Katie, her Daddy and I went to our second beginning agility class tonight. Katie has been wound up like a top all day and I didn’t have high expectations for class. I wasn’t wrong, at least at first. They started out with the dogwalk and she was having none of that. There were only three of in the class at first, and three instructors, so one of them took us aside and wanted to work with her on the wobble board.
This is when I had a memory flash of Dianna’s blog where she said she should have listened to herself rather than let an instructor tell her what to make Miley do on the table. I know that the wobble board was what got Katie totally freaked out last week. So when the instructor tonight suggested we use it to get Katie desensitized to the dogwalk I said NO. I told her it had caused Katie to shut down last week. So the very nice instructor went and got a blue board that sat flat on the floor and a lower table, and I worked with Katie to first touch and then get on those. It took awhile and a lot of chicken, but eventually she would sit on the blue board, then on the low table. By the end of the class she’d jump on the taller table.
She never did walk the dogwalk, but she’ll put her front feet on the yellow part. And she’ll do the same for the A-frame. She just won’t put her back feet on anything! The teeter? Well, she’ll quickly put ONE paw on it and then take it right back off then look to me for a treat. She’s so funny! I guess she’s right, she did touch it! LOL!
They also introduced a longer tunnel, the tire and the chute. She loves tunnel and jumps and only balked at the tire a few times. I think that was more me than her, she wasn’t always sure where she was supposed to jump with it. I was worried that she wouldn’t do the chute, but she was on a roll running through stuff, so even when they dropped the chute on her she ran through. I don’t think she’s ready to just charge through it without someone holding it open yet, but she sure didn’t show any fear.
In fact, I think she had a blast today. We made sure to make it all fun and not force her to do anything. We’re going to be working on our board in the driveway. This past week I got her to walk it a couple times, mostly though she’d rather avoid it. I did use Marie’s suggestion with the board that if she touched it I threw the treat away from the board to alleviate stress. She doesn’t seem as afraid of it as she used to be. If I can get her to run it regularly this week I’ll raise it up a tiny bit see how that goes.
Tomorrow is our rally class. I used obedience/rally stuff tonight to warm Katie up and she was spot on. Maybe tomorrow will be a great class too! After that husband and I are going to the North American Auto Show. We haven’t been in years. Should be fun.
Today in rally she was about perfect. I got a shot of her in the line of other dogs doing her sits/downs. She never moved, even though she was right at the end next to a fabric wall behind which were three owners who were practicing open sits/downs and had “left the room.” They were talking quite loudly and she kept looking over that way but she never broke. Even when one of them sneezed!! And then someone knocked over a CHAIR for heavens sake! She flinched but didn’t move. I’m very proud of her for that.
Change Is Hard 