the delay is inevitable

better late than never again, but here's thursdays recap.

got to class - berlin was up first. we started with heeling and berlin did pretty well - her attention is getting much better and im much more pleased with her head position - i dont feel that she's lagging. i do think her left turns could be tighter (more rah-like) because i want to see her snap her butt around like rah, so im going to have to keep working her on that. she sees my cue, but she's small enough that she can just stop moving and that way she doesn't hit me. i actively want her maintaining heel position and driving backwards if she needs to.

we moved to figure 8's - her hind end was a lot tighter there, even though i was going very slowly. much better than the CDSP trial (ha). worked set ups and breaking o ut while terry talked and if the stewards weren't ready.

moved to the SFE. Terry did it in the new way the judges are supposed to and it shocked berlin into scooting her butt outta there the first time, but she was fine the second time. she's still doing a kickback and kick MEGA out to the side stand, so i need to work on that because it will bite me in the ass for utility. transitioned that over to the heel free.

worked fronts - she was much better this time, less paying attention to other dogs and came in fairly straight - she's so nice and tight when she does get to front!
did stays and she was good. then while open worked, i did db work with her - again backchaining her and she was great for 10-15 minutes, im very pleased with how that is working. except i need someone else's hands (lydia) to go to the next level because my arms are only so long :)

the open class was working fronts and finishes, so i popped rah into that and worked them - i didnt do off center, but i worked straight ones each time

went into utility - we started with signals and heeling - first as a group, then we each did an individual run. was was almost perfect for signals (we're at a distance of about 10-12 feet right now) and im happy with that - terry was making fun of him quivering in anticipation of getting to do something he was so eager.

the downside was his heeling - hes not forging now, but his new habit is he's using my hand as a head rest and he's pushing right up against my hand - and when he does it he sidewinds really bad - terry can tell exactly when he does it. my hand is soaked in spit when we're done heeling (since he froths at the mouth when we train- yes, i know he's a dobe). so have to fix that now. he's also started popping up and down during the change of paces - when he knows we're going to get a normal, he starts hopping up in place. argh. he's too smart. when we approcah a ring gate and he knows were going to need to do an about turn, he starts it before its called, too. WHY DOES HE KNOW ALL THIS WITHOUT ME.

articles next, which were terrible - we were working with distraction (rah had objects in his pile) and he didnt work the pile at all, just poked and grabbed and ran. im going to back him up to week 6 or 7 this week and start him over with distraction - he was too stressed and he wasnt working at all. i should have seen this coming a few weeks ago when he was getting too cocky and stopped working the entire pile.

gloves were next. we worked pivots for 10-15 minutes first - probably his best exercise. ironic because i left pivot him for all gloves, which i dont see most people doing - but he has better butt control with left pivots than right ones, and i stand a better chance of him being straight ( and thus losing less points) by left-ing him for glove 1 and 2 as well as 3. then we put it together with the gloves - he marked and retrieved beautifully, shook a bit on the return, but then he blew the fronts. get him jazzed up and NOT THINKING and he cant find front if it had a big fucking arrow pointing it out.

moving stand - nothing to write home about. put it together with a call to heel for the first time, he got that just fine.

go outs. worked him full distance for the first one - he looked, got to his toy, and stole it and ran. bastard dog. went half distance, followed himout, and told him to sit. when he does, he spits out his go out toy, so i reward him with his other toy. this week we didnt work calling him off the toy at all so as not to confuse him. but he was so bad he got no jumping again. i dont think he got to work direction in like 2 months (and it showed at open training on new years day). terry said to work it completely separate from his go outs for now.

ill say it again. utility is hard hard hard.

rah's first open show is in less than a month.