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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
   
Location: MD | late in February is when our doggy agility classes start with my boy. They got postponed in January because their indoor heater went out(wussies.) I'm really excited and I feel like this is something he can enjoy and excel at!
Is there anything I can do do get him prepared for these classes?
AAAND here's a picture of him because I love showing him off.
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 Leggs
Posts: 4680
Location: lexington KY | Board Buddy Spottedspeed has a great agility dog. She has done amazing with her dog Voodoo, I will email her real quick and let her know you are asking. |
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I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | polorunner - 2014-01-30 1:48 PM
Board Buddy Spottedspeed has a great agility dog. She has done amazing with her dog Voodoo, I will email her real quick and let her know you are asking.
Awesome thank you so much!! |
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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
 
Location: Kansas | My brothers and I have done agility at the county fair with our dogs in the past and loved it. We have used lab mixes, my mini Aussie, an Aussie/border collie/lab mix and I think my youngest brother has done beginning agility with his red heeler. The Aussie/border collie/lab mix ROCKED at it....he was about unbeatable in our county, and my mini aussie picked it up really quickly too.
The main obstacles we had were jumps, tunnels, a teeter totter (that one was challenging for a lot of the dogs) and weaving through poles alongside the handler. Those were almost all do-able on leash, but I've seen much more elaborate courses that required a dog to heel off leash. Agility is a lot of fun especially if you have a dog who likes to work and do stuff. The lazier the dog, the harder agility has been for them in my experience. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1182
Location: Do I hear Banjos? | What a cutie! And I'm guessing he will catch on quick and love it!
Best thing you can do ahead of time is to have a really solid stay and recall.
One other good thing to practice is what we call "The Look Game" or "The Attention Game". This is fun for the dog and really improves their ability to focus on you and ignore distractions.
Those three skills will help you immensely in Agility.
Here's adecent explanation of it...but you can google I'm sure:
http://canineuniversity.com/articles/training/train_26.html
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 Behind The Scenes 411
Location: In my HAPPY place | Hi!
First off, how exciting! Be prepared to get addicted... I was hooked after the first class we attended. The place we started classes at required dogs to have basic obedience before we could sign up for level 1 agility. I completed their Level 1 obedience class prior to agility. They wanted the dogs to be able to sit, down, stay and have basic control of your off leash. Our first 6 week session was VERY basic. Mainly learning turns and getting the dogs used to the obstacles. If you have any questions just let me know, I will do my best to help. My first classes were in 2009 and I was hooked immediately. We have went earned various titles and compete in AKCs excellent level and in 2011 were in the top 10 for our breed in agility. It was pretty awesome. lol I am so proud of our Shelter angel. :) I am blessed to have her for team mate. She is such a fun dog to do it with. I must share a couple photos too. lol
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1182
Location: Do I hear Banjos? | Spottedspeed she is adorable! I love the jump photo. She certainly looks like she is having fun!
My little weenie dog and I did the basic obedience and then the tunnel classes. A friend teaches agility and the training place offers a tunnel only class that was just perfect for my height challenged pup. We got up to doing a pattern of 5 tunnels by the end of the first 6 week class. My little pup absolutely loved it and it was really a great way to bond with her.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| the picture with the ribbons is beyond adorable.  |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | My sister competes in dog agility with her Papillons. She's made AKC and USDAA nationals and just got her second MACH title on her papillon Zoe! She's getting a new puppy soon by a really nice papillon dog. She really wants a border collie but has had a lot of success in the smaller jump height with her papillons. |
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Behind The Scenes 411
Location: In my HAPPY place | TrailGirl - 2014-01-30 4:23 PM Spottedspeed she is adorable! I love the jump photo. She certainly looks like she is having fun!
My little weenie dog and I did the basic obedience and then the tunnel classes. A friend teaches agility and the training place offers a tunnel only class that was just perfect for my height challenged pup. We got up to doing a pattern of 5 tunnels by the end of the first 6 week class. My little pup absolutely loved it and it was really a great way to bond with her.
TrailGirl- thank you so much! She definitely loves it and we have fun. Your doxie sounds like quite a fun girl and she loved the tunnels!!! There is an agility association that offers a tunnel only class to compete. It is like a crazy amount of tunnels and I don't know many dogs that don't get excited about it. LOL tunnels, tunnels tunnels.
Star1218 - thank you! She is a hoot and quite a Diva honestly. :) |
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 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | I think agility would be so fun! My Boxer doesn't see the point in "tricks", he just wants to sit/stand by me at all times lol... so he is out on the agility.
My Doberman would be great at it, but taking her out in public around a lot of people kind of frazzles her brain (wasn't socialized at all before I got her)... add dogs in the mix and she might just stroke out on me. I have thought about having my husband making us a little course to go through in the back yard just for fun and to give her a "job"... but at the moment her only goal in life is to catch the gold fish in the pond. Weeks of trying all day and all fishies are still alive and swimming and she can't stand it. I probably won't get much "work" out of her until we just take the pond out completely, I can barely get her in the house at night lol.
I know here we have a club that has agility classes, but they have to have a basic obedience class first (or I think at least know everything they would learn in basic obedience). I think it would be awesome, especially for those dogs that need a job but you really don't have anything for them to do. |
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I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | Thank you so much for all of the great advice! You all are great and I LOVED those photos of your dog in action!!
I hope Winnie and I get addicted!! Were starting off with a fun class so there is no pressure on us to do anything impressive yet. But with all the great advoce here I'm hoping we can dive in to the agility world! We finally have warmer weather today so I'm going to try to take him over jumps and get up on random objects so he gets used to crazy things!
Hes really smart and athletic and once he's applied to somethinghe usually excels so i'm very hopeful!!:) |
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