How do you find your dog's strength? (and decide on your future course?)

[chelle]

I am likely in the wrong forum, I just couldn't decide, so please move if needed!

Bailey and I will be doing... something... together for years to come. The hard part is deciding WHAT to pursue. For now, it will be Obedience. We've only done Obedience One. We'll pick up as soon as classes start again after the New Year.

I really like the idea of Agility. I want to be sure we have a strong base with Obedience before trying. Seems to me that if we don't have Obedience down pretty strongly, that Agility training could be a disaster. (?) Thoughts?

Another avenue I'm very interested in is Frisbee. He loves Frisbee. I love Frisbee. I am good at throwing the Frisbee and we've gotten to where, provided the wind isn't screwing me up, that I can throw level and Bails loves to catch it. (I don't want to encourage any jumping at his age.) I mean, this boy gets very excited to play Frisbee. I have to use two Frisbees at this point, as he won't bring it back well otherwise, so there's work and training to do there... but I think I could capitalize on that and he could be good at it. In the back of my mind, though, I am worried about all the jumping that Frisbee entails if you want to honestly participate in the sport.

Until a few days+ ago, nosework held no interest. Then I put a treat in a box.. and he didn't do a good job of getting to it.. but I've continued to do it each night and put higher value things in the box and he's a demon until he gets it. Showing promise?

So just HOW do you decide the avenue of sport to pursue? I feel like I have to have a great interest in it, too, as well as find what truly engages him. There are so many options, sports, etc, out there.

For now, I'm thinking of simply getting back into Obedience and working that. Then adding a second class per week of Introductory Agility, Nosework, etc.. and seeing where it goes.

How did YOU decide which avenue to pursue? Did you base it on what your dog did well as much as, or more so, than what YOU have interest in?

TIA!!!!!!!!!!!

[PaddyD]

It looks like he is doing well in multiple areas. Why not continue with all of them until you and he find a best one to focus on?
What did WE do? Nothing. We just have a lot of fun.

[onyx'girl]

I was interested in ScH and then got a pup to train. Onyx went with me early on, but she wasn't cut out for protection.
If you have several venue options for training, I'd go to what interests you, then see if Bailey enjoys it too. Frisbee is one of the 'sports' that injuries occur often, so be careful!
If I had herding easily available, I'd pursue that with Onyx, because I know she'd excel in it.
So for me the decision comes from what is locally available(2 hour drive) and what costs are involved.

[TaraM1285]

I was interested in agility before I adopted Tara. Quickly, I learned that she was perfect for it. Even though she can be a somewhat nervous/anxious dog, she has absolute confidence in climbing on objects, jumping, and walking on strange surfaces.





She seems to enjoy learning through shaping and is independent enough to go away from me on course but also biddable enough to take direction from me and work with me.

[JakodaCD OA]

I also think your on a good track, Bailey is young so you can "try" all kinds of stuff with him and see what he LIKES and what he is good at..That's the route I go,,if they LIKE it, it's easy to train it

I definately agree with getting a good obedience foundation prior to starting agility..The basics I want in an agility dog, is a 'stay', sit, down, and COME being most important..and work on distractions

Masi is not into agility,,sure she'll do the contact stuff, but she just isn't into it..to bad cause she's as fast as a rocket but oh well,,she DOES like obedience work and LOVE LOVE LOVEs tracking,,so I do alot of scent work and tracking stuff at the moment

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by chelle

How did YOU decide which avenue to pursue? Did you base it on what your dog did well as much as, or more so, than what YOU have interest in?

Both. Since I'm going to be participating WITH my dog, it has to be something that we'll both enjoy. So I'd try a couple different things that interest you and see which ones your dog also likes and does well at.

With Halo I was interested in agility and flyball because she's very fast, agile, and athletic. Since flyball classes are harder to find, I jumped on one that I found within a reasonable distance on a day and time that I could make. She loves to run and jump and retrieve balls, so it was pretty much tailor made for her. She did SO well that I found a club and continued taking classes, and we just started practicing with them now that the last class is over.

I haven't gotten around to agility yet, and I may not for awhile if we end up racing in flyball sometime next year. I was going to sign up for an indoor agility class over the winter, I found one that came highly recommended, but since I'm focusing on flyball right now I know that I won't be able to devote the amount of training necessary for both sports.

[Good_Karma]

I have to enjoy whatever activity I am participating with my dogs in. Of course, I get a lot of joy out of seeing THEM have a good time, so if they are excited about something, it motivates me a lot more to want to keep going.

I was lucky enough to get a class with a trainer who will let me try any number of different activities, and so far both my pups have been having fun at everything. But there are still lots of things we haven't tried, so before I decide to stick with any one thing, we have more "research" to do.

I will have to avoid water sports with my two, neither of them like to get wet, and Niko does not do well with other dogs, so his sport will have to be something he can do without having to be near other dogs. So if you know your dog's "weaknesses" and avoid them, that may help you narrow down the choices.