Training fun!

Our usual trainer is out of town for a couple of weeks. So Mum lined us up to go to Columbus, Indiana to train with a friend of ours. She lives way out in the country on a terrific piece of land and has a nice barn for practicing agility. So off we went this morning.

It took us about a little over an hour to get there. And had planned to spend about an hour and a half, sometime for Gracie and sometime for me. I got to go first, of course!

We worked on some discriminations, since I've been having troubles with those. That's when the tunnel is right next to the Aframe or dog walk. Mum has found the secret to get me 'in' to the tunnel, or 'out' to the frame or dogwalk, even at a distance. So we are real happy with that!

We worked on some pinwheels, 'cause they can be so demotivating for us pups and we picked up some tips to keep them speedy. Instead of Mum sending me out to the middle jump, we're gonna work on Mum running out to the middle jump and then taking off as fast as she can to the third jump. Worked great as we practiced it.

Then it was Gracie's turn for a little while. As many of you know, Gracie has real focus issues in the ring. She just wants to go around sniffing and playing with bar setters. So we worked on leaving the treats at the ring entrance, going and doing a few jumps, and then running back to get her treats. Seemed to work pretty well. She kept motivated and was having fun. We're gonna keep working on that with her. She is such a great girl on the obstacles - just a shame no one gets to see her run. But she is maturing some too, so that helps a lot.

We also worked on lining both of us up better at the start so it's real clear what the first obstacle is. Mum gets kind of lax on that sometimes in practice, duh, Mum!!!

And we worked with Gracie on driving to the end of the teeter. She's still hesitating on the tipping point. Our friend also gave us some tips on using trash cans and barrels to keep focus with Gracie. That's something we can do in the house where it's cooler; using chairs and such!

We had a great time, the barn was very nice, and we didn't get that dirty. But oh....Gracie did a bad, bad thing! While she was waiting her turn, she was screaming up a storm most of the time. She can be so impatient. We opened the door where she was in her crate and, yep, you guess it, she tore right through her crate. Luckily we have a great friend that's going to fix it for us. But Gracie? You have to control yourself!!! Mum always lets you have your turn!

We go back next Tuesday for some more practice and want to work on weave speed, general speed, gambles and Gracie's focus again. Can't wait. Oh and Mum wants me to tell you her muscles are aching bad! I give her quite a workout.