Agility training

Elrohwen

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We had a really great class last night. First with the pee issues - I couldn't find a belly band in Watson's size (seriously? do only small dogs need belly bands?) so I just took him out every 5min or so for the first half of class, and he didn't pee on anything!

Our instructor split the class into two groups, and had the remedial jumpers work on a simple exercise to get the dogs more confident while the other dogs were in the main arena. When we switched to the main arena, Watson was much more confident. She also brought out a target for him at the end of the two jumps and he flew through. Maybe part of his problem is that he focuses on me instead of the jumps, and then gets there and hasn't found a distance. When he focused on the target, he went right through without an issue at a much faster speed. We even did our first rear cross, which went ok. Watson got to the end of the two jumps and just spun in a circle, so confused about where I had gone. Haha. The look on his face was priceless - "Where's my mom?! Oh, there she is!"

The best part is that he didn't leave me even once. There were a couple times he glanced at the other dogs, then turned right back towards me. I'm so proud of him! I think we might actually be good at this agility thing some day.
 

Sekah

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Sounds like you guys would get a lot out of doing some focus forward exercises.

[YOUTUBE]cDwMfzDnNXc[/YOUTUBE]

I swear by them. We would introduce it in our beginner/level one class and students would forget about it by level two. But once we started putting small sequences together in level three students the skill became invaluable. You could tell who'd done focus forward work with their dogs at home, and who hadn't.

I love that I can set Cohen up by an obstacle and move laterally 20+ feet away to set up for the sequence and she'll drive forward, away from me for a few obstacles if needed. Definitely a key skill.
 

Elrohwen

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Sekah, that was actually a big part of our first class, but we haven't done the exercises at home in a couple weeks. We do it a lot in class too for dogs have issues driving to certain obstacles, like tunnels or whatever. Last night was the first time we've used it with Watson on jumps and it helped a ton. I'm not sure why my instructor didn't try it with him before, since other dogs in the class have done this for jumping, but I think now we will do it more often. When he focused on driving forward, instead of where I was going, he was able to judge distances better without worrying.

For the rear cross exercise at the end of class, every dog had a target to drive to, even the more advanced dogs with no jumping issues to keep them moving out ahead.

Also, the dog in that video is adorable.
 
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Beanie

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More foundation stuff with the boys. Trying lead-out stuff. Whenever I change the game Auggie gets uncertain again and very slow. Did it a few times and he was getting faster but still uncertain.
Thought about trying something. Instead of just "okay" as his release, I'd try "go" since that's the word I'm using for RUN FORWARD FAST.

Like magic.

He'll never be the fastest dog. I don't ask him to be. But I think we really might be able to get "faster." I just think we might.
 

Finkie_Mom

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Started Jari on 2x2s. He's doing pretty well, and even worked them at the training facility. We've done 4 sessions (I'm making sure to get ALL entries correct before moving on) and we are up to 2 straight (so at 12 and 6) and 2 more at 2 and 8 (so 4 poles). Other than that, I've just been working a lot more on his engagement. He's usually very good when we are working, but every once and a while his puppy brain will malfunction and he will kind of just wander. It's funny though because he will only go off course for a few seconds and then come right back to me LOL. It's OK, as I'm not going to get all bent out of shape if he misses an obstacle here or there.

Oh we are also having a rough time with the tire, as a few weeks ago while we were working I tripped over a cone as I was sending him through and I fell on him. I felt terrible. He was great at our next private with it (I had told my instructor what happened), but it was in a sequence today and he just ran around it LOL. Now part of that might have been because it was followed by the teeter and he has teeter-suck, but I suspect he's just a bit unsure. So we worked it with a target at the end and all that jazz and he was getting it. I will have to see how he does at our next lesson LOL.

But babydog is doing 8 obstacle sequences with speed and enthusiasm (not quite to height though yet), and is reading fronts, blinds, and rears very well. The REAL challenge will come when we go in to a group class. He's been super "OMG I HAVE TO PLAY WITH THE DOG OVER THEREEEE!!!" lately, so I guess we will stay with privates until he can do a lot more, then maybe "dumb it down" and go to very short sequences for group stuff.

Kimma though is just blowing me away. She's so keen to work and I'm getting to the point with her at our training facility where I'm having to be REALLY creative in my handling because she's completely outrunning me. It's good, but bad at the same time :p We are getting to the point where I'm sending out a good amount of entries so hopefully this happiness continues!
 

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Meet Gusto APD! He's headed into PIII for the first time tomorrow!

What a great trial for us so far. Meg, who hasn't seen equipment in months (but has been staying very, very fit hiking) proved that less really is more with her, and had a fast, happy, accurate PIII Standard Q.

Gusto has been having some real stress issues for the last year, and we've been working really hard. He was *amazing* today! Running him at the trial was like running him in training for the first time ever. Zero sniffing or disconnecting, hit and held every contact, hit every weave entry and stayed in them - just fast, happy, and comfortable. He was the only Advanced/PII dog to qualify in standard, and lucked into a great partner for Pairs, and finished his Advanced Performance Dog title! This trial offers next-day move-ups, so he's running is first masters level courses tomorrow. When did my little baby dog grow up?!
 

