I think you're being a bit hard on yourselves - its still very early days considering the time you've had to have off.

Its good to do some homework, but don't forget not to take it all too seriously - it is about you both having fun

Yeh I probably am being a bit hard on both myself and Monty. It just bugs me that he doesn't behave well on the lead and he can't focus on me or anything for very long!

Aw it sounds like you are going great guns
and dont write him off yet - you are both learning and you will get there
Mia has been training for 18 months and I still dont know if I will ever get to compete with her - but she loves it and it is a totaly different thing running a 2nd dog - timings are so different
I think you guys are doing great

Yeah keep going and just have fun!! Look at it this way Monty is benefiting from you taking him to the training sessions anyway,he's meeting with other dogs so broadening his social circle! also giving him a different outlook on life other than just going for walks, and you both will make alot of new friends!

There's a great dvd to get its by Greg Derret- Agility Foundations, maybe you can ask someone in your club if they have a copy, as its well worth looking at, and it may help you to get Monty focused on you in training?

Also we want to see photos of Monty in action!!

The photos are hopefully coming in the next week or so as my other half has got time off so will be able to come with me and take some photos. He's not the best photographer in the world though so don't expect too much!!

A NEW UPDATE WITH PHOTOS!

Thought it was about time i did a little agility update and this week i have photo's as Rich came with me. It's just a shame that the week where i have photo's was THE most disastrous session ever!!

This week we were warming up in the barn in our normal group, Monty was walking quite nicely and then we were stopped and asked to join the group outside. We had been promoted and it was quite exciting but in hindsight i'm going to use the words "promoted" and "exciting" very loosely!

We joined the group outside and warmed up out there. The guys in the outside group are at a much better level than monty and can put sequences of jumps together that don't involve just doing a straight line! Suddenly the fear kicked in and i was nervous but tried to be positive in the hope Monty would pick up on this.

First test/challenge was three straight jumps, a corner turn and then round to two straight jumps. Monty sat and waited nicely which was giving me good hope:



The jumping went well:





He managed the three jumps in a straight line and then the excitement of being outside overcame him and he decided that he'd do zoomies round the field, completely ignore me and seemed to completely forget that he knew recall. The embarassment was overwhelming

Fortunately the instructor was nice about it and eventually we got him to stop acting the clown and come back. I'm now feeling stressed by this point.

The rest of the class moved onto to different sequences that involved turns and ensuring you were on the right side of your dog to guide into the next jump. We stayed on the three straight jumps and one corner and we stayed on this duration of the course as Monty was still a little over excited about being outside.

We did this around 7 times and it was only on the last attempt that he actually got it:









I quite like that sequence as you can just about see how chuffed i am in the last one that he finally got it!!

I don't know what got into him this week but he was just generally a nightmare. I'm putting it down to the excitement of being outside and the fact that he associates fields with being able to run free and go crazy. He did that indoors when we first started agility as well.

I don't anticipate being in the outdoor group again next week, i think we might be put back indoors but i don't mind this so much as i don't think we were quite ready for outdoors and i felt bad that we held the other group up a bit.

I was also a bit concerned that he seemed to show signs of aggresion this week and i'm not sure if it was aggresion or frustration in the sense he just wanted to run around like a loon and i wouldn't let him. He went for two other dogs tonight and growled at me on one occasion which is very out of character.

But the positive is that he did manage a reasonably clear run once!

Thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed the photo's!

Wow Look at his wait in the first photo!! Thats great to achieve a wait, as it gives you an chance to get yourself into posistion! He's really focusing on you the right turn!! Well done to both of you!

You mentioned the aggression? When you are waiting for your turn do you just stand there with him? I know you need to watch the others as well but take a toy like a tuggy to keep him occupied or do some obedience/tricks? This will hopefully keep him focused on you and distracted from the other dogs? (you may already be doing this, and it may not be Montys fault sometimes we don't pick up the body language of the other dogs around us and it might have been one of them that triggered him off!)

I started my Puppys training this week if I get some photos of her in training I'll post them for you to see!

Can't wait for more up dates!!

I usually practice left and right turns with him whilst I'm waiting for our go or I get him to watch me then reward him with a bit of tug or simply a treat.

He is getting better at concentrating but he still has lapses but I can accept that as he is a boxer!

Aww I feel your pain - being outside is a big step, last year I spent about a month watching Mia dissapear at high speed before I decided to head back inside

It is more than possible that the zoomies were a little stress busting too - he would have been picking up on your stress at being in a more advanced class
I am sure once you have been there a bit you will see that everone is at different levels and they will all mess up something- you will be better than them at some things

Its a bit of a vicious circle - the more embarased you get the more stressed he is - and the more embaresed you get

- but in a way it is good parctise your gonna feel like that in your first show too

Thats a pretty amazing stay you have there - and you both look great - nice to see you having a party when he does it right, I found that with Mia I had to reward everything but super reward when she got it right - else the stress was too much and she did crazy laps

Thanks! Looking back i'm quite amazed he managed the stay each time!!

The zoomies may well have been stress related, he probably did pick up on my nerves a bit. He got better towards the end of the session!