At least I hope Meg was just having an off day today. It started at 5:30am. She woke me up because she needed to go out. Nothing unusual there, but after she did her 'business' she refused to come back in. When I called her, she ran away from me and then turned and stared at me. I was tired and didn't really care if she stayed outside so Bear came in and Meg didn't. At about 6-6:30am, she started barking at something so Dad got up to bring her in, but she refused to come to him too. After that, she was quiet so we just left her out.
Later in the day, we went to agility class. Meg had been doing pretty well in training all week and I was excited to show what she could do in class. Meg however had other ideas. Everything else in the building was far more interesting today. She wanted to sniff everything and twice ran off to check out the other border collie in class (though not going all the way up to her...Meg's not that brave yet). Twice she ran up to the instructor to say 'hello'. When she did give me some of her focus, she kept messing up things that she's had down for weeks, mainly her wraps. She'd go to the wrong side of the obstacle or she'd simply turn in a circle.
She did improve a bit as class went on. We changed up our training for 'out' a little bit. Now the handler stands in between two poles/buckets/whatever and tells the dog to go out around one pole. After the dog has that down, we add in the other so the dog is running one big circle around the poles and handler. Meg did well with going out around just one pole but needed a bit more guidance when we added in the second.
We also gave the wobble board another try. I have yet to make one for practicing at home so Meg and Bear were still a bit nervous about it. Bear managed to get two paws on. Meg got frustrated and ended up barking at the instructor (never done that before). In the end, she got three feet on the board and we decided to settle for that. We'll have to work on it.
We also started working on a walk board. This is the beginning on our contact work and training a safe entry onto the board (using barriers to teach the dog not to enter from the side). Today we just praised the dogs for getting on the board (flat on the ground) and walking to the other end, stopping (teaching the command 'bottom'), sitting on the end of the board, and staying until released. Meg was nervous about the whole thing the first two times, but by attempt number 3 she had it down. Bear didn't want to sit-stay...I think his hips are bothering him a bit.
To end the class, we introduced the dogs to the chute barrel (without the chute). Meg loved it! She was flying through it and eager to do it again. Bear not so much...he's a tall guy and if he stands up straight through the chute his back scrapes the top. He has to crouch a bit to get through...not sure how that feels on the old dogs joints. In the end, he did okay.
On our walk today, Meg had three 'tantrums' (barking, spinning, jumping fits) at the presence of other dogs. She's been doing pretty well lately, but today she just was not having a good day. Hopefully tomorrow is better!
Here are a few pictures of Meg, Bear, and their Terrier friend Riley taken while out on a walk:
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