Agility Time

Happy Monday my friends! :-)

Well, yesterday was my very first agility class...I was a bit nervous, but I ended up having a pretty darn fun time!

My instructor, Miss Rachel, is super nice, way up-beat, and totally knows what she's talking about! My class was full with 8 pups in total: there was a hound, a cattle/lab, a sheepdog (who was soooo smart and got everything on the first try...hm, showoff!), a corgi-basset, a pittie, a doodle (that looked exactly like my friend, Murphy), and a pretty retriever mix!! I was definitely the smallest pup there, but not the youngest! ;-)

We have a lot of over-achievers in class, so I have a lot to catch up on and practice!

There wasn't enough time to take photos in class, but this one is from their website and shows the continuing agility class (the one after mine). Just look at that pup!! :-D

Miss Rachel has an interesting philosophy, she says that agility must be the dog's idea! So everything that we do and learn must be initiated by us...certainly different from obedience class, cause if that was their way, I would have just eaten the bag of treats and sat my butt on the ground! ;-)

That's Pepper's (the sheepdog) Pop

So, the first thing that we practiced was the "table", but since we didn't have more than one table, this meant that we used Kuranda doggie beds instead. All Domeek was supposed to do was to stand by the "table" and just wait for me to either look at, touch, or get on the "table", then throw a treat on the "table"...needless to say, since she didn't use a word or lure me into position, it took a couple of minutes for me to get it (I've also never stood on one of those beds, which was kind of weird feeling under my paws). By the end of that part of class though, I was hoping on the "table" and sitting for a treat!! Most of my other classmates, hm ok all of them, were in a down position by the end of the session, but I don't do down! ;-) That's the terrier in me! :-P

Then we had to practice agility walking/trotting; apparently by the end of the five weeks we should be able to go in straight and curved lines and on both sides of our parent! This meant that we all looked like idiots, trotting around in circles and then switching directions (which was a little complicated for my poor, pathetic Domeek and not for me, hahaha)! The thing with agility is that it's a modest sport (Miss Rachel's words), cause pups aren't supposed to look at their human's butt (muahahaha)...we should always be in the eye sight of our parent!

I helped to clean up after class

Domeek and me, this week, have to work on both the "table" (actually a mat or a towel at home) and walking for homework...sounds pretty easy, but I'm sure it will be more difficult than expected, especially when I don't want to do it! Hehehe!

We will be learning a new apparatus each week, more if the class progresses quickly, and by the end we will know how to correctly go through 5 different stations, walk in different directions, and two different paths! WooHoo! I can't wait!

I'm a bit worried about a couple of the jumping ones, cause of the bad knee, but we'll play it by ear and hope that my knee behaves itself! :-D

Have an awesome day everyone!!