Breath in.

Breathe out.

Then start the count down…

3

2

1

Go!

Feet pounding with eyes glued to the red streak behind me. She clears over the bar before dashing into the curved tunnel. She pops out with her tongue hanging out before glancing quickly at me before dashing ahead to clear the next tunnel  and the next jump. This is our playground. Nothing can take her smile or mine away.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, then you are missing out on the joys of dog agility. It is the dog sport where dogs clear a series of obstacles and try to clear the course as fast as possible. I first introduced dog agility in Dog Agility: More than a Sport when Belle and I first picked up the sport in order to curb some energetic behavior. As we get ready to finish our second class and ready to transition into our third foundational class. I thought I would update you on our continual adventure learning the sport.

I think I have lost 5 pounds with all training. Belle has definitely toned up. I took her into the vet’s for a routine vet check the other day and the vet was impressed with her lean figure that she had gain. Her energy levels have tapered as long as she has her outlet. I have started to add more jumps and obstacles to our collection to create more complex sequences to train with. It seems like our weekly 1 mile run before training are nothing and will probably soon have to bump it up to 2 miles.

I have watched her mastered her newest obstacle called the Dog Walk. She gets so excited she can’t wait to start her runs. However, she isn’t the only one that has grown over the weeks. The friendships I have made with the other trainers continue to grow as we cheer each other on and discuss strategy. If someone misses a class, we all notice and when someone struggles with a concept we all come together to figure out what is going on. We laugh. I think we record every run that each persons does. We study body language and techniques. We all are passionate about what we do and know that we all are here for the dogs and to learn.

I can’t thank our trainer Ryan. She has passed on her love of dog agility. I can’t wait to pass onto our next class. I count down the days until we can actually compete with the American Kennel Club and United States Dog Agility Association. I never had seen Belle more attentive to what I am asking her than when we are running the course. The techniques used in training have helped us move more fluidly in our everyday life and live a healthier life. So let’s go! Run Belle and never stop having fun!

If you are interested in learning more about this fabulous sport, I suggest first checking out my first post Dog Agility: More than a Sport to see information for beginners and then contacting What A Great Dog! to get in touch with a trainer to start your journey today! Also don’t forget to log into my Instagram page @cultureadventurerblog to see the latest training videos and updates to see our progress.