Handling 2 and Contacts & Weaves: Week 2
First, this dog is awesome! Two hours of classes and he was full of drive the entire time. Now he’s snuggled up on the couch next to me.
Contact and Weaves was first and we tackled the teeter and weaves first. Our teeter was much better than last week even though I haven’t resurfaced ours yet so he didn’t get any practice at home. I put the target out and that helped him drive down to the bottom much better.
Our weaves are really coming along We did a few sets of 6s and then some 6x6s. I think they were probably still about 4 feet apart. He’s doing really well. We were doing 6, 6, tunnel, 6, 6 and he was hitting those entrances every time. I really could not be happier.
Next we did jump grids. He ticked the bars a couple of times, but he’s doing very well judging distances and adjusting his stride. I need to set up some grids in the backyard on occasion and work them outside of class.
Finally onto our dog walk and a-frame. He understand the concept of hitting his position, but he always forgets to slow down the first time and nearly ends up tail over head. The second time is always better after he’s had the reminder. He still insists upon picking up the target every time. I laugh at him every time. I know I shouldn’t, but I also really am at a loss as to what to do.
The next hour was handing 2. The first two sequences went fairly well. Actually the first one he was on fire and he nailed it. The next was the opening sequence from the Advanced Jumpers course this weekend (which a lot of the dogs had trouble with). He nailed the opening and we struggled with the second half. It was more handler than dog though. I asked if he wasn’t understanding the concepts yet and way told, he was doing exactly what he was supposed and was watching my body language. Guess he’s going to make me a better handler yet.
Our next two sequences we had more issues with. We were working on collection from a two jump lead out and the first time I was in a bad position so we had to re-do it. Next time we did really well, but I stopped and rewarded. When I took him back to the line the third time, I got a bark and he jumped up and licked my face. He apparently was not happy about having to repeat it again. After that things started to fall apart a bit, my handling wasn’t very good, he saw the toy in my pocket and was focused on it, and he kept going behind me to get to the left side. The second sequence was better as I kept the toy hidden but he again was trying to go behind me, I think repeating it started to stress him out as he started sniffing the ground at little bit.
Overall it was a really good night. He’s so much fun to run
