Tuesday, July 20, 2010

another 600 kilometers and a whole lot of fun


Thea and Brody waiting patiently - the story of life with me - hurry up then wait your turn, hurry up some more then wait again
We took Nancy and Sophie to an outdoor agility practise yesterday. It added a bit of time to our trip but was great. It is good for Thea and Sally to have a dog working beside them and I always enjoy seeing my former foster puppies! Nancy and I talk training, agility, dogs and life non stop too so that makes the miles fly by.

Spot On is a lovely venue - a little shade, a nice breeze and cheerful company with two full rings - yesterday laid out in a starters jumpers course and a masters standard course. Brody, and am sure this shocks you, ran two tidy clear rounds. He wasn't blasting but he was foot perfect and enjoyed himself. I didn't repeat or drill anything- simply thanked him and let him snooze in the truck while the wild women worked.

Thea was FULL of beans - she blasted off the start line without any clue at all where she should be going. Hilarious but not exactly what I wanted. I reset her and she was most bemused so she actually paid a little more attention. She ran the masters jumpers course (minus the teeter) in a very competent manner. She NAILED the dog walk - no concerns at ALL. I was quite excited by that as she can be a little cautious on dog walks. Her aframe is a thing of beauty!
In the jumpers run she would NOT run through the puddle INSIDE the chute and I thought that was fair. Apart from that she was perfect and quick!!

Sally ran the jumpers course first. She added a jump on the way to the tunnel when I didn't give CLEAR directions. But otherwise she was SUPER too. She thought the puddle in the chute was GREAT. She would have spent the whole session running through that I think!
She was a bit restless and barky on the table but we worked through it. She did get a little sniffy at one too - but I think that was largely my issue - 5 runs had tired me out so I wasn't focused. None of my dogs focus when I don't.

We took a short break and I played judge for Sophie (and only got mauled briefly - good girlie!)
then we went into the masters field and broke it down into chunks. Sally did 3 aframes with her brain on. Three nice dog walks too except she released herself instead of waiting for me on the first two. Weaves were AWESOME! I was thrilled. New weaves, new location, 12 of them and no problem at ALL. BOOM BOOM through them and back to me. By the end of working our way slowly through that course Sally was walking jumps! Sally walks exactly NOWHERE. Certainly not in the presence of agility equipment. So I figured she was hot and let her rest for a minute. Went and "judged" Sophie again and she was PERFECT. A good note to end on.

So we moved onto what is often my favourite part of a practise at Spot On. A wander around the outside of the field. And Sally got her zoom back. She is a quick girl!

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