Agility 4.4

or My Dog has a weird sense of humor

We arrived early and all the dogs had some free play time. I was a bit concerned because Marley chose not to participate, she found a spot in the shade and sat quietly until class started. This is not typical behavior and I was a bit concerned she might over heat. Little did I realize she had plans...

We started with 4 jumps followed by the A frame, the same sequence she did great during our last class. This time she decided she only had to jump 2 of the jumps. She kept running around the other two and finishing the A frame. When she realized she was not going to be rewarded for the A frame she turned around half way down and came back up and down the other side (her ability to do this astounds me). She proceeded to run full speed towards me and as soon as she was close she veered to the side and into the tunnel. She was grinning the entire time.

4 Hoops - Teeter - This was a similar sequence, where we add a hoop each turn and she didn't have a problem with this at all.

Tire - hoop - dog walk - 2 hoops - tunnel - We started with the tire, hoop, rear cross (me) and the dog walk followed by the 2 hoops. Our third turn I had to do a front cross after the dog walk and we added the tunnel at the end. Marley did this fine, on the other hand I had some trouble remembering which cross I had to complete. Yep, owner errors.

At this point I'm a bit perplexed about why she is not doing all the jumps.

I admit I ended up calling her a bad dog, does it count when I'm laughing as I say it? Yep, I think I'm accidentally encouraging this behavior by laughing.

Agility 4.3

or Guess who decided to jump

Yep this session she decided running around the jump was boring. However, she did decide "wait" meant go.

4 Jumps - A frame - hoop - We started with 1 jump and each turn we added a jump. Every time we added another jump, I felt worried Marley would decide to blow off the jump. She did decide, I didn't know what I was talking about when I asked her to wait while I walked ahead.

It was quite funny actually, I was walking and She just took off and jumped ALL four jumps and flew (yep our trainer said "Marley caught air") over the A frame. When she finally realized her oopps, she stopped midway down the A frame turned around and ran up the A frame and went over all four jumps until she was back at my side in the heel position grinning up at me. I couldn't resist, I laughed until my sides hurt.

Watching her when she realizes its her turn is also hilarious, it reminds me of elementary school when little kids are ready to start a race and they have little false starts. She tenses up until her little body trembles with tension and is just impatient for me to give her direction. Hmm...maybe she thinks I'm slow and therefore has to run off and complete the exercise without me?

I think she is having a blast in class.

Puppy-itis

I still have puppy-itis! Priceless and Ladybug are both about 5 months old and they play non-stop. Marley is closely supervising puppy play and every once in a while she'll play with Priceless.

Priceless (pomeranian), Marley and Ladybug (corgi)

Dogged Pursuit

I just finished reading "Dogged Pursuit: My Year of Competing Dusty, the World's Least Likely Agility Dog" by Robert Rodi.

Rodi basically chronicals his attempt to make his scared sheltie into a champion. Overall the book was funny.

I really liked the way Rodi becomes involved with agility and how out of place he feels amongst the other participants. I'm sure anybody who has tried a new activity has felt the same way. I like the way he is always surprised when he feels included within his agility group.


I totally loved they way Rodi continuously reminds himself that Dusty reacts to his emotions and insecurities. When Rodi is out of sorts, Dusty acts lost and out of sorts in the field. Every time Rodi questions himself, Dusty seems to forget how to do agility. I totally loved this aspect of the book.