2nd Puppy Agility Class -With Video!

Dhali is so awesome!  He's so awesome that I got lost on the way home from puppy class, because I was re-living each moment of class.  We made it home, but it was dark, snowy AND foggy.  Fog and snow - that seems unfair.  Only added another 30 mins. to our trip, so not too bad - 3 1/2 hours total round trip.

This is a video of just a few seconds of class.  We did the same order of obstacles right before the video was taken - except we didn't do the chute.

I feel bad about Dhali getting caught on the little fence by the teeter.  I also feel bad about the dog barking at him when he was going through the tunnel.  It surprised him and he was a little hesitant.  You can see I take him to the table instead of the chute.  That was because of the dog barking at him and also I thought a 90 degree pull into the chute would be awfully hard.

I really wanted to say something to the guy with the aussie that barked when Dhali went through the tunnel.  His dog barked every time another dog ran through the tunnel.  It was a reactive sort of bark.  I felt bad for him though, because he was already being so hard on himself.

This was Dhali's first time on a table.  He jumped right up on it when I asked him to - yay for playing climb on this games!  This week I have been trying to teach him to lie down.  It's really been hard and I've started trying to lure it, because we weren't getting any where.  I really, really want to teach one of the dogs to roll over!  I have had this goal FOREVER and I still haven't been able to do it.  So simple and so difficult.

Anyway.  Dhali did really good at class.  There ended up being 2 classes for puppy agility, because 4 new puppies came that hadn't had any exposure to agility stuff.  It was fun to watch them - lots of people crawling into tunnels.

I crated Dhali for the first break - while the other group was working.  He did really well.  I could watch him in the big mirrors on the wall and he was just sitting there, watching the other dogs.  And there was a tiny baby Toller (same one as before) screaming in the crate above him and another Toller chilling in the crate next to him.

I think I will always crate him, because it is more relaxing for him.  When we had the 2nd break I took him with me into the little waiting room (first I took him outside to run around a little bit) and he whined and was not as happy.

There were 3 puppies in Dhali's class - Dhali and 2 Aussies.  In the new group there were 2 cattle dogs, a BC and a doberman.  The class is fun, but I still don't agree with puppies on pinch collars at an agility class.  I'm glad I have taken a lot of online classes and gone to a lot of seminars.  It makes it a lot easier to pick out what I want from the class and ignore what I don't want.

Last time he wasn't interested in food at all and wanted to play.  This time he was more into food and not that interested in playing with toys.  He still wanted to play with me.  It was a lot busier class and there were more dogs.

This was also Dhali's first time doing a chute with a hard barrel.  He's done the chute in the basement, but that has a soft barrel.  And I think we've only done that maybe....twice?  He didn't have any trouble going through the chute.  Even after the instructor accidentally stepped on him when he came out of it one time.  She feltt so bad and Dhali was like, "What?"  It didn't phase him.

The first thing we did in class was an L shaped tunnel and Dhali was like - I can't do that!  With it straightened a tiny bit he was fine.  So work on L shaped tunnels!  We did table/hoop/red tunnel/yellow tunnel the first time around and Dhali was the only puppy to get the hoop.  :)  Good boy!  Not like I did anything!  I just run with him and if he takes stuff - yay!
I'm glad we didn't have the silly orange cones tonight - I was going to sit that part out if they were doing that again.

I was really proud of Dhali - he makes everything so easy.