Extravayarnza

This is a quick update from earlier today. The weather did hold out & Robin got to enjoy his first agility class. He did so well! I've very proud tonight. He went right through the weave poles (set at a beginner angle). The A-frame through him a bit, but with a ton of positive reenforcement he made it over. Once he went over right there was hardly any hesitation the next time. He just needed to see that it wasn't going to hurt him & that there were treats at the other side. I even got him to stop on the contact on his way down (for those of you who don't know about agility, on obstacles like the a-frame the dogs feet have to touch a contact zone at the beginning & end of the obstacle. This is to make sure they don't jump onto & off of the beam and hurt themselves)

They put us in the group with what I think of as 'pocket dogs'. At first I was a bit miffed that we weren't with the shelties, aussies, and cocker spaniel, but when I though about it I think it's better this way. He is too young to work on jumping, so if we work with the tiny dog group he can just walk over the jumps & not risk injuring himself. I suspect they thought about this...

Robin loves some of the new training games they showed us. Especially the game that teaches them to go to your hand. I hold my hand out & tell him to 'touch'. Then he goes to my hand & touches it with his nose. That's got to be the easiest way for him to get a treat...

& what does Robin think about all this?
I'll have to ask him when he wakes up.

He's been napping for 5 hours straight since class got over. Apparently agility is hard work ; )