A Proud Agility Moment

I know I haven't really mentioned much about Jake lately in agility class but this last Tuesday night was worth mentioning. Jake has steadily been growing in maturity and his ability to concentrate in class. Jake will start to zoom, get two feet away and either stop or come right back to me. This Tuesday we began with the teeter totter on which Jake has NO FEAR emblazoned on his forehead while he races across this obstacle. It's amazing to see and hard to stop him from doing over and over.

The really stunning part came when we did the 16-obstacle set. I was commenting to a classmate on how well her dog does in general in the class. She said that Jake wasn't shabby either -- "He's just a free thinker", she said. I've lost my anxiety over Jake not doing everything perfectly so when we began the obstacle set I was calm and concentrating on what my hands and feet were doing. Jake did all of the obstacles, including the pinwheel jumps I got in reverse, and he added another table just for kicks at the end. There was nothing calm about me at that point! My little boy is growing up! There may be hope for us on the agility field yet.

Our class then set about working in a smaller area on 9 and 11 obstacle sets, mostly jumps. Some of the moves were pretty advanced but everyone's dogs did a stellar job even when we the handlers got turned around. Jake's last go at the jumps was going extremely well without me having to toss his bait bag even once. We began racing for the last jump. I zoomed past it. No Jake. I looked back over my shoulder just in time to see Jake leap for my rear end, mouth open. That little bugger was trying to heel me! Actually I think he was going for the steak pieces I had in his bait bag, which I keep on the back of my pants. Still, Jake was rowdy and full of himself, shrieking and eluding my grasp. Yup, we were done for the night. It's truly amazing how fast Jake can humble me -- proud one moment, totally embarrassed the next. =) I can't wait for next week though!