J... Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 I am doing both with Darcy (9 months), just got put up to Class 3 for obedience. Still doing beginners agility due to her age. She loves the agility but could probably take or leave obedience. I wouldn't mind trialling her in obedience but my preference is the same as hers - agility!! So did you continue with both, or did you just focus on one? Did you find obedience beneficial beyond what was needed for agility? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridgie_cat Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Im at about the same spot as you with Lana > I am planning to do both. I figure if i am at a comp I may as well enter in everything I can. Im not sure how bigger ones work but down here agility, obedience and jumping are all run at the same place on the same day etc... i think she will listen to me more in the other stuff if she is v obedient anyways ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 (edited) Yep, I do agility and obedience (plus more) with my two Vizslas. Our preference of the two is always agility, but I've trialed both of them in obedience succesfully. With my older guy, who was the first dog I trialed in anything, we did obedience lessons until he was old enough to start agility at the dog club and then we gave it up until he was about 3.5 years old and started trialing in obedience (he was trialing in agility from just over 2). I actually found that the agility training helped our team work and understanding of body language in obedience a great deal. With a little more knowledge with my second Vizsla I started both agility and obedience training from a young pup and he's trialed in both, obedience first because he could do that younger. Edited September 3, 2006 by FHR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhara Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 (edited) [a tachment=49286:attachment] Yes, we do Agility as well as Obedience. They compliment each other. If you have a fast dog you need to be able to control it, Obedience of some form is a must. We own Ch. Hagenstolz Whata Cad A'Z CDX, AD, ET, JD. , Ch. Karraine Calaisglow A'Z CD, AD, JD. and now their daughter, (74 Challenge Points for Aust. Champ.)Kyzhara Daisy Chain A'Z CD., although not Trialling as yet, will be in the Agility/Jumpers Ring in 2007. Our dogs are multi-purpose/multi-skilled. My bitches learn "Get Behind" and "Stop" for Agility. I never use Obedience Commands in the Agility Ring. Everything Iteach my dogs are positions. In order to maintain a requested positision, they have learned a movement etc.. to get to that place. If I say Heel, I mean Heel. To often I see people in the Agility Ring tellig the dogs to heel, they never do, at least not how you would expect to see the dog respond to that command. We score extremely well in Obedience, because what we expect is black and white to the dog. No cofusion. We did notice that if Obedience was first at Trials, the dogs worked better in Agility. If it was the other way around, the dogs were all keyed up and by the time we did the Obedience, they really still felt like they wanted the freedom Agility allows. You need to read your dog and find whats comfortable for both of you, and go from there. What scores are you after/capable of, and how best you can achieve that. Or will scraping through do! Aim high, train wisely, but most of all enjoy the expeience! Edited September 3, 2006 by Zhara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helen Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 I did both, trained for both at the same time too. I had stopped obedience when I started agility but to get my dog in working mode I used to do some heel work when our turn was close, she was doing so well I went and did her CD title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayreovi Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Yes, it helps control the dog and you need to have good obedience for when you dog is off lead. Besides what else have you got to do before you can start agility There isnt alot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjk05 Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Nup- I used to, did 8 obedience trials a few years back (6 for one dog's CDX, and 2 extra to finish a 2nd dog's CD) but then just didn't have enough free weekends to keep trialling in both. So we moved over to just agility, and my new dogs aren't doing any formal obedience at all. They learn basic manners, and general stuff like targetting and waits for lead-outs etc, but its not necessary to have formal competition-type obedience to do agility (heelwork, stand for exam, retrieves and the like). My older dog loved his obedience, and knows most of his UD work, so I still think about getting back into the obedience ring to do that one day, but he is 10 now, so I might wait until he retires from agility. If you don't really enjoy obedience much, just stick to agility. Even with a puppy, there are loads of agility-specific basics you can start training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazz Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 As above I do both, you need a certain level of obedience to exceed in agility and really the more control you have the better especially with a fast/independent dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tiggy Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 I'm going to do Agility only as it's FUN! I get bored in Obedience so the dog does to. I teach basic obedience and manners so the dog is well behaved at home and on walks and I'm teaching agility groundwork and a really reliable recall so when we start going to Agility training(Sophie's not old enough yet) we'll have that training under our belt. It's up to you if you enjoy obedience your dog probably will to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjk05 Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 you need a certain level of obedience to exceed in agility Yep, but not formal obedience. You can teach all the control and teamwork you will ever need just by training agility, no need to do formal obedience if you don't want to. Lots of clubs now have agility-specific foundation classes, for puppies or young dogs- so you can get started with the important basics with agility in mind (things like working on both sides, targetting, hind end awareness, sending on and recalling, and some basic equipment performance). