Intermediate Agility

We certainly have our work cut out for us. We had a week off and started a new session of agility classes. Kozmo's trainer decided he was ready to move from beginning agility to intermediate agility. She is the expert and the time suits my schedule so Kozzy started intermediate agility.

One of the many things I love about our dog school are the small classes. We arrived to meet two other dogs in our class. A sweet Lab and an adorable Sheltie. Kozmo doesn't know enough to be intimidated, but his humans were humbled. Both of these dogs are much calmer, much better trained, and much closer to competing.

During class we learned that both of the other dogs are 3 years old. Also, both of these other dogs are owned by humans who have not only had other dogs before but have trained and competed in agility with other dogs. These other two dogs, especially the Sheltie are amazing and really fun to watch.

Unlike our last class where lots of obstacles were set up our first intermediate agility class only had 3 jumps and the weave poles set up. Now we are working on properly approaching the obstacles and perfecting our technique. I think it should go without saying that Kozmo was no where near the top of his class.

Those darn weave poles are the most frustrating obstacle ever. Our trainer suggested I use a wooden spoon with cheese wiz to help lead Kozmo through the weave poles. This is much better than holding a treat in my hand and having Kozmo nipping at my hand. I arrived with a wooden spoon from my kitchen. I forgot the cheese, but our trainer always has everything I forget. We worked on the weave poles several times. Kozmo is improving but it looks a lot easier on tv. When you see dogs run through the weave poles on tv and think to yourself that looks cool, I'm telling you that you need to really appreciate the countless hours both the dog and trainer put in to make it look so fun and easy.

After his last time through the weave poles I was holding the wooden spoon for Kozmo to lick off all the remaining cheese. He proceeded to bite the spoon so hard he broke it in half and took off running around the room with part of a wooden spoon in his mouth. I was more embarrassed than usual. The other dogs in class know how to come when their human calls them. Our trainer sent me out of the room, captured and corrected Kozmo. He is the class clown.

We did better with the jumps. Kozmo knows how to jump. Sitting straight before we start jumping and coming to me after the jump are where we need to improve. Now that we are intermediate students we had two jumps lined up and one at a 45 degree angle. We are starting to learn how to guide our dog through an actual course. Making the dog turn at an angle is a "bump out". The human has to touch their foot in the dog's path, quickly signal "out" and then send them over the jump. Surprisingly both Kozmo and I got the hang of this pretty quickly.

Our trainer could sense my frustration. Kozmo and I both need a lot of work, mainly with obedience and impulse control. At the end of class she talked to us and reminded us that Kozmo is much younger than the other dogs in class and is full of potential. She said we need to work on obedience. At our trainer's suggestion we are starting a Rally Obedience class with her one night a week.

I don't know much about Rally other than our trainer says it will help Koz. I want Kozmo to be a great all around dog and since he has the athletic ability to do agility and we clearly need an outlet for all of his energy we are committed to agility. I'll let you all know how the first night of Rally goes tonight. I'm a little nervous and I'm sure Kozmo has no idea he should be nervous too.