Journeys With Cedar...and Moss!: A Question

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Agility people: what are your criteria for deciding if your dog is ready to start trialing?

Ann said...: I'd ask my instructor and experienced classmates. If my dog and I are performing well consistently at a level above our class, I'd go for it.

Best to proof in as many different locations as possible, and under conditions that will get your nerves going, if at all possible.

That said, I put Jane in JWW last fall and she had never run a full course, didn't have a command on her weave poles, and never done spread jumps, and she won her class both days. I had such a solid foundation on her from Susan Garrett's 2x2 weave pole training, Susan Salo's jumping and a little Greg Derrett handling. It was fun! :); August 2, 2010 at 7:22 AM
Anonymous said...: Am an I agility person? LoL Kip and I went to our first trial in less than a year of training. We only ran in Jumpers and Tunnelers...maybe Touch N Go as well, I don't remember. I mainly did it to get both of us out there for experience and to see what we needed to focus on in our training...but it was nice to come home with a few 1st place finishes our first time out. :-); August 2, 2010 at 4:09 PM