Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Walter's agility goals

I'm not one for New Years resolutions, but I do like to review goals and set new ones, so here goes.

These are the goals I had set for Walter's 2007 agility year, along with a progress report:

Improved drive on the a-frame
I think I forgot about this one, especially after seeing on video the impact of 2o2o on his front end. Will be taking time off of trialing this summer to try to train an actual running contact.

Work through start line stay issues
Done, sort of. At the time I thought it was essential to have a SLS before starting to trial. While a SLS is undeniably a great tool in the toolbox, it's not necessary if you can run and keep up with your non-super-speedy dog. Haven't yet tried to lead out on him in a trial, but running off the line with him hasn't been a problem for the most part. Plus it has the added benefit of making me get more of a cardio workout. :-D

Improved distance work with all obstacles
Not sure what to report with this one since I can't remember specifically training for this lately.

Faster down on the table
Once I found out that the table becomes essentially extinct once you reach Masters, I kind of threw this one out the window :-) That said, I've noticed lately that after he hops onto a new table he likes to take some time to inspect it before lying down.

Proof 2o2o
Stopped requiring 2o2o on the frame early in the fall but still require it on the dogwalk and teeter. He's never missed a contact but occasionally doesn't hold 2o2o. Lots more proofing needed.

Ability to tackle challenging weave entries
Well, Lucy is leaving him in the dust on this one. Haven't done much work on this I'm afraid.

Further develop our agility partnership in general
Well, that's a vague goal if ever there was one.

Compete!
Done! He earned his SADC and SSGDC this year.

Goals for 2008!

- Add tunnel/contact discriminations to skill set
- Add "out" to skill set
- Add hard and soft weave entries to skill set
- Improve distance skills and have a try at Masters Gamblers
- Take time off trialing this summer to train a running frame
- Achieve fully independent contacts
- It'd be awfully nice to get two more Advanced Standard Qs for his SAADC. Took nine tries to get his first one; I wonder how many more tries we'll need to get two more. :-D

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