emilymarston

I try to do tricks between exercises, but Bonnie isn't in the mood. she doesn't even enjoy eating her treats during class. half the time they fall out her mouth. after class she's fine though, completely back to normal My boy has never worked for food - he has no interest in it. We use a tennis ball or a tug as reward for good work. There have been times when it has been raining and we have loads of puddles at training - his favourite reward of all, is to be able to bounce around in a puddle for a few seconds.. He did a great job on figure of 8 last term and I said - go swim.. He bounced in and out of the puddle until I called him back. We do fun things - I make it rewarding by only offering high value rewards. He has two tugs that are more fun for him than the other two. So he gets to pick the tug.. We all do whatever works for out dog - in our case, it is toys (fun not food) that work to keep him excited to work and having fun. Maybe toys would work for you. Neither of my dogs like to play with toys. On the odd occasion Bonnie might chase a ball, she won't pick it up or anything though. She would not perform tricks for toys as a reward. They're both highly food motivated. Toys are just not their thing.

I try to do tricks between exercises, but Bonnie isn't in the mood. she doesn't even enjoy eating her treats during class. half the time they fall out her mouth. after class she's fine though, completely back to normal Thats not good I wouldn't take my dog anywhere that would make her unhappy like that- its not worth it. Especially when they are generally happy and food motivated otherwise (although I think Mindy would have to be dead to not take a treat lol). The instructors shouldn't be letting you go on like this either. She's not ready for this type of environment yet or she needs different kind of motivation or there's just something about the club she doesn't like (which would ring warning bells for me). As I said before, even though my dog is very food motivated, for some reason I get much better heeling and obedience work with a toy. Can you get to Pro-K9 where erny is? Maybe even get Erny or another recommended trainer to come and assess exactly what is going on with Bonnie? Do you also do training with Ally? Yeah. I'll be having a chat with the instructors there next week. Ally is an 8 year old Scottish terrier mix. she's got a lot of health problems and she spends 90% of her time sleeping in another room. She's got very bad skin allergies, and can't eat anything (not even dog food) unless it's her special medicated food. she also has Cushings disease, and her knee dislocates when she walks. I do some training with Ally. but I am unable to use treats and she isn't toy motivated, which makes training extremely difficult. she does enjoy the interaction, but with all of her problems there is only so much she can physically do. I try to train her some simple tricks, mainly because she enjoys it, but there isn't much of a relationship between us. Ally prefers spending time by herself rather than with people, so she hasn't got a relationship with anyone in particular. Ally is reasonably smart, but because we lack a good relationship she is only working for food. all her drive is being pushed into trying to get the food, rather than trying to please me. So I do train her a little bit, but because of all our limitations there is only so much we can achieve.

I try to do tricks between exercises, but Bonnie isn't in the mood. she doesn't even enjoy eating her treats during class. half the time they fall out her mouth. after class she's fine though, completely back to normal

Thats awesome! I hear K9pro is doing a workshop in VIC this year maybe you could see if you could go along Ally? BTW I just wanted to say I'm totally impressed with what you've managed to achieve on your own with Bonnie. Great improvisation with equipment and as other have said Bonnie always looks very happy working with you. I think you could go really far, as you're very keen and enthusiastic and already a good handler. TBH I'd try another club, the one you're with doesn't seem overly helpful and quite set in their ways. In NSW you would not have these issues with most clubs. In fact, Bonnie almost looks ready to trial in novice jumping so it may be worth just entering her in some trials for fun. Many clubs are more accepting if you have some titles already.... I just moved to the ACT and whilst they are a bit more strict about entry into agility here, all that is required is a basic obedience test, seeing if your dog can work around distraction (like other dogs) and making sure they are not aggressive. I really hope you can find a good club to help you. Thank you! my name is Emily, Ally is my other dogs name haha :) I've got plans to start trialling in September. there's 4 or 5 trials we are hopefully competing in. hoping to earn our JD at the end of the year. I've been thinking about the K9 Pro workshop, but I need to look more into it.

That's the one thing I aim for when I do tricks and agility with Bonnie. I want her to be just as happy as I am to be working with her :) I might have to bring along my mum as well, the backup idea sounds great!

