Agility Debut!

Well, it has been awhile since I have updated this blog. This has mainly been because my semester sort of got away from me and I was not on the computer as much as I expected to be. Suffice it to say, Darwin had plenty of adventures during my absence, the most recent one being learning his first agility obstacle! (And don't worry, there are pictures of his adventures this past month, and they will be posted shortly.... though probably not until this weekend, as this is the final week of my semester).

A week ago, the in-laws were in town and we all decided to go check out PVC pipe at Home Depot. We did, of course, purchase some with the intention of making two jumps to start Darwin's agility training on. (We also bought some stick-in-the-ground posts that will serves as rudimentary weave poles- but we haven't started working with these yet so they will be a topic of a later post). My father-in-law helped me create the jump you see below in the picture, though so far Darwin and I have only worked with one (we made two). I started him on 8", but believe that he will eventually need to be at 12" (thus the two height marks on the jump) - those with agility corgis feel free to validate this or correct me if I am wrong (Darwin is 13" at the withers). (My last agility dog was lab-sized).

But you probably don't visit this blog to hear me blather on, so, without further ado, Darwin's agility debut!

"Okay, Mom. I see this thing before me. What am I supposed to do with it?" (Note the lip-bitey expression on his face)



Getting ready to jump.... Just look at the concentration on his face.



And a very blurry leap over! Yay Darwin!



"You want me to jump over it again?"



Before his first leap over the jump, Darwin first tried to go under it. When he recieved an "uh uh" from me, he tried to go around it. When that also failed to please me, he decided that maybe he should go over it! A click and a treat later and he understood.

Darwin can now be called over the jump, be directed over the jump, and we are working on getting him comfortable going over the jump as I run beside him (he still thinks that he should go around it at that point every few times). Overall, I'm very happy with our progress and he seems to be enjoying himself. I'm excited to introduce two jumps, but know I need to take my time and make sure things are correct before going any further. (We have practiced jumping in two different locations so far - my deck and an empty parking lot near my residence).

*I also taught Darwin to close a door with his nose this weekend. He really is my little superstar!

-Mel, Corgi-keeper