Agility training

krissy

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Yay! She is so cute - and huge! I always forget how tall greyhounds are.

Are you doing the "Building Focus" class? I almost signed up for it with Gusto, but had just finished the Agility Fix-It class, where Focus and Drive were our issues, so I figured I had most of the exercises already.
Yeah, and she's my little one. Summit is 15-20 lbs heavier, an inch and a half taller and 2 inches longer. He has quite the challenge turning his big bus of a self around.

And yes, it's called "Building Drive, Focus, and Teamwork in Performance Dogs".
 

BostonBanker

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Tracy is probably my favorite trainer I've had the chance to work with - glad the class is going well for you! I'm skipping Thanksgiving dinner to drive to New York for a seminar with her. 12 hours total of driving for a 3.5 hour seminar, but worth it :)

Poor Gusto is going to have his head explode that weekend. Our seminar that we were supposed to go to this past weekend was rescheduled when the presenter had car trouble, so now Thanksgiving weekend, we will leave Thursday, seminar Friday morning, get home late Friday night, have Saturday off, then an 8 hour seminar on Sunday. Luckily both instructors are ones that we have worked with before, and their styles work well together, so I won't feel like I'm pulling the rug out from Gusto at any point. Just too much good stuff in too short a period of time!
 

krissy

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Tracy is really great. We missed out on a seminar with her locally in September. She was here for a weekend with my trainer, but the only seminar that applied to us was on the Friday and I couldn't get time off work. :( Next year....

I love doing workshops. So much fun. Nothing I like more than spending all day with my dogs. If only I had more money. Jealous of all the fun you have coming up! I need to conserve money. Kili needs to be spayed shortly and we have a destination wedding to attend... that I have to pay off today. I'm about to be very, very poor. Boo. Need to get Kili more interested in disc since it's cheaper than agility. ha ha
 

BostonBanker

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I love doing workshops. So much fun. Nothing I like more than spending all day with my dogs. If only I had more money. Jealous of all the fun you have coming up!
I'm actually really gun-shy about seminars and workshops now; I had a terrible experience with one last winter where I left crying over how I treated my dog at the trainer's insistence. I'm pretty much just sticking with my couple of go-to people now, unless I get a chance to see the trainer teach ahead of time.

The seminars are my attempt at appeasing myself. I've pulled Gusto from his regular classes (well, once this session ends in a couple of weeks) because I'm really not happy with how he is going there and how the classes are going. It's really hard; the trainer is one I've worked with for a long time, and I give her an enormous amount of credit for all the work she helped me do with Meg. But times and people change, and we get new dogs, and things don't work. We really don't have anyone local to work with now. Luckily I can still get him on equipment a time or two a week, and one of our session is with three very knowledgeable friends who are very good eyes to have on things. But it isn't the same. Alas. I'm not sure what our long-term plan is going to be.
 

Beanie

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I don't have a long-term trainer for P either. I really want somebody to help me with him, but I just don't think anybody around here is going to have both the understanding and the skill to do it. I can find skill but not understanding, or understanding but not skill... not both. I don't have money to waste on just one or the other. So I have to try to figure out how to do this all on my own, and I'm not sure I'm really talented enough. Other people seem to think I am and seem to think Payton has plenty of talent too... but.

I haven't done anything with him since our trial in Springfield, partially because I just needed a break, and partially because I'm just trying to come up with a plan of what to do and I just straight up don't know.
 

krissy

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Wow, I feel really lucky. I have always had a trainer that I really liked. When I first got Summit and was still in school we went to a local trainer that a friend of mine had taken her dogs to. Loved her. Then we moved to our current place and at first I was going to one trainer (did all of Kili's puppy, rally, obedience, and first agility classes there, and some agility with Summit) but they were in a transition. The founder was retiring and moving to a small property so she sold the business to her "apprentice" (what do you call them?) and sold her property (house and training field/building) so the classes all got moved to the other location in another city. They went from being 15 minutes away to almost an hour. I drive a big truck and have an awkward on call schedule. So I checked out the only other agility place and I love, love, love them. I've been going to them ever since.
 

yv0nne

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There are 4 people on my island who compete in agility ..and I'm at the top of the Q list. I've been to 5 trials where some of these people are year 3 of competing. That should tell you where we stand with trainers :/

The closest trainer we have is a 4hr drive away, off the island. Oh, the perks of a very small town.
 

krissy

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There are 4 people on my island who compete in agility ..and I'm at the top of the Q list. I've been to 5 trials where some of these people are year 3 of competing. That should tell you where we stand with trainers :/

The closest trainer we have is a 4hr drive away, off the island. Oh, the perks of a very small town.
That's terrible. :( I'm in a small backwoods town now. I did not even think about trainers when I accepted this job. It is definitely something I will be looking into prior to the next move. Can't get lucky twice in a row I figure.

