Agility Dogs

Yes, mine is well trained, but not well behaved. :D 2 of mine are well trained - one is well behaved, the other is a little turd. The third is on the way to being well trained (only six months) and will follow in the footsteps of her naughty 'sister'. I like the naughty ones.

It is pessimistic, but I'm going to be packing for it just in case!!

Whatever it takes!

I was running about 40 or 50km a week and wanted a mate to run with. We had a border collie as a kid and ever since there has really been no other breed for me. We did the rounds of the local pounds, but there were none. I had to have a dog NOW so off to the pet shop we went. (It was where we got them from when we were kids and I didn't know anything about breeders.) We got our little man, but the trouble started as soon as we got him home. 2 weeks later we decided he was lonely so we went back to the same pet shop and picked out the cutest little girl with blue eyes - she was only 6 weeks old. Totally inexperienced owners and totally out of our depth - not good. As the boy grew he became more and more aggressive and I had no idea what to do about it. So feeling totally out of our depth we shipped him off to an in house training school as soon as both dogs were old enough. About this time he started to limp quite badly. Any way after he was trained you got to go back for at least 4 weeks of training, but could go back every week for the life of the pup. It was very harsh handling with check chains (not a go at check chains - it was just harsh handling, but I stuck with it and the dogs and I all improved slowly together. When the little man was 7 months we were finally on top of his behavioural problems, but he was still limping and was diagnosed with OCD of his elbow. The vet told us 2 ops were likely to be necessary as it was the most severe case he had ever seen. We made a very difficult decision and found ourselves with just the one dog again. I kept on going to training and the bond between us grew almost daily. I also started to read a bit about different dog sports and decided that we would havea go so we signed up at the RSPCA for a dog sport prep class and started to learn about positive or at least reward based training methods. It was expensive and I wasn't totally convinced we were training as well as we could so I joined up at a local agility club. The first night there the class was doing hand touches - Xena hadn't done much for a couple of weeks so when I offered my hand she just launched for it. The instructor was amazed and really encouraging. (That same instructor was judging when we got our first agility pass - I'm sure she didn't ever make the connection, but I know I did.) I think from that point on I knew that we would be involved at some level or other. I didn't really know that it would become such a massive part of my life. So, I went from clueless, somewhat irresponsible owner to heavy and ignorant thug, but at least giving the dogs some guidance to trying desperately to get some level of control over a VERY high drive BC using reward based training to a point now where I use a balanced approach and have 3 dogs who love what they do. I love the friendships we've developed and the support that the community gives those who are willing to listen and get in and give it a go. Now almost 4 years after joining that agility club dog sport pretty much rules our lives and I can't think of a better way to spend my time.

http://www.weather.com.au/vic/dandenong Hmmmmmm.............. Sat - numerous showers. Sun - Heavy rain..

She is Guirmere, same as Maria & Gordon's dogs (and a few other QLD'ers) ah, thought so. ETA - Wikki has had a couple of nice plays with the 3 pups from the litter about 5 months ago. Trek is going to be a monster! She is really stand offish until she realises she knows them and then jumps in. T

I have to admit that I'm a little puzzled as to why anyone would place any blame on the jogger in this instant. Equally I can't see anything understandable or excusable about the handler's response. THEIR DOG BIT SOMEONE WITHOUT REASONABLE PROVOCATION!!!! I've been on both sides - jogger and dog walker and as far as I'm concerned the simplest solution in both instances is to assume that the other person owns the footpath. At any rate I DO walk 3 dogs with 2 of them being very chase driven. I need to have my wits about me and yes, this includes eyes in the back of my head to see joggers coming up. I'm the on who chooses to take up a footpath with my dogs so I need to get out of the way of anyone else who wants to use the path - behind or in front. Simple. If either of my dogs bit someone I would be nothing but apologetic, anyone who is anything else is just shirking responsibiliity - adrenaline or not.

I have to admit that I'm a little puzzled as to why anyone would place any blame on the jogger in this instant. Equally I can't see anything understandable or excusable about the handler's response. THEIR DOG BIT SOMEONE WITHOUT REASONABLE PROVOCATION!!!! I've been on both sides - jogger and dog walker and as far as I'm concerned the simplest solution in both instances is to assume that the other person owns the footpath. At any rate I DO walk 3 dogs with 2 of them being very chase driven. I need to have my wits about me and yes, this includes eyes in the back of my head to see joggers coming up. I'm the on who chooses to take up a footpath with my dogs so I need to get out of the way of anyone else who wants to use the path - behind or in front. Simple. If either of my dogs bit someone I would be nothing but apologetic, anyone who is anything else is just shirking responsibiliity - adrenaline or not.

Agreed. We have run some quite small & twisty courses that had great flow & no bad angles Not much distance between some of these jumps & lots of turns, but it had a real flow to it & was lovely to run :rolleyes: to you to. What Kennel is Trim from?

EXACTLY. Difference between tough and dangerous. I just spend too much time and value my dogs too much to see them injured like that. I had some horrible near misses at training early on because of my own inexperience - don't need it at a trial. ETA - I think this is a good example of a twisty course, but a safe one. (and it gives me a chance to post up my girly's video again if I'm honest!) X face planted because I was late on my turn - nothing to do with the course. (Don't most dogs use their nose as a fifth leg?)

