Agility in KSA: Only Four More Classes Left

It's not like I don't have plenty to do in my spare time since this departure business is fairly consuming, but last fall I decided that I needed to run one final agility class during this Community Education session. It's only 8 weeks long because of my trip to the US in January, and the final, eighth class takes place after my pack date, which means I won't have any equipment to work with. Still, I felt I was up to the challenge. Tomorrow is our fifth class out of the eight.

CJ agreed once again to be my assistant instructor. She has developed an exceptionally good eye when it comes to watching handlers and figuring out where they are and where they need to be on a particular skill. I greatly value her insight and advice.

There's not much that I will miss when I leave here but teaching the agility class will certainly be one of those things.

I haven't been taking many pictures myself but fortunately the father of one of the junior handlers took some last fall. They aren't pics of the current class but they are all great pics, showing off those hardworking handlers and their dogs. Here's the link (the guest password is Doggie).

When I was in in the US in January, I visited my friend AI in Portland. She dragged me along to her agility class one evening (I wasn't exactly unwilling!). Her instructor had put up a very challenging sequence...and I decided that with a bit of modification, I could present similar challenges to my group here in Dhahran. Her instructor generously gave me a copy of her course map and when I got home, I redrafted it. I had to replace the 12 weave poles in the center with a jump serpentine but it turned out to be a perfect beginning to our final agility session.

Here I've shown you only one of the five sequences I presented to the class. And even better, this setup only used six jumps, leaving one jump for the novices who joined our class.

 

The novices in this last group are certainly reaping the benefits from my accummulated experience teaching this class. I had them sequencing and doing front crosses by week 3. By week 5 (tomorrow), they will be working with five-obstacle sequences and using both left and right FCs. That's pretty impressive!

Here's the layout I'm using for both intermediate and novice groups tomorrow (the dashed lines are guides to help us put the equipment out):

I numbered three novice and three intermediate variations within it. Many of my early course layouts were pedestrian: boxy and symmetrical. I think that I'm starting to get more creative now given the limitations of our equipment.

Of course Mimi continues to think that the entire affair revolves around her, and rightly so. Three years ago I wrote that I would do anything for my dogs, and I have proved that true. I spend hours preparing for agility class each week (thinking about what the group needs to work on, sketching the course, getting it laid out in Course Designer, printing handouts, loading and hauling and setting up equipment, writing and sending post-class emails). I do this in large part so that Mimi will be able to continue to play agility. But in the process, I have gained confidence and insight and maybe I can even say some expertise in working with people and their dogs. I've been able to share my love of agility with other people, and even infect them with the agility bug. And that certainly is at least as important as keeping Mimi happy!