Agility Dogs

There is something in the FAQ's about the dog flipping around to the front- I didn't really read it because its not an issue we have encountered (plenty of others!). Wikki was anticipating so we used the first person to call her back again. Works quite well. I'd love to involve a third person at some point as well.

I'm sure she'd say that you just aren't breaking it down enough!!

LOL. I guess I'm just complaining about a general lack of common sense in some people. Our council has rules about designated play ground areas within parks, but I've never had an issue or found anything with a BBQ area - have always had the dogs tethered there without a problem. (Both early in the morning and during 'peak times'.)

This morning we were in the park doing the RZ exercise with the 3 dogs and puppy did what I think Susan calls and 'inappropriate rehearsal in real life'. She stole the treats out off the bench where she was tethered. Guess we have a little more IYC to play. Can't wait tonight to play the Kids in the Hall game. I have a nasty feeling I'm going to get mugged! Oh - my work is being very helpful with printing also! ;)

Now I know what happend to Mrs BA's car last night! LOL. Would have been a good idea though. The confusing thing is that not 2 minutes earlier he was getting cranky with another owner for letting their dog run up to his. Bizarre.

How is everyone going? We are having a ball. All 3 puppies are really enjoying the games (we've played them all before, but to have them explained this way is much better!) I've already started seeing an improvement in my 'project' dog Wikki - more attentative and drivier when we are playing. I think it is less about the course and more about how the course is reminding me not to be lazy in my training!

This morning I had one dog working with me, the other two tied out under a BBQ area in the local park. Man with dog off lead calls dog 5 times and dog decides to wander over to where my two were tied out. 'Is he OK with them?' the guy calls out. I say, 'He'll be fine with that one, but the other one can look like he wants to play and then change his mind - best to keep them apart.' So.......little dog says hello to my girl and then proceeds to pee on the pole that my boy is tethered to and then pig roots all over the ground in front of him. CK growls and chases the little dog away. Owner looks across to me and says in a derisive kind of way - ahhh....there you go - as if to say he knew the dog was aggressive. WTF - I told him it was a bad idea, then he let the little old man pee in a BBQ area. The upside is that I didn't abuse him. I just went over to my boy who had calmed down and gave him a pat. I'm much happier than I would have been in the past and haven't ruined anyones day.

We are an agility club, but have a foundation class that suits everyone. Most people choose to leave after the initial course, but we have quite a few who just come for a fun run around each week. Similarly at an obedience training business I used to go to there were people who had been going for years and just loved the outing with their dogs every week. Its a great way to make friends and have a goood time out with you mate.

We got a hydrobath when we got our third dog and wouldn't be without it. Has well and truly paid for itself. Fibreglass construction, fairly basic, but good quality. It is well looked after (better than our crates ;) and will hopefully last a good number of years.

Totally agree - AT LEAST a 2 year gap. I have a six month gap between my girl (5.5 yrs) and my boy (5 yrs). I THOUGHT Xena was well trained when CK came to live with us. (she was a very mature 9 months) 6 months in their case, with my experience was too close. They bonded very closely and I had problems resting control of the household back from the two of them. Also - if you can't tell one dog to do something and know you are going to get it it can be very difficult to train the second. (Even in an every day sense of the word - not from a performance perspective.) My current pup (1.5 years) was much easier to integrate into the household and to date we have hardly had any issues between her and the other two where as there was quite a bit of sorting out going on when CK started to mature. Our next dog won't come to live with us until Wikki is at least 5 y.o.

Xena Continue on as she has been going and improve on my handling of her as opposed to her ability on course. Titles ANKC (We don't do a lot of ANKC trials.) JDM ADX and ADM JDO ADO GDX SDX SPDX ADAA International Agility Dog (7 wins at advanced level - only a couple to go!) Gamblers Dog Snooker Dog (Both run at ADAA open standard) She has everything else, the rest are 'just' multiples. LOL. CK Continue his improvement in both confidence and drive. Work HARD on my timing with him running courses - he needs the information early or he just can't turn. He's a FAST dog and isn't the smallest boy around so if I'm late he just takes the off course. Titles..... ANKC JDM ADX GDX SDX SPDX JDO ADO ADAA Masters Aust Agility Dog (Which will complete his Aust Agility Champion which consists of Team Dog, Games Dog and MAAD). Advanced Australian Agility Dog. Gamblers Dog Snooker Dog Jumping Dog Wikki complete the Susan Garrett Recallers course and really start to work on building her excitement for agility. I feel the need for speed! her skills are in a good place, just need more motivation to go with them. Titles ANKC JD AD GD SD SPD ADAA titles Senior Aust Agility Dog Masters Australian Agility Dog (Stretch, but Possible) Jumping Dog Games Dog Team Dog Then for me.......... Improve my consistency and ability to run HARD around an agility course and achieve a clear round (or two) at the World Agility Championships in May next year!

I think it depends on what you want out of your dog and on the dog itself. For me, I set the rules and we have fun within the bounds of those rules. The rules are slightly different for each dog depending on what I am trying to achieve with them. (ie: Stricter or more relaxed in some aspects). As long as you are happy with the way your household runs I don't think ti matters.

