Beau’s first day in Baby Puppy School

http://users.bigpond.net.au/fiorfein/photography/Beau070401006.jpg

Oh we had such a fun day. Beau’s baby puppy class is held in the nearby showground and when we arrived there were lots of handlers & their dog everywhere, all getting organised to go to their various different classes. Poor little Beau was looking around at this sea of very big dogs & I am sure at first he would have just like to have gone back home.

However, once everyone got to their classes, we found ourselves in a nice safe fenced off area with about 8 others in the baby puppy class. It was such fun and I was so very proud of Beau. The first 10 minutes was spent off leash, just letting the puppies socialise with one & other. Beau had his little tail tucked up between his legs, but like a little trooper he wandered around & introduced himself to all the other puppies. There were some much bigger than him, but most were around his size. Within 5 minutes he had his little tail up all jaunty and was having a ball.

Today we did heel & sit, which Beau & I had been working on & he did most impressively. We also did drop & stay. We practiced walking past other dogs on leash & not getting distracted, coming when called, & also a short time being tied up and left out of sight. I was really impressed with what a confident little fellow Beau is. He just seems to trust that whatever it is I do with him, it must be good and right. My chest was swelling.

The most fun part though was our little baby agility session of walking a plank, that was on the ground & running through the tunnel. I was really surprised at how quickly Beau caught on. I looked at him and could see that he was really focused and that he knew that we were a team & doing this fun stuff together.

It was just great and I can’t wait until next week for our second class. The only thing that I regret is that I had never taken my other dogs. I just didn’t know what we were missing out on. It was such fun, and very bonding.

Glad you both had a good time..one of the reasons I wanted a dog of my own (besides having a companion) was I helped a friend raise her dog and went to training classes with them so we were on the same page and found that I really enjoyed the training and working with your dog aspect of it but my friend wasn't interested in going any further than a basic class..I find the training increases your bond with them too

I'd love to be able to get a hold of some of that concertina tubing they use for the tunnels, so we could practice in our backyard. Does anyone know where you can get that from. I know Beau is not allowed to do jumps until he is much older but I'd love to get him into the puppy-safe aspects of agility.

Do you a Toys R Us or other type of toy store..I know a lot of people get kids tunnels there to use for smaller dogs and agility.. you can make a chute by cutting of the bottom of a garbage can and attaching a sheet to it..if you have a farm/garden store you can get fence posts to stick in the ground for weave poles and make some channel weaves so your dog gets use to running straight down the weaves..most don't recommend acually weaving til they are older too...can get a board to simulate the surface of the dogwalk or teeter and practice running across the board..can put the board on a brick or step to give it a slight incline..you can build a jump standard and get him use to going through the jumps on command and worry about the height later .. a hula hoop can make a tire jump (again on the ground) so they get use to going through the hoop..enough ideas yet..*G*

:thnku: Wow, thanks for all those wonderful tips Debbie. I'd have never though of Toys R Us and yes we do have them here in Australia. I am going to check them out tomorrow, following your suggestion.

I did a check on the internet for getting the real ones and found they are around $400 AU :yikes I was thinking along the lines of buying a couple of plastic garbate cans with bottoms cut out & getting my hubby to strap them together but I really like your idea.

Many thanks! You've gotten me started. BTW, it was some of your photos that made me think agility looks like such fun. Thank you for that too.

Your welcome..I teach an intro to agility class so I love getting people hooked on agility..*G*..and am always trying to suggest items they can use to make their own equipment.