These are the chronicles of two Shetland Sheepdogs and their adventures in rally-o, obedience, flyball, agility, tracking and therapy dog work.
Also including information on raw feeding, canine epilepsy, positive training, and lots and lots of Sheltie hair!




Monday, January 19, 2009

Agility - Advanced Beginners II

I think that is what it is called, anyways. Who knows, whatever it is it is started up again. Agility classes were supposed to start last Sunday, but we were in the middle of a horrid storm and the roads were crazy so class was canceled. So yesterday was Romeo's first class back. Our class is much smaller this time, only Romeo and two Border Collies, so we got LOTS of running in. It was a great class! A real challenge, which I like. We were working on "out" for the most part. Romeo has a decent "out" from Rally-O, but the exercises we were doing last night still pushed him (and me) further than where he already was.

We started with 4 jumps staggered side to side so that we had to push the dogs out and call them back in to us as we ran. Romeo caught on to that one really quickly, without issue. It was the next set of exercises that was the real challenge for us both! 7 jumps were set up in a horse-shoe shape with a straight tunnel running along the length of them in the middle of the horse-shoe. The idea was to run the dog up one side of the horse-shoe and sent them out past the tunnel to the other side of the jump sequence without crossing over the line of the tunnel. Took a while to get the idea over to Romeo (and the idea through my head on how I should be moving my body so as not to pull him off the far jumps when he finally does get out there!), but once he patterned to it it was great! Of course, then we had to switch it up so that they DON'T go out to the far jumps, but take the tunnel instead. I knew Romeo patterned quickly, but this was a little insane! No matter what sort of hub-bub I created, I couldn't get him to come back in off of the far jumps to take the tunnel! We got it all figured out in the end, though.

I really appreciate classes where we are pushed with a challenge. If everything is easy, then we aren't really learning anything. This class was great! We both ran a lot, Romeo collapsed when he got home, as did I. Today, Romeo is ready to go again, but I think I will need another day or two for the burning to go out of my legs!

Non-agility related: I got the lease issue finalized with regards to my new house. I had to apply to the trailer park for a lease for the lot that the trailer is on. The application was accepted today, so now it is all official! And the couple of little repair issues that the inspection revealed are being fixed by end of day tomorrow. I really have no clue what my next step is, I know I have to get insurance and sign the lease, fill out forms, start getting things in my name, etc. But what happens first, I have no clue! I'll make a couple of calls later this week, but in the mean time, I just need to sit back and enjoy the idea of moving. Maybe allow myself to start some packing up of things I won't need in the next month.

2 comments:

Casper and pals said...

Agility class was good wasn't it!

Congrats on your new home!

Moco said...

Boy that sounds like a real work out. We can see why you would need a rest. Congrats on getting your house.
We came by to thank you for the Christmas card and invite you to visit us one of these days.

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