A few weeks ago Griffin and I helped the training center at a giant pet expo. We did 3 “show” a day in the main ring and then talked to pet owners about training for the rest of the day.
Griffin, a dog who has a hard time ignoring people in a fairly sterile agility ring, was so good with giant crowds around 3 sides of the ring. He was very focused and happy to work. It was great practice and inspired me to enter some more agility trials.
It’s really fun to have a dog that is able to be happy and comfortable in such a busy and crazy environment. The only hard part for Griffin was that he would not put himself to sleep in the booth, only if he was out in his crate. When he got tired he would start barking at me.
We got to see so many different people and hear about puppy owners who were searching for class before the puppies came home and new puppy owners who didn’t know the puppies should already be in class. We talked to senior dog owners who wanted to do something (one started this week in agility, 8 year old terrier, “I’ve been meaning to, but I kept putting it off. We’ll do it NOW.”). And we talked to people wanting basic manners training or problem solving help.
We also had many students come and help with the shows. For some of them, it was the first “trial-like” experience and the dogs were wonderful. I hope we’re able to get some of those agility teams competing soon. If they could perform with the big crowds all around the ring, lots of noise, an echoy building full of people, dogs, cats, ferrets, llamas, camels… , with the crowds watching, with someone narrating their run…. an agility trial will be easy!