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very beginner agility?



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 24th 04, 02:08 PM
Shelly & The Boys
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Default very beginner agility?


"elegy" wrote in message
...
i was hoping somebody could give me some hints or point me toward some
good resources for beginning agility. we have done some targeting (and
basic obedience), but this is the first dog i've trained so i don't
know where to go from here.

i'd really like to get into an actual class but between my work
schedule and her extreme reativeness around other dogs (read: lunging
and screaming and absolutely no dream of being reliable off-lead),
it's not going to happen in the immediate future.

i'm looking for very basic handling stuff that i can do in the
backyard.


Not too long ago on here, there were a few books listed as good
agility books for beginners. I have two of them on my own bookshelf,
and as a novice agility person, I would agree.
They are both easy to understand, and both have a few exercises and
things that "backyard" agility people can set up.
The first is _All About Agility_ by Jacqueline O'Neil, and the other
is _Agility Training_ by Jane Simmons-Moakes.

Both of my copies are outdated (from the late 90's), so some of the
regulation heights/course descriptions/club affiliation info may have
changed unless they've released new editions since then.
_Agility Training_ also has some blueprints in the back for making
a few of your own obstacles.

Nothing is like taking a class, however! And personally, I consider
basic obedience a must--beyond that a big bonus! In a class where
a lot of the work is off-leash, it's nice for everyone to feel fairly
comfortable
that another dog isn't going to lunge or attack their dog.* Watchful
management of their social behavior is crucial, IMHO. Teaching your
dog to focus on you, having a reliable recall and a solid stay are also
important. If you've got those before going into an agility class, it's
less to
worry about! :-) That way, everyone can have a good time and concentrate
on learning.

(*and this comes from someone who has one dog that likes to unexpectedly
lunge out at fast moving targets Coda, and the other from a breed that has
a lot of common misconceptions as well, but is actually very well-behaved
Bodhi)
Shelly & The Boys:
Coda (Collie/Golden/BC mix)
Bodhi (Belgian Sheepdog)


  #2  
Old June 24th 04, 02:08 PM
Shelly & The Boys
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"elegy" wrote in message
...
i was hoping somebody could give me some hints or point me toward some
good resources for beginning agility. we have done some targeting (and
basic obedience), but this is the first dog i've trained so i don't
know where to go from here.

i'd really like to get into an actual class but between my work
schedule and her extreme reativeness around other dogs (read: lunging
and screaming and absolutely no dream of being reliable off-lead),
it's not going to happen in the immediate future.

i'm looking for very basic handling stuff that i can do in the
backyard.


Not too long ago on here, there were a few books listed as good
agility books for beginners. I have two of them on my own bookshelf,
and as a novice agility person, I would agree.
They are both easy to understand, and both have a few exercises and
things that "backyard" agility people can set up.
The first is _All About Agility_ by Jacqueline O'Neil, and the other
is _Agility Training_ by Jane Simmons-Moakes.

Both of my copies are outdated (from the late 90's), so some of the
regulation heights/course descriptions/club affiliation info may have
changed unless they've released new editions since then.
_Agility Training_ also has some blueprints in the back for making
a few of your own obstacles.

Nothing is like taking a class, however! And personally, I consider
basic obedience a must--beyond that a big bonus! In a class where
a lot of the work is off-leash, it's nice for everyone to feel fairly
comfortable
that another dog isn't going to lunge or attack their dog.* Watchful
management of their social behavior is crucial, IMHO. Teaching your
dog to focus on you, having a reliable recall and a solid stay are also
important. If you've got those before going into an agility class, it's
less to
worry about! :-) That way, everyone can have a good time and concentrate
on learning.

(*and this comes from someone who has one dog that likes to unexpectedly
lunge out at fast moving targets Coda, and the other from a breed that has
a lot of common misconceptions as well, but is actually very well-behaved
Bodhi)
Shelly & The Boys:
Coda (Collie/Golden/BC mix)
Bodhi (Belgian Sheepdog)


  #3  
Old June 24th 04, 02:08 PM
Shelly & The Boys
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"elegy" wrote in message
...
i was hoping somebody could give me some hints or point me toward some
good resources for beginning agility. we have done some targeting (and
basic obedience), but this is the first dog i've trained so i don't
know where to go from here.

i'd really like to get into an actual class but between my work
schedule and her extreme reativeness around other dogs (read: lunging
and screaming and absolutely no dream of being reliable off-lead),
it's not going to happen in the immediate future.

i'm looking for very basic handling stuff that i can do in the
backyard.


