Indy had his second class this past Tuesday and is still loving Agility....mostly. He has a passionate love for the tunnel and sees it as a "bonus" obstacle. He likes the jumps and does very well with the weave poles (they are super far apart right now).
However...he's struggling a little with the A-frame and a lot with the dog walk. He's very nervous and refuses it pretty often. He's done it a few times but I'm wondering how I can help him overcome these fears in a positive way? Any advice is welcome!!
It's not super high. I'm trying to think of a good approximation. It's about to my waist at the platform bit. I'd guess 2 or 3 feet high? Indy's a mini so I think it feels taller to him.
Devin, Murphy is huge, and not very agile. All beginners worked on a dog walk at about 1 foot for 6 mos. She said this was the scariest thing for them besides the teeter. Her theory was once they had a fear, it was very difficult to overcome.
Shoot. I was worried maybe it was a little too much too soon. All the other dogs handled it fine, but I thought Indy might be nervous, because he was initially on the A-frame (which is also pretty high). I did have him try it again after class and he seemed less scared/hopefully not emotionally scarred.
Would you recommend that I maybe ask the trainer for a lower stress obstacle for Indy to try for awhile? Any other things I should be keeping an eye out for?
When Charlie first tried dog walk, it was also about a foot high. Once she was able to get up to the flat part, it was easier to get her across.... She is about 24 inches at withers, so the dog walk was about half of her hight.
But It took her awhile to get used to it. Once she was fine with it, we moved up to the dog walk that is about 2 1/2 ft.... That's where we are at now.....
Murphy also did the A frame at a lower height for quite a while (maybe 3 ft? not sure)
He is a giant..29 inches at the withers and 99 lbs....and not really agile ...very fast ...but more like a bull than say a gazelle. He was the only dog that could not turn around on the dog walk.
I just got back from class and wanted to give an update. Indy did amazing! I still think it was a little sketchy to have the dog walk that high so soon, but he has really recovered fine. He was loving going up and down it today. Thanks for all your advice. I'm loving DK and agility and being able to share with yall!
I don't know if I mentioned, but he loves the tunnel. Today we did the long one for the first time and he almost went out of his mind with excitement. He went through it, came out, ran back in, jumped OVER it, and ran through it for the third time before we could catch him. It was awesome!