Leaping a Major Hurdle

I felt so encouraged last night at agility class. The teeter totter was up first on the menu and Jake raced across it with no fear. Next we did a jump/jump/A-frame set. Jake actually sat and waited for me to get in position ahead of him before I released him to run the obstacle. We had some problems with him hitting the contact correctly but most of that was my fault, my body language. Jake was so mellow at the end of running this obstacle set that he actually rolled onto his back for our teacher to pet his belly. And then (drum roll, please) the class was hit with our largest obstacle set yet:



Jake was really confused in the tunnels for some reason -- he'd come all the way through, get one foot from the end and turn around and run back out the entrance. After the second try, Jake just had to show the new class assistants what zooming was all about. Jake zoomed around the yard once, twice, and into the woods to take a poop. He tamely came back to me after using the bathroom and we headed back to the first jump. Our first time on this set didn't go as planned but it's the first time we did so many obstacles with Mr. Short-Attention-Span. We had much more success on the jump/high dogwalk this week. Jake again approached another obstacle that he previously feared with much more confidence. We hadn't done the weave poles in a while so, after the initial confusion, Jake did show he remembered how to do this obstacle. Overall, though, I was really pleased with Jake last night, especially since we haven't had class for two weeks. He wasn't his wild and crazy self (he normally does air whirlies) when people stoop to pet him. He laid completely sprawled on the ground, chewing a stick or a piece of grass, when it wasn't his turn. Jake watched my face more intently than he usually does. Occasionally something smelled really good as a stiff wind picked up from an oncoming rain storm. Armed with chicken, though, I was able to easily get his attention back. And to top it all off, all the chicken didn't upset Jake's tummy at all!