Back in Class!
Classes started today. This is the first time Riot has been in class since he was sick.
This dog continues to amaze me. His enthusiasm is contagious and seems to know how to do things I never remember teaching him.
First up was Contacts and Weaves. First we tackled the a-frame and dog walk. We need to work on rocking back better on the a-frame. It didn’t seem to be as much of a problem on the dog walk. I also need to find a better/different target to use. When he’s released, he picks up the target and takes off with it. We were doing tunnels to the a-frame and dog walk and he was having a blast.
Next we worked jump grids and he did really well with him.
Finally we moved to teeter and weaves. Did I mention he’s doing 6 weave poles? He’s picking up speed going through them. We worked a few different clock faces and then I sent him from a tunnel into the weaves. He did a really nice job collecting himself. We followed this up with the teeter. I think our teeter at home is too slick and he’s gotten used to sliding down it. He’s laying down about halfway down the down side. I think it’s kind of funny, but obviously not what I want. We need to re-coat the teeter at home and go back to working the bang game.
Riot was ready to go whenever it was his turn, but I still managed to have him on down stays while he was waiting his turn despite the excitement and chaos going on around him. We did have issues with tugging. I couldn’t get any tugging from him with the teeter and a-frame part. The jump grids I got a little bit out of (switching tugs) and for the weaves and teeter, I brought out the big guns — the flying squirrel.
Next class was Handling 2. I was really nervous about this class because we did okay in Handling 1, but we did have a lot of issues and was unsure we should even move up. Turns out I didn’t have that much to worry about. He did really, really well. I was able to send him over jumps and handle him better than I thought I could. He’s very enthusiastic and very fast. He responds to very subtle movements so I need to make sure I following through. He’s going to be a lot of fun!
