Getting Ready for the Trial

About turns are still not consistent, lots of running out of about turns and 270 turns but they don't seem to be making much of an impression. Left turns are still a little inconsistent but way better, she might get bonked once by not getting out of the way in time but no mistakes after the first one. Right turns are also just okay, I think her performance on both left and right turns are largely a function of how well *I* do the turn. We worked at the park blocks today and she sniffed the ground on her sit stay, something I haven't seen her do in a long time, so it's good to know that so we can work on it this week. Her elbows came up a little on her down stay but other than that did great. Didn't bump me on the slows today, if I recall correctly. We really need to work on her taking a good three seconds to resignedly settle into a down, she is not a fan of wet grass and needs to learn that it's not an excuse. I am thinking of trying the prong for the week before the show: I made that decision yesterday, and promptly forgot. Whoops. Hoping that writing it down will help me remember. Adding the hold to her retrieve is going good, we haven't worked on downs in two days which is no good since it's a bit of a contentious thing with her, but I'm focusing on polishing for the trial.

Snaggletooth, Fetch!

It's hard enough to find the time to train the dog everyday, much less write about it!

Writing because I have no one with whom to share the hilariousness of Kiko's resignation to the dumbbell. Other than my trainer, who stands with me waiting for her to accept that the way to get the dumbbell from being pressed against her lips is to take it. She sits there looking half asleep and snoring a little, as if hoping that she can take a nap and when she wakes up maybe the dumbbell will be gone. She is getting much better about taking it in a timely manner, though. Everything else is going really well, she finally started actually *running* in on recalls, and we got through an important confusion with doing a finish without the leash. I really don't think I was cuing her with the leash on the finish, except for the fact that the leash was physically present and serves as a cue by moving as I pass it behind my back. Off leash heeling is going REALLY well, I am really pleased, she's above and beyond doing way better than either Catfish or Chewy did at this point. I think Catfish did fairly well in the beginning, but poor Chewy was at a loss since the whole time he'd been training with a leash that was way too big for him, so it was a big shock to not have that weight there. And I'm finally learning not to make my commands sound like questions. "Kiko, heel?" isn't very convincing. I'd like to work around cats more, we haven't seen any in a week. Her recalls from an okay are what I feel is most important, and she's doing pretty well with them, so I'm happy.

Funny that what was wrong with both dog's heeling was my level of confidence, ha! And my tone of voice, go figure: high-pitched sing-song voice does not sound like praise as much as normal tone of voice.