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 how smoothly it went! He did such a great job! The trainer was thrilled and everyone cheered. We took a minute to get Baxter some water and then went back at the course for round two and that's when the corgi gene kicked in. He up and ran away from me three separate times! This was the type of behavior I was expecting for our first try. We finally ended up finishing the course. I don't think I even remember how many refusals he had that time. (Does running away count as a refusal?) I watched the other trainers run the course and then it was our turn again. The third run was definitely better than the second, but not better than the first. The third run had two refusals and some weave confusion. So out of the three runs, the trainer said he would have gotten his Q.

Overall, I was really impressed with the way Baxter handled himself on the course and in his listening skills (if I completely ignore our second run.) Hetook the dogwalk and weave poles with a lot of speed. He was also quick to run up the a-frame, but careful when coming down. Based on his previous a-frame work, I was expecting him to drop like a rock. I'm very thankful that was not the case.  

This past weekend, my dad and I made some pvc agility jumps. It was a lot of fun making them but it's been a blast having four jumps to set up into different drills. So far we've been working on serpintines and threadles. I can't wait to try more!

Question for those agility corgi owners: What are your favorite kinds of drills to practice?