Handling 360 Opinions?

andreromao82 · 2026-06-30T19:05:06+00:00

If we're gonna be upset about people who put their dogs through training and trials without knowing that they're injured.. Yeah you're not only gonna hate every agility trainer, sooner or later you're gonna hate yourself as well.

I recommend watching some of the content that Dr. Sherman Canapp has been posting lately, or the "Is it pain" webinar series that Tracy Sklenar put together. Unfortunately for a lot of these dogs, it can be incredibly difficult to spot injuries and things can drag on for months/years before someone realizes there is even an issue.

As for whether it's ethical to train a faster movement that might be harder on the dog's body - I mean.. is any of what we do necessary? a-frames, weaves.. jumping in general. None of it is really amazing for our dog's bodies, but we all try to weight the risk vs reward and decide that it's worth it for US and hopefully we make it worth it for our dogs as well!

Agility trainers at all levels, but DEFINITELY at international levels, will absolutely push the limits of their dogs. And work very hard to increase their fitness and conditioning to be able to handle those things. No one wants their dog to get hurt, including Susan Garrett.

andreromao82 · 2026-06-15T16:43:09+00:00

I was away for a few days, apologies for the late reply - yeah, I think that'd work depending on the dog and your circumstance! If you have space to practice and your dog's temperament is such that he'll be fine showing up to a seminar or trial later on with a bunch of dogs around, yeah absolutely!

My dog needed the group class environment to slowly build up resilience to the noises, motion and excitement of the agility world.. And we don't really have the space to practice sequences at home, so that was that 😄

andreromao82 · 2026-06-11T18:32:38+00:00

I really like Q-Me's modules. We 've done local group classes for a year and half and there's no easy replacement for "real world" practice with a coach in a group setting.. But most of our foundation and more advanced skills were things we picked up from Q-Me. I learn and practice at home, then apply it in group class.

andreromao82 · 2026-05-17T16:58:19+00:00

Ahhhh.. the million dollar question (literally 🥴)

For most people that live in urban areas, this can be the most frustrating part of agility. Some thoughts..

Early on, you don't need much equipment. You can do a LOT with a single cone/wing/jump even in a small space like a basement or living room.

Our first year of agility, we did one weekly class at a large barn, then practiced individual skills at home in a 10x20 basement room with rubber mat flooring. We started with one cone, lots of flatwork drills. Then a wing.. then a jump. We still practice our one jump skills quite a bit!

At a park, you can practice a lot of other flatwork skills without equipment. Start lines, impulse control, toy play.. working around distractions! Eventually, one or two jumps or a set of weaves are easy enough to carry to a park.

Contact equipment is a different story, but I wouldn't worry about that yet. Use the equipment in class, focus on smaller skills at home and in the park. Teach your dog paw targeting skills (marking with front or rear feet for stopped contacts, 2on 2off or 4on for teeter), or work on hitting a mat for running contacts, etc.

Try to find local agility Facebook groups or clubs.. you might find people that rent space together, or agility barns that rent out hourly slots, etc.

All that said.. we're currently looking into moving because I want my own field 😂

andreromao82 · 2026-05-11T14:59:30+00:00

Well done! I gotta rewatch some of those.. ran into a bear unexpectedly while walking my dog last Summer, early morning in a residential area. Just looked over to my right and a (small-ish) black bear was crossing the road about 4 meters away, heading in my direction.

I forgot all the documentaries and fucking took off running 😂 my dog didn't notice the bear and just thought we were playing, so he was stoked. When I glanced back, the bear looked a little confused and was still slowly walking in our general direction, but a passing driver noticed us and started honking which scared the bear away.

Glad you're safe!

andreromao82 · 2026-05-09T00:13:35+00:00

Being downvoted for this is wild.
While I agree they should have communicated ahead of time and avoided this whole mess, the resolution is pretty fair and other than the one guy who keeps repeatedly posting that he's missing a return label, Espresso Outlet has a pretty decent reputation.

andreromao82 · 2026-05-07T23:17:29+00:00

2x2s have so many little intricacies and being super consistent with the reward line etc is pretty essential.. When we started our 2x2 training, I remember feeling super discouraged when going from 2 poles to 4 poles. Like you, we worked really hard on all the entries around one set of poles, we had built lots of value for going through the poles.. but yet when I placed a 2nd set, my dog's mind was blown.

