Tonight we had Agility. Due to some spectacular planning, Eric couldn’t come (therefore no photos). So, it was just Midas and I. We had a good time. He was a little obnoxious but not too loud…just mostly non-stop.

There were some new obstacles, and I can’t lie, I was really nervous about the regulation height A-Frame. Midas has a tendency to think he’s invincible and jump off of things he shouldn’t. But, he didn’t, he was a good boy. He was also rock-solid on the dog walk tonight - thank goodness!

The teeter-totter was a new aluminum-framed piece and he approached that with the same zeal that he always does - full speed ahead. I had to block him every single time and make him wait…I hope he learns that soon.

The weaves were still completely hopeless . We will keep practicing! We set a jump up to the height he would actually have to do in competition, it seemed so big, but he flew over it now problem and the instructor said he had plenty of room to spare .

He had no issues on the chute-tunnel or the table or any of the jumps really. Class went over about an hour so he was getting pretty lazy towards the end. But, he completed everything correctly. Our major distraction for this evening was a dog that alternated between staring, unblinking at him and flopping around on the floor with a giant stuffed toy - but I blame the owner, not the dog. *sigh* there’s one in every group it seems. All else went well and we had a lot of fun. He was exhausted on the ride home and I look forward to our next class .

After Mason’s last Intermediate Obedience class I asked the instructor about enrolling him in her next Canine Good Citizen class and then taking the test at the end. She said she thought he could pass without it. A month after this class ended and limited training geared toward the CGC test I emailed her and asked if he could take her class. She basically told me no lol. She repeated again that she thought he would do fine…and he did!!!!

There were only three of us that showed up to take the test. Because of this, we didn’t have much of a “crowd” for the Walking Through a Crowd task. So, we started out with that task and the instructor had the volunteers for the Humane Society come over to stand in as our “crowd” (it was closing soon so they would be leaving). Mason went first, he did very well. He did sniff two people on the way by but when I said “Leave it!” he went right by, no tug on the leash needed.

Next we did the Reaction to Another Dog test. In this one the instructor had two dogs sit about 8 feet apart and the remaining dog (the one being tested) had to do a figure-8 and then sit next to one of the other dogs. We went first again and as we went around the second dog, it started sniffing Mason and then jumped on him! He was such a good boy though, he just ignored the dog at my command and kept eye contact with me and we made it through!!

The rest of the test went really, really smoothly and quite fantastic really! I heard several comments about Mason’s amazing eye contact . There was one part that I was really nervous about, the Sitting Politely for Petting task. He had to stay in a sit/stay while the instructor came up to pet him and he couldn’t lift his little wiggle-butt off the ground. We only practiced this a handful of times with Eric and Adam before we left so I wasn’t sure how it would go - he did it!!!!! He glanced over and checked in with me once but kept his little behind firmly planted! I was SO proud!

For Appearance and Grooming he started out standing and when the instructor knelt to check his sides/feet, he collapsed onto his side - it was hilarious - the whole group laughed. When we did sit and lay down he was really good. Then he had to sit/stay (and we’ve been practicing me walking away with my back to him, it worked ) and when I walked to the end of the room, I paused and then I said his release word and Come - he raced towards me - making everyone smile again. He’s so darn cute!

Our last part of the test was supervised separation and he did fine, no problems what-so-ever. We signed our form to send out and as we were walking out the door I heard the other two ladies that were left say, “We shouldn’t've let him go first, now our dogs are going to look way worse”!!!

Tonight’s class was interesting. We worked mainly on being able to call our dogs off of obstacles directly in front of them. For example, the first set had three jumps in a row. After they jumped the first one, we were to call them to us, then they could jump the first two then come to us, then the first three and come to us. It’s so they don’t assume they just take the next obstacle in front of their noses.

Midas has this completely mastered. In this photo you can tell how quickly he was turning to respond to my Here command:

We also were supposed to send our dogs out in front of us with the command Go Out! and they were supposed to jump the big jump - that was more difficult for most of us but I had our little treat container to toss over it so Midas hopped right over no problem. He got distracted on his way back to receive his treat because one popped out the end and he treated himself lol.

The first time we went across the dog walk it wobbled a little and Midas didn’t care for it but he went to the end:

So, I steadied him the next time after we firmed up the frame:

At the end of the dog walk he had to Wait and then hop up onto the table and Lay Down and Stay.

After that we worked on our A-frame and Waiting at the end:

We also got a chance to work on the teeter-totter some more. We’ve added another command for Midas, he has to Wait while it lowers and then again when he comes off the end - hopefully to help him quit barrelling off the end and whacking himself:

We worked on weaves again but it was…eh - he’s still not clicking…

We had some tunnel work:

This photo would’ve been awesome but the stupid tab got in the way

After we had practiced everything, and calling them off of everything a couple of times each, we each had the opportunity to “run” the course, hitting as many obstacles as possible. I had my route all worked out in my mind.

We’d start with the series of jumps:

From there we hit the A-frame, the tunnels, and then the table, released from the table to the dog walk and…Midas fell off. I half-caught him, scraping the skin off my pinky finger in the process, but that didn’t phase him. He tried to jump right back on…Instead I grabbed him and our instructor picked him up and placed him from his jump-off point so that he could learn he was safe and could be balanced there.

Midas, once he trusts you, trusts you implicitly so he plopped down and leaned over on the instructor, to the point where if she moved he would have toppled off:

He went down fine after that and we finished up with the weaves and teeter:

The rest of this day’s photos are here. Watching the new person and their dog made me realize how thorough our instructor has been to teach each of the obstacles separate, in a separate order and to make sure our dogs are listening to us and following directions, not just rushing through where they think the next obstacle is. Pretty neat to see.

