My 4th Agility Class – Can I have a new human driver please?

Bella and I had a pawsome time at agility on Thursday. I think the humans must have gone crazy though – they wanted to teach us some games that meant all we needed to do was to sit still and they’d feed us treats. I mean, that’s like doggie heaven! The trainer told us the exercises were designed to make us agile and flexible, and to help our humans ending up on the right side of us when we run around the agility course.

The tail dance

The trainer explained that our humans needed to be able to move around us and do stuff behind our backs, so we were told to sit down, and then our humans stood behind us. Then they started moving from side to side, carefully stepping over our tails – all we had to do was sit put, and look at them by turning our heads backwards. Then we were given treats. It was as easy as stealing an ice cream from a toddler! *Waggy tail*

The nose dance

The next step involved having our human moving from one side to the other by stepping out in front of us – that was also super easy and I got a couple of handful of treats for simply sitting still.

The twist and spin

I was beginning to think that I knew all the tricks already when we were told to do a spin on either side of our humans. The only problem was that we would have to spin ‘outwards’ – so clockwise if we were stood on our human’s right side, and anti clock wise on the other side. That was a little bit trickier to get my head around, and I couldn’t help myself from barking with excitement as I tried telling my human how to do the trick right.

The trainer said my behaviour reminded her about border collies’ excitement and showed my human how to lower my excitement levels by slowing down her movements, lowering her voice and removing the treats altogether. I didn’t even care the treats went missing – I was having so much fun anyway!

The M-shaped Agility course

The video shows an M shaped agility course. It took us three attempts to find our way around it – mostly because my human got all giggly and confused. Sigh, I might have to trade her in for a new model if I want to get anywhere in the agility world! *Waggy tail*

Comments

{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

Inga February 9, 2013 at 08:48: That’s a lot to take in for just one lesson! Guess I would get confused too….
Well done, all of you!!

Molly The Wally February 9, 2013 at 13:30: We’d be confused that is for sure. High 5 to you! Have a super Saturday.
Best wishes Molly

Gizmo (@GizmoGeodog) February 9, 2013 at 14:05: I want to take that class! Nothing to do but sit still & get treats…yum! Sometimes our hoomins do get in the way of our journey to stardom, but we love them anyway…Happy Saturday!

emma February 9, 2013 at 17:02: No better deal than lots of treats for just being still!

Leslie February 10, 2013 at 01:50: It is so fascinating to watch you and Bella go through agility for normal dogs. It’s so different from what we go through with our Bella in her reactive dog classes.

You two are sure to be stars in the agility world very soon. Don’t fret about the humans – they’ll catch up.

Dalton February 11, 2013 at 11:08: Typist went to see agility for the first time on Sat, she thinks it all looks very complicated and is in total awe of your humum!

Sheba's life story. February 11, 2013 at 19:01: That’s a lot to take in for one lesson, I’d forget what i was supposed to be doing.

Sheba.

Bailey February 11, 2013 at 21:17: Sitting still is crues and unusual punishment here.