house, and I sometimes see them up by the corner of their house watching. Today I saw that the old man behind me was having dinner with his wife at their kitchen table, and they had the drapes open and were watching.

The neighbours on either catty-corner also watch. One's yard is behind our privacy fence, but they have a bi-level so I can see them standing in their living room looking down on our yard with their golden retriever. The others helped me out today by sending their dog who likes to try and fence-fight with my dogs outside while Payton was doing his weaves. I sent him away and into the poles and he ignored the snarling barking lunging dog at the back fence and did all 10 poles for me. Good boy Payton.
 

Shai

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Hehe it always creeps me out when I am reminded that people watch me to agility. We weretalking with a neighbor a while ago and Mira was out with us...the woman leaned down to pet Mira and said, "The black dog! You are very very good at that obstacle coure thing!" I stared blankly for a minute before realizing she was talking about my partial agility equipment...haha. Turned beet red.
 

Shai

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Also, Mia's favorite thing to work on today was the table. I think it's because I had the clicker? I am not sure but she was like wheeeeee table!
That sounds incredibly cute, lol. The table was Webby's favorite obstacle for a long time... :)
 

SaraB

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Hehe it always creeps me out when I am reminded that people watch me to agility. We weretalking with a neighbor a while ago and Mira was out with us...the woman leaned down to pet Mira and said, "The black dog! You are very very good at that obstacle coure thing!" I stared blankly for a minute before realizing she was talking about my partial agility equipment...haha. Turned beet red.
This. So much this.

I need a 12 foot tall privacy fence or to live out in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors for a mile.
 

Laurelin

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That sounds incredibly cute, lol. The table was Webby's favorite obstacle for a long time... :)
It really was. She was all bouncy and flying up to the table. Summer was goofy and not going down on it. She was certain she was supposed to bow or maybe dig or just maybe do her shame on me trick.

What's a good way to work the auto down without owning a table?

We practice in the front yard most the time and people watch. It's weird.
 

Laurelin

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I am struggling with something though. If things continue as well as they are I'm not sure I want to add a third dog for a while. I mean... I really really want a bigger dog but on the other hand I can't afford entry fees for 3 dogs. I don't want to slight my current two.

But really it will still be a good couple years after getting Nextdog before Nextdog is needing entry fees. Summer isn't getting younger
 

Shai

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I don't own a table but work the concept on any platform I can find. Mira doesn't have an autodown on the table but she's good about managing herself, though she has skidded across them a few times. The only table fault she's had was when she lauched at speed and an angle and basically just went across the corner of the table, which downing wouldn't help.

Kim has (had? it's been a while) a nice table autodown, though. We played down-as-fast-as-you-can on a mat then put the mat on a platform. From there she generalized to the table very well even though we were only rarely on a real table. It worked well considering our limited equipment access at the time.
 

Shai

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I am struggling with something though. If things continue as well as they are I'm not sure I want to add a third dog for a while. I mean... I really really want a bigger dog but on the other hand I can't afford entry fees for 3 dogs. I don't want to slight my current two.

But really it will still be a good couple years after getting Nextdog before Nextdog is needing entry fees. Summer isn't getting younger
I completely understand this. I am pretty much narrowed down to two litters at this point (Mira's and one of another breed) and both will happen a little earlier than is ideal. But on the other hand, it's 2 years (if all goes well) til a new pup is really up to speed from a competition standpoint and it's nice to raise a pup in an agility environment, which is easier to do if you have active competition dogs.

We'll see. I'm going to have a hard time not keeping a puppy from either of these litters...I think it will be impossible for me to turn down a puppy from both.
 

Beanie

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Ahahaha it's kind of weird but I try to just ignore it. One day my neighbours were having a party so, I don't know, maybe 20 people in their backyard? And I was working Payton. And every time I would start working a sequence or something with him I could hear them stop talking because they were watching. It is kind of embarrassing and I'm like PRESSURE'S ON PEOPLE ARE WATCHING.
I don't even know why. It's not like they know what agility is so they don't know if he's doing great or terrible. And I run in the the ring and people watch there... why is this different? I don't know but it is LOL.



I am struggling with something though. If things continue as well as they are I'm not sure I want to add a third dog for a while. I mean... I really really want a bigger dog but on the other hand I can't afford entry fees for 3 dogs. I don't want to slight my current two.

But really it will still be a good couple years after getting Nextdog before Nextdog is needing entry fees. Summer isn't getting younger
Yeah, realistically it will be at least 15 months until you can even enter the dog and that's assuming you're ready to go at that point. Before the plan was to retire Auggie, I was planning on just trialing about half as often, and I had removed a few places I would otherwise travel to because they were too far to go and the hotels were too expensive. So compete less and stay closer.
Of course as it happens I only have one entry fee now anyway. My mom pays Georgie's. I guess it could be shortchanging the existing dog to limit how many times they compete, but I figure it's probably worse if I can't, like, pay my mortgage so they have a place to live or feed them.


I still feel guilty about having retired Auggie even though I 100% know it was the right move. We're trying to figure out if we're taking all four dogs to Indy this weekend or not. My mom thinks we should leave Pepper and Auggie with my dad. I don't want to leave Auggie behind. I mean I really really don't. But I'm equally unsure how he's going to respond to going to a place he used to trial at (a place he always did well at and had fun at, as it happens) and... not running. So maybe it's better to leave him? I don't know. I had a weepy day on Sunday because I pulled out his sport scrapbook and was looking through it. I found the photos of his first "double Q" and remembered he got 2nd place on both because his grandma had just been dropped down to preferred and she took 1st place. Then I remembered grandma isn't here anymore and was just sitting on the steps of my porch crying over broken dreams and dead dogs and poor Pepper didn't know what to do with me. It's just a game and really shouldn't create this much stress and emotion. But I guess any sport can do that...
 

