I already bragged at the Cairn Life forum, but since I had posted on our first Agility lesson here, I wanted to update you.

Mushu is a natural in agility. He really enjoys it, has great speed and has learned almost all of the obstacles. This weekend we attended the more advanced dogs' class and he outperformed several of them!

This is a video of two weekends ago, so it's a mush shorter trail. But he still does pretty good.

I'm so hooked on this, I can't wait for our first competition!

Although he still runs off pretty often , but at least now I'm getting him to return and finish the trail more often than not...

Any good tips are more than welcome!!

Thanks and happy trainings.

He's a nautural, alright! Bravo

He's a speedy lil guy. Looks very fast for a lil guy. Good work.

One tip, as u progress: They are very aware of your shoulders. If you want to pull him in (Eg. before the dogwalk in the video), bring your right shoulder in, which will make him think you're going to the left, which will bring him in closer, and onto the dogwalk.

Also, correcting him immediately when he strays (to stop to smell, etc) helps prevent unpredictable stops. Mine still does it once in a while, but hyping her up before a run seems to help her focus.

Most of the time, if he doesn't run well or misses obstacles, its the handler's error, not his (unless he is tired and doesn't want anymore). Took me a while to accept that .. haha. So be very aware of your body language.

He's running at a very nice distance from you, which is great if you start gamblers agility. But with the distance, control becomes a very important. Good luck in your upcoming competition. Our little Cami is going out of town today for agility trials this weekend (any maybe a chance at titling), but one of my friends will be handling her since I can't make it. Hoping for the best!

Edited December 5, 200816 yr by avusblue

avusblue:

Wow!!! Thanks so much for the great feedback!

Don't worry; I've realized long ago that he's doing much better than the handler...

It just took one time of our trainer taking over after a real bad performance and seing Mushu do everything to see who needs to work more.

So again, thanks so much for the pointers. I'll make sure to work on those things.

Now you'll have me posting more videos in hopes for more expert opinion

Good luck to Cami this weekend. Let us know how it goes!

He looks like he's making great progress, you must be a proud mommy!

He's also very fast, look at him go!

I've uploaded another Agility video to YouTube.

This one was taken with my cel phone, so the image is awful. But you can still tell what obstacle he's doing... he he.

Of course, that was one more or less good run out of 3 or so!

Yesterday and today we had practice and I also taped him (well, someone taped us... ). I'll upload those as soon as I have a chance and will post it here.

Please, if you have a spare moment to give us feedback, it would be much appreciated!

Muchas gracias!

Lili and Mushu

Lili, you are doing great. Your handling will get better and better, even at the higher levels, our Cairns are only hampered by their handlers. One thing I have found, mine watch my feet more than my shoulders. I never have my feet going toward an off course obstacle. If you look at the first video of the dog walk, he wasn't committed to it before you headed left on your rear cross. Just doing a rear cross before an obstacle in itself takes practice.

This is becoming and addiction (along with Agility!), but I've uploaded two more videos of Mushu. I also uploaded some from our friends (a French Bulldog, a Jack Russell and a Schnauzer). You will find them all if you look for lilicantu at Youtube.

However, these are Mushu's videos:

Please keep the very valuable feedback coming!!

All the best for this year.

Lili

Hi Lili,

I have several questions about dog shows in Mexico but, unfortunately, I do not speak Spanish. Could you help me out a little bit, please?

Are dog shows common in Mexico?

Is Agility an FCM sport? Are there other Agility organizations?

Are there many Agility matches available to enter?

Are Agility matches held alone or are they usually held with Conformation, Obedience, etc.?

Thank you

George