Jakercise

Jake was so excited about agility tonight that when he saw me pack his bag and set it down in the dining room, he dragged the backpack to the front door and wouldn't budge. He began doing his best excited howling at the door and kept it up for a half hour until I grabbed my keys and his leash.

I just got back from agility and managed to make it through the class without a wet bottom. When we pulled up, the previous class was leaving. One of our obedience teachers was leaving with her Miniature Schnauzer, Capone, and she said, "That class just about killed me." Two other doggy parents leaving with their Corgis said, "Hope you have a better class than we did." On that note, I was a little nervous heading in.

We were adding a jump to the other obstacles, like the A-frame and the tunnel. The Boxer in the class enthusiastically ran over the lady who baits with treats at the end of the A-frame. She looked like she was playing football as she lowered her head and plowed into the poor lady. The dogwalk brought out all kinds of interesting canine interpretations. Tonight was the first night that the dogs ran the whole length of the walk. Some couldn't understand why they didn't need to jump on the table first (like they have done since day one) and would make some wild detours to include the table in the obstacle. Jake went flying along the walk and I ran alongside him and it was our best obstacle all night. I was so proud.

THEN we did the curved tunnel. I'm sure I mentioned how disastrous the tunnel was last week. This week was no different. Jake used this tunnel as an opportunity to drive-by run at all the other dogs (once again violating his favorite NO-CONTACT rule). He did this not once but twice. We had to take the jump totally out of the equation and have someone immediately stand in the opening on both ends, since he can switch direction in the tunnel at full steam. Catching him even with your body totally in the opening was still a challenge and he escaped twice. We actually had to have a brief powwow at the end of class to discuss options for catching Jake's attention when he goes zooming around.

We've been home about ten minutes and Jake is still zooming up and down the stairs while I type this, switching between his new monkey and a sock he's stolen from Joe's laundry bucket. It's like he's possessed by the Fisher Price Demon ("Must PLAY!")and can't stop running. Actually he just fell down on my feet, tongue lolling out and extremely happy with himself. Ah, the life of an agility fanatic!