Agility Dogs

Wow - she must have had a terrible time if that is an indication of their methods. Especially at only 10 months old. Sadly this was indicative of the methods that I first learned from where my girl boarded and trained. Yes, they worked, no I didn't know any better, no I would not use them again and haven't on subsequent dogs. Not to say all or even most places are the same, but it would pay to go and watch the training that they do before committing to anything.

I had this experience with rescue and got my first dog from a pet shop. Much easier. Now I know exactly what I want in a puppy and who can help me with the next puppy that will come and live with us, but most people still don't want to go through the hassle or feel judged.

I think your reply was justified on the basis of limited information, but INCREDIBLY judgemental. The questions assume a level of knowledge that the general public may not have. Not everyone who wants a puppy to breed with is evil - they just may not know or understand the risks and/or issues. Your reply hasn't done much to change that. (Is it your job - that's another question.) There was a time when if I had received your response it would only have served to strengthen my opinion that PB breeders are a bunch of know it alls who breed dogs that are inaccessible to regular people. Fortunately I've learned otherwise, but sadly people aren't born with the knowledge that Pedigreed dogs ROCK! Some of us take a while longer to work it out.

Sorry to answer on behalf of OP, but definitely not. The seminar/coaching clinic will be about teaching everyone from a complete newby with a baby puppy (yes, there are things that baby puppies can do, just like all sports), right through to a dog that already plays really well, but could do things a little better and everyone in between. When my boy went to his first clinic they actually asked me if he was really a BC - he had no interest in the disc or the game at all!! Now with quite a bit of help from Damian we make a pretty good team. It's a great way to get out and have a brilliant time with you mate in a no/low pressure low cost way. Go for it!

The problem as I see it is that the hypothetical dog was aggressive towards a person. (FTR - I think this was completely justified from the hypothetical situation you have described.) The reason might just be irrelevant if ever push hypothetically came to shove. ('I have not idea what you are talking about - the dog jumped out at me while I was riding past it. I fell off my bike and it raced over and was about to attack me.') Also without any evidence to the contrary the hypothetical person in your example is only surmising that the guy was drunk and the police only have the word of that hypothetical person to suggest otherwise. ('What are you talking about, I had water in the bottle - my doctor told me that I'm better off with water from glass because of the way some plastics contaminate water.') While I would be outraged if I was placed in the situation you have described as hypothetical you probably need to think carefully about whether the person hypothetically involved wants to bring attention to a he said/she said debate when there is no proof that either party is right or wrong.

www.bark.asn.au

FANTASTIC - you guys will have an awesome time. These two are possibly the best two K9 Disc guys in the country. Enjoy! Remember - the wind is your friend.......(that will make far more sense after Damian's clinic.)

Just one run like ADAA. Yep - think of the exclusion zone like a gamble. (Open in ANKC essentially means a course with an exclusion zone rather than in ADAA where it describes the level of challenge.) I think it is elimination, but you can keep running the course. Cheers T

ADAA is a lot more relaxed in their start procedures than ANKC. The upside is that ANKC have lead stewards so you know where your lead will be when you finish. Some ANKC judges enforce the rules fully, some again are a little more relaxed. You are meant to have your dog on lead when you enter the ring and wait for the judge to ask you to remove it. They will then ask you if you are ready to run - you respond that you are and then you can get going. This may differ at the briefing, but if you follow it you won't get into trouble. You should also have your dog on lead to leave the ring. (Makes it a touch difficult when judges set the last hurdle almost on the edge of the ring and expect a quick dog to stop before the rope. )

Agree about starting early - but just had to laugh at the 2o2o bit. Rory has loved this exercise, but I think maybe I overdid it - he's only had a few chances to see the real contact obstacles (admittedly without enough interim walking long planks etc ), and his immediate response has been to rush to the equipment, and throw himself proudly into his 2o2o . ETA - at the wrong end - without having gone over the obstacle first. Boy brains! :D Nah Tassie, its genetics........ ;)

You will be amazed at the difference it makes. Wikki is now almost 17 months and is while Xena has done heaps of these exercises and is pretty good Wikki is sooooooo much better because of the early start. I can't wait to start running her for real.

