My 1st obedience class with Graham was a pretty big deal to me, and I was too serious about the training. My training sessions were way too long, I did not praise enough and Graham was not having fun. This was my first class and so I was learning myself, but the last day of class, there was a pretend obedience trial and Graham and I competed against the others in the class...and all through the class people were amazed at how perfect Graham was and they always used him as a model for demenstrations because he was so good...but the last day at the pretend obedience show, Graham let me know that I need to make obedience more fun. He let me know the hard way by, for the first time ever, not doing a down-stay...not sitting at my side, and he basically really screwed up. He still won first place, but only because everyone else in that class did not practice enough and their dogs still did not behave perfectlly.

From what I have learned, dog and handler have to be doing agility together for a year or more in order to truly become a team. And you have to keep in mind that agility is supposed to be fun, and not nearly as serious as obedience. I know how you feel, I have been there, but just keep in mind that agility is supposed to be fun, and once in awhile a mess-up is expected, and should be thought of as a sign that maybe Iris needs to have a little more fun with it?