I need some advice from those of you who do agility. Megan (3 1/2 yr old shorthaired wsd) has bee ndoing agility since she was about 18 months. We started competing this year but we seem to have come to a brick wall in training and aren't progressing at all. We have yet to ever get a clear round and she seems to have lost her weaves. She can do them perfectly at home or at training, but as soon as she gets to a competition she panics and can't do them. She has now got to the point that if she can't do it she runs off to the judge (almost as if to say, i can't do it!) or to  another piece of equipment. She usually loses it altogether after that. I have never told her off or anything. Up til now i keep telling myself that she is only young and just starting out, but it is starting to get me down as dogs that have been doing agility for less time than us are getting clear rounds and doing well. I feels even worse as she is a collie and collies are supposed to do well! I don't think it helps that i am her handler as i'm not particularly good either! Its not like she doesn't do alot of training as we go to a class once a week (and we always get shouted at as she gets too excited and picks her own course), a private lesson once a week and we have access to a field with all the equipment as often as we like. I feel so useless. :-(

Hi Lucy - Can you have a go on some weaves just before you run the course, to get her confidence up?  What do you do when she flunks the weaves?  Do you just carry on & ignore the fact she's screwed them up?  Different dogs progress at different rates and sometimes dogs which encounter problems turn out to be the ones to watch when they solve the problem - so don't worry!

How many times has she been ni a competition?  Sometimes the different setting and atmosphere have an effect.  Also I've heard a lot of anecdotes of dogs who behave differently in outside comps, where they're used to inside lessons, it can all have an effect.

She has been to about 5 competitions this year. She has trained both inside and out. It would help to run her through weaves at a competition but there never seems to be any and i don't really have room in my present car to take my own yet. She tends to miss the entrance to the weaves, so i take her back turn her in a circle and try again. If after 3 attempts she doesn't manage it i must admit i just give up and carry on.

Hi

My first agility season was last year and we went the whole season before we finally got a clear round and even then it wasnt at a kc show. Technically we were ready - at training he was working at novice level and going clear at training - no problems at all. I think the 'problem' was emotionally we werent ready. You dont say whether you had taken your dog to any shows to just get used to the atmosphere or not. Remember, a competition is very different to training for us - why should it not be different for the dogs. They are not in their usual 'safe' environment and whatever you are feeling will travel straight down the lead to your dog.

If your dog has lost her weaves in competition but still does them fine in training then that is maybe telling you that the weaves themselves are not the problem.

the important thing is to remember this is a fun thing - so the minute you start feeling frustrated and in your words 'useless' you are taking the fun out of it - for you and your dog. Dont get me wrong - I do understand - I was on the verge of giving up - luckily I had a very good trainer who gave me a good talking to.

How did i remedy it? Firstly by refusing to worry about it. I was very very upbeat, played lots with him around the rings, not just in the queue. To try to get him used to other equipment, I booked myself on a one day training session where he would see a new environment, new dogs etc. I also took him to a UKA show (we do them regularly now) where he could jump slightly lower jumps. They even do a nursery class for beginners which is all fenced in and you can take a toy in with you.

I would stress that at this early stage in your dog's agilty career, please try not to overtrain. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. You mention in your post that you and your dog are always getting shouted at. I would respectfully suggest that that is not a good way to be trained. If you have handling areas that need improving you need to be shown in a calm way what it is you are doing wrong - I do get shouted at by my trainer but only when I make the most stupid crass mistake and even then it never undermines me - it always - 'come on Jane, what do you think you are doing - look where your shoulders were pointing' - never makes me feel uselss.

I think that by trying to relax, by kowing that you and your dog can do it and will do it, and maybe some exposure to other environments, it will come right in the end. And remember, yes, collies are good at agility - but they are usually the hardest to train to start with. Nothing good ever comes easy !!

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

Jane

On top of what has been suggested I would do a few classes with no weeve, like the jumping, which you cna both have fun at. This will help you both to relax and enjoy yourselves. Once you have rediscovered the fun, introduce an odd event with a weeve in it and just relax and enjoy it.

you may think that you are not doing anything wrong in the ring but can you get someone to video you at training where the pressure is off and then in the ring when the pressure is on,
you may do something in the ring like drop your shoulders when she goes wrong or even a sigh and she will pick up on this, i know what you are going through my male rottie, is 4 and this is the first time this weekend he has stopped in the ring with me, my collie is two and just won me out of starters, they are so different dogs, my rottie is a tough as nails and he does not give a care if i yell that is wrong you naughty boy, i just have to think my collie is wrong and my whole body posture can tell this and he thinks he has made the biggest mistake of his life and i flatten him, so now know matter what, my dogs never make the mistake by the way it is always me.If you know she is going to make a mess in the weaves and you are going to get E'D anyway,  have you tried calling her to you at the weaves stroking her and putting her through like you would in training, so she gets the idea that she maybe can't get away with playing up when at a show, we had to do this a few times this year with my collie, for some reason at shows jumping off the end of the dog walk, i think it was my nerves and trying to go to fast so for a few shows when on the dog walk i walked him down to the bottom held him there stroking him and i got elimantated but he soon realised oh got to do it at the show, even if mam is shaking like a leaf and her voice is quivering wreck, don't worry about it, we have all been there and just when you crack one piece of equipment they surprise you buy not being able to do another.
Carol