2nd Intermediate Agility Class

Hello! Our class last night went pretty well. It started out a little slow. First we only had 5 dogs, so we split up into 3 & 2, but then just as we were about to start our 6th dog showed up. So, I volunteered to go to the group with the latecomer as nobody else did. However, we had to wait...because the latecomer first brought out the dog she just got & had to get him all situated. THEN she finally brought out Lucy (fluffy little white dog). So we finally were able to start after quite some time. We were only able to run ONE sequence with the first trainer due to the lateness, and then Lucy was not behaving very well. She cant really be let off lead yet. So finally, we moved on to the 2nd trainer. THat went much better as Lucy was kept on lead.

Things went well with us though I am moving too slow for Mocca. I need to go faster & give her commands much in advance than I am now. When I did that we did well. We did a lot more practice with sequences that involve us having to do special crosses behind our dog or in front of the dog. At one point we had to do some fancy pivot thingy to get the dog going in the right direction and I ACTUALLY did it correctly. Lucy's mom said I looked like a ballerina out there with Mocca! LOL

You should see Mocca go through the weave poles. Each week she gets better and this week was no different! She is really zipping through them with less & less of my lead. We can even do them pretty well w/o a treat in my hand and we are working on me being on the left side - it easy with me on the right side because your dog pretty much has to go to the left & start the poles. When you are on the left side, the right is wide open & they quite often will skip the first pole or 2. We're working on that.

We had some issues with the "Tire" jump. I believe Mocca just didnt remember what Tire meant. I'm sure if I said "Jump" she'd just jump through it - but we are supposed to use distinct commands for obstacles that are different & a tire jump IS different from a normal jump. We practiced "tire" several times at the end of class & she was doing very well.

At the end of class one of the trainers asked me if I was thinking about trying agility competively with Mocca! She was just going on & on about how well Mocca is doing & how much she loves it. I said that we'd see! I'm sure it would be fun but we definately have a LONG way to go!

Hopefully Flyball wont get rained out AGAIN this week. Wish us luck!!