I did it! I did it! I did it!
Oh my God – I finally did the Tunnel at Agility class tonight!
And the best part is I’ve got it on video to show you! 
Hsin-Yi was determined to find some way of videoing us – even without Paul’s help – so she took the camera along to our 3rd class tonight and either propped it up on something to record (despite other people giving her funny looks!) or asked other people in class to film us.
My good friend, Lucky Bear, has also started coming to class so his human was very nice and also helped to film us. He is an Akita-Rottweiler-cross and he is a very cuddly boy.
Me and Lucky Bear
So about the Tunnel – well, after the disasters in my first class, it seemed like an impossible obstacle for me but then tonight…Hsin-Yi nearly had a heart attack! 
She had decided just to Click & reward me for sticking my head in the tunnels without pushing me to do anything else. But then on our last run, the course included a Tunnel which was much shorter than the one in my 1st class. So when she shouted “In!” – I just went for it! I guess it really helped that I’ve done the Chute a few times now and know that if I just keep going, I can get out! 
Also, having a shorter tunnel really helped.
The Tyre Jump tonight was also different and bigger than the last one so I could jump through it easily!
Having more suitable equipment makes so much difference! 
Anyway, so here is the movie of my magic moment…
Hsin-Yi was SO proud of me!
(Hsin-Yi: Well, most of you probably know that I’m a terrible perfectionist and always feel that we ought to do better but tonight…I was speechless! I feel like I’m bursting with pride! I love the fact that Honey is so game and always so willing to try anything I throw at her – despite any handicaps she may have as a BIG dog – and does it all with such good-natured enthusiasm! I think that is the loveliest thing about her and what makes her so special )
- Beginners Course – Auckland Canine Agility Club
- 6:30 – 7:30pm
- @ Ambury Park Centre for Riding Therapy, Mangere, Auckland
- Contact: Sara Cale Sara.Cale@manukau.govt.nz
Hi Honey,
You truely are Super Dog!! Wowzers, I just love watching all that you have accomplished in your life Ms. Honey….you are so talented.
My mom wants to know if your mom will come and train me?? Hee Hee heck what’s a 20+ hour plane ride anyway??
I loved it when you jumped over the tunnel that was pretty impressive then in the tunnel you go….you are my hero Honey!
I’ve been a little under the weather the past few days so our training has been on hold. I hope to be back on track this weekend.
AARF from Kasha
oh Honey we are so proud of you. we giggled and laughed and had a great time watching. we allso like to listen to the funny accents! great job on the tunnel!
YEAAAH
good job honey!!!!
it must be hard zo go in so tiny tunnel
hauwii: i love the tunnel en all the other things
keep practice and you will be the best great dane in agility!!!
kisses
El’bow and Hauwii
YAY! You go, girl!
Strange to look your beginner class. Here we start to do 2-3 obstacle tracks about 5th time in class. We teach couple of obstacles at one class and after that we start compining them.
Way to go Honey! We are proud of you!
-Lenni & Ressu
Good girl Honey dog! We agree that you are one special dog with a human that really knows how to bring out the best in you too! I can’t believe you did it so gracefully too! I would have thought you would have to almost be on your belly to fit! I love that you got a bigger ring too, that looked a lot better though it was impressive that you were willing to squeeze through the other one too.
.
Lucky Bear is a handsome boy too. We loved the shot of you two drinking together
Thanks for sharing and we are so glad your special moment was caught on tape too!
Moose + Dana
p.s. have you heard of a Gorillapod? It is like a tripod for a camera but it has flexible legs so you can attach it to lots of things (poles and such) that a normal tripod could not attach to. Not as good as a human who can follow you through a course but might work in some situations!
Super Honey!!!!! We are just as proud as your Mom -- you are such a good girl!!!! We loved it!
Tail wags, the OP Pack
Way to go, Honey! I feel very proud of you, too!
Alright!!! Congrats!!! That was so awesome and I’m so happy you got it on video! You were almost on your belly through that tunnel! What talent and athleticism. Oh and the jump over the tunnel was nice too.
