agility

[Chip's Mom]

Chip has one more class left and he will have completed his basic obedience class. He ran through the tunnel tonight lickity split and jumped over the pole that was about 6 inches high Wore himself right out and he really enjoyed it. Anyway, the next step is advanced obedience that includes tricks and some agility. My question is do you think Chip is old enough to do some agility training. I do not want to hurt his legs, etc. I am very overprotective of my Chip and would not risk hurting him for a little fun. He also learned dead dog - he rolled right over on his back with all four feet up in the air. He is a ham.

[corgimom]

Great for Chip

You are going to have to take that "dead dog" picture and post it

[darci]

Woo Hoo for chip.
Ditto on the dead dog pic, we must see this.

Linda Love your new avatar pic.

[jprechel]

Bonnie - exciting news about Chip! We are interested in getting Ace involved with agility as well. All the info we have found from books, internet, and people have told us we need to wait until he is at least a year old. The jumping is of course the most worrisome. But we were told we can work on heeling, recall, tunnels, and small a-frames to name a few. Hope this helps you out!

[Chip's Mom]

Thanks for the info. That sounds reasonable. I can enroll him in advanced obedience and just not do the jumps until after January. These classes are the first 3 mondays a month for however long you want to go and the best part is you can hit and miss the classes and still be ok. She does a variety of things each week and they are flexible. The charge is quite reasonable - only $5.00 a night and the trainer is excellent. So we can still have fun and keep Chip safe. She also has a regular agility class but we are difinitely not ready for that. Thanks again.

[glencorgi]

Bonnie,

See if the trainers will work with you to use lower jump heights and it won't be like you are drilling him everyday. As Jim & Bethany said, there are a lot of obstacles you can do now, I think I passed along several of them in another thread from advice given on the Performance Corgis list by very experienced and conscientious agility competitors.

In a sense, you've already started some agility training, as basic obedience is the foundation for almost any dog sport. You might want to do everything but the jumps. IF the class is as much fun for the both of you as it sounds like, then I think you could probably work something out.

Debbie

[Chip's Mom]

Hi Debbie:

I am sure she will without any problems. Sometimes, when we are working through training, Chip gets bored so I stop and sit down on the floor with him and we roughhouse for a couple of minutes and he is ready to work again. She has never said anything and doesn't seem to mind so I will just keep going the way I have. It doesn't interrupt class or anything. Like I said, she is the nicest person and let's us make the decisions on our dogs. She just shows us how to train. I am very glad that I went there. You may know her.

[Fluffypants]

Bonnie - another option you may want to consider is Rally. No jumping involved, more of an "obedience obstacle course", which would allow you to polish your basic obedience skills until you are ready to tackle agility. And it's a lot of fun too!

[milles2]

Bonnie:

Start line "Stay" is very important in Agility. One of Tuck's least favorite things. Keep practicing the "stay!". We get gently reminded (!) every week.

Last week Tuck did so many things right and so many things well, and all my instructor could say was "Tucker needs to really work on his startline stays".

Hmpf! He was off leash the whole nite (the only dog who was), in "down" position when it wasn't his turn, and for once in his life (!!!!!) actually kept his eyes on me! A major accomplshement for my Tucker who thinks he is the Mayor and has to know everyone's business!

Can you tell I don't take criticsm well! I know the instructor was right but man, I think Tuck did great behaving around the other handlers and dogs. I was proud just the same!

Susan

[Chip's Mom]

Good for you and Tuck. It is hard to get them to focus especially when they want nothing better than to socialize. My instructor, last week, said Chip was the troublemaker in class because two dogs wouldn't "come" to their owners - they wanted to play with Chip. She said it jokingly though. I think Chip is the class clown. and the instructor is very fond of him. Like I always say - there are dogs and then there are Corgis. During heeling, Chip heeled beautifully with his leash in his mouth and a great big smile - he was walking his Mom. We just go to have fun - I have found myself letting go of Chip's leash and he just lays down beside me - I have got to watch that. I am getting to used to him behaving. You never know when the spirit of the fairies will come out.

[milles2]

Is it our fault that Corgis have an extreme amount of personality? Maybe to a flaw.....

We went to the Happy Hour yesterday and there were some gorgeous dogs. I met the most wonderful Cairn Terrier, he looked like Toto on steroids. But who did everyone come running to meet? The Corgis!

All dogs, in my opinion, have wonderfully expressive faces. But there is something about Corgis that make you want to give them a big old snuggle.

OK, on the serious side, I know keeping them under control and in check is very important. Tuck is a challenge (the pet communicator last week told me he is a control freak/ you don't have to be a pet communicator to figure that out!). SO when he is behaving extremely well, to pick at a mere flaw of jumping the gun on his startline stays........

Okay, Okay, I'm over it!

Susan

[Chip's Mom]

I understand!

[Michael Romanos]

Susan - it is up to you to heap praises and rewards on your Corgi whenever he does what he is suppose to do. The instructor is looking for improvements where ever they emerge and are apparant. So just maybe the instructor is just doing his/her job and leaving the encouragement aspects to you.
Your personal rewards will come later - maybe when Tuck is sent to an advance class while the others in the class you are in now, remain for further training.