The last few weeks have been extremely variable. Sometimes really fast, sometimes not. Sometimes really attentive, and last week he couldn't even do one obstacle. Some weeks he's taking all sorts of obstacles whether asked or not, and sometimes he's so focused on me that he won't take something 2' away. I never quite know what we'll get.
We're probably going to skip class for Jan/Feb and do some more fixing.
- Griffin can now weave, even in sequences. We've done some proofing exercises.... but I'm not as confident as Griffin yet.
- Dogwalk needs trained and repaired.
- A greater reinforcement history for sticking with me.
- Consistent speed.
- Longer sequences.
- Teeter end behavior repair.
- Chute repair: (straight path out)
- Jumping repair....
- Aframe proofing.
The part that's hardest will be the long sequences. We're pretty good with --any-- handling challenge, in a small enough piece. But the more that's added before or after, the more I struggle to get where I need to be. I end up slowing him down or just not directing him well.
Things that are really great:
- He is fairly calm while the other dogs work (even noisy dogs)
- We can do the various handling activities.
- He tugs.
- Consistently enthusiastic (...this hasn't really ever been a problem.... but some of our classmates do struggle with this!).
- He's not afraid/avoiding obstacles.
For the next 2.5 months: More repair work and training and hopefully when we return, things will go better. It's pretty funny that he was entered in a trial a year ago (and we pulled before going). A year later and we're still not quite ready despite not having any serious problem areas. Being in a weekly class definitely has helped us and from here, it's probably just working on the skills.
We've moved some of our equipment to one of the pastures (Only well-fenced on the road sides) so we have more space than in the fenced yard. There's been so much rain this week, we've only made it out one day this week.
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