Unfortunately we had family over last night so we had to miss our class at DogStar. We missed it.
We did, however, get to go to Gemini for a lesson today, and it was awesome!
If you've been following this blog since the beginning, you will know that Jonah has a history at Gemini. That's where we started, and we eventually left because it was just not a positive experience for us (for a taste of it, you can look here: http://jonahsgreatcanineadventures.blogspot.com/2010/08/class-2.html).
So, you might think I'm crazy for bringing him back there, but I heard that Laura Dolan was teaching at Gemini and I am very impressed with her, so I figured I'd give it a try.
Jonah was awesome!
We got there a few minutes early so I could just walk him around and be enthusiastic and give him cookies. He did seem a little bit wary in the one far corner (where there was an active leak!), but he walked eagerly up to the door and never showed any of the frightened balking behavior he used to do. Their DW apparently does not have good supports, so it was not full height. I didn't know how Jonah would respond. The A-frame also pointed right at the wall, and the ceilings there are rather low.
When other dogs arrived, he barked at them all. One was a GSD, and he especially didn't like her. It was never a problem for me to just keep some distance, though, and after a few minutes he didn't notice they were there.
So, when our first turn came up, I had no idea how he would react. To add to his potential to not be enthusiastic, we had to lead out. I figured he would start slow when I released him...but NOT AT ALL! He shot out of his sit, leaped through the first serpentine, and I could barely keep up with him over the DW. He drove beautifully into a tidy 2o2o. In the next section of jumps, we realized that the floor was very slippery. He ended up turning pretty wide while he was trying to get his footing, but he still made all the turns. The teeter was pretty loud but he raced over it eagerly. The course ended with the weave poles. Once again, the floor was bothering him. The harder he tried, the worse his feet would slip. The result was not our fastest weaves, but we finished the course clean and clear!
I was so thrilled with him. What a brave boy!
Laura helped us try to tighten up some of Jonah's wide turns. At one jump, she had me handle it like a 'sliding door.' The idea was that I would shape his turn on the take of side of the jump rather then letting him swing wide on landing. I ended up pushing him to jump farther from the inside stanchion, but he landed facing in the right direction and saved a handful of strides this way. The footwork had me a little disconnected (step out with right foot and then step straight back with right foot before rotating my body), so I'd like to practice it some more, but I think it was a very interesting tool that worked very well in this situation.
Our second sequence involved a lot of tight jump work and it was lots of fun. First Jonah did the A-frame basically right into the scary corner (but his contact was good), and then it was a threadle into a serpentine. I was worried about getting in position for the threadle so I didn't support the first jump enough, but on our second try it all went very well. I had to MOVE! He was flying and was very tuned in to my handling. I've never driven a sports car, but I kept thinking that Jonah reminded me of a sports car. The sequence ended with a 180 to another threadle, and once again I had to really run to get in place, but it worked really well. What a dog!
We ended with a little sequence with a tough weave entry, and Jonah didn't even blink an eye. I thought this was a great lesson and I look forward to going back. I think we'll get a lot out of working with Laura.
We did, however, get to go to Gemini for a lesson today, and it was awesome!
If you've been following this blog since the beginning, you will know that Jonah has a history at Gemini. That's where we started, and we eventually left because it was just not a positive experience for us (for a taste of it, you can look here: http://jonahsgreatcanineadventures.blogspot.com/2010/08/class-2.html).
So, you might think I'm crazy for bringing him back there, but I heard that Laura Dolan was teaching at Gemini and I am very impressed with her, so I figured I'd give it a try.
Jonah was awesome!
We got there a few minutes early so I could just walk him around and be enthusiastic and give him cookies. He did seem a little bit wary in the one far corner (where there was an active leak!), but he walked eagerly up to the door and never showed any of the frightened balking behavior he used to do. Their DW apparently does not have good supports, so it was not full height. I didn't know how Jonah would respond. The A-frame also pointed right at the wall, and the ceilings there are rather low.
When other dogs arrived, he barked at them all. One was a GSD, and he especially didn't like her. It was never a problem for me to just keep some distance, though, and after a few minutes he didn't notice they were there.
So, when our first turn came up, I had no idea how he would react. To add to his potential to not be enthusiastic, we had to lead out. I figured he would start slow when I released him...but NOT AT ALL! He shot out of his sit, leaped through the first serpentine, and I could barely keep up with him over the DW. He drove beautifully into a tidy 2o2o. In the next section of jumps, we realized that the floor was very slippery. He ended up turning pretty wide while he was trying to get his footing, but he still made all the turns. The teeter was pretty loud but he raced over it eagerly. The course ended with the weave poles. Once again, the floor was bothering him. The harder he tried, the worse his feet would slip. The result was not our fastest weaves, but we finished the course clean and clear!
I was so thrilled with him. What a brave boy!
Laura helped us try to tighten up some of Jonah's wide turns. At one jump, she had me handle it like a 'sliding door.' The idea was that I would shape his turn on the take of side of the jump rather then letting him swing wide on landing. I ended up pushing him to jump farther from the inside stanchion, but he landed facing in the right direction and saved a handful of strides this way. The footwork had me a little disconnected (step out with right foot and then step straight back with right foot before rotating my body), so I'd like to practice it some more, but I think it was a very interesting tool that worked very well in this situation.
Our second sequence involved a lot of tight jump work and it was lots of fun. First Jonah did the A-frame basically right into the scary corner (but his contact was good), and then it was a threadle into a serpentine. I was worried about getting in position for the threadle so I didn't support the first jump enough, but on our second try it all went very well. I had to MOVE! He was flying and was very tuned in to my handling. I've never driven a sports car, but I kept thinking that Jonah reminded me of a sports car. The sequence ended with a 180 to another threadle, and once again I had to really run to get in place, but it worked really well. What a dog!
We ended with a little sequence with a tough weave entry, and Jonah didn't even blink an eye. I thought this was a great lesson and I look forward to going back. I think we'll get a lot out of working with Laura.
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