AGILITY DOODLES

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Comment by Linda and Murphy on February 9, 2009 at 4:19pm

Hi all,
Murphy and I just spent the weekend in Mississippi at a NADAC trial.
Well, Saturday was a typical Murphy run. We started off with tunnelers 1 and tunnelers 2. This is a large outdoor arena used for horse shows, etc. For Tunnelers on this day, there were 15 tunnels in a 100ft X 100ft area. Murphy did a wonderful sit/stay at the start. He made the first 3 tunnels in order and then made his own course, doing all of the tunnels in his own order....really fast. He made it through the last 2 tunnels, snatched up his leash at full speed, brought it to me in the middle of the course, like "OK, mom, that was fun. We're done."

Murphy was dubbed the "comic relief" of the event and I have decided that tunnels are like cocaine for him...He just can't help it.

Comment by Nancy - Opal, Meadow & Tariki on January 25, 2009 at 1:22pm

Ha ha ha... he sounds like quite the character! As you know I haven't done any agility work yet so I have no experience to share there.

Comment by Linda and Murphy on January 25, 2009 at 12:18pm

Do any of you have issues with speed? Murphy is like a thoroughbred race horse coming out of the gate. He is flying...but not paying attention to me. All of the things he already knows simply leave him.

On our first run, I was looking for obvious traps for him. The course started with a jump and then went to the dogwalk (no problem..and it would slow him down). He managed to "see" the tunnel that required him to do a 180 immediately off the dogwalk! It never even crossed my mind that would happen.
My trainer says you never want to slow the dog down, but......
She insists that he is doing great, is having a wonderful time, and I am comparing him to seasoned veterans.
He reminds me so much of my ADHD son...you never know what he will do.
Any suggestions from Doodle people? Murphy is the only Doodle around and perhaps you have more insight.

Comment by Linda and Murphy on January 25, 2009 at 6:48am

He was a total goofball! I thought maybe by the last run he would have calmed down, but no. He had a great time. His focus isn't there yet.
The lady I practice with says what he knows in one location does not translate to a different location. The weaves that he was doing perfectly at home...he made one in the trial.
We have another trial in the same place in 2 weeks. I'll just see how he does then. Because we can't enter the AKC trials, we don't have as many opportunities as the rest of the dogs.

Comment by Nancy - Opal, Meadow & Tariki on January 24, 2009 at 9:16pm

So so? How did it go?

Comment by Linda and Murphy on January 23, 2009 at 2:35pm

We are off to our second NADAC trial this weekend in Mississippi. We practiced really hard this week on the weaves and have really done well.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Comment by Linda and Murphy on January 18, 2009 at 2:25pm

Nancy, we have caught flack from some people...mostly poodle people, I guess. That is one reason I was surprised that the people were soo nice to us. The word Jen used to describe Harley is the one most often associated with Murphy..GOOFY.
In one of our first classes, Murphy was around 1 year. We were learning the jumps. There were about 4 in a row and my biggest concern was that he would get the ZOOMIES and disrupt the entire class. The instructor was at the end of the 4 jumps with a treat (cesar dog food) and instructed me to let him go. She was kneeling down.
I watched her eyes get bigger and bigger as 90 lb Murphy came crashing into her. Fortunately she didn't have far to fall...and was quite amused by it all later.

Comment by Nancy - Opal, Meadow & Tariki on January 18, 2009 at 2:16pm

Well you guys are really getting me excited about going!! Our local group here insists that you go for agility lessons first... I am kind of confused as I thought that was what joining was. Was your experience similar to this?

Comment by Jen on January 18, 2009 at 7:33am

My almost 2 year old Goldendoodle Harley went to his first agility class yesterday. He is a big goofy/scardy cat doodle, so I wasn't sure how he would do. I figured that that the tunnel would be the scariest for him, but he went right in! I think he liked that the best! He kept going in and out of the tunnel. He even tried the tire jump. After 2 hours of "play" I think he was exhausted. It was so much fun! Harley has his friend Mater to thank for getting him involved in Agility. I hope to have more agility fun stories to post as the year goes on!

Comment by Nancy - Opal, Meadow & Tariki on January 17, 2009 at 9:57pm

.Oh Linda, that sounds like SOOO much fun!!! I am on the waiting list for agility lessons in my area so not sure if I will make it in this spring or not. I can hardly wait!! Holy, your dog is big! My girls are 20"-22" I think. Did you get any flack about the poddle cross.... we seem to get harassed when we take the dogs to things (particularly by poodle breeders).

So we have had two cattle dog lessons and this last one the girls actually got to run with the sheep. They both had the right instinct and our trainer seems to think they will work out quite well. For me it's really about gaining better control over them. I really thought Meadow would be good and then was wondering if Opal might be better at field training or something (she is much more labby and Meadow more poodley) but when the time came to run after the sheep she was all over it.

Our breeder has an F1 labradoodle and she as really good at agility - to me it seems like these doodles should be naturals. I'd love to hear more abotu your agility adventures! Had you done other training with Murphy prior to agility?

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