[Shaina]

Originally Posted by MyCharlie

Now that I think of it - are your classes outside or inside? How do you guys handle peeing if it's inside?

Ours are inside. We haven't had any problems with accidents, but we have mop bucket on hand with two sprays bottles...one diluted vinegar, one Nature's Miracle, in the event of an incident.

The puppy classes make good use of it

Honestly any dog that repeated marked/had accidents or who was harassing other dogs would be asked to leave. Or rather, their handler would be with the assumption they'd take the dog along.

[Kyllobernese]

The big problem is two dogs that pee in the tunnels. The one was told last week that he can do the other equipment but not the tunnels. He is never going to compete with the dog, just does it for fun so that won't be a problem. The other is a female and she squats and pees all through the tunnel and chute. I will take some Nature's Miracle with me tomorrow night in a spray bottle and try that. If she keeps doing it she will have to be banned from the tunnels and chutes as it is not fair to the other dogs.

Our fun Agility trial is coming up at the end of the month so my sister and I are practicing over some of the equipment every few days, plus going to the classes on Wednesday night. I did not take Susie with me today as she found a very dead fish lying in the bush and rolled in it and smelled so bad I could not take her in the Van. I have some Nature's Miracle Skunk deodorizer that I sprayed on her and hope she smells better by tomorrow as it is too cold out yet to bath her. Still going below freezing at night and only up to 10c or 40f in the day.

Our classes and the trial are all indoors in arenas.

[Lonewolfblue]

The classes I go to for Nell's Agility is also indoors, and for any accidents, they have paper towels and Nature's Miracle as well.

[agility collie mom]

Originally Posted by Solid Mutt

I agree with you. The owners says that her dog is normally great with other dogs. But, she came after mine twice - because it looks like the neighbor dog. LOL I am not sure what the reasons were for it going after the two other dogs in our first class. I have been told they plan to switch her groups so we shall see tomorrow. I will be sure to keep you all posted. There are two instructors and a couple helpers.

So the GS dog has gone after three dogs total in class? She really is not ready for agility and the instructors should talk to the owner. (Not just switch to another group of dogs.) Since agility is fast paced it tends to make a dog with a high prey drive even more excited. So she needs to have a really good recall, sit, stay etc.

[Lonewolfblue]

When I was in Agility Foundations, we also had a GSD like that, but never actually attacked any other dogs as there's a distance rule that we cannot let the dogs get within 6 feet of another dog, and Foundations class is ON-LEASH. But he did react to other dogs in class. He ended up not going on in the class, and is now in the Focus class, which is where he really needed to go first. He may have to repeat the class a couple times, but this gives them an excellent chance for working through some issues, and working on getting the dog to focus on the handler, rather than what's around him.

[MyCharlie]

That's one thing with our classes - the instructor stresses that you need to be pretty proficient in obedience before starting agility. We do have certain dogs that don't want their space invaded so you really should be able to call your dog back to you if it is going over there.

ETA: The 6 foot rule is interesting. We don't let our dogs play because it's "work time" but they still sniff and say hello sometimes.

[Lonewolfblue]

They just use the 6ft rule as a safety issue. Especially in the first few classes. It towards the end of the classes all the dogs are good, the rule sometimes gets relaxed, like with me and Nell in Foundations. The last 3 classes were pretty much off-leash, as I could control her. Occasionally she would go to another BC owner, as he also had a frisbee, lol, but she would come right back, and his BC was good with other dogs too. But overall, after a few classes, you can get a good feel for the dogs in the class and the trainer works accordingly. As for the rule, it's called the 6x6 rule. 6ft distance, and 6ft leashes.

[agility collie mom]

Originally Posted by Lonewolfblue

They just use the 6ft rule as a safety issue. Especially in the first few classes. It towards the end of the classes all the dogs are good, the rule sometimes gets relaxed, like with me and Nell in Foundations. The last 3 classes were pretty much off-leash, as I could control her. Occasionally she would go to another BC owner, as he also had a frisbee, lol, but she would come right back, and his BC was good with other dogs too. But overall, after a few classes, you can get a good feel for the dogs in the class and the trainer works accordingly. As for the rule, it's called the 6x6 rule. 6ft distance, and 6ft leashes.

Yep same here. Our instructor always says "Everyone control your dogs. We have a whole lot of dogs in a small bit of real estate!" Especially whenever the next class is starting to come in. 16 dogs sounds like a lot of dogs in a beginners agility class. How big of a space do you work in? We normally only have a max of 8 and that is with two instructors and usually one or two helpers.

[MyCharlie]

We only have one instructor She is awesome, but I definitely feel that sometimes I get sortof forgotten. I will ask her about something and she completely forgets. She also does obedience and field hunt training, so she is stretched very thin!

We always practice in our outdoor ring, I'm not sure how big it is! It's the same place where we hold our trials if that makes a difference! LOL So it's pretty big.

[MissMutt]

We're hopefully starting our Beginner class Tuesday.

[Lonewolfblue]

At our classes we have 1 instructor and 1 helper, and usually 10 dogs max. Then by the end of the class, we are usually down to 6 or 7, some of the dogs drop out of the class. But there was one time where the trainer allowed a few extras and we had like 13 or 14 in the class at the start. It was a bit tougher in such a small area.

[MyCharlie]

Oh, I forgot to say we usually limit class to 6 dogs. But people just show up sometimes, even if they aren't on the schedule, so it can end up being 8 dogs... very annoying!

A lot of times we just do drills, focusing on a certain thing like pivot turns or go outs or rear crosses or whatever. If a ton of people show up we sometimes only end up getting in two runs, which sucks!

