First Agility Class

Last night was our first agility class. I was a little nervous. Bailey is 8 classes behind the other doggies. Our training school only starts beginner agility classes once a year. The dogs in that class just keep moving up with the same trainer. I was unaware of this and didn't want to wait a whole year to take agility classes. Thankfully, the agility trainer was in our rally class and said if a dog drops out, we can take his/her spot. We were lucky because a dog dropped out!

The first thing the trainer showed us was the table. She decided to use Bailey as a demonstration because Bailey has never seen a table before. In AKC, a dog doesn't have to do anything on the table. In one of the other agility venues, the dog has to lay down. So, we should train our dog to automatically lay down on the table. First, she clicked and treated Bailey for putting her paws on the table. Then Bailey jumped on and got a click and treat. Then she waited for Bailey to lay down, (which only took 10 seconds) click and treat. She did this one more time. After that, Bailey was automatically jumping and laid down on the table on her own. It took less than 2 minutes. Good girl Bailey!

The rest of the class consisted of everyone practicing the equipment on their own. The trainer would stop by and give everyone advice. In one hour, I got Bailey to successfully jump and lay down on the table, jump over a hurdle (looked like a foot high), jump through the tire, run through a long tunnel and run up and down an A-frame. She picked up everything very fast. I had to lure her once and then after that she would jump on her own. I had to throw a treat in the tunnel to get her inside. At first she came out the same way she went in. I had to throw it really far inside and then run to the other end and call her. That did the trick.

I was shocked that Bailey ran and up down a full size A-frame on her first day of class. In the beginning, She was a little hesitant. I put a little treat about two feet up, she stood up and ate it. I did this two more times. Then, I put it about 3-4 feet high, and she climbed up, ate it and came back down. The third time, I put the treat really high. This time she ran up, grabbed the treat and ran down the other side. Yay! After, that she was running up and down with no problem. Bailey ran up and down an A frame once when she was about 10 months old. This girl has no fear.

I am so proud of my baby. If you were an observer, you wouldn't even be able to tell that Bailey is 8 weeks behind the other dogs.

We have to practice 2O2O. I need to get Bailey to touch her paws or nose to a plastic lid. She all ready does it, but we need to make it perfect.