I talked to the head agility instructor last lesson, and she said I needed to be assessed by the head instructor. I got assessed by him, for a second time, and he said we're not ready for agility. I'll probably have to talk to her again to explain our problem, but she looks mean. I think I'm just going to have to do most of the training myself in the end. I plan on renting out some proper equipment at Kepala, and do my training there. I don't have enough room or equipment to train at home. It would be really great if I could do classes, but right now I don't see that happening. I've got plans to start trialing at the end of the year, luckily my mum is willing to drive me around and help with the memberships! I know we haven't had any proper training or anything, but I have a lot of help online with agility training and it's helped a lot. I try and do the foundation exercises I see on Youtube, and so far I've noticed a pretty big difference. And with these "possible" agility classes we'll be even closer to trialing. So I'll have to see how everything pans out over the next few months. Bonnie and I will be going to watch the Action Dogs trial at KCC park next week, it'll be my first time watching dogs compete for real :) supposedly on the same day there is also a fundraiser on the other side of the area, with a simple agility course set up for people to have a go on. think we'll have to try that out

I don't know why they test obedience work if you're wanting to do agility. It's really annoying. Before starting obedience at Altona, we did almost 3 years at another obedience club. Bonnie and I were heeling, staying and recalling 100% off lead. We could have trialed if we wanted to, I got asked by an instructor there if I wanted to trial once or twice. But I was really young and didn't get what trialing was. The point is we were working off lead, and working well. Twice now, the same instructor at Altona has said that Bonnie is "unreliable" off lead. I admit, our heelwork looks really bad. It's messy, slow, and certainly isn't trial quality now. But we are able to work off lead around distractions. I know that Bonnie and I can work off lead, and when she's excited we can do it well. After every class I do our own off lead training at the edge of the park, hopefully one of the instructors sees us one day. I made a plan a few weeks ago to show them my videos, but I haven't gotten around to it. It's hard, because they only get to see Bonnie during our class, which is at her worst. They have no idea what we're capable of, so they assume that we work badly all the time. So our next class is in two weeks, and I'm going to talk to a trainer that was nice to us last time. I'm going to try and explain to him that we don't like obedience, and only want to do agility. I'm going to show him some of Bonnie's tricks and stays off lead, to hopefully convince him that we can work off lead. I'll also try to explain that Bonnie acts differently out of class, and that she does have the drive and control required for agility classes. It's hard because every time I try to talk about it to them I get really upset, and almost start crying. hopefully it all goes to plan, but I have no idea how it will turn out.

I'd love to become a Vet, that's been my dream for as long as I can remember. I'm doing work experience at my local vet next year. If I can't become a Vet, I'd like to start my own dog training or dog photography business. Or even a Vet tech if I can't be a vet. I'm pretty good at science and maths, I just need to keep my grades up and hopefully it all goes to plan :)

I just watched your video...& I don't want to sound harsh...but I didn't see you reinforcing those lovely contacts with either food or a toy. Our dogs should not be expected to keep working for free, just like you or I wouldn't want to keep working for free. Keep the rate of reinforcement high & stagger it. Have you done any Clicker Work with her ??? :) If you want to know more about Clicker work check out this link & go to the PDF file & download it Introduction to Clicker Training. It's a lot of fun & everything my young guy knows has been taught with the clicker & he just loves his agility & obedience training. My older girl, I didn't start with the clicker till she was nearly three & I so wish I had started her earlier. :) I had a big hot dog in my pocket and was clicking when she hit the contact :) you just couldn't see it. The camera didn't see me rewarding Bonnie, so it looks like I was making her work for nothing. I'm pretty sure the neighbors could hear me screaming out "GOOD GIRL! GOOD GIRL! YES! YES! YES! GOOD GIRL!" I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement and clicker training. The only time I didn't reward her, was when she missed the contact. She still got a lot of verbal praise, but I didn't give her a treat. Otherwise she got a nice chunk of hot dog and hugs for each contact she hit.

