Class and Run-Thrus

Jonah and I got to go to DogStar twice this week--once for class and once for run-thrus.  The courses were pretty tough and we had some real challenges.  Rather than write all about it, you can see some video footage that Dave took on Friday.  Curiously the things that we did well on Thursday were troublesome on Friday and vice versa.  You'll see me trying some different handling techniques...some work and some don't!  Also, I was doing a blind cross off the A-frame and it seemed to be unsettling his contacts--they were poor and once he missed entirely.  We'll have to keep working.  The videos are rather discouraging in that we had lots of off-courses/missed weave entries, etc, but I still think they're helpful.

He had no trouble with that weave entry on Thursday, but it needed a lot of support on Friday.  Same with the tire to the A-frame.  I think I take things for granted after I know he can do them correctly.  It's a pretty discouraging video, eh?  :-/

I like seeing this video.  In class on Thursday I just did the rear on the flat between the second and third jump of the serpentine, and it worked well.  I wanted to try some other ways, too, and I met mixed success.  Also here you can see the poor A-frame contacts (and one blown).  I'm still not totally sold on the blind crosses, but it's good to practice them.

We could definitely tighten up our line.  The Ketschker works, but I feel like I have to be so on top of it that I'm not actually sure it's faster for us right now.  Oh well.  Oh yeah, and that discrimination at the end (he's supposed to take the frame) is another thing we nailed last night with no problem, but Friday I forgot to decelerate hard, so I take credit for buying the tunnel :).

So you probably can't tell from watching this video, but it was our attempt to practice handling more at a distance.  As you can see, the pinwheel was a bit of a challenge, and I'm really not ever very far away!

Bloopers!  As in, a lesson in why you should pay attention to your dog while you're listening to your trainer.  I love the yawn.  Jonah says, "Mom, you are SO boring.  Can we please play agility now?!"  And then the last clip of the little bear who turns his baitbag inside out.

We've got lots of room for improvement, but it's nice to see video footage every now and then!