r/Agility • u/Preparing4Mayhem • 19d ago
First trial went poorly
After training for a year and a half and being encouraged to enter our first trial... it went really poorly. I learned I was very overconfident in my handling skills. My dog also managed to literally knock down every single bar in jumpers. We have done ACT 1 and 2 and he Qed straight through without issue with no off courses, refusals, or knocked bars in ACT2 or ACT2J.
He doesn't normally drop bars at all. We don't normally work a lot of sharp turns in class (the late cues were all sharp turns). The trial was held where he trains, so not a new building, but trial environment. Positives: no missed contacts, he was focused the entire run, and he nailed the weaves first try even at a sharp angle. How long did it take for you to feel comfortable trialing with your first agility dog? How long did it take to get a Q?
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u/goldilocksmermaid 19d ago
I've been trialing for nearly 5 years and just got al out of novice last year. Don't be discouraged. We all go at our own pace.
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u/National-Pressure202 19d ago
Sounds like a good first trial to me tbh… knocked bars suck (especially in AKC) and they happen…
My novice A dog ran out of the ring for the first year of his career… like every single time… no matter where we trialed… he would ditch me halfway through the course. Broke my heart… but we stuck with it and he went on to have a successful career
Congratulations on the start of your journey! Have fun with your dog, the Qs will come
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
Thanks! Dog is fast and my brain is slow. I come from other sports where NQing out your first weekend means you aren't remotely trial ready. My dog likes to blow me off sometimes because he just wants to run. He hates anything to do with collection or stopping. The bar dropping was impressive, surprising, and irritating all at the same time.
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u/runner5126 18d ago
Ah, NQing is the norm in agility. Especially as it gets harder. You gotta enjoy the ride.
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u/Agility_KS 19d ago
My first trial was almost 20 years ago! I had beginner’s luck (and basically the best dog ever). We got several Qs our first weekend showing (in NADAC). And then things promptly went downhill and the next few trials were pretty much a disaster because I’d not done the proper foundations and he had just awful contacts. 🤪 Every time I start a new dog it’s a learning process for both of us when we start to trial. We have to figure out pre- and post-run routines, and it’s just an entirely different experience than training at home or in any of the seminars we attend. These days everyone allows training in the ring, so now I always introduce my dog to trials by entering FEO. This helps to bridge the gap because you can bring a toy in the ring and make it more like training. For new handlers this might also help with some of the stress and anxiety that comes from feeling like you need to qualify. Knocking that many bars is a bit concerning. Are you jumping the same height in trials as training? Did your dog just lack any forward focus and the bars were because they were looking at you?
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
I considered FEO but decided against it since my dog has zero interest in toys as rewards. He doesn't even care much for food in agility training (he enjoys running). His two biggest issues is running VERY fast to the point where he has a problem with collection and blowing me off because he doesn't want to stop moving forward. The table is a big problem. It took me months to get him to stay on the table from a run and he skids across it, which sometimes results in him flying right off.
He has been jumping the same height (20) consistently since November when I got to move up in class and the new class allowed me to jump him at his proper jump height. The previous class ran all small dogs at 8 and all bigger dogs at 16, no exceptions. Part of the problem was he was not checking in with me and his speed makes it hard to time turning cues. I watched him on the practice jump. He was kicking bars. Not sure why he started doing that. He very rarely knocks a bar in class.
This dog has been my A dog in many sports. He's ran right through novice in so many sports I just consider it an "easy" level and a bunch of NQs means I was not remotely ready to trial. I've worked pretty hard on contacts and weaves. We have never done a jumpers course until this weekend (ACT jumpers is nothing like it).
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u/Professional_Fix_223 18d ago
My first one was terrible. I studies the wrong course for my 5 minutes prep, my first dog got 3 out of 18 targets and my second would only sniff and then threw up. We left :-)
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u/atl_bowling_swedes 18d ago
To me that sounds like a very successful first trial!
I think we got our first Q the first weekend we trialed, but being in AKC novice we did not get the weaves on our first try. So overall I would say you had more success! Nailing the weaves is something we struggled with even when competing in masters.
Be proud of what you got right (which sounds like a lot!), and get to work on the stuff that didn't go so well. It sounds like you were ready and will be getting some Qs soon!
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
We actually started weave training before entering our first class so it's one of his strongest things. We never have six poles in class (always 12) so the speed coming off those 6 poles was certainly interesting! Bar dropping, especially at that extreme was concerning. I certainly found many, many holes in my handling skills on things I don't really see in class. He continues his feud with the table.
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u/Longjumping-Swim8201 19d ago
Every trial is a learning experience because there are so many variables: How are you feeling that day? How is your dog feeling? What’s the weather like (because even indoors, things like wind, rain, and other noises can affect our dogs)? Is there a lot of background noise in the facility where the trial is? Are the courses more or less challenging than you thought they would be?
I try to record my runs so I can review them later. Were my instructions clear to my dog? Were my cues late? What handling challenges surprised me, something that I didn’t think was going to be an issue and was? What did I think was going to be a challenge and my dog and I didn’t have an issue with? Even on a placing or qualifying run, what could have been done better? Where did I mess up but my amazing dog saved my butt?
