Agility training

Mia knows better than to trust my feet. I do think it's an extra thing for me and my dogs though- I'm a clutz and they're small. I almost stomped her a few weeks ago and I had no idea but boy she moved out of the way. My trainer looked horrified and I had to ask what happened.

Then last week we were working on something and I was walking Summer through both fields to the start line. I don't pay attention because Summer is a spazz... I'm walking and she's doing donuts as fast as she can and weaving through my legs. My trainer commented that she was amazed I don't stomp her when she's doing that.

I'm sure there will be stories similar to this the further Siri and I get into training

Haha, I just mean late in comparison to what I had planned when I got her!

LOL! I was just referencing the fact that she said most dogs have their first trial at 2. Those are the puppies that have been doing agility from day one, not those like Siri and Zip Tie that started around 1 year old.

They were only doing jump-jump-Aframe too, nothing complicated. I think the owner zig-zagged a little, the dog took the jump at an angle, and he didn't cue the A-frame quickly enough, and bam. I can definitely see now why they say beginner people shouldn't necessarily start out with a BC or other super high drive dog for agility because it looks way harder than handling a more moderate speed dog like mine. I have a lot more time to think about what I'm doing and a dog who will wait for me to figure it out. I think these people just got into it for fun because their dog is young and crazy - they probably never expected to have such a fast drivey dog.

I was actually really surprised how similar it is to run my trainer's young BC vs running Summer. I mean, the strides are different and he can do the straightaways faster but overall with both of them they're way faster than me. Summer is at that perfect spot of fast enough that course time isn't going to be a problem most likely but she's also not too over the top. She's a good little dog, wish I'd have started her sooner.

Summer and I run into each other sometimes. Our box work last week I didn't lead out enough and she came flying and... yeah. Whoops. Luckily she's realy resilient. I don't know what I'd do if she didn't have a good lead out. And we have hit exercise where I simply CAN'T do what we're practicing with the other dogs with Summer because she's so fast. And my trainer says I'm faster than most her students. She's always asking me if I was a runner- LOL no.

Mia is one that runs at my speed. It's good and bad, I suppose. If I want her going all out, I have to go all out. She picks up so much on straightaways when I sprint. But because I have to drop her and run instead of lead out, it's harder. I have to handle her very differently from Summer.

We joke that stepping on your dog is just how you teach them distance skills

I just sent out an entry for Meg and Gusto. I'd been really up in the air about trialing this winter, as we were dealing with my mother's cancer, but she's had surgery and is recovering, and I miss it! Meg hasn't been training much, as it's been so darn cold. Even though we have a nice warm barn to train in (-13 degrees last Tuesday evening, and it was 36 in the barn! I was running in a long sleeve tee and vest.), Meg just doesn't like going out in that. Not that she really needs to train. She's finished all the titles I ever wanted for her, and more besides, so I'm just running her in one class she likes a day.

For the first time, I'm kind of hoping that Gusto does finish off his APD title. He's only got one standard and a pairs class left for it, and I think he may be about ready to start running some of the PIII stuff. I've held off on entering jumeprs since he's up to PIII there, and I was didn't want to put him on a course that was over his head while we were dealing with the stress issues. But he's running so, so well at practices. I'm also thrilled that we've got a pretty good shot at being able to lesson semi-regularly with a trainer that I LOVE. It's so hard in our area, with nobody who trains that has had a lot of success themselves. One of the trainers I really like is about 6 hours away, and I was actually considering a monthly lesson. But now she has agreed to come up here on a regular basis to teach for a weekend. We are still trying to work out a place for the winter, and that may not happen, but she will teach at my friend's house once we are outside. So very excited!

Well, then I'm doing this wrong! LOL
But I can see what you mean. Before we do something new, I put Siri in a wait and do it without her. Because just winging it does not work, I don't have time to think about what the instructor told me to do when Siri's moving.

My instructor was pretty clear from the beginning that Siri is going to be a lot of FUN to run, but that I'm going to have to work hard to get us there since I'm such a novice. Thus far though, I think we've done well, and I'm having tons of fun!

I also think it helps that we're not in group classes, we're getting 1-1 for everything so she can spend the time tweaking all of my errors. I used to worry about how that would affect her once we get to the crowded trials, but honestly, she doesn't really care about other dogs, even when we are out on walks and such, and she would never leave me to go see a person. She says people can all just die and she wouldn't care, lol. As for noise, she grew up going to agility trials and the lessons we have are next to a doggy daycare. So...yeah. Let's hope that all turns out to be true.

