Agility class #1

[crysania4]

Last night was our first agility class at Blue Prints Dog Studio. The nice thing about this location? They're less than 3/4 of a mile away from our house. I could walk there if I wanted to, but since this is agility class I wanted Dahlia to have more energy so I opted to drive the short distance.

I found this class a little odd right off the bat. The instructor didn't introduce herself to us. I think most of the folks there are daycare dogs and so she knows them and their people. She knows Dahlia because she goes there for grooming, but I have no clue who SHE is. Odd. She was a nice woman though and was very positive with all of the dogs.

Our class has 4 other dogs: A pit-bull/lab/something mix named Ellie(She's adorable with cute spotty toes and adorable ears. She's also a really nice dog. She met Dahlia with no problem, came over and licked my hand, and was generally very attentive to her owner.); a pit bull whose name I have no forgotten (He's a nice dog, but a bit over-excited and seemed REALLY interested in Dahlia); a Bichon named Cesar (cute little dog, very alert and not barky at all...she brings him in his own little carrying case...lol); and a Labradoodle named Chauncey (biggest dog in the class...he's a nice dog too).

We immediately started in with doing some of the obstacles. The first one we did was the weaves. They had them set up so the dog simply walked through them, so it was more like a little path at first than actual weaves. I've heard of this method of teaching them: start with them far apart and slowly bring them closer together. Dahlia went easily through them, which I didn't expect! We moved them closer together and she still had no trouble. So then we started working off leash. We had to bring the dog to the beginning of them, unleash her, and then bring her through. Then we were supposed to leash them back up. The instructor decided that as long as the dog was staying with you, there was no need to leash them back up, so Dahlia did some great off leash heel work and sticking with me. She was bright and happy through most of the class!

Then we moved onto the jumps. Ahhh...poor Miss Dahlia did NOT like them at first. We were to lead the dogs up to it, throw a treat over it and give them a hand signal and the jump command to go over. Dahlia went around. And then around again. Then she finally sat down and look at me. She just didn't seem to get that she could go over it. It was like this HUGE barrier to her and she was definitely nervous to step over it. Finally *I* stepped over it and showed her "look it's ok!" and she managed to walk over it. We had a huge freaking party. lol She pretty much struggled with this all class, but we did get her over it a few times and even once was more like a jump than simply stepping over it.

The last thing we did was a pause box that was made out of PVC piping and laid on the ground. the goal was to get your dog inside the box and have her sit down and pause (I think it's 5 seconds in competitions). You'd think this would be easy. But, alas, Dahlia did NOT want to step over the PVC piping onto the floor in the middle. I finally stepped into it and then she immediately did as well. I guess she needs Mommy to show her its safe. Once in, getting her to sit and wait was easy enough. I was glad to see that Ellie also did not want to step over the PVC piping and would try to lean over it to get the treat they threw in the middle.

At that point we combined the three elements. Get the dog in the pause box, stop, lead the dog to the "weaves," go through, then go over two jumps. She did this ok...certainly she has the following me part ok and she goes through the "weaves" just fine at this point (no clue how she'll do when we try to get to actually weave!). It always took a bit to get her over the jumps, but she would eventually do it. Especially for the freeze-dried chicken liver treats the instructor had (we are SO buying some of those).

When class ended I decided to take her over the jumps again and finally, at the very end of class, she went over them without really hesitating. We did it twice in a row and both times she went over. She keeps her head down while doing it, though. I think she feels she needs to watch the jumps in case something scary happens. lol

I think my poor girl needs more confidence in herself with these things. She was nervous to try just about everything. I'm thinking about getting some sort of practice jump I can take down to the park with me and work on it with her. This one site has "duffle jumps" which you can take apart and stick in a duffle bag for carrying. That might be an option.

Comments

[jeannekins.livejournal.com]

actually, the more she does agility (or any sort of performance) the more confidence she will get/build. make sure you don't over train the jumps, though. or anything else she's nervous about. once a week is good to start. they get exposed to the stuff, then they have the week to think about it/absorb it. if you do it too much, too soon, you'll sour her to it. and remember, once you get going in agility and have learned the obstacle and are starting to run courses, you don't want her heeling. you want her to be able to work away/ahead of you. oh, and she needs to be able to work off of both sides. so when you walk, make sure you have her walk on both sides, not just the left like they do in obedience. you'd be amazed how many people can run their dogs on their left only - makes things harder.

once she learns the stuff, she'll have more fun. it's a new situation with new things, so it can be scarey. but most dogs love it once they get into it.