Finkie_Mom

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Meet Gusto APD! He's headed into PIII for the first time tomorrow!

What a great trial for us so far. Meg, who hasn't seen equipment in months (but has been staying very, very fit hiking) proved that less really is more with her, and had a fast, happy, accurate PIII Standard Q.

Gusto has been having some real stress issues for the last year, and we've been working really hard. He was *amazing* today! Running him at the trial was like running him in training for the first time ever. Zero sniffing or disconnecting, hit and held every contact, hit every weave entry and stayed in them - just fast, happy, and comfortable. He was the only Advanced/PII dog to qualify in standard, and lucked into a great partner for Pairs, and finished his Advanced Performance Dog title! This trial offers next-day move-ups, so he's running is first masters level courses tomorrow. When did my little baby dog grow up?!
So much YAAYYYY!!!!! Congrats to all of you :D
 

Beanie

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Way to go Gusto!!!


After ragging on my mom a little bit she finally seems like she's going to buckle down and resume training Georgie. Dad and I went to my house to work today, and when we came home at night, we had this conversation:

Mom: "Well, Georgie still knows how to do five weave poles."
Me: "FIVE??? Oh... you mean six?"
Mom: "Oh yeah. Six."
Me: "Hahaha - for a second I was both panicked, and also thought you were making a very funny agility joke about your dog's failure to perform."

I don't think she understood my agility humor.
 

yv0nne

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Meet Gusto APD! He's headed into PIII for the first time tomorrow!
He looks so very handsome& so very proud :)


Penny has been practicing very hard. She is hitting 70% of hard weave entries. She is WAYFASTER ..like I'm talking almost as fast as Briar. Her focus is finding itself. Today she ignored BIRDS. My heart is so happy with her!
 

BostonBanker

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I feel like I'm going to burst I'm so proud of Gusto (and Meg, but I'm always proud of Meg). It was like a light switch flipped this weekend, and he's a Grown Up Dog. There was zero stressing, zero sniffing. He hit every weave entry, and stayed in all the weaves. He hit a stupid weird split weave entry in PIII snooker where I rear crossed on a 90 degree turn. He hit and held every contact. He held every start line, even in two pairs runs where I ran second, so I had to get the baton, whip his leash off, and lead out.

I have been so, so stressed about my decision to pull him from classes, and the reinforcement that it was the right decision makes me so relieved.

He ran his first three PIII classes today, and was completely not in over his head. He took a wrong tunnel entry in standard, where I made a stupid handling decision, and the pairs run had enough little blips between both dogs that it wasn't a Q, but he went out and completely rocked his first PIII snooker run for a FIRST AND SUPER Q!

Who is this dog?! He is amazing!
 

Sekah

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You guys are inspirational. Congrats to everyone on their success! It's so neat to see these dogs grow up over the span of the thread.



A friend snapped this shot of Cohen at our agility house league yesterday. It was during the gamble, which she nailed easily. I sometimes forget just how high these dogs have to jump 'cause from 5+ feet up, 22" doesn't look like a lot.

She was a good dog and again didn't knock a bar yesterday. Whatever I've been doing seems to be working. Of course, with the bar knocking seeming to resolve itself a whole new host of issues is cropping up. Most notably, Cohen opting to do a rebound off me instead of a jump on a tight turn. Poor dog must have been VERY confused.

Our next project will likely be collecting on turns and mastering some of the twistier, turnier parts of the courses.
 

Elrohwen

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A friend snapped this shot of Cohen at our agility house league yesterday. It was during the gamble, which she nailed easily. I sometimes forget just how high these dogs have to jump 'cause from 5+ feet up, 22" doesn't look like a lot.
Great picture!

As someone new to agility, the heights surprise me all the time. In our class, Watson jumps 8-12" and the big dogs (bouvier and goldens) are jumping 20". Eventually, Watson will need to jump 20". That seems so high for such a little dog.
 

Laurelin

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So tonight was good and bad. Summer did great. As usual.

Mia... oh Mia. I am strongly considering just quitting with her. Not sure. I go back and forth. On one hand, she has fun, which makes me want to continue with her. On the other hand, she's just so dang hard to motivate and keep stress free!

The good news: Mia played ball for the first time ever at class. She also played ball with my trainer, which is a huge step for her. And she worked for her ball. She also played tug too. Big Big steps for her.

She does not drill well. I think that is our big problem. We are indoors so can only do a few jumps and were working handling that was going back and forth between jumps. The first run she did GREAT. Second run she said screw it. She will still do it but she'll just trot or walk with a big grin on her face like she's saying 'I'll do the least bit of effort to get my cookie!'

My trainer has always thought she was 'getting tired'. If you know Mia you know she's not tired. I finally proved that by ending our run and pulling out the ball. She went from trotting to the jumps to ripping around the room after the ball and dropping it for me again.

I've got to figure out how to make her work with me on longer sequences. In earlier classes, she was so fast but now it's like the payout isn't good enough for the effort or something.

We've been fighting this speed issue for about 6 months and its frustrating as hell!
 

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