Tonight Jonah and I went back to Riverside, where he got attacked last time. As we pulled up, we saw one of our buddies from Four Paws, who is now going to Riverside, so it was nice to have a friend. We were there a few minutes early and there weren't many dogs. I was impressed that Jonah didn't seem too nervous. Then other dogs started showing up and he started to melt down a little bit. There was a jump out of the way that I tried to warm him up over, but even when I set it at 14" he didn't want to jump.
When it was our turn to go, I was worried that he wouldn't get going, so I put the first jump down to 16" while the rest of the course was set at 20". Most people were leading out, but I decided to try to rev him up and run with him to get a little extra energy. Even with my running with him he lacked enthusiasm, but he did everything I asked of him. It was a fairly simple sequence of 12 obstacles including jumps, tunnels, dog walk, tire and weave poles. He did the weaves slowly, but found the entry and went right through. Most dogs would do the sequence twice to get it down, but after we did it the first time, I just decided to do a flowing outside loop of jumps and the dog walk because he likes those obstacles and I thought they'd give him some more confidence. He was still worried when he was done, but I was proud of him for just digging in and doing what I asked. It was a lot better than last time after the incident.
Our second course was very well suited to our style. It was lots of jumps on angles but generally flowing and just running, not lots of little turns and crosses. A lot of dogs were struggling with the angles, especially in the corner near the off-course dogs. Jonah was great, though. There were places where I had to push him out, but I knew I had to support him a little bit more than usual because he was nervous. I had to be very purposeful keeping my hand out but also staying a little closer to the jumps than I'd have to if he were more confident. Anyway, we had a nice clean run and, while it was still slower than normal Jonah, it was a good step better. The only real concern was the teeter, which he was very slow on. I guess we're not over the teeter hump, but it's nice we have one now to practice on. The teeter was right next to the other dogs, so it may have been more of a location problem than an actual equipment issue, but we'll be sure to keep practicing. I'm not really sure what to do differently at home other than just get more and more repetitions on it.
We did the course a second time and this time he was close to his normal self. Before we ran, I batted him around a little and he was actually excited about it rather than just shying away. He drove ahead into the first tunnel, cruised through the jump lines, did the teeter better the second time, and was generally much more confident. When we finished the course, his tail was up and wagging and he looked at me with the biggest grin you could imagine. It nearly melted my heart, knowing how nervous he'd been just minutes before. It made me feel like there's a good reason we're doing this agility stuff--he loves it once he's comfortable. It might take him a little while sometimes for him to relax, but I think he'll get there. I'd guess that he'll be a little nervous again when we go back to Riverside, but I count this as a huge success. Next week we have a private lesson there, and then we'll see where to go from there. It's nice to know we can work through anxiety issues and that there will be lots of fun on the other side.
In equipment news, our weave poles shipped today. It's supposed to snow tomorrow, but I hope we can get the weaves set up somewhere this month. He's still never been fast with a 'real' set. We'll have to change that :).
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