The agility thread

Spotherisk said:
As a G1 person for the last two years I’ve seen a real mix up of ‘is this grade appropriate?’ courses, with a lot of demoralised people. There’s one judge who I won’t enter with now, last year their g1-3 jumping had over 90% eliminations, and people still talk about the very difficult start. The video I posted above was our first ever clear round in competition, yes a simple, flowing course which made me, my dog, my friends and even the judge very happy.
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That was a lovely run and great to see some excellent distance work. My trainer would be jumping on you about the start. She is very hot on not letting your dog break its wait. It was only momentary but still needs sorting. My girl was getting worse and worse about the start but have started making her lay down rather than sit and we only had one slight anticipation at the weekend. You should have a lot of fun with yours, a very promising dog.
 
Errin Paddywack said:
That was a lovely run and great to see some excellent distance work. My trainer would be jumping on you about the start. She is very hot on not letting your dog break its wait. It was only momentary but still needs sorting. My girl was getting worse and worse about the start but have started making her lay down rather than sit and we only had one slight anticipation at the weekend. You should have a lot of fun with yours, a very promising dog.
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Thanks very much, I agree about the start I really should have started over and to hell with the E! He will wait at home and in training, and if there is a practise ring at a competition I will consolidate the wait but sadly none at that show. We will keep practising!
 
I haven't been on here lately as I've been getting increasingly demoralized by the whole thing.
After an awesome first half of the year, and an upgrade to G4 in June followed by 3 agility wins in 3 weeks, we are now struggling.
During the summer it was silly stuff, fastest run with a pole down, broken wait, so reset followed by a fast clear, not getting dw criteria, or a momentary disorientation moment by myself. Frustrating but rarely more than one thing per run. A few 2nd and 3rd places along the way.
We had our fire indoor show at 3-5 a couple of weeks ago and it went well. 3 lovely runs without a clear.
Yesterday we were at a nice show but less than 10% of competitors didn't get eliminated.
We were not among the 10%.
There were a lot of minimum distances and it was really hard. Every off course jump was a trap. I left before my last run feeling like a failure.
Today I'm going to inspire, and I'm dreading it.
After the A4A Grand Finals I haven't entered anything else as I'm retraining the dw over the winter which is going to be painful but I feel like I'm doing it to avoid winter shows as much as anything else.
I have the most awesome dog and I'm letting him down.
I am now struggling to remember courses and this is really getting into my head.
Everything happens so fast and indoors this is even worse with the smaller spaces.
Agility is so hard.
 
@sarah.oxford It's horrible that feeling! I am only G3 and the way it's going with my older dogs it's all we will achieve. I went through a similar phase and put pressure on myself which my girls, picked up on, and it all went downhill from there. We do this for fun, it's our escape time and our dogs dont give a damn whether we win or get E as they don't know or care. There are loads of eliminations, and courses vary wildly. I guess the savvy people pick their judges, old school, new flowey European type courses etc. I gave myself a talking to and changed my mindset ☺️ I'm no better but I just go and enjoy it and have taken the pressure off myself. Pebs still has the odd contact issue still but tbh prob always will 🙄 I am trying not to **** up my pup 🤣 some of it is how we are wired as people. I now approach it differently. Nice venue ✅️good loos, ✅️brilliant food✅️ and we have fun. There all day for max 7 mins of running 🤣 but we have had fun. Being with supportive friends makes a huge difference to me. You are in a hole, you need good mates around you and maybe give yourself a talking to and dont over analyse, we are all different. It's horrible been there, done that and starred in the video 🙄🤣. Remember its supposed to be fun. Change your mindset and honesty it will help. Big hugs xx
 
Welcome to my world. I have been doing agility since 2000, now on my 5th dog and learned a lot from all of them as all very different despite all being collies. First was very argumentative, very fast and took a full season before we got a clear. She won me out of what was then Elementary (G1 now) with a cracking clear in a Jumping class, all that was needed then. Then did the same in Starters (G2). Those were the only 1sts she ever had and she competed to 13. I also had a dog and he was a reliable clear round specialist but never won a class, competed till about 12. My favourite girl was fabulous to train and run, lots of good places but never a win. Beset with soundness problems sadly. My next was Jesse who is still with me but retired. She won up to G5 and did have one agility win towards G6 before covid hit and once we restarted she dropped down to Anysize. Current dog is now 7 and we are only just starting to really get it together. Still in G2 and very unlikely to ever move up. Best KC results so far are only 2nds. We are more commonly E'd. However I don't do it for the wins. I enjoy the exercise and the brain work and the connection with my dog. Doesn't matter if we go clear or not, I just appreciate the good bits in each run. Had a fantastic run in an agility class at Southam this year, judged by Selena Bray. Maddie rolled the last pole and Selena came across to commiserate with me and congratulate us on a cracking run. That meant more than winning the class would have done. We were still unplaced 4th.
Just enjoy the process, all always something new to learn. We are currently having to adjust to tiny inside rings after a summer in what seemed huge rings with very spread out courses.
Don't get discouraged, just keep going.
 
