entries are in for their first NADAC trial end of this month! eek! we're just doing jumpers and tunnelers and yes im crazy for entering both dogs.
in utility 2 weeks ago, rah had a breakdown on articles (never really got to much else) and spent an hour and 15 minutes working them because he couldnt handle the pressure of kathy near his pile. this past week started a new session when we have an hour long heeling class, and then we do a combined open/utility - i opted to not do much besides go outs on the utility side of things since he is trialing so soon and i really want to focus on that. his ROH was pretty nice - he's gauging the jump (but could be better), and hit the front pretty well.
his ROF that night was damned perfect - hit it dead on the first time, so i didnt do anything else but that one. worked broad jump and he did a nice job but i need to work on him not making such a tight turn, on him jumping the left side of the jump - all so he can hit the front better.
his heeling class was nice - its an interesting class and there are dogs in there all the way from very very novice dogs and handlers to someone working on their next dog who is very close to an OTCH. i of course, get paired with her - our dogs are polar opposites (she has a dog chondrodysplasia named jack - so i called our team jack and the beanstalk). worked transitions into and out of the ring, between fast and slow, etc.
thursday night classes - berlin is in a false pregnancy and i am a bad handler, so we had some issues with things. other things were very nice. i need to be better for HER. she worked novice though so i could put rah into open... worked heeling with him and then fig8's - terry said not to do normal ones with him all the time because he needs it to be mixed up so that he always thinks i might be turning into him, and it will keep him back and tucking. and it worked! i wasnt happy with how crooked he was sitting sometimes, and setting up. ROH - lovely again, for him. his ROF he did one perfect again so that's all he got! worked broad jump with same issues as wed, and DOR was perfect.
yesterday we had a busy day (the dogs are exhausted now and passed out). we went to match out in PA - berlin in novice and rah in open and utility.
berlin we mainly worked ring entrances, starts and halts, some transitions, and playing in the ring. the set ups and ring entrances were nice, but she got distracted the third or fourth time when someone outside the ring started staring her down. heeling was pretty nice and attentive. SFE was perfect (did two) and played recall games. i still feel like im failing her in some way.
rah in open - specifically had dan give me the forward halt pattern, since rah misses that first halt often. heeling - pushy in the first run, better in the second run. dan commented to me "not bad heeling, for a girl!" - dan's such a nice guy - OTCH'd his first terv, now working a bc that is close to it i think? fig8's - the first one i kept turning into him when i felt the bump, the second one dan said was perfect and that rah "knows his job". i loved it. DOR in the first run - nice drop but slightly crooked front. in the second run, it was picture perfect- dan said i couldnt have asked for anything more than that.
ROF - in both runs it was pretty much exactly what i would want from him in the ring - he picked up like a speed demon, he turned on a dime, and he came back fast and furiously to a front. love it. on the ROH, a trainer with her big fluffy OTCH poodle was in the other ring and exactly as rah came over the jump that dog was sent over the broad, and rah turned his head to look at it briefly so he couldnt hit his front. must pay attention to me ALL THE TIME. then he hit the jump with a knee , so we did a few plain jumps - and the next one was perfect.
broad jumps gave us major issues - a combination of a variety of things, mostly being his enthusiasm, the slippery matting, and him trying to cut the corner - so he kept missing the front and coming in crooked to my right (his left). worked on a variety of things, but in the end i just ignored it and stopped because at his speed, he kept slipping a bit and had to do a larger turn to get anywhere near me - he left nail tracks in the mats he dug in so deep.
utility we just did signals, go outs and gloves. not bad.
then we drove back to NJ for a private lesson - had intended to do just rah but my trainer wanted to work berlin but she ended up being too tired to work (PITA) so we did just rah. started with some heeling and set up exercises that were to help him be straighter and it worked and he was anticipating my cues! woohoo - and we discussed what im going t be doing to stop him from pushing and forging - the minute his head hits my stomach, his ass is out and he's going to be crooked, so at that point i need to be proactive and turn, pop him, anything.
then, because RAH was tired too, we worked retrieves with distractions - and the distraction was terrys dog quest. at first he was just hanging out, then he was playing with his toy (which rah also has). all this while rah is retrieving and im being uber-critical of his fronts. then she starts throwing the toy 5 feet away from where rah's db is - and they are doing duelling retrieves, running against each other, etc. then we brought out the jump (since the dog jumping got him in the match) and quest jumped while rah worked the flat, and vice versa. the culmination was quest doing a recall under the flexi leash parallel to the high jump while rah was on his way back - and he still hit that front. he hit them ALL pretty much.
i was very happy with that training session. if my dog can do retrieves with a FCR almost under him doing a recall, and still hit that front - he can do this. he can do this.
and now its time to finish up with my morning stuff because berlin is off to take the ATTS test!!
1 comment:
So exciting!!! Which NADAC trial?
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