I don't have a problem with a tight course as long as the angles are safe and there is a flow to it (as opposed to being flowing). Hard to explain without being able to show it. With X I'm lucky - she is almost as quick as a big dog, but turns almost as well as small dog. I don't run CK on tight courses - any change of direction blows his mind, let alone lots of tight turns. :rolleyes:

Who were the judges Vickie? Also - just as a comparison or to make the point. X can and has run at up to 6.5m/sec in Novice JUMPING courses. In the Advanced AGILITY course on Saturday night she was absolutely flying, but only managed about 4.2m/sec - 1.2 sec behind the winner. If their top dogs are running easier courses then they have to be a LOT quicker or something is wrong.

What Vickie and Staranais said. As long as they are weaving nicely and driving forward with their head down I don't really care what they are doing with their feet as long as they are safe and comfortable. There is a lot more time to be picked up on the course than even 1 second in the weavers. Think about every step they take being .2 of a second. Tightening up turns is where most of our time just evaporates.

My sentiments entirely....why do they do that. It just seems very counter productive, especially for novice dogs to try & do tight, crappy courses. It should be all about the dog having fun & these courses certainly are not much fun. If the judges want to govern the number of qualies they get, then can't they simply make the time tighter. We are heading to Queensland in a couple of weeks to WAGG, to test out some Qld courses. expect them to be different though, as it is ADAA. Woo hoo!! See you there. At the risk of starting a fight.......... Sometimes CCCQ courses do make me struggle and some I don't think are safe for the dogs - esp at Novice and even Excellent level. (bearing in mind I'm not running a Novice or even an Excellent standard dog because of our late start in CCCQ life) For the most part these seem to be set by either novice judges or judges with a background in obedience who have never run an agility dog in their life. Building courses isn't just about plonking a heap of obstacles in course designer and dropping numbers on them - there needs to be an element of challenge, but they also have to allow the dog safe passage around them. I like a lot of the different challenges that ANKC judges put together and it has improved our ability to run difficult courses, but some of them are just evil. (The courses.) The big difference it seems (and this comes from an ANKC judge, I just happen to agree.) is that ADAA have senior judges vet courses before they are released on unsuspecting triallers. It is quite a process before and ADAA judge can design their own courses. There doesn't seem to be that same mentorship for the ANKC/CCCQ judges. There are plent of really hard challenges - some subtle, some obvious, that you can build into a course without asking a dog to do unnatural turns or take dangersous entries to contact obstacles. Just my 2 c.

Well done Rory! WOO HOO. Little sister Wikki says you'd better tell mum to hurry up or she will be in the agility ring before you!!

I was thinking that the breeding o/s might have something to do with it - selected for a greater period of time. Then I was talking to the ADAA director of judging the other day. He has just been judging in the US for a big event and was amazed at how much simpler the USDAA courses HAVE to be. Must be 18ft between jumps for a start. Dog must be quicker when they KNOW what is confronting them rather than have to make their own mind up. I'm sure their training is a little further down the track than ours as well, but it was interesting to hear his comments in light of this question. T

Yeah, but that's all the fun of it! Xena is my first dog and we only got into it because she is soooooooooo full on and needed an outlet for it. Who would have known getting a running mate would have taken over my life - and ended my running career. :D

Lol AD I got soooo excited once when Brock did that! Sure everyone thought I was crazy. Looking good :D I just figure I can fix the contact thing easier than I can fix the speed thing. He isn't a 'serious' Agility Dog as such so we just have as much fun as his brain allows him to have (and work on giving him permission to have more fun!). As for quick.......they are awesome fun to run, but if I had my time over I would probably not choose a drivey BC to learn agility with - it has taken 3 years of really hard work to get to the point where I can actually run her! ;)

We had heaps of fun at our ADAA trial last night. CK went really well all night, no cards, but that was just the weaver thing - other than that he was brilliant and having a ball. This was his gamblers run - He even jumped over the contact on the DW once - that is a good thing for him! :D Means he's driving. Xena had a great night. First in open agility, third in Advanced agility - both with a card. And third in Open jumping with just one fault - I pushed really hard on a rear cross weave pole entry and she didn't quite understand - something to work on! This is her advanced run.

Well done - great to see you guys getting better and better. Also well done on the title! :D

Another POV here. We've talked it through with our vet and did two puppy Vaccs (as per breeder recommendation, but against the vet's usually schedule), then did a TT in place of the third. We will then TT in 6 months, then 12 months in sync with the other dogs. Lots of testing, but they are cheapish any way and we start to understand what actually happens after the needle instead of vaccinating because we 'should'. Not for everyone and I'm not saying it is the best way, but it is another option if you don't like vaccinating.

Thanks Erny. The last 2 1/2 years have been an interesting journey! I turned into a dog nerd :D ;) I look at it this way. Just about every Saturday night I go to a party and celebrate doing just about my favourite thing in the whole world with 100 odd good friends (well, for the most part :D ). How many other people can say that, mean it and then get up the next morning and do it all over again on Sunday. Well done - he is looking great!! And it is great to see another guy doing good things at agility - most of us have egos that won't let us laugh at ourselves - no 1. criteria for being an agility geek methinks.

Yep, they are the ones. I got one at Christmas and I don't think you will be able to destroy them. My boy is a pretty good tugger when he puts his mind to it and we haven't marked ours.

LOL, she's gorgeous! And she weaves very nicely! VERY cool.

Try emailing [email protected] I know she brought in a heap of soft frisbees made from material. I have one and it is great. I'm not sure she has it one her website. Tony