[Lonewolfblue]

Great videos. Looks like you are doing pretty well there.....

[agility collie mom]

Originally Posted by Solid Mutt

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!

She is still a puppy! She will make mistakes but, it sounds like voodoo and you are well on your way. Let us know how the horse show goes.

[melgrj7]

We had the advanced II class again today. I worked Lloyd in the advanced I just before it and then in the advanced II. It was an attempt to tire him out slightly so he wouldn't be as crazy, it didn't really work, lol. He really enjoys the agility stuff. He did great on all the obstacles, we did the weave poles for the first time today. After a few times he did them great, slowly, but great. He looked at me with this look of "I don't get the point of this, its not fun like the jumps!", but he did it anyway We need to work on him not being so close to me. He has the tendancy to draw in towards me, I know he wants to jump up on me and grab my clothes (he used to do this a lot when I first got him) but he controls himself. He used to do that when I first started jogging him too. His self control has improved a ton since we got him.

He did great on the dog walk, A frame, pause table, jumps, hes getting the weave poles. Next week we do the teeter. During the week maybe I will go in and work on getting him to push out away from me a bit with the jumps. He is really good at focusing on me though, which is nice At one point he went over a jump and then saw the target we had been using for send aways early and ran and got it and brought it to me, lol. He also didn't hit the contact coming off the A frame at one point, so I brought him around it and did it again, making sure he went down it properly.

Oh and we also need to work on working off the right side more. He did it but was telling me I was doing it wrong, lol (grumpling at me).

[agility collie mom]

I use "come jump" put him in a sit stay at the jump go to the opposite side of the jump and have him jump toward you "come jump." "Go jump" again sit stay in front of the jump and have him jump away from you "go jump." Start with a single jump once he gets it you can keep adding jumps parallel to each other.

[lucygoose]

Sqeeker, I loved the video's.....very interesting how they have that table for the teeter......I had a brittney for 14 years......I love the breed! Great dogs!

Willie and I enjoy agility very much!! We went to a CPE workshop in Ohio with Jim McKenzie and his wife a few weekends back....It was very nice!! We got all our games in a folder. I need to start getting Willie into trials as he is ready! Does everything but we need work on the weaves. We could do UKC or CPE.....We have been in classes for about a year? I forget how long.....lol....He is reactive, so we just keep going no matter what to keep him in something.....He is really coming along with that......but I always have to be ready for him. I love agility! I hope you all have fun.....

[MyCharlie]

We had a "fun trial" yesterday where we did a pretend trial and had different club members judge each game. It was fun!

Since I'm not going to do agility with Charlie anymore I brought Kaya (who hasn't started yet) just to see how she would do in her crate while I was out and about scribing and timing and stuff. Plus to see how she would do with that many dogs running around (Charlie used to sometimes bark at the dogs on the course during their runs). She did awesome! Whined a little in her crate but not too bad. The other dogs running, whistle blowing, etc. didn't seem to bother her. Mostly she just wanted to play with all the other dogs, so it was a good lesson in self control.

So she passed her first "agility test!" lol

Squeeker, I like the videos! Her tail was so cute wagging like crazy on the teeter!

[Squeeker]

Sqeeker, I loved the video's.....very interesting how they have that table for the teeter......I had a brittney for 14 years......I love the breed! Great dogs!

Thanks! I really like the way that our agility club teaches... everything is very broken down to be sure that the dogs are confident on each obstacle.

Nice to see a fellow Brittany lover!

Squeeker, I like the videos! Her tail was so cute wagging like crazy on the teeter!

Haha, yah, her tail never stops while we are at agility, lol!

Since I'm not going to do agility with Charlie anymore I brought Kaya (who hasn't started yet) just to see how she would do in her crate while I was out and about scribing and timing and stuff. Plus to see how she would do with that many dogs running around (Charlie used to sometimes bark at the dogs on the course during their runs). She did awesome! Whined a little in her crate but not too bad. The other dogs running, whistle blowing, etc. didn't seem to bother her. Mostly she just wanted to play with all the other dogs, so it was a good lesson in self control.

I need to do this with Libby. I am volunteering at a trial next month, and I plan on doing this as well. It will be good practice for her.

Speaking of, does anyone here crate their dog during their lessons?

[Kathyy]

I do. I want to watch the other dogs work and not Max visiting around behind my back. It sort of mirrors a trial as well. Dogs spend a lot of time crated while the human half of the team walks the course, works the trial, talks with friends, etc. Then they get out, walk around and do their business, warm up and RUN. So at class I do all that several times in the hour class lasts.

[MyCharlie]

I normally don't crate during lessons, just clip him to the fence. But I did a trial prep class this year before our trial in November and we all brought our crates and used them.

