Tessa College

This session, Monday nights are "Tessa College" for me!  I go to tricks with her at 7:30 and then right to Beginner Agility at 8:30.  Tessa absolutely loves it - she can't get enough!

Tricks class was a bit of a challenge for us this week.  We were working with hula hoops.  Tessa gets a little nervous interacting with things that I am holding.  Not targets or anything like that, but hoops, dowels, canes, etc.  On top of that, the hoop has those beans inside and it makes a sound as it moves and she really doesn't like that.

It was good for her, though.  It had been a long time since we had worked with something that she had to work to interact with.  She was able to go through it when I tossed food through, and she was able to move into it while it was lying on the ground.  I plan to work with it more because it is good for her to continue to get comfortable with new things.

We worked with targets a bit and she really liked that.  We worked on the crawl, and surprisingly, she really liked that and she did well with it!  That might be something we will work on more later.

Of course, I gave her a chance to practice her paw work and her pretties.

We all went off the floor for the last part, which was jumps and tunnels.  Since she already knows them, she got to go first to demo!!  That was a lot of fun for both of us.

I believe that Tessa has enough tricks to try for her Novice tricks title, so I asked the instructor if she could witness for us in two weeks.  I think Tessa will do it without any problem.

Then on to Agility.  I got to work on a few things that we did at the seminar.  I did what Bridget had suggested for the contacts, and there was a double in the course, so Tessa got to practice that again.

Her weaves were excellent!  I love having a dog who can weave more independently!  In fact, I am really starting to appreciate Tessa's ability to work independently.  Once she has the idea of something I really don't need to be on top of her.

We got to practice a speed sequence at the end and I got to really run, staying away from the jumps.  It is still so different, but I am really starting to enjoy it!

At the end we did some teeter work, and that needs a little more training.  I am going to try to set up my practice teeter in the house this weekend and let her get the hang of riding the tip point.  That might be just what she needs to finally get the hang of it.