Starting Agility

[Cayley]

It's really weird how agility has changed since the height changes, for some reason when the fences were bigger it was an advantage to have a collie that was just above the lowest minimum heights for standards, now the fences have dropped it seems that the ones that do well are the huge leggy collies. I don't think collies should be allowed in medium because I've seen ones that used to be competitive at the old standard height but have since measured into medium so it's hardly surprising those dogs have gone on to become advanced within about 6 months.
I don't know what to do with Elsie, she is seriously quick but I know she's in medium because she's within breed standard height, it might sound wrong but as I've only ever had one dog to run and it's a long way to go for even the nearest show, to go there knowing I won't get more than low placed clear rounds against collies and poodles is what's putting me off competing her  .

It's been a strange pattern since I've been competing with Sammy. He's a standard sized dog and was very accurate at first but didn't really get more than a clear round, I learnt some techniques to get him going faster and with the new speed he lost the accuracy, eventually we got both together and he won 2 starters classes by 5 and 7 secs which is a huge gap considering class sizes were about 120. We won into novice (grade 3) just as the heights came down and we've not been competitive since.







 

[crazyspaniels]

I had heard some rumours that measuring down in england was letting more collies in, its kind of a running joke up here in scotland as people with small collies often joke they will take them to england for measuring, but didnt know it was actually the case - weird as the measures must be the same, its must just be the measurers?
Cayley, its really hard to measure your own dog unless you create a small frame stick with the KC measures on it, so have an upright of wood and then stick a piece of wood coming out at the height for small and see if her withers fit under it - dont do it with tape etc, it has to be a solid measure

[Cayley]

I had heard some rumours that measuring down in england was letting more collies in, its kind of a running joke up here in scotland as people with small collies often joke they will take them to england for measuring, but didnt know it was actually the case - weird as the measures must be the same, its must just be the measurers?
Cayley, its really hard to measure your own dog unless you create a small frame stick with the KC measures on it, so have an upright of wood and then stick a piece of wood coming out at the height for small and see if her withers fit under it - dont do it with tape etc, it has to be a solid measure

Elsie is 15 inches at the withers which is the lowest height according the breed standard, technically all show types should be medium but you do get the occasional one that is small  .

[crazyspaniels]

think of little old me and Bilbo then, he is a cocker competing against the speed demon collies and kelpies etc at full height. He will never make advanced, lucky if we get out of grade 3. We go clear but just dont have the speed.
Up here the cockers do well and medium height but we dont seem to have a problem with alot of collies running at medium, that might start changing as the breeding pushes for smaller collies

[Rosie]

It is very difficult to measure your dog and I know of a large number of people who "measured" their dog into one hieight found it did not necesarrily accord with the official measure.

Lots is to do with how relaxed the dog is, whether it is well exercised or hyped, stressed by the environment etc and whether "shoulders have dropped??" (a common phrase used when peoples young dogs measure into smaller category at second measure.

How old is Henry?  cause official measures will not measure a dog until at least 15 months old?  If you have any measruers at your club or are friends of your club members they may do an "unoffical practice" measure at the end of a seesion over the winter.  We are lucky as we have a measurer in the club who helps with some of the more anxious dogs and gives only an indication to help with training and preparation (ideally you never want to train your dog over a height higher than it will have to jump).

[allym]

Henry's almost 2.  He's always been a bit on the small-side and the trainers at agility last night were talking about how he looks like he could go either way (not very scientific, I know!).  Maybe we should start up a Cocker agility league!

[clairep4]

Bella's not been measured officially but has been measured at the class with a proper frame and was definitely mini - you can see in this pic the difference in size between her and Zorro (although admittedly he sits up straighter than her  ) but you can see the difference in the lengths of their front legs. If you put Bella next to a Scottie for example, she's not much taller at all...



We have collies jumping at different heights in our class but half of them are in medium.

[allym]

Yes, she is indeed very small! And doesn't Zorro look tall in comparison?!  I'd say that Henry is bigger than Bella (pethaps not by much) and smaller than Zorro, but it's hard to tell!  When OH comes home tomorrow he may well find himself constructing some sort of measuring device!

[BettyBoo]

There's a puppy activity and agility class in Newcastle that I'm going to take Betty to. She's only 17 weeks at the moment so we're going to try this one and move on to adult classes when she's older.