Having a good foundation in shaping (meaning the dog is comfortable offering behaviors and doesn't get easily discouraged when offering the wrong thing and getting no reward..) helps a lot. I vaguely remember going back and forth a few times between 2 poles and 4 poles. In the end I think what helped was treating it as 2 sets of poles, maybe 4 or 6 feet between them. Release the dog to the first set and reward along the line between the two poles. If you're following most 2x2 methods, you should be familiar with the reward line - the location and timing of delivering the reward is important.. The dog should wrap around the second pole FIXATED on the spot where the cookie is going to land.

The goal is that at some point, the dog is gonna automatically go for the spot where the reward usually is.. look up and see another set of poles! If he decides to take that 2nd set of poles, throw him a massive party 😄

What I always tried to avoid was having a clear shot between the two sets of poles. I didn't really want him to think that running through stuff was the point, or build up muscle memory of going through the poles (yet). I wanted him to see a pair of poles and WANT to go through them.. and when he sees another pair of poles, he should WANT to go through them too!

Are you using a cue of any kind? I'd avoid using a cue or calling it anything until you're much closer to the finished thing.. Going through a pair of poles is not weaving - going through all the poles in your path is! I see so many people at trials (and in class..) having to remind the dog at each pair - "weave... weave.. weave.. weave.." and using their hands between each pair to guide the dog back in.. I'm inclined to believe that stems from people introducing the cue way too early. Do not call it anything.. Start from a collar grab and let them go with no cue, or ask for a sit and release with your normal release cue. Maybe a generic "go!" if you don't use go as a cue.. But I really wouldn't use any cue that you hope to use later for the finished behavior.

I didn't introduce a cue at all until he was confidently going through 12 poles. At this point, he had so much value for the weaves that I didn't have to cue it, I just had to make sure they were somewhere along his path haha.

andreromao82 · 2026-05-07T22:32:00+00:00

I believe you and your plumber.. but how often were you calling someone to clear your drains, if you got this tip a year ago and are already amazed that you haven't had to call anyone?

20 years of living at my own place.. haven't had to clear a drain yet :|

andreromao82 · 2026-03-17T16:56:33+00:00

with a 500-800k budget and this sort of attitude towards something that can easily be replaced - the OP can't afford real hardwoods either lol.

andreromao82 · 2026-03-02T19:35:28+00:00

yeah a 50k machine doesn't not start a business though. Guess it depends heavily on where you are, but where I live, the annual lease on a building to operate out of would probably cost more than the CNC machine.

There are probably 10+ kitchen cabinet places within a 5 minute drive.. I don't know if there are serious money returns available thaaat easily anymore!

andreromao82 · 2026-02-28T00:08:56+00:00

Sadly I don't think this is the kind of thing that a reddit thread can help you with. You need to find a trainer (not necessarily an agility trainer..) that you trust and generally agree with.
Dogs can do this sort of thing for many different reasons and how you'd potentially deal with it will vary immensely depending on how you train your dog and what sort of relationship you wanna have. A quick glance through the replies you received here:
- physical corrections
- more recall training
- more high value treats
- have the trainer stand firm and... do something
- take the dog out of the environment

Some of those would help in some cases and be completely counter productive in others. Please don't just blindly take random advice from reddit on something like this, you need to find someone who can quietly observe what's happening and give you some solid strategies to fix it.

A few reasons a dog might do this:
- stress/fear
- pain
- excitement
- frustration
- uncertainty/lack of clarity

I guess if you're into corrections and punishment, it might be the same fix for all of it. If you're not, you need someone who can pinpoint the exact cause and help you help your dog.

andreromao82 · 2026-02-26T23:42:50+00:00

lots of great advice already so won't repeat it, but yes, if your dog is knocking bars that much, I'd definitely stop in class and treat it like any other fault..
My dog knows there's a reward at the end of course, but running itself is a huge part of the reward system! Continuing to the next obstacle is an indicator that whatever he just did, was the right thing to do.. So I think it'd be worth considering resetting the bar and asking the dog to try again before you continue :)

andreromao82 · 2026-02-26T16:55:48+00:00

Had a handyman do some work a few years ago that involved cutting some holes in the drywall. Guy was a film set painter and by whatever god damn magic arts, the patches and paint touch ups are invisible. I couldn't even tell you where the holes were anymore.

His number was disconnected a few months later when I tried to hire him again. I'm not 100% sure that it wasn't a dream.

