Private Agility Lesson - and Egg Collection......

I decided that Seeker and I would really benefit from a few "private" agility lessons.
There are OBVIOUSLY some things we need to work on in order to gel as a team.....okay, so more than a few! G

Help was on its way! In the form of a 3'3" (??) 40 lb, 5 year old. Yes, I must admit, my personal trainer is a KID!!! The great thing about Natalie, is she's cute, kind, can do amazing things with her own dog and she's HONEST! Boy, do I need the honesty!! HA!

Natalie of course needed a ride out to our place, as she doesn't have a drivers license.....yet.
If they gave them to 5 years olds, she'd so have one!

I talked with Natalie's mom, Mary, last week regarding Natalie's first official agility trial coming up in December. I thought it might be a good idea to get together so Natalie would have a better understanding of what to expect at a trial. In other words, give her some 14-16 obstacle courses and see how she does. Of course being 5, she'd rather play than 'seriously' train, (which is probably why her dog is so good!), so the plan was to ask her if she'd be free on Sunday and help me train Seeker. Of course she said, YES!! I tossed in that maybe she could work Peach (her 3 year old Samoyed) and she thought that was a good idea. We had a DATE!!

Photo by: Agilityig.smugmug.com

So Sunday Mary, Natalie and Peach arrive for our lesson. We decide it might be best to work Peach first and Natalie is fine with that. She did remind me on several occasions that she will help me with Seeker when we're done. She was totally serious, and actually so was I. G

So finally it's time to get Seeker out. Natalie asks if I have a toy and some treats. I confirm that I did. She suggests we start in jumpers as it's only jumps and not as much to think about. I tell her that's a great idea as Seeker has been wanting to run around them vs. over them. She gives me a noncommittal "HUM" and we head to the jumpers yard.

"I want you to do 1-4", she tells me. "Let's see how he does with those, then we'll add a piece each time." Okay, I tell her. The first three obstacles are jumps, 4, is a set of 6 weave poles. How far should I lead out? I ask. Natalie tells me to lead out jump past number 1. So we complete our exercise and Natalie tells me "nice job" and "give him some treats." Which I do. Truth be known, Seeker just swallows the treats because they are in his face, he really doesn't "want" them. But who am I to argue? I am paying for this lesson after all!

So, the sets continue adding another obstacle as we go. It was too funny, Natalie would give me directions and tell me, "I'll be right over here if you have a question." WHAT SERVICE!!! Seeker dropped the second bar once and I asked her why she thought he did that. She thought a minute and said, "He didn't jump high enough." Well, I guess she's right!! G By that time we repeat 1-9 (yes, that's 5 additional runs) Seeker's tongue is now on the ground and I ask if maybe we can take a break.

Finally we head into the building to work on some Standard stuff. Seeker's problem in standard is he'll slide off the table...even if he's low and nails are digging. So she had me working close to the table and just feeding him for downing. Pretty darn good logic for a 5 year old. Most adults wouldn't be able to figure that out! Face it, building value close and then add distance! GEEZ!!! Natalie is a great teacher, she gives you positive feedback (even if you don't deserve it), she asks you to reward your dog and acknowledges your progress!! I highly recommend her!!

Now for her fee........

She wanted to see the chickens and collect eggs. Sure, we can do that. Armed with an egg carton, we're off to the "hog house". Long story short, we do have a chicken coop, but it has agility equipment stored in it. We also have a hog house, but no hogs....it's bigger and further from the house, thus, our chickens live there. If that's confusing to you, you're not alone! (':

There are 8 eggs in the nest boxes, but Natalie thinks she should only take 6 and leave two to hatch. Who am I to argue, but I didn't mention they weren't going to hatch....the would my Tuesday night supper! So as she's leaving the chicken yard, she bends down toward the "girls" (aka - hens) and says, "Do you want to say good bye to your babies? I'll take good care of them." I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open and I stuttered....I told Natalie she'd probably be better off eating them for breakfast. She assured me she knew just what to do with these eggs and she was very excited about having some baby birds. I looked at Mary helplessly and she just shrugged. I guess she's use to these kinds of things.

I checked with Mary today and the eggs are safely in their refrigerator. Natalie is refusing to eat them and Mary is thinking she'll need to camouflage them in something....like cake. G

When is my next lesson? I'm not really sure, but I'm sure it'll be FUN!!!