Agility chat?

[MarisCrane]

Given how many members MN had, I'm sure plenty of people besides me must do agility with their dogs. I've been doing agility since 2003. I have an 8 year old bc who was quite successful but has now been retired from full height due to arthritis and now has fun doing anysize runs.

I also have a 3 year old bc who will be fantastic one day (and is amazing when training) but suffers from a lack of confidence when in the ring which mainly means he would prefer not to weave in the ring.

I've made so many friends from all over the uk through agility; before DS arrived (he's 14 weeks) we competed all over every weekend from March to November. Now we compete most weekends :o

Any fellow agility addicts or not so addicts out there?
Apologies, as if you have no idea what agility is this post will most likely be gibberish!

I've always thought that Dill ("show" cocker) would love agility. he is like a bullet from a gun and has springs in his legs :)

MarisCrane - I thought Trent Park had closed their waiting list for beginners? I really want to do agility with my bc puppy when she is older and Trent Park is our closest venue. Inside info would be VERY welcome! In the meantime, we will be practicing in our local wood a la minimu1.

WoodRose, we did close because we had not run a beginners class for a couple of years and we were full (we can only run 6 sessions a night (3 at a time for 2 hours)) However we decided to run a class in January and I think we wrote to everyone on the (closed) list and invited them. Due to the arrival of DS I've been a bit out of the loop with regards to committee matters, but I'll try and find out whether we will be opening the list again. However we will always consider dogs/handlers who have done agility before, on a case by case basis.

For anyone who wants to see if there is a club nearby have a search on here Agilitynet Clubs

thanks for that link MarisCrane

I have just clicked on the link and e mailed my nearest club. I've asked if I can go and watch as my doggy is too young at the moment. Though I'm not sure I have the patience to train her as well as you've done with yours Maris -she can catch a frisbee though. Sadly the 3 I bought last week were not very robust and have developed a strangely erratic projectile!

Thanks Maris Crane. Hopefully, I will see you in a year's time! In the meantime, I will keep checking their website.

MarisCrane thanks for the clips - your guys are great and I will keep my eye open- we need a mn secret handshake

So you will be proud to hear that the handler is beginning to live up to the Mop's expectations and managed to keep up over a simple course last night 8 jumps, ridgid tunnel on a curve and the long jump. Successfully completed on more than one occasion with control. All those hours I am spending on walks practising basic control must be paying off.
I am now jumping thorough the hoops of getting him registered on the Agility register - as he is a cross breed and I don't have my own kennel name the cheapest way seems to be for my Dad (who has a kennel name) to register him for me and then to do change of ownership to me. Dad has strict rules on the name making sure that it is clear that mop is not associated with his pure breed primadonnas. If anyone has found a cheaper more straightforward way I would love to know.

I though it only cost about £12.00 to get a dog on the activity register.

Fill in the form give three name suggestions

Sounds like the agility is going well

I would love to do this with Dill but need to get some form of obedience instilled in him first. [wistful]

I will read it closer Minimu, but seems to imply I need a kennel name to register.
Soupdragon Mops obedience only really improved when I started agility and then suddenly it dramatically improved.

You do need a kennel name but it does not have to be a breeders kennel name. So you can make it up as long as it fits the guidelines about length etc and that it has not been used before. The activity register has great names as they can fit the dog rather than the kennel.

Agilitynet.com forum has loads of people asking for inspiration for their kennel names

I think SoupdragonMops would be a great kennel name

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.agilitybits.co.uk/names/rules.www.agilitybits.co.uk/names/rules.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">link to help with creating a kennel name

application form for activity register explaining about names half way down

Minimu do you not have to pay the £45 and then £3 per year to register the kennel name?, because everything I read seemed to imply that you did have to.

No I am sure you don't. You do for the breed register but not the activity register.

You are not registering a kennel/breed name just the name of your dog.

I think you are confusing registered kennel name (posh name for non posh dog!) with a breeders affix/prefix. For the activity register you just have to make up a name, and if no one else has it or similar, you can have it.
For example one of my dogs is on the activity register, the other is a breed dog.
Activity register - Shady Character (I just liked the name)
Breed register - Stillrockin on a rampage (name I liked and incorporates the breeder's kennel name).
Hope that helps, it's such fun picking names!

lol @ SoudragonMops as a kennel name :)

Sadly, Dill has no obedience training at all (although he will sit for bacon/cheese.) No one offers daytime training classes and I can't get out in the evening [bah]

I am rather embarrassed that his Poncey Name was chosen by the breeder from the Daily Mail racing pages, apparently. Dynamic Rhythm. It could have been worse, but honestly, The Mail???

My pup is registered as St Moritz
I still have to transfer ownership to my name which I believe I have to pay for. I don't know if its worth doing as I won't be using his pedigree for anything. He is my family pet/baby and will not be bred from or used as a show dog (as if he'd behave for shows anyway!)

I think it was free when I transferred Dill into my name as I was his first owner. Subsequent change of ownership cost though.

I think the breeder registered him and gave me the paperwork which contained a sectioned that she filled in signing ownership to me. I've not looked at it since we got him last year.

Ah thank you for putting me right. I think from looking at the KC website they have attempted as usual to make it appear like you need to pay more than you actually need to. Pre-Afixs are now also called Kennel names to and this is where I got confused.
Instead of having to go for Fetlar not by Pipridges, I will make his name truely nordic (family connections) and try Cauldhame Fetlar.

Yep- another fellow agility addict here - but haven't been to many shows of late (currently v heavily preggy with DC2) - my older collie cross is now retired, and my friend Lauren used to run my younger little crossbreed with quite a bit of success- but unfortunately she's suffering a bit now from arthritis after a broken leg before we had her- so I've kept her off for a while -very sad, but not sure she'll compete again :(

I've seen Phillipa Armstrong quite a bit- she used to train with my pal Lauren (who runs Devon dogs), and I used to see her quite a bit at some of the SW shows :)

Is anyone going to a show this weekend? I'll (hopefully) be at BATS in Luton.

Just thought I'd bump this to see if any more agility people come along...

Hi , just saw this thread as I was about to post about agility training .

I have a year old lab , from working stock , who I would like to try agility training - should I wait a bit longer or can she start ?

there are a couple of clubs near me ,I live in Surrey