Agility Dogs

I don't think it is illegal, it might be against guidelines though. Having said that I wouldn't be too concerned by it. I have three BC's. Two of them came to us from their breeders at 12 weeks, one of them came to me from a pet shop at 6 weeks. While there is no way that I will ever source pups from anywhere other than a breeder again (for whole variety of reasons) I can honestly say that while all three of my dogs are amazing if I could clone one of their temperaments/dog to dog interaction and general demeanour it would be the one from the pet shop. I'm not saying it is ideal or even desirable that puppies are taken from their mum earlier than 8 weeks just that the OP should not worry too much if their pup is doing fine.

My preference is for an afternoon trial. If it has to be a morning start then the earlier the better......within reason.

Just thought I'd share one of the training sequences from the WAC sessions over here in the Netherlands. I love it when I get a chance to run this boy. Only one more full day of training before it starts to get very real. :)

Yes, they are, but surely we are better off to try and live together and work things out as a community than we are to run and complain when there is a problem. It's, in part, this mindset that has made it difficult to live with dogs in suburbia. FTR - I live next door to two VERY barky dogs, I feel the pain, but I don't run to the coucil every second week.

It's horrible when they are that upset - good on you for caring. :)

Completely agree - people need to be given a chance to fix things. Try and let them know in a civil manner what is happening if you can work out where the dog lives. I think if more people adopted that approach rather than going to the authorities or getting abusive from the word go (not saying you will, but it was certainly my experience when we had a noisy puppy) we'd all be in a far better place as far as dog friendliness goes.

Well done everyone. Chequeredblackdog - your puppy is awesome. Tassie, you are an inspiration. CK says he might be coming your way for some Rally-o lessons. ;) We had another fantastic trial last night. Xena was perfect. She is looking for a new handler who can stay on his feet and not over handle. We did manage one great run - slip notwithstanding. Woo did a great job too - I've officially upgraded her improvement from slow to steady. LOL. This was her jumping run - not our best (in fact it was our worst) of the night, but it goes to show we are getting there. :)

Yep - there is no way that the lady should have to endure that and it is NEVER the person's fault IMO. One of my girls is incredibly motion sensitive and will lunge at runners who as they go past us - totally my responsibility to control. I would be horrified if ever she hurt someone. That said it is frustrating when people just don't use their head. The other morning we had 6 Borders out for a walk and a jogger thought it would be OK to run through the middle of us with his dog in tow. (we, 3 people and the dogs, were tucked over to one side of the road and he came upon us from behind.) Joggers who do the same thing without a dog are just as frustrating. IMO it's a bit like driving a car as close as you can get to a cyclist or pedestrian and wondering why when they get upset.

Thank you for saving me the effort of typing. (Although I don't rescue I share your point of view.)

It's a great book. On the drive thing....... Not all borders are fast. My younger girl used to consistently run 6 to 8 seconds over course time. She's now 10 to 12 seconds under it - not quick, but no longer in the painfully slow category. To build this up it's been all about FUN for us, but it also started by making sure we NEVER practice rubbish. (harsh - sorry - we never practice anything we don't want.) If she comes out at a trial and isnt' the dog I want on the start line we do something fast and fun and out of there. (It's taken me a while to get to the point where I was frustrated enough to throw away $5 or $7 on a nothing or NFC run, but I can now see it is money well spend.) If she is a bit dull at home (rare these days) then we don't train what I had in mind and do something I KNOW will get her up - I would rather speed than work on more skills. At home we started by only training for 15 seconds (literally) and then putting her back in her crate, then out again, then 15 seconds. It's taken about 2 years of this, but I'm now to the pont where she can work for about 2 minutes before she starts to slow down. I'm proud to say that last night she was driving really nicely, almost as quick as my other dogs and with potential to go faster still. :) She is the second dog I've done this with. The first was her half brother who had different issues, but suffice to say it's made a world of difference to him and we can now work for as long as we want without him slowing down. (As long as the environment doesn't freak him LOL.) If you can get a tunnel that will also help build drive. :) Pool noodles are brilliant as well...... This is my boy playing at home. The pool noodles build into a fantastic game. :)

Just wondering - is this discussion focussing on the wrong ends of the cycle. Would it be better for dogs if all the really positive energy here was devoted to people who have dogs and ensuring that they are the best possible owners they could be and not get to the point where dogs are dumped? Regardless of where they come from or how they get there.

