open schmopen

rah's first open trial is in 21 days and counting.

started with stays last night - he was perfect, did them without his collar too. knock on wood there - he's also been pretty good with heeling into the ring for stays with perfect attention -he had been figuring out the second and third times we went in the ring he didnt have to pay attention and i dont want him to get in that mode just in case we ever have run offs - it helped that we had multiple trials in one day.

then while she worked on a stay issue with mulder, i did some warming up and baby go outs. if he cant find his reward he is searching the gates. BAD DOG :) but i am considering going out to the CDSP trial on sunday (in harrisburg) - i cant decide - its a 2 hour drive, but berlin could finish her CD-H and then i could enter rah in open - but he needs a go out for his open runs.

then we did heeling - rah wasnt bad, but he still did his "push your face into moms hand" when he gets too crazed. he was really huffing 15 minutes in (kathy is akiller heeler) and his eyes were turning red, he was so worked up -we did a lot of litle patters - forward right into a halt after two strides, then turns into changes of paces, about turns right into halts. something ive noticed is that at change of paces, rah tends to bounch in and out of them - i want him to stop doing that because it puts him out of position and he hits me when he does that.

after a killed session of heeling that lasted about 20-25 minutes, i was dying, so we broke up into individuals.

started with DOR. rah, in his infinite wisdom?????? i set up for the drop and left him - i had waited a bit because the judge may not send him immediately and he decided that we were ACTUALLY working directed jumping and took the jump???? i put him on the flexi and worked waits and straight recalls for a few, and then went back to drops, his drops were nice and fast- played a few get it get it get it games, then some more formal drops. also threw a few regular recalls in. im working on where i look for his recalls and seeing if that helps where he positions himself, and so far it is.

moved over to do the broad jump - he's doing really well iwth this. so far i have the go out stick on the jump to make sure he doesnt cut the jump and goes over straight, and 2 feet out i put a cone to ensure that he goes all the way out instead of landing and pivoting right there. i also put a cone to my left (his right) from where front would be, to make sure he doesnt over(actually, under) rotate his ass end when he comes in for that front - and he's been coming in beautifully. im also being careful to make sure that i dont stare at him the entire time he's doing this, which is helping him - just looking where i expect him. if he messes up, i leave him in a stand and have him come back in to fix the front, which is working well (he gets the jump part). furthermore, he's not anticipating the jump and waits well now! woohoo.

did ROH - put him on flexi (which he hates, and it showed) - he did nicely and i guided him in to front, wasnt' half bad. if only that would translate to front without the flexi. he's not mouthing his db anymore (less stress over fronts) but he's starting to not want to give up the db, so im showing him that i have rewards for him if he "reaches" with his head and gives up his beloved db. seems to be working well - need to do that again today as a refresher.

worked some on the flat too - doing well (same as over high) on the last one, the db took a nasty turn and when he turned he was coming to me and at the last minute he saw the jump and decided he HAD to take it - so he went over - BUT HE WAS STILL ON THE FLEXI. i saw our open debut going down the drain if he took the jump down (ive been jumping him almost near his comp height, too) - so i tossed my arm up as high as it would go and threw the flexi and it cleared by 2 inches, PHEW and he didn't even know. i also couldnt verbally stop him just in case he didn't make it over the jump because of me...

i forgot to work a figure8, but other than that, it wasn't bad. i stayed for part of utility and worked articles - brought him back to wek 7 and introduced some toys into the mix, and he worked it well. he kept trying to cheat :)