Naughty Mummy

Had another agility session today and it was great, even though I kept getting told off for doing things wrong :)

Elliot
We had a big discussion about him running off and me being scared about this and how i deal with it because i was tending to get panicy if i thought he was going to run off (mainly after the donkey/pony in the next field) and so would start goin all high pitched and offering him toys/treats to try and get him to come back which, as pointed out to me today, only encourages him to run off more as then he gets a reward. so now i have to start being firm with him, something i was always scared to do because of his history even though i knew deep down he has come on far enought now for me to stop letting him take the mick i just needed someone else to point it out to me. So when he did go towards the field in stalking mode i told him off (just with a wierd kinda noise) and made him sit i then told him to come in the opp. direction with me and as soon as he did gave him a reward and on the second time he came with me without me having to get firm with him :) This also applies for when I am standing talking and he goes off to sniff - i get panicky and call him bak - whereas i should have confidence in letting him sniff and then reward him when he comes back on his own/stands near me and only every so often when i actually call him back.

Anyway, now on to some actual agility - we did a lot of work on setting him up at an angle to a jump and getting him to jump it because he thought he only had to jump a jump if he was straight on to it and so at the beginning kept running round this jumps, once he got the hang of it he decided it was all very easy. we did some flick flack with him which again he got the hang of towards the end. and then we did some a-frame - which was very good, am going to start taking him over the whole thing next week and not just do the bottom bit because he needs to realise that when he runs down it he still has to stop at the bottom. we also did some see-saw and again he was good at this too, he is a little smarty pants really!!

With both dogs i worked on their wait because as soon as i left them i was not saying anything and almost holding my breath for fear of them moving and actually realised if i praised them for a good sit it made life easier for getting them to look in my direction and not at the donkey/pony

Jemma
We spent a long time on her waits as she was sitting and leaning very far forwards to start with and was very twitchy but by the end she was sat much more upright and less twitchy which was good. We also did some weaves and she did very well on straight entrys on lead so we thought we would try her off lead but she still didn't get it - she takes too big strides and does two poles at a time so it was back on lead for her. when we started doing them from an angle she didn't really get it again - we have realised she thinks the first and last poles are important and it doesn't really matter about the bits inbetween so next time we are going to do four weaves, jump, four weaves, jump, four weaves and then get rid of the jumps and then start bringing the weaves closer together so she realises all the pole are important! we did some a-frame too which was much better than before and then some dog walk which was fine until i started running on and the ball was put away from the end of the dog walk - she kept coming off and just getting her ball - something we are going to work on next week. did some flick flack work with her and once i worked my body language, especially my arms out she did very well, so yet again it is me confusing her, poor dog!!

Think thats it for now - best go, im late for flyball!!