Just a little update on what’s next at Affordable Agility. We are in the construction phase of a few new things right now. First to be released is a new USDAA broad jump for the required design changes. Ours is going to be pretty awesome we think! It’s always a beautiful thing when we make a new product around here. Our skilled team grapples over the smallest details until we get them just right. So many factors have to be looked at, including standards, safety, keeping the price low without sacrificing quality, how it will be assembled by the consumer, manufactured for efficiency, packaged, and finally how to communicate everything clearly in both the website and instruction sheets. It’s really complex! But it’s worth it when we can put out a product we are proud of, and at the best price we can give.
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24Jun
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23Jun
I’d like to share an opinion that might be a bit controversial. It is regarding AKC’s licensing with Jakks Toys for producing AKC branded agility equipment for children, to be sold in Toys R Us stores. The last thing I want to do is criticize an organization that is not only doing so much for dogs, but also doing so much to keep the sport of agility the safe, organized, and popular sport that it is. I mean, my history of competing is in AKC, so who am I to complain? But hopefully they are open to their own members sharing their opinions and letting it be known when they are not happy with choices they make.
Which is why I want to share my recent disappointment when I saw this equipment being offered by the AKC for purposes of raising funds. First, the equipment is being made overseas, in China, a nation known for cruelty to animals and human rights violations. It is well known that they sell dogs on the open market, both dead and alive, for food and fur. Now, this is controversial I know, and it is with much trepidation that I mention it because there are some things that I just have to buy from China because I either can’t afford the American version, or more often than not, I don’t even have an option. This is life and it can’t be avoided. It’s just that I think it would have been more fitting for the AKC, a company with “American” in its name, to try and raise funds by first trying to court an American company to manufacture their products. Yes, those products might be more expensive, but they would be quality, and more in line with the standard industry pricing that is already out there for agility equipment. For example, if you look around online, a comparable Competition Tire Jump can range anywhere from $95 to $150. But when suddenly that item is manufactured in a foreign country and sold for $50 and marketed to large chain stores, a large majority of American agility manufacturers are affected. Surely every company like mine wants to offer the cheapest price on an obstacle. But I would lose some sleep if I knew that producing the most popular agility obstacles in a dog-hating country and drastically changing the industry standard for those items was hurting all my competitors.
So while I am happy the AKC is making some extra money through their clever marketing and branding, and that their equipment is being marketed to kids, I just think that there are other ways to do this that could possibly be a better support to the nation of which they are so named. That’s all. Thoughts? I am open to perpespectives that I haven’t considered.
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22Jun
CONGRATULATIONS to “Mkhartney”, who was this weekend’s winner for the AgilityFusion contest. This member was the 9th draw out of the 24 entries that came in, and all the answers were correct. You can read ALL the entries that came in by clicking on the comments button in the post below! Thank you everyone for participating! It was fun as usual
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19Jun
FRIDAY FUSION CONTEST…
This contest is now closed, but comments can still be viewed.If you compete in AKC, USDAA, or CPE, for example, you might not have ever run across any unusual obstacles before. But in some other organizations you might be surprised. Test your knowledge of the agility “para-normal” by answering the following trivia questions! Get all the answers correct and you are eligible to win your choice of any one of Affordable Agility’s hottest (or should I say) coolest obstacles …the Water Obstacles! This is a tough survey, but I hope you’ll give it a try. You never know!
To enter your answers, copy these questions and click on the “comments” button in the upper right corner. Then paste the questions into the comments box. Make sure you have registered in the past before. Winner (and answers) will be announced Monday at 10am. Good luck!
Contest Questions:
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Name the organization that is known for having the most potential for unusual obstacles in their courses.
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What is the name of the obstacle where a dog has to “go low”?
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Finish this obstacle name, The Sway ________
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True or False. You may encounter a Ladder in an agility trial.
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Name another rare obstacle (not alluded to in this survey yet) that you may see in an agility trial.
