Agility

[3GSDMom]

Last night I sent an Agility trainer [among other things] an email. She's located 15-20mins away from me and from what I hear [from a friend of mine who attends her classes ;P ] she is excellent.

Anyway, I sent her an email describing, in brief, my problem with Travis. How I feel he is not ready to be in a Class but we still want to start our Agility training.

She wrote me back this morning and not only does she offer Private classes, she also said that we could work through his problems with other dogs! Seriously, Im SO happy to hear that. I've been working on his problem for a LONG time and slowly but surely he's been improving. It'll just be nice to get some help from a professional ;]

Heh, I couldnt help but laugh when I read her email. It said something to the extent of "Ah, yes a 2 year old GSD who knows better than mom" and then went on to describe how she rescued her own GSD who is now her companion.

She invited me to stop by tonight. If all goes well we will be going
The main reason I got Travis was because I wanted an Agility dog. Now, almost three years later we're starting

I'm unbelievably excited about this.

And for anyone curious as to what 'problems' Trav has,

Travis, due to fault on my part when he was a puppy =/ , has a problem with other dogs. He doesnt bite or try to attack or anything, he just barks his head off. We've been working through it and have taken OB classes at Petsmart [just for socialization] and those classes really helped him. Now, I've been taking him to Petsmart and Petco almost weekly to work through the problem. He's really coming along. I give the 'leave it' command and he'll ignore the other dogs. He occassionaly still has slip ups where he'll bark but my approach is correct and redirect ;]

[k9krazee]

Oo, that's awesome, I'm so happy for you!

I got Jack with agility in mind and was frustrated in the beginning because he had that problem when I got him. Barking at other dogs and totally losing focus on me. We eventually started obedience classes (then later many agility classes) and worked on a solid 'watch me'.I'm happy to say that 3 years later he is 99% better. We can sit in a chair next to other dogs at agility practice, or go to competitions and I don't have to worry about him being a lunatic. It's so rewarding and with time Travis will be better too.

[3GSDMom]

It's nice to hear success stories like that. Gives me hope

[pitc9]

Boy oh boy does Travis sound like my Buddy!
I tried taking him to the dog park once (at PT meeting) and all he did was bark his ever loving head off at dogs that came near him.

I hold high hopes that she will be able to help Travis! Then you can send her to Ohio to work the same magic on Buddy.

[3GSDMom]

Must be a male thing My friends Male GSD [he's about a year old] is just starting to show this behavior Just like men to be so difficult LOL

[Freedom]

Oh how exciting to have a chance! Great news, hope you get to the meet up tonight!

Lacey started her first Agility class last night. It took two 7 week courses of Basic Manners and then Beyond the Basics to build her confidence to the point that she would do anything but cower when larger dogs were present. Given her size, MOST dogs are larger dogs! I was SO thrilled to finally get into the Agility class, and she did very well.

Wishing you the same joy and success!

[3GSDMom]

Congrats to you and Lacey!

[Giselle]

Oh pfft! Those aren't problems

Once you get more into agility, you start to realize the vast amount of problems that agility unearths in even the most gentle of dogs: zoomies and control problems, anybody? By the way, you might want to invest in Control Unleashed. It's geared towards reactive and fearful and similar agility dogs.

Ivy has self-control issues a la leash reactivity, zoomies, and arousal problems. When she gets over-aroused, her behavior can go awry and she has attacked my classmate's dog after completing an obstacle. Trust me, you aren't alone ;] I'm currently gathering a group of people who've read and are utilizing CU techniques with their own dogs so that we can work together on our problems. You'll be fine, trust me!