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That’s what I
like about agility: training for details, discovering new way of
training details. I don’t like competing too much, but it’s too easy to
be perfect in training, so I need to compete to get new challenges. What
I’m looking for in competition is nice, fluid, fast and happy run. About
the placement: I couldn’t care less. I have had enough placements that I
don’t need any more. And when people ask “gosh, how does it feel to
stand on a podium on WC?”, all I can say is: boring. I would very much
prefer to spend that time running my dogs as to stand there and smile.
It’s a thrill to run on WC, that’s true, but to stand on a podium… How
could something like that be anything else but boring??? And when people
ask “gosh, how many cups do you have at home?”, I have to admit I have
none. Not even one single cup, not even those from WC. Why would I have
them? I’m really not proud of my results. I’m only proud of my
dogs, I think they’re the smartest, cutest and funniest dogs in
the world and I make sure they know that, I make sure they know I’m
their biggest fan from their first to their last day, no matter what
happens.
Yeah, all I care
about is to have happy, healthy dogs that like to play with me. And
everything I do, I do it because I believe it's in their best interest.
You might not agree with me, you certainly don't have to, I'm actually
very interested to hear on what data you made your conclusion that
agility before 12th month is bad, I might learn something from it. But I
would appreciate if you did the same: instead of accusing me that I'm
torturing my puppy for the sake of results, you could read my "Agility
is good for the dogs" where I explain what I'm doing and why. I'm not
saying I'm right and you're wrong in whether it's good to start early or
not. What I'm saying is that you're completely and absolutely wrong if
you think that what I’m doing is for the sake of results and you can
check with anybody that knows me to tell you that it's not true.
Now to an answer to a question when to start with agility:
There is no one general answer to this question. I actually never ask
how old the dog is, but instead look at the dog. He might be 2 years
old, but if he is fat or unfit, I will send a handler home and ask him
to get a dog in a proper condition before I let them do anything.
Agility is not a good place to try to make a dog lose weight or get
fit.
Now, if we're talking about healthy, fit dog, I look at how coordinated
he is, how much awareness he has of his body. At what age a dog realizes
where all his feet are depends on breed, individual characteristic and
also all the work that was done before. If a dog spent his entire life
in a crate, he will never get very coordinated. If you play a lot with a
puppy, let him run loose in the woods and teach him tricks that make him
more aware of his body (backward walking, backward weaving between legs,
backward climbing stairs, hind feet targeting, sitting pretty, cavaletti
work etc.), he will be able to use his body much better. Still, I did
even more of those things with Bu as I did with La, but La
mentally&physically developed way faster than Bu for example. Bu was
really slow, much slower as most other BCs, partly because of her long
legs, partly because of her strange mind.
With La, I started agility related work (left&right, go on etc.) at 7
weeks, and with tunnels&jumps with bars on the floor and with plank work
(running up and down the plank on the ground) at 2,5 months. At 5 months,
she looked like an adult dog. Still, I didn't get to her final jump
height (45cm) until she was 15 months.
With Bu, I had enough other problems that I only had time to start with
agility related work (cik&cap, left&right, plank on the ground) at 3,5
months. I only did what I can do in my living room since she was still
not interested in anything outside. At about 4,5 months, I was able to
start working on our agility field, I did just cik&caps (wrapping)
around jump wings & tunnels for at least a month, with no bars at all.
Those that know my cik&cap turns, knows that you need to introduce and
then heave a bar really slowly. I don't remember at what height I was at
particular age, I know I put bars on 55cm for the first time when she
was 11 months and I think I'll heave them to 65cm after she is 15
months, she still doesn't even look as an adult, despite she is pretty
coordinated by now. I think she ran full-size dog-walk for the first
time when she was 6 months, but started to regularly work it when she
was 8 months and I started with A-frame when she was about 10 months.
With weave-poles, I normally start around 6th month, but I use channel
method, so a dog is just running straight for weeks. Bu, however, is
natural-born-talent for weaves, I think she could learn them in like 5
days if I wanted. Of course, I didn't want it, so I stopped a training
for several months as soon as she would need to do any weaving and only
started again at 10 months. She learned in no time. Now, I do
weave-poles maximum 2 times per training (I train 2 to 3 times a week)
with her.
Anyway: none of this is totally exact, I don't keep any records, I just
watch a dog and make sure she is comfortable with everything she does.
General rule could be that you should watch a dog and if you see
that he needs to put any kind of effort into anything he does, then you
should stop right away. All jumping, running, climbing and
weaving should be done completely effortless, with ease and with
complete awareness & control of all legs.
Also, you should be aware that you can do 95% of work without any
agility equipment involved. I could run any jumping course with no
weaves on Bu's THIRD (and La's FIRST) training on agility field. Why?
Because she can read my body language since she is with me 24 hours a
day, because she knows cik&cap that you can teach by circling any object
you want, like a tree, because she knew left&right&go on. What else does
one need for course work? Nothing. That's all. Agility is really
easy when you have good relationship with your dog. The only one that
needs training here is the handler. My other dogs trained me well
enough that Bu doesn't need to train me to a degree she would have to
if she had a novice handler. And if it looks to you there are hours of
agility training in that course that you can see on a video, you're
wrong: there are 14 years of my handling work in that video, months
of my bonding work with Bu, hours of my general training and minutes of
real agility training.
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