# Agility Debut



## ataylor (Dec 28, 2008)

Well, I have been training a friend's Golden Retriever in agility since November of last year. It has been a struggle, but we got through it. For at least 2-3 months, she stress out so fast. She would grab cones and run around the ring. I would lose her the moment I would release her from her start line and it would take a couple of minutes to get her back.

I am so glad that I finally got that out of her system by Jan/Feb. Her stress level has decrease dramatically. She is focusing a lot better and comes when called. We are now running full courses! I have to admit there were times when I thought about quitting. But I am so glad that I didn't. It is amazing to see how much progress she had made since the first night I started to work with her. 

I now have her complete focus, she gets her contacts, and she has her start line. Plus she keeps the bars up 

Thus, I have entered her in her first agility trial on June 2nd. It is at the training facility that we practice at so there is no new environment stress. We are only competing for one day and running in both Standard and Jumpers. I have brought her to some agility trials at the facility so she can get use to the environment of an agility trial and she did great.

Fingers crossed that it all goes well.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Good luck and I hope you both have a lot of fun.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

How old is she? And, I didn't know you could have someone else work your dog in agility (sorry, I'm sooooo new to this). This is super to know.

Good luck in June!


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## ataylor (Dec 28, 2008)

Gwen_Dandridge said:


> How old is she? And, I didn't know you could have someone else work your dog in agility (sorry, I'm sooooo new to this). This is super to know.
> 
> Good luck in June!



She will be 4 years old this summer. You can have someone else train and handle your dog in agility.


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## jimla (Oct 9, 2008)

ataylor said:


> I am so glad that I finally got that out of her system by Jan/Feb. Her stress level has decrease dramatically. She is focusing a lot better and comes when called. We are now running full courses!


That is a real accomplishment! What is your method for getting and maintaining her focus? Roxy and I are still working on completing a full course. She is easily distracted by other people, dogs, and toys in our training area. Our trainer thought it might be caused by stress.


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## ataylor (Dec 28, 2008)

jimla said:


> That is a real accomplishment! What is your method for getting and maintaining her focus? Roxy and I are still working on completing a full course. She is easily distracted by other people, dogs, and toys in our training area. Our trainer thought it might be caused by stress.


It was a building block. Outside of the ring, I worked on recall on leash. Well, a lot of obedience outside of the ring. We started to do a couple of obstacles then leave the ring. I did bring out the clicker and she responded very well to that. If I lost her focus and she went off, I took her out of the ring, put her in a down stay. We waited for a while and then I brought her back in and tried again. After I was getting her focus more, we broke down the course. After 2 or 3 obstacles I would reward her. A lot of praise when she did something great. Pretty much had a party if she did something correct. She responded very well to that. 

I pretty much had to teach her that agility is really fun!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Good luck  Run fast, run clean, have fun!


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Good luck and have fun!


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## Sydney's Mom (May 1, 2012)

Good luck tomorrow!!


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## ataylor (Dec 28, 2008)

Well, all I can say is that it she did an awesome job. She qualified in both runs picking up a 1st and 2nd place. She had a couple of refusals and she wanted to go visit some of the stewards, but l called her back and she came. 

I noticed tonight at class that she seemed like a different dog, but in a good way. She seemed more relaxed than normal.


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Congrats on the great debut!


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