Agility Enthusiasts

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Comment by kathie jo ottinger on November 11, 2009 at 4:16pm

Hi Fran,
Hope Tally is doing well.

Comment by Fran Griffin on October 20, 2009 at 4:26pm

Hi Kristina

I am going to check the video cam tomorrow to see if Tracy did manage to get any good shots of my dogs at the weekend. I hope she did manage to do so.

Will be nice to see Flora over the jumps... any chance of some pictures or video's of her?

Am getting a bit stressed about Tally going for her little op. on Thursday. I always worry about anaesthetics.... I hope she is going to be ok.

Fran

Comment by Kristina on October 20, 2009 at 1:29am

Hi, Fran.
Nice to see new setters in agility. I live in a small country and I don't know of any other irish training agility. I hope to see video of your last run (is that the proper word?) with Tally as well as Barkley.
From March to September this year Flora did 30 trainings that lasted from 30 - 45 min per training (short breakes included) and she started to enjoying it. At the start it was hard to motivate her, but now her tail starts to wag as soon as she gets out of the car. If she has to wait to train, she starts barking and just can't wait to start jumping. Near by some other young dogs did obediance training and barked a lot, Flora didn't even noticed them. In the begining of our trainings she got confused instantly if any dog barked. There is a lot improvement in her and agility in something we really really enjoj. To bad the winter is coming.... :-( I will try and make a video.

Comment by Fran Griffin on October 19, 2009 at 5:29pm

Tally and Barkley competed very well at an indenpendent show yesterday. They both enjoyed the experience. There was no aggression and the atmosphere very relaxed. We plan to go again next month. The people were very nice and helpful. Poor Tally was really suffering from her grass seed problem under her armpit again, so they lowered the jumps so that she was able to enjoy the show too. That was really nice of them to do this for for her. Tally has to go into hospital on Thursday, so that the vet can clear out any remnants of the grass seed which appears to be still causing her problems. Have tried anti-biotics, cleaning etc to no avail. Although we thought we had managed to pull the seed out, obviously something got left behind to cause this amount of trouble. The vet is going to culture any gunk which is brought out so that he can try and find the correct anti-biotics to use on her.

We were really surprised to see two more Irish at the show yesterday. One of them ran riot on his first run, but to all intents and purposes it looked like he needed to have emptied himself before going into the ring, because he did both pee's and poops as he was racing around. In the afternoon, obviously not being so full up, he actually did a very nice and fast round, but did stop to cock his leg at one point.... just like Barkley did at one of his first shows. From what I saw during the afternoon, I think this Setter will be one to watch in the future. He has a good bold jump and can really move. Her other dog is very nervous, and needs a lot of work done to be able to get his confidence up to a level where he can compete successfully.

Comment by Fran Griffin on September 22, 2009 at 12:31pm

Hi Kristina

Take a look at this video series. Rather than "yeah" I clicked and rewarded my dogs for entering, not just with food but with a toy too. In Tallulah's case her greatest reward was the ball, so I clicked and threw the ball for her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPPcv3wWhic

Comment by Kristina on September 22, 2009 at 10:52am

Thanx Fran for this extensive replay :-)) Sorry, I don't understand the 2 x 2 method...

Comment by Fran Griffin on September 22, 2009 at 10:36am

I have been speaking to friends of mine, and have decided that we will compete in UKA shows next year. Evidently they are far more laid back, smaller shows and hardly, if any, aggression problems.

I like your comment Marc. I love it when people sneer and say "huh, Irish Setter doing agility.... this should be a laugh". I just love to see their jaws drop when Tallulah hits the ring, and now with Barkley coming along very well. Tallulah hasnt had a good few months though due to a grass seed which got stick in the skin under her armpit. Most of it has flushed out now, just needs time to properly heal.

Tallulah's biggest problem is the bridge. I think she finds it too narrow, and being quite a long strided dog, she will fly the contact if she goes across it at speed. If I slow her down then I loose a good few seconds and then we are out of the placings. Barkley's biggest problem is becoming distracted at some point, by something. At the last show he was distracted by my friend holding the video camera and this made him run round one of the jumps to go and have a look at it. He is still very young though and on the whole I am very pleased with how he is coming along. His bridge work is very good and unlike Tallulah, I do have a good running contact from him.

We train once to twice a week. We have our own equipment, but even then, I think they do better just having 1-2 sessions. These last about an hour along with some others so that they are not overworked and have a good break between exercises. They are pretty good at letting me know when enough is enough for them.

With regards to the slalom, I use the 2 x 2 method of training, and now Tallulah and Barkley are very very reliable with their entries, in fact I able to stand at the wrong end and send them on into the correct entrance. I have seen judges almost die on the spot when they have seen my dogs either well ahead of me on a course and going down the line on their own - or - even for me to head them off and call them down the line towards me. 2 x 2 is a wonderful method because the dog is learning precisely where the entrance is, so even if you are well out of position, the dog goes in the right way and completes the entire line.

Comment by Kristina on September 22, 2009 at 9:09am

Hi agility enthusiasts!
How are you? Nothing ever happens in this group. I would love to know how your setters are doing - regarding agility. Flora is sometimes very uninterested, but nex time like a entirely different dog - very enthusiastic. How often (a week, a month) do you train? And for how long? Where do you have most problems? Is it slalom, swing or something else? Flora has problems with the bridge - it is to narrow and to high for her. For me the most difficult is slalom. Every time I have to think very hard to show Flora the right entrance to the slalom.

Comment by Marc Ruymbeke on September 17, 2009 at 5:21am

UK agility is very competitive and hugh nbrs enter the agility shows. If you are not running an Australian sheepdog or a border collie then you are strangely looked at and not taken seriously ... having fun in Ireland though ;o)

Comment by Kristina on September 17, 2009 at 5:14am

Dear Fran, I am very suprised to hear about dog attacks in agility. That rarely happens in Slovenia. I am sorry you are not going to attend any more shows. What about just trainings? Just for fun?
I have been training for the last 6 months and will continue in spring. I like it, so does Flora and I am doing it just for fun. I have no intention in taking part in a competition.

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