Anyone want to talk me into this?

elsien

Training classes tonight, and it actually mostly went ok to my surprise. He's not been that bad while inside, all we need to do now is get through his thick skull that what he's learned also applies outside of the training class! Ideally without dislocating my shoulders.
(I was very concerned when we had to do the first off lead recall - rightly so as it turned out, as Gitdog chose to completely ignore me, escaped the main arena and was finally retrieved with his head in a rubbish bag.)
Anyhoo, they threw into the conversation at the end that they're setting up an informal fun agility type thing. Which I'm sure Gitdog would love and equally sure that I would find extremely traumatic and stressful and spend most of my time tearing my hair out.
So go on guys, if you can come up with enough good reasons, I will not only give it a go, I'll also come back here and regale you all with the latest disasters.

savingjenny

KISS - I would stick with a training routine and not be introducing exciting new things until the basics are sorted.

lollipopsarah

Oh please give it a go and post about it here or on a blog, i'd love to follow you.
If you do it don't forget the camera too.
Best wishes.
xx

UKTigerlily

I think a blog would be excellent & of mutt too, I love all of your stories! You should do it because he would love it & we would love to read about it!

Johnmcl7

Sounds like it could be good and certainly worth trying, I'd have loved something similar for my cocker spaniel pup as I think he would have enjoyed it. His training classes never went that well as he gets very excited around other people and dogs so being surrounded by people and dogs was not a great environment for him to be learning.

John

krlyr

savingjenny wrote: »

KISS - I would stick with a training routine and not be introducing exciting new things until the basics are sorted.

I agree. If he's struggling outside without big distractions like excited dogs and agility classes, it would be too much for him right now IMO. Babysteps - would your trainer mind you popping over during these classes simply to spend 5 minutes as far away as necessary to work on Gitdog's focus and self control, without being part of the class?

meritaten

elsien wrote: »

Training classes tonight, and it actually mostly went ok to my surprise. He's not been that bad while inside, all we need to do now is get through his thick skull that what he's learned also applies outside of the training class! Ideally without dislocating my shoulders.
(I was very concerned when we had to do the first off lead recall - rightly so as it turned out, as Gitdog chose to completely ignore me, escaped the main arena and was finally retrieved with his head in a rubbish bag.)
Anyhoo, they threw into the conversation at the end that they're setting up an informal fun agility type thing. Which I'm sure Gitdog would love and equally sure that I would find extremely traumatic and stressful and spend most of my time tearing my hair out.
So go on guys, if you can come up with enough good reasons, I will not only give it a go, I'll also come back here and regale you all with the latest disasters.

Well, the first good reason is that I LOVE reading about Gitdog and his adventures!
Second - he will certainly make sure the sessions remain 'informal and fun' for all!
Third - because isn't this what he loves to do? Tear about like a mad thing, jump on and off things, run from you? just think, he could do all of that and be praised for doing it?
I was once told by a dog trainer that agility dogs tend to be some of the worst behaved ones you could find! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

neveranymoney

Crikey, lord knows I'm no dog expert, but If gitdog hasn't any behavioural issues, intimidating other dogs or the whole thing being a bit too much for him, I can't see any harm in just going the once for a nosey. It could end up being his forte!

Scampers couldn't have handled anything like that in a month of Sundays, but we went to watch the kennel club puppy foundation 'test' for shadow and the dogs really enjoyed it. The man had rang me back to say to come and see what we thought and if we liked it, we could sign missy up for January. It seemed so well run, they were full of helpful tips and chatted away about if you wanted to go further down the dog training line etc. if anything, it gets you out of the house of an evening with other doggy people who are on hand to help.

We're only in from the puppy party classes and the poor mutt collapsed into her pit. Apparently this is the norm after these sorts of activities. It's bound to be worth a night of peace, if anything!

meritaten

oh Hi Nam! how is Shadow doing? going well?

elsien

I take the point about keeping it simple, and we have more weeks of basic training to do anyway, before we even get near good citizen or anything like that.
I suppose I was thinking that if I can find a way for gitdog to have more fun when he's doing things with me, then he might start paying more attention to me when we're out and about generally.
I shall be guided by the trainers - they're the ones who are going to be having their sessions disrupted, after all!

It's true about the sessions knackering them - we get home and it's the only evening I don't get harrassed for attention at regular intervals. Doing training at home doesn't seem to wear him out in the same way - I can't keep it up for that length of time on my own anyway without losing the will to live.
That's the other reason for considering a fun class - making up for not being able to let him off the lead or even on a long lead when we're out and about.

meritaten

seriously elsien - Gitdog sounds like he has a LOT of excess energy! and what better way to dissipate it than encourage him to run around like a mad thing? all under your direction. it may help in that while in 'mad mode' he will be trained to 'listen' to your commands while having what in his mind is a 'whale of a time'!

um - this sounds a bit strange but my youngest was a bit of a 'mad hatter' and when we came home from school he was awful - until I hit on the idea of a small detour to the local kids playground - fifteen minutes of running himself ragged helped him to calm down and teatime from then on was quite peaceful! cant see why that couldn't work with hyperactive dogs too!