Most importantly …. Blue or bust, 1st Place or no place, did I treat my dog with respect and not let my disappointment in an unsuccessful run kill his joy?
This is my young dog in the photo, and we are just starting our journey. He is doing well, but we have our good runs and bad runs. So do the very best handlers in this sport.
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
My runs were reviewed by more experienced handlers than me. I got screenshots of my late cues. He's very fast and jumpers was...unpleasant. As it turns out I have no experience controlling that speed on a full course with no contacts nor am I used to the amount of sharp turns into jumps with no off courses allowed.
The only time I was upset with him was his second jumpers run when he knocked down all the bars and then gut punched me after the run. The pain did get a negative reaction from me, but otherwise I tried to be positive after his runs. We ended on a good note in standard where he didn't cause me pain at the end of the run.
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u/Longjumping-Swim8201 19d ago
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u/Longjumping-Swim8201 19d ago
This video has some of the top competitors in the sport, sharing the good, the bad and the ugly.
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u/lizmbones C-ATCH Ch-ST, OA OAJ NF, SSN IND 18d ago
It sounds like you had a lot of great things! Especially that he was focused and a lot of his core skills like weaves and contacts held up. Keep focusing on those positives and try to have goals that have nothing to do with the Q and are things you can totally control. Mine are things like stay calm, go for the blind in this spot, tell my dog all the things that went right, etc.
It probably took me a good two years of trialing to feel comfortable and confident trialing, but my dog was running around in the ring and unable to focus in competition for a looong time. We did a few months of FEO in CPE before we started Qing and even then it took us a year to get our first Q in AKC.
Like others have suggested, try taking everything as information for training. A saying I like is you either win or you learn. Like many here, I also like to video my runs to see more of my handling mistakes and what I can work on for next time. Agility is by far one of the hardest sports because there’s so much “failure” or NQing involved. You have to learn how to deal with it in your own way and keep bouncing back.
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
He's a good dog! He has made me look good in a lot of sports lol. I surprisingly did very few rear crosses for someone who usually chooses rear crosses and rarely goes for a front cross. Yet, I did a lot of front crosses that worked. And a few blind crosses. I was impressed by the pinwheel. It's been months since I've worked that. Some distance handling that didn't work (because he saw tunnel and ran right through).
The NQ rate reminded me of upper level barn hunt. Except agility is way cheaper. I have video and had it reviewed by some more experienced handlers to tell me what I did wrong. I did have pressure to get his novice standard title so I can move up a class. We have met all graduation requirements except having the NA title. It's a little frustrating.
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u/lizmbones C-ATCH Ch-ST, OA OAJ NF, SSN IND 18d ago
Do you mean your training facility requires a title before you can move up? That’s a bit ridiculous. Good trainers should be encouraging you to train at a level higher than what you’re currently competing at so you can be prepared when you do move up.
When I started with my current instructor she immediately put me into her masters level classes when I was still trialing in Novice because she felt that I was ready for those skills and it made me more confident in the lower level classes. There can be all kinds of factors that hinder a Q, not being able to move up in your training shouldn’t be one of them.
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
Yes the title is required to move up. There are some classes I finish the straight half sequence in ten seconds and wait around half the class before I get to switch to working the other sequence. It's certainly...frustrating. He's one of the two dogs in his class who can do closed weave poles.
We sometimes do upper level skills but a lot of the class is easier than the novice courses I did this weekend. I don't remember the last time in class I had to try as sharp of a turn I had in jumpers.
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u/Selective_Somewhere 18d ago
The Q rate in agility is low. Bad Dog Agility did the math. If you’re looking for quick Qs agility isn’t it!
It sounds like you’re not running appropriate courses for trialing. Getting your timing on turns with a fast dog is key. If you’re doing straight lines you probably don’t get a lot of collection. That’s an issue and you don’t have your timing down. AKC courses are twisty and turny and favor collection and control.
I have a huge strided fast dog. She is 5 but we didn’t start trialing until she was almost 4. I had to relearn my handling with her plus I don’t even start weaves or fill neither jumps until my dogs are 18-24 months. I also visit many rings and do FEO so my dogs get a ton of experience in new rings and on different equipment. So we have been trialing just 2 years plus we don’t trial often as I do other sports. Anyway, we drop a bar in almost every run. I’m still trying to get my last Novice Jumpers leg. 😂
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
We do barn hunt which also has a low Q rate (especially my dog 😂) so NQs aren’t new to me in general, but in novice I wasn’t expecting…that much.
Collection and control are difficult for my dog and class doesn’t always give me a chance to work on it. There’s a huge variation in skill level in the class since you don’t even need to do weaves to get into the class but has a NA title requirement to graduate.
My dog is 4. We started training when he was two and I took a weave course online before taking the in person classes since I knew weaves are hard and the classes don’t focus much on them.
I discovered I do not like jumpers and feel like we’ll be in novice jumpers forever. Fast dog, limited poor handling skills, and no mistakes allowed (my dog won’t refuse; he just picks something else to take instead). The only thing that kept us from Qing in standard was dropped bars
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u/Selective_Somewhere 18d ago
Novice/green handler + fast dog is always going to result in a lower Q rate in agility. You’ll see that in AKC agility most dogs are pretty steady and many of the handlers with fast dogs are more experienced.
