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Agility Greyhounds?


Guest hazelthehound

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Guest hazelthehound

Hi! I was just wondering how many people here do agility with their greyhounds! :) Hazel and I are not quite ready yet to really pursue it, but right now we are doing some basic obedience lessons at a facility that also offers agility classes. We also sometimes practice (quite small) jumps in the backyard...just two tiny ones set up right now. (Hazel loves it, goes right over with little direction from me, and will jump them on her own sometimes seemingly just for the heck of it.)

Anyway, at some point we do want to get started doing some legitimate agility (for fun, maybe competition someday...), so was wondering if you guys had any experiences or general tips, or even book reccs...?

Thank you!

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Guest hazelthehound
I'm going to start with my 2 soon. Bu has finished basic obedience. Sailor has finished basic and a more advanced obedience class plus hes in a cross training class right now that includes a little but of lots of different sports.

Would love to hear how they do. What exactly is cross-training, if you don't mind explaining?

 

 

Krissy is into agility ...

 

http://apexagilitygreyhounds.blogspot.ca/?m=1

Oh, cool, thank you!

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We did it for a season. Summer did better at it than me! She would pull at the leash to get at the tunnel, so she could go through it and please me (she didn't work for treats, she worked for lovings). But I found it boring. :(

SummerGreytalkSignatureResized-1.jpg

Lisa B.

My beautiful Summer - to her forever home May 1, 2010 Summer

Certified therapy dog team with St. John Ambulance

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Guest hazelthehound

Lol! Summer sounds sweet. Hazel usually has a general interest in what the "right" thing to do is, but she's also just super food-motivated.

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Yes, we are into agility. Summit did some basic agility but as he was already 5.5 when we got him he was never destined for a competitive career. That's why I got my puppy. She's 5 months and won't start agility for at least another 6 months. So right now we're mostly in obedience and miscellaneous stuff and no one is running agility... but soon hopefully!

Kristie and the Apex Agility Greyhounds: Kili (ATChC AgMCh Lakilanni Where Eagles Fly RN IP MSCDC MTRDC ExS Bronze ExJ Bronze ) and Kenna (Lakilanni Kiss The Sky RN MADC MJDC AGDC AGEx AGExJ). Waiting at the Bridge: Retired racer Summit (Bbf Dropout) May 5, 2005-Jan 30, 2019

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Guest goofydog
Jennifer of Never Say Never Greyhounds! Her blogs are full of wonderful and creative training tips, even for those not pursing agility. Jennifer has trained two greyhounds who earned their MACH in agility. She's the best!

 

Can't go wrong with Jennifer! Her training skills are wonderful, upbeat and postive. Her dogs just adore her and rarely take their eyes off of her

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Cross training is a little bit of everything. Heres the link. http://tailsuwin.com/pages/classes_canine_cross_training.htm

 

My boys are both 6 so I have no intention of competing. Sailor needed some major confidence and training has helped and he enjoys it, so we'll continue to do training. Of course hes terrified of the tunnel, but I don't care. I'll just have him do everything else. As long as we have fun. Bu also seems to enjoy training and loves watching dogs do agility, so I want him to give it a try.

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Love agility. My first Grey was not into it but the next three were/are. I'm not into competing, just love to train. The dogs practically drag me into the training building. They enjoy it that much. For each there have been one or two pieces of equipment that took extra work but there is a lot of satisfaction once they get it, for me & by all appearance for the dogs as well.

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Both Pink and Poppy have done Agility. Pink (11) has been having trouble staying sound, so she's not currently training. Poppy (7) briefly got totally fried (scared herself by going over a teeter that she wasn't ready for), but is now back on track. She can do all the obstacles at full height except the teeter (we're getting there) and the weaves (still using a short set with wires). She probably could compete, but I don't want to get that serious. We're just having a lot of fun, and I'm learning more about handling. Maybe when (if) I have fewer dogs we'll do more.

Standard Poodle Daisy (12/13), Grey Toodles (BL Toodles 7/09)
Missing Cora (RL Nevada 5/99-10/09), Piper (Cee Bar Easy 2/99-1/10), Tally (Thunder La La 9/99-3/10), Edie (Daring Reva 9/99-10/12), Dixie (Kiowa Secret Sue 11/01-1/13), Jessie (P's Real Time 11/98-3/13), token boy Graham (Zydeco Dancer 9/00-5/13), Cal (Back Already 12/99-11/13), Betsy (Back Kick Beth 11/98-12/13), Standard Poodles Minnie (1/99-1/14) + Perry (9/98-2/14), Annie (Do Marcia 9/03-10/14), Pink (Miss Pinky Baker 1/02-6/15), Poppy (Cmon Err Not 8/05-1/16), Kat (Jax Candy 5/05-5/17), Ivy (Jax Isis 10/07-7/21), Hildy (Braska Hildy 7/10-12/22), Opal (Jax Opal 7/08-4/23)

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I would also love to do agility. I am not sure if Teague would be so good at it though....we are starting to practice very basic stuff for fun at home with weave poles. I don't think there are many places near me who do agility..and if they do I think most require basic obedience first which I am not really so keen on doing. I would love to do something like coursing, but again, there is nothing close by :(

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Guest Giselle

I never competed with my past grey, Giselle,because I was busy putting all my training efforts into the Dobermutt. Giselle was just as easy to train basic agility skills as any other dog, though. My Dobermutt is highly trained in agility, but we cannot compete (she is dog aggressive). So, we basically train with everyone and watch them go on and earn their letters while we dream of what could have been... Sigh!

 

That said, if you're really into agility, subscribe to Clean Run magazine, and find a trainer who competes. There is a lot of foundational groundwork necessary for doing agility skillfully and cleanly, and it's a process that takes a lot of time and repetition. It's also incredibly fun :) Good luck!

 

Clean Run: http://www.cleanrun.com/

Edited by Giselle
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Guest Greyt_dog_lover

Agility is one of the things that helped my shy girl come out of her shell. She has gotten to the point that when we get into the arena, off comes the leash and she is totally focused on the commands. She loves it and I am so proud of my little girl.

 

Chad

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