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Ouzo's first Agility Class


Anda
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Hey Anda,

Here's a link to the kind of stuff I'm talking about. They also have a nearest store locater. I'm not saying this is the best or anything. Its just one of the brands I've tried and Derry goes for it.

 

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/DFRolls.html

 

Best of luck!

-jay

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Hi Anda, Glad to hear the second class was more fun and relaxed. We just started agility this summer, and we really like it alot. I'm sure Hoku would like sheep better, too, but we can have agility equipment in our back yard, unlike sheep! :D We use the Natural Balance rolls as treats, diced up, and they work great. We adjust his food accordingly, since it IS food, and he *loves* it (Lamb is his fav... :D ) You might want to look into getting a little treat bag, keeps your pockets cleaner (and I had a pup once *eat* the pockets out of my shorts that had treats in them :D )

 

It definatly gets more fun as you go, and then, all of a sudden, it's not about teaching your dog any more (they pick it up pretty darn quick), it's keeping the operator errors to a minimum! :rolleyes:

 

Have fun, and I love the updates, keep 'em coming!

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Thanks, guys, I will try to find some of those yummy rolled up sausage thingies, he'll sure love them!!!

 

And Kristin, I have a treat bag, I used it the first time but somehow I ended with cheese in my pockets last time :D

 

And you bring up a good point - the backyard agility training. Uhhhh, I don't have a backyard :rolleyes: Which might be a problem. However, look at Tweed and Piper, they live in an apartment and they do agility - but most probably they get to practice more often than we do. Someone suggested the weave poles can be placed at a park to practice, then take them out and put them back in the car. Maybe. Don't know if we're quite there yet!

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It definatly gets more fun as you go, and then, all of a sudden, it's not about teaching your dog any more (they pick it up pretty darn quick), it's keeping the operator errors to a minimum! :rolleyes:

 

:D Oh yes!!!

 

Anda, sounds like that class went very much better, and that you and Ouzo did really well. I loved the word picture of him flirting half way along the teeter :D .

 

Having equipment in the back yard would be great - I can only fit weave poles in mine - or a jump or two - but it's not essential. If you really get into it, it's nice if you can train a couple times a week, but unless you're highly competitive, once a week is OK too.

 

Glad there were no more 'remarks' about Border Collies - and it's good to hear her Goldie is in great shape.

 

Do you guys have those zip-lock plastic snack bags - smaller than the sandwich size? I find they're really good to keep treats in in my pockets. I do have proper treat bags, but I also like to be able to work with no food in sight.

 

Look forward to more adventures of Ouzo.

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Thanks, guys, I will try to find some of those yummy rolled up sausage thingies, he'll sure love them!!!

Oh, you mean Doggie Crack? :rolleyes: Poor Bear was addicted to Rollover (the less healthy version of the roll things). Not so nice is when scraps of Doggie Crack go through the washing machine. I think that it's dry-clean only.

 

And you bring up a good point - the backyard agility training. Uhhhh, I don't have a backyard :D Which might be a problem.

We don't have a backyard either, and it hasn't hurt either of my guys' training too much. I have a full ring of equipment, but it's an hour away from me at a stable, and to be honest, we don't train that much. Bear used to train once a week, but after he knew all the equipment and was trialing, we went down to maybe once every couple of weeks. His last two years of trialing, we NEVER practiced because he really didn't need it, and he was more enthusiastic if we just did a few runs at trials a couple times a month. Incidentally, he achieved 20 titles in agility, including his Agility Trial Championship of Canada, and qualified for our Nationals five years in a row.

 

Wick was on equipment last weekend, for the first time in over 2 months, as we have a trial this weekend (we're cramming!). I think we practiced for 10 minutes, then my friend and I went for breakfast and a bit of light shopping. Well, at least I never have to worry about her burning out!

 

All this to say, you do what you can with what you have, and as long as you are having fun and the dog is having fun, well, then it's fun, right? My dogs won't be national champions or anything, but that's ok too.

 

p.s. We won't even get into Lou's 40 minutes a month of stockwork. Let's just say he's a very low-maintenance sheep dog!

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Well, you can do dining room agility, or living room agility, or whatever.

