Last class.....Now what?

Last night was Hobbs' last agility class until I am given the green light from my doctor. It was a great class, and Hobbs even got to do a full height teeter!

We had 3 stations again this week but only two instructors so one of the stations was basically on our own. That one was the chute, table, and weave poles. Hobbs was really good working over the table and only bounced off once.....and I turned around and walked away from him as "punishment". It must have gotten the point across because he didn't even think about bouncing off after that. He was great in the chute once again, but I didn't even attempt the weaves because we haven't practiced them more than once this week at home.

The next station was some front cross work with both tunnels and jumps. First there were two tunnels in u shapes facing each other....like this < > only with curves. We would send them in one tunnel, pick them up in a front cross as they came out and sent them into the opposite end of the other tunnel. Like a figure 8. It was a very easy exercise, but the first time Hobbs came out of the tunnel he saw the teeter and almost left to go play on it. Luckily he re-thought his actions and came back to me. After we did the tunnel exercise we practiced front crosses over 3 jumps... kind of like this _ l _ . We would put the front cross in between the middle jump and last jump going either way. Hobbs did pretty good, but because I can't run very much (or fast) I kept getting in his way.

The last station was the teeter, and after sending Hobbs over it with perfect stops 3 or 4 times I had them raise it to competition height. The first time over Hobbs just about fell off, but recovered and stuck his contact behavior. The second time he stayed on and did his contact stop, but was a little hesitant at the tip point. After that time over I realized he looked like he was on the verge of being afraid/stressed. He wasn't yawning or anything, but he just had the look in his eye that he was overwhelmed. So I took a break, and we played fetch with his bait bag, got a drink, and laid in the shade watching a couple other dogs go over the teeter. Once he lost the stressed look (after about 2 minutes) I sent him over again, and he did it perfectly! He is still a little slow, but I would rather he be slow and build some confidence than rush over it and fall. I was really glad that he got over the stress quickly. The lady who usually helps with the teeter in class is the ex-raiser, and is always very impressed that Hobbs got cc'd for fear issues. She says he is one of the most confident dogs in class! I tell her he just didn't want to be a guide.....he wanted more fun in his life.

At the end of class we did our longest sequence yet of three jumps, two tunnels (from the front cross work), and the table. We were supposed to put a front cross in the normal place in the 3 jumps and another one in between the tunnels. The difference was that the tunnels weren't facing eachother straight on. Instead they were making an S shape.....this isn't making any sense....here is a sketch I drew. Forgive my loverly drawing skills.



With my being pregnant and having a speeding bullet of a dog, I opted to do a rear cross between the tunnels. It turned out thought, that I had plenty of time to do a front cross, my brain just forgot how once I was there. I did my front cross at the jumps really early, and Hobbs started to duck inside the second jump. So we stopped and went back to the beginning. He nailed it the next time but the heat, and my lack of energy slowed him down. He didn't bounce off the table this time, but didn't do his usual automatic down. I had to tell him once to down before he did it. Other than that, it was a great sequence. I wanted to do it a second time, but we ran out of class time before then.

Now that Hobbs' class is over, and I am too pregnant to sign up for the next one, I don't know what to do! I know I can practice with him in the yard, but for some reason I feel guilty (I think) that he wont really get to do agility for at least a couple months.

I almost feel like I am abandoning him, and Patriot, for the new baby....which is true, but part of life. I wonder if this is how second time moms feel; guilty that they will have so little time for their first baby. It sounds silly, but it is just how I feel. The boys are both SUPER clingy lately which makes it worse. I know they need me and they are SO used to being the center of our lives; this baby stuff is going to be a shocker.