:) and that is also when a LOT of people start , AFAIK .When they are able to drive- and take their dog places , and learn more widely :D Perhaps the ones who stop then finally realise that doing agility is not really their dream after all ? Perhaps they don't have the drive and patience anymore ? perhaps they prefer parties and lovers :p I have read through this thread, and I 100% agree with this! I have been training in agility since I was 8, somehow managed to convince my non-dog loving parents to take me, did it all through school, and now that I have graduated a couple of years ago, got a job, a car, and my own dog, I'll be going to the nationals this year! Once your parents see how happy agility makes you, and they start seeing people your age out partying, they might just encourage you to do agility more to keep you out of trouble :laugh: But in all seriousness, I was in the same situation as you when I first started, at a club that used harsh methods, got to agility with Cherry where she would run off and be a little bugger. So I changed clubs to one that uses positive training methods, and even though I had to start again it was so worth it. I had a different dog who LOVED training with me, especially agility. She turned into a little superstar! As has been said, keep working on building a relationship with her, set her up for success so she can have a win often and gain some confidence. Don't be so hard on yourself, it is hard starting out especially without being able to just go to any club whenever you want. Even if it takes a while before you start agility competition, you will be building a lasting relationship with Bonnie and you can keep learning invaluable skills along the way, then when the time is right you will be awesome :) All you can really do is stick it out with what you have got. Maybe showing your parents just how dedicated you are to this, and sticking with it for a period of time without getting disheartened, may make them a little more willing to drive you around in the future. Have you spoken to your parents about how you feel? I am sure they are not that scary to talk to :) The problem is I talk to my parents about dog training too much. About 90% of the things I say to them are dog related. My parents can see that I'm really involved with dogs and dog training, I've been like this since I got Bonnie (which was 4 years ago). If I want to show something to my mum, she always asks "Is it about dogs again?". I spent half my birthday money on dog toys and training equipment this year, and my gift from my parents were agility classes at Altona (but we haven't started the classes yet). I even quit my tennis lessons to take agility classes. So I think my parents can see that dogs are my thing. During obedience class if Bonnie gets a glimpse of my mum (or someone who looks like her) Bonnie will have a mini anxiety attack and tries to run to her. On our first lesson Bonnie saw someone who looked like my mum, and wouldn't stop looking and pulling at her the entire lesson. She only stopped when we walked by the lady, and Bonnie realized that it wasn't my mum. So during class I make my mum sit in the car, she watches us and tells me how we went from her point of view. My mum just tells me to keep persisting with the obedience classes, because she knows that we're getting even closer to starting agility. We failed our agility assessment because our offlead heeling was too wide and slow. We have to get assessed by the head trainer, he made me and Bonnie heel offlead and then do a recall. We could do it, but because Bon doesn't enjoy obedience she did everything slowly. So the trainer said that because Bonnie is too slow, we can't do agility. So my mum thinks it'll be worth it to suck it up for a few more weeks, and then we'll be finally doing agility classes. We've only had four classes anyway, so I can't really expect to get into agility straight away. My parents are happy to take me to classes, but they don't think that I should give up so easily.

Thanks for the tips! I've noticed that shorter sessions work a lot better for Bonnie, so much more energy and enthusiasm. I only spent 5 minutes training her today and it was great! definitely going to cut back on the length of our sessions :) and as you said, the relationship comes first!

today's training session. yes I know that chair thing isn't ideal for contact training, but it's all I've got. Bonnie just loved it today. I don't know if you can tell, but she was really happy and so excited that she kept barking trying to hit that contact. that's why I still do agility

..perhaps you can help her ? No equipment needed to set up, either! THIS looks fun :) I used to do that with Bonnie's favourite toy. I would lock her out of the room, hide the toy, and then let her in trying to find it :)

I've thought about that. But I don't know if there are classes for nose work close to home. And if I do find classes in VIC, they'd probably be too far or too expensive. Bonnie does love sniffing though :) not that she's any good haha

Thank you :) Well I figured that the next few years of school will be a lot more demanding, I'm in year 9 so this year is not as serious. I have no idea how busy I'll be once I finish school, a lot of people seem to stop doing agility after they graduate. So I'm just guessing I'll be a lot busier when I leave school, I honestly have no idea if I will be or not though

