The Days of Johann - an agility dog!

Posted: 09 Jul 2010 07:11 AM PDT

Wednesday nights Gracie, Mum and I have been going to agility practice. DOG, is it nice to be back running again!

This past week they set up a fast class course for us to practice. OK, I admit it, I've never done Fast Class ever! But since I've done lots of gamblers classes in USDAA, Mum thought this would be fun for both of us and it was!

Mum planned out a nice fun, open, fast course for me, since we've been doing a lot of technical stuff lately. Check this out...

It was pretty hot in the facility when we ran, but I sure didn't care. I'm really getting used to the heat down here, Mum's been very proud. And of course we're all taking our multivitamins, to keep up our strength during our 95 degree walks.

We've only been doing three miles in this heat, in the early morning and later evening, instead of the five miles we usually do when it's cooler.

Back to the practice....well, Gracie's run through this Fast Class course was a whole different story, she had some great moments and, again, some heavy 'run off' moments. She's much better with a more technical course to help her keep her focus, but Mum wanted to see what she would do with a Novice like course, since that's what she'll see when we start competing again.

Mum's learned some things for Gracie taking this class, and she's trying to work on with the Grace-ster - queuing much earlier, and exaggerating her body commands, and treating more often at key places where Gracie needs to pay a lot of attenion. Mum thinks that Gracie needs more literal info from Mum, since she's still trying to read and learn Mum's commands at high speeds. And Mum thinks she's become a bit complacent in her body movements after running me for these past few years, since I read her like a good book. So they are working on that...

Gracie did have some great moments at class - she took those four jumps and the tunnel in the beginning like a lightening bolt and a pro...she made her frame contact and was a big, ole blur going over it. And she was pretty good in getting to the tunnel after the frame. But then she lost her brain again, and just had to get her zoomies on.

Mum also thinks that since we don't have a fenced area to run freely in yet, that Gracie just has to run wild and free. Generally Gracie is getting her zoomies on in her first run, then she starts to pay more attention in subsequent runs. Which is good.

Gracie has become the class clown...everyone loves to watch her wacky runs :)

Fun ways to do agility!

Posted: 09 Jul 2010 06:50 AM PDT

Mum and I came across a few videos of fun, alternative ways to do agility, and wanted to share 'em with you!

This one is a video from the 2008 Royal Horse show in Toronto Ontario that occurs annually in November. It's a horse/dog relay, cool! Hope they don't have any adipex side effects after that, BOL!

This one is from the IHDAA (Idaho Horse and Dog Agility Association), which we don't believe is active as a new venue, but thought it was kinda interesting, nonetheless!