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Optional: Do you own an unusual obstacle? If so, what? (no right or wrong answer)
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Optional: What is the most unusual obstacle your dog has ever tried, and what was the response? (no right or wrong answer)
Oh, first you got to get in the mood. Watch this short minute long video of the Water Obstacles in action! -
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18Jun
This is a letter from a blog member named Joe Wilmore of Annadale, VA, which wrote in response to a woman’s question as to how she can start agility training from a book (because she didn’t know if she could afford to take a class). I liked his response and want to post it here. If you want to write Joe a response/comment, click on the “comments” link in the upper right corner. (The picture shown here is of him training his dog Ike on an Affordable Agiliy’s Economy Jump!) Thanks Joe!“Dear Beth, I’m not that far from a beginner so I can relate to your desire for more information outside of class. That said….I think it’s very difficult to try and learn agility as a beginner from books. Try learning a martial art or dance from a book–not impossible but extremely difficult. Agility, martial arts (especially ones like Aikido) and many forms of dance are very much about footwork, timing and teamwork. And trying to learn how to do those things via book would be somewhat learning to play the piano without being on the piano (but reading or having someone tell you what you needed to do than you’d go off by yourself and try it on a piano). Not impossible but really difficult for a beginner.
That caveat acknowledged, here would be my advice:
–For a beginner, you can never spend too much time on foundation skills, focus, games and tricks. If I had to start over again, I would have spent a lot more time on behavior shaping, circle work/shadow work and tricks before we ever ventured into an agility course (but then, I was a complete beginner and didn’t even know about operant conditioning and clicker training!). All of the work you do in these areas (games, behavior shaping, tricks, circle work) builds foundation skills that then make the translation to the course much less painful. I know that the temptation is to get on the equipment as soon as possible–I was absolutely guilty of that. But I read some professional’s blogs who advise working on tricks than actual agility, I see what works with my dog and I realize how wrong I was to try and push to get on obstacles rather than focus on the foundation work. There are a ton of great books and videos that deal with foundation issues (or subsets–like Crate Games or the One Jump videos with Susan Garrett).
–There are a couple of good books out there for beginning agility but the one I’ve been the most impressed by is Joe and Ali Canova’s “Agility Training For You and Your Dog.”
–Once you’ve invested a lot of time on games and tricks and behavior shaping, then I’d start watching some of video “system” series out there. With Linda M. it would be a combination of her book, the article series the past two years in CR and video. With Greg Derrett, his video series plus the recent CR articles. Jenny Damm has two DVD’s out plus the recent CR articles. You’ve got various advocates of each but as a beginner with limited access to instructors, I’d suggest that you just pick one and use it to get started.
–Attend trials to watch…with a grain of salt. You watch to help apply the techniques and handling you’re reading about or watching in the videos but you don’t seek to just blindly copy. I saw veteran handlers or instructors doing leadouts and spend a year trying to make those work before I got real clear that I needed to do running starts with my dog.
I also want to throw out another curve ball for you: find a local instructor (or serious competitor, or club or school) and offer to do some in-kind trade. If you get to audit a course you’ll do setup and breakdown. Or you’ll water, fertilize and cut the lawn for the outdoor course (or conversely, vacuum and mop the floor of the indoor classroom) every week. Or you’ll trade some services you have expertise in (set up website for instructor, prepare and printout course handouts of courses and lessons). During tough economic times, believe me, instructors get that some people have got a lot less money or are out of work so as long as it doesn’t come off as “let me see if I can take advantage of a desperate instructor who will jump at anything” I think you might be able to work something out for at least one class series.
Ultimately, nothing beats having a knowledgeable observer who knows what to look for, has seen you and your dog repeatedly, and is a good teacher. Feedback at trials or from friends (or self-instruction with video of yourself) is all good, but it’s just not the same as someone who has learned how to give feedback that instructs. So please don’t rule out the use of classes and instructors for the future.”
Good luck!
JoeTags: agility beginners, member stories
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