Daisy and dog sports

[WhoopsaDaisy]

I took Daisy to this open house event for different types of dog sports. I don't know much about any of these sports so it was a good opportunity for me to learn about them. In agility- Daisy would need a lot of reinforcement because she wouldn't touch the tunnel with her paws and she liked to walk around the jumps. In rally she was awesome except I taught her to walk on my right, not my left. Nose work was super fun and she was a natural. I may have to try some of that at home. And of course, as j knew they would say, Daisy has the right personality for therapy work but needs a lot of work because she is too enthusiastic when meeting people. It was a fun open house to go to and now Daisy is exhausted!

[Tanya]

Don't let that shy you away from agility. it's totally NORMAL and in fact even if a dog isn't afraid they should be properly desensitized and trained for each obstacle. A dog not fearful can do something stupid at first and that can create major fears to overcome after. It's just part of the process for agility, the first set of classes (and then some) is really getting the dog used to things slowly.

Also, sometimes in these sorts of settings they don't intro them properly. They just want the dog "doing things" which isn't really ideal at all. for example, in all my classes we never introduce ad go to a full tunnel. you fold it up real small and get them used to that then slowly make it longer (in a straight line) then after lots of practice you start adding small angles in the tunnel. Same with the jumps, when you train you start by walking over them yourself WITH the dog and then you walk right beside it with the dog so they can't skip out.

FUn to try different sports though. I've done flyball, agility, dock diving. Did a short demo for nose work too and did a hunt training class. I dable in many sports For Penny I will concentrate on Dock Diving (she LOVEES it), agility in the summers and Rally-O (we start classes next week). I may do a nose work class with the old man (Rocky) as he loves to work for food.

[Macy]

This sounds like a fun event for you and Daisy.

[WhoopsaDaisy]

Tanya, the trainer did hold the tunnel up really small and we fed her a lot of treats in it for a long time. She put her head in to get the treats and then got her head out as fast as she could. And we just tossed her treats for looking at the jumps.
He said the first agility class is a lot of just getting the dog used to the equipment.
I thought the nose work one seemed like the most fun. And they have an off leash class coming up that I think is a lot of Susan garret kind of stuff that I think would be good for Daisy.
I have never tried dock diving but I would like to!

[WhoopsaDaisy]

Here's the off leash class I think I will try next:
Off Leash, Fun & Focus
1/13/2015 @ 6:00 PM at Canine Craze Main with Jennifer O'Brien-Konior | Map

Many clients wish they had better off leash control of their dogs so they could enjoy doing more things together. This class is going to give you the foundation needed to improve your relationship and presence control with your dog. With focus on improving their recall reliability, focus on you, and best of all doing it all while having LOTS of FUN!!!

Week 1 will be WITHOUT dogs but the subsequent 5 weeks will be with your dog.

Class Details:
Cost: $125.00
Class Length: 6 - 1 hour sessions
Class Size: up to 6 dogs

Upcoming Sessions:
Tuesday 1/13/2015 @ 6:00 PM with Jennifer O'Brien-Konior at Canine Craze Main
Map & Directions | Sign-up

[Snowshoe]

Apprehension about the tunnel is usual and the trainer will work with you around that. You can do work yourself on big drain pipes and things, that's what I did with Jet, and she was still leery of the footing on the tunnel. Strangely, in Oban's first puppy class when he was 5 months old and the oldest dog was only 2 years they all flew through the tunnel first thing. The trainer was amazed. It wasn't folded up either. Dogs.

You will be steps ahead of the game if you get to advanced Rally as you will need to heel on both sides. Hmmm, maybe that is only in CARO though, I forget, but we did. I don't thing you have CARO. But anyway, Daisy is young and she can learn that.

Any you try will be fun for you both. You as you see Daisy learn and work to please you, Daisy because dogs do seem to enjoy the interaction it provides with you.

[POPTOP]

Sounds like a lot of fun for both of you. Let us know how it goes.

[Tanya]

ahh! thats good

i like rally as it works the training/listening angle.

another thing i have been doing just at home is working on a trick dog title for penny. we should have enough
done for her first title there. if only i had recorded her doing agilityj this summer we'd have more than enough "tricks" haha.

[kimbersmom]

What a fun day!

When Kimber was young, we went to a dog festival that had an agility course you could just try out with your dog (for a small donation to a good cause, of course.) The leaders got super-excited when Kimber nonchalantly sought all the tunnels- "she's a natural!" they said. Well, turns out while she loved tunnels her attention span was about .5 nanoseconds, so it took a lot of training (like... 2 years!) to get her into competition mode. You just never know what will and won't work for a dog!

I really want to do a nosework class with Kimber. I set up courses in our backyard and she loves it.

[WhoopsaDaisy]

That's awesome! Kimber sounds like a natural! Daisy loves to run through the tree trunk/tunnel obstacle course at the dog park - but she likes to take pieces of wood out of it.
I guess the agility tunnels are different. The trainer said the material feels different on her paws?!
You have to tell me how you set up the nose work course in your backyard! It sounds like fun!