Tag Archive for: deaf dogs

Agility Students Earn New Titles: Congrats Whisper & Titania

agilityribbonsYour Dog’s Friend offers many agility classes and while the majority of our students play for fun, we have a few students who have challenged themselves to enter local trials and compete.

Congratulations to Whisper the Border Collie and Titania the Cocker Spaniel, who both earned their CL1-S titles in Canine Performance Events agility this past weekend. (Those are the big white ribbons!) To earn the CL1-S Title, Titania and Whisper each had to earn qualifying scores in the strategy games Jackpot and Snooker. Congrats, girls!


But that’s not all!

Did we mention Whisper is deaf? That’s right, she can’t hear a single command her mom says! Whisper has attending classes at Your Dog’s Friend since Basic 1, where her mom used a keychain flashlight instead of a clicker. She’s living proof that deaf dogs are just as trainable as hearing ones!

And Titania is a fearful dog.  YDF trainer Michelle remembers Titania’s first appearance in Basic Manners 1 two years ago: she spent most of it cowering behind her mom’s legs! Positive training has greatly increased her confidence and when you see her zooming around the agility course, you wouldn’t think she was anything other than a normal, happy dog.

Our Agility Classes

  • Agility Games: Body awareness exercises (“I have back paws too?”), learning jumps, tunnels, and dog walk, basic agility handling skills.
  • Agility 1: For graduates of Agility Games, this class continues to build up the bond between dog and handler while working on short courses.
  • Agility 2: More advanced handling skills, teeter, obstacle discrimination, and longer courses.
  • Agility 3: All of the above, plus crosses, distance handling, and more!

Due to the popularity of our agility classes, you may have to sign up for our waiting list. When a new section of the class opens up, you’ll receive an email letting you know to register.

Titania’s Wildcard Run

A Wildcard course is a numbered course that has three forks in the path. The dog and handler must choose two obstacles labeled “A” and one labeled “B” in order to successfully complete the course.

Whisper’s Snooker Run

Snooker is a strategy game in which dog and handler must collect points the following order: red jump, any obstacle, different red jump, any obstacle, a third red jump, any obstacle. Then the course is done from obstacle 2 through 7, ending at the table.

Thanks!

Whisper & Titania would like to thank their teacher, Michelle, for all her help and support!