Kenai and I had our very first agility class last night. The previous week, the instructors had us come without our dogs so we could familiarize ourselves with the equipment and commands. :3dance:

I think Kenai had a good time. There are 12 dogs in the class and we've been broken into three groups of four (by size). Kenai was waaay more interested in the female Golden Retriever in our group than the actual obstacles. But he did everything I asked him (mostly). And he slept really well on the way home. He didn't have trouble with any of the obstacles, although it was all done very slowly and on lead. Also, all of the obstacles were set up in the easiest way possible (jumps were low, the A-frame was only a slight grade, etc.).

I'm really looking forward to next week!! Does anyone have any suggestions for those of us just starting out? Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

Yay!!! :3dance:
No, the main thing to remember is to take it slow and keep it light-hearted. no corrections (at this stage) at all - we have a rule if you say "no" at any time, you have to bring cookies next time. We haven't actually held anyone to it... :D
Wellie has been doing it once a week for a year and a half and we are just getting going on the teeter (awfully slow, but we don't do much competing anyway), and he still does weaves with guide wires.

Is this the beginners/intro class? Just wondering b/c I am looking at starting that with Bella and was wondering how they start off with dogs who have never seen agility stuff before.

You generally keep the dog on leash and use a lot of treats. They'll start with the easiest obstacles - single jumps, a-frame set very low to the ground, probably the tire jump, table...and after a few weeks add in the tunnel, dog walk, and maybe chute. Teeter-totter is reserved until the intermediate class at our school. Often a "spotter" will go with you on the dog walk, maybe a-frame. And you are enouraged to make as many squeaky happy sounds as you want. :D
An early exercise might be having the whole class form a circle and take turns going over one jump for 4-5 times. Obstacles usually aren't linked into sequences any longer than 3-4 obstacles for beginners.
It takes time for the human partner to get the footwork and hand work down. It's a little like dancing sometimes.
Treats, treats, and more treats!

Yes, we are taking the beginner's class through our local obedience club. Kenai was on leash and was rewarded with a lot of yummy treats and praise. Our class has included all of the obstacles, but we are going very slow and have spotters on both sides. The dogs are not forced onto an obstacle if they don't want to do it. But they are encouraged to at least sniff it.

The jumps were set as low as they could be. The tunnel was all scrunched up so it wasn't very long. The chute didn't acutally have the "chute" part at the end - just a plastic tube. The weave poles are set far apart, so for now there is a path through the middle of them (did that make sense?). The table is ground level. The tire is just about ground level. The dog walk was regular size, but we had spotters. The A-frame isn't much of an incline. The teeter-totter is made for training, so it's pretty low. I think that about covers it.

I'm not planning on competing with Kenai, but I needed some way to creatively channel his energy. It was a lot of fun for both of us.

Trina

One of the most important things is to teach your dog that "agility training nite" is NOT socialization nite. Whenever they show interest in anything but you or the obsticle, you tell them "LEAVE IT" and pull them back. That command really comes in handy anytime you want them to ignore something!

Another thing is make it fun. Bring lots of treats with you (as bribes of course). If you can, set up something at home for practice.

Even before I thought about agility, Keno had a tendency to like jumping over things (logs, etc.) so I set up a board and buckets in the back yard. I taught her how to jump over that. So in class, jumps were the easiest thing for her (and one of her favs).

The hardest thing was to teach her A-frame, weaves and teeter. I now have weaves set up for practice at home as that is probably one of the easiest but difficult concepts for the dog.

Always end your sessions on things your dog enjoys the most (like running thru the tire or tunnel). You want them to look forward to the next lesson.

Keno goes nuts on "agility nite" whining and being vocal about going to class. She likes outdoor training more then indoors - its less crowed. Your training center is smart to break up the class into groups - better training for everyone that way.

That makes me feel better. I hope this group that it looks like I'm going to go with is very understanding. Bella tends to be skittish and I suspect she will initially be wigged out by the obstacles. But she IS very food motivated so that will help.

You just act like it's the most incredible fun thing in the world :D and don't drag her to them, let her explore them and get used to them. She'll go over them in time!
You're going to love it.

But she IS very food motivated so that will help.This is what proved the most useful for us. Kenai will do almost anything for a yummy treat. He didn't even seem to notice he was going over an obstacle because I had food right in front of his nose the whole time.

It also helped that my husband went with me to the first class. That way, Kenai had mom, dad, and a spotter to help him over if he needed it. I'll be flying solo next week, but I think it will be easier now that he's had a little contact with everything.

We did "leave it" whenever he wanted to play with the other dogs. He was good for the most part. He was just curious about the other dogs for the first few minutes.

One of our biggest struggles was the class was held at someone's house. They have lots of property. They also have sheep in an adjacent pasture. My "retrieving" dog really wanted to try "herding" for a few minutes, but we successfully distracted him from the sheep. It was pretty funny actually.

Trina

I'm really looking forward to next week!! Does anyone have any suggestions for those of us just starting out? Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

This is stuff I'm glad I did:

- HAVE FUN
- Don't rush to move on to bigger and better obstacles; take your time and HAVE FUN!
- Believe in your dog; if you think he can do it, he'll think he can
- Be positive; it will keep him happy and excited to do agility
- Practice in your backyard if you can. I made some simple equipment and it really helps.
- Did i say have fun??? :) I LOVE doing agility with Jill, and I think it's contagious -- she's so excited when we get in the car to "go do agility". Also on the videos I have of our competition runs, her tail is wagging throughout and she does this happy, kinda bouncy run.

The only thing I wish I'd done differently is to train a solid contact performance right from the start. Now that my dog is competing and getting fast, she's starting to blow her contacts and I'm having to retrain them because we didn't focus on it much past the first or second class. Oh, well, I didn't know any better...now I do.

LabraGal,

I didn't really like the stopping on the contacts with Keno. She had a little trouble with fear of heights to begin with, so I didn't stop her on the down part.

Instead after she was comfortable with things, I started telling her "slowwwwww" when at the top/middle or as she started down the other side. I want more of a running hit on the contacts.

Try slowing down Jill on the contacts a little and see if that works better.

I'd like some hints on weaves! We have some set up now, so I guess if Keno practices every day on them, she will do them better without me being right there - would like to get her to just do them by sending her to the weaves - guess that takes time. She's fine with sending to any obsticle BUT the weaves - any hints for me?

Try slowing down Jill on the contacts a little and see if that works better.
thanks...I already do that...I use "EASY" to slow her down and actually have used my body to try to block her from leaping off, but she's started blowing me off. I think I'm going to have to get her to target or pause at the bottom.

I'd like some hints on weaves! We have some set up now, so I guess if Keno practices every day on them, she will do them better without me being right there - would like to get her to just do them by sending her to the weaves - guess that takes time. She's fine with sending to any obsticle BUT the weaves - any hints for me?
I don't have any really good hints; I still have to "babysit" Jill in the weaves too. I think that will just come with time and confidence. I do find that practicing at home helps A LOT. Jill had different weave issues over the winter (not wanting to weave at all, popping out after 2 poles etc.)., so I got an indoor weave set and practiced in the basement and it really helped. Her weaves were perfect in the last weekend's trials.