Steve agility videos!

[Laurelin]

I want him. That is all.

[Shai]

Why? You guys looked amazing! If you need a laugh I'll try to find a video from Kim's and my very first trial, a CPE trial...and I mean we were *trialing*...omg I cringe just looking at it lol. My poor girl...thank goodness she is so forgiving! I wish we looked half as good as you guys do right now, honestly. You have teamwork...we so did not have teamwork...

But hey if you aren't having fun then don't do it. There is nothing, especially a dog sport of all things, worth undermining the joy you have in working with your dog.

[Panzerotti]

Originally Posted by elegy

Really I find it very infrequently fun so far. And to be honest, I wish I hadn't posted these. I'm not usually such a delicate flower but agility brings out all my insecurities and self-doubts and feeling like I am failing my dog and oh look here I am typing this and crying again. Sigh.

Noooooo! We're just jealous because we all wish we had dogs like Steve.

Really though, everyone has to make their own mistakes (not saying you're making mistakes!!!) and have their own journey when learning to train new things.

I just love agility and love discussing training. Don't take anything we say personally. I've totally been where you are. I have cried in obedience class, and dropped out of so many obedience classes it's not even funny. I get it. Do you ever have fun with agility?

[elegy]

When we're training by ourselves. No class no pressure nobody watching or helping. What I need is privates with someone I trust. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be in the cards for us. I like our current instructor a lot but she doesn't teach privates.

[Panzerotti]

What about online courses, like with Silvia Trkman? She focuses a lot on having fun, and you can train at your own pace.

I love training obedience, but I hate obedience classes. Agility classes I don't find as bad, but I don't really enjoy them. This is why I train everything at home. I am slowly building up my collection of agility equipment so that I can train the majority of the time on my own, and then go to classes simply for proofing.

There are a lot of good videos out there as well that minimize the need for classes, like the Greg Derrett series, Susan Garrett, etc.

Did you teach the 2x2's on your own or at class?

[elegy]

I don't have the space to train at home at this point. We did contact board work, one jump stuff, and six poles at home but my yard is tiny.

[Aleron]

Originally Posted by Panzerotti

Total agree! I have to admit that I never like the option of slowing down the dog to match the handler in agility. Granted, I don't know Steve, but I think that it is possible to have him crazy and concentrating at the same time, it would just take a lot of foundation work and slow slow slow building up to sequences. For example, I would train your contact behaviour further to proof for your movement so that you can run while he performs it.

For the jumping, I love Susan Salo jump grids, and what about one jump work at home to train control at the start line?

I definitely don't want you to feel like we're jumping on you, I'm just throwing ideas out there because I personally like fast agility, especially when the dog has insane potential. I am desperately hoping that my Mal turns out to have Steve speed.

Again, great videos and I hope you keep on sharing, I want to watch his (and your) progress!

I agree with all of this. Honestly, agility is way more fun when you got the foundation stuff down. The equipment training is the easy part, agility is more about what happens in between. Unfortunutely, most agility classes move waaaay too fast and end up skipping a lot of foundation stuff in favor of "running agility". But if you have a dog with lots of potential, who's fast and a bit crazy (like a good agility dog often is LOL) moving too fast can be very overwhelming for the person, especially someone new to the sport. This actually was the case with my husband and Ziggy infortunutely and it was pretty discouraging for him.

Foundation work would include board work (teaching the dog to run a plank, with you behind, in front, beside, running stopping, etc then all of that with the desired end behavior), teaching the dog to wrap jumps/jump collected, teaching the dog to send over jumps/jump extended, 2o2o on everything, sit until released (I practice this in every day life all the time with anything the dog really wants), tricks that help with balance/coordination/flexibility such as sit up/stand up/circles/weave between legs/yoga ball work/handstand/etc, practicing your handling without obstacles - much easier to learn this way!, practicing one obstacle at a time - sit until released/send/run with/handling, then two..then three. I tend to think if you eventually want speed (or will have it either way LOL) it's best to practice with speed from the start but make it easy for the dog and handler to suceed. Then gradually increase the difficulty as it becomes easier for them as a team.

I feel badly that this thread upset you. TBH I see people trialing who aren't as far along as you and Steve - and they've been training a lot longer! The suggestions offered were more of a "these are things that might help make agility easier for you/the dog" - meant to be helpful, not hurtful. I promise that the agility stuff that seems hard now won't always

[elegy]

And I need somebody who can show me and who can tell me why what I do doesn't work. I have next to no body awareness and I just do not understand any of this stuff.

[Shai]

Originally Posted by elegy

And I need somebody who can show me and who can tell me why what I do doesn't work. I have next to no body awareness and I just do not understand any of this stuff.

You can come move by me. I'll help in exchange for being able to play with your future puppy lol (I'm jealous can you tell)

[Laurelin]

I always feel like an idiot running agility or pretty much anytime I train my dogs in front of people. I have a hard time 'getting into' things because I feel goofy. I'm not a squealy, loud, in your face kind of person. So it's a little bit difficult for me to put on the 'happy' voice and really ramp the dog up (luckily my dog doesn't need it). It's a work in progress for me and I hope it comes in time.

Don't give up.