I guess if you are going to classes 1-2 times a week it's a pain bringing it out every time. But they have some really cool doggie tents and stuff!! Someday I'd love to get one of those! As long as you can trust your dog not to tear through the nylon

[Kathyy]

I am currently using that cheapo Target collapsible crate. Unless I put a chair on either side he turns it into an A frame. I used my 2' xpen before that, that is easy to carry too. When he was an untrained hooligan I did use my monster 4' pen and even had to put the top on so he wouldn't walk it out so it collapsed on the dogs. My school has a bunch of wire crates and pens to use at class as well but the reason they are there is they were left there and sometimes left because the doors don't work so well any longer. Max is good and all but leaving a door flapping is a bit much. I did clip him to the fence for a while but he was so scared of everything back then it wasn't good for him. He can pretend the crate is safe.

[Squeeker]

I do. I want to watch the other dogs work and not Max visiting around behind my back. It sort of mirrors a trial as well. Dogs spend a lot of time crated while the human half of the team walks the course, works the trial, talks with friends, etc. Then they get out, walk around and do their business, warm up and RUN. So at class I do all that several times in the hour class lasts.

Yah, this is what I am thinking of doing as well. I have a collapsible crate for Libby that we use while travelling and such that I plan on using, I just want to get a small tarp to put underneath because our club has a dirt floor, and I don't want to track the dirt into the car and house.

[Solid Mutt]

Originally Posted by agility collie mom

She is still a puppy! She will make mistakes but, it sounds like voodoo and you are well on your way. Let us know how the horse show goes.

Thanks for the encouraging words! They are greatly appreciated! We had a great weekend. I took Voodoo with me to the show 8 hours total driving for one day. LOL She did great though while we were there and while we were traveling. I was very tickled with her. The horse show was great my horse is young and just starting to get competitive and she did great too. So, I was so pleased. Yesterday, my tunnel I ordered off ebay arrived and so I set up a few obstacles I have and worked with Voodoo on them. I was pretty pleased when we worked them at home. We only have two classes left in the session. I have been thing about our next step and going back to obedience and start Level 2 in that just to get secure in our off leash handling in public. Then maybe start back to agility, but I guess I will see how the next two weeks go and decide.

So how is everyone else doing?

Originally Posted by 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!

Very Cool Videos!!!

[agility collie mom]

Solid Mutts,
Glad the horse show went well. I've only shown a few times. Just too expensive. Glad that classes are going well for Voodoo and you. I'm sure that Voodoo is happy to have a tunnel at home. Most dogs just LOVE the tunnel!
I was suppose to have class tonight with Rio but, I'm sick and just too tired to go. (Worked 10 hours today to boot.) Hopefully I'll feel better by Thursday for Savannah's class....she's a real workout!

[MissMutt]

Gawd.. that was fun.

My agility class tonight gives me even less of an incentive to start my homework. I'd rather go train. And to think - this is only foundation work!!

[agility collie mom]

Originally Posted by MissMutt

Gawd.. that was fun.

My agility class tonight gives me even less of an incentive to start my homework. I'd rather go train. And to think - this is only foundation work!!

It does give you a rush doesn't it!!

[MissMutt]

It was SO cool!

We did things that I'm going to do a terrible time at explaining..

The first was having the dog turn away from you as you made an about turn such that they wound up on your opposite side. I think she called it shadow handling? Anyway Marge is pretty good at it as long as I'm doing it right.

Then we practiced through uprights with the bars on the ground.. dog was either on the left or right, walked through the upright and around one pole, handler about turns, dog winding up on the same side again.

The last thing was paw targeting - this was actually really fun because it's something I've really never done with Marge before with the exception of the "give paw" trick. I mostly practiced this at home.. took a plastic lid, put it on the ground, clicked and treated when she put her paw on it. Supposed to help with contact zones.. I'm guessing maybe the instructor will put the lid in the contact zone of the A-Frame.

The instructor kind of overestimated Marge's fears repeatedly.. I guess she saw a more fearful dog than she really is. That was slightly irritating but not really her fault I suppose.

Let me know what you agility buffs think of all this..

[Kyllobernese]

Finally the snow is gone from the riding ring at my sister's place so we can use our "homemade" Agility equipment. We are going to move it out of the riding ring onto a grassy area as her mare is going to have a foal this year and we can't have the equipment where the foal might run into it. We are going to have to rebuild our dog walk as right now it is built over a big horse feeder, and our teeter needs repainting with something rough in the paint so they do not slip on it. We will still take the two dogs into the arena in town a few times a week to practice over the proper equipment but our equipment at home, especially the weave poles are nice to work with for a short time the other days. On the 26th of April we are having a "Fun Agility Match" which will show us where we need the most work. I have Susie entered in Standard, Jumpers, Snooker and Gamblers and Remmy in Jumpers and two Standard classes.
It will be in an indoor arena. Our next two trials after that are outside on grass which is more fun.

