A New Spin on Class

This week the girls had open agility and class.  There was no numbered course for open agility, this is the set up.  We worked on pinwheels at the three jumps to the left of the top of the dog walk, and at the two jumps and the tire next to the A-frame (A-frame, jump, jump, tire, A-frame and the other direction too).  We also worked on rear crosses with the two jumps at the top of the course.

We had our usual instructor for Gracie's class on Thur. but two new instructors for Gidget's class.  It was fun to see some new teaching styles.  They didn't use cones so we had to actually memorize the course.  They're sticking around so the brains of myself and my classmates will get a workout.

Gracie's class didn't start well.  There was a new dog and I won't go into the issues that caused here.  Gracie has seemed less focused in class lately, more likely to go on a zoomy run.  She used to refuse to leave my side, I miss that.  So either she's getting more confident and is happy to go do her own thing, or she's gotten too much self reinforcement for zooming so she's doing it more and more (probably a combination of the two).  We'll have to work more on focus on the course.  More frequent pause for rewards will be useful, especially after series of jumps as she finds them somewhat less rewarding than tunnels and contacts.  On to the courses.

Black course: Gracie ran this course, though we ended up having to start at 3 so that Gracie wasn't running towards her classmates (this was part of the issue with the new dog).  Serpentine, 270, fairly easy.  Dog on the left all the way through 12, then a rear cross into 13.  A front cross after 11 would be possible with the right dog, but unnecessary.  I know Gracie zoomed off a couple times during our turn, but I don't remember where.  We did manage to complete the course.

Red course: Gracie ran this course too.  It was kind of fun, short and tight.  I think jump 8 was a little further away from the top tunnel, this drawing isn't perfect.  Anyways, front cross jump wrap after 8, then I did a front cross after 9 too, not that it was needed.  That let me line Gracie up to jump towards a gate instead of towards the ring exit. 

Blue course: This was Gidget's first course.  Everyone ran it then we worked on the trickiest spot before running the whole thing again.  Front cross jump wrap after 1, dog on left through 7.  I messed up my positioning after 7 so that Gidget went in the tunnel again.  I was too close to the tunnel, I needed to be well ahead near jump 8 to keep Gidget from taking the tunnel again.  The tricky part we worked on was the 270 into the serpentine.  Send the dog out over 8 then get ahead turning shoulders back to bring the dog over 9, stay ahead and close to the line of jumps, keeping the shoulder on the side of the dog turned back slightly to help direct them over jumps 10 and 11.  Being ahead of your dog is part of what makes serpentines so fun!

Green course: A quick course for Gidget's class to end the night.  The drawing doesn't look like it, but the set up in the building made it to you had to start with your dog on your left.  This meant a lead out was necessary to get the dog into the correct side of the tunnel.  Front cross after 3, then a rear cross flip after 5 into the weaves.  Depending on the dogs ability, the dog may need to be set up so that they have a fairly straight entry to the weaves after the flip.  Just continue a few steps straight from jump 5 before flipping.  I could flip Gidget right away, she's got her weave entries down!

Coming soon... Gidget's first trial report of the year!  Happy agility!