Agility Woes and Yays

So, as you may have read, I'm doing a "fun" dog agility class with Popper this session instead of repeating the handling class we were in. I was having absolutely zero fun, dreaded going to class, and Popper felt my reaction and started being less cooperative and joyful in his runs. I could get maybe one run out of him, and then we were done.

This is our third week in the fun class, which is zero pressure, and after the second week I saw a huge difference. Popper works for me the entire time (although he wouldn't call it work, I'm sure!), and I'm actually sad when class is over. His response to my directions, garbled though they may be, is phenomenal. He's so amazing that I find it hard to believe we've only been doing agility for a year. At our last trial, he only went off and visited during one run instead of both of them. I think before he was getting so stressed (because I was getting so stressed) that he would run off to visit folks. He always comes back, it's just annoying when you're on a speedy course. :) I'm really glad we're taking the class, because there's no point in doing agility if it's not fun.

Merlin is in the "weaves and teeters" class. He could do a full height, ground to ground teeter before even entering the class. I just started him on upright weave poles, too. So passing the class shouldn't be a problem. The problem I am having is, right after we decided he would make his debut at an agility trial in August, he suddenly decided the backyard is an evil place to practice agility in. The inside is fine, but the backyard - no. He'll do the teeter, and anything else is like pulling teeth. He's very intent on agility in class, very aware of my body positions, very eager to do whatever obstacle I tell him to, handles everything like a more seasoned competitor - but in the backyard, he's like a lost little dog that's never seen agility equipment before. I have no idea what happened. I suppose I have to start back at square one to see if I can get anything out of him. I want to pack up some obstacles and take them over to my parents' yard to see if he'll do agility there. The trial is an outdoor one, so I really need him to work outdoors. I'm not expecting much out of him for the trial, being his first one and all, but if I try to run a dog that looks like he's terrified, well, I'll probably get kicked out of the competition. I'll keep updating what's going on with him and our progress...

Merlin Loses his Mojo

Poor merbutt. :( We started a new dog agility class last night, it's pretty much just weaves and teeters. I started Merlin on the teeter months ago, if you read his blog, because I knew it would take such a long time to teach it to him. And it did. Lots of time, lots of treats, and a heck of a lot of patience. But he's been doing a full 24" teeter ground to ground for about 3 weeks now, fairly confidently too.

When I sent him up on it in class, he ran straight off it before it hit the ground, and then was scared of it. I'm fairly certain it's because he's never done the teeter there, just the dog walk. And if I recall correctly, Popper did the exact same thing first time he did a teeter there too. We worked through it a bit, and at the end, he was much improved, but still not 100% comfortable on it.

So now I have to somehow get his confidence up to do the teeter in class, because he's still fine with ours at home. I'm just bummed we put in all that hard work, several times a day for MONTHS, and then something like that happened. :( I'm not bummed at Merlin. I feel like there's something I could have done different when we did it in class.

Good Lord it's COLD Outside!

Sheesh, I wake up this morning to a winter wonderland - everything's white again! I know the weather forecast said it's supposed to be in the 60s by this weekend, so it was rather shocking. I really want to take the dogs for a nice long walk, and get back in the habit of daily walks, but I am sooo anti-cold that it's going to have to wait until the weekend.

I just wanted to remind everyone that our Corgi Chaos Store, which has an amazing selection of Pembroke Welsh Corgi t-shirts and gifts, is on Twitter! You can follow Merlin as he twitters about new designs, corgi experiences - and of course, his usual disgust with us "stoopid hoomins." He even chats about starting dog agility from a corgi's perspective! It's a lot of fun, so be sure to check it out.

Slowly but surely, new parrot kawaii designs are being added. You can find a great example of our Rose Breasted Cockatoo T-Shirt, pictured here. We have kawaii cartoons for the majority of our parrot species, it's just a matter of getting them added into our Cafepress store. So if you would like a species added that we haven't gotten to yet, just e-mail or msg us and we can put that one up right away.

Each design features fat funky text in assorted colors, usually blue, pink, green or teal, with the parrot cartoon on the right. It always reads, "I Love my Parrot Species" with, of course, "parrot species" being replaced by the actual species of parrot. These are really fun t-shirts & gifts for bird lovers, so be sure to check them out at Menagerie Mayhem!