AWESOME - isn't it a great feeling when things go right like that!

My girl started at 12 weeks (when she arrived). Walking over pool noodles, wobble boards, backing up, spinning in circles, pivot boxes are all good places to start. So is walking into and out of a box or walking through a ladder that is laid on the ground. I don't think you can start soon enough!

Seriously? I know this is an emotive issue, but if you don't like the methods that a club uses/allows wouldn't you just move on to another training organisation where it is welcome in preference to upsetting everyone? We see this type of advice on here time and time again, why not just take it? You could actually bankrupt the club by going down that path which would be a lot worse for the larger community than you having to find somewhere else to use your chose training method. FTR - personally, I don't like the idea of prong collars, but that doesnt' mean I don't want anyone to use them when there is a need/desire for them to be used properly. Others don't like me playing with my dog in obedience classes to keep them motivated - I have left those clubs and found an environment I do like training in. Like Nekhbet said though - contact the CCCQ if you really feel that strongly.

I totally agree with what you are saying - BUT the handling cues should be that ingrained in the dog before it gets on equipment that it is a moot point. Not moot for me 90% of the training, & therefore rewarding, that I do right now relates to handling, ie the dog responding to my cues. I still reward obstacle performance occasionally, but I see (in an ideal world) obstacles as finite training exercises. Handling, including my dogs response to it, is something I will always strive to improve. Fair call. This is why I prefer to talk about this stuff - so hard to tell the whole story in bite size pieces between work. My dogs see obstacles rarely, but we are the same - EVERY morning we train handling on the flat. I guess I didn't really think about that. That is where the time is!

Ahhh, but remember, the obstacles are only half the equation. The ability to get your dog around the course is the other (and probably more important once your obstacles are trained) half. Obviously the dog has to have a reward history associated with correct obstacke performance, but Personally I want more value for my dog responding to my handling cues than any piece of equipment. I totally agree with what you are saying - BUT the handling cues should be that ingrained in the dog before it gets on equipment that it is a moot point. (First time I ever tried a serp on a jump with Wikki she pulled it off perfectly - same with pull throughs.) What I'm saying is that you might need to change the value of the reinforcer for other things as the dog's value for equipment rises - so they don't just keep running equipment (like CK can LOL.) With dogs like Xena who know their job the balance between obstacle and handler focus is already there so its not as evident or important if they refuse an external reward when running the course. BUT for a dog that just goes nuts on the equipment and completely blows off the handler then I'd suggest that something else is not quite right in the process and that the handler is going to have to up the ante in the reward stakes to change the behaviour.

OK, serious answer now. Perhaps what that means is not that the dog will accept no reward, perhaps it means that the value of the reward needs to increase becauase the value of the behaviour that it was rewarding has increased beyond the reward itself? What you seem to be suggesting is that you actually want to STOP the dog from developing value for the very thing that you are training for by limiting the rewards you are prepared to use.

ROFL. Have you met Xena?

What a ridiculous comment - the dog was under control and was (in its mind) rushed by an out of control rude little dog. That is not a friendly advance. As the OP has already pointed out the right thing to do would have been to have her dog under control in the first place. This sort of ignorance really gets me cranky - if your dog runs up to another dog that is minding its own business in an area that is meant to be ON lead then be prepared to take responsibility for it - just like the OP has.

This. Yep, according to the Brisbane City Council I am registered as a breeder. So....I could legitimately claim to be a registered breeder. Not much you can do about it other than not like it. FTR - my dogs are all speyed/neutered and I have no intention of breeding when so many people do such a good job of producing exactly the type of dog that I want. If that ever changed then I might consider breeding pedigreed dogs.

