Agility Level 1

Last night was our first level 1 agility class at the club. It was great to be back in an agility class after having three weeks off. The class is in the actual agility building this time, and we are in the first class of the night. So not so much waiting around for the last class to finish and fewer treats left on the floor for me to hoover up! Last night was a get-acquainted with obstacles night for pups who might have never seen jumps and tunnel before. We started with some heeling to get loosened up and then split into two groups - smaller dogs and bigger dogs. I got to go through a really long straight tunnel - I was super fast and had mom running full-out to meet me at the other end. And I even got to try the curved tunnel - my first one ever. No problem. We did a wing jump (also never seen one of those) and walked a real dog walk plank although it was on the ground. When it was time for us to try the weave poles, they had them set up with wires and a straight channel. Mom told our instructor that I already knew the concept of weaves so she let us do it without the wires and with the poles in a straight line. I wasn't perfect but did prove to her that I had the idea so she said we shouldn't use the wires. Cool. Mom was worried that they would make us start over and that it would mess me up. We also did three jumps in a row and table. The only thing last night that was really new to me was something called a buja board. For any dogs who have never been on a teeter before, it gets them used to motion under their feet. It is a like a plywood board about 3'x3' and it has a small ball underneath it and this makes the board rock around. I was not fazed by it - mom tried to let me figure it out slowly, but I just climbed on and started walking all over it and smelling it. This class will introduce us to all obstacles except the teeter. It will be fun to get used to regulation equipment. And I am sure mom will learn more handling skills - she's gonna need them if she is going to keep up with me!

Today mom read a jump exercise in an old Clean Run magazine - make a box out of four jumps and teach jump left and jump right and also go out jump and here jump. She set it up and I did great and I was so excited about jumping and getting rewarded with tugging on my slip lead that I didn't even notice that no food treats were involved! When we were finished with the exercises, mom threw my frisbee and that gave me the zoomies! I zoomed faster than ever around the backyard and took two jumps in a row on my own at full speed! Wish we had a video of that! I have always liked agility, but now I think I'm starting to LOVE it!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky