# Agility n00bs post here!



## That'llDo (Apr 13, 2010)

Ok, I'm sure I recall several other people who said they had just started agility classes, and I know some of you have to be as excited about it as I am. So I am starting a thread for anyone who wants to talk about it, so I don't go around spamming the sports section with my "ZOMG, Rigel did a JUMPZ!!!11"

So...our first class was yesterday, and it was really fun. We did some jumps, which were no big deal. Rigel did ok on the lowered dog walk, although he did jump off, then jump from the ground straight up back onto the top of the board with all four feet. It was impressive, if not actually what we were going for. We did the tunnel too, which I thought he was going to be afraid of. He didn't want to go through the first one, but once he was through it, he didn't want to stop, and kept trying to stick his head into every other tunnel we walked past. He was so eager for his turn on everything we did that we started to get comments about how much border collies love agility from the other handlers, which amused me. So, yay! Can't wait for more.

Who else is excited? Anybody? I feel like when you first see a movie that's ten years old, and there is nobody in the world who wants to talk about that old news anymore.


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## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

That'llDo said:


> "ZOMG, Rigel did a JUMPZ!!!11"


LOL, that part got me!
Sounds like you and Rigel are off to a great start. The first time someone explained "tunnel suck" to me, I just about lost it...but it sounds like you might be dealing with that in a few more weeks!

How new do you have to be to qualify as a n00b? Kit and I aren't trialing yet, but we'll be at the year mark in a couple of months. We just started up classes again for Fall, and although I was sort of forced into sticking with the same instructor (*grumble*), she at least came prepared for class last week (several of us complained, so things will hopefully get better now). She even had homework for us(!), which Kit and I have been working hard at all week. I think a lightbulb came on this morning, so we'll probably get in just one more practice session before class tomorrow. 

The big news for us is that we've moved to a much nicer training facility for the winter (and beyond!). It's indoors and all the equipment is regulation stuff. Eventually I'll get to take Kit there once a week for practice alone (things will start moving really fast then!!), but right now, it's just the weekly class.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Summer and I have been training a while off and on but are back at it after about a year's break. I'm just now starting with Mia and we're still doing the basics.


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## Aussie27 (Sep 25, 2010)

Well, our family dog isn't one for doing anything other than a short walk and a day on the couch. xD _But_, I'm getting an Aussie puppy at one point next year, and I'm planning on doing it with her when her joints are developed enough.  I'm _very_ excited about it! And good luck with your training!


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## That'llDo (Apr 13, 2010)

GottaLuvMutts said:


> LOL, that part got me!
> Sounds like you and Rigel are off to a great start. The first time someone explained "tunnel suck" to me, I just about lost it...but it sounds like you might be dealing with that in a few more weeks!



LOL at "tunnel suck"! Yes, I think soon they may act on Rigel just like very large vacuum hoses.


Sorry to hear you are still stuck with the same instructor. I remember you mentioning your trouble with her on the other thread. I hope she manages to work with you and Kit on your needs.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

I WISH I had tunnel suck lol. Papillons seem to think tunnels and chutes are the devils. Now... a-frames on the other hand...


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## calpapmom11 (Sep 1, 2010)

Tunnel suck - LOL! My obedience class set up a series of three tunnels for fun at the end of last week's class. We were supposed to have our dogs run through them one at a time, having them sit at the end of each one and then proceed through the next one. Calvin took off through them all and I couldn't even catch him for the sit part. He really is not the least bit interested in ramps or A frames though. However, he loves leaping over obstacles!

Our next beginner agility class doesn't start until January but the teacher of my obedience class offered to meet me before class with Calvin to try some agility with him one on one. I'm going to go this Thursday. I think she saw him leaping straight in the air up to my shoulders trying to get treats during obedience (sigh) and thought maybe he was in the wrong class!


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

Our only indoor arena in town has been shut down since Spring and does not look like it will be open this winter. There is a hall where they will be having Obedience classes so the fellow who has the Agility equipment is going to bring a few things down each week that we can work with. Won't be able to run any courses as we do not have enough rubber mats but can work on weaves, chute, tunnels etc. I need to do more distance work with Remmy so it should work out better than nothing for the winter.

I am going to brush up on Susie's Obedience and maybe take a try at Rally next year, so will take her for the Obedience.


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## Finkie_Mom (Mar 2, 2010)

I'm new at this, too! OMG Kimma loves tunnels now!!! I never heard the "tunnels suck" thing, but it's soooo true for us!

We're still doing the basics (intro to equipment, heel work, and the puppy basics of wait, stay, recall, etc.). It's perfect for us in a way because she has so much work to do as far as improving her focus and listening to me, LOL. But we still get to do some work with the equipment, which is great fun for everyone. 

I'm actually really excited because we're going to be showcased at an event next month! It's a fundraiser for the local Humane Society, and our trainer wants to show off how she works with some of the puppies. So nothing too fast/crazy, and we will probably only do a few obstacles, but I'm pumped nevertheless! It will be Kimma's public debut, hahahaha. Hopefully she doesn't do anything to embarrass us!


