here i am…in my box, waiting for class to start!

mom and i are taking class with some more experienced dogs, but we’re hangin’ tough.  mom has been reading other agility blogs, hoping to catch us up.  maholia is a great one, with lots of great tips for beginners.

there is alot of waiting at class, and i hear there is alot of waiting at the actual “trials”.  i don’t like the waiting.  i like the running!

this week i learned the “chute”.  we got there early and mom clicked/treated every time i looked at the silly thing, but it was windy and the fabric was scary.  when class started, mom and i sat on the floor and i watched the other dogs dart through it and then i was like….”shoot!  i can do that!”  get it?  shoot/chute?  annnnywayyy. i did it!

we’re very excited for the next class!

it was so windy….

but we did it!  class was so much fun tonight!  i learned one new piece of equipment and made the mama super happy!

 mama was taking pictures while one of the trainers had me do the jumps..and…i have learned to make love to the camera:

class was great tonight because 3 dogs didn’t show up, so we all got sooo much personal time….and sooo much cheese!

here is rubay!  she’s really good at agility and doesn’t pay attention to anyone but her mama:

she’s a little more advanced than i am, but i’m watching….i’m learning.

here’s me on the weave poles while mama snaps shots!

to see a cool pic of me and the tunnel, see dogdailyphoto.wordpress.com!  and to hear mama’s perspective on tonight’s class, you can visit starcraving.wordpress.com….but be warned….all she does is gush about how cute and smart i am. it can be quite tedious.

shwew…i’m one sleepy dog.  naturally, i’m wiped out since agility class was tonight.  it was rough and there was some excitement!

i arrive and…the teacher says “cody bear, we have some newspapers for you.” mom is like “what?”  i’m on the front (above the fold) of the local pet pages.  and we’re in a big town, too!  so mom stuffs some papers in the car and we get geared up for class. 

format:  practice areas down below, an unleashed area above (one dog at a time.) while i was ABOVE…off leash… an aussie, (the one i’m supposed to stay away from cuz we’re both so “high strung” and the cute little corgi mix sparred.  it sounded horrible, and even 100 yards away…mamma almost had to be “ressumicated?” is that right?

as usual, the last 30 mins of class were individuals running the full course. i did as well as everyone else, but i added the element of “VICTORY LAP!”  i grapped my wubba and went h.o.p.

here’s where momma is cool:  she says agility should be fun for me….so she encouraged me and didn’t yell at me for being crazy. 

regarding the h.o.p…..many people take their dogs to agility to tire them out.  not the case here. i have to have a morning, lunch and evening walk BEFORE class, and…the teacher and the momma said i need to be run before classe, too.  something was also said about running contacts and too fast.

i can’t help it i’m crazy/silly.  maybe i need a good fake fight to slow me down????

and, to hear mamma’s perspective (specifically how freaked out she was) click here!

hello dog sport fans!  sorry i haven’t posted in a while….i haven’t had class.  last night was my first agility 101 class.  it was very fun and mom says i did really well.

my classmates are:

jett:  he is a small basenji that was in my last class, too.  he is VERY good at agility and of all the dogs in class, i like him the most.  he doesn’t scare me like the other dogs do. jett’s personal assistant is a really nice guy.

ernie: a corgi mix (i think) puppy who is ultra fast and who hates jett.  actually, i think he hates me, too.  he barks at me, but mom won’t let me near him.  she’s afraid i will eat him if he barks at me.  he can jump things twice as tall as he is!

rubay: a yellow lab mix.  she is the biggest dog in class but she is really good at everything, especially jumping.

trixie: my teacher says trixie is a “high strung” aussie.  that sounds painful.  i don’t know what it means, but i do know the teacher told mommy not to get to close to her.

missy:  “missy come”  “missy come”  all i know about this dog is her personal assistant said “missy come” about 2000 times last night, and at no time did missy actually come.  and she kept taking my treats the teacher put on the equipment for me!  i forgave her, as there seems to be a bottomless treat bag strapped to everyone’s waste in this class.