Jenko109 said:
I think sometimes we need to take a step back and realise why we do agility.

We don't do it to win, do we? Sure it's nice, but we do it because it's fun for us and fun for our dogs! It builds a better bond and does your heart not just ache with pride when they have a great run?
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Absolutely this. Sarah you went up to grade 4 quite quickly, and I think it's normal to struggle for a while when that happens. To put things into perspective my little guy is still Grade 2, a friend who started competing the same time is now Grade 5, though she does a lot of KC shows and I have only done 3 or 4. Ziggy won up to Novice at A4A, and our next 2 shows were car crashes, that's how it goes. As for remembering courses, I am 70 next year and really struggle with learning courses, even the lower levels, with my Grade 6 dog I frequently forgot the course but luckily he wasn't as fast so I usually had time to regroup, with Zig he has taken the wrong course in a split second.
I just enjoy shows now, if he never gets out of Grade 2 so be it, he loves his agility and I know he often gives spectators and judge a good laugh with his antics. When he had surgery and metal work in his leg as a pup I didn't know if he would ever make the agility ring, so every run is a bonus, no matter how bad it is.
 
Ditchjumper2 said:
I gave myself a talking to and changed my mindset ☺️ I'm no better but I just go and enjoy it and have taken the pressure off myself.
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This is what I did with my older dog. He was super consistent at Grade 6 but just not fast enough, nearly always clear over the obstacles but with time faults, I think we had 5 x grade 6 wins with time faults. I got really demoralised then just gave myself a similar talking to, I had an 11 year old dog who was loving his agility, that's what it was all about. I had a lovely last season with him, then he did 6 months at veteran level before retiring.
 
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I saw this t-shirt at a show earlier this year, at a time when I was in a bit of a pit of despair with training, behavioural stuff and my own ability - instant purchase because I needed the reminder that dog training is not linear and that we were doing just fine on our own convoluted journey. I still have a wry smile when I put it on now 😏

If it's any reassurance... I lost a whole summer competition season to a dodgy seesaw contact and spent months painstakingly retraining it. In August I lost my dog to an off course tunnel just three obstacles in to a champ course. With everyone I train with watching and heckling. He only made about 50% of dog walk contacts this season. Hell, here's me retraining my young dog's A-frame, before she's even two years old, because I made a complete hash of teaching it in the first place.

If you need permission not to do winter or indoor shows, you have it. If it's not fun, don't do it. Your dog doesn't know any different and just wants to spend time with you. Take the competition pressure off, spend the time on your skills and drills and regroup in the summer. And if you ever get an opportunity to train with Sam Lane, I highly recommend it - she gets me out of my own head like nobody else when I have fallen in to one of the metaphorical pits.
 
Sarah I am sorry you’re feeling so low.

We’ve just had a lovely day at our Club show, our first run was agility G1-2, luckily for me I got the wait because Rew had an itch, and was standing on three legs with his eyes shut scratching his ear as I took up position! Still didn’t get the A frame contact, but we did get dw and seesaw no problem, and picked up an R for a rubbish weaves approach. I was delighted to finish 4th, and the judge called out well done to me.

Jumping C1- was waaay too exciting… the weaves were heading towards the next ring, where about forty billion people were walking the next course. After six (!) failed weaves entry I gently took his collar and started his weave entry, then he had it.

I bailed from the last run - it was a 5am alarm call as I was on the gate opening duties, it’s an hours drive and I see on Plaza that my third class started three hours after my second. Rew is flaked out on the sofa in the sunshine now.
 
Thank you so much for all your positive vibes.
Today was a better day.
We so nearly did it, leading the g3-4 agility until the last dog beat us by half a second.
We also did the 3-4 agility in 24 seconds with a pole down.
G4-6 agility should have been a clear but I reset his wait after he broke it, and I had to stick to criteria. Beautiful threadle wrap though.
Also just out of the placings in jumping first thing with a pole down.
No issues with remembering the courses today.
100% weaves and contacts so feeling much more positive.

