When running agility.....

[Dekka]

Do you have to stay calm or do you have to stay up, or does it matter to your dog...

The reason I am curious is that I took Bounce to her second agility trial ever and I learnt something interesting about her. I am used to dogs like Dekka and Zo, who if you get all 'up' and excited it would put them over the top into out of control wheeeeeee. I have to stay calm when running them. Which seems to have trained ME lol...

Bounce started off her first run very whee and a bit silly (she contact sucks like crazy when whee) Her contacts were a thing of beauty, Dekka should take note. But then she settled down, then seemed to get distracted (stressed) She was thrilled with all the equipment that wasn't jumps (guess what I have spent less time specifically training? I have never had a dog that needed specific training for jumps.. the JRTs all just do it, do it well and love it) We had one Q but our last run was jumpers... great almost all jumps.

I decided to party with her as we ran. OMG what a great run!!! She was fast, she was out a head of me (normally she likes to stick by me, and I am no where near as fast as a whippet lol) she was clean and well under time!

Note to self: my whippet likes wheeee.. how about your dogs?

 

[Shai]

Calm and relaxed yet intense and enthusiastic works best for Mira and Kim.

Same for Web in practice, but at trials he needs a touch more cheerleading.

 

[BostonBanker]

I should run Me with pom-poms and a pleated skirt. I don't whoop around the course - she'd probably freak about that. But lots of pumping her up games before we go in the ring, lots of "are you ready??" on the start line, and the occasional "meow". There is no such thing as too "up" for Meg. Every once in a while I get those runs where she is so fast that I feel like I'm driving a car on black ice and going to crash at any second - but she is still responsive. Best feeling ever.

 

[Sunnyshines]

I have to run pretty calm. Sunny likes it if I'm excited, but if I cheerlead too much she gets jumpy and upset. I need to run ... up (does that make sense?) but I can't be very YAY or else she hides.
I can't even try to wind her up before a run because she cowers and gets that "Why are you yelling at me!?" look on her face.

 

[stardogs]

Maggie, while she was slow, got slooower if I cheered her on too much, so we kept it very low key and relaxed.

Ziva I can be doing anything and she'll still run awesome!

Kestrel I have to do a ton of impulse control work with before each run and then I have to watch my speed in the ring or he'll ramp up and get distracted. Thankfully I no longer have to walk the course to keep him from losing his brain!

 

[MericoX]

I have to be calm and assertive or Kiba gets too hyped up. We have a "no ****" talk before every run, still waiting for that to work though. I have to make sure I run fast and keep ahead of her, and quick fire the next obstacle to her - though our last few classes we worked mostly with body language.

Tsuki in class (haven't trialed her yet) I for some reason have adopted the "baby talk". She's also much slower than Kiba. I'm all yyayyyy you jumped! Okay tunnel! Yayyy!! I think I may shoot myself when we actually get into a ring together.

 

[AgilityPup]

I'm still trying to figure this all out with Psyche. She's a really soft girl, so you'd think she needs cheerleading at trials, but at practice, I rarely speak to her, and I'm more "quiet and serious".