Angus' Agility Diary

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seashel

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To save keep starting a new thread each time I thought I would do a ongoing one to share Angus' agility journey and videos so will be updating here.

About a month into 'proper' agility training Angus is coming on well. He doesn't have the supreme drive and focus that I'm accustomed to with Epic, but he is keen to learn and seems to be enjoying himself. In fact yesterday he somehow got into Jessica's bedroom and up on her windowsill and was watching out of the window while I was training Epic. I still have no idea how he managed to do that but in terms of being 'agile' he is an ace! :lol:

I've been doing lots on wings but he has only just been introduced to the concept of jumping. I'm working principally on forward drive and 'go on'.

Seesaw is coming on well. I was tempted to have it go all the way down as he has done it by accident but no need to rush and I want to build in maximum drive to the end before having it touch down properly.

Contacts are getting there. He has more of an idea of shifting his weight back than Epic did (does) so this bodes well. To start with he kept coming off and backing up onto the end (we had done a lot of backing/rear end awareness previously) but I haven't rewarded that at all and seems to have faded out more or less.

It's not on the video but he is just beginning his 2x2 weave training now. The best I can say about that is he doesn't bark!

This isn't exactly reflective of a normal training session as we were very cramped in a tiny area of my tiny garden. There is normally more running (me and him) but it will give an idea of how he is getting on. Jessica's interest in the actual training has waned somewhat with the deteriorating weather and the amount of progress being slow ( I think she thought he would be running sequences by now :razz:) but hopefully when he can 'do more stuff' in the Spring she will participate a bit more. I don't actually mind as training both of them together would be...more challenging!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzAbwyP1-R4
 
Kudos to you for not wanting to rush things with Angus. I think it's really hard, especially if you're working with two dogs that are around the same age but at different levels.

Totally random, and sorry if you're doing this and I couldn't tell--but when you're rewarding 2o2o, make sure you vary your rate of reward when he's in position. Sometimes go back and reward twice, sometimes once, etc. It seems he has anticipated that he gets a cookie then he gets to come off. I realized that with Enzo he learned that too and he would pop off after I led out the second time.

He is just too cute! Look at his waggy tail on the teeter! Even though you say he may not have as much drive, he certainly seems to enjoy the game you guys get to play together :yes:

(Also, I notice in the first part of the video it's very windy. We've had some strong winds here as well!)
 
Thank you for sharing that video! He is doing really well and I will refer to it for guidance when my guy is big enough to start learning.
 
I'm terrible with diaries so apologies for the long break in between updates. I've been intending to post something for ages but have been very busy over the last few months and simply haven't had the time so I was determined to sit down tonight and get it posted.

Angus turned two at the end of April (I wanted to put a post up for his birthday but wasn't enough time, sorry Angus!).

So since November Angus' training has stepped up quite a bit. I started training him in earnest in March after Crufts, putting him over jumps and small sequences that I could put together at home with my three jumps and a tunnel as we were having no proper training classes over the winter months. I had in mind the goal of bringing him out for a steeplechase class at an independent (not KC) show at the beginning of May. I was pretty pleased with his progress although had concerns over his lack of focus when other dogs were in the area. As it turned out, I managed to just squeeze in two proper classes before the first show so I was able to see how he managed with other dogs around and with more than three jumps to look at! The clip at the end of the video below was taken on the second class. At the end of last year, he had been carefully doing one or two jumps and a tunnel so I was delighted with the improvement. It just shows what is possible with a limited amount of equipment!

So here's the video I put together from our training sessions over the last couple of months:

Jessica also had a go with training during the Easter break. Eventually I hope she will be able to run him in competition and she is keen enough but I find training them both together rather difficult!

I was keen to see how he got on at his first show on 8th May. It was all fenced rings and quite a small scale so I thought a perfect debut. My mistake the first day was keeping him away from the other dogs all day. By the time he went into the ring, dogs were all he could think about. It was not a success. He did one or two jumps then ran out to see the dogs in the queue. I brought him back and set him off then he saw Jessica filming behind the tunnel, went out to see her and that was all the focus gone. He came back and peed on the tunnel - humiliating experience!! and so I gathered him up and swiftly departed. Not an auspicious start to say the least.
The following day we were at a breed show which incorporated an agricultural show so he spent the day mixing with other dogs to his heart's content and also taking some of the edge from his energy levels. I discovered he now finds showing with me very boring and has started barking in the ring. More shame and humiliation!
The back at the agility show on the Monday. This time I let him interact with the other dogs a bit and altered my queuing technique. What a difference! Much more focus. The course was too difficult so I opted to run a Not for Competition round (something which KC shows don't allow) and took his (empty) Lotus ball in and ran my own line round the edge. I was pretty happy with this.

The following weekend I had Angus entered in n Anysize class (simple flowing course, just jumps and tunnels for all heights and grades of dogs. Designed for new, old and recovering dogs as they only can run at a maximum of 45cm). This was a KC show, with roped not fenced rings and the course included a 180 wrap and a cross in front of the tunnel which I planned to do as a FC, having done very few rears with him. How would he cope?


I was thrilled with this run, it was the highlight of my day. He was eliminated but it was entirely my fault for not pushing him out over the jump just after the tunnel, the rest of the run was clear, focussed and fast. He aced the wrap and did a rear cross that I had never even done in practice! I finally started to think that perhaps I wasn't mad to have him competing already after all.

Now the goal is to bring him out to debut in 'proper' classes at another independent show at the beginning of July. It's a lovely show and one of my favourites despite not counting for KC points. Epic cannot compete there as he is now too advanced (they only accept up to Grade 3) so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to support the show and concentrate on Angus with no pressure.

I've started training at a second club as well, as my original one is so dependent on the weather. The new one has an indoor facility too so Jessica filmed this a couple of weeks ago:

I'm very happy with all the contacts which are fast and so far pretty accurate and oddly I find Angus far easier to handle than Epic.

Finally here is Angus' weave training video.
https://youtu.be/PY-Z_TEd3EY

I started him on the 2x2s and was happy with the progress he was making until we got to 8 poles then I saw a drop in drive and speed. I decided to try channels, which I've never done before but it seemed like a good option and I'm delighted with his improvement. I guess it's what works for each dog as Epic learned on 2x2s with no problems once I knew what I was meant to be doing. I'll go back to 2x2s (using no more than 6 poles) to work on entries though as I don't have wires. You've probably seen that here, we have 12 weaves right from the start so I really wanted to get that as a priority and tougher entries can be something to work at as ongoing training.

I hope you've enjoyed this huge update on Angus' progress and will try to stick to little and often in the way of posts in future!
 
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