Day 11

Starting to get hot out...so we did short sessions at the field.  You'll notice at 1:11 in the video we start doing the entire length of the dogwalk.  Previously we had just been doing the down side.

Video


Stats:
Reps: 28
% Success: 93%

Thoughts:
1. Obstacle.  I was SO pleased when we started taking him over the entire obstacle.  He transitioned easily and did great.  (Oh, and don't mind the attempt around 1 minute where he's choking on a treat!)

2. Analysis.  Still struggling with jumps v. strides.  As my husband says, "we'll know it when we see it".  As the board goes higher, I think this will get easier.

3.  Distance and Independence.  I started working away from Bentley, and he did great.  I think the high value he associates with the obstacle has helped him to drive towards the obstacle, whereas before he wouldn't go without me.  I was able to send from about 15 feet out without him turning around to find me.  I also stopped, and ran backwards a couple times and he didn't even notice.

4.  Timeline.  Our original goal was to be prepared to trial in August.  However, we have a trial next weekend (we'll be skipping out on Standard), and then one in mid-July (we'll skip out on Standard and GP).  Then we have nothing until December (we're missing an October trial for a wedding).  I hope we can find an away-trial to go to before then, or we'll have 6 months with no trials.

Training Goals (obviously subject to change!):
-June 1: To be running a dogwalk at competition height, and to be adding it into short sequencing.
-July 15:  To be running an A-Frame at competition height (this is a lofty goal!)
-August 1: To be working towards a cleaner, faster teeter.