the good, the bad and the bloody

well, life has been hectic.

over the weekend, rah showed in the APDT trial in kingston, NY. it was hot as heck, way too humid to be outside, but we managed to eek out two q's with a 200 and a 201 i believe. he was hot beyond belief and could barely concentrate in the ring, but the double Q's meant his ARCHX title and his RL2X... so with that behind us, i opted not to stay for the second trial and just came home in time to hit major thunderstorms and flooding.

sunday we went up to marylyn's place in roscoe NY and trained with pat. berlin was good, but she's still trying to figure out the game and if she's allowed to do bark and bite! rah on the other hand came out like a mack truck and was all over pat - he was on a full sleeve and just jammed it into his mouth and held on for dear life. pat LOVES him and thinks he's going to be quite the sleeper dog.

we also worked some obedience - discussed how i need to tap into my dogs drives more, because they can give me 10 times what they already are (i know, i know) - better playing with toys, stop asking for outs, etc. we also discussed where rah can be more precise on things. then we addressed rahs out issues and how i should just stop fighting him. so much to think about. we were all so impressed with rah though, he LOVES this. maybe i WILL put a 1 on him if i can...

wed night training - agility we started with jump grids and berlin did better, but when they are all low at 6 feet apart, she's jumping two jumps at once. raised the middle jump and she did it right - also managed a few sends to her toy. then we did weaves, and she's a weaving superstar. i can get full 12 with some nice speed and then jackpot her at the end - shaping them really helped clarify it for both her AND rah. need to remember to use my verbal marker though if shes not getting a cookie for every other pole now.

then we did some handling -set up a course of 4 jumps and handled it in two different ways - but for the first time we used our OWN dogs. had to do later distance, go ons, and crosses. with berlin i need to remember to regroup with her sometimes.

open class - rahs ROH was much better, but his flat was broken. kathy was stumped, so we're going to stop retrieving at all for awhile and instead work these as recalls with the db and get him to think about his job. his broad jump wasnt bad, heeling was crazed, and his drops were pretty nice. his fronts without anything in his mouth are really nice... he needs to give me those all the time! he's doing the whole "i come to front but dont sit" thing again.

i need to find a way to incorporate the schutzhund work with his ob work at hk9.

ill get to the events of that night at home later...

tonight we had open with berlin - did heeling first, and she did pretty well. however, molly noticed that apparently i heel like stalin and i need to give berlin more freedom and let loose with her. her fig8's were painful because my body posture is pushing her back - i have to keep my hips straight even on the turn.

drops were nice, were just playing games for the time being. did retrieves and she has nice take its and holds, but she was tired and when i tossed it, she ran out but got distracted coming back. SAME WITH RAH - so i have to follow her out and make sure the thing she thinks about first after she picks up the db is GET BACK TO MOM.

worked bj - kathy helped me there. need to toss her cookie quickly so she stops looking ahead for her cookie and get a nice tight turn. she's doing really well - flies over it.

then kathy took me aside to work her set ups with touches, which i think will help make her much peppier and lively when we do them (and left finishes) - very good advice.

rah in utility - started with articles and rah wasnt thinking. got metal but couldnt find a leather - terry thinks i need to get him a tie down mat now. im not sure about it, im still thinking. by now he understands his job - he just gets crazy and doesn't think. ironically the fronts with the article were great!!!!!!!!!!!!

did dueling directed jumping - one dog at one end, another dog at the other end and sent them to opposite jumps. rah did well here. moved to signals and he's moving just a tad (better than before) - need to keep perfecting this.

gloves - rah isnt thinking on his way back to me either, so i need to stop retrieving the gloves and just do recalls with them. with just a recall he isn't shaking to kill!!!!!

moving stand was nice, but he's moving his front feet all of a sudden...

go outs were perfect.

so home work for the week - berlin retrieves, berlin set ups with touches, and rahs recalls with db to the front. and of course, drivework with both.

now the crappy news - somehow in a freak accident mercury sliced his leg open and severed his achilles tendon. he was non weight bearing because he couldnt extend the leg to support himself - this morning he went to see a specialist and he had surgery to repair it and has an external fixator to immobilize the leg. so he's out for the season for agility and obedience.

hectic and stressed, thats me.