Long Island Agility - went today!

We've been meaning to go to a beginner class with Long Island Agility for a while now. We went this morning and it was great!

Rusty handled Brinkley and I handled Ginger. She was definitely excited and it was hard to control her at first with all the dogs around and a new place. After we started actually doing the course, she calmed down and was easier to handle.

We did a lot! They train one piece of equipment at a time and everyone gets at least two turns, if not three. We didn't run the whole course or anything.

First we did a "walk" which is a small ramp, a raised walkway, and a ramp down the other side. Then we did a "scramble" up what I've heard referred to as the A-frame, it's pretty steep. Then we did another "walk", but this one was much higher than the first one.

Then we did the weave poles, which are the hardest thing to teach, they say. Then the see-saw which is just what you think - they walk across a narrow plank and after they get just past the middle, it tips down and they have to continue walking to the end without jumping off.

Then a small jump over a pole, a higher jump through a tire, going through a short tunnel, jumping up on a "table" that they have to stop on, and last, a longer tunnel.

Let me tell you, after an hour in the heat this morning, we were ALL totally beat. But WOW I was SO PROUD of her!! I had a feeling she would be good at this, and she was! She didn't really turn away from any of the challenges. She was unsure about the things that I couldn't do with her like the tire jump and the tunnel, but she did them with a small bit of hesitation.

Brinkley...? Well we knew he would be less interested. We didn't want to leave him out so we paid for him to take the course too ($10 per dog) but he stopped half way through because it was clear he was very hot and tired.

It was so much fun, even sweating my butt off in the heat, running around. They did provide shade, and we brought our own water. But now that I know she enjoys it, it's something we can go do again (and this time take the non-beginner course) and I might even invest in building or buying our own course elements for our own yard.

I know some of you were interested by this idea, so I wanted to tell you it was pretty cool. It's 11:30am every Sunday in Huntington (weather permitting, there's a phone number to check) and pretty laid back and fun.

Thanks for reading!

Message edited 6/27/2010 8:24:45 PM.

Re: Long Island Agility - went today!

Glad you gave it a shot. I keep meaning to go to this sometime but Sundays just always seem so busy!

Re: Long Island Agility - went today!

Thanks for the info my dd does this on the front lawn with our dogs she would love a class like this.

Re: Long Island Agility - went today!

thanks for sharing!!! We got my mom an "at home" agility set to work with her Border Collie pup who is 8 months old...but i know she would LOVE something like this...we went and watched a Border Collie agility & herding trial up in NH years ago (when they had their first BC) and it was just incredible to watch these dogs!!

I attached a link to the set if anyone is interested..it's actually a nice "starter" set for the $.
Agility Set....

Re: Long Island Agility - went today!

So funny that you said that, I have that set in my favorites! I am working on convincing my husband that we should set up some equipment in the backyard for fun.

I have a hula hoop that the dogs will jump through, it shouldn't be hard to fashion some kind of bracket to keep it standing upright. I also found an open-end tunnel that's meant for kids I could get for cheap. Other than that, I don't know how handy I'd be with the other things so I might buy those.

Some people came to the class with dogs under 1-2 years old and the instructors said they didn't recommend doing agility with dogs that young. I read read the same, about their joints and doing jumps while they're still forming and growing. If it's just for fun and not intensive, it's probably nothing to worry about. Border Collies are some of the best competitors at it too! They're so smart and fast. And cute too.

Re: Long Island Agility - went today!

My Mom is very careful with her not to jump or do any moves that would injure her since she is still young (my mom has done alot of reading up on stuff)...she is still also very much a "puppy" combined with her "Border Colliness" makes her very hyper...but she is learning..and my Mom works with her everyday to help her training..they are great dogs..sometimes a little "too smart"

Re: Long Island Agility - went today!

Thanks for posting this. We keep saying we're going to take my dog--we live nearby and my dog's breeder takes her dogs often. I think he'll love it.
We definitely need to try it out!

Re: Long Island Agility - went today!

We had a Border Collie in our group and they were always the first to go, then us. We had one thing in common - we had to move it to keep up with our dogs!