Canine agility

When we posted the picture of Archer on the agility equipment, Catreona asked about it and I answered her in the comments.  Thought I'd talk about that in a post, and include another picture of Archer doing his thing. 

For anyone not familiar, here's the Wikipedia page about dog agility.  Briefly, a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course, and in competitions they are rated on speed and accuracy.  Demetrius and I have taken Archer to the first three levels of agility classes but don't currently have plans to enter any competitions.  But people say that German shepherds are dogs that need a job to do, and he seems to enjoy the classes. He especially loves the A-frame and the tunnels, and I think he's starting to get into the jumps too.  There is an activity called weave polls--a set of upright poles arranged in a straight line where the dog has to "weave" back and forth between them.  Anyway, that's the one where Archer still needs the most work.  According to the Wikipedia page, weave polls are one of the most difficult obstacles to master. 

So I guess that makes me feel less bad about his slow progress. Planning to start a new 4 week session of classes with him next month.  Demetrius set up some weave poles in our back yard and I thought I started to see some of the lights go on in Archer's head, so maybe he'll be better at that in his next class. 

Here he is coming out of a tunnel that was created going through one of the hills at his favorite dog park. 

 35 Days until the Midterms!