Jackal
Hey Honey -- you are the GREATEST!!! Do you know how much you inspire us? We think you’re wonderful and we want to be just like you -- which is quite a challenge considering….! Well done -- no wonder Hsin-Yi is so super proud of you -- those are wonderful photos of her giving you extra special snuggles by the way, we love it! Big schnauzer snuggles from your two biggest fans!! Max and JD ¦D
We can feel how Hsin-Yi felt when you did it…it was such a feeling of ecstasy! You sure deserve the big hug!!
Great job, Honey! You are a great gal.
BigHoneyDog! You are so brave! Mom says its so awesome to see such a special bond between you and your human. You are so trusting and willing to please!
We had obedience class again last night. It sounds like agility is much more fun, but Mom says I need to master the basics a bit more first. I think I’m getting pretty good at that heeling thing, but it gets SO boring doing the long sits and downs! Can I help it if a little bug crawls in front of me and distracts me? No!!
Anyway, congratulations on your big accomplishment!
wags, wiggles & slobbers,
Murphydog
WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Woooo! You DID it, Honey!!! And that ring thing, too! And EVERYTHING!!! Mom got tears in her eyes, she was so happy that you did it! Me? I’m TOTALLY impressed! And I love those pix of you kickin’ back at home with Hsin-Yi! That looks like some great snuggling!
Luv,
Dave
As we say in agility world…..”Whooo Hooooo!”
That was awesome Honey! How exciting! I especially loved how you jumped over the tunnel first! That was a cool trick. Then, you just flew right on through. Too cool!
I know your human was soooooo proud with you! What an accomplishment!
That’s so great! I was very impressed when you jumped OVER the tunnel! I’ve never done agility formally, only had Mom run me over a course at a couple of dog events and I hate to brag but…I’ll do pretty much ANYTHING for a treat. Even the tunnel, the very first time. Of course, I’m much smaller and for me, it’s pretty darn easy. It would have to be more like a tube to be the same proportion as it is for Honey!
WELL DONE!
Your pal,
Petey
P.S. I’m doing really well with my “go to bed” training and even stayed in the bed for over 5 minutes the other day.
Hoory for you and Honey!!! Don’t let your size hold you back. If you focus too much on how big you are and how “difficult” everything is, you won’t get very far. If you focus on the positive and how well you do certain things, the rest will come. Just don’t let your size hold you back! There are plenty of danes who do and excel at agility!
YAY HONEY! You’re so brave to do the tunnel!
Honey! You were wonderful! And you didn’t knock any fences down either. So graceful.
Was that Pee-Wee I saw? See how those labradorks don’t even jump but just kind of levitate? Made of rubber, that’s what I think.
I heard the teacher complimenting your Hsin-Yi on her squeeky voice. Momma is still working on perfecting hers.
Slobbers,
Mango
P.S. You always seem to know where your hiney is. Amazing!
Khongrats!
Woo surely have earned your wonderful trip to South Afrikha!
Tank woo fur sharing this!
Way to go to your mom too!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Honey we are so proud of you and Hsin-Yi. Not only did you give the idea of trying something new in your already busy life go, but now you’ve astonished us by doing the tunnel!!!!
It’s great to see you both having so much fun in the classes (we love the way your tail wags lots and Hsin-yi’s arms wave around to match her voice when you do things), and now you’ve made that awkward tunnel (for a girl your wonderful size) look so elegant. Well done!
Wuv from
Riley (the Golden Retriever) and his human
PS Big woofs and hellos from Riley to Lucky Bear too!
We saw the video and we sure are proud of you Honey! Great great job! You really enjoy running and jumping, so fast!!!
Kisses
Rufus and Indie
Yay Honey that is a grate job you did in the tunnel!! I always did think that wuz the hardest wun of the obstakles espeshully fer us big dawgs.
Yer pal Dozer
FANTASTIC job Honey! I have done a tunnel like that before and they are scary so I am proud of you too!
