Agility training

This is the biggest reason I want boys! Siri came into heat the day before what was supposed to be her first show (in WCRL puppy classes). These trials only come around twice a year, so it was sad!

I hope Kili holds off for you and you can go to the trial!

Ok got the premium for another trial, this one is June 6-8, so it will be my first now

I think AKC's policy now is to refund everything except the recording fee for bitches who come in season. So everything except like $3 or something. A lot of clubs around here will also refund fully if there's anybody on the wait list to fill the spot.

I really want to spay Georgie now for the same reason. She's over two so there's really no reason not to do it now, I'm just waiting for the okay. I need to bring it up again because it's a PITA. Boy dogs... SO much easier.

Ask me again in a year or so, but at this point I'd take a bitch coming in to season over a hormonal adolescent male dog any day

I'm sure they will refund you, krissy.

Kili& her bad timing! They should refund ..they always do around here! Tomorrow we leave for a one day trial on Saturday. Standard jumpers& gamblers. And I'm going without Briar all starter baby classes and hopefully some serious trial environment improvement! I am cooking liver to try to convince her to love me more than she needs to stress run aha

Well, I thought it was refunded for bitches in heat. The premium reads: 4. There will be no refunds for entries withdrawn after the closing date, except for injured dogs or bitches that come into season. There will be no refunds in the event a dog and/or handler are dismissed from competition, regardless the reason. No refunds or credits will be issued once the trial has started.

And this is a trial hosted by my trainer, so I figured no biggie. Last night they sent out all the confirmation information on running order etc. so I e-mailed back and said that Kili might be coming into heat and I might need to pull her. The e-mail they sent back said I could pull her at any time and standard policy is no refunds after closing. So I'm a little confused and might need to get them to clarify that.

Uh, yeah, what? LOL... it says right there except for bitches that come into season. Yeah. That's weird. I'm pretty sure you'll be getting a refund.

Yeah I would send them the language from their premium and get your refund. Sounds like it is clearly stated that you should get your fee returned, possibly less the fee they need to pay to the overarching organization.

However, if she is not actually in heat now they probably do not need to honor that until she does, and they may be within their right to ask for a vet cert.

Well, I am her vet, so they should take my word for it.

But that begs the question, what do most people consider to be "in season"? Technically she's not "in heat" until she stops bleeding is actually receptive to the male. Now that won't be for probably a week. But I'm betting tomorrow or the day after that she'll start bleeding since she's got vulvar swelling.

Now... if she's not bleeding yet and she's just a little puffy... would that be considered "in season" or could I still take her to the trial? Summit has shown no real interest in her and he's normally quite interested in females in season (even though he's neutered). I don't know if it's because she lives with him or because she's not interesting enough yet.

So I mean... do I just show up to the trial with her so long as she's not in standing (receptive) heat?

For practical purposes, any vulvar discharge and/or the fertile span during which she's most attractive to males would get you booted from any event that bans bitches "in heat."

But then I am not a trial secretary, much less your trial secretary.

I'm at such a stalemate, I don't know what to do.

There are so few agility classes here that I can attend. I run into problems over and over with my work schedule. I look at one place, and they will have a beginner class on one day, and then intermediate on another, and advanced/drop in on another. I hate to start somewhere for just the beginner class and then not be able to continue with them.

I may be able to drop-in with Skye on Mondays at the agility place close by, but it is really only run-throughs, not very much working through problems or on one specific thing. Fiona is only 9.5 months and I want to introduce her to everything, and get some foundations done, but I don't want to go overboard. I am doing some stuff at home in the yard which is great. Cavelleti height jumps and sending to the tunnel and walking on logs on hikes, I'm pleased with that.

What do you guys think about a total-green, never trained an agility dog but capable of training behaviors person, training agility on her own through facility rentals? And youtube videos and DVDs/books . There are a few places here that rent out their agility rings, you pay like $15 for an hour and do whatever you want. I'm afraid I won't challenge myself enough, or prepare enough for certain things, but I guess there are pros/cons for every situation. Sigh.

