This Weeks Classes

It was weird to have only open weaves on Wed. and no class for just Gracie.  We started out with two sets of 6 poles set at a little over a 90 degree angle to each other with a pole in the middle.  The goal was to practice entries, distance, and rear crosses.  I was able to get some good distance with Gidget, even layered a pole.  The rear crosses (in this situation they were rear crosses on the flat or flips for the most part) went fairly smoothly, but definitely something to work on.  Eventually we switched the poles to a full set of 12.  I did a little more distance work with Gidget, but then realized she was much faster if I stuck with her, so we did a little speed work too which is always fun.  Gracie's still working on getting a consistent weave performance so no adding distance or rear crosses for her yet.  We just worked on not missing any poles.  She did fairly well, especially on the 6 poles, and all the 6 pole work helped her out when we switched to 12 poles.  Gracie had a few solid weaves through the 12 poles.  I was very proud of her.

On Thur. we had a very interesting course for both classes.  It seemed like a rather trick course for a beginner class.  There was a lot of discussion about options for handling 2-6 and 6-8.  In the end they decided to drop jump 4 to make it a little more manageable for beginner handlers and dogs.  So now the only tricky part was 6-8.  Either way the dog had to be pushed to the backside of 6 which is not something I'm used to practicing.  Then you could either post turn around 6 or do a front cross after 6.  I went with the post turn thinking it'd be easier to push Gracie (and later Gidget) to the correct tunnel entrance than to pull them away from the wrong one.  That worked just fine with only a little struggle with that push around 6.  Gracie even got the 6 weave poles every time (thanks open weaves class!).  They chose to do 6 poles to work on speed and not having to worry about getting all 12 poles, especially for the beginners.  For Gracie's second turn I wanted to try adding in jump 4.  At first the instructor (she's kinda new to the school) was suggesting to front cross after 2 then wrap 4 (another front cross) and have the dog on the right for 5 and 6.  The issue I saw with this was that I'd get stuck behind jump 5 and would end up pulling my dog (Gidget or Gracie) far away from jump 6.  My classmates had variations on this, but none looked appealing to me.  My instinct was to post turn jump 4 which would lend to rear crossing jump 6.  I tried this with Gracie and it worked beautifully.  It was fun working with Gracie, she was starting to feel a little speedier and seemed to be gaining confidence.  She remembered her contact behavior, though it wasn't perfect, she was trying hard to get it right.  She saw the broad jump for the first time and had no issue flying over it.  Gracie checks in with me a lot which can throw off her path.  An instructor suggested keeping a finger out pointing to the ground so that when Gracie turns her head towards me, she sees that quickly instead of needing to try to take in my whole body to make sure she knows what's going on.  I also need to remember to cue early so that Gracie doesn't need to check in quite as much.  Working on a stronger send ("go tunnel") will also be very helpful.

For Gidget's class the instructor decided to make the method I'd used for 2-6 the "rule."  We also had to start our dogs back from the tunnel so that they'd be up to speed when they enter the tunnel and not so much speeding up inside the tunnel.  Gidget and I got to go first to demonstrate the handling "rule."  We had a little trouble with 4-6 which I suspected we would.  Gidget doesn't have near as tight of a post turn as Gracie does so I lost her once to an off course jump.  She took the wrong side of 6 once too.  So for our second run, I made sure to stress the post turn cues (lots of calling her name, hands tight to me even patting my leg, and bending over just a tad) to keep her with me, curved a little wider after 5 to pull Gidget to the backside of 6 better.  Our second attempt at that course was very pretty!  I so love running with Gidget!  She's getting so fast!  I have good feeling for our trial this Sunday!  Back to the courses though.  The second course was for speed and fun!  I wrapped the left side of 3 and did a front cross after 7.   Gidget took the A-frame after 7 our first try, oops!  That's more working on that tight turn into me when needed.  I could have post turned the tunnel and then rear crossed the weaves but that seemed like a strange entry angle into the weaves, though Gidget could have managed it.  This course was actually supposed to end on 11, some of the dogs in our class have trouble with the broad jump and this way their handlers could end and party right after the tricky obstacle.  GidgetGidget's spirits at all and I love to see her fly!  Can't wait for Sunday!  Hopefully the heat won't be an issue in the indoor soccer fields.  Happy agility!