Agility update and other stuff...

Last night was Chandler's 5th agility class.

The dogs were all revved up for some reason, so it was a bit harder to keep his attention on me. He kept on wanting to zoom out while the border collie was working; it seems to have a bit more frantic excitement going, so that may be why. The little havanese took off around the room playing "catch me" twice- I talked to her owner and suggested playing "gotcha" during the week, so her dog is less likely to dodge during leashing up. The mudi was barking, as usual. *sigh* I really think that dog has figured out that if he barks a few times and then is quiet, his owner feeds him.

We started off with that weird exercise where the dogs jump on the table then hop onto the adjacent A-frame. Chan was enthusiastic, but really didn't understand why he wasn't just going up the A-frame. He actually did better when doing just the A-frame. However, his enthusiasm was such that he'd run over it when I hadn't told him to do so. (Note to self, work on listening, and STAY.) At least his targeting was better after a week of practice; he didn't really try to play with the targets. I still need to practice keeping his hind feet on the contacts, however. He had a tendency to bounce off.

Then it was off to try the dogwalk for the first time. It was only set to three feet, and he scrabbled a bit while I held his collar for the first try. Ofter that his "I've got it Mom!" attitude kicked in, he zoomed quickly across it on his own. The only problem here was that his front end seemed to be stopping faster than his rear, so one hind leg would pop off the end ramp every time he stopped at the contact to target. For the last two runs over the dogwalk, we then continued on to the tunnel. He ran right through and came out looking for me-the only problem was getting him in, as he would tend to linger by the instructor at the end of the dogwalk, probably trying to mooch more treats.

Overall, a decent night for a beginner with a clueless owner, I think. :)

Other stuff-

Urgh. My car's radiator is leaking coolant when put under pressure. I hate car repairs. I had to borrow my parent's car to get to agility last night; luckily I noticed the "check coolant" light before we got onto the highway.

I'm volunteering one day a month at a local all-volunteer library. It's fun, and will hopefully be good for my resume. Also, there is a chance that I'll be able to help the "official librarian" out with some of the cataloging and other such duties.