I think that would be a really good idea for this guy. The instructor walks it through with him after they've already had a train wreck, but I think it would help him to do it first for something complicated. They do fine on more simple stuff, like a straight line of 3 jumps to a tunnel, but the dog is already at the tunnel before the guy has passed the first jump :rofl1: He needs to learn to stand in the middle and just direct her because nobody could keep up with that.

With Watson, if I stop and look confused, he'll generally stop and look at me like "Where next?" (or he'll run away and pee on stuff ... ). Though as he gains more confidence and excitement for agility he might pick up speed. This dog in our class leaves no room for mistakes though, she just goes. Though she's actually awesome at coming back or stopping when her owner says, he just doesn't have time to stop her before she's barreling into him. Haha

Private lessons are so much better for everything. I took them for horse back riding and learned so much more than in groups, so I wish I could do the same for agility. Maybe some day as we progress. I do think group classes are good for Watson's distraction issues, since he can be extremely distracted by other dogs and he has to work through it some time. The other dogs must all want to play with him, right?

I'm greeeeeen.

My goal this month is to work on weaves every day. We will see how that goes. Good session tonight but I get tempted to make it harder than I should for them. Slow and steady, I keep telling myself.

Yeah Mira had her first trial at 2 (well 23 months) and didn't really start working on real equipment til she was 17 months other than a few "hey interacting with this is fun" type things...BUT that depends how you count "doing agility" as we were laying a lot of performance ground work (general and agility) from day one. Also, Mira is cheating.

By contrast, Kim didn't start training agility at all til she was 18 months, and then was retrained to fix all the terrible things she "learned" in the group class we were in at the time, and hit her first trial when she was about 3 years old, trailed some, took over a year off, just now playing again at least for the time being...haha. She's having fun though, and doing well. My rapidly-greying red dog <3

I just started agility with Skye, at age 9ish. People at agility ask me how old she is, I tell them 9, and they don't say anything else. Shrug. Oh well...she is fit, not arthritic, no issues. I'm just doing it to have fun with my dog...trialing is a long way off.

Runaway Penn makes her agility debut at 20 months ..bring on March!! I'm so excited. Hoping she doesn't live up to her nickname also ahaha

My instructor was showing me something yesterday and I asked if she thought doing it would affect Siri's speed in the future. She kind of laughed and said that lack of speed is NEVER going to be Siri's issue.

Sorry :lol-sign:

Any recommendations for jump building tutorials? Or tips?

We're getting ready to build jumps out of PVC and DH and I can't agree on specifics.

Did you buy jump cups or make them? How tall did you make the standards?

Basically, what worked really well for you and what didn't you like so much?

I really liked this site for jumps:

http://www.instantagility.com/2008/04/14/bar-jump-or-hurdle/

And they have easy jump cups, too!

http://www.instantagility.com/2008/04/13/adjustable-jump-cups/

I used these to make a jump, easy to follow. I've also found other uses for my PVC cutter (it cuts 12" dehydrated tracheas easily!), definitely worth the purchase if you're going to be making your own equipment.

Skinnies both had agility today.

Mimi was awesome, we've been working a lot on keeping her motivation up on sequences she finds demotivating. Also been working on my ability to shorten my steps to keep moving, keep her 'up', but not move too far and need to stop/slow down.. which is probably the main thing Mimi finds demotivating aside from being corrected.. which we just don't really do. Silly dog reads me way too well. After Ezra's class she got to play with weave poles, which she now loves. She popped the 10th pole a couple times looking for a treat before catching on and completing the weaves entirely. I think I've created a weave sucker… she was trying to skip the jump I was sending her to and go straight to weaves. I suppose if she's going to suck to anything, I'd rather it be weaves at this point. I'm hoping to have time next week to bust out the 2x2s and work on entries.

Ezra is such a dork.. he had a good class, though. I'm missing some of the foundation work I got with Mimi at the other club, but taking my time with Ez to build value. We spent a lot of time on jump/standard work today since he didn't really see a point in it last week. Loves the table, loves the tunnel, loves the butter tub target lid (he bows on the target… cute). When he doesn't know what I want, he bows. Simple dog has a default. He REALLY wants on the teeter.. we compromised with the A-frame. I'm pretty sure he's part mountain goat. Ended the day with a variety of angled single jump sends and recalls to hand, he was happy, I'm happy.

Thanks guys! I had seen that tutorial - glad to know that's the best way to go. I like how they made the jump cups too. My husband was convinced we needed a drill press to attach jump cups. Such a boy, looking for an excuse to buy a drill press I was considering buying them, but he said that was too expensive and wanted to make them himself.

They're not all that expensive, either! Only thing I'd change (and might once the weather clears up, are to make separate standard 'feet' as opposed to the cross brace at the bottom. Easier storage.