The backpacks we carry here at Affordable Agility are perfect saddlebags for starting your dogs in the wonderful world of carrying. You can use backpacks around the house for fun.  Train your dog to carry items to family members in the backpack.  Make sure they get a treat for being such a good deliverydog!

This month is Responsible Dog Ownership month, and our contest is about agility dog ownership!

1. What breed(s) of dog do you have?
2. Where’d you get them? A breeder, a rescue, they found you?
3. How much time do you spend training them?
4. If you could only have one obstacle to work with, what would it be?

You could win a treat and ball bag, perfect for walks, agility, or working inside. Keep your treats secure, and your pockets clean!

The winner will be chosen via random number generator on or around October 1st, and announced/emailed on or around the same.

How to enter this contest:

If you have never done so before, you must first register your email address on this blog.  We will then notify you if you are a winner of this contest.  You only need to do this once, and you will be good for all future monthly contests (and get priority notification of when they occur)!

Scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your comment/answer.  Or, if there is no box, click on the “comments” in the upper right corner.

Quick started out the night with his dewclaws neatly taped so he wouldn’t hurt himself. He never has, but I live in perpetual fear of it. By the time he came out of the crate for his first nose-touch session, he had removed it. Oii.We’ll try that again!

His nose touches suddenly became spot-on, almost! At the beginning of class he was insisting on using his feet and only his feet, but by the end he was pecking away with his nose! It was amazing to watch him figure out what got him food. (We went with Yummy Chummies again this week, they smell like fish food, and he loves them.)

From there, on to the A-frame and Dogwalk! He was bypassing the contact zoners on both ends gleefully at first, but then he got the swing of things. He went through- often taking the zoner with him! For big dogs, I think I will really suggest either using a large wire zoner or a NADAC Hoop. Quick took it with him more often than not. He did launch himself from near the top of the A-frame on his first go. The look of bliss on his face was amusing. After that he behaved himself! He did beautifully on the dogwalk, and has even started going ahead if I hang back telling him to go. I’m very vocal. It will be a challenge if I ever try to run mute.

The class started working on shadow handling. Quick and I had a little bit of a leg up there, since we’d worked on it in his first class, but the instructor says he swings out a little too much and we need to work on that. We will! Swinging butts are unacceptable.

I’m going to miss classes. Quick will too, he gets so excited to go play agility. I hope to be able to attend some in a few months, but we will see how it all works out. This is by no means the end of our agility journey!

Q. I have tried to tighten my Springer Spaniel’s turns by doing front crosses. Yes, the turns are tighter, but Sassy ends up knocking the pole. Where am I going wrong?

A. Knocked poles are a sign of a badly timed maneuver or incorrectly positioned handler. Moreover, it indicates that the maneuver chosen was not necessarily the best one for the job. There are three types of crosses that enable a handler to change sides and turn his dog. Practice them so that you can execute all with equal comfort, but, more importantly, learn to recognize which cross will be most effective in specific handling situations…

Front Cross A front cross is just what it says. The handler changes sides by crossing in front of his dog – dancing face to face. A front cross will focus a dog on the handler and cause it to decelerate in order to make a tighter turn. But you must ask yourself if the loss of speed will be worth and seconds gained. And you must make sure that you give your dog enough space to land and take off. Stand too close to the fence and you will be too much of a physical barrier – your dog will knock the pole.

Rear Cross The handler crosses behind the dog and the dog’s bottom is always in view. To be effective the dog must work in front confidently. The dog is focused on the equipment and speed will not be compromised. However, turns may be wide and control can be a problem if the dog is too far ahead, misses the cross and then picks his own route. And position and timing is everything. You need to cross on the dog’s take-off side of the fence, not his landing side. And, if you cross before the dog commits to the fence, you risk pulling him off it.

Blind Cross The handler crosses in front of his dog but instead of turning to face the dog, the handler changes sides with his back to the dog. As the dog finishes his turn, he is chasing his handler’s bottom. Forward momentum is maintained. The dog must be comfortable with the handler ahead of him. If the handler is unable to get far enough ahead of his dog for the cross, he risks colliding with him when he tries to switch sides. Instead of allowing the dog to keep driving forward to the obstacles, everything comes to a halt while the paramedics are called to the scene. Don’t assume that a blind cross means that you don’t have to turn your head to look where your dog is. The result can be an elimination or worse if you don’t.

Decision Time When you are deciding which cross to use, consider where your dog is coming from and where he is going to next on the course. Your handling of the first obstacle will have implications for the one that follows it. Also, think about the distance between the obstacles and the shortest path between them. Work not just the obstacles, but the spaces between them.

Select the right tool for the job. Practice all the crosses and use them where you think they will benefit you most on the course.

Used with permission.
From Questions and Answers on Dog Agility Training, by Mary Ann Nester, T.F.H. Publications
Visit Mary Ann at http://www.aslanagility.com/

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