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## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

Laurelin, I seriously think I have a giant pap. Really giant. Like 40lbs. 

Kit definitely does NOT have tunnel suck, either. She's more of a A-frame, dog walk, teeter kinda girl. Contact zones? Ya - we got that. Weaves, too. Tunnels, though? Not so much. I know precisely what's going on here: tunnels are easy for most dogs (hence the tunnel suck joke) and have not been a strong focus in our classes. They aren't highly rewarded, either, the way that contact zones, teeters, and weaves are. So...guess what equipment Kit likes best?? Not hard to see why she gravitates towards teeters when in her mind teeter = food, people, FUN! She doesn't _dislike_ tunnels at all (again, NO fear) - she doesn't find them particularly rewarding. Time to practice them, I guess, which would be a heck of a lot easier if I had one!

On a positive note, I tried some CU exercises in class tonight. Mostly Premack stuff. Kit has been sniffing the floor a lot lately. It's not for the reasons detailed in the book (displacement behavior), but just because there's food ALL OVER THE FLOOR, dropped there by previous students (*grumble*). It can be hard to keep her to focus when she's grazing in between her turns, but I think we might have made a little headway tonight. We'll practice more in future weeks.


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## Shaina (Oct 28, 2007)

GottaLuvMutts said:


> She's more of a A-frame, dog walk, teeter kinda girl. Contact zones? Ya - we got that. Weaves, too. [...] tunnels are easy for most dogs (hence the tunnel suck joke) and have not been a strong focus in our classes. They aren't highly rewarded, either, the way that contact zones, teeters, and weaves are. So...guess what equipment Kit likes best?? [...] She doesn't _dislike_ tunnels at all (again, NO fear) - she doesn't find them particularly rewarding.


^ Kim and Web, especially Kim, at one point. At its worst I attempted to body-block her from the DW in practice and she feinted left and dove right to gain access. Little turkey. Not so bad now though I still need to keep them in mind for off-courses.


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## TorachiKatashi (Sep 29, 2010)

Eeek... I'd LOVE to get Bear involved in something like that, there's even a club here who teaches it where I know a bunch of the people, but at this point he's 15 lbs+ overweight and my parents are doing nothing to help me get that weight off. I'd like to think that I could do tunnels and such "low-impact" stuff in the meantime and then use his progress in that as an excuse for my parents to stop feeding him, but the club is really strict about that stuff. Ugh.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

I found a relatively close agility/training facility when I went to their open house (where C got her CGN). If I can come up with the cash (likely after Christmas or at least late fall) I will be signing Cracker up for beginner's agility. When we went to the open house we got introduced to some of the equipment and did a bit of mini training session stuff. I enjoyed it and Cracker seemed to...I KNOW she likes jumping and a straight tunnel was no problem..she needs more confidence for one with a bend in it. As much as she's with me everyday hitting the parks (I'm a dogwalker) and she gets massive amounts of exercise, I don't think she gets enough mental stimulation and we usually just hang at night, too tired and unmotivated to do a lot mental training games. I figure if we've got class to go to I'll be more motivated and she'll get the stimulation and practice she needs to develop her skills. 

I find the dogwalk and the A frames intimidating...don't know what Cracker thinks yet. LOL


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## indiana (May 27, 2010)

I just signed Indy up for Agility 1 starting on Oct. 26th. They were offering a really cheap pre-agility class (just 1 session) that I really wanted to try to dip my toes in the water, but they stopped offering it and I took the plunge. 

Indy's really athletic and pretty smart so I'm hoping it'll be a good thing for him! I take him for walks (of course) every day and we try to go to the dog park at least 2x a week, but I thought it would be fun to do something fun together that uses his brains and brawn.


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## LynnI (Mar 27, 2010)

Cracker said:


> I found a relatively close agility/training facility when I went to their open house (where C got her CGN). If I can come up with the cash (likely after Christmas or at least late fall) I will be signing Cracker up for beginner's agility. When we went to the open house we got introduced to some of the equipment and did a bit of mini training session stuff. I enjoyed it and Cracker seemed to...I KNOW she likes jumping and a straight tunnel was no problem..she needs more confidence for one with a bend in it. As much as she's with me everyday hitting the parks (I'm a dogwalker) and she gets massive amounts of exercise, I don't think she gets enough mental stimulation and we usually just hang at night, too tired and unmotivated to do a lot mental training games. I figure if we've got class to go to I'll be more motivated and she'll get the stimulation and practice she needs to develop her skills.
> 
> I find the dogwalk and the A frames intimidating...don't know what Cracker thinks yet. LOL


Hey if your not busy, I am having an Open House at my facility on October 17...........come play with us on some agility equipment, I'll feed you too. Only a little more than an hour east of the City................


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Sounds fun Lynn! PM me the details? I'll see if I can make it.


