Agility...take two

So, last week Bella and I took our first agility class. It went something like...Bella pulling me in the general direction of the door for an hour.

This week we went back for the second class. Of course, everyone loves how beautiful she is. She has a very glossy black coat. But the next thing out of their mouth is some sort of pity for how scared she is. The building is a huge warehouse so it can get pretty loud with agility/rally/obedience all going on and people coming an going. Bella gets overwhelmed pretty quick.

We started with doggy stretches. Well, Bella is a natural a yoga master. She does yoga all over our floor every morning! In class, I stand over her hind end, hold a hot dog in front of her and make her bend in half to the left and the right and then down under her front legs.

After that came chutes and tunnels. By this time (10 minutes into class) she had given up on treats but she would go through as I led her, of course heading straight for the door at the end. The more the dogs in our group did the chute, the more they would pull the fabric down over the end. Well, once it got almost to the bottom Bella ran right up in the box and sat down! I think she thought it was some type of crate.

Then we did the ladder (which she hates). We did the A-frame off the ground about a foot and she did pretty well.

Her best event of the night was the jumps. Right now they are about 4 inches off the floor. They put one side on the wall and a barrier on the other side so they have no other choice but to take the jumps. Well, another dog owner let Bella have a good whiff of butt before her turn. To Bella, this is like doggy xanax. In class, the dogs aren't allowed to interact which I think makes Bella even more anxious. At first I had to run up and down with her on her leash. Then, she did all 4 jumps all on her own! Now, she hasn't grasped the concept of two front feet then two back feet in order to jump. She lopes over like a typical jogging hound, one foot at a time. I guess that will change as the jumps get higher.

One of the assistant teachers suggested two things. I can bring her into the building just to walk her around and let her have more exposure to the building and atmosphere. Then, afterwords do something she loves, which for Bella is going to the dog park. I did that Monday after class and she was much more relaxed when we got home.

So, Thursday we are going to hang out in the building and Friday we have another meetup. Should be a busy week!