My boy wont go through life boy piece of equipment!

He is 4 and starting to do jumps now on a low/medium height, loves aframe and dog walk even seesaw starting to come along on lead. Tunnels a bit iffy some days he will somedays he won't as got caught in fabric ended tunnel a few weeks back and was unsure how to get out, some off lead work has been started jumps,aframe,dog walk etc as only starting training beginning of may, but his refusing point blank to go thru the life boy piece of equipment and standing barking at it as if its gonna move out the way, already tried balls and if i am near enough sometimes will go thru for piece of liver cake even thats iffy, other dogs 95% of them going thru everytime,the other 4% sometimes do sometimes dont he wont no matter what we do unless we are standing by it what am i doing wrong and how can i make him go through not around barking at me from other side?

What have you done to prepare the dog for the hoop?

When my puppies are small I get large hula hoops and put them on the ground, then I gradually raise them until they are vertical; then I graduallyl make them smaller and then I get them to jump through them.

Same with tunnels.

I put blankets over chairs so dog gets used to going in when tiny and feeling the sides on him

Barking is a sign of frustration and confusion, it is up to you to demonstrate clearly what is required.

What have your trainers suggested?

What help are they giving you?

You say he's just starting to do jumps and doesn't always do tunnels? If your lifebouy is the same as ours then its quite a chunky thing, like doing a jump and tunnel at the same time!

Also do you just do jumps over a bar? Jumping a solid thing is different and can freak them out a bit. Starting with skinny hula hoops could help, build up to the big one slowly.

Don't rush into doing every obstacle, too much new stuff could confuse him. Practice the easy stuff first to get his confidence up. If he understands what the over/jump command means on the little jumps he is more likely to understand what you want on the more complicated ones.

Dont rush him it will come
For a bigger fog a tire jump is a big deal sometimes - they have to coordinate jumping and squeexing tru a gap

Do whatever it is that gets him to do it and reward him lots and lots

and dont compare yourself to others, everyone is different - and everyone will get stuck at different points

Its more important that you both have fun and quality time rather than worrying that he is not as good as others

Nothing to prepare as a puppy i was never planning on doing agility as was training him to do flyball but that didn't work out he got too wound up, but still needs the additional exercise to walkies. I left flyball in March. Some friends attend agility and suggested i give it a try so he passed a temperament assessment with trainer, his taken to every other piece of equipment, even normal tunnels 99% of the time, its only the closed end tunnel sometimes he will, sometimes he wont. I dont think there concerned yet as his only been attending since may 11 and others been going 2 weeks longer so had more practice in some ways i am playing catching up as i am 2 weeks behind everyone else. He will do it if your there and throw livercake/ball and put your hand through or on lead like trainers suggested when we first started but won't do jump,hoop, jump,jump etc off lead he does jump goes round the hoop stands barking at it even if your doing the agility signals for thru etc with your hand then does the jump jump or other pieces of equipment.With the closed end tunnel trainer opens it then closes it a bit more each run for each dog but when he got stuck fabric end was completely on ground as all had been going through okay so they stopped opening it to show them they could get through.

what signals are they they are what signal you TEACH your dog and on your body language and shoulders.

imo you are rushing things...you shouldnt be playing 'catch up' you go at the speed of your dog.

its easy to catch the bug and get carried away and want to push things,but good foundations mean everything.

start at the begining and stop rushing things

We are doing proper full size agility equipment. jumps obviously on a small/medium setting but our beginners class a mixture of different dogs/bitches and abilities some german shephards have done advanced obedience training and some like mine complete starters other than odd days hour or twos here and there when growing up with trainers offering taster sessions.he done a few of those but dont remember coming across this hoop before. The smallest dog in our class is a shi zu,a poodle, a few spaniels and small crossbreeds. The collies/collie crosses are in the intermediate and advanced classes.

what signals are they they are what signal you TEACH your dog and on your body language and shoulders.

we have been taught by trainer to stand in a certain position with your hand raised in the direction the dogs going. Maybe i am trying to rush but i dont wanna be left behind as far as i am aware his contacts are ok i havent been told any different by trainer, it just frustating me i cant get him thru that hoop off lead i may buy a kids hoola hoop and give some thought to training away from the training environment.

left behind? your dog and you can only learn at your own pace there is no such thing as being 'left behind' imo...take the extra time for good foundations now and it will pay off in the future

meaning? have u actually taught contacts?

why are the collie crosses in the higher classes? are they more advanced or there because of the type they are

who runs these classes? what relevant agility experience do they have?

The club is registered with the kennel club but id rather not name trainers or the club in case it backfires. we have been told the contacts are the painted areas on the end of each piece of equipment and the dog must touch them before moving on to next piece of equipment when going round they use treat boxes as training targets .His the only collie cross in the beginners class all the others compete in kennel club competitions and have been attending the club at least a year or two, many a lot longer before joing the intermediate class and even longer before joining advanced class, they like to move all dogs up a level as a class so you have a year to train your dog on equipment but are adviced not to start competing until you have been training a 9months to a year.The trainers from what i can gather have been competing with there own dogs for years and getting results in competition ring but i,ve never asked if there have a btec or nvq in agility training.I THINK HALF MY PROBLEM IS I AM COMPARING HIM TO OTHER DOGS IN THE CLASS AS DOGS ARE MOVING UP TOGETHER AS A GROUP RATHER THAN ON ABILITY WHICH I AM USED TO WITH FLYBALL.

What height is the tyre set at? Could (would the trainer be willing) to lower it to ground level so your dog could walk through it initially. Have you taught it by the trainer holding your dog on one side while you stand/kneel at the other side encouraging your dog through.

I'm not a fan of teaching agility on lead, but I know that many clubs do