Back in the Saddle Again

We've missed a couple of agility classes this round but we were happy to be back in agility class last night. The temperature has dropped and the breeze had all the dogs feeling frisky. Jake is improving with each class on his ability to pay more attention to me and less to the other dogs and people. This class he made more the jumps instead of running around them to catch up with me. We're able to use Jake's bait bag with much success to lead him through another obstacle when he's unsure. Jake is showing me some maturity. He still zooms but he normally just gets a few feet before returning in front of me to ask "What's next?" seated at my feet. NOW if the humans could just get it together, the dogs might get it right, too. Memorizing a course seems fine and dandy when someone else is holding your dog, you're walking the course looking at the numbered cones, and practicing your body language. You get out of the course, the course just goes out of your head, you're trying to just keep the dog moving and, voila!, creative course running by Melissa is born. I didn't even know how to apologize for the course I made up. Luckily, I was not alone and we're joking about making points cards to flash up for how creatively we mess up the course. Oh, well, next week will be here soon and hopefully my brain will be in gear and coordinate something with the rest of my body to make it look slightly more graceful and planned out.