flame ryder Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 (edited) wanting to do agility Edited September 4, 2015 by flame ryder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Hi Teela I feel your pain. My club is like that. I've gotten a better deal at West Beach (Agility Dog Club SA) Thursday nights. Haven't joined up yet cos it clashes with other things I have on thurs nights... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flame ryder Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Cool.....nights would be good in summer :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 So sorry you are having a hard time finding a place to do agility, it is so much fun! I don't know the situation or the clubs in SA, maybe someone else can point you to a good club? Or someone who trials and gives lessons? Anyone doing that over there? Maybe you can ask to join the Agility Australia FB page and ask for club or instructor recommendations there? We are lucky in Sydney there are a lot of agility specific clubs to choose from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podengo Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 That's crazy :/ I train at an agility only club, and the only prerequisite for joining is that your dog is ok off lead around other dogs! We do have a limit of 15 new dogs per intake, so 60 new dogs a year can join... New being TOTALLY new to dog sport, if someone from obedience comes or someone with a second/third/tenth agility dog they can join up any time since they won't need to go into the introductory class or won't need a lot of one on one help in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 West beach is the best one... and it's the only agility specific club in SA. It's bizarre because all the top agility people (including instructors from my club) go there, but it's much better organised, there's much better structure - and you know exactly when your turn is. Some of the other clubs are ok - but you have to go visit them to see which. Para districts is pretty good but my dog doesn't get along with their equipment tho they're planning to upgrade the surfaces on the contacts. I think Noarlunga might be good too but I haven't been there when they're training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheena Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Sorry there is no point to this just something I'd like to get off my chest. A rant if you like.. I want to do agility, I have wanted to do it for a long time. There are 2 others in my family that also want to do agility. But we are never allowed. Seems to be only a chosen few whom are allowed to use the equipment, but even though we have been members for over 3 years apparently we are not one of the chosen few. I've gone as far as I want to with my small dog in obedience training, now he needs something more as he is getting so bored in obedience. He is not good enough to trail and never will be. But agility he loves. We only have our dogs for 12-15 years to me this is frustrating as we could be doing something we all enjoy. We want to do agility but short of buying the stuff ourselves and doing our own training there is no other choice. So we are looking to buy all the equipment and going for it. I've not encountered such negativity from any other club like this. Over it. Are you saying that you are not allowed to use the equipment or not allowed to join an agility class where they are taught how to use the equipment. You can usually only use equipment at a club if you are in class & are being supervised by an instructor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penstar1000 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Definitely come out to West Beach. No obedience prerequisite other than that you have some control over your dog off lead, and it's ok around other dogs. The club has a couple of great instructors taking the Intro and Beginners classes. It's starting to wind down for the year unfortunately, we finish up at the end of November, classes start again in March. No reason you can't come down now though and see what you think. Thursday nights 7.30, I'll be there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Squish Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Sharon holds agility classes in small groups & also does private lessons :) http://www.truecoloursdogtraining.com.au/dog-agility-training/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 West beach seems to come and go as far as being good is concerned. Maybe it depends what you want as last time I headed down there it was a lot of standing around time for not many runs (and that was a trialling dog). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpette Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 teela while you are trying to get the agility sorted, are you able to do rally o at the club that you attend now? It is much better than normal obedience, faster and contains some jumps once out of novice. It is also so easy to make yourself a rally o set to use when clubs break for the Christmas holidays. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Ness You could be right about the trialing dog situation - I was doing intermediate and there were a few in that class who carefully avoided qualifying for trialing. Mostly by not entering trials... I didn't find the situation at our regular club any different. I could be there for three hours and get two runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconRange Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Teela, are you North side or South side? I'm Southside, so go to my local club plus West Beach. I'm a rank amateur but have never had any trouble joining either club. I haven't any experience with the Northern clubs. My local club is great, and West Beach is generally good too, depending on which instructor you get - seems to change every week. Not that there's anything wrong with the instructors; it's just that some like to talk more, which gives you less time on the equipment. If you can make it to West Beach or one of the Southside ones, give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penstar1000 Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Does anyone know of someone doing private or small group agility classes anywhere south of Adelaide? I'm happy to travel, but Gawler is just a bit far out of my reach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flame ryder Posted November 7, 2014 Author Share Posted November 7, 2014 I'm a good 5 hour drive to any major cities. I'm envious of you that live where there are many options for joining different clubs. We are going to buy all the stuff and do it ourselves. Plenty of training videos on you-tube. You could do same Penstar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penstar1000 Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 yes I know teela, I do appreciate that I have options! I have some jumps (probably need a few more) and some weavers, so I certainly can practice myself. I just find it really beneficial to have someone watch me and tell me where I'm going wrong, because it's always me and not my dog! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheena Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 (edited) I'm a good 5 hour drive to any major cities. I'm envious of you that live where there are many options for joining different clubs. We are going to buy all the stuff and do it ourselves. Plenty of training videos on you-tube. You could do same Penstar Teela...you still havn't answered my question to clarify your situation...this is a copy & paste of that question :) Are you saying that you are not allowed to use the equipment or not allowed to join an agility class where you are taught how to use the equipment. You can usually only use equipment at a club if you are in class & are being supervised by an instructor. Edited November 7, 2014 by sheena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridgie_cat Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 are there any nice individuals at the club you can cosy up to? even if you have a hard time with the people in power, can you play their game, tick whatever boxes they want ticked, then just train with someone nice? clubs can be their own little dictatorship at times - and it is terrible when it is to the detriment of peoples enjoyment and participation in classes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spencinator Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Just thought I would add my experience. I've been a few places for agility in Adelaide. I live in the inner southern suburbs and being committed to not using aversives in Spencer's training, my options are limited. We have been going to Holdfast Dog Centre for over a year now but its a similar situation there. Lots of dogs in a class so not many runs. They are also not geared towards competition so we plateaued in terms of ability pretty quick there. I went to West Beach for a while but didn't feel particularly welcome... I might have just been unlucky with who I encountered. I can strongly recommend Sharon Taylor from True Colours Dog Training at Gawler. She is absolutely fantastic and is the reason I still have hope for getting Spencer competing. It takes me over an hour to drive out there but we do a 3 hour class so its worth it (we go once a month). If anyone does come up with a recommendation for something positive based in the southern suburbs please let me know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 this is on the agility sa facebook page... It's a closed group so I took Sharon's phone number off but it might be on her website, I'm guessing she's doing the training with the other Munno Para club instructors. MPDOC Agility Instructors are pleased to announce that we will be conducting a special fund raising event - ‘COURSE SKILLS WORKSHOP’ on Saturday 13th Dec, 7:00pm to 10:00pm. The hands on workshop will be aimed at Pre-Novice and Novice level and will be open to Agility dogs and handlers from all clubs. This workshop will be concentrating on Jumping, therefore Weaving and Contact performance won’t form a part of it. Areas covered will be - Ring Etiquette, Course Walking, Handling Techniques, Turns & Crosses and Course Practice. Cost is $30 for the whole night. Places are limited. To be held at MPDOC Grounds, Vincent Road, Smithfield Plains. (close to Peachy road) To secure your spot, please text Sharon Taylor ----- this is the true colours facebook page - it's the same phone number as there. https://www.facebook.com/TrueColoursDogTraining/info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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