I dunno. I really love agility right now. It's the one thing I actually enjoy doing that makes me happy. Everything with agility has only gotten harder since I got older. I think my best, and maybe only shot at agility will be this year. sometimes Bonnie doesn't like it, sometimes she does. I'm not sure. I don't want to just give up on it, we're so close and I've been waiting years for this. that she did it because she was told, not because it was her life's goal .It was MY goal that's like Bonnie in obedience class. sometimes if I do agility with her at home, she's only doing it because I'm telling her to. but at other times she wants to do agility and will bark in anticipation of the next sequence because she's that excited. it all depends on how she's feeling. i have no idea really. I'd like to think that she enjoys agility too, but most of the time it's only me who's having fun. sometimes Bonnie loves it, more often than not she'd rather do something else

I dunno. I really love agility right now. It's the one thing I actually enjoy doing that makes me happy. Everything with agility has only gotten harder since I got older. I think my best, and maybe only shot at agility will be this year. sometimes Bonnie doesn't like it, sometimes she does. I'm not sure. I don't want to just give up on it, we're so close and I've been waiting years for this.

I don't have enough money or space for online classes. I can barely fit three jumps in my backyard. The reason why I chose Altona was because it was $50 for a year of classes (obedience or agility). But it was hard to convince my parents to even take us there every week, it was my birthday present. I haven't looked into private lessons yet. Is there a website or anything that I should look into for private lessons?

I've been trying to excited her during class. I get criticized for even small amounts of praise, so it's hard to train Bonnie like I normally would without getting some sort of look from the other trainers. I'm the only one in class who uses food, so I look really out of place in class already. I could move 10m from the class and Bonnie will be fine, working as normal. I'm trying to still maintain the usual amount of excitement and praise as I normally would give her, but it's hard when all the trainers are telling me to do the exact opposite. Bonnie does have a strong desire to work, but it's really hard to channel that drive into sometime we both don't enjoy. And that's our biggest issue. Personally, if that was the attitude of the club, I would stop going and look for another club that promotes more positive working relationships. I know that is difficult to do in your circumstances, but I would not persist in going to a club that will not allow me to use the methods and rewards that I want and that my dog works best for. There is not much point going if you are not enjoying it and the dog is not enjoying it. I would move, but my parents won't let me change clubs. I can't afford a proper agility club, and I don't want to have to repeat the whole obedience thing at anther club. This is the only way I'd ever be able to take agility classes. I really want to compete in agility, it's the one thing I've wanted for about 2 years. Until I get classes I can't do anything.

I've been trying to excited her during class. I get criticized for even small amounts of praise, so it's hard to train Bonnie like I normally would without getting some sort of look from the other trainers. I'm the only one in class who uses food, so I look really out of place in class already. I could move 10m from the class and Bonnie will be fine, working as normal. I'm trying to still maintain the usual amount of excitement and praise as I normally would give her, but it's hard when all the trainers are telling me to do the exact opposite. Bonnie does have a strong desire to work, but it's really hard to channel that drive into sometime we both don't enjoy. And that's our biggest issue. Personally, if that was the attitude of the club, I would stop going and look for another club that promotes more positive working relationships. I know that is difficult to do in your circumstances, but I would not persist in going to a club that will not allow me to use the methods and rewards that I want and that my dog works best for. There is not much point going if you are not enjoying it and the dog is not enjoying it. I would move, but my parents won't let me change clubs. I can't afford a proper agility club, and I don't want to have to repeat the whole obedience thing at anther club. This is the only way I'd ever be able to take agility classes. I really want to compete in agility, it's the one thing I've wanted for about 2 years. Until I get classes I can't do anything.

