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UPDATED! Chester is having his first Agility class on Feb 5!

GudrunTheRed

Well-known member
I'm so excited! I finally signed Chester up for his first agility class at the lovely Richmond SPCA! It's a 7-week Intro to Agility course and if he does well I plan to continue with additional courses.

The Richmond SPCA went through some major renovations some years ago and they have an amazing indoor area where they have their classes. I've been there for their "Canine Cafe" gatherings and the room is HUGE and they have all the really cool agility props. Here's the pic of of the room from their website:
67024.jpg


The first class is Monday, Feb 5 at 8:30pm and it lasts an hour. The class is limited to 6 dogs so hopefully everyone will get plenty of help/attention. I hope Chester enjoys it and has fun.

If anyone has any advice for us please let me know. I'm very excited and I'll post an update after the first class.

-Monica & Chester
 
Wow looks like so much fun! :D

No advice sorry but I remember watching a show on animal planet about dogs competing in agility. I used to wake up early every saturday so I woudln't miss it!

When Ollie is older I hope to start agility too :p
 
Have fun..looks like a nice facility...I'm going to start teaching an intro class this weekend and we are outdoors...it is going to be cold..brrrrr
 
I am so jealous. Your facility looks wonderful. We have been trying to go to beginners Agility classes with Buddy since last summer but have had trouble scheduling. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can work it out when the Spring classes start. We have to drive almost an hour and the classes are outside. How old is Chester and have you done any Agility before? Buddy just turned two.
 
Phyllis,

Chester is 2.5 and he's never done agility before. I'm very excited and I think he will really enjoy it. The class is limited to 6 dogs and do far only 3 have signed up. I'm very happy it's a small class.
 
Like Emily I've seen agility competitions on Animal Planet. I've thought, Tucker could probably do that with the proper training. Unfortunately for Tucker, physically I wouldn't be up to it! lol Maybe they have mummy pre-agility class training. Good luck Gudrun. I look forward to hearing about it and I hope to one day see Chester on Animal Planet :)
 
debjen said:
Have fun..looks like a nice facility...I'm going to start teaching an intro class this weekend and we are outdoors...it is going to be cold..brrrrr
Outdoors?! Wow...I hope you have a good, warm coat! How cold is it now where you live? It's been hovering in the 30's and 40's here in Virginia so an outdoor class would be impossible right now unless the attendees were Newfoundlands!
 
That looks FAB!

I started Whitney in agility classes a few weeks ago on a Saturday morning.....she ADORES it! she can't get in there fast enough :lol: :lol: :lol:
Ours in indoors through the winter months, but from March-October it's outside which I like the best.

Alison.
 
The facility looks wonderful!

Chester & Mary Alice are the same age. :)

Have a great time and let us know how it goes. :flwr:
 
Update after the first class: So we went to class last night and HE LOVED IT! There are 5 other dogs in the class including an adorable little terrier mix who is owned by our local NBC 12's morning meteorologist Andrew Freiden! He's a really nice guy and his little terrier was awesome and so well behaved.

The other dogs included an adorable long hair Chihuahua, a Miniature Pincher, a Maltese and another Cavalier! The other Cavalier is a 2 year old named Maury and who's done flyball before and he was great last night!

So...Chester did really well. He was not a bit afraid of any of the equipment and I have a feeling the biggest challenge will be the jumps, but we'll see how it all progresses. I'm very happy all the other dogs are small and so well behaved. It's going to be a great class!
 
cool i'm really excited for you two! glad to hear the class went well! :*nana:

i can't wait for indy to learn the basics (he had his first class last night too--beginners obedience hee hee) so he can go on to agility. long journey ahead :sl*p:

you know you are going to have to send us some photos once things get going! do you plan to compete with chester in the future or do flyball? i'd never heard of that until i saw it on crufts and was so impressed!

the place you are going to looks great---in fact it looks better than most sports facilities i used when i was growing up :D

enjoy the classes!

k
 
Oh come on Monica - IF he does well!? We all know Chester will be the star of the class!! :flwr:

How cool that your news anchor has a dog in your class! :lol: I would have freaked if I seen the news man! :lol:

Congrats to you guys - I am sure the jumps will be fine they just take some getting used to from what I have heard - high value treats! :D

Take care little Mr. Chester! :flwr:
 
Thanks for your encouraging words guys! It's very hard to tell who will be the actual star of the class at this early stage since all the dogs are so well behaved and happy to be there.

The trainer gave us homework this week: to work on getting our dogs to do a good solid "Down" from the standing position. I've been working with Chester several times a day using a clicker and plenty of little treats and he's getting much better. Sometimes he goes into "Sit" first and then "Down" but we're working on it.

As far as competing goes...it's too early to tell how well he will do. The other Cavalier in the class does flyball but his Mom says he's absolutely nuts for tennis balls anyway. Chester couldn't give a toss about tennis balls most of the time, but we'll see what develops.

I'll bring my digital camera to the next class and get some pics of my class mates!
 
Ooo, you're so lucky all of the dogs are small! :D We had all sizes of dogs and constantly had to change the height settings on all the jumps.
 
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