Agility, Here we come!

Well, kinda....okay, so she can jump three jumps in a row with me right beside her and clicking my fingers. Thats good enough right? She won't go on without me running beside her though, so what should I do to help her with that? But I have gotten her to jump a jump she has never jumped before. I mean, its was an easy jump for her, but she just wouldn't do it. And she isn't exactly getting the whole turn this way, turn that way thing.....Basically we are just doing the very very basics.

I might be able to find a way to make a teeter totter though, so we are going to try that too.

This is a rather pointless post, just thought I would ask how do you get the dog to go ahead and jump the jump you pointed to without you right next to them? I can run pretty decently fast, I keep up with her, but maybe she wants me too? I don't know

You've just started, right? For now I would just continue walking/running the jumps with her.

The biggest thing I've learned with doing agility on my own, don't rush things!

Were you ever able to check out those training places?

Yeah I was! My mom is a little hesitant though to spend so much money on a dog. She doesn't exactly think the same way I do.

Can I ask why you are clicking your fingers to get her over the jump?

Oh, I say over for the jump. I just click my fingers to keep her with me. Like I said, I am not going about this the orthodox way, its mostly going to be a learning experience for me and Suzie.

Oh oh, I see! Well, either way, that will get in the way of using your hand to indicate obstacles and direction to her if you're always having to keep your hand closed to snap your fingers. It sounds like she doesn't want to get very far away from you at this point anyway so you shouldn't have too much of a problem running tandem with her.
As for getting her over a jump while you don't go over, is she toy driven? Throw a toy or a treat over the jump. It's helpful to have a partner to do this because if she sneaks around the jump instead of over it they can scoop the toy or treat up. Just start with one jump. When she will jump one confidently when you send her to it, then you can start adding another jump and work on sending her over two jumps.

Ohhhhh, that sounds smart! I was thinking about training her to jump over that way but I though if she goes around then yeah... So I shall get my brother to help me.

Is she clicker trained? The way I taught Meg a "go on" was to use a target. I clicker trainer her to touch a target with her foot (I think most people teach a nose touch; I had my reasons). We worked on it with it on the ground in front of her (touch with a foot/click/treat) and gradually increased the distance. Once she'd seek out the target on command and go to it, I put it on the other side of a very low jump (because if it was her normal height, she'd see the target under the bar and either try to go under or just jump oddly) and send her ahead to the target. We worked up to sending her over a series of jumps. Works great when there is a long line at the end of a jumpers course and I am out of steam .

I know the school that originally introduced me to agility taught the target by having a treat on the actual target; my issue with that is the same as what Beanie mentioned - the dog can reward itself without actually performing the behavior by getting to the treat ahead of you. I think it's well worth the time to teach the targeting first.

^^^^ This! Also backchain which is start with one jump to a target, then reward on the target. Add a second jump in front of the first one and so on. This way she knows where she is suppose to go and your success rate will be much higher.

Okay, will do. Thats a lot of training set out for me!

And I have another question. I want her to learn left and right, while she is running and such. I read one thing that you set an obstacle and then you stand at a slight angle to it and call the dog over, whichever side she chooses you either say near or far. Now, this confused me really badly and I probably didn't explain it well so if you want me too link it, I will.

I'm not quick thinking enough to teach left and right, although I'm always jealous of the people who have it trained well. I'd be on course screaming, "Left! No wait! Other left!" and such.... Meg has a "flip" (turn away from me) and a "Meg" (turn towards me). It's worked for us so far very well; we'll have to see how it goes now that we are in masters gamblers!

Dekka has 'turn' which flips her away, and a 'here' that pulls her towards me. I too do not want to have to worry about which left I want lol.

I taught Sienna left and right on our daily walks. I live in the suburbs, so there are a lot of corners. At each corner, I told her "left" or "right" depending on which way I wanted to go. I actually did this because she likes to walk beside and slightly in front of me, and I kept tripping over her. This was before I ever heard of agility...

Now when she gets to the corner before me, she stops and looks at me like, "ok, which way?" It's really very useful!

Of course, this has been over several months...I guess there are probably faster ways to train it!

Haha, yeah, it would be useful on walks too. And congrats BostanBanker! You guys made it really far!!