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Yes. No point in putting your dog over obstacles if you can't control it between them. Obedience is great for establishing and maintaining focus and control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smisch Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 I did obedience with one of my dogs for about six months but I don't do it anymore lol, it took too much out of snoops who decided half way through class, 'I'm gonna curl up and have a sleep' half way through healing excersises! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhara Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 Nup- I used to, did 8 obedience trials a few years back (6 for one dog's CDX, and 2 extra to finish a 2nd dog's CD) but then just didn't have enough free weekends to keep trialling in both. So we moved over to just agility, and my new dogs aren't doing any formal obedience at all. They learn basic manners, and general stuff like targetting and waits for lead-outs etc, but its not necessary to have formal competition-type obedience to do agility (heelwork, stand for exam, retrieves and the like). My older dog loved his obedience, and knows most of his UD work, so I still think about getting back into the obedience ring to do that one day, but he is 10 now, so I might wait until he retires from agility. If you don't really enjoy obedience much, just stick to agility. Even with a puppy, there are loads of agility-specific basics you can start training. I didn't mean it was best to do formal Obedience Trialling, just that we do both at the same time, because that's were were we are at the time of Training, Ability, and competition. I agree, you don't need formal Obedience, so long as a person has the fundamentals of understanding and control of the dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mokey Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 We only do agility. My dog has improved immensely in her focus and recall just from doing that. It's a fun thing that we do together, I don't feel we're missing out on anything by not doing formal Obedience training. Each dog and owner team is different, have fun and decide what works best for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 We are doing both, as I want to continue with both But of course the agility is more fun!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rottiadora Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Obedience is fine. Just concentrate on working your dog on "both" sides if you plan to do agility. I've seen so many left sided obedience trained dogs struggle when crossing over to agility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaseyKay Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 I started my older dog in obedience as something to do while waiting for her to be old enough for agility. I always thought it looked pretty boring but both the dog and I liked it. She broke her shoulder when she was 2 so just did obedience again until she was 3. Then most of the shows around where I live are joint shows...I went through a period where we just did agility... then did agility one day and obedience the other day. She is 5 1/2 yo and we recently started competing in tracking and have given up agility due to worrying about athritis etc in the shoulder. She did pretty well in both sports... she wasn't more of an obedience or more of an agility dog. She was consistant in agility, got a lot of clear rounds and ribbons for most of those, but up in the top level she was always outclassed by the really fast dogs so did not make AgCh. She might get to ObCh yet. The higher we go in obedience the more she seems to enjoy the excercises. Tracking in NZ is part of "working trials", about 2/3 of your marks are from the track, the rest heelwork, sendaway, scale jump, broad jump and retrieve over clear jump, plus 10 minute down stay. She loves tracking. I am actually very pleased she had previously done both obedience and agility as it made the rest of the working trials not too difficult, pretty much only had to learn the tracking. My younger dog just does agility and she is faster and less obedient than Maddie, I have a lot of fun with her...she is trained to do obedience but doesn't compete yet, (dumbell issues). She was more attentive heeling at a younger age than Maddie but she doesn't have the same "style". I have also tried tracking with her but she does not show the same drive for it. My next puppy I would hope to do something similar to Maddie (well without the broken shoulder...) do obedience, then agility, then both, then add tracking later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Tracking in NZ is part of "working trials", about 2/3 of your marks are from the track, the rest heelwork, sendaway, scale jump, broad jump and retrieve over clear jump, plus 10 minute down stay. She loves tracking. I am actually very pleased she had previously done both obedience and agility as it made the rest of the working trials not too difficult, pretty much only had to learn the tracking. This sounds like a lot of fun! Can any breed compete?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidoney Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 I used to obedience trial but nowadays just do agility, no time to do both. "Obedience" in agility is not an issue if you do agility foundation work ... which is more suited for agility than obedience type work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Rottiadora: I've seen so many left sided obedience trained dogs struggle when crossing over to agility. I have often pondered whether it is the dogs, or their handlers that struggle with the cross over to agility.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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