9.75 months - Open House

Our trainer moved their facility recently and held an "open house" at their new outdoor facility. They ran practice Rally and agility courses. After lunch they also did mini agility lessons for any dogs who had not done agility before, so Kili got her first taste of agility... and loved it!

Summit in his x-pen beside the truck. You can just barely see Kili's crate.

 Summit participated in the agility in the morning, however it was a really hot day compared to what we have been having around here lately and I definitely noticed the heat took a lot out of him and he did not have his usual enthusiasm. He also marked the A-frame. Grrrr! Male dogs! He is definitely a marker on walks so this is definitely something that is going to have to be worked on. He did do the teeter at full height though! We controlled the speed of the drop so that we would not scare him and he handled it great! I was very proud of him for that.

Kili started out strong in Rally, but about half way through I lost her and couldnt get her back. A couple of dogs had marked in the ring so I wonder if that was what distracted her, or if it was the heat. I was really happy with the first half of her performance though and with just a little more work I think she could qualify in Novice Rally. I am considering entering her in some rally trials over the summer to see if she can get her Novice title by the fall. To get her Novice title she would need to qualify on 3 different occasions under 2 different judges.

I had ordered Summit and Kili matching agility leads. Here is Kili's.

2-in-1 martingale lead from Rush to Tug. These were a big hit.

Kili made a new friend. Bella is a 17 month old Standard Poodle, and she and Kili really enjoyed rolling around together. This is the first new playmate Kili has had in a little while so it was nice to see her so easily playing nice.

Here is Kili working the A-frame. We also did the tire, tunnel, and chute. She was fearless, confident, and happy. I was very happy, and very impressed with her. I can't wait for agility classes to start next week. I have no videos of the other equipment, and I apologize for how far away and shaky the video is. The guy who was filming for me warned me that it was "a little shaky" but I had no idea HOW shaky until I watched it later! Our trainer teaches the dogs the end behaviour of the frame first. So she has the dog hop up on the pause table which is set right next to the frame, and then she lures them down. Well, at one point Kili decides to go UP the frame, as if she's saying "hey! We're doing this all wrong!". The dogs were supposed to be in the ring for 5 minutes each but Kili picked up so quickly that her turn was incredibly short!