A few months ago I posted about how Nutmeg was really slow and sleepy at agility class. I followed suggestions and didn't feed her dinner, instead portioning it out as kibble treats, and I cut down on her exercise so she'd have a bit more zip. That worked pretty well.

The best change was a new instructor though I liked my old instructor just fine, but he'd set up a course of 20 obstacles and not give us a whole lot of guidance, and it was a big horse barn, so it was a lot of running and obstacles. So that didn't really help my problem at all (Although, I will say, this guy had a lot of fun with us and we did silly races and tunnelling things which were quite hilarious)

One day, out of the blue, there's a new guy. He's Belgian. (Apparently quite the agility guru, but I only found this out by mercilessly googling him). He sets up three obstacles and gets us to do the sequence paying attention to the where the dog is, and looking at it like it's a road and we're driving cars. The first night we only got to run twice, he talked for the rest of the hour, and I was PMSing like crazy, so I was NOT happy I am actually embarrassed how rude I was that night - rolling my eyes, tapping my feet, etc. Awful! But as the weeks went by I actually really enjoyed working with him and he talked a less and let us run more. Doing small sequences made a huge difference for Nutmeg and by the end of the session she had a lot more pep

Anyway, that club breaks over the summer because the horse barn doesn't have A/C and it gets really hot, plus the instructors trial all summer. I signed up with a *different* agility class at an actual dedicated dog centre mostly because they offer classes on weekend afternoons and I wanted to see if time of day made a big difference to Nutmeg, and also just to scope out different instructors.

Well, I *love* it! The instructor is really great, there's no horse poop (Nutmeg doesn't see this as a benefit) and the centre has an amazing doggie store selling books, toys, treats, etc. They had a Patricia McConnell book I'd been looking for. They're totally whacko clicker trainers and "dog people" too, which is unusual for a city like Vancouver. I mean, these are the sort of people I remember when I used to do conformation They wear dog t-shirts, c'mon!

Nutmeg's been doing great. The time of day hasn't made a massive difference, but she's impressed the instructor and was even the demo dog today And, we're so amazingly talented we're in two upcoming fun matches, one in two weeks and one at the end of September! Eeeep!

Anyway, just wanted to share how things have been going! Thanks to everyone who made suggestions a few months ago. Sorry for the long post!

Hooray for Lizzie and Nutmeg! I can't wait to see videos! (You will be taking video of your upcoming fun matches, right?)

Are the instructor's initials GB?

That's great! Keep us posted!

Yup Anything I should know?

I don't know him, just of him and I'm friendly with people who have known him for years. Somehow he's quite the ladies man and has gotten himself in some sticky situations... Does he make you swoon? He was in jail in Canada earlier this year or late last year with visa problems I guess. Maybe he's teaching there because he can't leave Canada or something??? Apparently he's a good instructor and has a following.

Really? Wow! That's quite the story! Yeah, I can tell he *thinks* he's a ladies' man but no swooning on my part, that's for sure. Too smarmy for me But a good instructor nonetheless.

Glad you guys are having fun!

I can already see Nutmeg as quite the agility star!

Sounds like you're having fun. I look forward to more Nutty agility updates. (and I'm at you rolling your eyes and tapping your foot)

Yay Nutmeg! Sounds like you guys are doing awesome. Glad to hear that she's doing well with the short sequences. At our club, we don't even introduce equipment until week 6 or later - and you don't even see a full course until late in level 3 or 4 (all 8-week classes).

Would love to see another video!