# The Agility Adventure Begins!



## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Well, the adventure begins (again)! Those who saw an earlier thread know that I recently had some agility equipment set up in my yard and that Newlie took exception to it and tried to eat it. So we decided to back up and give him time to get used to the equipment being in the yard. That has worked well. We would go out in the yard several times a day and play with his beloved ball and just sort of ignore the presence of the equipment.

Since things were going well after a few days, I started hitting his ball in the direction of the equipment and then gradually moved in closer. Pretty soon, he was retrieving his ball all around the pieces and underneath them. Then, I started doing things like sitting on the A Frame (not easy to do by the way) and the teeter and calling Newlie over to me and luring him with a ball to weave through some of the weave poles. He is so ball driven that he doesn't even know he is doing this, he is just following the ball.

So, this morning, I thought I would try the jump. There was no bar on it other than the bar at the bottom holding the two uprights together. He jumped over it 5 or 6 times to get the reward of his ball!!!! What a good boy!!!


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

No pictures??


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

excellent. My sis suggested I do agility with my dogs. She did many trials with her BCs and still photographs many events. I told her no way was I putting all of that gear in my yard  

Looking forward to seeing Newlie strut his stuff on the course.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

tim_s_adams said:


> No pictures??


A friend of mine is coming over on Sunday and hope to get some video and pictures. It's hard to take a picture, lure him over the jump, throw him his reward and take a picture with one pair of hands, lol


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

car2ner said:


> excellent. My sis suggested I do agility with my dogs. She did many trials with her BCs and still photographs many events. I told her no way was I putting all of that gear in my yard
> 
> Looking forward to seeing Newlie strut his stuff on the course.


Haha! My back yard is a dead loss anyway mostly because of someone's big feet!


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

You will like I learned to put the equipment closer together otherwise it can be a real work out! Can't wait to see the photos!!!


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I still have all that brand new agility equipment I bought in boxes in the shed. You have given me a push to get my butt moving and get it put together(I am so dreading this). This is my goal for next summer..thank you.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

llombardo said:


> I still have all that brand new agility equipment I bought in boxes in the shed. You have given me a push to get my butt moving and get it put together(I am so dreading this). This is my goal for next summer..thank you.


I know, I hate putting things together!

I only have four pieces right now, the jump. weave poles, an A Frame and a teeter. Luckily, it was all made for me by a friend of mine, so no assembly required (by me). If things go well, I may have him make some other stuff for me down the line, but we'll see.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

just remember when you put the tube outside...spiders! We ran some of our IPO dogs through a tube, to expose them to something new, and one of our gals had to crawl into the tube to entice some of the dogs to come forward....brave soul since no one but bugs had gone through it for quite some time.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

I bought an inexpensive tunnel for Newlie several years ago. It didn't last very long with Mr.Teeth around.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

OK, to everyone who thought I was nuts trying to show Newlie how to climb the A Frame, lol

https://www.facebook.com/viralizedofficial/videos/1502051736570594/


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

I hope you didn't have to climb it yourself to demonstrate?


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

tim_s_adams said:


> I hope you didn't have to climb it yourself to demonstrate?


Well, I did try, but the wood slats were too narrow, I couldn't get my feet on them.
Probably just as well, a few months in traction would not have been pleasant.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Up to now, I have been standing on the other side of the jump and luring Newlie over with a ball, but tonight, for the first time, Newlie went over the jump with me running (trotting) beside him. Several times, he tried to take a short cut and go around the jump, but I would immediately stop and we would start all over again. He did it three times and, of course, I acted like a nut! What a good boy!


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## KaiserAus (Dec 16, 2016)

Awesome! Well done Newlie!

Our trainer had some agility equipment out last week... Kaiser loved it, it did so well at all of it. We have to wait till 14months of age before we are allowed to join in agility training for real, but I think as soon as we can we will... Kaiser had such a sparkle doing it.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

KaiserAus said:


> Awesome! Well done Newlie!
> 
> Our trainer had some agility equipment out last week... Kaiser loved it, it did so well at all of it. We have to wait till 14months of age before we are allowed to join in agility training for real, but I think as soon as we can we will... Kaiser had such a sparkle doing it.


When he would try to take a shortcut I would stop, go back to where he started, make him sit, point at the jump and say "You have to go OVER the jump, buddy" and it was kind of uncanny, but he always would.


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