We did have a pretty cool class one night where all we did were jumps and it was set up with four jumps in the shape of a capital I. We did three or four drills using the same setup but working on different things and it was really fun. Plus it was an easy drill to set up by yourself if you wanted to go practice.

[Laurelin]

Our class is full with 10 dogs.

Yesterday we did a big string of obstacles- teeter, jump, tunnel, jump, tire, table, tunnel, jump, chute. She did great! She did refuse the chute (last obstacle of course) but I tripped over the last jump and made myself look like an idiot!

Gus, the Aussie jumped on top of the tunnel and ended up collapsing it. >.<

We have one lab that annoys the other dogs. Three dogs in the class are reactive (Summer, the JRT, and the JRTx ACD) and the lab annoys them all. He has to go stand on the other side of the field most the time. He's very bouncy and in your face. Other than him, though, the dogs are wonderful and I think really helping Summer's reactivity.

[Shaina]

Webster had his best agility class yet this week . He's just in an intro to obstacles class, but he tends to focus so intently he can overwhelm and confuse himself.

I've been doing a lot of channel weave work with him, since it's something where he could start off with his usual "dive in head first" method by just charging down the middle without thinking yet still succeed. By slowly upping the ante by moving the poles closer together until he had to think about his path, not just where he's going, I was hoping to teach him to keep sight of his goal while keeping his wits about him.

This week, after a few easy warm-ups, I moved the poles in enough that he actually had to wind around them a bit. He charged in with his usual heedlessness, then started to skip out on the fourth pole...I gave his no-reward marker and he hesitated, so I indicated the correct path and he finished the weave (6 poles).

The next run through he again almost skipped out on the 4th pole, but with no input from me corrected himself and finished the line. Jackpot! I was so proud of him for thinking about it and consciously choosing the correct path and finishing it. We ended there for the weaves.

I love those moments where something just "clicks"


Kim has been working on pinwheels, serpentines, crosses, and distant work, and is having a good time. Her prey drive has recently skyrocketed though, and I have to work hard all class to not only keep her engaged, but sufficiently under threshold that she can settle while other dogs run without fixating on them. It's a balancing act of self-control, she's doing great with it, but I'm tired by the end of class, lol.

[MyCharlie]

That's awesome Shaina!!

What's a pinwheel? Is that where you stand in the middle with jumps around you, like you are the center and the dog is "pinwheel"ing?

[Shaina]

Originally Posted by MyCharlie

That's awesome Shaina!!

What's a pinwheel? Is that where you stand in the middle with jumps around you, like you are the center and the dog is "pinwheel"ing?

Yup, that's it

[Solid Mutt]

Originally Posted by agility collie mom

So the GS dog has gone after three dogs total in class? She really is not ready for agility and the instructors should talk to the owner. (Not just switch to another group of dogs.) Since agility is fast paced it tends to make a dog with a high prey drive even more excited. So she needs to have a really good recall, sit, stay etc.

Well here is the update from our class on Wednesday. When I got to the class, they asked if I would mind going to the small dog group and then the GS will stay in the other group. I said no problem. I like the small dog instructor a lot. We will talk about the GSD first. I heard her a couple times during class and was told by another student (in her group) that she proceeded to go after a couple other dogs as well. They were having a talk with her about this. I am not sure what will go on next week. I guess only time will tell when we go. I did at one point when we were at the same field at different obstacles the other instructor asked if I would make Voodoo be still that the GSD was going to go through the poles and that she had been focused on Voodoo. So, I did and the GSD refocused on her owner and was fine. But I was shocked not even being near her she was focused on Voodoo. Now on to our class. This class was not as successful as last weeks. Last weeks was awesome and we really felt like we were getting it. This week Voodoo being switched groups really wanted to play with the other dogs and go visit the other owners. (She is a social Butterfly) So, I was quite disappointed in all the focus work we have been doing. I had her focus a majority of the time and I know she is still a pup. It was just disheartening. She did awesome going through the tunnel and everyone was so amazed. The instructor said once I get further in to this I will love Voodoo's enthusiasum. She is just go go go. I personally am more laid back. LOL Anyways back to the tunnel - she rocked it. Well I did our post turn and went to get her she was off leash and well she saw the weimaraner pup that is also in this group (he is not small but I guess because he is a pup he is) Anyways Voodoo leaves me and goes back thru the tunnel and goes and plays with this puppy. I was so embarrassed. The instructor told everyone make sure that your dogs wants to be with you and not others. That totally bummed me out. We adopted Voodoo from the shelter in Dec. She is about 11mos now. She was at the shelter at least 3 mos prior to us adopting her. She has great manners at home and normally when we go places. But there is something about this agility that makes her VERY ENERGETIC! I am happy but I need to control it. My husband and I love her very much and I feel we have a bond. I just wonder if it is not strong enough yet or what I can do to make it better? Oh well enough boring stuff. I was going to go to practice tomorrow, but I have a horse show. So, next weekend I plan to hit the agility practices they have on Saturdays. I have a few things at home to work with for now.

Thanks for letting me share!

[Squeeker]

We had our first Novice 2 class last night!

We hae 5 dogs in our class this time. 4 of us have been together for the past 3 sessions, and myself and another woman have been together since the introductory class. The 5th dog is a standard schnauzer, who was a bit intimidated (I think) by the 4 of us.

Our instructor is fantastic so far. Much better than our last one. Not that our last one was bad, but she was very quiet and not as willing to jump in if we were making mistakes.

We did the full sized teeter for the first time! We put the pause table under the end to minimize the tipping sensation. Libby did great!

Here are some videos!

[agility collie mom]

Great videos! Beautiful dog. Brittany?

[Squeeker]

Great videos! Beautiful dog. Brittany?

Thanks! Yup, that's my Britt!