Willow "Officially" Begins Agility Classes ;o)

Since 8 weeks old, Willow has been exposed to various Agility equipment both at home and at various training facilities ;o)

This Tuesday she began her "official" structured "Intro to Agility" class with Kathy at AK9C ... there are 4 dogs in her class and of course even at 9am she thinks every new dog is potential chance for some "playtime"!

A ring that takes up 1/2 the inside training area is just packed with various colored straight & curved tunnels, many low 10" jumps, 2 baby see-saws about 6" off the ground, a 4' square purple tippy board mounted on a 4-6" ball in the center, a red-white-blue tire 10" off the ground, and a 12' long elevated blue "dog walk" about 3' off the ground with ramps at either end ... next week there will also be a low A-frame!

• With a hand-clicker and many, many, many soft treats, Kathy started everyone teaching their dog to "TOUCH" on command and with a CLICK & TREAT upon success ... first each of our hand palms and then a paper plate on the floor (that's our homework)
•  then we moved on to encouraging our dogs to get on a low see-saw, a tippy board, going through a straight tunnel and a low tire ... followed by a quick CLICK/enthusiastic PRAISE/yummy TREATs

Willow has the advantage of having been on/around Agility equipment and was quite successful in her first class ... she loved it all ... she's such a HAPPY girl to train and seems to catch on very quickly ;o)

This week's Teacher comment: "You have a very energetic pup there"  ;o)

PRACTICE...PRACTICE and more PRACTICE ... but in short sessions!!!