Sorry that we won't be able to attend the meet up on the 24th. Instead we'll be getting ready to compete in our first agility trial. Wish us luck! Bob with Smokey our Scotty and me with Bandit our corgi.

This will be our first competition, and our goals are:
1) not for the handler to fall down,
2) for the dog not to poop/pee in the ring,
3) not get lost on the course.
And, of couse to have fun.

If you're interested in agility, and want to come and watch to see if you'd like to try (or just to laugh at us), the trial is put on by Golden Retriever Club of San Diego County, on the 24, 25 OCTOBER 2009, in Bonita at Rohr Park. The Novice agiltiy doesn't start until 2:45pm.

Also, if you've done agility, we open to any hints you might have. Thanks.

Bob & Terry
Smokey & Bandit

Good Luck and have a wonderful fun time!

At our first agility trial, we acheived our objectives of :

not falling down
dogs not peeing/pooping in the ring
not getting lost on the course

so I guess you could say we were successful.

We did get on qualifiying score for Bandit in Standard (Yeah, Sidney for coming to watch - glad I didn't know you were there until after). And since we were the only ones to qualify in our 'group', we also got a first place ribbon.

Now we know what we need to practice - must run faster, must run faster! to keep up with the dog and give commands quick enough. And we had nice tired dogs at the end of the day.

Will continue the lessons and try again in a month or so.

Bob & Smokey
Terry & Bandit

That was us that came to watch ;)

Congrats on the Q, that was a good run!

I took some pictures throughout the day, here are a couple of Smokey and Bandit:

Wonderful pictures!

Lubya,

thanks for the great photos! Sorry about the name thing. And acutally, Bandit also got a 1st Place ribbon for the Qualifing run - as he was the only one in his section that qualified - so we now have two ribbons.

now, back to lessons and hope to do better next trial.

again, thanks for the pictures. Really great!!

Bob & Smokey
Terry & Bandit

Hee hee, I wondered if there was another "Sidney" here! We'll have to come watch next time...it was at an agility competition that we first fell in love with corgis.

COngratulations to all!

This sounds like great fun! How do I find out more about the agility training events?

Awesome, way to go Bandit!

Hehe, Philip and Sidney hang out so often, they are blending into one dog =]

Frannie, if you want to go watch an event, check akc.org for upcoming schedule. In SD county, they mostly take place in Bonita, but every once in a while there is an event in other cities too. The next one will be on November 21-22 in Bonita.
If you want to look into training your dog, the first step would be to look into classes in your area (or however far you are willing to travel). I go to class in Escondido, I believe Terry's class is somewhere in La Jolla area.
Wherever you go, classes are usually once a week for an hour and it'll take several months of training before you can really go to a competition. I started training Philip seriously in May and am hoping to go to our first competition early next year.
It's a ton of fun whether you end up competing or not, and Agility people are very friendly folk :)

Here are some of the trials scheduled in the San Diego area through the end of the year. These are all AKC (American Kennel Club), but there are other organizations that do trials, all with slightly differnt rules so right now we're concentrating on AKC.

The trials usually start early and the top dogs (Excellent) usually go first, then the Open, then Novice (that's us!)

Nov 21-22
SW Rottweiler Club of SD, Agility & CGC TEST, Rohr Park, Chula Vista

Dec 5-6
Golden Retriever Club of SD, HVOC, Escondido

Dec 26-27
SW Rottweiler Club of SD Rohr Park, Chula Vista


If you go to www.LyndaTjarksAgility.com you can see the Premium List (the entry form) which will give you the location, etc.

Right now we're thinking of entering the trial on the 22nd, so be on the look out for Smokey and Bandit.

Here's where we take lessons (although there are several other places around San Diego)
http://www.hotdogagil...