Well it has been said that agility with your working dog is a great way to build your relationship and boost your confidence as a team. Ruger and I enrolled in an intermediate agility class at our local kennel club. It has been over a year since we have taken an agility there, the first night back …. Well let’s just say I did not exist and the other dogs were very overstimulating to Ruger. My poor guy was very stressed!! Panting/ Barking and I keep worrying about the disapproving glances of some people in the class. When a 150 pounds bark, it does seem much worse than say a 30 pound dog so I will give you that. Luckily we have some great people at the kennel club teaching, which gave me some tips, and let us run a course after the vast majority of teams had left. Ruger did okay on the first course. One person in particular always knows how to make a handler team feel better when it seems like I might have just taken a few steps back and that is Jackie. She always tells me a relatable story about her and her dog and how they overcame similar issues. I am very thankful to have such a great group of people around me always supporting me, even when I have doubts in our abilities. Hopefully next week I will have some recent pictures, this one is from over a year ago.
