Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Sorry Kids, No Snow Day Yet

Our school is always one of the lasts ones to close and the kids hate it. It's 12 degrees and the snow is REALLY coming down but sure enough, they had school today. There are tons of schools closing too. Oh well, I just keep telling them they will be off for two weeks after this week!

I forgot to mention the fun thing Miranda and I did with Maddie on Saturday. I enrolled her in a Agility Trial Class to see if she had ANY interest in doing the cool courses. The class was only for an hour and we only worked on four areas but it was enough to get a feel for the dogs. There were three other dogs in the class, a Yorkie, a Golden and a Australian Shepperd. The Australian Shepperd did everything like she had been doing it for years....show off LOL The Yorkie was so flippin high strung it was flying through the course too. The golden and Maddie weren't so sure of alot of the things but they were also the youngest. The golden was only a year and Maddie is only 8 months. I found these pictures online so you could have an idea of what they were like.

The first thing we worked on was the pause table. All we wanted them to do was to jump up on the table. Simple enough....put a treat on it and we were good to go!

The second thing we added was the jump pole. We only used the bottom level. So we had to lead the dogs over the jump then onto the pause table.
Then we added in the tunnel. It wasn't exactly like this picture, there wasn't a barrel part to it. Basically it was just one of those play tunnels that kids can crawl through. None of the dogs would go through the entire tunnel so Miranda helped to hold it and make it smaller.The last thing to add was the tire jump.
So by the end the class the goals was to go through the tire jump, into and through the tunnel, over the pole jump and up onto the pause table.
It was a fun class, Maddie was still pretty skiddish like she is around strangers and especially men. There was one man in the class so I wonder if there hadn't been, would she have done better? I may wait a month or so and do this class with her again to see if things change. The instructor said the other location she teaches at is outside so I might try that. Maddie seemed to get scared when the pole would fall and make a loud noise. I was proud of her though and the instructor said she did well, she didn't run away (we let go of their leashes when they were to do something) and she looked interested in everything so that was a positive sign!!

12 comments:

Brandy said...

I wish grownups got snow days too. :{

Amy said...

YOur kids would love it here, if it rains too much it seems they close the school. Ridiculous sometimes.

Jess said...

Awe, I love ears!

Its shitastic outside, dang it. I'm hoping for a snow day from school too.

Our Two Blessings From Above said...

Same here in EP. All the other schools get snow days and my boys have school in a blizzard

Unknown said...

oh how fun! ...also, I wish it would snow here too so we don't have to go to school either. boo.

Unknown said...

So was she too cool for school? Do ya think she will go back?

Tabitha Blue said...

What a fun course for your pup!!!!!

It seems like the schools around here are slow to close as well...

:)
~Tabitha~

freshmommyblog.com

Lump said...

It always felt like my school was the last to close too!

My dogs would have ripped that course to shred ... as in eat the equipment. ha!

Frizzy said...

I wish we had signed up our American Eskimo for one of these classes. I think she would be great at it. Can't wait to see how the next class goes. Will you work on those skills for now?

Anonymous said...

Ugggh...I know how Miranda feels. My school was always the same way. It seems like all the schools around here get off for a drop of rain now.

That course sounds like lots of fun for a pooch!!!

Wep said...

I'd love to try that with my Olivia!

jmt said...

Hey there - it seems you were the half of the "semi-metro" area that didn't get to get out. My 11 year old was able to stay home today. I'm pretty sure he was excited. LOL You were tagged on my blog so take time to see what you have to do, if you HAVE time!