 

You can get a small board to practice 2 on 2 off contacts. You can have a wobble board in the house. I made a couple of small, low jumps out of pvc that I use in the house to practice start line stays and simple jumping skills with. You can also make practice weaves out of pvc that can be taken apart and stored in a closet or something. Those can be used to train weaves by the 2 by 2 method, or you can devise a way to make weave wires for them. I've used hula hoops to practice tire jumping in the house, as well. I do table training on an old coffee table that is just the right height (and I hate it, so it's good to be able to use it for something!). Some people practice contacts at the bottom of stairs. I've never had success with that, but you might.

 

I don't do outside training when it's cold out, so I've found a lot of ways to improvise indoors. No, you really can't do much in the way of sequencing, but you can practice a lot of very useful agility skills in the house.

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  • 2 weeks later...

On the indoors training thing, it can bo done. Im going to have to have a set of 6 weave poles in the house all winter!

 

Sounds like classes are going great! Im so happy for you!

 

I also suggest the treat bag, and if you have one (I think you said you did) try using it and wearing pants WITHOUT pockets :rolleyes:! I have lost many pairs of my "agility pants" due to Zoey tearing them apart, and also some backpacks!!

 

Pictures? No? Yes? Maybe? :D

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Shoot, I just typed a long thing and hit something and it went away...... Shoooooooooooooooooooooottttttttttttttttt. I'll try again, this time maybe start in Word and only after I'm done paste it here.

 

Ohhh, how much it makes me mad!!!!!

 

(Sorry, I'll try to retype it soon)

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I forgot to post about our latest training adventures. So far we’ve done 4 out of the 5 classes in this Introduction to Agility session. We’re doing better and better. Not amazing, but better.

 

I've learned how to properly use the treat bag - I have one by Milkbone, I got it for $1 at Big Lots and this is the first time we're putting it to good use! I've discovered that the clip thing is nothing without also securing the Velcro band over my belt. And, following Kristi's advice, I've got some of that "crazy meat" or "dog crack" and not only Ouzo, but all dogs everywhere love me endlessly even if I only have some leftover crumbs in my pockets!

 

The hardest thing is the no-pee-in-the-yard rule. It breaks us apart. We’re fighting like crazy about the no-marking rule. Even after peeing 5-6 times prior to the beginning of the lesson, including a couple at the place, in the allotted area, he still manages to steal some marks on the go, while walking, pretending he’s not doing it. The apogee of our marking conflict came two days ago, while we were waiting our turn to go over some jumps. Ouzo looks up at me, I look straight forward at the other dogs jumping, and suddenly I feel 3 drops (that’s all he had left in him, otherwise it would have been more) on my FREAKING LEG! Luckily no one else noticed and our turn came so we ran and I had to keep telling myself DO NOT KILL HIM IN FRONT OF EVERYONE, WAIT TILL YOU GET HOME! Bastard!

 

He loves all jumps, all obstacles. I decided that instead of strangling him to get him to stay still while the other 2-3 dogs are taking their turns, we’re going to work a bit more, so we’re going over other obstacles available. We’re basically running over twice as many jumps than we were “supposed to”, and it works great. Ouzo’s excitement is not crashed by having to wait 1 minute after each obstacle, he’s not fighting me and is happy and tired and all things are good on earth!

 

He is showing initiative. Not exactly what the instructor wanted, especially when he decided it is more interesting to spice up the weave sequence by continuing his run on the big teeter that just happen to be there, and he wasn’t supposed to be on. So far we’ve done only the baby teeter, and he is perfectly ok with it, kindda bored but gladly gets on it (it’s too short for him to gain any speed, that’s what it is….) So the big one wasn’t supposed to be part of our training, but Ouzo found it irresistible. So up he went and by the time he got on top and it started to go down, he got a bit startled by the bang it made, but continued half way down and then he jumped off. The trainer had a fit, telling us how dogs can get scared of the noise and her own dog had gone through this and it took her 8 months to get her back on it. Well, it didn’t seem to leave such a strong impression on my dog, because 5 minutes later he tried to get on the big teeter again :rolleyes: That’s my dog!

 

He was introduced to the tunnel this week. He was a bit apprehensive the first time I tried to send him through it, but then I threw some treats in (bad, bad Anda, I know) so he went happily. Problem was, after us, the other dogs kept stopping in the middle of the tunnel trying to sniff the left-over treats we left. Funny that no one noticed I had threw a couple of treat – evil, I know… Anyway, after that, Ouzo decided tunnel = LOTS OF FUN, especially when you run full speed and experience the “suck-in” vortex that Root Beer was mentioning in a recent thread.

