classes schmasses

wow, i need my motivation to blog back :)

thursday rah had his dermatology appt (i should post about this in my lj, so if interested some can read about it there), and then we went to the beach, where my faithful LJ friends know rah ingested most of the atlantic ocean and then had it spew liquid diarrhea all over the place. it was thrilling, i tell you - thrilling.

i didnt think he was up for utility, so instead i did novice/open on thursday and worked berlin for part of novice - started doing some heeling with distraction and working changes of pace and changes of direction, about turns, etc. she did well - but when they went to add in halts to the equation, it was time to bring rah into play :)

worked rah and did some REALLY intensive heeling, so much so i was out of breath! i still need to work on his straight sits - his set ups are getting so nice, but his halts are sloppy because my footwork sucks... argh.

did some stands (awesome) recalls (VERY NICE attention and great speed and while lazy on the sit not bad with the fronts and more heeling. moved to open - his broad jump was funny but he did well, the ROF was nice - terry showed me that i need to stop staring him down when he brings it to me because it pushes him away. but his pickups were very quick and clean. ROH was very nice as well! stays were great, even when a dog that was next to him got up and walked around all over the place, sniffing! worked recalls over the bar and called it a night there, we were all tired.



had a private today, and she worked me to DEATH, to DEATH i tell you. of course, we did heeling and halts first - i need to get this footwork and body language down, and hold up my end of the bargain. i canNOT hold it against him if he sits crooked if i am not giving him good footwork to work with. i also have to stop using my body to turn him and just use the right footwork and give him body signals instead of "scooping him" - but all in all, by the end terry said his helling pattern would have only lost 1 point or so for his sloppy first sit and a forgey left turn, i think she said.

worked a lot of fig8's and i don't give him enough space - worked on my body language and taking charge and pushing through and he really responded, so i have to keep that up.

then we did more recall over the bar (since he has to do that tomorrow in the show) and we realized that i set him up too far, so he cannot do great jumping - i need to remember to set him up 12 feet from the jump.

im exhausted so im going to bed. wish us luck with the show tomorrow... i feel really unprepared.