Handling a slow dog vs.a fast dog

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Sharon

Forums Sage
At class the other day one of the gals I train with (there are 5 shelties and a lab in this class) her dog hurt his paw and came up limping so she was bummed about her dog and not being able to run so I told her she could run Shadow if she wanted to.Shadow is fast and her dog is a velcro dog and not very fast but still does a great job.So she runs SHadow and did a nice job and she comes out of the ring and says Holy s***!! Her and another lady who use to run a slow dog and now runs a fast dog started talking about the differences in running slow vs fast and how they had to adjust .The lady who ran Shadow says you really have to think out there.I ran my girlfreind's Golden once in class and I was more tired from trying to get the dog to move.There is such a huge difference.I was out my comfort zone but still had fun running the Golden.
 
I have one of each. Pyper wears me out just trying to get her to move it. Lexi wears me out trying to keep up. They are both challenging!!
 
I agree that it is a totally different experience. My husband runs Bentley most of the time and I run Lexi, and our approaches to courses are night and day. But since we both have run (and still do occasionally) both dogs, we can see the "other options".

At a trial I will ask my husband "How are you handling this?" and then I ask him "How would you handle it with Lexi?" because the answer is often different.

I was blessed to be able to start agility with Bentley. He's not a slow poke, but typically velcro with a late commitment point. I have time to make a mistake and correct it. But with Lexi, I don't even have time to think. She commits around 18' prior to the next obstacle. But it's nice because I don't have to really run the whole course. I can get lateral distance to help me get into place. With Bentley you are almost running to every obstacle, but in that case we're faster than him so we can get into place that way, too.
 
I went from one extreme to another between Smokey and Trax. I found myself 10X more tired running Smokey because it took longer and I had to cheer him on the whole way. With Trax, it's over in typically 20-40 seconds so I don't have time to talk to him :biggrin2:
 
ortegah said:
I went from one extreme to another between Smokey and Trax. I found myself 10X more tired running Smokey because it took longer and I had to cheer him on the whole way. With Trax, it's over in typically 20-40 seconds so I don't have time to talk to him :biggrin2:
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I find the same thing. Ember wears me out with Cheerleadering and Diva I just try to keep up. I can beat Ember to anywhere on the course(I am happy to say not as easy as it used to be) so I can have many plan Bs, if my plan goes hirewire with Diva I better think fast or it is too late.

That being said I like run the fast dog more as it gets my adreanline going.
 
Well Having one Faultless Turtle and one not so faultless Rocket, There are days when I must adimt I wish I was in the ring with the turtle because somedays trying to run down the rocket before she does something stupid ( almost alway's because the handler somehow managed to get just a bit behind) can be just a bit much, but then there are the times when I love driving that rocket down the rails, especially when she come flying out of a blind tunnel and you manage to catch her head and turn her out to something else totally off of that dummy jump that's staring her right in the face.

As my wife say's to me as a constant reminder, Well You always want a fast dog told you, you should be careful what you wish for you just might get it, the turtle never wears me out, he can get me frustrated at times though. well both of them can but for totally different reasons, each of them know the right buttons to push if they want to.
 
I've never handled a slow dog, so I really can't compare. But, I will say it wears me out to watch someone handling a dog that requires all the cheerleading.
 
I would love to have some of that FAST experience, but I am too new to the sport :biggrin2:
I really have a middle of the road and the BEST starter kind of dog ever, I am sooooo lucky with Toffee. I love that dog so much!
I have time to learn what I need, cuz my dog is a thinker, lol Yet, he has the right amount of value for obstacles, velcro but also some distance and medium drive that makes me happy!
 
Once I overheard discussion among "serious" competitors " if this dog is not fast enough I am going to return it".... kinda deflated the bubble I want to live in:cry:
as for fast vs slow dog... my friend let me run her girlie and it is humbling to be faster than the dog in the ring, unnerving too but then again- you run the dog you with...
My 2 cents-each dog comes with their own set of challenges and adjustments to handling, speed is only part of the whole.
 
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