#MondayMischief: A little agility fun

Sometimes I just know Bella is going to go all looney-tunes on me during an agility session. I can usually tell when I start to un-clip her harness - she does this thing where she almost quivers with excitement: Oh boy, it's showtime, folks!

But I am not a fast handler and she can very easily get ahead of me on the course.

My goal is to try to keep my movements calm and deliberate so as not to amp her up sending her further into zoomie-land yet quick enough to beat her off the obstacle so I can gain control again on the other side.

I am not always successful.

Here are a couple of videos, mostly unedited (I only took out the really boring parts), of a recent agility session with the crazy dog. They're not our best work (either from an agility perspective nor a videographer one) and yet, I can't stop watching them.

There's an expression apparently among agility circles. It goes something like "Great dog. Pity about the handler." I've a feeling agility people will be saying this about us here.



It's okay, you can laugh. We did.



Now, if I can just learn how to channel all that energy and enthusiasm into following the course that I'm trying to direct her to rather than one she has designed for herself, we'll be in business. But given the laughter heard and the smiles (and tail wags!) seen in these videos, you can probably tell that's not my main goal.

Once upon a time, Bella was afraid to enter a room where a stick had been laid on the floor. Now look at her conquering all these obstacles with verve and aplomb. That's all I care about.

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Living with Bella isn't always easy. It can be a lot of work.

Sometimes it's heartbreaking. Sometimes it's even terrifying.

But sometimes, it's hilarious.

Those are the times that we live for.

Sort of Wordless Wednesday 101 - The teeter totter (video)

We're all big smiles here at Casa de Bella this evening. This is why:


Not my fanciest video but certainly one of my proudest moments. Yay, Bella. Who's the scared-y dog now?

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Thankful Thursday - For Bella

I wasn't planning to post today but, in light of the seriousness of recent posts here on Bringing up Bella, I thought you'd all like to see a short video of Bella in her reactive dogs agility class last night. We were all very, very proud of her.


We've been working a long time to get Bella comfortable with some of these obstacles. Today she even showed some excitement about the opportunity to run a course.

Willie, Bella's "Agility for Reactive Dogs" classmate, is on the other side of the gate visible in the doorway behind the tunnel. He was a very good boy while she ran the course and Bella wasn't even remotely distracted by him being there. This was a HUGE accomplishment for both of them.

So we are thankful for Bella's resilience, enthusiasm and curiosity, our trainers' patience and wisdom and all the good people out there researching and advocating for better ways to help fearful dogs, not only cope, but actually thrive.