Match number 2

Last Sunday I went to the second of three matches with Gali and Ribbon. This was also a new environment for my dogs. Ribbon went in Novice. She did a fabulous job. I remembered to let her investigate the area before asking her to do any work. She had also had a good romp in the snow with her favourite Buhund. When I got her ready to practice some heeling she was fully focused and ready to do her job. I was really impressed. I did a few short sessions putting her back to relax in her kennel in between. I found a corner that was matted to toss her dumbbell around and play some games with drop on recall. It went really, really well. On the strength of her confidence I did my Novice run with food in my pocket but not in my hand for the entire run. I did reward after each exercise and play with her for a few moments. Her figure 8 was spectacular, I was so pleased. In the next door ring Open was going on and she completed ignored the dumbbell crashing against the wall right behind her on one of the about turns. The only problem we had was on her front , she is tipping off to the side as she gets within a foot of me. So I think I will do the next match with her fronting chute in the ring and see if that helps. The finish was better because I did the signal with a lot more umph (if that is even a word??) In open we did everything up to the drop on the recall pretty formally. Before I set her up for the exercise I played with her for a second and then did a random drop. I think this helped her prepare for what was about to happen. She cantered when I called her and dropped very nicely. Much to my surprise I don't think I have taught her the call to front from the drop (oops). She wasn't too sure, so I just aborted it and played with her. Then she saw the steward approaching with the dumbbell and her eyes lit up. I didn't do any waits, front or finishes. I just let her enjoy herself. I kept the jump low, thinking that she was going to be pretty excited and I didn't want her to hit it. For the broad jump I stood beyond the end of the boards and once she landed and pivoted and called her to front (which was lovely) and her finish was very nice. Overall I am extremely pleased with how she is coming along. It doesn't feel smooth just yet, but we are getting there!!

Gali gave me some more problems... I shouldn't really say problems, because he always tries so hard. He missed the second article because he got distracted by some dogs barking quite furiously not far from the ring and then grabbed the first article he found when he put his head down. The other two articles were great. For signals I decided I was going to be really picky and make sure Gali dropped on the spot, no forward movement at all!! As soon as he moved one front foot, I told him "No" and walked towards him and reset the exercise. I gave a drop signal and he dropped in place. I praised and fed him. When I walked back to the other side of the ring to do the sit signal he had his chin on the floor (looking like his cute little self). I gave the sit signal and he rubbed his chin on the floor and wagged his little curly bum at me as if to say, "Well if you liked that down, you are going to love this!" I know it wasn't the best training response but he was so cute... I laughed. We did get through it and moved on. Moving stand was great. My go outs were not, he came up short (thinking about the sit I have been working on no doubt). Then he wouldn't jump the bar jump that was closest to crowd, this has happened before, so I really need to work on that. Maybe tomorrow during social club I can get people to stand there or heel with their dogs while he does the jumps. I still feel like we are ready, next week I will go into preparing to trial mode. Practicing things in sequence and being more sporadic with my rewards.

Oh by the way Ribbon's Novice run is posted on my youtube channel. Just search for Ribbon Novice Feb2011. Let me know what you think.