I have been away for a couple of days to attend the KPA Faculty meeting in Boston, MA. This left Greg alone with all four dogs for three days, one of which is reactive. I got the impression that everything went smoothly however I will be finding out soon what the actual experience has been. (He will be picking me up shortly.)
Greg did take Austyn to his second agility class. I will be interested to see how this went. My hope is that he took some video, so that those of you who are contemplating taking an agility class, whether with a puppy or an adult dog, can see how a really good class is conducted.
It is very important that future agility dogs are introduced to each obstacle slowly and at a rate, and at a level that they can succeed at. For example, when teaching the pup to go through a tunnel for the first time: the tunnel is shortened considerably so that the pup goes in and comes right out. We will do this a number of times, and as the pup gains more confidence, then the tunnel is lengthened.
All of the obstacles should be taught in this methodical fashion. If you are taking an agility class and the teacher wants to just put the dogs on the equipment to “see how it goes” run for the hills! This is NOT a class that you want to take!
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