How did you get started in your sport?

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#1
Ok, so I am procrastinating big time at work ;)

Thought I would ask everyone how they got hooked on their doggie sport of choice. I'll start:

About 11 years ago I had a dal, Reese that I started taking obediences classes with. This was a family dog type class, not competition obedience. After I had taken all the levels (3 levels I think) I wanted to do more. My obedience instructor bred and showed Gordon Setters in the breed ring. She told me she was thinking about taking an agility class with an instructor in the next town and maybe I would be interested?

So that was 11 years ago....the Gordon Setter lady only took one agility session, I on the other hand was hooked for life. :D I was 100% addicted! I took classes and showed regularly until Reese got sick. Reese passed away a few years ago and now I have 2 JRT, Dasher will be 3 in Oct. and he has been showing almost a year. Zip is my rescue that I have had since the end of June. He is taking classes and hopefully he will start in the spring. I did a lot of AKC showing with Reese as AKC shows were more prevalent in my area at the time. Now I show 99% USDAA with the jacks. I just find USDAA to be more fun/challenging so I stick with what is most fun for us. :D

Can't wait to hear everyone's stories....:popcorn:
 

Dekka

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I started in Obed cause I started with taking obed classes, and am a competative person. But now haven't done obed in almost 2 years (tho Kaiden only needs one more leg for his CDX) I got my hubby to make me agility equipment as there was no one here training. So I read and learned. I have since then taken lessons, learned lots, and now teach agility. I am sooo addicted to this sport.

I do AAC which is our equiv of USDAA and I love the fact that it is more challenging than the other venues too.

My son has taken over running Kaiden, and I currently run Dekka. Sizzle is almost ready to trial (just gotta figure out her leg issue) Scandal is only 11 months, but is getting the basics. Snip isn't interested too much in agility (silly dog) Now I just can't wait till I am done school so I can afford this addiction.
 

milos_mommy

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Hmm. watching animal planet at age 7??

Haha. i used to lay pool noodles across bricks and jump my american eskimo over them. I bought a childs' play tunnel at toys r us and taught him to jump through it. I taught my stepmom's mix (ahem. Pekepoo. Not a mutt. a pekepoo.) to navigate the teeter totter across the street from her summer house.

And then i got Milo. And we've been working HARD to overcome his behavioral issues. My goal is to have him run a sequence off leash with people and dogs present by next february. Think we can do it?
 

adojrts

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I was doing JRTCA Trials all up and down the eastern seaboard, competing in racing, conformation, g2g, Trailing & Locating. Then we took an agility course, it was a terrible start/intro, instructor was miserable and all the dogs were on leash or when off leash completely out of control. I quit. Hub made me all of the equipment, I started ordering EVERTHING to view and read. THEN I was really p.o'd at the start I had gotten lol. Trained my dog for a year, not to mention all the retraining, took lessons and attended as many workshops and seminars that I could afford. Started to compete in AAC and still do to a National level.
Now I do some teaching as well, I don't think I am doing to bad as an instructor as all of my students that do decide to compete are Q'ing, winning and Titling.
Petie is now in semi retirement for the time being.......I am training one of my student's dog, a young staffie x that is smok'n fast. (her owner is afraid to run her because of all that speed), her debut in agility will be in Oct in just a Jumpers class, we'll see how we survive that lol as to when she competes again. I need tons of control, distance and lateral skills on this one......!!
Plus I'll have a new Jrt pup shortly to start training in agility and when she is old enough, she'll be taken to the working field as a hunting dog as well.
 

BostonBanker

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Well, I started off being just like that horrible agility instructor ado had:( . I took a dog behavior class my senior year in college, and ended up working for the instructor's business for almost two years afterwards. I was basically given a script to follow and taught beginner agility, having never actually seen it done. I feel bad now that people were paying for it....

Anyway, when I got Meg, I knew I wanted to do agility, but didn't think there was any hope. She was scared of every piece of equipment at first! I started taking classes at a local school, where I was grumpy about how much handling and basics we had to do before getting on the equipment. Low and behold, once we started, Meg was more than ready! Amazing what good instruction can do! Now my scared little dog who wouldn't step on a flat board has competed three times, has a couple of CPE titles, and is as happy as can be. I want to focus on more of the USDAA stuff next year, which is what most of my friends do, and start gradually thinking about a second dog late next year/early 2009 as a partner that may be able to be more competitive.
 
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#6
And then i got Milo. And we've been working HARD to overcome his behavioral issues. My goal is to have him run a sequence off leash with people and dogs present by next february. Think we can do it?
Sure you can do it!!:D Reese my dal was very fear aggressive. Even after doing obedience classes he wasn't great with lots of people. I took my time with him and we took 2 years of agility classes before we showed. By that time he understood that all the people he was around had goodies in their pockets :p While he never learned to love strangers, he was comfortable at dog shows.
 

adojrts

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Well, I started off being just like that horrible agility instructor ado had:( . I took a dog behavior class my senior year in college, and ended up working for the instructor's business for almost two years afterwards. I was basically given a script to follow and taught beginner agility, having never actually seen it done. I feel bad now that people were paying for it....

Anyway, when I got Meg, I knew I wanted to do agility, but didn't think there was any hope. She was scared of every piece of equipment at first! I started taking classes at a local school, where I was grumpy about how much handling and basics we had to do before getting on the equipment. Low and behold, once we started, Meg was more than ready! Amazing what good instruction can do! Now my scared little dog who wouldn't step on a flat board has competed three times, has a couple of CPE titles, and is as happy as can be. I want to focus on more of the USDAA stuff next year, which is what most of my friends do, and start gradually thinking about a second dog late next year/early 2009 as a partner that may be able to be more competitive.
We (I lol) forgive you!!
Actually, keeping people going in foundations is the hardest part in my opinion. They don't like it, they usually don't understand how important it is (no matter how much you try to explain why etc), they just want to 'run agility'.
If I can get them through that, then it usually is ok, then they do get to run and have great fun with their dogs and more importantly succussfully.
I don't know if folks think it is a money grab or what, but it does take time to learn foundation skills for both the handler and the dog, the obstacles correctly and THEN sequencing. It takes time before they can run a course, but if they stick to it when they do, they can lay down a fast clean run and finish with stars in their eyes!! with a 'WOW!!! That was FUN!!!
 

MafiaPrincess

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#8
Roomie bought dog. I started to research online.. Joined forums, found out slowly about all doggie aspects starting with our kibble choice was bad. Took ob at petsmart, and discovered there were dog sports.. Roomie didn't want dog, I was attached took her home.

Being a poor just out of uni grad, it took a while to have the funds to take an agility class.. I liked the looks of agility or flyball. Couldn't find flyball close to home. Took a set of classes we rocked till we went outside. I had fun but was mortified, she was a zoomy mess. Took time off worked on attention, built half a set of equipment myself, and took a new set of classes, and things got a lot better. Took set after set, switched trainers, took more classes and we've competed in AAC since may. We're one games Q from a games title.

I'm sad about what I didn't know earlier and do know now though.. Switching trainers we went back to basics, I wasn't happy at first, but I see huge improvements now, and how the building blocks go together.. Have crappy contacts, good luck getting a nice one from a distance.. So I'm happy we've spent 8 weeks doing what seemed to be going backwards, it's made huge gains for us going forwards. And I now know better for starting my puppy.

We started rally on a whim because agility conflicted with work.. We sucked. We were told to try a trial anyhow so we worked hard for a month on our own after classes and actually rocked that trial with a 1st and 3rd place.. Got the bug and finished our title. It helps our relationship, but I'm not hooked like agility. I would like advanced rally classes as I can't figure out all the signs on my own, having issues finding them though..

Starting off the puppy in the conformation ring is something so totally new I feel like I'm out of my element, but so different it's fun learning. Not sure if I'll catch this bug yet.
 

BostonBanker

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Actually, keeping people going in foundations is the hardest part in my opinion. They don't like it, they usually don't understand how important it is (no matter how much you try to explain why etc), they just want to 'run agility'.
As much as I hated it at first, I actually find the flat work and obstacle drills the most fun of all. People keep asking me why I would want a puppy for my next dog, and then look at me like I'm a lunatic when I say that I want to be able to spend a year on those things! It must be the dressage mindset - I love focusing on minute details and getting them right, even if half the time nobody else can see the difference!
 
