Are different rings better for beginners?

SheepOfBlue

SheepOfBlue

Premium Member
I have gone to a couple of agility meets to check things and visit friends. One is a horse center over near Decatur that has a nice area around it that is level with the competition area. The other is just up the road and has less surrounding area for the dogs but the competition area is lower like an arena.

It seems to me that Sca would do better with the lower ring to start since he would be able to see fewer distractions. There is the second ring but even the judge table was up above. Any opinion from the experts?
 
I think it totally depends on the dog.

I think the best thing for a starters dog is a ring that they can't leave (easily), if you're worried about distractions. Some places have tall fences, but our club has a fence that is only about 20" tall.

There are going to be people/dogs/etc.. crowding around the ring regardless of space.

I think that the hardest part about going from practice to a ring is the absence of treats. My recommendation is to start (if you haven't already) weaning Sca off of treats after every performance, if you can. Or, play the 10 second rule game where you praise him verbally for 10 seconds (play with him, etc...) before he gets a cookie.
 
Thanks Ashely we have a LONG time to go before I need to wean him off. I am just plotting for the future maybe. Next week I should get a tunnel for him which means I can do a basic jumpers type setup in the yard.
 
I think there definitely are some better places to start a dog than others. The big show here, the March Cluster, is one that no knowledgeable agility person would start a new dog at. It is a huge show with tons of dogs and people, and a lot going on. There are three rings running at once. It is also an extremely loud show, as it is in an arena that echoes really badly. A lot of green dogs have trouble with that venue early in their careers.
Small one ring shows that are low key, and don't echo as much seem to be good first choices. Also some soccer arenas have actual walls up around three sides of the ring, which is nice as it tends to keep out a lot of distractions, and gives the dog less place to go if they start thinking about leaving the ring.
A lot of it does depend on the dog though, and how much they've been to shows just for the experience prior to showing for the first time. Kai and Athena have never been bothered by anything, and would be fine in any facility, under probably any conditions. I expect the same from Ember and Lark, as they have been coming with me since they were three months old, and aren't bothered by anything. Aurora however, my spooky dog, is going to be started at either sheltie national (if she's ready) as it's not going to be a large sheltie entry, or at the soccer arena I know of that has three walls up around each ring so she won't have people and other dogs hanging out right outside the ring to bother her.
 
Well eventually you are gonna have to run in everything but, The place I have been trialing at is a horse arena, it is Ideal for first time trialers as 3 sides of the building form 3 sides of the area & they barrier off the fourth side spectator area pretty nicely and only leave small entry & exit chutes, great for inexperienced dog and most courses run predominately away from the spectator area. I train on an flat open on all 4 sides grass arena and yea it can be quite distracting for a new dog, heck I have even seen experienced dogs go off course there due to ring perimiter distractions. So I would probably opt for the more confined or lower paddock to start out with myself.
 
I think like Ashley said it depends on the dog.

Justice did better to total chaos. The places with tons of noise, distractions and people, he'd shine that was in both agility and obedience. If it is too quiet and low key he would pay attention to any noise and people more readily. If there were tons of noise, it was like it would become white noise and he only focused on me. It was weird too that the more stress and worried I felt he did better, like he had to take care of me and pay attention so I didn't get into trouble. Mind you Justice is one of a kind.

Ember, OTOH, likes smaller shows, rings with a limited view of other rings, and less chaos. She can handle more now but when she was starting,she would get worried by too much activity. Also I have to be totally calm. If I'm a basket case, Ember thinks that I'm nervous the boogey man is coming.

Diva, I haven't shown but one time in agility and she was pretty distracted. The show was larger and had a more open ring. A smaller show with a less view of the other rings is what I am going to look for for her, probably the soccer arena. Same with obedience.
 
Yup, if Sca is a runner (off the course), I'd find something where he can't run off. Koji rarely ran off, but at our first Show n Go (non-competing practice trial), there were no fences and buh-bye, off he went. :o So embarrassing. BTW, he did it even when there was a fence around us (he went to visit the judges a few times, ran out the gates, etc). :no: But you just have to laugh about it.

Since Sca is like Koji, majorly food motivated, my suggestion is this. You don't need to wean them off of food, however, get him to run sequences before you treat him. i.e. put the bag somewhere (not on you), run a sequence (any amount of obstacles), then go to the bag and treat Sca. That's what I did in class. I stopped carrying treats and started treating him at the end. The only time I carry them now, is when I'm working on something specific (like contacts). This basically taught Koji that he has to run the whole thing before he gets treated.

I also used to use treats prior to our run (like still treating until I had to go in the ring), but that was to calm him down and distract him, I think that might have been a mistake, lol. But I'm not sure yet. Because when I run out too early, it sucks, cuz then he gets crazy way too early.

When you get closer to being ready, you should see if there's any show n go type trials in your area. They may call them other things. Less pressure, more fun, a chance to see what Sca will do, and to desensitize him to the whole trial atmosphere.

I know that didn't answer, flat or arena style, but like Ashley said, it all depends on the dog. And well, I've never been in an arena style, so it doesn't matter. The one arena I've been in....the was still a lot of foot traffic on the main floor, so it was like a regular flat trial anyways.

FYI. If you have time, check out some trials with Sca. Don't compete, just spend an hour there walking around, and see how he reacts, it also helps to desensitize him a bit.
 
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