Lily tried agility today and...

[arentspowell]

It was a big success!!! Our local training place has "fungility" on Saturdays. My plan was to take Daisy over at noon since it has been awhile (a whole year actually) since we've been out on the course. However I got the times confused and the noon class was actually an Intro to Equipment class so I brought Lily instead.

Last time I did any class with Lily, it was outside, and she completely shut down because she does not like the grass. The trainer expected me to force her to do things and it was just a bad situation overall.

This class was inside but I still kept my expectations low. We were the only team there today so we got to try everything. She took to all the equipment like a complete natural and was happy the whole time. The only thing she seemed confused about was the dog walk but we broke it down and when we came back to it at the end she had no issues.

We didn't get her up on the A frame either. The trainer and I both agreed that she's probably too little to ever be able to do it without some major momentum so we're not going to have her do it, it's all for fun anyway.

Needless to say Lily is all pooped out for the day but I'm excited to get back out there with in 2 weeks.

[Maxx&Emma]

That sounds like fun for you and Lilly! I would be afraid to put such a little dog on the a-frame. I know people do it but it scares me.

[POPTOP]

Sounds like Lily had a really fun time. That's what it is all about, having fun with exercise and training.

[arentspowell]

That sounds like fun for you and Lilly! I would be afraid to put such a little dog on the a-frame. I know people do it but it scares me.

It scares me when Daisy gets on it and she's big!

[Tanya]

sounds fun!
agility should always be done at a level the dog can enjoy. that a trainer wnated you to force her in your first class is sad it's not a race to get everything done in two classes, you can take weeks on any one obsticle if the dog is nervous. But very glad to hear she had such a great experience this time around!

[arentspowell]

sounds fun!
agility should always be done at a level the dog can enjoy. that a trainer wnated you to force her in your first class is sad it's not a race to get everything done in two classes, you can take weeks on any one obsticle if the dog is nervous. But very glad to hear she had such a great experience this time around!

It was an obedience class held outside in a grassy area. The exercise was loose leash walking. Lily doesn't care for walking around outside in the grass on leash. She'll walk in the grass but only if she's the one leading. The trainer was convinced Lily was purposefully defying me, didn't allow me to pick her up because that was a reward to her, and expected me to drag Lily through the grass until she decided to walk. Even if she was "defying" me, I'm not gonna snap my dogs neck just to get her to do what I say. It was awful, I went to a few lessons and never went back.

This agility was SO different!! I'm glad I gave classes a second shot with Lil.

[Tanya]

It was an obedience class held outside in a grassy area. The exercise was loose leash walking. Lily doesn't care for walking around outside in the grass on leash. She'll walk in the grass but only if she's the one leading. The trainer was convinced Lily was purposefully defying me, didn't allow me to pick her up because that was a reward to her, and expected me to drag Lily through the grass until she decided to walk. Even if she was "defying" me, I'm not gonna snap my dogs neck just to get her to do what I say. It was awful, I went to a few lessons and never went back.

This agility was SO different!! I'm glad I gave classes a second shot with Lil.

ahh. yeah still lame of the trainer to blame the dog and just assume the dog was being "difficult". No matter the type of class.

Agility is great, but like I said, key to not push the dog too fast We've been at it two years. I even did it with Rocky just for fun (he is super slow). I had some dogs in class that would never be agility dogs (well scratch that, you never know!) but they were very timid dogs. they did the class to help give their dog confidence little by little. the trainer had to help them do things differently and at their pace but there were huge improvements in the dog by the end of class.