It helps having someone who's gone through this and came out alive then. LOL I know now that he has the potential for being a good dog, I'm struggling with if we'll ever get there.
I think you will get there, it's just rough starting out. I really wish Ziggy was still in the early phases with what I know now, I think things could have gone a lot smoother with him.
I would like a running Aframe for his structure but I am not opposed to a stop, maybe a 4 on the floor? Anything to let me catch a second with him may help. LOL
With a very fast, intense dog I think some form of stopped contacts is usually best. Unless you are super confident in your handling ability with running and interested in the repetitious training a reliable RC takes. I have recently gone to stopping Ziggy on the contacts from a...not so great RC (read: untrained, hope for the best, try to use my body cues to slow him enough to hit the contact) and it sure is making it easier.
I'll try, sometimes I find his brain doesn't even work when it's full speed though. I mean he's coming along with his weaves but if I let him get too fast and send him he'll blow past them and not look back til he's hit the wall. Also today I tried some one and two jump exercises and one jump he did well, two if I held his paw, but if I set him up and let him rip he'd do one and circle the other in confusion, I guess that tells me he needs more intel but it's frustrating for me.
That is actually a common issue with weaves and fast, frantic dogs. Weaves require slowing down, collecting and...well, some degree of thought. I think one of the most common reasons dogs miss entries is that they don't collect and end up a pole or two or more beyond were they should be by time it occurs to them. Watching the runs at BSCA, this really seemed to be the case in many of the missed entries there for sure. I like ST's use of the channel weaves, although I've not used that method yet myself. She makes the weaves super, super easy so the dog doesn't have to think much, just run thru and includes them in sequences very early on like that. Gradually closing the channel, so the dog gradually learns to really weave but is always working at speed. She actually says she prefers her dogs not think too much while running LOL
We have a puppy class like that but it's not offered for adults. Unfortunately most of our adult classes on lower level are geared towards getting pet dogs up and running, then we back peddle and re-foundation with our upper level classes. It's backwards and I don't like it but it's how the boss wants it. :/
I know exactly what you mean, as that is more common than not with the average beginner agility class IME. That sort of approach works ok for moderate drive dogs who can work at their owners pace then speed up as their owner does. It doesn't do much for lower drive dogs and is definitely not ideal for high drive ones.
Sounds like you really have it together and Savvy will benefit from this!
I hope so! There are always challenges with any dog but I can definitely see how this early work is so beneficial.
Thank you so much for taking the time to walk me through some of this, it really does help. It's hard, I know, when no one on here has seen him in action really but I'm so tired of asking people for help and them just sighing or cringing or getting those bewildered eyes that I'm really gun shy about even attempting the big bucks to go to a seminar or privates with any of the big names and this kind of help really does make me feel like we're not just a waste of time.
You wouldn't think agility people would be so weird about crazy dogs but that is an attitude a lot of people face unfortunately. We had an instructor tell us about Ziggy "yeah...umm...I have no idea how to work with a dog like that and prefer not to have them in my classes. I really can't help you." I guess at least she was being honest but...come on! I know someone else who is facing the same stuff right now with her intense, high drive dog. She's been kicked out of classes, told her dog is too crazy for agility and a classmate even said they'd put the dog down if it were their's (I guess because she is a spin and biter - herding breed dog of course LOL). That just makes me sad for many reasons and I'm sorry to hear you've run into this attitude as well. I just have a hard time understanding how agility people can look at a high drive, intense, willing dog and be so discouraging to their owner. I think sometimes maybe it is that people don't want to admit that they really are unsure what to suggest.
Have you read Susan Garret's Shaping Success? If not, it's worth a read
It's part a training book on foundation work and part story about her issues training her dog Buzz. She was told by multiple big name people that Buzz was "not talented enough" and "too crazy" to be any good at agility and encouraged to rehome him and get a "better dog". Regardless of your personal feelings about SG, the book is well worth a read. If for no other reason than as an inspiration for people working with easily over-stimulated, crazy dogs
Hope to hear Backup agility updates regularly!