Volunteer Training And Mini-Agility

Today is Thursday, which means shelter night! Even better, it was green-dot class night. I very much look forward to teaching the class, even though I still get really, really nervous talking to a group.

There were six students tonight. Four were right on time, but a husband and wife pair came after I'd gotten into my spiel. I got through everything in the classroom, and then Mrs. Trainer took 3 and I took 3 for the kennel portion. Of course I got the couple.

They were really very nice, and seemed to care very much about the dogs... but they kept wandering off a few kennels down to say hi to other dogs. It was frustrating, since it meant they missed some of the information I was giving. The fell in love with the happy little beagle/lab mix we took outside, cooing over her and wondering aloud how anyone could give up such a sweet dog. For all their good intentions, though, there was just something off about the way they walked her. They didn't make me feel confident that every dog that went out with them would come back on the first try.

And so, I failed them. They have the opportunity to come back and work privately with myself, Mrs. Trainer, or Mr. Trainer to get their green-dot without re-taking the class. It made me feel bad to tell them I didn't pass them, but I think I did the right thing for the shelter dogs. I was validated at dinner afterwards by Mr. Trainer congratulating me, and the shelter manager saying it was best, since I didn't have a good feeling about them.

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I did some indoors agility work with the dogs tonight as well. Sadie has a trial on Sunday, so I wanted to proof her weaves. I moved a bunch of furniture out of the way and set up my jump and the weaves. We warmed up with rear crosses over the jump, then sends and calls through the weaves, then strung the two together. Even at 24" Sadie was doing great. I have high hopes for her jumpers run.

 Pretend there's furniture in the way on both sides

And that turn is barely enough space for a dog to make

And the 'X' is where I started

I did the same exercises with Maxwell, but down at 20". He did great as well, although his weave sends are not yet as solid as Sadie's. It seems like he has to concentrate more on the task when I'm not right there with him. He did gain some speed, though, and got his favorite cookies as a reward for the best runs. Since he has so much more drive than Sadie, I worked on control through the sequence. We ended up going weaves to the jump, randomly crossing and circling to take the jump several times from both sides, then back through the weaves. He did great, though he kept trying to anticipate the weaves... exactly why I did the exercise!

 As you can see, I got a bit creative with the little guy!

I'm going to ask someone in Maxwell's class to start dropping bars while he runs. He knocked the jump two or three times tonight and it definitely worried him. He was reluctant to take it again after each drop, until the last time I had to lure him with the remains of his dinner. Once over, he got the food and I ended the session on that success.