Prepping For Trial

Our first trial is this very Saturday!

Totally dying inside.

With lots of excitement.

Duh, of course.

Anyway.

The good news is that we mastered weave poles. Kind of. Right now Pepper can do it with lots of direction from me. We are still working with the Channel Weaves in class but I think its important to be able to do them for Saturday.

The only issue right now is the fact that Pepper is kind of scared of the A-frame. The one we practice on for floor time is super slippery and I accidentally got him scared of it directly after the video was taken. I'm worried he'll refuse me at the trial even though the one provided there will be rubberized. Perhaps tomorrow I can make a trip back out to Pet Play and Stay and desensitize him to the A-frame. He'll run the slippery one at a low height and the rubberized one at full height during the trial. Pfffttt.... thats all I'm worried about for now.

To counter act my nervousness and worries, I made a list of things I will need for Saturday!

Things to bring to agility trials:

• Premium
• Confirmation letter or e-mail
• Running Schedule
• Leash
• Collar
• Treats
• Dog toys
• Dog water
• Collapsible bowl
• Doggy bags
• Crate (optional)
• Yoga mat
• Towel
• Food and drink
• Camera
• Purse w/ money
• Chair

The crate is optional for Pepper only because he doesn't like his crate very much. I want him to be as comfortable as possible at the trial and as stress-free as possible. Instead of a crate I am bringing a yoga mat with a tie-blanket. Oh, and my sister. Anytime I need to leave the dog "by himself" he will actually be with my family. 

Caught up on blogging. Now I can nap in peace!

Beginner's Agility Week 6- Graduation

Yay! Our official graduation from Beginner's class. We certainly are winners, aren't we? As I am typing this, Pepper is actually being a wild animal. Nothing unusual there. Sounds like its time for a walk.

Anywho, Week 6 was... take a look.

Again with the crazy back pedaling on the teeter. He loves to get on that thing... Its actually annoying.

Someone make it stop!

P.S. Ignore the fact that this video is labeled as Week 5. We all know its Week 6. And we all know that I am bad with dates and such. And, and we all know that I don't want to delete this video, edit it, and repost it. Blah.

Beginner's Agility Week 5

Woah! Magic hiatus. Again...

Ok to catch ya'll up. Pepper and I have graduated from Beginner's Agility. Yay! And we actually started Intermediate Agility. There isn't proof of that because I had to to go by myself. But trust me, we went!

Week 4 was pretty good. The mysterious tunnel refusals showed up again. Except they weren't really mysterious. I had bad body position and then someone left treats on the ground. Our arch nemesis... stray treats.

Piper

Pepper

Duke on take off

Teeter

I like turtles...

Milika

Channel weaves + jump

Beginner's Agility Week 4

I am a bad blogger. I apologize to everyone who was waiting on my next post. *crickets, am I right?* I am bogged down with school and a new job. I am now working at Pet Supplies "Plus" which is fun but I still have to finish up at my other, waitressing job. Which means for the next two weeks I will be working two jobs and also attend school. Blahahahahaha... dying inside.

In week 4, Pepper was not the perfect animal he almost always is. He was wild! For all of class. It could have stemmed from him not really eating dinner before. All kinds of crazy nonsense went on when the lease came off.

Puppy parkour is not allowed in class.

We introduced the really, really low teeter. And also the A-frame. Pepper loves that low A-frame. Its a really nice A-frame considering it is covered in little rubber granules instead of just being plain old wood. Pepper scaled that thing real quick. And repeatedly wanted to go over it regardless of wether or not I wanted him to go on it.

The trainers also thought it would be a great idea to treat Pepper for doing some really easy things. The lowered teeter was so easy and he kept getting treated for jumping up and down on it. The other dogs needed the treats because the teeter was scary to them. Pepper was like, "This is soooo easy + treats from a fanny-pack = They always give me snacks from their fanny-pack for easy things!" This led to some interesting begging behavior.

All those wonderful sits right in front of the trainer? That would be Pepper doing extremely polite begging. Naughty dog...

Week 5 was better considering I asked the trainers to NEVER treat my dog. He doesn't need it and it teaches him that anyone in the ring will be a treater. He needs to focus on me and me only. Especially with our trial coming up.