# 15 week old pup climbed competition dog walk



## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

I'm looking for opinions on my puppy. Last night my 15 week old standard puppy, Mia, walked a competition quality dog walk on her own. We were working on walking on leash at our trainer's house. Suddenly Mia turned and started up the trainer's dog walk. She seemed tentative but determined, and not at all scared. The next thing I knew, Mia was halfway up the ramp, so I kept her going all the way across and back down the other side. I was amazed, and our trainer was astounded. Is this a sign? She loves playing on playground equipment, but she's too young for an agility class (worried about her joints). What should I do next with her?


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## Feralpudel (Jun 28, 2010)

Work on basic obedience. You need a really solid recall and an ability to focus on you in very distracting environments to work well in an agility class. Some agility classes require a test of recall with distractions to enter the class. 

You can also work on foundation work. Greg Darrett has a good video on agility foundation work. Work on having her tug with you and being toy driven. Get a Booja board. Teach her to spin in both directions--this helps with hind end awareness.


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## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

Spinning is good. I taught Vasco to put his front feet on a phone book, and to move his back feet around while keeping the front on the phone book. Also 'Mark' (put the front feet on something), 'Touch' (your hand, with the nose), 'Target' (touch a target with the nose ... I use a wooden spoon).

'Hold' is a good one too ... put the puppy's hind feet on the bottom stair, with the front feet on the floor, and teach her to hold that position until released.


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## Rocketagility (Apr 27, 2010)

Well I don't know if it is a sign but I do think it will make things easier later when you do really start training equipment. My 11 week old mini pup did the same thing he is pretty fearless, it looks like your pup might be fearless also. I am not too sure what really is amazing about it your pup hasn't learned to be scared yet so keep it fun and positive and later when your pup is older hopefuly he will still be trusting of you. Some instructors think that if your dog does a dog walk at a slow speed for the first times they will always be slow so walking your dog over the dog walk may not be the best idea. This also goes for the A-frame and weaves etc.

You can teach a zillion foundation games, circle work, body awareness ways to show your dog that you are fun to run with etc. 





Liz said:


> I'm looking for opinions on my puppy. Last night my 15 week old standard puppy, Mia, walked a competition quality dog walk on her own. We were working on walking on leash at our trainer's house. Suddenly Mia turned and started up the trainer's dog walk. She seemed tentative but determined, and not at all scared. The next thing I knew, Mia was halfway up the ramp, so I kept her going all the way across and back down the other side. I was amazed, and our trainer was astounded. Is this a sign? She loves playing on playground equipment, but she's too young for an agility class (worried about her joints). What should I do next with her?


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