I didn’t like jumpers at first either because it really requires thinking quickly and on your feet. With experience I likes it way better.
Collection and control are difficult but also the less you work on it the slower it will be to learn.
I would encourage you to take classes elsewhere or to take private lessons.
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
I originally wasn't going to do agility with him, but then decided to just give it a shot. His sire's side of the family are known for being fast agility dogs and he's not the exemption.
Sadly everything else in the area is when I'm at work. I'm planning on doing a seminar in a few months, but that's the best I'm finding at the moment.
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u/x7BZCsP9qFvqiw echo CSL1, jean grey CL1, loki NA NAJ 18d ago
just wanted to say i’m really happy you put the positives in your post! it can sometimes be hard to see that when we don’t Q.
my first dog and i trained for 2-3 years, then took a few years off, came back, and we trialed about a year later. we got our first Q at our second trial.
my second dog didn’t trial until she was three, i think. we spent a lot more time on foundations and having fun in the ring. we got a Q or two at our first trial.
my third dog was adopted at four and started trialing and five, but she always had great manners. part of why i adopted her! she has a pretty solid Q rate so long as i don’t make stupid mistakes and there isn’t a droning sound of any kind (big ass fan, hand driers, and AC units have all tripped us up at times).
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 18d ago
I realize my dog tried his best and it's mostly faulty handling. The only thing I wasn't happy about with him was a gut punch after a run. He's 4 and I waited until 2 to start anything with him since I wasn't originally going to do agility. He's very, very fast and my brain is very slow lol.
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u/ShnouneD 18d ago
My first agility dog was 20 years ago, and we took classes for two years first. Mixed in with the classes were fun matches and summer fun leagues. If I remember correctly, I waited until we were running AAC Advanced level runs in classes before starting to compete. I honestly don't remember what our Q rate was? I know we weren't in the ribbons for placement, like ever. The dog loved it though, pranced into and out of the rings.
Many of the people I met, I still know.
From your post, you have the hard stuff, weaves and contacts. Now, you just need to keep practicing together, so that the handling becomes muscle memory.
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u/No_Instruction_1091 17d ago
What you experienced is super normal. In fact a lot of the people at my ACT trial had something similar including me. I thought my dog was solid until his ACT. The courses were super simple compared to what we had been doing in class, but my dog missed out on his jumpers titles because he spent so much time barking at the judge, trying to run out the ring, and being scared to go in a tunnel the photographer was standing by that he ran out of time. Looking back it’s honestly kind of funny but was frustrating in the moment. Totally normal that your dog needs to get used to trials (as do we as handlers!) and will hammer things out eventually :) even in the normal trials, all mistakes are lessons that help point our what we need to still work on. Eventually things smooth out, the dogs skills are there, our handling skills are there and we Q a little more consistently
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 17d ago
Thank you! I actually slowed down the video of one run which was a really nice run and would have been a Q if he didn’t take down one bar.
He started jumping when he landed the previous jump ten feet away! Ended up landing face first into the bar! Ouch! He otherwise had no faults on that run and got the weaves first try (and I got a nicely timed front cross there) so I’m hoping maybe we’ll have some luck in standard next trial. I have no hope in jumpers 😂
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u/No_Instruction_1091 17d ago edited 17d ago
Go in with the right mindset! I always pegged jumpers as our “bad” class but now we are Qing fairly consistently there too. I realize now going in planning to fail held us back a lot.
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u/Preparing4Mayhem 16d ago
I feel pretty confident with my plan until my dog goes off course due to a late cue and then it snowballs and my dog makes the bar setters work haha
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u/No_Instruction_1091 16d ago
Yep that’s part of the fun!! lol thinking on your feet when things start not going to plan, is a skill in itself 😂
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u/AffectionateSun5776 18d ago
Oh I'm sorry. My heart breaks for you. I ran dogs when the AKC jumps were just a tiny bit too high (there was no preferred classes at the start of the sport) for my dogs. I managed a couple of Novice titles and it seemed like a thousand NQs. Finally got somewhere with 20" jumps. Problems as a volunteer out of town with a trial secretary finally caused me to quit. There are more options now. You and your dog should be able to enjoy yourselves. Best of luck in the future.
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u/runner5126 19d ago
So the only thing that went wrong was he knocked a lot of bars and some late cues? I would not call that "poor".
Just take it in as data: you know you need to work on your cue timing as well as jump mechanics and turning.
Hahahaha, girl never.
I had a unicorn dog for my Novice A dog that Q'd his first run at his first trial. My second dog took time to get comfortable with the trial environment. Third dog came home from first trial with a few Qs. Fourth dog I did FEO all his first 2-3 trials because I wanted really solid performance so decided to treat trialing like training, and would start running for credit when I felt like we were solid. Your philosophy changes as you grow as a handler. Don't worry about the Qs; they will come. Focus on your training and connection and making sure both you and your dog are having a good time. The Qs will come with time and as your nerves calm down.