Today was Responsible Dog Ownership Day. Our kennel club put on a pretty good one with lots of demos of different activities you can do with your dog. I took Ziggy with me, as Baxter accompanied me on a morning news spot to publicize the event: http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/19149/4569889

One of the demos was barnhunting. I have heard of this event, which is now recognized by AKC for titles,…

I have a few new updates on trials to write about. Things have been very busy lately-- just got married, just moved, general life still happening-- leaving no time for updates... until now!

In October, just three days before getting married, Baxter AND Ziggy (my little boy is all grown up!) entered an agility trial in the suburbs of Chicago. I entered both of them into everything. I may have even gotten a few videos the first day, one of which being Ziggy's very first trial…

It's been a little while since this trial, but I wanted to make sure I posted what I remembered. I don 't have the videos yet, but hopefully soon.

The first thing I'll always remember about this trial is I totally forgot to change our registration. This cost us two run that I paid for. We were still signed up as Novice Standard and Open Jumpers, even though we should have been Excellent A in both. =( Oh well, it made Friday a very quick day, which was needed because we had…

August 18th I was up in Chicago for vacation and I thought what better way to start that vacation than with a little day of agility. I took my family out to Manhattan, IL so they could see Baxter run for the first time. We ran four times and it was a blast!

FAST Novice-- We ran our first FAST course ever. I was a little nervous about it as I wasn't sure what the best path would be. We were also walking the Excellent…

Just after a weekend of rest (a much much MUCH needed rest at that!) Baxter and I were back out competing at another trial. This trial was closer to home, but the travel to and from was very taxing. We are definitely learning a lot when it comes to which trials to chose in the future!

Friday

Open Standard - A very nice course except... uh oh! Tunnel/A frame discrimination? It's…

Last week, Baxter and I went to Perry, GA for a huge 5-day agility event (two rings with 940 entries a day.) We got to the arena on Wednesday and boy oh boy, I'm glad we got up there early. Baxter was quite afraid of some of the noises inside-- the microphone announcer, the dog barks echoing off the walls, etc. It was a lot for him to take in. We walked around a bit and eventually he calmed down, which was very helpful because we were like the 8th dog up the next morning...…

Baxter entered his second AKC event this past weekend. We entered Time 2 Beat, Jumpers with Weaves, and Standard for Saturday and Sunday. Time 2 Beat is an interesting and new event for AKC. There is one course and all the dogs run it. It is typically a higher level difficulty and dogs from novice to excellent compete to get the fastest time. Points are given based on your dog's time compared to the fastest…

This weekend was a United Kennel Club event. It was hosted by the same group as the event we attended in November, so I was excited that it was going to be a nice small group for our first attempt at the Agility 2 level. The Agility 2 level includes obstacles that are not used at the first level, such as, the pause box, the weave poles, and the sit-jump-sit contact. All three of these were used this weekend. The Agility 2 level only allows two attempts for each contact before resulting in a…

This weekend, Baxter and I entered our first AKC Agility Trial. It was much larger than the UKC event we entered in November (our very first agility trial ever.) We entered Saturday and Sunday in Time to Beat (Sat only,) Jumpers with Weaves, and Standard.

Time to Beat (T2B) (no video) was the first run. I was really excited about this because I don't care if we get a T2B title. It seems like not all events have this one, so I thought it was be a good first run to get all the…

We are currently training for our first AKC agility trial at the end of February. I am very excited. Because UKC was our first experience at novice level, there was no need to know the weaves. This is definitely not the case for AKC. So weaves have been the main focus of most of our training sessions.

As a New Years resolution, I decided to put some more dedication into agility training for Baxter and Ziggy. Since the new year, we've had three training sessions and one group class.…

Baxter and I went to a United Kennel Club trial this past weekend and we both had a lot of fun. Baxter did such a great job, he did not break stay at the start of any of our trials. He did get a few "off courses" by taking an obstacle out of turn, but thankfully AG-I (novice class) in the UKC is very forgiving about that. I've included links to the professional photographer's pictures, just click the right arrow at the top to see the next picture in the seires.…

I've started an actual training schedule for Baxter, with a bunch of different exercises we can do to keep things interesting. We will competing for the first time in November and I want to feel more prepared. So I'm going to post about our training sessions here so I can chart Baxter's progress. Last night's drills:

• Weaves - 6 closed poles, with guides (the last guide was missing because I miscounted although the missing guide…

It's been awhile since I've posted. Training is going great. We're looking forward to competing in agility this November. I just wanted to share a couple of cute things the corgis did that made me smile.

1) Baxter and I were training last night. I would set up some jump sequences and we'd run them. After finishing the second sequence, I looked at him and said "Go get some water while I set up the next one." And he just trotted right over to the water and drank-up until I was…

Our trainer is having agility "drop-in" classes every Wednesday. Each week, she sets up a course and people bring their dogs and it's almost like a trial-like atmosphere. Yesterday was our first class. The Novice course she set up was 16 obstacles (weaves, 2 tunnels, a-frame, dogwalk, and 11 jumps.) After walking the course and watching a few of the more experienced handlers run it, Baxter and I were up for the challenge. On our first run Baxter only had one refusal. I was so impressed at…

It has almost been a year since Baxter started agility. Last night we ran our very first course. It was 15 obstacles (2 tunnels, weaves, and 12 jumps.) After walking the course a couple times with the trainer, we were ready to give it a go. On our first try, we missed two jumps and Baxter missed the very start of the weaves (I think the numbers threw him off,) but on the plus side we successfully navigated a very tight lined jump. It was so much fun!!

After breaking the…

On Friday the 13th, we will be picking up Baxter's true little brother, Ziggy, from the breeder. I can't really describe how excited I am-- not only will there be an oh-so-adorable corgi puppy in the house, but for Baxter to have a playmate. At the same time, I am also nervous as to how this will change our "pack" and if it will make Baxter unhappy to have another dog around. However, I will finally have a pair of corgis which somehow makes my life feel just a little more…

I woke up a couple times last night to a cuddly corgi and was inspired to write this post. Baxter was never a cuddly puppy and only recently has he started seeking out pets and cuddles. However at night he will cuddle right up next to me. He usually sleeps against my legs and rests his head on my foot or knee. Last night he walked right up to me and threw his back against my chest and continued sleeping. It was really adorable because as soon as he laid against me, he went right back to…

Baxter had his third agility class last night. I missed writing about the second one, so I'll just give the highlights:

• Baxter started off with a single jump that was to be wrapped and followed by a second. On his first try, we successfully jumped once and wrapped to the next jump. The trainer was impressed!
• Baxter got some time on just about all the equipment pieces. He loves the tunnel, did great on the wobble board, and can definitely walk the dog walk.
• His…

Last night Baxter had his first basic agility class. The trainer was really great. I'm not sure when we'll be heading back for a second class, but she was very understanding and gave us a whole lesson plan to work on. Here are the basics we will be covering:…