2009 Goals: Ella

I have signed Ella up for a beginner agility class. It starts on February 4 and runs for 4 weeks. We are going to take the class from an instructor near us in Skowhegan.

In the meantime, I have been working on getting Ella hyped up about toys. She is usually a food fixated sheltie and I have only trained with food in the past. But, it seems to be important to have your dog be able to play with toys when you do agility. It increases the drive of the dog.

I found a tug toy that we use just for agility. It is a polar fleece braided tug, but the maker also braided in rabbit fur. Ella loves it and will tug quite well. It has seemed to get her a little excited. Honestly, though, I can get her more excited by running around waving my arms and laughing. She gets really nippy when I do that!

The plan is to still use food to get her used to the equipment. She loves the jumps and jumping on the table (I use "Get on that couch" as a cue, since we use that term at Nana's house). She learned to run through the tunnel quickly, too. I think the dog walk will be pretty easy. The A Frame and the teeter will be the hardest, but we can just compete in the Jumpers class (jumps and tunnels) until she is ready for the other equipment.

My goal with Ella is accuracy first and then speed, since I know that she can put on the speed once she is confident with the equipment. And, my biggest goal is for her to have fun.