The agility thread

Well as per my post , Pickle is semi retired now, just has one run at 200 cm at some shows . Ziggy is coming on really well, though has just started pinging contacts so going to have to work on that . He’s only done one kc show , where he had 2 x 1sts , but one with 5f so still in grade 2. He just needs 4 points in agility at UKA to go up to novice .
 
Sympathy on the contacts - I remember my seesaw retraining debacle from last year with absolutely no fondness. 🤣

Small dog had a win in G6 at Lune, in good company, I am really beginning to think we're on final countdown to G7. I had hoped he might do it in time for WKC but our four day show in July cancelled so it's not to be.

Pup is driving on nicely through straight lines and gentle curves but after all the work on toy/play protocol I did has reverted to wanting to possess and parade again, so I need to make that stick before we go any further.
 
My old girl Jesse made it to G5 and did have one agility win in G5 in 2018. Had hoped to have a good year with her in 2020 but covid put paid to that so she is now retired apart from occasional Anysize runs over small height. My young one, Maddie is now 6 and 2020 should have been the year we really consolidated our training. She is only now beginning to sometimes get everything right. She is one of these barky collies constantly turning to look back at me, so very different to Jesse and is very hard work. I need younger legs to run with her but she is improving. Just a pity that all the really local shows have gone and I no longer like travelling any distance. Haven't got another show now till Sept. My aim is to win a KC class.
 
Well I’m a complete and utter agility novice - did a small amount of non competitive fun stuff with my old lab. Now got my Mannie who is nearly a year so joined a local club and have been doing puppy training.

He seems to be a natural so I’d like to compete one day. Obviously can’t do any of the main equipment yet, but he is confidently jumping teeny stuff and his directional cues are really quite solid for his age.

OH just built this for him to start baby contact work!

E12565C3-3779-4DC5-941A-F64B4833BC73.jpeg
 
Errin Paddywack said:
My old girl Jesse made it to G5 and did have one agility win in G5 in 2018. Had hoped to have a good year with her in 2020 but covid put paid to that so she is now retired apart from occasional Anysize runs over small height. My young one, Maddie is now 6 and 2020 should have been the year we really consolidated our training. She is only now beginning to sometimes get everything right. She is one of these barky collies constantly turning to look back at me, so very different to Jesse and is very hard work. I need younger legs to run with her but she is improving. Just a pity that all the really local shows have gone and I no longer like travelling any distance. Haven't got another show now till Sept. My aim is to win a KC class.
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Covid put an end to any hope I had of Pickle going from Grade 6 to 7, he was 9 at the start of 2020 so would have been a vital year. I agree about needing younger legs, I've been at a UKA show today, lovely big rings but I think it was maximum distance between every obstacle , nearly killed me! We've lost a lot of local KC shows here too, but luckily there have been a lot more UKA shows locally and I really enjoy them, my little guy can run at 250 and just those few cms lower make a big difference to him. I like the progression system too.
 
I was just chatting to someone today about all the local shows we've lost. Used to have four societies with a venue 20 minutes from me, and some of those put on two shows a year. Now my nearest are 50 minutes and an hour away.

Small dog was a hot, sniffy, distracted little swine today. 🫠 They really know how to bring you back down to earth with a bump!
 
2020 we should have had 5 or 6 shows, including our own club show at the local equestrian centre, around 4 miles door to door. Only one of those still exists, the one in September. Our club has had to give up agility shows due to no-one to help but still manages an obedience show. I used to do 1 or 2 shows a month:(. We do have someone who runs unaffiliated winter shows at a stud only about 7 miles away so I make do with them. My sister and I used to go to the KC Festival but now her dog has retired and I don't fancy going on my own. Covid has a lot answer for.
 
I really wish I'd carried on with Dobby but no where locally would take him when our old instructor moved away 😞 We've since had a break through with flyball and disc so sticking with it for now and hoping we might be able to find somewhere for Ginny next year as she's much easier in terms of being able to work around others 🙄
 
Great thread, loving the pics!
I only do "unaffiliated" agility so I have no idea what the grades are etc, but my little dogs all absolutely love it
 
Question, other than the blindingly obvious 😆

Techniques / tips / tricks to get a solid wait/stay at the start?

Loki is bonkers excited as soon as the jumps come out and it’s completely non existent. It’s going to bite us hard on the backside in later years if I do want to compete!

The stay is reasonably good when jumps aren’t involved!

Keep persisting obviously but anything else?
 
ihatework said:
Question, other than the blindingly obvious 😆

Techniques / tips / tricks to get a solid wait/stay at the start?

Loki is bonkers excited as soon as the jumps come out and it’s completely non existent. It’s going to bite us hard on the backside in later years if I do want to compete!

The stay is reasonably good when jumps aren’t involved!

Keep persisting obviously but anything else?
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I feel your pain
 
I feel your pain too. My first girl had a non existent stay, I had to throw her backwards to stand any chance of beating her off the line. On the odd occasion I did manage a stay with her she would then deliberately take the p*ss on the course to make up for it. The next three all had really good stays but my current girl has a very iffy one that I have to constantly reinforce. Her eyes dilate when on the line and she is poised ready to go, wrong twitch from me and she is away. I really need to get well ahead of her but rarely achieve it. My sister's girl's stay is good in training but non existent in competition.
Just lots and lots of practice on the line without actually running the course I guess.
 
I think it’s just down to practice, practice . Pickles stay is still a bit hit and miss , but Ziggy is pretty good . Because he had surgery on his leg as a pup about the only thing I could train was a wait and it seems to have paid off . A friend counts down to her dogs release but not with set numbers , ie sometimes 3,2,1 go , others 3,2,1, 1/2 go , so dog doesn’t anticipate. A couple of tips I was given, when training walk backward to reward the wait rather than turning to face the dog so they aren’t picking up body language , also when you return feed from behind so dog isn’t expecting to instantly go forward. Sorry , probably haven’t explained that very well
 
Errin Paddywack said:
I feel your pain too. My first girl had a non existent stay, I had to throw her backwards to stand any chance of beating her off the line. On the odd occasion I did manage a stay with her she would then deliberately take the p*ss on the course to make up for it. The next three all had really good stays but my current girl has a very iffy one that I have to constantly reinforce. Her eyes dilate when on the line and she is poised ready to go, wrong twitch from me and she is away. I really need to get well ahead of her but rarely achieve it. My sister's girl's stay is good in training but non existent in competition.
Just lots and lots of practice on the line without actually running the course I guess.
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Bandit is just like your sisters dog, good in training but he's off the line before I've even lurched into a jog then he gets so far in front of me he back jumps and waits for me to catch up.

I've also tried send them back but he's that insistent on getting in front he catches the jump on the turn and he stills inds up in front. I need to lose a couple of stone and practice my sprinting.

Murphy's Minder there's some really good ideas I'm going to try the counting in training.
 
I'm not sure how you teach wait/stay, however I always mix it up so sometimes I ask them to wait, move away and then call them to me.

Other times, I ask them to wait, move away and then I walk back to them rather than calling them to me.

Doing more wait and returning to the dog, rather than releasing them to run to you/over the jump, may possible help curb the anticipation?
 
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