Tues Agility

My brain was very fuzzy on Tues. I'm glad Julie posted the course map because otherwise, I might not remember the class well enough to blog about it. In hindsight, I maybe should have stayed home. I was practically falling asleep driving home after work (leaving work early enough to get to class also means sitting in horrible traffic. It's a 30 min drive with no traffic, a 40 min drive if I leave at 6, and a 50-60 min drive if I leave at 5. I really need to see if I can figure out another way to get home).

It was a very good good class, and I'm glad I went. The course had two 180s, and I think I have a MUCH better idea of what the difference is between a 180 and serpentine and also how to handle both. For serpentine, the dog should be splicing the jumps and running in a straighter line. For 108s, the dog needs to be reversing direction more dramatically. So, for the course on Tues, I tried to do a cross (front cross-ish thing) between jumps 8 and 9. I wasn't very neat about it, but we did pull it off. I did a front cross after the first set of weaves which was much neater although it felt a little like cheating because the weaves had all the cages on so I knew Iris wasn't going anywhere!

The first time we ran the course, we had trouble with the last tunnel and jump. Iris came out of tunnel thinking she was going for the second tunnel, not the jump. The next time, I led out from the teeter and did a front cross before the tunnel. It worked better especially since I've been practicing stays with her anyway.

Behavior wise, she was a little snarky but not over the top like she has been. In general, the dogs were pretty quiet on Tues, which is always easier for my bossy dog.

EDIT - I keep forgetting to mention, Iris is somewhat officially switched to raw diet. She's thrilled! Every time I put her bowl down, she checks with me to make sure it's really ok for her to eat. Very funny!