Agility Dogs Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Hmmm maybe I am. Now that you mention it it had improved when I know I didn't look at her a bit later, but I had to ask someone else if she had done it right Shoulders turning in maybe? I have done a few things like put a toy / food after a jump and have her run to that instead, could probably do with a lot more of it though. Is that the type of thing you mean? Along the same lines - we did an exercise the other week where you need to decide whether the dog should be equipment focussed or handler focussed. When you want them to drive straight and hard (equipment focus) you need to be driving hard (running like hell). When you want them to be turning you need to be looking at their nose. If you can walk a course and pick which bit is which then you stand a chance of giving them really clear information - I don't get bitten, but I get barked at when I get it wrong. Try it next time you walk a course - it works really well. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Jazz has had 3 formal lessons and has been doing so well. Last night they moved her out of beginners and into the next class and she was running short sequences off lead. And I knew this was a possibility but I thought I might get a few more weeks in - Jazz has come in season. Just figures that once I started training and booked her in to a herding clinic that she woudl have her long awaited season. So her agility training is back on hold for a few months and our chance of trialling this year is probably out as I expect it will be a little while after her litter (assuming she gets pregnant) before she gets her full fitness back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Bugger Piper, those pesky girls! Puppies are exciting though! Well I tried the head straight thing and it worked first go!! I had a straight line of three jumps and when I ran along and consciously kept my head straight and didn't look at her she actually ran along the line of jumps dead straight instead of pulling into me!!!! Lightbulb moment over here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffy Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Bugger Piper, those pesky girls! Puppies are exciting though!Well I tried the head straight thing and it worked first go!! I had a straight line of three jumps and when I ran along and consciously kept my head straight and didn't look at her she actually ran along the line of jumps dead straight instead of pulling into me!!!! Lightbulb moment over here Don't you love those moments :D Run in the right direction and direct eye contact is just one cue to turn your dog. Hope you come along to Daisy's seminar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I want to but I'll be in Europe!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfin Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Just say, (purely hypothetically, of course), that a conformation showie was contemplating looking at maybe perhaps thinking about having a go at agility with her (or his) showdog (a sighthound with a working dog's brain and activity level), where would that person begin? The conformation-titled show dog is still shown regularly with success, but the show dog's brain wants to tackle more. The showie might have been told by several people that the dog might enjoy agility. The show dog has NO formal training (apart from run around in a circle, stack, hold stack for as long as requested). The show dog has exceptional recall for a sighthound (unless there is a rabbit involved), but that is it. No "heel", no "sit", etc . (Norty showie) Is there somewhere the showie could go to watch etc. and learn more before making a COMPLETE tool of herself (or himself) by involving said dog? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 Well I tried the head straight thing and it worked first go!! I had a straight line of three jumps and when I ran along and consciously kept my head straight and didn't look at her she actually ran along the line of jumps dead straight instead of pulling into me!!!! fantastic Amypie :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Can anyone recommend a good agility club in Sydney? I am located on the lower north shore, but happy to travel up to 45 mins to get to a good club. I would like a club where there are regular opportunities to compete. The dog is an 11 month old labrador. She is very fit. I understand it would not be a good idea to compete with her until she is at least 18 months, but i would like to get some training in the basics and to have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 Can anyone recommend a good agility club in Sydney? I am located on the lower north shore, but happy to travel up to 45 mins to get to a good club. I would like a club where there are regular opportunities to compete. there is a list of clubs here: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...08588&st=15 each club generally holds 1-2 trials a year. Dogs are not allowed to compete until they are 18mths Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Just say, (purely hypothetically, of course), that a conformation showie was contemplating looking at maybe perhaps thinking about having a go at agility with her (or his) showdog (a sighthound with a working dog's brain and activity level), where would that person begin? The conformation-titled show dog is still shown regularly with success, but the show dog's brain wants to tackle more. The showie might have been told by several people that the dog might enjoy agility. The show dog has NO formal training (apart from run around in a circle, stack, hold stack for as long as requested). The show dog has exceptional recall for a sighthound (unless there is a rabbit involved), but that is it. No "heel", no "sit", etc . (Norty showie) :D Is there somewhere the showie could go to watch etc. and learn more before making a COMPLETE tool of herself (or himself) by involving said dog? I am not from Vic but a good place to start would be going along to agility trials and have a little bo-peep and going to an agility club (someone in the know can help you there) just as an observer for a little bit and hopefully taking said dog along. My sighthounds love it and are very