August 2007

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

Thursday August 30th 2007 - club practice

Today was Walter's first time participating in the club practice. I'm finding that I rely a lot on my voice to get Walter to change direction rather than trusting more in body language. Must work on this! Started Walter's "running" a-frame contact by releasing early. He's really starting to get "go" now, going ahead over the obstacles and looking for the toy.



Sunday August 26th 2007 - K9 Kup #3

Our team didn't take any ribbons home today, but we did put in some good runs and good tries.

Standard

On the easy, modestly spaced pinwheel, he refused the middle jump by passing it on the near side -- caught me way off guard with that move! Success on the first attempt at the soft-entry 6-weaves. The video showed he actually wagged his tail a few times at the table! :-) He held all the contacts but I must say watching the video, I really don't like the shoulder impact on the a-frame...

Snooker

For the first time outside of a class setting, I got The Dreaded Snooker Whistle! And it was totally, completely my fault -- I lost track of where we were in the opening and sent him to the obstacle that follows in the closing. The moment he committed to it I realized the tragic error of my ways, and TWEET that was it for us. :-)

Gamblers

Tried the 6-weaves in the opening but he ran past them and I didn't bother retrying since by now it was 23 degrees and humid, perfect let's-run-past-the-weaves-and-pretend-we-don't-know-how-to-do-them weather according to Walter. Good job on the rest though including the mini-gamble and end-gamble.

A new thing is that he was yappy at the start line on the second and third runs even though I'm still not leading out. Not sure if I should see this barking as a good thing (he's so excited to start?) or not (he's going to start self-releasing?)..... :-/

Lessons learned: Today's video shows that my handling is really going to the pits so I need to get back into lessons! And, I think I've decided to change Walter's a-frame to a running contact. The shoulder stress is not insignificant especially considering his top-heavy build, and while he could theoretically be trained to use his haunches more on the descent I'm not convinced that it would stick without a lot of training which I'm just not into doing at this point. His teeter and dogwalk will remain 2o2o.



Monday August 20th 2007 - practice

Wow, I have really been neglecting practicing/reinforcing contacts over the last few months and it's really showing. He didn't hold 2o2o about 50% of the time today but I wonder if it's partly because I was pushing distance. "Get out" in the pinwheel is coming along.

Friday August 17th 2007 - practice

More work on the outside turn, this time using two jumps. Using "get out over" for the far jump in a pinwheel. Worked on proofing contacts by using more lateral distance and non-release words. This cooler weather suits him as he was peppy and playful.

Monday August 13th 2007 - practice

Working towards an independent dogwalk; put it at half height with toy at end. Got too hot to do much more than that.