Not too long ago on here, there were a few books listed as good
agility books for beginners. I have two of them on my own bookshelf,
and as a novice agility person, I would agree.
They are both easy to understand, and both have a few exercises and
things that "backyard" agility people can set up.
The first is _All About Agility_ by Jacqueline O'Neil, and the other
is _Agility Training_ by Jane Simmons-Moakes.

Both of my copies are outdated (from the late 90's), so some of the
regulation heights/course descriptions/club affiliation info may have
changed unless they've released new editions since then.
_Agility Training_ also has some blueprints in the back for making
a few of your own obstacles.

Nothing is like taking a class, however! And personally, I consider
basic obedience a must--beyond that a big bonus! In a class where
a lot of the work is off-leash, it's nice for everyone to feel fairly
comfortable
that another dog isn't going to lunge or attack their dog.* Watchful
management of their social behavior is crucial, IMHO. Teaching your
dog to focus on you, having a reliable recall and a solid stay are also
important. If you've got those before going into an agility class, it's
less to
worry about! :-) That way, everyone can have a good time and concentrate
on learning.

(*and this comes from someone who has one dog that likes to unexpectedly
lunge out at fast moving targets Coda, and the other from a breed that has
a lot of common misconceptions as well, but is actually very well-behaved
Bodhi)
Shelly & The Boys:
Coda (Collie/Golden/BC mix)
Bodhi (Belgian Sheepdog)


  #4  
Old June 24th 04, 02:10 PM
J1Boss
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Shelly writes:

Nothing is like taking a class, however! And personally, I consider
basic obedience a must--beyond that a big bonus! In a class where
a lot of the work is off-leash, it's nice for everyone to feel fairly
comfortable
that another dog isn't going to lunge or attack their dog.


My club is pretty strict about dogs not lunging at other dogs, no dog who chase
little dogs like prey, etc. They want solid Basic obedience, not so-so.

I'm incredibly lucky to have a class that meets during the daytime (which is
the only thing I can work into my schedule), which is also very SMALL. There
are only 6 of us in the class anyway, but have a few absent for various
reasons, and it practically becomes private training. This past session, there
were only 3 of us there, and with 3 instructors, it was amazing. And Franklin
finally decided the dogwalk was not just not evil, but FUN - he ran up and over
like he had never had any issue with it at all! He's such a weirdo sometimes.


Janet Boss
http://bestfriendsdogobedience.com/
http://photos.yahoo.com/bestfriendsobedience

  #5  
Old June 24th 04, 02:10 PM
J1Boss
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Shelly writes:

Nothing is like taking a class, however! And personally, I consider
basic obedience a must--beyond that a big bonus! In a class where
a lot of the work is off-leash, it's nice for everyone to feel fairly
comfortable
that another dog isn't going to lunge or attack their dog.


My club is pretty strict about dogs not lunging at other dogs, no dog who chase
little dogs like prey, etc. They want solid Basic obedience, not so-so.

I'm incredibly lucky to have a class that meets during the daytime (which is
the only thing I can work into my schedule), which is also very SMALL. There
are only 6 of us in the class anyway, but have a few absent for various
reasons, and it practically becomes private training. This past session, there
were only 3 of us there, and with 3 instructors, it was amazing. And Franklin
finally decided the dogwalk was not just not evil, but FUN - he ran up and over
like he had never had any issue with it at all! He's such a weirdo sometimes.


Janet Boss
http://bestfriendsdogobedience.com/
http://photos.yahoo.com/bestfriendsobedience

  #6  
Old June 24th 04, 02:10 PM
J1Boss
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Shelly writes:

Nothing is like taking a class, however! And personally, I consider
basic obedience a must--beyond that a big bonus! In a class where
a lot of the work is off-leash, it's nice for everyone to feel fairly
comfortable
that another dog isn't going to lunge or attack their dog.


