Well done you and Monty.

at the peeing up the post that would be Ollie's first trick too.

not him, but just young males in general.

Just watch he doesn't do what Tip did a couple of times- once he realised that he wasn't allowed to pee on any of the equipment he used my legs instead Needless to say everyone else thought it was hilarious

I enjoyed that, bless him.
I will enjoy reading the updates I've a feeling he will go far.

Thanks for the great thread Esme!

I will be looking forward to reading this every week! I hope to start agility with Monty when he is older and it is great to hear how you are both getting on!!

Oh and I reckon my Monty would do the exact same thing with the peeing!!

Hope you have as much fun next week!

Great thread! Well done Monty, sounds like you did well I'm jealous, can't wait to start with Tilly. I'm going on Sunday to a different one from where we did puppy agility, just to watch for a bit & find out when she can start, so look forward to reading about Monty's progress

Week Two - 24.03.2010 - Lesson Two

So we decided we'd go back for another week after enjoying last week so much and this week didn't disappoint either!

Part of the rules of the club is "you must not talk about agility club" - no only kidding!! Part of the rules is that on arrival you leave dogs in the car and help to set up the course, being new last week they let me off but this week I did my bit and help set up - i got peoples names wrong and felt a bit stupid but felt a lot more confident than last week!

All was going well and then I had to get Monty out the car! We did the warm up of strolling round the barn and i desperately tried to stop him peeing up anything although there were other dogs doing it this week so i didn't feel as embarassed about last week's mishap!

I did feel a bit annoyed at this point as everyone else's dog was strolling nicely by their side and mine was lunging around all over the place and I looked like I had absolutely no control which i didn't really! Still my excuse is that he doesn't wear his harness at agility and if he did then it would be totally different (or so i convince myself!)

Anyway warm up over and we split into out two groups. This week there was three of us in the beginners group - Monty, a cocker spaniel called Patch and another dog (crossbreed i think) called Max.

The agenda for this week - Tunnel, Jumps and the long walk over ramp (I don't know the technical terms yet , sorry!!). Nerves came flooding back as soon as i heard tunnel as Monty hates anything like that and what was the first exercise - yes, the tunnel!

I load my pockets full of juicy steak and cheese - I had beans on toast for tea so felt a bit cheated that the dog was getting better food than me!

We were the third to have a go so i watch Max and Patch doing the tunnel fantastically. In all fairness both have done agility before and then it was our turn.

I stood one end, treats in hand and Pauline stood the other, treats in hand. The tunnel was heading round a corner and he wasn't having any of it. He squirmed away and basically resisted as much as he good. Pauline was fab and said that we'd shorten the tunnel and she didn't want to force him to do something he didn't want to.

So with the tunnel shortened and now straight we tried again but still no joy. Pauline looks at me and says "any chance you could get in but just half way". So picture this - i'm knelt halfway into a tunnel, a**e sticking out the other end trying to convince Monty to join me in there. Meanwhile there's a whole agility group stood behind watching me with my a**e sticking out a tunnel. I was glad they couldn't see my face and Monty was just looking at me as if to say "you've really lost it this time Mum".

So gently we coaxed him into the tunnel by laying treats through it and i backed out a**e first and through he came. I now didn't care how i looked, my boy had done his first tunnel and I was over the moon and everyone else watching cheered and applauded. I felt immensely proud.

We kept the tunnel short and got him to come between us and he did, then we stretched it back to full going round a corner and he still came through - i was chuffed to bits with him and he looked pleased with himself too.

We did it a couple more times and got him used to the command "tunnel" to go through it. Monty being Monty had to slip up and decided he'd stay in the tunnel and try and sniff out treats! We got a few laughs for that and he came out looked pleased as punch as if to say "it's alright in there really!"

Next up was practising jumps again in similar fashion to last week but this week I had to stand with my back to him, treat at the ready and give him a "go" command to come over the jumps to me and surprisingly he did just that and consistently as well. He still ran off exploring at the end of each set of three but he was coming over the jumps well. We practised with me stood in the centre of the jumps a few times.

Then we moved on so that I was releasing him to the end that Pauline stood at - when he got to the second jump I had to start running to meet him at the end. The first time he got confused by me running with him and came out of the jumps. A couple more attempts and he got it. He loved doing the jumps and seems to be coming familiar with them pretty quick.

Then we moved on to the ramp. Firsty Pauline wanted to teach him "targetting" which was getting him to put his nose down to a particular point - this is to ensure that he comes all the way down the ramps to a target point and doesn't jump off before getting to the end.

The targetting involved a tile on the floor and putting a treat down and getting him to take it - quite basic and it was just like having dinner to Monty!! He soon picked up and lifted his head up to wait for the next treat then touched his nose down again to eat the treat.

I then had to walk him round me in a circle and then get him up on to the end of the ramp and down all the way to collect the treat from the tile without his feet coming off before the very end. I don't think Pauline had much confidence in Monty's ramp ability before we started but she seemed confident enough to allow me to walk him over it on the lead, guiding him with a treat and he did it no problem. We did this a couple of times and he had no issues with the ramp however he was still on lead and was guided but I think he'll be ok with it when i'm allowed to try it off lead.

To finish off Pauline let Patch and Max try four jumps leading into the tunnel which lead out on to one jump and a tyre jump. Technically Monty was only supposed to do the four jumps and the tunnel but i thought i'd try the fifth jump after the tunnel as well.

Didn't quite go to plan though! He did the three jumps no problem but coming round the corner towards the fourth he ran of course and jumped into me!! I had a bit of an audience at this point so when we restarted at the tunnel I was only really supposed to do the tunnel but i'd got the taste and wanted to try getting him to follow and do the jump as well and he did!! He got an immense out of praise and reward from me for doing so!

And that was session over, an hour gone so quickly but it was amazing. Monty really started to get a feel for it and looked like he was having fun but still showing potential. I managed to take a bit of time to look at his face when he was coming over the jumps and out of the tunnel and he looked so happy and pleased with himself.

We've got homework for this week in teaching him to do left and right turns and also focus on the targetting and we've already been practising. He learns quick so i'm confident i can have perfect left and right turns by next week!!

So that was week two and we both loved it! I can't wait to go back next week!

Sorry that this was a bit long winded again this week - i know i promised i'd try to shorten it down a bit but there was just soooo much going on this week!!

I really enjoyed reading this week but I didn't realise that you would be taking part in it too!! That did make me chuckle and I'm sure you'll look back one day when Monty is an agility superstar and laugh about it!!

It sounds like it is just the job for Monty having something not only physical, but something he needs to think about too.

Well Done Monty!!!sounds as if you both had a lot of fun....

Fantastic, not long winded at all, you will be happy to have all this info in months to come

LOL at the tunnel, sometimes they take a while then suddenly they just love it - we have a guy in our class who didnt like the tunnel but now it is like a black hole for him - sucking him in from the other side of the room

Sounds like he is doing great - but dont try rushing things, your trainer is keeping you slow on the dogwalk because dogs can forget they have back legs and have nasty falls off them if they arnt controled

Sounds great fun! Dont worry if he seems the worst in the class pulling on the lead and being daft, at shows I see some chamo dogs who are so excited they cant walk nicely but they run great

and I dont know all the owners names - I know all the dogs

Good point - i hadn't thought about it like that!

I always find it quite refreshing when you watch crufts and the dogs jump up a bit after they've finished their run or their competition and their owners are praising them. It's nice to see as it shows their still allowed to be dogs and have fun instead of constantly being regimented!