Should I Stay or Should I Go?

[Root Beer]

Border Collies at the Start Line!

 

[MaryP]

HA! The guy who kept trying to push his dog down made me laugh out loud!

 

That's interesting. I see that I'm not the only one who downs their dog to get them to stay. Everyone else in my agility class puts their dog in a sit, but I have to use a down or Charlie is going to break the stay. Charlie is the only bc in class.

[Kat's Dogs]

That has been posted before, but it always makes me laugh!

 

That's interesting. I see that I'm not the only one who downs their dog to get them to stay.

For awhile I would put Dazzle in a sit, but she would always either go into a very crouchy sit, or just lay down completely (which I consider breaking her sit stay). It was obvious that she prefers going into a down, which is how we always set up now.

 

All the start lines I see at trials with border collies seem to be 2/3 in downs, 1/3 in a sit, and then 1/3 either in a stand or "free form" position.

[airbear]

Wick is a skoocher, and a very sneaky one at that! I set her up as far back as I can, and when I get to my lead-out spot, she is about 2 feet from the jump, or, occasionnaly, under the jump. I once released her when her head was under the first jump (just to see what she would do) and she kind of thought about it, skooched backwards a bit, and hucked herself over the jump.

 

In tunnelers, though, all hopes of a startline stay go out the window. There is some kind of suction going on, I guess. And we are going to our annual NADAC trial this weekend - must remember not to turn my back on the little minx!

[Root Beer]

I must have missed it when it was here before!

 

Speedy never really knew there was any such thing as a start line stay!

 

Dean learned one before he started Agility, but now he's starting to inch. I'm thinking of starting him in a down.

 

Maddie will sometimes go completely limp at the start line and lie on the ground like a sack of potatoes. It's gotta be the Lab in her!

[MaggieDog]

We don't do startline stays with Mags because it's slows her down even more, but Z will need one - likely a down since that's her default behavior already.

 

I saw one dog at the trial this weekend that scootched her butt along in her sit stay - looked like she had anal gland issues lol!

[zenotri]

I LOVE this clip. I must have watched it a hundred times now & each time I can't help but get a tear in my eye. It makes me realise just why & how much I love Border Collies. They are such opportunists!

 

My boys both had startlines from hell (get as far as you can before they break kind of stuff).

 

Trim has a very nice startline & we have worked hard on it. I tried to get her to sit at the start initially but it's just not in her make-up, so a down it is & she's pretty solid, even from one end of the course to the other in Snooker. She does however fold her front legs under in her down at the startline. LOL, I have tried to straighten them back out since this can't be an efficient take off position, but she just pops them right back under. It doesn't seem to bother her, it's just a quirky thing.

 

I am just starting to train Shine now in agility & she seems to have a solid startline without too much effort from me so far. I am sure there will be work to do as we get further into training, but for now all is good.

[BC Wild Child]

I've gotten some of these before with Tux. Have tried a down, but now mostly from a sit and way back so that he can get his stride correct to get over the first jump. Unless there is electronic timing and I can set him right in front of the jump.

 

Yeah - Tux is like Wick. Those darn tunnels!! I finally decided this year to just hold him in front of the shoulders and when he rocked his weight back, released him. Man it worked! some of the best runs we have ever had.

[philip4420]

That really made me laugh. Dale starts agility in January. Can't wait!