Agility class

Teeter to start

 We had a variation of the Excellent FAST course that Cassi ran on Saturday.  Cassi did the teeter as the first obstacle and got it both times; she got the tunnel one time but not the other.  She did pretty well otherwise.  It was interesting to see that she got through the course under time the first time, although she was a little longer on time the second time since she had to figure out the tunnel.

distance: jump to tunnel to frame (right)

Teka had more trouble with the tunnel the second time and had trouble with the A-frame both times, as well as the jump.  She also got excited right afterwards and did all the jumps in a row, including the final jump, which was not what I was trying to do.  I wanted to take the jumps around to the other end of the tunnel, then to the finish jump.

finish jump

There were several strategies discussed.  The dog should be in front of you, not behind, when you are headed for the distance work so that they don't see you decelerate.  Once they commit to the tunnel, move toward the (in this case) left and away from the line so you have room to gain momentum going toward the A-frame.  Turn a little more toward the dog when pushing out to the jump.  It was good to watch how some others ran the course nearly the same but slightly different to see how it flowed.