Okay, it is official.....

I need to enroll Carmen in an agility class with Katrin. Let me explain....

Today I had Agility-for-Fun at the Shelter. Ike was a VERY good boy; apparently the key to that is John, my husband, not coming to class. Who knew!? Tony, the fellow I train with at the Shelter, let me take home a teeter that we never use in class. As I mentioned in my last post Ike has been having some issues with "real" teeters; he loves the baby teeter at the Shelter.

So, I get to my in-law's house with the new-to-me teeter. I asked John if he would come over and help me unload it and bring Ike. It took some luring to get Ike to get up on the teeter. He has had a few instances where he was going too fast and flew off the end of Katrin's teeter. I think the fly-offs combined with his general personality is what has made him so wary. He feels like he shouldn't risk his tail unless there are major treats involved! He's a smart cookie that Ike.

So, really quickly I have Ike doing the teeter with a bit of confidence. Yay; that's great. My in-laws ask if I will try Carmen. So, with minimal luring Carmen is FLYING up the teeter. Holy crap, she is a focused dog. I swear I don't know if it is the one-on-one interacting, the treats, or just the "playing" that gets her so revved. Within five minutes Carmen is doing the teeter with more speed and confidence than Ike will EVER do the teeter. They are such incredibly different dogs.

So, we continued to horse around for a while. Then, out of nowhere Ike aggressively instigates play in a very Carmen-like manner. He's jealous! Katrin mentioned that a puppy might add some speed to Ike, that the competitive drive might kick in. Well, I do not think we need to wait for a puppy. I think Carmen might be able to get the boy kick-started!! I absolutely want to enroll her in a class. It would be good for her mentally; she obviously really enjoys the interaction. And it might be GREAT for Ike.

We are headed to Canine Mastery tomorrow for the Act-Up/ASCA trial. The weather is supposed to be much like today, cool and sunny. This is Ike's kind of weather.