Laurelin

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I think I just want to stay in bliss land where Mia and Summer don't age, Mia's knees are never a problem and we keep having as much fun as we are having. I think it could go either way and I could have to retire either/both this year or we could run another 4 years with both having fun and doing well. I guess that is something you could face with any dog though.
 

Shai

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Yeah Webster and Kim like to work/play but they don't really care how or where or what so long as they get to do stuff. So retiring/unretiring/re-retiring them is not a big deal. They still train, go to the lake, get off the property every day, do tricks, whatever. I hate that they are getting grey but from a competition standpoint I don't and won't feel badly if I decide to save my entry dollars because they don't really care. Webby especially is travel-sized so I can bring him along to a lot of trials even if he's not entered...if I can sneak him away from Hubby, haha. Kim loves going places especially if there are kids to make a big fuss over her...she's choose a crowd of kids over just about anything, with a good roll in something stinky as her favorite backup plan. :)

But the day I retire Mira is going to be a very bad day. She lives to work and be my partner and her relationship with me and our work seems to be her real purpose in life and what brings her joy. She needs to stay young and fit forever so she can always lead the life she wants to live. She is my souldog. There's really no way around it.
 

Laurelin

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Mine like to play but they don't live for it. I mean Mia loves just going to the park. I'm pretty sure Summers favorite thing is going through drive thurs or just getting passed around at trials.

I'm sure most the guilty thoughts are on my end but still... They have fun and I want to keep having fun with them. Dogs shouldn't get old.
 

yv0nne

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UM. Penny just had another stellar training session with crazy tug drive& speed. I think our new plan of action is really working. I'm so over the moon right now with happiness. All the basics are there so it's amazing to see how one little missing link is making all the pieces fall together so nicely.

She had about 2 minutes in a 15 minute training session today where she lost her focus on me but.. IT CAME BACK. I'm not still out in the yard yelling and wanting to kill my red dog. The fear of the leash coming off in different places is lessening. I would have paid double what I did to learn how simple the solution to my biggest frustration was!
 

JacksonsMom

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Love my dog. We have a super small class, I'm taking a daytime agility class this time, and there's an Aussie and a Coton de Tuler. He rocks it. I thought the Aussie was going to be the star of our small class, but nope, it's my boy. :p No, really, he just picked everything back up so quickly. I know, I'm bragging. I just love this dog.

Mainly need work on teeter and weaves. He rocked the weaves today, was so happy with his progress. Did not work on teeter today yet though.

I also practiced on ME a lot today. Really like this new trainer. She really explains in detail to me about how *I* need to be moving, etc. She helped me a lot today.
 

JacksonsMom

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Mine like to play but they don't live for it. I mean Mia loves just going to the park. I'm pretty sure Summers favorite thing is going through drive thurs or just getting passed around at trials.

I'm sure most the guilty thoughts are on my end but still... They have fun and I want to keep having fun with them. Dogs shouldn't get old.
:hail::hail:
 

BostonBanker

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I am struggling with something though. If things continue as well as they are I'm not sure I want to add a third dog for a while. I mean... I really really want a bigger dog but on the other hand I can't afford entry fees for 3 dogs. I don't want to slight my current two.

But really it will still be a good couple years after getting Nextdog before Nextdog is needing entry fees. Summer isn't getting younger
It's hard. I still don't know if I timed mine the way I wanted to. I thought I got Gusto later than I should have, because I was out of classes for a while, and really thought Meg was ready to be done before he was ready to get into real work. And now Meg is really thriving on her minimal training/maximum fitness routine, and I feel bad that I don't always take her to run-thus and don't enter many classes, because Gusto does "need" it more and money isn't unlimited.

At the end of the day, nothing is ever going to be 100% perfect timing wise. We do the best we can, get the dog that feels right when it is available, and I really don't think anyone in this group is going to ever slight their older dogs. We probably angst over it a lot more than they do.

I had a great night, as we (myself and 3 friends) moved equipment into the barn we are renting for the winter. It is such a perfect set up. I'm so excited to get training!
 

Laurelin

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Yay Jackson! We need video. ;) I really like my new trainer too for that reason. She points out when I do stupid stuff, which is often. :rofl1:

So back to practicing in your yard my neighbors came up to me today. I have to work in the front because Mia has this stepping in poop aversion and was shutting down in the back yard. (because back yard = potty to her). I moved to the front and voila! She's back to being engaged and happy.

Anyways, I had 6 poles and a jump and we were working weaves/entrances in an open channel. I'd like to start Summer in AKC this winter and MAYBE Mia too. They came up and asked 'So.... are you training them or something?'

I was like.... uh.... yes?

I mean what else would I be doing? Nah, they're teaching me to run beside them while they jump.

Anyways they asked a bunch of questions, mostly about Summer (like her name and everything). I said I competed and had just started competing just to try to make it make more sense and she asked 'Why did you decide to start doing this?'

I.... don't know! LOL

With the good weather people are walking by a lot and I get a LOT of stares. Yeah, I know.... PVC obstacle courses with dogs are weird. :rofl1: I think why it doesn't matter at class and trials is that the people there 'get it'. Whereas non dog people have no idea what they're looking at.

In other news we have a USDAA games workshop this weekend. I am at least going to audit but am not sure about a working spot. You get to run a full gamblers run and a full snookers. I am contemplating entering Summer assuming that there IS a working spot left since I'm being last minute.
 

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