Leapin’ Labs

We missed Midas’s real agility class time because I was trying out a new SAR group with Mason. Instead we went to one of the open agility times that anyone that is interested in can show up for and there were quite a few people there, including our regular classmates .

When we first got there, I tethered Midas to the wall so that I could check out the course we would be doing (a difficult one).

I walked the course after catching up (I am really sad I missed class, I never realized what a huge part of my week seeing everyone is!), it was tricky and I did it multiple times to try to figure out where I could cross:

We went third, and by that time Midas was really revved up – but I was soooo proud of him, he did a little moaning and whining but nothing loud and he laid down and was quiet when I told him to!

First we had a jump at an angle from the start line (the jump behind us), then an angled jump (the one he’s going over)…

…and then right angled up onto the dog walk:

Then we had to run past the first entrance to the tunnel and he had to go in the second. The first time, this was no problem. The second time he went partially into the wrong end but came back out when I called him (we started over) and the third time he did fine as well .

After the tunnel we had a funky jump at an angle and then onto the Teeter. The first time he slammed the Teeter and jumped off the end, the second time he slammed it but didn’t jump and the third time I held his collar and he did it properly lol. From the Teeter it was onto the Table:

Through the Tire:

Then through the weaves. He knows what they are about now, that’s for sure. He also really wants to do them fast, but then he ends up skipping and popping out too early. But, he’s progressing quickly and I think it’s only a matter of time until he gets them down perfectly!

Then there was a jump. This jump then led to four other jumps, not in a row, no, that would be too easy. They were all set at opposite angles. So, I could choose to run on the outside the whole time (hard to keep up with my fast dog), the inside (and have to send him Out) or do a cross to optimize both.

Here is the first jump:

I tried running the inside first, Midas does not know Out very well and I had to do a little nudging with my leg and some exaggerated pointing but we made it…sort of:

In this one we are going over the third jump, but you can see the second jump in the background – see the angle? Hard.

Then I tried to do the recommended cross…it went like this:

He started to go Out, paused when he saw I was running past and tried to turn and we collided – neither fell and he did make the jump though so that was good lol. I went back and showed him what I meant by Out:

The middle jumps went alright in that one though:

Then I didn’t trust him to go out so I could cross in the last jump so I was too slow to move over toward the A-frame and he did a little turn trying to find me – oh well, practice makes perfect.

Our only problem on the A-frame was I didn’t say Wait fast enough (he was flying!) and he might’ve missed the contacts but otherwise he loves this obstacle! And I did it right after the first time:

Then we had an extremely tight turn over another jump:

Through the collapsed tunnel and we’re done!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 8:07 pm and is filed under Agility, Training Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.