Bye Max-Agility

My dear friend Max went home last night.  His presence is missed for sure.  he just seemed to fill the house and now it seems a lot emptier.  However I remind myself that a certain amount of worry and responsibility went with him!  An hour or so before his owner arrived he managed to pull an ornament out of a fishbowl I have flowers and rocks and marbles in.  This was a small turtle with a glass ball attached to make it float.  I didn't notice what he was into until I heard the glass ball break and saw him trying to eat it!! I managed to get most of it but he is so fast he may have swallowed some-don't know.  I went to bed with visions of all sorts of things tucked in a corner of Max's stomach and wonder how these puppies ever make it to adulthood.  I am hoping and praying he has a cast iron stomach and all bad things pass on thru!  Max was most excited with the return of his owner and also the fact that he had not had his usual walk yesterday as it was so rainy.  We did manage short demo of the agility course in the back yard(the tunnel and three jumps). He did well although still needs to understand it better.  With their bountiful energy I can certainly see how JR's do so well at games. And fast! Whewie!  Max and I spent several hours on the couch as I have a bad back.  That's the thing about dogs-they adapt themselves to whatever you are doing or not doing for that matter.  At this point in time max is not a yappy dog at all but he will bark when people arrive.  That's fine by me as one of the reasons we have dogs is to alert us, I think.  he will quiet down when told firmly and I appreciate that as well. My two dogs have hearing problems so cannot be trusted to accurately warn me of visitors and that happens very seldom anyway(visitor's I mean)
   When I started Keeper on agility she totally loved it and was pretty fast for and "aged" dog,being past ten. I could see right away I would not be able to keep up and soon she would do the whole line of obstacles by herself and wait for me at the end table for her treat and then do them all the way back again!  If I ran with her she got quite happy and excited and would even yark about it.  We had a lot of fun with it and once even went to an event that Linda Murray put on.  It was there we got to see the professional obstacles for the first time.  the tunnel was something else and large enough to accommodate the larger dogs.  The teeter-totter was interesting also and it was all a nice adventure and learning experience for us both.  Back home, I dreamt about an agility club coming together but have never been able to interest too many people in that.  And lets face it, its all work and time out of ones' busy schedule.  Not having any money to invest in jumps etc. I set about improvising things into jumps.  Short metal headboard pieces became small jumps when  bits of 2x4's were drilled to accommodate the "legs" and make them stand up.  A childs' wind tunnel made an excellent "tunnel".  My step-daughter gave me the first one and be darned if when it fell apart a kindly couple here in town replaced it for me!  The "chicken coop"(I think it is called) consists of a large piece of plywood attached to another piece by a hinge so you have something the dogs can go up and then down again.  I also had to add rungs for grip.  My husband made this for me-alas, I am now getting to old to move the damn thing and in fact need assistance to set up my course now.  In any event I have added the agility as a fun thing to do after the obedience classes I give.  Its kind of a break from the learning and something fun for owners and dogs. I have been fortunate to be able to use the Riding Grounds to store my jumps and also to give lessons there.  On some years we have even given a demo on the may day weekend.  but it all depends on how well the dogs will listen.
Most dogs seem to enjoy it a lot and love to please of course.  Not being very athletic any more, I set the obstacles and jumps up in a straight line as I am not about to run all over the arena. I realise this makes the dog and owner "think" but this is what works for me.  I also do not change tables accordingly but use two tables that are easy for most dogs and stick with that.  After all I don't have a grounds crew either.  some years when I was giving both spring and fall obedience class I left the jumps up for people to use whenever they liked.   But bottom line is, it has never taken off well here in Kaslo.(Apologies for change in print-don't know what I hit for that)  Nowadays. Keeper is far past any agility so I have no dog to use but if there is interest out there--let me know!