Last Thur. Gidget and I were lucky enough to practice both inside and outside. There was a jumpers course outside. Gidget's first turn up, she was so excited to be outside that she took off in her favorite high speed circles around me. Crazy dog! We sort of got through the course, but I can't help but be happy when she's in that sort of mood. My classmates got a kick out of her too, most of them have never seen her misbehave that badly... er funly? Our second turn was better and I learned some things watching my classmates. I really wanted to practice a rear cross into the pinwheel from 3-4, but Gidget didn't really give me a good chance for that. I think on our second run it sort of worked. We'd practiced this at open jumping the day before, it seemed I needed to be a good ways behind Gidget to send her out far enough to the next jump. I did a front cross after 5 which worked well. Had to remember to slow down before 9 to prepare for the weaves, though the tunnel sucked Gidget in our first try. We needed a front cross after 14 to avoid the wrong tunnel entrance. That was a big issue for us at our last trial.
The indoor course was fun too. We worked it in sections, first 1-9, then 9-17, and finally put it all together. 2-7 were just like an exercise we'd done in Gracie's jumping class the night before and it was nice to practice it again with a different dog. It's all about the 180 body positioning and supporting your dog's path. I had to remember to call Gidget to me in time after 7 to avoid the off course tire. The instructor purposely set jump 8 at an angle so that we'd be encouraged to run straight out and set our dogs up with a straight path to the A-frame. It's much safer that way and the dog is less likely to miss it. I love doing turns off of contacts into tunnels, Gidget's so good at them. I tended to stop while pushing Gidget out to the tunnel after 13 which tended to pull her a little towards the A-frame. Gotta remember to keep moving while doing that. I used a front cross after 14, but had I needed to, I could have done this after the teeter instead. The big advice from the night: look ahead at the next obstacle, not back at the dog. Remembering that made for smoother runs with few mistakes (and could keep me from running into an obstacle). Trial report coming soon. Happy agility!
Last Thur. Gidget and I were lucky enough to practice both inside and outside. There was a jumpers course outside. Gidget's first turn up, she was so excited to be outside that she took off in her favorite high speed circles around me. Crazy dog! We sort of got through the course, but I can't help but be happy when she's in that sort of mood. My classmates got a kick out of her too, most of them have never seen her misbehave that badly... er funly? Our second turn was better and I learned some things watching my classmates. I really wanted to practice a rear cross into the pinwheel from 3-4, but Gidget didn't really give me a good chance for that. I think on our second run it sort of worked. We'd practiced this at open jumping the day before, it seemed I needed to be a good ways behind Gidget to send her out far enough to the next jump. I did a front cross after 5 which worked well. Had to remember to slow down before 9 to prepare for the weaves, though the tunnel sucked Gidget in our first try. We needed a front cross after 14 to avoid the wrong tunnel entrance. That was a big issue for us at our last trial. 
The indoor course was fun too. We worked it in sections, first 1-9, then 9-17, and finally put it all together. 2-7 were just like an exercise we'd done in Gracie's jumping class the night before and it was nice to practice it again with a different dog. It's all about the 180 body positioning and supporting your dog's path. I had to remember to call Gidget to me in time after 7 to avoid the off course tire. The instructor purposely set jump 8 at an angle so that we'd be encouraged to run straight out and set our dogs up with a straight path to the A-frame. It's much safer that way and the dog is less likely to miss it. I love doing turns off of contacts into tunnels, Gidget's so good at them. I tended to stop while pushing Gidget out to the tunnel after 13 which tended to pull her a little towards the A-frame. Gotta remember to keep moving while doing that. I used a front cross after 14, but had I needed to, I could have done this after the teeter instead. The big advice from the night: look ahead at the next obstacle, not back at the dog. Remembering that made for smoother runs with few mistakes (and could keep me from running into an obstacle). Trial report coming soon. Happy agility!
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