Beginning Intermediate Agility Class 1

Tonight I went to my first beginning intermediate agility class! There are 12 dogs in the class (most of whom have been training at this facility already). We were split up into groups of 3 dogs and there were 4 stations to go to - 15 minutes each. The first station I went to was the teeter. I had never been on a teeter before except for the one I have at home. This one was lowered a little bit, but I got right on it with no problem. Mom is going to work with me on making sure I "hit it" and hold that 2o2o position until she releases me. At this station we also did jump, double-jump (my first double - I sailed over it with ease), and table.

At the second station I did a lot of jumps and mom worked on her handling. Front crosses - we had to do tire, jump, slice to a jump and then front cross, jump. We mixed the jumps up and added tunnel too. This was all easy for me - I'm sure it will be even easier when mom gets her handling moves down!

The third station was weaves and chute. Some dogs are still using wires and channels. So there was a set of 12 poles with wires and a set without. I used the set without. We did down and back, down and back. Mom found out that she was running too far ahead of me while I was in the poles and that was making me get distracted and pop out. The instructor told her to stay closer to me and not to worry about how fast I am doing it right now. So mom stayed closer and it worked! Weaving takes lots of concentration so I don't need mom to do anything distracting yet! If we practice with the repetitions it will help me to get into a rhythm. Then the instructor helped us practice the chute - she knew that I don't really like it. So she rolled it up and little by little let the material out - mom kept encouraging me to go through and I did. The instructor stopped after a few times and said we'll try again next week starting where we left off. We really appreciated her not pushing it too hard!

Our last station was contacts. We got to run the dogwalk and I learned that I really have to know what my job is - run fast to the bottom and hit my 2o2o and not move until mom says it's ok! For now I am going to get three treats if I hold my 2o2o while mom walks around me. Cool, I can do that! My instructor said she will help us learn to do a running contact on the a frame (with me jumping the apex!) but she really wants us to stick to 2o2o for the dogwalk and teeter.

Mom and I are really excited to start practicing the things we learned tonight! So far this class is way better than our last agility class!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky