Whew! Things got busy in October and early November so we’re a bit behind and hoping to catch up sooner than later.
Despite the fall season, we’ve done a pretty good job this fall of dodging the rain before agility class this year. This week at Beavercreek Park we had overcast skies and it started sprinkling just before it was time to head to class. The more serious rain only started once we were safe inside the barn for the next hour.
It was apparently Barky Dogs Only week, as Rain and Hunter were the only dogs at agility this week! Despite a shared barkiness, they each have a unique style—Hunter does his barking when he’s running the course and is mostly well-behaved when he’s waiting for his turn, whereas Rain is usually quiet while running a course (usually!) but she tends to get riled up by other dogs running.
This means that I don’t often have a chance to get photos of Hunter, because when he’s running he’s barking, and Rain is responding to both. Since it was just the two dogs this week though, Rain was a bit more mellow so it was an easier task.
We did a relatively short course this week that included a line of jumps, tunnel, and the dog walk.
One thing that has been slightly difficult to get used to is dealing with Rain’s touch pads. I’ve been mostly good at bringing them to class. Since we’re the only ones using them (Molly’s guinea pigs), remembering to get them out and place them before we begin has been a bit more challenging. Once we’re done and Molly spends some time perfecting some handling issue, I also have to remember to revisit them and either pick them up or tuck them away so they’re not in the way of the next dog doing the course. That said, Rain has really taken to the exercise, so this problem we’ve had with our two on, two off (“feet“) dynamic has shown some improvement.
Our hour seemed short considering we only had half the class. Rain and I enjoyed some ball in the pens out back after class, but it wasn’t long before the rain kicked up again and we decided to head home.
Rain in the Forecast 