Nov 16th - Ottawa with Tiffany

I took the boys with me for the weekend to Ottawa. On Sat night we went to flyball practice which they seemed to have fun doing. I still can't believe how happy B gets when he is at flyball, his face looks like a puppy! He got to try out the new box but was hitting too hard and not able to catch the ball that he pretty much only did a few box turns and then was done. Ripley got to do some recalls in one lane while Tiffany's Piper was in the other. He did really great coming right to the tug and not paying any attention to Pipe. They both got to come back to do chase recalls. This is much harder for both of them as it is hard to concentrate when they are chasing the dog in front. In the ed they both did great and had a fun time!

Tonight we headed over to Tiff's house for dinner and then off to the agility arena to work with the dogs. Baxter and Rio worked first on jumping sequences. Baxter had some good start line stays, was keeping most of the bars up. Things to note: I need to be less choppy and harsh with my turns. If I do it to quick and not early enough, I am making him change in the air causing the jump to come down. B was reading my deceleration by taking an extra stride but was still jumping very long once he took off! Need to work on that. The final thing is to "relax"! If I don't panic, he seems to run better...

Next Tiffany helped me with Ripley. We did a bunch of jump sequences and he did really well! I was so proud of the little guy. Things to note: Use food as rewards and/or connection instead of a toy. This keeps him from getting too high around the jumps. Use 2 bars on each jump so that he can see it better, made a big difference. Do only 1 thing at a time, ie. do not move and release him from the sit, this is too much info for him at one time. I need to go back and work his sit-stay. He did great on the bed though and stayed on it between running.