My dog club participated in the Maddie's Fund Pet Palooza Adoption event, here in Mobile, on Saturday. It was a terrific training opportunity with all the barking dogs, the crowds and the cats meowing!

Here's Guy taking his turn around one of the courses and doing his wonderful weaves!

Love that foot fall!

Love the fluid bending around the poles..

....most of all - Love that happy look on his face!

In addition to agility demos, we also had some obedience exercises and we each were to teach our dog a trick to perform for the crowd. Some did the distance sits and downs... some did jumping for bouncing balls....

Guy jumped through a hoop!

I started teaching him the hoop less than 2 weeks prior. He has been having a problem understanding the tire jump.

He would go between the tire and the side of the side of the upright....

...or if it were up to his height, he'd duck under it...

I would have to block off the bottom and the side for him to go through the center.

Finally, another trainer suggested I teach him to jump through a free hoop, so he'd understand the concept that he was supposed to jump through the "round thing".

I began by luring him through with treats, then added the clicker, then a voice command, then voice and hand signals. It worked! Since our club could not wash the mats before our trial, we did not use food in the ring, but could use items like tennis balls, tug toys, etc. Guy hasn't been into those since he hit puberty, so we just used good old praise!


He was the crowd favorite....must be something about the big dog jumping through a hoop!
Best of all, when we ran the course, he took the tire each time without a hitch! Woo hoo.... nothing like success!