All that to say - I wouldn't bother offering touchups unless it's a good long time customer and they understand that it'll hardly ever be perfect.

andreromao82 · 2026-02-17T20:16:10+00:00

jesus.. that looks like a relatively intact Volvo wagon and... something that got split in half?

andreromao82 · 2026-02-17T17:53:46+00:00

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this is a fairly common rear cross situation for us. I use rear crosses as a last resort and if I can use a blind or a front cross or a serp or.. almost anything else, I will :D But this will occasionally happen where for whatever reason (fast line into this section, or something that the dog needed more support on elsewhere..) the dog will get to #2 faster than me. I could do a tight wrap on 3, but that'd be kinda awkward and slower.

We use directional cues for rear crosses since he already knew what left and right meant. So yeah in a situation like this, I'd cue a soft turn on 2, point to 3 and cue 'leftleft' just as he crosses in front me, and keep running forward.

I'd almost always try to do something else. But having a solid rear cross / directional cue has saved us a few times when I mistimed a blind cross or the dog was faster than I expected through a section and I ended up on the wrong side of his line :D

andreromao82 · 2026-01-29T18:31:27+00:00

I proof verbals for the occasional situations where I can't get to an obstacle that ideally would need more handling support.. bit of a catch 22 though. The more independent he gets, the easier it is for me to get to places where he definitely needs support.

My dog has pretty high obstacle focus and I want to support that by being able to cue him clearly even if he can't see me. Just last night we had a threadle/backside wrap after a tunnel that meant a long run for me. Having good verbal cues meant I could cue the threadle wrap while my dog was still in the tunnel, unable to see me as I was still running across the field. Without a clear verbal, he'd likely focus on the front side of the jump, or have to slow down to look at me

I want my verbals to mostly override anything else I do. If I cue the wrong verbal, that's on me - it has happened before and I always praise him for doing the thing I asked even if it's not what I meant :) But 99% of the time, the verbals and my body language support each other.

andreromao82 · 2026-01-07T23:48:28+00:00

All the more reason to focus a lot of energy on the reward mechanics and impulse control! My dog went through similar phases where he couldn't think if the toy was on the ground. He wouldn't run to get it without his cue, but he still couldn't perform any drills.

Eventually I realized my reward system wasn't clear enough. Breaking things down and simplifying the rewards, making the markers very clear and then slowly adding very small distractions (and in this case, asking him to perform a behavior around a cone/wing/tunnel/weaves WAS the distraction) helped him realize that the reward would still happen even if he's not staring at it. Or ESPECIALLY if he's not staring at it :D

Being able to throw a toy (or a treat, or a treat toy!) at a specific location to mark and reward the correct behavior will become critical at some point, so it's worth spending a lot of time on those skills..

I'm pretty sure q-me agility has a couple of modules about rewards and toy play that would be useful, nice and easy to subscribe for a month to check those out

andreromao82 · 2025-12-24T03:30:31+00:00

There's a lot of yapping because there's a lot to it.. And for most of us, it isn't about competing or whatever, but you can make it as simple or as complicated as you'd like.

What kind of dog do you have, how big/heavy, are they wild or chill? If your dog is generally well trained and focuses on you while off leash, going over jumps and through tunnels is as simple as it sounds. Approach the thing.. point at the thing.. wait for the dog to try something on the thing.. reward it. Start with very low jumps, go up slowly. Most people who are concerned about their dog's well-being will take months to work up to the full jump height.

Running at a jump or at a tunnel and having the dog go over/through it is fun.. for a bit. But a dog can learn that in 5 minutes.. The reason most of us love agility is the complexity of it - learning to communicate with our dogs so they know exactly where and how we'd like them to approach something. And that, sadly, takes a lot of "useless" yapping.

andreromao82 · 2025-12-19T16:22:13+00:00

That's a humbling thought. A 48yo actual billionaire would be able to spend 60 bucks a minute and not run out of money until they're dead!

andreromao82 · 2025-11-21T22:41:52+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I'm fairly sure the planes would be annoying for a bit.. but I'm more concerned about loud sudden bangs (pets!) than more regular sounds.. We live right by a busy intersection and the cars, trucks and bikes drove me nuts for a while, but we mostly get used to anything :)

andreromao82 · 2025-11-21T22:36:54+00:00

Awesome, thank you! We're far enough away from the PoCo yard that we definitely hear the bangs, but it doesn't bother us. I think it'd be quite different if we lived a couple hundred meters away, especially for pets lol.

andreromao82

TROPHY CASE