“I’ve put through one obedience class but I’ve been going through obedience with Kenny for the last 11 years with all of my dogs,” dog agility student Tabitha Lambert said. So, anybody who gets a puppy, I tell them they need to do dog school.” I heard about the dog classes and thought that I would put him in them and it made a world of difference. “A long time ago, about 12 years ago, I had a Belgian Malinois and basically he controlled us,” Yeik continued. This is the first time we’ve done agility.” “It’s good for him to be around the other dogs and get the refresher. “I started obedience with when he was about five, six months old,, so, he’s done it about three different times,” dog agility student Deb Yeik said. Taking a dog through the obedience course can have a significant positive impact on both the animal and the owner. “We’ll go outside if the weather is nice.” “We teach the dogs to go up and down the stairs, close stairs and then open on the other side,” Hutchison said. One of the sessions is level two training, where they work more towards off-leash commands with the dogs. It meets four times during the college’s first semester and four times during the second semester. The dog obedience class is held in EWC’s CTEC building in the commons area. “In the obedience class, these people work very hard on teaching their dogs to focus and listen,” she continued. “That way we know that your dog knows come, sit, down, stay, heel, stand for exam, long sits, long downs, reverse and U-turns. “The only way to get into this class is to take the beginning dog obedience,” Hutchison explained. In the future, they hope to get some of the other 4-H kids to get involved and also bring in their dogs to run the course. Hutchison said currently they have one young girl who comes to the class and competes in dog training for 4-H. Hutchison said while they mostly do it just for fun, if an individual wanted to and had a registered dog, they could go compete in shows and compete in championships. “It’s more fun than anything because none of us here go to compete,” Hutchison said. The final goal is to have a disciplined dog that can run the entire course with its handler off its lead. On the course, it’s these actions that hint to the dog what they are supposed to do on the obstacle. It is up to the handler to learn and then teach the proper signs and commands to their dog. “Then as you step in you’ve got to push your dog away and then pull in.” “For the big barrels (an obstacle on the course), what you’re doing is you are working your dog close to your side,” Hutchison said. She explained that she does several voice commands with her dogs to teach them what she wants them to do. “This class is for the dogs to learn to listen to the specific commands to complete the course,” Hutchison said. To register for the class, dogs must have their DA2PP, Bordetella vaccinations and rabies. Usually, there are about 12 to 17 people in the classes. Because of the EWC’s gym availability, the class can only meet once a year.įor each class, which includes seven practices, it is $65 to enroll. When it is time for the agility class, they set up all of the obstacles in the gym for the class. Each obstacle works on different obedience and agility skills.Īll of the equipment is owned by dog agility instructor Penny Hutchison and is stored in her trailer most of the year. They teach the dogs to perform the different jumps, go through tunnels, stay on a pause table, complete the A-frame obstacle and perform the teeter-totter. There are a total of seven sessions for the dog agility class held in the EWC gym. To get into this class, dog owners must first complete the beginning dog obedience course. TORRINGTON – Exercise, obedience and agility are the main goals of the community education dog agility class that is currently meeting at Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Updated: 1 week ago / Posted Commuinity ed dog agility class meets at EWC
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