Thursday agility class with Shelby

Lat night I took Shelby to agility class. We hadn't been in 3 weeks. I thought for sure class would have moved inside, considering sunset is at 7pm and class starts at 7:30, but I was wrong. We are out there using our car headlights for illumination. That's dedication! The nice thing about outside is that the space is bigger, so we can run full courses, where inside is smaller.

They were still working on the FCI tryouts jumpers course. Apparently they worked on the middle section for the past 2 weeks and the end last week. This time we worked the end section again, using rear cross rather than front cross. It was a series of jumps handled on the right in a loop, to a rear cross, then a choice of either serpentine or front cross. We worked the serpentine first.

The instructor had us work the section without dogs first. She played the role of the dog, and we were the handler. It was weird at first. But it really helped get the timing down. I went third, but did it perfectly the first time, so she had the other students be my dog and I ran it with them. It was kind of fun.

When it was Shelby's turn, I sent her out to a jump, but then I didn't bring my hand in enough for the next two jumps so she went off course to the dog walk. Then when we worked the rear cross, I didn't run the right line the first time, but the second time we got it. Shelby was running really fast and having a great time. She was very eager to work. I think practicing less is actually better for her.

Then we ran it with a front cross after the rear, rather than a serpentine. Shelby was a little too fast for me the first time, but the second time I was able to get there and execute correctly.

At the end, we ran the whole course, which was a disadvantage for me, since I ran the beginning 3 weeks ago, but not the middle at all, which is the toughest part. There are 12 weaves to a couple off jumps that are tricky. Shelby did ok. We had to restart the weaves a couple times. The first time she popped out at like #5, then she restarted but missed the first pole.

Then she went off course and was sniffing, but I started running and she came back and we finished the course. Overall, it was a fun class.