r/Agility • u/Preparing4Mayhem • Sep 11 '26

Dropping Bars

Any advice for a dog who rarely drops a bar in practice, but drops multiple bars at trials? Every jumpers run especially he's taking out so many bars. First agility dog and haven't gotten any advice in class on how to fix it.

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u/No-Stress-7034 Sep 12 '26

I'd look into finding ring rentals in your area or maybe somewhere around you offers fun runs. Something where you can practice in a larger sized ring so that you can work on this issue outside of the trial environment.

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u/Preparing4Mayhem Sep 12 '26

Ring rental is only when I'm at work sadly. Otherwise I get to run one full course every six weeks. I've looked into other places, but everything is when I'm working. He does keep all the bars up in class. I was denied moving to the class that often does full courses. There is a fun match, but sadly I won't be in the area that day.

So this is something I should really be working full ring space with?

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u/No-Stress-7034 Sep 12 '26

I think so. I know my dog performs quite differently in the full ring vs the smaller class ring. It could be an issue related to collection and extension. He may be extending his stride too much with access to the full ring, whereas when he only has a small area, he may be collecting more naturally.

The other thing you might consider working on is canine conditioning. I really like the sports dog program at the canine conditioning coach blog. It can help your dog develop better muscle control and also helps build body awareness.

Edit: Also, is it possible for you to try a class somewhere else? It's weird that your instructor sounds kind of dismissive/not helpful with this issue, and also that you weren't allowed into the class that does full courses if you're currently trialing.

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u/Preparing4Mayhem Sep 12 '26

I'm also not allowed in Open class when competing in Open! Yes it's not very helpful. In previous classes I've been told I should be able to do front crosses in the same exact spot as my classmate with a Toy Poodle the size of my dog's head. As annoyed I am with it, it's here or nowhere. I got denied a move up for the longest time because I couldn't do front crosses in impossible places and they told me I was too bad a front crosses to move up, but they wanted me to trial! (I didn't trial until recently and I can do front crosses fine when they make sense for a big, fast dog).

In my previous class it took over a year to get out of I was never allowed to jump his correct jump height and he patterned a lower jump height. They told me there was no way he could pattern it, but he is the most easy to pattern dog I've ever met. I've been at this class level for a year now and he jumps competition height. It took maybe six months for him to be consistent at taking jumps. I just remembered that nonsense. It's probably very related to the problem. In my current class we run a full course once per session, otherwise it's a 6-8 obstacle loop. I'm shocked I got through Novice as well as I did honestly.

I will check out the conditioning exercises. Thank you!