I've been trying to excited her during class. I get criticized for even small amounts of praise, so it's hard to train Bonnie like I normally would without getting some sort of look from the other trainers. I'm the only one in class who uses food, so I look really out of place in class already. I could move 10m from the class and Bonnie will be fine, working as normal. I'm trying to still maintain the usual amount of excitement and praise as I normally would give her, but it's hard when all the trainers are telling me to do the exact opposite. Bonnie does have a strong desire to work, but it's really hard to channel that drive into sometime we both don't enjoy. And that's our biggest issue. Personally, if that was the attitude of the club, I would stop going and look for another club that promotes more positive working relationships. I know that is difficult to do in your circumstances, but I would not persist in going to a club that will not allow me to use the methods and rewards that I want and that my dog works best for. There is not much point going if you are not enjoying it and the dog is not enjoying it. I would move, but my parents won't let me change clubs. I can't afford a proper agility club, and I don't want to have to repeat the whole obedience thing at anther club. This is the only way I'd ever be able to take agility classes. I really want to compete in agility, it's the one thing I've wanted for about 2 years. Until I get classes I can't do anything.

Yes she's a very eager learner. Loooves her tricks and agility :) The only way I can take agility classes, is if I get to class 4 in obedience. We're in class 3 right now (we've only had four obedience classes this year, we've done well), so all we have to do is pass one more class. My parents won't let me change clubs, so this is only chance I'll ever have of taking agility classes. I have to be assessed by the head trainer to be able to get into agility. I got assessed yesterday, which only involves off lead heeling. Since Bonnie doesn't like obedience, she was "heeling" about a meter behind me. Yes she was very slow, but she was responding to my commands reasonably well and didn't run off. The dog has to be able to work offlead and have a good recall, we didn't get tested on either of these things. Basically he said something like "your dog is too slow for agility. If you do agility now you will ruin all of your obedience training (not that I care). Come back when you're in class four." I don't see how Bonnie's poor heel work will effect her agility, but that's what I'm being assessed on. I've been assessed twice now. So for now, I'm stuck.

I've been trying to excited her during class. I get criticized for even small amounts of praise, so it's hard to train Bonnie like I normally would without getting some sort of look from the other trainers. I'm the only one in class who uses food, so I look really out of place in class already. I could move 10m from the class and Bonnie will be fine, working as normal. I'm trying to still maintain the usual amount of excitement and praise as I normally would give her, but it's hard when all the trainers are telling me to do the exact opposite. Bonnie does have a strong desire to work, but it's really hard to channel that drive into sometime we both don't enjoy. And that's our biggest issue.

I can't afford classes at Bulla. Bonnie and I are past the foundation level, and foundation is mandatory at Bulla. I'd rather not waste over $100 going to classes that will teach me what I already know. I'm sure there's a few things I can learn there, but I'm wanting to go straight into real agility, with full sized equipment and all. So I have to dispel that little myth! It's really important to have a clear handling system to be successful in modern agility trials - as handlers we learn that and teach that to our dogs away from equipment and maybe just over one or two jumps. My dogs and I are learning a new handling system at the moment and have done little else but 1 jump work on low height for several weeks. And they both run in Masters! You can never do too much foundation. Do you follow a handling system at all? I'm not sure what Bulla teach. I've been told that Bulla's foundation class is very basic. It's primarily about teaching you how to properly reward the dog, how to get the dog motivated, an introduction to trick shaping as well as learning some games to play with it as a reward. No equipment is involved at all. It's all an introduction to dog training basically. This is what I've heard from other people, so I have no idea if this is true or not. For me, I reckon this class will have no real benefit to what I'm already doing with Bonnie. It seems way too simple for what I'm wanting in an agility class. And on top of this, the class comes with a big price tag that I can't afford. I don't know any handling systems. I'm starting to look into Susan Garret's handling system, but I haven't gotten far. I've had no classes or anything, all self taught. Basically everything I've learned has been from watching others online, or I made up something myself. I could be doing everything wrong for all I know. Lack of money, equipment and yard space is not helping either. There is a lot I need to learn, and there's a huge amount of room for improvement on both ends of the leash, but I don't want to go into a class learning how to train my dog from naught.

I have no idea how they run their classes. It looks like very one on one training, lots of tugging and happy voices. It looks like they're using positive reinforcement, but I don't know. But I've only been able to watch a small portion of their class, as it's being run at the same time as my obedience class. Whereabouts is the Agility Club of Vic? As I said, my parents probably won't let me change clubs.