Performance Newsletter

November 2007

By Jane Eno

As I impatiently wait for the day I can bring home a new puppy, I am planning my approach to those early years of training. I know I want to participate in both agility and obedience and that I want my new doggie partner to be as sound as possible for as long as possible. In my research, I have found two schools of thought on starting a puppy over jumps and building muscle. Both sound sensible and reasonable.

Silvia Trkman, 9 time National Champion and 2 time World Champion, writes of this issue on her website, ( and Aligilty is Good 2). She believes in starting dogs over jumps at very young ages. To quote her, she says, “Yes, while you might think that making a young dog go through 5 low jumps two times a week is a trauma that might cause problems, I think that it's a preparation for a long and healthy life, free of injuries. I think that if you keep your puppy away from activity, their muscle and tendons will in fact be so weak that a puppy jumping off the couch might end up with problems.” Her thinking goes against all we are taught about waiting until a puppy has matured and all growth plates have closed before doing any jumping or hard physical exercise. Has she been correct or just very lucky?

The other side of the coin is all the recommendations you commonly see to limit all exercise, (particularly jumping), until growth plates have closed. When I asked on the Clean Run Agility Discussion list what people had done, the most common response was to wait to teach jumping until growth plates had closed. Some people actually had their puppy X-Rayed to check; others went by common times for their breed. In the Kerry Blue Terrier, there seems to be range from 6 months to up to 2 years for this to happen, or even longer, if the puppy is spayed or neutered.

I also asked a canine sports medicine vet who has worked with Jessie, my Kerry Blue Terrier, when she thought a puppy should start training over jumps. Dr. Kristin M. Browne, DVM, of TheraVet Acres Rehabilitation and Fitness told me, "I usually tell my clients if they have a choice, wait until approx. 14 months to be sure that the growth plates have closed. As far as exercising a young dog, it is extremely important to be “active” with them. It is a wonderful time for foundation training. I usually go by the following for my clients: 8 weeks to 6 months - they can have plenty of play, jump training up to carpus height only, non-impact skill training (sit, down, come, running contacts). 6 months to 14 months- they can start strength training and jump training up to elbow height. After 14 months - jump training above elbow height, begin weaving and endurance training."

On the conservative side, tracking is a recommended sport to concentrate on with the young dog. One of my friends recently got her TD (Tracking Dog) title on her Lab just a month after she turned six months, (the youngest a dog can trial in the AKC). Even the high head carriage preferred in competition obedience heeling is suspect for later neck and shoulder issues. Tracking has the advantage of allowing the dog to move as they wish at the speed they pick. The book, Novice Nosework by Ed Presnell, is a good book on starting a young dog in tracking. ( Novice Nosework).

Another option to starting a puppy in agility without jumps, is an approach covered in a book I recently picked up called, Flatwork – Foundation for Agility, by Barb Levensen. (Cleanrun.com). This book has many exercises and ideas for training agility control without the stress of jumping or doing contacts. It will be one book I use a lot with a puppy and with my older dog, Jessie, as well.

Another interesting approach I want to explore is the running contact training that Silvia Trkman describes in her web article, where she explains how she starts with the contact obstacles actually lying flat on the ground. She uses wide open weave poles as well, working only on speed and enthusiasm. Definitely a good approach for an agility star of the future, since it encourages speed without the danger of injury that you get with full height contacts and closed weave poles.

Speaking of up and coming Obedience stars of the future, the Novice First & Foremost ratings for 2006 have been published. 2006 Front & Finish® Novice A & B Obedience

Score Rating System

Kerry Blue Terrier

1.Blue Bay’s Wind Dancer RN MX MXJ
B Vogel/J Vogel 9

1.O’Callens Glory Bound Bailey
G McNary 9

2.Cladaugh’s Murphy Brown CD
K Smith 3

3.Finbar’s End Of The Rainbow RA
V Barishek 1

3.Kerrageen’s Jubilation
J Birkland 1

Congratulations to all these rising stars!

On the other side of the coin, the National Invitationals took place this year. While no Kerry Blue Terrier qualified this year for Obedience, we had three kerries participate in the Agility Invitational.

The Agility Kerries were:

Bailey (Lynmar My Blue Heaven MX MXJ) owned and handled by Tracy Fulmer. They finished in the top 20 dogs in the 20 inch class with a total score of 390 out of 400 points. They also came in as top scoring Kerry Blue Terrier. Congratulations!

Riley (CH Kallehan’s Blue Moon Rising MX MXJ XF) owned and handled by Maggie Hall. You will remember Riley from his AOM win out of the Veterans class this year at the USKBTC Nationals in Montgomery County. They came in number 46 in a very large, competitive 16 inch class with a total score of 357.

Tide (CH Tantara's High Tide CD MX MXJ) owned and handled (and breed by) Eve Fishell. They came in number 53, also in the 16 inch class with a total score of 344.

These three kerries did an awesome job of representing our breed in Agility at this event. We are so proud of them and hope to hear more of their accomplishments over the years.

BRAGS

From Victoria Jutras Kniering:
Ms. Bailey Blue and I passed the "delta assisted therapy dog" tests...and she and I are registered to work with all levels.

From Susan Coliton:
Eidenbock's Jamison Lee, CD, RAE-2 now can add RAE-3 to his titles. Finished on 11/4/2007 at Vallejo's Dog Training Club trial under judge, Shirley Indelicato. Both RAE's were done in 10 straight double Q's.

Afton's MidSomer's Night Dream completed her RN on 6/16/2007 under judge, Cathy Dutra; RA on 11/23/2007 under judge, Nancy Craig. Both were done in 3 straight trials.

Last Updated: 12/05/2007, 7:24 pm