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thanks guys! :D it certainly blew our modest little goals out of the water! :rofl: huge confidence booster for both kuda and me! :D

no vids tho! :( next time! lol i didnt want to have my OH or anyone else kuda knows too close to the ring as we are still working on a command where she can go play with them, but until i release her she stays with the mama (if she goes to them she just gets ignored by them, and when she comes back to me, it is jackpot time! :) hehe! it worked really well last night, so will definitely keep strengthening that and hopefully next time i will be confident enough for OH to stand there and film us :)

our very first run was open jumpers and she went past the first tunnel (my fault, i was in the wrong position, even tho i was ignoring the exclusion zone just since it was our VERY FIRST run hehe, i was so nervous i forgot everything i planned LOL) she took the next lot of obstacles well, but then went and had a sniff! i called her back, and finished it off with such enthusiasm! LOL both goals achieved! i personally made it to every obstacle, in order! :rofl: and kudas goal achieved as she speed through, tongue out and tail wagging! :D she had the biggest staffy grin when we had our little "party" at the finish line :laugh:

our next run was ages after, and was novice strategic pairs! i had never even seen this run before and was soooooooooooo worried! HAHA our partner had one more Q to get for her title, so i said yes to entering! LOL i warned her not to get her hopes up...anyway, we got set up, and both dogs flew through! they both listened, and didnt go chasing the other dog/handler!! :D (thank goodness we didnt have to correct anything LOL) we were stoked to find out we got a Q :D

our last run of the night was really late, but worth the wait ;) novice jumpers! we had a great little lead out with a push into the first tunnel. she was so enthusuatic! LOL luckily it was a free flowing course, and i stood in the middle and directed her out over the jumps, then into the 2 tunnels again, then i did a really, really badly timed front cross and cut her off from the jump, but she still managed to take it, just clipping it. i thought the bar had knocked, but the bugger stayed up! LOL the tunnel and last jump were right in her line, and since i am so slow, i sent her with a super fun "GO OOON" and she bolted through the last tunnel and over the finish! i came puffing up behind and we had our squeals and play while i leashed her then went out and got congratulated by everyone! we had our 2nd Q of the night! YAY! lol

i am so grateful for the dial up the distance DVD as our "GO ON" cue was the hero of the night! :rofl:

it still seems so surreal! i still cant believe we got first in both strategic pairs, and in novice jumping! what an awesome night! :D it was only a small fund raising trial, but it was nice to be surrounded by like minded doggy people, and our fellow clubbers at our training turf :D it certainly was an awesome start to our trialing career HEHEHE

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Elise,

Please be careful with a puppy and those parks. If it is anything like the 1s around here, the equipment is awful and not at all safe. Also remember your lovely boy is still growing so should not be encouraged to go over jumps. (Not saying you are doing this, but just in case...)

The other thing is if, if you do want to go on and do formal agility later a lot of bad habits can be learnt. It is an awful lot harder to retrain/modify a behaviour than start if from scratch.

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Not only hazardous to the dog but the owner - the one and only time we have been into a similar park I volunteered to help with filming for something I ended up sending my dog through a concrete tunnel and badly spraining an ankle. They are so not user or dog friendly places.

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Oh no he doesn't do anything but I get him to practice a stay on the short box and we did a few walks over the low A frame just for some confidence. I know not to jump him or do anything too much to damage joints, I also want to learn properly from the start so he starts off right.

Unfortunately we have no formal classes for agility nearby, a great local trainer does some, but only for fun in parts of the year. I am thinking I might have to drive 2 and a half hours when he is ready to start classes. :(

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I didn't think you would be jumping him but I always think it is worth mentioning as you never know who may do a search and read and take what you said to mean doing all of the equipment and think it is a great idea, when if isn't.

Maybe you could invest in some good training DVDs and build some equipment and use those in conjunction with traveling to class just once every few weeks to keep you on track? There are are some great DVDs out there like 2x2 weaving that you can easily do at home or Success With 1 jump. Others will probably have some good suggestions too.

Edited by piper
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At training the other day I was talking to someone who runs small dogs and she said that with the new rule change the minimum distance between obstacles is now smaller for the smaller dogs at separate heights competitions (2m for 200 dogs 3m for 300 dogs) and that the courses being set were testing that to the limit, she thought a bit too tight. What do people think of this?

Since I run a 600 dog it won't affect me.

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At training the other day I was talking to someone who runs small dogs and she said that with the new rule change the minimum distance between obstacles is now smaller for the smaller dogs at separate heights competitions (2m for 200 dogs 3m for 300 dogs) and that the courses being set were testing that to the limit, she thought a bit too tight. What do people think of this?

Since I run a 600 dog it won't affect me.

Wow! If this is true won't that add so much time to trials? Each height change would require a (slight) course change/adjustment?!

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Separate heights trials where this would occur are like the Festival of Agility where the heights are run in different rings, so each height is actually running a different course (not the same course with the height of jumps adjusted). Theoretically this allows the judges to create challenges appropriate to the heights as one course does not provide the same challenges for big and small dogs. Ie obstacle descriminations, off course obstacles, tight courses.

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Separate heights trials where this would occur are like the Festival of Agility where the heights are run in different rings, so each height is actually running a different course (not the same course with the height of jumps adjusted). Theoretically this allows the judges to create challenges appropriate to the heights as one course does not provide the same challenges for big and small dogs. Ie obstacle descriminations, off course obstacles, tight courses.

oooooh! that makes sense! haha i have SOOO much to learn about this sport still :laugh:

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We had our first trial last night, I was only entered in Novice Jumping :) We didn't come away with a Q but Ava did very well and I remembered the course which is always a good thing :laugh: Our only fault was on the very last obstacle - the broad jump - she took off way too early and landed on the last board - d'oh! We ended up getting a rerun because there was a dog standing right at the finish and the judge thought my girl had been unfairly distracted. Then on our rerun she knocked the spread (first obstacle) but did the rest of the course (including the broad jump) ok.

I've already had some tips but if anyone else has info about dogs that jump too early, it would be much appreciated :o I will be watching Susan Salo's DVD and going back to jumping foundations, but I have heard that for some dogs it is difficult to change and you just need to work with it.

Edit: From what I can see, she jumps early in open parts of the course but seems ok in the tighter parts. I will have to try get some video.

Edited by wuffles
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Sounds like a good debut, wuffles :thumbsup:

If you have access to back issues of Clean Run mag, there were some articles on early take-off syndrome - I think the jury might still be out.

I find that I can cause an early take off in my BC by getting too emphatic - maybe because I'm getting over excited, or I think she might need to work hard to clear say a spread. In her case, she's experienced enough that I just need to keep my mouth shut and not try to cue her to jump. Something to think about.

Revisiting SS is probably a good idea.

Ed because it posted itself before I'd finished :rofl:

Edited by Tassie
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If you have access to back issues of Clean Run mag, there were some articles on early take-off syndrome - I think the jury might still be out.

Yep I've found a lot of info online about this and she does jump a lot like the dogs in the videos. But I'd like to have at least some hope of her having an agility career so if anyone has tips... :laugh::o

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