Agility Meetup Session

We took Sierra to The Edmonton Dog Agility Meetup drop in session on Sunday, July 12. It was absolutely excellent. The facilities were just great, and combined with the outdoor setting, a good challenge for Sierra. Jozie and Rita organize the sessions and were very helpful in getting us started and provided tips on how to get the dogs into it, and around the course. There were two courses set up, and some additional equipment to try when it was free. We quickly got to the point where we needed to give Sierra some rest time to recover. Sierra has done a bit of this at Waggin' Tails, but overall there was much more to do here. The tunnel with a chute kind of worried me at first. However, Sierra only needed encouragement the first time through, and after that she never looked back and just barreled through. The dog walk ramps were quite high, and unnerved Sierra a bit the first time. After that she was fine with it too. There are some videos and slide shows below. A fun event that I could recommend to other puppy raisers. This first video is the longer course with Sierra on leash.

Here is one of Sierra's better runs on the short course while also on leash.

This is a video of Sierra on the longer course with the leash dragging. It was probably her best run of the day, except for a double back on the tunnel at the end. Every once in a while she remembers the treats in the tunnel at Waggin' Tails, and has to check to see if she missed them. Up until then she had done many good runs through the tunnel.

This is a video of Sierra on the long course without a leash. We had a little trouble with the weave poles in the beginning, but on a retry Sierra did probably her best with them. She now seems to be listening to left and right, which we use all the time on the street in jacket. This run did not end so well. Think she was getting tired. We knew it was time to quit when she laid down in the shade about half way through the course!!

Overall I was quite impressed with Sierra's performance on these courses. She made significant progress in the time we were there. It is a good controlled situation where you can practice obedience with other dogs and an outdoor environment for distractions.