Bull Terrier Agility

BulliesofNC

Bull Terriers are becoming more and more popular in the agility competitions and doing very well.
I tried to embed this video but couldn't figure out how so here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=480146048731007

Leslie

Awsome!!!! Little quick on the walk it!!!! Loved it!!!

BONC_Jacksonville

Great video.  Bullies to rule the world.

Soapskid

I plan on enrolling Spud in agility next summer when he's about 1.5 years old. Most importantly is letting him grow first. Anyone here done this with their young lad yet?

Stvy

I also plan on doing agility. The puppy class I go to once in a while has a basic agility setup outside and I do walkthroughs with him sometimes. Also one of the places I take him hiking quite often has some teeter-totters, narrow bridges and some other obstacles that he is more than happy to go through. He's only 6 months now so taking it really easy on him until he's old enough. It's something I can tell he would love to do and I would definitely have a blast doing. 

apollosmama

We are still working on our canine good citizenship. Once we start nailing that I plan on working agility into our daily workout. I heard we can use the setup on the air station, but I much prefer to build one in my yard. Stvy, if you two have basic commands down I'd start now. My plan is to start basic. PVC pipe and hula hoops!!!

yoshirican

Think Im going to do this with Selah! She loves a ball!

Soapskid

Nice. I was watching a video by Craftsman tools on YouTube on building agility gear with PVC pipes. Very easy, cheap and won't hurt your dog in practice. Just give it a search.

We are renovating our lawn so Spud can have grass. It's about 700 square feet for him to run around in I plan on building the agility gear next summer. One thing I've noticed about Spud is he is jumping over small items in his path already which gave him his sore leg along with playing with an adult lab for a bit. Hope this translates into him doing agility when he's nearly 2.

philsergeant

I watched the Bully Agility video, and what makes you kinda mad is that the ( magnificent ) bully almost finds it easy, both physically and mentally.... You just know they could cream any other breed at this athletic "sport" if they used their full talent... It's like " why should I push myself further." , " you know I have enough qualities to make you love me madly anyhow"... "Besides, all the other breeds feel inferior enough as it is, why should I embarrass them further"??

Soapskid

Has anyone had any luck with agility training? I built a pole jump, box stand and making the weave poles tomorrow. I've had the pole jump at 3, 6 inches and 1 foot and he's been able to clear them all. I will need to get a video of it soon.

Leslie

Not really worked at it but for fun Cleo loves it!!!

Soapskid

Yea, I'm only doing it to give him exercise and to build trust. Making him work for his food as well.

Leslie

Its great exercise and they really enjoy the stimulation.

Soapskid

Spud at 5 1/2 months around 35 lbs. and enjoying his home made weave poles and mini-jump.

philsergeant

Wow, He is the picture of perfection!! Great job!

apollosmama

How are you luring him through it? Treats or toy? He is really really cute! Loving his sweet little face!!

Soapskid

He loves his bananas and I slide them either thin or in small cubes. I switch off with his Zuke's small wet treats and on some tries no treats but a simple "good boy" with a nice neck and head rub.

I'll post some video later this week.

Stvy

So have any of you guys followed up with agility? I sat in and watched at a place today. I may be signing up for the next beginner class that starts after the new year.

Soapskid

I'm going to bring this thread back up. I want to start agility now as the weather here has calmed down and the days are now longer. Has anyone or is anyone thinking about doing agility?

Stvy

I started classes last Tuesday. I scouted a few places out back in December. I like the way she operates best. Seems like she's a very straightforward person and is not afraid to say anything which I like. Also, I like how her class is structured. Seems a lot of places want you to do basic obidience with them or at least a few basic classes to gauge where your dog is at and take all your money. She cuts all that fluff out and cuts to the chase. Her beginner agility class seems to be based on focus type exercises and agility games to keep your dogs focus on you. I don't think she's going to introduce any obstacles until the end of the beginners class. Possibly even not until intermediate.

Assuming you're going to join a class why wait for weather. Classes will probably be indoors. Unless you've found a place that has an indoor/outdoor setup like the place I go to does.

xchairity_casex

@ Boyda~

It was refreshing when i went to Silver wood and seen that  most of the bullies in the Agility runs were...awful LOL!

only 2 went thru the course well.

3 went out of the ring

about 3 just stopped to sniff and ignore there owner.

and one body slammed the judge in the ring and ALMOST knocked him off his feet.

Soapskid

It's not exactly the weather I just wanted to wait to do any formal training until now since Spud's trainer doesn't have classes until April. 

@Stvy - what did you expect in the first class? did you prepare? 

BulliesofNC

I think (like with any breed) it all depends on the amount of time you spend training. There's no question Bull Terriers have the intelligence and capability to do well in the agility ring.










(This Bull Terrier is Deaf)

BulliesofNC

This is what my Bullies would do:  :-))

xchairity_casex

Agree with you there Steve!

It was just refreshing to see owners who were happy and wiling to get out there and try-even though there Bullies were not the fastest or most obediant in the ring

Stvy

I wasn't expecting a whole lot. Weeks prior to the class starting I was just trying different things to keep his attention and trying to play games in different environments with distractions around. He was pretty yappy when sitting still for the first 1/3 of the class or so which was a little embarrassing. He was just a little overexcited since it was his first time in a classroom environment in a while. Also he doesn't play with dogs on a daily basis like he used to before I moved so he was in that want to play mode for a bit. She gave us these sticks that you wedge treats into which will eventually be used to signal dogs to obstacles/crossovers etc. we used those half the time doing random things like spins, walking to immediately laying down using the sticks and some other stuff.

