Agility

Ok, I've had many experienced sheepie owners meet Barkley and question if I'd ever consider "Agility" with him. Please explain to this novice sheepie owner what agility exactly entails, how much of a time commitment we are talking and how I might find information in our local area on agility (Wisconsin). Thanks,
Doreen

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Calling Kristine, calling Kristine......... :lol:

Seriously, she can tell you, show you anything you want to know.

got sheep wrote:

Calling Kristine, calling Kristine......... :lol:

Seriously, she can tell you, show you anything you want to know.

Very funny, Dawn! Somewhere on the planet there may be someone who knows everything there is to know about agility, but all I know is that it ain't ME!! :lol:

There ARE others on the forum who do agility...I'll write more later, too, when I have a little more time.

First order of business, of course, would be auditing a class with his good buddy Simon, if Barkley isn't convinced yet that agility is for him... :wink:

Kristine

OK, how you might local find info: you ask Pam to tag alone with her and Simon, or you PM me :lol:

What does it entail? You know, this is the very type of question that inspired me to start putting together a website for OES in performance. Unfortunately, the gentleman I'm working with was so talented I volunteered him to work on the Open Health Registry - ergo, the site is at a stand still and I have to do this without props. Yikes.

Competitive agility is a timed event where you and your dog try to negotiate a preset (usually, except for strategy games) course of obstacles as fast as possible with the fewest number of faults.

It entails...as much or as little as you want to put into it. Some people just go to class once a week and never practice anything in between. Progress tends to be slower, but you will get there eventually. Homework doesn't necessarily mean you have to have lots of equipment at home - there are lots of things you can practice without equipment. But you do tend to get carried away and start building/buying stuff :wink:

Given Barkley's size, he's going to have to learn to scrunch a bit for the tunnels (24" diameter) Simon is one up on him there. However, both of them would need to jump 24" or 20" in AKC, 20" in NADAC and 26" or 22" inches in USDAA - these are all different organizations that offer agility competitions - there are others too) Given his height, he can probably just about step over 20" :wink:

And dont worry about the tunnel scrunch. Great Danes do agility. Some of them are incredible.

The first dog you compete with is your "Novice A" dog. (All other dogs will have to start in Novice B) This dog is very, very special, because this is the dog you will make all of your worst mistakes with, so it helps to have a dog with a good sense of humor and a big heart.

This is my Novice A dog, Belle.

I got her when she was 3 years old - so don't think you have to start with a puppy! Coming with a pre-developed brain and some basic manners has much going for it. This is her competing at the OESCA national this Sept - she's almost ten.

The theory that they have a brain and basic manners when you start them as adults is tentative - i.e. just a theory. Because this is me trying to convince her that trialing at her age is not worth killing yourself over.

This (below) is her telling me what she thinks of that theory:

(all photos byJenni Niittylä from Finland)

Short version? It's more fun than what is normally legally permitted :wink:

More to follow. Hope to see you guys on Sunday!!

Kristine & Belle

The Saint Louis OES Club just did an agility intro in saint louis (actually the club is in saint louis the event was in Illinois). First time I had to been to anything like that. It was a lot of fun. It took some of dogs a tittle time to get use to it, but they all caught on really quick.

http://www.stloes.org/webphotos/AgilityWorkshop2007/

(some of the pics)

infoseeker wrote:

What a fabulous idea! Great pics, too! Now who from the club is going to do a write up on the work shop for submission to the Old English Times as an idea for other clubs to emulate...? <Oh, Judi....

)

Kristine

Fun pictures - thanks for posting them Josh.

Thanks everyone for the input. Maybe we will start with checking out a class in the area. We really bombed on choosing puppy kindergarten class for Barkley and since then I've been quite shy on trying other classes. Truthfully, Barkley just seems to keep getting smarter as he ages. (He's really only a bit over two now). Anyway, he just loves to run and play so much that I think he might get into the agility training. We will see. Since we do have a small child who takes up a lot of our time, we will have to see how much time we can commit to. Thanks again.

Quote:

Fun pictures - thanks for posting them Josh.

No problem, but the credit for the pics and the website I believe go to Judi.

Ya it was a blast and the dogs had fun too lol.

momtobarkley wrote:

Smarter with age is just dangerous :lol:

All classes are not created equal though, that's true. I know good trainers to the north-east and south-east of you, and there probably are good ones in your area as well. It's just a matter of talking to people.

The local OES club used to put on an agility and some times rally demo as part of our annual picnic - well, OK - Sunny and I used to do it. We've gotten away from that, but a few of us are already talking about the club organizing some more fun OES events in the coming year in the greater Milwaukee area. I'll keep you posted.

Kristine

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