[in the hills]

Did try it with my Flattie when he was young. The bug didn't bite  but the instructors collie did bite me on the leg   


Alf was better at it than most of the young collies at that stage but only because he was more obedient than they were .... sure they would have outshone him very quickly. He did everything with one beady eye fixed on the Flyball. The instructor asked if he could borrow Alf to demonstrate something and as he was walking off with him, Alf decided that he had had enough and dragged the instructor across the field to the Flyball equipment. Children thought it was hilarious    ..... instructor hanging on for dear life.


The embarrassment that that dog has caused me ..... never went again. His heart wasn't in it    .... better things to do with his time obviously.

[plumseverywhere]

...... and doggy displays ..... at shows, fetes, etc.


 ..... Alistair, I'm enrolling at your doggy training school    [size=78%] [/size]

Sadly it doesn't exist - sort of did the obedience thing then got sucked into the evil addiction of agility...
Which if you haven't tried it don't, it's tooooo much fun for anyone sane to endure

Oh! I was planning on starting Murphy in agility!  He has a 6 week sheep safe course starting sunday then after that I thought agility might get me fit too!

well done Porgies piggies - good on you! lots of great advice here, hope it all works out 

[Alistair]

Plums - DO IT, just watch his age, you can't compete till he's 18months (from memory) although you can enter at an earlier age but won't record a time, just be careful because its hard on young joints and you don't want to build up any inherent weakness

I start early with useful things, wait command is good (getting a solid wait with distance between you and your dog), the other things to do early are get the dog to chase something like a tennis ball, the other thing is target training, I.e. bit of something (like a butter tub lid) put food on it, after a bit treat when they touch the target, gradually build up time between target touch and treat, this will make contact training so very much easier

At about 14months I start on jumps and stuff, some do it earlier, some later but it works for me

You'll also need to get him KC registered as an activity dog £15, to compete hat is, then he'll need measuring by a measurer £4, and he'll need a book £1.50, Julie's getting measured tonight! Then he'll need measuring again ( think that's within 24 months)

You WILL get fitter, you will also (hopefully) find your dog is much faster than you, then you will find as I have that teaching 2off 2on position on a contact with a wait is the only way you can catch up with your dog who is just too fast, generally if we get a clear round we will place in top 3, more often than not we just get in a mess because I'm too far behind and we get dq'd

[plumseverywhere]

Ah that's good - we've already mastered 'wait' as I make him wait at the top of the stairs so the kids don't get bowled over and also as we go through doors/gates etc.
He is still very young, think he's only about 11 months now so a bit of time to go. And I think he'll always be faster than me, I will fall over...a lot. 

[Alistair]

You won't fall over, you will run into things and end up jumping over the obstacles yourself, oh and whilst I'm on about it find a good agility club make sure hey compete and it's not just 'for fun' you'll get more out of it

[colliewobbles]

You won't fall over, you will run into things and end up jumping over the obstacles yourself,

Have you been watching me and Meg run? 

[Alistair]

No, just myself