I actually wish I started earlier. He's 14 months now. I didn't find out about the place I'm going to now until December. I probably would have went somewhere else which I'm pretty sure would not be as good. Which is the bright side of starting later. When I sat in on some of her intermediate/advanced classes I just liked how she operated. She doesn't seem like the type to sugarcoat or hold back saying something bad if you're screwing up. Don't get that as much nowadays because everyone is so damn sensitive to criticism. I personally love that quality in a person because that's how I am. I just recently found out the woman that teaches is pretty well known around the country. Her name is Terri Arnold. After she took him and used him in front of the class for 5-10 minutes to demonstrate something she made a comment to me saying he has the personality for it. He's very happy/confident dog. I told her I knew it was going to be a challenge and if I wasn't up for it I wouldn't be there. He's not a border collie which easily thrive in that type of stuff.

Sorry if my response seems a little fragmented. Typing from my phone

Soapskid

Thanks Stvy. I'm going to sit in on a few other classes in session right now to find the best fit for Spud. I'm already thinking hie embarrassed I'm going to be when Spud attends and he won't listen since he always wants to play with other dogs.

I'm going to take your advice and start doing some since I have the obstacles built already then use class as the formal training. Let us know how it is in the next few weeks.

Soapskid

Spud's trainer opened up a round of agility and now he's enrolled. Can't wait as we start April 4th. Hopefully Spud can pay attention to me than the other dogs.

Soapskid

Finished agility with Spud. I was afraid he was going to pay attention to other dogs but he did great especially staying on the pause pad for 30 seconds to a minute. Don't underestimate your bully - I didn't think we were going to make it but he did every obstacle.

BulliesofNC

Hey, I want to see pictures!!!!!!    X_X

Soapskid

I honestly didnt capture any as its a fast pace class on dirt field. I do have some obstacles i can get pictures of him doing. Overall great bonding experience between Spud and I.

BulliesofNC

Awesome. That must have been a blast. Sure would have loved to have seen a few photos or a video. That camera on your phone would have done the trick. 

Stvy

Hey guys. Has been a long time since I've been on here. Still doing agility and he has really come around the last 2-3 months or so.  He's been doing amazing. Attached a few photos, all of them are probably around a year old. I'm going to have someone record some video soon when we have a more difficult course set up so can get some more up do date stuff. Still tons of polishing up to do since this is my first time ever doing this. He's doing great though! 

Djammy

So cool, both of you seem to be doing a great job! Also a great choice of entertainment for an agile EBT. Really looking forward to watching the upcoming video!

Our dogs are all so smart!

I've been thinking about doing agility with Djamila, too, because she just loves to be outside. And her energy is endless.

But before I could decide for it, I've become addicted to dog trick training with her and have recently joined a group doing clicker training challenges in another forum. Djamila is doing an awesome job and loves the training.
Our latest one: Her holding a post upright on her own. It may look easy, but it actually took us some days to get it done.

fullofbull

Wow.........that is so cool.  Will she (Djamila) be pole dancing??  LOL  Hannah is starting obstacle training in the spring..........I can't wait.  I know she will love it.  Suppose to be the same stuff police dogs do.

Question for each of you.........will your bullies work for you without treats?  Hannah works great as long as I have a treat in hand, without it......forget it..........she just looks at me like "if you don't have anything for me, why should I do it"!!  Very frustrating when I know she knows what I want..........but looks at me dumbfounded!!

Dahhhh..........

:P

Djammy

Clicker training is actually based on positive conditioning using treats.

Treats are their currency ... I mean after all ... they don't even know what they're doing all this stuff for - if not for treats!

But kidding aside, give it some time and you'll see that you can also get by with a hug or praise every now and then. The more they mature, the more they love pleasing you.

Dancing ... what a nice idea. Now I start thinking about dog dancing. ) That's an actual sport!

Djammy

Just in case anyone is interested in watching our training videos for the pole trick, I just finished cutting and uploading them (I am placing this here, although it is trick training and not agility, because I already posted a photo of the trick in this discussion):


For those who only want to see the result, here's the shortcut: Jump to minute 3 in the second video below and just watch the last 30 seconds.

apanich

@Djammy - Very cool, thank you for sharing. I will definitely work on this with Prada

Stvy

@fullofbull still use treats, but not with nearly as much frequency as we used to. Do random treats at the end of contact obstacles to keep them honest. If you notice in my hand in one of the photos I'm holding a white stick at the end of it is a treat. Usually only give that treat at the end of a run or if there is a difficult discrimination or maneuver and he did it correctly. He has drive for it now and will probably be fine without the treats but they are good to have for now especially for certain areas. He still does have his bullie moments where he will take off and run around the course like a complete buffoon to try and make everyone laugh. Ignoring him usually brings him back to earth though and then he's fine. I've been meaning to try a new toy with him instead of treats. If your dog has high drive for certain toys try throwing that in on occasion instead of treats.Whether it's a quick tug game or fetch between repetitions 

fullofbull

Great advice!!  Thanks to both, I will definitely try those suggestions.  She so loves doing her training as long as I keep it short and sweet............LOL