..

Gold. Although I'm not sure that anyone gave Xena that memo. Exactly - what is weak nerve in one breed is perfectly acceptable in another. Chomping sheep would suggest to me a lack of confidence on sheep. If they can't move the sheep they will sometimes try chomping. Some rude sheep need a chomp though Poppy is pretty strong and does little chomping. Brock and Amber are not so confident and do more chomping. Amber thinks she is a corgi and likes to poke with her sharp little nose! No one is safe from this. Maybe it is a sable thing! Xena doesn't really chomp - she doesn't actually even take fleece. She is just hard in at them all the time. If a sheep is rude though she will tell it off (bark) and give it a little more space. We are going back to herding soon - very excited (and very off topic - sorry.)

Gold. Although I'm not sure that anyone gave Xena that memo. Exactly - what is weak nerve in one breed is perfectly acceptable in another.

Thats how the nerve is lost in the breed, disguise weak nerve in the training then breed the dog and make some more weak nerve so before long the bloodline is no good is what happens on the Shepherd Dogs,the Rottweiler and Dobermann. If you wanting to waste valuable training time getting the wrong dogs over problems the good dogs dont be suffering with is ok if you are liking to do that, but getting the right dog from proven lines makes training much more fun is my opninion. Joe In an ideal world you are right, but sometimes even dogs from 'proven' lines don't quite work out the way they are meant to. As a pet owner that leaves you with pretty limited options - either get rid of a perfectly good dog that doesn't quite meet your performance expectations, but you have bonded with - in the process handing it onto someone who is potentially less likely to be able to help it cope with their issues. Put the dog to sleep because it is not worthy of life in a performance home. Work with your dog to make them the best they can possibly be. I have one dog just like this - he has taken a massive amount of work to get to the stage where he is, but we still have a bit of a way to go before he is running consistently. In the process I have learned so much from him that my drivey, confident girls could never have taught me. I don't think it has been a waste of time, far from it. It is certainly more rewarding and fun to run my older girl week in and week out, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the challenge of improving with my boy. Also - any owner/breeder worth their salt would identify those problems and choose NOT to breed from a dog like my boy, regardless of the results he might achieve.

In Open level at ADAA you need to complete the weaves or you get eliminated. If the dog gets the entry and then pops out you'll incur no more course faults regardless of how many times you try, you just have to get them done cleanly. (In starters you can do 6 weaves and keep going for one course fault or go back and correct them and as long as you end up getting them right you can still run clean.) In ANKC once you have correctly got the entry you cannot repeat a weave you have already completed or you are eliminated - so you have to run your dog on or put them back in where they made their mistake. Either way you can't run clean. Distance - I'm not sure. With my dogs it has come as our understanding of what we are doing together has improved. Others may have more/better advice. The way I & others, I have spoken to about the new ANKC weave pole rule, is that once you enter the weaves correctly & he pops out, you can't put him back in at all. You have to keep going & it only incurs one course fault. If you put him back in where he came out or take him back to the start you are eliminated on both occassions. To me it is sending the wrong message, to let your dog keep running without having to do the weaves correctly. So it looks like if my dog pops out then we will always be eliminated, because I will never let her run on. Also, if popping out of the weaves & continuing only incurrs the same fault as a dog that does the weaves correctly but knocks a jump, then the dog that popped the weaves will have a faster time. Maybe, would be good to get some clarification from a judge though - the way I read this is that repeating any part of the weave poles is not OK, but doing the part that they have not done successfully is. In the Weaving Poles, after the dog has entered correctly, the dog fails to negotiate a gap. No further penalties will be incurred for the dog not negotiating any other gapsDog must continue after missing a gap. Repeating any part of the weaving poles will be judged as wrong course Either way, I'm splitting hairs and don't like the rule. My dogs will be going back to the start of the poles and doing them properly elimination or not.