I would totally do that if I were you.

I found a place Summer and I can go to practice for a fee on Thursdays. I'm excited for more ring time!

crazedACD -- Yeah that's pretty much what I did for a long time. And I still mostly train on my own, though not always.

If you have anyone you know who is more experienced and willing to split the ring rental with you and give you some pointers, that might be helpful too

That's what I'm doing/planning on doing. The classes that are conceivable to get to (an hour away) are all on bad days, and so we are on our own. I'm going to make some jumps soon and just bought a tunnel so we can work on the stuff from Silvia Trkman's foundation DVD. Should be interesting! If you ever want to, y'know, move closer to me, we can split ring rental costs hahhaha.

Still no blood. What do you guys think? Should I pull her? Or just hope she makes it through the weekend without discharge? I talked to my breeder last night and she said a lot of times the first heat may be a week or more from swelling to discharge. So now I'm not sure what to do.

Basically it'll suck if I pull her and then she goes another week without bleeding. It'll also kind of suck if I don't pull her tonight and I wake up tomorrow and she's bleeding.... She's supposed to have a fun match on the 17th too that now I'm not sure if she'll be able to go to either.

I'm just really not sure what to do. Whyyyy do I have an intact female? Why didn't I spay her already? (Rhetorical question... I made my decision and have mostly made peace with it, lol).

CrazedACD- if I were in your position I would train on my own but also throw in private lessons as I could afford them. I find with most things there is a lot you can do on your own if you're resourceful, but nothing beats an expierenced eye to watch you and give pointers, advice, tips.

Can you e-mail the trial secretary and ask them? Say she's obviously going into season and you're wondering at what point do they consider a dog "in season" enough to not be welcome at the trial? I think that's what I would probably do.


and then spay her right after LOL.
Seriously females are such a PITA!!

It's hosted by my trainers but they weren't super clear when I asked. They basically said AAC has no official definition for "in heat". in fact, apparently there is heated debate about whether the rule should be changed to allow in season dogs. I assume if there is discharge she would get tossed. They know she has vulvar swelling and didn't say "you'll have to pull her". My breeder said not to pull any entries until I saw blood. Just confused because no one has a cut and dry, black and white answer for me. Lol. Which is unreasonable to expect and I don't really just... still grappling with the reality of it all.

I really wanted to leave her intact until she's about 4. That's about 4 heats. Not sure if I can handle that. Ha ha. I seriously don't know how folks do it. I guess it gets easier though.

As long as she's not bleeding, flirting, flagging, etc. then generally it'll be fine.

But yeah any particular trial can be more particular about it, and people totally lose their heads over the issue.

Once I was sitting at a table at lunch at a trial and some person who knew the people I was eating with sat down and went nuts over the fact that CLEARLY the dog in front of her in the running order is in heat because HER PRECIOUS BOY would never leave her and run to the exit gate after a dog like that ever and she was just furious. In moments, her friends were also up in arms and ready to go on a bitch-in-heat witch hunt.

At which point I pointed out that it was actually my dog in front of her in line, and she had been spayed since she was five months old and had never experienced a heat cycle in her life (Kim).

Having seen this dog in other locations, I suspect she was just making excuses to her friends because he is reactive and poorly managed and that sort of behavior was not actually out of character for him at all.

But everyone is always eager to blame the bitch-in-heat, real or imagined.

Well I have seen zero behaviour change and my male (albeit neutered) hasn't really shown any indication that anything is amiss.

I'm willing to deal with people. This isn't the World's competition. And besides... I deal with that level of distraction due to every dog at a trial and every blade of grass and every person. Lol. If someone's dog's only distraction is a bitch coming into heat (not even really IN heat)... I say to them I'd take that any day! In fact I'd be jealous. They can try running MY dog! Lol

Hopefully I don't get lynched tomorrow!