Max's First Agility Lesson!

This morning I took Max to his first 1-1 agility lesson. It was 30 mins and it was really good fun. He did a couple of jumps and loved going through the tunnel and we also did some 'steering' and sit & waits. Just as we finished it started pouring so we were quite lucky it held off that long!
I'm so excited about doing agility with them and once again we have lots of training to do - does it ever end?!

Is anyone else just starting out in agility? I'd love to compare stories!

Hi have been doing agility for the last four weeks and no lol the training never ends! My Bessie is getting on well managing all the jumps and tunnels well but have to watch her as sometimes she goes through the tunnel like a bullet from a gun so she can run off to try and play with the other dogs! It's all good fun though. Also we are not the fastest but we get there in the end lol

Hi,

I'm dreading the distractions when we eventually go to the sessions where there are other dogs!

How old is Bessie?

She's fifteen months and very hyper. She just loves all other dogs and people and so finds it hard to concentrate when amongst them. How old is Max? I'm sure he will be fine and if you are unsure, take him round on his lead like I do. I only drop it when she goes through the tunnels.

We've been doing agility but it sounds like our instructor is very different! We actually started in June with a Foundations class. In it, we work on shaping exercises to get the dogs comfortable with trying new things.

It took us several classes to work up to even getting involved in the equipment.

So far we've done tunnels and a bit with jumps. We're starting with the tunnel at about 6 feet or so and Dahlia just LOVES running into it. Which surprised me as she usually has issues with dark enclosed spaces. But I think the class is giving her a lot more confidence. She was racing in and out of it and grabbing for her tug toy at the end each time.

We've also started something called jump grids to enable the dogs to learn how to properly jump and pace themselves between jumps.

The first sequence is two jumps: one 8 inches, one 10, placed 5 feet apart (I think!). If the dog goes over both fine, we move onto 8 inches and 12, then 8 and 16. We're keeping them at about 16 for the time being.

The second sequence is 5 jumps. Right now we're keeping them all at 8 inches. They're placed 5 feet apart and the dog is supposed to go over all 5 then get to the treat in the dog bowl at the end.

It's been a blast! I've very much enjoyed watching Dahlia open up and have fun in the class!

Hi I've just started Puppy Agility training with Smarti! We had our 3rd lesson today, and we're loving it!!! The only thing is that she is one step ahead of me and always thinking of the quickest way to get to the toy!! We're only doing little jumps and tunnels. It's good as two of my friends are starting with their pups so its good fun to train our dogs together! Look forward to hearing how you are getting on!

Good Luck

Lesley & Smarti

Max is 15 months too! I think it will be a few more weeks before we start going round the whole course, but it's all good fun! I was pleased this morning when I took Max out alone and he was responding to me more with different toys, I don't normally get that much focus from him outside of the house and garden.

Yes, it sounds very different!

We will go to foundation classes in a few weeks but the trainer advised that we do a couple of one to ones first partly to give them a start on the training without other dogs around and also because she thinks it might be easier for both our dogs to focus in class if they have learned a little of the basics first (they are quite distracted).

The very first thing we did was working on getting Max to turn around me whist staying close. He's quite good at that apparently because he's so focused on me.
Then the trainer said we need to work on them being more focused on looking at what's ahead so I had Max in front of the jump, which was probably no more that 8 inches, and she stood the other side. I had to throw the ball to her then she called Max over whilst I held him and then released him with 'GO!'. After a couple of goes she didn't stand there anymore, I'd just throw the ball then get Max excited to go after it.
Next we tried the tunnel, just very short at first. Then it was longer and we worked on getting Max to be running towards it on the right side of me whilst I attempted to beat him out of the other side so I could give him the toy!

It was really good fun and I got big kisses at the end of it, so I think he liked it too!

Your foundation classes sound very good, I have no idea what to expect from ours, but I hope they're as good as yours!

Hi,

Smarti sounds a bit like Ben, just wants to get to the toy! It must be nice to be able to train with friends, I don't know anyone else who has dogs at the same stage as ours.

One thing I've really got out of it is doing things with the dogs separately. We've always done everything together but this week has been much more individual and I think they've enjoyed that. Max loves his mummy time! I think we've finally got it right because for the first time neither dog has cried when the other leaves! Progress!!

Trixie is attending puppy agility classes (well she's having a few weeks off as she's just been spayed)....she's 9 Months.
So far we've done the wait & wait while I go past a jump.
We've done the tunnel, from a variety of angles & also the wait, whilst I go to the other end of the tunnel (which is a hard one as she loves the tunnel)
We've done the "out" command. Sending Dogs round a post, or jump wing & then returning to us.
We walk over cavaletti poles, to get the DOgs aware of picking up all 4 feet.
We also do the "feet" contact command......starting on a plank on the ground & moving on to a slight incline.
Some weeks we have about 8 pups in the class.
After years of doing fun agility, I find it really hard to learn it & teach my pup properly .