On the adventures and training of Cinnamon Snapdragon, a papillon destined for greatness.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Agility recap

I haven't been posting about our weekly agility classes lately. We just learned the serpentine, and we need to put in a lot more practice because Dragon tends to look forward and just keep running instead of looking at me and seeing that I'm giving the serp cue.

We also just started working on the chute/closed tunnel. Dragon was nervous about the fabric at first. I shaped him to step on it and then go on through the tunnel, and now he doesn't mind running through it while the fabric is held up. Slowly we're holding the fabric less open.

The teeter re-training looks good so far. Today Wendy and I called him back and forth across the teeter and Tiny Dog ran quickly back and forth while it dipped about six inches up and down. There were sandbags underneath to control the height and so that it wouldn't make much noise. We also did the classic bang game and he was happy to have me raise him up and let him ride it down. I'm continuing to give him treats every time another dog makes it bang.

Wendy set up a sequence of 11(!) obstacles, including sends, a 180, a front cross, and a serp. Dragon did it well, and I was so proud. We're getting to the point now that I'm learning some finer points of handling sequences, like stepping here or standing there for the front cross. Real agility stuff! Although the only obstacles we used were jumps and tunnels.

Still have a long way to go for reliable dog walk and a-frame running contacts. Haven't been practicing lately.

The crate training has taken a setback and he leaves it to wander around if he loses sight of me. Or if the door is closed, he whines super loud. So annoying.

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