Rubie's Agility Career

BUT.....

She looks so graceful with those jumps and patient with the see-saw.
Congratulations to you both!!:D
Looking awesome. The girl is an athlete for sure!!
I just adore watching Rubie doing Agility. She’s a natural:)

Thank you, All! It really is so much fun and we've met so many great people. I love how everyone cheers for everyone else!!

I've rented a ring at the place where our next trial will be so we can familiarize ourselves with it before competition. I can't wait for our next trial!
 
Today was our big practice day before our trial on Saturday. This was our first time at this facility and it took a little bit for Rubie to get going but once she, man she hit turbo speed!

These courses are way above the level we compete at so I'm not too concerned with our minor mishaps (all my fault for not being in the right place at the right time).



Rubie gets lost in the back corner tunnel which really slows the flow of this course but it has ALL the contacts which is fun

Can an admin change the title of this thread to "Rubies Agility Career" or something?? Thank you!!
 
She has has no fear going over the tall A-frame ramp. Even catches a little air up there.

Seems difficult and maybe even confusing to them to contain their speed. She wants to speed through but then needs to slow down to catch your commands for direction to the next obstacle.

Her attention on you is awesome.
 
She has has no fear going over the tall A-frame ramp. Even catches a little air up there.

Seems difficult and maybe even confusing to them to contain their speed. She wants to speed through but then needs to slow down to catch your commands for direction to the next obstacle.

Her attention on you is awesome.

This is where we need to practice our distance and sending a bit! The REALLY good dogs will take an obstacle, see the next one in front of them, and just know to take it. She actually does a really great job of following me but the area we practice in is VERY small so she doesn't usually get the chance to open up so it isn't something we get to practice a lot. I will try and get some video next weekend of the dogs who's owners basically stand in the middle of the ring and yell commands and the dog can complete a course in half the allotted time!

In the last video where she gets tied up in the back tunnel, I was not able to get in front of her before she came out and to get to the other back tunnel (at about the 1:20 mark), so we get tangled up a bit. When she initially goes in, I beeline for the jump right after which would've made it much cleaner. Isn't that the beauty of working with dogs, though - they can be a little unpredictable :D

One of the other dogs in our class was with us and we actually talked about just renting rings for the month of October because it would net cheaper than a month class and we'd get to practice in big, wide open areas which I think is more fun. And like I said, the level that we're competing at at the moment is far under what these courses were. Areas where I messed up on the course, I can replicate in my backyard to work on my handling.
 
Ok... So... A learning day, for sure!

Started with Jackpot: for Level 1, get 19 points in 35 seconds. As you can see from my scribble, you need at least 3 jumps, 1 joker, and 2 "circles" (tunnels and panel jump which replaces the tire in CPE) to Q along with the points. I had a fast and simple route planned that would get us our points in plenty of time:IMG_20180915_192753.jpg
Rubie BARKED and BARKED at the judge. Took up too much time trying to get back on-course and we got a few points. When all was said and done, we net 3 pts (needed 19 to Q). Got 1st place for finishing.

Next: Standard Level 2! Our first Level 2 course. Complete as numbered in time.
IMG_20180915_094438.jpg

This would've been a 1st place and Q BUUUT... Rubie missed the contact at the end of the dog walk SO I took her back and made her do it again. If we'd just kept going, it would've been totally fine but because I took her back and did it again, they consider that "training" and we got a No Time. I didn't know so lesson learned.

3rd Colors Level 1: pick cirlces or squares and complete that course!

IMG_20180915_192656.jpg
Simple. Quick. 1st and a Q. BOOM. Confidence restored.

4th run of the day: Wildcard Level 2! Levels 1 and 2 need 2 As and 1 B so you need to plan a few options in case your dog does not do what you want them to.
IMG_20180915_192710.jpg

Not fast but 1st place and another Q to end the day!

I tried to get a pic with Rubie and the ribbons and my shirt (First Agility Then Drinks!) but No, she was over it!
IMG_20180915_192017_664.jpg

All said and done, we still need a Jackpot and Snooker Q in Level 1 but I'm glad we got our first Level 2 Q!

