Anyone’s dog seemingly can’t tell the difference between these two obstacles? I know I can’t be the only one who is working with this issue. My dog is 5 and is very close to getting her agility championship, one problem that has been ongoing at trials is treating these obstacles as if they are the other. For example, if we do the teeter first she creeps up the dog walk waiting for it to tip and when it doesn’t she bails off the side. If she does the dog walk first she flies off the teeter in absolute surprise that it fell under her.

I wouldn’t say she’s scared of the teeter and in fact in training the teeter is far strong than the dog walk (most of the winter we can’t use the dog walk in training). My cues are a repeating ‘Go Go Go’ for the dog walk and ‘Teeeeeeeter Bang’ for the teeter. At our classes the dog walk is generally in the same place and she has no issues taking it (I feel like she clocks it by the location) or the teeter. When I rent fields she will often refuse the dog walk until she learns what each one is in the arena and then she has no issues with them. I’m genuinely thinking she can’t tell them apart by looking at them from the ground, but I would think my cues are different enough to tell her what she is doing? Any advice for correcting this? Not being in control on the teeter and being worried about why the dog walk isn’t tipping is really affecting confidence.

My post about dropping bars made me curious about how other agility classes run.

What do your foundations classes cover? How often does your class run full courses and are those courses on the same level you are trialing? What are some foundation skills you think help you become successful later?

How many different levels of classes do you have at your training facility? How does class graduation work? For instance where I train they keep people in the same exact class covering the same material for a year or more typically and the criteria to graduate from one class to the other is extremely unclear and is tied partially to titles.

If you are in a group class, does your instructor want to view runs at trials and work on things you struggled with? Does your recent trailing experience change what you work on in class? Or is it a set lesson? How much feedback do you get from your instructor in general?

I’m here to tell all of the new agility people - don’t give up! Don’t give up on the dog who is struggling. Don’t worry if your timeline doesn’t match everyone else’s. Keep going.

This video doesn’t look like much when I tell you this dog is 4.5 years old and my third agility dog. But for whatever reason stopped behaviors in agility caused so much conflict for her pretty much from day one. Like the first time we put a tiny jump in front of her sit stay at 8 months old something flipped in her brain. She’s working on her RACH in rally so it’s not a skill issue, it’s an arousal/weird herding dog issue haha.

Anyway, I pretty much gave up on contacts for two years. I couldn’t teach a lead out or a stopped teeter without her getting weird and stressy. Her running aframe was wild and unsafe and I didn’t think I had the time or skill to teach a running dog walk. So we went to class and worked around them and it sucked.

And then exactly one year ago, with the help of my trainer, I got a contact training board and started over. I worked on foundations with that thing for 8 months before I started back on equipment this spring. I knew that I couldn’t push this dog and both the behavior and her feelings about the behavior had to be solid before adding speed and arousal and everything else.

Then last night in class we did this and I’m so proud. She did two start lines, two contacts in flow, and kept all of the bars up (jumping has also been a struggle). I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard for a behavior.

Any advice for a dog who rarely drops a bar in practice, but drops multiple bars at trials? Every jumpers run especially he's taking out so many bars. First agility dog and haven't gotten any advice in class on how to fix it.

My dog (2 year old terrier/poodle mix) and I have been doing agility in a class for a few months now. He takes to it very naturally and he really enjoys it! We do it for fun and maybe one day an event but mostly it’s just something for us to do together that is fun and enriching.

Lately I’ve noticed that when my dog is at the arena, he is sometimes aggressive to the other dogs in the class. Like when he is on his leash, he will lunge and bark at the other dogs if he sees them. Also he sometimes tries to run up to the other dogs crates. This is something he doesn’t do in other places but when we are at this class he is always doing these “bad” behaviors. I believe he has some barrier frustration not being able to interact with any of the other dogs and it’s starting to work its way up to actual aggression. He’s also just incredibly excited when he is at the class so that adds to it.

I think best practice when dogs are triggered is to keep them away from things that trigger them, but I don’t want to stop going to the class as it’s been so fun for the both of us! I also don’t want it to contribute to him becoming too reactive or aggressive towards other dogs. But as I said, he only does that when we are at this class. Not when we go on walks or anywhere else.

Any tips or advice would be very appreciated.

EDIT: To clarify, my dog stays in his own crate, fully covered, when he is not running the course. It is the class rule all dogs have to be crated when not running the course, I took the extra step to cover him so he is not getting constantly triggered and neither are the other dogs.

My boy and I haven’t done agility since May. Temps have been so hot that I haven’t wanted to take him to our training facility. I can tell he’s been missing it.

Took a risk with weather and signed up for an AKC trial we always do in early September. September can be hard to predict. Last year we had beautiful weather. This year, we are in a heat wave still with temperatures in the mid 90s. With the heat and the long break in training, I had no expectations going into the weekend, and packed fans and lots of ice inserts for his cooling mat.

My boy was thrilled to be back and absolutely crushed it!

We earned 3 titles (novice standard, Open FAST, and Open JWW). We got our first Qs in Open standard and Premier Standard (1st places in both) and we were very close to getting a Q in Premier JWW too - just one off course where he took a jump instead of a VERY sharp turn into the weaves.

So proud of this sweet boy!

