Think ahead

On Tuesday Chris was not around so Jim taught the lesson. One big difference between their teaching styles is that Jim likes to put us through courses that are a technical challenge for the handler. They're not necessarily the most physically demanding for the dog. Its a little mystifying watching the dog and the handler and trying to figure out what made the dog do what she did. Were the handler's shoulders out of place? Said the command too soon, too late? Front cross, rear cross, push, pull, here, out. Jim urged Jesse to think at least one jump ahead, if not more. And he made Jesse describe his handling plan ahead of time. This meant Jesse had to actually have a handling plan ahead of time. Lots of technical exercise. We barely did any practice in the intervening time but I swear when we get our new house and our new yard I'm going to train Kola to do her weave poles using the 2x2 method. It will be hard for me to have patience to do this but I think its the best way for Kola to really get the idea of the weave poles.
Somehow we will get her to slow down on the teeter totter. At practice the first run through she jumped off right after she passed the fulcrum. Very impressive jump, but still a big "no, no"