So, yesterday I was at a trial with Zoey, and she was slow, wondering, uninterested the whole weekend. After her last jumpers course of the day I had a couple of people come up to me and say that I should be putting her into Specials and they thought if I did, she'd be all over the place with great runs.
Now, I'm thinking about this, and really considering it. Here's the info: Zoey's 4 years old, JUST tall enough to have to be jumping 16 inches, and she has a VERY thick torso, with littler skinny legs. They mentioned that when she's getting ready to jump, it looks like it's a lot of stress on her back legs. When we were training her before she started trialing, we had an incredibly HARD time switching from her 10 inch training jumps to her 16 inch competition jumps.
Now I'm wondering if maybe it's too hard for her, and that's why she's so uninterested. At training she'll go for a while, on 16 inches, but not long before she's tired and doesn't want to do it anymore. At home training, with her little 6 inch jumps, she'd go until the friggen cows came home.
Her last jumpers course she DID run with me, and it was her best course of the day, but she was slow, left me once, and I had a refusal on a jump or two. I had a hard time convincing her to take the jumps. For all her other courses she'd do contacts, tunnels, and weaves great, but that jumping always seemed to detour her.
She's a tad over weight, but not incredibly so. And we've been trying to get her losing some weight, but I don't think that's entirely the problem.
So, what are your thoughts? Should I put her into specials where she'd only have to jump 10 (which she does, enjoys, and sails over), or keep trying with the 16?
I just want to do what's best for my dog here, and I worry that by keeping her at 16 I'll do damage to her, or she'll come to resent agility.
Opinions, please!
Now, I'm thinking about this, and really considering it. Here's the info: Zoey's 4 years old, JUST tall enough to have to be jumping 16 inches, and she has a VERY thick torso, with littler skinny legs. They mentioned that when she's getting ready to jump, it looks like it's a lot of stress on her back legs. When we were training her before she started trialing, we had an incredibly HARD time switching from her 10 inch training jumps to her 16 inch competition jumps.
Now I'm wondering if maybe it's too hard for her, and that's why she's so uninterested. At training she'll go for a while, on 16 inches, but not long before she's tired and doesn't want to do it anymore. At home training, with her little 6 inch jumps, she'd go until the friggen cows came home.
Her last jumpers course she DID run with me, and it was her best course of the day, but she was slow, left me once, and I had a refusal on a jump or two. I had a hard time convincing her to take the jumps. For all her other courses she'd do contacts, tunnels, and weaves great, but that jumping always seemed to detour her.
She's a tad over weight, but not incredibly so. And we've been trying to get her losing some weight, but I don't think that's entirely the problem.
So, what are your thoughts? Should I put her into specials where she'd only have to jump 10 (which she does, enjoys, and sails over), or keep trying with the 16?
I just want to do what's best for my dog here, and I worry that by keeping her at 16 I'll do damage to her, or she'll come to resent agility.
Opinions, please!