The agility thread

What worked so well last night was having me send him, and he is very driven to food and realised that the trainer would dispense if he did the job. I have the room to train at home but not normally anyone to help me hence thinking Manners Minder (thanks @blackcob for the tip on another type) as it’s the drive which has been missing. I am going to continue on with this trainer I think, she has a more modern way of thinking and didn’t disregard my dog because he’s not a collie type or cocker, and worked with us.
 
blackcob said:
Zooplus always used to have a good deal on the Trixie version.

I will never be parted from my beloved 2x2s 😂
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It was interesting watching him run the channel, as for probably the first time ever he realised he could brush/rattle the poles without it being an issue. He has a typical for the breed high level of self preservation when it comes to clouting stuff.
 
They are fab for speed but it is exactly the reason I can't/won't use channels with my youngest, she needs no additional encouragement to shoulder barge.

Club show today, 2 x 2nds for small dog, beaten by the same cocker spaniel in both 😑

Large dog had two disappointing runs (broken stays, poles etc.), one batshit run (got downed and taken out at obstacle two...) and one final beautiful jumping run, just with a single pole down. 🤷
 
blackcob said:
They are fab for speed but it is exactly the reason I can't/won't use channels with my youngest, she needs no additional encouragement to shoulder barge.

Club show today, 2 x 2nds for small dog, beaten by the same cocker spaniel in both 😑

Large dog had two disappointing runs (broken stays, poles etc.), one batshit run (got downed and taken out at obstacle two...) and one final beautiful jumping run, just with a single pole down. 🤷
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Damn cockers ! Large dog must be so frustrating but she’s amazing to watch , flashes of brilliance .
Probably the most challenging courses I’ve run with Zig , the judges seemed to set the combined novice/senior far more to the senior side . Amazingly we won the jumping , with a very lucky save at the last jump . Agility dog walk was second to last obstacle and no way was he getting his contact with his treat pouch so close 🤦‍♀️
 
Totally shocked. A very cold day today but a good one. In the graded 3 to 5 Daz won the G3 and Pebs the G4 jumping. Both clear and within the time 😍🥳 In the agility I cocked up and got Daz eliminated 😬 Then Pebs won the G4 clear but 2.6 time pens annoyingly. All felt a bit unreal tbh. Took girls for a walk round the village once back and I ended up in the pub and had G&Ts on a school night too 😂
 
We were at a steeplechase fun day yesterday morning where Rew was rubbish, pulling off jumps and generally not on his game.

Today we had a KC show, just two runs, jumping was a bit pants but in agility WE GOT OUR WEAVES! First time, bam, all twelve, no issues, straight through. We had already been eliminated by the idiot jumping off the DW before the contact to run over say hello to the judge (who he didn’t know), and then coming back to the DW, too bloomin’ late now mate.

In other news my waterproof socks were excellent and my trainers are hanging over the wood burner, drying out.
 
Finally made it back to a show.....Ginny had 2 E's in any size but she was happy to be in the ring which is 100 times better than our last show so that's a massive win!

Fen had 4 E's but showed some moments of really good work. He managed the trickier stuff I thought he would struggle with but had some over excitement based issues and I discovered he doesn't like me being ahead of him when he's on the dog walk 🙄 but so incredibly proud of him.
 
We had a KC show this weekend - unfortunately we had agility first very exciting - no DW or A contact and couldn’t bring himself to do even six weaves. Amazingly we loved all three courses though, and we pulled out two placed 3rds, in jumping, G1-2 and combined 1-2. First rosettes of the year. Interesting how Rew couldn’t do six weaves in the graded classes (both close to walls) but easily did 12 in the middle of the ring. Which side I handled from made no difference.
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Lucky to have this little training venue less than half an hour from home - £10 an hour gets you sole use and there’s jumps, weaves and tunnel. The dogs love the spongy tiles surface.

