Beanie’s first class with Clear Run Agility was due this morning, but we were doubtful about going. She’s definitely bouncing back from her illness, but is still pretty fragile. The course instructor Carol assured us that the introductory class wouldn’t be physically demanding, so we took her along, and I’m very glad we did.

The class was held in a corner of Bellahouston Park – a reasonably safe distance away from the gates, and in any case leads are allowed for the first few lessons. A selection of agility apparatus was set up: some jumps, an elevated, narrow walkway and a tunnel. Beanie knows all about tunnels – we had no concerns about that one – but before the dogs got to try anything out, Carol gave us a quick primer on the obedience skills required for agility.

At first sight, there’s nothing too different from the “classic” obedience found in regular training clubs. The core commands are “down”, “wait”/”stay”, and of course recall, but there are some important tweaks for the sake of efficiency as well as form. For example the “down” should be done directly from standing – there’s no time for an intermediate “sit” stage, and the dog should stay in the down position reliably until given another command.

Another key difference from regular training is that the dog has to be used to responding to commands while at the handler’s side and facing forward, instead of facing towards the handler. That last point quickly reveals whether a dog has truly learned to respond to a verbal command, or to the combination of verbal and visual cues that he/she receives when facing the handler. In Beanie’s case, it was obvious she was relying on the visual stuff (like pointing a finger at the ground for “down”) rather than command itself. Definitely something to work on! Anyway after all the theory, it was time to try out the equipment.

The narrow walkway (I dunno what its official name is) was set at about half normal competition height, and because it was so narrow, it tended to be easier for small, narrow dogs. No surprise then that it was a breeze for Beanie:

Likewise for little Emily…

But their larger classmates Islay and Kiera also coped very well:

Next came the jumps. Just a single barrier on the lead at first..

..but once that was mastered, we progressed to three consecutive barriers off lead!

After looking through the photos, I’m getting the idea that Emily, the toy poodle, is the acrobat of the group!

Finally it was time for Beanie’s favorite – the tunnel. She didn’t disappoint, and came flying out the other side like a bullet:

Emily and Islay also did well.

Kiera – the largest of the group – wasn’t too keen at first but with a little coaxing she came through just fine:

So that was it for the first lesson, and as promised it wasn’t too physically demanding. Nevertheless Beanie slept soundly when we got her home. I think it’ll be a few days before she’s fully recovered from her bout of flu (or whatever it was) which sadly means no Beagle Racing tomorrow :(