Drop In Class

Miley and I went to a drop-in agility class on Saturday. It was a great class. To bad it is so far away. Its 150 miles one way. In the class there were only 3 people. So we received a lot of one on one attention. We practice our dog walks and a-frames. 2 of us were doing running contacts and one was doing a 2o2o. It was good to have someone else's eye to see where Miley was hitting the contact. She was in the yellow on the dog walk, but just barely. (it was a USDAA contact and I have AKC contacts) I'll have to keep that in mind. I told her I was using hoops and she told me to paint them green so they aren't as visible. She also told me to practice with a tunnel at each end so that I can send her back and forth. If she starts leaping the contact switch the tunnel to a jump or tire to slow her down a little and stop the leaping. She recommend having someone watch her contacts while holding a clicker. When she hits the contacts to click and then treat. It was good practice while I was there. You got multiple runs over the dog walk and a-frame. The only bad part was it was hot. All week it has been 85 degrees and the dogs were hot. I hose her down 3 times during the 1 1/2 hours which did help. But she hates that. O'well better than heat stroke.
We also did a handling session. She gave me some good tips and a couple of jumps sequences to practice. Today I set up an oval with a pinwheel at one end and on the other end 3 jumps that curve and are close together. It worked great. No wide turns. I'm trying to be more conscience of my body, that my shoulder or feet aren't pushing her out. I really liked the instructor. She tells you what was good and what you need to work on. She is interested in how things are progressing at home. She gives you homework and tells you some problems you may have. Then she tells you what to do to fix the problems. Its great.
I probably will go next weekend if I can. Then after that we will be taking a break. Miley gets spayed on May 9th.