Ziggy Learns Agility

Ziggy just completed a six-week beginning agility class at Infinite Pawsibilities.  You may wonder how a deaf dog can do agility.  Ziggy is happy to demonstrate:

Here's Ziggy going up the A-Frame.  Many dogs find the A-frame a little bit scary at first, but not Ziggy.  This has been one of his favorite from the very beginning!

Then there's the dog walk.  Ziggy can walk just as well as any dog, and he's pretty much fearless, so he has no problem with this one either!

There are two different types of tunnels in agility.  Like most dogs, Ziggy loves the tunnels!

The hardest obstacle for Ziggy, other than the weave poles which he is still learning, are the jumps.  Because he is so intently focused on me he forgets to watch where he is going and sometimes runs into the jumps before realizing that they are there!

 Being deaf does not stop Ziggy from learning Agility.  I use a flashlight instead of a clicker to let him know when he's doing something right, and he's so food motivated that he will do anything to get me to "click".  We've started sequencing the obstacles together, and he's doing very well with that.  Being deaf does cause a bit more of a challenge, because I can't tell him where to go ahead of time (which obstacle to do next) with a voice command.  He has to be looking at me which distracts him from the obstacles.  So he may never be an agility champion, but we're having a great time together and that is what counts!  One of my good friends is also in the class with her Airedale Terrier, and it's a lot of fun to take the class together.  Next week we will start Intermediate Agility!

So if you ever see this dog:

Lexi

or this dog...

Ziggy

please make sure to congratulate them for their hard work in completing Beginning Agility!