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First agility trial


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Hello guys! Me and my 2 yrs old BC will be in our very first agility trial tomorrow. I just want to know what to bring and can someone describe how is the atmosphere gonna be like? We attended fun matches before, but i dont know how different its gonna be like from that.

Thanks!

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At my agility matches it is fairly relaxed. The people competing bring lawn chairs, snacks for both human and dogs, water bowl for their dogs, and usually a crate or pen of some kind for their dogs. The people competing are required to volunteer to help out for at least one event (bar setting, leash runner, ect). The people are all really nice in my area and willing to help if you don't have a clue what you're supposed to be doing you just have to ask. They are also forgiving of small mistakes, for example I set a bar wrong (it was a weirdly marked jump and I set it 2 inches too high) my first time helping out and caused a dog to knock it over. I was super embarrassed, but The leader of the club just nicely showed me how to set the jump and wrote the bar knock off the dog's run. They even asked me to come back and help out the next day.

 

I don't compete yet, but I do enjoy volunteering at the trials and getting to know the local competitors. I am actually volunteering at one this weekend. My trainer is also a very well known member of all the local agility circles and encourages all of her students to just ask for help when they are confused about what they should be doing.

 

So I guess all my advice could be summed up to ask for help if you're confused and don't stress over it too much.

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Everything Cass listed plus sunscreen and clean-up bags for doggie potty breaks. I always bring my own water for my dog since I don't want to worry about if water will be available and enough food and drinks to get me through the day. I also bring a white sheet to put over the crate for shade (important since all our trials are outside and I live in the desert).

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I just went to my first trial today, too. In the rain - on a triple booked field because of screw-up by the people who own that field. We had soccer games next door and police running an obstacle course with guns and dummy dragging in the aisle between our ring and the secretary tent.

 

Honestly, it went really, really well. People were nice and laid back and supportive, the cheering for me because it was my first trial was kind of uncomfortable but honestly - friendly, mellow, relaxed, and zen. No real difference from the atmosphere at the fun matches I've gone to, just more cheering.

 

I definitely agree with taking sunscreen, poop bags, some food and drinks (ours had a snack table and water readily available to everyone, though), bowl for the dog, some kind of crate/containment for him and I'm going to add, in case of wet weather: dry socks and shoes, because ew. Folding chairs or chairs of some sort can also be really good to have on hand. Tent or 'shade' tent, ground cover, etc at some point.


But overall, I was super nervous and it ended up being fun, easy, and low key.

Tomorrow, we do more and I have fewer nerves and a lot more eagerness. I want to do these things all the time - they're FUN.

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My daughter and I had one trial in the rain and we were miserable. Since we live in the desert we were completely unprepared. A friend told me for trials in the rain she brings her running shoes, rain boots and lots of socks. After a run she changes into dry socks and her rain boots and only puts her shoes on just before a run. The shoes stay wet but at least between runs she has dry feet.

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Yeah, it was truly a comedy of errors. Like it was just so bad, and we found out so late, that there wasn't much to do but find it ridiculous-funny. The fact that my dog stayed in the ring and finished the course on her (single) run astonished me. She didn't Q, but I'm not even joking about how pleased I was that she stayed in the ring and finished. I was worried about the ring crew and JUDGE spooking her a little. All that? Good dog.

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Well done a very nice first trial.

Have to pipe up and say I love blind crosses, there are so many places I can put a blind cross in where I would never make the turn on a front cross, and a rear cross would put me behind for the rest of the course, I am moderately fast handler with a very fast dog and they have really helped me become fluid.

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Blinds - like any other tool - must be used in the appropriate situation to be useful AND must be done correctly. I have seen too many 'lazy' blinds (and I am guilty of these too, but try my best to perform correctly). I define a 'lazy' blind as one where the handler is too late into position, does not drop the shoulder/arm/hand early enough nor do they turn their cheek to the dog. When these signals are missing, it leaves the dog in a 'WTF' situation, and they have to guess.

 

It wasn't until I learned blinds (by myself, because my agility trainer did not believe in blinds) that I actually felt more comfortable performing a front cross. Weird, huh?

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I didn't *understand* front crosses on any kind of really intuitive way until fairly recently.

Which was after figuring out rears and blinds better, and starting to use 'switches' (tandem turns, landing side rears, whatever). I can't say the front crosses were the hardest for me to work out - they weren't- but they were the ones that took me the longest time to figure out when, where, and how to use at ALL.

 

Crosses are weird, man. Or brains are.

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Actually, the confusion I had about front crosses was the footwork and the arm change. I understood the theory, and I would practice the arm change and the footwork without the dog. O Of course, practice was done in slo-mo at first, then I tried to speed up. Once I tried to put it in practice with Torque, everything broke down. He is a very fast dog and he really pushes me out of my comfort zone to the point of failure. Oh well, it has sure been a learning experience. (And now that I have a few years under my belt -so I am a little faster with my signals - and Torque is approaching 8 - so he is just a bit slower - things are going a bit better.) Sad that my boy is aging. :(

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I have been very lucky that the dog I have started agility with is fast enough, without really being fast enough to make controlling her difficult. She's started out SLOW, and then sped up gradually as she gained confidence and my handling and timing improved. It's been a pretty much ideal situation.

 

Even still in foundations with Molly, I don't even know. It's going to be a whole different ballgame for me, that's for sure. I don't see me using my front crosses with her, though. Even on the flat, I'm doing a lot of calling her in with a 'here', since by the time I'm at the point of the cross she's 20 or more feet away doing - who knows what.

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Yup! There is a times that you really need to blind cross, but I usually pick not to, i dont know its just weird for me doing blind crosses, i feel like tripping every time or me being on the way of my dog lol but I'm practicing, my agility trainer LOVES blind crosses lol

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Yeah, I had a lesson today that while the formal instruction was mostly about discrimination and a little bit regarding collection for weaves was really about using what Kylie's natural responses to get what I want. Like how hard she comes in toward me if I stop moving on the course, and how she responds to body pressure. It was a really neat thing to play with, and I'm looking forward to playing with it more.

 

Once I finish working more on off side weaves.

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LOL! I hate blind crosses if i can rear and front cross everything i will hahha!

 

I'm the opposite - always throwing blinds where I shouldn't. But they work well for Tessa. You can't get a rear cross with a dog who is several feet behind you!!!

 

Bandit's gonna be like, "Blind cross? What's that?"!! LOL!! His big sister and I won't be telling!

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