It was back to work yesterday after the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope you all got some turkey and trimmings, even if it just fell from the table. (=
We are almost through with our beginning agility class and I’ve learned a lot of new things. Last night we spent some time working on the dog walk, jumps, the tunnel and pause table. We did the tunnel and pause table as a sequence. First the tunnel, then the table without stopping in between. It was great! I made it through every obstacle with flying colors. We also worked on the teeter totter. That was not as successful. I’m just am not sure about walking across the moving board. It’s a bit unnerving. I will keep trying though, and I know I’ll get the hang of it soon.
My mom has been doing some research on training techniques and ideas that might help me learn to walk on that moving board. The main thing we learned is to be patient. It’s not something that can be rushed. Also lots of praise and cookies will help. The best training tip she learned was a method for making the teeter totter not so steep at first, then gradually adjust it.
One end of the board is placed on the pause table, or something like it. That way when the center of gravity changes as I’m walking across, the board only drops an inch or so. When that becomes easy for me, they will drop the table an inch so the teeter totter will then drop 2 inches as I walk across. As it gets easy for me the table is dropped lower and lower until finally I am able to walk across the entire teeter totter without stress.
The main thing we all need to remember is that agility is fun! We are exercising, learning and spending time together as a family. None of us should get frustrated, because it doesn’t help, in fact, it takes away all the fun that we are supposed to be having. If you are struggling with an obstacle or some part of your agility training, take a step back, move to something easier or take the obstacle you are struggling with and break it down into smaller parts and work on that part. We will all learn something and have a good time doing it!
And remember, there is no obstacle you can’t get around if you’re willing to run, jump, tunnel or weave.
Wrigley
