Had agility class today, it was gloriously sunny if a little muggy, and it went fairly well. Mollie was a little unfocussed compared to usual and refused a few jumps etc, but does the tunnel and A frame really well now, and I think she just disliked the jumps and weave today because she was a bit tired.
Tracy came along and wielded a camera from a safe distance, so we have a few pics - hurrah!!
For starters, here's one of Mollie dog doing the "dog walk", off lead. She actually jumped off abit further on, but jumped back on when I patted the walk. As we're a beginner class, the dogs spend a lot of time on lead for the moment, once we've got their focus towards the end of the lesson we generally start going off lead - today we only had one dog run off round the field, which was good. You can understand them - with all those other dogs around, and the wide open space, they just want to run around and play - but they're all starting to get the idea that they're there for a reason now, and they all seem to really enjoy themselves.
Our trainer, Jill, from Harlequin Fun Agility Club, is great, very encouraging, always cheerful, and the dogs seem without exception to love her. She makes sure we all get a couple of goes at each piece that we're practising, and if a dog runs off, gets a bit barky or over-excited, it's not a huge problem. In fact if, like Mollie, they miss a jump or something, it's fine to just try again until you get it right - there's no huffing and puffing.
Eventually, you get it right.
Which is a great feeling. I would definitely recommend agility. Even in just a few lessons, Mollie has become a little more attentive, and we're learning more about each other. We're not doing it with competition in mind, just in lieu of formal obedience training, and as a focussing and confidence boosting exercise - for both of us. Hopefully, Mollie will come out of it a calmer, more attentive dog, and I'll come out of it a calmer, more attentive handler and owner!!