 

He did the table stop really good after jumping a succession of two obstacles, even off leash. I wish I could work with him off leash all the time, but this damn peeing thing makes it impossible. And I don’t want to torture him, honestly. If the dog wants to pee, I say let him pee! As long as he doesn’t have a dead wish and tries again to mark ME! Grrr..

 

We’ve gone to our second herding lesson last weekend and he had a MUCH, MUCH larger blast than he has at agility. I can tell he gets mentally exhausted much faster after 10 minutes in the pen then he gets after one hour of agility.

 

No pictures of Ouzo doing agility, since I cannot hold his leash and take pictures at the same time, sorry!

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I too have an intact male dog and do agility. Griffin has never peed on any equipment because he is only allowed to pee when told. Can you put a serious potty command on him? Not just one where he will go when you tell him to but one where he isn't allowed to go without hearing the word? Especially in an area where agility equipment is? I know you say that if a dog needs to pee, let him pee but he isn't 'peeing', he's marking. He doesn't have to mark, it isn't that he is so full he can't hold it, he just wants to mark.

 

I teach agility and I come down like a ton of bricks if I see a dog trying to mark in the 'ring' (practice area) or, heaven forbid, on equipment. That just makes every other dog in that class and every other class want to mark there too and in order to stop the behavior I have to clean or pressure wash the equipment where it happened. The worst is the tunnel. Our tunnel must just be irresistible because all dogs want to mark on it or in it! Then I have to drag it outside and pressure wash it, it's wicked heavy and kills me to do.

 

Plus if you ever want to show you will be excused from the ring if he pees in the ring...no matter why or where, on equipment or on the fence.

 

Peeing in the ring is a pet peeve of mine, it's just rude and there's no excuse. You can train a dog to not mark.

 

I'm glad to hear that you guys are having fun with agility. It's great fun for dogs and owners and gives high energy dogs wonderful outlets for that oomph!

 

Olivia

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In Ouzo's defense (because I also have an intact male dog), it can be very difficult to enforce a pee only on command when your dog spends a lot of time outside offleash, unless you really want to be on your dog all the time (which sort of defeats the offleash purpose). Maybe you can try to train some sort of discriminatory behavior in the agility area, though...or, is he still needing to be on leash at agility? You can begin to train the discriminatory behavior while he is on leash there perhaps.

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Olivia,

 

I hear you, and I thought we'd have an easier time teaching the NO MARKING command, I am not saying I cannot eventually get him not to pee, but at the moment, I am evaluating if this is something worth bickering about among Ouzo and I.

 

I love him the way he is, and I will continue to work on his marking behaviour. Especially when it comes to going into a Petsmart or something simmilar.

 

I don't know if I want to micromanage him to the point where he's ONLY allowed to pee when told. That's not the kind of dog I want. I didn't say "if the dogs needs to pee, let him pee", but actually "if the dog WANTS to pee, let him pee" :D But other than agility and pet stores, I honestly do not have other issues with him marking in the unappropriate place. True, we haven't taken him visiting too often, but when he's been in someone else's house, he's never attempted to mark.

 

He's on the leash every day for our walks, and I am associating a command to the act of urinating, even telling him "Good Pee!" when he goes to the bathroom, so that I have a way of telling him "No Pee" or "No Marking" when the case comes.

 

Laura, thank you for your understanding :rolleyes: I actually had Cathy tell me the other week to "just let the poor dog pee", since I was trying to control him during his "pool" break in between pen sessions. She made me feel ashamed of how I was yanking his leash, only because of our agility experince :D

 

As I said, this is not the end of our Non Marking training, it's just coming between us right now in a way I am not very happy. He's not the kind to hold any grudges, but I feel bad enforcing something I don't quite 100% belive in. He's been trying to pee only on the grass and on the trees, not on the actual equipment.

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Sounds like you guys are having fun with agility!

