During this last class we worked with dogs off leash–a little. And to my surprise, it will always be a surprise, Belle did not run away from me.
We only worked off leash with the weave poles. But let’s back up to the beginning of class.
We started with the teeter-totter/see-saw. Belle did not care one itty-bitty-bit that this thing moved. Our instructor placed a pause table under each end of the teeter-totter/see-saw so that it only moved a few inches while we got the dogs used to the obstacle. She also placed some rugs beneath each end so that it did not make a loud noise as each end came down. When it was 
Belle’s turn, she jumped up on the table, ran across the teeter-totter/see-saw, not caring at all that it moved, but didn’t stop in the contact zone. Instead, she ran to the other pause table and sat down.
We started with the chute (closed tunnel) which Belle notoriously does not like. But we made some big progress tonight. At first she went half way in, backed out, then followed me around the tunnel. So my instructor folded up the chute and fed her treats while she went in the tunnel, but after every treat Belle backed out. She did eventually go through the whole chute but only once I was at the end.
J M Tuckerman 