Zebbie

my instructor tells me I need more off lead control before moving into the intermediate class. Dakota just turned 9 months old today and in class he likes to visit the other dogs after he does a couple obstacles. Is this normal for puppies and will he sort of outgrow this or do I need to work on recall more? When we go for walks he is not on lead and comes back readily enough, but class and walking are 2 different things. so how do I get him to respond in class?

here is a sight which has some agility diagrams, you'll have to search for them, but they are nicely laid out and easy to understand http://www.cleanrun.com/

This bc has problems in agility! My pup is already doing better than this little guy. I wonder how much exercise he is getting daily? he was extremely wound up in class, MUCH, MUCH more so than my little mixed breed. Cute dog but hard to handle for sure!

I had my wisdom teeth last wednesday and they still bother me somewhat. I finally made it back to agility practice last night and I seriously bruised my muscle in my leg. I am so depressed, why do these things happen one after the other!! I wanna be healthy again so I can enjoy our classes........grrrrrr, I'm gonna try to ignore the pain for tonights class *sighs*

use bitter apple on stuff you dont want chewed!! I am surprised no one told you this before. Bitter apple the vasaline kind can be rubbed into wood and stuff to stop them from chewing it. I used this on anything Dakota showed in interest in chewing on and it worked, I no longer need to use the bitter apple on my furniture. and it wont hurt your furniture one bit!

In practice last night, Dakota refused to jump. We had just been doing the same jumps while the others were training the a-frame...It is challenging because you never know what your dog is gonna do! Well at least in the early stages, and perhaps later on. It surprised not only me that he didnt jump, but my instructor as well. We thought he hurt his leg, but he got loose from leash and was running around like wild dog! So it wasn't an injury at all, he just didnt wanna jump. After class I had him try again, and he did it...go figure.

Dakota does agility and he loves it! he did well in the pre-novice event on Sunday. But he is also doing an intermediate obedience class, and he is terrible about walking on the leash. I dont use a leash very often with him, he has a fenced in back yard, and I let him off lead on our walks in the woods. His recall is pretty good. But in class he pulls so hard on the leash to get to the other dogs, it's embarrassing! Plus she had us practice walking nicely on the leash in class, and Dakota kept biting the leash and jumping around. The trainer told me it is a control thing, and it is inherent in his breed to be this way. After failing at the nice walking on leash, she made me take him to the corner and lie down. The funny thing is, when he does agility he is so focused on the task on the hand, it is beautiful to watch, but as far as obedience class he is failing, or I am failing, not sure which. I am wondering if doggy daycare is making this worse, because when he goes there, all he gets to do is play with other dogs. Do you think he is picking up bad habits there that spill over in class? I guess I gotta just practice leash walking more......it's just difficult because he pulls so hard, and or bites the leash and jumps around like a wild thing! The trainer must think I am fibbing when I say he does great in agility!!

Get a crate, crate training is the best way for housebreaking a pup! Make sure you let your pup out at night to go pee and stuff! Dont let the pup out if it is whining or crying, ignore her protests and she will learn to like her crate. It only took 2 or 3 nights for Dakota to stop his crying, then he only cried when he needed to go pee! Now my pup loves his crate and he uses it when there is loud noises, he will go in it when he needs security. It also helps to get the pup on a schedule, try to do things the same every day. It will help bring some security for the pup. I used to get up and hand feed my pup after letting him out, then play with him. He normally would nap again, so I would put him in his crate, go to work for 3 hours, come home, take him out, give him a snack, then take him for a walk. Puppies that young need alot of sleep as well, so let them nap if they need to, you may even have to put them down for a nap. Get into a good training class early after all his/her shots. Make sure you go to a class that uses positive reinforcement, and not the kind that uses a choke collar!! It is alot of work to raise a puppy, but if you can devote alot of time early on with the young one, you can fend off many behavior problems! Lots of help and good articles on the web as well.

Buy some bitter apple from a pet store, and get the kind that is like vasaline, rub it on anything you dont want her to chew, once she tastes it, she wont chew on that again, trust me it works and is easy. I also buy bones all the time for my pup as he is a chewer as well, I spend a small fortune on bones for him, but it is worth it. Also I bought 2 kong toys, I fill them with yogurt and freeze it, then give it to the dog. They have to work hard to get the frozen yogurt out, and it keeps their mind busy as well. You can also stuff the kongs with peanut butter or canned carrots mashed up, or anything else they like. By all means buy the bones, it'll really help your pup in the long run.

it is only 4.00 per run, and he can do as many runs I pay for. I was thinking of 3 runs. I think it would be fun regardless of what happens.

There is a match coming up on Sunday, there is a pre-novice division, with 8 obstacles (no see-saw or poles), I was wondering if you think I should enter Dakota. He is in the 2nd beginner class now. He can do 4 in a row, never tried 8 before. Just curious what you thought.

Your trainer will tell you what to bring. I suggest to bring very high food drive food! I bring hamburg and hot dogs normally, but my dog is very food driven. Make sure you practice what they tell you, it makes a big difference! I practice daily on wait and stay and stuff like that.

Dakota and I had a substitute teacher in agility this week. Dakota decided he was gonna be a show off......she had us do a small sequence, tunnel, jump, a frame and tunnel....I let go of Dakota and said tunnel..... he was outta there he ripped through that tunnel, over the jump and was up the aframe before I was even at the end of the first tunnel....he did the darn thing by himself, I fell down laughing......it was the funniest thing, the whole class was cracking up.

Make sure your puppy is getting plenty of naps, 3 months still sleep a great deal. Dakota used to get wild when he was tired, so I put him in crate, and usually he would fall right to sleep in seconds and when he came out, he was much better. The other thing that worked for me with Dakota was hand feeding him, at least once a day. I waited till he looked at me, then I fed him a kibble, when he looked at me again, I fed him another kibble and so on. This helps to establish YOUR leadership and it also teached your puppy to look to you for everything. I think in your case this would be most helpful because he is not paying attention to you. Also make sure you use the bite inhibition excerises with her. Yelp or ouch really loudly when she nips you. if she backs down even for a split second, it means she understands, this method works, but like I said remember when she backs down or submits in any way, it means she understands. Keep doing this when you play and evetually she will not nip you. If she gets too hyper when you play, simply withdraw ALL attention from her and walk away. She needs to learn to play nicely. This is not a quick fix but if your consistant she will understand. Dakota was such a handfull at 3 months old, but now at 7 months old he is a well behaved puppy!!!

He just loves agility, and he is doing very well, he didnt do much jumping on me tonight, so I was very happy.