Friday, March 14, 2008

Training with Summer

It’s all starting to come together … last night at training I had someone video Summer and I on a little jumping course. This is the first time I’ve put more than 6 or so jumps together with her and she handled it very nicely, staying focused and willing for the whole course … with her favorite “Flying Squirrel Frisbee” jackpot at the end, she pranced around proudly with it as if very pleased with herself.

It was nice to get an idea on how we would “feel” moving together and she didn’t disappoint me at all … she really likes to stretch out when running and seems to do so quite gracefully (I can’t promise that I’ll be able to compliment her in this way!) however she can still come in and work nice and close too. Obviously her preference is to stretch out so close work will need more practice than the other.

Her contacts are coming along nicely … I want 100% reliable contacts (just like Cash has) and I "know" it’s possible so I’m not going to accept anything less … she is still guessing a little bit so we need to keep it simple for a while longer.

The “penny dropped” last week on the weaves and she is now doing her full 12 weaves and already showing rhythm and adding her own speed.

Even though I hadn’t planned to train Summer early on and circumstances made it predestined, I am actually really enjoying training her now … it’s such a pleasure to have a dog that is motivated by toys rather than food, and a nice change to not need bucket loads of food to get through a training session!

Tonight: Friday 14 March = Weave Pole practice on the agenda.

That’s all for now,
Helen

1 comment:

Urban Smoothie Read said...

i would appreciate if my dog is toy motivated too...

but whenever i toss a toy or let her to tug the rope... she will hand it back to me, begging for treats...

arg!