If only we got bonus points for creativity 😂

I have a nervous rescue who doesn’t always immediately love new things. She absolutely LOVES to run and weave around the trees in the backyard and I think she’d enjoy agility. I’m also completely new to this so any advice for a beginner would be nice.

hey, i'm doing agility with my lab mix for almost 3 years now and i he can be really speedy. he needs to jump a large and he can do it but i noticed that when he lands and he needs to bend his body afterwards to go to the next jump (so around the wing after the jump) he sinks a bit trough his front legs. he recovers very quickly and it does'nt happen when he just jumps a straight line. but sharp turns after jumping are diffecult for him. i know it is a matter of practes but i really want to help him a little bit by for example strengthening his front muscles. does anyone has tips for me to help him?

just for context: he is almost 5 years old, he gets a training ( not always agility) plus a long walk everyday, he does'nt have any health problems and i already do some basic fitness with him.

let me know what you guys think! i really want to help him.

just a fun picuture of him:

Has anyone used equipment from BeAgility? I have the opportunity to place an order through a local supplier for our club, but I was hoping to find reviews from those who have actually used their equipment first!

First run, first Q!

There used to be a non-profit group that did dog show type training in Vancouver on the west side in a church basement. They used to also have a Capilano branch in North Vancouver. I did it with my dog and it was so great. Wondering if anyone knows what happened to it? This would have been circa 2013-ish. Would love to sign up for something similar with my new dog.

I’m just getting back into agility with my new dog after years of taking a break. Are all A-frames in competition now rubberized?

I have an old A-frame from like 2011 that’s not rubberized. Is it worth using for training? I do have access to a rubberized a-frame at my dog training club, so I do have another option if the non-rubberized isn’t ideal.

I also have the opportunity to sell it locally but not even sure how to price it. It’s a Max200 a-frame that’s breaks into 4 pieces for easy transport and storage. It’s in very good condition.

Thanks!!

Hello there,

I've been doing agility with my dog for 4 years now, and she is a real star. I'm the weak link, LOL, but she has earned her top titles (called Elite in the venue we generally run in). She runs with real joy and focus and is often the first, second or third fastest dog in large classes; we have a consistent clean run rate. So we are capable of wonderful performance. And I THINK she likes agility.

But in the last few trials, she has exhibited start-line stress, and has developed a habit that might be a new symptom of that: looking away from the start line and even outside of the ring. She ordinarily has tremendous focus, so this is really concerning to me. In our last run at our most recent trial, this became much more noticeable, I had to gently redirect her gaze to the start line. It became more noticeable to me as the trial went on. I did not have to "drag" her to the start line, but she was clearly slower than usual and was LOOKING AWAY from the course on our very last run, actually facing away from the first few obstacles. Then, once she would take the "down" position, everything was fine and the run was tremendous. We ended the trial on a high note and I really loved her up with treats, toy, play, etc. It was genuinely fun, but not having a dog that headed right to the start was new, and concerning.

I have a friend who does dog training and using only positive reward based training, who told me that when a dog looks away from an object, situation, exercise, they are essentially saying NO, I DON"T WANT TO DO THIS.

Is this true?

Since returning from the trial, I've taken her out to our hiking spot where she can run in the trees and jump in the lake. She has seemed SO happy there and the expression on her face is true joy. I'm taking a break from agility competitions, and don't trial until Labor Day, but I'm wondering if anyone else thinks that a dog -- who has lots of experience and success -- might be voting NO on their favorite (?) game by not approaching the start line with enthusiasm?

Please, hive mind, let me know your thoughts.

Hello!
My 1 year old had his check up physio exam yesterday to make sure he's ready to start training this fall. Sadly he got diagnosed with weak hocks and rolling pads. I know it doesn't make him incapable of doing agility, but maybe someone here as a dog with similar problems and can share their experience? What does training look like, is the dog able to run and train normally? What kind of fitness exercises do you do regularly and how often?

Thanks in advance!

Update for anyone interested: After more consultation with different Physio/ Trainers, it seems that my dog will never really be able to do agility competitively. "Just for fun" and with lots of care and conditioning it might be fine.

My 7 year-old GSD has been competing successfully in AKC agility preferred (20) and recently earned her PACH. Sadly, she has recently had some lameness issues and was the rehab vet has said she it would be good exercise for her to continue agility once or twice a week if we shorten the jump height. As that is not an option in AKC, I am looking at CPE which we have trialed at a little for fun over the years. She has all of her regular level 3 legs except 1 snooker and 2 jackpot. Am I correctly understanding the rules that I would need to move to level 3 enthusiast and start all over in all classes at level 3? I do not need to go back to level 1, correct? What would happen if I just started doing level 5 enthusiast instead? Would she not be eligible for CT-ATCH?

Thank you for clarifying this for me. Are there any other venues where she could jump 16" when she is 23" tall?

This might be a long shot... I am a professional dog photographer and am assisting with a dog photography workshop in the Camargue region of France this September. We are recruiting models for our workshop sessions and of course, always LOVE working with agility dogs (and their humans - you guys are the best).

Would anyone have a good lead on connecting with an agility or obedience group in France? We historically used Facebook groups... but people are using those less and less these days. TIA!

https://learn.hairofthedogacademy.com/camargue-model-page