Agility Dogs

I had hoped to further hone my training skills, but the reality is I spend so much time general instructing that I don't get a chance to help anyone who needs it despite being the person who is most able to do so.

For me it was when the fun went out of it and it started to affect my enjoyment with my own dogs. nothing and no one is worth losing the reason I started to do it in the first place.

Your comment and my comment match. Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omlette. Ultimately there's no point in continuing down a path that is only going to end up with your resenting the very thing that you love.

It's amazing how people just come out of the woodwork when some of those who do stop doing...... Be true to yourself I say.

Bumping this up to ask the big question.

At what point would you pull the pin on instructing?

Even if you knew the club was desperately short of instructors?

What factors make instructing a yay or nay option for you?

I haven't pulled the pin, but I have cut back by about 50% and have stepped off the club's committee. For me it was when the fun went out of it and it started to affect my enjoyment with my own dogs. nothing and no one is worth losing the reason I started to do it in the first place.

There are other ways to give back to the agility (or any other) community.

Would love to, but so much $$$! Ping won't be ready yet then either

Any Aussies thinking about coming over for NZKC 2016 Nationals? Will be in my home town :D

I'd love to, but just not ready to commit to Mr Snap travelling that far, Xena is a risk at Kennel Club heights and I love Woo to bits, but I wouldn't go that far to run her. Snap will only just be trialling and that's a big risk.

Maybe 2017 or 2018 though. Would love to meet his sister Flirt who lives over there. :)

CK - keep him happy and healthy and manage his arthritis so I can let him have a little bit of fun on sequences at training. His smile when he gets to play is one of the hilights of my week. :)

Xena - Keep her sound and continue to trial in agility. She's turning 10 next year so we don't have a lot of time left (although our vet things 2 or 3 years, I'm not so sure.) Keep working on our relationship and her understanding of verbals when she's aroused. LOL.

Wikki - keep heading on the same path we are and keep making ground on the fast dogs (her older sister!!)

Snap - continue his training and start trialling with a sound, super fast, super drivey maniac!!

KEEP HAVING FUN AND NOT SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!

That and the lack of separate heights for open and games in the rules review. I feel really sorry for the organisers as they've copped a hiding already, and the rules review outcome hasn't helped them either.

Such a shame. Sometimes I think the harder people work the more they cop.

I often don't agree with decisions or ways things are run, but if I'm not part of the process then I think it's polite to shut my mouth and be thankful that someone else has taken the time out of their life to put an event on for me and my dogs.

Fanatics in every cause - it's often not a healthy pursuit.

The ones who consistently place- they are the ones who have put in the effort and deserve everything they win :)

I find it's just a direct relationship between how hard someone works and how lucky they become. ;)

unless ofcourse they are good at picking out the pineapple and eating the rest!

Sorry.....can't help it.......wouldn't it just be easier to pick it up than to run about putting pineapple in it?

If we have people over for the first time we usually put them outside with a bone till they calm down then let them in later.

Wow!! Is it that exciting to come to your place!! ;)

I don't have my dogs loose in the house when visitors arrive. They are either crated or on a place mat or in a pen (for the puppy). I don't want visitors arriving to be a big deal, and management is really important with the dogs I have. Once people have been over for a bit I will let the dogs out to lie next to me. Dogs need to know what you expect of them, so giving them something to do like be in their crate, on a mat, in a down etc gives you a desirable behaviour you can reinforce.

This.....

I.don't think you can compare the two. Easier to.monitor your dogs diet than your own.

I think it's easier to show 'self' control for our dogs than it is for ourselves. It wasn't until the point that I looked in the mirror and went, 'Dude, really.....' that I found it easy to control my own diet.

I really hate seeing over weight dogs - no matter what they are doing.

Nice golden retriever!

There will be some fast working line labs coming into the australian agility scene in the next few years. Will be interesting to see how they go.

There's no doubt border collies and kelpies are ideally athletically and mentally suited to agility, and that's the reason why they often win and dominate the sport. This is not said to offend other breeds, it's just fact.

Absolutely. But I think a lot of people sell their dogs short before they start.

Can't wait to see the working lines coming in. That will be soooooo cool. I grew up with borders and wanted on before I even knew what agility was, but nothing makes me smile more than a non-traditional agility dog blasting around a course. :)

Overseas, most 500 border collies would jump 650 or higher.

I'm kind of glad that they don't in australia as there is no way any of the non typical large breeds like my lab would ever place!

As we get more and more working style BC's coming into the country you'll see more of them running in the 600 height class.

In the US for example dogs have to be over 21 inches (53.34cm) to jump 650. Between that and 44.45cm they jump at 550mm. They also have a 'performance program' (like ADAA's regular program) for dogs that for whatever reason are not up to their 'full' jump height.

Championship Program

dogs measuring 12" (30.48cm) or less must jump at least 12" (30.48cm)

dogs measuring 14" (35.56cm) or less jump at least 14" (35.56cm)

dogs measuring 16" (40.64cm) or less jump at least 16" (40.64cm)

dogs measuring 17.5" (44.45cm) or less jump at least 18" (45.72cm)

dogs measuring 21" (53.34cm) or less jump at least 22" (55.88cm)

dogs measuring over 21" (53.34cm) must jump at least 26" (66.04cm)

Performance Program

dogs measuring 12" (30.48cm) or less must jump at least 8" (20.32cm)

dogs measuring 16" (40.64 cm) or less jump at least 12" (30.48cm)

dogs measuring 21" (53.34cm) or less jump at least 16" (40.64cm)

dogs measuring over 21" (53.34cm) must jump at least 20" (50.80cm)

I also reckon that while they aren't typical for a reason (not bagging the dogs, just saying that Group 5 have a structure that lends itself more to agility) we don't tend to train a lot of our large or small dogs like they do over seas. Lynda frequently placed with Spirit for example.

