Agility Dogs

I think I agree with just about everyone in that I think all dogs, regardless of size SHOULD be expected to act the same way. Sadly the reality of it is that the ramifications of bad behaviour for a medium or large dog are much greater than for a small dog. This is what we have to deal with, not the ideal. On a happy note, I was out walking the other night and we came across a lady with two fluffies. One of them just wanted to say hello (and was being quite polite about it looking to mum for approval), the other one was a terror - barking, snarling and growling at my two BC's. Mum asked if the little one could say hello and we had a very nice meeting. Xena never notices other dogs and couldn't care less, but CK can be a policeman when other dogs are rude. In this case though he behaved beautifully and said a very nice hello to the polite little dog, all the while ignoring the barking snarly dog (that was being kept out of harms way). The lady knows she has a challenge and was really glad of the opportunity to let her nice dog say hello. I thought to myself at the time - what a pleasant change from the usual head bowed heading the other way with the growling dog bouncing around on the end of the lead. She is committed to helping her aggressive dog and I'm looking forward to seeing her next time to see the progress.

What you saw was different owners with different criteria. The rules of the game state that for all contacts the dog has only to touch inside the changed colour (contact zone) at the bottom of the piece of equipment. Various handlers choose to manage this in different ways. Some choose to do 2 on 2 off (or a variation of it) by asking the dog to stop at the bottom of the contact. This allows you to catch up with your dog and makes 100% sure that they have performed the equipment correctly. Essentially the dog knows it is in a stay when it hits the end of the contact and should wait to be released. Others do running contacts - this is where the dog knows to run to the bottom of the contact and is allowed to keep going. This is trained very differently to the 2o2o contacts, but is a very quick and valid way of doing things. Then there are the prayer/shout/slow down methods - where the dog really doesn't understand or doesn't have a criteria and the handler uses all sorts of methods in the hope of getting their dog to stop on the contact. Sometimes people get lucky and it appears their dog can run contacts, but in actual fact the dog just doesn't want to jump! Hope that helps.

We have a trailer.........with the FF gazebo in it. I think we have some clothes somewhere as well. Should I be worried?

I bit the bullet on Saturday and bought a gortex jacket.......then got the chance to test it yesterday. Liking it a lot - not too hot, and totally dry!! Quite pricey, but I'm planning on keeping it for quite a while.

Your trainer doesn't happen to sell commercial food do they? I found no real difference in behaviour when I switched my two to BARF. They do have a bit more energy (as scary as that is!), but no change in how easy or otherwise they are to live with or train.

Thanks Guys. ME - That's exactly what I am after. Seita - Thanks, but Drizabone would be too heavy and I want something that will breathe so a rain coat won't really do it for me. BTW - I think I saw you playing at Southside a while back.

Sorry for the slightly OT post, but I guessed that this would be the best place to get some good ideas on wet weather gear for trialling. After spending the better part of Sunday standing in the pouring rain and cursing my 'wet weather' jacket - the only thing that was wet was ME!! - I've decided to get a really good jacket. My two criteria are that it MUST be TOTALLY WATERPROOF and I have to be able to run quickly around an agility course in it. I'm not concerned about warmth, just keeping dry.

Xena started competing in agility at 18 months after starting 'proper' training at 12 months. This is a video from her second trial. Both she and I have improved significantly in the 2 years since her first outing. Her first flyball race was around the same time and she has been pretty much spot on ever since. We started flyball training at about 14 months so it only took about 4 or 5 months to get her going really well there. I've been incredibly lucky with her because she is a very willing worker and very forgiving of novice handler/trainer mistakes - and there have been a LOT of them. CK on the other hand started training seriously at 14 months (we could only do very basic obedience up until then because of an injury that took about 9 months to get sorted fully) and just now at almost 3 years is beginning to get it, although we still have a major issue with weavers (only in the ring, not at training - go figure) that we have to sort out. This is one of our earlier efforts - very sad!! :p He's always gone well at training, but when you add the layer of a competition ring we do struggle. He is just about 'there' though. His progression in flyball was pretty similar to Xena's. He did his first flyball beginners comp only 2 months after he started training and hasn't looked back. In that run he had a good look around, but by the end of the day he was running low 5 second runs, he is now consistently under 5 seconds over lower heights and there or there abouts at the full 14 inches.

