[agility collie mom]

Rio and I attended a CPE trial this weekend. Rio has been having issues with contact equipment. Last year we attended a trial that had very crappy equipment. Dog walk was shakey and painted black. He took the dog walk that day got scared and crawled across it. From that time on he refused both the dw and the teeter. So we worked on contact equipment at our club. This past spring although he was doing the equipment at home he refused at both trials we went too. Well this weekend he did both! I was so excited I forget the course. It was his best run of the weekend even though he didn't Q in standard. It had been almost a year to date that he had quit doing dw and teeter. What a feeling!! Love ya Rio!!!

 

[Kyllobernese]

I know how you feel. At our last trial Remmy and I finally worked as a team. He did not Q as I went off course at the beginning of the run, did not realize it and carried on and he was right with me the whole time. It was a Masters Jumpers so I was so pleased as we have not seemed to work together for a while. Sometimes I think the best runs are ones you don't Q in but almost everything goes great.

My sister's dog had a fly-off on the teeter (I am sure he thought it was the Dog Walk) and it took quite a while for him to finally get over it and do the Dog Walk and the Teeter again.

 

[So Cavalier]

Congratulations on getting through the issues with the contact equipment. It is amazing how one bad experience gets stuck in a dog's head. I have seen it so many times with friends' dogs. My one friend's dog has had on going problems with the teeter no matter what she tries. She doesn't even enter standard runs anymore.

It was his best run of the weekend even though he didn't Q in standard.

I love runs when you are in sync with your dog.

Last year we attended a trial that had very crappy equipment. Dog walk was shakey and painted black.

This is a huge petpeeve of mine! If a club is putting on a trial and you are handing over your hard earned money, they NEED to have good equipment. At a recent trial, there were problems with a bad A frame. It had almost no traction and the smaller dogs had a heck of time getting over it. I have trialed with this organization before and my cavalier had a lot of trouble especially in the morning when the grass and her fuzzy feet were wet. I learned really quickly with this A frame that we needed a really good running start or no go. My Cavalier typically NEVER has problems with Aframes. At the last trial, one corgi fell off the A frame and another had a terrible time climbing it. He almost fell. After the trial, (which was amazingly well run and organized otherwise), people were asked for suggestions to improve their trials. Almost everyone I knew, said that the A frame needed to be fixed. Hopefully by the next trial, it will be.