Spirit Joy

Definitely a good idea to get her out and used to the experience but maybe just one run per day. I did a 4 day show with Epic over the summer, three runs per day and with a day off in the middle. He was tired on the final day. Both physically and mentally trialling is demanding. I don't know if you have something similar but here we usually have the option to do classes where there are no weaves and contacts and are specially designed for new, retired or recovering dogs. Sophie (Labgirl) has been running her new dog Sparrow in these to get 'ring experience' and I plan to do the same with Angus when he is ready to start. It is a really positive experience for the dog as the courses are very flowing and don't require too much handling. If you can find something along those lines to start out on that might be ideal. Do any of your venues allow you to 'train' in the ring? Our fun independent shows sometimes allow this, especially over the winter and again it gives the opportunity to make those first outings really positive because you can take the toy in with you and reward on little sections or specific things like contacts.

Can't wait to see more videos BTW of your beautiful Spirit :yes:
 
I talked it over with our agility trainer and basically, what she said was that it was up to me whether I wanted to trial with Spirit right now or not. BUT she also told me what her criteria is for starting her own dogs, and when I step back and look at it that way, I'm realizing that it really is premature to start Spirit yet. Mostly because it will mean putting her into a environment where my ability to help her is really limited, she doesn't really have a clear understanding of my handling cues (when she chooses to pay to attention to them at all :lol: ), she's STILL under the impression that she can go through whichever hole she chooses for the tire, and I am a very new handler myself and still need help figuring out how to best navigate a course with Spirit. Most of the trials in my area are AKC, so there are no options for courses without weaves. Though weaves are actually Spirit's strongest obstacle. There are no treats or toys allowed in the ring, and "training in the ring" is expressly forbidden.

Most of the issues Spirit is having, the trainer feels, are related to her age (she's just barely 16 months old, and by far the youngest in her class - the second youngest is 2 years old) and ironically, her general good nature. Spirit is every bit as happy to run around with her friends as she is to do agility, so keeping her focused and motivated is something I'm really struggling with right now. She's happy no matter what she's doing. So in light of the fact that the potential for Spirit practicing DISconnecting from me and racing around doing whichever obstacle she chooses is pretty high, I decided to hold off for now. Though I must say that I'm very disappointed to have to wait.
 
while AKC allows dogs to compete at 15 months, other organizations including Nadac require dogs to be at least 18 months to compete. so all my dogs except Destin have started in Nadac so they've been at least that old when we started competing.
Having started Destin a little younger, I'd wait now....
but he actually runs the courses with me pretty well, it's at the end when the fun is over that the problems start.....
 
Calliesmom said:
while AKC allows dogs to compete at 15 months, other organizations including Nadac require dogs to be at least 18 months to compete. so all my dogs except Destin have started in Nadac so they've been at least that old when we started competing.
Having started Destin a little younger, I'd wait now....
but he actually runs the courses with me pretty well, it's at the end when the fun is over that the problems start.....
Click to expand...

Yes, the end has a lot of potential for trouble as well ;-)
 
Well, I don't know exactly what happened tonight, but Spirit was a complete and total rock star in agility class. The weather was a little cooler, so that might have been part of it. But her focus and ability to follow me was better than it's ever been (including following me on a rather tricky little serpentine, which she's never done before). But the absolute best part of the class was when her BFF came up to her on the field (we were working in stations, so several dogs were out on the field at once) and Spirit looked at her, said hello - but then recalled to me and ran the course with me instead of running off with her friend. She has NEVER had the self control to do that before. And even though she zoomed a little bit on some of the exercises (to be fair, we were working on speed and extensions, so she was BLAZING fast), she recalled to me every single time. We've struggled so hard to have a strong connection out on the course, and tonight it truly felt like we were a team - and it felt AMAZING!!!!!!!! What a huge rush. It was just so much fun. I'm still excited about it 2 hours after class ended :-)
 
I took Spirit to a run through last night just to see what would happen. I was pretty sure she would be a completely unfocused, crazy puppy, but she was actually pretty good! I didn't do the whole course with her (it wasn't a novice course, and neither she nor I were really capable of running the whole thing well). She refused the a-frame the first time, but then did it fine. She also sequenced really well and while she did zoom some, it wasn't excessive, and it certainly wasn't any more than she does during class (which really surprised me). The only thing I don't understand is that she didn't seem to understand what the weave poles were. I finally took her through on leash a couple of times, and then she got the entries pretty well, but still popped out before the end (12 poles). It was very strange, since weaves are her favorite obstacle. Oh well. She also did the chute for the first time by herself (good puppy)! We practiced the tricky little serpentine we had done in class and she completely nailed it. Then we all traded dogs and ran each others dogs, which was a ton of fun. Spirit zoomed a little with her "new" handler (who is actually one of my closest friends and helped me pick Spirit out when she was a baby, so Spirit knows her well), but really, not much more than she does with me. Spirit did yell at the handler a few times when she didn't cue Spirit in time, and did some sheltie spinning but it was just amazing for me to watch her run. She really is so beautiful. Also, everyone was asking how big she is, and they think that maybe she was mis-measured. The judge that measured her said that she is about 12 1/4 inches, but everyone at the run through thought that she was probably closer to 11 inches, and therefore possibly in the 8 inch jump class. I guess I'll get her measured again at the next trial and see. But overall, the run through was a great success. Hopefully we'll do it again soon.
 
Well, Spirit is showing much more enthusiasm in flyball class lately. But we've run into a new problem. She's so light on her feet and dainty that she's not triggering the box to release the ball. I honestly can't believe how feather light she is on her box turn. So now I need to get to her hit with a little more "umph"! This is not a problem that I had anticipated!
 
So my friend and I decided to take a last minute road trip to watch the AKC Invitational yesterday, driving 3 1/2 hours each way. It was a long, LONG day! But I am so proud of how well Spirit Joy handled the trip and the full day of excitement! Especially because there wasn't anywhere to crate her during the day to give her a little down time. She did take a few naps on the bleachers by my feet or on my lap. But she seemed excited to watch the agility and we had so much fun watching our friends shine in the ring. I'm just so proud of how she is able to handle so much stimulation and strange dogs (not necessarily well behaved dogs), strange sounds, strange smells, etc. She just has this rock solid temperament and confidence. I don't know how I got so lucky with this little girl.
 
I'm so jealous that you got to go to the invitational! Our trainer, (Judy G's and mine) was there competing. I've been watching the videos online since they started uploading them yesterday. They only live streamed conformation, so we had to wait to watch agility. That must have been so much fun!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top