Monday, November 8, 2010

What a difference

I feel like a real agility trainer!

I finally broke down and rented a training yard for an hour of training. This allows us to practice on equipment I do not own and this small change has really helped me focus on agility. I also think Marley is having fun.

I still have a few concerns and we will probably wing it a bit until I've found a good course of action. We only have the space for an hour and I'm worried about pushing Marley too far before she is ready. I'm also worried about making the activity boring by doing too many drills in too short of a time.

So far I've done the following:
  • I've planned out our activities. For this session we were working on the teeter and the tunnel.
  • I alternated between both activities. For example we worked on driving to the tunnel about 5 times and then we went to the teeter and worked on that for about 5 times. We repeated each set about three times.
  • We took a break and I threw her favorite toy for a few times. I tried her special agility tuggy, except she wasn't interested.
  • I made sure we took water breaks, while the temperature was mild the sun was pretty hot.
  • We also worked on a self control exercise. We walked around the equipment and we worked on keeping her from taking off and running to the equipment.
I'm pleased with our first session in the training yard. I'm not sure if I'm working enough or if I should increase the number of drills on the equipment. I'm hope it falls together now that I feel like a real agility trainer.

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