Teeter and the Rush

We are going to have a competition sized metal teeter soon! :D

It has been cold and snowy so we haven't done a whole lot of training.

I am just wondering what the point of doing agility with puppies is. Why the hurry? Just because you are allowed to start competing with pups around 18 months of age doesn't mean you have to. I personally don't like seeing people put their 10 month old puppy on a full sized teeter. The same goes for people who are running 12 week old puppies across a board. If you do all the foundation needed, then you shouldn't have to start obstacles early. Lay your foundation correctly and the obstacles will come very quickly once your dog is ready for them. Also, why work weaves [even entries!] before the dog is a year? The 2x2 method usually takes under a month to train so if you start at 15 months you will have decent weaves at the age of 16 months...isn't that good enough? Sometimes I wonder why people originally got their puppy...to do agility or because they wanted a dog to bond with and love. Because not letting puppies be puppies and have fun is seriously contradicting of people who claim the latter.

Li is old enough to compete in February and Flick is already old enough. But I will wait for Summer for Li and at least March for Flick. For many of the people [especially novice/intermediate people] who want to trial as soon as possible, it makes it seem like they are excited for themselves, not for the dogs. I also don't really understand planning goals like "Go to nationals" or "make the world team" before you compete with your dog. Some people even set these goals before they get a dog! I am not talking about specific people. I have just run into some people with this thought process and have slapped my little sister on the side of the head for saying such things, haha.