Extra Practice

I noticed I haven't posted anything in over a week, so here's an update on what we've been up to since the last post. We continue to begin practices with a few wall turns and then move to the box (without a ball). At this point, we are still using the strider to help shape the turn.

During the last week, I noticed that he'll turn wide sometimes and ignore the stride regulator on the recall. Since then, I've added some poles on the ground, parallel to the lane, to force him to come straight back. He's gone wide a few times since, but he doesn't get to tug when he does that... so he seems to do it right after that. I'm realizing, again, that I need to move closer to the box with him and not move back until he's solid with what we are doing.

We've added another team practice Friday to see if we can't work on some things together. I'm helping train Jeep, so it's exciting to see him making progress. I think he's the fast height dog we desperately need. The sooner he's running, the sooner the other dogs won't have to jump 11 inches.