Back on Track!

Last night was our first night at BF3. It was an awesome night. Toby had a blast. And if I might say so did I. We worked on sends thru the tunnel, front crosses out of the tunnel, tunnel thru the weaves, sharp turn from a jump to the dog walk, and the chute. Toby stayed in tune with me the entire night. Toward the end he started to get a little testy. I recognized his look and bark just before he goes into a zoom and was able to head it off. Just marvelous! All I did was bring out his favorite toy and played tuggy with him while we were waiting for our turn. I guess my little guy gets bored easily and I need to change things up a bit to make it more fun. So we made it thru the session without one single zoom! AMEN! We still need to work on the start line stay. Towards the end of the night Toby started to break them. Windle had me test him. I placed in at the start line and I lead out and did a little dance and then return to him for a yummy treat. I did this several times before releasing him to the jump. My class mates got a little laugh out of it. But it works. Toby needs to know that I have to release him before he can have his fun. The contact on the dog walk was awesome! I have been working with Toby to not leave the 2 on 2 off until I use his release word "free" He has been doing very well with that.

It was great to be back with my old class mates. I sure did miss them. However, Pulling Toby out of agility when I did to retrain foundation was the best thing I could do for my big guy. It also helped me to mature into a much more confident handler. And for those who know my Tobsters, he has absolutely no patients for sloppy and late commands! What a CHAP!

Now all we have to do is work on our obedience skills. I have until Thurs to work on the stand stay and the sit stay. I think the problem is that I have had to retrain the stay and the wait. So I think once we get past the transition phase we will be on our way! I will let you all know after class on Thursday.