Katie and I got to go to agility this morning. We haven’t been to any doggie school in over a month and she’s a bit bonkers. She went to the groomer this week, which she doesn’t like at all, so this morning when I had her leash and was headed for the door to the garage she went and hid behind the sofa. I told her we were going to school, which generally elicits happy dancing, but she wasn’t believing it this morning. So I dragged her off to the back of the car, and she shook in her kennel back there for the first few miles, with me reassuring her that it really was a school day.

Once we arrived and she realized there were no blow dryers or bathtubs she was all excited.  She said hello to a few of her friends but mostly she wanted to GO GO GO!  Hurry up Mom!  This week the instructors set up three groups of obstacles, and the five of us in class ran our dogs through sequences of three  things, over and over.  The first set was chute, tire, jump.  Since Katie is still new (this is only her 4th class) the instructor held up the end of the chute so Katie could see, and she ran right through every time.  She balked at the tire somewhat, wasn’t sure where she was supposed to go and tried to go under it and around it.  But eventually we got her to jump through it.  The subsequent times she went through the tire pretty well.  And she loves to jump, so jump was no issue.  By the fourth run through she was getting everything right as long as the chute was held open.

The second set of obstacles was jump, tunnel and A-frame.  But we were going the other direction, with the dog on our right.  BOY!   That’s hard for Katie and for me!  She’s just had almost a solid year of obedience always on my left and that’s where she wanted to be.  I wasn’t the only one having issues.  So we stopped and all practiced heeling with the dog on our right for awhile.  That’s something I’ll have to practice.  Katie too.  Anyway, eventually we went back to the obstacles and did the jump, tunnel, frame, and Katie flew through all those, even the A-frame!  YEA!

The third set was hardest.  It was teeter, weaves, and table.    Katie wasn’t afraid of the teeter this week, the instructor held it so it landed gently, but we were useless at weaves.  I need to get some weave poles so we can practice.  She did these much better last class than we did today.  The table was fun for her, so not a problem.

Finally the instructor put all 9 obstecles together and we got to run it twice.  Katie did REALLY well the second time, except for the weaves she did everything (with a little help with the chute and the teeter).  She had so much fun!  I was working up a sweat, but she could have (and would have) run all afternoon.

I wonder if we should just build some weave poles out of pvc, or buy some.  Anyone have a source they use to buy stuff like this?

My schedule at work got radically changed yesterday. For the next 3 weeks anyway. So now the 4 week agility class that starts next Sat. might just be a possibility. I think I am free at least 3 of the 4 mornings, just need to wait for a confirmation email this morning, and hope that week 4 is OK too.

Last night, going to bed way after midnight I asked Katie if she wanted to go back to school. Her eyes lit up and she started bounding all over the bed, leaping on me along the way. She was so happy and ready to go RIGHT NOW! I laughed and told her it wasn’t time yet and eventually she settled down to a restless sleep.

Silly me, I KNOW she’s going to react like that, why would I ask her at midnight? But it was fun to see her react. She hasn’t been to school for a couple of weeks and she misses it. I hope we get to go to this next class.