Run Throughs--Masters Jumpers

I was very happy with Bentley today, he got to show off his skills as our run-throughs were a Masters Jumpers course by Bud Houston (he will be judging our trial in December).

Bentley ran clean, and handled really nicely--but the course was especially suited for him.

Here's his run (we only ran twice with him--he was clean both times!)


Lexi, on the other hand, was a very different story.  She did well--she is just a baby dog!  I was reminded after my husband's run how much direction she needs, and quickly, or she's on to something else.  I thought I would post my husband's run (he will be so proud, ha!) and then my run with her.





With Lexi, she tends to take things very wide, and you can hear me often saying "shhh" to cue her to slow down.  Deceleration is also a huge thing for her, and we'll both need to work on that (with Bentley, everything is acceleration, it seems!)

You can also tell that I am constantly calling her name, saying "here" to get her attention.  I think this is for a number of reasons.  First, she's taking things so wide that she has a lot of potential for an off course, secondly, she tends to just grab whatever is near her.  And third, I want her to learn to stay with me or we will have trouble Qing, even in Starters (though I assume that there are less chances for an off-course in Starters...I hope!)

Notice that she struggled with the sliced jumps.  She really had trouble with the second jump out of the tunnel, and even in running just that part of the course, never quite got it.   I think I will need to teach her a close command, but I'm not sure how...maybe something Stuart Mah can help us with.