• 29Sep

  Handling Handles

  Interesting and Funny 37 Comments

  It’s all in what you call your dog- studies show that if you name your dog ‘fang’ or ‘Killer’ they’ll act like it!  So, think carefully when naming your new agility buddy.

  For instance, don’t do what I did!  I have three pets; Quick, Impulse, and Nova.   Quick is what his name says- Quick to learn, move, and obey.  Impulse is a chained windstorm with no control. Nova means  literally ‘no go’.  Guess what? She doesn’t go! She’s a wonderful and sweet dog, and I love her but she can occasionally stick in the mud.  The other moral in this story is don’t name a dog with ‘no’ in the name.  They’ll think ‘no’ IS their name, and ignore it.  Nova thinks her name is Nova-no.

  Think of a name you can shout and not sound stupid, something you can shout and not mix up, not something that can be misheard to something else and be embarrassing. Don’t name the dog something that can be mistaken for a command (which means ‘Rum’ might not be the best name ever, even though it’s a wonderful name otherwise), and something you like and fits your dog.

  Dogs deserve unique names that fit them- and be careful that you don’t choose a name that they’ll learn to fit.  What’s your dogs name? Why?

  

  Tags: agility beginners, dog training

• 24Sep

  Beware the Little Dogs!

  Dog Agility Competing 11 Comments

  I feel for this handler who is obviously trying not to step on or kick their dog while running. How do you with small dogs ensure their safety from your own feet? I don’t think I could do it- I have two left feet!  Thank goodness my dogs are both huge!

  And I think they are right- that IS the happiest dog on the course, lol!

  

  Tags: videos

• 22Sep

  No-Rehearsals Dog

  Dog Agility Training 4 Comments

  Often we train via repetition- drill, as it were. My personal favorite drill is the recall. I want my dog to have no other thought in its’ head when it hears come other than ‘ooh, go to mom now!’, so I train for that endlessly and brook no failures. But often on the agility course the dog will do an obstacle perfectly… and when you ask for it again the dog will seem to sigh and slouch through the weaves, tail down and ears sulking. This dog loses motivation with repetition!

  There are plenty of ways to combat your prima donna (or prim don)’s attitude.

  Don’t repeat! If your dog does an obstacle the way you want them to, move on don’t practice it more for a little bit.

  Reward for the second… or third… repetition Keep your dog guessing on when he’ll be rewarded.

  Reward more! If your dog is only rewarded the first time, of course they don’t want to do it again!

  Try a different angle. Okay, you aced the weaves from my left… let’s go through this tunnel from the other side, on the right! And let’s come from the side a little, and maybe faster.

  Speed it up. If your dog was walking before, ask for speed.

  Add another obstacle to the sequence- go jump-weave-jump-weave-tunnel instead of weave, weave, weave. Wouldn’t you get bored, too?

  Drills should never be boring Keep things upbeat! Keep things fun! If your dog gets bored, do something else. Nothing needs to be learned in one day. If something needs to be learned in one day, then you’ve waited too long to teach it!

  

  Tags: agility training

• 20Sep

  Searching for Agility

  Interesting and Funny No Comments

  We get a lot of questions about where to find agility trainers and trials in local areas- so I think we should share our resources with you to make it easier for you to find them!

  agilityevents.net is an awesome resource for trials in most organizations and in the U.S. and Canada.

  googility.com is the easiest way to find trainers that I have found.  While not all trainers are registered on it yet, it works with Google maps, which is useful.

  What’s your go to source for finding trials on or offline?

  

  Tags: agility beginners, agility competing, agility training

• 17Sep

  Dynamic Duo

  Dog Agility Competing No Comments

  I’ve never seen something so amazing- Wow, just WOW!

  

  Tags: agility competing, dog tricks, videos

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