Clean Run - April 2012 - 55

Debut Site Considerations
• Fencing, safe confinement • Footing for you and your dog • Space for crating and warm-ups • Minimal distractions • Friendly, familiar crowd

young Border Collie Beezie at a small local trial where she has trained: “That way we can focus on our work together. I will choose a place that is most likely to allow us to have a positive experience. The ribbons will come, but her experience at those first few trials will be the most important factor for me.” Attending a local trial also spares your novice dog the added stresses of travel. Asking a dog to handle a long car trip, her first overnight in a hotel and her first agility trial is a bit much. Different venues may provide better conditions for starting a young or novice dog out. CPE has no weaves at the first level so Sandy Madaio felt that would be the ideal venue for her young wild child Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Quentin. Some venues allow you to help your dog or to redo an obstacle if there is a problem. That removes any chance of qualifying but for the novice dog, a positive experience is more important than a Q ribbon. Carol Donnelly sums up the debut plan for many exhibitors: “My approach is to make absolutely certain that the first time out my dog has the time of her life! I generally only debut in JWW, so it is a short day and usually a fairly straightforward course. While I don’t encourage ‘zoomies,’ I don’t stop them or lie my dog down. I want to work through them.” D

Local, so no travel stress

The Ideal Site
A small one ring trial, whether indoors or outdoors is perfect for many dogs’ debuts. Having just one ring means less noise, fewer new dogs, and less stress on you the handler since you won’t have any conflicts between rings, even if you are running multiple dogs. The ideal is to do your first trial experience at a site where you train or have attended some show and gos. Both you and your dog will feel less stressed with a familiar place and familiar faces and dogs around you. Maggie Meleski Yates plans to debut her

Deb Eldredge has been in agility since 1990 with dogs of five different breeds and three groups. Her versatile dogs have run in USDAA, AKC, NADAC and CPE. They also compete in other performance venues. The dogs claim any of the successes along the way are due totally to their talents. They would like to chip in and send Deb to agility handler boot camp.

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Clean Run - April 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - April 2012