Also, looks like fun when you get to play with all the dogs at Flip’s place! 
Kisses,
Nala
Dear Honey,
What a truly inspirational movie! It was so exciting seeing you go through the tunnel like that! You are one talented lady dawg! You’ve taken to agility like a border collie to obedience!
We want more! ok?
smooches,
Mr Darcy
Oh Wow! How absolutely Pawesome!!! HOney and Hsin -- you are my heroes!
Hugs xo
Sammie
Well done, Honey! You have such a great attitude. No wonder your mum is so proud of you.
Oh Honey, I am so proud of you! (And Lucky Bear looks ultra cute). I bet Hsin-Yi has showered you with compliments and treats. Well done!
Mom was practically jumping up and down when she watched your video. We have been lurking and reading your blog but had to speak up after watching that!
Come stop by our blog sometime.
http://tiffykinsfuzzbuttsjournal.blogspot.com/
Kudos to you Honey! You and Hsin-Yi are so wonderful teachers for us, thx so much for your blog! We would never have thought that it is possible for adult great danes to do the tunnel! So now we know that it is worth practicing in preparation for doing the tunnel
best regards from the two black boys Paris and Bel Ami
Hi Honey,
Wow, you are multi-talented! Our mum was really impressed. You should enter real competitions!
Can’t wait to see you at the dancing class next month!
CONGRATULATIONS Honey! Way to conquer your fears & go through the tunnel. Bet ya won’t even hesitate next time after you saw how happy it made your mom!
your pal,
Bruce the cat:)
Of course, especially for you and Honey we added the Google-Translate-Button on every single-site, it means, klick the permanent url of the specific post you want to have translated and you’ll see the button
cordially Paris and Bel Ami
Hello again, we made some changes: to translate the post, the page or every comment you’ll find the word “[Translation]” at the bottom of the post or at the bottom of every comment. Klick on this word and you’ll be able to translate everything into English
The reason why we are so happy to see Paris run is because he has had a lot of operations in the last half year on his right and left knee. Finally, it seems, he is on the way of recovering
cordially Paris and Bel Ami
Hey, thanks for stopping by Jackal’s blog. I don’t have to replace the goat I lost. It just really sucks because of the money we lost. A lot of money goes into raising a goat from the time it’s mom gets pregnant to the time it’s weaned and sold, so we lost money because we weren’t able to sell him and recoup our costs. More than the money though is not knowing what happened to him and how he’s being treated because he was a very sweet goat and doesn’t deserve to be mistreated (no animal does).
Our fence is a standard four foot field fence. The electric fence might dissuade someone if they aren’t too persistent, but it’s actually very easy to ground and cut an electric fence. I can’t build a taller or solid fence because it’s too expensive.
I’ve thought about putting them in the barn, but it has sliding doors and there’s no way to lock them. Also they would probably feel crowded and start fighting, hurting each other or damaging the barn. I wish I had a big barn with separate stalls but I don’t. Once we get the rest of the fencing done I may have an area behind the house where I can move them, but that’ll be a while due to money and time. For now I’m just going to take them to my parent’s house because they have ten acres back in the woods and you can’t see their house from the road.
The man we bought Kud and Musk from is giving his livestock guard dogs away for free because he’s moving across the country so if we can we may get one from him. That way it will already be trained. I have bought padlocks for the chicken coop and the pasture gate, but it won’t stop people from going over the fence or even just cutting the fence. I’m thinking about adding two strands of barbed wire to the top of the fence to add height and make it more difficult and dangerous to climb, but again they could just cut it.
Anyway sorry I got long winded and thanks again for stopping by. So far things have only gotten worse, but I’m still hoping (and working very hard) to make things better.
Honey!!
Congratulations!
I knew you could do it!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza
Hey again Honey! Thanks so much for stopping by! We missed you but completely understand that you and your human have been very busy lately!
