I took Emma to an agility run-thru today. It was held at the club where we started our agility training. Emma was thrilled.
The agility arena has rubber matting over concrete. When the dogs run on it it makes a very loud and distinctive pattering sound as their feet hit. Now for the last year or so we haven’t run on anything except grass, dirt and sawdust. So today Emma was particularly hysterical, she hit the matting and turned into a complete goofball. Patter-ta-patter-ta-pat! She was having a grand old time listening to her own footfalls. She even exaggerated her gait to make it louder!
We did a couple of runs and I made some wonderful handling errors. But it gave Emma a chance to shake the kinks out and kept us working so it was well worth the time.
Galumph!
Dog-gone 
First off I would like to wish you a merry Christmas.
Can you recommend a good source for agility training information or websites?
By: Maggie Mae on December 23, 2009
at 3:35 am
And a very Merry Christmas to you too! Hmm… That’s a question sort of like “Can you recommend any good restaurants?” It depends on what you’re looking for. 🙂
This link is sort of an uber-searchable site. http://googility.com/
Most of the knowledge I have has been gleaned from my trainers. Both positive and “negative” knowledge. Stuff to imitate and stuff to stay away from at all costs!
My budget is quite limited. I know there are lots of good books and videos but I haven’t invested in them. If I ever find a book with a good basic explanation of agilty concepts I will buy it in a heartbeat. If not, I’ll write one. Just as soon as I get it figured out for myself.
Are you looking at starting with your three? That would be fun! Give me a bit more on what info you woul like and maybe I can help some.
By: Adrienne on December 23, 2009
at 5:47 am
What I would like to do is make a course here at home and train my dogs so we could work at our own pace. I’ve gotten a little older and have some health issues so I’m not sure I would be up to the physical demands of the handler but it looks like a great sport. I’m not sure I would be up to my end of things but I know the dogs would love it.
Thanks for your help, maybe next summer I’ll be able to blog some about it,
Lonnie (MERRY CHRISTMAS)
By: Maggie Mae on December 25, 2009
at 4:30 am
Sure! You could totally do that. A lot of people who run their dogs in agility are not the spryest (spriest?) folks. You just have to handle differently, more distance work for the dog and less running for you. 😉
I would have the same advice I put in my other post. Start with foundation work. I’ll see if I can dig up a good reference book or video for you.
BTW where are you geographically?
By: Adrienne on December 25, 2009
at 5:02 am
Thanks for your time, I’m in NW Ohio (Lima, Oh.)
By: Maggie Mae on December 25, 2009
at 5:07 am