Another Tuesday with classes for Hardy

Although we have had 4 classes on Tuesdays (2 for Laurel and 2 for Hardy), today we just had Hardy's two classes. During our beginner class, we worked on the CGC requirements (we have the test on Saturday) as well as some long sits and downs. Hardy is having a hard time right now ignoring things on the floor, especially anything that might be food (or fuzz, or drool or hair or ...) He's doing well at home so obviously we need to take automatic leave it (floor zen) on the road more! Hardy did great with the 3 minute separation even though I left him with a stranger, instead of Mary. I think we'll be okay with the test Saturday. Hardy still tends to lay down when he isn't sure what else I want him to do and he still has his sloppy puppy sit. We are working on that by asking him to sit and then clicking very quickly and throwing a treat so that he doesn't have time to sprawl or lay down. It seems to be working but I'm still careful how much I ask of him since his muscles aren't used to sitting up and straight yet.
Mary has turned the Intermediate class Laurel and I were attending into a Levels class so instead of taking it, I am assisting. I love seeing the people and dogs respond to the program!
Heather had an eye appointment so there was no competition class. Hardy and I came back for his agility foundations class. This is such a good class for him because we work off-lead and he is having such a good time pushing himself physically and mentally. He is getting the idea of doing jumps, tunnels & obstacles in combination and it is so much fun because you can literally see the light bulb turn on! We did the full-size dog walk set at about 3 feet tall and he trotted confidently over it from the first. After one small slip, which he recovered from beautifully while off lead, he was a bit concerned so we put him back on lead for a couple trips over it. We also worked a little combination of a jump into the tunnel with a front cross as he came out back to the jump. We then did the dog walk, jump, tunnel, jump and eventually added on another dog walk. He was super and moved confidently between, over and through everything. We also introduced him to the chute (closed tunnel). It took a little bit of work but by the end, he was trotting confidently through it without having the fabric held up. We also did the weave poles again - starting with three poles and me at the end to call him through and give treats. Prior to today, it was obvious he hadn't figured out what was expected with the weaves. Today, it seems he worked it out and we were able to add one pole at a time until he was running through 6 channel weave poles set wide apart. Based on the happy, confident way he handled everything, I would say this was an extremely successful class!