We split into teams again last night. Cash's first obstacle was the A frame where he was so wound up he only did a passable 2o2o with a half assed nose touch. I know the reason for the nose touch is to make sure the dog keeps their spine straight and for them to keep their weight back on the rear end and not jam their shoulders into the floor, but I am having a tough time getting him to do it with any consistency without using a target. I just have to keep trying the fade the target.
Our next area was a jump to a chute to a table. Jumping has NEVER been a problem but he hasn't seen too many full chutes and kind of got a little tangled up in it and then didn't want to enter it at all. It took all of our 2.5 minutes allocated to get him through it once.
The next area was four jumps in a square. SLS was still iffy at best and unfortunately he still has an idiot for a handler with two left feet. Fortunately Cash has a forgiving soul and managed to not only hold his SLS a couple of times but to recover from where I sent him to actually take the right jumps in order.
Our last area was also his best. Two sets of weave poles about 15 feet apart were set up to see if he could find the entrance. He loves weave poles and was consistent and fast at finding the entrance and driving through them to a thrown toy. I'm so fortunate to have such an enthusiastic partner in this endeavor. We'll keep working on consistency.
Based on last night, I'm thinking we won't be entering the agility trial on June 2/3 at NHS. But a good night at class with focus could change that thinking too.
2 comments:
I have just started training with Trevor, my Standard. 7 weeks into beginner's, he LOVES virtually everything we do. For that, I am supremely grateful!
I've learned if I had a bad day at work or even just don't feel like making the drive to class (about 30 miles round trip) I just don't. In my opinion, it's better to take a night off than let Mr. I Can Read Your Mind think he is the reason for me being out of sorts. We've only skipped class one time for that reason and I'm glad we did. Besides, Cash is such a card, it's easy to be in a good mood around him.
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