Our first class was last night. The last class I took with him was the OB class to work on exercises for the CD. It bordered on disaster, the teacher was very uncomfortable with Riggs and he started haveing some "behavorial" problems which almost got us kicked out.
The woman who teaches this class is AWESOME! She does Jack Russel rescue, so she is used to stubborn Terriers with attitude. I got nothing but compliments on him and she offered me some suggestions.
I went to send Riggs through the weave poles (they are open right now) and when I said "target" he was pretty sure I was "Schnauzer" and turned twards him. Uh... so I redirected him and we tried again. The teacher shrugged and said "Well, that'll happen." Of course, I'm sure it would have been a different reaction if I hadn't been paying attention to what he was doing, but I was so it doesn't matter.
He was totally into the target - and carried it off more than once. I even managed to give him treats from my hand without him getting over excited and taking fingers and hotdog at the same time.
The teacher stressed that we were not there to socialize the dogs, we were there to train and the dogs were not to interact. We only had one close call, when the Golden decided he was going to jump on Riggs. I was alert, as was the Golden's owner so he was stopped mid jump, while I lifted Riggs back by the collar. Good stuff - it's nice to have other people actually pay attention to what their dogs are doing.
I also spoke to her about Fly Ball; since she teaches the class and competes. She said it would be difficult with Riggs because of all the dogs running around, but with the amount of ball drive he has he might be able to do it. The next class will be in a few weeks (hopefully) so I'm going to see how it goes. Maybe it will help with his mouth eye coordination, I can only hope!
Riggs and the Golden are the oldest dogs in the class, Riggs is 5 1/2 and the Golden is 9. The rest are puppies. Luckily everyone has a good deal of control, especially considering the age of the dogs.
I'm really glad I entered the class, and I'm hoping she will be able to point me in the direction of the teachers that will be more willing to work with him instead of being intimidated by him.