When things don't go as I have planned I just decrease the complexity of the exercise, make it heaps of fun and then start again next time from there. eg: I go down to a local park and do some obedience exercises and some agility foundation work with my two a couple of mornings a week. Xena always works consistently and well. CK on the other hand has ups and downs depending on other dogs that might be walking through the park, the weather and the angle of the moon........ On the down morning I'll sometimes have to go from the really cool fun stuff, right back to just getting his focus and making sure he will stay close and play under the distractions around us. The following morning I start him off again at this point and quickly progress back to where I want us to be.

I know!! At the end of it she was barking at me like mad. I'm not sure if I was getting told off (as I do when I make a mistake on course :rolleyes: ) or if she was seriously excited by it!

Hey all, We've just returned from the ADAA Grand Prix and although we didn't come away with the results I was hoping for there were some really encouraging signs to come out of it. Xena managed the 24 weave pole challenge in 6.72 and 6.79 seconds for her two runs - I was pretty happy with that since she's only ever seen 24 poles once before. She also got one gamblers card and another games card. The gamble I was especially happy with. Aside from that we didn't do all that well in the results dept, but she ran very nicely in some attrocious conditions (either hot or wet depending on the day) and got better and better as the weekend went on. In her last run on the weekend she managed 15 obstacles in just on 23 seconds - including the dog walk and weavers - I was pretty happy with that. CK ran nicely all weekend and got better as we went, but still decided there was no way he was going to weave in the ring. I think the extra layer of pressure is still a little too much for him so it's back to making sure that he loves weavers before putting him back int he ring again. All in all pretty happy with both dogs - and they ran brilliantly at training last night as well (Yes, CK did weave well - arrrrrrrrrgh!!!) Tony

The others in our team have vans booked from Thurs night. Not sure where they will put them if Friday is the earliese we can get there.

I wasn't game to go there!! ;) We are gong to be a motley bunch mostly arriving Thursday afternoon - some of us flying (Ros, Rach, Jane and I think Anne (Alfie's mum - Alfie won't be there though) and Jan, Mike and Morgan are driving down over a couple of days and Malina and I are going to drive down on Thursday. (too many events in Oct - GP, this weekend, then flyball, then WDG.......work not happy......but at least they have let me go in arrears with my leave!)

41 teams all up across 8 divisions and 243 races over 2 days...the biggest flyball competition ever held in Australia... :D and we thought it was hard work getting in and out of the rings last year! At least we won't have cows to worry about this year. :D

Last I heard it was 35ish

Yep, we will be at the grounds. Tent and puppies will get a work out 2 weeks earlier at the ADAA GP at Macksville so we should be well and truly prepared.

Maybe even with pink tails, but then again after our last effort that took 6 months to fade......maybe not.

Cool ad. Edited for safety's sake.

Only 4 weeks!! I'd better tell the others we have to start training......... See you there.

Xena started Agility at just on 18 months, flyball at about 15 months and Frisbee somewhere in between those two. She has been great from the word go in all her worlds. CK started flyball at 16 months in his first beginners comp and then joined the team at about 19 months. His first agility trail was at about 20 months and that was way too early, but it has taught him to have fun in the ring if nothing else! Just now at almost 3 years he is starting to go well. He started frisbee at about 4 months - we try and start getting them in the ring as a puppy and throwing appropriately (rollers, nothing in the air) so they get used to the environment. The problem was he cracked his elbow at about the same time and then did nothing until he was just over 12 months..........

Not sure which table I will be at - may have to find out whether we can get BAD and ADCQ together since many of the members seem to be the same! ;) Yeah, good idea about joining the ADCQ and BAD tables. Btw Steve is counting you in the ADCQ one (you are on his official/confirmed list according to the adcq group email). I know. Have emailed him.

:p Not sure which table I will be at - may have to find out whether we can get BAD and ADCQ together since many of the members seem to be the same! :p

Me three. Of course BAD is better!! LOL. Seriously - the basic obedience course is not so much about 'obedience' as it is about developing a relationship with your dog and building the foundations that you can build an agility dog on. You won't learn heeling, you will learn handler and/or obstacle focus and a lot about shaping.

;) :p I think they also have a place now more north..... maybe PM huski? Another vote for Rowan - yes, pricey, but very good and you don't end up walking out with stuff you don't need.

LOL - the fun part is when there is control. Sometimes the dog is still having fun, but the control has long since gone out the window!!