Tonight was the beginning of our third round of Rally classes. I’ve decided to start bringing Mason along to the class as well. He wasn’t the only new one though, there was a new Rottweiler and a co-worker brought his very frightened German Shepherd. Eric was unable to come so there are no photos of Mason’s very first class.

We didn’t have any new signs and it was kind of hectic to make sure that everyone could get through the course twice but it was really amazing to do with both of my boys! They each threw a little bit of a fit when I would leave one behind and work on the course with the other. But, they quickly got the hang of being quiet (with some treat help from the instructor ), with only some intermittent whining towards the end.

Midas did great, we worked entirely on the flat collar, no prong even on. There were no new signs but the way the course was set up was very difficult. He did really well and the instructor commented that she could tell how hard I’m working to get his attention with my voice and not by the leash. Progress. At the end of class I was standing with him in a small-ish circle with the new GSD and the Portuguese Water Dog and he never even looked at them, ignored them completely .

Mason did wonderfully for his very first course at a new place (at which he peed all over the floor the last time he was there), lots of new people/dogs and a very difficult course. Our biggest struggle was in switching him from heeling on my right to heeling on my left. I worked so hard to teach him to stay on the right, and now he’s so consistent so that if he ends up on the wrong side by accident he will rush to get into heel position on my right . Poor eager, confused little dude. He sure gave it 110% though! He kept eye contact wonderfully and while his sits were extremely sloppy he gave trying all the difficult signs a very valiant try. The instructor says he definitely has potential so I am really looking forward to next time with both of them!

Tonight was the beginning of Midas’s third round of agility classes. It went…ok. We worked mainly on having our dogs work at a distance to us - something that Midas does not necessarily excel at.

We did a lot of jumping:

Here he missed the next jump - you can tell because he’s so close to me:

This series he made it

We also worked on a different style of Big Jump than we’ve used in the past:

And of course the Tire Jump:

From the Tire they were supposed to go right onto the Teeter-Totter. Our first time with the dogs working on it without having someone holding them on. Everyone’s dogs were really nervous and ended up being handled. Mine? Heck no! Midas flew up and down the Teeter, then whipped around and did it again and when he missed it once, he jumped in the middle…needless to say, he made our instructor nervous being so overzealous so we had to stop

The A-Frame was a snap - in fact, we had more of a problem keeping him off of it when running by…

I was supposed to send him to the Table from a distance, he did ok on that, sometimes he did it, sometimes he didn’t…and once he was treated by the instructor for going there, he didn’t want to come back to me. Dang difficult dog!

And then our worst obstacle…the weaves. I can tell Midas is just following my hand/treat through them and not paying attention to what he’s actually doing. It’s so frustrating, I can’t wait until he “gets” it!

So, the instructor suggested we try the peanut butter on a stick again, while holding him back slightly by his tab so that he was really wanting to get it and barely weaving through with the stick, making him do it on his own.

That worked fairly well, I’m still not seeing the “click” in his eyes though, although it was easier for me to lead him with that. His favorite part was after:

Today we finally took Mason to the park to try out his Weight Pull harness and sled.

On the Wait command:

Then on the Work command:

Once he realized he was doing it right, he got over-enthusiastic and ran:

So, I had to slow him down and have him do it at a walk He’s a happy guy:

I think we’ll both have a blast with this!

Tonight capped off 8 whole weeks of Agility - they’ve flown by. Midas has come along so incredibly fast and we’re having so much fun! He started off being totally distracted, unable to be off-leash and going crazy every time a dog ran by. Now he’s totally focused, off-lead almost the entire class period and rarely will even so much as whine.

Then:

Now:

Then:

(bad blurry photo, I know…)

Now:

Then:

Now:

Then (just look at the height of the dog walk):

Now:

Then:

Now:

Isn’t that awesome?! Thank goodness for Eric, without whom I would not have these amazing photos to remember our progress by!

Tonight was Midas’s last agility class and it was SO much fun!! We started out splitting into teams. The instructor and I were on one team and the people with the two Goldens were on the other. Then we were timed while we raced our dog through 1/2 of a “course”. Midas got first place!

He was the fastest and that made my bad handling even more obvious. We had to practice on a jump over and over for him to make the tight turn to the next jump. At first, I was telling him too late and he was already rocketing past the turn.

I also had to practice crossing in front of the tunnel when he went in:

The dog walk was not, and never has been, a problem:

For “graduation” we got cake (which was delicious) and a group photo:

I LOVE this photo!!! He was soooo good too. I backed him into the tunnel and he just stayed there, checking everything out What a good boy!!

Tonight ended Midas’s 8th week of Rally classes. He’s come so far. From the screaming, thrashing idiot on a prong to the quiet, focused (mostly) dog on a flat collar.

Then:

Now:

We will be competing this summer!

Tonight was Midas’s last Rally Class.  We had a couple of new signs:

Midas knows the Back command but always at either a right-angle to me or facing me and straight in the opposite direction. This was a little difficult for him because he was supposed to stay in the heel position and back straight up with me. Easily done with a treat to guide though.

This one was easy and we had no difficulties.

We worked on his flat collar the whole time. The first time through the course was much more successful than the second time. The second time he couldn’t keep his nose off the floor and he wasn’t as focused. Part of the reason is that one of the ladies in my class is constantly trailing treats behind her - making it distracting for the next dog on the course.

We had another jump in this course, he did really well coming right back into the heel position:

Our serpentine weaves through the cones went really well:

This was our second time through, he wasn’t paying attention and instead of sweet-talking him for ignoring me, I started to pop his collar - he started paying attention better:

Our favorite sign is when he is called to Front and then Swings back into position:

We had this sign again:

He did much better with just a treat:

Midas’s “younger brother”:

The Portuguese Water Dog I love:

A great ending to our second round…we will be entering the third round next week I think.