Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Trial Prep


We are going to an agility trial this weekend- and last night I worked on some specific skills that could be a problem at a trial.

Wicca has been doing great with weaves lately- rarely missing her entry from all angles and speeds- last night I did some proofing with a tennis ball. She did great and even with a tennis ball flying past her head nailed her entry and weaved faster than I thought possible. We did a few repetitions of this to be sure it wasn't a fluke :o)

Knocking the first bar. This really sucks at a trial. Three times out of five she knocked the first bar last night in a jump exercise. Ugh. I have been struggling with what the consequence of this should be. She knows that when she knocks a bar she is to lie down and stop moving. But with the first bar I'd like to make her leave- that's it, done. I am still considering all my options...On the plus side she didn't knock any of the other bars....

Contacts- Wicca's contacts are pretty much rock solid- she will stick a contact anywhere, with any distraction, but I like to proof this occasionally...so again- the flying tennis ball came out...we raced and I kept going, I sent ahead, did some distance stuff and again tested with the ball.

And of course we worked on start lines ;o)

So hopefully we will have some good runs this weekend.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you seen Susan Salo's article in the latest Clean Run about why some dogs knock the first bar?

Just discovered your blog and it's already becoming a favorite :)

the Corgi Girls said...

She is such a great girl for you...