Toni Drugmand’s Phoenix Dog Training Blog

This is not the best video quality because we are under cover in a horse arena, but you can still get an idea of the courses.  This is ‘Stuff ‘  ( short for “All The Right Stuff”…so what would you a dog that looked like him?:-) Stuff is a funny little herding dog that comes from the Pyrenese Mountain regions in the South of France.  He loves to jump and climb on things and we often call him the little monkey.   He is a fun little dog with lots of  “attitude” and he enjoys just about everything he does! ( Boy do I wish I shared his view on life this way!) Before you decide you would like a fun little dog like this, talk to me :-0!  He is also bossy, aggressive with other dogs and gets into everything, besides being very, very busy all of the time. 

In this clip you can see “Stuff” anticipating the run at the start line.  He is supposed to be waiting to move forward until I tell him the word “GO!”…”Stuff” is so excited to start his run I am telling him “wait” more than once as he can hardly stand the hold up.  We will have to work on this so that his enthusiasm doens’t create a problem controlling him on course down the road. 

Many really good agility dogs share this problem because along with being athletic and talented and fast , they must also be able to take direction from their handlers or they will mess up on their course causing them to either loose time or not qualify at all.  The ideal handler /dog team will be able to balance the excitement and “drive” with enough control on the course to work together like a team and hopefully acheive a clean run.

Stuff is still a green dog working at novice levels.  I am trying to work him with as much distance as possible and still keep his speed and accuracy on track.  Look for him to improve with skill and I think enhanced speed as he matures and we do more together in competition. In the mean time we both plan on having fun together while we are getting things figured out! 

This is Amber Abbott competing with Stuff in one of his first trials.  I was injured and Amber and Stuff had  a great time together running at this show.  Even if Stuff does blow his contacts and miss a few weave poles.  All in all for a green dog working with a different handler, they look great!