My club is pretty strict about dogs not lunging at other dogs, no dog who chase
little dogs like prey, etc. They want solid Basic obedience, not so-so.

I'm incredibly lucky to have a class that meets during the daytime (which is
the only thing I can work into my schedule), which is also very SMALL. There
are only 6 of us in the class anyway, but have a few absent for various
reasons, and it practically becomes private training. This past session, there
were only 3 of us there, and with 3 instructors, it was amazing. And Franklin
finally decided the dogwalk was not just not evil, but FUN - he ran up and over
like he had never had any issue with it at all! He's such a weirdo sometimes.


Janet Boss
http://bestfriendsdogobedience.com/
http://photos.yahoo.com/bestfriendsobedience

  #7  
Old June 24th 04, 03:10 PM
Shelly & The Boys
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"J1Boss" wrote in message
...
They want solid Basic obedience, not so-so.

Agreed! This, among the hip issues, is one reason why I stopped
with Coda. While his obedience is solid, his behavior was unpredictable
(for me, maybe someone with much more behavior knowlege than me could
predict it, but usually I can catch it "just in time"--which just wasn't
good enough for me).
There were never any attacks, just a loud caccophony of noise and a
lightening fast lunge. I felt uncomfortable with him doing that, even
though he's never gotten into a fight (other than scrapping over food with
Bodhi).
He gets along well with most dogs otherwise shrug. At the time, I
just wasn't equipped to deal with that behavior. I may be better now, but
at the time I was (and neither was Coda) not very confident about this
in class, and it showed.

I'm incredibly lucky to have a class that meets during the daytime (which

is
the only thing I can work into my schedule), which is also very SMALL.

There
are only 6 of us in the class anyway, but have a few absent for various
reasons, and it practically becomes private training. This past session,

there
were only 3 of us there, and with 3 instructors, it was amazing.


Our class is small also, usually 5 dog/handler teams. A Belgian, a Newf,
a Golden, then a Cardi & a SUPER CUTE small Spaniel mix.


And Franklin finally decided the dogwalk was not just not evil, but FUN -

he ran up and over like he had never had any issue with it at all! He's
such a weirdo sometimes.

Yes, my weirdo is like that too. He would do the A-Frame, LOVES to
jump, is getting better & better at weaves, but he was NOT setting his
pretty little paws on that teeter or dogwalk! I was afraid that we'd
never
get past this! He'd go on the same type of obstacles at lower heights,
but not raised up. So, at the recommendation of our trainer, we did
some "height work". Just hanging out on bleachers, going up & down stairs,
and added some cavaletti work as well.
But what really seemed to help was that after a couple of weeks of working
with a contact trainer, he just zooms
right up the teeter and the dogwalk like it's no big deal. Of course, now
he LOVES contacts, and I have a hard time keeping him from being sucked
up the A-frame! One step at a time!
Shelly & The Boys
(Contacts=Food, Bodhi hearts Food!)


  #8  
Old June 24th 04, 03:10 PM
Shelly & The Boys
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"J1Boss" wrote in message
...
They want solid Basic obedience, not so-so.

Agreed! This, among the hip issues, is one reason why I stopped
with Coda. While his obedience is solid, his behavior was unpredictable
(for me, maybe someone with much more behavior knowlege than me could
predict it, but usually I can catch it "just in time"--which just wasn't
good enough for me).
There were never any attacks, just a loud caccophony of noise and a
lightening fast lunge. I felt uncomfortable with him doing that, even
though he's never gotten into a fight (other than scrapping over food with
Bodhi).
He gets along well with most dogs otherwise shrug. At the time, I
just wasn't equipped to deal with that behavior. I may be better now, but
at the time I was (and neither was Coda) not very confident about this
in class, and it showed.

I'm incredibly lucky to have a class that meets during the daytime (which

is
the only thing I can work into my schedule), which is also very SMALL.

There
are only 6 of us in the class anyway, but have a few absent for various
reasons, and it practically becomes private training. This past session,

there
were only 3 of us there, and with 3 instructors, it was amazing.


