Lablover Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 I must say some of answers surprise me, especially those who train for so many types of different events. Some types of training concepts marry up very well. Others I think are best done one at a time and in certain orders. Some are, well, um contra indicated and if trying to reach the top titles, it seems to me at least, you can play in many but be master of none. Do others think so too? I am a worrier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayreovi Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Im only trying out new things to see which one they will like best and then we will concentrate on that, im not going to make them do something they wont enjoy after they have learnt it, the main things i am doing though actively are the usual Obedience, Agility and Flyball. ohh and conformation isnt really a dog sport Nova thinks the only reason he is there to get pats and everyone to look at him Natasha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikesPuppy Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 ohh and conformation isnt really a dog sport Nova thinks the only reason he is there to get pats and everyone to look at him What else is conformation for? lol. I agree with tollers. I will try Obedience, Agility & Flyball with the 2 young'ns- if they seem to enjoy 1 heaps more than another then that's what we will concentrate on. I'm not gonna make a dog do what it doesn't want to do. But I'm sure many dogs enjoy multiple sports. I mean, Caber is ball-crazy, AND jumps over anything he can find! I'm sure he wont be able to decide wheter agility or flyball is better lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 (edited) Lablover writes: Some types of training concepts marry up very well. Others I think are best done one at a time and in certain orders. Some are, well, um contra indicated and if trying to reach the top titles, it seems to me at least, you can play in many but be master of none. Could you give us a "for example" Lablover?? Personally, I think obedience provides the ground work for any dog sport. If you don't have a good training relationship with your dog and do some basics at least, its heard to maintain focus and control doing anything else. Eg. you need a solid 'wait' and good recall for agility and a good recall certainly helps at lurecoursing. Edited January 13, 2005 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdayz Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Lablover. It has been a case of finding what they enjoy, much as tollers said. My collie has trained for agility, and clearly hates one compulsory obstacle so she will not compete in ANKC agility. She just slips into large dog height for jumping, which though she can jump it she clearly isnt as enthusiastic as when she does the lower heights. She does however enjoy running the lower heights and loves tunnels and see-saw. So with the alternative agility schemes having arrived in Victoria, she will get a go occasionally. She doesnt like too much obedience, give her a few weeks break and she comes back all enthusiastic but it dies after a couple of weeks. While i hope one day to get her through CD it clearly may take time. Herding she adores so as far as possible we will persist, though its a sport undergoing rapid rule changes which are likely to make it hard on all but the border collies and certainly on those with no regular access to sheep. I do not believe that she could do the herding without doing obedience, they are tested for recal, stay, and down while herding, and sheep are her ultimate distraction. So with obedience and agility largely out of consideration, and herding events being few and far between i thought tracking may be her thing to try next. The weim was meant to be a showdog - that didnt work out. He loved obedience up until about a month ago, to say he doesnt like it was probably unfair he just has a concentrtion problem at present. He has a medical condition which makes him starve without treatment. This had the one benefit that he was mad keen to work for a clicker/food reward. Now that his medication/diet/weight is normal he has become the typical teenage gundog i thought i was lucky enough not to own. Hopefully with maturity he will return to obedience (and manage to keep all 4 feet on the ground). The agility will hopefully be his thing, and tracking should come naturally, but he is young and time will tell. But yes i will be reducing these activities for their sake and that of my social life. They may never acheive greatness but i hope they may be happy and stay fit into old age. At present they have just turned 2 years, and i think the stimulation is good for them. They are both intelligent and active dogs, and they both let me know if they dont like something, and i do my part by listening to them. I do agree that concentrating on only one sport is probably the best way to reach the top of it, but I am more inclined to enjoy a little of everything, and if we never compete at the highest level so be it. Interested to know which sports you consider go together well, and which not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterpaws Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Hi All - I am at work and doing sneaky checks on this thread so haven't read everything fully I am wondering if there are any websites that describe the different levels of obedience and a description of the different sports. If you wanted your dog to say compete in flyball would they need to be at an obedience school? Sorry for the novice questions - I have great dogs but have never been to an obedience class as we go to K9 Force and have never considered sports but they sound interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 (edited) Some types of training concepts marry up very well. Others I think are best done one at a time and in certain orders. Some are, well, um contra indicated and if trying to reach the top titles, it seems to me at least, you can play in many but be master of none. Is that so wrong lablover? As someone who does just about everything I can with my dogs, I agree to some extent. I will admit my dogs may well be 'jack of all trades, master of none'! But, my enjoyment comes from experiencing each discipline with my dogs, not necessarily reaching to be the best of the best. It is said far less often now, but people used to say that doing agility will spoil an obedience dog. Nothing could be further from the truth with my older Vizsla, it was through agility that our team work really came through, and then we breezed through Novice class (Open is another story). I have definitely cut back on his agility since training UD. There was some obvious confusions when doing directed jumping, however consistent training has seemed to got us over that hurdle. A number of experienced UD trialers have told me that they did have to drop their other activities while training UD. Yes, it even effected a local trialers Retrieving trialing!! So, for that period, you make a choice. At times with multiple disciplines, that is what you have to do. Last year my young Vizsla started his trialing career. He tried agility, jumpers, obedience and retrieving. He titled in Novice agility & jumping with all placements including winning jumping at the Nationals (only gundog to place in the top three over the whole weekend, also picking up a 2nd), won Novice Agility at the state Titles, titled in Novice obedience with a 1st, 2nd & 3rd and finished our first Retrieving season with his first Novice stake win. He went onto achieve his Open agility & jumping titles, with some nice placements and wins too and has an Open obedience pass which was gained under pretty awful conditions. Admittedly the real 'tests' come at the top level of competition. He already has two Masters Agility passes with placements. I believe he will be a better UD potential dog than my other boy, and I am realistic here, he is a VIZSLA and unlikely to compete and win at All Age retrieving level anyway. What I won’t start with my young Vizsla at the moment is tracking. I have been told that it is not a good idea with a dog you are retrieving with, especially the Utility Gundogs who like to air scent so much. I am not totally convinced you can't do the two at the same time, but I think we have enough on our plate at the moment, and I do think my boy has a very good nose and may not encourage him to follow it too much on his own I was a bit worried about trying Lure Coursing with him, thinking it may again effect his retrieving. He actually gets more enjoyment out of lure coursing than picking up pigeons I think!! And, if anything, his keeness for retrieving improved. We all have slightly different goals with our dogs. Some people prefer to focus on their one preferred activity and reach the top level their is. Others, like me, prefer to try everything and see what we can do Yes, I definitely have my preferences and will focus more on that than other things, but even that changes. Up until last year our love was agility, but that has dwindled somewhat. The order people teach their dogs things will most likely be in order of their own preferred sports. Rogan was straight onto agility concepts when he came home as a puppy. I encouraged his retrieving and started obedience, but our focus was agility. If I was more tracking focused we would have done a lot of tracking basics as a pup, just as if I was gundog work focused he would have been doing far more retrieving foundation work. As a result, I believe that barring injury etc. he will easily gain the top titles in agility & jumping, he’s already well on the way!! Hopefully he will be a UD dog, I’m not sure about OC but I doubt he’ll ever be a RtCh, and that’s OK with me. I am also realistic that if I really wanted that RtCh title I would probably be better off getting a dedicated retrieving breed, although it is not essential. Once I’ve considered we’ve gone as far as we can in Retreiving, which may well be an NRD or before we’ll even give tracking a go, who knows, if his handler improves in tracking he could be a TCh one day!! We are having a ball along the way and the titles are nice, but they are not the only achievements we’ve made. As my title under my avatar suggests.. I love versatile dogs Edited January 13, 2005 by FHR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezza Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Wow the only thing I do with my two is sledding. And haven't decided whether or not I want to do that competively or not. I tired obedience, but wasn't ever really into it and neither were the dogs. Being sibe's they ahve such selective hearing, and only generally did stuff when they felt like it. Taya is the worst for it. Loki is great as long as you have food in your hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Conformation - titled Gr Ch Endurance - titled Obiedience - trailed not tiled Agility - just starting fot fun Dancing with Dogs - at home for the family and friends as audience But the best we excell at is lying on the lounge - I guess one can call it Couch Potatoing We are also extremly good and chasing possums at night, never actually catching one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vehs Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 We used to do obedience and agility -- obedience we both became very bored with and agility had to take a back seat to uni studies and transport issues. Definately