1st run - Combined Agility - "Wait... come" zoomies twice around the ring, out of the ring and into the tent where the Skippers fish treats were stored on the bottom shelf. The assistant (pre-warned by me) stood in front of the tent waving his arms to send Jet back. Eventually Jet came back and we continued the course until he threatened to run away agin, when I sent him as fast as possible over the last two fences to stop the clock. As a comedy routine it was wonderful and everyone as laughing, Jet's tail was wagging. I'm now giving serious consideration to ways of stopping this pattern. 2nd run - Graded Agility - "Wait... come" Repeat as above, but a different tent - this one sold dog toys and I had to go into the tent to retrieve him. He hurt his leg as he leapt over the bunting and it caught, so was limping. It didn't stop him standing on his hind legs to inspect the toys. Jet recovered the use of all four legs and we took part in the final test. By this time he was tired and wanted to go home. 3rd run - Graded Jumping - "Wait... come" Repeat as... "STOP" The road stop slowed him enough, and his tiredness meant he trotted back to me and we - very, very slowly - took on the rest of the course. Halfway thrugh the weaves Jet stopped and looked at me with that "do I have to do this?" expression, and I made him finish. In fact I made him finish the whole course, withe a lot of "Stop,... wait... walk..." He jumped up at me after the weave, asking for a treat, and that gave us a 5 second penalty for body contact. We were *so* slow that we went 5 seconds over the course time. But... we were the only Grade 1 combo and we weren't eliminated so we won. Photo on my blog.
Thanks hp. The trainer at our club is seriously considering getting a dog like Jet to train up (she has always had collies) because when they go, they are very very fast for their size, and she has the expertise to get the best from a dog.
I feel like a learner driver with a Ferrari.
I think my sense of achievement is much more for the small gains than the chap in our club who has gone from Grade 1 to 5 in his first season of competition. I watch other people with slower but more focused dogs and think that Jet's genetics are only hampered by my ability to keep him on track.
I was chatting to this lady yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlDRpr0FMSs
Sam has the most gorgeous brown working cockers, the young daughter was running as a novice while the mother was trying to get the fish treats out of my bag, and I was utterly smitten with both dogs. Sam agreed with me (and another club member who is a vet) that Jet is exactly the right weight and really shouldn't put on weight if I want him to stay as fast as he is now. She was quite encouraging about the work needed to get Jet into ring-brain.
I think it's a matter of ring experience and getting Jet to transfer the context of training from the field to the competition ring. And when I see Jet bouncing and wagging all over with excitement and delight at the mention of agility (he loves it) it's worth the frustration of the leaning curve.
Sounds wonderful Helegant and Jet really sounds like he could progress so well once he can focus and not get distracted. I have to say I feel inspired by your progress and have even looked at agility shows in our area as a result - although first we need to be able to get back into an agility class that isn't booked up until next year.....
Baroness, It took me a ling time to find a club that had spaces, so I grabbed what I could. Then one of the things I learned is that not all trainers are equal. I've learned more in the last eight months with this trainer than I did in two years at the last place. I've had to unlearn a lot, and it's part of the reason why Jet is taking longer to mature - my handling isn't as polished as it needs to be. . . . . . Just found this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v33uKdRIIIw
I think it was Twiggy that was trying to get the fish treats out of my bag!
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Dog walking
May 2013
