Training

I took just Pixel and Boone out to the field this morning. It was a beautiful day, perfect for agility. We were almost hot!

Anyway, I went with specific goals for the dogs.

Boone- weave entries, rear crosses, and 270's.

His weaves are getting so good. All that two and three pole work has paid off so much. It's quite amazing really. I threw some pretty tough entries at him and he did great.

Rear crosses still need work. I need to drive to the jump, but he also needs to be ahead of me. When he is pokey and not sure I can easily catch up to him...but today we had some pretty good progress. I had a speed circle set up (for Pixel) and used that to get some speed and confidence out of him. It worked pretty well.

He rocked the 270's- I am able to get a little distance and he is understanding to stay out.


Pixel- teeter games, contacts(backchaining), jumping

Teeter Games. she is progressing really well. She is now driving to the top of the board, and surfing with a few "quick" drops. She is not afraid at all, and had learned to control her body up there. Today was the first time she actually rode it all the way down. (after a half way drop)

Contacts. I need to go back to the plank. She is doing really well but I am losing the intensity for the nose touch-target already. So we'll be laying off contacts until I get that back on the plank. The dogwalk is much better than the a-frame though. She drives into position, head down, and does three quick nose touches to the target. The dogwalk is at full height now and we are backchaining from the middle. The A-frame is a different story. We are just backchaining from the middle of the frame and she is not able to stop in position. I have increased the height only very gradually, but she still is struggling. Because of that I have lost the drive for the target (nose touch). So. Back to the plank, and the stairs. Obviously I have missed a step along the way.

Jumping. I set up a speed circle. Four jumps on one side, three on the other with a tunnel at either ends. She needs to start learning to look for jumps, and this was a good start to that. She had lots of fun, especially when she was restrained at the beginning. She did really well and is learning to handle her body with speed, over jumps. I also worked on a staggered line. She figured out how to look for the jump even if it was at an angle.

It was a pretty productive morning!