(Another old picture – our first trial of the season is the week the rest of the family will be at the FCI World Championships!) This week’s class went much better than last – it looks like Bryce and I are almost in synch again!
We were working mostly A-frame/tunnel discriminations and serpentines/threadles/270’s in both classes. The ease of getting most discriminations with Brycey never ceases to amaze me – as long as I give him the correct signal (hand up for contacts, hand low for tunnels) I don’t even need a verbal, he just does it! The only time we sometimes have problems is if I send him out and ahead to a tunnel on the far side of an a-frame and can’t keep my momentum as I send – I can’t stop “flatfooted” with him on a course. Ever!
Jayda was also doing well working her easier discriminations. We just had her doing the a-frame today, gradually moving the tunnel closer. She doesn’t totally understand the game yet, but she seems to be catching on.
Both dogs loved doing the threadle/serpentine exercises. The two dogs handle very differently – I have to turn into Jayda to check her stride, especially on the threadles. Bryce I can shoulder pull through the entire exercise – as long as I keep my eye on him and turn my shoulders accordingly we’ll go clean through that kind of sequence. Very few teams I know can get away with that strategy but it works for us :)!
How old is your dog
Would you sell him
Do you know of a dog who is started in obedience and/or agility that would be for sale that is a blue merle
I don’t want a pup – I want a dog that is started
I just lost my show pup and want to start again but not go all the way back to a pup
any suggestions
Beth
Bryce is 9.
I would not sell him in a million years or for a million dollars!! He’s my friend, my family, my companion… not to mention my favorite agility wind-up toy! He pushes my bottons sometimes, but I absolutely adore him :)!
Sorry to hear you lost your pup. Finding an available adult sheltie is easy – breeders often have young adults that didn’t “turn out” for the breed ring. You could find a responsible breeder through the ASSA breeder referral . Or you can find good adult performance prospects through sheltie rescue.
Getting a dog thats already trained isn’t as easy. If someone has spent the time and money to work with the dog, chances are they are closely bonded and not likely to give the dog up. Besides, so much of agility training is about teamwork – the dog would still need to learn to work with YOU! Sometimes ambitious competitors rehome a dog that isn’t working up to their standards – getting one of those is a matter of knowing the right people and being in touch with your area agility community.