Our class is small also, usually 5 dog/handler teams. A Belgian, a Newf,
a Golden, then a Cardi & a SUPER CUTE small Spaniel mix.


And Franklin finally decided the dogwalk was not just not evil, but FUN -

he ran up and over like he had never had any issue with it at all! He's
such a weirdo sometimes.

Yes, my weirdo is like that too. He would do the A-Frame, LOVES to
jump, is getting better & better at weaves, but he was NOT setting his
pretty little paws on that teeter or dogwalk! I was afraid that we'd
never
get past this! He'd go on the same type of obstacles at lower heights,
but not raised up. So, at the recommendation of our trainer, we did
some "height work". Just hanging out on bleachers, going up & down stairs,
and added some cavaletti work as well.
But what really seemed to help was that after a couple of weeks of working
with a contact trainer, he just zooms
right up the teeter and the dogwalk like it's no big deal. Of course, now
he LOVES contacts, and I have a hard time keeping him from being sucked
up the A-frame! One step at a time!
Shelly & The Boys
(Contacts=Food, Bodhi hearts Food!)


  #9  
Old June 24th 04, 03:10 PM
Shelly & The Boys
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"J1Boss" wrote in message
...
They want solid Basic obedience, not so-so.

Agreed! This, among the hip issues, is one reason why I stopped
with Coda. While his obedience is solid, his behavior was unpredictable
(for me, maybe someone with much more behavior knowlege than me could
predict it, but usually I can catch it "just in time"--which just wasn't
good enough for me).
There were never any attacks, just a loud caccophony of noise and a
lightening fast lunge. I felt uncomfortable with him doing that, even
though he's never gotten into a fight (other than scrapping over food with
Bodhi).
He gets along well with most dogs otherwise shrug. At the time, I
just wasn't equipped to deal with that behavior. I may be better now, but
at the time I was (and neither was Coda) not very confident about this
in class, and it showed.

I'm incredibly lucky to have a class that meets during the daytime (which

is
the only thing I can work into my schedule), which is also very SMALL.

There
are only 6 of us in the class anyway, but have a few absent for various
reasons, and it practically becomes private training. This past session,

there
were only 3 of us there, and with 3 instructors, it was amazing.


Our class is small also, usually 5 dog/handler teams. A Belgian, a Newf,
a Golden, then a Cardi & a SUPER CUTE small Spaniel mix.


And Franklin finally decided the dogwalk was not just not evil, but FUN -

he ran up and over like he had never had any issue with it at all! He's
such a weirdo sometimes.

Yes, my weirdo is like that too. He would do the A-Frame, LOVES to
jump, is getting better & better at weaves, but he was NOT setting his
pretty little paws on that teeter or dogwalk! I was afraid that we'd
never
get past this! He'd go on the same type of obstacles at lower heights,
but not raised up. So, at the recommendation of our trainer, we did
some "height work". Just hanging out on bleachers, going up & down stairs,
and added some cavaletti work as well.
But what really seemed to help was that after a couple of weeks of working
with a contact trainer, he just zooms
right up the teeter and the dogwalk like it's no big deal. Of course, now
he LOVES contacts, and I have a hard time keeping him from being sucked
up the A-frame! One step at a time!
Shelly & The Boys
(Contacts=Food, Bodhi hearts Food!)


  #10  
Old June 24th 04, 03:26 PM
Judy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"J1Boss" wrote in message
...
And Franklin
finally decided the dogwalk was not just not evil, but FUN - he ran up and

over
like he had never had any issue with it at all! He's such a weirdo

sometimes.

Warning - this means that he will now develop an aversion to either the tire
or the table. (But, also YAY Franklin!)

Sassy - who LOVES the table because she KNOWS she does it right - has taken
to running right over it in trials. Spenser has, at times, spent many
seconds during trials circling the table as if he'd never seen one.

As we're working out Sassy's table issues - we have literally cut the legs
off our practice table - she's starting to avoid the tire jumps but only the
ones at trials.
--
~~Judy
Spenser - Carbor Talk of the Town, NA
Sassy - Can CH Carbor Back Talk



 




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