good at it - better than their owner if fact and would probably be better if not owner handicapped Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Can anyone recommend a good agility club in Sydney? I am located on the lower north shore, but happy to travel up to 45 mins to get to a good club. I would like a club where there are regular opportunities to compete. The dog is an 11 month old labrador. She is very fit. I understand it would not be a good idea to compete with her until she is at least 18 months, but i would like to get some training in the basics and to have fun! Just wondering if you're allowed to do agility training with guide dog pups? Sorry I can't help with the info! But there is plenty of foundation work you can do with a dog before 18 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 She isn't a guide dog puppy any more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 She isn't a guide dog puppy any more Awesome! (for aussielover ) But I'm still curious to know the answer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 We had a lesson with a very good agility competitor/instructor today. She is fabulous because she appreciates that Ziggy can't concentrate for too long and, unsurprisingly, she is great with puppies too. Em and Zig had 2x15 minute sessions each. With Ziggy, we worked on the seesaw in the first session - just building his confidence. His 2o/2o is great but he was getting to the middle, bailing out and then going back to the start and offering 2o/2o. He couldn't work out why he wasn't getting rewarded for that I ended up razzing him up and playing "catch it" games with food, which really helped and we managed to put a jump before and after the seesaw at full size. Em came out and the instructor spent some time getting to know where she was at with her training and then we did a few puppy jump bumps. Most of the work we did was for my benefit so we had a few things to go with. LOTS of puppy zoomies and Em displayed her special talent of discovering long lost toys in every corner of the training area That said, she was really responsive to all the training although I got into trouble for only training her to heel beautifully on one side Then we got Zig out again and did a small part of a Masters Jumping course and we determined that the next thing he needed to work on was being sent to obstacles from a distance. His front crosses and serpentines were MUCH improved! Em came out again but she was pretty taxed mentally so we quickly looked at some shadow handling training and then introduced her to a shortened tunnel - one word. Hilarious Think I will have a tunnel suck on my hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Sounds like great session TSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Sounds awesome TSD- where are videos of said gorgeous puppy and older brother though!?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I promise to get some video of Em soon - she has caught on to the whole handling games idea REALLY quickly and loves the tunnel. Last night at training I practiced start line stays - in the past we have done stays on their own, stays as a release to go through a gate or run off-leash, stays with a recall and stays with a retrieve (I walk out and throw a dummy as a "mark" and then return to her). Within a couple of tries, she picked up that arm outstretched meant "get ready to run like hell to the hand with the food" and she was so pumped that she broke (and then corrected herself). Very funny little thing is going to be hard to keep one step ahead of Anyway, I was delighted with Ziggy on the weekend. As I said in the Brags thread, from 4 runs we had one pass with 2nd place in Excellent Jumping and, as luck would have it, it was the only one I managed to have videoed: Zig absolutely nailed his first Open Jumping run, including the distance challenge, but somehow managed to enter the weaving poles from the wrong side....possibly I pushed him into it but I was delighted nonetheless. The other Excellent Jumping and Open Jumping runs revealed a couple of holes in our training, but nothing too drastic. He was absolutely exhausted yesterday (as was I and even Em was a bit whacked) and I normally don't take him to training the night after a trial. However, I had to drop some paperwork off and I'd had a long day in front of the computer so thought I'd wander down and just train Em if Ziggy was not really into it. To say I was blown away by his enthusiasm is an understatement - he was just busting to get out on course, was running the seesaw with confidence (although I still have a helper to let it down a bit more slowly) and was much more resilient when I made an error (frequent ) or he couldn't do something because of a training black hole. He was tugging like a fiend and knocking a few bars because he was running harder than usual. I'm so delighted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 What a lovely run, TSD!! Ziggy is a good boy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whiskedaway Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Ziggy looked fantastic TSD! What a great run! We're only starting in agility. Akira got given the go ahead to train off lead two weeks ago after proving that she was finally listening. Last week she got that privilege revoked after a lovely run through a tire, through a tunnel and over a jump... then instead of stopping kept going and did an amazing high speed run around the oval before finally recalling to the trainer (who she adores) not to me. Two days later Halo's obedience instructor made a joke about whether Halo would be getting some super fast agility times when she was older as well. Not sure I'll be living that one down for a while. Naughty Akira! As Akira's only 13 months old, all jumps are low (she can just run over the top of most of them) and she's not allowed on any colours yet until she does her carpet properly. Funnily enough, she's understanding what touching the carpet means, but she still refuses to drop half the time at obedience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 Way to go TSD & Zig!!! What a nice run, congratulations :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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