Agility

Last night, Sophie and I had our very first agility class. We have already been introduced to some agility equipment before in my beginner's obedience class, but this was a real agility class. We worked on clicker training and we were introduced to the bar jump, the tire jump, a wobble board (very short see-saw), and a tunnel. It was all very fun and exciting for the dogs as well as the handlers. Sophie did great once I got her attention but keeping her attention is hard. She liked the equipment, but she was very strung-out over the other dogs, which is normal for her on leash. We'll see what the next few weeks bring.

For those of you who may not know about agility, it is a dog sport in which the handle and dog must work as a team. The course is set up like an obstacle course, complete with jumps, tunnels, see-saws, etc. The handler tells the dog by verbal and non-verbal cues which piece of equipment to go on, jump over, or go through. The dog with the fastest time with no mistakes wins.