Table update

Last night we held the beginning agility class at the field. I thought it went pretty well but I dont think Im the best teacher. It makes me think about myself in class and am I listening to what is being said. I always feel like I am but Im sure I miss things. I think I need to just let somethings go. But I worry that when things go wrong they are going to say , "well thats they way Diana taught me to do it". LoL Anyway, I still think people had fun and thats what it really is all about.



So we wanted to run Miley over the contacts to show the class what the final outcome is for your 2o/2o. It was funny when we told them the dog has to get one foot in the yellow, people were like "just one foot?" Like that should be easy enough. If they only knew. So we also tried to explain how hard it can be to just get one foot in the yellow. I ran Miley over the dogwalk, perfect 2o/2o. I released her , she jumped tightly thur the tire and back over the dogwalk. I ran by and boom, she self released. I looked at her and said, "what happened?" ( not meanly) and immediately she went into circling mode. Oops. Meagan and I had talked about when Miley is wrong and she goes into circling mode. So Meagan wanted me to reward when Miley was wrong. Just throw a treat and walk away , or throw the bait bag. Just to try and get her to understand its ok to be wrong. And I remembered to do it. WhooHoo me. She went into that first circle and I threw the bait bag. She immediately stopped. I gave her a treat out of it. I put her back on the dogwalk and ran passed, she stayed , I rewarded. Then I released her. Later after class I was practicing weave poles. She went in on the 3rd pole. I said, Nope. And went back to the beginning of the poles. She started to circle and I threw a treat. I really didnt think that would work because it was a dark treat and hard to see. Well it flew right past her face and she immediately stopped and went for the treat. Circling was stopped and I set her up to run the poles again. WhooHoo. Meagan is so smart. How does she know this stuff???



Next the table. So after class a bunch of the students wanted to practice on the equipment. Im not sure I agree with this but Im also not sure I can do anything about it. I told them my concerns and let them make their own decisions. It is the clubs field and if they pay to use the field, they can. So anyway, the teeter was right behind the table. They were using the teeter. I was able to work Miley and send her to the table with no problems. She got on every time with all theses dogs around her. I sent her over jumps and back to the table. She got it every time. Im trying to make the table fun and not just agility. I moved her crate in the house and put the table where her crate use to be. She now eats breakfast and dinner on the table. If she gets treats, its on the table. I have a kong that I freeze with yogurt, it has a rope on it too. I attached to the table. So she can leave the table but if she wants to eat the kong, she has to stay on the table. Last night at the field , I put the kong on the table . She didnt care about it at all. She left the table thinking she was missing out on real agility. She didnt even take the kong with her and it wasnt attached to the table. So we are doing better but the table still doesnt have much value yet. LoL