TREATS ARE EVERYWHERE!  when the handlers run, treats pop out of their bags.  they’re on the equipment, under the equipment, at the starts and finishes of equipment.  you get them for being good, you get them for choosing not to be bad.

good treats, too.  cheese or beefy bites. sometimes chicken.

i highly recommend my dogblog friends take agility class!

today was class 1 of the second level for agility.  i was psyched!

mom was cutting up cheesy and beefy bites!  the tug toy was in the car. the gear was loaded.

she turned the key to the honda…nothing.  nothing cuz mom’s car is a lemon.  BUT…

determined to show me a good time, mom grabs the treats and marches to the back yard.  she produces what is called a HOOLA HOOP. 

mom got me all riled up.  made me run around like a loony, then called me to jump through the hoop.  then she got me riled AGAIN then made me stop…or lay down, or go to a target!  it was super good fun!

i had fun tonight.  ‘cept when i heard mom say “stupid car” on the phone with her best friend.  then tell him, “it sucks that my effing car is keeping my dog from having fun.”

she’s silly…

(to hear her side of the story…visit starcraving.wordpress.com)

regarding my post a few minutes ago….

where can a dog get a cheap set of weave poles and a bargain a-frame around here?!

tonight was the “last class” of intro to agility. we had so much fun! mom LOVED it, which is great cuz that means i will get to do it again!

ok! it was a HUGE night and i have lots of pictures, so i may have to do this in two posts! first of all, let me tell you: I LOVE THE A FRAME! holy crap, if that isn’t the most fun thing in the world i don’t know what is! I attacked it! the contact points: if i missed em….I spun around in the air and flopped back onto them.

now here is my favorite photo of the night:

it sums up sophie so well! every piece of equipment she is like “let me ON that!” look at her concentration! and jett in the foreground….he’s wondering if there are treats over there!

ok, here is me on the a frame…. lovin it:

again….i ROCK this move pups. i really do!

now, here is a picture of rubay. i’m not sure of the spelling….cuz … i’m a dog. but i will say, she is a nice dog. i think she is the biggest dog in class, but she is very spry.

mom swearrrrrs this picture was an accident. something about a funky angle and that’s why its so blurry. sure mom. i heard you swear to everyone that you didn’t have margaritas before class!

here is jett, a basenji, atop the a-frame. he loves his pappa, as you can see.

ok, now here is sophie again. she is very happy and does not hold still.

see how excited she is! if you think her head moves fast…..you should see her tail stump go. its uncanny!!!

and jett on the weave poles…..

i can’t wait to do this again. this class really makes me wag. sure every now and then i get excited and run through the course like a lunatic….can you blame me????

the grass is green and the cold air is invigorating.

until agility 101 we will practice offleash work. that should give us a “paw up!”

my teacher called today!  mom was on her way home for lunch to give my my medicine and let me out for peepers and my teacher called her to talk about last night’s class.

she answered the phone by saying: “are you calling to kick me out of agility class?”

mom is very negative.

the teacher was just calling to tell us that things like that happen all the time. (me running off like a lunatic because i’m so excited cuz i’m havin so much fun!) she offered this suggestion as well:

she wants mom to get me good and excited then yell “STOP” then give me gobs of treats.  this, my friends, is a tremendous idea!!!

no pictures tonight.  mom forgot her camera.  which is fine, as long as she did not forget the treat bag.

to sum it up, we missed a week of beginning agility because of thanksgiving.  the following week:  called due to rain.  rescheduled for sunday:  i was sick (i have a congenital g.i. illness….the less said….the better)

so, tonight was class.  joy of joys:  we got to go on “equipment”.  mom had a crazy look in her eyes.  that “my dog is going to ROCK IT” look.  initially i was sad that jett wasn’t there.  he is the only other dog that knows how to be quiet in his crate during instruction.

thennnnn, the weaves. good LORD people!  those are great fun.  mom was right about those things.  then we instantly popped up onto a table and boy was she psyched that i was the only dog that didn’t need treats to get me up there.  then the tunnel.  i killed it….and upon exiting….

went after that squeakytoysized dog again!  and would i listen to mom to stop or come back?  NO!  cody bear don’t play that way. instead…i like to make the instructor partake in feats of strength and flexibility while mom envisions astronomic vet bills.

then the jumps.  weird that they’re called jumps cuz….we just stepped over them.

then the “plank”.  every time another dog escaped their handler….they went to the plank.  there were allllways treats on the plank.  willy did it twice.

to sum it up:  great fun for me….great humiliation for mom.

p.s. she said something about needing a treadmill for christmas to keep up with me.

p.p.s.  i didn’t know anyone but me got things for christmas. interesting.

 a few of my favorite things:  soft frisbees, peanut butter doggie biscuits, salmon, running through the agility course with wild abandon.  i also enjoy napping, chasing toys, carrying them around the house and squeaking them.  i like long walks and visiting friends.  mostly, i love to run!