 

Maybe you should just train Ouzo that on-lead time is serious time - not time to run around and mark everything. I don't mind if my dogs run around and mark things in their "free time" but I don't allow it when they're on lead or during training time. Start with short on lead training sessions during which you keep him focused on you using treats or a toy. Then let him off and tell him "free" so he can do as he pleases (in an appropriate spot!). Leash him up again for another short training session (start with 2 or 3 minutes and work your way up), then let him free again.

 

I'd also try giving him something to do while you're waiting - run through obedience commands, work on down stays, work on a "watch" command, etc. Give him something to occupy his mind so he becomes more focused on you and what you want him to do and less focused on his surroundings. He can't focus on you and marking his surroundings at the same time!

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Do you plan to continue agility after this? Is it possible for you to find an indoor class? He might do better getting his foundation in agility indoors with no grass or trees to mark. I know that indoor classes aren't offered everywhere, though.

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Kristine,

 

I am not sure what we'll do. One of the other ladies in the class told me (very confidentially :D ) she found another place that costs $90 for 7 or 8 classes or something like that, and she will give me the info next week. Not sure if it's indoor or outdoor. For Colorado weather, this is the right time to start thinking indoor training :rolleyes:

 

You're right, he might not have such a strong urge to mark in an indoor facility (although we still have issues at Petsmart...). But right now, denying him to go on the grass doesn't make too much sense for either me or him.

 

Marlynn, we don't have a yard, so most of the time Ouzo is on a leash - that's the only way to go outside. He does get off leash time almost every day - at the dog run, at the dog park, and he makes the best out of it, but that's time for playing, not for peeing (well, a couple here and there, but mostly ball/frisbee/swimming). So it would be impossible to teach him that he cannot mark while he's on the leash.

 

Thanks to the magic dog crack, he's making incredible progress at "watch me" and paying attention to just me while we're waiting our turn.

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We had yesterday our fifth and final Introduction to Agility Class. We're supposed to get some diplomas, but the trainer's printer wasn't working, so we'll get our certificates by email :D

 

I think Ouzo kept the best for last. His last run, the most complex they've had to do so far, 6 obstacles in a row: 3 jumps positioned apart but in a triangle shape, A Frame and 2 jumps (one of which had solid bars), was dreamy! I mean it! Off leash, fast, furious, happy, attentive, even slowing down on the way down from the A-Frame so he can touch the contacts, WOW! That's what he loves to do. Not the crazy leash yanking we've been doing while waiting our turn :D

 

Even the marking got better - just a couple of stollen sprinklers, but after the trainer was kindda mean to us, I did let him do it uninterupted on the grass :rolleyes: Bwaaahahahaha!

 

Against all odds: the marking, the instructor truly disliking him simply for being a Border Collie (btw, she looooved the fat and slow Aussie girl, until yesterday she started a fight with another female Vizsla!), despite being constantly refered to as a "she", even though he was clearly the only male out of the 4 dogs in the class, Ouzo managed to outdo the rest of the dogs in the class. I know, I'm partial, but trust me, he was the hero :D Fact recognized by 2 out of the other 3 people in the class (the Aussie lady was above degrading herself to congratulate Ouzo), and of course, not recognized by the trainer :D

 

I am the one who'd have to be much better coordinated: Heel side? Hell: I can barely tell my right from my left (often refered to as "my other right"). Note to self: Stepping on your dogs feet twice within 10 minutes draws unnecessary attention due to sharp yaps from your dog. Should try to watch where your feet are in relation to your dog's.

 

I don't know what I'll do now. If I find an indoor place close enough so I can go right after work, we'll probably try to continue this "agility" business. Definetly will not be doing it outside, the weather's already starting to play games with us. The mountains have already gotten snow. (Pray that it stays there, and it doesn't come here)

 

As I already suspected, he does way better off leash than on leash, with klutzy me attached to the other end of it. Need to still work on some obedience tricks, and might even invest in a short leash which I could tuck in his collar while he's running a course, but still be able to hold him while he's waiting. One of the other dogs had that and it seemed to help a lot - vs our 6 ft leash that needed to be clipped/unclipped. BTW, I was the one pushing for the off leash, if it was for the trainer, he would have had to run the whole time on-leash. Hmmmm...

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If you do continue......you better find someplace else for poor Ouzo's sake! :rolleyes: Poor guy, he did so well even if nobody gives him credit.

 

Congrats on finishing top of the class. Hopefully he got a bunch of extra cookies for that. :D

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