Agility, anyone?

[megan]

Does anyone participate in agility (traditional or VALOR) with their Pit Bull or bully breed dog?

[michele5611]

Emily is our resident agility expert. She competes with her handsome dog Mr. P.

[maryellen]

i did it for exercise with both my dogs. if you are looking for a good place to go there is either Golden Rule school of dogs in andover nj or i think www.trainadog.com/training.html and there is also www.skylineagility.org/

[michele5611]

Sorry I forgot you did it too ME.

[maryellen]

its ok michele, i sucked at it lol.... after i fell over one of the pieces of equipment in front of everyone in class i decided it wasnt for me hahahaaaa

[megan]

Honestly, I've always been surprised by how few people with APBT's or other bully breeds don't compete or play in agility.... they're typically super agile and active breeds, can be pretty drivey, and fairly easy to train. Although, I imagine some of that is because of time, I know a lot of people who loves APBT's volunteer or work in rescue and just don't have a ton of time for it. Thinking that might have something to do with it.....?

We actually started doing it to build Roxy's confidence (she was very shy when we adopted her) and we just happened to love it. Venue-wise, we do all VALOR agility right now, Roxy's dog-reactive and quite honestly, has had enough negative experience with other dogs that she might never make it to a traditional venue, but that's fine with me. I just love watching her have so much fun in a public setting with people around. When I first adopted her, she couldn't handle being around that many people without freezing or hiding and now she literally drags me to greet everyone after our runs. Our goal was a happy dog and that's what we got, so anything above and beyond is a bonus ;D

We been taking classes at St. Hubert's in Madison, so far we love it there. The class we are in is managed for reactive dogs, the instructor has shy and reactive dogs at home and knows what we struggle with, and a more structured class just helps Roxy feel more at ease because she's had so many negative interactions with other dogs. It's all humane-based training, which is pretty important to us.

We've actually been to Pawsitive in Rockaway (trainadog.com) and Golden Rule School, but neither of them fit the bill for us in terms of training methods. Prong collars, leash-pops.... and we actually saw a dog alpha rolled in one agility class we were in We had to leave because Roxy went over threshold watching it. The dog was pretty petrified and I guess Roxy could feel it or sense it and she lost it. Took us a while to find a class that was appropriate for us, honestly.

[megan]

Jan 18, 2013 17:45:20 GMT -5 maryellen said:

its ok michele, i sucked at it lol.... after i fell over one of the pieces of equipment in front of everyone in class i decided it wasnt for me hahahaaaa

We've been playing for a while and I STILL trip over jump stands LOL

[maryellen]

my friend trains at skyline, she has a pit x named roxanne that i adopted to her years ago lol... she has been doing aglity since i adopted her to her as a pup:) holy smokes megan that is so sad for that poor dog... yeah, sometimes you gotta find the right agility class ..

[megan]

Yea, that was a big eye opener for me. Personally, I only use methods that are non-coercive . I recognize that other people use methods I don't agree with and I don't need to pick a fight with everyone about it even though it's something I feel strongly about, but there is absolutely no excuse for alpha rolling a dog in agility... agility is supposed to be FUN for your dog, not "Do what I say or else."

[suziriot]

Jan 18, 2013 18:16:53 GMT -5 megan said:

Honestly, I've always been surprised by how few people with APBT's or other bully breeds don't compete or play in agility.... they're typically super agile and active breeds, can be pretty drivey, and fairly easy to train. Although, I imagine some of that is because of time, I know a lot of people who loves APBT's volunteer or work in rescue and just don't have a ton of time for it. Thinking that might have something to do with it.....?

Yep, that's exactly why we don't do it. My APBT Otis would be so great at it, and he has loved the really basic stuff we have done. But we have three other dogs and volunteer with a rescue, we just don't have the time. It's too bad, because it's fun for humans and dogs.

And Emily's Mr. Peabody is an awesome little SBT agility pup! She's posted some videos here on the forum.

[megan]

OHHHH I'll have to go find the videos! I love watching bully breed pups run agility!!!

[catstina]

I don't do it because I would never remember the course. Saxon, who is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier like Emily's Mr. P, would be great at it, but I would be a terrible handler!

[megan]

I always thought I would completely suck at remembering the course, honestly. And sometimes I do forget it... LOL. But us humans have to practice too

Roxy loves it, I'll have to post a video of her in the video's section. We have a blast even if she's not always the fastest dog.

[catstina]

Looking forward to seeing the video! I LOVE watching Bull Breeds run agility! They always add their own flair to it!

[emilys]

I've got a group you can join; it's not very active but you are always welcome to post comments or questions: .com/group/BullBreedAgility" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pets.groups..com/group/BullBreedAgility

Also, a lot of my FB friends are bully people who do agility, so you can see what they post about if you ask to friend me Emily Sieger

[catstina]

Isn't there a FB page, as well, Emily?

[catstina]

And by page I mean "group."

[emilys]

Jan 19, 2013 2:15:21 GMT -5 catstina said:

And by page I mean "group."

the FB group is www.facebook.com/groups/178096445550345/

it follows the bullies at the AKC national events. It's open to anyone to read, but if you want to post you have to ask to join.

[megan]

Great I will have to check them out!!

[RealPitBull]

Megan, what is VALOR?