Agility Dogs

EVERYTHING you have done is an agility type trick. The only things we try and avoid are jumping, sudden stops and weaving - they are the ones that will do damage. The rest is all foundation work and will help to strengthen and build body awareness and are done from 8 weeks by many agility people. (Oh - don't ask her to walk on her hind legs until she is a bit older - that is another one to avoid).

I wouldn't be trying to teach this in the dog park (at all, but that's just me) until you have it really solid without the distractions, otherwise you are setting her up to fail, not to succeed. When you do get there start really close and then work up to the distance you are trying with the long lead at present. With the bang bang thing it sounds like you've asked her to generalise a little too much. ie: To her Bang bang means roll over from a drop, not end up on you back from whatever position you are in. Maybe you need to take the command off it and start from the stand and shape (or lure, depending how you are teaching) the whole thing. Cheers T

Your pup sounds AWESOME. Another couple Get her to walk backwards. Teach Left and right. Crawl backwards. Figure of 8 between your legs. Leg Weaving as you walk. Shape her into a box. Front feet on a phone book Back feet on a phone book. Walking along a line of pool noodles (teaches body awareness) Walk between the rungs of a ladder that is lying on the ground. Different heeling positions (left, right, front, back) Then if you want to spend a little money (or a lot) on toys: Wobble boards (you can make or buy these) - standing, sitting, pivotting) Bosu Balls (The 1/2 rubber ball with the solid base). They can stand on them with the flat surface down or the curved surface down. It is easier on grass and then gets harder on solid surfaces). Other assorted rubber fitness toys similar to the bosu balls can also be used. 4 tins - one foot on each tin. This is my girl learning figure of 8 earlier this year. Hope that helps. Cheers Tony

Just a little brag from me this weekend - but without any trials. We've decided to give CK and Xena a run in SPDX on the same team. Last night at training I got a friend to run Xena and CK was working with me. We kind of played pairs and they were both just brilliant. No suggestion of either leaving to say hello to me or to the other. Should be heaps of fun to run with them. Then I'll be running a Beardie with his Brother in return. Hmmm........

Totally agree with this - two of my dogs have been attacked. On is quite reactive/defensive, the other really doesn't care. Just play it by ear and manage the situation as it arises.

My boy has never been 'overweight', but perhaps a little bit too heavy for what I was asking him to do. (He is a 540mm tall BC who weighted just under 21kg.) I just cut back his food by about 100g a day (he now gets 250 to 400g a day, plus training treats)and we have him down to a super lean 17.8kg. He is FAR happier, works harder and generally has a lot more energy. As the others have said - just feed less and all will be fine. Veges as a filler work really well too.

I was thinking the same thing - that is just horrid.

My understanding for the core vaccs (C3) too Problem is that some vets follow the new protocol and others refuse to acknowledge it. Same goes for training clubs, boarding kennels.... We don't generally board our dogs, so don't have a problem there, but have had lengthy conversations at a couple of clubs we play at regarding their policy. Both clubs ended up seeing our point of view - with an animal that is Titre tested I can PROVE that they have immunity. (Or at least did at a given point in time.) All anyone who vaccinates can prove is that they have vaccinated - it is not a guarantee either. Oh - best to be careful with heart worm injections for Collie dogs. My boy doesn't tolerate anything with Ivermectin (sp?) in it.

We had a cat door put into a small box that sits on our back deck - it is screened/shielded from the weather, but lets the litter sit outside effectively. Dogs can't get in there and the smell from the litter is not in the house. The puppy decided after two hasty trips back out of the box (by the scruff) that it was not a good place to play. :D

That's the way I read it too. I don't like the new rule. To me it seems a backward step, a little bit like letting dogs jump off the up ramp to the a-frame or dog walk and then continue with a course fault rather than having to demonstrate that they can do the obstacle (contact behaviour and safety issues aside). Guess we'll be eliminated when/if we end up with that problem. Oh well.......

That's the nature of training, though. You have to make mistakes to know what to do better next time, and the only way for that to happen is to just get out there and give it a shot. That's my point exactly. The standard of entry for agility is, for better or for worse, lower than what it is for obedience IMO. That is why people can quickly get into agility and have some fun in the trialling ring and exactly why it becomes frustrating more quickly. (Quick sucess that stalls.) If you move onto the next level in any discipline you'll discover things you've done wrong. My point was more about the ease of entry and the subsequent ease at which you reach a point where you can't progress any further because of the (lack of) training you have done. I think ADAA's advanced ring is probably the most obvious example of this. It is possible to run around with a dog and title at Open level, but when you move into the advanced rings these dogs struggle to make time because they don't have the skill to work independently. (Rates of travel are 3.5m/s to 4.0m/s for agility or jumping).

For me it is not any of that (because my dogs can do it). It is purely that I find agility as an activity more physically challenging/rewarding for me. I get more enjoyment out of the physical performance that is required in the agility ring than I do in obedience - much of the training I do for agility is not that different from what I do for obedience any way. It's kind of the same reason I prefer agility to flyball or frisbee - I have to physically push myself harder in agility and that is part of the buzz.

