First Agility Class

[648117]

Holly had her first agility class today.

All we really did was loading the clicker (but Holly already uses a clicker) and walking around in circles with the dog on each side (Holly can already do this on the left side from obedience class and that's the side she walks on when we go for walks so she found it a bit confusing being on the "wrong" side and kept trying to go behind me to get to the "right" (left) side )

Holly is the youngest (she's nearly 7 months and there was a 8 month old weimaraner, all the others looked like adults or young adults) and smallest in the class.

Hopefully it will be more interesting next week.

Also someone had a Deerhound, she was lovely (although I don't know if it's actually going to do agility). But it made me laugh when the owner said she knows of a litter of 13 Deerhounds that were just born so I could get one if I wanted (I want , but I can't have ) .
And I definitely see how people who do agility end up with multiple dogs because last time we went to watch the agility (about 2 months ago) I said I liked the blue boarder collies because they look pretty and are just a bit different so I was immediately told that there was a blue boarder collie pup on the other side of the park that needed a home

So far I've been basically offered a puppy everytime I've gone to an agility thing , I guess it's a good thing that Holly is such a pain because if she was an easy puppy I may well have ended up with a second .

 

[tigerlily46514]

i loved your post here!


and i also hope your class is a lil more challenging for you next time!

i kind of wonder if teacher even assessed the knowledge level of her students prior to deciding where to start in? I mean, she could check, to see if owners were telling truth, that their dogs already understood clickers and all, etc.

 

[Anneke]

It is important a dog knows to be on eather side of you. You will see further on, how difficult they find things when you are on the "wrong" side
Jinx can do the weavepoles like a charm with me on the right side. But when I am on her left side, suddenly she forgets how to do the poles and I have to help her.
So this excersise may seem unimportant, but it is very important
But it is a shame your teacher didn't make things a bit more interesting, by letting you do a few jumps.
And about the clicker, well, it isn't easy to get everyone up to the same level. If there are some people in your class that don't know about the clikcer yet, she has to get them to understand it.
So that means some will have to take a step back for the others to catch up.
But I hope the calsses will get more interesting, because agility rocks

 

[648117]

I think because it is the most basic agility course they just start at the very beginning and they did say it would start out very basic until they can get a feel as to what level all the dogs are on.

I did laugh when the trainer said that by the end of the 6 weaks we might get to try the full length tunnel and maybe a small jump (depending on the age of the dogs - so Holly might not even get to do that).

Holly has been through the tunnel at obedience and loves it, I have to hold her back, and she has also gone over some small jumps, and through a hoop jump (I don't know what they are called, maybe tyre jump?) at obedience and loves them too (she is a jumper at home, she bounces off the furniture, I know this isn't the best thing for a puppy to do but I'd like to see someone stop her )

But I think they make you start at the beginning and because Holly is only 7 months I don't think they would let her do too much anyway. So this course might be compulsary for the dog to continue with agility because a number of the owners seemed like they already did agility or at least some sort of dog sport (probably obedience).



Also, I just remembered that there was a three legged boarder collie. I know someone on here wanted to do agility with their three legged pit bull. The BC is missing a front leg (it looks like a birth defect not an amputation because the leg is still there it's just really short and odd looking but still has the white at the end like the dogs other legs), the owner seemed very experienced with dogs and I think she said she does obedience, she asked me if I was going to do obedience with Holly and said the best obedience dogs usually do agility too.

I guess they do let three legged dogs do agility here.