Agility - Sharing the ups and the downs - Page 2 - Poodle Forum - Standard Poodle, Toy Poodle, Miniature Poodle Forum ALL Poodle owners too!

Quossum · 11-21-2012, 03:00 AM

Right now Sugarfoot is doing well in class at my training center and also working through 2x2 weaves. We went through an online course for contacts that has really paid off, and we invested in the Susan Salo jumping DVD's and utilized a lot of grids for our jumping foundation.

There's so much foundation work and body awareness stuff that you can do! My 100 Days of Sugarfoot video gave a taste of it...now I need to do a 300 Days of Sugarfoot video and show his progress!

You're so right about just going on if you make a mistake, being casual and unemotional about it. Sugarfoot fell from the dogwalk once, and I just turned around without more than an "oops!" and we went back and right back on it. No reluctance whatsoever.

By the same token, if there's a mistake in the course of a sequence, I usually just keep on going. Say if he bypasses a jump. My philosophy is to keep on going, then later work with a single jump, running by it and practicing not bypassing it, making my handling more clear. I don't want him to slow his forward motion in the midst of a sequence, or to start worrying or second-guessing my handling. If it wasn't clear to him that he should have taken that jump, that's on me, not on him.

Sugar isn't wild about the teeter, either. We have one at home and have been practicing, but he pauses at the pivot longer than I'd like and sometimes bypasses it. Time to build more value--break out the chicken necks! lol Teeter fear is a little phase that a lot of dogs go through, though, so I'm not worried.

--Q

Dusty Rose · 11-22-2012, 01:15 AM

We started at 5 mo., with a trial to see if she would like it, she loved it, ignoring the other dogs except the ones on the course that she watched intently.

I've bee told that they shouldn't be asked to jump before 8 mo. She is now 10 mo. and we are on our 2nd 6 week long class. She is really enjoying it and seems to like all of it. I think she would like it even more if I could go faster!

outwest · 11-22-2012, 07:25 PM

You can let them jump baby jumps, but I wouldn't encourage the higher jumps until over a year old even though they can do them. It's just a few more months to wait for her. Letting her jump the 10 inch height now (assuming she is a standard) and it should be alright, but not over and over and over. My 5.5 month old "jumps" 6-8 inches (well, he kind of walks over it. LOL).

Minnie · 11-25-2012, 06:39 PM

The tunnel continues to be Bella's worst enemy. I've left the kids tunnel setup in our home and we've played around it - tossed toys and treats to the entrance you name it. Bella will put her head in and stretch but as soon as she puts her front feet in she freaks and jumps back and shakes. I've tried three different tunnels so far with the same result.

This is sad because she used to barrel through with no problems :-( Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

lily cd re · 11-26-2012, 04:37 AM

Oh what I wouldn't have given to have a tunnel in Saturday and Sunday's jumpers courses. They were truly just jumps and one set of weaves. A tunnel would have given me a chance to collect my leaping Lily! No Qs this weekend

Dusty Rose · 11-27-2012, 04:01 AM

Have you tried laying in the tunnel and calling her to you. Treating when she comes in with you? My other two dogs would go into the kids tunnel to be with my granddaughter.
Good luck!

lily cd re · 11-27-2012, 04:42 AM

If she likes balls try this. Set the tunnel up so it is fairly short and straight so she can see through it. Set her up facing the entrance and stand next to her (do it from you on her left and you on her right). Get her charged up for the ball and then throw it through the tunnel so it goes all the way through. Hopefully she will be so excited about the ball that she will follow it through without thinking too much about the tunnel. You can gradually make the tunnel longer, but keep it straight so she can see though it until she is very at ease. Once you start to put little bends in the tunnel it will probably be easier to let her see that you are throwing the ball to the other end over the tunnel. You won't want to throw it in and have it get stuck in the tunnel since you won't want her to stop in it to pick up the ball. Don't throw food or anything else that will get stuck in the tunnel or she will just end up slowing down to search for the toy/treat. Keep her moving so fast that she doesn't have time to think about not liking it.

Minnie · 11-27-2012, 04:42 PM

Thank you guys for the advise on the tunnel :-D

I get to share an up tonight!!! I got out the 4' tunnel that is part of a chute set and played around it and then had DS hold her on one end and call her through and she went - yea!!! We had a jackpot party and then ended the session with her actually running towards the tunnel beside me and through - oh sweet success!!!! Then later this evening I got out the big tunnel and guess what that little stinker was running through it handling on both sides!

I think what I messed up on was that we are working on this in our living room for practice between classes. We have hard wood floors and the tunnel was moving when she put her toes in - I got out the PVC tunnel holders and no problem at all.

Wow what a long winded post about a tunnel but finally

CT Girl · 11-28-2012, 04:29 AM

Minnie, that is great news! It is so rewarding when you have seen them conquer a fear.
I know occasionally my teacher says I tunnel stuff. I am not sure what that is. She did tell me but I just didn't absorb or understand. I think it may be that I use the wrong hand to cue my dog to the tunnel. Can anyone clarify this for me?

It is frustrating that I have not been able to try out my newly purchased teeter as we are in Florida now. I am thinking of purchasing "Sizzling Seesaws" from Clean Run. Has anyone seen this? I hear Salo has great information on her jumping video.

Minnie · 12-02-2012, 03:52 PM

Thank you! It was a great feeling. I googled "tunnel stuff" and I didn't find a thing so hopefully with someone that is not a beginner like me can answer that one.

We had another class last week and Bella was great - we worked on the small tunnel to keep it no stress for her hopefully next week we'll try the larger tunnel. The tire through her a bit but towards the end she was jumping through with no problems. We need to work on handling on both sides and changes of direction. One obstacle we haven't started on yet is the seesaw. This one has me the most concerned and I'm hoping to wait on this for a while to keep her confidence up in class.

How is everyone else doing? Taking a break for the holidays or continuing class and/or training?