First Agility Class

Sage and I had our first agility class last night.  After a lot of preparation, the day finally arrived.  In order to train and compete in agility, the dog must by at least a year old so no damage is done to growing and forming joints.  We are fortunate to have one of the top agility training facilities in California relatively close to us; a bit more than an hour away.  But, hey, when you live in the mountains, in the boonies, everything is about an hour away.  I got Sage on the waiting list about six months ago and was advised to get a solid base in obedience while we waited for Sage to turn one (December) and waited for our turn to come up.

Learning how to be a ranch dog

 We started with puppy kindergarten, then moved to level 1 obedience, and just started level 2.  She’s pretty solid and can already do more than is required for agility.  I also worked with her on doing things that help her understand and control where her back feet are — like walking through the rungs of a ladder laying on the ground, or walking along a railroad tie.  Sage loves all of it.  Aussies are smart, in addition to being high-energy, and I found that wearing out her mind with thinking work is as important as physical exercise.

Working with Brett at obedience training class a few months ago

Class last night started with all the dogs (about ten, I think, maybe 12) in a circle for introductions — dogs, owners, trainers, assistants — and ground rules.  It took 20 minutes, which was the hardest part of the class.  Sage wanted to play with the other dogs.  It was pure torture to sit next to me for all that time.  She whined, and talked, and tried to belly crawl towards the other dogs.

Finally, we were divided into two groups.  The first group worked in one half of the huge arena (looked like it was used for cattle roping in the past) and the other group in the other.  We started on the “obstacle” side.  First up was a wobble board; basically, a square flat board with a knob in the center underneath that makes the board very unstable.  Sage put her feet on it, it wobbled and thunked down, and she leapt backwards like her paws had been bitten by a snake.  And she wouldn’t go back.

Next was a teeter totter.  This was a long, low board that only “teetered” a few inches, and not in a sudden loud way.  There was fencing along either side so it was like a narrow bridge with no way to jump off at the midpoint, when it tottered down.  The first time across she didn’t like it one bit.  But on the second and third time, she was fine.

She did great on the low ramp.  She worries about new things, but once she’s done it and it isn’t new anymore, she loves it.

When we moved to the other side and worked on “handling” exercises, she was a pro.  She held her sit-stay; she marched through the ladder; raced through the tunnel; and confidently marched through the weave poles (which were set up with guides because weave poles are the hardest obstacle for dogs to learn).

She was exhausted when we got home.  But, she had fun — we both had fun — and that is what I wanted.