Nova is working hard to learn the sport of agility. She's in her 2nd official agility class, learning the foundation skills of obstacles and handling. She's gotten her feet on all the obstacles. She loves tunnels and the chute. She loves jumping onto the table and is learning to collapse into a quick down (for those USDAA trials). She practices her contacts on the down-side of the A-frame, but doesn't go over it yet. She runs across the low dogwalk. And, although it happened quite by accident, she's gone over the teeter totter once. I turned my back for a split second and she took off toward the teeter. I was too late to call her off, so I kept my mouth shut and crossed my fingers. She ran up the incline to the end, then crashed to the ground. I held my breath, hoping this wouldn't be the beginning of long term teeter fears. Almost immediately she came trotting back to me, tail held high, with a huge grin on her face. Ready to give it another try! What a brave girl! (But, I didn't let her go again.)
She is able to run sequences of 8-10 obstacles, through the jump uprights (no bars yet), through tunnels and the chute, on and off the table. She's learning to read my signals that tell her where to go next: left, right or straight ahead. There are several ways for me to communicate to her which way we're going next, and they all depend on where I am, where she is, where I need to go next, and where she needs to go next. Below is a little practicing of front crosses, rear crosses, post turns and wraps. If you don't know agility, you may not know what those terms mean, but maybe you can see the subtle differences in my different locations.
When done correctly, my position and timing will tell Nova where to go next and will hopefully result in smooth and fast runs.
Nova is also beginning to learn about weave poles. I'm teaching this using a method called "2 x 2 weaves" where I start with 2 poles and teach the basic skill, then add 2 more poles, then 2 more after that. Eventually she'll be doing 12 weave poles with speed and accuracy. This video shows Nova performing the first steps in learning 2 x 2 weaves. She's executing an off-side weave entry, which requires her to go around the first pole before going between the two poles. Although not the most difficult of the 2 types of weave entries, it does teach her that she always enters the weave poles with the first pole on her left.
Nova and I will now be taking a week long break from agility training. John and I are going to North Carolina to see Andrew and Sheema get married. Nova will be staying at Klondike Kennels where she'll be pampered and loved, and be able to join her doggie friends for playgroup on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We'll miss one another, but it should be a fun time for everyone!
