idle musings

Tonight was Maia’s and my first agility class, at Dizine Canine with Dana Gallagher.

It was awesome.

I had emailed Dana ahead of time to let her know of Maia’s reactivity to people, and she is obviously very well versed in dog language because she bribed Maia with goodies and made quick friends. Maia was a little confused by this idea of being in a daycare setting with other dogs but not getting to even greet any of them, but she did very well. Amazingly well.

First we learned the tunnel. It was super short to begin with – only a couple feet long. Dana held Maia on her leash on one side and I showed Maia my hand full of treats through the tunnel. She caught on quickly that running through the tunnel to get to me meant treats. We had the tunnel stretched out quite far by the third repetition through all the dogs, and Maia totally understood to come running through the tunnel to me. Yay!

Next we did ‘around and come back’. I’m not sure what the name for this would be, but there was a cone, and I would send Maia around it on the left side with my left hand, and then give her treats with my right hand as she came around. Again, once she understood what I wanted, she was doing it no problem (but this was with me literally six inches away from the cone. The goal is to get further and further away, and send your dog around something with hand gestures and voice commands).

Last we did running recalls, to train the dogs to come up to us on the side we want. Dana held Maia by the collar and I started about 15 feet away. I called Maia and started running, looking over my shoulder and encouraging her to come up on that particular side. The first time we did it, one of the other dogs came running after us and the owner, a man, came running after his dog. Maia completely ignored them and was focused on me and the treats. Amazing. Usually, anyone running towards her would get a reaction, but especially a heavy-footed man. I was so proud of her!

Also, it was just so great to be in a place with other people but know that no one was going to invade our space or try to interact with Maia. I would let her watch the other people and dogs, then bring her attention back to me and our toy, or give her simple commands and then lots of treats and rubs.

I can’t wait to go again. Dana did warn us at the beginning of class that agility can become an addiction, and I can see how!