22 November 2008

I took Ruby and Saffy on an Agility training day organised by the Working Belgian Shepherd Dog Society. The trainers were Andy and Helen Brown.

It was a very interesting day and I picked up lots of handling tips. Saffy met a lovely Groenendael called Dipti who just wanted to play with her and they had a lovely time bouncing about.

Saffy was very well behaved in the morning with Andy doing jumps and tunnels , but when I brought her in to do the Agility training in the afternoon with Helen she got rather over excited and when I left her in a wait at the start she ran off over the dogwalk, then through the tunnel and back over the dog walk then dashed to the top of the A frame and stayed up there surveying the scene.

After this she did calm down a bit and worked very well. It would have been better if I had been able to remember which jumps we were supposed to be doing. There was a lot to take in and I kept forgetting which way we were supposed to go.

I was very pleased with how Ruby managed the contact equipment as it was a lot slippier than she is used to. at first she was a bit unsure on the A frame but soon learned to manage it. Ruby had a major phobia about the dog walk in the past and was very worried about slipping on contact equipment but she managed this strange dog walk very well. Helen encouraged my to talk to Ruby while she is doing the dog walk. i didn't realise it but I don't speak to her while she is doing it, but Helen said she is much happier if I talk to her in a happy voice.