While I was on the field trip, MH had to run the agility class on her own. She decided to give the handlers a special treat and had a friend back in Canada design a NADAC course--MH even included the hoops she had built for her own dogs! By all accounts, it was another very successful class!
Last week I decided to set up a Backyard Dogs sequence from the November Clean Run magazine. It was a simple exercise with a curved tunnel and six jumps. We fudged on the weaves (used open 2x2s) but so what. I showed them the magazine, the article with the course maps, and talked about how I liked to work the exercises in this column each month for a week or two. We used cones to number the exercises so they got to practice their "walk throughs". We only got through a couple of variations but we all had a good time.
MH and I try to introduce our handlers and dogs to new skills but we also want everyone to have fun. So we aren't tracking our progress in terms of "tournament skills" or ticking off specific handling patterns from a list. Instead, we look at the progress of each dog and handler: HD and her shy desert dog Savvy who will now go through a shortened, straight tunnel with only a bit of encouragement; S and her Yorkie Abbie who will work a sequence, any sequence, off lead; PM and her crazy lab Nellie who despite having the zoomies at least once per class shows amazing focus now, constantly looking to her handler for more information; MW with her shepherd mix Boodle who will now go into any tunnel, curved or straight, and who happily goes in his crate in class and calmly waits his turn. The list goes on.
Anxious dogs have become more confident, distracted dogs have become more focused. Dogs who just needed something to do have become agility junkies. Tweaking an exercise, moving a jump or shortening a tunnel, gives such affirming success to dog and handler.
I'll bet that you agility folks already know that agility works magic, that you are saying to yourself, sure, tell me something new. But we aren't focused on titles or ribbons or points here. We are focused on the joy. It is a lesson that I will never forget.
I am so amazed that MH and I have been able to give these experiences to our handlers and dogs here in this crazy country with a motley set of equipment and no experience teaching this sort of class. Blind leading the blind? I don't think so. Neither MH nor I are weak handlers. Back in the "real world" we never saw ourselves as agility trainers. Here in the Magic Kingdom, we can make up the rules as we go...and one rule is, if you think you can do it, then by all means go ahead and try.
We joke with the handlers all the time now about how their dogs are way better than them, and I think that most of them can see that this is true. And I am so proud of them all for trying even harder, to become better handlers for their dogs. They try to control their flailing arms, their multiple verbal commands, their awkwardly veering paths. MH and I smile at each other and praise them all.
None of our small group may ever step foot in a "real" agility ring but it doesn't matter. We have brought the joy and challenge of agility here to Saudi Arabia. And it needs no translation.
Last week I decided to set up a Backyard Dogs sequence from the November Clean Run magazine. It was a simple exercise with a curved tunnel and six jumps. We fudged on the weaves (used open 2x2s) but so what. I showed them the magazine, the article with the course maps, and talked about how I liked to work the exercises in this column each month for a week or two. We used cones to number the exercises so they got to practice their "walk throughs". We only got through a couple of variations but we all had a good time.
MH and I try to introduce our handlers and dogs to new skills but we also want everyone to have fun. So we aren't tracking our progress in terms of "tournament skills" or ticking off specific handling patterns from a list. Instead, we look at the progress of each dog and handler: HD and her shy desert dog Savvy who will now go through a shortened, straight tunnel with only a bit of encouragement; S and her Yorkie Abbie who will work a sequence, any sequence, off lead; PM and her crazy lab Nellie who despite having the zoomies at least once per class shows amazing focus now, constantly looking to her handler for more information; MW with her shepherd mix Boodle who will now go into any tunnel, curved or straight, and who happily goes in his crate in class and calmly waits his turn. The list goes on.
Anxious dogs have become more confident, distracted dogs have become more focused. Dogs who just needed something to do have become agility junkies. Tweaking an exercise, moving a jump or shortening a tunnel, gives such affirming success to dog and handler.
I'll bet that you agility folks already know that agility works magic, that you are saying to yourself, sure, tell me something new. But we aren't focused on titles or ribbons or points here. We are focused on the joy. It is a lesson that I will never forget.
I am so amazed that MH and I have been able to give these experiences to our handlers and dogs here in this crazy country with a motley set of equipment and no experience teaching this sort of class. Blind leading the blind? I don't think so. Neither MH nor I are weak handlers. Back in the "real world" we never saw ourselves as agility trainers. Here in the Magic Kingdom, we can make up the rules as we go...and one rule is, if you think you can do it, then by all means go ahead and try.
We joke with the handlers all the time now about how their dogs are way better than them, and I think that most of them can see that this is true. And I am so proud of them all for trying even harder, to become better handlers for their dogs. They try to control their flailing arms, their multiple verbal commands, their awkwardly veering paths. MH and I smile at each other and praise them all.
None of our small group may ever step foot in a "real" agility ring but it doesn't matter. We have brought the joy and challenge of agility here to Saudi Arabia. And it needs no translation.
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