Agility Training-went well!

edited July 2009 in General
So we took the pup to her first agility training class today, and it went really well!
She thought it was the dog park at first, and tried to play with all the other dogs and pulling on the leash and everybody thinking we have an out of control nut.
But the instructor was really awesome, and even though we were late (i have issues) she quick taught us what she had already taught the class and Shao New got it really quickly--she even focused on us which shocked us a bit since their were barking dogs and it was 87 degrees outside. She even went off leash at times during the weave and tunnel and didn't run away afterwards!

We did however have to be a team, so even though we had brought the camera, we didn't get the chance to take any pics, esp at the tunnels, when I was in one end and runing down the side and Matthew was at the other end calling her over to the table.

All in all it was a really fun afternoon...don't think we'll get to go again until Sept as they do not run the agility group if it's 90+ degrees outside, but it was great and I highly recommend it to other Nihon Ken slaves!

PS_hehehe once we master agility I would love to find a fly ball group! oohh the fun....

Comments

  • edited November -1
    o0o0o0o! Sounds like you had quite the day! I'm glad it went well =0)
  • edited November -1
    That's awesome nothing like agility to build confidence in a dog and put a fun twist on training.
    Agility is addictive for those who partake on a regular basis.

    Enjoy your journey with Shao New, it is pretty amazing what they will do for you when they are having fun.
    Snf
  • edited November -1
    Thanks guys..SnF, yeah, we would like to try it again when we can..it was REALLY fun for everybody. Even though we failed horribly at the tunnel part, it was still fun to watch her build more confidence (like you said) around enclosed spaces. Best 10 bucks we've spent in awhile!
  • edited November -1
    Sounds great! We did a beginner class with our male shiba, but we took the summer off because the classes are in a barn and major hot and stuffy! I always go with myself and never have any time for pics between leading him then marking the target then corralling him back up after he gets freaked by something... oh the fun of agility!!!

    Flyball looks awesome - does Shao New have that sort of drive?!
  • edited November -1
    I *think* so...she's got a very high prey drive, looves her tennis ball, and likes running like a lunatic whenever she gets a chance. But for some reason I can't seem to find any flyball groups near me or within reasonable driving distance...I'm hoping by the time Spuds gets bored of agility somebody would have opened up a decent flyball group around here :-)
  • edited November -1
    That's great guys. I've thought about doing something like that with the Brat. Maybe one day we can have an all shiba fly ball team. I can totally envision us being disqualified because our Shibas are stealing all the other teams flyballs.
  • edited November -1
    Apparently there's a flyball team at that training place around the block from Joe/Dawn.

    http://www.doggieuk9.com/Flyball.htm
  • edited November -1
    How many dogs do you need?
  • edited November -1
    Not sure, but found this:

    http://nafadb.flyball.org/cgi-public/pubutil?BREEDDET&BREED=Shiba+Inu

    Stats for shibas that participated in some flyball tournaments. If you look, most of them don't participate anymore.

    Heck, we can just learn the basics, train the dogs, and have our own mini-tournaments within the group (kind of like how we have the meet ups)
  • edited November -1
    Also, to save money on equipment, build it yourself:

    http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/2119/boxplan.htm

    Professional equipment can cost $200-$1000, but you can build a cheapy one for about $50
  • edited November -1
    I would be up for a forum flyball team
  • edited November -1
    Hear hear! Beebe likes to relay, why not try flyball.

    Congrats on the agility training. It really is a lot of fun. I am biased, but I think the Shibas grasp the concept of the training much faster than many of the other traditional agility breeds, they just are slower sometimes in the repition and doing it on request part. Yeh, it's nearly impossible to get pics when it's just you and the dog without holding other people up or weirding the dog out "Mom, stop taking pictures of me. It's embarassing and my friends are watching!"
  • edited November -1
    I did go with the hubby and gave him camera duty, but what the instructer noticed quickly, is that Shao New would look for him or if she catches a glimpse of him she'll try to look and do her thing at the same time. She does that when we both take her somewhere, I guess it's the "we came as a pack we'll move as a pack" ...good ol Spuddy. That's why she incorporated him into it too, so it was really fun. I think the instructor knows Shibas and their far- superior- than- the other- dogs- in- the- class- intelligence too! We were really late, but she looked at her, and said, "OK come on Shiba let's do this quick", and she got it quickly and kept bouncing off like a lunatic when the ramp was almost over. Fact that she called her Shiba w/o asking what breed Spuds was, was really cool!

    I'll look over the links Beth provided, that would be cool if we just learned some basics and did our own crazy flyball team....b/c yes, Joe/Dawn, our two would probably cause trouble in a real tournament LOL. "We won b/c our dogs stole your tennis balls...muhahahaha" I think we need 4 dogs for a team..*eyes Tetsu and Tikaani to complete the LI forum team*....ROFL I just hand an image of us losing and we'll send Tikaani in to distract the other team
    .
  • edited July 2009
    Heck, Tikaani is just as much of a ball thief as any shiba...I don't think we'll have problems with them getting to the ball (except Tikaani doesn't like to jump over stuff for some reason), it's getting them to come back.

    We can form our own mini club and just do recreational sport events. Just practice agility, flyball, whatever without really focusing on tournament participation (unless you count those family reunion-esk game events as tournaments). Make the focus more on having fun, where any mistakes are just "oops, no biggy, let's keep playing", rather than beating the other person.
  • edited November -1
    Okay NY-ers, I expect to see this flyball team in action at the September meetup!
  • edited November -1
    that sounds great Beth! Yeah, there were some hardcore agility people there, even for the "beginner class"...I didn't care Spuds failed the tunnel thing...3 times...lol that just wasn't happening w/out her seeing us on the other side first. I'll have to tell you all about the serious people when I see you.

    Kristin, I dunno, we might have a pretty messed up team by then..but hey, a team nonetheless! :)
  • edited November -1
    That's really neat, Irene!! With Shiba, if you do flyball, do you have to use a mini tennis ball? We do, but the large dogs (including Lantis) always run off with it and I'm always scared they might swallow it!
  • edited November -1
    I don't think so, the videos show little papillions doing it , so I assume no , regular size :) Plus Shao New, like her mom, has a big mouth hehe
  • edited November -1
    I agree with Irene. We'll have a "team". If they can do flyball? Not so much. The can all wrestle together though.
  • edited November -1
    I missed the whole Tikanni the Ball theif quote. That just tickled my inner Beavis. he eh heh heh heh, Ball thief.
Sign In or Register to comment.