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Link to the videos from today.
He's a good boy and I wouldn't swap him for anything.
I know we are up against it with the super working cockers running against us, but I know we have skills and are going the right way.
 
sarah.oxford said:
Thank you so much for all your positive vibes.
Today was a better day.
We so nearly did it, leading the g3-4 agility until the last dog beat us by half a second.
We also did the 3-4 agility in 24 seconds with a pole down.
G4-6 agility should have been a clear but I reset his wait after he broke it, and I had to stick to criteria. Beautiful threadle wrap though.
Also just out of the placings in jumping first thing with a pole down.
No issues with remembering the courses today.
100% weaves and contacts so feeling much more positive.

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Link to the videos from today.
He's a good boy and I wouldn't swap him for anything.
I know we are up against it with the super working cockers running against us, but I know we have skills and are going the right way.
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At the risk of sounding like @I’m Dun, if your memory is poor, check your B12.
Sounds like a good (and very tiring!) day. Well done.
 
sarah.oxford said:
Thank you so much for all your positive vibes.
Today was a better day.
We so nearly did it, leading the g3-4 agility until the last dog beat us by half a second.
We also did the 3-4 agility in 24 seconds with a pole down.
G4-6 agility should have been a clear but I reset his wait after he broke it, and I had to stick to criteria. Beautiful threadle wrap though.
Also just out of the placings in jumping first thing with a pole down.
No issues with remembering the courses today.
100% weaves and contacts so feeling much more positive.

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Log in to Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family and people you know.
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Link to the videos from today.
He's a good boy and I wouldn't swap him for anything.
I know we are up against it with the super working cockers running against us, but I know we have skills and are going the right way.
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Lovely report and videos, and his sweet face sat on the stairs with his rosette! 😊
 
Spotherisk said:
Lovely report and videos, and his sweet face sat on the stairs with his rosette! 😊
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I'm so proud of him, I'm so lucky to have a dog who tries so hard. He's so forgiving of my shortcomings and I need to remind myself that even when it goes wrong, he's having the best time.
Agility with a fast dog is a different ballgame and the trickier courses require such quick thinking from both of us.
I have so much admiration for the higher level handlers who make it look easy, especially those who run multiple dogs who handle differently.
Thank you everyone for your supportive comments when I was feeling so low yesterday
 
Thank you so much everyone. Hopefully I'm a little less penguin than I used to be. I'm certainly not a natural runner.
I come out of the ring with Arthur a lot less puffed than when I run my oldie in veterans classes because she expects me to go every inch of the way with her.
I think the penny is starting to drop with handling Arthur that I need to cue the obstacle and go. I was previously hanging around to make sure he was doing stuff and that was putting me behind.
 
sarah.oxford said:
Thank you so much everyone. Hopefully I'm a little less penguin than I used to be. I'm certainly not a natural runner.
I come out of the ring with Arthur a lot less puffed than when I run my oldie in veterans classes because she expects me to go every inch of the way with her.
I think the penny is starting to drop with handling Arthur that I need to cue the obstacle and go. I was previously hanging around to make sure he was doing stuff and that was putting me behind.
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That's exactly what I'm told with my youngster. To trust her and go but I find it so hard.
 
It's really hard to break old habits isn't it?
Much easier in training but then you get into the ring and you just want to make sure.
It's taken me a long time to get this far but my slow brain is finally starting to get it.
The dog learns so much faster 🤣
 
Very interesting after the conversation on here this morning, I ran the first sequence at training today and my instructor said now you're going to do it again but you're not allowed to run 😲
It went surprisingly well. Apparently the next stage of this journey is distance skills. I am blown away by her faith in the pair of us.
 
Excellent. Your dog looks to work on really well so should adapt to distance handling quickly. My older girl had to learn when I was waiting on a hip replacement and it made such a difference. My young one always wanted me with her but fast and I couldn't do it. I worked on distance handling and she now goes on well. Such a buzz when they seem to do it all with minimal effort on your part.
 
Absolutely. The theory is that when I can't get there, we have a backup plan.
I think she's thinking that situation will be happening when we have retrained the dw to running. I was slightly concerned about this scenario but it looks like my trainer is one step ahead of me. She's fantastic.
 
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