First 2011 Practice

Practice went well yesterday as Zio continued his box work to improve his drive off the box. Later in the session, we ran the Speeding Sheepdogs over 11 inch jumps for the first time. Zio knocked a jump over going to the box one time and Jean-Luc broke the top 1" slat on another jump later in the session. Passing with Cody was uneventful, but we kept the passes a little wide. I think Susan Owen timed one run at 19 seconds, so we should be good once the passes get tightened up. Jean-Luc was better about holding his ball, but only if Zio gave him an extra wide pass. He's still getting used to passing as the number 3 dog, so we'll keep working at it to get him comfortable. Worst case is we'll move him to number 4 for the February tournament, but I think he'll be fine by then.

We are discussing the feasibility of heading down to Dallas one weekend this month to practice with our friends at Sure Shots. I think it would be fun to work with some new dogs and also look at their training methods.