Last week when we met up with Sabrina, one of the things we did is have a private lesson with Susan to see if the pups were ready for her agility classes.
The first thing we did was talk a little bit about agility, which Sabrina and Indy have never done before. Brad got pictures of us talking, with Sabrina and I in our wheelchairs and Susan holding a wobble board (a big circular piece of wood with a tennis ball on the bottom of it.
First up for any kind of action was Felix on the wobble board! He daintily placed his paw on the wobble board, and it took him a while to get comfortable enough to actually stand on it. We didn’t really let it wobble while he was on it since he was a little unsure about the whole thing. I clicked and treated for him getting on the wobble board.
Then it was Indy’s turn, and it was over quick because she just trampled all over that thing like nobody’s business! After her turn, Felix took another shot at it, and did much better.
To reward Indy for doing so well, Sabrina brought out a toy for Indy to play fetch with, and she loved it! It’s a rubber blue fish toy. Indy also went on the wobble board a second time and rocked it again.
Next up, we got out a balance disc, which is a softer rubber inflated thing used for balance exercises. Brad got a video of Felix doing the balance disc!
After the balance disc, we did some more talking about agility and training, and learned a lot of good information. Brad got several pictures of us talking, including one of me picking Felix up off the ground to do the talking.
Next up we worked on moving around cones. This is to teach our dogs to go out around obstacles without us. So we sat in our wheelchairs with a cone in front of us and bowls on either side of us. We would say “bowl” and drop a treat in the bowl. The dog would have to go out around the cone to get to the bowl on our other side, then come back. Indy and Felix both did a very good job at this! They were going around the cone in no time! Brad got a video of Felix doing it and several pictures of both Felix and Indy doing it.
Next up it was time for Felix’s favorite part– jumping! Felix has learned to jump before, so we worked on send outs from behind the jump. He did a great job when the jump was on my left, but not so great when the jump was on my right. For Indy, Sabrina just threw treats back and forth over the jump to get her used to the idea. Brad got a video of both of us doing jumps, and several pictures!
Finally we worked on our dogs returning to us after being sent somewhere else. So we threw a treat to the side, then went off in another direction and called our dogs to our heel. This was a piece of cake for these service dogs! Brad got a video of Felix doing it, and pictures of both of us doing it. Brad also got some pictures of Felix up on his hind legs begging for treats LOL!
Unfortunately, just then the next client came for her lesson, so we had to leave. We were having so much fun! I did get a picture of Brad in all greys and blacks holding Felix. And best of all, we were approved to join in with the ongoing agility classes with Susan! Yay!
