Agility Class

For Tuesday's class, Katrin set up a typical NADAC novice regular course because a few people from class will be going to their first trial this weekend. I'm going to bring Iris up for a little while (and probably keep her crate in the car in case she needs a break), so hopefully I'll get to see everyone.

Iris was the first dog to go in class, and she was stressed. Tons of stress sniffing and not really interested in agility. It was a full class. Cat, Dan, Tessie and Strata were there, and I don't think Iris has seen them since ABC? Kim, Shaya, Tom and Opal (who weren't there last week) were there, and so were Sandy and Baxter (who has always set Iris off, poor Baxter). Plus Julie and Carmen, but Iris has never really been bothered by Carmen. Obi was there hanging out too. That brings the total to seven other dogs and two new people. Especially with the "new" dogs, I think it was just too many people and dogs for my red dog to handle.

The other thing that I thought of later was that Iris went first, which she never does. We've been very consistently going last because Iris jumps the highest and the little dogs go first. At home, Iris gets very set in her little routines and does not like to change them. She's very particular about her morning routine - we get up, go for a walk, eat breakfast, go outside one more time, and then she goes in the crate. If I keep her routine the same, she's happy to go in her crate. If I change it, she bark-screams in the crate as soon as she hears me leaving. In class, the combination of new dogs and people, plus a different routine was probably just too much for her.

Iris did manage to make it through the course, but very much so at her own pace and with lots of stress sniffing. The last obstacle was the tire and she was much too brain fried to figure it out. We didn't really push it because she was stressed. I think I'm going to try and make a tire to practice with at home.

At the very end of class, Iris did an abbreviated version of the course. While she still seemed stressed, I do think she was a lot less stressed than she was at the beginning of class. It was good for her to end on a higher note.

It was a good reminder that I need to work more with her on just being around people and dogs. Not because I have any real need to trial with her, but because it would just make life less stressful for her. We'll go up to the NADAC trial this weekend, and I'm going to really try to figure out somewhere to take her on the weekends after that.