Just a wee update. I missed the last 2 weeks of agility. The Saturday before week 3 , Missy had been playing with my boyfriend's 9 year old son. They were having a great time running around daft . Ross was throwing balls for Missy non stop. She just doesn't know when to stop though , still wanting to run and play even though her tongue was hanging out and her sides heaving. I had to put her on her lead to stop her . A wee while later though , she started limping. She had grazed the main pad on one of her back paws and it was bleeding a little. I missed agility that week as her paw was still a little tender. Last week (week 4) , I didn't go as we have workmen in fitting a new kitchen. I work nightshift so as I couldn't sleep because of the noise , I didn't go to agility. I'll be heading off in about an hour today though. I can't miss 3 weeks in a row.

OMG , she's too fast and I can hardly keep up with her !!!!! . Ok , so we missed 2 weeks but tonight she was better than ever. We were doing sequences using some jumps , the A-Frame , dog walk and see-saw. First , round clockwise with the A-Frame , jump , right turn to the dog walk , jump , left turn to a line of 6 jumps on a curve , then finishing with the A-Frame. We did these rounds in varying directions , and not always using all of the equipment. A couple of the dogs got a bit confused and kept going to the dog walk when they were supposed to go past it. I'm still having to concentrate on where my hands are , as Missy tends to follow whatever direction I point in . She missed a jump once because I moved my hand very slightly across my body . Next time round , I made sure I kept my hand still until I wanted her to change direction , and it worked . It was like she was on an invisible wire. Move my hand away from me , and Missy moved away. Move it towards me , and so she moved towards me. I got the hang of how much I needed to move my hands depending on how much I wanted Missy to turn. It's magic ! I still made mistakes later on though , but at least I now know why. She didn't attempt to jump off the A-Frame this week. Probably as I'm aware that it's me moving the wrong way that's making her do that. She didn't miss one single contact all night , well , not unless you count the one when she jumped sideways off the dog walk . Thank god it was only at half height ! She'd done an excellent wait at the start , perfect over the A-Frame , sailed over the jump , ignored the jump in front and turned right to the dog walk , trotted confidently over that but then I blew it ! I was thinking ahead about the left turn after the jump which followed on from the dog walk , and hey presto , Missy leapt sideways and did a lovely barrel roll over the floor. She got straight up though and carried on over the jump and completed the sequence without any further drama . Later on , she was just going over a jump when one of the beginners dogs got loose and came bounding over. She was good though as she stopped as soon as I asked her , and I held her collar until the loose dog was returned , then she obliged nicely by running onto the see-saw when I asked her. Later on in the class , the guy who runs the club asked me how I was getting on with these classes. I said ok but my dog's a nutter . He did say that she is not an easy dog , and that I should do another beginners course with her once this one ends , just so she remembers the basics and doesn't start rushing and making mistakes. I'm happy to do this as advice from someone who's club regularly qualifies agility and flyball teams for crufts isn't to be sniffed at. He knows that I eventually want to compete with Missy and although He teaches the beginners class , He's been watching Missy every week so far . Roll on next Tuesday .

wow, sounds like Missy is really getting into it and coming on great.

Excellent last post there, really exciting and descriptive MM.

Thanks Hali . Getting into it is an understatement , I'm having trouble keeping up with her . I think I'll need to hire an olympic sprinter to run her when she starts competing .

Thanks Fudgeley . I'm glad my post described just how exciting these classes really are. I'm going to try and get my sister to come with me next week to take pics. It's my night off so I won't have to rush home and get ready for work. Hopefully , photos will capture the excitement better than my descriptive posts of the classes . Also , I hope by describing the classes in this way , other people might think about trying agility , or will be able to use my experiences as reference when their dog is just starting out. I mean , I only found out about keeping my hands still after Missy jumped off the A-Frame and the dog walk. She did it because I was giving her hand signals , although I was not aware of it , telling her to do that . Also missing jumps , again due to my hands moving the wrong way at the wrong time. Does anyone else get this with their agility dog ?

Sounds like you're having a fabulous time Missysmum Are you going to join a club that trains every week after this course? Sounds like you would both enjoy it We trained at Levenhall Flyers at West Calder, they have fabulous trainers there and some of the best handlers in Scotland. We're also members of Woodside agility club too who train at West Calder through the winter. Unfortunately though as I work nightshift too (early nightshift starting at 9pm) I can never make training there but would still recommend them.

Hiya . We both love the agility and my aim is to go on and compete. I'm with Broxburn Dog Training Club just now and I'm sure I can continue weekly training after the courses finish. We are both new to agility this year and my dog is turning out to be pretty good , shame about the handler . Where about do you stay ? I'm in Midlothian , just outside Dalkeith.

You betcha My deaf lad has taught me soooo much on this aspect, and its what helps me as a teacher for all of my students
I watch every move they make and every one of those movements which their dogs respond to - and I often have them do exercises in complete silence because it really does hone their visual communication skill and timing for their dogs - Madmare can tell you what her experience of this is with her two

If you have`nt seen it, do have a look at the vid I posted of my Lurcher, [ in the video section of the forum ], and what I wrote about that session [ which explains why the vid is set to music lol ]

HTH and keep your training reposts coming hun, they are brilliantly explanatory for people reading to be able to visualise everything you are doing with Missy, so if anything can inspire more people to give it a try for their own dogs, its your posts which will do it :smt058

Awwww , thanks Patch . I watched your video a while back but I'll watch it again and pay more attention to what you are doing rather than your dog . I've just never experienced anything like this before with a dog. It's like she has a Border Collie brain trapped in a Staffie body . I'm sure she would have a go at herding sheep if I asked her to , but she's allergic to them so she can't :smt016.She's getting more and more confident on the agility equipment all the time and with that confidence , she's getting faster. Think I'll definitely need Linford Christie to run her though , I'll never keep up . The good thing there is ( I think and hope ), as she keeps watching me for the next signal , hopefully she won't ever get too far ahead . We've been told to shout left and right to the dogs every time they turn now. In the house , in the garden , out on walks , to progress into distanced directions at our classes. Missy already knows left and right as I've been doing this with her for ages now. I'll practise more over the next couple of days before our next class .