Today we left Nika home and Jonah and I went to DogStar for an adults-only class. That sounds so risque. It wasn't really.
We ran our first course clean without any trouble. There was a tight 270 degree turn off the dogwalk to a tunnel which was a little wider than ideal, but not bad. There was a tough jump sequence that the other dogs had trouble with but we did well thanks to my leaving him in the weaves and getting well ahead. His second dogwalk contact wasn't a full jackpot. Other than that, it was a good run.
The second time through I just tried screwing around with some things. I tried rear crossing the A-frame on a tough turn where I had to pretty much stop while waiting for him to drive ahead. He ran past it the first time when he felt my pressure behind him, but he got it the second time. I rear crossed the weaves, and that went well this week. Our practice seems to be paying off. Then I totally had no plan for a jump sequence and I sent him off course, but I was really good mentally about telling him good boy and not letting him know anything was wrong. We had a nice tight line to the back side of a jump. His dogwalk contacts were better.
Course two had a weave entry that he had trouble with. It was a bit of a funny angle, but he still should have gotten it. Practice needed! Then a cone had been moved to the back side of one jump. I walked it that way and then Grace told us to actually do the front side. I still did the back side because it was harder :). It was really nice, actually. I pushed to back side and then serped the other side of the jump and it worked beautifully. I was pleased. The only other trouble area was a chute with a 180 degree turn out of it. He came flying out and made a wide turn. I tried handling it a few different ways (FC before, BC before, RC in the chute). I think the FC before worked best. He never had the ideal line--he kept coming out fast even when I was calling him hard while he was in there. Oh well. Otherwise he was running well. Good boy.
So, it was a good lesson. I think I like having time alone with Jonah. It's good for Nika, but Jonah deserves his special time with mom. I'll plan on leaving her home for next week, too.
We ran our first course clean without any trouble. There was a tight 270 degree turn off the dogwalk to a tunnel which was a little wider than ideal, but not bad. There was a tough jump sequence that the other dogs had trouble with but we did well thanks to my leaving him in the weaves and getting well ahead. His second dogwalk contact wasn't a full jackpot. Other than that, it was a good run.
The second time through I just tried screwing around with some things. I tried rear crossing the A-frame on a tough turn where I had to pretty much stop while waiting for him to drive ahead. He ran past it the first time when he felt my pressure behind him, but he got it the second time. I rear crossed the weaves, and that went well this week. Our practice seems to be paying off. Then I totally had no plan for a jump sequence and I sent him off course, but I was really good mentally about telling him good boy and not letting him know anything was wrong. We had a nice tight line to the back side of a jump. His dogwalk contacts were better.
Course two had a weave entry that he had trouble with. It was a bit of a funny angle, but he still should have gotten it. Practice needed! Then a cone had been moved to the back side of one jump. I walked it that way and then Grace told us to actually do the front side. I still did the back side because it was harder :). It was really nice, actually. I pushed to back side and then serped the other side of the jump and it worked beautifully. I was pleased. The only other trouble area was a chute with a 180 degree turn out of it. He came flying out and made a wide turn. I tried handling it a few different ways (FC before, BC before, RC in the chute). I think the FC before worked best. He never had the ideal line--he kept coming out fast even when I was calling him hard while he was in there. Oh well. Otherwise he was running well. Good boy.
So, it was a good lesson. I think I like having time alone with Jonah. It's good for Nika, but Jonah deserves his special time with mom. I'll plan on leaving her home for next week, too.
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