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:

• Right and left turns
• Wraps and flips (both sides)
• Recall, recall, recall
• Wait
• Touch command by creating a target with a lid
• Getting Baxter to focus on my hand

I wasn't overwhelmed with all of the new commands, but the whole experience was a lot to take in. Just stepping foot on a course with tunnels, jumps, and other equipment made me feel both excited and curious as to how one actually trains for agility. This is going to be a lot of work and with Baxter having just hit the 1 year mark, it will be awhile before he gets into full on jumps. But then again seeing everything on the course, it made me think it's going to be awhile for him to really get into anything. There are a lot of basics to learn and it made me realize how much time and effort will be going into this endeavor. While he didn't seem overwhelmed, I could tell that Baxter was very excited to be in a new place with new smells and sights and to meet a new dog friend.

The trainer demonstrated the moves with her dog and then Baxter and I would repeat them. In between going over the moves, the trainer started Baxter on some of the equipment.

First up was the tunnel. Baxter was a bit nervous with the length, so the trainer shortened it up and a few "go tunnel"s later he was zooming through.

Next was the wobble board. Baxter had no problem with that. Although at this point in the training he seemed so focused on the treats that he probably would have stood on his head had that been the next command.

The chute was also fun for Baxter. I think he saw it as "Treat Tunnel Part 2." The trainer had let the chute drop on the last go through, but Baxter just kept on through. He knew treats were imminent.

Last up was the tire. It was very low to the ground and required not much of a jump. Again, no problem there.

The trainer also showed me the "touch" command using a lid. I think it's an interesting concept to teach Baxter and one that seems to have a lot of uses. While the trainer demonstrated "touch" with her dog, Baxter was going nuts seeing the other dog get treated for just touching the lid. The trainer handed me the lid and Baxter immediately went for it with his nose. Touch, touch, touch. I asked the trainer a question and was holding the lid at my waist and Baxter jumped up to the lid to touch it again with his nose. He was too much.

I think I am going to try to get a toy for some "tug treats" instead of actual treats for agility training. He is so food oriented that I need to make sure to keep his "will work for food" attitude in check. Also, I really don't want him to start putting on the pounds.

I'm really excited to have some more training work to do with him. This basic agility course might just be what he needs to get that extra energy out and give us some more commands to learn. After the training session he was so exhausted. He stayed up for a little while, but then he started using his low growly talking voice to let me know it was now his bedtime. As soon as he hit the bed, he was down for the count.