Rew has some stay practice and reminders to jump the required obstacle from the direction requested (not with his coat on!), and Fig did some little wing wraps and then chased a clam through a scrunched up tunnel a few times. Then she got insane zoomies. Honestly now and she’s beating up mil’s dog - give it an hour and I reckon nothing will wake her!

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Booked an indoor hire today as I am just so tired of the flipping rain, it feels relentless and the ground is wrecked everywhere. Had a Q-Me course plan saved up that sequenced a lot of what we've been working on recently as individual skills. Large dog felt great, actually listening to directionals, poles stayed up, some advanced skills displayed in sequence although I really had to be on her case for deceleration, there is no breathing room with her at all. Small dog did some nice layering and worked on his open faced weave entry.

It's still raining now. 🥴
 
I may have booked too much in.

Steeplechase yesterday, four runs, six hours away from home (came second, yay).
Training with Barrie James today, as ever really helpful and leaves me wondering why I just don’t remember everything, five hours away from home.
KC show tomorrow, will leave home at 6.30am, probably be home around 2pm.

Blimmin’ lurcher isn’t blessed with stamina, he was tired halfway through his Barrie session today, we definitely won’t be doing all of our booked runs tomorrow.
 
Spotherisk said:
I may have booked too much in.

Steeplechase yesterday, four runs, six hours away from home (came second, yay).
Training with Barrie James today, as ever really helpful and leaves me wondering why I just don’t remember everything, five hours away from home.
KC show tomorrow, will leave home at 6.30am, probably be home around 2pm.

Blimmin’ lurcher isn’t blessed with stamina, he was tired halfway through his Barrie session today, we definitely won’t be doing all of our booked runs tomorrow.
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I admire your stamina . If anything is more than 1.5 hours from me I don’t bother ! 😛
 
That's some travelling STR! I also admire your stamina. We have a show tomorrow about an hour away looks like another wet one. Can't practice anything at home as so wet. Fed up of the rain.Girls don't even want to go for a wee never mind walk!
 
Rew is hating this winter and also will only just go out for a wee or poo. Walks are not on his agenda although he has plenty of free running if he wants it at home. He’s very unfit because of this, but we don’t push hard and I’ll always pull him out if necessary.
 
Fabulous news, well done! That last win is such a special milestone 😄 Enjoy the feeling and enjoy your first champ.

I've made a right mess of my diary this year and managed to agree to farm-sitting for family the weekend of a champ show I would normally attend, that will leave us until June without a champ run. Seriously contemplating a road trip to SKC to do the double instead - there's a show judge that really likes my dog who is giving tickets for the first time, with champ agility the day after. It's only 6 hours. 🫠
 
blackcob said:
Fabulous news, well done! That last win is such a special milestone 😄 Enjoy the feeling and enjoy your first champ.

I've made a right mess of my diary this year and managed to agree to farm-sitting for family the weekend of a champ show I would normally attend, that will leave us until June without a champ run. Seriously contemplating a road trip to SKC to do the double instead - there's a show judge that really likes my dog who is giving tickets for the first time, with champ agility the day after. It's only 6 hours. 🫠
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Go for it!
Might be worth it for that judge 🤞
 
We managed a 2nd at Fridays steeplechase (four runs over two courses, best score on each course counted), and a 2nd in the graded (G1) agility on Sunday. Huge amount of time faults in the agility BUT we got all three contacts, and despite a slow start in the weaves we did complete them, I think error free.
 

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blackcob said:
Fabulous news, well done! That last win is such a special milestone 😄 Enjoy the feeling and enjoy your first champ.

I've made a right mess of my diary this year and managed to agree to farm-sitting for family the weekend of a champ show I would normally attend, that will leave us until June without a champ run. Seriously contemplating a road trip to SKC to do the double instead - there's a show judge that really likes my dog who is giving tickets for the first time, with champ agility the day after. It's only 6 hours. 🫠
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I have a pathological hatred of SKC but a decent judge and agility probably makes it worthwhile!
 
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