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For Agility:
The place I worked at was around the corner from an Agility training center. A friend had taken a class there for fun and I needed something to do with Mike that was upbeat and a good time. He LOVED agility, and the second we walked into the building he would do the biggest loudest happy howl and would run to greet the instructors. It was the best thing I could have done with that dog. We only did lower level stuff but it really upped his confidence and helped in our bonding. I can't wait to get started with Teeny (we've had two privates so far and she is ALREADY doing the see-saw!), in fact our first group class is today at 11. Yay!!!

Personal Protection:
I had met one bitework trainer before as he was doing some behavior modification on my boss' dog, and I hated the guy. I didn't like what he was doing with the e-collar and his arrogance was through the roof. It turned me off of something that had caught my interest in the past.

Two years later I watched a video online of an APBT doing some awesome personal protection work. In the video it specifically said "We do not use e-collars in our training." I was intrigued so I contacted the trainer, went up and spent the day at his facility and got to handle my first dog, and I've been hooked ever since. I recently found a new trainer to work with and I can't wait to get started!!
 
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Agility
When I was younger I always wanted to have a dog that could do agility. I tried to teach Baron but he was not enthused at all. I still worked with him but it wasn't all the fun I thought it would be. Then my family got Gimli and I had decided that Gimli was going to be trained to do everything Baron couldn't. After deciding he was not cut out for conformation I started training him agility. Suprisingly he was awesome and loved it. He hasn't done much other than a few high places in 4H because he still needs work with his off leash stuff but after next summer he should be ready for AKC stuff (only shows around where I live).

Obedience
As I said Baron was not a very good agility dog. He was a good listener though and that became the starting of my first ob dog. After a year I taught him how to roughly heel off leash. Because of his D/A I stuck mostly to on-leash stuff. When I got Duke I started training him in hopes one day I might be able to work him off leash. He picked up things really fast
and I ended up trying to get him to do harder and harder things. I love watching dogs do obedience at dog shows and I was thrilled to have a dog like Duke.

Rally-O
I have not done much with Rally but from what I have done with Duke I have loved. I like the fact there are more exersises and that its not so quiet ans strict.
 

Dekka

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#12
As much as I hated it at first, I actually find the flat work and obstacle drills the most fun of all. People keep asking me why I would want a puppy for my next dog, and then look at me like I'm a lunatic when I say that I want to be able to spend a year on those things! It must be the dressage mindset - I love focusing on minute details and getting them right, even if half the time nobody else can see the difference!
Hehehe the dressage mindset. I have told a few people who do dressage and obed, that I find agility more like dressage. Which suprises them greatly. But in obed, it doesn't matter how the dog does it for the most part, as long as they do it. (while of course dressage its all about how the horse goes while doing the figures, just doing the 8m volte is not enough) While agility it is also how your dog goes, its not judged on it, but it is essential.
 

BostonBanker

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Hehehe the dressage mindset. I have told a few people who do dressage and obed, that I find agility more like dressage. Which suprises them greatly. But in obed, it doesn't matter how the dog does it for the most part, as long as they do it. (while of course dressage its all about how the horse goes while doing the figures, just doing the 8m volte is not enough) While agility it is also how your dog goes, its not judged on it, but it is essential.
I completely agree. I don't know a ton about obedience, but the comparisons between dressage and agility are pretty strong. Lots of focus on how your body position affects the animal, being able to do two different things with two different parts of your body, focusin on how minute changes in your position/movement has huge effects on the animal's.
 
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#14
OC was the one that got me into dogsledding. When he was still a pup I was browsing the streets looking at garage sales and one lady stopped to ask about OC. She asked if I planned on doing any dogsledding. I told her I had thought about it but was waiting for OC to grow up before doing anything. She asked if I had a sled yet and I told her no. She showed me a sled she had for sale that was still fairly new. I didnt have the money at the time for it so politely declined and moved on. My parents ended up buying me that sled for my birthday and my dad hooked me up with a local musher who helped me start training OC when he was 8 months old. One thing led to the next and before I knew it I was competitively racing!!! My first mentor has since moved up north and I now have a different mentor though I do keep contact with my first one. I am really looking forward to this racing season!!!
 

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