Tip Tail

So I’ve been competing and training in agility for, oh, about five years now. Levi was my first agility dog, and he’s a collie, a bit long in the body and not very flexible. He is just about retired… and my new agility dog is Chase, a border collie. Chase is very flexible and very fast and we have had quite a bit of problems qualifying in AKC agility because the courses are so tight and twisty.

Well, last weekend I ran Chase in AKC agility. On a good note, he got his open Jumpers with Weaves title. Yay! It’s the only Q we got all weekend. Also last weekend I watched Front And Rear Crosses DVD by Stacy Peardot-Goudy. And for the first time I really was able to see, in her video, how a dog can collect and turn his body doing a front cross. I’ve never really understood or seen it before. And now I realize that Chase lacks this skill. He can jump and stretch out, but he doesn’t know how to collect and turn very well. And he doesn’t know how to do it on cue.

So, instead of giving myself a colon cleanse, I’m going to try to teach Chase how to collect and turn. So maybe we’ll have better runs in AKC agility. We do a pretty good job in ASCA and DOCNA, but the turns have always alluded me. Yeah I know I know, sometimes I’m a bit slow when it comes to learning things. But at least now I know there is something we can work on instead of just begin frustrated for not qualifying!

Tags: Agility, Chase, Training