want to get back into agility next year, just for fun - no trials, because it keeps us both fit. However may have to do some obedience as well as his recall is getting slack I only heard about endurance the other day when someone at work asked me if I wanted to train and compete in the middle of the year with her -- still looking into it. I'd like Dieter to gain titles or at least compete in agility (I think he may be too slow...) and obedience, but I'm not the type of person to do it. I get very shy and nervous when I have to perform.. I've gotten over public speaking, because I had to, but I don't have to take Dieter to trials so don't feel the need to place myself under the pressure. Then again he doesn't know what he missing out on and wouldn't understand anyway! Oh I also like making up little tricks at home that never see the light of day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikesPuppy Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 But the best we excell at is lying on the lounge - I guess one can call it Couch Potatoing Is there a title for this? :rolleyes: My 'kids' also excell at this 'sport' :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 (edited) My dog has a CPX (Couch Potato Excellent) - he is titled! do you know how ahrd it is to do this??? :rolleyes: http://www.lukrowi.pl/galeria/index.php?p=...re=2850#section or this :rolleyes: http://www.lukrowi.pl/galeria/index.php?p=...re=3413#section or in fact this :rolleyes: http://www.lukrowi.pl/galeria/?p=2&id_section=29 As to the other home discipline - do you think that chasing a possum that walks on the very high fence I have and the dog runs along this would classify as a puppy run in lure coursing ?LOLOLOLOL Edited January 13, 2005 by myszka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparty Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Hi Slow one :rolleyes: maybe this link may help? http://www.dogs4sale.com.au/Obedience_Trials.htm we are doing Obedience trials with Sparty and Kira, gonna try agility NADAC style I think for Sparty and flyball if I ever have time. Our new puppy we are training in DONT eat my clothes, eating the crotch of underwear is a no-no 101 hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shadowboxer Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 We do obedience, and rushing around madly for no particular reason :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxagirl Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Bondi and I are training in obedience, hopefully competing soon (but i won't hold my breath) and she likes learning new tricks, and has so far learnt: Bang (play dead) spin take a bow jump through hoop/ and over things teaching walk backwards atm wave shake dance beg and basic agility commands We will hopefully start agility nxt year. (but Bondi would probly do puppy zoomies around the agility coures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanW Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Hello again,,,My 2 dog's race. Not lure coursing but much the same,,just in a straight line :rolleyes: . I have been racing whippet's now for almost 20yrs and 2 yrs ago I got my first champion both Scottish and British. My other boy is a Scottish Champ and a runner up British Champ, he is not 2 yet, so well chuffed with him. Any other whippet racer's here :rolleyes: PS mine don't chase bunny's, only a lure made of plastic strand's :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikesPuppy Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Oooooh I've always wanted to see Whippet racing! As well as Afghan Racing. Not sure if they do it ehre though? Myszka- rofl@ the 'title'. And those pics! Can I please use him to breed my next CPX pup? :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted January 14, 2005 Share Posted January 14, 2005 Myszka- rofl@ the 'title'. And those pics! Can I please use him to breed my next CPX pup? Of course you can! What you should know is that he can also do this http://www.lukrowi.pl/galeria/index.php?p=...re=6339#section However as a responcible stud dog owner I will tell you that you should be aware that it is also in the bloodlines that he does this (2 part series of photos - or more of a before and after shots) http://www.lukrowi.pl/galeria/index.php?p=...re=3106#section http://www.lukrowi.pl/galeria/index.php?p=...re=3107#section Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikesPuppy Posted January 15, 2005 Share Posted January 15, 2005 He's just multi-talented!!! What a great dog! Dual champion Couch-potatoing AND stuffed-animal killing! What a stunner! My bitches are just beside themselves at the moment! He is just too good! Very stunning Dobe btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted January 15, 2005 Share Posted January 15, 2005 Interesting discussion about the pros and cons of doing lots of different stuff. I think it does depend on how much you are geared towards title. I guess I’m not that keen on putting titles on my two 3 year old Border Collies! We do: Obedience (one trialling in Novice – the other maybe won’t trial); Agility/Jumping – one about to start trialling in jumpers – agility later – the other playing until I find his off switch; Flyball - just getting started in this state – not racing yet – both dogs love it; Tracking – one dog just starting to trial; Herding – the other dog – has HIT, but now just learning to be a handy farm dog – we’ll avoid ANKC herding for the moment – it would conflict with our general farm work training for this dog; and they both do therapy dog visits. Oh, and in their down time, they are busy training for CPX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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