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Hmm ... I might have to look at going back to my old agility club. They ran 6 week courses and taught each piece of equipment separately whereas the one I'm currently at is a bit more of a free for all; a course is set up and you just work your dog through it.

I just didn't have time to commit to the other club because it was run on Wednesday nights and I worked too far away to be able to get there in time. Now my work's changed location I might hit up this club again. They teach weave poles using the 2x2 method too rather than my current club who teach us to lure our dog through each pole using food.

Is there an etiquette regarding training at two different clubs? As is, does it matter if I'm training at more than one club?

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The other club sounds just the ticket! If you train at 2 different clubs just make sure you're consistent with your dog. At the less structured club don't get talked into doing too much too soon - don't make a big deal of it but just quietly do your thing. Sometimes the clash is too much and it's not worth persisting but see how you go.

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I did really enjoy my original choice of club and the classes were great. I was actually working with Kirah and my brother had Zeus so I ended quite a few classes in tears of frustration. Kirah is quite a challenge to work with but the instructor was so nice, she pulled me aside and asked me not to get upset with little Kirah because she'd turn out to be a fantastic agility dog. Her reasoning? The dogs who are the most work end up being the most rewarding.

Kirah is hard because she just won't stay. She continually shuffles to be either in front or near me and got scared of the tunnel -- though she got over that like a champ! She's an amazing tug dog and has a willing heart and tries hard -- I just don't bring out the best in her yet. Once Zeus has completed his introduction courses and in the later classes I plan on working with Kirah in the intro courses too. This is where I do wish I only had one dog -- I want to do so much with both of these guys but I'm not sure how to make it all fit in!

I guess I want to do too much waaaaaaaaay too soon! :o

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Rory is a star!

:laugh: We'll see about that after this weekend's trialling - but we'll ahve fiun anyway.

Tassie I'm wondering whether it's more that I didn't have a party with her - she is like a shark with food but certainly is a dog who loves praise. More powerful than I realised perhaps.

Yes - I think you're almost certainly spot on there. Certainly for Rory I think the party is as significant as the treat. I find in the component obedience training I'm doing to polish him and me up a bit, I'm using far less in the way of treats, and more in the way of physical and verbal play and party - stuff I can take in the ring with me. Miss Kirra on the other hand - that would be the very nearly 12 year old Kirra who reached up tall to pull some things down off a shoulder high shelf in the kitchen this morning because I'd left a tiny morsel of treat up there - well, it's all about the treats. Not really, but she values the treats as highly as the party, I think.

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In an effort to do some weave proofing the other night I had 4 poles set up and placed a chicken wing near one of the poles (on the off side), oh my God I wish I filmed it, it was so funny :rofl: Trixie got it very quickly and did a few very fast laps through the weavers then got her wing - but Kyzer was so strange and funny he was just growling (excited training type growl) and just running around all 4 poles staring at the chicken looking so confused, like he didn't want to go near it because he knew he wasn't allowed to eat it yet :laugh: Dogs are so funny - he got it after a bit and did great weaves and got to eat the chicken wing :laugh: Tried the same exercise last night with 4 legs spread around the poles and boy did he fly and nailed it first time - obviously grasped that concept!

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And the son wants to do agility :D I'm hoping they will come to my club and do my Puppy Games course :D :D :D

Velvety and dark she was. But more than that she was ALL LEGS AND ANGLES lol. I've never laughed so much at a puppy loose leash walking. She was like a bloody prancing pony!

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And the son wants to do agility :D I'm hoping they will come to my club and do my Puppy Games course :D :D :D

Velvety and dark she was. But more than that she was ALL LEGS AND ANGLES lol. I've never laughed so much at a puppy loose leash walking. She was like a bloody prancing pony!

Hahah yeah they are a bit ridiculous to watch - people still laugh at Trixie's ridiculous run haha. When she was a puppy her back end moved faster than her front which didn't help things - lol

Awww so cute, hope they go on to do it with her, we need more agility Mannies! Tell them one was a national jumping champion once that might spurr them on and give them hope through the early challenging terrier days :rofl:

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Thought I would share a quick video of Hudson and I at the mock agility trial today.

This was the first run, and the first time in 12 months he has faced a full course. Still SO much to work on! We really need to work on our contact behaviour before we trial and continue working on our weaves (the neverending task) but I really need to time my handling a bit better (or work on teaching him better rear crosses) because when we are running straight lines like this it is hard to get in front so I don't have long to do my front cross. But it was SUCH a great learning experience to video this and have some great help and feedback from the others who were watching.

I wish I had the 2nd run on video after making a few small changes to the way I handled we ran this SO much better! But hey.. I think we are making big improvements but we are still learning a lot!

And just for fun if people are bored.. haha

This is us training 12 months ago, I think I can see an improvement :) I guess it's just not as much as I would have liked, but we will keep working and hopefully keep my crazy boy 'inside' the ring for a change!

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Thought I would share a quick video of Hudson and I at the mock agility trial today.

This was the first run, and the first time in 12 months he has faced a full course. Still SO much to work on! We really need to work on our contact behaviour before we trial and continue working on our weaves (the neverending task) but I really need to time my handling a bit better (or work on teaching him better rear crosses) because when we are running straight lines like this it is hard to get in front so I don't have long to do my front cross. But it was SUCH a great learning experience to video this and have some great help and feedback from the others who were watching.

I wish I had the 2nd run on video after making a few small changes to the way I handled we ran this SO much better! But hey.. I think we are making big improvements but we are still learning a lot!

And just for fun if people are bored.. haha

This is us training 12 months ago, I think I can see an improvement :) I guess it's just not as much as I would have liked, but we will keep working and hopefully keep my crazy boy 'inside' the ring for a change!

Well done! I think you're doing fantastically!!! He is definitely enjoying himself and has lots of potential. I hope you don't mind me suggesting this but, since you know he needs more work on contacts and weaves, don't stop and repeat an obstacle when he doesn't complete it correctly. From experience I can tell you that this can be incredibly demotivating for dogs and has a tendency to slow them down and cause them to disconnect. Even if you're late with a front cross and he misses a bar just keep running flat out. Make that your next training challenge!!!! Work on the other stuff separately - when you're running a course, run hard and have a HUGE party at the end!

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