Another Learning Experience

Rugby went to his second agility match yesterday. I have learned a lot from watching the videos of his run, and I know there are lots of things we need to work on.

I expected him to need help with the closed tunnel and the tire, since he has only seen those obstacles once before. He did need help. The tire was in much worse shape than the closed tunnel, for Rugby. We need to get busy making one so he can practice more frequently.

Hi first run wasn't bad, but he was a little distracted and did some sniffing along the way. I was happy to see that he didn't balk at the "new" teeter or weaves like he did at the last match. The course ends at the tire jump in the first run, then we re-did the bad parts (closed tunnel & tire).



Before the second run, I have him a verbal correction for sniffing outside of the ring, and raced him a little bit to get him fired up. I think it helped with the sniffing and distractions inside the ring. I realize now from watching the video that I am not doing the best job of helping him on the teeter. We will work on that. Tire was still a problem in the second run. No surprise there. Again, we need to build one so we can work on it.



Still a work in progress, but it is getting better!

Main Street

It is hard to believe that Rugby has never gone on a training field trip to Main Street, since that is one of our go-to places when I have a dog in for training. He was finally able to make the trip last week, with Derek.

Even though the pictures would lead you to believe that Rugby and Derek got carried around, then put on top of things the whole time, that is not the case. They walked down busy sidewalks, across crosswalks, met Laurel's resident cow and cowboy and stopped by the post office.

Rugby enjoyed this walk Leash Free. 

Our First Try

The end of the year is steadily approaching and time is running out for our goal to complete Rugby's novice agility titles before 2013. It is time to take the next step if this will become a reality. With that in mind, we have been reading the agility rule book, watched our first agility trial and went to our first agility run through in the past few weeks. He has been introduced at least once to all of the agility equipment. I am hoping that it will be enough to get us three qualifying scores.

Here is a video from Rugby's first agility run through. He wasn't as confident with the teeter, or the weaves at this new location. I know those skills need to be generalized more, but we just have to find places to do that.



I was really happy with his performance. I liked that he was running (even if it wasn't that fast) for the whole course. I liked that he was able to work off of my right side, and was comfortable with me switching sides. I also liked that he is starting to pay attention to my body language and not wait for a command for each obstacle. It gives me hope that we are on the right track. There is still room for improvement though, so we will keep working until he makes his real debut in the agility ring next month.