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## Entwine (Jan 14, 2009)

I love knowing that I'm not the only n00bface on the forums. ;P

Today Misty performed perfectly at a three jump sequence from both sides and at several different angles. We're working on getting her to jump in the middle of the bar, rather than to the side, though. :S 

What really, really impressed me was her enthusiasm to shoot up the dog walk. We were told to do a tire-->dog walk-->table sequence off leash, and I was the first to go. We need to work a bit more on the tire, because I had to put her in a stay and release her--if I try to run it with her, she'll dodge the actual tire. It was the first time we've done a sequence off leash, and she was one of THE ONLY TWO dogs to willingly and happily ascend the dog walk. She did the entire sequence wonderfully, shooting from on thing to the next off leash. 

I think we have one more class before beginning the second beginner's course.


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## Thracian (Dec 24, 2008)

Clayton is starting tonight. We have a six-week agility class. I'm both excited and nervous. Nervous because I'm out of shape! LOL. I'm looking forward to it, though.


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Whooop! Newbie here.  

first agility class was today- I posted a thread about it.

I feel like I need to express how excited I am for Jackson somewhere, as I told my dad and he just said "oh that's cute" and that was that. Lol. Wow, I suck at life.

I'm glad I have over newbies to experience it with!


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## That'llDo (Apr 13, 2010)

Whoo-hoo, JacksonsMom! I am happy to squee over it with you. 

Rigel was ALL OVER the place today, but I've been sick and wasn't really on my game either, so that could've been the main problem. We tried to learn the tire jump, and he was so not interested in jumping through. He ran under it once, and tried to go around a few times. The trainer pulled out a tennis ball, and that was sufficient to get him through the hoop. He did do awesome on the dogwalk at full height, though, so that was good. The funniest part was one of the dogs, (actually, another border collie I saw online when I was looking for Rigel!) didn't want to go through the tunnel, so he just hopped up and ran along on top of it. He thought he was extremely clever.


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

That'llDo said:


> Whoo-hoo, JacksonsMom! I am happy to squee over it with you.
> 
> Rigel was ALL OVER the place today, but I've been sick and wasn't really on my game either, so that could've been the main problem. We tried to learn the tire jump, and he was so not interested in jumping through. He ran under it once, and tried to go around a few times. The trainer pulled out a tennis ball, and that was sufficient to get him through the hoop. He did do awesome on the dogwalk at full height, though, so that was good. The funniest part was one of the dogs, (actually, another border collie I saw online when I was looking for Rigel!) *didn't want to go through the tunnel, so he just hopped up and ran along on top of it. He thought he was extremely cleve*r.


Dude did that  Always good for a laugh! Tag was absolutely smitten with a white Standard Poodle in our class a few months back. He ran to the tunnel, went in, backed up out of it, put his feet up on the opening and stared longingly at his girlfriend, wagging his tail, and then went through the tunnel. He's a clown.


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Wow, Jackson is totally making me proud!

So, this week we worked more on tunnel, and he did AWESOME! No hesitation and I was even able (on the first time) to drop his leash (without being on the opposite end of the tunnel) and point and say 'tunnel' and he ran through it while I ran next to it and he would pop out on the other end! He did GREAT! I thought he would show more nervousness about it, to be honest, because he was a little more apprehensive last week.

We all worked on regular jumps while the trainer worked one-on-one with us on the tire jump. Jackson did a sequence of 3 jumps on leash perfect every time (no knocking the pole over, or missing a jump like last week). Then the trainer called us over to work on the tire jump and she started saying "Now sometimes this is more difficult for little dogs... nevermind!" because Jackson had already jumped through it! LOL. So he aced the tire jump.

Then we moved to the big a-frame and again, he walked right over it with no hesitation. We did it twice because the first time he did it a little fast and didn't 'pause' in the yellow area of the a-frame. Sorry I'm new with the terminology.

Then each dog got a little off-leash practice session with the jumps, while the other dogs waited outside the fence. Jackson did GREAT! He stayed next to me the whole time, solid focus, and did a sequence of 3 jumps with just me pointing and saying 'jump!' I was afraid he was going to get easily distracted with being off leash.

So overall, I'm extremely happy with his progress and I love the fact that's he's truly enjoying it. And so am I.


I promise some pictures by next week. We've got 6 more weeks to go and there's a young couple with their one dog and I saw her taking pictures of her dog while her husband ran him, so I think I may ask her next class if she wouldn't mind taking some for me.... (she's been really nice to talk to). There's also a few others I've become friendly with so I am sure someone will be willing.


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

Jacksons Mom said:


> Wow, Jackson is totally making me proud!
> 
> So, this week we worked more on tunnel, and he did AWESOME! No hesitation and I was even able (on the first time) to drop his leash (without being on the opposite end of the tunnel) and point and say 'tunnel' and he ran through it while I ran next to it and he would pop out on the other end! He did GREAT! I thought he would show more nervousness about it, to be honest, because he was a little more apprehensive last week.
> 
> ...


Sounds like you are both doing great! It makes you proud when they're off leash in a really distracting place with lots of fun stuff to see/hear/do, and they're so "into" working with you they don't even think about darting off. It's a great feeling


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