Agility - Sharing the ups and the downs - Page 9 - Poodle Forum - Standard Poodle, Toy Poodle, Miniature Poodle Forum ALL Poodle owners too!

lily cd re · 01-22-2013, 02:01 PM

That's great! I used to have all kinds of problems with tunnels. Lily would run up to them with her head up so that she would be at the entrance looking over the top...silly girl. I straightened out once I got one at home. I put it out straight and threw a ball all the way through it. She is so ball crazed she stopped worrying about the tunnel to get to the ball. I think you will find having a tunnel at home to be really useful.

Minnie · 01-22-2013, 07:54 PM

Catherine - I love the ball idea with the tunnel - I'm going to give that a try. Thank you for sharing what happened with Peeves - this is very similar to Bella's fear and I'm definitely going to watch closely to see that we only continue if she seems happy and not stressed in class. I need to remember this is supposed to be fun and if it stops being so then we'll find something else to do - tonight a game of fetch made her and me so happy!

Specman - Progress on the tunnel - that is great news!!! It is comforting to read that others struggle with shyness towards obstacles. For Bella on the tunnel and chute it was a footing / noise issue - we do a lot of fun click and treat with different materials / sounds to help with this.

CT Girl - I sometimes wonder if it has anything to do with size on the shyness aspect? Bella sometimes is so very brave (throws herself over jumps) but other times acts scared of her shadow - I don't blame her at all as the world must seem so very big to someone so tiny and I know I'm over protective which probably doesn't help....

Thank you all for your comments - reading others struggles and a reminder to stay positive and have fun is important. We've been working this week on some very small things - brought the clicker back out and worked on touching the board voluntarily with one paw, then two, etc and tonight voluntarily walking on the board (this is a skin from the dog walk so it bounces just a bit so this is big for her)!!! Bella's whole body just gets excited - that little tail goes nuts like a rattle when she's happy and tonight I saw it again with the board so there is hope :-D

I wanted to share a link to a video that Susan Garrett posted on her blog. It fits so perfectly in this topic that it made me really think...

The Key To Success In Dog Agility Is In Your Hands Alone

lily cd re · 01-23-2013, 04:55 AM

Minnie, one of the most impressive agility dogs is my area is a toy poodle who has great distance work. I've seen her handler just stand in the middle of the ring and pivot and point at obstacles to get clean runs. The dog is in a full continental clip to boot! She is a mighty little dog. You will get there with all your love and patience.

TammyQ · 01-24-2013, 06:11 PM

I just started following this thread as I am going to start Hudson in agility in a few weeks. The instructor we are going to used to teach a few years back when she lived in Tennessee (or somewhere back there) and is ready to start again. She follows the NADAC program and is very excited to teach again. She wanted Hudson to wait until he was a year old before he began, and he will be a year on February 2. I have also signed up to attend a lecture from Susan Garrett when she comes to B.C., and will be auditing the rest of the weekend. Does anyone know anything about Susan Garrett? From what I read she is a pretty good authority on agility. I will also let you know how Hudson and I do once we get started with classes.

lily cd re · 01-25-2013, 05:45 AM

Almost everybody I know uses Susan Garrett's 2 x 2 program to teach weaves. I think you will really like her. Welcome to our discussion, and best wishes for success to you and Hudson.

Minnie · 01-25-2013, 04:50 PM

Tammy Q - I am quite envious - a Susan Garrett seminar wow! If you look up agility in the dictionary I bet you'd find her picture LOL. Check out "say yes" dog training she has tons of great advise.

We had a HUGE breakthrough tonight!!!!! I had a private with my original instructor tonight and since it was light enough and surprisingly warm (okay 38 but a warm 38) we took Bella out to her dog walk. And all of our hard work paid off - she played the touch and jump game, we did some back training and then she offered it!!!! Got a bit nervous on the way up the first time but before long was eagerly offering the dog walk for her clicker and cheese! Oh what a happy day!!! It was a great positive training session :-D

Today is an off week for the group class but we are going to support those at the trial tomorrow - happy weekend everyone!

Minnie · 01-26-2013, 05:41 PM

Fabulous day - our instructor had his first MACH with his young sheltie!!!! Really could not have happened to a nicer person who is so giving and kind with sharing his knowledge. We were soooo happy to be there to see them run! Quite the inspiration!

Specman · 01-29-2013, 07:45 AM

Minne, great to hear about your success! It always feel good to see your dog do well.

I have been working with Max on my 4' tunnel and he is fearless now with it. In fact, last night I went to train with him on the tunnel and he started to run through the tunnel before I issued a command because he knows he'll get treats! We'll see how it goes with a longer tunnel at class but at least this is a positive step.

It looks like I will be repeating the beginner agility class at the instructor's recommendation. Hopefully this will give Max greater confidence because he will be working on things he has done previously.

Minnie · 01-30-2013, 07:06 PM

Specman - nice update on the tunnel!!! I'm sure your extra work at home will pay off in class. If you have any obstacle hesitancy at all then the beginner class makes sense as the other classes seem to be more handling or advanced sequencing from what I have observed (beginner writing this though).

I have good non-poodle related news (hope it's okay to post here)... my Mini Aussie has been cleared by the vet (she had a hip issue) and has turned a year old so we are able to start agility training!!! She loved her foundation class so I can't wait to get her on to obstacles. We started back with some basics tonight - walk the board, tunnel, etc that we can do at home (no jumping as we have hard wood floors) and she was so excited! I am seriously considering working rally with Bella and agility with Gemma as I think this might be a better fit.

lily cd re · 01-30-2013, 07:25 PM

Hi Minnie. That's nice news about your Aussie. Around here there are lots of Aussies in agility. If you do decide to do rally with Bella instead of agility you will have lots of fun and the work you've done with her will carry over since both sports are about team work and good communication.

Specman, Minnie is right about staying in the beginner class. Beginner classes are more focused on correct performance of obstacles and it sounds like you still have some work to do there. More advanced classes will deal with things like handling and distance and putting together cues for moving through sequences. I spent a lot of time in beginner class with Lily because she was really reckless about certain things (like thinking it was fun and funny to leap off the top of a full height A frame, or deciding to turn herself around in the middle of the dog walk when she saw herself in a mirror and decided her reflection was another dog who she didn't want to meet). In some ways I am still dealing with the consequences, so I would recommend taking your time at the beginning with being very clear about your performance criteria for each obstacle.