Otis' Big Day

As I'm writing this post, Otis is finishing his first day at agility class! We are super excited for Otis to start agility training. In case you don't know, agility is where dogs run through an obstacle course. There are tunnels, weave poles, teeter-totters, hurdles in addition to some other obstacles. Otis got a preview of agility in his first puppy kindergarten obedience class, and he showed a natural ability to get through the obstacles quickly and he seemed to love it.

Dave has been working really hard to get Otis ready for agility. Just to get into this class, the dogs have to be at least one year old, they have to have 24-weeks of formal obedience training, and they have to pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen Test. The Canine Good Citizen Test is pretty tough...There are ten items you must complete to pass -- like sitting, staying, walking on a leash. Doesn't seem too hard, except the dog has to be able to do it all with distractions....there are other dogs, dog toys, people, noises going on to try to distract the dog...and if you have to give your dog any sort of physical correction (like pulling on the leash), you fail. If you fail any one of the ten items, then you automatically fail the test. Otis and Dave passed it on their first try (yeah, you might not have guessed that if you see Otis at home...lol.)

So back to agility. We're excited to finally start the class. I'm bummed that it's on Fridays and so I have to be at work (and I tend to be too big of a distraction for Otis when I watch him in class, so I don't usually go anyway). The fun thing about agility, is that you can compete in it. I can't wait until Otis and Dave are good enough for the competitions...which shouldn't be too long. Otis is soon to be an agility champion! In fact, I have this on my 101 in 1,001 list. Hopefully, I'll get to sneak in to class one time and get some pics and video to share!