I am a first time handler and started agility with my mini poodle about 3 years ago. It took over a year before we entered our first trial, and I felt very much a novice at those early trials! Eliminated because I had a tag on my dog’s collar :(, or for dog jumping up at me - he loves to jump and didn’t think there were enough jumps on the course so he added many extras in between, like he was on a poggo stick! :lol:
But boy, agility is really adictive when you and your dog are having so much fun, isn’t it? We show in AKC and NADAC and have moved up the levels fairly quickly, except for Excellent Standard. I just couldn’t get everything right: if he was good for the lead out, he would fly-off the dog walk; if he got all the descending zones in the contacts, he would slide-off the table; he got the weave poles but refused the teeter; or burned the lead out and went off course. This went on for months and I thought we were stuck with NQs in Standard for the rest of our lives. Until last weekend! We finally got every part right and got our first Exc Std Q! Hallelujah! I don’t think I have ever been so proud of my puppy!
I posted here a few months ago I was looking for another poodle and have since adopted another mini, 12 months old, and hopefully he will follow in his older brother’s steps and also do agility. He is very fast and high energy, should be fun working with another dog now that I have a bit more experience.
My dog having fun:
