Had Second Lesson Last Night

[Laurie S.]

My Cheyenne just started agility training last week and we had our second lesson last night. The trainer is starting us with private lessons to get us up to speed so we can join a class. She did so well last night! She's going through tunnels (both a straight one and a 90-degree one), is hitting her end-of-ramp contacts, went up on the horizontal board and walked it fine, and scampered up and down the 6-foot A-frame with no hesitation at all. The trainer asked if she was scared of loud noises, which she isn't at all. So we stood by while she banged the teeter-totter back and forth. Cheyenne just watched and when she finished, she tried to jump up on it like, "it's my turn now!" She has to wait until next week, however, to try it out. We're both really enjoying it and I can't wait to try it with a class. I went ahead and registered her with USDAA, although I know any competition is a long ways off.

[Root Beer]

Very fun! I hope it continues to go well for both of you!!

[Carlasl]

Sounds like she is going to be a natural. Agility is so much fun..

[Laurie S.]

I think she's a natural, too, and the trainer was surprised how quickly she picked up everything. My only worry is when we do start working in a group. She is easily distracted by other dogs and wants to play. At least she didn't react to the two coyotes that went walking by while we were working.

[Carlasl]

That has been an issue for us also (along with other things). Teaching attention to the owner with distractions is such a huge thing. I have been trying to figure out how to do this myself. I am practicing on walks right now (since we are taking a break from agility). I am using the Control Unleashed game of "Look at that". whenever we see another dog and she looks at it, I click and she turns to me for a food treat, so that eventually anytime she sees another dog she will automatically look at the dog then look back to me for a treat instead of running and jumping all over the other dog. The key is working under threshold, so if she is so distracted by the other dog she ignores the click, we move farther away start over and click and treat, and keep working at getting closer and closer so she is reprogrammed to look at the dog and then look at me to get a treat, not run after the other dog.

[Laurie S.]

I'm doing the same thing with her and it's starting to work a bit.

[Root Beer]

I am using the Control Unleashed game of "Look at that". whenever we see another dog and she looks at it, I click and she turns to me for a food treat, so that eventually anytime she sees another dog she will automatically look at the dog then look back to me for a treat instead of running and jumping all over the other dog. The key is working under threshold, so if she is so distracted by the other dog she ignores the click, we move farther away start over and click and treat, and keep working at getting closer and closer so she is reprogrammed to look at the dog and then look at me to get a treat, not run after the other dog.

 

LAT worked amazingly with Dean. Wish the technique had been around when Speedy was doing Agility (attempting to, anyway!!)

[Laurie S.]

We had our third lesson tonight and it went well except for one tunnel. It's been raining here and the inside of the tunnel was wet and muddy. She had to be pushed through it after her first trip through. The other tunnel was dry and she had no problem with going through that one and or any of the other equipment. I guess she didn't like muddy paws. She went on the teeter-totter for the first time and did jumps for the first time. She did fine on the teeter-totter and tried to cheat on the jumps by running underneath instead of going over. We moved to a two-bar jump and that fixed that problem. Can't wait for the next lesson!

[Jumpin Boots]

Laurie-

If I am reading your most recent post correctly it sounds like your trainer is having Cheyenne jump 16 inches or higher on her first night jumping, is this correct? I don't want to sound like a wet blanket, but if that were my dog I would be a little concerned that the jump heights weren't gradually raised for the dog to learn how to control itself and let it's body get accustom to a different type of physical strain. I realize Cheyenne is mature age wise, or at lest I think she is, but IMO jump heights should be slowly raised to help keep your dog sound.

 

Happy to hear you are enjoying agility.

[Laurie S.]

We actually started very low (so I could jump with her at first), probably about 8 or 10 inches and then went up to 12 inches. When we went to the 12-inch height, she was able to run under the bar--the little cheater. Cheyenne is about 18 inches at the withers and is a very good jumper, as she does it a lot on her own around the yard. I really like the trainer, she's very good to work with and has about 15 years experience in training and agility and herding competition.

 

I'm going to pick up some materials from Lowe's today and make a jump bar for her so we can practice in the yard. I'll keep it low for now and follow the heights that the trainer uses.

[hsnrs]

Laurie, who are you going to?

[Laurie S.]

Laurie, who are you going to?

 

It's Sherry Porter in the Bear Canyon area. I believe her website is www.wanderingstar.com It's nice because she's only about 4 miles from my house.

[hsnrs]

That's great. Met Sherry at the trials. She trains with Sue on stock in Benson.