Hi

I've been reading blogs (mainly Bud Houstons!) and watching videos for a few weeks now.

I thought since there's a blog available for me use, that maybe I would use it.

I'm in Wellington, New Zealand. I'm relatively new Agility, I have 3 dogs, an 11yr old Beardie Cross (who has competed for 5 years), a 4 yr old Irish Setter and a 2 yr old Beardie Cross (Kiltie) who we adopted 6 months ago. I've retired our old dog, our Irish Setter is extremely stressed when other dogs are playing nearby, so most of her training is playing a distance away from other dogs. Which leaves our new dog, Kiltie. I thought I might document her training, so I can keep a track of how things are going with her, maybe you guys could give me suggestions?

Kiltie came to us 6 months ago, her old family broke up. When she came to us, she didn't know how to sit, go down, etc. BUT her old owners had built up a huge desire to chase balls - excellent! So the first few months were spent on teaching her basics - sit, down, stay, and come. And building a relationship with her. It took 2 weeks to get her used to the idea that if she does something for me, I'll throw the ball, but once we got this out of the way learning developed quickly.

I've managed to teach her all obstacles except contact equipment. She's the first dog I've taught without physical corrections or any type of lures. She's very atheletic and very fast, all obstacles are independant of my body position. I started to take her to beginners classes a few months ago. She's working well, but has a tendancy to get the zoomies and complete courses on her own, although that is starting to get better. I figure she's 6 months away from being ready to compete, maybe more.