Tuesday's class

When we got to class today, Jenn said the focus would be on lead out pushes - mom thought that would be impossible for us. Then I proved her wrong! First though a few thoughts about lead out pushes. A lead out push is essentially a substitute for a front cross and is done (obviously) at the beginning of a course or after the table. So Jenn said the handler should think about where she would place a front cross and that would be where she would stand for a lead out push. She also told us to look at the angles of the dog's path and pick the shortest. Mom wishes she would've paid more attention in geometry class in high school - who knew? Any way, we started with a straight forward lead out past a double and another jump. Then we did one with two jumps that were angled. Finally we tried one where the dog is not in a direct line of sight with the handler and jumps the first jump at an angle and the second one with kind of a parallel approach (instead of perpendicular). It was a directed-jump recall (I think). But listen to this - I did them all! And I didn't sniff once during any of my runs this morning! I think I like this lead out stuff!!!

So I did well today except with tunnel discrimination - that was mom's fault though. First time she totally showed me the wrong entrance. Then the next time, she moved laterally but I was programmed to go in the wrong way and mom didn't call my name or anything! Jenn suggested that dogs learn that the word "tunnel" means take the most obvious entrance to them and that the dog's name means to take the more difficult and less obvious entrance. Mom and I are going to try to work on that and see if we can get it.

We also got to talk to Jenn about a novice FAST strategy for this weekend. She says there are two ways to go about it - run out there and get your bonus and points as fast as possible and exit to make sure you Q - or if you want to use FAST as sort of a training opportunity, then go and try to do as many obstacles as possible and rack up the points (over 50 which is what you need for novice) and don't worry when the buzzer sounds - just run for the exit from wherever you are. You can still Q if you are overtime because they start deducting from the point total. She thinks if the chute is an option, we should try it.

Bindi's mom was so awesome and videoed our class today (Bindi has a hurt back and she couldn't run but we hope she is all better soon!). She shared the videos with us through the Flip share and we hope she doesn't mind if we also share them with you. You can see me doing better than I usually do in class!

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/0dbea05b458da5822fbf2f5ad1f5d678/video/16495553

Gotta zoom!

Ricky