a baltimore update

so here i sit at the hotel room (suite) in baltimore...

wednesday classes were ok. agility - everyone was a little blah for some reason (the weather?)
we worked weaves again, which no one had really practiced (bad us). then we started some tunnel work (and rah went crazy). most of the dogs had problems with sends, and then we all had trouble incorporating the rear cross into it because of that - berlin didnt seem to get to run out that far ahead of me for the tunnel.

then we did some circle work with a pinwheel of jumps, and berlin was just like "what the F is the purpose of this?" and i need to work on that with her something fierce!
after class though i brought rah out before the pinwheel was taken down and rah him through and he had a blast - he was lightening fast, followed all my body cues (BERLIN TAKE NOTE), and i even through front and rear crosses in to cross the pinwheel. he was super, for a dog that hasnt done this in a year!

we went out for dinner and drinks in between classes. nice drunk heeling :)

open class - heeling almost killed me i think. rah was crazy. thats about all i can remember.
except that rah had a breakdown with stays - terry was walking around watering the plants while kathy did stays with us, and rah saw her and when she got near him, he had a meltdown - he flipped out and ran - he was PETRIFIED of her with the watering can. GO FIGURE? i didnt correct him - he was scared, so we worked on touch and then i stood there while he finished the stays and terry walked arouund him and he was much better. silly dog.

thursday -
berlins class. i have videos from all night i should upload. i remembered to push out with her and she was pretty good - im happy with the drive and the attention i was getting from her - much better. her transitions were good too - much better than last week. if i can keep that drive and push from her, we'll be golden. did SFE - she waited as she was last in the class and got bored and laid down, so i started over and she was golden. berlin says SFE's shouldnt last 2 minutes :)

did fig8's - im working on a pop and motivating her through the outer post and she's been a LOT better, driving around.

recalls - she nailed them all, she had nice fronts for them, even if she runs crooked (how come her butt cant follow her head??). then we worked on some finishes - im not fully finishing her, im just doing a pop up to the left for now. she CAN do a pop finish, so i want it from her.

(mental note, need to work more finishes with her on both sides)

open with rah - heeling was ok, we did some work with jumps out and having the dogs heel with the jumps and not take them - rah was wired and it shows on the video :) then we heeled and circled all the jumps. broke down for individuals...

DOR - not bad. still need to work on me giving less upper body movement with the signal.

ROF - pretty good. working those fronts. front front front...

ROH - he did nicely, but those fronts. AGAIN.

fig8 was nice.

utility - we started with a go out game - we all rotated through and did one go out and then someone else would come in the ring. so we were able to work ring entrances and exits, and having dogs in their faces for them. then we incorporated a directed jump with the go out. rah is routinely giving me 2 go outs, and then pulling up short for the third one (rah, who woulda thunk it?) so i have to go out and remind him that he "missed" his toy out there. but other than that - his go outs were perfectly straight, he was fast, and his turn and sits were nice and tight and STRAIGHT. jumps were GREAT too, and the fronts werent bad.

articles - we did them facing another dog- the hardest part for them. he got all three articles right, but it was hard for the dogs to be facing each other (literally, as scout turned she hit him with her tail!) for the set ups, it was a bit distracting. but they worked through it. have to remember to set the pile further so he can run out.

moving stand and signals - i STILL need to work with that damned stand without him moving his feet. GAH.

gloves. his pivots are still broken.

so lots to work on. lots.

im in baltimore for a convention and i feel like shit and is it bad if i miss the conference because i feel so bad? just sit in the hotel room with the dogs? its a SUPER sweet hotel room... its HUGE. and i have a big flat screen tv :)