Hi Polona, I know you said that you’ll be extending the course a bit for feedback, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything at the agility club for a while. One of our other dogs suddenly lost the use of all his legs a few days ago and has been diagnosed with a neurological condition. He’s an old dog but otherwise healthy and the neurologist and physiotherapist both believe he has a chance of recovering his movement with physical therapy. So all of our energy is going to be focused on him for the next few weeks.
I want to say how much I’ve enjoyed the course 🙂 I love the format and I found your feedback very clear and easy to follow. I learnt a lot and the connection between Mooli and me has definitely improved and that was my key motivation for doing the course. Thanks again for all your help!

Hi Polona! Thanks for the last feedback. I tried a couple of starts last week, following your advice above, but couldn’t record them (no mobile one day, no tripod the next). Anyway, the first went very well, the second was similar to today’s – I needed to go back and re-engage him. Today, he was well-engaged before we entered the pre-ring and I thought I took him into the ring at the right point (bearing in mind what you say about making sure he’s focused and has good energy) but he still didn’t want to jump. I probably misjudged it. I feel like I let him down for not getting it right, but I guess I just need more practice. For a change, I want to do some of the obedience exercises you set for this week, but I also hope to get a few more starts in, as next week I go to the UK on Weds so I’ll miss the last few days of the course.

Hi Polona, welcome back! Hope you had a good championship. The first video below is from a couple of days ago and the longest sequence we’ve done since working on the start routine. There was some chicken waiting for him when he finished 🙂 I was super happy with how it went. The second video is from today.

I also wanted to tell you that ten days ago our agility club did an exhibition in a small town in the countryside. It was part of a festival, so there were loads of people around, animals of all kinds everywhere and generally lots of noise. When we do exhibitions, the president of our club introduces each handler and dog and then there’s a short course (12 obstacles). I wasn’t intending to run the course, but I saw that Mooli was super happy and engaged, so we ran and had no issues at all starting. I wondered if that was because it was a completely new environment or just because I was completely relaxed (especially as I didn’t think I was going to run) and it made me reflect on what I’m like in competitions – I do tend to get a bit nervous before the first run.

Oh, I forgot this second start routine. It cuts off a bit abruptly because the tripod fell over 🙂 Here, when he does the jump at the beginning, I hadn’t asked him to, plus, just as I’m walking between the two first jumps his head dips and he was ready to take off.

Hi again! Although there are three videos here, you can think of them as one routine, because they actually happen one directly after another. In the first you can see the engagement game, then the first attempt at the start routine, where Mooli runs out of the ring to where my husband is, and in the last video you can see the “non-start”. Running out of the ring to my husband never used to happen until Mooli started to not want to jump the first jump and then, at competitions, he would often run out just as you see in the video.
In the “non-start”, I don’t know if what I did to re-engage him was the right thing. In fact, I never know how to react for the best when he does that (maybe because friends, teachers, even strangers, have an opinion 😉 )

Hi Polona, Mooli is no longer contagious so we’ve been back to the club. I tried a couple of simple start routines, combined with food throws. Also, the longer lead out in the active stay, as you suggested trying previously.

Thank you! I have a question re competitions. My gut tells me I should pause competing while we’re doing the course because I’m afraid it might affect the progress we’re making in the growing connection between us. In fact, I’ve been putting off doing what you suggested a while back (8 April): “while sometimes you can do the whole starting routine – ask him to sit, walk away and release over an obstacle” because the start routine stresses me out. Over the past few months, we would get into position and he would just sit there or walk off when I released him (in competitions, which I then stopped, and even in training) and I suppose I’m afraid that this will happen again. At the same time I know that the only way to get over this is to work on it, make it fun so that he wants to do it and for me to stop stressing out about it.

Anyway, my question… At the end of the month we have a competition at our club. I was thinking of taking Mooli and when I’m not working, playing some games with him in the competition atmosphere. Is this a good idea?