Livvy will be starting agility! Am I making the right decision?
Does anyone have experience with agility? I have Livvy who is 15 months old and faster than lightning with a quick eye. We never finished basic obedience as she went into season so we had to miss the last 2 weeks. I emailed the instructor(who did the AKC basic ob. and her own dogs do agility) to get a thought about Livvy and she replied that even though (per me) Livvy doesn't have perfect recall she thought Livvy would do fine.I really want to do this but am I being too hopeful? This lady knows her stuff and has seen Livvy who spent the 1st night under my chair in obedience blossom into a dog that did very well! I don't think she would tell me to bring her if she didn't think she could do this!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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Seanna did finish obedience, and unfortunately it didn't really make a difference! She is so stubborn that she would do only what she wanted---when she wanted to do what I said, she excelled at agility....She's 17 months now, and I'm starting up with her again this fall...hoping her adolescent stubborness is gone.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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At the very least, I think she'll have fun with it! I wouldn't worry about the less-than-perfect recall. Corgis are notorious for that trait. If I am working with Jack and have his attention, he will recall at top speed across a big field every time. If he's busy hunting buried cat poop, I'm not so lucky! LOL
The best way to sharpen recall, IMO, is to use two people: one holds the dog at one end of a field, the other goes to the other end. Play the recall game, where each of you have treats in your pocket and take turns holding the dog until the other one calls it enthusiastically and pretty soon Livvy will be running top-speed to whoever is calling her. She may not be perfect when there are distractions, but (hopefully) on the agility course her eyes will be on you and that won't be much of an issue.
And if it is an issue, she'll still have had fun and burned off some energy. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
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I don't have a lot of agility experience, but I just went to my very first Agility class with my Aussie, Sky, who is about 17 months. He too did a puppy class, and is very good on commands in home, but has next to no listening skills when anything else is going on. We went to our first class on Thursday and it actually went pretty well. He did spend a fair amount of time wanting to play with the other dogs, but we started everything out on a leash so it was not a problem to grab his leash if he got out of hand. What really helped the most was the instructor kept the class small (only 3 other dogs) so it was easier for the dogs to concentrate.
We had so much fun though and I can't wait to go back this week. Good luck and just have fun with it!
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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on
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Bertie and I tried out agility this summer and had a blast! I don't know how your instruction will work, but in the beginner class, we were on leash 99% of the time, and dropped the leash when they ran through tunnels, etc., and picked it up on the other side. Bertie did really well, because he is VERY food driven, and we had treats, so he was actually able to do the stuff off leash by the end of the 8 week class. There were several young dogs who would run through the tunnel and then take off ecstatically racing around the ring and ignoring their owner -- and the instructor just dealt with it, helping the owners and the dogs learn how to work together -- it happens, and they're used to it. But it's so much fun, and Bertie would get so excited when we approached the ring -- he loves running through the tunnel the best. He doesn't like jumping through the tire though, oddly enough. We're signing up for advanced beginner this fall and going to start running the weave poles.
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