Thursday, May 26, 2011

Agility Level 2 Done, Summer Break!

Wow, how fast 6 weeks go by when you're busy! The last agility blog I wrote was that Mia had passed her tests to move on to level 2, and now level 2 is already over! Unfortunately I have absolutely zero pictures or video from any of our level 2 classes. We had a great time though. We did a lot of fun stuff, and a lot of long trial-type runs. Mia still drove me crazy every single week with her sniffing tendencies, but she did improve on most of her agility skills as well. She's gotten a lot better at slowing down at the end of any type of walk, and making sure she stops at the end with two paws on and two paws off. She's also gotten better at actually listening for my commands (and I got a little better at giving her those commands more efficiently). None of the dogs ended up passing to level 3, but honestly, none of them were ready. To go on to level 3, they have to have mastered just about all of the obstacles and do them on command pretty consistently. Mia still needs A LOT of work on the weave poles, but honestly that is my fault for not working on her with them at home. She also doesn't have the teeter down, but the one week they worked on that was the one week I missed because of my vacation.

Dog-On-It Agility doesn't do classes in the summer (too hot and too rainy) so we get a summer break before fall classes begin again. There are private instructors available for the summer, but work is so busy in the summer and with other financial responsibilities, private lessons aren't in Mia's future. I think we'll keep doing it in the fall though and sign up for another level 2 course. Even though I don't think she'll ever be an agility rockstar (unless Florida agility trials miraculously move indoors where there's not as much sniffing temptations) it is a lot of fun and is a great workout for the both of us.

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