[Solid Mutt]

I am pretty excited after last night class. There ended up being only 11 of us showing up and so, our groups were smaller which was very nice. The GSD was not there. I am not sure why ( I had been told by someone else that they had planned to talk to her about her dog and its issues with the others including Voodoo) I have no clue if they did. Anywho, I was again in the small dog group which was fine I really like the instructor. The only issue is Voodoo thinks the smaller dogs are like toys I believe. LOL Anyways we started on some flat work with turns and etc, then once done we broke up in to our groups and we headed over to the jumps we would work two and practice our front crosses and post turns, then we moved to the tire jump and started to come at it from an angle and get the to take the jump square. After that we moved to the weaves which are just two rows of pole they run through and we had the table at the end and the would get on the table and then we would release. After that we moved up to the dog walk to work on contacts same with the "a" frame. We each got to work the teeter. It is only like a foot or so high, the small dogs all had the instructor hold the end as it teetered down. She held it with Voodoo the first time then said lets have her try it with out me holding it and so we did and she did great. Did not pay attention to it at all. Then we went to the broad jump. This is the first time we have done this. It wasn't bad at all. Then last but not least we went to the tunnel and chute. There is a small dog in our class (Chihuahua) maybe? Anyways she is very nervous at the tunnel and does not want to go through. Her owner is very good with her and she does all the other obstacles like a CHAMP off leash already. Tunnel is her downfall. She did get her to go through last week while it was still straight, this week it was bent in the middle. So, she went to go try and her little dog would not do it so the Instructor asked if I would take Voodoo through to show the others how to approach and go. (Talk about making my day) I tend to stay back in the pack and am usually last at every obstacle. So I sent Voodoo through the tunnel and she did great. They ended up straightening it some for the little dog and she went though. After we completed the tunnel from each side we moved to the Chute. The first time around the instructor held the sock open for the dogs. Then next time she said when they are almost through the sock I am gonna let it touch their back so they can get used to the feel of it touching them. So, everyone is going through and have completed their second go except Voodoo and I. I was walking up there and the instructor was walking towards us. (I guess I had a look on my face like - what about us) LOL She looked at me and said I know Voodoo likes this just send her though she doesn't need it open. I said GREAT - I would love to send her threw it with out it being held. So, I send Voodoo threw it and she is like a pro right threw she went and out the sock she comes. I was so proud of her! It was a GREAT NIGHT! The little dog that did not like the big tunnel the removed the sock and just got her used to the tunnel part of the chute and she did fine. It is just going to take some work. My only thing I need to really work on is being able to take Voodoo's leash off her more in class. Everyone else is off leash the majority of the time. We however are on leash just because Voodoo want to go play with the other dogs in between things. LOL But, hopefully that will just take some time. I was able to stay after class a little and Voodoo got to be off leash and play with a young Golden that is in the big dog group. It was so good for her socially to be able to rip and romp for a bit. She loves to rough house with other dogs but we don't have any others for her to do that with. The cats only take so much. LOL

Thanks everyone for letting me share how this weeks class went.

Originally Posted by agility collie mom

Solid Mutts,
Glad the horse show went well. I've only shown a few times. Just too expensive. Glad that classes are going well for Voodoo and you. I'm sure that Voodoo is happy to have a tunnel at home. Most dogs just LOVE the tunnel!
I was suppose to have class tonight with Rio but, I'm sick and just too tired to go. (Worked 10 hours today to boot.) Hopefully I'll feel better by Thursday for Savannah's class....she's a real workout!

Agility Collie Mom,

I just wanted to check and see how your are feeling and if you are better!

[agility collie mom]

[
Solid Mutts,
Thanks for asking. I still am not up to par so Savannah and I didn't go tonight. Hopefully I will be back to normal by next Tue to take Rio. And Savannah next Thur. It will be our last classes till next round starting in three weeks. I will caution you on one thing that I discovered. When Rio first started in agility I too let him play after class. He had a wonderful time however, I found that when we went to class he started to become more interested in the other dogs and less focused on me. So I stopped the after class play. Just a thought.

[Solid Mutt]

Originally Posted by agility collie mom

[
Solid Mutts,
Thanks for asking. I still am not up to par so Savannah and I didn't go tonight. Hopefully I will be back to normal by next Tue to take Rio. And Savannah next Thur. It will be our last classes till next round starting in three weeks. I will caution you on one thing that I discovered. When Rio first started in agility I too let him play after class. He had a wonderful time however, I found that when we went to class he started to become more interested in the other dogs and less focused on me. So I stopped the after class play. Just a thought.

Agility Collie Mom -

I am so sorry you still aren't up to par. I hope you get back to feeling better soon. Surely by Tues when it is Rios class you will be ready for action. Thanks for the word of caution I will definitely keep that in mind. I had not thought of that and with her focus issues on the other dogs it may end up being more issues to have to work on. I appreciate the heads up.