so my updating has been really lax lately. had so much to think about and sort out, been working on a few things and tweaking others, sorting things out in my mind and dealing with life in general :)
wednesday - rah still isnt doing agility - we worked some excellent jww courses, and berlin did a nice job but im still losing her on pinwheels and 180s, 270s, etc. needed to revisit her circle work.
i actually worked mercury in open because lydia wants me to show mercury in open at the md specialty in april.
utility with rah wasn't bad - did individ signals and rah moved a step or two, but signals were nice and prompt. gloves were VERY cute and he pounced which i shouldnt encourage and he shook all the way back. go outs were lovely - a lot of pressure on the jumps but we pulled through. moving stand we still need to work on him not moving when the judge says call your dog and waiting for ME to do it. articles were lovely - annette's daughter put them out and in a VERY tight pile and he worked them while another dog was in the ring doing directed jumping!
berlin worked open the next day -
worked retrieve games with high distraction - having terry out there with toys and food tempting them and she avoided terry at all costs to come back to me! played some drop games since im still not giving her a formal drop (since she likes to drop so much!), then we moved to jumps. i moved her up to her actual jump height after we wicketed her - shes a 26/52 who would have thunk it? she clears the jump no problem, but she still rarely walked the broad jump. heeling wasnt bad but we still had some moments where my confidence in her fell so i turned to look too much at her and it essentially pushed her back further.
had private lessons today - started with agility, and we worked jump circles and flat circle work - and kicking her into drive and keeping her there for the cirlces - and 20 minutes of straight running is all this fat girl can handle, especially when sick! but berlin was powering through the circles and kicking butt.
hung out for a bit, watched someone else's private then moved to my obedience private - started with rah and worked moving stand and signal stand, figured out some details (like where i have my hand, my footwork when i signal the stand, etc) and how that affects him - need to not push him out when i give the signal and not shuffle my feet, making him keep moving!! but he aced stuff.
then we got out berlin and worked her - terry made me do it all off leash since im my own worst enemy - i am the self fulfilling prophecy that if i dont think she's there, she wont be. so we did off leash heeling and she was RIGHT on - even though she was tired after agility! terry was walking with us, had her dog running loose, and was throwing cookies at one point and she never left my side, in fact she pushed HARDER to get into heel position which is exactly what we want to see - when the distractions come that the dog works HARDER. where is this dog ALL the time? :) worked fig8's also off leash, and berlin was spot on there too - off leash is typically where she gets lost sometimes, but she was doing well and we did a few minutes straight until my legs were going to fall off - but terry said it was really nice - slowing down on the inside post and speeding up on the outside while i kept my constant pace, all the while maintaining her proper heel position. she FELT right. then we played games where i played right into heeling and she liked that too. then i left her wandering and called her into heel as i walked away and she came up and found perfect heel position - she clearly understands exactly what heel position is and where it should be and what it should look like - i just have to have the confidence she WILL get there.
we worked broad jump for a few minutes, and terry said that because she's SO athletic and so graceful/elegant, that she's not going to power over the broad jump, she is going to make it look much more simple than it really is. she's able to just pop it at 52 inches, she clears it just fine, she's doing it perfectly, but because she's got such good jumping skills it doesn't take the effort rah's takes. we played around with where i start her, and 8 feet it is!
all in all, great training today - made me feel very hopeful. its my insecurity with berlin that has kept her out of the ring for so long - she's learning the basics of utility right now, has novice down pat and open pretty much solid and she hasn't been in the AKC obedience ring even once. im not in any rush, kathy said maybe summmer/fall this year - she has entries in july, so hope so!
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