Agility training

It's okay to be frustrated! And if trials end up really being that stressful to her then maybe it is best to just run at home for fun. But I'd give her some more time. I think maturity really makes a huge difference, and at 22 months she's still just a baby. Give her some more time before you decide to totally shelf her. Last spring Kili was unwalkable because she was so distracted and even slightly spooky about stuff (read: everything). This spring she's a million times better. A year really makes a huge difference to a young dog.

My trainer runs a V and she's just been slower to mature. She's now getting it all together- I think she's around 2 1/2 years? Not sure. She was a youngster when I started there but wasn't a little puppy. She's AWESOME now that her focus is growing. I adore her.

Your girl is still a baby. Don't forget that. Just go out and have fun. Remeber it's the journey not the destination. Dont compare yourself to the other dogs.

Completely agree with this. Sporting dogs can be notoriously slow to mature. 22 months is just a baby and if she's good at home, I think you will be able to trial her some day. I do think that taking a break and completely lowering your expectations will be good for both of you though. It sounds like your BC may have spoiled you for what some other dogs are capable of at a young age ;-)

Watson hasn't been training in agility for very long, but I know 100% that even if he had started at 8 weeks old, he would not be ready to trial right now (he's currently 20 months). He has been doing obedience since he was a baby puppy and isn't ready for rally, let alone obedience trials. Yes it's frustrating, and yes I sometimes compare him to people with rally titles on their 9 month old herding puppy, but this is who he is and he needs more time. I've seen a lot of maturity in the past couple months, and I think this time next year he will be in a much better place (and at 5 years old he will be even better). We keep training and plugging along, but I have zero expectations for when he will be ready to trial in anything and I try not to put pressure on either of us. Just try to enjoy Penny for who she is right now and see where she's at in 6 months or a year.

Does anyone know rules on dual handling in CPE? Recon's going to be staying with a friend while I'm on vacation, and he's already going to be at a CPE trial during that time with his dogs and thought he might trial Recon while he's there... but neither of us could find anything on the matter of someone other than the registered owner actually running the dog. I'm going to ask my co-worker tonight who is a CPE judge, but I just wondered if anyone here had experience with it? I feel like I've heard of people doing it, I just don't know the logistics or if it's actually allowed?

After a year hiatus we started agility again on Monday! We had a blast I wish we would have gotten a few videos but maybe next week... I think she did pretty good for such a long break.

Our only trouble was a sequence we had that consisted of A-Frame and then 3 jumps following that. However, after the A-Frame there was a "turn-jump-come" that she just couldn't get down. She would come off the first jump and do a 360 spin in order to get to the right direction. It was probably my fault though for not telling her soon enough though, lol.

I was also pleasantly suprised how good she remembered the weaves! That was one of the obstacles she had the toughest issue with.

I also think we will mesh really well with the class! There were 5 including us... A Scottish Terrier, Aussie, Irish Setter (he was so adorable!), and a Heinz 57. I also think there might be another Lab, but she just wasn't there that night. Harleigh would love that!

Harleigh was probably the oldest one out there, but also the fastest. And here I thought she had slown down some - NOT. I swear she was kicking up grass:rofl1:

I also think she slept the entire 45 minute trip home (besides when we stopped at DQ to get her a pupcup) and went to sleep as soon as we got home, lol.

Thanks ladies ..I am 100% spoiled from running Briar. There is no doubt in my mind! I will try to take a few deep breaths and remember regardless of how she does in the ring she runs all my half marathons with me ..and I can't find that in a two legged partner ahah off to rally to try to be friends again

Laurelin- nice to hear 2.5 everything seemed to come together for your instructor! There are only two other Vizslas in the Maritimes and both owners said the same thing. I think I was just back to comparing her to a herder dog. Not fair to her or me. Or the herder lol!


Djetzel- I don't run that venue but in AAC there is nothing about that. I run another persons dog all the time ..never affects us even though technically he is the registered owner. I know lots of people train with& trial other dogs as well .. or if the owner gets hurt during trial someone else will run the dog for them.

Payton's lines (and Auggie's, and Georgie's) are notoriously slow to mature... he's almost three and I still consider him very much a baby. He's also very much a novice dog even if I can't get that through my thick skull.
It's hard not to compare them to other dogs. Somebody I know has a sheltie who is younger than P but started trialing around the same time... and her sheltie is already in masters level. She trials a lot more than I do, she's trained a lot more dogs than I do, her JOB is to train dogs... and yet here I am like "but still!! Her dog is on MASTERS already!!" Because somehow that is relevant to where Payton is at (hint: it's actually not.)


It is frustrating as hell, especially because my mom keeps running around behind me going "But he's SO GOOD in your backyard!!" YES I KNOW HIS CONTACTS IN MY BACKYARD ARE GREAT. BUT WE'RE NOT TRIALING IN MY BACKYARD SO IT DOESN'T MATTER. YOU AREN'T HELPING.

I suppose if agility were easy, it wouldn't be as rewarding to succeed. Maybe. I wouldn't know. ;P

Yay for Harleigh returning to agility!!

Ack. Trial tomorrow!

Watson was super stressy in class last night. :sigh: Very much unlike his usual self. I think he's generally nervous of the agility place now since we worked on teeters the past few weeks. He did so well the past week too that I wasn't expecting this. I hope it's related to the weird phase he's in right now - he's been super sniffy, hormonal, and weirdly distracted lately. Usually he's distracted from me because he's super focused on the environment, but lately he's just kind of spaced out and not focused on anything. It's not all the time, but every time it pops up it's weird. He's usually the dog who is over the top and enthusiastic (to the point of not having a brain), not slow and stressy.

Yay! Good luck!

This made me laugh, because it's totally true. Lynn owns Punky, and Jess Martin owns HiJack. I own Siri. Me. She's my first agility dog. AND we started way late. AND we only do a lesson every other week.

But I will STILL watch their videos and be like "Wow Siri, and then there's us" :rofl1:

What she said! First real trial and I'm very nervous, I hope I can calm down tomorrow and I don't weird Diesel out so he doesn't listen.

Good luck!

Good luck to all!

Good luck to everyone trialing this weekend!!!!

I THINK we have 6 poles down! I'm still working for speed and consistency in all places (well, in my yard and at our facility), but his entries are awesome so far, so yay!

Best of luck to all of you going trialing this weekend! May both you and your dogs leave the ring pretty certain that the other is the Best Creature Ever.

Gusto and I are off for a seminar tomorrow. I'm half super excited (because I love the trainer and I feel like we haven't been getting enough instruction lately) and halt terrified (because every once in a while Gusto still has a day where he stresses, and walking around sniffing is better than trying to work). We are armed with a new tug, 3 new squeaky tennis balls, and I'm about to hit the store for amazing food. I hope I come home absolutely giddy with excitement about the future!

Been so up and down in the last week with Recon's weaves. He's good, he's bad, he's got bad footwork, I have no idea what I'm doing. Wanted to enter a trial next weekend to get him going for the summer, but idk if it will be feasible. Training three times a day, recording it, and sending it to friends/coworkers/trainers to pick apart for me. So far, little improvements, but almost nothing in the grand scheme of things. My weave poles suck and I am sure they are part of the problem, but I don't have access to weave poles frequently enough to get weave poles taught.

A friend that lives in Indianapolis is driving up here tonight to help me and bringing his weaves... (Good ones) He claims he loves teaching weaves and he just earned his first catch with his GSD, so I'm hoping he can shed some light on our trouble. It's been bumming me out majorly.

Willy???

Erm... Maybe!