Thursday, May 21, 2009

Pre-Agility Class

I just finished up a pre-Agility class at a local SLC park.
It has been challenging at times. There were three dogs, all Black Lab mixes at different training levels. The most challenging one was the girl. Very enthusiastic about "live+". I taught the owner how to positively teach impulse control. We did some doggy zen and lots of rewards for doing the behaviors correctly or just sitting still. I saw a lot of improvement within a few weeks. One of the dogs was a bit more on the shy side and I introduced some motivational games with food and toys. We also did some chute training and after a few sessions he had become confident in running through.
The 3rd dog came with more advanced behaviors. He was able to sit and down stay and had an awesome recall. The dog learned a perfect straight chute at full running speed. I was also able to introduce come to hand exercises.
Near the end of the classes I would ask them to perform some basic CGC exercises. This improved some handler/dog focus.
The owners and I were happy with the results at the end of the session.
Everyone had a small taste of how demanding training for agility can be.

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