Another Day, a Little More Hope

Okay, I'm less whiney today.

We are starting agility class today. It's beginning agility. The instructor couldn't talk the owner of the facility into advanced or intermediate. We're a little beyond beginning, but any chance to hit the equipment helps. Besides, I am a clutzy idiot, so any work with basic "don't trip over yourself while signalling the dog backwards with the wrong hand way to late for her to make the obstical" helps.

There was the standard problem of Weasel's obsession with the instructor's dog. The instructor's dog is also known as "the Idol dog" because of Weasel's obsession. The instructor leaves the dog running loose in the field we are working in, and Weasel spends the entire lesson staring at the dog and bouncing up and down, while the idol dog finds tennis balls and lures people into throwing them for her. It wasn't at all helped by the little girl who spent the entire class playing with the Idol dog, throwing balls, running around with her and making squealy noises. I kind of wanted to bite her myself. It wasn't the child's fault, though. I was at the point where I was trying to think of a way to quietly sneak out of class because it was such an impossible situation.

However, the instructor realized the problem and eventually caught the dog and kept her on leash, so I was able to get a little work out of Weasel. She did the teeter beautifully, kept missing somewhere in the middle of the weaves, did the tunnel fine, did the table fine, did the jumps fine (when I managed to give her a decipherable signal, that is.) Honestly, I was expecting a lot less after months and months of no agility work at all.

However, I was most happy with the way she was beginning to respond to my focus exercises when the other dog was out. I was doing "Look at me" and the standard doggie torture of putting them in a down, placing a treat on one of the feet, and making them wait before they take it.

So, it was good, after all. Hopefully, next week will be better.