First of all - well done, that's an amazing first year. And....WELL DONE on not going near that horrid agility equipment in the dog park. I HATE it with a passion - anything that doesn't move has no place near quick dogs going through or over it. (Or any dogs.) First thing is - don't beat yourself up. It's a massive jump from Excellent to Masters. I can remember going 9 months without a card when I went from intermediate to Open at ADAA which is pretty much the same thing. There are two things to think about IMO. The first is how you walk the course. 'Stuff up the easy part......' I can't tell you how many times I did this over about a 2 or 3 year period. Then a friend gave me a really good tip. when you walk a course - just walk it and see where it goes. Don't worry about your handling. Then the second time walk it again with your handling in it. The third time...(This is the cool bit) start at number 20 (or whatever the last obstacle is), then walk the second last and last number, then walk the third last, second last and last. (All with your handling and verbals or whatever you use.) The point of this is that the further you get into a course the more tired you will be and the more liklely you are to forget things. If you've walked the ending 20 times that's got to be better than walking the whole thing 5 or 6 times. (How often do you forget the first 4 jumps?) The other thing with walking that I find useful is to try and break it down into logical sequences so I'm not trying to remember the whole thing at once. Then once you have walked it go off the the side and walk it again in your head. (This takes practice, but is AWESOME!) (If you can get to ADAA trials you can also do Not for Competition rounds where you can practice small parts of the course without the pressure of being 'in the ring'.) Then there is the training at home. It's hard with a small back yard, but not impossible. We have a yard that sounds like it might be similar sized to yours. I do a lot of work with pool noodles and just one or two jumps. Really hard stuff, but with the focus on fun and excitement. That way when we transfer it onto a course we have far fewer hassles with the tricky stuff and we can just focus on having fun. Pick something you though you could have done better on the weekend and work on that for the week. Susan Garrett's one jump DVD is great for this sort of thing. Just getting out and building your relationship works wonders for how you go at trials. Contacts - did you learn using a contact plank? My dogs run over a jump and then have to stop on a contact plank on their line (appropriately spaced). Between that and lots of rear end awareness they have pretty good contacts (if they are not too high in the ring LOL.) Hope that kind of helps - just try and enjoy getting out and not worry about the results so much and magically the results seem to flow.

LOL. The upside is that the contacts for the nationals will be AWESOME! We've had a play on one of the dogs walks that has been built and coated. :)

I love my k9 soft crates. :) 2 of my guys have been fine in soft crates from a youngish age. The third......ummmmmm......... Flyball nationals - look across field. Oh oh. Why is that cute little BC puppy running around - AAAAAAAAAAGH its my cute little BC puppy. She had worked out how to get out and came looking for her big brother and sister. We put her back in and then she ripped the front out because the zip didn't work. In sterile environments she is fine, but it took forever before I could leave her in a soft crate in an exciting environment. (And she is my calmest one!) She was almost 3.5 years before I could trust her in a soft crate. Now we have no problems. Like Ness said, I think it depends on the dog and their personality etc.

I'm only going Friday and Saturday after someone talked me into strategic pairs with Xena. I thought I might as well take the extra day. :) It'll be our first so I can't wait to see what its like!

That's awesome. :) Sometimes I think it's the non-trial brags that are all that much more special. :)

WELL DONE!! Love that Rory is having so much fun. AND just amazing for Kirra - I hope my guys are still going strong at 12! Mr CK might have finally started to run like a real dog by then. LOL.

You guys did a brilliant job. I can't believe what a short time you've been doing it for. GREAT STUFF!!

I braved running 1/2 the trial last night after nursing my ankle for a fortnight. WOW WOW WOW is all I can say. Xena ran for a friend in the first two events - 2nd place in advanced jumping and just one fault in open jumping. I had 4 competition runs. Wikki was just fantastic in our Open Jumping run - actually starting to drive ahead of me in a couple of spots, but she dropped a few bars chasing me. I'm OK with that - her timing will improve as she runs faster more often. YAY. Then we owned snooker. 47 points was the qualifying standard. We played it safe - Wikki and Xena scored 49 points and both won their class. CK qualified with 48 points and finished just out of the placings in his. (Snooker is an open standard game at ADAA, we don't run it in the varying levels.) The higlight for the night though was Wikki's sheer joy in all three of her runs. (One was NFC.) The hard work is finally starting to REALLY show results. And Xena's run for my friend, they seem to be making a habit of going clear in advanced - second time in as many trials.

So sorry to hear about your Gran. Hope you are OK. Nothing to add for the little one.

I got the same warning from my two when Wikki was a puppy. For me it was as simple as putting the second crate right beside the existing one. They can see each other. Know where the other is, but can't get at each other or in each other's space. My girls get on just fine, I just don't crate them (or any of the dogs) together any more.

you guys are doing a great job!! Grab me at the trial if you want a hand coming up with a plan for your NFC's. :)

I just love these guys.

Oh - Xena will do it, but she will look like she has been beaten while we are doing it - you should see her on her way to the start line at agility. You'd SWEAR that she HATES it. I'm sure she gets nervous.

Thanks. :) I just can't stop smiling when I watch her - it's amazing to think where we've come from and that a couple of reputable performance vets told me that she would never run again. I'm incredibly lucky to have a vet who believed (although I'd given up!!). This is truly her year. WELL DONE with your guys! Although so frustrating when its just the little things. I think CK and I might debut in Rally before too long. He's got the skills we need - I just need to work out what the courses look like. Xena is not a Rally kind of girl, but Woo may try her hand at some point as well.