a lot to catch up on

ive been meaning to post a lot from the past few days of training, but ive just been lazy and preoccupied and just plain busy!!!

wed
started with agility - if i knew how to upload the courses i made with the clean run system i would ...
we ran two different 9-10 obstacle courses that focused on wraps, crosses, sends, 180s, etc. i ran berlin during class and rah afterwards. berlin surprised me by bringing her SUPERSPEEDY pants and was very good so i could get 2-3 jump lead outs, but she needs me to ride the jumps with her - and im simply not fast enough to do that with her!! i have good sends to some obstacles, but others werent working. the second course had mad wraps and she did well, but i found out that shes too cued into my body to be the clue for deceleration almost - the minute i stop moving, she starts to walk (ie im doing a tight 180 wrap or something like that - so i have to motivate her through it.

it was super fun though to run a course with her, even if it wasnt a full course- she has come so far!

then we took the crazed noodle out... and if the name of the game is DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT - rah is drive it like you stole it, youre oj simpson in a white bronco, and you're on that rollercoaster with 35 flags flying. i got halfway through both courses before he started jumping and barking and biting at me. the good thing is that i had some nice sends and good lead outs with him too, and he has a nice go on - but wow some other sends were bad and he's a loose canon.

open class that night - just rah and mulder again. we did lots of retrieve games and rah did pretty well. the biggest thing we worked on was distraction - doing DORs while kathy was behind him waving her arms, throwing toys while we dropped, giving him other commands and tempting him. the hardest was when he had to avoid the spider for the DOR and as i dropped him, she threw the tennis ball right across his feet - but he dropped! thought a LOT about it, but did his job - WOOHOO.

did ROF and ROH with the same type of thing - she got him the first time she dropped a tennis ball near his db, but he didnt make that mistake again. he handled the pressure of her quite well, of another dog near him doing things while he was working, etc. on the ROH, at one point kathy actually hit him with the toy she was tossing and he was so focused on getting back to me he almost missed the db because she said he actually turned his head and headed back for me before he had his mouth closed on the db!!! what a smart boy - he's truly getting the point of all this which pleases me greatly.


thurs
started with berlin - a lot of dogs didnt show up for class, so there were only two of us there too (semiprivate woo!). started with heeling and berlin was absolutely marvelous!!! best heeling she's had in a long time - we did the full pattern a few times and she was there the entire time, head up, ears up, in my face - dropped her head a few times but came right back without anything from me, and marvelous left turns swinging her butt. very very happy with this.

next we set up jumps and such and worked the individuals. started with recalls - since both berlin and casey havent finished in novice (heck, berlin hasnt started) we havent put the full drop into her recall - but her fronts were dead center perfect. need to keep the pop in her finish to get her active in it, and i need to work on turning further behind me. terry says pop every time

did some ROH with her - interspersed cookie retrieves for full retrieves, and she's working at full height (24) and she did beautiful fronts from that too.

took a break and brought rah out to do some ROF while she rested, then brought her back out after. rahs fronts were pretty good but he got accidentally popped by me twice when the flexi didnt reach the db! oops.

worked some rof's with berlin - she ran nicely a few times then got distracted - ended on a good one. moved to broad jump and she was doing really well as long as i dont move before she's committed to the jump!

utility with rahman noodle -
started with just plain heeling (since we rarely do that anymore) - he was crazed as ever. then moved to individual patterns called for 2 at a time that included signals - rah was missing the wait somehow though and started to anticipate again - kathy thought that i could get his stand and wait better, so we worked on changing it up and using my right hand for the wait - tossing cookies from it so he's staring up at my face and that way hes on his toes when i leave. he's still anticipating and walking a bit, but now its because he's leaning into me, not because he's just wandering aimlessly out there!

moved to articles - he missed the first article by running out there, finding it, and picking the one next to it. i wonder if i overscented since my hands smelled like meatballs? but he got the next two right and didnt offer such bad fronts.

go outs - worked on his look at the ball and him staying focused while the judge talks to me - through the are you ready and the send your dog, since rah tends to look up as soon as the judge says send your dog since he's looking for me to send him. also, i need to remember not to say ready i think since ready means head up stare at me (even though my arm isnt up) - to avoid confusion ill probably say yes, or something else. but go outs were very nice, did the jumps well.

gloves the pivots are still killing us sometimes because he can do them separate from the gloves, but the minute we put the retrieve in he sometimes doesnt sit. also felt a lot of pressure on the retrieve- accidentally had his dumbbell out 1 foot behind glove 1, so he went out and wasnt sure what to retrieve (unfair!!!), and at glove three he had THREE goldens laying within 2 feet of his glove. once we lessened the pressure a bit he did just fine.

didnt work moving stand because i went back and worked on his signals instead.


friday - rah slipped at work and was a little lame on the hind leg, so i didnt train him when i got home. i brought berlin out and we did some jump grids (good sends, good recalls, pretty good with the running with her), worked on teeter (some unintentional since she decides to go on repeatedly so that she can get clicked after making it pivot. worked weaves, and worked weave entrances - need to work those entrances more!

now rah is injured (rah his paws off at a party today) so no training for him for a few days, at least. which sucks, since i wanted to hike with them this weekend...