The elusive Novice Jumpers title

There are a lot of slow but accurate dogs who can not make AKC course times either :x To me, it does no good to have slow but accurate, as that accuracy does you no good if you can't make time to qualify. Yeah, if you're clean in novice, open, and excellent a, you can still qualify because they allow several seconds of time faults, but in b... well, if you don't make time, you don't qualify.
You know, my Athena was my first agility dog. I started Kai 6 months after I started Athena. I shaped MYSELF to fit THEM. I didn't want to slow them down for me. It also made me a heck of a better handler much faster than I may have been otherwise. Just because you're a novice handler doesn't mean you have to take the slow but accurate route. You just have to decide what you want from yourself and your dog, and work toward that goal.
Athena and I have now been doing agility 2 years this past March. It'll be 2 years since our first competition this July.
 
I've been saying for about 3 months now, 'the day Edan learns to run during a trial, I'm in trouble'.

Edan CAN be a fast and accurate dog. He runs brilliantly when we are in training classes; often to the point of being too fast for me to get in position. Unfortunately, when we are in a trial setting, he shuts down and 'trots' around the ring or (more recently) picks an obstacle he doesn't want to do in that trial.

I'm hoping we can get over this hurdle because I don't want to stop competing with him. Not because I want titles; I could care less about the titles. I want to be able to play with him and really judge how we are improving. Trials let me do that.
 
Novice Dogs

HopeShelties said:
There are a lot of slow but accurate dogs who can not make AKC course times either :x To me, it does no good to have slow but accurate, as that accuracy does you no good if you can't make time to qualify. Yeah, if you're clean in novice, open, and excellent a, you can still qualify because they allow several seconds of time faults, but in b... well, if you don't make time, you don't qualify.
You know, my Athena was my first agility dog. I started Kai 6 months after I started Athena. I shaped MYSELF to fit THEM. I didn't want to slow them down for me. It also made me a heck of a better handler much faster than I may have been otherwise. Just because you're a novice handler doesn't mean you have to take the slow but accurate route. You just have to decide what you want from yourself and your dog, and work toward that goal.
Athena and I have now been doing agility 2 years this past March. It'll be 2 years since our first competition this July.
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You hit the nail right on the head. I could not agree with you more.My girlfriend who I carpool with shows goldens. Her dogs are not the fastest but make time. Finally with her one dog she is 111 points away from her MACH.She runs multiple dogs also. She has one that I think will be pretty quick.She has run Shadow for me a few times and she says after running her dogs she said running him is like being behind the wheels of a Porsche.I still say give me the speed demon.
 
So there's a question to all of you.....can you make your dog fast? Koji has come a long ways and has sped up. However, I watch the videos and I'm like, he's not even running! He's trotting!!! Obviously, with distance, I'm assuming he'd pick up speed. I've seen him run inside the house, or at the dog park, he's fast!

But yet, I think our fastest course was about 3.5yps. Slowest was about 2.1. LOL.

I have to say, usually when they take away obstacles (in NADAC), we can make time. But if we run the same course as Elite, we have troubles with time. Obviously, we need to speed up some, and this is NADAC. I wonder how we'd do in AKC or USDAA where courses are tighter and I don't have to full on run the entire time. Hmmm........inquiring minds want to know.
 
Edan has definitely picked up speed as he's gotten more and more confident on the equipment. The boy can more when he wants to.

Unfortunately, he doesn't move when I need him to - in trials. In practice and training, he's FAST! Something about a trial environment causes him to shut down. He still 'does his job' but he doesn't do it to the best of his ability.

I'll have to take a video camera to our run thrus one week and post a run thru practice video vs an actual trial video. There is a difference.
 
I think that there is no real answer to whether or not dogs can be taught speed. I think that being faster is something that can be taught. Think about people who train fast downs for obedience. Once your dog knows down, you only reward the fast ones. You can shape a fast dogwalk like any behavior.

That being said, I think some dogs are naturally more cautious or slower to begin with. It's the reason why some people get their puppies from agility breeders. They hope that these dogs are predisposed to being drivey and quick. Yes, drive can be taught, and so can speed, but those dogs with the natural ability to have both will be faster.

I can tell you with certainty that Bentley has gotten faster since we've started, and like Silaria said about Edan, confidence helps a lot. But I know that he will never be as fast as Jimmy Dean (I use him as an example because I've seen him trial) no matter how hard I try. I can tell by watching Lexi play that she will be faster than Bentley is. It's just in her nature.
 
Novice Agility

Jimmy Dean is a fast dog.Shadow beat him in Fla. and his owner Nancy had a fit.She was beside herself.I have run my girlfriends Goldens in class and I really had to work to get some speed.I was pooped after the run.
 
Silaria said:
Unfortunately, he doesn't move when I need him to - in trials. In practice and training, he's FAST! Something about a trial environment causes him to shut down. He still 'does his job' but he doesn't do it to the best of his ability.
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Tully is much slower at trials, at practice she is super fast and we train with the Masters group, so I think some of it is 'stage fright'. The more familiar she is with the trial venue the better she is, at the last interstate trial she got so scared she completely froze on the dog walk.

A little dog can't afford to be slow because the courses are designed and SCT set for the 500 class (and no faults allowed), and with the time it takes for Tully to drop a seesaw we really need to pick up speed somewhere else. Deska never made course time when he was trialling - but he did have fun.
 
That's why all of my young dogs now come to the trials with me even when they're not trialing. Ember isn't phased by anything.
For ones that are considerably slower at the trials than they are at home, you need to find a way to get them revved up at the trial. Playing a game of tug if they tug may help some dogs. You can let them watch other dogs up at the ring if they are easily stimulated by other dogs running agility. You can get them barking. You could do tricks at the ring (spins, hand touches, etc). You could sit there and rev them up with your voice. With Athena, I hold her and rev her up 'are you ready ready ready? ready to go? let's go get it!' and when we get to the start line, I hold her back and rev her up again. While I lead out (this takes a SOLID lead out) it's 'ready ready ready'. By the time she's released, all she wants to do is shoot off the start line. To get the best out of a dog, you need one who is truly excited to be going out to run.
Kai, my blue, doesn't need any of that. She is just so naturally stimulated by the agility that she doesn't need any help. If you revved her up even more than she already is, you'd be in trouble.
 
Believe me, Stacey, I've tried a lot of that. (Edan isn't toy motivated at all so I haven't tried tugs, etc.) What motivates him his food and I can't take food in the ring. I usually bring him up to the ring with a small treat I can break into pieces and get him doing tricks (spins, high 5's, etc.) while we are waiting our turn and he is revved up while we wait. The minute we step into the ring... he turns off.
 
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