a private moment

Had a private lesson this morning.

Started off discussing my stays and how they will translate into the ring. She suggests instead of ignoring that th eis on a different collar, make a big deal - he will have a different collar for stays, and I will make a big deal before he goes in for stays about changing his collar from the one he did his heeling, etc in to the one he will do his stays in.

Then we discussed how we go into the ring. She says (of course) that its me causing his lack of attention when we first walk in the ring, not him - that first it's my nerves, and I am disconnecting from him - it's not that he is scanning the ring, it's that *i* am, and he's just taking cues from me. Makes sense, right? And that when he doesn't want to sit, his avoidance is not necessarily that it's a breakdown and lack of visible cookie, it's that our connect is gone - I need to break him out of position, walk away, and reconnect with him away from where we need to be setting up and then reattempt the sit.

Then we worked on heeling, and she heeled him a bit and it looked good - must be nice to be over 5'10" and heeling my dog :) but she gave me some GOOD exercises that rah really liked that will help with his forging and eventually straighten him out for his sits!!!

no flyball last night (cheryl was sick), berlin had her first attention class and she rocked - did her first real heeling. i need to play more games with her.

im exhausted and my head hurts due to the weather so i am going to go lay down before classes tonight.