AgilityNerd "Challenging" Course

[x11]

its a cruel degrading sport - makes uncoordinated, dim-witted, bumble-footed, unfit people look like uncoordinated, dim-witted bumble-footed people X 10.

nah i love playing at it - best handler/dog bonding tool i know of - i will just spare myself the public humiliation aspect.

[wildo]

Originally Posted by TaraM1285

Did you end up teaching running contacts in SG's course?

Teaching?? Heck no! Or did you mean just taking the course? Yes- I did take it.

[wildo]

Originally Posted by x11

its a cruel degrading sport - makes uncoordinated, dim-witted, bumble-footed, unfit people look like uncoordinated, dim-witted bumble-footed people X 10.

Hey- I resemble that comment!

[TaraM1285]

Originally Posted by wildo

Teaching?? Heck no! Or did you mean just taking the course? Yes- I did take it.

Lol That should have said, "...teaching Pimg running contacts through SG's course?"

[wildo]

Truth is, I didn't get a ton out of the course. I jumped in gung-ho building all the equipment (even sending my plans to Susan) but I started to lose interested with the constant self promotion, crate games, and recaller references. I still love her, but my dog doesn't have the drive to train like she wants- at least not at nearly 7 years old. Also, the course was designed for stopped contacts, with the "super secret, ultra unique, crazy awesome" running contact stuff she did with Swagger available for an added cost. But I found the running contact material to be oddly disorganized, incomplete, and hard to follow. Not three adjectives I'd ever think I'd apply to SG material. I ended up looking elsewhere for contact help. I'm currently training the Rachel Sanders box for a running a-frame, and I haven't touched dogwalk training yet. Pimg isn't crazy fast over the dogwalk (I wouldn't even call her "just fast"), she's more of a moderate pace kind of girl in that respect. So managing the DW contact has been both easy and successful so far. I think that I do want to train a real running dog walk, but it falls way below running a-frame training.

[TaraM1285]

Originally Posted by wildo

Truth is, I didn't get a ton out of the course. I jumped in gung-ho building all the equipment (even sending my plans to Susan) but I started to lose interested with the constant self promotion, crate games, and recaller references. I still love her, but my dog doesn't have the drive to train like she wants- at least not at nearly 7 years old. Also, the course was designed for stopped contacts, with the "super secret, ultra unique, crazy awesome" running contact stuff she did with Swagger available for an added cost. But I found the running contact material to be oddly disorganized, incomplete, and hard to follow. Not three adjectives I'd ever think I'd apply to SG material. I ended up looking elsewhere for contact help. I'm currently training the Rachel Sanders box for a running a-frame, and I haven't touched dogwalk training yet. Pimg isn't crazy fast over the dogwalk (I wouldn't even call her "just fast"), she's more of a moderate pace kind of girl in that respect. So managing the DW contact has been both easy and successful so far. I think that I do want to train a real running dog walk, but it falls way below running a-frame training.

Fair enough. I understand the feeling about the self-promotion and crate games from my experience with recallers. Thanks for the review.

Have you worked on increasing speed on the dog walk or are you just leaving it as is till you move on to working on a trained contact behavior?

[wildo]

Nope- I have done almost no work at all on the dogwalk. I've done LOTS of balance and body awareness, of course, so I have the foundation in place. But never have I actually put in the time to lower my DW and practice running with speed. Like I said, I've been lucky enough to be able to get to the end of the DW (even in harder courses) in order to manage the contact, so it just hasn't been a priority. With management, she doesn't blow it too often. The a-frame, on the other hand, she will consistently blow. So that is my current focus. Her teeter has always had some hesitation, which more/less guarantees the contact zone haha. One thing I did like about the SG Contacts course was the teeter games. I really should start working some of them.

You know- I'm continually amazed that in spite of how much I train, there is still so much I haven't addressed yet.... It's kind of never ending...

I don't know- I'm just trying to get to everything in a reasonable time frame while still having fun.

[TaraM1285]

The never ending training is part of the fun of the journey! And honestly, she looks fantastic! You both have really come a long way - I can really see the excellent teamwork.

[wildo]

Thanks so much!!!!

I really am trying my best. And I know Pimg is too... I have a lot of aspirations that I don't think this team will reasonably be able to accomplish, but I really am enjoying the ride and enjoying pushing the limits.