I do have pics of the more advanced courses so you can see how they differ but I will upload those when I'm on a computer!

Overall a good day but Rubie was in Slo-Motion today. Not sure if it's because we had a full practice yesterday, because it was hot, she likes to sleep in, or what but getting her motivated was HARD.
 
I am sure you pretty much have to but I like your pre-planning.

Ruby did four levels. What is the timeline between the levels?

Judge barked at on level 1- same judge on her other levels?

You said it was hot, was it outside? If inside, was A/C on? Is she used to doing a course in a cool place?

My 2cents, betcha it was the heat.....
 
You know? With all the ribbons Ruby is winning, you could have a separate Christmas tree for her and hang the ribbons as ornaments.
 
What did you make of this? Has this happened before?

Congratulations on all the ribbons!

THANK YOU!

So... for this particular game, the Judge calls out the points you've earned for each obstacle instead of silently watching. We've done this game before but I could tell as soon as she started yelling our points out, Rubie got WAY too distracted and decided barking was the appropriate response. This is definitely something we can practice so I'm not tooooooooo worried about it. This was the same judge we had at our first trial and she's awesome and focuses on having fun and giving dogs the opportunity to complete runs regardless of speed or sassy-ness (as long as they're not dangerous).

I am sure you pretty much have to but I like your pre-planning.

Ruby did four levels. What is the timeline between the levels?

Judge barked at on level 1- same judge on her other levels?

You said it was hot, was it outside? If inside, was A/C on? Is she used to doing a course in a cool place?

My 2cents, betcha it was the heat.....

We did 4 courses across a couple of different levels based on what we've already completed (same judge for all). Time between our runs varied from 1-2 hours. We got there at 7:30a, we the first run of the day at 8:30a (half an hour late) and everything was done by 3p - This was a smaller event with fewer people so a relatively quick day to get 4 courses in. There was AC in there and Rubie FLEW at this place during practice last week but we had class on Friday that I think was too much for her before a trial. She pretty much slept between runs the whole time which is unusual but also means she's learning to chillax in the environment, I think (but harder to get her awake and ready, then!).

In true nerd fashion, I created a spreadsheet of what we've completed and what we have coming up:
Level 1 and 2.JPG

With our Colors Q, I can add the CL1-H to Rubie's titles!!
 
Congrats on all your ribbons! I'm sorry it wasn't quite as smooth as you were hoping for but as you say, live and learn. You can prepare better next time too!
 
Congrats on all your ribbons! I'm sorry it wasn't quite as smooth as you were hoping for but as you say, live and learn. You can prepare better next time too!

Thank you! And yes... I need to keep reminding myself that this is only the 3rd time we've been out there and if there are 1000 mistakes to be made, we will make them all and learn from them!
 
How am I just now seeing this thread? You and Rubie ROCK! When I was a kid agility was my favorite thing to watch on tv, and I set up jump courses for the family dogs. That I may add got pretty dang good! Our pit cur mix Buddy could easily clear four feet by six feet hurdles, and all of them (lab Gsp mix and cocker spaniel) learned and loved to go through courses at their own level. When Brinks was younger I set up what I call red neck agility :D I made weave poles out of fishing rod holders, a ramp out of mulch bags, jumps from trash cans and a wooden board rested on top of some more said mulch bags. It was a sight to see but we had fun LOL

I will admit I am completely lost with the technicalities of the different types of courses and titling but am so in awe of great yall are out on the course, amazing!
 
How am I just now seeing this thread? You and Rubie ROCK! When I was a kid agility was my favorite thing to watch on tv, and I set up jump courses for the family dogs. That I may add got pretty dang good! Our pit cur mix Buddy could easily clear four feet by six feet hurdles, and all of them (lab Gsp mix and cocker spaniel) learned and loved to go through courses at their own level. When Brinks was younger I set up what I call red neck agility :D I made weave poles out of fishing rod holders, a ramp out of mulch bags, jumps from trash cans and a wooden board rested on top of some more said mulch bags. It was a sight to see but we had fun LOL

I will admit I am completely lost with the technicalities of the different types of courses and titling but am so in awe of great yall are out on the course, amazing!

I would love to see some red neck agility!!
 
