Tiggy Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I'm just wondering peoples thoughts on doing both obedience and agility. I know some parts of obedience(eg left side only, focus on handlers face) can be detrimental to agility. I'm tossing up between doing the two or just focusing on agility which I have fun with where as obedience feels more like a chore. I have no doubt my dog is smart enought to know the difference between the two it's me that's the problem . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke W Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I'm just wondering peoples thoughts on doing both obedience and agility. I know some parts of obedience(eg left side only, focus on handlers face) can be detrimental to agility. I'm tossing up between doing the two or just focusing on agility which I have fun with where as obedience feels more like a chore. I have no doubt my dog is smart enought to know the difference between the two it's me that's the problem . I'm trying to do both. Barkly heels on both sides At the moment, I'm doing obedience stuff and agility foundation stuff. I try to keep everything fun. There are dogs that have titles in both agility and obedience. I want Obedience Champion and Agility Champion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 (edited) Go for both, dogs are clever, as long as you are consistent they will learn the difference in both and you wont have any probs, same as showing and obedience, mixed opinions, but the dogs really do know the difference if you are consistent with your training, and theres heaps out the with show and obed and agility titles Edited April 14, 2009 by shoemonster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I find agility much more fun and the dogs enjoy it more too. I am doing obedience with Diesel and agility with Kaos. I find it easier to focus on one sport for each dog, as the more I get into it, the more involved each sport is, and I don't think I would be able to do as in depth training on both for the one dog. But other people certainly do both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 It certainly is possible to train and trial in both obedience and agility at the same time, if you have the time and dedication. My Vizsla boys have trialed in agility and obedience together (as well as retrieving and showing with the younger). It's a personal choice and as Kavik said some people prefer to concentrate on one at a time, at least the initial training of. With my young GSP we haven't really started agility yet, concentrating on obedience and retrieving for the moment. He is the first dog that I"ve really enjoyed obedience with though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaC Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 We will be doing both - we are working our way through Obedience now (Mort is 9mths old) and will start Agility work when he gets to be 12mths (minimum age for joining the club here) and he gets to a specific level in Obedience (also a requirement of the club here) .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I think the dogs cope just fine. It's the handlers that sometimes appear to have the challenges adapting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerraNik Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I think the dogs cope just fine.It's the handlers that sometimes appear to have the challenges adapting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedy2 Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I'm just wondering peoples thoughts on doing both obedience and agility. I know some parts of obedience(eg left side only, focus on handlers face) can be detrimental to agility. I'm tossing up between doing the two or just focusing on agility which I have fun with where as obedience feels more like a chore. I have no doubt my dog is smart enought to know the difference between the two it's me that's the problem . hi firstly it can be done. i did agility, obedience and tracking all together. was successful in all of them. however, if you regard obedience as a chore, why do it? if you insist on doing it, treat the agility as a reward for obedience. speedy2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Mine do both and the only limit is the lack of time . I really want to try things like tracking and herding with my youngster but there just aren't enough hours in the day. My older one has both agility and obedience titles and I hope the youngster will go the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claireybell Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 My beagle is doing agility but the other week when everyone was away at a trial we tried our hand at obedience. Super STAR! i was so impressed with her. She's never done any obedience before so yes I think they can do both! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I have eased off the obedience and decided not to start trialling whilst I am training Poppy for agility. Our clubs agility program is fairly full on and I just wouldn't have time to finesse the obedience. There are some things that cause a conflict in the 2 sports. I am also doing herding and some conflicts come in there with agility too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 What conflicts with agility and obedience? I never found anything that conflicts really. There are also HUGE context cues which make it easier for the dog to see what its happening and I find they are quick to read those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I would like to do many dog sports at once but my only restriction is time I'm doing obedience with both my girls (I'm one of those who finds it fun, not a chore!), but additionally, I'm doing retrieving with Ruby and thinking of starting agility with Millie. My only personal concern for doing agility with obedience is I am worried about wrecking any heeling I've worked hard on on the left when I have to introduce the right for agility. But that is a fault with my training skills, not the dog's ability to know the difference as I'm sure they would if their mum wasn't such a dufus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Well obedience you want the dog heeling close and looking at you. Agility you want them working at a lateral distance and being able to focus ahead on the jumps. I couldn't do agility with border no2, Fern, as she basically crashed into everything due to looking at me. I wish had a dog like that now, she was an amazing heeler. You have to think about your turns to avoid your blind crosses. Nothing that can't be worked through. When I do my shadow heeling I use a lets go command so that Poppy knows that we aren't doing formal heeling. I do the old left about turn so am not going to get my knickers in a knot if she blind crosses me. I don't feel like I have lost connection or that she is going to run off and do her own thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Rubystar I haven't had a problem with Kenzie and she has been both foundation training for both from day dot. Ness did have 12 months of obedience first because thats the way we did it then. Having said that the there is a lot to be said for teaching an obedience dog to heel on the right anyway as it evens up their muscles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggy Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 Still can't make up my mind . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Tiggy, if you're new to both sports you may want to concentrate on one at a time for a while. With my first trialing dog I basically did obedience with him until he was old enough to start agility at the club, then dropped that for a while and did agility. The obediece gave him good foundations for things in agility like start line stays and focus. After training him agility, we had much better body language awareness which helped immensely in obedience. I did not have major issues with the left and right thing. My younger Vizsla started agility foundations the same time as obedience foundations and never had an issue with heeling on the left and workig both sides in agility. As for the distance thing... my youngest boy heals nearly in my pocket and also works in retrieving 100+ metres away from me (taking directions). IMO there are enough other cues to the dog about the differences of the sports that with a little work, there really isn't an issue with doing both (or more) sports. Do you want to do both? Do you have time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggy Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 I've got Banjo up to almost CCD level in obedience but I got bored with it last year and haven't been training this year. I've got my motivation back now though. I've always wanted to do agility. Sophie did her cruciate ligament before she was a year old so that ruled her out. Banjo was a slow maturing dog, I didn't want to start him at one year old, he's almost two now and looks good. Still debating if I want to do agility only or the both. Time is definitely a factor. Thanks for the replies . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggy Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 Hello me again . I've decided to do agility only . I'm having so much fun with Banjo's agility foundation training. Can't wait to start training at the club. I felt like I was forcing myself to do obedience when it's not my thing. It's all about having fun with your dog . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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