When you went to your first agility session, there were so many new things for Fenwick to experience – it was a new indoor space, there was fake grass on the floor with lots of scents from other new dogs and she had a male instructor that she hadn’t been around before. Proofing is all about going to different environments at different points of the day to get the dog used to performing a particular behavior no matter what other distractions there might be. Lara says, “Fenwick hadn’t been proofed enough to be able to handle that particular scenario. I asked Lara why Fenwick had struggled so much in this situation. While I wouldn’t have previously said that Fenwick was the most reliable dog in the world, I was surprised and embarrassed by how little she listened to me. She was so unreliable that we had to put her on a long line for the entire session just so that we could stop her from running away. Considering how experienced the agility instructor was, I was mortified at her behavior. When I tried to call her back she completely ignored me, even running away when I went over to get her. As soon as I let Fenwick off the lead she bolted away from me and started sniffing all the equipment. However, the reality of my first session was markedly different to the fantasy in my head. I was really excited to try agility training and I had grand visions of Fenwick soaring over the jumps and wiggling excitedly through the weave poles.
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