Ella’s First QQ !!!!!!!

I am just thrilled beyond words!!! Ella is my first agility dog and I could not be more proud of my little brown spotted girl.

Two moths ago she had an icky teeter experience. The bird bombs went off next to the field where we train. Ella was mid teeter. She turned around to look towards the noise while still moving forward. She landed on her bent front leg. I could tell it hurt. She then started avoiding the teeter….. and sometimes the dog walk thinking it was the teeter. We have been working very hard gaining her confidence
going back to square one with the teeter on the ground. I was fully prepared that this might take a bit of time as I have heard horror stories of other handlers taking years to get their dogs back on full height teeters.

So just a couple of months later you can see why I am so happy that Ella wrapped her little brain around this and figured it out!!! She is not even hesitating the approach to the teeter.

I like many conformation people NEVER knew the amount of time and energy it takes to train a dog for agility!!  Not to mention all the subtle nuances that go on between a dog and handler running agility. I would look at a whole flock of agility competitors walking a course with no dogs and it just looked funny…. What did I know!!! Getting a puppy well socialized and ready for a conformation show is easy peasy compared to this sport. I still show in conformation but this agility game is soooooo much fun!!!!


Here is Ella’s Standard run. Out over 50  20″ dogs Ella got 2nd place!!! It was a tough course in a couple of spots. Only 4 dogs Q’d.

One Response to Ella’s First QQ !!!!!!!

  1. Reply Diana Hiiesalu Bain says:

    I remember working with an animal trainer and she used to get so stressed at work about her dogs performances. Since I was doing obedience at the time, the studio work was a piece of cake. You can always have a re-do and use food. I think agility is a little like obedience as you can’t go back and and re-do without big penalties, or a DQ. Nice job on Ella.

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