Great Expectations.

This afternoon Sarah and I went out early to train our own dogs before class and I thought I'd report a few things.
First- Gyp, Sarah's little border collie- is Cute. And Sassy. But still Cute! And Wicked Fast.

Second- Wicca finally understands the newly added Teeter contact. You see, I never bothered to teach a 2on2off on the teeter. I liked her fast teeter- why would i need her to stop. Well, after a few well placed teeters at trials(picture teeter- tunnel) I discovered that yes, I did in fact need my dog to stop. So we have been working on this for a few months and she is getting it. Yay! What a good girl

Third- Vito is cute, and may be a half decent agility dog afterall! I am ashamed to admit that I really didn't think that Vito was cut out for an active lifestyle. Really, this dog loves to lounge around and is not easily motivated to do much. So I assumed that he wouldn't be super interested in agility. I have been doing some stuff with him- in small steps and only playing with him when he is interested and fast. I don't want him to think that Agility is boring and should be done slowly. So- I have done lots of backchaining on contacts, teeter games, and have introduced him to tunnels, chutes, the table (which he loves), and the tire. I have done minimal sequencing and have just begun teaching him jump patterns (serpentines, threadles, 270's, 180's etc) I am also ashamed to admit that I didn't expect much of him. This is where I screwed up with Sam too. I saw that Sam loved agility but didn't expect him to be as fast or as good as Wicca. I know, I know. Stupid. But that's what I thought. Sarah set me straight and I am trying hard not to fall into that mind set again. So by keeping my training short, and moving slowly I think that I have made what could be a pretty good little agility dog. He probably will make it out of starters snooker before Wicca.....