Our first agility competition (update)

[Simba13]

I'm so happy to hear that everything went so well - sounds like you had a great time and the addiction is growing

Congratulations on your 4th - brilliant at your first show together in a combined 1-3 class. Look forward to hearing about your next competition now

Thank you! Oh yes I am definitely addicted and with Sheltie number two on the way I have already started thinking about foundation training

I was shocked that we pulled it of in a combined 1-3 but I have to put it down to the brilliant training we have got at the club. I will update about our next show

 

[Lanie]

The weaves are so difficult and I am still working on them with Simba as he pops out at the 10th pole a lot of the time. Did you teach channel weaves? I would like to give them a try to try and resolve our 10th pole problem

I did use channel method and it was working really well until we got to 2 inches and couldn't get any further. I rent the gym for private practice and last Friday night I closed the poles and sent her from the side of the poles at the entry instead of behind the poles as you do when there's a channel open to run through. That did it. She was just confused as to what I was asking her to do when there was no channel. As soon as there was something to run between (the 2 entrance poles) she just did them. Perfectly. About 20 times in a row. I was thrilled.

The seesaw has been very difficult for some of the dogs at our club as they got a fright on it before they really knew what it was. Take it slow and Echo will be flying in no time. Luckily when Simba got a fright it was because he slipped of the side before it banged and I did get him back on it before the end of the class but I didn't want to push it at the competition.

We've done the seesaw twice in private lessons with our new trainer and so far, Echo wasn't afraid of it. That trainer's course is loose dirt and it didn't bang too loud on that surface. Not like I've heard it bang at shows I've been to.
If I can prevent her from having any scary experiences on it, I think she'll figure it out fairly quickly. So far, I've held her collar while she was on it so she doesn't get overzealous and jump off. She's prone to get overexcited and miss contacts occasionally on the dog walk and I don't want her to start that with the seesaw.