How do you train for agility? Did you have to get your own equipment?
 

yv0nne

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Yup, we have about 20 jumps, all the contacts, 4 tunnels, 2 sets of weaves, 2 tires, 2 tables andddd ..I think that's everything aha

In the winter, we rent a horse barn 2 nights a week& train then+ I keep 3 jumps, table, tire& a set of weaves home for use if we get a nice day and in the summer, we train at my parents. They have lots of flat land& we can leave the gear set up permanently. It would just be nice to have the closeness of a trainer instead of the long, long drive.

I drove 12hrs total for my Jess Martin seminar ..plus, all trials are at least 4hrs away :( And yeah, if we ever move ..proximity to a good trainer will be on my list of MUST HAVES !!
 

krissy

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Mind if I ask... did you build your contact equipment yourself or buy it? This fall I took the plunge and started making jumps. I only made two because I wasn't 100% of the design. I'm going to make more in the spring. And the BF has promised to make me a table. I know a local company can get me good quality tunnels so I'm saving up for that. But the contact equipment... holy expensive!

Once we move somewhere more permanent I'm going to want a full set of equipment. I think BF can build it... and not that I don't trust stuff he builds but... my dogs are going to be ON this stuff! lol
 

yv0nne

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Hahaha ours is all made ..but the guy who made it is a carpenter. I'll see if I can scrounge up a video with our equipment in it.

[YOUTUBE]KhYqimRDxeY[/YOUTUBE]

Jumps are all made by Grant+ the A-frame& teeter you can see in the video& we have a dogwalk as well! All contacts made according to AAC specs ..trial approved. Table& jumps don't adjust, they just work for our dogs.
 

krissy

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Nice. I'm jealous. Even when I do get equipment I'm going to be in the same camp... I'll have to find a horse arena where I can set up equipment because there's only about 5 months of the year that I can train outside. :( The one downfall to the north.
 

yv0nne

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Nice. I'm jealous. Even when I do get equipment I'm going to be in the same camp... I'll have to find a horse arena where I can set up equipment because there's only about 5 months of the year that I can train outside. :( The one downfall to the north.
I feel you there! We get May- October. Gotta hate winter! Horse barns aren't so bad if you don't mind your dog eating poop, getting filthy& dragging it to the car, being frozen& having to setup/ breakdown EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

I much preferred horse barns when I rode horses!
 

krissy

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I feel you there! We get May- October. Gotta hate winter! Horse barns aren't so bad if you don't mind your dog eating poop, getting filthy& dragging it to the car, being frozen& having to setup/ breakdown EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

I much preferred horse barns when I rode horses!
Yes, set up is a pain. Just having to set up two crates every time is a pain! Which is why so far I haven't brought my jumps... I just use the horse jumps that are already set up!
 

BostonBanker

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A group of four of us have a barn rental one night a week, which is where I get most of my training done. Between the four of us (well, really the other three as I have nothing) there's a full set of equipment including rubberized contacts. I'm so incredibly lucky to have such good friends!

We also have a very active local club with a couple of training opportunities a week - in a barn in the winter and a field in the summer. So I have a decent amount of equipment time available, just not the guidance I would like. I have a couple of trainers I may try to get in with monthly; I need to see exactly how far they are from me and who would be willing to take something like that on. If I took one day a month to do a long drive, get a private, and come home with homework, it may be worth it. We'll see. I'm still planning.
 
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My sister and I made most of our equipment. We just had the Shih Tzu x Maltese so some of it was built for them. We were given a Dog Walk that was used for small dogs and made the rest.

Last fall we purchased a couple of tunnels and a chute. I will be starting with Kris, my Dobe in the new year so some of the equipment would not be any good for her but we were lucky and found someone whose dog was not doing Agility any more and we bought a regulation A-frame, teeter and some jumps. The only thing we will have to change is the width of the dog walk which is not too hard to do, and we are all set for next year.
 

CaliTerp07

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Lucy wove in a trial, Lucy wove in a trial :D

This has been a loooooong road. We've had good days, days I could get it if I "fixed" them mid course, and days where she dramatically avoided them. We haven't had consistent weaves in a long time.

Finally, I asked my trainer and she commented that I slowed way down before weaves. "Well yeah, to help guide her in." "It's confusing the heck out of her, stop!"

Suddenly, we hit them all. NADAC Weavers courses have 3 sets of weaves. We ran two of those today, and hit all 6 sets perfectly first time through. YAYYYYYYY.

We're supposed to go back tomorrow but I did something (pulled a muscle?) and can't lift my right leg without shooting pain through my butt. Fantastic. Tomorrow might be a couch day.
 

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