The agility thread

So today we went to our very first 'proper' show at A4A Barkside.

We have only ever competed at our home show ground and at Elf, so both small independent shows.

Now my dog can be reactive. When I first started taking her to group classes, she would spend the first five minutes screaming and lunging and the remainder of the time she needed to be constantly worked to keep her focused and stop her fixating.

So I anticipated her to be a handful today...

We got to the show and I got her out the car. A few dogs about. No reaction.

I walked her out to the exercise area. A terrier type heading towards us which is the normal scenario that would upset her enough to react. No reaction.

So I figured once we have to go and line up and watch other dogs run is where my luck will run out. Nope. Lined up in all three classes with no problem.

I am absolutely buzzing with her. She was a little on edge and had a few nervous wimpers, but held herself together and surpassed my expectations.

Now for the actual agility.

Agility first. Had to pop her back in the weaves twice and she missed her contact and pinged off the seesaw much too early. She has never done this at home so will have to slow her right down and micro manage her at our next show.

Next we did a steeplechase course. Just five faults for getting distracted by a dog at the ringside so she ran past the fence. Just a typical mistake showing her inexperience.

Then we did the second steeplechase course available. She also got distracted by a dog here, but more in a worried way and came into me as was a bit worried about jumping the fence right next to the dog. Also had a pole down but she was getting tired by this stage.

So no ribbons today, but am very, very pleased with her.

Just need to revisit the seesaw and try and nail these weaves 🙈
 
Jenko109 said:
So today we went to our very first 'proper' show at A4A Barkside.

We have only ever competed at our home show ground and at Elf, so both small independent shows.

Now my dog can be reactive. When I first started taking her to group classes, she would spend the first five minutes screaming and lunging and the remainder of the time she needed to be constantly worked to keep her focused and stop her fixating.

So I anticipated her to be a handful today...

We got to the show and I got her out the car. A few dogs about. No reaction.

I walked her out to the exercise area. A terrier type heading towards us which is the normal scenario that would upset her enough to react. No reaction.

So I figured once we have to go and line up and watch other dogs run is where my luck will run out. Nope. Lined up in all three classes with no problem.

I am absolutely buzzing with her. She was a little on edge and had a few nervous wimpers, but held herself together and surpassed my expectations.

Now for the actual agility.

Agility first. Had to pop her back in the weaves twice and she missed her contact and pinged off the seesaw much too early. She has never done this at home so will have to slow her right down and micro manage her at our next show.

Next we did a steeplechase course. Just five faults for getting distracted by a dog at the ringside so she ran past the fence. Just a typical mistake showing her inexperience.

Then we did the second steeplechase course available. She also got distracted by a dog here, but more in a worried way and came into me as was a bit worried about jumping the fence right next to the dog. Also had a pole down but she was getting tired by this stage.

So no ribbons today, but am very, very pleased with her.

Just need to revisit the seesaw and try and nail these weaves 🙈
Click to expand...

That sounds like an amazing start, well done. Our first outdoor show is next Sunday, I expect nothing but fun!
 
Jenko109 said:
So today we went to our very first 'proper' show at A4A Barkside.

We have only ever competed at our home show ground and at Elf, so both small independent shows.

Now my dog can be reactive. When I first started taking her to group classes, she would spend the first five minutes screaming and lunging and the remainder of the time she needed to be constantly worked to keep her focused and stop her fixating.

So I anticipated her to be a handful today...

We got to the show and I got her out the car. A few dogs about. No reaction.

I walked her out to the exercise area. A terrier type heading towards us which is the normal scenario that would upset her enough to react. No reaction.

So I figured once we have to go and line up and watch other dogs run is where my luck will run out. Nope. Lined up in all three classes with no problem.

I am absolutely buzzing with her. She was a little on edge and had a few nervous wimpers, but held herself together and surpassed my expectations.

Now for the actual agility.

Agility first. Had to pop her back in the weaves twice and she missed her contact and pinged off the seesaw much too early. She has never done this at home so will have to slow her right down and micro manage her at our next show.

Next we did a steeplechase course. Just five faults for getting distracted by a dog at the ringside so she ran past the fence. Just a typical mistake showing her inexperience.

Then we did the second steeplechase course available. She also got distracted by a dog here, but more in a worried way and came into me as was a bit worried about jumping the fence right next to the dog. Also had a pole down but she was getting tired by this stage.

So no ribbons today, but am very, very pleased with her.

Just need to revisit the seesaw and try and nail these weaves 🙈
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good day.
I was at Barkside. Just a thought regarding the seesaw. The contact equipment was Galican softline, which is being used at lots of shows now. The relevance is that the tipping point is different on these, they are definitely slower to tip and lots of dogs jump off early if they haven't experienced them before.
If you are going back to the show again it may be worth using the practice ring with the same equipment to get your dog used to it.
 
Weaves question

So when I send me dog into the weaves, I only use her command 'go weaving' once and then stay quiet while she does her weaves.

Her weaving is slow and inconsistent and she sometimes pops out and looks at me for another direction, almost like she thinks shes done.

I'm thinking I need to change up a bit and repeat her weave command the while time she weaves? So perhaps change to 'weave, weave, weave...' in a high pitch tone to encourage speed and to remind her to keep going.

Failing that, any other suggestions?

This video is her going faster than usual as we had done it a few times already that day. Note I always add a jump at the end now.

Also, in this video she picks up her entry well, but this is purely because we had done it a few times already. Usually she will miss the entry unless I literally stop her before the start and even then she usually pops out the first time I ask her to weave, but will then get it right, albeit slowly, the second time.

 
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I found going back to channel weaves helped speed up mine. Also if you are more in front of her does she duck out of the weaves to catch up with you, if not maybe try going a bit faster yourself. I think weaves is one of the hardest things to get, particularly with a bigger dog, so just keep working at it, she'll get it eventually.
 
I have a training session today with Chloe Brown, it’ll be my first with her (yay!) but on Wednesday in my session with Dalton something went ‘pop’ behind my knee and I’m still lame, prob 1/10 in walk but a def 5/10 in a jog. We will have to see how it goes, a real shame as my dog has started driving on brilliantly and I think today just won’t go as well as I would have hoped. Maybe I’m wrong and she’ll accommodate my shuffling rather than running…
 
Jenko109 said:
Just gave it a shot with both repeating weave and going ahead of her a touch and it's already made a big difference 😅

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I started off (because I knew no better) with being stern about weaves, and Rew was quite hangdog, now on a good day he’s about the same speed as yours, I like to praise him when he’s in the weaves as I know it bolsters him and he does a little jump, but them he’ll often stop to look at me at that point! It’s finding that happy place which is the challenge.
 
I did use channel weaves, however I have always walked along the line with her which is where I think I may have gone wrong?

Perhaps creating a channel again and having someone hold her one end to call her through the channel is a better approach?
 
IMO channels are great for encouraging speed in a dog that already knows how to weave, but they don’t always encourage an independent entry and as you’ve found they can leave the dog contingent on your speed and/or position to know when they’ve finished. 2x2s give equal value to each set of two poles regardless of the handler’s position so they’re less likely to pop out if you’re not there with them.

I am just packing up from a weekend of supervising have-a-go agility for complete beginners and have endured much luring and walking backwards through the weaves. 😬😂
 
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