We've Started Fun Agility :)

As many of you know, I've been looking for awhile for somewhere suitable to take Stumpy and we've finally found a club that I'm happy with

What is even better is that when I told OH about it and that it was just a fun club, not serious or competitive, he said he'd like to give it a try as well

As it is only a fun club, most of the equipment is not full scale and they said we can choose to do/not do whatever we think our dogs are comfortable with, so it meant we could take Hoki as well.

OH handled Stumpy and I had Hoki. We all really enjoyed it. Stumpy was great at the dog walk, the tunnel and the A Frame and Hoki suprised me by really loving the jumps and whizzing through the tunnel.

As a fun club it was lovely to see such a mixture of different breeds:
labrador
4 lurchers - one rough coated, the others smooth
English pointer
English setter
GSD
mongrel
GSP pup (who only did the tunnel and stepping over poles on the ground)
5 BCs (2 belonging to the trainer, my two and another new starter).

No photos, but the other new starter with the bc brings her 9 year old daughter who didn't have much to do, so I asked if she'd be happy taking photos next week if I brought my camera and she was dead chuffed at the idea, so watch this space

Oh briliant I think the fun clubs take pressure off everyone - there are only two/three people who compete out of our mixed bunch but I am thinking might bite the bullet this year (said that last year too though! but promised Maxy we would!)

Its lovely to see so many different breeds isn't it

Way to go with your OH though - my OH wouldn't be brave enough to do it!

Sounds like you are going to have lots of fun with Stumpy and Hoki!

Look forward to photos

How did the English Setter do? - I tried it with my last girl and she was so bored by the whole thing LOL - did it all first time but just didn't see the point in it no birds involved LOL! So I haven't even considered doing it with Charlie.

Awww, what excellent news

Jess loves agility, but the problem I have is that the agility classes round here are held outside, and with the weather as it is, it is far to wet to have a go.

Are the agility classes held off lead? Jess is "noisy" towards other dogs more so when on lead.

Was thinking about you Fiona last night. I am so pleased that they enjoyed it, Andy too.
It sounds just what you were looking for. Who knows, the girls may have your and Andy trained to do it by the end of the month Hope you weren't out run by the 80 year old

Aw lovely! we definatley need some pics of HoKi and Stumpy having fun! Its nice that the two of you can go and do it together!

Thanks Rachel

I thought immediately of your boys when I watched the English setter. She seemed to be a fairly young bitch and a bit slighter built than many of the dogs i have seen, but lovely looking (apparently the owner shows them, but this girl doesn't show for whatever reason, so the owner thought she would try something different with her).

She was in the group that had been doing it for a little while and she was off lead. Just like your boys, she looked really happy but didn't expend any more energy than was absolutely necessary She also had her own, very cat like way of jumping.

They have a great venue - at the moment the classes are being held in an 'in door' (netting sides) horse arena - the owners keep icelandic horses and do riding for disabled children - some of the proceeds from the agility club go towards this.

There is a lot of on lead (which was strange for our dogs as they are off lead far more than on). When its not your turn, your dog is on a lead and when you're a beginner they are on a lead too. But you might find Jess surprises you - Stumpy can be a bit like that with other dogs, but I think there was so much to take in, she was quiet and just stood watching everything when it wasn't her turn.

the 80 year old wasn't there (at least no-one who looked that old!). But they all seemed a really nice bunch of people. And yes, I did actually do some running

Thanks Hayley Saying that it is supposed to be non-competitive, I can imagine quite a bit of friendly competitiveness building up between me and OH . I thought I'd given him the big advantage with Stumpy, so was so proud of how well Hoki did

Will definitely take the camera next week, though with a 9 year old operating it, I can't guarantee that the photos won't just end up being of feet or heads

Cool sounds like you had fun
its a slippry slope, I only started out Ben on fun agility, then he overtook the whole class and I wanted to learn to handle him better
so I will see you at shows next year??
you should come along to a show or 2 sometime to see what its all about - honestly its just a bit of fun for most people

wonderful

great to hear you all enjoyed it and OH went too!
Looking forward to the pics, next time.

[QUOTE=Hali;1574804]Thanks Rachel

I thought immediately of your boys when I watched the English setter. She seemed to be a fairly young bitch and a bit slighter built than many of the dogs i have seen, but lovely looking (apparently the owner shows them, but this girl doesn't show for whatever reason, so the owner thought she would try something different with her).

She was in the group that had been doing it for a little while and she was off lead. Just like your boys, she looked really happy but didn't expend any more energy than was absolutely necessary She also had her own, very cat like way of jumping.

Oh thanks for thinking of my boys! That's sounds like a Setter starting out - don't put too much effort in LOL but have fun - Connor is just like that ! Thankfully Maxy is over that now! but he has his days LOL!

Keep us up to date of your 'fun for now' agility

I can imagine it could be addictive, but for Hoki at least, I think real competitions will be out. I think she will manage just fine with the scaled down equipment, but she may struggle full scale and I don't want to risk her injuring herself. But then again, I realised how much fitter she is when she cleared a 3ft chain link fence chasing a cat

Thanks MissE

Will do
Looking forward to seeing more videos of your boys in action soon