Well... Our trial on Saturday was disappointing and that's putting it mildly. Rubie acted like she'd never set foot on an agility course. Our first run, she did the first jump and then went and said hi to the Judge and bar setters. We just ran off the course. The second run, she had a good start but shut down half way through and started skipping jumps. At least we finished the run, though, so I figured she was just in a morning funk. Third run, she did 3 jumps and quit so we ran off. I just scratched her from the 4th run and we left.

People here who compete in anything: is this just a bad day? She and Moo we're NOT in their crates Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday during the work day. Was she just worn out from an unusual week? She rocked at practice on Sunday! She's familiar with this venue and has done really well there before. She was focused on me when we did warm up jumps and before going into the ring. She wasn't barking or running around like crazy. She just had no interest in me or what we were doing once we were out there.

There is another trial on November 17-18th we'll sign up for. I really hope she performs there and has fun. I would hate to quit now but she was so uninterested - why put her through that? We've had bad practice days and always bounce back so I haven't totally given up but we looked like dummies out there!!
 
Hmm, she did this in one of your practice runs at "home" too? How large is the course? Maybe a break would be good and she'll come back ready to go! She may be getting burnt out?
 
Hmm, she did this in one of your practice runs at "home" too? How large is the course? Maybe a break would be good and she'll come back ready to go! She may be getting burnt out?

No, she's actually been amazing during practice! Does run out of steam toward the end but that's not surprising.

We actually have been practicing less because we're not taking classes this month and I haven't had the jumps in the backyard out much :scratch: so frustrating when I know she CAN do it and she just didn't
 
Our first run, she did the first jump and then went and said hi to the Judge and bar setters
Ha, sorry I kind of had to laugh at that! I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time. But just reading that I can see Ruby going off to say hi to the judge and the judge sitting there like:wtf:

Like a couple of others, I am just catching up on this thread too. She did amazing in the other videos. I don't know what happened this time. I don't know anything about agility but it's so much fun to watch. You've done a wonderful job with her!:thumbsup:.
 
Ha, sorry I kind of had to laugh at that! I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time. But just reading that I can see Ruby going off to say hi to the judge and the judge sitting there like:wtf:

Like a couple of others, I am just catching up on this thread too. She did amazing in the other videos. I don't know what happened this time. I don't know anything about agility but it's so much fun to watch. You've done a wonderful job with her!:thumbsup:.

Aww thank you! I wish I could nail something specific down because WE have put into much time training together that I would really hate for it all to fall apart and me have no idea why. Last time we competed at this venue, she cleaned house! And this weekend, getting her to do 3 obstacles in a row was challenge.

I'm so bummed... they were really fun courses that would've been a bit of a challenge but well within our capabilities. I was watching a lot of the other runs and there were several other dogs/handlers having off-days which is just so heartbreaking to see. Every one, as always, was still very nice and supportive and had nothing but good things to say about Rubie. I've also been noticing that it's a lot of the same people at trials and there aren't many (any?) Dobes so I'm sure they've seen us and KNOW Rubie can do it... just decided not to, that day.

LUCKILY she didn't bark at the judge, just went over and sniffed and wagged her nub :rolleyes:
 
Well, I must be a glutton for punishment because I'm going to sign us up for another trial in November.

Rubie has been tearing up the backyard jumps and nailing all my cues so... :banghead: We'll also get back into our regular training class in November to keep her amped up.

Is it selfish that I really want her to get back into the swing of things so I can justify buying this? These are awesome because you an use the leash as a tug toy to get them excited and for reward as soon as you're done running - so you can bypass the 'no toys/treats' rule when you compete :thumbsup:

5563422_orig.jpg
 
Rubie acted like she'd never set foot on an agility course.
With how much you guys practice, I'm sure it was just an off day.

Since you say the others were struggling too, maybe something was different and the dogs knew it? A new smell from a different cleaning product?

I've seen a dog that didn't like being in the Rally ring and it was pretty obvious to me. The Dobe, also a female, would sit slowly, and then jump up unexpectedly and yet she was a totally obedient dog outside. You could have her loose in a parking lot and not worry.
 

Back
Top