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Location: near Edinburgh
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 682
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Another good class tonight. This week , we started off working with a line of 4 jumps side by side. Halfway along , there was 1 jump at each side at right angles to the line of 4. ( In effect , a cross with 2 long arms and 2 short). This was to practice turning the dogs as if on a course. So , after putting the dog in a wait then getting into a good position for the first turn , off we went. The best position for me was to stand beyond the first jump but between jump 1 and 2 .( Does that make sense ?). After calling Missy from her excellent wait , I had to get her to turn 180 degrees to jump 2. Jump 3 was a further 90 degree turn , so was jump 4 , 5 and 6. I found this quite tricky as we had to be in the right position at the right time to turn the dogs , and at the same time shout left or right depending on which direction they were to go next , AND we had to give them hand signals all at the same time. God I wish I had a slow steady dog
, Missy's just so quick I was getting dizzy trying to keep up with her here
. She was on her way to jump 3 before I could take the few steps to be in the position I should have been in at that time. It's great that she is really quick on her turns and neat and tight over the jumps. She's always ready for the next command but sometimes tonight I felt she was 10 steps ahead of me. Still , the instructor keeps telling me I'm doing fine and saying " it will come to you ". We did this for the first half of the lesson. Each time , another jump was added or a different turn so we were doing the jumps in a different order. We then moved over to another setup. This time it was a row of 2 jumps , a tunnel , jump , 180 degree right turn , jump , weave poles ( just 3 poles) , tyre ending with another set of 3 weave poles. We had a great wait , I got all the way to the tunnel before I released her. The next bit was a wee bit embarassing . She shot through the tunnel like lightning and I had to sprint flat out to catch up with her. She was out the other end ( before I was halfway along) and heading for the next jump when I went flying !
. I was on the ground on my hands and knees
, and Missy noticed and turned towards me. I shouted " Go on " , and pointed straight ahead to the next jump. She did that
and came straight back to me , before carrying on beside me to the next jump ( bless her , she's a wee angel ). We then carried on through the weaves , which she is also getting good at , the tyre , last set of weaves and finish. Next time it was our turn , we did the course in reverse and I walked between each obstacle. She looked puzzled. She would go to run on then stop and look at me as if to say come on then , hurry up slow coach. We finished the class by going round some of the contact equipment. I feel we are progressing very well in these classes , but still have some wee problems to iron out. I was still getting mixed up with which hand to use when doing the turns. Missy needs to slow down a bit ( or I need to speed up) so we work more together , although I think she'll pick up distance commands quite well. So far , we have only done a total of 12 hours agility training but it's looking good for competing next summer.
. There are no classes for the next 2 weeks
, so no reports I'm afraid. Next class is on 6th November. We've got homework again ! Saying left or right every time the dog turns that way. I'll need to fit in some training with my hand signals and co-ordination . I'm also thinking about teaching Missy a new command too ...........Wait For Me !
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