The Agility Training Continues

This story is part of a series of adventures submitted by Sharon Burnett on KerryBlues-L. Sharon and her Kerry Rascal are having fun with their agility training.

Mon, 6 Dec 1999
Agility - the Training Continues
by Sharon Burnett

The Kerry in action...the jump is set at 20". Note the expression of
determination and the distance that she clears the jump.
Very typical Kerry form.

Last night we had our third agility class. Rascal is doing pretty good. She's not the fastest in our group, but she can really move on the dog walk, does fair on the jumps and really likes the tunnel.

Our instructors have split us into two groups - the good dogs and the bad dogs. The bad dogs may be dog aggressive. Although Rascal says she wants to be a bad dog, she is in the good dog group. Last night she was having a fit every time Ruby, the Basenji, came up to us. I finally figured out that Rascal was jealous cause Ruby had a coat on. Next week I'll let Rascal wear her warm-up jacket so she can show off too.

It is a real test of our training to perform some of the exercises. An example: there is a series of three jumps and a pause table at the end of the jumps. You put your dog on a sit-stay, turn your back and walk over the jumps to the far end of the pause table. Then call your dog. This with six or so other dogs jumping and tunneling on the other side of the arena and my Kerry wanting to join them because at heart she knows she is a "bad" dog. So we do this.

I walk over the first two jumps and look over my shoulder to see what my progeny is up to. She is standing. I turn, walk back and put her in sit-stay position. This time I walk across all three jumps, turn and there she is, standing in front of the first jump. I clear my throat, snap my fingers and give her the hand sign for sit. She gulps and parks it immediately. I go to the other side of the pause table, crouch and stare her straight in the eye. Then I say jump! She is off like a shot, does all three jumps and tries to sit and skids across the pause table to get her toy (a weasel). Everyone is laughing cause she just exploded when I gave her the word. She was so proud of herself. Next run through, she was perfect. And she knew it. Her conformation experience was really showing. She stacked perfectly, arching her neck. She is a Kerry Blue and she just showed everyone what that's all about.

This morning I am pretty stiff. As much as I walk every day, I'm not in shape for this. Rascal seems fine. She wants to go to school again tonight. We have six more classes to go. I am already designing a course for our side yard. We're hooked. We may never compete, but we're hooked.

Last Update: 12/11/05, 23:57:00  Terms of Use and Disclaimer.