While BCs and Kelpies dominate the sport you will always have a big 500 class. I'm not quite sure how you propose we change that? Other than running ABC comps here like they do in the UK :p

The key is encouraging other heights to compete (rather than discouraging them as we are currently doing). It still won't change the fact that due to their structure, work ethic, and original breeding purpose the working dogs will always dominate the sport. As they do everywhere in the world.

Or get a BC that measures into the 600's. ;) I didn't see that one coming. LOL.

A good bet would be to message Bordacollies4me on here. Alison is on the Canine Disc Australia board and would be able to point you in the right direction.

Please don't be put off by the naysayers. I'm yet to see an injury sustained during a disc game, whereas I've had several injured dogs from agility and (less so) flyball over the years.

If you keep it sensible and safe and train it properly it's a great way to have a blast with your dog/s. :)

For those who are concerned about angles etc in novice (and I'm one of them - although I run a Masters Standard ADAA dog in novice at present), what is the solution? Is it more effective judges training? A stricter criteria on who can or can't become a judge? Vetting of courses by 'senior' judges?

Where do you draw the line between fair challenges and judges trying to prove a point? Just interested in people's opinions on where the rules should stop and common sense take over. I can design a course that no one will get around and it will be within the rules, but it's not necessarily a fair test.

What is an appropriate standard of judging? For example - I was called for a missed contact at our recent state trials and missed the final in that event. To be fair I thought we'd missed it, but when the photos from the official photographer it was clear that we had actually got the contact. Fair enough - all judges make mistakes, BUT.....the judge was in the pic and could not possibly have seen whether we missed or got it. (My big fat butt was between the judge and the obstacle - the judge was at least 7 or 8m from the contact they were judging.) How/Should this sort of thing be managed?

Just interested in competitors perspective.

FTR - I judge and am not bagging judges, rather I'm wondering if all judges are created equal and whether there should be minimum standards.

New rules are up on the ANKC site. Haven't had a thorough look, but the table has gone.

Table has gone.

See Saw is getting bigger.

More Q's needed for Novice and Excellent titles.

They were the big ticket items for me. Others seem to be concerned about the games being judged as one height class, but meh.....I won't be having to worry about that for a little bit. ;)

Its fine at night when the dog is naturally sleeping but not in the day.

Except for the fact that dogs don't 'naturally' sleep at night. They are wired to hunt at night and sleep during the day, we've built them the other way around.

I don't have a problem with crating for a length of time as long as they are getting sufficient stimulation and interaction outside of the period they are in their crate. :)

The rules will be made public in a few weeks anyway. Why can't people just wait for them to come out and stop all this speculation?! There is nothing that can be done to change them now anyway so I wish people would stop harping on about it!

ROFL. Because it's easier to sit at bash away at a keyboard than it is to go out and train your dog - which would be a much better use of time.

It's a hard one because she must find the barking quite rewarding in itself.

My thought would be that you need to find something that is more rewarding than the barking so that you can interrupt it without having to take the stimulus away. That might be a toy, it might be a treat, whatever. BUT......you will also probably have to introduce the stimulus at a distance and work towards it.

I don't know you situation and RSPCA is where I would turn if I thought a dog was being neglected.

Another point of view though......

Our neighbours over the road had a dog that was not treated how I would treat my dogs. It got out onto the road, it was rarely walked, untrained etc etc. BUT.....It was in good condition, was well fed and in their own way loved. Their other neighbours reported them to the RSPCA who turned up to investigate. Next thing I knew I was being abused for reporting their dog for being too skinny - because I am the dog person. Ummmmm......sorry, if your dog lived at my place it would be on a diet. Sometimes a polite conversation is a good starting point - for all concerned, even those who may seem not to be.

What everyone else has said - the big one for me though is the brawling as they start to get a little older. That's when it really started for us with the two puppies way back when.

Also - double on the co-dependence thing. They need to know you can (and will) take them out/train them/whatever seperately and that it's NOT OK to throw tantrums. They were my biggest learnings with two young dogs together.

Just thought I'd update on how Mr Snap is going. He's loving the game more and more every week. We are still just doing little bits and pieces, but he learns so quickly, it's quite amazing. :)

Reverse retrieve - still a WIP.

Pool Noodle

Front Cross

Spider

Only 3 or so more months until we can start jumping!! Can't wait!

Parvo is crazy near me lately, well always but it's pretty bad right now. And we had a distemper outbreak locally last month too.

Because I know how common it is here I'm extremely cautious with puppies. Socialisation is really important to me but I'm very careful with where we go and who we socialise with (friends say paranoid but I prefer careful :laugh: ).

Ask local vets, they should be able to tell you what is going on in your local area.

I still reckon this is a balanced view. ;) On balance the risk is greater than the risk of under socialisation and you are taking precautions. :D To me balanced doesn't mean go for broke, it means managing risks appropriately.

I used ot teach PPS, I used to teach dog obecience and basic agilty. I now do not teach any of it as I have to keep doing the same stuff over and over and people frustrate the shit out of me and I can't handle it any more.

LOL. Feeling your pain!! Then people get frustrated when you won't let them advance at the rate they think they should.......the scary thing is that these are the good ones who actually have their dogs out and are doing (or trying to do) something with them.