I (obviously) like agility more. Initially we started out doing obedience, but what turned me off was the old school methods and the attitude of people at clubs. I know this is changing, but for obedience to continue to be relevant to all dog owners the people running clubs are going to have to move more quickly. Kavik, I think you've hit the nail on the head. Competition agility is more accessible than competition obedience and as a result more fun. I think this is simply because of the lack of technical criteria in agility and the potential to succeed more quickly as a result. (I initially got sucked in by this.) The problem is that you quickly stall once you have passed through the initial stages and need to go back and 'fix' a whole host of performance issues that crop up once you understand how to run courses more efficiently. (My 14 month old puppy has almost as many skills as my 5 year old Advanced level dog - simply because I have set out to train more effectively from the beginning. FTR - I'm talking about body awareness and handling cues, NOT equipment skills.) BUT, IMO at the higher levels of the sport there is just as much technical skill required to be successful and consistent in agility. It's not just directed jumping...... All that said, I do enjoy both and can really appreciate the skill involved in Obedience. My 'Agility Dogs' are all trained to a standard where they could compete (and pass) in the obedience ring at up to probably CDX standard, its just that until I can't run any more I will find agility more rewarding and as a result so do they. At the end of the day thought as long as the dogs are getting out of their yard and doing something it is a good thing!

We had a great day yesterday. Xena was amazing - just dropped two bars (both my fault) in two events and missed gamblers because I accidentally let her do two closing obstacles back to back in the opening. She did manage to win Open A jumping and Black Jack (21 points in the least amount of time.) CK had a really good day too. No cards, but ran the best that he ever has at the grounds we were at. (A lot of dogs struggle there because they are so tight.) He even decided he was cool enough to bark at me at the end of his gamblers run. Have a good week everyone!!

I am particularly cautious around labs and golden retrievers. My boy had two bad experiences with them when he was young (both my fault, but now irrelevant) so I have to be very careful that they aren't told off before they get a chance to try and play with him. Other than that any dog that I don't know and is off lead and running up to us is pretty much cause for concern - especially the ones followed by an owner screaming for them to come back.

Hey, DON'T WORRY!!!!! Seriously, the chances of it all turning feral are pretty slim if you are managing it. That said, realistically any dog/dog interaction is a potential fight so unless you want to leave Raz on his own forever there is always going to be that risk, albeit minimal. The big thing is making sure you recognise the signs and keeping an eye out for them, then managing them as they crop up. FTR - I will leave them with pigs ears or bones or biscuits that I know they can all finish without leaving scraps around. I won't leave bottles with food in them or random treats as we have had a couple of scuffles over those treat balls and random scraps of food are to be jealously guarded. Toys fall into the same category - not many are left lying around and only the low value ones at that. DON'T WORRY, just continue to be careful and all will be fine. If its not then its not the end of the world to manage it.

Hey there, Whilst I don't know that there will definitely be a fight between your dogs there will inevitably be some form of soting out at some point. This might just be that Willow is willing to accept that Raz is the boss or it might be that they do go to war over it. It might be for all things or just some things like toys or their favourite spot in the garden. Really depends on the dogs, their temperaments and how you manage their interactions. The best thing you can do is to make sure that both of them know that you are the boss and that if there are problems then you will be the one who sorts it out. IMO control of resources is the key to this. So, they need to look to you and not each other for reinforcement and value that reinforcement above anything else. With our 3 there has been the occasional discussion between the dogs (who get on famously most of the time) when one or the other over steps a boundary, but generally they look to me when I am there. Of course you can't manage that when you aren't around. At the end of the day they are dogs and you can never guarantee that there won't be disagreements. Oh - the really loud, noisy discussions sound horrible, but at the end of the day are not the ones to worry about as a rule. When they are quiet you tend to have a problem. Happy to chat about it at training if you like. Cheers Tony

ROFL. HRW got the embarassing GAY tail gene. Good thing she won't ever play show dog. My brag for the morning - I took the little one to agility last night and gave her a bit of a run before I instructed. We have the tyre sorted (last week she was running under it) and her dog walk is just amazing. I can't beat her along the length of it and we have a perfect (ready for some serious proofing) 2o2o at the end of it. MUCH better than Xena ever had. She's just starting to really get the 2 x 2 weaves as well. Time to start tightening them up. It's getting exciting - will start simple sequencing with her in the next week or so. She's still only jumping 400, but I figure the additional 150 can come soon enough.

What Ness said. WW is now 13.5 months.

perhaps, but her interests aren't quite as broad as his are. ;) She is learning to weave via the magic of 2 x 2's. Just starting to weave a little now, but I want to work a bit more on drive before we move too far ahead.

They were great. CK is just improving all the time. The beardie in the video I posted is very similar to CK in temperament and Nat is an inspiration - has helped me tremendously. Her Royal Wooness (Wikki) is about 4.5 months away from being old enough to set foot in the ring. Scary thing is that she has more skills now than when either CK or Xena started to trial. I think she should go pretty well. The two things she can't do yet are weave and see-saw, but still plenty of time to learn the former. The latter can wait a while longer since it isn't in the beginners classes. On that - funny thing. The first time on the weekend both CK and Xena ran up the dog walk they got 4/5 of the way along the up ramp and rocked back. Poor little puppies thought it was a see-saw because it didn't have slats across it like the ADAA ones do! After that they didn't miss a beat.

ROFLMAO - that would make you just about 80!! (Sorry) I didn't get any video other than this one which is mostly of my friend's Beardie, but has Xena and Ghetti's pairs run in there at about 1:53. I LOVE the slow motion stuff of her going through the weaves. Can't wait until I'm running 3 dogs!!

Well done!! I really love hearing about obedience results. I'm not sure I'll ever get into the Obedience ring, but admire those who do! 23 runs - seemed like a lot when I said it, but when we actually got there it wasn't too bad. The dogs just kept on getting madder and madder all day. Once you get in the ring the adrenaline just kicks in and away you go!

Ain't that the truth!!! Uh huh. The people who do the ADAA nationals and GP seriously deserve a medal. Not taking away from the Nationals, just that I know them. The nationals is sooooo much bigger and would have to be more work. Annually would just be too much.