Thanks so much for the tips on the recall! I had not noticed that my command was so grumpy and I usually do higher pitched and squeaky praises with other commands so it is strange that I was grumpy with this one. I am not at all worried about looking silly but after thinking on why this command is different I have come to realize that it must be because I am so VERY nervous the moment I unclip the leash and I think that shows in my voice and probably other ways too which is really bad! I was not at all aware of this though! Thanks so much for pointing it out! Moose is completely clueless about cars and will walk into the street when a car is coming without even flinching so having him off leash to work on a recall makes me incredibly nervous! As he is getting better I am relaxing a bit but will use your tips and get him even better even faster so the nerves will go away!
I was also worried about praising him to early and having him think it is ‘done’ but like every other trick I guess it is good to scale up your expectations more gradually. I did this by asking him to come when he was really close and gradually waiting until he was further away or I was out of sight but sometimes he turns around and does not come directly to me so I will try starting in with the ‘good boys’ earlier to see if he is more direct more consistently.
My biggest problem is still getting his attention if he is in the middle of sniffing something. Since he is a boy doggie with strong marking tendencies, it is hard to interrupt this behavior but I would like to have a recall that is strong enough to pull him off a scent when I need too. I am thinking I need to work on a stronger leave it command? I think being more exciting as you suggest will help, but there are some cases that he is sniffing and even if I am close by with a piece of liver he will not even look up!
Sorry for the long comment but we REALLY appreciate your tips!
Moose + Dana
p.s. Duh on the Ox being beef! I had forgotten that. My Zoology degree is really paying off huh?
Way to go, Honey! The tunnel is a scary one!
Thanks for taking the time to write that inspiring and touching message. I really do appreciate it. The funny thing is my husband had actually commented that I should try out the dog training.
I have a friend with two unruly German Shepherds that she keeps in her backyard, so I’m thinking about making a beginning lesson plan and seeing if she’ll let me try it out on her and her dogs, just to gain confidence and experience. If it goes well and I get good feedback from her then I might go for it.
I just have to work on explaining myself and what I’m doing. It’s such a scary move because I’ve never even been to an obedience class before!! I’ve always just read, researched and practiced and did all my training myself. In fact I taught my parents a lot of what they know about dogs and dog training. Thank you for the encouragement and for sharing your experience. I’ll keep you updated with how it’s going.
You never cease to amaze us Honey! Congratulations!!!! No wonder Hsin-Yi is proud of you….we all are too, what an exciting video too
Well done girly, there’s just no end to your talents!
Slobbers xx
Well done, Honey!
You’ve inspired me to pester my human to take me to agility classes, especially now that I’m so good at jumping up onto the couch (I’m particularly good at it if there’s a Forbidded Object to tempt me). But I think I have to wait until I’m over a year old.
I can’t wait!
Puppy kisses
Sasha
REALLY terrific job!! No pressure and clicking for any positive reaction to the tunnel really paid off. Is that the same tunnel as the first time?
I can’t get over how enthusiastic Honey is about agility. She has so much energy and looks so pleased with herself. I know you’re both thrilled.
*on a side note, thanks for stopping by our blog. We’re back in business now. You know, life gets busy…..
Congratulations to both of you! It’s wonderful when hard work pays off. You two look really happy.
Lots of licks
MAXDOG IN SOUTH AFRICA
Well done Honey!!!! It looked like you had a soooperb time! Enjoyed the video!
Smooch,
Saggy Gold Dancer
Yay Honey! We are so proud of you!
Congrats honey you and your mommy did such a great job -- you are truly a wonderful team. Agility is so much fun and it only gets better -- when i feel better i will video an advanced and expert run for you -- we dont have any old ones cause mommy has the same problem -- no cameraman!!!
Woodrow -- Sweetie -- MJ
Wow Honey -- that was awesome! I thought it was funny that you jumped over the tunnel first.
Your momma is sooo proud of you, you can just see it in her face after you went thru.
ohhh wow! good job Honey!
you and your mommy make a perfect team!
keep it up… and maybe… just maybe… they will start to have some xxl size tires for you!
licks pu
We are proud of you too, Honey!!! You never fail to amaze us! Love, Dino