The World Dog Games that were put on in Sydney a couple of years ago. I qualified in Frisbee with CK and nearly didn't go because I was concerned about his ability to cope. We ended up heading down - OH drove down and I flew down after work. I could tell from the minute I saw him that he was not happy with being away from Xena and in a strange place. During the practice rounds he did OK, but still was a little off song. Then we did a dress rehearsal and one of the camera guys shoved a big TV camera right in his face just before the music started echoing around the empty arena. CK just freaked and wouldn't work at all. I worked super hard with him over the next 24 hours and was nearly going to take him home when a lady came up to me and said that I had done an amazing job with him and that his trust in me was just amazing. That was enough to keep me going and by the end of the 2 days of competition CK was doing a fantastic job - almost enjoying the noise and atmosphere. I still tear up when I think about it. For us it was less about results and more about a massive step forward in his ability to cope and our relationship.

Our 3 spend between 9 and 10.5 hours on their own each day. Before that they get about an hour of walking/training and then after work they always get to do something as well. I have to leave the yard with pretty much nothing in it or they can fight over toys/bones etc. They don't make any noise (new neighbours are shocked when they find out that we have 3 dogs), but are always ummmmm.....happy to see us when we get home!

We had a great night last night at our ADAA trial. Xena came second in Open Jumping (this video), won advanced jumping with one fault on a really cool, but really tricky course and then won Open Agility at the end of the night. To top it off she missed Gamblers by .01 of a second! CK drove hard almost all night - it was very hot so that was a great effort from him, although he too just missed the gamble and picked up a couple of faults or went the wrong way on the other courses. Then Wikki did a great go - improving all the time and got one card in starters, but then popped out of the tunnel in elementary jumping. All in all great fun. One more trial for the year! (Unless you count the dusk til dawn new years trial.)

Great work mate. you must be very proud. I remember when you got her and that in itself was an awesome result, let along where she has made it to!

We stayed at the Sebel Pier One for World Dog Games a couple of years back and it was brilliant. You can't take the dogs into the hotel proper, but your room opens out onto the Pier so there are no real problems. From memory they only allow one dog per room as well, but there were exceptions to that as well. However there is a limit of 20 kilos for each pet to stay. I found this funny - wonder how they'd feel about me rocking up with 3 Border Collies........

I should do it every day, but ends up being every couple of days. Luckily I have one who goes out of the yard, one who goes in the garden and one who uses the lawn.

If I think the dog 'should' have taken the jump then I'll take them as long as I can do the run into the jump again. In ADAA trials you can't repeat a part of the course that you've already done or you will be dismissed (as opposed to eliminated). If it is just going back and putting them over the one jump in isolation then I don't see much point. If I think they 'missed' the jump because I've done something wrong then I'll let them keep running.

Confident Driven Structurally sound Biddable Relaxed I have 3 BC's. One ticks all boxes. The other two tick 4/5. My older girl is definitely not relaxed by nature, but we have an agreement now that she will at least be calm when she is not working. My boy is definitely not confident, but again, we have moved towards it. My baby dog (now 18 months) has it all.

I don't get the attitude on here that any normal dog that objects to a strange dog getting in it's face is called dog aggressive. Absolute rubbish. Woah, slow down. I'm not calling OP's dog aggressive, I didn't word it well and was trying to see things from a legal point of view. What I'm saying ist that others could perceive that she has said that her dog is aggressive herself. My dog behaves in exactly the same manner and I'm NOT saying that he is aggressive. I'm saying that a person who is perhaps not quite so dog savvy and does like seeing or understand what happens when their social butterfly dog gets in another's face may perceive it this way. I have every sympathy and empathy for the OP, but at the end of the day I've personally made the decision not to invite problems by putting my dog in situations I can't control. Ultimately I stand by the first paragraph - I'm not sure whether the law would take into account our understanding of animal behaviour or just look at what the result was.

Legally I don't know where you'd stand. While the other dog is not under control it could also be argued that neither is yours (if it were to attack/lash out just because it was approached by anotehr dog) and into the bargain you have as much as admitted that your dog is aggressive by asking the other person to take their dog away because yours might not like it. I'm not saying you are in the wrong or there is anything wrong with your dogs, my boy is exactly like this. I don't like dog parks for exactly this reason and won't put my dogs in a situation I don't think they can handle. That said, I'd find it VERY frustrating if it were just a regular park where dogs are allowed off lead. Damned if you do, damned if you don't I say. Best to just not invite problems.

You too! Great to see beginner dogs starting so well out of the blocks!!

Had a great night at our trial on Saturday. It was Wikki's first trial and she came away with 2 cards from 4 events and won three of the 4. (She had to play with the big dogs in the 4th event - a little more than she is ready for just yet!) This is her elementary run. The other puppies and the rent a dogs all ran well too, but it was really Her Royal Wooness's night.

I'm going to do the Greg/Laura seminar in January - hopefully I'll get a working spot!! Personally I'd always choose to work with a 'live' person rather than an e-course simply for the feedback that you get. E-courses are great and IMO very valuable, but I don't think you can beat having someone standing on the sidelines talking you through what it is you are missing. THat said you probably need to consider whether you think improving your handling or your contacts is going to bring more benefit to your results. (Sorry if that is stating the obvious.)