Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Barn Night

For last nights session Sarah designed two courses so everyone could get a chance to run a course. We don't run courses often as it is hard to actually train on a full course- we do lots of sequencing but some of our students hadn't actually run a course in a few months. So- last night we did just that....and although they were pretty challenging they were also very fun!

This was the first one- a "Novice" Course.

So- when we first walked this there was much discussion about the best way to handle 2-6....I initially walked it using a rear cross to the weaves. After talking it over it was decided that a lead out to the tunnel and two front crosses was the best route. (it is a serpentine afterall)


It ran very smooth when handled like that and I am happy to say that Wicca nailed the weaves both times I ran it. Surprisingly 7-8 was difficult. Wicca REALLY wanted to take the chute and it took some convincing to change her mind...Otherwise it ran smooth and fast!!!


The second course was actually much easier than the first!!!

8-9-10 was a little tricky as the number 9 jump wasn't quite set like that so the dog was blind as to where they were going and if you had a really fast dog and couldn't be there to show them the correct tunnel it was a little bit difficult. I am happy to say that when we finally got there she did it perfectly. 11-12-13 however was a nightmare.....Wicca apparently disagreed with me about the fact that it was a serpentine and did not pick up the cue at all. It took three reps of that before we finally got it....I have now moved serps to the top of my training list....Great weaves again.....And, Wicca got taken off for not sticking her contacts. Once she released on a wrong word (I was proofinf her on the a-frame) and the second time she release on my motion. I picked her up and she missed her turn. I brought her out at the end so we could run the rest of the course and she behaved perfectly (except for the whole miscommunication about the serpentine cue...)

Anyway, it was a pretty interesting evening- we surprised Sarah with an AtchC cake that was very delicious and it was nice to see everyone on a course- it gives us all an idea of what we need to work on!!!

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