“holy crap”
Riot had his first class of this session tonight. He’s taking handling 2 again. I probably could have moved him up to handling 3, but I think the sequences in handling 2 are still plenty challenging (usually taken from AKC Open or USDAA Advanced courses) and we can still learn a lot — heck, even Cisco has taken this class again on occasion to work on handling.
We have one border collie in our group this time. There is also one terrier, and then 3 goldens and a poodle. Riot at the BC we competing to see who could move the tunnel the most.
We had 4 runs tonight. The first one went pretty well until he noticed the other group working on the other side and then he stopped right in front of a jump and watched them. He was very interested in what was going on, but I easily got his attention and he worked really well for me from there on out. The first sequence he finished with an extra tunnel and jump. The second sequence was picture perfect and I called him off the tunnel he was getting ready to take after we were finished. Normally I’d let him take the tunnel, but I wanted to see if he’d call off and sure enough, he did. On our way back to get his leash, he tackled the weave poles along the wall.
The next two sequences were a little more difficult. We started with slicing a jump and the angles of all the jumps were skewed. Our first time through I was not far enough ahead of Riot and wasn’t able to push him out to the middle jump in the pinwheel. Our second attempt, I thought I was prepared, but he took off even faster than the first time. So my reaction besides having to speed up myself was to exclaim “holy crap.” Yeah, that dog can move. Despite being caught off guard with the speed, we did the sequence quite well.
Our last sequence of the night was the toughest. The opening was the same, but varied after the first two obstacles. A slight hesitation on my part resulted in Riot taking obstacles 3 and 4 from the previous sequence. I think it’s going to be very easy to get off courses with Riot — if I don’t make the next obstacle clear, he’s taking whatever is in front of him (which saved me earlier in the evening when I was lost). Our second attempt at the sequence was near perfect.
Right now our problem is I’m still babying him. We’re in this place where I think he knows more than I think he does, but not as much as I think he does. The more we work the better it’ll get. I’m having so much fun running him.
Oh and I got what I’d consider an awesome compliment from Elsie. She said she’d like to pair Robber and Riot in USDAA pairs.
